Cyberspace Wilderness

Stan got swept away by a sandstorm and ended up in the digital wilderness before returning back to the cyberspace urban center. *blows dust away* This space has been abandoned for almost 3 weeks, quite a number of events have not been archived but I'll try to give a summary of what had happened for those weeks in the wilderness. It was an unexpected sequence of events and let's recount back from the day when Stan got dispatched and dismembered from the cyberspace connection in an almost torrential manner.

It was on a Tuesday when my trusty old lappie froze with yellow lines streaking across. I restarted the lappie as usual but to my horror, the screen graphics started with a distorted mess. I cannot see anything in the screen at all and at first I thought it was a virus. After analysing it in the net using the library com, it dawned upon me that it could have been the graphics card problem and true enough, the google search yielded a whole mass of complains on nVidia 84 and 86 series going haywire for all computer brands. Gosh, it's going to be costly trying to fix up that problem sinc one fix would cost at least RM300 to Rm400 plus it's not guarantee that fix will last for long. In any case, I need a quick temporary fix because the spoilage came at the worst possible time, when I need to complete my thesis within 2 weeks.

It so happens that I chance upon a rather strange and bizzare solution in YouTube for my problem. It involves using a HAIRDRYER blowing at the graphics card chip to pump it back to life. Personally, I think it's quite ridiculous but I gave it a try anyways since I have nothing to lose with such desperation. Reuben and I dismantled the entire lappie and gave the lappie the hairdryer treatment that it needed.We were laughing as we put back the parts after the hairdryer treament and to our utter shock, it DID work! LOL! The joy was short live because the graphics card got fried after 30 minutes. Then I have a DIY session to give another round of hairdryer treatment and this time it lasted for another hours before going off. I repeated the process a few times and soon, even the hairdryer treatment can't get it back on track. This calls for desperate measures and this means that a motion for a new lappie has to be initiated. I do not really have plans to get a new lappie until June just before I fly off to UK so as to ensure that I get the most updated models in the market. I had always wanted to have a lappie that can touch high-end games but I didn't expect that it had to come that early in January now.

I was hoping to get it within the second week of January so that I could at least have one week to rush finish my thesis. I ordered from Dell but to my frustration, the new lappie did not come within the second week. Getting to Dell's customer support to ask them to double up was nonsensical coz I wasted RM10 trying to call them and no one picked up the phone. I really had no choice but to go to the library to type it out or borrow some of my friends' laptop (being parasitic for the moment..lol). It was hard work travelling from place to place but not that I had lots of options available. The most wasted thing was the weekend because that could be the period in which I could make the most progress in my two thesis. As the days approach nearer to the dateline, I was kinda nervous that I won't complete it on time. Nevertheless so, I manage to receive some really important aid at the right time when Jojo's boyfriend offered to lend me his lappie for the last 3 days of the thesis, enabling me to burn the extra midnight oil to get it done since library or labs don't open overnight. I'm indeed very thankful and grateful for his help :)

I manage to complete the two thesis on last Friday, right to the death of dateline and it was a relief for me personally during the weekend after the thesis fiasco was gone. In fact, not only was the thesis was affected because of my lappie breakdown. The CF secretary work suffered a major deficiency as I had to go to library or Jonathan's room everyday to type out the memos, proposals and register and again, the lappie breakdown had to hit on the spot when I'm the busiest in the CF calendar - the Exhibition Week itself.

After the long long wait, I finally received shipment from Dell yesterday. I was anticipating it well over the weekend since I received a sms from Dell stating that I would receive my new lappie latest by the 26th which is today and then another which stated that delivery would be made earlier on the 25th. I was kinda excited on Sunday night and couldn't get to sleep and on Monday, I had difficulties concentrating in class because I'm eagerly waiting the phone call from the delivery person. However, by 2 pm, when I did not receive any call, I was kinda worried that they might have delayed it or something like that for the next few days. Then I remembered Ben telling me that his friends needed to go to the General Office to collect it and no one actually informed him that his shipment had arrived. True enough, the lappie was there and I happily carried it back to my room. I only had the opportunity to test it on yesterday late night since there's Equity class and captain ball. Haha..the testing period will continue today and few others to see how the programmes would run.

