i was reminded by some ex-students of mine that teacher's day is today (well malaysia's teachers day has long past.. think it was in the first half of the year).. i was greeted by a few "happy teachers day, mr liew!" (my standard reply was: "thanks.. but i don't think it applies to me cos i've retired =)" )

but the most touching greeting i got was through an email.. this boy of mine (wow i sound so mature.. *ahem*) said that he liked my style of teaching (do i have one? hmm.. one sec 3 student said that i tend to 'act cute' during lessons.. erps) and thanked me for answering his questions (er.. i'll confess that some of my answers were pretty short.. it's amazing that he considers his questions 'answered') and making him understand concepts.. and he regards me as a wonderful teacher in his heart..

wah i'm seriously flattered *ego bloats* =PpP so to those j2s who want to work next year, how about teaching these "cute boys running around in khaki shorts"? (quoted from add one)

and who says guys aren't sweet? though i'll admit the younger they are, the sweeter they can be =) oops hope i don't sound like a paedophile here =p

after being in singapore for the last 6 years, i always thought that the so called 'propaganda' on national tv would be more than their neighbours', reason being that singapore could ill-afford any cracks in their 'multi-cultural' society =)

but for these past few weeks, i had my fair share of malaysian pre-independence 'celebrations', mostly through advertisements that touch on the merdeka (independence) spirit of the nation.. although there are some excellent advertisements (MAS' for instance, where they talked about the sending of teachers to Britain so that they could come back and educate the youth of the new nation.. my eyes were wet after the advertisement, and it definitely wasn't because of the haze), i could only cringe at some of the advertisements (RTM's especially - they had a bunch of kids answering independence-related questions, like where was independence proclaimed? what was the name of malaysia before independence? etc etc.. and in my opinion it's a total waste of airtime)..

and i can't stand the overt exihibition of our national flag.. yes i know the symbolism behind the flying of our flag, but don't you think it's too extreme when you could even see flags perched on trees, lamp posts, or even worn as clothes? it's even painted on at least one bus stop - the photograph of it happened to be published in a local daily.. to put it nicely, it's a distinct possibility that malaysians are a bunch of really patriotic people =)

despite the sucky adverts and splashing of blue, yellow, red and white everywhere, happy 48th, malaysia!

and no, i don't think singapore's national day celebrations smacks of propaganda anymore =p malaysia rocks! *totally brainwashed* =)

attempted to create another edible thing today.. this dish is called 及底粉 (i doubt there is an english name for it, and neither do i have any idea why it's "及底" =)

it's rather simple to cook actually (cos it's e only things i can cook competently =).. started out by cooking the pork in a pan filled with water.. it looks like this before cooking:

and after cooking it (cook until water boils):

and then add the mee in (i used cintan mee, but maggi mee's usable also, according to my ma).. cooked it for a few minutes, then added soy sauce, sugar, tauge and an egg:

then cook cook cook.. voila =)

conclusion: quite edible also.. despite the mee being quite bloated because i overcooked it.. which also explains the dryness in the pan.. and also it was a little bit too salty.. should've restrained myself when i was adding the soy sauce =) entire length of cooking: approx 20 mins (which is quite inefficient btw =p)

after tweaking around with the code, i came up with more efficient code in displaying the numerous windows - i dunno whether those on broadband realise that my shoutbox kept reloading once you clicked on the 'tagboard' link.. since i am on dialup, i found a way to prevent such reloadings, cos i couldn't stand slow loading times =p

and acting on ningqi's repeated reminder that the font i've used is miniscule, i have added a small tool for people to toggle the font size.. so don't hold me responsible for thicker glasses and watery eyes after reading my blog haha =)

any other comments abt my skin? any feedback's appreciated.. besides e image part - that's a personal preference =)

quoted from the cumsa handbook:

"...it will take anywhere between one to three weeks for your bank to organize your new bank account. Infamous British inefficiency can be a pain."

and:

"If you intend to open an account with HSBC, the application process is much faster if you or your parents already have existing accounts with them back home."

