Sometimes I get this fuzzy and nice feeling whenever I finish an IM conversation with some people in partiular... and call me numb and probably dumb, I've only felt that feeling a while ago, after completing a chat on Yahoo! Messenger... I used to feel it quite a lot during when I started chatting until about half a year ago, when everyone has their own stuff to do, and late night chats were very few till now, none... =/
I sorta believe in the "click" factor in meeting with people, online or offline... And some people have a different attitude of themselves online compared to in real life and then there are people who maintain that slightly insane and obviously fun versions of themselves online... I like the latter part... :P
So far, my MSN, Y!IM, ICQ and AIM buddy list is completely untouched since what, midle of 2002? xD Man, that's long... And I don't plan on cleaning it up either... Gone are the days when you'd just had to ask everyone what your screenname on ICQ/MSN/Y!IM/AIM was, though it surfaced a few months ago (don't ask why)...
And now while we're slowly going off on a tangent, I do notice that sometimes during quiet IMs, there's a lack of interest, or a subject to talk about that the conversation slowly drifts into silence (but defitely not boredom), and in the most extreme cases, end after both parties say "hi"... xD I'm talking about you (yes you, one of the people on my blog list and has me on MSN), hope you notice that... I just find it sorta funny... :P
So, back to blogging and reading blogs... I've an update to do on what happened recently... Dad's off to Kuala Lumpur for Ching Ming/Cheng Beng and be back in a day or so... Me and mom will be seeing him off in Komtar around noon...
Music playing currently: Beyond The Invisible by Enigma
Sunday, April 10, 2005
That fuzzy feeling...
Friday, April 08, 2005
Streamyx laggy
Whatever is going on at Telekom Malaysia I hope they solve it soon. It's not much different than surfing on a 56Kbps connection if Streamyx keeps on being like this.
On a related note: I've noticed that TMNet's banners that say "Streamyx is now available in your area!" has been popping up quite frequently around our area.
Music currently playing: Age of Loneliness (Carly's Song) by Enigma
Wikimedia to be hosted by Yahoo!
Although a month ago, Google has made an offer to host Wikimedia, the site which manages Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, it has been announced that it is now Yahoo! instead of Google which will be hosting Wikipedia following an agreement with each other.
To be honest, I'd prefer if Google was hosting Wikimedia, but now Yahoo! seems to be fighting back strongly against Google with this, and it's acquisition of Flickr recently.
Initial offer by Google on Slashdot
Press release from Wikimedia
Jimmy Wales at Yahoo! Search Blog
Music currently playing: Push The Limits by Enigma.
Blog Traffic and Linking...
From my Site Meter:
Hehe, nice to see more people visiting this blog after the blog marathon. By the way, I'm linking to blog marathoners who stopped by here on that day and anyone else if you're interested. Just leave a comment if I added a link wrongly (somehow) or if you just want to be linked. :)
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
MSSPP chess tournament on day 2...
So, this year's edition of the MSSPP chess tournament is held at Penang Free School, which I think is a very bad decision... The hall isn't big enough for that many players in it, so the seating arrangement in the hall was very crowded... the hall is just 1/4 of last year hall in Penang Chinese Girls' High School... The hall there is air-conditioned, the place clean and nice, and you've got some pretty gals there of course... :P But anyway, after seeing around a bit of FPS, I think I'd change my mind and go back to Heng Ee if I wanted to study Form 6...
^ Teammates just before the first round starts...
^ Pic of the tiny Penang Free School hall...
You can see the larger pics at my LifeLogger and if only you're using IE, it only gives you a whole bunch of gibberish if you attempt to look at it using Firefox...
Actually, I was wondering if they had placed handphone signal jammers there... For the first time since I remember using DiGi, this is the first time that I've seen no reception signal for my handphone! (except during in underground carparks of course) Sending MMSes was very hard, so don't even talk about phone calls...
By the way, they've said that it's a new FIDE rule that if a player's handphone rings during a competitive match, the player is immediately disqualified... I've checked this with Google and it seems that it's true... o_O
----------------
>_O
Still a bit sore over the last game of today...
