A day in my lawful life...

2006-10-29T09:54:00.000-08:00

Profile Pic

2006-10-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

For my profile.. Whee!

I've moved on...

2006-04-07T04:41:00.000-07:00

We've had good times together. I rememeber the first time we met.. the sweet interaction of electrons being bombarded against my screen..the light emitted.. transcending as they enter my retinas... zooming up my ever-strained optical nerves... forming the words i've tapped into this cold, sleek keyboard of mine.

Yeap... this is it. I've moved on to a new blog. Aptly named to reflect the corniness/cheesy-centre within me.

josblawg.blogspot.com

See you all there.

Technical Difficulties

2006-04-04T02:58:00.000-07:00

Harap maaf para pembaca. Kami sedang mengalami masalah teknikal.

Sila kembali sini setelah masalah ini diperbaiki.

Heh. My BM's kinda rusty... I messed around with my layout and kinda screwed my blog over. I need to get my tagbox up.. if only i could remember my username and password. Hm. Check back later guys.

2006-04-01T02:08:00.000-08:00

http://www.petitiononline.com/constsup/petition.html

Do take two minutes of your time to sign this online petition in the interest of preserving our rights enshrined in our consititution.

Thanks.

Pics from TQ Party and AK's surprise bash!

2006-03-31T12:03:00.001-08:00

Thank You Party - Basically a party to thank everyone who was involved in Malaysian Night...

I had a hand in preparing the food... And I have to say I literally nearly had a finger in preparing the wantan. Lol. We had 200 over pieces of chicken and roasted most of them in the afternoon for the the party. It was quite an experience.. frying wantan/mini-popiah, marinating+roasting chicken and frying keropok.

It was Julie's idea to get a cake for Julian, one of our comm. members.. whose birthday was the next day. Boy, was he surprised!

Gllloorrrious foooodd!!

Who said Malaysians don't line up??

Boy, don't they look surprised!

Surprise! Happy Birthday Julian!!

Yeah.. you can really see that I really enjoyed taking this pic. Lol.

There's nothing up my sleeves!! I swear!!

Me and Julie... Mm.. my hair looks funny from this angle..

On this bus back.. we got a lil photogenic..

Aik Kuang Surprise Bash!

That weekend.. we had another opportunity to gorge ourselves silly with Malaysian Food! (Hey.. to those back home.. this is a big thing ok??! Even here.. we still live to eat! Lol.)

Yet again.. Julie's idea. We were to lure Aik Kuang over to Rutland dining hall to surprise him for his 21st Birthday. I got into lots of trouble for this actually... I told the dining hall manager that we were having a party but he thought we were just having a party. As such, when everyone arrived with the food and stuff they weren't too happy and the porter told me I should I have gotten permission from the office for it. But he was quite nice about it and let us carry on as long as we cleaned up the place well.

A bit later though.. the Hall's Warden himself wanted to talk to me and boy, he wasn't too happy. The conversation went something like this. *read all the wardens' line with a harsh tone*

Warden: Are you the young man in charge of this affair?
Me: Yes, sir.
Warden: Did you know you need permission from the office?
Me: Yes, sir. There was a slight miscommunaction.. etc..
Warden: Ok. We don't allow food not being served by our own staff being served here. If anything were to happen, YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE. And those deco you're hanging on the lights, if anything gets damaged, YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE.
Me: Yes, sir.
Warden: Ok, and make sure you don't play the music too loud and I want you all out by 10. I'll send the senior hall tutor down.

*Sigh* He's not the first warden I crossed path with in my time here.. I had to confront the hard-assed Cripps Hall Warden to get my bike back. Ah well... I guess in my future career in law, I've got to face lots of these sorts of characters. You know.. the hard-assed, grumpy sort. Ahh...Chalk it all down to experience.

Here, I have to note that because of Aik Kuang's Surprise (as you probably know now.. I surprised the Hall Management too!! Wahey!) Party.. Somehow, one of my hallmates couldnt have her own birthday gathering in the hall's dining hall on Wednesday.. I felt immensely guilty for that and tried to help her out and suggested to have it somewhere else. The next day, it was good to hear that they managed to cope although they only had 2 hours to relocate their party. Nevertheless, I'm still really sorry I burst your bubble, guys.

Errrr.... BACK to the party! It went well... We played some twister and this game.. Suck-a-card-and-pass-it-around or Dare (go figure!) where I did something I'm not very proud of. (I'm a bad sucker so..) Lol. Well, I can safely say that two certain individuals of the same gender can say the same! Sorry, inside joke. Don't worry, guys.. we'll have that pic circulating around uni in no time!! Muahahahahahahah!

Unfortunately, it wasn't as much as a surprise as it was for Aik Kuang as it was for Rutland Hall management. Our caterer let the cat out of the bag while chatting Aik Kuang.. Argh.. still good times we had.

Balloons kinda suggestive don't you think? Heh.

Birthday boy and his birthday cake...

Oh.. how our fates interwine...

Not as easy as it looks.../Look, ma.. no hands!

Mere mortals...

2006-03-30T04:15:00.000-08:00

It's funny... I could write about better things but not today... At the moment I write, a Malaysian girl is in a Nottingham ICU and the doctors have not established the cause of her ailment. She was found unconscious in her room after not answering her housemate's calls for a day. The good news however is it seems she seems to be semi-conscious now and the Malaysian Society (with the help of some charitable people) has managed to arrange to get the mother to come up and visit her.

But one thing which struck me after that.. was the discovery that an acquaintance who was studying engineering here had to leave for Malaysia a month back because they discovered she had eye cancer.. and it was in the 4th and last stage. It was a real shock. I don't really know her.. I met her at a church's friend's birthday party and met her here again while lining up to pay for fees on the week zero here. Don't get me wrong.. maybe this is all new to me. I've never had someone really close to me or even someone remotely close to me.. kick the bucket. I can say I hope they don't..but I know they will...as the saying goes 'In this world nothing can be
said to be certain, except death and taxes.' It kinda puts everything in perspective and makes you realises the stuff you take for granted. Live a little more. Forgive and forget better and don't hold those grudges. Having said that.. my prayers go out to Rosalind and her friends and family. I didn't know her well but I know she deserves more years to her name.

A random post...

2006-03-27T16:36:00.000-08:00

Hey all, It's easter break for the next 4 weeks.. Spent my 1st day of my break down in Manchester for 50% off dimsum and a look-see around Manc and also... a chinese dinner at one of the best restaurants in Manc. Didn't blow a hole in my pocket (in comparison to Notts Chinese Restaurants)... yet food was quite good. Manchester city is a truly unique city. A fusion of both modern and old in the city's architecture. I'll certainly have to come by again and hopefully the weather would be better that time.

And here I am now.. in Justin's place in Raleigh Park. Gonna be spending the night here before I go job-hunting tommorow morning.

A random thing I came across the newspapers today was a study that we, men are more likely to spend 4 times more on our favourite sport and that leads to a semi-related interesting find.. that men are 90% more likely to stick with their favourite sports team but have a 50% chance of abandoning a relationship when things go sour. (according to a Duracell study) Hah.. That's real life for you... lol.

Notts Malaysian Night pics..

