My Story So Far..

Back From The Dead

2010-09-13T09:04:00.003+08:00

Hello all!

First of all, I'm really sorry for the lack of updates, due to some "technical problems". But now, hopefully that problem is all gone and I shall keep this blog up and running in full force once again.

So what happened between my absence in the blogging scene?

I got enrolled into UBD and so far, it's all good. But it keeps me really busy because there are always assignments weeks after weeks and lots of presentations too.

I've realised time passed by really fast. It's like I haven't get to really enjoy the year 2010.

I've had some really wonderful time though, but it's all too fast.

For my much anticipated trip to Taiwan back in July, I had to wait almost 7 months to visit there but now, it is a already a matter of 2 months ago.

Time flies. So don't waste time doing nothing and enjoy doing whatever you can.

As I entered the university life, I realised everything needs money. Yeah, like after all these years. Our daily necessities aren't cheap.

Before I get into university, I never cared about how fast our car fuel will run out.

One day, I was driving with the car in low tank. And so when I went to the petrol station, I found out it'd cost around $10 fill up your tank at least half full. It's not that I don't know the prices of fuel but I never realised how hard it can burn your pockets.

Lunch is another thing. Almost everyday, I'd go out for lunch with a bunch of friends. Each of these lunch would cost another $5 or more.

UBD's too far from home and sometimes we've only got an hour to eat.

Going to gym on a regular basis would cost me another $40 per month. And then there's Easi and b-mobile top-up cards to buy.

Wow. Hard times. I really can't wait for the allowances.

So for now, I'll try to survive. The allowance will come at the end of October, or the start of November, so they say.

I shall update you with my wonderful trip to Taiwan in my next post. So fellow old readers, come back!

Before I log off, I'd like to wish all my Muslim friends Selamat Hari Raya! Maaf zahir dan batin!

Regards,
Desmond.

BSP Attachment - The Working Life

2010-07-17T13:55:00.019+08:00

Sorry people for keeping you waiting! I have been too busy with things lately even though I'm done with the attachment.

Alright. I'm gonna continue with my Attachment entry.

So, why do I choose Brunei Shell Petroleum?

Frankly, it's all about the money. There you go! No money, no life :p Then again, comparing other scholarships offered, I think BSP scholarship is one of the best, if not the best. My job is 100% secured legally by a contract for 5 years after graduation.

Also, working in BSP doesn't limit me to office environment, which I'm not so fond of. I prefer activity! I like working in a field environment! Thankfully, BSP is not fully owned by the government, cause I don't like to comply to all government protocols like dress code, hair code, etc. There's more freedom in a 50% privately owned company :D As such, being a globally renowned company, experience opportunity will be vast!

Still, I would be equally grateful if I had gotten other scholarships instead. Bruneians are very lucky to have such lucrative offers for education! So I appreciate what I've got :)

I started out applying for a course in Mechanical Engineering. However, due to the high numbers of Mechanical Engineering applicants, I was persuaded to switch my course. I am now taking Systems and Control Engineering. It is also commonly known as Control and Automation Engineering, but some call it Instrumentation Engineering.

Confused? From what I've gathered during my attachment, Systems and Control Engineering deals with instruments.

For example, when you step on the accelerator in your car, how does your speedometer know what speed you're driving at? The speedometer is the instrument. So, to explain it crudely, I guess my engineering discipline is about maintaining the synchronicity of the instruments with its initiator. I'll find out more when I actually start my course ;)

While choosing my desired course, I must also choose my preferred department in BSP. Meaning to say, once I graduate, I will be working for that particular department. So, I have been accepted to join this department which carries out operations and maintenance.

Now, on to the working life. Work hours in BSP starts from Monday to Friday, from 7-12pm and 1-4pm. As I've mentioned in my previous post, I still had to wake up the same time I used to during school days! And since there are only 2 bathrooms in the apartment, everyone has to wake up extra early so that everyone can bath.

Annoyingly, the apartment's water heater tends to run out of gas! It is not cool to bath with cold water early in the morning.

My breakfast table must have Nescafe! Nescafe is like a drug to me. I cannot live without it :') As for food options, I would normally go for peanut butter bread. Otherwise it would be biscuits. But whenever I felt rajin, I would fry French toast. Yummy!

Oh God! All these temptations is making me hungrier!

Let's stop talking about food.

During my attachment, my assignment was to familiarize with the working environment and BSP's general process flows.

I was assigned to look after nodding donkeys.

I was assigned to study how the crude oil is being processed.

I relayed information from the computer to the field technicians via walkie talkie.

I climbed up two tanks!

I was also assigned to master at least 1 hands on analysis from each of the 6 BSP laboratories.

The attachment was overall a fun and useful experience! Although I gotta admit, sometimes there's just absolutely nothing to do one whole day due to supervisors being too busy. Those days were just boring to death. Makes me wanna jump down from the tanks.

So, to prospective students who are seriously thinking of getting the BSP scholarship, do not hesitate to leave comments here or at the tagboard.

BSP Attachment - The Apartment Life

2010-07-11T12:21:00.018+08:00

As you all may have come to known, I had been doing my attachment at Brunei Shell Petroleum Company in Seria for the last 3 months. That is why I haven't been able to update for a century already. It's either I was too busy or too tired. To think that this is only a stint of the working life, I can't imagine how it will feel once I really do work for real. Yikes.

Now that I'm done with the attachment, I will once again do the job of reviving this dying blog! I will divide my blog posts into several parts. I'll start of with life in the apartment.

To start of...

I would usually go up to Seria every Sunday afternoon. And then, after work hours on Friday, I would drive down back to Bandar. Luckily, BSP was kind enough to offer an apartment for the Bandar students to live in. I am not sure if I can tahan commuting up and down Seria everyday!

I gotta admit, driving up and down Seria is kinda fun actually. I mean, I get to see a lot of nice cars! I've seen a couple of Audi R8s, a lot of Audi A4s, an unknown Ferrari model, Mercedes Benz CLS Class, Mitsubishi Evolution X, Nissan GT-R, and the list goes on. One day, I'm gonna get one of these :p

There are a total number of 24 BSP scholars including myself. There are 6 MDians, 5 from SMSA, 4 from Katok, 3 Meragang students, 2 from Maktab Sains, 2 ITB students and another 2 from Jerudong International School. Out of the 24 students, there are 18 boys and only 6 girls.

The 2 JIS students didn't join the attachment as their school term ends in June.

There are 15 of us who chose to live in the 2 apartments that BSP provided for us - 1 for the guys & 1 for the girls. There are 10 guys and 5 girls. Now, I do not want to complain if I could help, but seriously, 10 guys in one apartment!! And only 3 rooms to share between us!

However, the apartment itself wasn't all that bad. It's still livable. I shared a room with Jong Hau of MD, Nigel Chin from MS, and Goh Jien Han from Katok. Yeah, I'm with the Chinese!

Our room is the only room which is occupied by 4 dudes. To make up for this, our room is equipped with a toilet, unlike the other rooms! The other rooms had to share one toilet. Hah!

Luckily, the apartment had a kitchen, which means, we can cut our costs on food! This way, I get to learn how to cook and learned how to cook I did!

I don't want to show off, but I can finally cook rice! Hooray for me!

This is the guy's kitchen...

...as compared to...

...the girl's cleaner and more organised kitchen. I guess boys will always be boys. Being messy and lazy is part of our natural instinct 0=)

But honestly, I actually love cooking right now. The first time I arrived at the apartment, I can only cook instant noodles and eggs. 3 months later, I now know the difference between big onions, red onions, garlics, and gingers! I know how to slice them, and apply them into cooking :p My best recipe yet is the Ginger and Spring Onion Fish! I am proud of myself :')

Our collection of shoes stretch for miles and miles.

Work hours in BSP starts from 7am and ends at 4pm. I still have to wake up the same time I did during school life. Darn it!

So, after work hours, we had 3 options of action.

The first option was to go to the BSRC - Brunei Shell Recreation Club, where we can play games such as badminton, tennis, futsal, swimming, or even work out! We were provided with free 3 months membership in BSRC.

The second option was to cook dinner. Those who planned to cook dinner must prepare early. I don't know if you guys know this, but in Seria, the cooking gas is supplied directly to each households for free. We don't use tong gas here. However, mysteriously, between 6-7 pm, the gas supplied to our apartment is usually too little or none at all. Therefore, whenever possible, we would cook our dinner before 6pm.

The third option was to...

...GAME!! Thank god someone by the holy name of Abu Afiq was kind enough to bring his TV and PS2 to the apartment! If not, we could have died out of boredom. Bless him.

Basically, these were our routine everyday in the apartment. It was such a good experience - being away from my family, being independent, learning new things and making new friends. 3 months passed by in a flash, but 3 very worthwhile months, I'd say ;)

If I'm not lazy, expect my next post in 2-3 days time.

2010 Brunei Olympic Day Run

2010-06-23T21:25:00.005+08:00

It has been years since I've last joined a running event.

In fact, I don't think I ever had. The only ones that I've joined are usually those boring school walkathons which requires us to get on one's nerves with a donation card back in my secondary school years.

Well, that was walkathon. This time, it's different.

The Olympic Day Run is held every 23rd of June to commemorate the birth of modern Olympics.

I came to the event fully unaware of the distance that I'm supposed to run.

It is open to everyone and is divided into different categories.

In my category, which is for MEN with huge balls aged 49 years and below, I will have to cover 10km. Other categories are for men aged 50 and above, the special-needs, women and etc.

Before the run began, we have to register ourselves inside a hall next to the indoor stadium.

There, we were given our number and a free t-shirt!

However, the organisers didn't really do a good job in making sure each person gets ONE t-shirt only.

I knew a guy who actually queued up in 2 different categories and got 3 t-shirts in the end! How he managed to convince the organisers that he's 50 years old and above, I do not know.

This is the shirt. Good to learn that McDonald's has been involved with Olympics since the 1960s. I'm lovin' it. ;)

To be honest, I didn't take this run seriously and thought those who'd be joining are n00bs like me.

See those runners in orange singlets? Them's so cool they don't even need the free t-shirt.

The event is officiated by none other than His Royal Highness Prince Haji Sufri Bolkiah, the President of the Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council.

As always, there's always a warm-up session in events like this. And this one's no exception.

After the warm-up session, everyone moved on to the starting line, each category followed by another.

When it's my category's turn, I got myself positioned up front, which is the 2nd row to be exact, to ensure that I get a good start. As the buzzer went off, everyone started running.

Barely just after 200 metres or so, already I felt tired and started to wonder why did I even join this run in the first place. I could've been sleeping at home! As if my sucky job which requires me to stand for most of the day isn't tiring enough. Obviously, I can't keep up and subsequently slowed down. Next thing I know, a whole bunch of people overtook me! Wtf!

Damn, must've not stretched well enough during the warm-up and now I paid the price.

Alright, I wasn't surprised by that throng of people overtaking me actually and I bet neither are you. I have my reasons.

My only breakfast that day was a small cup of coffee. I've got with me my phone, my camera, my earphone and keys all in my pockets. Yes, all of 'em.

Besides, I was wearing a slightly heavier shoe (basketball shoe) that day to run. Oh, why did I???

So you see, everything went wrong right from the very start. Can't blame me for me slow and unstaminaful. *making up excuses*

Note to self: Gotta invest on good running gears when I'm rich.

I couldn't help but notice that whenever I overtook someone, that someone overtook me back. And when I try to overtake him again, he overtook me for the second time! So much for overtaking someone.

This is how being overtaken looks like.

Every few kilometres, there are people distributing bottles of water. I kinda hoped they'd supply us with 100Plus instead.

There's a problem though. There were no rubbish bins anywhere! So we're basically littering empty water bottles on Olympic Day.

While running, I saw a friend, Ahmad Faisal! We ran and chatted at the same time but I couldn't keep up with him so he got in front of me in no more than 5 minutes.

what was an Olympic Day slowly became a walkathon for me. I knew I had to resort to walking pace eventually, but I never thought of giving up.

Then, as I walked, I met 2 more of my friends! It's Hamid and Abang Hadri! Ironically, the three of us basically just walked from that point all the way to the finishing line. I felt kinda bad because I knew if I hadn't called Hamid, I guess he must've ran all the way to the finish, with Abang Hadri. But Hamid did admit he's too tired to run.

After an hour or so, we reached the brick red pavement of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium where the banner of the finishing line welcomed us.

There was a guy standing next to the finishing line and he was distributing certificates of participation to everyone crossing the line!

This is what I got.

Though some details, including my name, were left out of the certificate, I was glad to have it anyway.

10km may be nothing compared to a marathon but clearly, I under-estimated this 10km run. Because of this, I'm starting to respect people who have successfully completed a marathon race which could be more than 3, 4 or even 5 times the distance of this 10km I ran.

As a token for participating, I got treated a bowl of Kolo Mee by my uncle right after that.

Oh bugger. I must've gained back all the calories I burned during the run. :(

World Cup Fever

2010-06-09T19:43:00.009+08:00

HEY! What's up? It's the World Cup season!

Never thought 4 years passed by so fast!

World Cup 2006 in Germany was great, but should we expect something bigger this time?

As always, the tournament will be held in 10 venues, with the opening and final match held at Soccer City in Johannesburg.

This site is historic as it is the place where Nelson Mandela held his first speech following his release from prison.

The 94,700 capacity stadium is designed to have the appearance of an African pot. The total construction costs USD$440 million.

The official mascot for the 2010 FIFA World Cup is Zakumi.

His name comes from "ZA", the international abbreviation for South Africa, and "kumi", a word that means "ten" in various African languages.

We've already seen some big names suffering injuries prior to the World Cup. It's a pity really because this could've been the last world cup tournament they would ever play in for some.

For instance, Beckham is already 35 this year. He'll be 39 by the next world cup.

Probability of him playing in 2014? I don't know.

Rio Ferdinand, the new captain of England, is also out for 4-6 weeks with a knee injury following a tackle on fellow team mate Emile Heskey in England's first training session.

Being an England supporter, it was really heartbreaking for me to hear this news because if England win the World Cup, Ferdinand would've been the one to lift the trophy! But now Stevie G had to cover him up as captain for the time being. Horror.

The latest player to join this injury list is Nani!

Another Manchester United player missing out of World Cup. Sigh.

The rest injured for the World Cup include:

Michael Ballack (Germany) - ruled out of the finals with an ankle injury after a late challenge by Ghana's Kevin-Prince Boateng during Chelsea's FA Cup final win over Portsmouth in May.

Rene Adler (Germany) - Germany's first-choice goalkeeper underwent surgery on a rib injury in May and will play no part in the finals.

Heiko Westermann (Germany) - fractured a bone in his foot during a warm-up win over Hungary.

Simon Rolfes (Germany) - ruled himself out of the World Cup after saying he was short of match fitness following knee surgery in January.

Christian Traesch (Germany) - considered a possible replacement for captain Michael Ballack but is also out after injuring his ankle in a friendly at the squad's training camp in Italy.

Michael Essien (Ghana) – suffered a knee injury at the African Nations Cup in January and has failed to recover in time.

Lassana Diarra (France) – will not play in South Africa after being told he needed an extended rest because of persistent stomach pains which began during France's week-long training camp in the French Alps last month.

Jose Bosingwa (Portugal) – will miss the tournament after picking up a knee injury last October which ruled him out for the entire season.

Jon Obi Mikel (Nigeria) - forced out of the tournament with a badly bruised ankle suffered in Nigeria's first full contact training session in South Africa on Friday.

Miroslav Karhan (Slovakia) - Slovakia's most capped player has a hamstring injury and will miss his country's first World Cup appearance.

Meanwhile....

Players who are doubtful include:
Didier Drogba, Andrea Pirlo, Julio Cesar, Arjen Robben, Harry Kewell, Tim Brown, Humberto Suazo, Lee Dong Guk.

