Mid Valley Megamall

Another trip this weekend, but this time to Mid Valley Megamall. It has been a very long and busy weekend but a good one nevertheless. I watched Transformers for the second time this weekend, not out of love for the movie but because my friends wanted to watch it. The things I do for the sake of friends. :) Anyway, I'll not post a second review on Transformers for two reasons. One, my opinion on the simple and kiddish plot still stands. Two, I actually fell asleep somewhere past the midpoint, only to be woken up when the credits started to roll. Oh ya guys, remember to stay back after the credits; the extra footage is split over 3 parts. So stay back 'til all the credits are over.

Anyway, the outing was to serve as Nigel's farewell before he leaves for Auckland, New Zealand next week. It's down to 3 of us this time... Where's Keane??? In Perth hor... Alas, the fellowship has been broken. Our gang, formed since form 4 (2004) is slowly dispersing, and I shall be the last of us to leave Malaysian shores next year. I shall always remember all the stupid and wacky crap we did and said back then. The paddyfield "scandal", the grandma issue, the Miss MPS's stories, my "idiots" list and many others.

We had dinner in our our traditional restaurant, Nandos! We have been eating Nandos in every outing since dunno when. I'll miss it when it comes to an end eventually.

Sanjit, me and Nigel (L>R)

The empty place next to Sanjit reserved for Keane *sob sob* :)

Nigel's crash diet plan to impress the NZ chicks ;) Nah, he's just vegetarian.

A New Chapter - Kolej Cemara

It is a new dawn... Somehow a new dawn always tastes sweeter, even more so after a night of bitterness. And at long last all the tears of sorrow spilled has been replaced with that of joy and hope. I registered at Kolej Cemara today, but I have decided not to move in today, rather I will do it tomorrow. Here are a few pictures of Kolej Cemara.

Kolej Cendana - An E-Scrapbook

I shall be starting life anew for my last semester in INTEC next week! I keep reminding myself, its just a few more months, bear with it. It is just a brief station of life, a small stepping stone in the lake of life. Life should take a turn for the better next year. :)

As for my accommodation, I am moving to Kolej Cemara next week. I have seen it with my own eyes, and to put it mildly, I've seen far better dwellings. Grr... to be booted out of my previous hostel, Kolej Cendana to make way for the incoming juniors is simply annoying after living there a full year. Well, I must admit that I was quite apprehensive about moving there initially. It is a tad bit isolated but at least security was not much of an issue, being located next to a police station. I certainly will not miss the mamak restaurant Dawood, the only decent restaurant in the vicinity. Ever since moving there, I feel sick of mamak fare. It is something I could do without nowadays. The haphazard (non-existent) parking system there was quite inconvenient at times. The need to keep our furry(?) legs out of sight when out of the rooms was pretty dumb too. Those admins must suffer from leg-hair envy. Heh...

Despite its shortcomings, Cendana will always have a place in my memories. It was a place where many a friendships were forged, and that will definitely outlast the relatively short stay in Cendana. I would suppose that it is appropriate for that to be the main avenue of forging friendships, seeing that much of my time in INTEC is spent attending classes. I'll miss those lepak sessions that lasted for hours and stretched through the nights. It was a place where I gained much experience on life and opened my mind to a different world. Prior to this, I had no friends from other parts of Malaysia, much less outside the Klang Valley. And for that, I believe that I leave Cendana for the better. For instance, I arrived at Cendana a banana (香蕉人-Haha!) , and leave it still as one, but a lesser one (半香蕉?) nevertheless. Thanks to my friends there who patiently taught me - Clarence, Vincent, Jin and the rest.

Well, I'll conclude this blog post with photos. After all, what is a scrapbook without photos?

Let the tour of Kolej Cendana begin...

Exterior view of Cendana

Welcome to Kolej Cendana...

This is the compound where the guys usually play futsal and basketball. Those colourful tents host the cafe and burger stall.


And that's a really cute kitty... Don't worry, you'll encounter more around here. The cats here breed like, erm... rabbits.

Ok la... that's all for Cendana. Tour ends here. Two blocks only ma.. What else is there to see?

What? You want to see inside my room? How can la...! Respect my privacy a bit.