2006-03-15T11:51:00.000-08:00

mm.. chronological order of pics here @ http://www.xtemax.com/mnite/

Alternatively, visit the site's extension of http://www.xtemax.com/folio/
where is should be easier to browse and save the photos.

Thanks to Chee Siang for these pics and Regine for the previous pics.

Pics... from Notts Mnight 06

2006-03-12T14:29:00.000-08:00

Mm.. my bro and make-up!

Most of the committee + cast and crew!!

A rather gay pic of me and Prav.

All these things we've done...

2006-03-12T13:06:00.000-08:00

It's over. Notts Malaysian Night 2006. Lessons learnt. Weeks of preparation (not to mention I've got my life back!) and in an evening it's done. I've really forgotten how it feels. Back in Stella Maris, it used to be the norm each time there was a concert... The hecticness in preparing for weeks and on the day itself, you go out and do your thing.. and it's over. Our school had plenty of concerts in a year...(CNY/Raya concert, Merdeka concert, Feast Day, etc..) it seems like they find every excuse to have one... I miss our 4/5S Stella girls. They're a pretty unique bunch.. (not the bunch you wanna get into an argument)They're always up to the challenge. Ahhh.. getting all nostalgic here.

Well.. back to Notts Malaysian Night.. Lots of things didn't really go to plan but the important was we improvised and we pulled it off. A round of thank yous to everyone. Thank you to the Committee.. you guys did GREAT! Right from security to stage.. we did it, guys! Food was good and our guest really had a blast. Our actors were brilliant and spontaneous on stage and we made Notts Malaysian Night history with an audience of 430+! Reviews were great!

Basically, Malaysian Night started with a mocktail party. A first! Usually, it's a sit-down dinner kinda thing. So it's a mocktail party and people are meant to walk around and help themselves to food with performances going on. We started on time.. but people were shy to touch the food! Lol. Among the food we had were curry puffs, fried popiah, fried wantan (Credit goes to my coursemate, Catlynn for the recipe!), satay, seri muka, sago pudding, turkish delight and much more..! After a while, we had slight problems keeping up the food well-stocked.. people ate faster than we could refill! Some of the service points were a bit too far from our kitchen.. Nevertheless, it was a sucess. People were generally happy.

Next on the lineup was the actual play. We started off with some performances. We had a chinese fan dance, a rather modern malay dance, and some singing performances to get the audience warmed up. My bro and his housemate, Jasmine were emceeing. They did a good job.. My bro being pretty lame but still it worked.. lame humour tends to run in our family it seems. Lol. They did a great job nevertheless. I had to make a speech.. which I feel I could have prepared better. Lights glaring into your eyes and having 430 forced to listen to you can be pretty intimidating. Ah, well..

The play was unique. We constructed sets.. like a tv show set. Take a look.

We did it for the "OOmph"! Factor and basically coz, after all we were in a studio after all! We even played this up abit by acting as if we were actually tapping the play in front of a life audience. (Regine's idea!) The emcess took on the role of stage directors.. one(my bro) being an Ah Beng film director and Jasmine being the intelligent assistant. We had a directors umm.. 'gate', the black and white thingt.. and even played around with the 'Applause' cue cards!

The play was on P. Ramlee's classic film, Tiga Abdul. Those is 4/5s would remember Pn. Joyce letting us watch it. We adapted it to stage.. this was done by Akmal, our script-writer.
Some things weren't in the script like one of our actor's mustache falling off and our narrator's cloak sleeve knocking the mike black cushion part off.. but there were spontaneous and made the audience laugh more instead. The actors did great. In all the years, Nottingham Malaysian Night's strenght has always been in our play. This year has been no different.

Mm...From all the stress i've gotten the past weeks (evident with the shorter lifespan and exponential increase in growth of white hair) , among the lessons learnt I were:
1) Money makes the world go around.. working with a budget and a large event can be really tough...
2) Dealing with people.. this is always tough.. sometimes you just get people who cant work with each other.. some people will let you down in your darkest moments. Guess that's what friends are for. They walk in on you when others work out on you...
3) Assumptions - My dad always said this : Never assume! Always clarify. Mm.. how true.
4) Plan B/C - When you get plan B always make sure plan B works. And you should get Plan C.
5) Keep it simple - Sometimes, it's best to keep things simple and not try to cut corners or go for 'too good to be true' stuff...
6) Commitment - In life, you just meet people who will have different levels of commitment.. and no one person is the same.
7) Foresight and improvisation - Murphy's law. Things WILL go wrong. Improvise.
8) Patience - You can never have enough of this.. I was on the brink of insanity on the day before the event. There were times when I had two people asking me separate things and my phone would suddenly ring..

I probably write this for my own reference.. it's been a valuable experience.. I'll admit there were areas we could have improved but the past is the past.. Just gotta move on with this experience and make better, wiser decisions the next time.. mm.

Just this morning, we were back in the studio to clean up the area. At the end of it, both me and Aik Kuang just stood there. There was some music playing over the sound system.. and we just soaked it all in. It's over. A chapter has ended. We both admitted we felt abit sad. There's the accounts to be settled but at that moment it didn't matter. We did it. We pulled it off. Thanks, guys.

Long overdue....

2006-03-05T01:45:00.000-08:00

Hey all,
Wow, it's been more than one month since my last update. Believe me, it's not coz not much has been happening but it's actually, the opposite. I just got back from a day down in London. The bus back from the Notts train station to my hall was funny. There were a huge bunch of young people behind me and there were two couples and the guys were actually helping the girls apply makeup. That's a new one.. didnt know applying make-up was one of the job requirements as a BF. Heh.

Anyway, I digress.. What have I been up to? Been spending every of my week nights witj Malaysian Night. Check it out at : www.nottsmalaysiannight.com Everything's going well but the work does seem never-ending...

I spent last weekend at a Magician's convention. I went down to Blackpool with the Magic Society and had a great time with em. There were lectures, close-up magic sessions (where the best close-up magicians showed us their routines) and there were gala shows on Saturday and Sunday night. The gala show was mind-blowing! There was a semi-David Copperfield wannable who did the whole metamorphosis (where the magician waves a bedsheet and changes into his lovely assistant.. talk about instant sex-change! ) There was the Men in Coats who parody magic and there was a mentalist martial artist! He poured wax over his eyes, wrapped it with bandages and covered it with aluminium foil and then he used nun-chucks to destroy a plank, a knife to stab a bag of flour and sliced a watermelon.. all held by members of the audinece.. blindfolded!

But the greatest magician was probably this guy who used techonology to perform magic where he had a giant screen tv and pre-recorded something on the TV. The guy on the TV was actually him and acted like he was his 'imaginary friend'. When the imaginary friend through stuff out the screen.. it actually popped out into real life! And he also did the opposite.. giving stuff to him.. like pouring milk and giving a bag of chips to him! The coolest part was when the person in the tv pressed REWIND and the magician actually 'rewinded' Man.. this is something you've got to see yourself.

Ahh..well.. that's all for now. With this flu I have , I've turned into a walking volcano of mucus and phelgm. Whee. Need all the rest I can get... Till next time, peeps! Take care all.