Whereas players who will not be involved in the World Cup are listed here below:
Ronaldinho, Alexandre Pato, Adriano, Hulk, Anderson, Theo Walcott, Darren Bent, Albert Riera, Marcos Senna, Luca Toni, Marco Borriello, Fabio Grosso, Daniele Bonera, Francesco Totti, Ruud van Nistlerooy, Robbie Keane, Andrei Arshavin, Andriy Shevchenko, Dimitar Berbatov, Lucas, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Riquelme, Zanetti, Cambiasso, G. Milito, Lisandro, Lucho, Banega, Aimar, Garay, Samir Nasri, Karim Benzema.

From 11th June - 11th July, don't see surprised to see cafés and restaurants filled with people late night watching the biggest sporting event ever.

What you can do is.. pick a team, don their jersey and support them all the way!

So which team will you be rooting for? I'm going for England.

Rooney! Rooney! Rooney!

Jobs

2010-05-31T14:34:00.006+08:00

This post is originally written by Nazrin, the 'N' from the 'DEN'. I found this post saved as a draft and when I asked Nazrin about it, he said he's not planning to post it up anymore. Say whaaaat?

After reading this entry, I thought it'll be a waste to just abandon it like that, especially when he has written something so long. I reckon this post will be worthwhile to read especially for those of us who are still pondering about our career in the near future.

So I decided to rewrite it a bit, and maybe just add a little something from my own point of view.

Anyway, the topic of this entry is all about the dream jobs that are currently not achievable in Brunei. Or at the very least, jobs that will not be very successful.

Nazrin says he's as hell as sure everyone dreamed of being something else other than what they are currently (or will be) doing. Nobody wanted to be an accountant or say, quantity surveyor when they were a kid. Nobody ever dreamed of wanting to work as a government servant when they were young.

I have to fully agree with Nazrin. As for me, my dream is to be a movie star, but oh well, I can only a dream because I'm a Bruneian, right?

So, what are the jobs that are idealistic but not successful in Brunei? My fellow blogging partner Nazrin has constructed a partial list of them here below.

Musician/Singer:

According to Nazrin, there was this story his mum told him a few months back. See, the school his mum worked in introduced new intakes for fresh new teachers. So, there was this one guy that was awfully good looking and had a great voice. Sure enough, he became the school's musician, and he actually composed a choir song which later won him an award. The funny part lies with his mum's innocence.

After the teacher's talent was acknowledge by everyone, Nazrin's mum approached him and said, "Oh wow your voice is so good! Why didn't you become a singer?"

He just smiled. Actually, he is already a singer. Everyone knew him by his name, but not his face. Sadly, Nazrin's mum had no idea. The singer's name is never revealed to save his face.

He is now a part time teacher and singer. His album can only be purchased through him directly. Very sad.

Could have been a successful singer elsewhere. Just look at how successful Wu Chun is.

I think the problem here lies with Brunei's population and market. We've only got a population of 388,190, according to Wikipedia. So basically, if a singer/artist manages to sell off 388,190 albums to the whole of Brunei (which is not very possible), it's not even enough to grant him a 'Gold' certification on the album in which you need at least 500,000 units sold.

That's the awards certification of Recording Industry Association of America though. I don't think Brunei even has one.

I'm estimating that the most number of albums a Bruneian artist can sell is not more than 500. Furthermore, 98% of our population would rather buy pirated CDs than original genuine CDs. That said, I don't think an artist in Brunei would benefit from sales of album.

Footballer/Pro Athlete:

Ahh the dream of every normal male human. Being footballer is not only about the game. It's also about the money. Look at Cristiano Ronaldo. He earns what? About 100,000 pounds per week? He crashed a Ferrari and he can just buy another one with ease.

All he has to do is to kick a ball. Doesn't sound like the most stressful job in the world.

Although not many footballer earns as much as Ronaldo, the majority of footballers in Europe still earn crazy money. However, being in South East Asia, the feat is unattainable. BEING in Brunei makes it worse.

According to Nazrin, rumors has it that Bruneian footballers are also part-timers. They will never survive with the amount of wages they got from playing football. Not that they are playing a great deal amount of football either.

Look at DPMM FC. They were so successful in Singapore last term. But what happened? We can't even form a good, proper and recognisable football governing body and had to break a FIFA regulation. DPMM FC got disbanded from playing in the Singapore S-League.

But the most painful experience as a Bruneian is that there were NOT EVEN a single representative from Brunei in the Beijing Olympics 2008.

I watched the live Olympics opening ceremony telecast and waited for Brunei to march past but it never happened.

In conclusion: Don't be an athlete.

President/Prime Minister/Head of State:

Don't even think about it.

Policeman/Fireman/Army:

As a child, it seems like a cool thing to do to shoot and catch criminals. But in Brunei, Nazrin thinks most Bruneian police ends up being a police traffic who rides in some nice Suzuki or BMW bikes.

So much for shooting and catching criminals. This is probably due to the low crime rate in Brunei which is actually a good thing! Hahaha. So it's actually a pretty good deal to sacrifice being a cool policeman to have peace xP

I guess that's also true for firemen. I wouldn't say there's not much fires or search & rescue in Brunei but I wonder what are the daily routine of our firemen on a quiet, peaceful day where there's no fire. Sliding down the pole seems fun.

And so what about the armies?? In Brunei, the most successful public security workforce is probably the army. They've got the best privilege. Heck, they even got their own holiday named after them.

I don't know about you people, but I haven't heard of any war that Bruneians are currently involve in. So why do they earn a lot? And have you ever seen a Chinese enrolling into the army in Brunei?

In conclusion: Enroll yourself in the army. You'll get pensioned after your retirement in any of these 3 jobs anyway.

Astronaut:

Although Akademi Fantasia is lame, sometimes you gotta admit the Malaysians are trying their best to give out opportunities to pursue a different career. They even got this whole new reality show called "Imam Muda" in Astro Oasis. Hmmm...

Anyway, about 2 years ago I think, the Malaysians hold an audition for astronauts. The winner gets to be a full-time astronaut. Sounds pretty good. That's what happened to Sheikh Muszaphar, who turned out to be the first Malaysian to go to space.

This guy is actually very successful. Not only was he a surgeon, he was also a part-time model. And now he's an astronaut! What luck!

The only one Bruneian who can actually achieve this is Hamid! Let us all hope he will be an astronaut ;)

Pirate Captain:

Only Somalian citizens can be a pirate.

Movie Star:

Again, if you wanna be in the entertainment industry, you gotta find a part-time job for security. A teacher in my ex-school is a Bruneian actor. Not the blockbuster movie star standard, but just one of the few good Bruneian television actors. Still, no matter how successful an actor in Brunei is, no one is ever gonna watch RTB.

Pilot:

I think this is the only dream job in Brunei that is both achievable and successful! If you can speak good Malay and English, and has a good eye-sight (wait, eye-sight can now be fixed with a simple laser surgery these days!), then you're eligible to be one!

Speaking of pilot, I realised Brunei do have female pilots! So go for it girls!

Not only will you get to travel around the globe, you will also be rewarded with high pay! And it's not like you're to fly every flights. This means, unless you're on duty, you'll have your own holiday!

Video Game Tester:

That would've been every guy's dream job.

You get paid just to play or test the game, check for glitches and then make a report to determine whether the game would be a success or not. Not achievable in Brunei.

And lastly....

The Best Job In The World: Island Caretaker

Okay, this is something quite a while ago. In 2009, Tourism Queensland promoted the Great Barrier Reef as a global tourism destination with a website encouraging people worldwide to apply for "The Best Job In The World:", to be a "Caretaker of the Islands" to "house-sit" the islands of the Great Barrier Reef for half a year, based on Hamilton Island.

You'd get a pay of A$150,000, live in a multi-millon dollar villa and free transportation around the island.

But you gotta submit a video for their consideration purposes.

A man from UK, Ben Southall won the job!

He got The Best Job In The World, in contrast to the job that someone got, which is to look through all of the 34,000 videos submitted for the application.

Let us all hope our government will give a similar job offer to people around the world and promote our forests in Temburong!

So what are your dream jobs?

Liquered Flavoured Chocolate

2010-05-21T15:11:00.002+08:00

Anyone up for chocolates lately?

Well, one day, I was walking around at a popular supermarket in Gadong. Then I thought of buying chocolates as snacks.

So basically I just went over to the chocolates section.

I've noticed the price of chocolates has increased compared to before! But that's not the point of writing this entry.

As I kept on looking for the bar of chocolate that I want, I saw this!

This, my friend, is a Liqueur Flavoured Chocolate.

Doesn't this mean it's alcohol flavoured?

Out of curiosity, I checked the ingredients and I found this!

Ethanol!

Just to make sure again, I tried to look for the halal logo.

But it is nowhere to be found!

Other varieties such as the Peppermint Flavoured Chocolate has the Halal logo printed on it, but not this.

Anyone here willing to volunteer and try out the chocolate to see if it's real alcohol?

Say No To Racism

2010-05-16T14:39:00.009+08:00

*This post is merely a lame joke and do not necessarily reflect what I think should have been made happened or done. Any offenses that has been made from this post would be regretted. Having posted this, I do hope it will not become a sensitive issue.

I think perhaps Brunei should form an Anti-Racism body to curb and minimise problems of racism.

It seems as though Brunei has never had any effort to even try to stand up against racism. If there is so, please do forgive and correct me.

This idea came to my mind when me and my friend were at somewhere and got treated badly by a guy (not of the same race as us). He was "shouting" at us while his accomplices were of the opposite. He did not spat out any racism comments though but I didn't feel comfortable.

Racism can happen to anyone, anywhere and anytime.

We always see developed countries and our fellow neighbouring countries doing tremendous work in curbing racism.

Even in sports, football for example, there are efforts to kick racism out. FIFA dedicates a day in its event calendar for the FIFA Anti-Discrimination Day every year.

I wish Brunei would've done something similar. Create an Anti-Racism Day perhaps?

Anyways, my idea of a good Anti-Racism body is that it would work the same way as the Narcotics Control Bureau and Anti-Corruption Bureau added together.

It'll then be called the great "Anti-Racism Bureau" or "Racism Control Bureau", with the vision of "To Create A Racism-Free Nation" and the ambitious mission of "To be the leading agency in driving our country free from racism for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Brunei Darussalam".

Occassionally, you'd receive text messages from the Biro Mencegah Rasuah or Narcotics Control Bureau asking you to report to them any suspicious act of corruption or drug-related cases. My idea of a perfect Anti-Racism body would do the same by sending people text messages asking you to report any acts of racism too!

Every once or so, NCB will hold talks in primary and secondary schools or held a road show in a big Expo showcasing and telling people the bad effects and danger drugs would post. The Anti-Racism body would do the same by holding talks and held a road show in big Expos too!

Every week, NCB officials would patrol, hide and raid places suspected to be areas where drug trafficking is highly active. My idea of a good Anti-Racism body would have anti-racism officials hiding somewhere in the dark and then jump out, ambush and RAID places where racism occurs!

If you mention something like "Melayu itu blah blah", you die.

If you mention "Itu Cina sangat blah blah", you also die.

If you mention the 'N-word', you also will die.

But if you mention the word "K****g", hmmmm.. I think maybe..

you also will die. I think lah.

So what do you think? Can form or not? Will laku?

15th Baiduri Masters 2010

2010-04-25T19:09:00.010+08:00

Being a part-time staff of Baiduri Bank, I was recently assigned to help out during the Baiduri Masters 2010 charity golf tournament.

I was there only for Day 2 & 3 of the tournament though.

It was my first time witnessing and being involved in any golf tournament. So I was pretty sakai and new to all these golf stuff.

I don't even know the rules of golf, let alone how to play the sport.

My job there was only to help out with the golfers' registration early in the morning and giving out the goodies/freebies which included the tournament T-shirt, an American Express branded towel, Srixon golf-balls and so on.

Srixon soft-feel BALLS.

After Day 2 of the tournament, I saw a goodie bag containing the tournament t-shirt, towel, and even a pack of cigarettes with a lighter in it at the lost & found area. It is said that they were found in one of the golf carts.

I wonder if it was purposely or accidentally left there, but hey! Whoever left it there could've just gave it to me!

According to ranoadidas.com, around 330 people have registered in Day 2 & a hundred plus in Day 3. So that's roughly how much goodies/freebies I helped to distribute.

Pretty easy job though, but unfortunately, the shift starts from 5.00am till 7.30am. So when I've reached the RBA Golf Club, the sky was still pretty dark.

And what's worse is that I'm one of the earliest (3rd actually) to arrive! Everyone else who were supposed to be there was super late (next person to arrive came at around 5.45am). Even the earliest golfer to arrive was at 6am.

It was a boring wait. It did not turn out any more exciting-er even after the wait.

But what's interesting is that I get to see lots of really rich people during the registration. Almost everyone who plays golf are rich. Or maybe just everyone.

As expected, the parking lots were quickly filled up. There were lots of really expensive cars parked outside.

Check out this Chrysler I spotted at the entrance.

I'm sure everyone will put a better performance if this Chrysler is one of the Hole-in-One prizes.

Or these golf carts. They run quietly, smoothly, they're automatic transmission and I don't think it's available in any of the car showrooms yet!

But well, being a charity tournament organised by Baiduri Bank Berhad, which is a subsidiary of QAF Group, it comes with no surprise that all the Hole-in-One prizes are cars that you can find in QAF Auto.

The prizes include BMW 530i, BMW X1 2.0d, BMW 320i, Land Rover Freelander 2.2d, and of course...

the Porsche Cayman S!

When it reached 7am, all the golfers went to their respective golf carts and went teeing off.

At this point, I'm not sure if the tournament/match/game has actually begun because there were no game officials/referees around that I even saw some people picking up the golf ball from the ground.

Is this legal?

Or does golf even need any referees?

I've never seen so many golf carts lining up together before.

Luckily, there are refreshments provided. When all the golfers went teeing off, that's when I get to eat.

The foods wasn't really all that nice but I really enjoyed the egg whites.

Refreshments include rice, beef rendang, fried noodles, kelupis, eggs, fruits, tea and etc.

The last thing you want to happen is to have golf balls flying from afar and then hit you hard on the face while you're eating. Terus Kong Ka Kiaw (concussion).

The refreshments are catered by Jessamine Cake House.

It's been a while since I've been to Jessamine's.

I remember Jessamine used to be really popular for it's Roti Prata, Roti Tissue, Roti BOM, roti so on, Teh Tarik, their black & white tiles and etc while it's still in Kiulap many many years ago.

Now I'm curious where the main restaurant is located. Any idea?

Overall, it was a good experience being assigned to help out in this tournament, but screw the early shift time of 5am.

Golf is an expensive sport.

There's this saying that once you've actually played the game, you'll get really addicted, but I'm still not totally convinced, though the golf-equipment shop at the RBA Golf Club do have some really nice golfing apparels and accessories.

A golf shoe would cost you hundreds. A golf club would cost you thousands. A golf membership would cost you tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands.

It's a game enjoyed ~~only by the rich~~ also by the young & the old.

But what I really don't get are the HOLES.

Why are there so many holes?

For different holes you shoot in, you get certain prizes.

So what if you managed to shoot 'hoe number 1'?? I'm guessing that you'll strike the ~~G-spot~~ jackpot?

Okay, lame. :D

Not A Good Place To Dance

2010-04-04T21:37:00.004+08:00

A while ago, a friend of mine asked me where is a good place for him and some friends to get together and practice dancing.

When he first asked me, I thought, "don't he already know some of the dance studios around town?"

But he actually meant a quiet place a night, with a space big enough for around 10 people and a glass good enough to see their own reflections so that everybody's dancing in synch.

I didn't really get what he meant until he and 2 other friends brought me to this place.

Ever been to the standard Chartered building in Jalan Tutong/Bunut?

Yeah, this place he brought me to is a quiet, dark area at the back of the Standard Chartered building.

This place is a rough example of his description of a 'good dancing place'.

Maybe not... As you can see from the picture, the back of the building has clearly been raped by some hooligans with graffiti.

