Chelsea 4 - 0 West Brom - NICE!

Currently Listening to : Gavin DeGraw's Chariot Album

Chelsea handed a 4-0 drubbing to lowly West Brom .For once Lamps decide to switch on his killer instinct. 2 goals from that lad and 3 points for us and i couldn’t be happier.Plus a goal each from Drogba and Cole sealed this amazing victory. Some say

“Eh Effi tu West Brom aje la... ape nak bangga?".

Tapi kan. remember when we just manage a single goal against Wigan last week? People make a fuss out of that. I bet even if we won 78-0 against Wigan people will still have negative things to say about us Blues. So it’s a no win situation. if you hate the blues nothing they do will be good enough.Next match will be against the Spurs. yet another London derby in a space of a week. Spurs this term looked like a force to be reckoned with. they have Edgar Davids in the middle of the park. how scary is that. only time will tell. I would be content with just a solitary goal win. no thumping is required to satisfy me. any form of victory is good enough for this old dog. back in the Vialli days we would win against the big guns but falters when meeting "lowly" opposition. Fast forward 2005 I think I can take any surprises that may came up along the way this season. United looked amazing the other day and even last nite against Debrecen. contrary to popular belief, I would love to see Man United challenge the title this year. last term when we won it people kept saying

“Alah United dah tua... Arsenal takde budget... Liverpool injury banyak... bla bla bla……..”.

Damn you haters la! ade je alasan to discredit our first win in 50 years. when united was dominant in the 90's nobody ever said they won it cuz they have more money than other team ( which is true by the way... they have bigger spending power then, remember RIO and Veron?). nobody ever told united fans that they won the leagues coz Forrest, Liverpool and Everton are crumbling.

it’s ok. we still won the league regardless of what you Mancunian, Gunners and Scousers think. Roman or no Roman this Millennium will be a blue one. let the game begin.

blue is the colour...........footie is our game!

Gloating: John terry with the first of many silverware

Some convo Snapshots

Happy graduation Nur Baizurin Zulkanain



Me, Lilo, Zaza and Turk



Zurin posing as a deranged turkmen raider. needless to say this photographer is not scared of her. instead me thinks she looks rather yummy in this outfit.

Snapshots of The Week

some crappy snapshots. one of my newer hobbies. manipulating photos using photoshop. the original is a bit too bright so i use PS to make it darker. i love the end product

just another day in the life of FOA



happy kids with their balloons......... 99 red balloons go by!! amik mase konvo arituh.tq TEPET for the camera. cam ko besh la.. dah la mahal!!

