The KrazyBananaz Diary

Life Isn't Fair

2009-08-04T09:37:00.003+08:00

I was browsing in my inbox clearing my mails. Spam mails and a lots of them. One particularly mail interests me. Its about life isn't fair. It strucked me.

What is fair?

Do you think this word makes any profounding statement? That this word runs through our mind and in the back of the mind tirelessly almost every moment we felt "bullied" into any situation. Then this word comes out, fairness, to justify our existence and smooths our bruised emotions.

Life's not fair...., that is my point.

Some men are borned with higher IQ while some are lacked of intelligence and social skills. Some men are borned with great looks like superstars and actors, while some are borned with"different" look, being looked down everytime he/she walks down the street.

Some people are borned without limbs, while some are borned with perfect limbs with an excuse, "oh! i can't do that!". Some people are borned white while some are dark skin, being discriminated, just becaused they are dark.

Some are borned into war zones like North Korea and there are nothing they can do about it. While some of us are lucky enough to be born with perfect-ness in the developed country with a good society.

Then how come in general, humans still perceived, fair, is a word that should be in our society?

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Let us grasp the truth for a moment here and implant this freaking word into the back of our mind. Our world is not FAIR. There is nothing in the world is FAIR.

Our society, our humanity and civilization in general, IMHO, are molded the exact same way the law of the jungle. The rule is, the strongest survived. This rule has been there for thousands of years.

(IMHO, humanity in general are even worst than animal. Humans kill for fun. Animals don't.)

Tell me, that life is fair.

Then, how come there are still people who perceived that life is fair or should be?

I believe the word fair comes embedded into our mindset from our early age. In the form of morality, civic-mind and religion education. Governments, religions leaders and so-called society leaders wants citizens to be morally binded and fairness is among the word programmed into our sub-conscious mind.

When you are morally binded, you tend to restrict yourself within this roadblocks and invisible boundaries. You tend to think its fair for someone to be punished when he is wrong. You reward someone when they are right. Therefore, its fair.

It is fair for the king to rule the country and imposed taxes on society as long as he is a good king. It is fair to let these so-called government leaders to make "fair" rules to each member of society as long as its "fair" for me.

How wrong you are!

Let me break it down to you:

1. Mental: People are generally weak. People like to fall back to a familiar territory, namely comfort zone. The friends they met, the things that they are used to do and etc. Its very comforting to be "who you are" and be comfortable to do the things like they are used to.

That is why, when a situation forced one to feel that they are being treated unfairly, people like to fall back to the situation and says "its unfair". It gives them the illusion of power and the illusion that someone listen to them.

It makes you feel better rather than guilt that you are indeed weak. No one wants to be in a situation that they are not in control of. Being treated unfairly makes them feel like they are not in control of their own destiny. Pros and cons, i believed.

When one chooses to embraced that, indeed, they are being treated unfairly and feels shit about it, they gain the control of power to change. Instead of blaming on someone else and uses the word fair to make you feels better, why not think about it seriously and make a change and adapt to the new circumstances?

2. Society: Those who are strong, adaptable and of course, smarter beings, will take note of the changes and feelings. When they know they are being treaten with "unfair-ness", they adapt and make logical steps. They know where they stand and where their position is. They take advantage of it and make use of it for their benefits or overall greater good or worst.

Those who are ahead of the rest of us, knows that there are no fair-ness. They understands this. For instance, a dictator in Africa are not willing to let go of their power and status despite of the conditions of the country, society and people. A wealthy man during the old days, will have slaves and peasants to carry out the work for them and opposed any form of education for a peasant.

Why do you think that would happen? Fairness? How about control?

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So how do we proceed from here? Do we still think that there are actually fairness in any given situation, in general?

(Thats why i said earlier that, man are indeed worst than animal, in this sense. They are willing to kill each other for fun and control.)

Since the rise of industrial age and information age, the rules of the game is changed. There are opportunities for change now. We are only bound in papers to our birth place, ie. citizenship rather than our level of status, ie peasant or slave. We have an opportunity and choice to even change the citizenship if we choose to. Of course, there are some places still, that color of race dictates your destiny.

Ultimately, IMHO, i believe that our choices are dictated from within. The stuff between your ears. Your solid matter to think and understand. Your brain and mindset.

If you understand and believes that "fair" is indeed just a word that does not make sense it this world, why hang on to it? Why not make it work for you.

Diminish the word "fair" from your mind and force another word into your brain, "advantageous". Whenever when you felt treaten on your territory involving the word fair, try to think of the next step to be in an advantageous position. Do not blame and says its not fair, instead, say i will change and adapt to be better, stronger and advantageous.

Don't think that there should be fairness and anything should be fair to you. That you should indeed have your pay-rise and promotion. We know that there are no such thing.

Instead, try to think that you can make some choices now to change your future to be better, stronger and advantageous for you. Smart people make use of their relationship, emotional, mindset, physical and power to gain an advantage of any given circumstances.

You think cheating to win is a bad thing? Thats how a human survived anyway. Its how those who has an open mind, not bound to any restriction, have this ability to adapt and change, and most importantly survived. Its not your neighbour nor anyone else, to tell you that cheating is bad. Its your own feelings, your beliefs and your mindset that governs you. Perhaps its your religion too.

The world is a chaos place and human nature itself is a chaos. Do not believe that fairness will comes and happens upon you.

Afterall, we are only humans :)

Raining Weekend

2009-07-31T09:12:00.004+08:00

We were planning for a couple of days. In the back of the mind, was this little so-called weekend getaway plan to Shanghai. To relax, enjoy and savour the moment in the weekend in Shanghai.

Alas, it boils down to mother nature, i guess. Arghhh.....! Need to cancel the plan now!

Maybe chill in sleepy town? Going to Night Jasmine for a couple of glass of Dunkel? Or perhaps going for a soothing deep oil aromatherapy massage at Sawadika? Maybe hit the gym and get-the-ass-moving-cardio over the weekend? Should i get a nice lil' tattoo that i wanted to get?

Gooosh!

*Very undecided now*

Shanghai: Cha's Restaurant

2009-07-20T13:07:00.007+08:00

When i 1st read the review and the description of this place, i was like ok. I must try and explore this. The prices is right, the food is right, the place is right and everything else seems secondary. The name is Cha's.

I got to know this cafe from SmartShanghai's radar. Cha is located right behing H&M store in Huaihai Lu. The full address is 30 Sinan Lu by Huaihai Lu. It is opened from 11am to 2am. Perfect time for tea during the weekend or supper after clubbing time in Fuxing Park.

Head there during the daylight mast shopping in Huaihai Lu for a butter toast, head there knowingly that there is a decent joint to "lepak" at. Some might prefer ice Lemon Coke though! I prefer Ice Coffee x2 with a Dunhill Lights between my fingers for a chill cool puff under the aircon! Freaking fantastic.

Not Char Siew Pao. But rather Cha Chan Teng's that is famous in Hong Kong. Everyone that speaks cantonese would like to hangout here i think. Its decor is classic with a twist. Its waiter/waitress are dressed like one that serves you drinks in Hong Kong as well. The tiles on the floors resembles one from there too. Even the menu board is a LCD TV disguises as a black board with wood frame. How cool!

Well. The food is reasonably cheap in the current Shanghai standard. Where can you find a set meal with a ice cool coffee/tea, with a slice of butter toast, scrambled eggs with ham/bacon and either a nissin/macaroni with ham for a measley RMB30 kuai. Its like a long lost heaven appear out of nowhere to save our soul from Bi Feng Tang and Xin Wang.

I personally think its cool and classic. Its a superb place for hippies-ala-cantonese speaking crowd in Shanghai to hang out here. Its called yum cha, btw. In Guangzhou, they yum cham with dim sum with chinese tea. In Kuala Lumpur, they drink at mamak stall that serve teh tarik and roti prata or known as India Fly Pie here.

How do they served something in between? Cha Chan Teng in a Hong Kong style mode! We have such restaurants in Kuala Lumpur during the booming days. You can see Kim Gary and a few others that have same Hong Kong style cafes mushrooming all around town. Only then, came the Old Town coffee hyperbole later.

Back to the this restaurant, go on and try it. A very reasonable affair with nice touch from the owners of this Cha's. Everything is new here. Aircon is cold. Smoke is in the air. Nissin is served on the bowl. You know you have a satisfied customer when they clear up the table in 10. Not even left over a single strand of noodle!

Check out this link for Cha's further info. They even have a good decent review done less than 1 month open. Personally, I rate this place A MUST Return! Gawd! Should i head there again soon? I know i need and i will.

For Cha's, keep up the good work and improve further!

Technosexuality, Gadgets and New Age Man

2009-07-09T09:37:00.007+08:00

Technosexuality: a dandy narcissist in love with not only himself, but also his urban lifestyle and gadgets; a straight man who is in touch with his feminine side but has fondness for electronics such as cell phones, PDA’s, computers, software, and the web.

In other words, a cool geek.

Hey! Thats Ian Lagac and your humbly, me. Muahahahahaha!

Seriously, back to the point. I believe the emergence of this class of individual is not too surprising given then any ubersexual or metrosexual will eventually matures and evolve. Males and alpha males living in the metropolis, both straights and otherwise, working or not, making their dreams come true or just laying around chilling out, must equipped with the latest gadget. You name it and they got it.

Smartphones like Blackberry, Iphone, Palm Pre. Mobile mp3 like Ipod Nano, Ipod Touch, Sony Walkman. Camera such as DSLR, Sony, Canon Ixus and Leica M8. Netbooks and Macbooks are the words these days. These are here to stay.

As Charles Darwin once quoted,"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."

Look around you, that if its you are reading this now at Starbucks with a wireless netbook sipping that latte, and see for yourself. Ask yourself this,"Is that guy gay? Is the guy sitting next to me straight?" You could not have seen more examples of these in any metropolis, anywhere between Tokyo to Shanghai from Manila to Singapore. Techno-males are here and they are everywhere.

Goodbye beard. Adios to rugged-ol-fitting-torn jeans. Sayonara to messy oily hair srinkled with dandruff. Au revoir to camping hiking boots in Starbucks. Welcome smartphones and Iphones. Huanyin to Ipods and Itouch 16G. Selamat datang to Macbook Air and Netbooks 10".

Gadgets are here to stay. Imagine your journey in a tube 10 feet underground travelling at 30 miles an hour. Look around you. How many instances that you are able to see individuals with wires hooked to their Ipod. How many of these young males staring at their PSP? Aplenty, that is.

Look at your friends with the latest smartphones (btw, PDA is a cliche and so-old-school gadget by now, which generation are you from, you say?) Everyone wants a Wii, gotten a PS2 and having that kick-ass 42" LCD TV in their living room. All of us wanted that new stylish DSLR or M8 Leica camera. Of course, some of us wants a simpler Sony slim pinkish camera in color to match with their bags.

The emergence of these category of people is here. They are no lie and they are equipped with latest news and information. They blog and they Facebook. They upload their latest photos online and they share like no tomorrow.

Catch up, ol' man or end up like the PDA, ol' skool.

Welcome to the new world.

Update 1: Read this too. Girl Like Gadgets More Than Boys?

Smartphone: Palm Pre

2009-07-08T10:11:00.004+08:00

OMG! This article makes my day. It further reinforce my decision to dump dumb-dumb freaking phone forever and uses something smart, something sleeky, something cool but yet not like a nerd.

Any idea?

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Palm Pre!

I love this piece of plastic. Are they available on GSM yet?

I need this!

How can you not like it? Its a business phone without boundaries. Loaded with features such as push email and IM messaging, layered calender and linked contacts, multi-tasking at its bests by opening several application simultaneously, Wi-Fi GPS and 3G, Palm services and etc.

Its a smart phone at its bests.

Look at the breakthrough design and the pictures! Lovely, ain' it?

I am so gonna get 1! When GSM version is available? Check here for their kick-ass phone.

Pictures courtesy of Palm.com

Cute Kids = Fashionista!

2009-06-05T15:03:00.012+08:00

Long time never post nor blog anything. But came today, when i was browsing online, saw this album full of collection of pictures of a fashionista cute adorable boys age at 4-7, i think.

I think he/they are japanese/chinese boy who models for some clothing lines. If not, how do you explain the fashion and the dressings?!?!?!

Check it out!

1. This looks like a cute kid with a neck scarf and a blue shirt. He looks cute in this picture.

2. This looks like a junior lifeguard with a damn cool sunglasses with a yellow strap bag, white sleeveless shirt and a yellow floral bermuda pants to match his bag. Damn cool!

3. This picture is a happy picture. A happy smiling boy with a red winter vest, a red cap and a stripe shirt. Makes everyone hearts melt!

4. This picture portraits an active kids with a nice dark/black denim with crisp white shirt.

5. This is damn cool la. Nice faded old school denim with a blue overhead sweater, a red beanie and a cute pouted lips expression.

6. This is so korean style. White crisp shining shoe, dark denim, white shirt, beige beanie with a matching beige scarf. Nice!

7. I like this the mosts. His dressings, his fashions and his expression gives a notch above the word COOLNESS. Its above coolness! Intellectual black rim glasses, white pants, colored stripe shirt, purple scarf to make him standout in the fashion crowd and a white NY hat. Super cool!

8. This is a couple photo with a matching jacket, brown jacket that looks like a leather. A faded denim, a checkered shirt and a brown shoes to match his overall appearance!

9. This looks like a future fashionable Harvard student with a blue beanie, a black rim glasses, a blue shirt layered over a white tee, a brown pants and a black sneakers! Even his watch is a blue digital that matches with his blue tee!

10. Dark cap, dark denim, green jacket and a cute look! What else you need?

11. Army pants, brown sweater, sling bag, red cap and a bad boy long cute looking hairstyle!

12. This is an adorable shot. A cowboy hat, a Abercrombie blue shirt, a wrist band and a silver chain necklace.

13. Faded denim, checkered shirt, white long sleeve tee, white hat and a black rim glasses with a cool cute look and a backpack. This photo reminds me of a Korean university student.

14. Adorable shot with big red apple on the chest with a matching red cap and a army bermuda. Damn adorable!

15. This is extremely fashionable with good layering sense. Checkered neck scarf matching with striped black and white tee. Blue tee wore over it. Accompanied with a smile and you have a million bucks photo! Great!

16. This is cool look. Faded denim, brown sneakers, checkered shirt, bow tie, black rim glasses, blue cap matching the blue watch, a cool pose lean against the wall with a kick ass superly cool expression! Damn! He's good!

These collection is great! Which picture do you like best?

I personally likes photo number 7 the most. A cool look with white NY hat, glasses and purple scarf. Extremely cool!

Doctors Advise

2009-05-13T15:37:00.002+08:00

I love this Doctor

Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life; is this true? !
A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?
A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good!

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?
A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!! .... Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you? !

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans! Another vegetable!!! It's the best! feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?
A: Hey! ! 'Round' is a shape!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

And remember: 'Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO, What a Ride'

AND.....For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health.

It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fatand suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fatand suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wineand suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION

Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

Wahahahahahaha! LoL. I think i have to speak more mandarin or french from now onwards!!! LMAO!

Recession, Bailout and the American Economy

2009-05-05T19:22:00.003+08:00

This is not capitalism. Todays' American government bailout of the whole recession is socialism - for the rich and powerful.

In many ways, it is worse than Marxism or communism, because at least those systems has the illusion of being for the people. Those systems at least preached the redistribution of money from the rich to the poor, even if they didn't practice it. Sort of story of Robin Hood The Prince of Thieves.

American bailouts takes the money from the poor and the middle class in the form of taxes. These people have to work harder and harder to earn the currency that is worth less and less.

Businesses in America like General Motors that grew too fat and lazy during the good times to compete in the bad times are saved from bankruptcy. Bank executives who are firing thousands of employees, both blue and white collars, are given millions of cash bonuses, being justified as retention bonuses.

These executives are entrusted with protecting and growing, instead the company's share price drops to bottom and investors both the public and general Americans lost millions of USD in the form of 501K.

Optimist will always says that no worries, the economy will bounced back again. Obama, the government, the Fed and etc will do their best to ensure that our economy to bounce back again.

Pessimist will say that the recession is not yet at the bottom. Look at the economy. Does the foreclosure and the employment shows any sign yet? Does the bank and other financial institution started to mass hiring again like what they have done during the bull run?

What do you think?

Read more from http://www.conspiracyoftherich.com/

Everyones Goal

2009-04-17T10:03:00.003+08:00

Seeing everyone having a material goals and dreams makes me drool. I wish i can plan for these right now. I hope that i can own 1 as well. Dreams makes one feels alive and filled with positive energy, recharged and full of hope. Its a good way to live. Alive!

But, i don't think getting a car as a dream for me now is a good idea since that i am in China working. I do not even know when my month will be. Maybe i will be in Shanghai for the weekend splash. Maybe i will stay at this ZJG, cycling to gym and pump that muscle. Maybe we shall go to Suzhou for a quick trip. Perhaps perhaps. Thats what happen, when you work overseas. No certainty. Not much of a planning.

The only thing i think i can plan, is how much $$$ we should save. Something measurable. XX amount of $$$ by December 2009. As for material goal, i think i want to get myself a new mobile phone from Sony Ericsson and a new MP3 player. Something that i uses everyday. As for the rest, perhaps, getting a couple more tattoos and fitter would be an ideal goal.