because of that, i decided to open a hsbc account in order to expedite stuff over there =) although this entails the swallowing of my pride and the growing of thicker skin, i had to make noble sacrifices for my own sake *cough cough*

thankfully the process was pretty painless.. yes the cashier recognised me right away (she even remembered my brother - wow) but thankfully she didn't make much reference to the previous trip i had to hsbc.. so in the end i had to apply for a piece of plastic that i guess i won't use beside attracting dust in my wallet.. so that i could get a hsbc bank account here in malaysia.. i have to admit she was a pretty pleasant lady.. quite efficient too *thumbs up*

an hour or so later, my atm card was given to me on the spot (it looks nicer than the posb card that i have, i must admit =p) - it's weird eating 回头草 but it's quite delicious *munches on more 回头草*

i just reached home a few hours ago.. super exhausted from the lack of sleep.. i have never slept on a bed (heck - any soft surface) more than 3 hours for the past five days.. so the first thing i did when i came back was to take a good, long bath, eat breakfast (as it was almost 6am) and then gratefully retire to bed.. i woke up four hours later, but i couldn't force myself to budge from the soft surface for a long time.. it took three telephone calls from someone to make me jump off my bed to get the phone.. darn..

the past few days were really fun.. i crashed three lectures, distracting many friends in the process of absorbing knowledge =) i was pretty startled at the noise level in the lecture theatres.. i figured out the only thing the professors could do to keep uni students quiet and focused is to rattle off cheem stuff at a rapid rate.. for instance during the med anatomy lecture that i crashed, the lecturer kept on spouting words that sounded sooo greek to me.. well, in fact, it is greek, as quite a number of arcane terms concerning the human body is in greek =) there were many times during the lecture when i felt relieved with the fact that i'm just a crasher instead of a student there.

before going to my class chalet, i crashed a secondary school class gathering in order to meet up with a certain ex-teacher of mine.. she was my sec 1 form teacher, but she left the school when i was in sec 2.. it was a long time since i last saw her, as she went to the uk to further her studies and work there.. she only stopped by singapore for a day - so i had to crash the gathering to see her.. it was fortunate that one of my classmates crashed with me.. although i know all those people in the class i was crashing, i still felt pretty out of place, as i wasn't that close to them.. nonetheless, the chance to meet up with that teacher of mine (and some other teachers who came also) was really worth it.. i left the place so late that i counted myself fortunate to be able to catch an mrt to pasir ris.. i eventually reach my class chalet at 1230am in the morning..

i think in this class chalet, as compared to the previous class chalets that i attended, i slept the least (i slept only about 3 hours per day for the two days i was there.. for the previous class chalets, it was about 5 or more =) i caught up with recent happenings with a number of my classmates; played mahjong (i won 2 bucks!), cluedo (it's supposed to be a silent game, but we kept laughing and dropping hints throughout the game), pool (i won suhan =p), numerous computer arcade games.. my only grouse was that i was unable to meet some of my classmates who dropped by on saturday afternoon, as i had to attend a tea party organised by cumsa seniors..

the tea party was pretty fun.. i thought i would be able to recognise quite a number of freshies, as i had friends who is going there too, but in the end i realised there were many others whom i don't recognise at all.. i did get to know some new faces, but there was this certain group of guys who were only talking within their group and not mingling around with the others.. so i have no idea who they are.. but doesn't that kind of behavior defeat the purpose of the tea party? i think i talked more to seniors than freshies.. had the chance to ask seniors about a thousand and one minor details about the uni.. in fact, i was 'adopted' by a senior of mine, who is studying in the college i am going to.. according to her, my college is a tightly-knit community.. interestingly, there is this tradition of seniors cooking for freshies at the start of the school term, and of course the freshies are expected to reciprocate after they have honed their culinary skills =) i just hope no one gets food poisoning eating stuff i cooked =p

after the tea party, i had dinner with some hc freshies.. ate at this restaurant near novena mrt famous for its chicken.. and continued talking =) after that, i travelled back to the class chalet, but when i was literally a few steps away from the room, i was informed that my class went to changi village to eat dinner.. argh =S i went out to meet them there, but shortly after i reached there, they finished their dinner and decided to leave the place.. -.-"

we checked out at 1030am, and proceeded to eat brunch.. the entire thing ended around 12pm, and we went back home on separate ways.. i went back to my brother's room, as i wanted to buy the night ticket back to ipoh..