PART 6 : THE TUBE N HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

The tube might be the single most claustrophobic form of transportation in theworld. As I stepped inside the tube I can smell the dank air of ionised air andthe smell of last night pub crawl after effect. To those not in the know. What I’mreferring here are vomits spots left by the drunken commuters of London. The tube is the lifeline of London. It IS London. London wouldn’t be London without the tube. All 7 or so lines that interweaved each other eased the congestion in London and make the whole experience of traveling in London an exiting one.The underground system was first created in the late 17th century. In thosedays the coaches were pulled by steam powered engines. The first line ran through the affluent suburb of South Kensington and Baker Street (as in Sherlock Holmes fame).the line is presently known as the Bakerloo line andwas given the dark brown color. I don’t know what those colours represent.Brown as in the color of the stations? The stations used in the bakerloo line are the same station build more than a hundred years ago. And they are beautiful.To compare taking the tube to taking the many commuter services in KL is willnot give u the correct picture. Unlike in KL with its many lines with different ownership altogether. In London, the TUBE is one single entity but with different lines. Each lines are colored differently to ease the navigational process for commuters. And each line only services certain stations. Only on the few interchanges that these lines crossed each other. And unlike the one in KL, the tube is mostly underground. So the lines slithers underneath the many buildings like a giant snake. This is not my first trip on an underground system. I’m already used to taking the MRT in Singapore so the tube wasn’t such a big deal. But meps and suria was really psyched up. Back then KL‘s famous putra and star line is not yet operational. And for these two Malaysian taking the underground is kind of a momentous day. The 3 of use decide to stick to the Central line. Marked on the map as the single horizontal red line smack dab on the center of London. Servicing some 16 plus station the central line might be the most important line in London. So its is not a surprise to see the newest coach being used in this line. Meps, Suria and I have decided to go to the next shopping Mecca in London. Oxford circus. From our last station we would have to wait for the train to stop for another 2 stations before disembarking The are was stale. The tube recycled its air from station to station. The ionized air is quite discomforting. The tube is a small electric powered trains, and the tunnel at which these little mechanical caterpillars moves are also as small as the train itself. Doing a rough guess I can say the distance between the train’s body and the wall of the tunnels must have been about 2 inch at most. And to me. This was rather scary. The noise is also quite unbearable. On the map you can see that the central line is supposed to be a single straight line but in reality the train weaved through the tunnels like a mole. And as it navigates through each corner the wheels screeching and u can see sparks fly as it exits each corner into the next one. Londoners are very private people. U can never see them talk to each other in the tube. Everyone is either glued to their paperback novels and papers or their ears are permanently stuck to their walkmans (no IPOD back then!). This is by far the most interesting part of my visit thus far .Seeing Londoner as they are. Inside the tube. Ignoring everyone. Some are even sleeping while standing. Their head and body rolling back and forth in unison with the movement of the train. As the train stopped on the first of the two scheduled stop, I see a man throwing a paper he was reading onto the seat as he exits the door. Then as the train start to move the discarded paper is then read by another person who now sat on that same seat. Waste none. Read thy paper. I think this is one cultural observation that I can see that day. On later exploration of London I finally realized that this is another subculture in London. Even the paper is called the tube news. The papers were given hand freely at each station with a low print run .But since the paper never left the trains, the paper will be reread by anyone who happened to see them on the seats. Brilliant idea. Another rule of TUBING. Never block the door when entering the tube. The Londoners are quite considerate people. They let the people inside disembark before going in. something that I haven’t seen yet in KL! Even in their rush to get to point B ,they let the commuters out first not rushing like suicidal monkeys into the coach.

"Even in their rush to get to point B ,they let the commuters out first not rushing like suicidal monkeys into the coach"

15minutes later

We finally reached oxford circus. Another shopping destination in London. Ohyes I forget to tell you guys about the other peculiar thing about U.K in general. There is no shopping center. I was told that the whole shopping mall idea is from America, since the limeys hate the yanks so much, the whole idea of a single mall replacing the high street still frowned upon. Another high street and another adventure about to start. As we slowly ascend back to the surface my ear caught the recognizable sound of a violin. Soft at first but as we approach the exit of Oxford Circus train Station the sound grew louder. So this is the famous London buskers I always read about. These guys and some gals can be seen playing their musical instrument in front of tube station in turn of getting a few pence from the commuters. And they can really play. The guy playing the violin was wearing a pair of leather pants. His long blonde hair tied to the back Petit style. And he’s playing is just as good as the way he looked. Excellent. This is another thing that u can’t see everyday. Buskers plying their trade. I’v seen buskers down at central market. But buskers in KL are mainly not as well groomed as these fellas here. And judging by the number of coins and pound note in his violin case I can safely say, they are getting paid better than the CM buskers! I dropped a few of the hated 10 p coins into his case. He gave me a courteous nod and continued playing. We exited the station and what we saw
at oxford circus was a sight for sore eyes. Magnificent!

NEXT :OXFORD CIRCUS AND THE NEWSPAPER!