But anyway, let's start from the beginning... The first match was against Tan Yik Ping, one of those uber-strong players that manages to get the top three during every MSSPP outing... Naturally, I lost... =\ Will be posting up the notations of my game eventually...
Second match was an easy one, I played against a rookie (no pun intended, he said it himself) and won easily... But then he's a swell fella, would be interesting to see what happens in the next MSSPP outing...
Third match was also an easy one because...
Damiano Defence (above) = dead meat
After this position, I played out:
3. Nxe5 f6xN
4. Qh6+ Ke7
5. Qxe5+ Kf7
6. Bc4+ Kg6
7. Qf5+ Kh6
8. d3+ g5
9. h4 Be7
10. h4xg5+ Kg7
11. Qf7++ (checkmate!)
End position looks like this:
On another note: I met Randytsx from Wikipedia... We've been chatting online for quite some time now, and so it was nice meeting him... :)
Second day started off in a blur mode... Although I was in a clear and prepared state of mind, somehow I managed to mix up my opponent's number (which was 18) and my table number (which was 16) for the fourth match... So I sat at table 18 and we started playing a bit, I didn't notice something was wrong, he didn't notice it either until one of the arbiter's assistants came to the table and about the seating stuff and all (because table 16 for black was empty), realised I was playing against the wrong player, I rushed back to the correct table and played there...
He was a Penang Free School player, obviously strong, he attacked me well and sacrified a knight but his attack failed, we kept on exchanging pieces until he resigned... :P
Fifth match was against (hell, whaddaya know?) a SXI (St. Xavier's Institution) player, the same one I mistakenly played earlier... xD He's also strong but I made no mistakes until I got forked in the middle of the match (>_<), but got a knight and a bishop in return for a rook, and I later got the upper hand, 2 bishops against one, 4 pawns against 6, after the exchange... Grabbed most of his pawns and threatened to queen either one of my pawn in the left, middle or right side of the chessboard... He resigned... :P
Six match was against a Chung Ling (Penang) player, and I was way up on the ninth table... o_O Both of us played cautiously until he moved his bishop to attack my rook and yet uncovered an attack on my queen on the same time! Moved the queen besides his to exchange it on the next move, and his bishop took my rook, I recaptured it... >_O
The action of the match was right on the centre of the board and we both had pawns that seem to have the potential to be queened... (See below)
Here is the position in the midgame:
White to move, here's how I played (me black):
1. Rf1 c6
2. Kh2 Kg8
3. Rc1 Rd4
4. Rc3 Bc7
5. KRc1 Bxe5+
6. Kf1 Rd2 (and I've already considered lost there... T_T)
After the match, my opponent told me that I should move like this:
1. Rf1 c3
2. e6 c2
3. QRc1 Bxf2!+
4. RxB Rd1+
5. RxR c2xR(Q) (and I would've won!)
Dammit... >_< So anyways, last 2 matches tomorrow and I hope to win them both, and probably have a chance to get into the top 20 rankings...
Edit: I just remembered more stuff... While we were walking from PFS back to our school after the fourth match to have breakfast (both schools are pretty close to each other, don't make much sense doesn't it?), one of my friends walked with his eyes looking at the ground (because he was talking) and subsequently banged his head onto the sawed off end of a billboard on a corner of the road... Ouch... >_< He bled pretty badly for a while, but it stopped eventually... Who in the world would place one of these things so low???
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
MSSPP chess competition
Yep, it's tomorrow, or rather later today morning... I've only a few hours left to sleep... o_O Will have details once I return from it...
I'll also be using my cameraphone there, so watch out for my LifeLogger... ;)
By the way, I think my blogathon has also scared away my usual readers... Look, almost no comments! xD
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Voyageur
I've also made a playlist for my RealPlayer of Enigma's songs from their album, Voyageur... You can listen 8 songs out of 11 from the album at EnigmaMusic.com's jukebox, but I felt that only these 3 songs really kick arse... :P
Voyageur
Page of Cups
Boum-Boum
Streaming music, needs RealPlayer...
Blog Marathon 37: Done!
