Ahh, guess I’ve been on hiatus long enough. OurCoffeestops almost looked like an haunted website! (no pun intended)

Having not written a blogpost for so long, I won’t deny that I’ve definitely lost my flair in writing. I can’t exactly think of what to blog about. Not to mention the increased use of Twitter (oh, oh, follow me @ http:twitter.com/theNWCK ), my authors and I are resorting to much simpler means to update about our lives. No, that doesn’t mean OurCoffeestops has become redundant! I actually enjoy looking back at previous posts and reminisce on the older days.

Anyway, it’s been 10 months since I’ve begun my career as an Associate at KPMG. With its ups and downs, I’ve definitely matured from the experience. With the long hours too (my record stands at 8.30AM), I found it extremely hard to keep in touch with everyone, when I say keep in touch, I meant meeting up for a cup of coffee/tea! Just yesterday night, we had a get-together with the uni mates at Sue’s. After a very long time. We couldn’t really remember when was the last time everyone was able to gather together like that. But, it was good. Cherished every minute of it!

I’ve realised true friends are even harder to come by in your work place, but I’m glad God has shown me some. Seriously, you have no idea how much He has looked after me at work even though I turned my back at Him for months. Living my life like the prodigal son was carefree initially, till I realise how important it is to go back to Him again. I’ve lost my footings many times, but with the help of a close friend, who has never given up on me, even though I rebuke her advices countless times, I’ve returned. God has been good to me.

So yea, back to how much I missed the Uni bunch. It has always been just Ding, Sam, Serng and occasionally Sue and I meeting up weekly, since the rest of them aren’t really free most of the time. So the gathering yesterday was a valuable catch-up time. I haven’t seen people like Lydia for months, catch up with Melody for weeks, talked to Shan since we left Uni, etc. Certainly hope Evie could blend in as well though, been trying to get her to come to our meet ups!

Pei Yi, we are all awaiting your return!

My last paper concluded yesterday. I have mixed feelings about it, really. If you ask me, I really have no idea how I did. I was so pressed for time throughout the 3-hour-ordeal I couldn’t even think straight. But it’s okay. My God is a God of impossibilities. By His almighty Grace, I WILL pass. I WILL graduate. I just need to keep believing. Quoting what a close friend used to say, “He can turn a fail to a pass, just as easy as a pass to a fail.”

I shall end the post with a verse I quoted in my blog post looooooong time ago, but I feel it’s the most relevant verse that is speaking to me in current times.

Mark 11:24
“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

Wow, time really does fly. I am going to be 21 soon. An adult, too quick. During birthdays we are supposedly entitled to one wish, and this is my wish (request or whatever nicer words that fits in) :

i) Don’t buy me any presents. Instead, donate the money to a worthy cause.
ii) Wish me and pray for the less fortunate too.
iii) Do something nice for a loved one.

I dedicate my 21st birthday in hope of a better world.

Self-reflection is no mere staring in the mirror. It involves stripping pass those carefully installed pretenses and trying to reconcile whether one can be comfortable with his/her own skin. It is both a retrospective and a prospective vice – attempting to draw connections between who we were, are and will be. To some it is a private affair; a ritual performed only in the presence of oneself and in silence if need be. To others, it’s a social affair; an engagement conducted within a group of trusted friends – honest questions posed and unvarnished answers received. And to the rest, it is a mechanical affair, where progress and personal growth can be meticulously checked against their pre-determined checklist.

Then there’s me: a person who employs all three depending on the mood and circumstances. I’ve spent the last 1 week or so talking to close friends about my hopes and fears, and subsequently retreated into my cloister and face my inner demons – trying to figure out whether I can still remember the narratives behind each scar.

I turned 21.

My favorite sentence of the year was written by a friend of mine, Zhi Wei: “We are ultimately, the collection of our stories.” And based on that backdrop, 2010 has been a messy affair – splurged with polar opposites of equal proportion and intensity. I recalled distinctively in my high school history lesson [my favorite class] that Hinduism recognizes many gods but only three main deities: Vishnu, the god of preservation; Shiva, the god of destruction; and Brahma, the god of creation. The balanced interactions among them is responsible for sustaining a life without a beginning or an end.

And that is how I have chosen to approach my self-reflection. Amidst all the clutter and noise, I have to decide what to preserve, what to destroy and what to create.