Gavin De Graw - Chariot

Chariot must be one the most uplifting album I’ve heard in years. It’s filled with the aura of positivism that one can’t help but turn those frowns into a big smiley. Every song makes you want to sing along with it. It’s rare that these kind album pops up. The last album to make me smile and groove is the first album by Marcy Gray. That was roughly 5 years ago. With my emotional stability tank running low Chariot is the perfect antidote for my blues. I’m in love with Chariot and (NICE TO MEET YOU) anyway, 2 of the best track in the album. So far 3 hit singles has spawned from this excellent album. Chariot, I don’t want to be and follow through. Sheesh enough typing. Just buy this album and be ready to be swept away by Gavin’s excellent debut album!

Thanks to my boboo Zureen for giving me this cd...hadiah kata dia.

Babe......... all you have to give me is your smile and your love. I love you dear

The EYES

dedicated to the girl with THAT EYE. u know who you are.. now i cant sleep thinking of your eyes. its a mystery. so heck. let me just write something in honour of your eyes.

Your eyes...

Something is seriously enchanting about it. I can’t explain what made me turn my head when is aw you. Those hazel eyes peering through my eye. First clawing through my iris then slowly finding its way down my heart into my soul

Those eyes

It’s like staring into the abyss. Knowing the peril that might befall me if I look too far. Spiralling onto infinity not knowing when I will hot the ground. For a second I wonder and think. It was worth it. Spiralling in your endless gaze. Knowing that even if I die, I manage to know the secret of your stare

Those eyes

I’ve been keeping these feelings from you for ages. Never having the guts nor strength to tell you. My mouth sealed shut like a clam. Is this withcraft? Is it just my heart telling me?


YOU DONT HAVE A CHANCE. WHY BOTHER

convo aint that bad after all

convo wasnt all that bad after all...... the food is still bland and taste like what you would find in a GULAG but, the chick population is off the charts.. i tak eit back. it seems the chicks would save this convo from becoming your bland event after all

you are talking bucket loads of cuties simply lying about with their gal pals. all i hav eto do now is bring out my old pick up line book and study back those fine lines. god 's willing by the end of the week some new interesting blog entries might ensue

WHO AM I KIDDING??

effi.. realise this. you are old and out of the dating market. you are like and old fiat with just some sorry after market body parts to cover the fact that your engine is way past the 200 000 KM mark. no amount of oil change and new lick of paint would you do any good. surrender to father time and accept ye' fate as an aging lothario. you are no longer able to date these fine chicks..

its ok effi.. at least you still have that WOMEN to be with you..

now calm down Effi...... just watch and do not ever touch. those chicks are just candy to your "rabun" eye..

Hello readers

Just a quick post to fill my increasingly boring week. It’s the convocation again and the field opposite me room is starting to look like a glorified pasar malam. Loud banging noise and the smell of burnt meat permeates the air as I’m typing this. I’m never a fan of big open spaces... and i will stay away from these palces like i would avoid a one legged aids infected midget prostitute. Honestly, the first time I went to convo it’s an amazing thing. Meeting people and basically savouring the foods... and maybe if i'm lucky hooking up with that gal i met in Business Admin class. But since I’m technically married now I don’t think the last one would be possible.

Jokes aside my sleep pattern will be destroyed for the next 3 days. With the huge speakers blaring and directed towards my room I couldn’t see myself being bale to get a decent sleep. I love taking late afternoon naps and with those ignorant deejays spinning crap slow Malay pop all day long I would have to kiss those tiny luxury map goodbye for a while.

So long sleep time. Hello zombified eyes

PART 5 : TUBE ETHICS N THE RUSH

Always stand on the left side of the escalator. This is the fundamental rule.

Failure to do so will result in u being shouted at or u can bet u can hear the

angry grunt of the person standing behind you. Londoners are known for their

fast paced lives. Sort of like how Japanese are in Tokyo. They will rush to work

and back. Squeezing every single second of their life so that they can get to the

Pub a bit earlier than the next person. This might come as a surprise but other

than the initial shock of the cold weather u will be the shocked on how

Londoner “WALK”. I use the term walk here rather loosely. When I say walk its

more like a mad shuffle from point A to point B. they never drag their feet when

walking. Even when you are on the pavement and walking u can see the 3

distinctive “walking lanes”. The nearest to the shop the pace is rather slow with

people standing by the shops looking at the wares. The middle lanes for those

intend on reaching point B without stopping. And the third lane where u can see

people walking like they are on fire. Sometime I think these people are the

same people who did the annual London Marathon. If you are the average

Malaysian, It’s a good thing to stick to the slowest lanes when walking or you’re

going to be pushed around like pygmies. The fact that u cant even see what’s

in front of you when walking also posed another challenge to some. It’s like

walking in a sugarcane plantation. Only this time replace the sugarcane with tall

MS.