There's big space. It's quiet and nobody lives near that area. So that means when they actually practice dancing there, the boom-boom music won't disturb anyone.

If they're really gonna choose that spot for dancing practice, it should be alright, but the thing is.. it's kinda spooky.

I did mention that they need glass so that they can see their own reflections right? This place actually do have glass walls, but that wall belongs to an old abandoned food court.

Tables and chairs in the food court are all messed up. It's as if the Dudley Boyz actually came and gave everyone they find in the food court their famous finishing move 3D!!

Okay, I exaggerated a bit and I don't have picture of the food court.

Nearby, there's a Hyundai showroom, and the all new Hyundai Tucson was parked outside for display.

It was all dark but as we slowly approached, the lights lit up!

But then we realised it's a motion sensor light after all.

So apart from staying there and think of a better place, they played basketball!

Yeah, there's a basketball ring also.

I heard from one of them there was a black cat around, but I must've missed it 'cause I was busy taking pictures.

We then went somewhere further ahead, also the same area Tutong/Bunut but this time it's behind the NBT building.

That place's even scarier! It's all dark, black and no lights even. And there's another cat. This time I didn't even bother taking any pictures.

After all that, I think it'll be safer to stay away from those places again and better to just register at any dance studio and practice rather than finding a secluded and scary spot.

And I intend to end this blog post like this, cause that also means I've updated ;)

WWF

2010-03-27T16:07:00.000+08:00

Remember when we were kids we used to love to watch WWF? Old times.

Remember how we used to watch in awe as we see Stone Cold battle The Rock to a crucial match in the annual Wrestlemania?

Well, I'm no longer a fan of WWF or WWE as it is called now.

So a few days ago, out of randomness, I watched WWE on Astro Supersports.

I found that all the wrestlers have been replaced with unknown faces. Some are really white. With red hair. And mustache. This guy.

Sheamus is his name. Yeah. I thought he was an albino too.

Anyhoo, the one thing I've been dying to check on WWE is the scenes, not the wrestling. When I was young, I convinced myself that the whole fighting thing, the arguments, the blood, the dramatic scenes and even Undertaker's return from the dead were all real and not staged.

Of course it was staged. Which is why it was all the more fun to watch the scenes again.

Remember, there's always this heat prior to an upcoming Pay-Per-View event, usually between two wrestlers wanting to get the World Heavyweight title? Well, that never changed. It has always been like the following:

Wrestler A strides toward the ring looking all smug and bad-tempered, accompanied by his theme song which is usually along the lines of heavy metal genre.

Upon getting into the ring, his theme song stops. Still maintaining his stern looks, he walks around slowly and inspects the crowd while holding a microphone. The crowd appears to boo and throws insults at him. Most of the crowd hold out cardboards stating their disgust for wrestler A.

Wrestler A starts to talk. Talks about how Wrestler B is unfit for the World Heavyweight title. How it should be his. How he can prove it when the pay-per-view event comes. The boo from the crowd grows in intensity as he talks. In the background, Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross make some funny comment.

Then all of a sudden, a blast of theme song hit the ring. Wrestler B appears. His Heavyweight belt tugged upon his shoulder. Jerry Lawler act surprised. The crowd cheers.

And then both of the wrestlers confront each other. Glaring at each other first. After that, they talk.

Wrestler B manage to stir the crowd into his favour. Wrestler A is not satisfied. Then suddenly, Wrestler A strikes Wrestler B with his microphone. While Wrestler B tries to regain his bearing, Wrestler A readies to strike Wrestler B with his deadly finishing move.

Wrestler B apparently never see it coming. So when Wrestler B finally stands up...

Boom!! Smackdown!

Wrestler A leaves the ring satisfied, while Wrestler B seemingly remain unconscious.

------------

Then there's this one.

This scene is typical during a tag team match.

First, let me introduce the wrestlers. From left to right, A, B, C and D.

Now let the match begin!

A and C starts while B and D stands outside the ring.

A punches C.

A kicks C. And it goes on and on until C is totally weakened. Then out of nowhere, C manage to parry A and do a good counter attack.

Both of them lie down very very weakened as their respective teammate urge them to tag. Slowly, they began to crawl toward their respective teammate. Very dramatically.

And...BOTH OF THEM TAGGED SIMULTANEOUSLY!

Wrestlers B and D proceed to attack each other at the same time.

Wrestler D wins it with a crossline.

Wrestler A suddenly got his energy back and tries to hit D...

but D evades...

...and crossline wrestler A! Crowd cheers frantically!

Don't tell me you haven't seen these scenes before.

-------

So yea, I have illustrated two of the million typical scenes from WWE. Hope you all like it!

Phew! A lot of pictures there! Took hours to draw them (Really got nothing to do). Bah, that concludes DENcorp's second update in March. Don't forget, Earth Hour 2010 will commence tonight from 8.30 - 9.30 pm. Do your part ;)

The Horrible Truth

2010-03-22T11:39:00.017+08:00

Did it ever occur to you that the seats at your nearest cinema have not been cleaned since the day it opened?

Well, a friend of mine, whose name will remain anonymous, had a work experience as an usher in a very well known cinema in Brunei a few years back.

He claimed that for the length of his contract (about 3 months), he had never actually seen the seats of the cinema being cleaned. I'm not sure if the cinemas are cleaned once every 3 months though. But still.

However, all possibilities aside, what are the odds that the seat you sat when you watched your last movie had been pee-stained by some nasty toddler? Hmmm....food for thought.

Interestingly, another friend of mine was infected with red spots all over his arm after his last movie. I have no intention for defamation, but unless I am certain the cinemas are being cleaned on a regular basis, I will think twice before watching another movie.

So anyway, Brunei Darussalam has finally shown its willingness to join the Earth Hour 2010! It will be this coming Saturday, on the 27th March. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this - Earth Hour is a global event in which people are encourage to switch off all household applicants for just an hour. So..lights out people!

Life Experience in Kiarong Complex

2010-02-25T17:02:00.013+08:00

Do you guys know where the heck is Kiarong Complex? The place where Mubarak, Baiduri Bank and the 3 cent photocopy shop are located? If you know, then I will assume you are aware of the narrow and bumpy roads there.

Not sure if I should make a big deal out of it, but I thought I should.

I think.

To make things clearer, I drew up a map.

It was around 2pm at that time. I was on my way out of Kiarong Complex, between the Chinese Medicine shop and the mysterious block.

I realised there was a Black Mitsubishi Lancer EX driving slowly just right in front of me.

Suddenly, the Mitsubishi Lancer EX reversed his car. I thought he was just another stupid idiot, reversing his car while clearly realising a car was behind him because there's a parking just ahead of him.

Okay, that was forgivable. Then suddenly, the Lancer EX made a sudden hard reverse it nearly banged on the front of my car! Luckily, with my amazingly superb driving technique, I managed to make a quick evasion. Actually, I did a spontaneous reverse which almost hit the car behind me. I got honked.

But the Lancer EX's sudden reverse did not stop there. It insisted on reversing! I cursed the car and try to see what's the fuss ahead of him. What I saw was shocking.

There was a police car driving towards us! And the police car was driving in the wrong way! But then, that wasn't what shocked me. The Lancer EX was trying to reverse, because IT WAS TRYING TO ESCAPE FROM THE POLICE!

The Lancer EX looked so desperate to turn the car around, and drive away. I was there, stunned. My first thought was on the game Grand Theft Auto. The guy must have like 4 wanted stars to get cops chasing after him.

My second thought was that I might see my face on the next Video Zonkers episode in AXN. The show seem to have a lot of these kind of videos.

So anyway, the guy managed to turn and actually faced me.

Uh Oh. He was gonna crash into me to escape. I was a bit more concern of the damage he might do to my car than the possible injury I could sustain from that head-to-head clash. Of course he did not crash into me. I wouldn't be able to write up this whole thing if he did.

But no, all he did was panicked, not sure where to go. Probably he was trying to make sure he escaped without making any damage to the Lancer EX, which he probable had stolen earlier. He was all panicky, while I just sat there, stunned. He is definitely Malay, in his late 30s. I'm guessing he's local.

On the other hand, the cops came out of their car. Seeing that the Lancer EX guy was still violently trying to find a way out, without a slightest hint of giving up, the most obvious thing the cops could do right then was to shoot the Lancer EX tyres. But they didn't. Which I think was their biggest mistake.

I wish they did. I wanted to see gunshots in real life xP But not the ones aim at me of course.

The Lancer EX driver, sensing an opportunity, drove around the police car, and well, off he go. Now how the heck did he do that?! The road was so narrow, and there were cars parking on the horizontal sides, both along the Chinese Medicine block and the opposite side (refer to the map). The car must at least hit the front of the police car to go through. But it didn't!

The two blue dots are the heads of the cops who got out of the car.

The cops quickly get back into the car, and one of them actually waved at me. It is true that the Brunei Police Forces are friendly!

But anyway, for the next 5 seconds, the police car was struggling to turn to the other side and when they finally did, they continue on the hot pursuit of the Lancer EX. Leaving me, stunned and shocked.

I only wished I had REnzo's DSLR camera, so that I could snap some shots.

The whole event took less than 1 minute.

CNY2010

2010-02-13T20:31:00.006+08:00

Hello people!

This blog entry was supposed to be posted up days ago but I've completely forgotten about it. In fact, I almost forgot I even had the duty to blog rather than just to go DENcorp and look at the tagboard.

Anyways, it's the year of the Tiger.

I'm guessing Azim Soriano Kassim the Harimau is gonna get very hyper.

And maybe this guy too.

A lot has happened to tigers recently.

Including this tiger.

Population of tiger has decreased over the years, and it is feared that tigers will be driven to extinction if we failed to stop people from poaching tigers.

That would certainly drive Azim Soriano Kassim crazy!!

Anyways, that's not the point.

The point is about.. the Chinese New Year!

It seems just like yesterday was the countdown to the year of 2010, but no. Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, it's already the Chinese New Year.

It is without a doubt my favourite day of the year. The first day of CNY.

Shopping centers are filled with Chinese New Year decorations. Lanterns hung everywhere and immediately, you feel the atmosphere is there.

It is weird to find that among a big selection of the Chinese New Year decos, there's a small section at the corner selling medicines and something else.

Okay, I'm running out of things to say. Seriously.

So Happy Chinese New Year to everyone!!

Have you all heard...

2010-02-08T19:36:00.008+08:00

...about Apple's latest gadget, the iPad?

This so-called iPad, equipped with the latest technology no doubt, will enhance feminine hygiene big time.

That, of course, is not true.

iPad is actually a huge gadget, aimed for the nerdiest of people. It is a tablet computer developed by Apple. According to wikipedia, it is similar in function to an iPod Touch. It's just big.

I wonder what were Apple thinking...

Facebook is getting boring-er

2010-02-03T15:06:00.008+08:00

I think Facebook has been misused all over the world. Everyone's using it for different purposes.

Creating false identities, stalking others, people creating TWO or more accounts of themself, people adding up to thousands of people who they don't even know are just some of the problems in Facebook.

Moreover, a lot of people are using Facebook to be 'social' in a little bit more different way.

Before, I used to write on people's wall, looking at other people's profile (which I still do :D) and etc but now, it seems that the only thing I do in Facebook are wishing people happy birthday and play Mafia Wars. Yep, that's all I think.

My friend Gary gets very excited whenever someone posts a new profile picture.

There's this Q&A application which they'll ask you some questions which may be related to your friend, and you are to answer those questions.

Some answers are pretty weird and most of the time very sarcastic. No one ever took the questions seriously.

Can be very funny at times, but the more I see, the lamer it gets.

I'm not happy with some applications though.

You get one of your photos picked randomly but it never made any sense as to how it can be the 'Photo of the Day'. Sigh.....

The annoying trend nowadays are people becoming a "fan" of.... ummm.. something.. they like but yet isn't exactly a... REAL thing or an individual or idol worth becoming a fan of.

Well, from this picture above, you get the idea.

It seems pretty cool before, but now, it's just plain annoying. No offense hehe.

Why not become a fan of some local singer/restaurant/eatery/cafe? I think we need more people supporting our local firms. Though I'm not a fan of any.

You'll always find out if there's any offer or promotion coming on from the page, so that's good.

And we thought chain mails are only spreaded through our e-mail inboxes but no, it's in Facebook as well!

One particular example is:

"Attention all Facebook membeRs.

Facebook is recently becoming very overpopulated, There have been many members complaining that Facebook is becoming very slow. Record shows that the reason is that there are too many non-active Facebook members And on the other side too many new Facebook members.

We will be sending this messages around to see if the Members are active or not, If you're active please send to other users using Copy+Paste to show that you are active Those who do not send this message within 2 weeks, The user will be deleted without hesitation to create more space,

If Facebook is still overpopulated we kindly ask for donations but until then send this message to all your friends and make sure you send this message to show me that your active and not deleted.

Founder of Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg"

That is such an old trick. Try something new pleaseeeeeee....!

Another thing I particularly hate about social networking sites is people creating profiles of celebrities in which the creator claims to be the celebrity him/herself!

Shouldn't it be Lady GaGa instead of GaGa Lady??

Maybe it's alright if you admit on the page that you created the profile as a tribute. But claiming yourself to be the real Lady GaGa is simply too much. Just like the chain mail has claimed, it has caused Facebook to be too 'overpopulated' and become too 'slow'.

So everyday, the creator of the profile would simply log on to Facebook, check out all the lovely comments left by the "fans", feel his/her balls growing 5 times in size and ultimately scratch it.

It's too bad some of the celebrities can't add me :'( I want to be friends too :'( But me cannot becomes :'(

Me heart is breakkks =(

Look at the comments and see how many "fans" were upset about this matter.

Why bother anyway? What's the purpose of doing that I wonder? I'm pretty sure the creators really have too much time, got nothing else to do and are simply those kind of people who decides to be a jackass and really fancy the feeling of having fans and supporters worldwide.

Heck, if getting the attention, praise and love comments from "fans" is what you like, pleaseeeeeeeeeee.. Try something else.

Maybe post a video of yourself singing and dancing up on YouTube 'cause no matter how horrible or terrible the way you sing and dance, you'll still get fans and be loved by people all around.

William Hung may not be the best singer around, but he earned himself a record deal!

So use your brainnnn, or somebody's gonna get hurt real baddddd..

Big Grin

2010-01-27T14:13:00.018+08:00

I saw an Audi R8 this morning! Not in TV or the internet, but right in front of my god damn naked eyes!

I've seen GT-R, Ferrari, and Lamborghini on the road before, but none of them impressed me as much as this beauty did.

That's it. From this day onwards, I'm officially naming Audi R8 my dream car :D

Good bye Chevrolet Corvette ZR1.

And no, this is not the reason for my "Big Grin". Today, I attended the Brunei Shell Petroleum Talk at SEAMEO Voctech. I will briefly summarise the Talk into questions and answers format, for the convenience of those who didn't get to attend the talk.

Q. What is the minimum requirement to be rewarded a BSP scholarship?
A. Must acquire a minimum grade of BBB in A' Level in Mathematics, Physics and one other relevant subjects (Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Economics, Further Mathematics or Accounting); as well as a minimum of 5 O' Levels including Mathematics, English and Malay.

Q. What are the courses offered?
A. i. Geology ii. Geophysics iii. Mechanical Engineering iv. Chemical Engineering v. Petroleum Engineering vi. Control Automation and Systems Engineering vii. Mechatronics viii. Geomatics

Q. What the hell is Mechatronics??
A. Basically, it's a combination of Mechanical Engineering and ,Control Automation and Systems Engineering. It's like Mechanical Engineering, but it's more towards the control of a system. Automation. (Huh?!)

Q. ..Geomatics?
A. No idea. Ang Wee Guan made a theory. He said it's probably Geography+Mathematics=Geomatics.

Q. Will I be studying overseas if I get the scholarship?
A. Depends on the course.

Q. Please explain.
A. If you're applying for Chemical Engineering and Petroleum Engineering, you will be doing a 1+3 program, meaning, 1 year in ITB plus another 3 years in the University of New South Wales, Australia. As for the rest of the course, it is 100% overseas, unless you insist to study in ITB (but why would you?)