Financially, i would want to get 1 more properties by this year. Invested to kickstart my own personal passive income. No point talking and planning if there is no action. Mel, please highlight and look around for properties. I want to buy.

As for the rest, what i wanted are a smooth journey this year, hopefully, something better in career-wise and monetary wise in 2010. Note that i will have a new job to report to in the next month. A new project, a new challenge, a new experience for me. More trainings and more wisdoms. This will propel me to a better greater future. I know i am a winner.

Vanity, perhaps, is not too bad after all.

Hairdresser vs Robber

2009-04-17T09:44:00.002+08:00

Gawd! This piece of news is damn hilarious! Could not have imagine this happens in the real world.

Read on.

A young hairdresser in Kaluga, Central Russia, locked a robber who tried to steal her money in the basement of the beauty salon. After that, she has brutally raped her hostage for three days. A court in Kaluga has filed criminal charges against both of them, the Russian website Newsru.com reports.

The robber, who has not been named, burst into the salon armed with shotgun at about 17.00 on March 14. He demanded money. There were two hairdressers and one client in the salon at the time. One of hairdressers, who was studying judo and taekwondo, disabled the robber with a smashing body blow. Then she carried the unlucky robber to the basement and bound him with a hairdryer cord.

The hairdresser told her scared colleague and the client that she would call the police. But she did not. After work, instead of calling the police, she made her hostage undress. The perverted hairdresser forced the hostage to take several Viagra tablets. She chained the unfortunate robber with pink furry wristbands and painfully raped him for the next three days.
After his release, the exhausted robber filed charges against the perverted woman. The frenulum of his penis was torn as a consequence of rape session.

“That’s ridiculous. We had sex just a couple times. I brought him brand new jeans. I fed him every day and gave him one thousand rubles ($25) before his release,” the hairdresser said.

In response, she filed charges against the robber.

The robber admitted that the hairdresser really did feed him royally.

“I actually don’t know what will happen to them. But it’s a pity that they could not meet in the cell. They would be a great couple,” one of the police officers said.

I thought this only happens in fake porn movies?!?!?!?!?

What happen to this world? Perhaps the robber looks like Brad Pitt or David Beckham, thats why.

LoL!

Busy

2009-04-07T16:31:00.001+08:00

It has been a super super.............................................. long long time since i have open my blogspot and write something in it. Been busy and superly busy. Work, family, gym time, stress, work and everything else falls into my 24/7 category.

I will write again....

Until then, i say au revoir!

Joneses, Sleepyheads and Killers

2009-03-19T10:11:00.004+08:00

I am busy lately.

With chores of works and responsibility here and there.

But this does not stop me from reading at times.

I like this article. It reminds me on how things work differently. It reminds me that the rich and the successful have a different wavelength from the rest of us. The joneses that makes 99.9% are just the sleepyheads and the zombies. What the 0.1% people are? They are the killers. The are different and they think differently. They are the special ones.

Try to imagine this. Due to this freaking recession globally, everyone across the board, the old and young ones, the commoner and the dreamer, the employees and workers around the globe, will be cursing and swearing about the lost of their job, the increase in price and the inflation, the lack of bonus, the money they have to save and etc blah blah blah.

But but, those killers. You know what they do? They are different. They will not be penalized.... You think huge organizations and business owners will kill these killers? At most they will be let off with a huge compensation but will be re-hired at another organization. They are the killers. They make things work and they have guts. They are not afraid of the norm nor killing the weak ones. They make right decisions at unpleasant times. They can watch you bleed while they are having their steak.

To think about it, it makes perfect sense. You think these predators will give any damn to you and about you, if you are to lose your job and complains about your lack of bonus? Dream on my friend. Dream on. Compassion is best left away from the world outside. They will eat you alive.

Now, do you want to be the joneses, sleepyheads or the killers?

Updated: To further demonstrate the differences between where this will happens, we takes 2 examples of 2 different countries, America and China.

You see, in America, you will be paid millions of dollars in bonus and compensation for experiences, results and wisdoms. In short you will be paid millions of dollars for your intelligence as compensation for your results to transform your employer to perform in Wall Street.

In China, i believe it is slightly different. You are mentally programmed since young to do it for the sake of country and the honor of your country. You are hired for your experience and intelligence. But you will not be compensated hugely in multimillions but your name will honored and remembered for your contribution to the country. You are supposed to do it for the sake of your country. Just look at the medals for athletes in China during Olympics in 2008. They fight for their country.

In America, you fight for your individual success, medals and money.

This is just a piece of my humble opinion.

In Malaysia, no 1 fights for anything anymore, for the exception of their birth rights, bumiputra or non-bumi. Or maybe they fight for their deserved salary or lands behind their house in their kampung, perhaps. Hahaha.

Managerial Incompetence

2009-03-04T14:37:00.005+08:00

What is managerial incompetence?

Doing the right things or doing things right? How about doing wrong things right and doing wrong things wrong?

WTF??!?!?!?

I was reading this post. It makes me think. Check it out here.

It is a commonplace assumption, for instance, that they were undone by overly generous union contracts. But, when dependency ratios start getting up into the 3-to-1 to 7-to-1 range, the issue is not so much what you are paying each dependent as how many dependents you are paying. “There is this notion that there is a Cadillac being provided to all these retirees,” Ron Bloom, a senior official at the United Steelworkers, says. “It’s not true. The truth is seventy-five-year-old widows living on less than three hundred dollars to four hundred dollars a month. It’s just that there’s a lot of them.”

A second common assumption is that fading industrial giants like G.M. and Bethlehem are victims of their own managerial incompetence. In various ways, they undoubtedly are. But, with respect to the staggering burden of benefit obligations, what got them in trouble isn’t what they did wrong; it is what they did right. They got in trouble in the nineteen-nineties because they were around in the nineteen-fifties—and survived to pay for the retirement of the workers they hired forty years ago. They got in trouble because they innovated, and became more efficient in their use of labor.

So tell me again. I was pretty shocked. Is innovation and improvements good? Is paying for retirees bad? How do they solve this problems? History of problems. Have the past management really screw up? Or perhaps they did not think into the future at all? Or perhaps they wanted to guard against their own interests?

And continued here about the problems faced by the current scenarios, current situation by the current batch of CEOs.

Here, surely, is the absurdity of a system in which individual employers are responsible for providing their own employee benefits. It penalizes companies for doing what they ought to do. General Motors, by American standards, has an old workforce: its average worker is much older than, say, the average worker at Google. That has an immediate effect: health-care costs are a linear function of age. The average cost of health insurance for an employee between the ages of thirty-five and thirty-nine is $3,759 a year, and for someone between the ages of sixty and sixty-four it is $7,622. This goes a long way toward explaining why G.M. has an estimated sixty-two billion dollars in health-care liabilities. The current arrangement discourages employers from hiring or retaining older workers. But don’t we want companies to retain older workers—to hire on the basis of ability and not age? In fact, a system in which companies shoulder their own benefits is ultimately a system that penalizes companies for offering any benefits at all. Many employers have simply decided to let their workers fend for themselves. Given what has so publicly and disastrously happened to companies like General Motors, can you blame them?

Or consider the continuous round of discounts and rebates that General Motors—a company that lost $8.6 billion last year—has been offering to customers. If you bought a Chevy Tahoe this summer, G.M. would give you zero-per-cent financing, or six thousand dollars cash back. Surely, if you are losing money on every car you sell, as G.M. is, cutting car prices still further in order to boost sales doesn’t make any sense. It’s like the old Borsht-belt joke about the haberdasher who lost money on every hat he made but figured he’d make up the difference on volume. The economically rational thing for G.M. to do would be to restructure, and sell fewer cars at a higher profit margin—and that’s what G.M. tried to do this summer, announcing plans to shutter plants and buy out the contracts of thirty-five thousand workers. But buyouts, which turn active workers into pensioners, only worsen the company’s dependency ratio. Last year, G.M. covered the costs of its four hundred and fifty-three thousand retirees and their dependents with the revenue from 4.5 million cars and trucks. How is G.M. better off covering the costs of four hundred and eighty-eighty thousand dependents with the revenue from, say, 4.2 million cars and trucks? This is the impossible predicament facing the company’s C.E.O., Rick Wagoner. Demographic logic requires him to sell more cars and hire more workers; financial logic requires him to sell fewer cars and hire fewer workers.

WTF?!?!?!?

Is there anyway out of this hole?

Successful and Advice

2009-02-25T13:03:00.003+08:00

Continued from the previous post.

I believe these advise will help too.

1. Focus Focus Focus. Keep on focus on the main objective. The target and the goal that you have set. Persevere, grit determination or simply "wouldn't let go of what you want" while remain focus on the goals that you have set, sets you apart from other joneses. Its not what we think, its not what we do, its what you have done (or the results) that counts.

A lot of people have tried and failed. A lot of people have thought about it. But only a selected few ever succeeded. Why do you think that happens? Accident, coincidence or simply never give up.

Remain focus to at your target and never let go despite of negativity, problems and everything that comes in the way. Never lose your sight of the target!

2. Think 3T. 1st T = Think Big. Everyone from anywhere around the globe will tell you these. If you want to succeed, in regardless of corporate ladder, entrepreneurship or business-wise, one of the main criteria is to think big. Small sailor on a small boat will never make it through the wild sea.

Be big! Think big and live large, said by Donald Trump. Its just a matter of perception and thinking between 100 dollars and 1000000 dollars. If you want to succeed in corporate world and climb the ladder, think big.

3. 2nd T = Think long term. Its very simple to think in front of you. Anyone with a pair of eyes can do that. But, by thinking long term and planning for the future that defines a visionary and successful person.

Think long term and plan for it, but focus on your everyday task and the things that you need to do to achieve it. Thats why we have short term goal, medium term goals and your long term goals.

4. 3rd T = Think positive. The world, the media everyday portraits the world full of negativity. How do you achieve positivity by reading more news? There is a saying, no news is good news! Hahaha. I agree to that.

Successful people stay positive at all times. Its like a super large you. Negative news just sort of zap at you, to makes you stay on the right path. Negative news should not be in your mind. It should not influence your thinking. Positivity should.

To stay positive, you need to start by changing you thinking a little bit each day. Start by telling yourself, especially when you feel down and felt negative, "ZAP IT!". Slap yourself. Cut the thinking. Your brain is sabotaging yourself. ZAP IT! Stay positive. Think positive. Think the happy times. Stay constructive. Tell yourself that you can. Even Mr Lee, your next door neighbour can make it, why not me?

These are some advise bits and parts that i carry with me within all the time. Its a learning experience and wisdom that i gathered. From my failures, from my readings, from my listenings, from my observations and from everything that i learned.

Why not take 5 minutes of your time to really think about what i have said and decide whether i make any sense?

Insecurity, Emotions and Fear

2009-02-24T08:39:00.004+08:00

This post is personal. Its from within. Its actually the result of the Law of Newton, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. And this post is the opposite reaction for mel's post, complicated emotion.

1st-ly, i wanted to dissect the whole subject logically. Where did she get the feelings from? Why did she felt that way? What happen that makes her feels this way? Thousands of questions. Millions of answers. Billions of probabilities. One single truth. Insecurity + Fear.

I think that almost all females have these. It is built-in and within their genes. The un-defined chromosome that makes them feel insecure and needed re-assurance + guarantee to make them feel better. It is something that exists in woman, and of course, in some boys too. Its how woman do and react, have their 6th sense and their motherly instinct. It their survival skill.

That is where the part male species comes in. Males species homosapien has the lack of the understanding of how these things works. It is sort of empathy + sympathy. The feeling and the care that a man shows to provide care and understanding to woman. To make them feel better. Reassured. Makes them feels secure. To give them what they need, the feeling of re-assurance and security. Its in their genes.

Back to the story. Why does that Mel feels so emotionally challenged? I believe it comes from lack of directions and the constant changes evolves around her life and daily routine. Its the chaos and the stress level that comes from work and everyday life.

Generally, i believe when it comes to this scenario, where deep down inside your heart, when you feel insecured and lack of something to hold on to, you mis-react. They wanted to be busy. They believes that, if only, that they have more work and busier, things will be better. They believes that they have some-sort-of-karma-and-control that things will be eventually better. It is also dues to that when you feel you are busy with new challenges and new works, naturally you will feel "better" due to that you overcome new challenges and getting the praise that you deserved! You believe it works that way.

I think all of these are only fractionally true. It is not that i mean that you should laid back like an asshole doing nothing. It is also not that i mean you should not work like a horse to achieve what you wanted.

It is just that i believe that if you feel insecure and have a sort of fear, you have to look inside. Stop running. Stop thinking and believing that if you are to be in control more of any situation, things will get better. They don't!

The more you are trying to control. The more LIFE screw you up. The more you are trying to control things around you. The more YOU will screw things up. The more you are trying to control the people around you. The more HE/SHE will riot and screw up.

Then, not only you will micro-managed it, you are also expecting the results to be exact of what you wanted. You will wish to control 1001 things in your mind, things around you and people you love and care. You wanted to "believe" that by getting busy, be in control and by doing things fast and everything will makes things better. It won't. You will only make it worst.

Have you seen those scenario and real life cases before? I bet you would. Mothers who expects their children to perform up to their expectation, micro-managing it to the things they do and how they expect their child to behave. What happens next?

We created a monster or a poor soul. Either this monster will grow up to be a heartless person who do bad and nasty things to others or this little soul will have no courage and full of fear to meet the world and society outside. And all of these happens, is because the parents is fearful and insecure about their children's life.

Life sucks. Get over it. People die everyday. Be grateful that you still have this breath right now. Theres nothing you can do to make it better. The world is complex nor it is fair. Don't make it even more complicated that it has been.

What you need right now is:

1. Cool down. Try to cool down and slow down once a while. Do nothing in fact and read a book. Go to gym or do some exercise. Make your brain slow down. You will only then start to feel that you have a life. Feel your life. Afterall, you only live once. Why the hell you wanted to be so busy until you forgotten about your own life?

2. Look within thyself. Stop and do nothing. Think of nothing. City life is like that. Metropolitan lifestyle is faster than bullet train. Look within yourself and ask yourself. Is this what makes me feel this way? Am i who i am? Is this what i wanted? And the only you can ask yourself that, is when you cool down and be in peace with yourself.

3. Go yoga or go workout. I think by doing yoga and working out has its way to de-stress you. I have done that and i can feel it. Blast some techno and rock songs. Pump that muscle. Stretch your fatigued muscles after. Go to yoga. Try out the pilates. I tell you. The more you do, the more you will get addicted to the pain feeling of your muscles aching. Its like you muscles are telling you, that you are looking better, getting healthier and most importantly, you are INDEED ALIVE.

4. Have a broader understanding and a wider perspective of the world. That not EVERYTHING is within your control. That sometimes LIFE do workout to be different from what you expect it to be. That sometimes LIFE really sucks. That the fucker in front of you just cut your lane when you have the worst jam in your entire life. That the fucker just took your car park space when you are rushing for your urgent meeting. Bla bla bla.

Hey! Didn't i told you, LIFE sucks? But, be of no sad nor down. Sometimes it work out to be better. Just ask those fellas who went to work late in the New York Twin Tower during 9/11. Just ask those fella who are late to board the 4 flights in States on 9/11. Just ask those fellas who has life experiences encountering the worst, life taking experiences. This i can guarantee you, nothing else matters anymore.

Quote from Steve Jobs at here:

".. almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

You can say that i am a eternally optimist or just vain. But hey, thats me! And it work out pretty fine. At least, i am feeling happier than most of those out there. At least i have made my achievements that i am pretty proud of. At least, i still optimist of the future in front of me. At least, i have done something proud in my life.

Last but not least, i am still happy, excited, proud, optimistic and feeling full of life! To capped this, i say Stay Hungry Stay Foolish!

Victoria Beckham Hairstyles

2009-02-20T11:23:00.005+08:00

I am not making any suggestions. I just think the evolutionary of hair is really fantastic. Victoria Beckham hairstyle, IMHO, has been sort of an inspiration and guidelines for some modern edge cool sexy looking female.

I saw this hair and instantly, makes me wanna go and blog about it. From long curly hair to the current short style hair. I think it looks good on her. Hahaha. I think i will be labeled as "he-feminism", but what the heck? I just wanted to say that her hair looks great with her style. What do you think?

Her latest hairstyle at the opening ceremony of Armani Store in States

And some of her other hairstyles in the past, which IMHO, looks modern and stylish as well!

Shanghai: Bonito Tapas and Wine

2009-02-15T02:55:00.007+08:00

Bonito Tapas and Wine Restaurant is definitely a place to be. End of discussion. *said with an definite tone*

We went there during the Xmas in 2008, which was a long time ago. Hahaha! The place is nice, ambience wise, its cool and classy. Food wise, its original, nice, tasty and definitely good. The service is good, english speaking staff. Wine list is long of more than 20 types of wines at least? Ranging from Chilean, French, Spanish, Australian and Californian wine from a very decent price starting from RMB19x ++, as i remembered. Sangria is tasty and good. Price wise, its decent given this range of price restaurant in Shanghai.

Bonito Tapas and Wine restaurant, the 1 we went is located in Luwan district. It is located in The Loft at 508 Jiashan Lu near Jianguo Xi Lu. Details at here here here and here.