As for me, the first trip inside the tube didn’t turned out to be a nightmare after

all. All those time reading the London guide paid off for me. I knew beforehand

to stand on the left side of the escalator. And yes I did manage to spot the

tourist in the tube station. Always overdressed and they stood out from the

crowd like sore thumb. The Germans are fond of standing on the right side of

the escalator. Maybe Germans uses the right side instead of the left side rule.

The Japanese with their trademarked camera and fishing hats. The French with

their stylish gear but always with an English to French dictionary in hand. And

the Malaysian? Well they tend to wear 3 layers more than most people. Wears

a snow cap and yes... they are tanned as h-word. So I fit comfortably inside that

category only that in my case, along with Suria and Meps we actually wore 3

layers less than we should have had (in our futile attempt to BLEND in) and we

don’t have snow caps (coz NOBODY in the UK wears a snow cap unless you

are a BOY BAND member).the fact that it never snowed in London is another

reason why snow cap is a no no in London. So it is funny these days to see

when I saw our celebrity’s vacation pictures ,showing them wearing 3 layers too

much and a snow cap on their head. You can’t help but shout in the head and

say... TOURIST!!

U might wonder why the word tourist is considered dirty to overseas students. I

couldn’t really explain why this is the case but being a tourist in a foreign land

seemed rather lame. Its just like when u see the MS in KL wearing 2 item of

clothing les and you cant help but say… PELANCONG in your head. I think the

same applies here. Nobody like tourists in London except the cutthroat retailer

that can’t wait to prey on ur naiveties. Especially when it came to handling the

new alien currency which is the pound note. I don’t know about the students

studying there these days. But in my time we were actually send on a “dos and

don’ts” course of living overseas. How to eat and how to act to certain

situations. And how the difference in culture can be shocking to some.

In all honestly I didn’t suffer any major culture shock when I was there. Even on

my first day there the only shock to me is the ungodly weather. But a few weeks

of acclimatization all is well. The only culture shock I had in my life is walking

around KLCC on weekends and seeing how the teenagers dressed these days.

It’s a lot worse than what I saw at a rock festivals when I was there. Trust me

on this because I’m a concert aficionado and I have seen the worse and the

best festivals man has to offer. But seeing these kids trying to be wannabe

NEW YORKER is a lot more shocking than seeing some MS walking topless

under the Glastonbury sun. Maybe it was expected for them to act like that. But

for Asian to be like them. Its still pretty much taboo

Hey isn’t this write up supposed to be about THE TUBE. I guest this is what

happen when u write without a clear guideline. I just write anything that comes

into my head. If I can claim one good gift god gave me. Is the ability to write up

anything as fast as I can think about them in me brain. And thus the typos that

ensued

Sorry about the off topic write up. I promise the next one will be about TUBING

proper!

PART 4 : LAGENDS DEMYSTIFIED and THE ENGLISH WEATHER

Let’s check the kit bag shall we. Passport. Yup still there... tarvellers

check.uhuh. Nicely tucked between the passport and my wallet. And yes the

200 pound in cash. Ok boys n gals we are ready to be released into Oxford

Street. Here’s a 411 on Oxford Street. It’s the main street in London. Sort of

what jalan tunku abdul rahman is to KL-ites. It’s only a few hundred meters

from Malaysian Hall which was situated on Marble Arch. I use the term was

because this was the old Malaysian hall. The current Malaysian hall is

somewhere near Queensway. And I’ll tell u later about that place in another

story. I was told by an uncle of mine that I can find anything that I want down

Oxford Street. I was also told that this is the Mecca for shoppers. Again just like