yes i did buy the ticket successfully, but i ended up buying TWO tickets =( cos when i went to the sri maju counter, there was a person standing in front of it, and i thought she was selling sri maju tickets.. but after paying for the ticket, i found out it was not sri maju, but s e express.. this bus company was implicated in the death of an old man just a few weeks ago - the old man was hit by a vehicle when he was changing buses midway (s e express has this stupid practice of forcing passengers to change to another bus midway, presumably to save costs as they can pack more passengers in those buses).. actually i didn't remember this incident, until my parents persuaded me that my life was worth more than the tens of ringgit spent on that ticket.. so i heeded their advice, and bought another bus ticket (this time round from super wira)..
eventually, i reached home (thankfully) in one piece =)

think i'm going to sleep soon.. need to repay sleep debt.. *yawns*

somehow i cannot put an end to the numerous re-visitations.. haha..

anw this trip of mine started yesterday morning.. the trip had a bad start though - i had a severe stomachache just before the bus reached the johor side of the causeway.. den i had to will my rear muscles to clamp down on any possible emissions all the way until i had crossed the singapore side of the customs.. this wasn't helped by the fact that there was a jam on e causeway.. followed by a moderately long queue at the customs.. my stomachache was so bad that i had to politely (more like desperately) ask those queueing in front of me to let me go to the front.. it's a near miracle that i made it to the toilet without smelling like a piece of dung.. i leave the things happening inside the toilet to your imaginations =)

then after sneaking my way into my brother's room, i slacked online most of the time.. cos i was whiling away, waiting for my fren to come abt 3pm.. before i met up with him i bumped into a classmate of mine and some other jc frens.. shows you how small singapore is =) and i met ms chen too! she came back to teach my class (when we were in j1) as a relief teacher after her 'a' levels.. she is having her holidays now before going back to e US.. it was really a 巧合 to meet her in NUS..

anw i had dinner w my malaysian friends at sushi tei.. bad choice cos e wasabi irritated my weak intestines (which have been weakened by the morning experience).. lucky the pain subsided over time..

den at night i stayed over with the friend i was going to send off this morning.. it's the main reason why i made this re-revisitation btw =) could only catch 4 hrs of sleep before waking up at 5am (cos his taxi was supposed to arrive at 520am).. the taxi came on time.. so we (his family + him + me) made our way to the airport, and reached at abt 6am.. there wasn't much time left to talk after he checked in.. so we just took a few pics, talked a bit of crap, den said our final goodbyes.. his flight left changi at abt 720am.. he will transit twice.. so the entire flight will take abt 22 hours ++ depending on the transit time.. so by now i think he's midair lah - somewhere over the pacific ocean..

after changi i made my way to chs and hcjc (i refuse to use the new name) to meet up with my teachers and ex-students.. haha it was fun barging into classrooms and saying hie to my students.. i even barged into one having lessons.. oops i'm a big distraction, i realise =PpP den i crashed my consortium's sec 3 assembly - acting as a big distraction again haha =) in the middle of it i felt it got boring.. so i left not-so-quietly =) den at hcjc i lunched with some teachers.. less people to distract here.. so after an hour or so i left for 'home' - my bro's room =)

once i got back to his room.. sleep soon overtook me.. slept like a log till 7pm.. didn't even realise my bro was back for a long time.. haha guess i haven't been sleeping well since yesterday morning =) he's off for some block meeting now so i'm monopolizing his internet resources =p woa i think i'm falling in love with the broadband network over here.. probably cos i've been tortured with dialup for e past few months =)

now i'm planning on what lectures to crash tmr.. so that i can rot in a more enjoyable way =)

as my ma has to teach tuition every monday, i took the chance to cook again.. this time round, i was taught how to cook 有味饭 (this is it's name in cantonese.. i dunno e english equivalent - 'got aroma rice' perhaps? =)

basically, the 'aroma' was supposed to be infused by the chicken cooked in the rice..

so i started with marinating the chicken 24 hrs before cooking the dish (talk abt lengthy preparations)

24 hours later, i mixed the rice with the chicken..

then i cooked it.. when it was hot enough, i added an egg into the mix..

then voila..

conclusion: i personally thought it wasn't as nice as the fried rice, cos the rice wasn't as tasty as the name implies.. but my ma said that the rice was ok.. hmmm.. maybe my taste buds got killed by tasting my inexperienced attempts..

took this picture at about 7pm.. can you see the mountains in the background?