Q. For the rest of the course, will I get the freedom of choosing my own university?
A. Sure. If UK is your desired destination, then the university must be in the top 10 ranking in terms of the specific course (not the overall ranking).

Q. Damn..I've applied for another course in UCAS! What should I do?
A. If you really really want UK, then I think they said there is a way to cancel your UCAS application. I'm not sure how. If you really really want the course so badly, then I suggest you apply in other countries universities. That way, you can reject the UK universities you initially applied for, and accept the other countries university. Done.

Q. I think I am like Hazim. Can I apply for a Masters degree?
A. Well, if the university you applied for does not offer Bachelor's degree, then BSP may consider this. Still, the masters degree will be considered as an undergraduate degree (not sure if it's any different than the postgraduate degree.)

Q. Do I need to attend an interview to get the scholarship?
A. No. If you're selected as a candidate for the scholarship, you will go through a one day assessment program, where your leadership, teamwork and fitness ability will be tested.

Q. When is the assessment?
A. Approximately one week after the A level result.

Q. Do I get work placement or some sort of attachment?
A. Yes, after you are successful in your assessment.

Q. What is the quota BSP set in giving scholarships this year?
A. 31 students.

Q. What do I work as once I graduated?
A. Depends. A job as a Well Engineer must have a degree honours in Mechanical, Chemical or Petroleum Engineering. Of course, this is just one of the MANY job possibilities in BSP. There is also a job in laboratory, if you have a degree in say Geology or Geophysics.

Q. Tell me more about the jobs in BSP.
A. You get to choose between technical and non-technical professions. Technical are those directly involve in the actual mechanical projects, while non-technical are those who plan and design the project. After that, you may choose to generalise or specialise your profession. Generalist are those who make use about less than 20% of what they studied in university. Specialist are those who make use more than 30% of what they studied in university. Basically, you won't have much headache being a generalist.

Q. I meant salary hehe.
A. According to one of the guys this morning, working as a Drilling Supervisor may get as much as USD 20,000. Per month. However, that is not the highest income earners in BSP. The highest income earners are the Well Engineers. I heard that the starting salary in BSP is B$3100+. I regretted not asking this question.

Q. Do I have to go through Ministry of Education?
A. Yes, you will be tested with Malay oral test and MIB. Be prepared to memorise the names of all the Sultans of Brunei! Here's a start. Who is the 19th Sultan of Brunei?

Q. What is HECAS? Do I need to apply for HECAS to get BSP scholarship?
A. HECAS is like UCAS, except it's a local application. Those wishing to study in Brunei should fill this form. It will be available for filling from 1st February to 14th February, which is why many speculated the A level results to be out before February. And no, it's not necessary if you're applying for BSP. But just to be on the safe side, BSP recommended to just apply for it.

Q. Do I need to do some sort of applications to obtain the scholarship?
A. Unfortunately, you do need to fill in a form, which was made available during the Talk.

Q. OMFG! Are you serious?! Can I have the form too? Please...
A. I guess you can try to call them. Their numbers: 3373232, 3373173. Or email them at BSP-Scholarship@shell.com (p/s I emailed them once a long time ago. Never received any reply.)

Q. How will the BSP contact me if they want to give me an offer?
A. You will need to email or call them and tell them your A level result once you received it.

Q. Say I fail to get the BSP scholarship, is there a way for me to work there?
A. Yes. Pass the MoE Scholarship, graduate, and hopefully MoE will allow you to apply for a job in BSP.

Hope that helps! If you have any questions, you may tag at the tagboard. I will try my best to give the best answer possible.

So anyway, I grinned excessively because MECHANICAL ENGINEERING candidates will surely be sent overseas! And they don't require any religious school certificates!

Double WIN!

Morning Hike

2010-01-24T15:54:00.005+08:00

We all understand that a few weeks ago, the weather was so bad. Heavy downpour and floods everywhere means going to Tasek has never been more troublesome.

So during that time, when I suddenly woke up very early in the morning on a good weather around 5 am and got nothing to do, I decided to go Tasek.

One of the reason why I chose to go is also because I'm afraid it might rain in the afternoon.

I'd usually go there during afternoons because I'm too lazy to wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy and go Tasek looking like a zombie.

Nice trees.

It has been a really long time since I've been there in the morning. The only difference you get are the people who went there. It's slightly more colder in the morning.

Quite a number of people were already there, but not that many people. Most parents are probably busy sending their kids to school. So I guess that's why there's not that much people.

In fact, a lot of 'aunties' were there doing Tai-Chi.

Yeap, that's right. This made me realise that majority of the people who went to Tasek in the mornings are actually 'senior' people.

But if you wanna know the average number of people who went to Tasek on a normal day, just refer to this pie chart below.

After learning the surface of the hill isn't so wet and muddy, I went for a hike.

As I said before, because of floods and the bad weather, the rivers in Tasek were actually dyed into the colors of Teh-C Peng or Teh Tarik.

I couldn't find any life in the rivers with my naked eye. I wonder if the small little fishes were alive and swimming in the Teh-C Peng.

Heck, if it's the real Teh-C Peng, I bet we can even find humans swimming in the river.

Took this picture above because it looks creepy and mysterious. I wonder what's in there.

Maybe it leads us to Pandora.

At some point in the trek, I met this woman. She was standing somewhere high and is facing towards the beautiful view of lush green canopy of trees which Nazrin and I called the 'Giant Bowl of Broccolis".

And then, she yelled. Very. Loudly!

Not yelling a me, but yelling at the view. You know, people would yell at the sea but this woman was yelling at the forest.

No offense but I was starting to suspect the mental state of that woman. Hmmmm..

Yep. And that's all. That concludes my morning hike at Tasek.

Because I've been blogging about Tasek so so so many times, this might be my last post about Tasek in a long time.

I shall update again very soon. :)

Seven Wells that Eye on Malaysia

2010-01-09T16:56:00.027+08:00

First of all, I am sorry for not continuing to blog about Malaysia as soon as I was done blogging about the first one. It has been a pretty busy week. And now I'm glad that I am very much done with my personal statement!

So this will perhaps be my final entry on my trip to Malaysia. It will be about the Seven Wells, Langkawi Island and the Eye on Malaysia, Malacca.

Let the pictures amaze you ;)

En route to the waterfall.

Spotted this very unique tree.

I named it Breast Cancer. On second thought, it does look like a guy covering his dick. So let's just call it Dick.

Now feast your eyes upon the Seven Wells Waterfall!

This waterfall is named after the seven pools along its path. It's really nice to be able to witness nature at such close proximity.

Really speechless. (Actually I don't know what to talk about.)

The view was so spectacular that an idiot slid down the slick rock between the pools. He went airborne for a few milliseconds before he landed squarely on his ass on a hard solid rock. Ouch. Should have taken a picture of that. Could have sent it to Planet's Funniest Animal.

So that's Langkawi, and it's time to switch our focus on the Eye on Malaysia in Malacca.

Pure beauty. This, my friend, is Malaysia's very own Ferris Wheel, the Eye on Malaysia.

The portable Ferris wheel stood 60 metre tall. It was inspired by the London Eye. I wish I could take a ride, but the ticket price ain't cheap.

In ending my trip to Malaysia, I asked myself, "What do Brunei got in offer?"

Please don't say Jerudong Park.

Pulau Langkawi

2009-12-29T15:32:00.029+08:00

It has been more than 5 years at least since I have been to the beach. Comparing Brunei's beach to that of Pulau Langkawi's is like comparing Liverpool with Manchester United respectively. Well, maybe that's not a good example :p

Anyhoo, the first thing I noticed about the seas of Pulau Langkawi is its endless ocean blueness stretching from right to the left and from my point to the horizon. All blue.

Adding to the beauty of the beach is the presence of life in the sea. Yes, there were lots of small fishes swimming. We actually caught a few baby catfish!

In the midst of our excitement however, was a lurking jellyfish. Actually there were two. One was a baby, the other its mummy. So the only logical thing to do was to swim back to shore.

We complained to the lifeguard but his reply was "Eh? Those kinds of jellyfish won't sting. Only the red ones do" But it's not worth risking our lives by swimming back again. So together with the other strangers at the beach, we managed to bring the jellyfish to land.

Nasty things.

Navigating around Langkawi, we stopped by Langkawi's Wildlife Park.

This is one worthwhile stop I tells ya! I couldn't help but be impressed. If any of you are planning to go to Langkawi, this place is a MUST!

There are parrots.

Flamingos.

Owl.

REALLY BIG ostriches, almost the size of a Peco-Peco.

Eagle.

And other sorts of bird.

Of course there are plenty of other animals too and not just the birds. There were crocodiles, donkeys, horses, rabbits, and umm some strange animal.

Like this.

The world must have mixed some Pokemon into this world. Talking about Pokemon, I've recently received an email about weird animals deep in the ocean. Take a look at this:

This thing is real. It's called Axolotl. Many will think it cute, but to me, it's just plain weird. Just look at the smile! *shudders*

Back to Langkawi, amongst all those animals is this creative signboard, just outside the crocodile cage.

Yaa I know! They misspelled the word believe!

Crap By The Roadside

2009-12-19T19:09:00.001+08:00

Have you ever had this experience of wanting to take a dump on a long car road trip but couldn't find a toilet anywhere near?

Well, as human beings become more and more intelligent nowadays, we now have solutions for almost everything! Yes, that includes taking a dump on a long road trip and you don't even have to find a toilet!

What I'm talking about is a portable yet disposable cardboard lavatory, which is also called the 'Shit Box'.

Because it is made of cardboard, it's incredibly light and can easily be added to camping gear or simply be kept in your car.

You can fold it up, erect it, and it becomes a lavatory with a seat. Mind you, go easy when you're sitting on it because I think there has got to be a weight-limit.

If you sit on it with full force, you're surely to break the box and eventually you'll find yourself sitting right on your shit.

Not only it can be can be folded back up for more manageable transportation, it is also re-usable!

Yes, re-usable. Sounds like a disgusting idea but nothing to be worry about because the Shit Box comes with customised plastic poo bags, so technically your shit goes into the plastic bag and not the cardboard which means you can just dispose the plastic bags away leaving no shit stains on the box.

At £15.67 (BND35.4296 in today's market), it's definitely not cheap. However, it may be able to save you from crapping in your own pants.

Not sure if it's legal to crap by the roadside in Brunei though, but would you buy it?

It's Not Just Oil. It's Liquid Engineering.

2009-12-13T20:39:00.002+08:00

I bet most of you must've seen the Castrol commercial lately on TV which features Cristiano Ronaldo.

If you still haven't seen it yet, well, just switch to ESPN or Star Sports and wait patiently for the commercial to pop out. Or you can watch it here.

According to Castrol's official website, they said: "Ronaldo will be the face of Castrol football initiatives that will show the energy, motivation and determination that goes into delivering winning performances on the pitch. Cristiano will lead new Castrol Edge and Castrol Power 1 brand communication campaigns as well as supporting the full Castrol product range, including the exclusive workshop range of Castrol Professional products."

Ronaldo commented, "I admire Castrol as they have the same commitment to success and winning performances as I do on the field. I’m honoured to be working with them and am excited to see how Castrol analyse my own performances!"

Sounds like a big achievement. Well, it is actually. But sadly, people tend to make fun with his accent. Not just that, even the quotes from the advertisement sounds funny.

"Football takes me to many places. Hot places. Cold places."

And suddenly, Cristiano Ronaldo has been made the latest laughing stock by Abdullah Wafi.

We all know Ronaldo lives an extravagant lifestyle, but his upbringing since childhood isn't all that pleasant.

Ronaldo is born on the Island of Madeira, but moved to Sporting Lisbon at 12 years of age. The move was difficult because many of his teammates made fun of his Madeiran accent.

Heck, I don't even know if there's a difference in accent. Everything sounds Portuguese to me anyway.

An article said: "Ronaldo had been well-behaved, fun and a good friend to his classmates, but there are no such glowing descriptions offered at the Escola Barreiros in Lisbon. Cristiano’s heavy Portuguese accent set him apart from the other lads, who would tease him. On one occasion he even threatened to launch a chair at a teacher for a perceived slur on his Madeira heritage."

So don't play play.

No matter how tough you are, I bet NONE of you guys have the guts to throw a chair at your teacher.

So do I. :)

The Masquerade Party Exclusive Review

2009-12-05T10:10:00.000+08:00

The Holiday Lodge Masquerade Party hosted for all soon-to-be graduating Upper Sixth students in Brunei two nights ago was overall an okay event for me. To be honest, I wasn't quite impressed.

The first thing that came to my mind when I heard about the Party is of course the masks. And masks we wore on that night. But masks didn't make up the party. In fact, it was almost useless.

As far as I know (I went home 30 minutes earlier), there were no awards like Best Dressed or Prom King and Prom Queen, given. Also, everyone seemed to recognize everyone without much difficulty. I even impressed REnzo for being able to recognize him at a glance (who wouldn't? =p).

As a prom night event, dancing was the highlight. However, it wasn't what I expected. As I entered the banquet hall, fully expecting it to be somewhat classy, I was totally wrong. The place was quite dim and electronic music were being put to full blast by the DJs, instead of what I thought to be peaceful scenery with classical music in the background. All the songs were shuffle-able, and non were waltz-able.

The place was too small to fit everyone. There were lotta people standing up for the whole night. Luckily I found myself a not so comfortable seat. Directly behind me was a huge mind-BLASTing speaker. I am officially part deaf after the party.

On a positive note, the organizers were wise enough to invite DJ Izan from Pilihan FM to host the party!

Yup, that's her alright ;)

Also, there were 3 local bands performing; A Band Once, 4th of August and 4 Seconds. Don't ask me why the last 2 bands got the number 4 in their name. Maybe it's a sign that the world is gonna end in 2012 (4 means die in Chinese. So seeing two 4s in one night means double kill). Anyone here know that Jimbo's brother is the guitarist of the band 4th of August? Cool.

Have you ever seen a 6 and a half feet tall level 99 giant stomped the yard? Correction, a giant stomping the yard while having both hands on the shoulder of another guy. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to Mr. Davis Yap, a man who has been tagging DENcorp as "bigfoot".

Yea, he made everyone's day I tell ya ;)

So anyway, I hereby announce my absence as DENcorp blogger for 3 weeks, beginning tonight up to the 26th of December. I will be flying off to Malaysia to visit my families over there. That said, I hope Edison will relieve my post during my absence =p

Finally, have a happy holiday everyone!

Lift Vandalism

2009-12-04T17:39:00.003+08:00

Do you guys remember how the lift at the Bandar Bus Station looked like?

Yeap. Two-years ago, that's how the inside of the lift looked like.

If you look closely in the picture, you can see that there are some wet stains on the floor, which some irresponsible bastards had probably pissed on.

It stinks, without a doubt. Some would even avoid using the lift and use the stairs instead. But we did use it anyway.

It was torture.

The lift moves kinda slow too, and the duration you spent inside the lift without fresh oxygen circulating was horrible.

And then after some time, the lift was renovated and made cleaner, until several weeks or months ago I think, when it was vandalised again.

I was jaw-dropped.

The drawing was horrible, but with my 'initials' on it, I don't know if it's a good or bad thing.

It says 'DES - you can't stop us :)'

Is that the name of a clan or something? Explanation from someone is needed. Thanks.

Masquerade Party!

2009-12-01T22:16:00.005+08:00

Hello everyone!

So I heard the masquerade party will be tomorrow night at The Holiday Lodge Hotel. That seems like a popular spot for farewell gatherings and parties like this.

Masquerade parties are uncommon in Brunei. There has also been a recent complaint from someone claiming how the western influence of such parties can be harmful to our culture over here.

But I think that's a whole lotta bull. I still think it's alright to attend this kind of party once in a while, as long as we don't do stuffs which are considered 'bad'.