Xin Nian Dao!

2006-01-29T16:16:00.000-08:00

First off, Happy Chinese New Year all!! As I type this, I’m on the train down to London. Unfortunately, I cant stay long as I’m only going down for a KPUM (www.kpum.org.uk) meeting for the day. Lectures will be starting tomorrow. Tommorow, the next term begins! Ahh.. It’s been long since I’ve posted something coz of exams and all. I’ve learnt lots the past weeks as the novelty of being here in the UK has started to wear off. It really does get depressing during the cold winter months and the exams really amplifies that effect. It’s gotten really cold the past week although it was quite bearable after the short burst of snow over Europe after Christmas. I’ll just go through what’s been going on the past few weeks…

1 day ago – Sat/Chinese New Year Eve – I spent most of the day ‘resting’… and when out for dinner with hall mates and a few other friends. Not just an ordinary dinner but a CHINESE dinner at Mandarin, the best Chinese you can find in Notts. I’ve been there once with Seng after the basketball tournament. One cheesing off thing was I made reservations for 8 in our name and we got there separately and when we arrived, we discovered we still had to wait! They basically didn’t book any tables but just gave it away. Bah.. typical Chinese business men! Worse part was the men there were very rude to me when I asked why. Sigh.. I guess the better the food, the more screwed up the people there are. Well, yeah.. We got our table after 15 minutes of waiting and the food was great… it came up to 10 quid. Me and Seng were looking forward to the Pork Intestines which we had the last time but we somehow ordered the wrong ones. >.<>

Lol. We went back to Rutland and watched this Chinese movie which Stephen Chow in it.. I think the title was something-scholar. It was hilarious.. classic Chow Sing Chi! So that’s how I spent my CNY eve. No ang-paus. No CNY cookies. I guess no matter how hard you try when you’re overseas.. Things will never be the same and it’s a fact you’ll have to live with. You just gotta roll with the times. Don’t get me wrong now. I’m not saying that everything back home should be forgotten but it’s always nice to have some stuff to remind you off back home. As the old saying goes ‘God gave us memories as roses in the winter’ (God Bless Mrs Harding, my old English teacher for this saying)

2-4 days ago – Been busy running around doing stuff for Malaysian Night and KPUM. I’ve been busy trying to get myself in shape. Went for a swim and played some basketball.

5 days ago – Exams are over!!! Freedom! This is day after exams and we, liberated law students had a small Chinese Take-away gathering at Jin’s place in Lincoln Hall. We had Hong Kong House take-away.. it’s was good stuff. Chatted, played abit of Magic TCG and some Cho Tai Di.

6 Days ago(Monday(- My final paper! A paper in Contract Law. I’ll have to admit that I wasn’t well prepared for my exams this term. Maybe it’s got to do with the knowledge that the results here don’t really matter. Overall, I think I did miserably… *sigh* If there’s a reoccurring theme this few months is that mistakes are meant to be learnt. In other words, ‘screw up with the first, ace the rest’. No matter what people can tell you, the best teacher would be experience, For the first year in Law, the first year doesn’t count towards the results in the final degree but matters a lot when trying for summer contracts as that would be the only reference point for the firms. However, the understanding law coursework which I was stressing about in the last post has to be passed to move on to the next year. At the very least, I’ve lowered my expectations to just pass my coursework and scrap through this term and ‘up my game’ this coming term. I really could do with better detailed notes and crisp at my finger tips memory of the relevant cases.

11 days ago (Wednesday) My First paper. Yeap, I had only two, It was a paper in Tort (which I basically a civil wrong ie: I cause an accident and someone makes a claim against me)

Well, yeah.. that’s what been I’ve been up to in my ‘law-full’ life, Alright I can hear the groans back there…!! Well, that’s all for now. I’ll have to say indeed that the novelty of being here has worn off and certain harsh truths and lessons are being learnt along the way. At the end of the day, no matter how bad or good things may be, it’s about who you comes out at the end of it. For better or worse…

Comics and such

2006-01-05T12:27:00.001-08:00

Hey peeps. Ever since my parents left, awake has been the new sleep. No, not coz i'm enjoying myself but coz i've got two essays and a case anaylsis to complete by the 10th. One of them is particulary interesting, "Without law, there is no order" A common thing to say, "Law and Order".. seems to go hand in hand. I'm sure i'll enjoy typing this one out. Just the citations and sources are the tricky bit. But first, i've got to finish this pesky consti essay!

The next few days, MSN to me is like a submarine. I'll submerge by going "appear offline" to avoid the social radar to concentrate on my work but when i get bored i re- surface but going " online/away" Heh. Don't mind me.. I've got an imaginative mind. Lack of sleep helps breed more of that.. all those pretty colours... whee. >.< Nah, JK.. i'm not going dillusional, yet...

Yesterday was a horrid day to put it in a non-vulgar way. Ever had a time where things just don't go your way? Well, ever since i left my backpack in the train on the way to the airport.. it hasnt been. The money wasted and effort wasted in retreiving it *sigh* Basically, I got booted of the train yesterday coz I didnt have my rail card on me. If I had followed my parents down to London to wish them off (and also claim my bag from lost and found) and returned to Notts, it would have costed an additional 54 quid!! My existing tickets were invalidated just coz I had left my Railcard at home. Miserable time it was. I had to get off the train a few stops later and take the opposite train back to Notts. It was a horrible farewell to my parents. My dad upset at me for my foolishness (which i admit) and me not able to get my bag back. It all started coz of my forgetfulness in leaving behind my bag and later on, my railcard. *sigh* A low point in my life, this was. Lesson is: Keep your baggage with you at all times. *deeper sigh* To make things worse, my phone charger is in my backpack so.. my phone's dead for the past week and possibly the week to come. Why can't i use another charger you say... Coz the blardy phone's an obscure NEC phone!! ARGGHH!! *deepest sigh* Pardon my melodramaticness but tis was indeed a bad time... A downward spiral. I've got to be more careful in the future dammit... Rant over.. something now about a joy in my life which i'll like to share with the world.. Comics. After that incident, it was comics that uplifted my spirits. The great thing about being over at my brother's place is the comics. The Italian food he cooks is a plus. But i've got to say C-O-M-I-Cs are one of the highlights.. Among the comics I've read over here (some which he got from libraries) are : Sandman: Endless Nights(by the highly acclaimed Neil Gailman) Ghostworld(it was made into a movie) and a biblical related one.. Chosen by Mike Millar. These aren't your typical comics. It isn't about bodily disporportionate super people (talking about the muscles la..) who have a fetish of wearing their tighies undies on the outside stopping evildoers from world domination. These comics actually deals with real world stuff. However, I've got to note here that all 3 comic books are pretty explicit in content. Believe it or not, Ghostworld has nothing on powers. It's just about 2 girls in our era, coming of age. Sandman deals with themes dealing with humanity such as desire, death.. combined with mystery, wonderful art, fantasy and exoticness) Some of the stories are just plain wierd tho.. and takes lots of deep thought. Something I dont seem really good at? Lol.