the haze situation worsened today.. the smell of burnt charcoal was pretty faint yesterday, but today i got occassional whiffs of it at home when it was windy.. it stinks. really =(

btw, ipoh's pretty famous for its ubiquity of mountains.. guess it's not that convincing through this picture =) the floodlights you see in the background is not for some football stadium - it's for the 'ipoh south' toll-gate, which is part of the north-south highway spanning multiple states in malaysia.. yes i stay pretty near to the toll-gate =)

sadly, i failed again..

this time round the examiner DID let me drive all the way.. but when i pulled over, he gave me two things - a piece of paper saying that i got only 11/20 for the test (16 is the passing mark) and a tongue-lashing.. he mentioned that:

- my car's engine died twice at a slope (incidentally, this slope killed me last time)
- the car shouldn't move to the back, once i braked (okayy..)
- kept looking at the gear stick when i was changing gears (i din noe i couldn't lor)
- cut into the right lane too quickly, without giving way to the car coming from the back (well..)

sucks man.. total waste of money.. each test cost me RM92 lor =S am i that lousy? all my other friends and brother passed on their first try.. feel like a loser now =(

no no must be optimistic.. i'm destined to drive a private jet - instead of a car - to work, so failing's ok =)

after much writing and image-editing.. =)

hopefully this skin is free of bugs.. so if you people happen to see any bugs, pls tag me to let me
know..

haha does this blog look nice? any comments (tag!) are absolutely welcome =p

haha it's weird for a sworn enemy of singapore - a malaysian - to wish them happy birthday, but well.. happy 40th, sg!

i read from somewhere that singapore is the only nation in the world that got independent against its own will.. interesting right =) so unlike other nations which fought madly for their independence..

after dragging my feet for a very long time.. i finally set out to cook lunch.. for myself only of course, so if anything went wrong someone could send me to the hospital =)

i started off by cutting garlic..

then i plonked them into a pan filled with oil..

after adding the rice in, i added soy sauce and oyster sauce.. then i heard sizzling.. so i added -some- water.. turns out i accidentally added too much water, making it look like porridge..

so i went to pour the water off, hoping to salvage the rice..

heng heng it was salvaged.. then i added an egg and plonked some mixed veggies in.. and mixed and mixed and mixed it all together =)

i left it to cook for around 5 mins.. then at last - edible fried rice =)

my verdict: delicious! but to me most edible things are delicious, which explains my horizontal giftedness =p

i saved some of the rice for the house chef to criticize..

but surprisingly, ma's verdict came out as: it was good! (on hindsight maybe it applies only in the context for first cookings.. but anyway to be told that what i've cooked is really edible makes me happy enough =)

there were two components to the test: one within the driving school, the other one being the jalan raya (road) test.. when i reached the test area i was shocked by the sheer number of people there - there were like 90 ppl waiting for their turn.. how come these people don't need to go to school ar!? pon pon pon..

after waiting for two hours, i finally had the chance to get behind the wheel.. the first part of the test went smoothly, to my relief.. so i thought the jalan raya component would hopefully be equally successful..

well.. that was wishful thinking.

there was this pesky T-junction not far away from the driving school.. and i was supposed to stop at the "berhenti" ("stop") sign, as i was in the subsidiary road.. but what happened just now was that i only stopped the car when the car bumper crossed the white line.. and i was failed there and then for reckless driving.

cruel.

the road test, which was supposed to last about 20 minutes, ended up in like 5 minutes for me.. so to fill up some time, he gave me a lecture on why he failed me there and then.. stuff like: oh cars may accidentally ram your car bumper if you stop like that, etc etc.. but please lor cars rarely use that road, as it was leading to the local airport (which is under-utilised).. and when i committed the offence, there weren't any cars within my range of sight..

well.. guess i have to re-sit this test.. thankfully i need to repeat the portion which i failed.. so at least i don't need to re-sit the other portion *阿Q精神 kicks in*

while i was flipping through a magazine..


excerpt from first paragraph:

"Creme de la Mer's reputation as 'a miracle in a jar' is legendary. Socialites and celebrities devotees swear by it; in fact, this is the one waiting list which they have no qualms biding their time on. After all, the delivery process can't be rushed: each jar is still filled by hand."

hmm.. now i realise why these famous people behave the way they do - maybe it has something to do with their face cream..

btw, this was invented by a NASA physicist's obsession to treat his (or her? i dunno) chemical burns.. hence the title of the article..

15ml of Creme de la Mer retails at RM470, fyi O_o