Blob blob?

As time edges slowly toward the New Year, the school holidays too are running out…

You know, the funny thing is that during the holidays, I’d been wishing that we were back at school and yet all our time in school I’d been wishing that the holidays would come sooner, ironic isn’t it? And now that the holidays are almost over, I’d now wish that the holidays are longer, as I don’t really want to get back to school. I guess that we humans are really never satisfied; the grass always looks greener on the other side. I guess it is one of those things that we will learn as we mature, to learn to be satisfied.

I’d like to wish everyone a happy new year, my friends, my family and all you readers. Happy New Year, and God bless. =)

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First of all, I don’t really encourage lying but what I’m saying here is that there are exceptions where lying is actually better than the truth. Honesty is no necessarily the best policy!

Humans lie then and there again so honesty is violated every so often. Now, if honesty is indeed the best policy, then why lie? We lie, simply because it is a means to get what we want. However, it often backfires as it breaches trust, ultimately ending friendships that took years to build in seconds. No gain of material worth is worth that. Generally, I detest lying but lying does have its uses and it is discussed in the following paragraph. Here’s a simple outline of the lying that are not called lying.

Flattery - Yes, the most subtle form of lying, often undetected by you or the other person and it is the one where your conscience does not bugs you. No, I’m not talking about butt-kissing here but lying in the regards of another’s feelings. For example, a very proud mother shows you her newly born baby child and asked enthusiastically; “Isn’t he adorable?” Now, although the baby looks like something out of the horror movie, you’d probably agree with the mother right? Yes, that’s lying too but you probably think that it is justifiable to lie. We often call this type of lying as being nice.

Customs / Ethics - Now, here’s lying often called as being polite. Unwritten social rules dictates how we should act and behave at social events, often resulting in telling some simple lies. The Japanese for example will dutifully ask you to stay longer when you visit them but never take that invite literally simply because is it just their custom to do so.

Sarcasm - Yep, well…you know…

Plain Lying - This is the standard lying. What separates this from the others is the desire to deceive someone. It is those that gets your conscience to prod at you. Again, self explanatory.

The thing is beside for sarcasm and plain lying, we often lie with the sense of the greater good in mind. For example, if the Japanese chased you out of the house when it’s getting late that would really destroy their reputation as host. Same goes for the baby and the mother. So, it is more about the outcome that actually drives you to lie in the first place.

There’s also another type of lying which actually instil confidence into people. Have you ever heard about the one where the doctor gives sugar pills to the patient and tells the patient that this is actually medicine that could cure them? Yup, we’re talking about the placebo effect here! You can actually motivate, give confidence and hope to people by lying. By telling a person on how he or she is a natural for a certain skill (even if they don’t have) , you can give them the self confidence and motivation they need to learn that skill. Help boost peoples self confidence by telling them how good they look or how nice their cooking is, it is all about changing mindsets but putting positive (though not necessarily true) thoughts into people’s head and letting it grow in there! Isn’t that cool?

In conclusion, I guess lying is really a sin, it is the intention of you lying that makes it a sin. Lying is in fact a tool, like a knife. A knife is a neutral tool that can be used to prepare food, to build house or to harm others. It is the intention of the wielder that determines what the knife will do. Think about it…

Actually I was planning to write something about Christmas but this poem here someone sent me sums it up perfectly:

It is the best of times. The Christmas you have depends upon you. May you be blessed to follow the Light and choose the right.

C is for the Christ child lying in a
manager.

H is for the Holy One who saved us all
from danger.

R is to Remember Him who died that
we may live.

I is to Inspire us that we may always
give.

S is for joyful Songs and sacred hymns
that praise.

T is to Thank the Lord for showing us
the way.

M is for the Miracles that bless us each
day.

A for Almighty, omnipotent Child, with power unrestrained, yet ever so mild.

S for our Savior, our Lord and our King, whos birth, life and death, our salvation did bring.

*Wishing u a very happy Merry XMas you have on the date of 25 December

Note: Kudos to the man or woman who wrote this! I’d like to remind everyone that Christmas is not about Santa Claus or presents, but it is the occasion to mark the birth of Christ!

To all of you reading this, have a Blessed Christmas! =)

Now, hears a thought; “How it is like to spend a day at KL and return beck to Penang all on the very the same day we arrive?” That’s what me and my friend did yesterday. The plan was simple, to get there as early as possible, spend as much time there as effectively and then leave all on the very same day!