*mutters grudgingly after some persuasion*

Ok, I'll let you in for awhile. Touch anything and you get your ass out of here!

I live on the 4th floor, so we have to walk up quite a bit...

And this is my room, 1406.


This is the main room, where all the study tables are


That's Clarence, my roommate, say hi!


And my bedroom, sorry for the mess.


That's me doing some math with Clarence


Wanna join in our game of Choh Dai Di?
Me(green), Benjamin(dark blue), Clarence(yellow), Brian(white)

Ok, now that we are really done with Cendana, how bout some teh tarik?

The end.

At long last

I was baptized yesterday at Templer's Park in Ulu Kanching. Around 15 members of the congregation witnessed the event. It was a slightly solemn but joyous affair. Although symbolic, it certainly marks a milestone in the journey of faith. Praise God! :)

The 15 of us who were baptized

This marks the end of a very busy week. Nevertheless, it has been a great and enjoyable week hanging out with friends and trying out new activities. Went for dinner in Uncle Jeff's home yesterday night. I tried out all kind of kids games and puzzles, which proved to be very challenging. No wonder kids nowadays are so smart. It took a few of us relatively "old" people to solve puzzles designed for kids say, 5 or 6 years old? Embarrassing la... Oh ya, went to watch Shrek 3 with Eugin on Friday and it was a good movie, despite so many people disagreeing with me. Anyone else care to disagree? I found it so funny :)

I'm heading off once more to Port Dickson now with my family for another few days before going to Malacca to spend the rest of the week there. Bye guys.

Holidays (Warning - Photo Loaded)

I’ve been away the past five days or so, and you would have probably noticed it if you drop by regularly. I spent the last Saturday and Sunday in Port Dickson with my family, for er, Family Day. :) Although Port Dickson is famed for its beaches, the resort that I stayed in was nowhere near the beach, but attempted to replicate the beach by having an artificial beach cum water theme park. But since it was at the beginning of the holidays, the pools were constantly infested with kids and naturally I steered clear of the pools.

After that, on Monday I went for my old school's Christian Fellowship Camp. I've been participating in it the past 2 years and this year is no exception. The camp was held in the Sufes Campsite, Tapah which is located at the foothills of Cameron Highlands. I was last here in 2005, and there has been some changes in the campsite itself. It proved to be as eventful as the previous camp, as some of you probably recall ;). Well, I learnt many things from the camp. Well,it proved to be quite an interesting experience and so goes the saying. "Experience is a harsh teacher. First comes the test, then comes the lesson."

The camp proved to be a timely respite from life. I actually managed to put my stressful life in INTEC behind. All those hauntings... those days of crushing stress, depression, loneliness, bitterness and confusion were left behind. Perhaps the storm has finally calmed. Perhaps this is an open door to start things anew, now that the old is gone. The cycle of life is never broken.

Since the theme of the camp was "Discovery", I discovered many things. Firstly, I realised that I do have limits in areas of patience and calmness. I've always prided myself as a stoic who remains unchanged and in control of myself despite the circumstances but this camp proved otherwise. I am surprised at myself too for discovering that I have a violent streak buried deep somewhere inside me. Not that it is something to be proud of though. Leadership comes at a price of self-sacrifice at times. It is the leader who serves his people, not the other way around. Nevertheless, the camp was fun, and everyone had a great time there.

Ok, so now on to the photos... And so on the bus ride there, let me introduce our camp commandant Eugin who is just a little bit camera shy... ;)

Oh yea, he has blogged on this camp too.

Then in 2005

Now in 2007

Dorm then back in 2005 (with a sleepy Daniel Sim :) )

Dorm now in 2007

Daniel Sim, Daniel Tan and Philip (L->R)
Philip and Manu

Adam, Timothy and Dorje (L->R)

Spider web game...

Build a structure using straws and chewed chewing gum (gross!)

The beloved CF teacher, Miss Lee, Daniel Sim and Adam (R->L)

Eva and Mr Terence, our camp speaker.

The End.

Ps. The photos up here have been highly compressed. I have many more photos but I can't post them here due to space constraints. If you want other photos or higher quality photos, don't hesitate to ask me for them. :)