This is fantastic. With a new lappie at hand, Stan's blog is back to life again and he shall go forth to continue with his conquest of cyberspace xD

The final lap at ulu land

Committee retreat was fun over the weekend. It started off with Jon, Reuben and me heading to Lerdie's house on the 31st. It was planned that we leave campus at around 3-4pm but car air-con problems meant that the three of us were stuck at the mechanic repair shop for almost 4 hrs as they refilled back the gas into the air-con box. We finally got the car started and it was 7pm when we left nilai. We got a little lost around Sunway while trying to find Kylie's house and by the time we reached Lerdie's house, it was 9pm. We quickly had our dinner and some rest and we headed off to St. Paul's Church at 11pm for the watchnight service. I was expecting the usual service like maybe a band or something like that but it was a traditional Anglican service equipped with full hymns and processions and of course, with the Bishop leading the frontiers. I looked at Reuben and Reuben looked at me, we both agreed in telepathically that it's gonna be a long long long night..lol. It's an interesting experience again because this is the first time I'm in a traditional Anglican service. It reminds me alot of the Catholic Masses that I once attended in SJI. The Holy Communion was rather similar in style in that everybody shares the cup but it stops short in drinking from it for the Anglicans. We just had to dip the bread into the wine in the cup.

After service, we went to Bangsar McDonalds for supper. The whole town area there is still reeling from the New Year Celebration and policemen are crawling everywhere keeping watch to ensure that the crowd doesn't get out of hand. Afterthat, we crashed to bed and woke up pretty late the next morning at about 11am. I led devotion after everyone has gathered around and then we are off for our first session. The sessions went fine and we had our lunch and dinner at the not-so-expensive areas in Bangsar. On the second morning, we played a really hilarious game which involves us trying to guess the character name that was written on the paper pasted on our backs. "Girly Man" conjures up some really interesting questions to ponder..lol. During that lunch time, for some funny reason or so, my car alarm sound animated to life after being silent for all these years. That was strange but it's a welcome anyways. Dinner on the second day was a fun affair as all of us cooked spaghetti in the kitchen with Lerdie's mama helping us. The Bishop joined us for the dinner and he opened up 2 non-alcoholic fruit drinks from the bottle. We had a jolly good time listening to him telling stories of his experience at Israel as well as the historical aspects on the origins of the Bible. On the last day, which is Sunday, we headed off to Erwin's church for Sunday service and finally back to campus in the afternoon.

Oh well, it's the start of my final semester here in Inti. There's the dreaded mid-sessional results that are about to be released and I hope that I don't get slaughtered that badly. It's gonna be the most busy semester yet and it looks set for me to end the lap at ulu land with a massive bang and burnout.

The Decade in Review

It's 10 years into a new millennium and it's a historical moment that Stan is happy to take note of. These are the most notable moments in the previous decade that are memorable to Stan and they include political, historical, sports, gaming and personal milestones. Lol..mostly they are random ramblings that are mixed up like a rojak but these are my top picks for the decades.

2000 - Y2k doesn't seem to be a bad problem afterall. The computers ran fine and the world didn't come to an end. I reached the shores of Singapore for the second time since my holiday there in 1998. Little did I know that I am gonna remain there for a good 8 years before returning back to a Malaysian life later. A new environment and a new place seemed like a frightening process but life at the southern island seems to be a fresh new start from the old conflicts. France won EURO 2000, following their success in World Cup 1998. SQ 006 crashed in Taiwan - A big news for Singaporeans at that time and for SIA. The younger Bush enters the White House as the President nearly 10 years after his father.

2001 - It's my final year in primary school and it's time for me to sit for the exams to enter secondary school. September 11 terrorist attack remains probably the strongest event that changed historical and political landscape in the world. On thee very same year, US launched a counter-offensive against Afghanistan to bring down the Taliban regime, marking the start of the US war campaign in the Middle East. Leeds United reached the semi-finals of the Champions League but lost the final spot to Valencia. Man United bought van Nistelrooy, one of their most prolific goalscorers.

2002 - I entered St. Joseph's Institution and was delighted that I got a place in there. It was another new phase of life with new friends and new environment. World Cup was held in Japan and Korea with Brazil claiming their 5th title after failing their bid in 1998. France bowed out of 2002 in a shameful way, a shadow of their team in 98. GTA 3 came out that year, giving a whole new meaning to rampage on the streets. Avril first established herself in her new album and those were the days when Avril, Norah Jones and Michelle Branch competed for the radio waves.