the skyscrapers mythos, this was proven to be another old wives tale. I can find

more varieties of goods on sale down in Bukit Bintang than down on Oxford

Street. While Meps n Suria were having a ball gawking at the many designer

shops, i was just bored out of my mind. I guess this is the only reason why most

datin’s prefer shopping in London. Being a fashion pariah all my life these

shops meant nothing for me. Alas this whole idea of shopping down Oxford

Street wasn’t such a great idea after all. Well at least the two girls were

enjoying themselves. An hour or so after we start our window shopping me

can’t help but realized that i am surrounded by mat sallehs. Loads of mat

salleh. Being the only Malay guy in the crowd I can’t help but do the Malaysian

thing. Gawk at them. What is it with Malaysian and gawking at mat sallehs

anyway? And I can’t help but gawk at the throngs of mat salleh weaving

through the sea of humans. And I do mean sea of humans. It’s a Thursday

afternoon. I can see people going out for their lunch breaks. And funnily enough

all of these mat sallehs (MS) are decently dressed. I was raised by a staple diet

of English movies. I was under the impression that London is the city of

decadent and sin. I was using my evil eye looking for some MS in a scantily

clad leather dress or something along that line. And boy was I disappointed. I

was living in a sheltered lifestyle back in the days. Not the crazy bugger that I’m

now. So the sight of flesh is what I’m looking for when I’m away from my

parents. Ha ha. I confess I’m a perv. So what? It’s normal for a seventeen year

old guy like me to have sexual fantasies right.

Suddenly it started drizzling. Not fully recovered from the fever I was down

earlier in the week I quickly started looking for shelter. Something to cover my

sorry little head. The three of us quickly sought shelter at the nearest

underground station. But one thing caught my eye as the cold wind and the icy

drop of rain touched my pimpled face. These Londoner act as if it was nothing.

No one bothered opening their brollies. Again another urban myth demystified.

No English man with brollies and bowler hat to be seen. So much for my Andy

McNee, The Avengers fantasy. So the second lesson that u learn about London

is. Don’t believe what u saw in the movies. Everything is basically either an

exaggeration or just a stylized look at people’s life. I was shivering like mad as

we all wait anxiously for the rain to stop. Another thing about the English

weather is it always drizzles during fall. And since this is the end of September

fall is already in full swing. Temperature was at the high 16 degrees, warm

enough for Londoners to wear just a jumper or the essential rain jacket. But to a

Malaysian, 16 degrees is like living in Antarctica. I realized my nose is filling up

with fluid. Ok now I’m getting down with sniffles. It’s a good thing mom bought

me some handkerchief. Ha-ha. For once in my life I use a hanky. And then a

sudden sadness engulfed me. Just as the rain trapping me in its wake. I felt like

crying. My mom gave me this hanky. I opt against using the hanky to wipe my

nose. Maybe the whole idea of soiling the hanky that my mom gave me doesn’t

sound so good at the time. In fact I still have the hanky at home somewhere

beneath the old clothes. I still haven’t used it...

30 minutes later

With the rain showing no sign of stopping all 3 of us decided to take the

underground, or most effectionately known as The Tube by Londoners. For

those who are used to taking the putra line in KL. Let me tell u something. The

tube station is 10000 times uglier than the best of KL can offer. Everything

looked like its been there for 200 years or so. The only sign that the tube is a

high tech transportation system is the metallic ticket machine and numerous

automated ticker readers that doubled as the entry door to the train platforms.