Close Friends Graduated.

Before proceeding any further, I would first have to dissect the whole notion that year 2010 is independent on its own right; that it is negligible links to its predecessors and thus hardly affected by the historic storms and sunshines. I bring this up because I couldn’t help but to admire the sheer determination of some of my friends who can decree a fresh slate beginning each new year; a white canvas painting that is un-smeared, ready to be decorated to their fancies. But mine can never be so despite the times I demanded for it. My years are like living organisms – they feed on the remnants of the previous years, both good and bad. New Years are just like some fallible man-made concept where we indulge in fun fair like pitching goals and aspirations but they shape not the vortex of time. When both hands of the clock point to the heaven, it’s as though I walked through a porous bubble, carrying both the joys that levitate me and the baggages that weigh me down.

I have no reset button.

Won my first gold medal at the MidWest Games.

What I am about to embark on might be construed as washing dirty linen in public; unnecessary exposing the soft spots in my armor, only to have them haunt me in the later years. Old sins have long shadows, as Agatha Christie would put it. But I cannot shed plagues without candor and honesty; I cannot destroy what I do not acknowledge.

I held an eagle.

I started my freshman year with much rigor and energy, just as any excited first timer. If time permits, there was nothing that I wouldn’t do, both academically and otherwise. My heart grew to embrace my university and by the end of the summer, I pretty much called this place home. But as I cruised into my second year things slowly started to fall apart. I grew much restless and my heart yearned for things that my university cannot provide. There was nothing that I wouldn’t give up to be on the runway at O’Hare International Airport to just hear the Boeings soar again into the sky, or spend my time feeding sugar canes to the guinea pigs in Ecuador. I was so caught up in the euphoria of my experiences that I forgot to take my heart back to the university. However, I was cognizant of my obligations and responsibilities, thus I cruised along. By that time, it was already useless to deny that there was already a massive shift in the way I interacted with my surroundings. I felt trapped within that archaic goals and aspirations that I had at the beginning of my freshman year as I no longer resonated with the horizons that I have crafted for myself. Most days were a bore and despite me doing well in my classes, it’s undeniably that there is only one force that has sustained me through the days:

Inertia.

My Oxford Classmates.

Then came the inflection point: the University of Oxford. Was it just mere coincidence or that I arrived one the dot when the bells in Magdalen Tower started chiming as I stepped out of my cab as though it’s calling me home? There is just something about the grey cobblestones and old granite pavements that imbues an intoxicating scent of vitality that I haven’t felt since my freshman year. I loved everything about Oxford – every minute, every encounter, every class…everything. I have never felt so alive that when it was time to go, I nearly teared [my professor did, so I'm not that ashamed to admit it]. Solo traveling around Eastern Europe soon followed. The details are immaterial, but all that there is to know is that I returned to Ann Arbor consumed with dread. It was obvious that the start of my third year was a complete disaster. I hated everything about Ann Arbor and I tried finding every reason to leave. Needless to say, my grades suffered tremendously [you would think I was on drugs if you saw it].

I didn’t care anymore.

In Istanbul with Zhi Wei.

But there is a saying that goes: “When one hits rock bottom, the only way left to go is up.” At one point in the daze, I knew that if I was to make a comeback I would have to swallow my pride and quite simply, realize that I am not as invincible as I thought I was. I started re-examining everything I did, especially the premise in which my actions were based. Soon, I was back on my feet, albeit a little too late. I felt at peace, which only comes when one begins to ditch the “what ifs,” bite the bullet and carry on. President Clinton is right: ‘It is only when one is down on his/her knees that he/she is forced to define who he/she is and what he/she stands for.’ I needed to start over.

I’ll create a reset button.

Thanksgiving in Upenn.

So for this year: no pompous aspirations, nor fleeting goals! I have said what I needed to say and the time for whining has to stop because there is so much life left to be lived. When it is one minute to midnight I’ll hit the reset button, knowing that I will walk into 2011 being at peace with myself, because I truly know the stories behind each scar. With three semesters left to graduation and a clean slate….

I will paint the masterpiece of my dreams.