2003 - Sec 2 streaming exams. Knights of the Old Republic became some sort of a benchmark for future RPG games to be measured in my opinion. The Iraqi invasion by the US finally saw the capture of Saddam, marking the end of his long regime in Baghdad. Back in Malaysia, Mahathir announced to the shock of his party comrades and the nation that he will resigning from the top post of the country after 20 years there.

2004 - It's a year of forming and defining who I am. The year when I finally started to focus specifically to historical knowledge and strive to build a library of them following my acceptance to take History 2158 (World Affairs since 1919) in SJI. The American Idiot album inspired me to stay loyal to the rock genre and rock became the defining style of music that drives me. Wayne Rooney arrived in Man Utd, after waves of speculations. In Malaysia, Pak Lah won the 2004 elections in a landslide victory, with a promise of reforms to every aspect at government administration. Bush too got the vote of confidence to renew his term following the climate of terrorism.

2005 - My graduating year in SJI. As a senior in the Cadet Corps, it's time to enjoy the fruits of labour that we have worked so hard since starting out as a recruit. Had my first rock band performance in front of a few-hundred crowd for the teacher's day concert, ending off my high school year in a bang. O Levels season was quite an interesting period.

2006 - Got into Nanyang JC, something I didn't really like at first because I had planned to go St. Andrew's JC instead. Eventually I settled in, finding some good buddies like Sandeep and TG in the process. I went to Vietnam for a one-week fieldtrip and that was an eye opening experience. Man Utd won their first silverware in the Carling Cup since 2004 and it was hoped that many more will come in the future. The World Cup was held in Germany with Italy emerging as Champions.

2007 - Final year in A' Levels. The crux of change. I made the final decision to leave the southern island and started making plans to return back to the Malaysian life. It's the year when I discovered about Muse and an upgrade to a taste with alternative rock. Man United won their first Premier League title since 2004 and personally, it's a joyful end to a wait to see the trophy being lifted up by a Mancunian. Malaysia's 50 years of independence was celebrated on this year.

2008 - The start of reestablishing myself in Malaysia. The March 8 elections marks a new political watershed in Malaysia. It's the beginning of my journey in law. Man United won the Champions League, a sight I have being waiting for since 1999. Barack Obama voted in as the 44th US President, the first African American in the top office.

2009 - The year when I acquired full mobile movement to travel around Malaysia. It's also the year when I took on more responsibilities in many areas as a committee member. Man Utd visited Malaysia and it's an atmosphere that'll stay in my mind for a long time.

2010 - May this year be a fruitful year that the Lord has bless and it'll sure be another major phase in life as I step foot on another continent.

Here's cheers to another 10 years down the road for the new decade! :)

Christmas at JayBee

Christmas did not go as what I had planned earlier but God presented me a rather unique Christmas experience this year. Since I can't go anywhere, I went to Grace's place for the DNA Christmas Party on the 22nd December. Hin Loong and Hin Yew came down from Ipoh and there was Lizzie, Lerdie and Gerald coming from the vicinity of KL. We had fun enjoying each other's company and big thanks for those who gave me a present! I had a couple of new stuff this holiday season from Mama which included a phone change to Nokia 5230 and a pair of Pegasus 26+ sneakers :)

Mhmmmm..then on the next day on the 23rd, I was "interrogated" by the immigration department on my damaged passport. Lots of question were asked and they were awfully detailed on the questions. When I saw my statement being recorded onto the form, a realisation dawn on me that red tape would require at least a few weeks to process those written material in Putrajaya. My bid to reach the southern Island at least by the 24th had failed and I was right. I was handed by the officer who interviewed me that a piece of letter informing that the decision to renew my passport will only be known 1 month later. I felt really frustrated and was nearly at loss on what to do because the prospects of spending Christmas eve and Christmas back an ulu land Nilai were just terrible. After getting my lunch and sitting down to think about it a little, I figured out that going to JB was the best solution to at least spend Christmas with Mama before semester reopens.

Meanwhile, in the evening of 23rd, I went for caroling at Banting and this was my first time experience doing that. It was an interesting experience, with me going from house to house in a convoy of other carolers to the various families of the church that stayed in the different parts of Banting. We started at around 6.30pm and ended only at around 1am. I didn't eat dinner at the start of the carolling but my hungry meter got filled up as we went from house to house. Of course, the best reward came at the last house in the Choon family's house where a big feast awaits us in the form of popiahs and really delicious fried chicken. After all the caroling fun, I drove back to Nilai in a near half-sleepy and tired state and doze off quickly the moment I hit my hostel bed.