All three of us bought the travelcard. It’s the kind of ticket most tourists would

buy when going around London. At 4.50 a pop is not that expensive (by this

time the no exchange rate rule is fully ingrained into our mind!) considering we

can use the ticket to go anywhere within London and reuse the ticket for the

next 24 hours. My legs were killing me anyway. And taking the tube seemed

like the best idea. Standing in front of the ticket machine, we was again forced

to learn the third rule of overseas students In the UK. It’s learning how the

MONEY looked like. Well a five found note is green. A Tenner is red in color

and yes. The color is akin to the Malaysian currency. Just change the agong’s

face with the queen and you’d be on your way. But the coins will cause trouble

for most students. The 20 P coins are hexagonal. And it’s smaller than our 20

cents. The 50 P is the largest of the lot and thicker than our 50 cents. The 10P

coin must be the most annoying coin in the history of man! It’s so small that you

are tempted to just throw it away. But wait… that’s enam puluh sen! After 5

minutes of fumbling with the coins we got our tickets and we are about to learn

the FORTH rule of overseas student. It’s the

TUBE ETHICS N THE RUSH

Author's note: I’m writing this on the fly. No reference what so ever to my real journal, which is now forever lost when

my HARD DISC died on me last semester. In that journal is 600 pages worth of story that I wrote on a daily basis. But

here are some of the things that I can dig up from my not so good memory. The dates might be a little off. But I’d try to

reedit the stories if I remember the dates. Thank you for reading. memula buat lawak je. tak sangka ade yg nak baca! ja

ja

MS=mat salleh

Who could have guessed? That even when taking the tube one has to abide by

a number of rules. And just by looking at the one a person act on a tube u may

know if he’s a Londoner or not.

PART 3 : acclimatization and the teh tarik

My first foray into the city that is London happened exactly 48 hours after I

landed on Heathrow. With my body temperature slowly stabilizing I gather all

strength to walk out the door of Malaysian hall. But first it’s the late lunch. It’s

about 2 pm in London but with the massive jet lag it is normal for most new

comer to sleep the day away on their first errrrrr day ha-ha. Anyway. Meps n

Suria were already waiting for me downstairs I know this since the internal

phone right beside of my room started ringing. When I picked it up I hear the

very distinctive voice of Meps.Come to think of it her voice is kind of sexy in a rock star-ish manner

Who are Meps n Suria? Well they are the 2 person that boarded the same flight

as I did. U see we were send on 3 trips to London. Since each school have a

different academic calendar the one send on the earlier flight have already at

the moment started their academic year. The date is the 17th of September

1998. My term stars on the 22nd so I have a few more days to acclimatize to

the bloody English weather

And the first thing that I have to do is buy me a decent jumper. The one that I

owned now is killing me. Meps n Suria is already downstairs waiting for me.

The sole guy. So I am expected to take the lad and sort of become their guide.

Oh heck!! I know my sense of direction is as good as a broken compass. But

in front of these fine women. I have to pretend. Put up my best confident face

and soldier on. I have read a few guide books on London prior to arriving. I just

hope what was written are true.

One thing about Malaysian hall is its ultra steep n narrow stairs. I have heard

numerous complains from my fellow student about these stairs. . Imagine a

square one meter by one meter. Inside this small square they manage to

squeeze in a small set of stairs. Mind u. each stairs is roughly 2.5 meter in

height. So the designer of the stairs must have thought that space is a premium

or Englishmen in the old days are bantot! I don’t know. But my leg hurt from

climbing the stairs

The lift is another story altogether. I swear to god the max number of people

that can fit the lift is 3. That is if u r all the boney type like me. And the lift only

service eve numbered floors. So if u somehow unlucky enough to get a room

on the odd numbered floors, Get ready for some back breaking luggage

hauling. As I mentioned earlier on. The stairs are the steepest stairs I have ever

seen in my life. Furthermore the halls are further divided into numerous sub

sections. So u have to push through a few fire doors before reaching ur room.