But the comic i'll really like to point out is CHOSEN. It's a really really cool comic!! It's about.. WHAT IF.. Jesus was born in modern times? The comic is rich with symbolism(The cover of the graphic novel has a boy on a cross and two telephone poles, in the shape of the cross in the horizon..giving the look of Golgotha).. and it doesn't necessary insult Christianity but poses questions. It starts out with a 12 year old boy who goes wandering in the woods with his friend in search of a porn magazine they heard was out in the woods. But then, tragedy strikes! A lorry veers off the bridge and lands on him! Next, we are brought to the hospital where a priest approaches his parents and we discover, there's not a scratch on him!

A nurse approaches him and he questions the nurse, "How is it possible?" Then, she replies, " Ask your mother why your father spends each night in the backroom?"

Zoom a few pages forward and we have a scene where all the teachers are asking him question about math, history, science and he answers them from the top of his head. His mother find him in shock and shouts, " Home!" Drawing an analogy between Jesus and the temple elders in the Temple of Jerusalem.

The comicbook goes on to draw parallels to Jesus. The way the writer deals with this touchy issue is.. just.. Brilliant. It was a great read.. one of the best i've read. I'm not giving away how it ends.. but if u see it, do check it out! Here some links to some reviews on it.

IGN
popmatters

Well.. that's all for now.. Cheers. I'm off to help my bro cook our dinner.. let the house training begin! >.<

P.S I'll post some pics and stories about my trip down to London, Bath and Italy... sometime in the future.

An uplifter...

2006-01-03T05:53:00.000-08:00

Feeling down? Try listening to Coldplay's : Everything's not lost. Try singing along... It's really therepeutic. Never fails for me.

Ah well.. back to my research >.< Best wishes, all.

Winter Blues...& Injustice to a fallen hero..

2006-01-02T15:12:00.000-08:00

Being away for the new year has enabled me to skip the compulsory post reflecting on the new year and talking about resolutions etc...

So, here I am. I'm spending my 1st winter in the UK. I've been warned it gets depressing. The first few weeks weren't too bad. But now.. It's getting to me. Maybe it's the lack of social interaction with the outside world. Maybe it's the tons of revision I should be plowing thru right now before the exams. Maybe it's coz I've got 2 essays to complete and losing my research and papers in a bag which I left behind in a train while on the way to London to catch our plane to Italy. Maybe it's just the cold, cloudy weather. *sigh*

On the other hand, I've got family to lean on. Parents are down here till the 4th. I'll be staying with my bro till the 8th before i move back into halls.

Expect fewer updates in the coming weeks as I've got datelines to beat.

Back to the homefront, Malaysia... there's an issue about the Islamic Burial of a national hero, Moorthy Maniam who conquered mount Everest in 1995. The issue is this: He was given an Islamic burial as it was claimed that he had converted to Islam. However, this was not to the knowledge of his close friends and relatives. His wife tried to contest this claim (to claim the body and give proper Hindu Burial Rites to her husband) but the Islamic courts (Syariah Courts) are "untouchable". Apparently, the Civic and the High Court are unable to meddle as non-muslims are not allowed to appear in Syariah courts. The Syariah's court ruling in favour of the Islamic Religious Affairs Council goes unchallenged. Basically, non-muslims have no legal remedy against the Syariah Courts. Not even our high courts have the power to challenge their decision! This isn't an issue about religion but about justice. At the very least, her case deserves to be heard.(FYI, Moorthy was interviewed by TV3 on the 31st of October on how he was spending Deepavali and in the affidavit submitted by the wife, it states he has been seen eating pork, drinking wine and has not participated in any Islamic religious course) Doesn't any religion teach that our God is a just, loving one? Doesn't this go against our very constitution? I can see how cynical one can get at the sight of such things going on in our beloved country.

I'm looking forward to the Malaysian Parliament's action/inaction about this issue. Apparently, this has happened frequently but has only been brought to light because of Moorthy's fame.

Hm.

A blessed Christmas all.. and a Big Thank You

2005-12-25T03:39:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of the updates. I moved out of halls.. moved to my bro's place for a night then moved on to London where i reunited with my parents and now, i'm back in my bro's place. It's a family Christmas here in Dunkirk, Nottingham. On the 27th, we're going to Italy and will be there till New Year's Day. Alot to say on what has happened the past few weeks.. but

I'll keep this post short.. by just wishing everyone...

A Blessed Christmas Everybody!!! And a joyous, New Year!!

God Bless!! And Peace on Earth...

To people back home, thanks for all the support.. This year has been one of the most "eventful year" in my life. Tubs of ice-cream helped and of course, acting like everything's normal tho' it wasn't helped me through. It ain't over but the worse is over. Thanks again. ^^

more pics... Korean Clubbing night and Rutland Formal

2005-12-10T17:12:00.000-08:00

Pics taken during the Rutland Hall formal. Basically, it's a later dinner where there's slight improvement in the food(we had actual turkey!) and everyone dresses up... Yeah, Ben and I started noticing people we never realised were in our halls! Ahh... The wonders of cosmetics and dressing up...

Appetizer! Grapfruit and Melon. Quite simple but refreshing...

Did i mention free wine??

That's J! One of the Korean gals in our hall.. She's leaving this term tho.. Sad...

Magician at work! Well.. err... that one didn't turn out as well as i planned...

A few good men....

We had our own "after party" after the formal..We played Poker, Bullshit(which is basically liar) and chatted.

Yes, I plead "guilty" for not being more personalised and typing stuff... >.<

Next few pics are from the Korean Clubbing Night on Thursday at Snug. People there were really friendly and all.

Me looking "snug"..heh.

Random pics

2005-12-05T07:20:00.000-08:00

Portland Building.. This glass building is basically the nerve centre of the Uni.

Trent Building. I go there for mass every Sunday. It has a nice big hall and a fancy clocktower.

A pic taken at Antibo's in Nott's city during Han's birthday.
Cameo apperance: my thumb!!

Taken during Justin's Bday party. Umm.. We weren't drun..er...tipsy in that picture... just a lil jolly? Lol. Mm.. Absinth in hand...

Photo-compostion of Good Old London

2005-12-03T15:33:00.000-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

*drum roll please* Here's the over-due photo compostion of my 1st trip down to London!

Basically my journey brought me to : Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Some shops selling royal merchandise (talk about over commercialisation! Lol), Westminister Cathederal, Westminister Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, London Eye, Some artsy centres(there were some cool baskers there!), Trafagar Square, the National Arts Museum and ended up at a Subway for dinner.

(Pardon the pseudo-funky hair) Ahh.. yes..Justin and me(bursting with excitement as you can see!) are posing in the train. That nice book on London(compliments of my dad) was like Holy Scriptures for the trip down. It helped me to play tour guide for our small trio. Lol.

We got a nice man sitting opposite us to take this pic of us. Seng, Wee Vien, Justin and Me. My laptop served as a source of entertainment throughout the trip. Nice of the train company to include power points on the train. Once we got off the train, Seng then parted ways to join his friends and the remaing 3 of us set off to sight-see as much as we could!