On the next day, I spend some time chilling out at my hostel room before heading out to Seremban in the afternoon to take the afternoon bus to JB at 2.30pm. I managed to meet up with Mama in the evening. On Christmas Eve, I have a nice dinner at stonegrill, where customers get to grill their own steak on a piece of hot stone..haha. I had a good rest for the night and a scrumptious breakfast buffet on the next. I spent the time chilling out around city square and enjoyed my ice blended mocha while surfing the net at Starbucks..lol. On the next day, Mama went back to Singapore in the late morning while I meet up with Reuben first to have breakfast with him. It's his territory and yea, it's great to meet up with him after so long. He fetched me to Pelangi Red Box after breakfast where I met up with Grace and her family.

In the evening of 26th, we went to St. Christopher's Church for an open house where the Bishop and his wife are there. Apparently, this is an Anglican tradition where the Bishop will kinda host an open house in different regions in Malaysia. They have always hosted it at the Klang Valley, so this time they are doing it in on the Southern side in Johor. It's quite a feast there I must say with barbequed beef, fried rice, fried bee hoon, chicken wing, burgers and various other cakes and biscuits. I followed Grace and her family to return to KL where I'll plan to hang around before returning back to campus on the 30th.

Like I mention previously, this is quite a different schedule indeed that I had planned but I would not say that it's that bad afterall. This change of sequence of events has enabled me to have a Christmas party with the DNA young adults, experience caroling at Banting and at the same time got to know a little on Anglican traditions. Most important of all, Christmas is a time to remember of God's gift to mankind, Jesus. Beyond all those celebration, it's good to have a quiet time to reflect on God's grace given to us through his Son.

Avatar

It's being quite a while since James Cameron has presented a piece from his cinema movie works. He's well known for bringing to us Aliens and Terminators and the last blockbuster feature that he had for the cinemas was Titanic way back in 1997. Since then, he's being involved in every other thing like dramas (Dark Angel, the one that propelled Jessica Alba to fame) and documentaries except for the good old cinemas. It seems that Cameron has been working on the Avatar script for quite a long time already and technology has finally bloom enough to express what he wanted his script to show. It could perhaps be dubbed as the "Star Wars" of the 21st century, with some really impressive CG graphics that awed the audiences.

Avatar's storyline on the surface may seem to be the cliche New World Romanticism but it gave a satisfying and impressive feeling after going through it. Think of it as a cross breed of Pocohantas, Night Elves and Mass Effect. It's quite straightforward but it leaves a lasting impression on the person. I think a big part of it as got to do with the character development and the deep details that are put into work for each of the characters. Kudos to the actors for doing a good job in bringing the expressions and emotions to their characters. Clever use of the camera adds on value to the movie too.

There are a couple of familiar faces that could be found there like Sigourney Weaver and Michelle Rodriquez. Sigourney Weaver of course hails from Cameron's days of Aliens and it's fit that she gets another chance to feature in a sci-fi movie. Michelle Rodriguez's role as the pilot fits her feisty character well and she definitely looks "Rambo-ish" in the movie. Sam Worthington is a newcomer to the field but he did a good a job though in presenting a character that is really inspirational to the audiences.

Avatar contains so many influences from various sources that it itself could be regarded as a unique world on its own with its rich details. The entire environment is beautifully crafted and there were breath-taking moments in the sceneries of the planet. The indigeneous race on the planet, the Na'vi reminds me of the Night Elves of Warcraft and the Sylvari of Guild Wars with their nature-loving and "tree-hugger" characteristic and ideology. The closest link to the Night Elves and the Norse Mythology has gotta be the giant World Tree in the movie. The floating islands are nothing new as they are used in Nagrand for World of Warcraft and the Asuran's homeland in Guild Wars. The hairstyle of the Na'Vi resembles those of the Carribean and the pigtail that they have is reminiscent of the Manchu's queue hairstyle.

