A Interesting tutorial and Wagamamas...

Monday. November 28th. Weather was not too cold but it was drizzling and a bit cloudy. However, it actually SNOWED!!! Yeah.. In the afternoon, I was playing basketball and we took a break and then suddenly, Kwan Wei started shouting," Look it's snowing!!" And we both rushed a stared at the white flakes floating down from the skies (actually it was more like sweeping down) I was going like "Wow!" and starting messaging people about the snow and was like mystified/mesmerized (oblivious to the possibility that people were thinking what a country bumpkin i must be..lol) by the snow.. And i actually walked in the snow! But in truth, it only snowed for like 10 minutes tops. It wasn't really snow.. more like sleet as it melted when it hit the ground.

Earlier that day, I had a tutorial on Consitutional about the "rule of law" and "Humans Rights Act 1998. The rule of law is basically about noone being above the law and a government ruled by law and not men. Our tutor is a very conversational guy who goes quite off topic a bit.. In fact, we hardly discuss the questions on our sheets directly but he does go through the key issues. When I went in, i was surprised to see a black cocker spaniel in the room! (like Nana, Eli!!) It was really friendly and obedient. A bit distracting tho'.. it was like a walking welcoming mat. Heh.

Now, the interesting thing which came up during the tutorial was the fact we started talking about countries that do not have the rule of law. Countries such as N. Korea, and our tutor did question about how far the concept of the rule of law is held in China. Then, we started talking about how political opponents are locked up using law(can u see where's this going??).. and the tutor then asked Han(The chinese girl studying law who's in my hall) where she's from.

Han told him she was from China and then he said," Oh ok.. I'm actually looking for someone from Malaysia?" And i sheepishly put up my hand and said, "Yeah, i'm from Malaysia" and i told the group about Anwar Ibrahim who was locked up under the charge of Sodomy (although i should have mentioned that sodomy is a crime in M'sia). In hindsight, maybe i should have brought up about the ISA instead.

Hmm.. Our country's reputation precedes itself.

That night, we (Seng, Jessie, Justin, Han and I) went do the city to eat at Wagamama's. It's like a Japanese/Chinese fusion restaurant. The main reason we went was 'coz i had two vouchers of buy 2 meals for the price of 1. If it wasn't of that, i assure you.. i wouldn't be there! Meals are quite pricey.. I had this noodle thingy which i can't remember what's the name of it. But it was cooked in coconut oil and it tasted like curry except very creamy and not too spicy. I had to add chilli oil to make it more tasty. It was alright.. but i wouldn't pay 7 quid just for that. They gave me like only 3 barbeque king prawns(they weren't very kingly if you ask me!) in it.

Justin had something like mine except with chicken fillets. Seng had this like maggi mee goreng but using the Jap noodles and he said it reminded him of home. Heh.

So the overall verdict was.. the food was nothing to shout about la.. Pricey tho'. We also had duck dumplings which were not bad.

Ahhh.. That's all for now, folks! 'Till next time...

Nott's Singaporean Games, Bball, Nasi Lemak, a Chinese Dinner and Gala Casino

Yesterday was the Nottingham Singaporean Games. So our kiasu.. oops i mean, curious neighbours came down to Nottingham for a day of sports. In comparison with the Nott's M'sian Games, the Singaporean one is on a smaller scale. Don't get me wrong... bigger doesn't necessary mean better. Fewer people playing would mean there would be more game time for everyone. (less competition too >.<) FYI, I wasn't there just to ogle at eyecandy. Lol. Yes, I did play for the Nottingham Junior Basketball team. Although, i have to say... I'm a bench warmer. Lol. I did get some game time but I can't say i made a big contribution to the team. Ahh... I've really got to work on my bball.. We got as far as the SEMIS! ( During the Nott's games, our team got knocked out in the group stages.)A great accomplishment.. I have to say my rabid shouts from the sidelines must have had some effect on the team. I was shouting "NICE BALL! NICE DEFENCE!! PUSH PUSH!! DEFENCE!!" during our games... heh. A nice thing was that there was a Singaporean/Malaysian food fair on that day. I had Nasi Lemak + Chicken which cost me 2.80 (*7=RM19 ringgit). Yeah.. i know can get a nice plate of nasi lemak from Madame Kwans back home hor? The nasi lemak was alright. It was rather dry.. not enough Kuah!! But well.. beggars can't be choosers??