Happy New Year! =)

]]> http://ourcoffeestops.com/2011/01/one-minute-to-midnight-2/feed/ 2 http://ourcoffeestops.com/2010/12/prophecy/ http://ourcoffeestops.com/2010/12/prophecy/#comments Fri, 31 Dec 2010 05:18:59 +0000 Jian Wei http://ourcoffeestops.com/?p=5668 [As part of a blogging exercise, Zhi Wei and I have agreed to write something entitled "Prophecy."]

I’ve always been curious on how fortune-tellers come about their decisions – be it reading tea leaves, gazing at crystal balls or reading palms. Considering that these fortune telling do not hold credo in the world that demands quantitive substantiation for any claims, it’s still a wonder how they manage to proliferate within our society. Albeit, in a dispersed fashion; surreptitiously tucked amidst the heavy crowd of the shopping centers, or the flea market. I wonder what is it that draws people to them?

Do they feed on our fears and insecurities? The unsaturated yearning to clutch straws in the drowning downpour of uncertainties; the instinctive wanting to sign post our lives with just enough markers so that we feel “safe,” while leaving just a tad room of ambiguity so that we don’t feel that our lives are scripted from the start. That’s why we make New Year resolutions, don’t we? Although we all know that we never get about to finishing half of them. In the celebrated ritual of setting up goals and aspirations, we deceptively imbed mechanisms designed to ground us to familiar territory. Our psyche disdain uncertainties; and we could care less what the fortune teller says – we’ll just keep hunting for different prophecies until we hear the ones that we would like to hear.

There’s this “hole” in Hagia Sophia, Istanbul that legend has it that if one inserts his/her thumb and twists it a complete circle – if he/she could feel a certain moisture in the “hole,” his or her wish will come true. [Ok, this sounds DAMN wrong. =S]

It is pretty comical that while prophecies and predictions tell very little of our future, they reveal a lot of our current state of existence. They are after all, a blatant statement of our insecurities, garnished and sugar-coated in the least vulnerable way. We don’t trot along the streets telling strangers about our unfulfilled desires, but heck! When the new year comes, everyone finds the window of opportunity and also the comfort to parade them. Reading the wish list is an intriguing sport – some are totally humorous, their presence is just to add chuckling twists to an otherwise somber linen e.g “I want to have Justin Timberlake’s kids.” [I swear that that was real.] But for those who are experienced enough, they will know what those that are NOT included on the wish list are as important as those that are – if not more. We are not dumb fools. We know that aspirations/wishes/prophecies levitate us from the ground with positive energy, only to drop us on our asses when they are not realized.

Now here comes the interesting part: how do people cope with the pain when our asses crash on the ground? I can’t speak for others, but it’s funny how my process of rationalization could act as effective band-aids to ease the exposed wounds. I can rationalize anything and everything to death, I think. It is rather easy to come up with a whole series of reasons on why I am better off without those goals achieved or that without them, I’m that not screwed up anyway. At times, it kicks in so naturally that it begins to border hypocrisy.

Oh well, that’s assuming that I can remember my new year goals anyway. All I can remember is that this time around last year I was stuck in Paris ushering the new year with fireworks that looked like it detonated prematurely. Fast forward till today, with only one day to go till 2011 screams at my face, I still have no goals, no wish lists etc.

I’m just too tired to make them.

Hello Tuhan, please tell me my future k? I’ve been a very good boy this year! =P I promise to cook you curry when I go to heaven.

Don’t get me wrong though. This isn’t a negative cry. I realized that I’m not gonna go about achieving them anyway. Growing older, the layers of complexity that wrap my life gets thicker and thicker that they make naive aspirations a travesty. I have grown a penchant for broad ambiguous targets – those that grant me so much room to maneuver that nothing could be defined as success or a failure. If there’s anything that my years in Umich have taught me, it is to just listen to the heart and go where the road takes me. I no longer plan for eternity; I just take each day as it comes. It saves the heart from much pain, and it’s so much fun along the way.

Or I could just go to the fortune teller….

It’s so much simpler anyway. =S

[Another post will be coming up, "One Minute to Midnight" - it'll be my concluding post for the year.]

I was preparing to head out to study when the news of his passing reached my ears. The uncle’s maid called the house phone sounding really panicky, and when my house maid answered the phone, she quickly yelled for me to inform my mum who was at work. Story cut short, I was asked to head over to my uncle’s house to double confirm the news while my mum rushed back from her work place.

