Ximplicity v2.0

that’s fucking bullshit, ok?

the next time i hear this again, i’m gonna bitch slap whoever who said that. sorry it may sound a little too harsh, but yeah, i’m gonna bitch slap you. dun feel me too materialistic, but money really means a whole fucking lot to me. ironicaly, you know what? i just met some bastard earlier today who said that, and in a very sarcastic tone.. ittle did that bastard know, that blady little prick just SPOILT THE FUCKING REST OF MY DAY.. DAMN IT!

the words he said still buzzling my ears and it’s fucking painful. according to him, whoever thinks money is important is someone who knows nothing else but earning money and thinks that money can buy everything. they deserve to be looked down on, stepped on and spitted on.

i say: FUCK YOU!

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trust me, if you haven’t had the days when you need to thank god if you have a 10 dollar note in the pocket, or you’re in those situation whereby you actually need to think of ways to survive a day on a fucking 5 dollar note. if you’ve ever gone through days like that, save your breathe and cut the crap. and don’t you ever say such hurtful statement, you dirty little prick!

so i say: childish fuckers who would ever say that sentence are most probably idiots who hasn’t made a living on his own before.

..

now, i agree money can’t buy anything, but if you have not even a cent in your blady wallet, there’s nothing else you can do but to be starved to death. you can’t even feed yourself!

so, you say money is not important? you tell me…

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Now Listening: Maroon 5 - Won’t Go Home Without You

been following Shayne’s music since his days while he was still struggling in the reality TV show X-Factor, when he wasn’t even known to a lot of people back here in Malaysia. due to the reason because i’m a real sucker to new voices. somehow, this fella has this special Charisma that would glue you to his voice even if you don’t really fancy over-night celebrities.

His new and second studio album “Breathless” didn’t disappoint me like some of the over-night stars, instead of ballad style like most of his titles in the first album, he gave new genres a little try in this new album, such as “If That’s Ok With You” that has some element of Reggae, and some RnB in “No U Hang Up”.. i always admire celebrities who are willing enough to jump out of the commercial box and give a try to new styles instead of hiding themselves in their so-called “safe-zone”, especially those over-night stars who’ve won fame over reality TV show.

as usual, his high pitch has brought much life to the main title “Breathless” and gave the song a certain level of sexiness. i realized, it wasn’t the MV that’s sexy, but his voice. and when it comes to sexiness, the MVs in this album featured much flesh than the previous album, pretty much of flesh flashed and red hot love-making scenes. and that made me believe the top 5 rules in Sales Bible said: “SEX SELLS”, no doubt, because i’ve been repeating his MVs. however, i hope this better not become the main reason why he sells.

here, highly recommended by me.

Shayne Ward - Breathless

1. No U Hang Up
2. Breathless
3. If That’s OK with You
4. Damaged
5. Stand by Your Side
6. Until You
7. Some Tears Never Dry
8. Melt the Snow
9. Tangled Up
10. Just Be Good to Me
11. U Got Me So
12. You Make Me Wish
13. Tell Him

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Now Listening: Shayne Ward - Melt the Snow

never thought that time just sped pass us like that and yesterday was the 60th Birthday of the great man himself..

due to the recent passing of our dearest Grandma..

we scrapped the idea of doing it big even though there’s this saying that one should do big during his/her 60th birthday as the Chinese believes that the 59th year of one’s life is considered as a hurdle, especially the Cantonese… once you’ve crossed that 59th mark, you’ll live for a very long time. that’s also because when you pronounce 59 in cantonese, it sounds like “not long”.

we’ve decided to do it at Overseas Restaurant, Jln Imbi. one of dad’s favorite restaurant. a simple dinner with some of the closest families.

..

i don’t think i’m going to spend another entry to praise this one great man as there’s literally NO WORD at all to describe how great he is as

a husband to mom,

a dad to his kids,

a colleague to his co-workers,

an aquantaince to his peers, and

a saviour to people he helped all this long while.

..

Dad
Happy 60th Birthday

You’ve been the greatest dad of ALL TIME..
in fact, ANY TIME…

 
the great man himself during his 60th Birhday dinner at Overseas Restaurant, Jln Imbi

grabbed a copy of this newly launched magazine from the indian bookstore few days ago.. it’s been sitting in my car for a few days now, i finally got the time to flip through and give it a read just today while i was chilling at my favorite Starbucks. at first glance, it’s pretty attractive, the cover was nicely and neatly done.

it’s a great step, for someone i know of. i agree and applaud the people who’re behind the magazine..

