Closure...

How ironic that in the middle of writing one of the most inpiring article I ever post, one of not letting go of your dream and to keep fighting, that I should receive closure for my most important dream. Ironic that it was at this time that I found all my avenue been exhausted but the dream will not be realised.

And so it was with much difficulty that I finished my last article, Stepping into 2007 Strong, Wise and Full of Faith, and with much pride that I still finished it the way I earlier intended it. On the bright side, I shall be grateful that I receive a closure beyond doubt that I may now let go and like all the great figures I mentioned in the last article, including Jon Arbuckle, I shall stand tall and look into the future.

I would like to end this post with a timely New Year dedication I received.

The year is almost gone but it has also made us strong.
The path was long but we walked it with a song.
There were fears and tears but we also had reasons for cheers.

Wishing you Happy Memories of 2006 and have a Great 2007...

Stepping into 2007 Strong, Wise and Full of Faith

It is the time of the year again for resolution when many of us look back on our past, evaluate the present and ponder on the future. So why is there only The Christmas Carol but not The New Year Carol? Isn't New Year the time all of us choose to do what we really should do on a more regular basis? An action known as reflection?
I am once again watching some of my (more important & personal) resolution dashed. It was so depressing all I want to do is give up. But thanks to a long talk with a good friend, I emerged from a state of shattered hope to one of renewed faith.
We all been through this, when what we are aiming for is so far beyond our reach we find that we have nothing to hold on to. And when our grasp on that which we desire weaken, we are tempted to just let go. After all, we are already too excessively exhausted from holding on for so long on merely faith and optimism alone.
To be or not to be? That is the question. The answer to this question is the question, "How much does this mean to you?"
While we are regularly bombarded with ever positive advice to be strong and keep fighting, letting go, sometimes is the wise choice. Our answer to the above question will be the deciding factor. How much your dream means to you? For if it means the world to you, a day will surely come when you will rue letting go of your dream. The only acceptable closure to a dream is try everything humanly possible, to exhaust all avenue and when you have given your all, yet the dream you seek cannot be achieved, there be no regret. But until that day, we shall continue to dream, and we shall continue to strive to realise that dream.
Colonel Sander did not sell his recipe to the first restaurant. He visited well over a hundred restaurant before one would give him a partnership.
Honda rise during one of the most difficult time in Japan and only through the sheer determination of its founder, overcoming obstacle after obstacle that would collapsed any lesser men.
Seabiscuit started his racing career in defeat after defeat and was forever the joke and underdog of any race before he started winning.
And the most inspiring success story (ahem) of the year 2006, geeky Jon Arbuckle finally, not only got a date with his dream girl Liz, he is dating her! This is almost as good as Charlie Brown finally getting a homerun.
"Everybody loses a couple. And either you pack up and go home or you keep fighting!"
Keep fighting everyone, till there is not an iota of energy left in you. Keep fighting even when noone understand and the whole world is against you. For there is no price you would not pay to see your dream come true.

Go Forth and Multiply

In Happy Feet, a very irritated Lovelace, annoyed with Mumble's persistent questioning, told Mumble to "go forth and multiply".

Now, isn't that a funny thing to say to someone who just peeved you? Why would you wish for someone you dislike to multiply?

You are in a KTV, singing a slow love song, hoping to impress one of your lady friend in the group when one of the guys shout out, "Woh dude, you sucked, man."

And you tell him, "Who is this fool? You came join us here and you doubted my talent? Go forth and multiply"?

A driver from your right lane swerved in front of you so he could make a left turn. You have to slammed your brake to avoid colliding with his car. You give him the sign and shout," Hey... why don't you go forth and multiply"?

A local politician made a stupid and racist remark that insulted the entire human race and we comment, "Well, he can go forth and multiply"?

Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it?

Well, I am not sure if I am the last person to figure it out but out of the blue, it suddenly struck me the meaning of this phrase. Go forth and multiply, Lovelace is really telling Mumble to %#@* off. Really, just think of the literal meaning of both phrase. And it can be used in all the instances above.

Happy Feet just got away with saying "%#@* off" uncensored around the world and managed to obtained a "general viewing" rating too. We also got a new phrase to express a very vulgar meaning in a relatively civilised tongue. Go forth and multiply.

Come to think of it... why don't we all go forth and multiply. I shall now retire to my chamber of perpetual indulgence.

Dragon

With all the excitement and fascination with dragon, now that Eragon is playing in the cinema, I thought I just post an old cartoon I drawn. This piece is quite a milestone since it was one of my earlier attempt in cartoon. Usually I just draw comic, superheroes mostly.