I am timing this exactly 20 hours since I blogged my first entry this morning... Well it's been an awesome experience... Big thanks to Mmitch for organising and arranging this, and thanks too to B.S., Julianne and Meg for staying along with us, T-zone and Koala Mentala, it's been nice reading yer blogs... I'll be adding you guys to my list... And thanks for the comments I've received throughout the whole day... :)
Like what Mack said, I'm all ready for another blogathon sometime soon, just hope it's not more than 20 hours... x_X By the way, the longest time I've stayed fully consciousness was for roughly 21 hours and 45 minutes, haven't broken the 22 hour mark yet... But we'll see soon (on a good day of course)... =)
Silence by Delerium featuring Sarah McLachlan is blearing on my speakers now... I'm certainly pooped out and I'm definitely heading off to bed to snooze seriously for real this time...
And oh, lastly, you can have Project Petaling Street back to yourselves, folks! ;)
Blog Marathon 36: Linked!
^ The worst ideas I could ever think up was for a) questions, b) titles... So please excuse the unimpressive choice of words... ^^;;
They say that if you do something long (or exhausting) enough, anything else that comes after that looks just like small feed. Same thing on Genting, once you eat/buy anything there, everything else looks cheaper (and worthwhile) once you reach the bottom of the mountain. If you've done a whole mountain pile of homework before, copying a few pages of notes doesn't sound that bad. And if you'd done a whole crapload of blog posts in one day, what else is just a post a day?
Btw, my previous post got linked by Mack... Thanks! :D
Blog Marathon 35: Template
Can't believe I also forgot to mention that I've changed my blog template, although I think most of you have already noticed it by now... :)
Credit should go to Noipo.org for supplying the templates... The one I'm using now is a modified version of the Berlin template... I pretty much like it...
By the way, I'm thinking about wrapping up in the next 2 posts... Will retire to bed at the 20 hour mark... :) I think I'm seeing things... o_O
Blog Marathon 34: Finishing line in sight...
Don't know why but I have a feeling that the folks at Petaling Street might be irked with me for pinging a helluva lot of times today... :P It's just today, alrighty?
It's 3am, and currently the last free-to-air TV station right now, 8TV has ended its transmission for the day... And I'm listening to Love Sensuality Devotion: The Greatest Hits by Enigma... Great album!
By the way, another note of congratulations to Mmitch of Everything Irish for completing it too! :D I think I've crossed the 20-hour mark... :)
Edit: Ah, not yet... Sorry about that... :)
Edit again: Not even near the 20-hour mark, seems like my maths skills have been impaired too...
Blog Marathon 33: Darkness falls...
It's the middle of the night, and perhaps I shouldn't be reading those threads at the Fortean Times forums, it's just a bit unnerving... Hm... I'm not comfortable with darkness really, and with my blurry eyesight at times, I think that I frequently see little things which aren't there, or at least I think it's not there... It's not there, it's not there... *comforts self*
Who asked me to get interested in the paranormal at a young age?
By the way, congrats to Julianne of Not elsewhere for completing the whole 26 hours! w00t!
Blog Marathon 32: School update...
Never realised this but I never did mention my results after receiving back my papers some 2 weeks ago... Good side is that for the first time since.. erm.. 2003, I've managed to passed all of my subjects, including Add. Maths! Whoo hoo! (And I've been saying it's also the first time since 2003 that I've got a cut wore a plaster) Downside is that I think that my strong subjects might have been pulled down... Equilibrium thingy going on here, anybody?
Okay, since my eyes are sorta strained (they've been watering), I've decided to just skip looking at my monitor and just instead at my keyboard as I type this post... Well, it's been constructive so far, no? xD Noticing that I've been asking myself questions too much than what I need, I think...
It's 2:07am, I've never expected to last this long and post this many posts, especially in a single day (not counting the 12am=next day part)... Just around 3-4 hours to go...
Blog Marathon 31: Carmina Burana
Says here that Carmina Burana was a set of texts and poems created a few hundred years ago and has been used quite frequently in the past century...