We got off at King's Cross (yeah! Like the monopoly board! Lol) Our 1st stop was Hyde Park which was where we had our lunch. It was nice weather except that it was really cold. I had a few morsels from some biscuits and I threw them down and the pigeons surrounding us increased exponentially over time! (sorry.. you can take the boy out of maths but you can't the maths out of him. Lol) This pic is modelled by the gracious owner of the camera which took all the pictures on this photo composition.
P.S. I really need to get a digi cam for myself! *hint* *wink* X'mas is coming... Lol.
Background: Achilles statue in Hyde park
The three of us are posing in fhront of this impressive arc on the way from Hyde Park to Buckingham Palace. It was drizzling slightly but that didn't harm our trio's sight-seeing too much! A note for those who come to these areas: Look where you're walking! Massive horse manure everywhere! Lol. Kinda spoils the "atmosphere" but I guess that's London for you.
Buckingham palace!! The very gates of it! There was no change of guard that day as it only takes place in the morning and in the evening. We were there around 1-ish. If you're wondering where those guards with the funny red hats, they're inside the gates. (well protected from the prodding and potential abuse of the tourists..Lol)

Another pic of me and Justin at the gates. Wonder whether those yellow shiny wreaths are made of gold. Hmm...

After quite a walk and a drop by a gift shop, we reached Westminister Cathedral. It's a Catholic Church with a high tower. At that tower, you can see quite nice scenary from the top. But you would need to pay to get up there. The cathedral was very well decorated with marble pillars and intricate statues. The next day, I came here for mass. Sections of the cathedral had been dedicated to different Saints or for different reasons.
Next stop: Westminister! The Adminstrative District of London you can say.

Westminister Parliament! Really impressive. Loads of pedestrians walking arounds. It's like you've got to stop the flow of pedestrians just to get a pic! Lol. And you have to dodge and weave through the people who are trying to take a picture of the building!

Big Ben! Well, not that Big Ben. I was kinda dissapointed. I thought it looked bigger in the movies! *sigh*

After crossing the bridge, we took this pic. The story behind this pic was that there was this group of European tourist women who wanted to take a pic.. so i offered to take a pic for them and they took ours! Nice pic, huh?
The London Eye! It's basically a giant ferris wheel which takes 30 minutes to make one revolution. From afar, it doesn't look like it's moving but upclose, you can see it's moving slowly. A ride on the wheel is more than 15 quid i think.

Yet another bridge over the Thames! We took a look at the London Eye and some other artsy buildings (National Arts Theatre) and there were like some people skate-boarding, basking and selling 2nd-hand stuff along the river banks. Then, we decided to cross the river to head to Trafagar square. As you can see, I was getting more bum-med out as the day went by. Lol. I was having a flu and didn't feel too well.

A pic on the bridge! Me making a goofy smile. *shudder*

Trafagar Square! Yeap.. the yellow piece of property on the Monopoly Board.. Lol. The building in the background is the National Art Museum. Some famous painting are in there.. but basically we went in and sat down and chatted instead. Heheh. It was warm and cozy in there! Didn't take much of a look at the paintings. They had paintings from the renaissance, the romantic period, pre-renaissance and modern pieces. I will look forward one day to going back there to take a better look around.

Ah.. That's it folks! That's all for my photo composition. Thanks to Wee Vien for the pics!

To sum it all up, London's a errr... nice old city. It's not ultra-modern but you get this classy, old feeling when you're in it. Rich with it's own culture and history.

'Till next time.. God Bless..

A Interesting tutorial and Wagamamas...

2005-11-29T03:42:00.000-08:00

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

2005-11-27T13:32:00.000-08:00

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...

2005-11-26T16:50:00.000-08:00

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...

2005-11-23T13:00:00.000-08:00

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

2005-11-13T09:50:00.000-08:00

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...

2005-11-07T08:27:00.000-08:00

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!

Bittersweet Symphony

2005-10-31T17:47:00.000-08:00

Ahh... Sunday night was one of those "My first time" moments.. It was at my first time at a real ORCHESTRA! (Well.. back in school we did kinda have an orchestra.. but this was the "real deal" No offence to former members of the orchestra and dear Mr. Lopez!) The university's orchestra performed at the Uni's great hall and it was quite an experience! They played 4 pieces that night.. 3 of em were by 2 separate modern composers. (Early 20th century) and the last piece was Taichosky's 1st Symphony..er.. something.

So how would i describe it.. well.. back in my piano lessons, each time my music teacher plays something modern i'll always describe it as.. "It sounds weird." Heh. But that's modern isn't it? Lacking a melody or direction.. But the 1st piece was good.. it even had a hint of jazz at one point... it was depressing but ended on a hopeful note. Somehow, it made me think of "Planet of the Apes." When i read the programme, apparently the composer wrote it when he was trying to defect to the west during the cold war. That pretty much explains the emotional motive behind the music.

The next 2 pieces were not bad. Amazing how the orchestra is in sync with each other in movement, direction and poise. It's one thing to listen to classical over speakers and another to listen right there and then. It's like umm.. you're right there! Err.. well not quite, i really is overwhelming and interesting how they generate different effects with their instruments.

Taichoksy was brilliant. This piece was really Russian.. at certain parts, it made me feel like jumping up and doing a lil Russian folk dance.. except... you dont wanna do that and end up in a strait jacket eh? Lol. It was divided into 4 separate movements and each had a different motive. Typical Taichosky.. ending with a built up to a grand finale!

Wow.. reading what i've wrote.. would really make my past piano teachers proud. Lol. Guess it's compensation for a difficult student i was...

International Week Reunion Pics

2005-10-30T15:08:00.000-08:00

Hard at work.. Must keep that poker face...

A breif interlude for a picture..

Aftermath...

Rather happy group pic huh? lol.
Top L-R (Aik Kuang, Valerie, Moi, Julie, Jevariah, Angus)
Bottom (Farid, Vincent, Amelie and Eileen in pink)

Mmm.. Highlight of the night.

Mmm.. Yeah, you guessed it! Steamboat dinner (or like the ppl here call it.. Hot Pot!) Friday night was a night where all of us who stayed in Sherwood during the 1st week(international week), gathered around for good food and good company. Played Cho Dai Di & Bluff to wrap up the night...

Post on Pictures

2005-10-27T04:59:00.000-07:00

Pictures Galore.. 'Nuff said!

At the NMS Link Party (R-L: Julie, me, Jessie, Seng, Justin, Hseng and err.. some random girl whose name i didnt get)

(L-R) Yours truly, Wee Vein (my ballroom dance partner!), Priya(the gracious person whose
camera is taking these pics) and Justin.
Rutland Posse. Seng, Justin, Me and Ben..

Dilemmas...

2005-10-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a brief reprise from my reading as i post this. If there's a recurring theme for this day, it has to be dilemmas. The first one is a "straighforward dilemma" (straightforward in comparison with other dilemma's i'm about to mention). Do I celebrate friend's birthday with my hallmates and forego a long term committment to a friend for a ballroom dancing class or the other way around, go for ballroom dancing class with her (committments aside.. i paid 11 quid for the course!) and let down my posse?

As a lawyer-to-be, I can probably argue this out. It's not every day a friend turns 20, and enters her 2nd decade of life. Then again, I'll be skipping out on a long term committment which preceded even before I knew of this event of celebration. Or should i go to by the utilitarianism method? I'll be making more people "happy" by going for the birthday girl's celebration (in a manner of speaking) against one friend's happiness. Yeah.. Cold hard logic! The Vulcan way!

