Graduation 2006

After 4 years in the college, I finally graduated with an Advanced Diploma!

YES!!! GRADUATED WITH A MERIT!!!

Looking back now, compared to other college freshies, it does feel kinda old...especially when I took the gown last Tuesday and saw loads of new students......

Anyway, the convocation ceremony was actually held on Saturday. I couldn't blog about it until now coz' was busy going here and there with my family.

The ceremony started about 20 minutes late, but no matter coz' not many were attending (most were eyeing for the Campbell ceremony). In fact, only 31 from my course were present......

Then it's the usual stuff lah: marching from the college big shots, scroll receiving, singing 'Negaraku', and the mandatory generic-and-boring-but-media-pleasing-and-inspiring speech from Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting.




Special thanks to Gilbert for being my photographer! thanks man!


I even saw Shi Ling (primary school friend) by accident...of course didn't waste the opportunity to take a shot with the leng lui. :P

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Went to Times Square to jalan-jalan with Frankie and Gilbert in the afternoon, then went back home in the evening and had dinner at Seremban 2 at my aunt's house.

On Sunday morning, went to college to buy the photos from Fotorex. Later, along with families of Uncle Somchit, Uncle Ee Chuan and Uncle Owui, went to the area near Asia Jaya to see a Buddhist priest for blessings (said Buddhist priest is the 3rd ranked monk in Thailand).

Monday, back to college again to return the graduation gown and mortar. Went to MidValley in the noon to develop some 300 photos from previous family trips.

**********

I'll be leaving to the UK on this Friday evening, and I'm still packing my stuff. Good luck to me.

Technorati Tags: Graduation, TAR College, Convocation, ISE

Soul Patrol reigns over McPheever!!!

Purposedly wake up early in the morning to catch the live telecast of the finale on STAR World......the first 10 minutes of the programme was shaky though...satellite problem kut...

Finally, Taylor Hicks won American Idol 2006!!! And deservedly so too!

SOUL PATROL! SOUL PATROL! SOUL PATROL!

Other than Kelly Clarkson, the other three Idols never appealed to me...dunno why, didn't like their style I think...but Taylor definitely has the best charisma and personality to go with his style...I'd most definitely buy his debut album when it's out!

I'm pretty much sure Katharine will be successful too because of her hot looks and great voice...but I'd prefer Taylor more,he's just not that generic......

I still think Elliott has the best male vocal though...

Some thoughts on the performances and the show:

• Mary J. Blige completely drowns Elliott's vocal during the 'One' performance...damn.
  
• Bucky gave his best performance during the Burt Bacharach-Dionne Warwick session, ironically on a finale.
  
• Toni Braxton's voice seems muted. WTF?!
  
• Clay Aiken looked like a freak with that hairdo...
  
• Prince damn lan xi, not even looked at Ryan Seacrest after finishing his songs... (great songs though)
  
• The Kellie Pickler skits are quite funny when the lobsters enter the scene
  
• The parody "awards" are a little insulting-lah in my opinion, but it did provide opportunity for the rejects to perform, most notably the Brokenote Cowboys (gotta love their friendship)
  
• Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell are forever exchanging gay jokes.
  

The show is a little messy, but still OK-lah overall......

A great blog site I found for mp3s of past performances:

http://www.rickey.org/blog/american_idol_5/
http://www.rickey.org/blog/american_idol_5/taylor_hicks/
http://www.rickey.org/blog/american_idol_5/katharine_mcphee/
http://www.rickey.org/blog/american_idol_5/elliott_yamin/
http://www.rickey.org/blog/american_idol_5/chris_daughtry/

...and my favourite Taylor Hicks performance: You Are So Beautiful

Technorati Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, McPheever

Sick again

Most of you who knows me knows that I often make "wantan" at class when the flu hits (sorry, gross joke again :P), since secondary I've been having big flu every 2 months or so, and the daily dose of Zyrtec didn't help much...

So my cousin gave me a bottle of Spirulina pills last week, and I've been taking it for almost a week......

A week later, she asked whether my condition improved, I said "Yeah, fine"......

The next day straight away kena heavy flu again......damn SUAY......

Pantang lah, cannot ask one......

No more flu since yesterday, but now I'm having a slight soar throat and my left eye is a bit swollen, dunno allergic or what, like bee-sting swollen......

Dunno can make it to the convocation ceremony tomorrow or not......

An accident

These days I only update my blog in like, what, once a week? no choice lah, nothing to do at home, so nothing worthy to blog about lah...plus Alex was hogging the PC all the time, aih...malas nak blog lah...

Last Wednesday morning, got a call from Malacca at 7.30am...I didn't recall how come I'd wake up that early, coz normally I'd sleep til' 9 something even if the phone was ringing beside my ears, but I'd heard from Dad something about "cannot walk"...must be grandpa...

So dad took leave and we went back to Alor Gajah to see him...We brought him back home to see the doctor, and luckily grandpa's leg was only scratched and bruised and can't walk properly for a few days, other than that there's nothing serious......