..

the photos are excellent, and the idea is great too. Sadly, however, what disappointed me is the content of the magazine. putting the excellent photos aside, the articles are rather crappy. i’m sorry, but it really does. not only without solid facts, but also the command of the language used to write the articles. it is definitely, 100%, confirmed not written by a professional journalist, columnist, writer. the editor’s note itself was already pretty crappy, let alone the contents. seriously, i couldn’t really believe i paid a whooping RM15 for that kind of content.

frankly speaking, it’s like reading Secondary school standard essays compositions.. worse, you could even find internet-language such as coz, ppl, la, etc in the articles, which to me, is totally UNACCEPTABLE in any published material.

..

Well, here’s my humble 2 cents worth point-of-view:

1. brush up your language skill, if you know you can’t really write, PLEASE, GET SOMEONE TO WRITE FOR YOU, because it’s very diff to und your articles la ! i volunteer to do the copywriting for you, FREE! i’m serious! since i’m already doing for one, might as well la, hoh? contact me to discuss, i’m open
2. A lot of photos are great, but don’t over-do it lah, in that case, i might as well go get a photography only art book? magazines are there for people to read!
3. lastly, tell me, what’s the point of putting your website URL on the magazine there but there’s no content on the web?? it doesn’t relate..

..

i admire your courage to put magazine of such standard onto the newstands. really.

ah well, anyway, GOOD JOB on launching the mag, the night was great.

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Now Listening: Colbie Caillat - Realize

it’s been a very pleasant and eye-opening trip, despite the really cold weather….

Just imagine yourself standing inside a huge freezer. within the first 5 minutes, you would alread start to feel that your skin tightened up, and in the next 5 minutes, you couldn’t even feel your fingers and face anymore. every breathe you take will become mist, serious, i couldn’t differentiate whether it was my breathe or it’s the smoke from my ciggarette. and your lips dry up so fast you’ll finish half a stick of lip balms in just a few days.

back to the trip, if you haven’t been to Shanghai, HangZhou and SuZhou and you love breathtaking sceneries, please go. you’ll be awe by how beautiful a place can actually be. my jaws were simply dropped while i was at the West Lake (西湖) in HangZhou. truly amazing, a masterpiece of art by mother nature.

really, must say a big thanks to Cavin, i got the new baby, the Canon 400D a day prior to my departure.

View at West Lake, Hang Zhou

View at WuZhen, the centuries old Water Town

Night View of the dwellings beside SuZhou Canal

with this new baby, i was definitely indulging myself of the “snapping desire” for pretty sceneries as well as collecting the necessary snaps to fulfill my “dream”. in total, i’ve killed almost 2300 rounds during this trip, after 1st round selection, i’ve came up with around 900 photos, then picked some of the highlights and made it into an online album. if you’re interested to see more of the images i took, you can find how truly amazing are the sceneries in China in the Full Album here.

and of course, i just couldn’t resist taking the faces, because i think the a face really tell a lot about where you’re at, every night after work, when all the clients were resting in their hotel rooms, i would just sneak out of my room to take a stroll along the streets and start happily snapping away the faces of the local people.

Night Stall at FuTze Miao Street, Nanjing

“PAPA, WHERE ARE YOU?”

“Dragon Moustache” Candy Maker

so, if you would love to see more of the faces of China, i’ve got it all here as well…

looking forward to going to these places again, this time on my own to really experience the people’s life…

curse those bastards, people who steal from others without them knowing.

the crime scene: sardin packed Nanjing Street, Shanghai
suspect: unknown
victim: ME
item: Canon IXUS 60

yeah, my IXUS Point and shoot was gone for good, while i was happily shooting with my new baby in Nanjing Street, someone snatched it away from my sling bag, the moment i was about to take it out to self-snap, i realized it was gone, probably for quite some time already because the charger was dingling around the zip. yeah, double confirmed, it was snatched away fom me, together with the photos in the 2GB SD card i snapped while i was in KLIA on the way to Nanjing Street, what the fuck…

curse those motherfuckers who has nothing better to do but to be a thief.

curse them, curse their siblings, curse their parents, curse their relatives, curse their friends, curse their loved ones, and i’ll even curse them all the way back to their ancestors…

you dirty, filthy little rat, society garbage are deserved to die in a very disgusting way… damn you..