As the day went by(not to mention the amount of button-pushing i had to go through and amount of guilt put on me), I stumbled onto more dilemmas.

For tommorow's Seminar reading, i have to read the hyphothetical case of "The Case of Speluncean Explorers." You can read it here .

For those who are too lazy to read,

It involves a case of a group of explorers who went exploring into a tunnel and are trapped by a landslide. To keep it short, in the process of the rescue 10 workers are killed by other landslides. The landslides hamper rescue efforts and they only manage to pull them out in 38 days time. They discover that one of the explorers, Roger Whitmore is cannabilized by his fellow explorers. However, ironically.. it was Roger himself who had proposed to cast lots (or dice to be precise in this case) to decide who is to be eaten for the survival of the rest. Then, the survivors are put to trial post-recovery. They are found guilty and sentenced to hang.

The facts of the case are then followed by separate opinions of fictional high court judges. Each with their own methodolgy in reasoning out their decisions and with even one judge, redrawing from the case on the basis of emotional involvement and his disablity to decide as a "private citizen".

Another judge states that being trapped underground and separated from soceity enables them to act according to the "Law of Nature" as they are not in the "civil state of society" but in a "state of nature".

The different lines of argument by each fictional judge is given by the writer, L.L Fuller to portray the different opinions in intrepreting law. Do we inteperate the law iterally? Take in account public opinion? Do we take into account the "deterrent" and "what if.. in the future?" factor? Each argument has its flaws and strenghts as articulatly put in the article.

However we look at it, there's no simple answer? If we sentence the men to their deaths, wouldn't the lives of the rescues be in vain? Yet, we can't toss that imagery of cannabalism out of heads, can we?

Hmm.

Leaving that aside for a bit, I discovered something. For my further reading i had : A. Bradney,"
Choosing Laws, Choosing Families: Images of Law, Love and Authority in "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer".(You can find it here) And i went...

WAHEY! Something lighter to read... Lol. After all, Buffy's one of my guilty, geeky pleasures in my life and it's law-related!

Besides brushing up my Buffy-logy, it made me realise that Buffy (God bless, Joss Wheldon!) is pretty much about (not just about love triangles, stake-wielding hotties, and heart-gripping storylines) http://turbulence86.blogspot.com/. None involving cannablism thankfully.. but the life of a loved one against life of many.. and questions about law, authority, and family.

It all leads me back to : Life's pretty much full of dilemmas. I see the road ahead paved with them. As cliche as it may sound, There aren't any easy answers in life. Cases with decisions which can go either way like in the "THE CASE OF THE SPELUNCEAN EXPLORERS".

A point brought up in the Buffy article was ,"Those who apply law formulated by external authority can feel themselves absolved of personal responsibility for their decisions".

Kinda makes mwish that there was a law saying, "If it ever is you friend's 20th birthday, you are held by the punishment of death to attend her brithday celebration!"
Then, I can probably go, " Sorry VW, I can't go to tonight's dance class coz if i don't.. Off with my head!" Or vice versa. Lol.

But then it made me think...

Will I ever reach that point in my life? Where I become so.. "Numb" and I distant myself? Hiding behind law and rules and obmitting facts? Losing my humanity? I kid about losing my soul as a lawyer... but how far is it from the truth?

Where does this all leave me? Right back where i started. Facing each dilemma as they come. But I know one thing, (call me an idealist if you want) I'll hold on to every ounce of humanity I have. Isn't that why we're all here on this earth on our two feet?

Personal reflections aside. It makes tommorow's night's dilemma pale in comparison. Ah.. I wish i could have my cake and eat it. An ideal world, anyone?

Heh.

Darn...

2005-10-24T15:57:00.000-07:00

I spent Sunday night reading up for my constitutional tutorial.. reading about the political consitution and other material. It was quite interesting as the writer's opinion that was by using the judicary as a check against the government was not the way to go. Political decisions should be left to the politicians as they removable from office and can be held accountable after all. But i digress.. this is not my point of my post.

I arrived at my tutorial room.. feeling prepared.. and then after taking our attendance, our tutor suddenly mentions " 1 in 5 students fail Contract but last year it was 1 in 10.....etc" And I went like in my head, " Why the hell is he mentioning Contract in a Consti tutorial..??" I looked at my fellow tutees (is that the right word) and see if they registered the same look of bewilderment which i had on my face. Then, i started to look around the room.. and wait a darn minute.. why arent there any Consti books around?? *Whamp* It hit me like a sledgehammer in my chest.. I prepared for the bloody wrong tutorial! Haih... then.. I just had to play a poker face and keep it together i thought. THere were 7 of us to choose from to answer the questions. So, for the 1st case, he picked out one girl.. So phew.. lucky me.. and then for the next case, i was thinking hah! There's a 1 in 6 chance i'll be picked! Kept my poker face.. "Could we have Joachim tell us the facts of such-and-such case" and *Double Wham!* The sick twisting feeling in my stomach..argh.. and i sheepishly told him that i had prepared for the wrong tutorial. *sigh* Bad start for my 1st tutorial...

In other news, looks like i'll be running Snooker instead of Table Tennis. Mm...

It's been one month here...

2005-10-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

It's been a month here. When you're really far away from home, you realise you take lots of things for granted. Guess it's the tradeoff for independence, huh? Well, this post is specially for one of the things i've missed.

I miss you.. Your smooth body against my flesh... The warm feeling.. the Euphoria i feel when i see you.. Taking all of you in.. that sweet, hot sensation i get.. Yes, i miss you. Thai Chilli Sauce. >.<

Post about Nott's Games and Nuts

2005-10-16T01:12:00.000-07:00

Hey Hey Hey!!

Nott's games will be held on 12th of November which is a Saturday. It'll be held for one day and among the sports played will be: badminton, netball, football, scrabble, snooker, chess, table tennis, badminton and volleyball.

So, if you're around the UK.. Pop by Nott's! I'll give u a tour around the campus.. accomodation and all.. well.. err.. we'll see bout that later.

If you're in Nott's and you want to volunteer, go to Leanne or George.. Our 1st year reps. You don't need to be a M'sian to volunterr.. And you'll get a free lunch, free dinner (TQ dinner the following week after the games) and a free t-shirt.

Ahh.. I volunteered.. and they put me on Table Tennis!! A sport..which i know nuts about. I mean.. if they put me on netball (which i know nuts about either) i wouldnt mind too much! Lol.

Talking about nuts, here's an idea for making a card for a special someone. Cut a shape hearted card and stick a peanut shell on the front. Write on the front : "I know nuts about making cards..." and in the card: "But i'm nuts over you!" Heh. Made one of these for sell for a fund raiser back home.

That's all for now.. Gotta rush down for breakfast.. Ahh.. BACON!! *shudder*

2 weeks in Rutland!!