It’s a small room with little or new view at all. If ur lucky u can ask for the double

room and get to see the park view. It’s beautiful especially during fall. . if ur

unlucky u may get the single room with the lovely view of chimney stacks and

claded roof! Oh that is the real London. Endless rows of chimney stacks and tar

clad roof. It’s a sight to behold as the day turn to dusk and the temperature

dropped. The smokes stack start churning out endless column of smokes. Its

white puffy column slowly dissipate in the thin London air. You have to see it to

really understand what this means to a small Asian boy like me. It’s totally

insignificant to most, but seeing these chimney came to life as the temperature

dropped seemed like scene from marry poppins. How I longed to see the

chimney cleaner sing the stepping song from mary poppins each time the night

fall.

1 hour later

we were enjoying our dinner inside the Malaysian hall café. And we are in for a

rude shock. The teh tarik is excellent and same goes for the food. It is either I

just miss my mom’s daging kicap or the food was really good! But the other

shocker came when it came to paying for the food. Sure we got a 50%

discount coz we are student but 50P for small the tarik and 2.50 pound for

a small portion of rice? That’s rather steep was it? You see the first rule that u learn

when u go overseas is the “don’t exchange rule” never do a money rate

exchange when buying things in pound! Sure 50 pence is small matter to most

Londoner. But to first timer like us tree , paying RM 2.50 for the tarik is a lot. But

we are happily tucking in the food nonetheless. We are just too hungry. For

me, all the time in bed nursing my fever made my body hungry as hell

Tomorrow is a big day. I’m going for my first London tour. Can’t wait for it. Let’s

just hope this fever I’m down with will subside by then. Cross my finger

NEXT: oxford street

PART 2: Fish n Chips Diary

There I was. .. Snuggled comfortably inside two layers of thick blankets. The

type of blankets that make u sweat like h-word in Malaysia just by using one.

But here in the land of fish n chips I cant stop shivering. Maybe I’m getting

down with the flu. As I said. I get sick very easily. Must be my steady diet of

coke n fast food. I have to confess that I never have a proper 3 course meal

that can provide me with the necessary vitamins and mineral. I can see my legs

shivering. My big toe oscillating like h-word. And my teeth were clattering like

those mechanical teeth in a joke shop. I can hear them in my head. And by the

way. My eyes felt like its ready to pop out of the socket any minute. Oh h-word.

Just 6 hours into the day in my life in London and I’m going down with the flu.

What a way to celebrate this red latter day. I have to get out of this

rackety bed. Oh yes. I don’t think I’ve told you about the condition of the room.

The room stank of old wood. I can see some water spots on the ceiling. Not to

mention the carpeting looked like it's been there since the late 70’.s remnants

of some light fixtures can be seen at the side of the wall. All that is left is the

uncanny silhouette of the light fixture untouched by the paint job. A small yellow

circle on the wall…..a small speck of yellow on a mostly white wall. a lone Malay

guy in a sea of mat salleh.. I’m feeling alone . I miss my mom already. The bag

is still unopened.. Maybe my mom managed to put some panadol into my

emergency medic bag. I struggled to get out of bed. My body felt heavy. I swear

I can see vapors coming out from my collar.. Who to call? Alone in the middle

of nowhere. I know this is not a dream because I can see the BT tower just

above the building. To think in such a modern city I can even spot a single

skyscraper. I think I saw one in Kluang back home, but in London. The colonial

headquarter, I can’t see a single skyscraper. All I can see from my journey from

Heathrow is endless rows of houses built in the 50’s and 17th century

apartment that is Malaysia hall.

I was under the impression that London is sprawling metropolitan filled with

skyscrapers just like LA or New York. What I saw is a big letdown to the 56th

degree. I flew 7000 miles away just to see old derelict buildings and suffer this

bitter cold. I am not impressed. And to think that I’m only here for 12 or so

hours. First impression of London. It’s a boring city

20 hours earlier

I was on the plane. Beside me is mey ping the only Chinese chick my group.