Culturally wise, the tribes and the musical style that the Na'vi have does seem to be quite alike the Native Red Indians in the Americas and the different African tribes. The instrumental track tha runs throughout the movie reminds me of Civilization 4..lol. The themes from Avatar can be found in other movies and shows too. Human cruelty to aliens - District 9. A foreign hero fighting a war for the locals against his own fellow foreignmen - Pocohantas and The Last Samurai. While the romantic ties between Jake Sully and Neytiri seemed alright when Jake was in Avatar form, it does form a weird perimeter when Neytiri found Jake's human form. She's big and he's well...just smaller and shorter than his supposed wife..haha. It's like having Big Bertha or a gigantic Viking Woman kissing a dwarf. Human and alien fraternalization seem to look quite wrong since Mass Effect! Of course, Jake decided to remain alien in the end and that made things alright. Jake's desire to return back to the "Dream World" in Pandora and forsaking his original identity is very similar to Lost's John Locke who decided that staying in the Island was the better choice where he could make a name for himself.

Overall, it's a fantastic movie and ranks among of the top movies that I've watched alongside with Watchmen. Its weight and impression can be felt even after movie because it is just literally "Wow!" Avatar is one of the few movies that keep getting you to reflect back on its contents and this is one movie I won't mind watching a second time in 3D. With that said, Cameron's Avatar deservedly to be mentioned as one of cinema's greatest masterpieces.

Christmas Lunch at K

Since I'm around the region for the weekend, I joined the young adults from GFS for a karaoke session and lunch session at Red Box at the Curve yesterday. I was supposed to meet them at 10.45am but I discovered in the morning that the car's brakes actually had severe damage to it in that the brake oil container had a breach where all the oil seeped out leaving it empty. No wonder it took significantly harder to stop my car and I nearly collided into a few cars on previous occasions. The mechanic took quite a long time to fix everything up because he needed time to test the brakes and pump them too.

I reached just in time for the second half and to sing Supermassive Black Hole and some Linkin Park songs..lol. As usual, Karaoke moments involve some really funny moments and Aaron adds on to the sound effects. We exchanged gifts after that, and I managed to get a mouse hand rest and a bookmark. With the "prize-giving" ceremony" over, we headed off to the cinema to catch Avatar on its first day release. What an awesome show and I could tell that it left an impression on many of us that watched it. I shall be posting a review on my next post.

I had dinner at Damansara too and stayed the night over at Grace's place before heading back to Nilai today since I still have tons to pack up and rearranging to do following the arrival of my Taiping stuff. It's gonna take some ingenuity to fit all the stuff into that tiny room.

Passport Woes

Long story and if I had the chance, I would turn the clock back to save myself from the misery. After a week having fun at Penang, I drove back to KL since I needed to drop my grandmother off at my aunt's place at Klang and my mama needed to go back down South to settle her students' exam stuff. On the way back, I made a detour to Taiping to grab the remainder of my stuff from the now derelict and defunct optical shop. Got a couple of important stuff that I needed to take like my Cold War book, Chronicles of Malaysia book, some clothes and my Premier League soccer ball. All those stuff have been lying dormant there for about a month already and I need to rescue them before they got overrun by rats.

There were a couple of vital stuff that needs to be completed like changing I/C, passport renewals and car road tax renewal once I got to KL. Since my car registration certificate was left at my hostel room, the sensible route would be to go to renew my passport and change I/C first since if my passport duration is less than 6 months, I can't travel to Singapore. I went to Damansara main town to do the passport and found out that the queue numbers were all gone. I was going to go out dejected when I discovered by chance that renewing passports in Malaysia is a breeze with the use of the kiPPas machine. As I was coming out of my car previously, I also found out that my passport back cover was actually split open for some strange reason, revealing the chip inside. But I placed it into the machine to renew anyways thinking that they would issue me a new ones anyway. Lo and behold, in the 2hrs I was waiting, I got call on my handphone telling me that my application was rejected and I would need to come back on the 23rd for an interview on why my passport was spoilt. UGGGHHH!! Why won't they just interview me on the spot or on an earlier date???!! I should have just used some glue to paste the back cover back together if I had known earlier. My passport was taken away by the immigration department and now I can't get out of the country. So much for being efficient huh.

This is extremely horrible, because it happened at the worst possible time. I desperately hope that they can renew it on the spot after the interview. What I'm worried of is the extra red tape and admin delay that involves higher authorities at Putrajaya. A myriad of annoying difficulties can arise if they dun renew on that very 23rd Dec itself, which is already very late for me. I have heard rumours that it may take 3 to 4 months and I can't find any postings in the internet on damaged passport renewal problems. Firstly, I would not be able to celebrate Christmas with my bro and my mama. The bigger problem is with the uni application and UK Visa Application. How am I gonna apply with no passport for 3 months? Dear Lord! Please let it go through well!