Frankly I think it's a great piece of work, judging from the samples on some of Enigma's songs, in the album, The Screen Behind the Mirror, you have 4 songs attributed to Carmina Burana and they were the first time that the usage of Carmina Burana has been authorised... (I'm thinking it's Carl Orff's relatives, since he passed away in 1982)
Strangely, listening to Gregorian chants and Carmina Burana from their songs does make me feel interested in picking up Latin... Oh yeah, I hear you screaming "you can't handle your Malay and Chinese subjects and yet you want to take up more languages? You siao ah? ("Are you insane?" in Manglish)" You could say that the last part came from my mom... :P
Blog Marathon 30: Custom road signs...
Here's an interesting thread over at the MalaysiaBloggers.com forums... :)
Did one just for the heck out of it... :P
On another note, w00t for Jason, who just woke up! We've got 6 bloggers now!
The T-zone
Edit: More road signs by Wingz
Blog Marathon 29: Phobias...
I remember blogging about this sometime ago when I was starting out with blogging, well, as the days pass by, my phobias probably have increased in a way or another... I'm still squeamish about bugs in giant numbers, I'm still a teeny-bit cautious about ceiling fans, but you could surely throw in a couple of more phobias...
Like what I said in a post earlier, I've quite a sense of morbidity... But is it morbidity? Or is it just survival instincts (y'know, safety first)? I've tend to avoid walking down the uncovered side of the school corridor just incase anyone mentally unstable would want to fling a brick up from the school building... And to be extra-alert when walking back from school (mind a bit blurred at 1pm-2pm usually)... And lastly avoid the precariously low guardrails at the fourth floor of the building...
Speaking about heights, I've wondered before if I could sleepwalk when sleeping in the living room, walk to the balcony and just fall from the ledge... I'm probably pathetic... =\
Blog Marathon 28: Unusual articles...
It's April 3rd! Wheeee!
If you have lots of time to kill, you'll have a fun time with this article (which is a list of articles itself... :P)...
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Blog Marathon 27: Crosslinking
How many times have this happen before, you've got an idea, thinking about something, and then when you get there, you lose all trace of it? Hm... this has happened countless time before, I gotta hang to what thoughts I have... :P
Well we're continuing on with the blog marathon, it's 11 something in the night, and this is the... 27th post since we've started... =)
Gah, I've a terribly short attention span too, once I focus on another thing, I lose all interesting in the thing I was previously doing... This happens quite a lot of times too... T_T
I'm currently on the IRC channel previously mentioned here... It's been nice chatting with them... Fun guys... fungi? :P
Yay for crosslinking:
Not elsewhere
Meg's Blog-a-thon
The Gravy Train
Everything Irish
Blog on guys! :P
Blog Marathon 26: AFV
Well, America's Funniest Video's is showing on NTV7 and it's quite interesting, to say the least... xD
I don't regret not having Astro in my house either, there's enough TV programmes to watch already!
Blog Marathon 25: Okay...
Erm... much better now... (after a trip to the toilet)
Aww, crap, the dialogue! I've to finish it first!
On another note, I've "introduced" some Enigma-related stuff to Edmund, hope he likes it... ;)
Blog Marathon 24: Uh-oh...
Thinking that I might be down with a slight cold, cough and upset stomach from bad curry chicken... >_< If I see that cold and cough now until tomorrow, I am so going to KILL Kenny, my classmate sitting next to me... I got it from him... T_T Meh, and he told me his body immune system was weak and he jokingly told me that he was gonna spread his germs to me... xD He's so dead...
I'm a bit better now, eyes don't feel that strained anymore (hope that's not me numbing up... O_O)...
Blog Marathon 23: Chess competition
Think this would be my last set of pics for the day... Taken at last year's MSSPP chess competition at the Penang Chinese Girls' High School... Scene shows 2 chessmasters playing simultaneous chess games with the representitives from some schools... If I'm not mistaken, the younger dude won all of the matches bu the older one had a draw, but still won all... They're the pros... :P
Blog Marathon 22: Be right back...
Hm... noticed that my eyes are sorta bloodshot, looking like railroad tracks... Meh, I gotta take a nap now... Catch ya in 2 hours I think...
Andylkl: *ZZZZZZZ*
Blog Marathon 21: Who?
Who?
It's an owl!
Pic taken at last year's MSSPP chess competition at Penang Chinese Girls' High School...