I didn’t exactly know how to react when he continues to lay motionlessly, even after I yelled after his name repeatedly. Checked his pulse. Put my fingers to his nostrils to feel signs of breathing. Laid my ears on his chest hoping to hear some heartbeat. Nothing. I had to call my mum back to relay my findings to her, could hear sobbings. Funny thing was, not a single tear left my eyes, even till now. I just didn’t know how to react.

My grandfather is due to leave for the crematorium 10.00am later. Spending the whole day infront of the casket today, prayers after prayers, I still can’t believe he’s gone like that. Forever. But I’m glad he’s finally laid to rest after a long fight and constant struggle with the recent stroke. I’ll miss him. The grandfather who treated me like his biological grandson.

A big thank you tothose who sent me text messages, Facebook messages, Twitter replies, etc. You know who you are.

You would think some of your close friends would at least send you a word of condolence, but… *shrugs*. Not even a Facebook comment on my status. If someone who is so far away in the UK could send me a two-page long SMS, I couldn’t see the reason why some ‘close’ friends here couldn’t send a word or two. The amount of Facebook friends is overrated, see the number of comments on my status to the ratio of friends I have, just baffles me.

Not even the Coffeestops authors were spared, except for Ying Wei, Kok Kuan and Christopher. Thanks guys.

Not that it mattered, but at least it reveals who actually cares, and who doesn’t. Even my KPMG colleagues send me text messages. I just knew them for 3 months.

Then again, I’m not turning this into an issue, I’m just saying.

God is amazing.

I just want to thank God for Evie, who have been keeping me company in P7 classes weekly. If not for her, classes would have been depressing. It’s depressing to be in the same class listening to the same things, I just don’t say it out loud.

Funny thing was, if I hadn’t failed the P7 paper, I wouldn’t even have known her, despite being classmates since CAT days. By knowing as in, not merely a hi-bye friend, but a friend. Amazing how God always sends someone to encourage you even when you think God isn’t working the way you think He ought to.

My ways are not His ways. Very true.

There have been many times for the past weeks that I’ve doubted myself, or even doubted Him. Why me? Does He really think I could handle all this at one go?

Office politics. Work stress. Studies. Marking. Maintaining a friendship. and lately, the grandfather. I think it’s not too far off till I add financial distress to the list.

I think I get misunderstood much, for that I think I will reduce my Twitter postings. Might even consider not posting any tweets unless necessary, don’t see any point to it already.

Anyway despite the hardship I have been going through, there is still a silver lining behind those dark clouds. Ms. Kiran have been nice and understanding, felt really bad for extending the deadline because I simply CANNOT finish marking. Current senior is very understanding and nice to talk to too, the KFC teammates aren’t exactly a bad bunch as well. I actually enjoyed work on a few occasions.

Been making visits to uncle’s house and then to Serdang Hospital. Grandfather was admitted yesterday afternoon and had suffered a 2nd stroke to the left brain. 6 years ago, he had a stroke in his right brain. Doc said, he could go any time. I know death is inevitable, but I just pray that he will leave in a peaceful state. I also pray, that my mum will be strong in these trying times. Seen her cried far too many times.

I don’t know how to react. Really. It’s the first time I’m facing a possible death of a close relative, what more my grandfather. The grandfather whom I stayed in Klang with for the first four years of my life, who would bring me out every single day, and have bak kut teh for breakfast after morning exercise. The grandfather who never said no to my ridiculous demands. The grandfather whom has always love me so dearly, eventhough I’m not his biological grandson. My mum is adopted.

I really don’t know what to say to him when I saw him lying on the bed in my uncle’s house. He opened his eyes and looked at me, not able to say anything, I just looked at him and call out to him, but I realised.. I don’t know what else to say.

On another note, with P7 revision classes now officially ended, for the 2nd time, please let this be my final session with Mr. Goh. I don’t know why, or when, but I somehow lost that confidence level I once had in me. I feel like I’m gambling with fate recently.

P5 revision classes next week. New paper, with nothing in my head. I really haven’t touched the topics in the syllabus. For once, I don’t know how I’ll make it for an ACCA paper in my current state. I just hope, and pray real hard that the upcoming study leave I’m getting, I’ll be able to cramp EVERYTHING with a decent level of understanding in my head. If not, then it will be the 22nd ACCA & CAT Graduation for me. Or probably later. Or.. I don’t know.