Back to the story. We went there with a crowd of 7 individuals. 1 group of friends and 1 crazy gang. We ordered several dishes.

Lamb tapas is definitely nice and cook tenderly with original mint sauce. Meatball with potatoes is superbly nicely cook. Lamb skewer is nice. Ordered some duck dish as well, forgotten the name though. Tomatoes with mozzarella cheese. Beef fillet sort of steak. Breaded chicken with cheese, button mushrooms. The bread is home-cooked and is very nice. The seafood paella is nicely superbly delicious.

Sangria as an appetizer during food selection. A bottle of red merlot wine to satisfy our taste bud for red wine. French merlot. Damn nice. Less than RMB200! *eyes rolled up*

Our course, how can we not to enjoy? The crowd is fun, crazy and enjoyable. Look at the pictures. There is one saying, 1's an individual, 2 is company, 3 is fun and 7 would be, craziness!

I rate Bonito as 4.5/5 rating. The only fall back, food menu is still small, IMHO. But but but, the quality of the food is at the best! Go on and try for i will be going back there again, soon!

Bon Appetit!

Crazy, Delight, Fun and Enjoyable Moment

2009-02-15T02:27:00.004+08:00

You know craziness when you see it. It is a very fine line differences between stupidity and craziness. I think sometimes i fall in between. Or maybe 1% to craziness. All the time!

Hahahahaha.

On a completely different note, when i was browsing the pictures and photos taken for the last couple of months, i choked when i saw this picture (please scroll down below). Hahahahaha!

There has been an appearance of an "assassin" here in ZJG during the winter. Fortunately, with my fast hands and good skills with the camera, i am able to capture the snapshot of "the lethal assassin".

Craziness moments! Hahahahaha!

My Dream: Sony Walkman NWZ A726

2009-02-13T14:20:00.004+08:00

I dreamt of this. The imagination of the moment so sweet. Blasting you by my side, making me work and push through the pain barrier to accomplish my goals. Music so sweet to my ears. Bass so clear crisping loud and clear thumping that 200bpm into my ears making my adrenaline rush and my muscles contracts. So sweet!

I sweat profusely after. My legs, my calf, my glutes, my quad and my entire feet quivers and shakes. Its was tiring and muscle burning. God! You look so sweet and innocent, metallic looking staring at me. You glow and shines at your face, expressing your words to me.

You look at me, stared at me, without emotions, wondering, "what the fuck are you stopping?". You continued," don't you know that i can run for 30 over hours non-stop giving you the pleasure? And here you are stopping at just after 30 minutes gasping for air and muscles aches!" Fuck!

OOOOOOoooooooooi! Wake up!

Yes yes yes! I was dreaming about my new incoming soon to be have Sony Walkman NWZ A726. Hahahaha!

How not to like it??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

1. Clear Audio Technologies - Ensuring that your left and right ear are proportionate of sound during that bass thumping sharp treble moments of your selected favourite songs are playing.

2. Clear Bass - Giving you no distortion what so ever for that smooth hard thumping sound through your ear-drum.

3. Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE) - To give you the quality of the music that you deserved after the MP3 ruins the quality of your music. You rocks!

4. 13.5mm Headphones that actually made and engineered to fit your ear-holes! Fuck. This is good. Perhaps they can squeeze 13.5 inch headphones into my head next time for even better quality sound!

And here i present you my dream, SONY WALKMAN NWZ A726.

I am waiting for you!

Romantic Sperm

2009-02-13T14:10:00.004+08:00

I love kick-ass commercials. Hey! Could i be one of the creative guys as well? :P

Check this out, in the event of romantic Valentine's Day coming soon, guys, you need some extra inspiration. Gawd! I love the big white bang in the beginning and the smoothness of the spermie fella swimming with such cool moves. Hahahahaha!

Shanghai: Macau Portuguese Restaurant

2009-02-13T12:59:00.007+08:00

This is way long long long overdue. This was during the last day on 2008 and here i am have a tiny little bit of time to edit the pictures and post it online. Gosh! But but but, i wanted to write a post about this and make some review about this place in Shanghai called Macau Portuguese Restaurant.

It is a typical Macau Portuguese inspired food cuisine located at 488 Xikang Lu near to Kangding Lu in Jingan district. Very nice location and good place indeed. Check our for more information at here. There has been also a review done for this restaurant from Smartshanghai at here.

Anyway, back to the story, around 10 of us reach there by 8 having a late dinner, very hungry, like a packed of wolf. I have made a reservation earlier to ensure that we have a decent table for the size of us. They have a pretty good english communicating staff and a Filipino manager, name Mia. We were given a room with a LCD TV and a karaoke set! Hahaha. For those singing birds during the dinner session perhaps.

We order a scrumptous meal. We whacked all the food and enjoy our dinner with delight. We ordered garlic bread, scores of appetizers and finger food before our main meal. We ordered mushroom soup, which is sort of nice and heavy with mushroom taste. We ordered baked rice with salmon diced, mixed grill, chicken chop, pork chop, pasta, grilled fish ala spicy style, curry chicken with rice and etc etc etc.

The food is pretty decent and like what they say, colonial style food originated from Macau Portuguese style cuisine. Price-wise, its decent and average at around or less at RMB100/person. Menu-wise, is extensive and huge choices to be choose from. Saliva dripping pictures!

Did i mentioned that they serve Philippines dishes too such as Adobo? In Shanghai? Well, its there. Oh yeah! They sell wines as well. Good for those who wanted to drink some wines before heading to party at some place later, though, not as good as wines in Bonito, which will be at another posts (later!)

Of course, not without the fun and mood of New Year coming down upon us. It was fantastic, fun, enjoyable and most importantly, filling and full!

I rate this restaurant at 3.5 star out of 5 star and i do not mind to go back there again to try some other dishes there.

Hungry Hungry!

ps: email me for Mia, the manager phone number, if you need.

Tips for HIM/HER on Valentine's Day

2009-02-11T12:44:00.004+08:00

Well, on a lighter note and funny side of me, i suggests everyone goes to Smartshanghai.com and check out the tips and advise on what to do to spice up the Valentines Day. Her posts is funny and truly a eye-opener for those couples who are shy and very conservative on expressing their love.

Check out tips for her at here.

Check out advises for him at here.

Funny but true! Credits to Matsume.

:)

The V days is coming

2009-02-11T09:58:00.003+08:00

3 more days. Thats the worst or almost-choke-dead word that every female species on the earth are associated with. It is the day when the roses boom, the chocolates are sold in tonnes, the flowers are hiked up in prices, the day where you simply walked into any restaurants without reservations and find yourself no seats and the day you felt so frustrated with the amount of $ you will spend for each and another, for the sake of the feeling and a global celebration that is overly-hyped!

Yes! St Valentines Day. The day that every newly-togethered-couple with hold their hands, with the sweat at their palms, like a lovely couple. The day when old couples at the age of 60 still holding their hands sitting at their home's balcony embracing each others arms, smiling at each others wrinkles and laugh at their silly little things they have done during their last 40 years of marriage.

For some, it is a cherished day. For some, it is a dreaded day. OMG! Money to be spend again buying some same old stuff to be given away for their partner in a day where millions of couples globally will be buying the same things to be given to each other. Roses, flowers, chocolates, sweets, dinners, movies, and sex after. God! A resemblence of me. Hahaha. Such a boring old me.

C'mon! For man's perspective point of view, generally speaking, ahem! How is it that there are so many celebrations and dates to be associated with, in 365 days a year to celebrate the thing you called "love"? Ain't it simpler and much more loving to love each other everyday and show your care and share through out every weekend cuddling each other on the soft warm sofa in front of TV. Feeding each other with ice-cream, chocolate and a glass of Merlot.

No. It is not enough, as according to some females. Love are meant to be celebrated! Yeah. Its true. There is 2 birthdays in a year, 1 wedding date, 1 dating date, 1 Chinese valentines day, 1 Xmas day, 1 Valentine's day, 1 New year day and other days that you can associated with in 365 days a year for the Love Celebration Day. Thats 8 days ++ If you are to logical divide it with 12 months, you will be celebrating Love once every 1 month. Almost.

But, for a woman's point of view, of course, the more the better, ain't it?

But no, i believe the woman and female generations of our new era have a different point of view. Slightly different on the outside. They are more empowered and more intelletual, so to speak, compared to 30 years ago. They appreciate the relationship more in a different way. Perhaps it is due to the changes in settings, circumstances in life and the way a woman lives her life in this era of cosmopolitan and city life.

They read more, they have more opinions and ideas, they fight for their rights and they are growing stronger and demands more for their birth right. I totally agree with this. We are homosapiens and born with instincts in us. Yes. Each one of us! Thus, the breed of a new generation of woman who is better and smarter.

Of course, i do not deny it that deep down within a woman's heart that every one longs for their prince charming, who will gallop in their suits and armors. If we are to convert this image into modern day, would it be a handsome man with a Ferrari? Not sure about this though. But, generally speaking, i believe a majority of women still believes in love and marriage.

Good for us, mankind! The need to improve as a MAN and determination of the size of your EGO lies up in your head above, not by the length and size of your cock. The need to improve mentally and to grow wiser up in the head with the brain. Meet the new breed of men, wiser men, i believe.

For couples, women and men, yes! celebrate more and cherish the moment more with each other during this special coming V day. Embrace and enjoy the feeling more than ever. The intense and the sizzling at the arm of each another. The heartbeat, the memories and the adrenaline rush that everyone is looking for. For you may hope that the love does not change and the world remains at standstill. For that piece of happy memory when you look back behind 30 years later. That you have done the right thing. For being happy on the Valentines day in 2009.

For those lonely women, single women and other mens, out there living in the city of metropolitan, fear not. Woman are best of buddies and accompanied with each other laughing and smiling after the days work. Be of no afraid. You are truly better and deserved a better accompanion of friends who are lonely as well. Why be UNHAPPY when you can have the best of friends who shares and cares for each one and another during the special day of St Valentines Day. Cherish the moments of happiness in V day in 2009, as well!

Last but not least, i personally believes that life are meant to be happy. In whatever you do, wherever you live and whenever you are.

I wish you a VERY HAPPY and Delighted HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Always Check Your Child Homework!

2009-02-09T10:10:00.004+08:00

I have recently received a lot of forwarded emails from everywhere. Some of them are simply meaningless, some of them provide some healthy information, some of them are just some forwarded emails and etc. But, i love those jokes that makes the rest of your day brighter and happier, from the stress of work. Hahaha.

Check this one out.

The title is "Always check your child homework!"

Dear Mrs. Jones,

I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer. I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn't show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot.From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Smith

My Personal DNA: Attentive Director

2009-02-08T23:42:00.003+08:00

I am a Attentive Director.

According to my personal DNA match up at here, My personalDNA Report.

Attentive Director

This is me:

You are a Director

As a DIRECTOR, you combine an unusual openness and passion for beauty and style with confidence and a down-to-earth sensibility that allow you to realize your vision.

You are practical and pay attention to the details that others tend to miss.

By focusing on what is real and concrete, you achieve more than those who always have their heads in the clouds.

When it comes to what really matters in your life, you are confident in your ability to succeed.

Having beautiful things in your life gives you pleasure and satisfaction - you have a keen eye for style.

Even when problems present themselves, deep down you know you will overcome these challenges.

When routines get too familiar, you become bored and start looking for ways to spice things up.

You are open to new types of experiences – you are not afraid to take a risk on something new.

You have a highly developed sense of taste – you know what looks good on you, in your home, and in the world at large.

Your independent streak allows you to make decisions efficiently and to trust your instincts

You're not afraid to let your emotions guide you, and you're generally considerate of others' feelings as well.

You tend to do things on the spur of the moment, not sticking to a set schedule.

You have a strong sense of style and value your personal presentation - friends may even seek your style advice from time to time.

Generally, you believe that you control your life, and that external forces only play a limited role in determining what happens to you.

If you want to be different:
Occasionally let yourself dream a little more, even if it doesn't seem practical or efficient.

How I relate to others:

You are Attentive

Because you like spending time with others, understand their feelings, and often know what is best for them, you are ATTENTIVE.

Some people are merely concerned about others, but you take action, helping people when you have the opportunity.

Although you care about others, you are hesitant to trust them to act in the best way on their own.

You don't let your concerns with people go unnoticed: if someone has hurt your feelings, that person will hear about it.

People energize and excite you—you are able to have fun and be yourself when you're around others.

You also learn a lot about yourself by talking things out with people, even if you don't always share things that are important to you.

You have a strong sense of right and wrong, and you're not hesitant to express yourself.

Understanding the dynamics of a situation is an important skill that you have, and you often intervene to clarify things for others.

If you want to be different:

You care about people, but finding the ones you can truly trust will allow you to get closer to them.

While you have strong opinions about what is right and wrong in the world, you risk coming across as judgmental—be sure to consider different perspectives when voicing your opinion.

I am 99.99%, thinks that this is me. Only 99.99%!

How about you? Go on and take the test yourself and tell me the results.

China Counterfeit Fake Products

2009-02-07T21:32:00.007+08:00

I was browsing some randomly online, and i came across these pictures. Almost choke myself laughing! Wahahahaha.

Have a nice laugh! Bucksstars Ice Latte, anyone?

Converse "Cult" All Stars

2009-01-23T14:55:00.004+08:00

This shoes is a cult. Sort of Apple and its I series of gadgets. It can makes you drool over and over again by just looking at their products. Apple has its Iphone and Ipod while this shoes has its Chuck Taylor, John Varvatos and Jack Purcell. Gawd! You do know what shoe i am talking about right?

Its casual, cool and have a distinctive look. Those who wore them, looks simple and casual but yet cool and smooth. Yes. Converse is what i am talking about. Collaboration with designer brands to come out with different styles, designs and colors makes them even better than ever.

Gwad! I am not joking. Look at these designs. It is British Rock Series design that associates with with Brit signature inprints makes you a differenciator class of your own. I love the designs. Are these shoes cool or what?

I personally love the Jack Purcell multicolor ankle strap on.

Which 1 do you like best?

ps: OoooOh! Did i mentioned that they are available in No 1 Yaohan Mall in Pudong, Shanghai?!?!?? :)

20 Top Sex Tips for Man

2009-01-21T15:11:00.002+08:00

I found this rather interesting. Of course, i believe a lot of man might find it more than "ego-bruising" to admit it that they need more education and information from experts to teach them to improve their skills, ahem ahem, on the bed.

But, i think one real man, should admit their weakness and improves it, regardless in their personal or public image. Anyway, back to the topic, read-on these sex tips to improve ones knowledge and expand their information in the head (the one with the brain!)

DR THOMAS STUTTAFORD. Dr Thomas Stuttaford, the Times doctor, spent many years working in a genitourinary clinic.

1 Men aren’t irresistible and not all women are desperate for sex. Good lovemaking starts long before you reach the bedroom, so before any date, have a bath. Everyone smells: some women like the smell of male sweat, others don’t, but no one likes the smell of stale sweat.

2 Teeth are as important as the groin and armpits. Don’t forget to brush them after your bath. When kissing a girl, or even sitting close to her, she won’t want to smell your bad breath or notice salad between your teeth any more than she’ll want to smell yesterday’s sweat.

3 Avoid a heavy meal before sex. Oysters and asparagus are assumed to be aphrodisiacs, but this is only because of visual or olfactory associations. Champagne is a better bet, but choose a less acidic one, lest exotic Kama Sutra-style acts cause indigestion.

4 Be careful with drink. We all know drinking increases a man’s desire but decreases his ability, but not everyone realises it also affects a woman’s sexual response. More than two or three drinks and some women may be loving but physiologically limited.

5 Any penile discharge or sore, however apparently trivial, means that sex is out. Chlamydia in the male may be almost symptom-free. It may show only as a mild inflammation of the end of the penis, so that the lips are stuck together in the morning.

6 Always use a condom with a new partner, even if she seems as innocent as a nun. Regular partners should still have chlamydia and blood tests.

7 Men fear judgment, whether by colleagues in the office, teammates in the changing room or, above all, by a new girlfriend. Penis size can worry some men. Remember that someone’s penis always looks smaller to the owner than to an onlooker. Women may prefer a medium-size but thick penis but, if a lover is attentive, even if offering a button rather than a baton, it won’t matter.

8 Don’t rush into sex and focus attention immediately on the genitalia. Take it slowly. Learn to massage. This can easily shade into great foreplay, especially if your partner is tired or stressed. Use plenty of lubrication.

9 Make certain that your partner knows how attractive you find her by paying as much attention to kissing her, complimenting her and generally spoiling her. Don’t neglect the breasts and other erogenous zones.

10 Both sexes have off days. Most men occasionally have poor or tardy erections and even fit, athletic, overenthusiastic men, as well as the inexperienced and anxious, may suffer premature ejaculation.

SUZI GODSON. Suzi Godson is the author of The Sex Book (Cassell, £16.99) and The Body Bible (Penguin, £16.99)

1 There’s no substitute for excitement. The range of lubricants on the market can add slip and slide, but should never be used as a short cut.