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Now Listening: James Blunt - You Are Beautiful

Right after i got back from ShangHai, i finally realized that an 18 - 55mm kit lens is not exactly sufficient to provide sharp and good images.
and it is especially true when it comes to certain effects you would like to play around with.

after a round of extensive research and readings, here’s a wishlist so that i could keep motivating myself

Next up, Next up !!!!!

the very much needed prime lens for a potraiture freak like me who enjoy taking kids’ potraits so much..
and since i couldn’t afford the f/1.4 USM, this will do for the moment as an amatuer hobbyist!!

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Standard Autofocus Lens (Japan Import)

and also there’s this powerful yet very very affordable Flash:

Sigma Electronic Flash EF-530 DG ST

can’t wait to lay a hand on both of you 2 little things !

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ofcoz, at the mean time we should look at some rather impossible rare items..
together let us worship the legendary

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

1 day.. yeah, 1 day, ima gonna getchu !

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Now Listening: 楊宗緯 - 重來好不好

The morning of 8th February, 2008 was a dark morning.
i was away from home in Shanghai that morning

it was supposed to be a very much exciting as well as anticipated trip..

however, the first SMS i got at the moment i touched down in PuDong International Airport after 6 hours flight was:
“Hey, just to let you know, grandma has left us this morning, sorry, don’t be too hard on yourself ya?”
i’ve already forgotten how my facial expression frozen at the moment i read that line.
i read it over and over again like i couldn’t believe it.
i was like, WTF? we’re still having our CNY Re-union dinner 12 hours earlier, on the same table!
i could still feel her warmth on my palms before i left the bunch for airport !
and she’s gone now?

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if you’ve read Ximplicity since day 1, i’m sure you’ve read this entry:
SOME OF THE WOMEN IN MY LIFE
yeah, she’s the person who nurture me from the day i could only cry and scream.
i could still remember, that night my dad showered the cane on me, she hold me as tight as she could in her arms, and ended up she got caned as well
i could still remember, my first step of Waltz was from her. we would dance to the Waltz every morning while waiting for the school bus to come
so much memories, so much stories about this great lady i could even write a book about her.

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i didn’t shed a tear, even though my heart was torn for her departure.
probably it’s because i’ve expected it.
or probably i’ve seen enough of her sufferings, so much i thought her departure actually relieves her from all the pain she’s been enduring.
or probably i’ve grown up to a point where i understand this is the part and parcel of life.
i don’t know, probably i know she’s left us physically, but she’ll still be around us, all the time..

..

the only regret i have was:

I didn’t get to wish her goodbye and kiss her at the moment she decided to stop breathing.

I’m sorry Granny, i wasn’t around when you leave us.
I promise i’ll be good during your absence

Mdm. Wong Swee Yuet
(1924 - 2008)

You’ll be dearly dearly missed, Grandma
We love you, no matter where you are
no matter how far you’ve gone
you lived forever around us.

Finally, after years of waiting, searching and struggling, he’s here at last..

please give the loudest applause to this big boy here who just joined the family

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unfortunately, due to budget constrain, i need to leave his little brother with uncle Cavin for a little while more…

but, don’t you worry, daddy’s gonna come and get you home real soon, k? i promise

hang in there aight?

Now Listening: Buddha Bar III

just got back from a blissful night with a good ol’ friend of mine whom we got to know each other for about 13 years now. this fella has been on the same channel, and has been giving me a lot of encouragement, both on work and in life when i needed it. his words are straight to the point, sharp yet simple and easy to understand.

i enjoyed having conversation with this fella all the time, really..

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he was telling me the only hurdle which he needs to go through together with his fiancée before they can get marriedi was listening carefully when he was telling me, because what happened to him now sounded very familiar to me at the moment he began..

when he was done, i felt like i was punched in the face..

it was a very heavy punch because i could still feel the pain now.

today’s catch up with this fella has finally made me see the whole picture of one of the worst days in my life.

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i’m Sorry, C..

this SORRY is way too late, i know.. but i still have to say it. i owe it to you.

all the while, i knew it was all because of my immatureness and my stubbornness then, but i never know what you’ve actually gone through..

at least not until today..

..
when i saw the struggle in my buddy..

all of a sudden.. i saw you, and i saw the worse struggle i’ve put you through, for you being the more fragile one..

i could even imagine the sleepless nights you need to bear and felt the heat of the tears in your eyes even though it’s been years now..

only until today i finally realized i’ve once put you through such dilemma.

and only until today i finally understand..

it was never easy for you to made that decision…

..

i promise, that it will never happen to the next person..

because i could feel the pain you’ve gone through now.

because it was such an unbearable pain that was given to you by someone you dear the most.

..

and..

Thanks, buddy..

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Now Listening: Jojo - Too Little Too Late