To celebrate our victory, we and the senior basketball team(who reached the semis but got beat out by the Chinese Nottingham Society Team) went out to Mandarin, the BEST chinese(supposedly) in Nottingham City. The food was great! I had a chance to show some of my limited skills in card magic before the dishes arrived (yet another thing i have to work on!!) We had roast duck, tauhu, some veggies, Beef with vermilion(damn tender man..), Roasted Duck Intestines, and Fried Rice. It was a good dinner which came up to 11 quid each. (70 ringgit)

Next up, we all decided to go to Gala Casino, a casino in the middle of the city. Some of the senior members had memberships to the casino and each member could bring in 6 guests. I've never been into Genting Casino back home, so i can't make any comparisions to it. It was a classy place with the usual stuff. (ie: Roulette, Blackjack, Poker, Craps,etc..) I spent the first hour looking around and watching the others gamble. Don't get the wrong impression now.. we just were there more out of entertainment and curiosity (I'm sure i was!Lol) rather than gamble our lives away. One of us, bet 1 pound on a single number and won 36 pounds!

There was blackjack too.. minimum bet was 50p but the table closed at 11. After 11, the minimum bet was 3 quid. My personal "principle" on Blackjack is that i prefer the good old Chinese style rather than the Casino method. They had 6 packs of cards shuffled up. This makes it much harder to calculate the odds of getting a card unless you stay the whole night and still it's hard to keep track!

Eventually, i ended playing Roulette on this machine terminal which is hooked up live with a real life roulette wheel. I used a "system" which i learnt from one of the guys around and was breaking more or less even. Then, out of pure chance, i decided to bet 40p (20p is the minimum bet) on my lucky number, 11 for one round. I walked off to chat to Mun, our bball captain while waiting for the wheel to spin. When it started to show it spinning.. i went like " Comeon 11!!" and he was like "comeon.. big numbers!!" and when it stopped.. it was 11!! I had won with the odds of 36 to 1! So i got a payout of 14.40 pounds (1oo ringgit?) in one round! I was euphoric and quickly went to my screen and tapped CASH OUT. Grabbed my CASH OUT ticket.. ran to the cash out counter and cashed my money out. Lol. The ticket was for 26.60. I had originally started with 10(i intended to only play half of that).. so i made a profit of 16.60! And I thought.. WOOHOO! My dinner and transport of the night is payed! However, as i stayed around waiting for the others... i decided to take 5 pounds of my winnings to play some more roulette. Cut the long story short, i went home with 11.60 winnings. >.< I went back with Seng and Mun by cab and paid for the fare. Felt sorry coz they lost quite a bit that night.

Heh.. before i go ont.. i have to put an emphasis that this is no way an endorsement to gamble!! It's just a good story to tell... Ahh..It was all beginner's luck! GAMBLING IS EVIL!! Sometimes, when you're losing, you decide to pump in more capital and end up losing more.. When you gamble(which you shouldn't but by saying that.. i'm a hypocrite!Lol), you have to be prepared to lose that money. So, never gamble ur earnings.. maybe spare change...that's what i did. Heh. I was lucky that time. Some were luckier than me, most weren't. Ahh.. i miss Chinese New Year.. Memories of CNY gambling flooding back to me. Lol.

Sunday. I went to church in repentant heart..hahah. Homily was about preparing for the Coming of the Lord. Made me think it did. Music was good as always.

Hm.. After mass, I followed my bro back to his house where he would be cooking Rissoto. It's an Italian Dish which is basically where you fry the rice and mix it up with chicken stock and u get.. a porridge like dish. My hall serves it sometimes and it usually looks like vomit. Seriously.

The verdict: My bro's 1st attempt at Rissoto was a few notches above edible. It had cheese in it and had sprinkes of fried bread,chillies and anchovies. It was darn feeling! My bro then made a cup of cappuccino and I helped out with the dishes and all. Over at his place, I read this comic called WE3. It's written by Grant Morrison. (who's a rather twisted, in a sadistic manner but a good writer nevertheless) It's about 3 pets (a dog, cat and a rabbit) who have been turned into weapons by the US air force (USAF) Then, they try to escape to return to their former owners. Not only those is have satisfactory amounts of violence but it had that touching element about how these pets try to make it back "home". It's one of those stories where at the ending, you get that feeling of.. fuzziness. Hm.

Well.. yeah.. that's the highlights for this weekend in my lawful life. Nothing much, about the law... except well. yeah.. i've got to hit the books now.

Take care all. I know you guys back home are darn free now.. Write if you can people!!

An update and something about religion...

Ahhh... I shall start off from where i last left off. So, i did prepare and go into the moot. However, i came out defeated. I didn't go through to the next around. "A battle's lost but experience has been gained" is my comforting mantra. Mooting was a valuable experience. The preparation for it was indeed hell but when you're standing there, arguing your case... there's that sense of a rush. Our judges were great and gave feedback on our mooting skills. Feedback = chance for self improvement!!!

I was sleep-deprived when i reached my hall after the moot. Slept till 4 and went for dinner and went for ballroom dancing. On that day, we finished off the jive and the waltz. Ahh.. but don't get the wrong impression now!Err.. to the ladies reading this, I can safely say i won't take out any of your toes if I dance with you, but can't say that i'll remember all the steps! Lol.