(Click pic to enlarge)
Blog Marathon 20: More scenery pics...
Here's more pics from the balcony up in my apartment... If you're living in Penang, try and guess where I live... :P
First and third pic taken 2 years ago, second pic taken just today...
(Click to enlarge pics)
Blog Marathon 19: Baywatch
This is the pic of the Civil Defence's Baywatch lifeguard programme at Batu Ferrenggi beach... I think it's the same one that alerted the beach-goers there about the tsunami alert 3 months ago... Luckily of them it was there... Photo was taken 2 years ago at the launch of the lifeguard programme... =)
(Click to enlarge)
Blog Marathon 18: Marathon bloggers...
Gah, that previous post took me about 50 minutes to complete... =\ Ah nevermind, piccies is my next choice... then it's *ZZZ*
Wonder still how many marathon bloggers are still blogging now... Hm... Noted that some of the bloggers failed to appear while some others for one reason or another just dropped out... Too bad... =\
Blog Marathon 17: LSD playlist...
Thought I'd like to collect a comprehensive playlist of the Enigma song's featured on Love Sensuality Devotion: The Greatest Hits. There's streaming audio (no illegal downloads :P) and lyrics courtesy of EnigmaMusic.com, and downloadable music videos courtesy of EnigmaVideos.com.
For the videos:
Green = suitable for everyone
Orange = light nudity and/or erotic/suggestive elements
RealPlayer is required for audio streaming, Windows Media Player is required for music videos clips, best viewed with a broadband connection, videos indicate that it is also a single.
1. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] The Landing - 1:04
2. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] Turn Around - 3:51
3. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] Gravity of Love - 3:59
4. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] T.N.T. for the Brain (Club Mix) - 5:18
5. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] Modern Crusaders - 3:53
6. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] Shadows in Silence - 4:19
7. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] Return to Innocence - 4:15
8. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] I Love You, I'll Kill You - 8:01
9. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] Principles of Lust - 3:08
10. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] Sadeness (Part I) - 4:15
11. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] Silence Must Be Heard - 4:46
12. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] Smell of Desire - 4:32
13. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] Mea Culpa - 4:31
14. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] Push the Limits - 3:48
15. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] Beyond the Invisible - 4:50
16. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] Age of Loneliness - 4:10
17. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] Morphing Thru Time - 5:26
18. [Audio][Lyrics][Video] The Cross of Changes - 2:15
Blog Marathon 16: Refreshed, slightly...
Had some thoughts on what I'd blog later while I was in the bath, I also ended up smelling flowery fresh (I used up my soap bar earlier =\).
So, back to business... Dragging out the scanner... see ya in 30 mins or an hour... :P
Blog Marathon 15: Rest...
Hm... think it's about half way done for my dialogue, but I've to take a bath, blog and then possibly take a nap a bit later in the day... I've grown dark circles around my eyes!
I've also a few more interesting pics to scan and upload first before this blog marathon ends... =)
Blog Marathon 14: Oral exam...
Sounds like a trip to the dentist, eh? Gah, freaking English and Malay oral exams at school, luckily they don't have one for Chinese, or else I'm gonna explode...
Well, it's supposed to work this way: You can have a group comprising of min. 2 people or max. 3 people in the group, discussing or talking about an issue. Sure, some of the more capable ones in my class could save their time preparing sources and stuff by going there empty handed and wait for thet eacher to ask you questions and give the marks based on your answers, but I chose to stick with my less-capable buddies and help them out... Hm... Around 3 minutes per person, wonder how should I do this... The Malay oral exam is also over a month ago, thankfully...
By the way, I'm not posting a copy of it over here, it sounds silly... :P
Blog Marathon 13: The Apprentice 2 and impulsive thoughts
I've been thinking about blogging this for quite some time until I was reminded just now. During the early episodes of The Apprentice 2, Bradford did something in the boardroom that I probably might eventually do someday: Make a stupid impulsive decision that'll ruin (at least part) my life. Don't ask me why, but I felt that it'll happen eventually.