OK... I admit, just trying to do some promotion for my deviantart site at http://keelin77.deviantart.com

Tales of the Speed Demons

That day I saw in Kajang an extremely obnoxious motorcylist who blared the horn all the way so drivers will look out for him as he weaved his way quickly in and out of the traffic. Damned speed demon. We all have our experience with them but I remembered two experience with different "speed-demon-ish" car drivers fondly.

Fondly? Yes, because you see, the twist of the event is quite funny.

I stopped in front of another car at a red light. Expecting the light to turn green soon, the car started to move forward, leaving maybe half a car-length of gap between us. I did not bothered to fill that space. That's when the Perdana behind me honked. I quickly looked at the light again. It was still red. What is this guy's problem? I turned my head around to look at him but he was already steering his car to the lane on the right, just as the light turned green. However, there was another car on that lane and despite being on the fast lane, the aunty driver inside moved very slowly. I maintained the same speed and the Perdana was stuck behind the two of us. What a laugh. Unfortunately at the next traffic stop, the Perdana already honked at the aunty and obviously affected, she drove faster this time. I thought momentarily to keep up with her and keep the Perdana behind us but what's the point? The driver's an idiot. I let him overtook me.

Then, there was the time I was driving back from Penang. I was just overtaking a slow vehicle when I noticed a car flashed at me. How far away was this car? So far away it looked like it flashed at me the moment the driver saw my car's rear lamps but it is coming at me fast and furious. I know I do not have enough time to overtake the two long trucks in front before that BMW is at my tail so I gave way. But as the BMW approached, the two trucks decided to moved over to the fast lane, thereby, blocking the BMW. My friend urged me to maintain my speed, trapping the BMW with me on its left and the two gigantic trucks in its front. This moved on for quite a distance and to give some credit to the driver in the BMW, he did not sound the honk or tried in anyway to get me to slow down. Eventually the two trucks overtook an extremely slow Kancil. I too, have to slowed down as the Kancil was in my way. That was when the BMW came into my lane and overtook the two trucks. After that, the two trucks decided to returned to the left lane. My friend and I agreed that the two truck drivers probably did that on purpose because maybe they were miffed by the BMW driver's arrogance. Flashing your lights from a whole kilometre away IS arrogance.

It was satisfying in a small pleasure kind of way to see these drivers humbled by such situation. That's all it is though, small pleasure. Nowaday, I usually chose safety first. You never know if one of these crazy drivers may do something stupid and caused an accident.

Damned speed demon.

Saying...

It is usually those who treated others as less than human who are often so themselves.

At least treat me as a human...

C worked in a health food shop. The shop opened from 10 am to 6.30 pm. Despite this, many customers would choose to come at the last possible minute and the shop will have to stay opened for them. This is quite understandable as the shop does not have a branch and these customers usually come after their work.
In one incident, a customer called in close to 6.30pm and requested the shop to stay open a little longer as she is on the way. She only arrived at 7. That's alright, at least she is courteous and appreciative. Well, some are fake and act nice only so they can receive a favour but let's not dwell too deep into that for now.
Then another called at almost 7, when all employees should long have been gone but still demanded that they wait for her. C informed her that they are still open but they are closing soon. They will however, continue to serve her if she arrive before they leave. Reasonable?
Not to to this customer. She started making noise and demanded that they stay open. When C thought she should let the manager take the call, even the manager will not take it and told C that they are closing now. The customer was upset and scolded C for not willing to wait another mere 5 minutes although she never informed earlier that she is that close by. She even asked C if C is trying to get her into an accident by rushing her to come over quickly, although C never did rush her. Reasonable?
As an employee, we are obliged by contract to serve the customer during our shift and by sheer goodwill beyond our shift. On one hand, we understand if a customer could not come earlier if he/ she worked far away. One the other hand, which God dies and gave customers the right and power to treat any other human as anything less? To expect the courtesy of being served beyond the opening hour is one thing, to be a bitch about it is quite another. The shop is opened on Saturday till 6 pm, which is always a viable option. Of course as a customer, she does not care if others are working past their shift as long as she does not have to sacrifice any time from her precious Saturday day off to visit the shop.
Customers have their rights but just as there are many traders who take advantage of an ignorant customer, there are just as many, if not more customers who abused their right. Perhaps the above are lousy examples but the topic here is not about consumers' right but about treating others, including those below you as the human that they are instead of as some hungry broken dogs begging you to feed them. THEY. ARE. NOT.
There is also another who put up a full-fledged diva act everytime she comes in. If you thought some of the diva attitude of celebrities that we read about in papers or magazines are unreasonable, imagine having to face them. A Mrs knows-it-all who speaks loudly as if she owns the place and expected to be treated like a queen. She treated everyone there including C, like they are nobody. Forget that she goes to the same church as C, she is probably to proud to be associated with anybody of "lesser status". Bitch.
I worked as a customer service representative before and have more than my fair share of experience with customers who treated others as dirt but I been known known for my high tolerance and have put all of this behind me, save for one.
This Mr B called in the moment I started work and keep bombarding me with the f-word. I was serving Singapore while he was calling from Australia. While it was not my fault that the call was wrongly routed to me, I recognise that it is definitely the company's fault so I held on. I certainly do not need to put up with his language, especially since the company's policy was that we have the right to tell the customer to refrain from using those words or we will hang up. But I was in a good mood that morning and was feeling generous. The company been good to me so I want to give the customer an "outstanding customer experience". Silly me. At the end of the call, he demanded for my name because he is not happy with the way I spoke to him. WTF?
I gave him my name in full and spelt it out for him but my manager never ask to see me regarding the call. And I still have a happy birthday the next day.