2005-10-10T02:03:00.000-07:00

Ahhh.. I've decided to move on to a blog. Much easier this way.. Well, it's been two weeks in Rutland Hall. Catered food's still bearable. If it wasnt, my wallet wont bear ordering takeout! I only get 1 pound 50 a day! That works out to.. 10.50 a week? One or two nights out and i'm gone! *sigh* Just to recap what has gone on since my last email.. Well, there was an Asian Clubbing event on Tuesday night. (All the Asians Socs: Malaysian Society, Malaysian Singaporean Society, Korean Society, Chinese Society, Thai Society..etc) It was held at Faces in Notts City. It was jam-packed.. so packed that this girl dancing behind me.. her ass was rubbing against mine! The dance floor was really small.. the drinks were expensive(had a redbull vodka..which tasted purely like redbull and a something coke.. which tasted like cough syrup) and the music was sucky IMHO. (More RnB...Arghh!!) Anyway, but it was interesting coz i was hanging out with 4 of my hall mates, Ben (Korean guy doing pharmacy.. resident "stud".Lol.), Seng (Bruneian guy doing Mec Eng.. great at bball.. hes on the uni 2nd team!), Justin (3rd year Eng student from Malaysian Campus) and Han (fellow law student from Shanghai). One of the funny things we did was try to get Ben to chat some girls up.. coz before that he was boasting how the girls go to him and not the other way around! After much scouting and missed chances, there were these few girls taking pics of themselves and I nudged him to help time take it. He did so and we ended up introducing ourselves to them. Next, Ben started buying drinks for all 3 girls! (3x3=12 quid!) Ladies.. Take note, if you ever need a free drink.. you know who to go to. Lol. He talked to them a bit but that was it.. man.. Ben.. you really have money to burn!! Anyway, it was a good night with good company.

Mm.. the next highlight of the week was the Goosefair. It's a funfair with rides, games, food and knick knacks.. It's like the European version of a Pasar Malam.. except it's held once a year for 5 days... with glaring lights, loud music, and things cost 7 times more! Basically, i lost my original group and ended up hanging out with Leanne and Co. We scouted around.. looking for the least rigged games and watching and learning other people play. We tried a couple of games but weren't too successful.. I personally tried Horse racing..where you get two red balls (no pun intended throughout this paragraph) and u toss it into these holes.. If the balls went in the holes, the horse would move faster. I was leading but lost in the end..argh.. Ended up 2nd. Next up, was this basketball game where you need to enter 1 out of 3 shots into a tiny hoop.. but alas, yours truly failed in scoring and didnt get a furry friend at the end of it. It was the pressure of 5 girls standing around i tell you!! It was..!! Lol.

We did go on some rides.. The 1st one was Wild Mouse which is basicallya rollercoaster and a teacup combined. Before the ride, I slyly said to Leanne not to hold on me tightly and she said, "Yeah, as if.." When we got on.. it was going uphill..the tension building up..then we downhill..we started zipping down and taking sharp corners and the teacup thingy holding us starting turning eratically. I don't recall screaming much but i recall Leanne clutching my jacket arm like her life depended on it. (yeah. you did!! Hahah) At the end of it all, there was a picture taken of us and up for sell in the form of a cup/keychain.. but being the kiam sap people we are (among us.. was 4 Singaporeans, 3 malaysians...nuff said?) we took pictures of the picture of us on the display monitor!! Ahh.. saved 3 quid by doing that.. Gives that nice warm feeling inside, you know... Lol.

The 2nd ride was Move It.. which I went on with Teong Weng.. this ride flips 360degrees and hovers like 15 metres in the air. All i can say.. was... Loud techno music+ strobe lights( made it like a night club in the air..lol.).. and add flu to that and rapid movements in mid air.. is not a good combo. Felt like puking and disorientated. Oh well. it was one of the cheapest rides around.. 2 quid. Pay peanuts.. you get monkeys? Wait.. in this case, pay expensive peanuts(14 ringgit in conversion nights) and get a complimentary headache and nausea! Whoopeeedo!

The night was passing quickly.. and i felt unsatiated... so i snuck away to try to win something soI would look less pathetic once I got on the bus. There was this darts stall.. Where u needed to score above 15 to get one prize at least.. So i thought, " Hey.. you've gotta be half-blind not to win something!" Went there... and lady luck was on my side and i got a small cuddly bear.. hahah! But once i got on the bus, my euphoria turned into humble pie.. with people carrying man-sized soft toys of Tigger and Eeyore. *sigh* But i consoled myself with the fact that... I had something to give away. Lol.

However, on Sat night.. I went back to the fair.. This time with Ben, Seng and Justin (Rutlanders till we die!! Yeah!!) Ben came back with a laser pointer, a furry rabbit and a giant bear holding a heart saying "I love you". It was really big so we each took turns carrying it.. Kinda funny when you think of it.. It was like.. the 4 of us were surrogate mothers for an inanimate object for the night. Wierd. We named it "Lil Benny" while waiting for a cab. Ben's gonna keep it till Febuary.. I hope no girls who he's thinking of giving it too.. reads this. Lol.

Well.. that's all for now.. I'll be posting the 3 emails i sent out.. Sorry, guys.. if I didnt add you guys to my list. Can't keep track... Cheers.

Salsa, bellydancing, beer and kebabs...

2005-10-02T05:41:00.000-07:00

Note: 3rd email i sent out...

Hey all..!!

Some rather British word/phrases i've gotta integrate into my vocabulary : Massive, Bird(british equivalent of Chick..), Quid (pound), Random, "cheers,mate!". Been hearing these words tremendously often these days! About putting on a British accent, i wouldnt consciously know if i do put on one when i talk to the locals..But i've got a post-grad friend who British accent becomes perfect after a few drinks! Lol.

The locals are really good.. Except on Thursday night, after the Red, Rude and Raunchy Party (where everyone wore red, dyed their hair red, painted their faces red and one bloke wore a red nurse costume!) yeah.. anyway, after that party, some guys got really drunk and wild.. going about the hall corridor banging doors and chanting. And someone set off the fire alarm yet again! Bloody hell! Couldnt sleep that night...

Ok.. anyway.. back to the topic above. SALSA. Well.. You see. On Thursday night, there was this salsa dancing thing on which was only 1 quid! So, i was darn bored and just wanted good fun. But it was like a totally random thing at the last minute, so i ended going there alone.. Overdressed, and the only Asian male there! (Last week(internationalweek) there was another salsa session.. so that explains why. But then it was 5 quid!) It was all fun.. Noone was willing to the Asian guy who had two left feet except this nice british girl whose umm.. breath smelled of beer actually. Sad huh? Lol. Anyway, it was good fun and she was quite fun. Now.. If I only could remember her name!!

Bellydancing? yes. I bellydanced! Laughing yet? Well, umm.. kinda.. You see... on Friday night was the 1st meeting for the Nottingham Malaysian Society and I was nominated as a 1st year rep with 4 other guys and 5 girls. So, we were asked to speak, perform(either to belly dance, umbrella dance, propose or sing) So yours truly, did a belly dance.. with a sash.. I shallnt go into details what exactly i did but apparently the video should be circulating the net pretty soon! Lol.
I didnt get the position in the end but this Nigerian guy whos Malaysian at Heart (in his own words) wowed everyone with his Bahasa and his slick style.