Think first, think twice and think thrice, I stick to it most of the time but then there is always that lingering impulsive thoughts... To be honest, I fear that side of me... Sometimes I keep thinking these when I'm outside: "what if I fall over that guardrail?", "what if I get run over by a car or lorry?" or "what if someone throws a brick from upstairs and it hits me on the head?" Yea yea, I've an odd sense of morbidity, thinking it has something to do with the lack of sleep at those moments... :P
Arngh, Chyi Shen phoned me, I've to prepare a dialogue for an English oral exam for me and 2 of my classmates... Due on Monday... >_<
Blog Marathon 12: Time alignment
Would you trust me if I said I aligned some of my posts to the every half-hour mark? (Hope I won't get disqualified for this... :P)
I'm starting to think that my speakers aren't that broken after all, Turn Around and the other songs still play pretty good on Windows Media Player...
Well the PC fair is on today and tomorrow and I'm as broke as a broken and emptied piggy bank at the moment... The mp3 player I've been eyeing for quite some time will have to wait, again...
At least a rerun of The Apprentice 2 is on TV at the moment... =)
Blog Marathon 11: IRC channel for Malaysian blogs...
irc://dalnet/malaysiabloggers
Might be an advantage if you you're a Malaysian, but anyway, stop by if you have the time! =)
Btw, I don't know why but I'd prefer seeing raw urls rather than coated links... Hm...
Blog Marathon 10: Tenth entry
^ My PC... =) (click to enlarge)
Might as well post a pic here while I blog up something serious...
Blog Marathon 9: Wikipedia
xD Can't believe I got myself in an April Fool's Day article at Wikinews!
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikipedia victim of onslaught of April Fool's jokes
Original comment here.
Blog Marathon 8: Other Bloggers
Some of the other blogs that are currently participating in the blog marathon... =)
http://megsblogathon.blogspot.com/
http://tbtew.blogspot.com/
http://www.ln3ix.com/tzone/
http://www.not_elsewhere.blogspot.com/
...and of course, the organiser of this blog marathon... :P
http://everythingirish.blogspot.com/
Blog Marathon 6: Sigamp
Sigamp is a pretty cool plugin for Winamp (duh) and Windows Media Player, show (or rather gloat to the world) your choice of music! :P
Here's mine:
Blog Marathon 5: What's your religion quiz...
 | You scored as agnosticism. You are an agnostic. Though it is generally taken that agnostics neither believe nor disbelieve in God, it is possible to be a theist or atheist in addition to an agnostic. Agnostics don't believe it is possible to prove the existence of God (nor lack thereof). Agnosticism is a philosophy that God's existence cannot be proven. Some say it is possible to be agnostic and follow a religion; however, one cannot be a devout believer if he or she does not truly believe.
Which religion is the right one for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com |
Hm... interesting....
Blog Marathon 3: LSD
I really can't help but I'm thinking about writing a review for the album, and to also shoot back at the idiot who criticised it so badly...
Gah, still a bit bleary eyed from waking up that early... The only time I've known to wake up early was the time that I overslept on nap at night...
And another thing, is that I'm a bit afraid that I'll be running out of things to say (at the moment), perhaps I just need to lie down for a while... Hm...
Blog Marathon 2: Day after April Fool's day...
Second post... So soon? You betcha...
Now that April Fool's day has completely passed in each and every part of the world, I think it's time to pick up the pieces, sweep the junk and archive the pages involved... :P
As usual, most of the sites with a large community planned their jokes ahead of time... Check out what happened with Wikipedia... xD
April Fool's Day articles and what happened on April 1 in real life and on the internet...
Blog Marathon 1: Morning!
Alrighty, so I woke up just now... But starting at 2:30/3am in the morning just to blog? Think I'd get flamed down by my mom and I'd end up looking like a zombie for the next few days...
So, I'll be occupied for the next 2 weeks too, another chess competition, this time it's an inter-school one, the annual MSSPP competition and it's gonna be my fifth year in a row participating in this... Individuals on next Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, school's annual cross-country race on Friday, team on the next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and did I mention that I've to skip school for a total of six days???
Cross-country race at the Youth Park, think it's about 8 or 10 kms (darn, I forgot >_<), since it's my last year in this school, I think it's best not to skip it this time... :P