My first impression of her is she is a rock chick. Imagine this; she knew we are

going to a country right at the middle of fall. Temperature is expected to be

around 15 degrees at most. That is cold enough for many Malaysian already

used to the sweltering tropical heat. And here I am sitting next to this attractive

yet punked out girl wearing an old skool adidas jacket and a badly torned pair

of jeans. Sure she looked cool but hey. Is this attire suitable for London? Swill

she survive the bitter cold. I just hope her body can withstand the cold better

than mine. As the craft rolled onto the tarmac all I can say is. This is it. I can’t

turn back. It was just after midnight when the plane start rolling at full speed. I

can see the lights on the airport shining behind the many large observation

decks. And I know.. Behind one of those large pane glasses are my family

members saying goodbye to me. I was busy looking to at the slowly shrinking

landscape when I saw something that really freaked me out. I never flew in a

747 before. So this was the first time I can see the body of the plane actually

bend as we took of. If that wasn’t bad enough I can see small gaps starting to

appear between the overhead compartments. Mey ping at this time was busy

with her walkman. So she didn’t notice this thing that is bothering me. When I

looked down again saw the stewardess giving me the 'don’t worry' sign. She

even mouthed the work to me…….DON”T WORRY. She mouthed the word to

me very slowly. Her red lips glistening under the dimmed cockpit lights. Wow!

Posted by: obEFIend Apr 12 2004, 05:35 PM

Is it ok to miss your ex's birthday?

morally speaking it’s not such a biggie. but me being me I always try to mend the broken bridges that I manage to burn along my long and eventful love life

I always try to wish my exes their respective birthday. I try to do informally. That means no cards. No cakes and especially no meeting up and say “hey miss X no 1... Happy birthday"

for one I don’t want to be seen as someone still clinging to the last vestiges of our past love. Nor I want to look like a guy who is a complete asshole to forget a "friends" birthday. It’s hard to balance the two especially if you are now dating a new person. Call me weird but I will try to keep some sort of attachment to past love. Maybe it’s my way of saying... “I’m sorry that we broke up and I wasn’t mentally mature when we started dating... but this is my way of mending things".

Or it is just my way of explaining that I have the "ROSS" syndrome. I felt compelled to fix things up

so here's a happy birthday to intan shakira ahmad farok. Happy 22 intan. Hope you'll get another 22 sometime along your life... and here another birthday wish to another ex... This person is MIA at the moment. I haven’t heard a sound... have a whiff of her smell or even see her in ages. Felt more like half a decade if u ask me! Well. To siti mariam ismail, happy birthday to you too..... I’m sorry. .. But on the 23rd of August....... happy 26 birthday. And like the wish above. May you have another 26 years ahead of you. And beyond that god's willing...

and now.. To my current girlfriend. I know you don’t like me mending bridges with my ex. just remember this dear. If things don’t go out as planned between us. I would do the same to you too. Just read your email come may next year

hasta manana!

Currently listening to : Hell March – Red Alert soundtrack

Bring back the FMVs!!

FMV? What the hell is that. The phrase FMV might be alien to those under the age of 20. It stands for Full Motion Videos. Back in the 90’s ,FMVs were hailed as the new evolution of gaming. Some even envisioned the birth of fully interactive movie ( funnily enough only PORNS are interactive these days .not real movies). I think the last time I saw a FMV in a game was in 2001 and it was probably the best ever FMV In history

Red Alert 2 will always be the best CnC game to me. Not just for the cool graphics and storyline but also for its funny and campy FMV. I would admit to one thing regarding this game today. I played the game in a single day just so that I would have the chance to see the ending cinema. I cant remember the last time I was so pumped up to finish a game. Even the excellent God of War (only on ps2!) failed to make me feel the same as I did with RE2. you can even see the guy from One Tree Hill in the FMV.

So the question is what happened to FMV. Is it dead. If I’m a game developer I would gladly use one in my game. Why? Coz all the CG graphic doesn’t have the same impact as FMV does. I think its because we see CG in every game out there not to mention in multi million Hollywood movies. CG is dead to me. They look plastic and too shiny. The movement is robotic even with MoCap. Bring back the FMV. We wanna see Keri Wuhrer back in the tank top reprising her role as Tanya in the next RE game. SHAKE IT BABY