After the meeting, we headed into Beeston for a drink. It wasnt a subsided student bar so drinks were freaking expensive!(2.50 for a pint of lager, 3 for a cocktail) Thankfully, on the way there.. we found a 10 pound note on the ground in the rain! So we split it among the 6 of us when it came to paying for the drinks. After the drink, we had kebabs.. which were heavenly! Nothing like hot, spicy, meaty kebabs on a cold night after beer! On a sidenote, my wallet cant take this!! ARGHH!!

Life in hall is great social-wise.. everyday, I get to meet people in the JCR (Junior Common room) where there's a pool table and a giant screen TV and during meals in the dining hall. Oh yeah.. in my hall, there's this 7 ball rule..tradition thing... where if you dont pot a single ball you have to do a naked quad run! But so far.. noone has been penalised. (One guy nearly got it tho!)

Arghh.. i've got sorethroat today and my glands are sore. Looks like i've got a flu coming. Fresher's Flu!!.. at the beginning of week one, they said it was inevitable. I didnt believe them.. but it looks like its true.

Well, today's the end of week one. There's a finale party at Rock City in Nottingham City. Tickets were 15 quid so i opted not to join.. But this coming Tuesday there's this joint club night between the Malaysian Society, The Malaysian Singaporen Society, the Korean Society, The Thai Society, and the Chinese Society. Looking forward to that day..

Tommorow, the work starts. Mm.

Hope you guys are doing great and God bless...

Joachim L.

3 days, 2 nights in RUtland...

2005-09-27T05:39:00.000-07:00

Note: 2nd email I sent out since i got here...

Hey all...

Where do i start?? Mystery House parties, my room being invaded, false fire alarms, groping in the dark (heh.. not that sort la..), barn dance, hall rivalry (with chants and all), a bell ringing society among other things and more!!

First off, i'll start off where i left off from my last email. I've finally moved into RUTLAND HALL. Infamous RuTland Hall, which i'll be living in for the rest of the academic year. I realise it isnt easy being a minority.. in many ways. First off, along my corridor, i'm nearly surrounded my girls! Two of those girls are named Sara (and one more somewhere in the hall). There's the vice president who's the only guy along my corridor. There are guys much further down tho..2ndly, mostly home students around me..

I'm living in a single studied catered hall. Today they served Chicken Korma but doesnt taste like it at all! I miss Malaysian food. Two fellows i came across complimented Malaysian Food! YEAH! Score one for Malaysia.

SUNDAY - I had the taste of hall rivalry in the afternoon. Other halls chant: Rutland takes is up the arse...and we proudly reply : yes, and we do it proud! Lol. And we chant : Rutland till i die, Rutland till i die, i know i am, i'm sure i am, Rutland till i die.

And we chant at out neigbouring hall, Sherwood : If i has the arse of a donkey and the wings of a sparrow i would fly over sherwood and shit on the bastards below. (to the tune of bring back my pony to me)

So, it's kinda like hall rivalry in err.. harry Potter but PG-18!! Heh.

There was a Rutland only house party on the 1st night but i kinda sneaked two friends into the party.. heh. We left early.. the 6 of us. We wanted to

My 1st night at Rutland was a sleepless one. There was a party right outside my door at 2am.. .. and i didnt know how to lock my door then (it's one of those lift up to lock types!) and this british girl came in and i stared at her in my PJs and i stared at her and then this bloke comes in and says sorry and shuts the door. Then later on, the fire alarm rings at 3!! It was freakin loud and instead of getting up, i cover my head with everything i can find and go back to sleep! The next morning, i found out that everyone had gathered downstairs.. If it was the real thing, yours truly would probably be send back in an ashtray!

Monday - I was dead tired.. but it was the first day of FRESHER'S FAYRE where all the societies/sports clubs promote themselves to all the students. There was Ultimate Fresbee, Trapoline Society, Bell ringing society, Magic Soc (Yeah!! Wanted to join but clashed with Ballroom Soc), Nott Malaysian Society, Catholic Society and many more... just to name a few. Last year, at the comercial booths.. attendants at the Isis (a strip club/bar) flashed to get attention! I got lots of tons of free stuff(mags,key chains, shirts).. i've been there 3 times in 2 days as it's right opposite my hall!)

A big "HEY ALL" from down here in Nott's

2005-09-20T05:36:00.000-07:00

Note: Originally the 1st email sent out since i got here...

Hey hey hey!

As i type this it's 11.15 but it's like 6.15 back in Malaysia and.. noone's online! Besides that, i'm freezing over here and it seems to get colder and colder each day. Looking on the bright side, i've met tons of new people and the scenery's really good (scenery as in literally and figuratively!! >.<) Lol. I've manage to overcome the jetlag... picking up a bit of social drinking( irony was.. on Wednesday, i went drinking with two muslim guys! Lol) .. went clubbing at The Works (kinda disappointing.. way too much RnB). And the parties arent over yet! Next week, the home students will be coming in and lots of events/parties will be happening. No real chance to miss home at the rate we're going. I've got a phone and the number is 44(0)7830257553 but dont expect any smses from me coz it'll cost me extra to send overseas calls! Things arent cheap over here! I've been finding ways to cut corners on spending.. Ie: Packed lunches, maggi mee, soup in a cup (which i really great for keeping warm!) Most meals were and in the future will be served by the halls. For dinner, we keep on getting boiled vegies and it's so damn bland!! I've gotta tahan the food at the halls as long as i can or else end blowing my budget... The campus is quite big.. it's divided to 3 parts and i'm on the biggest one, University park. I've got blister between my toes from walking around.. and it really works up an appetite. It takes Scenery's great as in the grass is blade grass not like the shary type back home.. it's really lovely just to lie back and bask in the sun over here. it's a whole different mentality over here.. Back home, u wanna sit in the shade. Here, you gotta sit in the sun or u're freaking freeze yourself to death! Lol. Sidenote for the guys - Eyecandy around here is quite good. >.< When they call it an international campus, it means you get a bevy of beauties from around the world! heh.. Lol. But i cant help bumping into older women! More than half seem to be doing a masters in something (oncology,etc..) or JPA scholars who are a year older. Makes me feel damn young... And my brother's housemates say i look very young..*shrugs* Oh well..errr older women... More experience? Lol.

Heh. People here are really nice.. i guess we're all pretty united on one thing.. New Place and New Beginning.. etc... I've been lining up in queues for everything( get meals, submit aplications) but it's a great to just turn around and meet new people! Met a Syrian,a Iraqi, American gal (who kinda looks like Sharon Stone..really pretty), lots of Hong Kees, Koreans, tons of mainland chinese, pakistanis, s etc.. and u hear this phrase quite a bit : "I'm such-and-such but i'm from here-and-here." It's really diverse over here.. and the funny thing about being Malaysian is that.. u know all that multi-racial thing we take for granted back home. Up here, you realize it really is there. Malaysians are like the only country where u can really see different races all under one flag.

Anyway, that's all for now. Take care all and God Bless.

Joachim L.

P.S. Edwin, i met ur "brother", John from stella.. our senior on the flight here? We accompanied each other throughout the flight and when we bumped into Wei Jian at the airport, he mistook him as you! Lol.