Here’s what we did:
20/12/05
It is about midnight now and we headed off to the bus station at Sungai Nibong to catch the bus. At the afternoon, I have purchased the tickets here and now it is just a matter off getting on the bus. A couple of minutes later, we find ourselves being whisked off to KL at speed of 120km/h, a lot faster than the speed limit for Express buses but what the heck, ha ha!

21/12/05
After a seemingly long and sleepless night we disembarked the “freezer” we took for a bus at Jalan Pudu. There, we faced swarms of blood thirsty vultures, circling around and preying on those who are weak! Scores of taxi drivers are scatters all over the roads around Pudu Raya, bleeding unsuspecting tourist with the extremely high priced taxi fares! (Nope, those unscrupulous bred of carcass eaters also refuses to turn on the meter!) Blessed are those honest taxi drivers who uses the meter! Amen! =)

After the countless times we heard the words “Nak taxi?”, we made our way to Pudu Station. I looked at my watch, 4.00am?!!! My estimate of the time was entirely out as the bus was actually an hour and a half earlier that anticipated! Maybe the bus was doing 130-140km/h, there’s no way he could reach that fast! Being too early for Dim Sum around Petaling Street, we waited and waited for 5.30am. Life started to show at the time as we found a malay coffee shop, to sit and watch football while I sipped teh tarik.

Time stopped down to a crawl as it inches slowly towards 8.00am. It was time for the shops to open and there with my friend we stood waiting for the side gates of Midvalley Megamall to open. Boarding the monorail earlier, we managed to arrive at Midvalley at marked time, not wanting to waste anytime. I guess walking around a dimmed dead silent mall in morning isn’t the best way to spend the morning but it beats standing at the bus station, right? The place started to look alive around 10.00am, with a whole lot of people suddenly appearing out of nowhere, feeling up the mall!

Thing goes on about like this for the whole day, hopping from one major shopping complex to another, it was a non-stop shopping spree…with a lot of travelling in between. I really particularly liked Sungei Wang, always visit there to buy a couple of mangas to complete my set.

Shopping complex hopping ended about 6pm. By then we were exausted not only from walking a whole lot, but also the extreme lack of sleep! For our final destination, we went to Petaling Street, the place to buy cheap goods! One thing I don’t like about the place is that the pirated cd sellers have the infuriating habit of tugging passerbys by the shirt, no kidding! I got roughly pulled twice by two different idiots while I was there, really gets on my nerves!!! I mean, you know that Petaling Street is a place prone to mugging and pick pocketing and here comes these imbeciles grabbing you by the sleeves; it’s like doing the most forbidden thing to do there. I saw one Indian man almost started a fight with cd seller. Seriously, this is like to most self destructive thing you can do with a business, making your own customers hate you. To all those going there, beware!

After two hours of wondering around Petaling Street and its surrounding area, it was time to leave. Around 9pm, we boarded the bus back to Penang.

22/12/05

Reached Penang around 1pm, exausted and half asleep after another sub zero bumpy ride back. Later, I need to go for a “replacement tuition” for the 21th,7 hours later! Arghhh………………..!!! XP

Pic: KL early in the morning, 4 something in the morning!!!

Most Penangnites are not strangers to this famous landmark of Penang, many have been to the peaks many a times and enjoyed it’s breath taking view of the entire city of Georgetown. Yes, I’m sure most Malaysian and tourists alike have been up Penang Hill via the train, but how many actually climbed up Penang Hill before? Yup, climbing up! I have climbed up Penang Hill a couple of times and it is actually quite fun and satisfying! Think about it, how many people can really claim that they actually climbed up Penang Hill (or any other hill for that matter, excluding ant hills!) So, to any Penangnites or tourists visiting Penang: Do seriously think of climbing up, if you’re physically able as it is really an enjoyable experience (except when monkeys inhabiting the trails to Pg Hill chases you down the hill!!!).

It takes approximately 2 hours to reach the peak from the tar road close to the entrance of Botanical Gardens. There are actually many paths that lead to Pg Hill but I guess the safest would be the tar road as it is a road and people constantly drives along that road. The is also another entrance at Moon Gate further away from Botanical Gardens which is basically full of steps (hand made packed sand steps) up to Point 5 and then a adventure-like trail up to the peak. It is not really safe, but then again if you’re in for the thrill, by all means go ahead. The path at Youth Park also leads to Point 5. If I am not mistaken, all roads eventually lead to Point 37, a pit stop 1/8 the height from Penang Road and is it back to the tar road for you! So, I guess it is easier to take the tar road up in the first place, ha ha!