2 There’s more to sex than pushing the right button. Men have discovered that the key to female orgasm is clitoral stimulation, and many now rub the lamp rather than poking around inside it. The upside is that women are climaxing more often but the increase in emphasis on genital manipulation has made for some very mechanical sex. Going straight to the erogenous zones is the equivalent of fast forward. Men who focus on left breast, right breast, genitals, reduce their partner to a set of body parts.

3 Though clitoral orgasm is easy to achieve, most women want to experience penetrative orgasm. Intercourse is the ultimate connection between man and woman and the sensation of fullness that it creates is intensely pleasurable.

4 Women are slow burners. They take longer to become aroused and get as much pleasure, if not more, out of tenderness, kissing and cuddling. Though quickie sex has its place, for women on the whole, the longer sex takes, the better it feels. If arousal is allowed to build gradually, it floods the whole body rather than being confined to the genital area and a delayed orgasm is infinitely more powerful than an orgasm induced by five minutes of digital manipulation.

5 Sexual gymnastics are often distracting. Chopping and changing positions and techniques can make a woman’s sexual excitement plummet.

6 Thrusting for hours without climaxing doesn’t make you a stud muffin. It does make the vagina numb and sore.

7 Don’t assume your partner is comfortable in her own skin. A survey of 3,500 British women, by the bathroom equipment company SHUC, found that one woman in ten feels so embarrassed about her body that she turns the lights out before taking off her clothes. The average woman still spends a lot of time every day beating herself up about her weight and looks. Nakedness increases that vulnerability, so be sensitive to her insecurities and, if you think that your partner looks great, for God’s sake tell her.

8 Be polite. Never nudge your partner’s head towards your nether regions. During fellatio don’t thrust into your partner’s mouth, don’t hold the side of her head – and definitely warn her when you think you are going to come. With regard to orgasm, always operate a ladies-first policy.

9 Put a little X in your sex. Watching steamy movies with your partner will increase the chance that you will have sex.

10 Remember to take your socks off.

Check out the original posts here. Credits to both of the authors.

Fattycoke + Melaka-Lianz = Blogger?

2009-01-20T18:22:00.004+08:00

I stumbled upon this accidentally.

The instantanous response is to click on the link and see what the "hype" is all about. Wahahahahahaha. Its the Fattycoke blog!!!! Welcome welcome! *its nice to be able to tap into the artistic side of yourself*

And while reading his posts and his, ahem ahem, nice recognition from DA krazybananaz movie review, the curious case of benjamin button here and here, you know what i saw?!?!?!?!? hahahaha. Its the couple's blog at here.

See their lovely smiles! So geli reading their post, about their msn chat, "eating-shit-you-and-me" post. Wahahahaha. Typical hubby and wife missing each other posts. Geli geli!!! *makes me superly cold right now!* Wahahahaha!

+ not forgetting, please visit http://d-aisle.blogspot.com/ more frequently. Gives them credit for their 2009 new year resolution, being more artistic!

To the lovely couple, congratz again! Melaka Lians and Bengz!

p.s: i have added you, both of you, to my must read. Need to update myself on the bengz and lianz situation in KL and Melaka. Wakuakuakuakua.

p.s2: please also get a chatbox. Both of you. Click here.

Economic Crisis and Global Recession in 2009

2009-01-19T16:08:00.004+08:00

The aftermath of the sub-prime mortgage meltdown has its ups and downs. Some has positive lights while majorities are affected by it. Peoples and citizens of the world are affected from different ways. For instances:

1. from chinese factory workers who lost their jobs before Spring festivals

2. factory owners closing down in Guangdong province in China

3. to the bankrupt Lehman Brothers in US

4. the management guys from Lehman Brothers who are selling their multimillion dollar vacation houses in the States (details here)

5. to the big 3 automobiles company in US, namely, Chrysler GM and Ford who are looking from federal government assistance to avoid bankruptcy

6. to the Greek bonds which is now rated as junk

7. the Italian government who has a Euro200 billion debt

8. Sandy Weill, the former chairman of Citigroup still having the benefits even Citigroup lay off 60,000 employees (sources here)

8. etc etc etc and bla bla bla (much more to be continued here)

Of course, the other end of the spectrum would be those who make billions betting (or shorting) against the sub prime mortgages before the economic meltdown. People such as John Paulsen and George Soros, who rakes in billions due to this economic bubble burst. (read more here)

What makes me more interested in reading the article, was when i read one of the comment:

Harry Papastavrou

The main problem of the euro is the lack of central debt management and a stronger political union. When the above will be realized in a reasonable degree, the dollar dominance as a world reserve currency will be History.

The fundamentals of Euro are far healthier than those of the dollar and holding dollar can be a very risky investment. USA owes the use of the dollar as leading reserve currency to its political and military global dominance, without this dominance the dollar would be nothing more than a week currency.

This global dominance allows the USA to use most of the world savings to finance its economy and the extravagant military spending, by issuing in fact papers (treasury bills) and taking the global hard earned savings, promising to repay them back, let hope this will happen (actually the Americans trust in God that will not be a global sell off of the dollar in which case we will have the first in History bankruptcy of a superpower).

The pound is in a deplorable stage and the downhill of the British economy really scares me, which has robbed the people a huge portion of their hard earned life savings, on top of that this severe devaluation does not bring any good to the UK economy.

For the time being I think is a good psychological therapy to project your woes to the euro currency/area.

Reading this makes sense to me. Now, i am wondering, what is the value of the results we do everyday? Does it make sense for us for us to do what we are doing everyday? Given the fact that life and money has something in common, fragility.

The only differences i see, is the value we set upon both life and money. What is the value you set upon yourself and your money? How do you judge the value of your character, your life and your money?

I'll let you to be the person who answer for yourself and be the judge.

Disgracian & Weird Asia News

2009-01-19T13:18:00.004+08:00

Hey people. Checked this 2 blogs.

1. Weird Asia News

2. Disgracian

Source of some cute and funny news cum information, for people around the globe about Asians and Asia.

10 things you HATE in Shanghai

2009-01-14T08:12:00.000+08:00

Updated: Added 2 more items that you hate in Shanghai on no.11 and no.12! Gawd! Unbelievable!

Ok ok. Enough with all the bloggers and everyone writes about what to do in Shanghai, although not that i complained though as i learned a lot from their experiences, thus wisdom for me. I am going to write DE TOP TEN THINGS i hate in Shanghai, inclusive of cities around, such as Wuxi, Suzhou, Zhangjiagang and Nanjing.

The reason is simple. You cannot and will never will understand why they do that. It is pure unbelievably stupid and no-brain symptom? Sometimes you get so fed-up, that you wish to go and take a piece of wood and knock the shit out of their head. No explaination needed. Just pure stupidity!

We start at here:

1. Stopping at the end of an escalator

This syndrome is called planning for the day. Imagine this. You are simply walking around in the mega shopping malls in Shanghai. Its packed like sardines with everyone is rushing to dunno do what shit thing. Perhaps rushing to get that toilet roll or rushing to finish before you. Then you are packed and pushed into a walkway down the escalator going up or going down. Its packed and its a lot of people. Then, out of no where, the FAMILY in front of you simply stop when the escalator reaches the end. THEY STOP and have a discussion in front of the escalator! WTF?!?!?!?!?!? YES! They stop and discuss which way to go while scratching their butt and their head.

Simply unbelievable!

2. They spits!

They act is called clearing the throat kung fu. It takes your chi and your breath, all in 1 act. Ptuiiiiiiii ................................. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then the fucker turns his head and make the furthest spit, and if you are walking around these "spitting kungfu master", you need both of your ears and all your senses to avoid that lump of spit! YuckS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes! Sometimes you need to jump away if necessary!

3. Bad Breath!

I do not understand why. They dislike drinking a lot of water. It makes them fat! Sometimes, when they talk to you, you can feel it. Smelling that foul smell from the mouth 1 foot away from you that you have to hold on to your breath and look away to catch a breather!

They do not believe in the thing call mouth spray nor sweets. Its sweet and its fattening. Never mind the breath! *faint*

4. Food and service staff attitude

You feel like choking them alive. Just imagine 4 counters during lunch time. Pack of people going to buy McDonalds right? They open only 1 counter. >_<

Have you ever tried to ask for 1 more slice of lemon for your ice lemon tea or requests for 1 more slice of cheest for your burger? I tell you. You will VOMIT blood! They will tell you its not for sell nor they will give it to you. Its not company policy! FUCK!

5. NOT lining UP!

This is ONE OF THE FUCKING thing that i hate the most! No body lines UP in China. I think everyone who visits to China, will somehow be amuse at the crowd when they buy tickets in bus station, McDonalds ordering food, hospital lining up for payment and etc. You feel like popping their head in that instant. I mean, its a common understanding that everyone waits for their turn.

Well, its China!

6. Cars making u-turn in the highway trunk road

Imagine this. 6 lane trunk road. Its huge, but without dividers. That fucking car simply making that u-turn without looking at the side mirrors or give a damn glancing to the back. Those cars behind simply have to be more aware and step on the emergency brake and horn no fucking stop while screwing that car in front.

Buses, taxis and bicycles are the most dangerous automobiles in China. You cannot imagine how dangerous it is until you have been to China.

7. Food wastage

In China, a dinner is considered as a treat. It is all about face value you are talking about at the end. Thus, everyone orders or serve with food they will never ever able to finish. Imagine a typical Chinese wedding dinner, where an average of 20 dishes will be served to a table of 10. Simultaneously and served together. Therefore, your table WILL be STACKED of food! Drinks, cigarette and etc will be served as well. Its customary.

Its unbelievable. Once you are here in China, you will understand why the word of food wastage does not applies in China. It is simply inpolite to finish your dishes when your hosts pay for your food!

8. Food prices

OMFG! Food prices in Shanghai are like one of the highest. Its like simply outrageous. Of course, it also depends on which area or restaurant that you go to. If you are to go to that small little stall by the road side, then of course, a few renminbi will suffice. But, just imagine a little higher such as famous BiFengTang, the cantonese food franchise. An average meal costs you RMB40 for one? And its like RMB40, one plate of fried noodle and a glass of ice nai cha?

Freaking expensive. Dun even bother to ask me the price of a glass of German wheat beer in Paulaner. You will stop and wonder. How the hell are the common Shanghainese going to survive with few thousand salary a month?

9. Pollution

The pollution are seriously serious! No joke. And Malaysians are complaining that haze cause by our neighbours in Indonesia. Come to China and experience what we called as common. Its like so freaking hazy that the air you breath in is smokey in smell. Not mentioning that during the summer, the heat is like 38 centigrads + the humid + the haze smell!

OMG! You feel like staying in the home and shut all your windows. Even my fart smells nicer!

10. Got conned

Everyone thinks that you are easily con-able. Its like you are not speaking Shanghainese dialect and from your appearance shows that you are a "lao wai", therefore, you should be easy to scammed. I admittedly tell you, i did. I was conned before when i was like new in China. After that, and QiPu shopping + buying silk in Suzhou GuanQian Jie. I was like OK. Now i know.

Everyone bargains in China. Or you simply walks away. Simple. No need to hassle of that item for 10 minutes. Just name your price and wait for acceptance. Never answer and tell them your price. Just keep your mouth shut and let the seller do the work. Normally it works wonder.

For example, you wish to buy that t-shirt at that bazaar. You approach the seller and ask "dou shao qian?" (how much?). Normally they will see your appearance 1st. If you are indeed a laowai, they will tell you RMB100 instead of RMB25 if you are Shanghainese.

Therefore, you have to keep in your mind that the item should be selling at RMB30 at the most. You say, "tai gui le" (too expensive), continued by "20 kuai" (20 bucks). You leave 10 bucks for negotiation purpose. The seller will automatically tells you, no way! then what you need to do is wait! The seller will normally says 50 kuai! (50 bucks) and you say, "ni yi pan wo yi pan" (you half i half), and continued by saying 30 kuai! (30 bucks).

From there, either you walk away if the seller refuse or smiling walking happily after purchase that t-shirt for RMB30!

11. Smoking everywhere

Its true and i don't want to even lie to you about this. Everyone smokes in everywhere even i have seen it in gym changing room, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC, hospital, everywhere and anywhere imaginable.

Smoking in Shanghai or anywhere else in China is sort of a mentality and ego kinda cultural thingy for them. Just imagine you are being judge on your status by the type of cigarette that you puff into your lungs.

There are varieties of brands here, from every province, ranging from prices and quality and brand. The most common famous expensive brand in China would be Zhonghua, that costs around RMB40 to RMB80 per pack. Again, depending on the quality of the tobacco. The more expensive it is, the better your ego will be. Seriously.

12. Beggars, little beggars and kids beggars

This is also another rampant issue and problem that China is facing right now. Coastal cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing, Suzhou and anywhere else on the east side of China next to the sea and river will have a bigger chance out of proverty. Its true.

Foreigners, expats and everything just pour everything to these places. This started a chain reaction and affects everything. These cities produces more millionaires due to opportunities, employments and growing economies.

There comes another problem. Those Chinese citizens from the west, such as Xinjiang province, that is a desert and no economic growth becomes isolated. They are poor and they are not educated. In short, they are at least 50 years behind in mentality.

There is a saying in China. If you see a child beggar begging for your money in Shanghai, most probably you will say that they are from Xinjiang. It might be true you know. These beggars will flock on the street more especially during pre-chinese new year. They will beg for money under cold winter conditions. They are child merely 5 years of age. They are poor and extremely poor.

What i hate more, is when the parents, grandparents and the elders would even scold the kids for not able to get money from us! The kids beggar will cry and cry. Such a humiliation. These child beggars are sometimes also pickpockets. Beware!

What do you think? The top 10 things you hate in Shanghai? Fits the picture?

Hahahahaha.

ps: I still like to go and hit the clubs in Shanghai! Not forgotten, the Xinwang Roasted Pork Rice! :)

God! I am hungry now!

Ciao~

Astrology 2009 for me

2009-01-12T16:01:00.004+08:00

Ya ya ya. I know what they all say about listening and reading all those horoscope and astrology stuff. Makes people anxious and thinks too much perhaps. Whether that our life are still at the control within our palms and within our grasp.

Gawd! Lifes unfair. I am feeling kinda down coz its accurate, somehow one way or another. I remember i did compare this reading twice from 2 different sources and somehow it is almost the same and accurate.

I hate it. Or perhaps i am feeling and being emo now. Thinks too much syndrome in my blood that runs in my family. Hate it.

You see. I am born in the year of Monkey and my element in the astrology is water. Accurate #1. From the lucky elements, i agree and feel very comfy with the points mention also. I hate summer and love winter. I like and i love green plants, which makes me more comfy. I like dark colors in my room and the black ambience feeling. Not that i hate white, but i felt uneasy with all white ambience. I love to wear black and dark colored shirt. I have more than 20 pieces of black t-shirt. Gawd!

I hate it when i see the accuracy of the good things that is going to happen this year and loath at the bad things that might happen. Like my luck is not smooth or vice versa. Touche~

Luckily for me, i am rather a constructive and a positive person. I seldom think too much and too ahead. I tend to focus on now and prepare for tomorrow. Future is what we see and what we vision it to be. WE SHOULD MAKE IT and do something about it. Not sitting there and dream about it.

I do hope that my luck and life will really improves after 2010. I really do. Gawd! Bless me~

Fitness Tips

2009-01-12T14:10:00.002+08:00

I want to bulk up. Nuff said. I am getting thinner, thats a good start. But i am also getting smaller, which i do not want to. My shirts and jeans seems to get bigger constantly. I am worried. My waist is smaller. So is my chest.

I need to bulk up physically. Gawd! The formulae is simple:

1. Weight training 25%
2. Food intake 75%

Back to the weight training. I read from here that lifting heavy can really increase the strength and the size of the muscle. Its true, and i am experiencing it. 3 x 3 is what they called it. I think i can managed 4 x 3. 4 reps of 3 sets of super heavy compound lifting. 9 sets per body part for each session.

Simplicity. Bench press 3 sets x 4 reps followed by incline dumbbell press 3 sets x 4 reps followed by alternate dumbbell press 3 sets x 4 reps. All of these sets are for chests workout, to ensure that i have done the 25% of the weight training part.

Now to the food intake. This needs arrangement and planning accordingly. I need to consume protein and calories adequately to ensure muscle growth. Too little protein, i will decrease in size and no muscle growth. Too much protein and calories, i will grow fatter at waist and look bloated.

Ensuring that i eat as according to time as well. Small meals breakdown over the whole day to provide adequate calories for my body needs and protein for muscle repair.

I also read here that i need to eat more egg white. Its definitely cheaper comparing to drinking protein shakes. I was surprise when i read the 1 egg white only has 6 grams of protein. And as according to my body weight (i weight approximately 200 pounds), i will need to eat around 200 to 400 grams of protein / day if i want to maintain my muscle mass.

Take that into account, if i were not to eat any protein for the rest of the day, i will need to eat 30 eggs white in 1 day! Crazy meh! *faint* Or else, i can substitute my food intake with more japanese food for their fresh salmon sashimi or that huge beef steak!

Please read more at here for tips to grow and build muscle of yours. Credits from respective authors and websites.

Gawd! I need to eat more protein!

Kaixuan Fitness Center in Zhangjiagang

2009-01-10T16:22:00.007+08:00

Fitness and health is important to me recently. Life changing moments i think or perhaps i am terribly sick and tired of being overweight. "Spare tires" coming out and having a hard time to find a nice attire to wear. Sweating out of no where during air-con hours. My body is not healthy, in short.

