New Years Surprise!

I think this has got to be one of the most pleasant / thoughtful New Year's surprises ever! *sniffle*

If you've been reading up on the other blogs (particularly in this section) then you'll know who I'm talking about :)

I hadn't been having such a great day and also recently discovered that a friend of mine just curbed his car. Jacqueline (my S'pore MSN buddy) had also informed me that she wasn't going to be online for the usual length of our MSN sessions... I was crushed :'( hehe. All the while that we were on MSN she was busy with her work and I had to run around delivering stuffy stuff, AND help my dad with some of his things. That also ate into our MSN time.

By the end of it I said, "Screw it, I'm going to have a beer and try to get myself to sleep."

Jacq went offline and kept me company via sms... one of her texts was:

".. Going to join my friend for dinner with his friends along too. Then for the countdown.. Now stil early since raining so stay home first. I might give u a surprise hor.. If i manage to do one thing later.."

That was enough to stir my curiousity... so I go about my regular business when my cellphone rings.. "Unknown". I don't usually pick up unknown numbers.. but this time I do. OMGWTFBBQ! U guessed it.. it was Jacqueline :D I couldn't believe it! Even now, I don't know what to say...

How thoughtful is that? She purchased a card and called me up cuz she figured it would cheer me up... wow... how many people do you know who would do that for you? People like that are so few-and-far-between. I feel very blessed to have met someone like that! Thanks Jacq... I'll never forget this! ...you're unbelievable ;)

New Toy!

Remember that camera I was going on about earlier in the week? Yea... I couldn't take it anymore and had to go out and purchase it :p hold on.. lemme refresh your memory:

For the few days prior to that I had been doing research on the net, comparing prices, so-on and so-forth. After all the research I decided to go to BestBuy as they had the best pricing (and it would give me an excuse to go ther cuz I had never been there before).

After I got there I made a b-line for the camera section, I checked out the DVCams first... then went around the corner to the DigiCams. ARGH! The camera wasn't on the display shelf OR in the display case! Ok ok, don't panic, maybe they have it in stock somewhere in the back.

I flagged down one of the floor associates and asked him: "do you have the Sony Cybershot Hybrid"
"no, we don't carry it here. I know it's advertized on the online store though"

OMFG... I came all the way out here for nothing.

Screw it, I'm going to the Sony store to pay full-price! I headed up to Metrotown to hit the Sony store. JACKPOT! There it was... all beautiful, sitting in the glass case. I got the store manager to open the case and let me play around with the camera for awhile... SOLD!

The manager sold it to me for $649.99 (same as BestBuy) that, of course, didn't include the other $84.99 for the Memory Stick Pro Duo (that's required to save photos/movies but is not included with the camera... how convenitent). Grand total after taxes $837.88. :'(

In case anyone's wondering, here are some of the specs:

• 5.1 Mega Pixel
• 3.0x Zoom
• 2.5" Free Angle LCD
• MPEGMovie4TV Video
• Pocket Album
• Image Slideshow

Click here to view full details.

Protect your valuables...

Stumbled upon this gem while reading over at shawnchin's blog. Enjoy =)

Boxing Day Chaos...

I don't usually go shopping on boxing day as it is the busiest day of the year in Canada. If you're from the U.S.A. it equivalent to your Black Friday. Over-seas.. I'm not sure what I can compare it to =p you'll just have to read on and have a look at the pictures ;)

So I get a call from Boos in the early-afternoon and we decide to hit the mall together, of course, we choose to go to (probably) the busiest mall in the lower-mainland today... Metrotown/Eaton's Center. We could tell from the start that it was going to be an interesting day, hehe. Even before we got inside the parking lot we saw vehicles packed to capacity, and all-round crappy driving.

Inside the parking lot was chaos.. there were cars lined up at every intersection and officials directing traffic at the intersections near the entrances we were lucky enough to run into these idiots who decided to start backing up the ramp to P2 after they realized that P2 was gridlocked.


Heh, I stood on the horn for Boos and she shouted out the window, "There are people behind us already!"... Bloody fools.