So far, I have only taken to tar road so here a low down on the trail. Basically from Point 1 up to Point 37 the trail is really steep, that means it is really tough! But not to worry, after Point 37 (pit stop) the gradient of the trail is average and it is easy up all the way to Point 84 (another pit stop). If you climb around 11am onwards, hot coffee and biscuits will be served up at Point 84 for free. (Of course, there the donation box…) From Point 84 onwards, it is a series of hard to average gradients, not in any particular order but this beats climbing from Point 1 to Point 37.

Remember to bring lots of water up there when you climb for for the next 2 hours, there are no convenience stores along the way is you so happen to get thirsty along the way! Oh, and also bring some spare clothes just in case you sweat. I don’t think you really need a hiking staff as this is after all a tar road so terrain should be fine. =)

Happy Climbing!

Pic: The only building between Point 84 and the peak. Look at the gradient, now that is what I mean by hard)! Can anyone tell me more about that building? I am really interested to know! Thanks!

Links:
Tourism Penang
Cuti Malaysia

This tree here is located close to the Sunshine Square Bandar Baru supermarket close to the market. Look at the base of the tree, the looks as though it has already died (the fallen thicker base trunk) and rose to life again. Kinda like the rebirth of a phoenix but the botanical version! =)

Today I saw something interesting right after I finished my Chemistry tuition. Just beside the tuition centre was a small coffee shop with a chicken rice stall just outside the coffee shop. Beside the coffee shop was this plastic bucket used to put all the dirty plates to be washed later. Anyway, I was standing outside the tuition centre when I saw three pigeons close in to the bucket, walking slowly. Then, one of them hopped into the bucket and started eating whatever scraps there was in the bucket, it was having the time of its life! (Yeah, the fact that the pigeon was eating from the plates is disgusting and I’ll probably never order anything from that stall again!) Then, the other two pigeons hopped into the bucket as well and joined the first one, feasting on scraps. Suddenly, a little boy in a blue t-shirt (probably the stall owner’s son) ran out from the coffee shop and chased the pigeons away! The three pigeons flew away, but only for a short distance, and casually strolled back to the bucket! A couple of minutes later, the boy came back and chased the pigeons away and tucked the bucket away under the metal grill steps of the coffee shop. The pigeons, came back again anyway, this time finding no bucket to eat from, they started picking up the scraps from the floor around where the bucket was originally place.

A short while later, the boy return, now to wash the plates from the bucket. Once in a while, the boy would throw bit of the scraps in the bucket to the street to feed the pigeons. As the boy threw more food, the more pigeons flew in and joined in the “food snatching” competition. At the third time the boy threw the food, a crow swooped down from the sky and to simply put it, snatched the scrap (I think it was a piece of chicken skin) from the pigeons. The bunch of pigeons casually walked away from the crow, in the middle of the bunch, but still keeping an eye to see if the crow drops the skin or not. Some flew away. Having no reason to stay there, the crow perched itself up on the electrical cables, waiting…

Immediately, the pigeons which flew away, came back to the spot, walking around waiting for the scraps to be thrown at them!

The pigeons reminds me of what Tim Allen acting as Cmdr. Peter Quincy Taggart said in Galaxy Quest : “Never give up, never surrender!”

I don’t really know what to make of it but it was just plain fun to watch it all happen. =)

Ha ha, this topic is not anything new to the web log community, the topic about the simple looking yet deceptively tricky logic puzzle that has hit a craze level worldwide. Well, I have to admit, I too am a Sudoku player, not an addict yet, but just the occasional Sudoku player. Nope, I don’t go digging the internet for countless puzzles (well, once or twice only…) to do but am just the average “daily newspaper” Sudoku player and boy, it is sure a fun game! =)

Anyway, I just came back from Singapore yesterday, for the holiday. There, I saw the most unbelievable toy ever to evolve from the Sudoku craze; the Sudoku handheld game! Yup, the traditional LCD black and white, built to play Sudoku on the go. Seriously guys, this is perhaps one of the most ridiculous contraption to be invented! I mean, come on, a game usually played with traditional pencil and paper, on a LCD screen? A handheld Sudoku game? That’s kinda overboard isn’t it? Yes, if you’re a Sudoku fanatic, then this maybe the perfect Christmas present you can give yourself but besides that I guess it is just plain stupid. How the heck are you going to play? Do you know how tedious is it to individually select the squares and scroll the directional buttons to just click the number you want? Where the heck are you going to write the possible values? On the screen? I don’t think so….