I was looking around for a gym center in either Shanghai or Zhangjiagang in the beginning. I went to California Fitness in Shanghai and Physical Gym to checkout for more info. California Fitness is a premium center that costs a smucking RMB7000/pa and Physical is the cheaper version that costs around RMB2k to 3k/pa.

But at the end, due to traveling and time constraint, i decided to stick with gym session in Zhangjiagang. I enrolled into this gym, Kaixuan Fitness Center during their opening promotion. Costs me around RMB1500/pa, if not mistaken. I enrolled and signed up with a few friends and from there voila! there i am!

I enjoy the workout session tremendously. It is due to the feeling of sensation, the joy of muscle aching, the adrenaline rush during the weight pump or that techno music blasting through my ears when i work out. My body start to change. I get fitter and i get thinner. My pants, my jeans, my shirts, my coats and everything else seems bigger.

Of course, i did my other part as well. I eat better. I eat according to timing now. Less carb at night, energy food in the morning, more water and less rice. Anyway, back to the point. Kaixuan Fitness Center has a nice lounge area, 1 yoga room, 1 spinning class room, 1 kick boxing room, several treadmills, a couple of bicycles and elliptical machines, resistance machines and free weight area.

I personally like to hangout at the free weight area and resistance machine. Jogging and treadmill for warm up during the winter times. I normally spends around 3-4 days per week if i am free and 1 to 2 hours in the gym. Pump that muscle and lift the weight. There after, i normally jog for another 10 minutes if i am not rushing or else, i would head to stretching area to relax my muscles after working out. 15 minutes normally.

I really love the sensation of the feelings after gym sessions. I sleep better at night and feel healthier during working days. I can cope more with work stress and i do not panic easily during unpleasant times. I love the feeling of muscle aching, that reminds me to eat less and healthier. Knowing that my muscles will grow back stronger and bigger.

I know i am getting better with times and i will be better in shape. 6 months. I am telling myself. By then, perhaps i have to change my wardrobe completely! Hahaha. Stay fit and stay healthy, my friends!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2009-01-09T13:05:00.004+08:00

The movie is extremely nice, for me anyway. If you are those who would be swept of the ground from super performance from actor / actress and a good story line, then go and catch this movie. My tear was practically rolling down from my tear duct uncontrollably due to the super action performance from Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt.

OMG! The last time i catch a movie and felt this way was during watching I Am Legend by Will Smith. That movie is super extremely good as well. Go and watch!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is about the life of Benjamin Button (simple, ain't it). This movie started from after World War 1 in America during 19th century, when a baby is born in New Orleans, America. To the father demise, the wife pass away and he promise to take good care of their new born. But, the baby born is ..... *ahem ahem* ugly.

This baby has an extremely rare disorder. He is physically old but mentality he is a baby. Sort of a new born baby stuck with the appearances of a 70 years granny. His life grows in the reverse order. He become younger physically but mentally he gets older. Wait until to the end of the movie where you get extremely emotional. For instance, he is now physically 10 years old kid but mentally, he is 70 years old that has memory lost.

The scene where Cate Blanchett, holds him as a baby physically but die of oldness in the arms of hers makes me weep. It was a super excellent performance from both of the lead actor / actress. Gawd! Thinking about it makes me wanna felt emotional again.

Bernie Madoff: Scammer and Ponzi Schemer!

2009-01-09T08:38:00.003+08:00

Gawd! After reading more about this Bernie Madoff creep low class ass human and his stupid little classless act Ponzi scheme. I might just wanna roll over and die. Pity those who make the decision to invest with him. GREED it seems has a huge fucking influence on everyday little people. It makes you go wild flushes with adrenaline. Makes you pathetic poor little investors felt better right?!?!?

Wrong!!!!!!!! The world are driven by people like him. Greed, fear and i might add ego. Invest in some instruments that is SO unbelievable solid with nice returns and i will tell you, its all fake. All of those are just instruments and tools to manipulate you to make you feel better and feel more confident. At least, they uses this to convince you to invest, for you to make that decisions. To lose your hard earned penny. To invest with them.

So that low-class act f____rs like him will be able to live a life that is fake and comtemporary. USD50 billion worth of funds are actually worthless. Yes! Of course, unless someone in US will be able to recover some of these funds. Which of course, will be given to corporate account 1st such as HSBC, which seems to be one of the biggest loser as according to here.

OMG OMG OMG! How can anyone be so stupid?!?!?!?!?!? (see the lists below copied from clusterstock) Don't they do checks and balances? Banks wor! I can smell it better than those add together 100 years of experience bankers. Perhaps, Madoff promise returns are too tempting. GREED.

HSBC "has emerged as one the largest victims of Bernard Madoff’s alleged fraud with potential exposure of about $1bn...HSBC’s exposure stemmed from loans it provided to institutional clients, mainly hedge funds of funds, that wanted to invest with Mr Madoff. HSBC’s direct exposure is believed to be about $1bn in loans provided to clients who invested some $500m of their own funds in Mr Madoff’s venture. Under the typical terms of these deals, if the US authorities recover any funds from Mr Madoff, HSBC will be paid first, with its clients suffering the first tranche of losses."

Access International. $1.4 billion

Fortis Bank. $1.4 billion

Man Group’s RMF division has about $350m invested in funds which outsourced their management to Madoff securities, although this is a tiny fraction of the division’s $25bn of assets.

Tremont Capital. Fund of funds. $3.3 billion invested.

Pioneer Investments, an arm of Italy’s UniCredit, had “substantially all” of $835m invested with Madoff.

Union Bancaire Privet: $1.1 billion

Benbasset & Cie: $935 million

BBVA: $404 million

Maxam Capital Management LLC. Combined loss of $280 million. "I'm wiped out," said Sandra Manzke, Maxam's founder and chairman. The Darien, Conn., fund of hedge funds will have to close as a result of the losses, she said.

Fairfield Greenwich Group. Bloomberg: The biggest loser may be Walter Noel’s Fairfield Greenwich Group, whose $7.3 billion Fairfield Sentry Ltd. invested with Madoff’s eponymous firm, three people familiar with the matter said... Fairfield Sentry has a record of more than 15 years with an annual return of 4 to 6 percentage points above benchmark interest rates, according to a marketing document dated this month that was prepared by Zurich-based NPB New Private Bank Ltd. On an absolute basis, returns exceeded 10 percent every year from 1991 through 2000. Since then, they ranged from 6.4 percent to 9.8 percent...The strategy is a “split-strike conversion,” where the investment manager buys shares of large U.S. companies and enters into options contracts to limit the risk, the document says.

Fix Asset Management. Bloomberg: Fix Asset Management, which had an account worth at least $400 million with Madoff Investments. The firm said it’s checking with lawyers about the holdings. “We are very shocked,” John Fix, the son of founder Charles Fix, said by phone from Greece. “We put in redemptions in the past few months and got our money back no problem. We are just so surprised about all this.”

Kingate Management Ltd. Bloomberg says $2.8 billion Kingate Global Fund Ltd. invested with Madoff.

Santander. WSJ: The eurozone's largest bank by market value, said its clients had an exposure of €2.33 billion ($3.1 billion) to Madoff's investment funds, mainly through its Optimal Strategic US Equity fund. More than €2 billion belongs to institutional investors and international clients of its private-banking business, which provides services to wealthy individuals, it said. The remaining €320 million belongs to private-banking customers in Spain, where Santander is based.

Thyssen Family. Source sends the following: Thybo Investments grew out of a family office for Thyssen. They have been in fund of funds it seems since 1989. Thybo International is a "proper" fund of fund but it's newer share class G invests only in one manager - and i'm 99% sure it's Madoff as the returns are almost the same. Some more info. The fund started in Jan 2007. Ernst & Young. Luxembourg are the auditors. UBS Luxembourg is the administrator. Thybo states on their webpage: "Our track record incorporates audited financial statements at both a composite firm-wide and individual portfolios level."

Ira Roth's family. WSJ: Ira Roth, a New Jersey resident, who says his family has about $1 million invested through Mr. Madoff's firm, is "in a state of panic." He said his 86-year-old mother-in-law has been living on the investments' returns, and he has been using the funds to pay college tuition.

Sterling Equities. Fund controlled by Fred Wilpon, co-owner of the NY Mets, confirms it had money with Madoff.

Stephen Abbott, a San Francisco lawyer. WSJ: [Abbott] and two siblings had several hundred thousand dollars invested with Mr. Madoff. They inherited the trust from their father, who had befriended Mr. Madoff years ago. Performance remained steady through the current bear market, he said. "People were floored," he says. "We were making money in this lousy market." He says he is concerned about recovering the money but "you have to get philosophical about this stuff. It could be worse; we still have our health."

Palm Beach Country Club. Source: CNBC's David Faber

Lawrence Velvel, "69, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, said he and a friend may have lost millions of dollars between them (AP). "This is a major disaster for a lot of people," Velvel said in a telephone interview from his Andover, Mass., office. "You work all your life, you finally manage to save up something, and somebody who's entrusted with it, it turns out suddenly he's a crook. Lots of people are getting fully or partially wiped out." Velvel said he wants to know where government regulators, as well as accountants and others at Madoff's company, were when the money was being lost."

Loeb Family. Source: CNBC's David Faber

J. Ezra Merkin. GMAC LLC Chairman. WSJ: Mr. Merkin, the chairman of former General Motors Corp. financing arm GMAC, is also a money manager at Ascot Partners LLC in New York. Ascot, which had $1.8 billion under management as of Sept. 30, had substantially all of its assets invested with Mr. Madoff, according to a letter to Mr. Merkin sent to clients Thursday night. Mr. Merkin said as one of the largest investors in Ascot, he believed he had personally "suffered major losses from this catastrophe."

Norman Braman. Former Philadelphia Eagles owner

Leonard Feinstein, co-founder of retailer Bed Bath & Beyond.

Mort Zuckerman. Mr. Zuckerman, the chairman of real-estate firm Boston Properties and owner of the New York Daily News and U.S. News & World Report, had significant exposure through a fund that invested substantially all of its assets with Mr. Madoff

Richard Spring. WSJ: A Boca Raton resident and former securities analyst, says he had about $11 million -- or 95% of his net worth -- invested with Mr. Madoff. "That's how much I believed in him," Mr. Spring said.

Elie Wiesel's Foundation For Humanity. Lost $37 million.

Members of half-a-dozen country clubs: WSJ: "Mr. Madoff tapped social networks in Dallas, Chicago, Boston and Minneapolis. In Minnesota, he attracted investors from Hillcrest Golf Club of St. Paul and Oak Ridge Country Club in Hopkins, investors say. One of them estimated that investors from the two clubs may have invested more than $100 million combined. One of the largest clusters of Madoff investors was in Florida, where losses could be substantial. Mr. Madoff relied on a network of friends, family and business colleagues to attract investors. According to investors and agents, some of these agents were paid commissions for harvesting investors. Others had separate, lucrative business relationships with Mr. Madoff. "If you were eating lunch at the club or golfing, everyone was always talking about how Madoff was making them all this money," one investor says. "Everyone wanted to sign up." Jeff Fischer, a top divorce attorney in Palm Beach, says many of his clients were also Mr. Madoff's clients. "Every big divorce that came through my office had portfolio positions with Madoff," he says. Two of his investors said that among his clients, Mr. Madoff was considered a money-management legend; they would joke that if Mr. Madoff was a fraud, he'd take down half the world with him."

Bramdean Alternatives in the U.K. 9% of portfolio.

Banque Benedict Hentsch, Geneva-based private bank, $47.5 million.

Nomura and Neue Privat Bank. "Marketed access to Fairfield Sentry Ltd., a fund overseen by Mr. Madoff and sold through Fairfield Greenwich. The shares offered by Neue Privat and Nomura were leveraged three times -- meaning $3 of borrowed money was added to every $1 of capital invested in order to magnify returns, greatly increasing the potential losses for those investors."

Unicredit. The Italian firm had unspecified amount with Madoff via its Dublin-based Pioneer alt-asset group.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg. Unspecified

Robert Lappin Foundation in Massachusetts closed its doors today and is citing relationship to Maddoff fund. $8MM foundation plus personal holdings. Foundation supported Jewish organizations throughout North Shore of Massachusetts. (source: Jewish Journal)

Wunderkinder Foundation, a Steven Spielberg charity. In the past the foundation "appears to have invested a significant portion of its assets with Mr. Madoff, based on regulatory filings. In 2006, the Madoff firm accounted for roughly 70% of the foundation's interest and dividend income, according to regulatory filings. A representative of Mr. Spielberg confirmed that the foundation has suffered losses on its investments with the Madoff firm. He said he didn't know the size of the losses and couldn't comment further, including on whether Mr. Spielberg had any of his own money invested with the Madoff firm."

BNP Paribas. "BNP Paribas's exposure, the extent of which is not clear, may stem from BNP's lending relationship with a fund of funds that was a big Madoff client, said people familiar with the matter. A BNP spokeswoman declined to comment." WSJ: BNP, France's largest bank by market value, said it could lose as much as 350 million euros as a result of the alleged fraud. The bank said it has no investment of its own in the hedge funds managed by Bernard Madoff Investment Services. BNP Paribas, however, said it is exposed to these funds through its trading business and lending to hedge funds that had invested in Madoff's funds.

Ira Rennert. Vicky Ward of Vanity Fair, said on CNBC."Heavily, heavily invested."

Englebardt family of Los Angeles. (Reader)

Swiss private bank Reichmuth & Co. "said its clients had an exposure of some 385 million Swiss francs to Madoff funds. The bank said Reichmuth Matterhorn, a fund that invests in other hedge funds, faced a potential loss of about 8.6% on its exposure to Madoff. That amount represented about 3.5% of the 11 billion Swiss Francs Reichmuth & Co. has under management, the bank said."

Union Bancaire Privee. UBP spokesman said the bank's clients have "limited" losses related to Madoff, but wouldn't be more specific or comment further.

EIM Group, the European investment manager with about $11 billion in assets, had a number of non-U.S. investors into funds overseen by Mr. Madoff, according to people familiar with the matter. Overall, EIM assets at risk are less than 2% of what it manages, which means losses could top $200 million.

UBS: ""Very limited" direct exposure to the Madoff funds...But the Zurich-based bank's wealth-management arm helped clients in Europe and possibly elsewhere invest with Mr. Madoff, according to investment professionals in Europe who spoke with some of these clients. UBS is currently reviewing its clients' exposure to Mr. Madoff's funds, according to the person familiar with the matter. The person said the funds weren't on UBS's list of "recommended" investments for its U.S. clients, but that they may have been among the firm's suggested investments for overseas clients."

Stephen A. Fine, president of Biltrite Corp.

Avram and Carol Goldberg, former owners of the Stop & Shop supermarket chain

Helfman family of Miami.

Saul Katz, co-owner of the New York Mets.

Irwin Kellner, of Port Washington.

Carl and Ruth Shapiro, donors to Brandeis University, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The Boston Globe reported on Saturday that the Shapiro family foundation lost almost half its money, or about $145 million.

Fairfield County, Connecticut. Bloomberg: First Selectman Ken Flatto and other elected officials in Fairfield, Connecticut, thought the 58,000- person town’s pension fund was holding up well amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The 18 percent decline in total assets since the end of June looked smart compared with the 31 percent plunge in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, and total assets of $286 million left a cushion over the $270 million of estimated liabilities. Flatto’s mood darkened yesterday when he heard Bernard Madoff, a Wall Street executive who oversaw $42 million of the assets, had been arrested and charged with fraud. “We classified this on our portfolio as one of the more conservative investments,” Flatto said in an interview. “You rely on your experts and your managers to be honest.”

Royal Bank of Scotland: $330 million

Nomura: $302 million

Aozora Bank: $137 million

Various Boston families: The Boston Globe.

Jeff Katzenberg. Dreamworks CEO has "millions" in Madoff losses.

Gerald Breslauer. Jeff Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg's financial advisor. WSJ: According to people familiar with the matter, Mr. Breslauer himself has likely sustained heavy losses in the Madoff affair. He customarily invests alongside his clients, say these people, and has sometimes been a larger investor than the people he represented. People familiar with the matter said Mr. Breslauer was known to be a Madoff investor.

Yeshiva University lost $100 million to $110 million.

Jewish Federation of Greater Washington said it had $10 million invested with Mr. Madoff, about 8 percent of its endowment as of Nov. 30. The organization said it would work to recover the money.

North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System: $5.7 million exposure to Madoff Securities in the form of a gift from a donor who insisted that it be invested that way. “The donor who contributed the funds has graciously agreed to reimburse the health system for any financial loss,” the organization said in a statement.

Ramaz School lost some $6 million invested with Mr. Madoff, according to a letter sent to board members and two parents whose children attend the school.

SAR Academy, a Jewish school in the Bronx, had roughly a third of its $3.7 million in assets invested with Mr. Madoff, according to an e-mail message it sent to donors and parents.

Chais Family Foundation in Encino, Calif., announced over the weekend that its losses had forced it to stop operating, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The foundation had $178 million in assets in May 2007, according to its tax form.

JEHT Foundation. May have lost hundreds of millions. Will cease operations.