**RELIGIOUS RANT AHEAD.. PROCEED WITH CAUTION*

Friday... Nothing much went on. A highlight of the day was that i tried to do something different. I went for this Christian Fellowship like thingy.. called SOLID ROCK. It's a christian group originating from Singapore if i'm not mistakened. I went there with a guarded stance and I disagreed with alot of things which went on there. There was the run of the mill praise and worship session... and then there was this screening of this Indian Preacher, KP something who preaches about missionaries and spreading the gospel to Asian countries. It was a typical fire and brimstone speech.

This brings me to a point I wholly DISAGREE with many non-catholic (i shalln't use the term protestant.. I have Mrs. Harding from Stella Maris to thank for that) christians that ALL THOSE WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN JESUS will go straight down and burn in hell.

Right... first off, what right do these people have to judge who goes to hell and who doesn't? Next, in the bible, yes, indeed the bible say that's Jesus is the way to heaven kinda thing (sorry.. i'm a typical catholic who doesn't know his bible verses..) BUT does it say.. "Those who don't will burn in hell"? I mean.. hey.. We're all the children of God now.. and He's in to mercy and all. There are interesting questions to pose about this idea about "WHO GOES TO HELL"(WGTH) coz.. what if i'm like born in some tribe where violence is the norm to solve conflicts and I don't learn to turn the other cheek and all.. and missionaries have hell of a time reaching my tribe coz of the mosquito infested forests and piranha laden lakes??! Do i reach the gates of Heaven and told to go straight down to hell for doing something which is wrong in the eyes of the bible but something which is perfectly normal in the society/tribe i was born in? Where's the logic in that? Blame is then put on those who know but don't spread the word.

I was feeling quite pissed and rolling at my eyes at how this guy KP whatever his name was talking. Yes, the work done by the missionaries is commendable.. leaving everything behind to spread the word of God. He was preaching extremism in the Christian sense.. making comparisons between Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger sucide bombers and how Christians should be.

Arghh. I don't know whether i'm being coherant here.. but it's just all so wrong. I'm a bad Catholic Christian. I sin. I do try to repent but i still sin. Hi, I'm Joachim and i'm a sinner. I don't have all the answers and i'm certainly not holier than thou..But i know converting everyone in the world to become a Christian doesn't make it a better place. You don't need to be a Christian to know faith, hope and love are important. I know non-christians who lead a better moralful lives than actual Christians. What right do we have to go up to them and say, " You're going to hell." (Anyway... hell isn't fire and brimstone.. some philosphers say it's a state of mind.. mm. )

Mm. I'm not read up on this area of religion well. The Catholic church believes that limbo and purgatory exists besides heaven and hell. Limbo is basically for infants/babies who die without sin and purgatory is for souls to pay off their temporary punishments. The idea of purgatory would be a more sensible one..

Anyway, i guess what i'm trying to say is that.. Faith is Him/Jesus.. just isn't all that cuts it. An emphasis of Christian Life should be made too. Ahh.. getting sleepy. I shall tackle this idea more in depth in the future...


* RELIGIOUS RANT OVER*

Don't ask me how i've been...

I'm just taking 5 minutes for this quick post. What have I been up to lately? Well.. I went down to Sheffield on Saturday for the Annual General Meeting for the KPUM (Kesatuan Pelajar Undang Undang Malaysia). Sheffield Uni's a city campus which seems quite sad.. The building was freaking cold! And yes, I did run for the post of Events Director. To cut the long story short, 3 of us from Nott's got posts. The president, Choo Kean and the vice, Aiman were from Notts and the rest of the exco are from LSE. Just abit of factual background on the KPUM, it used to a pioneer among the UK student organisations. It used to be a very vocal (activist sort of vocal) and held dinners in posh places (as such had a rep as a "Rich Boy's Club"). There seems work to be done to restore the KPUM to its former glory as one of the ex-presidents said.

On Monday night, it was student's night at Oceana. It's a club down in the city. I went down with fellow Rutlanders and Jessie and Kelly from St. Peter's Court. The club was divided into areas.. one is the R&b spot (where we hung out mostly and the dancefloor was stagnant.. Dj was pretty sucky) and the other was the Cheese room. Two interesting moments were when we were in the Cheese room and the baywatch song started playing. All the guys started whipping off their shirts and swirling it in the air. Ahh.. Pot Bellies and hairy chests.. not my kind of thing. We moved on the R&B room then. Over there, a guy shortly came over to Seng with a group of friends. He grabbed Seng around the waist and said "Hi, I'm still a virgin." Ben and the rest of us were shocked! But then, (abit anti-climatic but *phew* relief!) he said it was just a dare. Lol.

Besides that.. well i've been piled with work. Tutorial readings... Seminar Reading.. Tort Essay and tommorow i've got my 1st REAL Moot. Wish me luck if you get the chance!