Anyway, let's move on to what I really wanna talk about in this post.

Masquerade parties. The one thing that immediately came onto my mind when I heard of this masquerade party are MASKS.

There's a list of rule set by the organisers which you gotta follow.

If you have not seen them, no worries, because, I'll be more than happy to copy and paste it all over here. Ain't you lucky enough being a reader of DENcorp?

Ps. Mask is COMPULSORY and please dress to impress.

IDENTITIES MUST NOT BE REVEALED BEFORE 10:30PM
(a countdown will be made)
To those who revealed their identities before 10:30pm; You will be disqualified from the competitions. *this does not apply during eating and toilet routines*

Yep. That's all. Thank you for reading.

Now that you've read them, you gotta do what they told you to do.

REPEAT. YOU GOTTA FOLLOW THE RULES. PLEASE START USING YOUR BRAIN ALREADY.

"What are the competitions?", one may ask.

In a prom party, the competitions are Prom King, Prom Queen, Best Dressed and so on. But in a masquerade party, it'll be no different, except that there's no Prom King and Queen. :(

AND if you reveal your identities before 10.30pm, then you're in FUCKING DEEP SHITE because the rules say you can't and you'll be disqualified!

But this doesn't apply when you're eating or when you gotta use the toilet. So I suppose if you're caught revealing your identity (even if accidentally) at some point in the night, just grab some food from the nearest table, or just force yourself to fart and pretend that you gotta shit, just so you can get away scot-free.

Hmmmm, whilst everyone's eating and got their identity revealed, people are still gonna recognize them anyhow after that. So how can the party be anymore fun after that?

Maybe you can bring 2 or more masks, cause people are most probably not gonna be able to recognise you after that.

After all, there's this 'Best Mask' award. So now that you've got more than one mask, doesn't that leave you with more chance to fight for the award?

I was told that my friend is gonna wear a Darth Maul mask to the party.

That's a really cool mask, if you ask me. Even better with a light-saber.

Then, it got me thinking.

What if everyone else wore a superhero or villain mask to the party?

Wouldn't it be awesome?

I think it will. ;)

Deja Vu

2009-11-17T20:02:00.003+08:00

Hi everyone!

Remember the 'Coffee Bean mistake' post I wrote before?

Well, if you have forgotten, I'd be more than happy to help you recall.

Happens like this, I ordered a drink, and was asked to give my name for collection later on.

I gave my name. And this came out.

But that's what happened several months ago.

Today, I went to the same place again, and did the same thing - ordered my drink, told them my name and wait.

Knowing that 'a mistake' happened before, I took a deep breath and tried to tell the guy my name as clear as possible.

Shortly, as I realized my order was ready, I was given yet another surprise.

Who the hell is 'Mr Tazman'??

Is my name really that difficult to pronounce and spell? Got write "mister" some more!

This is the not same guy who wrote my name. The last time, it was a female, but now, it's a guy. And again, not to be racist, I think they're both Filipinos.

Perhaps it's really my mistake. I should've told him my name is John or Gary or Ali.

DENcorp Special: Idiot's Guide To Prom! (if there is)

2009-11-01T20:03:00.009+08:00

Hello, ladies and gentlemen.

I'm here writing this very short prom guide to aid you if you have doubts on finding yourself a partner, what to wear, how to be prom king and so on.

I'll start on what a guy should wear for prom.

Though formal attire are required for proms, it is thought that suits are not all that necessary. A long-sleeve buttoned shirt, long pants, leather belt, leather shoe, a tie or a bow-tie would be enough.

The newest boyband in town. To book this band for your own private party, contact Gary.

You can still wear a suit or jacket to enhance your looks even more if you're aiming to be a contender for the prom king title. Or rather, trying to be a chick-magnet.

For some, wearing sunglasses may be essential as there might be paparazzis and tons of photographers with the big black heavy SLR cameras ready to snap a picture of you with a super high intensity flash that might keep you blinded for 5 seconds.

Style your hair. Bring a comb, or a small bottle of wax just in case your hair got messed up when all the girls tried to touch you. It'll definitely come in handy.

Every 10 minutes or so, just keep going to the toilet to check if you're still looking good, especially to see if your hair's still messy, but don't go too often, because people would think you're having a stomachache.

But no worries, after all, you'll still have alasan for going to the toilet.

Random Guy John: "Ehh, why you always go toilet? Wanna praattt-praattt-praattt is it? No wonder I always smell someone's kantut! Smell like durian u noe!! Pfft"
You: "Haha, no lah, actually I hear lame jokes, sangat lucu, bla bla bla, I nak pigi tandas bla bla bla"

Spot a handsome and emo guy sitting at the back there?

For the girls, hmmm.. I'm not sure, because this is a Muslim country, I'd expect every Muslim girls to wear a very colorful baju fesyen, with all the nice nice flowery designs and cuttings all over. Definitely an average joe-killer.

For non-Muslim girls, a long dress would be the best choice.

But of course, if you can, try to buy one from outside the country, just so that no one else would wear the same. It's alright if you can't. You know you did your best anyway.

Also, don't try too hard to be different. Because being different can really mean very different.

Like this.

Fail.

Just don't wear those t-shirts and jeans that anyone would wear to the Mall.

To get the best attention during the night, all you gotta do is to be emo.
-Seek attention by avoiding everybody.
-Be sensitive.
-If you're a guy with long hair, cover part of your eyes.
-Don't laugh at people's joke no matter how funny it is. If it's too funny, try your best to maintain the Jay Chou stare.

Or you can also be gothic.
-If you're a guy, you gotta seriously start taking make-up classes now dammit!
-Put on dark eyeliners, color your nails black, and use only black lipsticks, but don't paint your face! It's not Halloween!
-You may choose to pierce yourself on either your lips or your brows.
-If you're rich enough, go buy yourself a good 19th century black coat. For girls, you need long black dresses.
-To heighten the effect, you girls should consider wearing a net on your face.

Let's move to the next part. In finding yourself a partner 'cause it may spare you some bucks..

First, ask around and try to see if the girl already has a date. Rehearse what you want to say to the girl. If you got b@llz and are confident without practicing, then go right ahead! Just don't be all nerve-wrackling and embarrassed, who knows you might say the wrong thing and got a slap by the girl instead.

"Ex-exxxx-SKIUS me, u.. uuuuu wannnna g-go porn?"

Keep your invitation short and get straight to the point. Don't give any long-winded explanations or jokes. Just say what you want!

Here's an example: "Hey (Name), do you have a second? I just wanted to know if you'd like to go to the prom with me?"

Bad example: "Hey (Name), I want to go proms with you. But you pay $25, i pay $25 k? Fair and square."

Or you can even give her a candy to persuade her even more! Maybe Choki-choki, Toggi, Merci or M&Ms.

Well, if the girl you wanted to invite happens to be living just nextdoor, you can always ask her out using a notepad and a markerpen.

Write down what you wanna tell her on the notepad with the markerpen and show her through the window because that's how you're gonna ask her, no text message or msn thingy.

She'll first reject you, but it's alright. It's not the end yet.

Awwww. You got rejected.

You feel emo and sad because you are rejected, but as the old folks always say, nothing is impossible! So you patiently wait and wait for your chance.

Then, seeing you behaving so sad and emo, she'll ask you, "You okay?"

At this point, ignore her and go away immediately! Call the organisers and buy a singles ticket! Oh, and make sure you do let her see you cry too!

Why?

Because after all, she'll kesian you, dump her partner and then go join you in the night!

And when that happens, just look at her. Don't blink, and approach her slowly.

The next 10 seconds, you already know you got yourself a partner. :)

So what's the next thing to do?

What do you think..?

.
.
.
.
.

Of course go find the organisers and exchange your singles ticket for a couples ticket!

Already tell you got discount liaw you don't listen!!

5 Movies That Could Have Ended Quickly

2009-10-23T15:45:00.009+08:00

Inspired by cracked.com, I present to you 5 Movies That Could Have Ended Quickly.

#1. The Dark Knight

If only Batman just kill the heck out of Joker when Joker is helplessly standing right in front of him...

#2. Aladdin

If only Aladdin had thought of wishing for more wishes...

#3. Harry Potter

If only Voldemort apologize to Harry...

#4. The Terminator

If only Skynet had thought of sending many many assassin robots way back in time to kill a harmless baby Sarah Connor...

#5. Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen

If only Sam had known that Google is the best search engine in the world...

-----------------------------

To make up for the short post above, I will make a small analysis ahead of the big match between Liverpool F.C. and Manchester United F.C. this coming weekend. I will try to be as unbiased as possible :p

Liverpool's point of view:
Losing 4 games on the trot is certainly not a big four material. The Premier League and Champions League is at stake. The game against Manchester United this weekend will definitely prove to be vital if Liverpool are to finally live up to their seasonal quote of "Next year we will win it".

Liverpool will come into this game with a mental state of getting back to form and prove to the world they are still a contender. I'd say they will throw everything out to win the game, and nothing else. It's more of a "getting-back-to-form" than the traditional "league's deadliest rivalry match" atmosphere for Liverpool.

Manchester United's point of view:
On the contrary, Manchester United has enjoyed a long undefeated run since the Burnley game, eventually topping the league table. The game against Liverpool is an important one as Manchester United look to get back revenge for last season's defeat. Also, a win in this game will just prove to many just how independent Manchester United is without Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, Manchester United's goalscoring performance has failed to impress me. They are able to dominate all over the pitch, but when it comes to scoring, there is a slight problem.

Will Liverpool win?
If Gerrard and Torres are able to make a miraculous recovery, then they may have a chance as this will rejuvenate inspiration and motivation to the team.

Will Manchester United win?
If Giggs can recover by Saturday, and able to play, I'd say Manchester United will have a very bright chance of winning the game.

My prediction:
Liverpool 0-1 Manchester United

Berbatov will score a deadly header from half-way line! xD

Emo v.s. Gothic

2009-10-15T19:03:00.012+08:00

My latest ambigram. This time, I'm using a proper pen to draw.

This is a symbiotogram, a type of ambigram. It reads differently when flipped 180 degrees. I choose not to tell you what the above word says. I need to know how readable it is. So guys, tell me what you think it is through the tagboard yea.

I got 2 more ambigrams in store, but I still need to work more on it to make it look better. Will post those 2 up in a future update.

Recently, there's been a buzz about teenage subcultures brought to notice by REnzo via the tagboard. I thought of this as a good opportunity to update!

What's the difference between Emo and Gothic?

Well, after a brief analysis, this is what I found.

EMO

Description:
Hamid actually provided a good description for emo! Emo people are self-centered people who thinks the world revolves around him/herself only.

They think the world is gonna end. They think they are lonely when in fact they are just too stubborn to socialize. They frequently tell everybody that their life is full of shit, and are somewhat heartbroken to the point of suicide.

How to be Emo:
-Seek attention by avoiding everybody.
-Be sensitive.
-If you're a guy, keep your hair long so that you can cover part of your eyes.
-Don't laugh at people's joke no matter how funny it is. If it's too funny, try your best to maintain the Jay Chou stare.

-Do not talk.
-Listen to expressive and emotional musics.
-Upon reaching level 25, you are strongly advised to cut your wrist. You will never die.
-If you succeed, you will look something like this:

GOTHIC

Description:
Hamid actually provided another good definition for gothic! Well done Hamid! Someone should really consider buying him a chocolate!

Goths are people who has a strange affinity to dark tastes. They are strongly associated with the Victorian era. Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign of United Kingdom in the 19th century. As such, Goths often poised themselves as being a high level socialite to a certain extent, dressing themselves like those Victorians.

Their main trait is their defiance and rebellion to social norms. They are strongly inspired by romanticism. 4 words to describe Goths are dark, mysterious, morbid and horror.

How to be a Victorian Goth:
-Start of by reading a lot of romantic novels, particularly novels from the 19th century.
-If you're a guy, you gotta seriously start taking make-up classes.
-Put on dark eyeliners, color your nails black, and use only black lipsticks.
-You may choose to pierce yourself on either your lips or your brows.
-If you're rich enough, go buy yourself a good 19th century black coat. For girls, you need long black dresses.
-To heighten the effect, you girls should consider wearing that net thingy on your face.

-For girls, shield yourself with black umbrellas wherever you go. Guys are advised to wear that rectangular magician hat (y'know, the one where magicians always take out rabbits?)
-Attend theaters, masquerades, and ball parties. Of course, if you live in Brunei, the best place you can attend is to the Mall.
-A successful Victorian Goth will look like this:

Check out Trellia's deviantart gallery. There are actually a lot of other stereotypes of Goths!

That concludes my analysis for Emo v.s. Gothic. Since REnzo brought up this topic, are we to witnessed REnzo's transformation from Emo to Goth? Or is Gary gonna realize his potential lies within his Handsomeity and not Emo? We'll find out ;)

Ambigrams

2009-10-03T21:17:00.011+08:00

[Wikipedia] An ambigram is a typographical design or artform that may be read as one or more words not only in its form as presented, but also from another viewpoint, direction or orientation.

-----------------------------------------

Try reading the word "ambigram" upside down from the image above, then you'll understand.

I was introduced to the world of ambigrams when I read Dan Brown's Angels and Demons a few years back.

However, I only started building my interest towards ambigram earlier today xD Out of pure boredom in one of my classes *cough* Economics *cough* today, I attempted ambigraming my name. And the result is a proud enough achievement for me. Which is why I am posting this, in order to show it off to the world =p Can't help it.

Not bad for amateurs, eh?

When I got home, I started manipulating my brothers' names.

Nadzuan. I think I messed up the letter "a" there.

Nazrul.

And my final piece of the day comes in the form of...

DENCORP! Gotta admit I screwed up the letter "c" there.

Hope my skill will develop in the near future! Then I'll produce better results.

Study leave for MD-ians will commence next week on the 10th of October. A level is fast approaching. I'm taking this chance to wish everybody good luck in every papers that you are gonna sit. It's our final exam in our schooling life everybody! Let's make it worthwhile!

Can't Sleep

2009-09-26T18:59:00.003+08:00

in⋅som⋅ni⋅a
–noun
inability to obtain sufficient sleep, esp. when chronic; difficulty in falling or staying asleep; sleeplessness.

Everybody has experienced it. Everybody hates it. Even Craig David's singing about it. If that's not enough, he's even got Korean singer Whee Sung to sing a Korean rendition of it.

Thinking about the word "insomnia", it reminded me of how REnzo sang the song at the mall's karaoke box. Did REnzo chose to sing that song to make the meaning come through? So that we hear his singing and can't sleep too? Well, for good or bad reasons, it's up to you to decide.

Okayyyy, I was just joking, REnzo, so please don't be mad. I gotta write more stuffs to make this entry not-so-short right? See, it's really tough to be a blogger. Now, let's cut the crap, and head straight to the point.

I very recently had it. Twice?

I'm sure nobody likes the feeling of being unable to sleep. Those hours you spent staring at the ceiling, rolling around your bed, trying to adjust the best position to sleep could've better off be used to doing something else.

But I do have to say, I'm not the kind of person who'd fall asleep easily. Like my dad for example, everytime he lies on the bed, he would usually take less than 30 seconds to sleep, and then I would hear him snore.

Sometimes, I only get to sleep for only a few hours, and then the next day, I'll be having headaches and getting sleepy for the whole day.

I'm not like those kind of extreme "insomniast". (for e.g. Wafi, Najaah, REnzo, Syam and etc.) Those people can sleep really really late that sometimes they don't even sleep at all and still behave like a normal person the day after.

How did they manage to do that, I have no idea.

But I need your help. How can I put myself into sleep more easily? My eyebags are getting heavier everyday.

I do know there are tons of solutions out there in the internet, but I need to hear from you guys.

So? How? Cemana?

Aidilfitri

2009-09-20T19:09:00.010+08:00

As Andy had pointed out, Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration here in South East Asia is slowly transmerging with Chinese New Year celebration.

He listed out 3 factors:

1) The Introduction of Green Packets.