Arpad Busson. Uma Thurman's billionaire fiance runs hedge fund, EIM, which was reportedly exposed to roughly $270 million of products sold by Madoff

Accountants Scott Sosnik & Larry Bell. Accountants who worked for many of Madoff victims claim that they too lost money.

Swiss insurer Baloise. $13 million. (Reuters)

Swiss Re: Less than $3 million (Reuters)

Burt Ross. Former Ft. Lee, NJ mayor lost $5 million.

Maimonides School. Boston school lost $3 million. (Boston.com)

Charles & Cindi Nadler Foundation. $10 million.

Tufts University $20 million (Boston.com)

Alexandra Penney. Artist and author lost bulk of her life savings. (Daily Beast)

Robert Chew. Colorado-based investor. (TIME)

Fair Food Foundation. Detroit-based urban farming group. (NYMag)

Pasha S. Anwar and Julia Anwar. Investors first to sue Fairfield Greenwich. (DealBook)

Pedro Almodovar. Famed Spanish film director has $240,000 "at risk" (Bloomberg)

More as we get them...

Can you imagine these lists of people are going to get longer?!?!?!?!?! WTF WTF?!?!?!? Banks, financial institutions, hedge funds, foundations, charitable funds, trusts funds and etc etc did not due their due diligence. In rechecking and rechecking all your money.

OoooOOOoopssss! I forgot. Its not their MONEY! Worst case scenario, they still fight for their year end bonus. FUCK! Maggots.

Read this too. He too lost a fortune and lost hopes in these international investments.

At the end, i believe this. Simplicity has its virtue. Forget the numbers and all those fancy fancy paperworks and numbers. It boils down to the bottomline and the most simplest things of all. The most important thing, "If it is too good to be true, most probably it is!"

Last but not least, i heed this advice from which i hold on to (which is in my heart guiding me all along, in regardless of the world turmoil, the world's multi-religion and beliefs) CHARACTER OVER CONTEMPORARY STUFFS.

The world need more charismatic individuals like Muhammad Yunus or Steve Jobs, to change the world to a better place. Fuck the rest. People like Madoff, in spite of his fame, fortune, ego and reputation, which IMHO, all contemporary stuffs, fucking around the world and with peoples sweat and money.

Gawd! I hate people like them. What about you?

I ponder: Chaos and Riots

2009-01-08T15:15:00.003+08:00

This is a short post.

I am reading this post online about law blogs relating to China market. Please check them out here. This blog is fantastic and very very informational comparing to what we get in Malaysia.

When i read this post about the effects of the global economy slowdown and its effect relating to doing business in China, i came across this:

"I'm just glad we are no longer in Thailand"

It chokes me and instantly makes me laugh! It is true, you know. All the sudden. Thinking back about a government and its people rioting all the time looking for something so intangible such as justice and fairness. Overthrowing the government. How many prime minister has Thailand change since last 2 years? I forgotten the numbers la, but i am pretty sure its more than 2 to 3.

Its political instability is very much of a concern. Thinking back as a normal person who wants to travel to Thailand for holiday, i might want to change my mind to other destinations.

Its true. Chaos, riots and wars in the world.

How do one really survive and live peacefully at this tormented times? Perhaps we need more positivity and people that really cares about the world.

What do you think?

2008 and 2009 Objectives

2008-12-31T10:07:00.002+08:00

Looking back *serious tone* at 2008. 365 days has passed us again and what had happen? Its like superly fast when you are busy and having fun. Just feels like yesterday imagining and thinking back last year Xmas and New Year! And here we are, having winter again awaiting for snow this time around.

What have i done and what i have accomplished? Looking back at the objectives i have set for myself this year in 2008, I believe i have made some improvements and accomplishments.

1. No procrastination
2. Be physically fit
3. Be bad debt free
4. Buy 1 more property with + cashflow

Thinking about this.

What is my goal for my new 2009? My most important turning point in my life so far. The year before 30. I did thought of these goals for a while. I will write 5 goals that i want to achieve in 2009 (so far i have 3 to 4)

Worst Prediction Quotes in 2008

2008-12-31T09:37:00.005+08:00

LMAO!

I really did when i read the following quotes.

1. "A very powerful and durable rally is in the works. But it may need another couple of days to lift off. Hold the fort and keep the faith!" -- Richard Band, editor, Profitable Investing Letter, Mar. 27, 2008

At the time of the prediction, the Dow Jones industrial average was at 12,300. By late December it was at 8,500.

2. AIG "could have huge gains in the second quarter." -- Bijan Moazami, analyst, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, May 9, 2008

AIG wound up losing $5 billion in that quarter and $25 billion in the next. It was taken over in September by the US government, which will spend or lend $150 billion to keep it afloat.

3. "I think this is a case where Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are fundamentally sound. They're not in danger of going under I think they are in good shape going forward." -- Barney Frank House Financial Services Committee chairman, July 14, 2008

Two months later, the government forced the mortgage giants into conservatorships and pledged to invest up to $100 billion in each.

4. "The market is in the process of correcting itself." - President George W. Bush, in a Mar. 14, 2008 speech

For the rest of the year, the market kept correcting and correcting and correcting.

5. "No! No! No! Bear Stearns is not in trouble." - Jim Cramer, CNBC commentator, Mar. 11, 2008

Five days later, JPMorgan Chase took over Bear Stearns with government help, nearly wiping out shareholders.

6. "Existing-Home Sales to Trend Up in 2008" - Headline of a National Association of Realtors press release, Dec. 9, 2007

On Dec. 23, 2008, the group said November sales were running at an annual rate of 4.5 million -- down 11% from a year earlier - in the worst housing slump since the Depression.

7. "I think you'll see (oil prices at) $150 a barrel by the end of the year" -- T. Boone Pickens, June 20, 2008

Oil was then around $135 a barrel. By late December it was below $40.

8. "I expect there will be some failures. I don't anticipate any serious problems of that sort among the large internationally active banks that make up a very substantial part of our banking system." -- Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, Feb. 28, 2008

In September, Washington Mutual became the largest financial institution in US history to fail. Citigroup needed an even bigger rescue in November.

9. "In today's regulatory environment, it's virtually impossible to violate rules." -- Bernard Madoff, money manager, Oct. 20, 2007

About a year later, Madoff -- who once headed the Nasdaq Stock Market -- told investigators he had cost his investors $50 billion in an alleged Ponzi scheme.

10. A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win, the title of a book by conservative commentator Shelby Steele, published on Dec. 4, 2007.

Mr. Steele, meet President-elect Barack Obama.

What do you think?!?!?!?!? Funny but true, right?

I made myself a point last time several years to not to listen to any of these bullshit told by these so-called consultant and analyst. They are mediocre at best. If what they say is true, why aren't they invest or put their life in it?

Ooooh, of course, its not their money. Not their risk. What worst could happen?

All these prediction. Nonsense and crap.

I believe the basics. Trust yourself with some information and knowledge or how things works. Go back to the fundamental. The world works that way. It is always about greed and joneses. Its how this things work.

I remembered this story to remind myself. My mom likes to save money in FD for that 4% p.a. and you know what happen the other day? I withdraw cash from ICBC account in China (same bank, different branch at different district) and i got charge 1% for just money withdrawal at ATM at the same bank. FUCK!

Just 1% for withdrawing $$$ at same bank? And my mom keep the $$$ to earn that 4% p.a. for a whole year?

Dun even mention about putting your funds and moneys into trust funds, mutual funds and unit trusts (of course, not all banks and financial institutions have these mess) but, do your broker or financial representative that invest your $$$ invest themselves too? Can they explain to you if they lost your precious money that you work so hard for???????

Just look at the Madoff mess in Wall Street. USD50 billion losts in a ponzi scheme. In Wall Street. Can you imagine the mess?

This really makes my last day of 2008 a hell lot better. How about you?

Shanghai: Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

2008-12-29T13:56:00.006+08:00

As continued from the previous posting.

What do we do after eating in Xinwang Char Chan Teng in Shanghai (btw, we normally have Xinwang for brunch or lunch on Sunday)? We go for COFFEE!!! Not much of special brew or special beans, but more of convenience sake.

Hence, either overpriced Starbucks or Coffeebean! This time around i am blogging about Coffeebean in Infinite Mall by Huai Hai Zhong Lu. I like this branch compared to Xintiandi due to its less crowded here and there is always spaces for you, smokers, comparing to XTD branch.

On that particular day, one particular Sunday, after our dear lunch, we just hang out at Coffeebean for a couple of hours, smoking and chilling out while reading some magazines, before proceeding to North Bus station to go back to ZJG.

We ordered Ice Latte and Ice Blended Chocolate. Apparently, Romeo loves the ice blended chocolate to bits! He even do not wanted to let go! Wahahahaha. Even finishes almost all the ice-blended by himself.

We normally tried to cut down on the pastries. Just there to enjoy that coffee. Smooooooooth! In addition, of course, we read magazines to catch up with the latest news, events, promotions, happenings and most important, discounts around Shanghai. For us to enjoy the 50% discount or some secret hidden gem restaurants in Shanghai.

We enjoy the moments so much! Wahahahahaha. Plus, a little camwhoring effort moment from me. I think i can make it into kinda of professional camwhore photographer. Wakuakuakua!

Why can't we have a Coffeebean in Zhangjiagang??!?!?!?!?!?!?

ps: I love coffee so so so much! And the nearest nicest coffee is made at my house kitchen!

Shanghai: Xinwang Char Chan Teng in Xmas 08

2008-12-28T15:27:00.007+08:00

I have quite some time at Zhangjiagang for this weekend. Apart from coming back a couple of days ago for Xmas in Shanghai, i have been "lepak-ing" at home and in this lifeless place. To save up the money and to go workout at gym? Yeah. Need to relax and much needed rest once a while.

Typically, when we are in Shanghai. What do we do? I mean, apart and except from going shopping and clubbing at night. We eat of course, at the nice place and good Cantonese cuisine restaurant that serve nice delicious food! Not too expensive for Shanghai and Hongkong standard.

Xinwang Char Chan Teng that we normally go to is located in Infinite mall by Huaihai Zhong Lu and Pu An Lu. It is definitely one of the cantonese restaurant you must go for. Delicious! Located opposite Shanghai Times Square (shi tai guang chang) in Huai Hai Zhong Lu. Infinite mall is where, Babyface and California Fitness is located.

Back to the story. Look at the food! Delicious!

I love Xinwang restaurant due to several reasons actually and these reasons are actually shared and agreed with almost everyone.

1. Their roast pork, roast duck and BBQ pork rice is fantastic. Just as nice a those we ate in Malaysia if not better. Seriously!

2. Their rice set comes with 2 types of sauce depending of the type of meat you ordered. Roast duck with their famous plum sauce and nice black soy sauce, roast pork comes with mustard and sweet sauce.

3. Their curry beef set rice is like very very delicious, given the standard in Shanghai food at decent price. The beef is just tender and nicely cooked. The curry is not too oily nor too powdery taste.

4. Their nissin noodle set is like 100x times better than any char chan teng i've ever visited. Seriously. Even Romeo ate the noodle till he finishes, which is huge portion.

5. Their food portion is bigger than any normal char chan teng food franchise in Malaysia. Well, not everything. But big by my standard, or perhaps smaller than Chilli's food?

6. Their Fujian fried rice is particularly delicious served with mussels, squid and seafood, which is again different from other fujian fried rice, i've tasted.

7. Their breakfast and evening tea time set meals are like superly cheap by Shanghai standard. RMB 22 for a nissin noodle set that comes with an omelette toast set and a glass of Hongkong ice tea. Gawd! Where to find?!?!?!?!?!?

8. Their restaurant is not smelly! This is particularly important for us, due to the fact the there are a lot of smokers in the restaurants and those cooking oil smell you will experience in winter. Particularly in some smokey restaurants and by the time you finish your food, you smells like a roasted pork yourself. Or smelly tofu.

9. Xinwang opens from 10am to 5am in the morning. Basically, you can drop in the restaurants fro brunch, lunch, tea time, dinner, supper, after-club food session and anytime in between. Seriously.

10. It is always full and there is always a waiting lists for this restaurant. Perhaps everyone share the same taste as us, picky and delicious. And so far, we have yet to be disappointed by Xinwang yet. Given its price and food quality.

And of course, the usual camwhoring pictures and moments! I just like winter so much! Feels so cool! Wakakakaka. Plus, one of the biggest Xmas tree decorations in front of Times Square!

Wait for my next post on what we normally do after Xinwang brunch.

Coffee la! What else?

Champ De Ble: 5 Star French Food in ZJG

2008-12-27T23:05:00.005+08:00

Seriously, Zhangjiagang is seriously serious lack of any decent proper entertainment for the exception of a few food places such as Italian, French and hot pot! Of course, this lifeless place have a bar street that looks very dodge by Mel's standard and a disco name SOS where everyone just shakes their head with "lala" songs.

Anyway, back to the story. This post is my 2nd post, i think for the only decent French food restaurant in town name Champ De Ble. The last time we was there was like a couple of weeks back and it is actually wonderful and nice. The ambience of the restaurant is rather good and the service of staff is friendly as well. Even Romeo is like a regular kid there with all the waitress knows him inside out. Given that he runs around messing with all the waitress and the restaurant, no wonder all knows him so well.

This time around, we went on Friday night and i personally ordered a bottle of French red wine for my taste bud. I did go and choose the it myself and taking risk of finding one that fits my budget and my taste. I like it strong, a little sweet and smooth. At the end, i manage to get a RMB180 Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon. It taste almost to what i wanted.

We did order some dishes for ourselves as well. A tuna pizza, thin crust, ala French style?, a carbonara spaghetti and a roast pork French style. We were served with a slice of nice pumpkin pie for each of us and a basket of garlic bread as well.

At the end, we could not have finish all the food and as normal chinese would do, we take away the remaining pizza! Wahahaha! Typical Malaysian. Why waste?

The bill comes to less than RMB400 that excludes any taxes, which is normal for China restaurants. I would rate this Champ De Ble restaurant in Zhangjiagang, one of the best restaurant in town (given the price, of course).

5 star restaurant!

p.s: I am so grossed of pasta right now. Any kind of pasta, in fact. And i am going off diet and of pasta for 1 month, at least. Feeling so cheesy now!

Taikang Lu: Glismatten

2008-12-27T00:13:00.003+08:00

Gosh! I am extremly extremly feeling very hungry now! Due to the lack of choices here in ZJG. >_<

But, no fear, i am going to Taikang Lu, the french concession road area in Luwan district that i am going to explore in a matter of time. Need to move on from the normal Huaihai Lu area for some extra new refreshments.

Until i come across this restaurant by the name of Glismatten. Not too sure what are their speciality but with a cheap price and a review of 5 star service by some customers, i think why not?

Check out their website here http://glismatten.spaces.live.com/

God! They have their own spaces.live blog as their food blog! Hahahaha! Talking about connectivity! I believe this restaurant should be of a nice hanging out restaurant rather than posh posh cafe like Bonito that we had just went on Xmas Day.

Gawd! I have to stop looking at food!

Food Fusion: South East Asia Food?

2008-12-26T23:57:00.003+08:00

Out of a sudden in the middle of Friday night post Xmas and endless Shanghai trip, i really miss the food there la! Shit! My weight will shoot back up! Help Help! But how can you resist such nice food place in Shanghai. All the good food, quality food, nice decor, nice ambience, delicious cuisine! Wahahahahaha!

So hungry!

I am going to try this soon! I promise i will! Wakuakuakuakua.

Check out the review in here. Nabeh! Got roti planta, ice kacang, hokkien mee and bak kut teh! Shit! I am extremely hungry for delicious food now! Wakuakuakua!

Xmas 2008

2008-12-26T21:39:00.003+08:00

Merry Xmas everyone! We was like superly prettyly busy for the last 2 days. Went to 2 different places to celebrate for Xmas.

Xmas eve was at Wuxi, 45 minutes away from this lifeless little town called Zhangjiagang. We went to Papa John for some pizza celebration countdown dinner kinda thingy in 2 mpv's. Approximately 12 person eating whole lot of fat-cheesy pizza, 5 pizza to be exact. Was fat and full like shit after.

We head outside for a smoke and chill after pizza. Just hanging outside in the coziest windiest night smoking and be joyous! Wakuakuakua. We also had Starbucks coffee to accompanied for the Xmas eve before heading back to "lifeless", meaning Zhangjiagang.

Sleep pretty early, as we had to be ready in the morning at 9am for transport to SHANGHAI! YaY! Did so much thing in Shanghai for a period of 1 day and 1 night, ate the niest Spanish food with French wine. Had the most marvelous lunch ever when we arrive, at Xinwang for their nicest Cantonese food cuisine. Did some shopping as well on Xmas day and bought some super discounted sweater, vest and hoodie!

Gawd! So a nice Xmas for 2008!

Will post more pictures after!

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

What the fuck is wrong with some foreigners in Shanghai?!?!?!?!? Me and ian was like heading to Muse2 in Plaza 66 and there we went into the lift. Together inside was a bunch of rather "happening" foreigners who wants to have fun on Xmas day.

One of the lady was like, halfly drunk, looking decent before she embarrased herself when she openings her mouth. Kinda looking at us, and make stupid remarks. "I'm...i'm not sure that you know English but you...you know, that we, celebrate Xmas! Its...its a very big day for us!" She says it sarcastically as if we are dumb or looks like dumb people living on top of the tree house.