Ugh.. this post took 15 minutes!! >.< I don't have time to spare!! Sleep could very well a thing of the past. As someone's MSN nick once wrote (i believe we're be hearing of this phrase in the future), awake is the new sleep.

Weekly reflections

Note: No pics so far.. so nothing on London.. yet. Sorry, Jess!

Ahh.. it's that time again. The cycle of 7 days, which i believe is called a week.. has ended. Let me highlight what has gone on the past week.

Monday - It was Justin's birthday. We, the Rutland gang conspired to surprise him on his birthday. He took everyone but yours truly for dinner in the city. (I had to skip it coz of the Notts Games preparations) The plan was to ambush him with water balloons(you can't go wrong with water balloons in winter! >.<) and to lure him into on of the shared studies which had been set up for a surprise party. It went well.. he was quite surprised. We got him a bottle of Absinth.. which we drank throughout the night as we played poker. We drank shots throughout the night.

Thursday - I had my regular ballroom class.. learned more waltz and cha cha.

Friday - Ahh.. yes. I turned 19. Kept it quite low profile... I went over to my bro's for dinner. Original plan was to have a steamboat party at a fren's place but the next day was to be the Notts Malaysian Games so wanted to keep the day simple. It was a great dinner.. with herbal chicken, curry fish/prawns and other stuff.. After dinner, my bro and housemates surprised me with a nice chocolate birthday cake with a candle on it. Heh.. was a nice surprise.. didn't see it coming. We went down to the city after that.. had a pint at Malt Cross. It's a nice classy bar with a glass roof and it usually has indie bands performing in it. (Coincidently, my bro did a magic gig there and has a nifty picture of him here)

We then headed of to Snug, a medic hang-out club. It's a pretty nifty place as the top's the dance floor and the bottom floor's a acoustic performance lounge. We hung out at the lounge where my bro met some other medics. The music was good.. the guy playing played stuff like Iris, I'm a Believer, and other covers..

Reached the hall around 1 and fell asleep at 2...

Satutday - NOTTS GAMES! Yeah... had to wake up at 6. 4 hours of sleep for a long hectic day.. Yeah!! I ran snooker and played bball (although i only got 6 minutes game time>.<) and met tons of friends. Here's where i have to say to those who did come that i'm terribly sorry i didn't have time to entertain you guys and show you aroud Notts. I feel immensely guilty... By the end of the day, I got back to my hall at 5.30.. makan.. masuk bilik.. then Tracy called saying she's going back edi. and i was just so exhausted.. slept right there on my bed after that.

Ahh.. to make it up to you guys.. Those in the UK reading this.. next weekend is the Malaysian Singaporean Society Games. I'll be doing less then.. i'm playing bball from the nott's junior team.. that's all. So, tell me in advance if you're coming down and I'll give like a campus/city tour if you like. If you need a room to stay.. well, bring a sleeping bag and i think i've got space in my room for one. (Just don't mind the drunken ppl chanting and banging on doors)

That's all for now.. Cheerio...

Back from London...

I'm back from the capital.. and to sum it all up, it was short and sweet. Good weather on the 1st day.. rainy weather on Sunday.. so kept sight-seeing to a minimum to that day. But i did go for mass at the Westminister Cathedral which was an experience. It's a massive cathedral with elobrate furnishings. Marble pillars, Candles burning, statues of saints, multiple parts of the cathedral was divided into smaller chapels and corners dedicated to saints/the dearly departed. The place was lightly dim and truth be told, reminded me of the Action RPG, Diablo... minus the demons, skeletons and traps and all.. yes, i've been told i've got quite an imagination. Lol.

Mass was so-so. The cathedral was probably 80% filled and I was actually worried i wouln't get a seat. There wasn't a choir but only a cantor and an organist. I can imagince why as they have throngs of outside people who come for mass just because they're in the area. (like me.) Sermon was straightforward about the being prepared for the Lord. The parable of the bridegroom and the servants. See.. I do listen! Heh.

That's all I'm gonna say about London till i get the photos we took.. so I can try my hand at a photo-essay on my trip down there.

Anything interesting happened there which i might want to mention? Well, yeah. There was this one guy who palmed my face. While I was rushing into the Underground train, the doors were closing.. he swung his hand to hit the doors back but guess whose face was in the way? Yeap. It wasn't too hard.. Didn't leave any visible mark on my right cheek. Mmm... I was on my way in and he was trying to keep it open for our benefit la. After abit of staring at him, he did apologize and later on, he started rambling. He was acting abit wierd. The smell of alcohol from his breath proved that he was abit drunk. (at 1130?!!) That explains the great control in his motor skills.

Ahh.. well. Don't let that give you a bad impression of London. Tis was a good trip down! Photo Essay to come!