The Chinese invented the Ang Pow (Red Packet) a long time ago (dated back to the Qing Dynasty even). The Malays in this region didn't want to lose. So they copied it several years ago, and changed the colour green to mark it their own.

2) The Firecrackers!

Traditionally, firecrackers are common during Raya and Chinese New Year celebrations. However, on one occasion, Andy sworn to have seen his neighbour lighting up a Chinese firecracker (pictured above) during the fasting month. To confirm his suspicion, the firecracker exploded with a deafening explosion to reveal a scroll with the words "Gong Xi Fa Cai!" at its climax!

3) The Recent Introduction of Syawal Mooncakes.

'Nuff said.

I'm not saying it's wrong to copy others. It's actually nice to see Malays and Chinese suddenly become so united. You will never know how similar Raya and Chinese New Year will be in the future!

Imagine a malay version of the Lion Dance!

Hari Raya celebration in Brunei will officially commence tomorrow! Representing DENcorp, we wish everyone a Happy Hari Raya!
I'm taking this opportunity to seek forgiveness if I had ever hurt, offended or simply annoyed the crap out of you =)

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri everyone!!

BRIDEX 2009

2009-09-16T13:50:00.004+08:00

Sorry for this late late entry.

More than a month ago, me, Gary, Nazrin, Guan and Faiz went to biggest military event in Brunei which is none other than the Brunei International Defence Covention and Conference (BRIDEX 2009).

The first BRIDEX was held back in 2007 and I've never released it back then.

We didn't really know how big this exhibition is until we experienced a HUGE traffic jam along the Jerudong highway that got us stucked for more than 1 and 1/2 hours!

And I'm not even exaggerating.

We actually set off at 2pm and only reached the site at 3.50pm! I kid you not!!

The traffic jam takes forever and what's worse is that me and Guan suddenly had the urge to use the toilet while waiting in the traffic jam.

No, we did not get out of the car and take a piss by the roadside, but had got to hold on until we find the toilet at Jerudong Park Food Court.

The traffic jam was only the minor hard part. When we reached Jerudong Park, the second hard part came, that is, to finding a free parking spot.

Gary then dropped me and Guan to the nearest toilet at the Jerudong Park food court and went off to look for a parking spot.

After me and Guan were done with the toilet, we met up with Gary, Faiz and Nazrin only to find Nazrin holding just 4 tickets on his hands and accidentally left the other one in the car!

And Gary actually parked his car at somewhere so so far out. We had to run all the way back to his car, just to retrieve the other ticket.

Without wasting any more time, we head to one of the pondoks, and luckily, a vacant shuttle bus was already there, ready to drop us to the BRIDEX site.

The government actually built these sites and buldings mainly for BRIDEX. We were held at the first bulding for a temperature check, only then we get to proceed to the real BRIDEX exhibition hall.

The buildings were not like any other buildings you've seen in Brunei.

Immediately I was reminded of 2 things.

Beijing's National Indoor Stadium, The Water Cube.

...and CERN Globe.

We learned that the exhibition is divided into 2 sections, the East Wing and the West Wing.

Both exhibition hall showcases more or less the same thing actually.

At least we find exhibition hall 1 a better place. We were awestrucked by the sight of two hot and tall Korean ladies at the Daewoo booth.

Most of the booths display miniature models of military vessels..

planes..

tanks..

..and so on.

They even have this thing which Andy called the "military BBQ grill".

To my surprise, there are even food, snacks, or candies at some of the booths. At this particular booth, where there's chips, Guan's been eating non-stop.

And believe it or not? He actually gained 2kg that day!

Nah, just bluffin'.

Located at the middle of the hall are two Land Rover military vehicles.

I find it annoying that people actually went into the vehicle to yank the horn.

Suddenly, we heard a loud blast! It sounded as if we were attacked by terrorists! There were black smokes! Not inside the hall lah, but somewhere out near the beach.

Looking out through the window, it's just a demonstration after all.

What I find rather surprising is that there's a Coffee Bean booth inside one of the halls.

What lah.. Why is there a Coffee Bean booth inside here?

I'm not sure if Coffee Bean would make profit by setting up a booth there but there are some cheaper options around.

Like Vitasoy for example. Why?

Because Vitasoy got Zul HF cheap!

Look at the picture. There are two other kids drinking packet drinks too!

Exhibition 2 showcases something which are more "hardware-related".

Like this stuff here.

I don't even know what this is.

They also got this gigantic spanner which none of us were able to lift with one hand.

I thought it'd be rather cool to keep one of those in my car next time, so it'll come in handy whenever people are trying to pick a fight. But it's too heavy for me to lift. =(

M16? Too bad BRIDEX does not have a firing range where they can let us try our hands on some real guns. They would've earned lots from this I guess.

MTU Series 4000 M03 engine. An engine for planes. Has high power (4300 kW/5797 bhp), low operating costs and low emissions.

Heck, how do I know all these spec stuffs? =p

The G.I. Joes.

Military Sniper suit. Good for camouflaging.

Rifle bullets.

A delegate giving a small briefing.

We then head outside after we feel there's nothing else to see on the inside.

Outside here, there were quite a number of military vehicles.

For instance, this.

This is what they call Infantry Fighting Vehicle or Armored Fighting Vehicle . It's from Turkey.

I finally had the chance to sit on one of the military vehicles.

Again, it's a Land Rover.

It was awesome. Sitting on the driver's seat, it seems as if I was driving along a battlefield whereas Lieutenant Zul HF was behind me, shooting down the enemies.

And that concludes our BRIDEX journey.

It was VERY tiring.

We even have to wait for the bus at the end and there was a bit of traffic.

Overall, I think this exhibition is worth visiting.

I might come back again in 2011.

What's With It With Some People?

2009-09-10T14:08:00.006+08:00

I wouldn't want to post stuffs about this, but I simply couldn't help it.

My mum worked as an assistant cook in a primary school. So one day, there's this small primary school girl came to the kitchen and asked for a cup of water. My mum gave, but to the disapproval of this particular old lady. The primary school girl looked very weak and sallow-faced that my mum had to ask her what happened.

She came from a very poor family. Her family hadn't been eating for a few days, and had to rely on warm water to satisfy their stomachs. Her story may be confirmed from her weak appearance.

However, I don't know what's wrong with this particular old lady. Every time she saw this girl, she laughs at her while saying, "Anak Si Lapar!" (English translation: "Child of Hunger"). Is this necessary? She disapproves her of asking for free water, that is bad enough. But why the insult?

I still got alot of other things that will definitely discredit her even more, but let's just stop here.

Seriously, if I am rich, I will definitely help this girl out more. But as for now, my mum will support her by giving her $1 everyday in school ;) Proud to have my mum!=D

The nerve of spoilt people.

Career Path

2009-09-06T12:53:00.015+08:00

I'm all relieved that MD's qualifying exam is now done! I hope I did enough to earn myself a satisfying overall grade.

There's only about 2 more months to A Level. Perhaps this is probably the most toughest period yet in our form 6 life, if not our life as a whole. The decision we are gonna make will influence our future totally. So what are we gonna do in the future?

Seeing Brunei, I don't think there's a lot of jobs that you may pursue. For example, jobs like archaeologist, astronomer, politician, artist, musician, psychologist, forensic doctors, actuarial science-based jobs, either do not exist here, or at the very least, won't do well. Of course, if you plan to work abroad, then that wouldn't be the case.

The image is uploaded solely to make Desmond go crazy with the word "success" :p (Refer to previous post)

On the contrary, it is a privilege for Bruneians to have so many scholarship opportunities. There's the impossible Yayasan scholarship and MinDEF scholarship (I heard AAA is a must), the moderate BSP scholarship, to the regular MoE scholarship.

As for me, I'm all out for...BSP scholarship!

My reasons for choosing BSP:
i) One of Brunei's highest income earners (Only second to MinDEF I think)
ii) Exposure to the outside world (therefore rejecting the idea of going to UBD)
iii) Field jobs are more to my liking
iv) Jobs are guaranteed (0% chance of being jobless once graduated)

Do correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I heard, BSP scholarship grants many benefits. Not only that you may choose your preferred University destination, you are also entitled to allowances (Up to 1000 pounds in the UK!). They will also sponsor air tickets to return home each year, and will immediately give you an attachment to work for a few weeks to gain experience (while also earning real salaries too :p). Those are what I heard from people only la. Hopefully it's real.

In short, it's all about earning good money xP

If I really do get BSP scholarship, then I will most probably choose Electrical and Electronical Engineer as my career. I've checked out wikipedia in order to study more about this job. These are some of what wikipedia has to say about this job:

------------------------------------------------------------------

i) From the Global Positioning System to electric power generation, electrical engineers have contributed to the development of a wide range of technologies.
ii) For example, they may work on the design of telecommunication systems, the operation of electric power stations, the lighting and wiring of buildings, the design of household appliances or the electrical control of industrial machinery.
iii) Today most engineering work involves the use of computers and it is commonplace to use computer-aided design programs when designing electrical systems.
iv) For many engineers, technical work accounts for only a fraction of the work they do. A lot of time may also be spent on tasks such as discussing proposals with clients, preparing budgets and determining project schedules.
v) During their working life, electrical engineers may find themselves supervising a wide range of individuals including scientists, electricians, computer programmers and other engineers.

------------------------------------------------------------------

To summarise above, my first impression of Electric and Electronical Engineers will be of it's seeming superiority. See how it even overpower scientists :p

Assuming I fail to get BSP scholarship (touchwood!!), my second option is to pursue physiotherapist as my career. More specifically orthopaedic physiotherapist. It involves diagnosing, managing, treating, and rehabitilize post-surgery patients. Meaning, if one patient just had a knee sugery, orthopaedic physiotherapist will guide the patient back to walking ability. I thought this job is rather simple, I hope!

All in all, the way I choose my career path is heavily based on physics, maths, and money.

So what will it be for you guys?

[I now declare that DENcorp will resume back its operation]

It's Gonna Be Me

2009-08-27T21:53:00.005+08:00

I'm announcing a temporary hiatus for at least a week. (Unless Nazrin has got something to blog about)

And before I return to blogging, I'm posting 2 random videos for you guys.

Cheers. :)

Success

2009-08-17T14:06:00.003+08:00

I have been seeing the word "success" for so many times these days.

Recently, I watched the movie Borat again, and Borat was saying "Great success!" for so many times.

Not so long ago, I copied some Korean songs from my sister's external HDD and one of the songs I copied is Super Junior's Success.

Someone mentioned the word "Success" in Facebook.

This morning at school, my teacher also mentioned the word "Success".

And when I logged onto Sky Sports news, I saw the word "Success" again!

So what exactly is happening? Why am I seeing this word these days?

Is it just me or the word "Success" is getting more popular? Am I on the verge of becoming successful?

My dad promised me few days ago that he would reward me with something really cool IF i managed to get 3As for this coming A Level in November.

That's like music to my ears, but the thing is, it's not easy and it seems more likely that the chance for me to fly on the sky with my bare hands is even much higher than to achieve 3As.

But thanks to my dad, at least he gave me some motivation. =)

*I'm posting this because I find it surprising to see the same word over and over again.

Oral Me

2009-08-08T17:58:00.002+08:00

I was at Hua Ho Manggis Mall supermarket last week and I saw these range of antiseptic mouthwash, with the brand name none other than Oral Me.

Think you seen/heard this before??

I know some of you may have seen this from kennysia.com, but I'm sure at least some of you may not have seen this before.

Well, if you don't know, this Oral Me is supposedly a fake version of the brand Oral B.

This is what happens when you try to imitate or sound like the brand name of some globally recognized brand. You get a crappy name instead.

What I find funnier is their slogan, "My Choice."

It's definitely not my choice.

Top 8 Names You Never Knew Existed

2009-08-02T09:49:00.018+08:00

Last week I featured my Top 10 pick of footballer lookalikes. This time I will present a similar form of post, but different subject.

I hereby present to you..

My Top 8 Names You Never Knew Existed!

8. Thedoric

I would have accepted Cedric or Theodore. But Thedoric? According to him, he has only found one other guy who shared his name through google. Pretty rare, huh?

7. Fish Leong

A Malaysian-born singer called Fish. 'Nuff said.

6. Z-Chen Chang

Another Malaysian-born singer. His name sounds like the name you would have thought cool as a child. You know, it's those days when "Dragons", "Tigerz", "Shadow~", "Lord_0F_D@rknezz", etc seem very cool a name you would definitely use as your Friendster account ID. Interestingly, he has a cousin whose name is Fish.

5. Prince Michael Jackson II (a.k.a Blanket)

There's nothing wrong about naming your son Prince. But why Blanket?

4. Huzaishysy

Another friend of mine bore an unusual name. Ex-SOASCians will definitely know that this guy has bagged numerous awards. For every award he earned, the announcer would have difficulty pronouncing his name. Some pronounced Hu-zai-Shee-Shee, others Hu-zai-Shy-Shee. So listen up smartass, his name is pronounced "Hu-Zai-Sees". Huh? How is "Shysy" pronounced as "Sees"? Beats me.

3. Han Ran Jiao

I found this name in a video game I played. Han Ran Jiao.

Feeling curious, I talked to him.

Irreplaceable knife? Hmm..I wonder what that means.

Oh! You chicken out because you just "lost you irreplaceable knife"! I suggest you to change your name to Han Bai Chee, perhaps?

2. Max Hell

As the article (you gotta love the headline) suggested, the child called Max Hell was rejected from enrolling into church school just because of his surname. I don't see any harm in having a name as such. Apparently, the Hell family were of Austrian descendant, and Hell meant light in their mother tongue. Ironic, huh? Hell meant light.

1. !Xobile

Anyone who had loved Russell Peters would know this! I don't know if the name is made up to build his jokes or not. He claimed to have met this security guard and saw his nametag that reads !Xobile. When he tried to address him, well, now that's the thing. How do you say his name?? Unlike Huzaishysy, you have no idea how to start calling his name. Since it starts with an exclamation mark, must we go like...XO-bee-lay?? Now, how do you pronounce "!"?

Turns out, the proper way to pronounce it is (click)-bee-lay. Yes, you must do the clicking sound in his name. The nerve of some parents, naming their son like that.

What do you think? Found any names you found unusually rare? Share it with us ;)

Top 10 Footballer Lookalikes

2009-07-23T21:35:00.015+08:00

I am proud to present...

My Top 10 Pick for Footballer Lookalikes!

10. Rooney (Man Utd) vs Jimmy Hopkins (From the PS2 game, Bully)

9. Fabio Capello (England Coach) vs Jack Coleman (From NBC TV series, Heroes)

8. Sami Hyypia (Liverpool) vs Rob Schneider (Hollywood Actor)

7. Francesc Fabregas (Arsenal) vs Zachary Quinto (From NBC TV Series, Heroes and more recently, Star Trek)

6. Dimitar Berbatov (Man Utd) vs Musso Mason (Metro Station's lead vocalist)

5. Sir Alex Ferguson (Man Utd Coach) vs The Colonel (KFC)

4. Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich) vs Nicholas Cage (Hollywood Actor)

3. Manuel Almunia (Arsenal) vs Scotty 2 Hotty (WWE wrestler)

2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) vs Leonid The Magnificent (The gay Russian from America's Got Talent)

And my top pick is non other than....

1. Van Der Sar (Man Utd) vs Gary (MD Football League 2009 MVP)

Sorry for picking too many Man Utd players! Can't help it :p

MD's Manganime Club's Hideout

2009-07-17T15:47:00.010+08:00

I paid a visit to the Manganime Club (which also shares the same place as the unofficial Big 2 International Club) yesterday afternoon.

As I was chatting and looking around, I found the club president, who was seemingly busy doing stuffs with his laptop.

On closer inspection, a curious tool caught my eye.

Rogut! Never knew such a tool existed!xp Whatever is scribbled on the pad will immediately be transmitted onto the screen via an application. Sweet!