We then replied her,"yeah, Xmas is a big day for us too!". "We celebrate Xmas in Manila too! You know Boxing day?" reply Ian. We are like laughing as if, these bunch of monkeys just got out of their "zoo".

WTF is wrong with these foreigners? Insensitive or simply brainless?!?!?!?!?!? Maybe perhaps they live on the tree after all.

Perhaps i should reply her in French,"Bonjour, je suis Victor. La voux? Joyeux Noel! vous ivres?"

Dumb people in Shanghai ..... ..... ..... ..... ......

>_<

Cheeky Adorable Boy!

2008-12-24T09:03:00.008+08:00

Updated: At the request of pretty lady, i decided to be more fair and posted another picture for your reference. Wakuakuakuakua! Judge for yourself!

Happiness comes from within. I believe that. Given that the fact Romeo is getting smarter now and superly-duperly cute everyday! Gosh! ! ! ! He is like, super red bubbly in his cheek and his cheeky smile! Wahahahahahahaha!

This photos are like so long ago, during the days of autumn in Zhangjiagang. Where we have just finish our lunch cum dinner and walking back home. He was like pointing to the playground and he just run to it and have the best time of this life!

Imagine a child's joy and happiness! Something so simple by climbing up the playground can makes someone happy for a whole day! Back to that day, he was like un-stoppable! Climbing here and there, up and down! And just release his superly much energy!

Which on the other note, his funny cheeky smile and erratic movements of his head in Shanghai McDonald's having his supper on this chocolate sundae. Hahahaha! Dunno why la! Maybe he inherit those cheeky traits from the mother. See! The head also tilted to the same side! Wakuakuakuakua!

Plus! This pretty lady putting an invisible hat on her head! Unbelievably cute?!?!?!?!?!?!

This picture is where the parenting skill comes in, scolding your son for eating until so dirty! Wakuakuakua. *See the mouth of the lady in green!*

See what i says about head tilting and cheeky smile! He is superly adorable + i think everyone will like laugh and die for this boy! Wakuakuakua!

ps: Sis, please stop laughing and feeling sad! You will be able to see him soon enough!

Its -22 Sunday Night!

2008-12-21T12:01:00.005+08:00

Gawd! Do you know how the temperature at outside today? I am not sure la. I scare my lips froze and my saliva froze! Its NEGATIVE 22 tonight?!?!?!?!?!?!? I am going to nide under the heated blanket!

Macho-nism Romeo!

2008-12-20T00:30:00.003+08:00

I Love Him So Much!

What do you think of this picture? Do you think he looks:

1. Sophisticated and "Leng Chai"

2. English style with umbrella and croc shoe

3. Just macho with collar pop-up!

I think he can become the next top baby model!!!!! Is he just "yao yeng" or what?!?!?!?!?

Here's to the crazy ones - Steve Jobs

2008-12-13T03:24:00.003+08:00

Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward. Maybe they have to be crazy. How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels? We make tools for these kinds of people. While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. - Steve Jobs, Apple Computers.

I believe in him and i believe the norm is plateau. Its boring. Its lifeless.

I was wondering the whole night about this.

The younger newer generation of people are more connected than anyone in the history. They have the ability to change the course of history by simply clicking on their desktop or laptop. They are more mobile than ever and they are superbly connected to every news, to everyday things.

They blog, they write, they comment, they travels and they never stops. They are enjoying so much of their life and have done so much of their life before they even steps into the world of corporate or rat race.

Read their blogs and their get into the insight of their lives. Tell me. How do some of them travelled the globe and trotters the borders of countries? They have visited more countries and more places than anyone else. Those who stuck in the rat race. Like me.

For what? Money? Pay check in this freaking shitty current economic?

Freedom or paycheck?

. . . . . . . . .

*I ponder*

Metropolitan Lifestyle

2008-12-13T01:30:00.004+08:00

I miss metro life. Life of fast moving individuals.

Young metro individuals who works hard like hell during the day, going off after work crumping down the elevator, blasting mp3 through their ears, walking by the pathway or under that metro awaiting for the train to arrive.

I do also enjoy the gym session after work running the threadmill and pumping that muscle. Seeing groups of people doing yoga and perhaps enjoy the moment of serenity if peace during the yoga session? Superb.

Enjoying the cup of ice blended mocha or ice caffe latte at Starbucks with colleagues and friends laughing away for the night, while sipping that smooth flavor of Dunhill lights down. Or perhaps eating that dinner at that nice upscale French restaurant, or drink some dry sake served with fresh salmon sashimi at a nice Japanese restaurant.

Or the after dark hours, late night clubbing partying hours that seems to be endless in metropolitan cities, such as Shanghai. Club hopping during the weekend and drowning that vodka shots and the bottle of chill beer while dancing to some smooth moves and cool bass.

I ponder. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Meanwhile, an afternote, i want to try the followings in Shanghai, soon. Only after this weekend session, which i've something in my mind, Xinwang roasted pork and that ever mouth watering nissin noodle and Coffeebean brunch on Sunday noon with free refillable coffee. Hmmpppph!

1. Velvet Lounge

2. Whisk

I want and i will!

Ciao~

Racists or Racially Indifferent?

2008-12-05T10:01:00.003+08:00

I love this fucker. She has such a high intelligence, it makes me looks like a school boy from high school. I like the words that she chooses to use, to accurately represents her thoughts and emotions. Its accurate and it is rather true. She might be a bimbo and her attitude might be "indifferent", in a way or another, i but do respect her, as a person with the sort of higher than me intelligence. I swear!

No?!?!? Then you are just a intolerance bastard/bitch/person who kept a narrow view of the world. You seem to have a problem of feeling/thinking someone who ARE DIFFERENT from you. You wish that everyone are same with you. You wish to pull this person to be on the same level with you. You are just hiding in the small little corner on your bird eye view of the world.

I believe what she says, not because i am easily swayed or i am weak but because it make perfect logical sense. Think about it without having your ego nor your logical mind give excuses and reasons to reject it. Listen to it. Why are so many issues in this world remains unsolved? How come people are getting to be more divided everyday, but religion, by race and by faith?!?!?!?!?!? Aren't we humans?!?!?!?

Or are we think like a racists, being educated that racial separation is important??!?!?!?!?!? Like i belongs to the Chinese group and you are Arabs decendants?!?!?!

I should learn more from her, Xiaxue. OMG!

I Love That New Word!

Quote from her: I am not a racist! I am racially indifferent!

Check out her post in here http://www.xiaxue.blogspot.com/ (directly copied from her post)

It annoys me so bad when these arrogant pricks call others names just because people have a different opinion from them.

Just like RELIGION.

If I don't believe in your religion, it means I am IGNORNANT?

It means that I don't know enough of it and that's why I don't believe in it?It can't be that I, in fact, know MORE about it than you do and made an informed choice not to believe in it??It can't be that I choose not to believe because I am completely indifferent to it? And can't I choose to not CARE and not be subjected to you telling me all about your religion?

Let me see what else: Yes... Race.

I get it, he is the first Black president. I can understand if the African Americans in USA are proud of him, but why is it such a big deal to everyone else??????!

Obama did not ask to be black. He didn't work hard to be black. He is not black because he is talented. He is not talented because he is black. Neither does he represent all other black people.

My point is this: There are always many firsts in the world. Let's just imagine for a moment that McCain became the President and he is the oldest President America every got.

Whoopie! This is freedom for all old people! All old people throw confetti in the air! Now, this means that old people finally got the liberation they worked so hard for and it proves to everyone that old people can become presidents!It doesn't mean that lor... It means that it just so happened that a talented person who won an election is old.

Kua kua... No doubt some of you are calling me racist at this point. I am not racist. I am racially indifferent.

I do not care what race Obama is as long as he is a good president.

You, on the other hand, are the racist one, because if you think "This shows that black people are as valued in USA as the whites" it just goes to show that you do see the difference in colour.

The reason why I am not a fervent supporter of Obama is:

1) I refuse to be an all-knowing fanboy like these people and

2) he gives me a vague feeling of discomfort. However, my vague feeling of discomfort is justified in that I find it scary that Obama is so charming that he can make everyone in the world believe he is a demi-god without even doing anything... yet.

If anyone else around you yells out, "I will change the world for the better if I were president!" you will probably glare at the person and tell him to fucking prove himself - and not join a facebook group to support him.If such a person is suddenly put in such a powerful position, imagine what could happen?

Well, Hitler's a good example. He gave such good propaganda speechs that people were convinced that a good idea to kill fellow humans.Of course in all likelihood Obama won't be able to get away with that now, and neither will he do that. But I'm just telling you why I think it's scary to put someone so beguiling... as the President of the most powerful country.

And my 3rd reason for not fervently supporting him is that I just don't care enough.

Now! Seriously! I am asking myself, am I a racists or am i racially indifferent??!?!?!?!?!? Do i always think in a difference when i speak of color, races and religion?!?!?!?

How about you?!?!?!?!? Are you a racists or racially indifferent?

God! I never did really thought about this before, that if i think of 2 different races are of equal, i am considered as "racists" due to i think in racial differences.

And, did i call ANYONE names when they think indifferent to me?!?!?!? Due to i am unable to accept the differences of 2 individuals?!?!?!? (am i living in the age of socialism / communism where everyone is equal serving one government?!?!?!)

I believe the KEY words here are TOLERANT and RESPECT!

1. Do you respect your ENEMY / OPPONENT enough?

2. Do you have tolerant of people who are different from you? Do you respect of other people's character and opinion or do you brush them off if you dislike what they have to say?!?!?!?

OMFG! I am a racists and i am a intolerant person.

Change is what i need.

-14 Degree Celcius Tonight!

2008-12-04T16:21:00.006+08:00

OMFG!

Do you know how cold izzit tomorrow in the afternoon? We are going eat ice for lunch! Its only in the beginning of Dec. Not sure whether we shall be seeing snow but most probably not. Just cold enough to wish you wear 2 underwear and 3 panties. Scare my balls shrink!

Tonight, 4th of Dec 2008, we in Zhangjiagang are going to experience around -14 degree celcius out in the open with the wind blowing at 24km/h. I tell you. Its going to be freaking freezing. Same with tomorrow night. Friday night at low -6 degree with real feel at -7 degree! I shit you not!

Well, tomorrow noon at 11am, its going to be 0 degree celcius out in the open with the clear run light shining upon you and the wind blowing at you 24km/h! Die man!

I need to wear heater bra tomorrow! Hahahahahaha!

p.s: Mel, you want cold cold right! Hahahaha! Come now!

Snowy Snowy Winter In December

2008-11-27T22:51:00.005+08:00

The start of the winter in ZJG and China reminds of last year. The 1st year in my entire life, to actually touch a real snow flake, see frosts on the morning grass, misty morning and freaking winter weather. We hibernates under our warm blanket with the heater air-con blasting at 27 degree celcius just to warm the room.

Still remember last year, when i was in Shanghai for a weekend trip around end of Dec 2007. So crazy of us to go and drink a glass of Guinness Stout in the open air in Xintiandi. Hang out in the Jazz Bar name CWJ enjoying the nice stout. But, a little crazy due to sitting outside hanging out. So freaking cold. So freezing old. But still manage to sit for an hour?!?!?!? Siao times by siao people!

I have a new nickname as well. "The bear" given due to the fact that i like and i LOVES to hide under the thick blanket to warm myself. With the heater on and the quilt warmer on. Just like a bear hibernating during the winter season.

I was given the nickname, "Strongman" as well. I was and i am carrying 2 bottles of water (the big 1) from the ground floor to 1st floor. I am lifting 40kg of dumbbell at gym for my chests. And i can really feel that i am getting stronger everyday. Not mentioning that i am thinner than my those days as well. Fat ass! My ass!

Hahahahaha.

Well. Winter is nice and the weather is very nice. No more sweaty sweaty days and sweaty shirts. Just that we are praying and hoping that the freaking wind does not blows and blows in our direction at night. Freezing fucking cold only. My ears and fingers are practically frozen this night cycling for a dinner. So fucking cold. Making snowing in Harbin looks like amateur to this freaking fucking weather.

But it is still nice. I am still hoping for the snow to comes this winter. Miss the snow flakes and the snow mans.

Newstay Hotel, Chef Grey and Cherry's Party

2008-11-25T10:12:00.007+08:00

Zhangjiagang is literally the "most happening" town in China. Not only does it have 1 or 2 super club such as SOS and a bar strip, it also has the few hotels that are wonderful and fun. OMGosh! Don't take my word for it. Go and try out for yourself and experience the truly wonderful and joy in this small litle town. Craziness!

There's a new addition of a new hotel nearby to our exquisite residence, namely Newstay Hotel. The hotel name suggests its news and its stayable, which is, of course, the most important criteria. Hahaha!

We have visited this hotel like several hundred times before its official opening?!?!?!?!? But, bottom line is, its cozy, its nice to hang out, it has decent coffee and a open lounge area to chill out sipping that red wine or that ice cold beer!

We recently organize a farewell party for 1 of our colleague as she is moving on to Singapore to work. Well, technically, she still works for the same organization but reports to different managers. Hence, its like a new beginning for her in a foreign land. Comes back to the hotel. It has 2 restaurants in this Newstay Hotel, 1 chinese and 1 french western dining restaurant. We frequent the French western dining like our hangout place.

Its nice. We have our 1995 Chateau De Costis wine there. We have our pesto pasta or our tenderloin beef steak there as well. Well, the atmosphere is cozy. The design is sort of very nice and looks rugged but clean. Food is presentable and prices are ok, within the range of low cost expat. Hahahaha. The staff are friendly and the managers are courteous. Did i mention that they speak English too?

The farewell party is great and we have 1 of the most scrumptous buffet meal ever. We have pork ribs, thin crusted pizzas and pastas. We have desserts and fruits salad. We enjoy ourselves, the bottom line is. We enjoy the accompanion of family and friends, saviouring every moment and laughter and joy together. It is emotional and it is unbelievably joyful.

Go there, you folks for those who have yet to be there, if you have found this review for yourself. its a great place for chilling out with a bottle of red wine or a glass of Tsingtao. Check it out, now! Posting the pictures of the photos have make my empty stomach grumbling in waves now.

Bon Appetite!

Mundane Day: No Armin!

2008-11-22T02:04:00.004+08:00

I was feeling a little mundane recently. Remember i was so so so so eagerly wanted to go and hit the club Muse 2 for Armin Van Buuren and shitty things to happen. It does not comes cheap though at RMB250 for a piece of pre-door entry ticket that does not include drinks.

I practically wrote an email to the ticketing guy and wanted to get an advance ticket but i was unable to get one due to my poor time management. But, i got an advice to get it at the door and it should be of no harm although rather expensive! Ticket at the door should costs me RMB350 a piece.

I make my way to the club, Muse 2 located in the Plaza 66 in Nanjing Xi Lu at around 11++ on Saturday night. To my horror, when i reached that entrance and i was superly astonished that i was people was flocking at the Plaza 66 door entrance rather than the club entrance. I was DOOM.....

Its true. RMB400 for a piece of ticket (after an increase of another RMB50) and people are still rushing in. But the door was closed and was hold up by several guards stopping clubbers to even get to the lift to 5th floor! OMFG! There i was, standing in the cold winter, wishing i have bought the ticket earlier. And i was stucked there without a ticket and feeling stupid.

The club was packed like sardines by 11.45pm on a Saturday night?!?!?!? WTF? Shanghai cub scene is like only starts at 11pm?!?!?!?!? And there i was, feeling helpless standing there for over 30 minutes hoping to be able to slot in between the doors when the crowd disperse.

1am!

The guard is there and so is the crowd.

Fuck! Enough is enough! RMB400 can get me a decent alcohol at Shelter or even other clubs. I can perhaps ride to Muse 1 for some old school hip hop and be able to drink till i vomit for RMB400 bucks. Schlong! Plus the review of the Armin event was like at the tops and super superly nice! He played till 4am, someone said! OMFG! And there i was heading back to hotel at 2.30am feeling suck!

I was disappointed.

I will make up to it. I must go to Sasha at Club JJ2 next month.

Out!

Pissed Off!

2008-11-21T10:29:00.004+08:00

I am rather busy at recent times. But, i want to S.C.R.E.A.M. this! I hate China web filtering system!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I can't go to Facebook nor Blogspot anymore!

*only by using web proxy and something else apart from IE (i am using Firefox + Web Proxy)

F.U.C.K.!

Happiness In Thyself

2008-11-13T22:52:00.005+08:00

I am rather busy at these recent times. You know the drill. Work, priorities and the lists goes on. I am actually getting less internet times to do all the surfings and postings. Family, work, gym and Romeo. How can someone find 24 hours per day enough for anything?

As the wiseman says, its how you make the sacrifices and right priorities that matters the mosts at the end. Its damn fuckingly extremely true. And i am now officially pasts my 28th years since the day i walk the earth. Time really flies and i have yet to achieve anything that i dreamt of yet.

How that i wish that i have more time and more hours everyday!

p.s: Cheer up to all those who have been down and feeling moody at the recent times. Negativity it seems, that is surrounding all of beings at the moment.

I'll end this with a kiss kiss bang bang: Tomorrow will always be a better day!