Happy Happy Feet.

I know this is gonna sound girlie but OHMYGODTHEPENGUINSARESOCUTE!

Sorry, can't resist it. Despite keeping the animation relatively real and not giving its characters big round eyes, baby Mumble is the cutest thing to come out of CGI. The cuteness is not just in the look but more on the manner, movement and speech. He is also the only penguin who wears a "bowtie". Kinda made me wish there were more scene of baby Mumble before he grew up. (The cheating studios, they use the picture of baby Mumble in the poster. I didn't know he will grow up so soon).

OK, I think I degraded my macho-ness enough as it is. The film carried a surprisingly thick plot. We know that Mumble is the only penguin who could not sings although he can tap dance very well. In an environment, as per the film, where one sings a heart song to get the girl, Mumble's chance is as good as nothing, especially when the girl he desired is the best singer in the flock(?). But beyond the story of romance, the film also touches on friendship (expected), alien abduction (huh?), natural preservation (what?) and a little on the pressure to conform to society expectation when ultimately it was the courage to break away from conservative mindframe that is needed to overcome an obstacle that was unattended to due to an overzealous adherence to tradition and superstitious reliance on a greater power that was nothing more than a religious belief(holy *insert name of preferred animal species here*!). The movie did not take the direction most animation typically did. Some scenes and incidents will surprise you.

I can't help but to feel that when their leader Noah is preaching in an obsessed manner for them to behave and to sing praises to the Great Guin, there is a message in the scene. In a broad sense, I supposed we can assumed the movie is telling us to put aside our difference, accept others' culture, think out of the box, be open to new idea, among other messages. But if it has a more specific message to a specific audience, its message escapes me. Anyone care to provide some enlightenment?

The best part of the movie is the musical. All penguins, after all, has a heart song. Now I am not too musically inclined but there arrangement is really good. The voice is great, excellent arrangement and flawless interjection. Snippets of famous love song, including a short "Hello... is it me you're looking for?" are thrown in although I think most of the songs are original.

This time, I will offer my friends' verdict instead. One remarked that this is even better than Moulin Rouge (OK, maybe that is a bit kua cheong) while another saw fit to quoted one of the human characters in the movie who said, "I don't want to live in a world without penguin."

Incidently, the movie has a great website. You will smile again watching baby Mumble dance on the flash site at http://www2.warnerbros.com/happyfeet/

Pasta Nite!

My friends and I had dinner at Italiannies in the Curve last Wednesday night. We deliberately chose that day of the week because it is Pasta Buffet night, all you can eat pasta at only RM19.99++.

WE ARE NOT CHEAP. WE ARE ECONOMICALLY SENSIBLE.

I am not too familiar with Italian dish apart from the occasional pizza at Pizza Hut and spaghetti cabonara at Murni mamak restaurant in SS2 so I intended to try a wider variety of pasta that night.