So we circled the lot for 1/2 hour and almost just ended up leaving in frustration, then I sed, "F3kk it! There's a spot, right there!". When in Rome, do as the Roman's do, right? We parked on some pretty yellow lines painted on the road :D Forgot to take a picture of that..

Now the parking ordeal is over. Time for us to feel the wrath of Boxing day shoppers.

We stumbled across a this marquee:

"...WELCOME TO BOXING DAY HELL..." Welcome, indeed ;)

First store we came across was Definition.. 90% off everything in store WTH. And that store is no larger than the size of my room.. imagine that! Just like a can of sardines...

Daisy decided that she wanted to go inside (crazy girl) so she joined the queue.. I decided to go take a walk and see if there was anything special going on at Sakura Media (Anime store) just down the way... hehe, luck me... the queue was non-existent when I got there (tho the entrance was closed). I stood in line, made my way in, found my goods and was out within 5 minutes (queue at counter was short too =p). No 90% price reduction in Sakura Media, just no tax.. still, with tax at 14.5% it can be a significant amout of savings.

By the time I got back to Definition Daisy was at the front of the line already... didn't take long I suppose (I can't imagine anyone going in there and taking their sweet time anyway, not in those conditions).

We then proceeded on towards the rest of the mall... and Boxing Day Hell! On the way there I stumbled upon this queue at Swatch. Am I missing something? Swatch watches are in again? The last Swatch I owned was back in 86 When Expo came to town... Funny thing about this line is... it looked like everyone was FOB. Couldn't believe it tho! Line went around the corner!

After marvelling at Swatch for awhile I turned my head and took about 10 steps... that's when I realized what I had REALLY gotten myself into :


Boos said to me, "Ya, I was going to go to Aritzia, but the lineup over there is retarded too!"

Lineup? What lineup?

We proceed to swim through the crowd and, I suppose it wasn't all that bad, considering I didn't (accidentally) knee any kids' heads this year (only on purpose.. hehe, joke lang). Does punching count? I punched some kid in the head by accident.. not my fault he walked into my fist =p. Anyway it wasn't hard enough to make them cry. Right: My favorite store :D

By this time Daisy and I are both getting hungry, which leads us to the next obvious destination... the food court.

[rant] You know what gets me everytime? Families that walk slow az... and take up the whole lane :@ WTF is up with that? There aren't people around you who need to get somewhere fast? Just because you have all the time in the world doesn't mean that other people don't need to be somewhere... can't you just pair up or something? Why link arms and spread across the whole lane? Walk single file, stay close to the storefronts, don't congregate in the middle of a main walkway... Wait... wait, I have an Idea, STAY HOME! [/rant]

We arrive at the foodcourt... and lose our appetites...

Can you blame us?
Needless to say, we left... tho on the way out I saw a sweet az Sony digicam :'(... sooo nice... I think I'm in love :'( WTH

Click here to learn more. Cry with me... :'(
Leaving Eaton's Center was not as much of an ordeal as we had originally anticipated. We actually made it out of there in under 5 minutes. Next Destination: Cactus Club, (Lougheed Hwy).
This provided us with the opportunity to enjoy a Spinach salad, Wonton (Noodle) Soup, Potato Skins and a Guinness... Oh, yea, lest I forget... AND another chance to lose our appetites...

**Family gathering pictures will be posted when I get my hands on the DDR footage =)**

Christmas Day...

It's Christmas and I didn't really feel like doing anything. Another day for me.

We went over to my brother-in-law's parent's apartment in West-side Vancouver. Something that we've been doing since they got married and I must admit, it's always a pleasant day.

This year I guess I was reminded of how I was when I went there last year. Barely able to hold my composure (as a result of that breakup) I was a blubbering wreck. This year I wasn't as social as I would liked to have been, adding my two-cents in when required, but otherwise keeping to myself.

I went for a couple of strolls to get some 'fresh air' and took in the scenery around me... wow, what a wonderful place to live in... West-side Vancouver.