Gramps said that he fell from the bicycle, but turns out that he was knocked down by a car while riding the bike. The car was turning too fast and swerved into the bicycle, knocking grandpa from his left side. The stupid driver didn't even bother to check on an 80 year old man and just sped away!! Gramps didn't managed to see the number plate, or else...mother fucker!

Better not let me see you I sure FUCK you you bangang! >:(

Cleaning out

I've been cleaning out my room since I came back from college. All this while in college my room has been turned into the second store room in the house: clothes, books, magazines, DVDs, all chucked into my room, leaving space only for a bed......

Actually I've only cleaned out a portion of my stuff, and the things that used up the most space are my high school textbooks.

Yes, 5 years after SPM and I still keep my Form 3 til Form 5 books.

I dunno why, everytime when I wanna sort out my stuff, I just turned away from the notes, exercises and buku amali...turn a blind eye on them, even if my mom keeps nagging and nagging me to throw it all away......

But I just couldn't part with them, you may say I'm crazy, but with all those efforts and time put into those Add Math calculation and formula, I think it's a waste just throw it away like that......well, at least for me lah...

Still, they used up too much space, and after much thought, I finally kept only the Add Maths and History stuff. I'm not interested in other subjects, and the syllabus is too outdated to give to my nieces anyway.

And now, the hundreds of DVDs stacking in the corner...time to arrange again......

I hope its not a false alarm...

The other day I was checking my mail as usual when I came across one particularly interesting mail. Apparently this Hong Kong indie band that I mentioned from this post send me an email. The details are something like this:

"I have just reached your blog by a random search. I feel very glad and
exciting to see your comment on the Street Roar 2006. This is the first
time we play in Malaysia. The audiences were excellent and drove us
dancing as well on the stage. By the way, we would like to send you a
copy of album (if you don't mind to leave us your mailing address),
just for friendship. Look forward to hear from you."

WAH-LAU!!! HOW COOL IS THAT?!

Nothing much...just a quick update

The phone line was down for 2 weeks because of a thunderstorm, so no Internet for me for the past 2 weeks, which explains the lack of update of the blog......

Went to the college yesterday to submit the convocation form and bank draft. Apparently they decided to shift all afternoon sessions of the convocation into the morning session. I couldn't get an explanation from the person at the counter, but my guess is that there's too little people attending to justify two sessions.

What to do...everyone only wanna attend the Campbell convocation......

Later, mom went to Central Market to have her hair cut, while me and dad went to Petaling Street to do some shopping. After that we went to Port Klang to meet Uncle George and have tea while giving him the laptop model of my choice...if only I can get it for free :P

There's a huge possibility he's gonna belanja us makan next week on Pulau Ketam, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed......

I haven't put up any pics lately, so here's one with 2 cute kids, both of whom are children of my neighbours.

Uncle Owui's daughter & Uncle Somchit's son during makan

Review: Gubra

I watched Gubra at Mid Valley 3 weeks after its initial release date. Couldn't find the time before that, ah, what the heck...

Yasmin Ahmad's sequel to last year's Sepet, one of my all time favourite movie. It tells two unrelated stories about relationships between people: The follow up on Orked's life and another centering on a Bilal and a prostitute.

Although I enjoyed the film, I have to say that it isn't as memorable as Sepet, partly because I think it tries to tell too many plot into 2 hours. While the first film focused on the central love story between Orked and Jason, this one has infidelity, redemption, husband wife responsibility, etc.

While it is a worthy followup, the first 30 minutes borders on slapstick comedy which is kind of awkward, well for me at least. You got a sudden shock of the mother calling Orked about her dad going to die, then Arif goes on introducing the family to a nurse as though they come from The Simpsons family. The sitcom and drama just feels weird, as if it's there just for the sake of comedy. Plus, this time, her social statement is rather direct and not so subtly handled.

The chemistry between Orked and Alan is mediocre at best. It doesn't help that Alan Yun is bland...he just doesn't have Jason's instant likeability. Fortunately, the performance of the original supporting cast is fantastic, and the introduction of Adlin Aman Ramli is refreshing.

IMO the story about the Bilal and the prostitute is better handled, with subtle mix of drama and low key humour. It's definitely refreshing to see the lighter side of life of an Imam and a prostitute -- The playful banter and interaction between the Bilal and his wife, the two prostitutes with their own problems, Temah's relationship with her son -- rather than being confined to the stereotypical image. I have to give credit to the Censorship Board for approving this movie uncut.

Nam Ron as the Bilal, with his dead pan expression, is effective. The actress portraying his wife is so energetic and kind hearted it's so hard not to like her. (I think she resembles an older Cheryl Samad :P) It's a wonderful supporting performance. Lastly, the actress playing Temah is equally impressive. Her fight scene with the thief is full of tension.

The themes presented in the movie is darker and more mature than the lovey dovey mood in Sepet. Still, this film is much more emotional, several scenes just got me in tears......Yasmin Ahmad's greatest strength is portraying everyday life in the simplest manner, yet evoking the most of emotion from us. This ability alone cements her status as one of Malaysia's top film makers.

Maybe my expectations were too high, but I feel that Sepet is more superior and accessible to the mainstream. Still, Gubra gets a 4 out of 5 from me.