Imagine playing Counter Strike with this :p

So anyways, he offered to draw an Anime form of me. What else can I say? =)

Same?;p

I would have more pictures of other people, but he couldn't finish it on time. I'll try to make him finish it by next week xD

Tasek vs Markuching

2009-07-13T14:18:00.005+08:00

This post is divided into two sections and will be all about Jungle Trekking. I know I have blogged about Tasek for so so many times already but in this post, I will introduce you 2 routes which are still new. But if it's boring for you, then I'm sorry.

Roughly more than a month ago, me, Andy and Thedoric went to Tasek after I told them about the 'new' jungle trek route.

This route is not so new actually. It has been 'opened' for probably six or seven months already. (Or maybe longer? Anyone know?)

This route starts from the right side of the reservoir. I know many people would mistakenly think it's the left of the reservoir but I repeat, it's the right.

For first timers, this route would be a lot of fun, but could be very tiring too.

Very soon after entering, you'll find yourself at the foot of a high and rocky hill.

At this part, I think it would be rightfully called as 'hiking', because you're really climbing a hill with rocky surface.

It's high, but it's not very steep. Experienced ones would find it easy I think.

And to our surprise (only me actually), there were pitcher plants!

Dead pitcher plants.

I never thought I would see pitcher plants in Tasek. Be it dead or alive.

Now I'm hoping to find Rafflesia at Tasek the next time I go there.

Atop of the hill, you'll find yourself standing tall, overlooking a nice view of the forests and the reservoir.

It would've been better if it's higher, but this is okay already.

Just look at Andy and Thedoric's expression, really delighted.

Thedoric's so happy that it seems as if he's promoting the bottle of 100 Plus he's holding, and Andy is just playing with his..........

bottle.

And as you proceed on further, you'll most likely have to do a lot of ascend and descends, which is really really tiring. At some point, you'll find yourself at a really really low area, covered by trees where 75% of the sunlight cannot shine in.

One thing I like about this route is that it's very 'jungle-ry'.

Thedoric climbing..

You'll also get to Bukit Sarang Helang. It's named this way because there's a gigantic eagle nest up a very very tall tree.