Shanghai: DJ events in Nov 08

2008-11-07T11:04:00.006+08:00

I am ecstatic! I am dumbfounded! I wanna go! Could you believe it? All of these cramping up in a single month! Holy cow! John Digweed, Armin Van Buuren, Kylie Minogue followed by Sasha!

1st stop at next weekend in Shanghai. Friday night at Sky, John Digweed. John Digweed's music might be more suitable for me, as he plays more of a progressive house music with is better to dance perhaps? Click here for the flyer.

2nd stop at Saturday night in Muse2 (located in Nanjing Xi Lu, in Plaza 66), Armin Van Buuren. Voted the no.1 DJ for 2 years in a row, 2007 and 2008! AVB plays music of a slightly different genre, namely trance. Checkout here for more info.

3rd stop, Kylie performance in Shanghai (Hongkou Stadium) at the end of the month. Not too sure though if i can make it but i believe this event going to be great! Kylie in China? Will her performance at the top of the sky? Check out here for more info.

Last but not least, i missed out on his tour last year in The Wall in Pudong but i am going to compensate this year. Sasha coming again to Shanghai, China. This time around will be during the winter at the beginning of Dec in Club JJ's in Yanan Lu. Have yet to make it to this club though, but i'll sure to be there! Click here for his flyer!

I am so excited now!~ Out!

Trans Siberia Railway

2008-10-29T14:24:00.009+08:00

I felt in love. In love and so much passion for this. Thinking about this and the emotions that runs in my veins makes me excited. Look for yourself. Imagine it. Feeling and imagine that you are in it. Spending that 1 month looking through the glass and the small panel of window.

Staring into the night skys on the northern atmosphere. Checking out the endless plains and the greenish hill terrains during the summer skies. Looking to the clear water lakes of the Baikal. Visiting into the real Russia.

YES! I am talking about the Trans Siberia journey. I felt it. It is calling for me. Wonderful it is, being able to imagine and go for this trip. This will be one of the "must-do" before i die thingy!

Check out the picture and the links below. Makes my soft heart melts. *pictures are courtesy of respectable owners*

Imagine the views and the sceneries at the eastern Russia, the "babushka" selling flowers, foods and etc to you, the siberian tiger staring at you, the green grass land and the dry lands of the inner mongols.

Imagine yourself by the edge of the largest fresh water lake in Russia, the Lake Baikal, where endless view in the horizon of flora and fauna in sight. Imagine the fresh water lakes in front of you while you enjoy the freshness of the air that your breath. Look at the view. Breathtaking!

Imagine that you are in Moscow, or simply known as Moskva in Russian, overlooking the Kremlin and the sight of the modern Moscow. Enjoying the russian opera perhaps during the way. Beautiful!

So, anyone interested to join for this breathtaking Trans Siberian journey of a life-time experience?

p.s. visit these respective links to feel more of their journey across the siberia. Marvelous!

1. gorussia

2. emma&simon

3. liu lang han

4. torr from brit

Ipoh White Coffee

2008-10-28T10:57:00.003+08:00

I missed white coffee. Especially Jom Bali or Old Town White Coffee. This morning, i was strucked by an urged to down a nice cup of cold ice white coffee. The nice coffee aroma, the bitter sweet taste, the excellent location at the open air, not too cold but warm at night, with typical chilly wind, served with a nice cigarette, puffing while sipping that cuppa down my throat, passing my tongue invoking all my senses within.

How nice it is! Right now to down that coffee!

Oooooooooooooooi! *wake up, wake up!*

Ei, Ei! What happen?

Oh! Fuck! I am in China. Diao! Sien jor. >_<

I miss my cuppa of White Coffee!

(White Coffee was originated from somewhere in Ipoh, i think, in Malaysia. No! Its not white, rather the process is different from roasting a black coffee by using margarine, hence, white coffee! DING! Smart leh!)

Check out for more information about white coffee (hey! White Coffee so famous la! They have wikipedia entry!) and more specifically IPOH White Coffee!

Personal Financial Consultants

2008-10-27T11:25:00.006+08:00

Anyone heard of the term, "Personal Financial Consultant" before? Well, it means differently for different country across the globe. Some work in the bank, some are representative of financial institutions advising clients on their net worth and financial portfolios, some are simple, enough, selling insurance and mutual funds to their clients.

Do you know whats the paylike for those who are interested to become one? Personall, i have been into one of the so-called personal financial consultant shoes before. I was a representative for financial institutions advising clients and prospective customers of their needs and financial plannings.

Do you know?

In Malaysia, an average consultants working in banks makes around RM48,000 a year to RM96,000 a year that include commissions and bonuses during the good times.

In US, New York in particularly, they are making an average of USD131,660/year.

What The Heck?!?!?!?!? OMFG! So huge in the difference! Somemore, we refer ourselves so professionally as consultant. Hahaha! Talk about differences between the nations, economics of scales and difference of pay.

Copied from The Star

New York is the top-paying state for personal financial advisers, with an average salary of $131,660, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics. Colorado followed, paying an average of $119,590, then Massachusetts, with an average pay of $116,170, according to the 2007 occupational employment survey.

Idaho was the lowest-paying state for financial advisers, paying an average of $50,980. West Virginia, North Dakota, Alaska, Nebraska and Kentucky all follow, paying an average below $60,000 a year for the same job.

So, what do you think? Still thinking about it?

:)

English: Chinglish, Manglish and Indlish

2008-10-17T15:07:00.001+08:00

English language is one of the most widely used language in the planet earth. English in general are categorized into 2 versions, American and British. But of course, over the years with those addition of localized languages such as Singaporean slang, our own Malaysian manglish or Indian heavy accented headshaking movement, English has evolved into a whole new language.

American english tends to be a little more "american" with words such as Yo! Wassup! , Black American english sounds more cool with a lot of hand movement, British english is a little more to the smooth and shakespeare style such as I'm Arriving! instead of I'm Cumming! and of course, in Asian, english are so different in each different region.

If you speak British accent English in Malaysia, you will looked as if you are from outer space and kinda given the foreigner look, if you like the attention. Sort of funny and perhaps it looks very pretentious?! But, perhaps you would get respect rather than cool impression!

If you speak cool american black english, then you will definitely be different altogether. Have you encounter with some ABCs or those who have studied in American for a while. They can rap and talk like a nigga! Cool american english. Well, i've heard that before in The Racks in Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong, where lotsa of young crowd that is from America thats it that talks that way, yo!

What i like the most about english is, the english that is spoken by different region means something totally different from one and another. Seriously! For example, i will use the word "know" to illustrate it to you.

you know, i know la! = its a secret between us.

i am very hardworking, you know! = implying that he wants you to know he is hardworking

i know, i know! = student pretends to know everything!

you know everything meh? = wife scolding the husband for not listening

know your head ah? = scolding you for being so ignorant and stupid at the same time

you know, XX is sleeping around with ZZ = typical gossip around teatime or in the office pantry

do you know that i am not joking? = serious tone warning that i am not joking

So funny you know!

Hahahaha!

French Cuisine: Champ de Ble in ZJG

2008-10-17T09:12:00.004+08:00

I think it has been a while since i posted some food photos. The reason behind this was because of WORK la. What else? Taking hold of my life and my time. Haih! Anyway, back to the food story. Zhangjiagang is a small little place that has like what, 800000 population of Chinese. This of course, does not add to the addition of swarm of foreign expats that lands and work here in this land of boringness and dullness.

Hence, the need for us to indulge and excite ourself once a while in Shanghai, which is 2 hours away, or Wuxi / Suzhou which is 1-2 hours away. Food and shopping it is, when comes to going to this places during the weekend.

ZJG itself have some of these fancy restaurant as well. Not much, 1 or 2 perhaps, but due to the lack of choices. Normally our taste buds are limited to these range of food selections. French cafes, italian pasta, japanese sashimis, korean bbq, cantonese Guangzhou and some fast food chain such as McD's, KFC and Pizza Hut are our only choices.

This particular posts, i will be talking about one of the fancy restaurant that we goes in ZJG. This is a french fine dining restaurant, Cafe Champ de Ble. Not much of a history though. From what we heard, the cook is the owner of the restaurant, and the wife runs the services and out-of-the-kitchen work. Not too sure though.

Anyway, we are there for food. Been there a couple of times and snap a couple of pictures of the food. As usual, foie gras was complimentary that comes with a basket of garlic bread. Average expenses there for 1 is around RMB100 with a beer, perhaps? I mean, if you wanted really to go french style, then you would have to order a proper red wine, ain't it? Not some sort of table wine. Costs you maybe at around RMB400-RMB1000 for a decent wine that goes with your food? Ask for proper recommendation though!

Tried some beef steak there that marinated with red wine, tried their fillet tenderloin steak medium cook, tried their duck breast salad, tried their beef salami pizza as well, tried their carbonara pasta as well and other dishes. Taste rather good as well with quality food, quality meat and quality cooking. *I'm already hungry now, looking back at the pictures and imagining the taste that goes with it!* Yum Yum!

Overall, we are truly satisfied with the service and the food quality. Quality decor with a hint of fine classic dine and with the prices that are on the upper side of a typical normal expat cuisine, i give this a thumbs up. Perhaps i will try to snap more better quality picture of the restaurant and the food. Looks pretty dull here. Hahahaha.

Until the next food posts, i says bon appetite!

f.e.a.r. and EXCITEMENT!

2008-10-16T10:16:00.003+08:00

I was reading the post by the dearest Mil in down under about fear of the unknown and lost in a T junction. I was touched. How fast the time flies......... Purrrrr and here it is, at the junction of university life graduation stepping into the unknown. Partly sad, partly excited, partly confused and partly fearful. Such a wonderful feeling!

It seems that somehow sooner or later we will be dumbfounded once in a while. It is a mighty feeling, IMHO. Normally, these feeling comes when we reached to a stage of plateau and time for a need of change.

I believe the way to overcome this is to determine the exact cause for this feeling. The root and where does this feeling came from? After that, what we need to do is to be positive and constructive looking pondering into the future of the unknown. For me, reaching for the stars and feeling of the unknown makes my adrenaline goes wild. The risk and the feeling of the excitement NOT knowing how does it ends up to makes it so much more exciting!

Think back. If GOD were to show you a direction everytime and let you know how you are supposed to end up, wheres the beauty in that? Whats the challenge then? Would you still be able to create something new and something exciting in your life?

If you are to know how you will end up, would you still want to work and strive that hard to overcome that difficulty that lies ahead? Or would you just give up and let the path lets you since that you ALREADY know how the future looks like.

You will still want to eat that or smoke that, since that you KNOWS that you will die sooner or later and this and that bla bla bla? Wheres the beauty? Wheres the excitement? What will you become? A robot or a puppet? Being controlled by god or higher being?

I believe the best thing about being yourself is that, you are in control of your own destiny. Its within you and at the grasp of your hand. Let NO 1, i mean, NO ONE influence and control what you wanted to be. *just make sure its within the boundary of karma and being a good person within, causing no harm to anyone else*

Kings and leaders from centuries ago created a mind block for peasants and average person telling them that religion is good and what they are supposed to do! Can you imagine the scenario if everyone is being told from young that they can be the king of all kings? Who want to wash the dishes then? Who wants to herd and farm then? It is supposed to be a balance. And the king wanted all the control by himself. It cruel and its selfish. But, hey! its nature and its life. If not, who wants to cook that indomie goreng for you at Murni SS2?

The reason that you feel FEARFUL is because you are NOT USED to it! Thats all. Theres nothing more to it! Its simple. You feel fear because you have YET TO tried it! You are not used to it!

Imagine this! You are used to the habit of buying COLGATE to brush your teeth for the last 20 years. Today i tell you this. There will be no more COLGATE around. Theres not even DARLIE or other other brands of toothpaste. You can only use coal ashes to brush you teeth. Like ancient times. Using coal ashes to brush your teeth. It might not be safe and its not proven yet.

How would you feel?

1. Would you scream and rants to everyone and blame everyone in the way that COLGATE is no longer available?

2. Would you sit there and do nothing? Just ignore it. Whats the worst case scenario, i just use water to brush la!

3. You don't even notice that you USE COLGATE at all. Did I use toothpaste? *extremely blur case, but it exists*

4. You would jump up and down full of excitement! YES YES! Its coal ashes and its natural! I no longer need to queue up to buy COLGATE at supermarket. I am superly fantastically excited! YES! I am into the unknown!

5. You are cool as ice. You are as steady as a rock. You are optimistic, you are a business-man-minded and you are a natural born enterpreneur! The 1st thing that you do is to find sources to manufacture different brands of COAL-ASH-GATE to sell. You market it through the principles of marketing (4P + 3p + 4P) *Please google it or find the reference here in wikipedia) The breakdown of 11Ps = Product, Pricing, Place, Promotion, People, Process, Physical evidence, Personalization, Participation, Peer to peer and Predictive Modeling. Please go on and read more, you lazy bugger! You think of strategies to market internationally. You talk to investors to raise fund and raise capital. You talk to banks. You recruit a team of super excellent individuals who work as a team. You plan to franchise it overseas. You sign a contract with them to bind them legally. You hire a team of accountant and tax advisors. You consult business lawyers to make sure your business and product is copyrighted. OMG! Can you imagine how excited it is!

I am so excite now even as i write this article. OMG!

So, who are you? Choose the numbers from 1 to 5. Who you want to become? I am definitely a number 5. Your "destiny" lies in YOUR CHOICE!

Don't be afraid of the unknown. Alexander the GREAT would never be GREAT if he had not chartered into the unknown conquering his enemies from Europe to Asia. Napolean Bonaparte would have never be in the history if he sits in his room smoking and having fun all the time. American would belongs to Indian tribes if Christopher Columbus decided to stay at home. We would not have our Portuguese Egg Tart in Macau if Portuguese decided to stay at home. We would starve to death in Guangzhou if not for our ancestors who take the risk into the unknown to come to the place so-called as Malaysia.

See See See! History belongs to the risk takers. There is nothing to be afraid of. Those who are always in the comfort zone will never comes out. Those who calculates too much will ridicule themselves from coming out. Those who are afraid, as some says, NO GUTS!

We must 1st calculate the risks and SEE THE BIG PICTURE! Simple scenario. If the bank officer were to ask you today, how much are you worth? What is your answer? Could you tell me how much you are worth? Are you worth a billion bucks or even worth 1 million bucks in net worth?

If your answer is a million bucks, then think about it? Is it worth losing that million bucks? Of course, there are always intangible worth such as EGO, FACE, FAMILY and etc etc etc. Decide for yourself what is important for you. What you really really REALLY wants for your life! What you will regret if you did not do IT? What you really love the mosts! That you can make yourself to wake up to feeling full of excitement.

As my quote by the side of my blog says. As quoted from Steve Jobs.

LOVE WHAT YOU DO!

DO WHAT YOU LOVE!

LIVE EVERYDAY AS IF OF YOUR LAST DAYS!

Would you still be fearful of the unknown? Would you still be sitting there regretting your choices? Would you still sit there pondering into the unknown? The decision lies with you...... ....... ....... ........ ......... ........

Go on to Youtube.com and search for Steve Jobs Stanford Graduation Speech. Watch it and cry if you have to. Its a bible for success and its absolutely mind-blowing.

Until then, i give you this STAY HUNGRY, STAY FOOLISH!

I am a Fit Cat!

2008-10-15T14:01:00.005+08:00

Wakakakakakaka! I am no longer obese nor toooooooo fat! Woooooohooooooo!

I am in acceptance level. But but but, of course i am trying to shoot for athletic body form. Body fats at only 12% to 18%. Could you imagine a males body being rock hard? Hahaha. Go on, guys or girls, check out yur body fats % at menshealth.com

Neeeeeeeeeeh. Imagine those perfect body like those in ancient spartan times. You can imagine that body form for Achilles in Troy by Brad Pitt kinda body. Hahahaha. Perhaps maybe i am shooting too far. But hey! Its my body and this body is going to be with me for the longest time. To my grave to be exact.

What i need to do now is to be patient and stick to the plan. Work that sweat out and build that muscle. Get it ripped and burn that fat. Diet and watch over my calories, which btw, i've found that i know that my body needs like 3800 calories a day to sustain my body needs?

How do i calculate the formula to know exactly the amount of calories i need? Follow this method that i read from bodybuilding.com about BMR, which stands for Basal Metabolic Rate. Of course, this does not include the activities that you do, and it depends. How do you measure someone who is running a marathon and lifting everyday versus someone who sits at desk typing for 10 hours a day. Sure its different right?

Male: 66 + (13.7 x KG) + (5 x CM) - (6.8 x age)

Female: 655 + (9.6 x KG) + (1.8 x CM) - (4.7 x age)

Well, for me, the BMR calculation comes out to be 2063. Then, i need to multiply this BMR 2063 with the activity i am involved in daily. These are the rates given by the website.

And since that i am considered moderately active, thus, 2063 x 1.55 = 3197. Waaaalaaaa! I need around 3200 calories /day to maintain my body needs. Substract 500 calories from that figures and stick to 2700 calories + cardio for 4 to 5 days a week that includes strength training and i'll be on my way to 18% body fats goal! Realistic timeline 3 - 6 months of effort.

I am gonna be fit cat! Watch out! Its sizzzzzzzzzling HOT!