Well, there was also another type of Sudoku handheld, with a touch screen! Still seriously ridiculous to me but a lot better the other one. Why ridiculous? Well, the handheld are made with the average size of a PDA, real big for a simple game, kinda defeats the purpose of being a handheld anyway. I guess carrying a small stack of the newspaper puzzle cut-outs and a trusty pencil with probably give the same level of fun as the handheld, only being smaller and being really cheap! (SG$ 30-40) Ha ha!

Those toy manufacturers really know how to milk the “Sudoku craze” cash cow for all it is worth. Besides the handheld, there was another more astonishing and absurd than the handheld…..which is the BOARDGAME! (Now lets us pause for a while and partake in this air of disbelief as the word “board game”) Nuff said!!!

Seriously after all of this, I think the best way to enjoy this game would still be to sit in a quiet place, with a pencil in the hand and the newspaper on your lap, and just solve it…like so! Now excuse me as I end this article, off I go to complete today’s Sudoku before bedtime! (^-^)

Recommended Links:
The Sudoko Assistant - a fun program to play Sudoko on the computer, lite but intuitive. Freeware!

Simple Sudoku - great program with a puzzle generator with difficulty selection. Great for generating puzzles to print out. Freeware!

Humans, you see are social beings. Meaning, we cannot really live a live solely by ourselves without any social interaction with another of our kind. We like to be in a group, to be loved, to be part of something. Now, here’s the catch, “To actually be part of a group, one has to conform to society, to be of the “same” as the rest, then and only then be accepted by that society.” The most powerful “society” with the most members here that already conform to that society’s standard will make up the norms of the world. We tend to generalise it as what the society thinks. Everyone in the world is actually made to follow how the world thinks, to conform to it. Those who refuse will be simply ridiculed and worst of all, abandoned. For example, the punk society is simply branded as criminals, automatically cut off from the general society. Tell me, is this even fair? The society of the world has actually place judgement upon people that are different from them, labelling them as outcast. Is it funny on how limited choices you have when you conform to a society, you know. Think about it, if you were to defend people like such, you too will be branded a criminal, be cut off from the general society. As I have said earlier, human’s are generally social creatures, this means that there will always be a predominant fear of being rejected by the norm and such the general society is unchanged, dominated by fear. Conformity has a really crippling effect to the world if you ask me, restricting you to this small circle, unable to truly express what you think and follow what you truly believe in. However, conformity brings harmony to some extend and it is no wonder that humans perpetually race to fits in the society all their lives, given that we are social creatures and all. (this also explains peer pressure and all…)

This also applied to success, you know. The definition of success and failure is actually determined by the society on how they define success and failure. All our lives, most of us have been chasing for this elusive object called success. Think about it, is success really success if it is merely something that is determined by society? No? Well, I’m not going to argue what is success but I really wanted to point out this: “The society determines what success is and thus to thrive in it, one must accept that fact.” However, if you were to be pulled out of that society, your previous skills that made you a success in the first place, may just suddenly…be obsolete!

Let me give you a simple example: Say you have this remarkable ability of playing computer games. About ten years ago, this ability of yours is regarded simply as a useless skill, branding you as a geek or game nut. Today however, computer games have evolved up to the extent that it is used for tournaments and competition. Suddenly, your status in the society is upgraded from “social pariah” to “game god”, a status that comes with the admiration of many, conforming to the success that is defined by the society. Weird huh?

Now, let’s twist this logic around. Now who would pay hundred of dollars to watch twenty grown men chasing after a small air inflated ball, trying to kick to ball into 2 big nets with one man guarding it from each team? That’s soccer!!!

The society determines what success is. By some freak chance in the future that flicking toes nails could become a popular sport, don’t be surprised if you’re children are paying hundred of dollars to watch a man flick his toe nails for distance! Remember, there was once a time that 20 men chasing a ball seemed ridiculous! =P

Think about it! (^0^)