Kali (Kevin and Toni's two-year-old) was running around like, well, a two-year-old. She's the most adorable toddler u could meet ><... and seeing as she has no competition by-way-of siblings (yet) it looked like she struck gold with the pile of gifts that she had!

The rest of the day, I ended up sitting in front of the laptop surfing Kenny Sia's site and finally went out to watch Wolf Creek (see: Recent Movies). Rather uneventful Christmas day :\ Oh well.. such is life. More to come...

Hrm.. I suppose I'll make a journal blog as some of these blogs tend to be more personal and less entertaining =p

Happy Holidays!

I'm finally off my shift, and now I can go home and attempt to finish wrapping gifts..

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I can't stand wrapping gifts.. argh... sooo I decided that, since I knew that AK didn't wrap my gift I'd do just the opposite and wrap his gift in GAFFER TAPE!!! :D Hope you like it Matt...

Just think... they used this stuff to keep Princess Leia's mammories from bouncing around in Starwars!... so I guess it's kind like I was wrapping his gift up in a bra (?) ;)

Wrapping with Gaffer Tape!!! :D

Was thinking of just turning the gift into a coccoon, but decided to be nice.. heh. It's still going to be a bitch to open the plastic. (Plus, I'm not sure AK is worth me using all that tape) :p ha! Lazy bastard.

Enough wrapping for now... time to get some shuteye. Merry X-Mas Everyone! More to come...

PS: Nando is right. It doesn't feel like X-mas. :/

Yes... my first post =)

It's 3:31pm and I'm sitting in the office counting down the minutes before I subject myself to last-minute-xmas-shopping hell : Wow... I can't wait.

Anyway, I've been recently reading blogs from Kennysia and XiaXue and they've inspired me. I'm not expecting mine to come anywhere close to the calibre of their blogs (as they're among SouthEast Asia's top bloggers and I'm a newbie) but I'm hoping I can entertain some of you out there ;)

Here's an introduction: I'm a Technical Analyst (fancy name for Helpdesk Agent) working for IBM Global Services (Vancouver, BC, CANADA!) That's right... Canada. I was born in Malaysia (KL) and came here when I was very young. Sadly, I do not speak Malay and my Chinese is very poor :'( My family speaks Hakka, and I can understand most of it but I dare not speak =p...

Uhh.. wait.. sorry, was interrupted by my co-worker who informed me that he's off to 'sell some goods'.

"Don't forget to save me some".
"no, you're a non-paying customer".
"Ah, crap.. dammit".
"Actually, I was saving you that syringe starter kit".

Moving on... (less I digress)...

My Cantonese is poor and my Mandarin is almost non-existent : Soooo.. I'm a white guy in a Chinaman's body, heh. But, trust me, I'm Chinese at heart ><. Tho I must admit, I can't stand Chinese dramas and especially the chapter movies that go on forever... kinda like a really long, live-action, DragonBall, but without all the fancy Kamehameha's and blonde hair. Blah.

Woo.. countdown continues.. 10 minutes to go.

Riiiight, so ya, basically I'm a Banana who's fooled everyone into believing that he's a techie dork (shh.. don't tell IBM). I'm actually more of a Graphics guy. I signed up at a local college here hoping to get into the Graphic Design program.. but I guess my portfolio was too half-assed for them. It only took me 3 months to put it together =p. When I get a chance, maybe I'll post some of the pieces here.. somewhere... maybe. Before I sign off.. here's a little gem from work:


composed with: 6 Gatorade drinks, 3 post-it notes (star), 2 Stale menthol cigarettes from my emergency stash (canes), 1 zig-zaggy thingy that I cut out (can barely see wrapped around the tree), 1 five-foot paper chain (courtesy of Abby), 3 paper snow-flakes (courtesy of Abby), 2 Turtles chocolate wrappers (bows), 3 Mint patty wrappers (bulb ornaments), oh yes... and a mess of hole punchings (courtesy of Daiji; Snow on the bottom). >.< Cheers... more to come =)