I only noticed the eagle nest on my 5th visit, but so far I've never seen any eagles. :(

~~~

And now I'll talk about Bukit Markuching.

It can actually be reached from Tasek Lama but it would take up to more than 2 hours.

We started the route from Bukit Markuching, Subok itself, which is near Andy's house.

The road looks a bit slithery.

The one thing I noticed at Markuching is that, there are these huts/pondoks almost every 30 steps.

At first, I even thought the huts are some fruit stalls.

There'll be a large blue tank at the side of every pondok. And one of them were infested with tadpoles. I have no idea how did they get there.

The trees here look a bit special too and like no other, one of them is shaped like a dinosaur species, Brachiosaurus.

Amazing, isn't it?

A tree with a big nest.

The views in Markuching are so far outstanding compared to Tasek.

But still, there's always a downside.

Although the view may be nice, I felt Markuching is less challenging than Tasek, and I mean it.

Maybe it's just me or Andy took us to an easier route, I think we completed the trek very quickly.

Overall: Tasek has nice views too, but Markuching has better ones. Tasek Lama is tougher than Markuching.

Maybe soon, I'll try going to Markuching from Tasek Lama. Anyone wanna join?

Moonwalking

2009-07-08T14:17:00.008+08:00

Anybody watched Michael Jackson's funeral last night?

The King of Pop was not only a superb singer and a creative dancer, but also a boundary-breaker, a kind-hearted person, someone who cared for the world.

He gathered various singers to sing "We Are The World" in order to raise funds to help famine-relief in Ethiopia, back in 1984. "Heal The World" and "Earth Song" are his other messages to create awareness. It doesn't matter if he's "Black or White". Racism doesn't exist in his world.

Such is the nobility of Michael Jackson.

The famous Moonwalk

Michael Jackson is truly a legend, an irreplaceable entity in the face of music, and society.

Thank you for everything. May you rest in peace...

My top three favourite songs of MJ:

3. You Are Not Alone

2. Smooth Criminal

1. Black Or White

Back to H1N1.

With increasing warriness as to the case of swine flu in Brunei, Thedorico Franchi Chong Cheng Shiong, the latest Bruneian poet (and was interested to join force with DENcorp a few months back :p) composed a poem.

Have a read on it. I thought it's well constructed and humorous at the same time ;)

Thedorico Franchi Chong Sheng Shiong - H1N1 a.k.a Swine Flu Poem

Yet once again its that time of the year again
When the lowly flu exceeds your bargain
Who else can tell us where it came from
When a sneeze sounds louder than a bomb!

Anxious faces emerge all around
Shielded behind hot-selling masks
Inhaling each breath with muffled sound
Warily going about their tasks.

Is it really as deadly as they say?
Even if it smells of holiday
Cases keep soaring in the bulletin
Fear has driven most into quarantine.

The paranoia grows ever so thick
If you cough and cough today
And the next day I fall so sick
I will think of you everyday! =)

Lighten up your day :)

To Prevent H1N1, Can You Do It?

2009-07-02T15:44:00.006+08:00

It has been a really long holiday indeed, especially after our 2-weeks holiday has been further extended to another week, which makes it 3-weeks in total.

I have to say, I really enjoyed the holiday, although I have done nothing much lately.

Any outdoor activities will also have to limited ever since the outbreak of Influenza A(H1N1), and yes, I'm sure all of you know that's the reason why our holiday got extended.

Despite Ministry of Health's endless advice and precautions, new cases of people infected with H1N1 continues to increase everyday.

It seems that most likely, the victims are close contacts of those already infected.

I have gathered every possible ways from the internet on how to prevent H1N1.

Some of the side-effects may include coughing, sneezing, headaches, fever, sore-throat, chills, and aches and pains.

The disease can spread prior to these symptoms. Many of these symptoms may also be caused by hay-fever or a more common cold.

One way to prevent it is, of course, stay away from the infected and their close contacts.

Avoid social activities like going to parties, gatherings, shopping complexes, markets and of course swimming pools!

Avoid traveling to any known parts of the world that are infected.

Although this is very basic, you must know that there are strands of the disease that are airborne and just being in the immediate presence of the flu can infect you.

Cleanliness is going to be your new motto until this whole mess passes by. You should definitely wash your hands and face frequently with soap and water.

Washing your hands in hot water for more then 20 seconds will kill some of the germs that could potentially be passed from person to person.

Another method of washing your hands with alcohol based sanitizer is known to kill a high percentage of germs that we carry as well.

Make sure you do wash your hands too before you eat. It is important that we all do our best to cover the basics during this time.

Avoid sharing cutlery, glasses, apparels and so on.

Use a tissue to cover mouth and nose when coughing.

Dispose of the tissue immediately.

Avoid touching your mouth, eyes, nose, or any open wounds.

This will only heighten your chances of the flu entering your body. If you do HAVE to remove something from your eye, make sure to wash your hands before doing so!

And last but not least, if you are sick, please, stay at home.

Everyone is also advised to wear masks, so if you don't have one yet, just get it already from Guardian!

Please do your part to help prevent the spreading of this deadly flu and make sure to keep you family informed on how to recognize the symptoms.

Like the old saying.. "Be a man, do the right thing..!" ;)

2012 Doomsday Prediction

2009-06-21T19:46:00.004+08:00

Some of you may know, and some of you may not know.

The date December 21st, 2012 A.D. (that’s 13.0.0.0.0 Long Count), is the end day of the Mayan Long count calender and is believed by many to be the end of the world as we know it.

If you don't know who the Mayans are, well, they are indigenous peoples in parts of Mexico and Central America.

The Mayans were very advanced stargazers and throughout history had never made a single wrong prediction.

That's the scary thing about the Mayans calendar is that everyone who’s ever studied the Mayan calender agrees that they were trying to give us a warning about the events of 2012.

Massive floods and earthquakes will occur. Earth's crust will shift, sweeping continents thousands of miles away from their present positions.

If you wanna know more about the 2012 doomsday prediction, you might as well wanna catch the movie 2012.

And here's the trailer.

You can get more info from here or simply google search '2012'.

This video is interesting too by the way.

If this news sounds very bad for you, maybe you can visit the 2012 page on uncyclopedia. That might cheer you up a bit.

So where do you think you will be in 2012?

After knowing this 2012 doomsday, do you think you'll be having insomnia???

Gwen's Birthday Bash!

2009-06-19T11:36:00.005+08:00

So we went to Gwen's potluck BBQ birthday party at her place last Saturday night.

Special thanks to Gary as he took the trouble of having to pick up me, Nazrin, Guan and Thedoric from our houses respectively.

We had trouble trying to locate Gwen's house because we were all so unfamiliar with the roads at her kampong. We eventually made a few wrong turns and ended up in a basketball court up a very tall hill where a group of semi-naked foreign workers were playing basketball and they all looked so fierce.

We didn't bother to ask them for directions because we thought they might challenge us to a game of basketball before they could point us the address to Gwen's house.

We made another few more rounds and finally found the right place. It turns out that we've missed her house initially and went further instead.

Anyway, as the invitation card had suggested, this is a 'potluck' BBQ party. I had no idea what it meant until Nazrin and Gary told me.

Ironically, everyone except Thedoric brought foods instead of presents whereas Thedoric was the only one who bought present instead of foods.

Nazrin brought sausages, Gary brought fried sotong balls, Guan brought soft drinks and me crab sticks. Very petty of me I know.

Someone more generous brought fried noodles.

Some brought macaronis.

And cupcakes!

Guan thinks the cupcakes are nice, and so do I. =)

There were people who brought beers and liquors as well. That's not a bad idea. Why didn't I think of that before? =p

Other than us, the attendees include Gwen's brother's friends, maybe a few of her relatives, and her ex-STPRI friends.

One of Gwen's ex-STPRIan friend brought a very canggih type of Rubik's cube.

And Guan was crazy about it.

Happy Guan.

After BBQ-ing and eating and so on, of course, it is time to cut the birthday cake.

There should be more candles on cake, don't you think so?

And then, after blowing out the candles from the birthday cake, Gwen popped a bottle of champagne which resulted in some of the guys daring her to finish the remaining quarter of the champagne left.

She was very hesitant to do so.

But with all the "encouragements" from some of the guys, she had no choice but to drink..

Almost finishing...

Ta-daa!

I'm not exactly sure how much wine was left in that champagne bottle because Gwen did not show any signs of drunkenness.

Turns out, Nazrin is the one who became drunk.

Just kidding. Nazrin is a good Muslim and doesn't drink.

On the same night, we've made friend with a guy named Jason.

He's our senior in MD last year and if I'm not mistaken, I think I've met him at Andrew's birthday party last year.

He may look like a decent bookworm who remembers every line from the biology textbook, but on that night, that guy's half-drunk from downing a considerable amount of vodka!

What is he doing??

Armed with his digital camera, it is without a doubt that he took the most pictures that night.

Photography so cool, he actually made the foods do a million poses.

And throughout the night, he keeps doing the "peace" sign.

To be honest, I never knew that's the 'peace' sign.

He tried to balance the cupcakes on Gwen's head as well.

And then he became sleepy as we all prepare to go home..

Moral of the story: Do not get too drunk in a party. ;)

Huzai's Testimonial Match

2009-06-15T21:21:00.012+08:00

I've got an important announcement to make.

There will be a futsal match this WEDNESDAY, 17th June at Harun's Gym, 9am onwards. If you 're not happy with the date, then we will switch to THURSDAY, 18th June!You decide. But for convenience sake and decisiveness, let's just make it on Wednesday.

This futsal match is open to anyone who wanna join in, be it Mr. Yap, ex-5sc2, Hua Ho's grandson, Japan dude, anyone.

Dencorp welcomes you all :)

The match is part of Huzai's 1735th testimonial match (Yeah, Huzai's testimonial matches are endless :p), as he will be leaving for Kuala Lumpur under government sponsorship this coming Friday.

So yeah, there you go, I've done my part. You guys gotta tell the others about this quick!

People I will be expecting:
i) Huzai (duh~)
ii) Me!
iii) Desmond
iv) Edison
v) Gary
vi) Andy
vii) Thed
viii) Mr Yap
ix) Wafi
x) Izzat
xi) Nazreen
xii) Asnawi
xiii) ZulHF
xiv) Hamid
xv) Khairil
xvi) Jimbo
xvii) Najaah
xviii) Hadri
xix) Hafiy
xx) Renzo (perhaps?)
xxi) Hafizan

Oh, we are not gonna play using the big court for some specific reason (we don't want to risk getting injured before the SMSUA match). So if there are alot of people, then we will play 2 small courts. What say you, savvy?

To Hamid: msg tia durang si Izzat apa ;)
To ZulHF: Creditmu banyak, ko msg yg lain ;p
To the rest of the people: Sorry for continuously posting up boring posts (futsals)!

Andy Sambery Ft. Justin Timberlake - Dick In A Box

2009-06-13T16:01:00.003+08:00

Seriously man, check this out:

HAHA! Now that's a really weird and funny music video!

Bah, enjoy your holidays everyone! There will be updates soon!

iFreedom

2009-06-05T13:24:00.011+08:00

I never thought I've gone through the worst papers already! Now it's Physics and Economics Paper 1 left! I smell freedom!

The second term holiday will commenced on the 14th until the 28th of June. So here's my holiday plan:

1) Futsal

Many many of them!!

2) Football

I would definitely love to play a football match or two! I've never felt so pumped up to play more football games in my life! All this while, it's always been futsal. Yes I know, my life practically revolves around those soccer games.

3) Tasek Lama hike

It's been months since I last hike! Will hike atleast once during this coming holiday.
To Desmond and Andy: You guys gotta tell me if you guys wanna hike yea! I wanna join!

4) Left 4 Dead

Gonna try this game at Netland. From what others had told me, it's a very nice game. What attracted me was the game's co-op feature. There's nothing better than slaughtering zombies together with friends :)

5) Movies

Holidays would not be complete without watching some movies (with a certain someone *cough2* :p)

Interesting upcoming movies:

i) Land of The Lost - Opening this week
ii) Moon - 12th June
iii) Year One [JACK BLACK!!] - 19th June
iv) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - 24th June

6) Ragnarok Online

Yes, I'm still playing this game. What? It's addictive!xp After nearly a month of hiatus, I will return to playing this game.

In order to avoid complications in communication, any proposed futsal/football matches shall be announced in this blog.

Current proposed matches:

14th
15th
16th

17th - Just Like Old Times
ex-5sc1 vs ex-5sc2
9-11am, Harun's Gym
[MY PROPOSAL!What you think?]

18th
19th
20th

21st - Revenge of the Fallen
ex-SOASC vs ex-SMSUA
9-11am, Harun's Gym
Gary's idea: Losers of the game will pay for the court. Agree? Cast your votes on the tagboard.

22nd
23rd
24th
25th
26th
27th
28th

I will edit the post constantly. Don't worry, I will announce if the proposed match has been confirmed/canceled.

Adios!

Barcelona Deserved to Win

2009-05-28T18:10:00.007+08:00

Lionel Messi's second goal was a blow. I stared disbelievingly at the TV. The referee blew the final whistle of the Champions League season.

Manchester United 0-2 Barcelona

What a disaster!

We were so closed to lifting the trophy for a second successive season, but failed. The very thought of being the first team ever to successfully defend a Champions League trophy is very blissful. But we failed T-T

Barcelona was just the better team. They played sensational football. They controlled the game throughout. Manchester United had no chance at all. I thought Sir Alex has gone mad by putting Rooney far wide to the left, and Ronaldo the centre forward. But then again, who am I to judge a manager who has been in the business for over 30 years? I'm not gonna blame anyone for the lost (well,maybe just Andersen :p)

And so I yield to Barcelona's victory :)

Oh well, let's try again next season! Atleast we did win the Barclay's Premier League, Carling Cup, FA Community Shield and the FIFA Club World Cup ;) And that's good enough for me. Unless your favourite club is Barcelona, how many trophies have your team won this year?:p

Andres Iniesta is officially my favourite Barca player. What's the odds that he will join Man Utd??:p

------------------------------

As a neutraliser to a disastrous start of my day today, I got good news! I had finally completed my English Literature course as of today! The paper earlier today was good, but time wasn't on my side (I didn't finish it T-T). The other paper last week was a disaster. Hopefully I can manage an overall "C"!

For now, I'm gonna savour my new p/s block hehe. Gonna consider taking GP after the holiday!

------------------------------

Just to add more spice to this post, take a look at this picture (Zoom in!):

Got this piece out from the Library's Sunday Times last week.

Notice: You must be a constantly-updating-football-fan to actually know what the above means.

One last note, check out this Justin Timberlake Mother's Day Special release song:

Enjoy :)

Gary Rescues Cats From Captivity

2009-05-23T17:50:00.003+08:00

Coming back to school after having lunch at Gadong this afternoon with Guan and Gary, we saw two poor little kittens by the dining hall's corridor.

Attached to plastic chairs, metal wires were tied onto their necks respectively, taking away freedom completely from these two poor little kittens.

When I walk past through that dirty little corridor at first, I did not even notice these two kittens.

It was Gary who became the first to react, that is when I heard him saying "Oh shit..!"

When I then looked at the cats, the cats were meowing in the most pitiful way ever that even no words in the Oxford dictionary can reflect how they felt.

Around the cats were just some plastic baskets, used food containers with some leftover rice, rubbish bin cover, an old monitor and etc.

Gary said, "Should we free them?" looked around, and then proceeded to make a brave decision to set the kittens free!

At the same time, I was also trying to be cautious, as I tried to keep an eye out for Gary.

This is done so that at least we can prevent the person who did this from running out of nowhere to come and hantam us.

One of them got freed, and tries to flee!

The second one got freed a short while later too.

It was amazing. I felt so happy for the kittens. It made Gary looked like Gandhi.

The kittens seem to be unable to run far though. Now I'm starting to worry for them. Will the guy who did this return and catch them back again? They were all so fragile.

Now the big question is.. who's so stooooopid to tie the cats up?

Guan suggested that the school cleaners were the culprit, but I beg to differ because I'm 100% sure it's Guan who did it! I should've known! The hostellites got nothing better to do!

Nah.. Just kidding. So who? Any idea?

Tomorrow Will Definitely Die

2009-05-19T17:45:00.004+08:00

So tomorrow will mark the beginning of a series of exams for my part. First day will be English Literature and Physics! 2 study subjects on the same day!!

If that's not so suey enough, take a look at this:

It's in the afternoon!! And both starts at exactly the same time! The exam department had to postpone my English Literature to 3.30pm, which means I can only go home at 5.30pm on that day. Plus, I won't be allowed to go out after the Physics paper.

Will I live to see another day after tomorrow? One thing's for sure - the pressure on me will be lift up tremendously after tomorrow.

I hope I will be able to ace through both of these papers. They are my only hopes of achieving an overall satisfying grades for both subjects.

There's a rumour claiming that the passing grade for English Literature to be 22%! Grade 'A' is 62% and above! Whether this is true or not, it definitely renews my lost hope for the subject =D

Ok then, good luck to you all who're sitting for AS too ^^

Integra

2009-05-11T18:07:00.002+08:00

In the least offensive way as possible, I have to say..

This has got to be the coolest, rugged and most samseng 'midget' that I've ever seen!

Cruising through Gadong's busy roundabout driving a Honda Integra with i-Vtec engine, fully modified!

Modification not only includes exterior parts like bumper and spoiler, but driver's seat is also heightened!

Inter's Conclusion and The Man Who Still Lived

2009-05-07T20:31:00.015+08:00

We finally gain our first victory in the MD League! Though its only a tight 1-0 win over MD Galaxy, it's the prevailed dignity that matters most. We got the 3 points, and that is something treasurous for us Inter-MDian.

Final Group B Standings:

1. Sportivo La Coruna 12 pts
2. Hostel Boys 9 pts
3. MD Galaxy 3 pts
4. Inter-MD United 3 pts
5. Disco Disco 3 pts

Hehe we are not at the bottom afterall. We surpassed Disco Disco by a single goal difference between us. Dignity restored!

We shouldn't have lost the game to Disco Disco in the first match. Individually, we got a couple of football skills. But as a team, we lack chemistry. Our teamwork started to kick in our last ever match against Galaxy. It was too little too late.

I agree with Desmond that the most versatile player in the team was Faisal (Or was it Fadhil?). The key Inter-MD players throughout the season should be Zarfan and Arif. Without them, we would be conceding alot of goals. I would have nominated Firdaus too, if he had been a lil less greedy.

Overall, I thought I did a better job compared to last year. I played more calmly, more mentality, and more confidence. I am disappointed that it's the end for us. I wanted more games, see xp

On the other hand, my previous team Assymptote looks pretty good. They managed to win 2 games!

Final Group A Standings:

1. Selingkuh 10 pts
2. Super Fly 8 pts
3. Assymptote 6 pts
4. Hostel United 4 pts
5. Blitz 0 pts

Yes it is a sad season for MD. There are only 2 groups. Which means only four teams will go through the next round.

Semi-Final Matches:

Selingkuh 1-1 Hostel Boys (Hostel Boys won on penalty shootout)
Sportivo La Coruna 2-0 Super Fly

If I'm not mistaken,the final match will be held at the MD field this coming Saturday.

Anyways, let's shift our focus onto this dude:

Huzai.

...

..

C'mon, don't tell me you don't know him??

An extract from wikipedia:

"Handsome Ice" redirects here. For other uses, see Handsome Ice (disambiguation).

Huzaishysy (1991-present) is a Malaysian biologist, chemist, physicist, mathematician, accountant, singer, lingerie model and the most intelligent person in the world as of 2009. He has also signed a long term deal with Ukatrats FC as a center forward. Soccer superstar, Diego Maradona proclaimed Huzai to be the "Next Didier Drogba" which arouses international suspicion as to what he truly meant by that.

In early 2008, he lost the challenge trophy to archrival Hazim The Great, but he has since been developing really well after Hazim's worldwide shocking announcement to join the Manganime Club. Since moving to Labuan, Huzai has so far achieved 9As and 2Bs (results may be inaccurate), thus obtaining the sponsorship to further his already perfect knowledge, in order to obtain doctorate certification.

Ok, the point is, Huzai has obtained a 6 years doctor's course in a Malaysian University! He will leave for Labuan...TOMORROW MORNING!! Get your phone out now, and wish him the best of luck!:D

As a final blessing to Huzai, who has always been a good friend of DENcorp and many others...
May you be successful in whatever you're doing there in Malaysia. Hopefully, we'll see you as Doctor Huzai the next time we meet :p

All the best!

The DPMM vs SAF FC Match

2009-05-04T17:54:00.003+08:00

I have always wanted to blog about the DPMM FC vs Sengkang Punggol match I attended more than 5 weeks ago, but I was really busy then, and assuming that nobody else would recall that match, I figured I might as well just forget about it.

The highlights of this post would be me witnessing how DPMM FC overcame a strong Singapore Armed Forces FC at home soil.

Indeed, it was a match not to be forgotten, plus the match recorded an attendance high of roughly 10,500 spectators.

Coincidentally, it was coach Vjeran Simunic's birthday that day as well, so winning this game would meant the best birthday gift for the 55 year-old coach.

The players walked out of the tunnel with great confidence.

The match started and a lot of the spectators were already beating the drums they brought along to build up the momentum.

They were a lot of the plastic flags bearing the logo of DPMM as well, but I'm not sure where they bought it.

Whatever the fans brought along with them, I have to say, the fans who came on that night was the most passionate of all.

But within just 3 minutes of the game, DPMM FC took the lead!

The set up of the goal was through a long pass by Azwan Salleh to Abdel Hamid, which the Algerian made a clever pass to the right for Croatian midfielder Ivan Jerkovic to score.

The fans went crazy of course.

Even with the lead, SAF looked to be dangerous as well as they have a couple of nice chances.

They couldn't cut through the solid defence of DPMM FC so there were a lot of crosses and set-pieces.

That night, one of the SAF's player was constantly booed by the crowd whenever he touches the ball. I looked through the internet and found out his name was Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin. The no. 7 of the team.

I'm not really sure why but I don't think it's because of his green mercurial vapor boots.

I think it's because he dyed his hair to white.

For that, you get booed for the rest of the night.

Barely the start of the second half, DPMM FC scored once again and this time through Abdel Hamid himself!

His performance was highly doubted by a lot of people but he has proven them wrong with the goal.

He created many other chances for the team as well.

We then saw a better side of SAF FC in this second half because this is the time where they seemed to be very sharp on the attack.

Even Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin was not affected by the boos anymore.

They kept going until the 89th where they've earned a free kick.

And Thai national Therdsak Chaiman successfully converted the free kick!

This is where the nail-biting part of the game started.

With 4-minutes of additional time, a lot could happen. Fans were afraid that SAF would equalise or even take the victory.

DPMM FC could have sealed the game when Abdel Hamid seems to have scored for the second time, but was disallowed for offside. What a pity.

In the dying seconds of the injury time, SAF FC had just another free-kick, similar to the spot where they scored earlier.

Many of the spectators were about to go home but stopped and stared with their mouth wide open.

If Manchester United can overcome Bayern Munich in the injury time of the 1999 Champions League final, what else is not possible? (For SAF FC in this case)

But this time, DPMM FC's defence did what they had to do, and prevented them from scoring the free kick, much to the delight of the home crowd.

The result ended DPMM FC 2 - 1 SAF FC.

The next home game could be 16th May, against Young Lions.

Think you can come?

Of Inter-MD United..

2009-05-01T14:08:00.010+08:00

You guys must be wondering why we haven't posted any news about our football team, Inter-MD United.

Well, here's why.

Things are going absolutely haywire now. With 3 loses in 3 games, we are staring at the other teams from the bottom.

IMU 1-2 Disco Disco
IMU 0-6 Hostel Boys
IMU 1-3 Sportivo La Coruna

Our team isn't that bad actually. If we've got a lil bit more teamwork and lucky (we are the only underdog in our group), we might have prevailed.

I couldn't blame the team because I sucked too :P

I don't hold any regrets by joining this team though (half true). Atleast I got to play full time in most of my matches.

Love this picture!

Our only win as a team is against Blitz. We won 4-1 in that friendly game. Despite the momentous victory, we weren't able to capitalise it against Sportivo yesterday.

Our only hope of escaping complete humiliation is to beat or draw against MD Galaxy. They are in a similar situation like us. So it will be a slightly equal game.

All in all, I'm only glad I am a regular in the team! Hopefully I will be able to score in that match!!xp I had 2-3 chances this season, but I wasn't that lucky.

Anyways, enjoy the pictures below!

Me and Faisal/Fadhil in action.

Desmond looking somewhere.

Faisal/Fadhil competing for the ball.

Long cross by Firdaus.

Faisal/Fadhil (Seriously man!They look the same!)

This here is MD League's so-called Cristiano Ronaldo. He is playing for Super Fly. You guys gotta watch his match to see what he's really made of! I'm proud that he lives in the same kampong as me. Kg Kiarong really produces alot of Bruneian talents :p :p

"Wheeeeee" is what I shouted.
Anyone know why the photographer only shoots my back?

Pictures are courtesy of a Mr. Sollehin Shahrani, a friend of my brother. Check out his facebook for more!

Nipple Song

2009-04-25T19:59:00.002+08:00

Not sure if you guys have watched this before.

Please say you haven't watch it, because if you haven't, I present you... The Nipple Song!

*nipple, nipple*

Night At Jerudong Park!

2009-04-20T22:11:00.009+08:00

Kevin recently came to Brunei several weeks ago, and hasn't seen a lot out of Brunei yet.

If you're wondering who's Kevin, he is the cousin of Gary and Billy who came all the way from Canada.

So last Saturday night, me, Nazrin, Gary, Billy, Renzo and Huzai brought Kevin to Jerudong Park.

Before I continue this post, I'd like to thank Gary (and maybe Nazrin) for making this trip possible for me.

And had it not been for Renzo, we probably wouldn't even make it to Jerudong Park as the rest of us doesn't seem to recall the way.

He's the only one among us who knows the road, where the parking area is, where to buy the coupons, where the bumper car rides are and so on. And I guess he's not called 'The Man Who Knows Everything' for nothing.

The entrance and parking fee is quite costly, and comes at $1 per person and vehicle. To buy coupons for access to all rides comes at another price of $5 per person.

We only bought 3 tickets, good enough for all of us to share.

We first saw a bench, surrounded by 2 life-sized horse sculptures, and decided to take group photos before continuing our journey.

[From top-left clockwise: Billy, Kevin, Gary, Me (Desmond), Nazrin and Huzai.]

Looking at the above picture, you must be wondering where's Renzo???

[From center: Lorenzo.]

Well, he took the picture too of course. Solo picture. Hehs.

Our first ride of the night was the merry-go-round.

I feel this is perhaps the most beautiful ride for the night because of its 'Venetian Gothic' style.

As I observed, the variety of mounts include horses, zebras, goats, lions, carriages, hares and even chickens!

With only 3 coupons, Renzo, Kevin and Gary took the carousel ride.

Renzo happens to be the one who enjoyed the carousel the most, whereas Kevin seems unfazed by all these circus music.

After a few minutes hopping onto the ride, a couple of kids came and began to laugh at Gary, Renzo and Kevin. The ride was so long, I think it probably took over 5 minutes long.

We then wandered off the area after the merry-go-round till we reached the playground.

I really miss the old times.

When I was kid, I couldn't even climb the net. Now that I've grown, it's different.

Me, Huzai, Renzo, Gary and Nazrin are the ones who really enjoyed playing in here. I know it sounds childish, but we couldn't help it.

And then, we played the swing.

Lorenzo is crazy.

When I was sitting at the swing, he pushed me with full force.

It was horrifying that the swing could flip 720 degrees and that I would fly out of the swing at any time.

Lorenzo prior to push me with full force.

Gary with 2/3 of the DENcorps.

What is Huzai doing?

This is how Gary would look like with a red helmet.

Renzo and Huzai sliding down a spiral slide.

Replica Triceratops.

Someone that night kept on insisting that the triceratops are rhinoceroses instead of triceratops but I couldn't remember who it was.

And then this is when Renzo refused to take a group picture with the triceratops, whereas Billy was the one who took the picture. Could it be that Renzo's afraid of the triceratops?

Trying to pose for a boy-band album cover but the light spoiled everything.

I used to avoid playing 'Dead Man's Cove' because of the shooting water. We didn't play this maybe because we're more interested in playing the bumper cars.

After deciding which 3 of us would play the bumper car, we immediately head to the queue.

This time, I finally get to play.

Billy, who keeps on 'bumping' my car whenever he can. So most of the time, I was avoiding him.

Kevin, also tried to bump my car several times.

There is not much to say about the bumper car as I'm sure most of you have played it at least once.

But one thing's for sure, the steering wheel stinks.

The dark and spooky pirate cove. Gary said he used to be very scared of this.

Open air dome in which echoes can be heard whenever silence is broken.

We tried to find the Go Kart track, and we only found it after we asked some personnels who were at the gate of the park.

It turns out that the Go Kart track is at the other side of the park, just across the road.

There were quite a number of people and we have to wait, of course.

Renzo, Huzai and Kevin in real helmets.

Renzo looks remarkably like someone in this picture, but I couldn't tell. Any suggestion?

Renzo in action!

But only after several laps, the round ended for him, and it's time for some supper.

Gary insisted on looking for stalls selling satays, which we found one at the Jerudong Park food court itself.

But turns out, the satays doesn't seem to be that tasty and some of us went to buy Tong Kengs instead.

Potential Food-Hungry Model - Take #1.

Potential Food-Hungry Model - Take #2.

Potential Food-Hungry Model - Take #3!

So all and all, perhaps the happiest person of the night wasn't Kevin.

It was Renzo.

Agree?