There were four of us and we were seated at a small square table measuring no more than 3' x 3' by my estimate. A Chinese restaurant would never get away with such small table. There won't be enough room for all the dishes. Small as the table may be there is still enough space for four plates of pasta and glasses of drink with room for everyone's elbows too :)
The ambience is warm and cosy and the service isn't too bad either. I don't frequent this kind of joint too much but they are definitely better than those buffet restaurant we can find in any 5-stars hotel in the country. In fact, for a 5-star hotel, I thought the service is horrible, not just in the restaurant, but in the reception as well. Unfortunaely we have all seems to accept that as the local standard of service. Another story for another time.

The format for the buffet is simple. Choose a pasta, choose a sauce, choose a topping, waiter will bring you the food and when you are done, repeat again. For the first round, I chose... Spaghetti Cabonara with chicken chunks. Yeah, yeah, I have that all the time but it's good for comparison sake. For my taste however, Itallianies paled in comparison with the cabonara served at Murni.
Unbelievable. To begin with, I don't know if that is the way to serve pasta but I like my food hot. Murni served a plate hot, generous with sauce and chicken chunks and sausages. In comparison, Itallianies's was warm enough with just enough sauce for the spaghetti and a relatively frugal amount of chicken chunks. No sausage. OK, OK, that didn't matter. Truth is, it wasn't that bad- I just like my Murni's spaghetti better.

I was more adventurous in the second round, ordering Linguine in aglio olio with salmon chunks. I wanted to try an oil based sauce and I heard seafood goes with this best. Somehow they messed up my order and it did not arrive until all my friends were done with round two. Computer glitch konon. Or are they trying to prevent a round three?

I was initially worried that I will not like this sauce, that the oil will be too thick. It wasn't. The sauce was quite mild but pleasant enough, and the pasta is served hot this time, with very generous topping of salmon. The only reason I did not finish it was that I was already full. no room for round three.

Despite the pasta buffet night, I noticed most people were not there for the buffet. The pizzas seem to be a popular choice. Must try that next time. Still, it is very feasible to select the buffet menu as a single plate of pasta normally goes for more than RM30. Unless of course, they served tastier pasta from the al carte menu. The pictures definitely looked more appetizing.
To sum it all up, the food and price is acceptable, service is good, I like the atmosphere and the girl who held the door open for me is quite cute too. I just might come back here again soon.

Teaching of Sudoku

You know it's a slow week when you solved a sudoku puzzle and decided to blog about it.

Here it is, the first puzzle I solved, found in a copy of Malaysian Today, finished in under 15 minutes as I snacked on nuggets and slurped on Sprite in a Burger King outlet.

Hey, that's pretty quick, and easy too. Or didn't you notice what is written above the puzzle?
Not very challenging but I could use the encouragement. I tried another on The Star newspaper. This is much more difficult, took me about an hour but there is no rating given.
See how much messier this puzzle is? Not as straightforward as puzzle # 1, that's for sure. Called for a lot more brain power but I enjoyed it. I got so hooked that I went through the stack of old newspaper for more sudoku puzzles and stayed up late into the night cracking the puzzle. I can proudly say that I can solved most of the puzzle between half to a full hour.

When I got my hand on the newspaper on Saturday morning, again I looked at the new puzzle. OK... this is a hard one. I made a single mistake and could not solve it. Tried again until I reached a deadlock. There just simply isn't enough clue to go on and I have went way past the time frame of one hour. I digged out more puzzles, hoping to learn some new trick from them. Every time I solved one, I went back to this difficult puzzle but I was still stuck.

With nowhere else to turn to, I visited www.sudoku.org.uk for some hints. However, every tricks they taught there I have already learnt from previous puzzles and none can get me closer to solving this puzzle. However, the site advised that when all else fail, pick one square with 2 possible answer, choose one and see where it takes you. That's it? The sudoku puzzle is reduced to a game of trial and error? I always thought the puzzle can be solved wholly by logic but apparently, there are what is known as diabolical puzzle with plenty of dead ends that require "advanced solving stategies or intelligent guessing". This must be one of them, albeit a relatively easy level of a diabolical puzzle. I think.

But I guess life's like that. Sometimes we are faced with choices which each seems equally good (or equally bad) and all the analysis and reasoning and pro & con weighing in the world are not able to help us make a decision. Rather than be stuck in a deadlock, it is best that we make a quick and firm decision and see where it takes us. After all, in life, more often than not, we regret more about the things we didn't do than the things we did. How enlightening.

Sudoku. Fun way to spend your time and gives you live lesson as well. What more can you ask for? Oh, I did solve the puzzle in the end. If you are interested to see that, look for the puzzle published in The Star on Dec 2, 2006. I recreated the puzzle here as well. As you can imagine, my original copy is pretty messed up.