It’s hard to continue to praise God in these hard times, but I’m trying my level best to. God, I still believe You will carry me through, just show me how. Talk to me, and I’ll listen. Show me, and I’ll pay attention.

Matthew 14:31
“O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Trying not to.

We live in a scary world. Sometimes to the extent its so twisted we think we’re a part of the so called ‘norm’ the society believes in.

Welcome to working life.

Very often, nowadays I find myself a minority at work. Not in terms of age nor was it about qualifications, but rather about how each and everyone view life as it is. My social circle used to revolve around Christian friends, where most of my friends are church goers and strong believers. Please do not think I’m condemning any other faiths, but rather from my point of view, I feel safe.

I never actually gave the tagline ‘Going against the flow’ much thought until of course recently.

I realised, at work, your circle of friends is now consisted of non-believers and hardcore swearers. To top it all up, swearing is like a normal thing at work due to the stress everyone is facing. It took me a month to finally swore, and I felt real bad after that. Almost everyone I know, smokes. Okay maybe not everyone, but the huge chunk of the guys from my department are drinkers and smokers.

I’m sorry, but I always have a thing against smokers and smoking. It doesn’t help to know that my own dad is a smoker and I always annoy the heck outta him for his habit. I know for a fact, to ask these people to quit smoking overnight is impossible, so as long as you don’t smoke infront of me, I’m fine with it. Though that too, sometimes is unavoidable.

I admit for a fact that, when everyone swears, you tend to get ‘absorbed’ into that culture of theirs. For that, I realised that the exercising of self-control is needed more than ever. Prioritising God is finally a challenge, since now you have so many commitments to weigh, and the alone time with Him has reduced significantly recently sometimes I wonder if I still hear from Him.

So really, welcome to working life.

It really make you think how naive life used to be at one point, and to grow up is to experience all these social ‘norms’ yet not allowing them to influence you being who you are.

I’ll learn to continue being the minority, though at times things may look bleak, but I believe my God is a God of impossibilities. Come what may Satan will throw at me, but mark my words, I’ll persevere.

I don’t intend to offend anyone with this post, but merely just stating my point of view based of recent encounters at work.

I still love my work place and I think my colleagues are nice people, but seriously, how much I finally understood about the current society we live in. Not denying there’s still more to learn, at least I don’t feel locked up in a small box anymore.

On another random note, I’ve my targets set for the future. Finally, something to aim for in my career! Boy oh boy, I’m excited. Excited for what God has installed for me when the time comes.

In a nutshell, I think I would like to put forth a challenge, both to myself and to you readers, just anyone, to stand firm on your own beliefs. I certainly intend to continue being the minority!

Don’t even get me started on work-life balance, that’s a story for another day.

“Words mean nothing to the dead. Take some time to show appreciation to someone you care today.”

Today. As in, now. How very often we tell someone how much they mean to us, or how grateful are we that, that certain friend or someone is present in our lives? Many times we chose to keep our thoughts to ourselves, I wonder why. Don’t get me wrong, I myself am guilty of that very often too.

Whether to friends that you care very much about, or to a special someone, quite often you find yourself stopping short of reminding that person how much he/she meant to you. We fear the consequences that come after it? Or rather we fear to commit ourselves to the things that we say?

When I was telling the youths about the meanings behind the game I put together with Ren Yau and Rachel on Friday night, something I said led me to another round of self-examination. “If only we backtrack in life..” If only we take the time to actually slow down, and see those who are around us, then only can we show appreciation.

How many of us are guilty of putting our daily lives first before God? How many times we say we’re busy, busy, busy? I say that sometimes. I admit. If we can’t take the time to hit the brakes, how can we show appreciation to God? If we can’t show appreciation to God, how can we show appreciation to our friends? Whom we were instructed to love because He has loved us first.

Yesterday I attended a few of my close friends’ graduation. It was of course supposed to be my graduation too, for those of you who still doesn’t know, I didn’t make it for my final two optional papers. I know I didn’t prioritize God in the last semester. I didn’t. Perhaps because after the success of passing three core papers the previous semester, I became proud. Proud of my own effort rather than God’s Grace. Huge difference there. It’s by the grace of God, comes your effort and blessings in the examinations. Oh well, we all learn from mistakes aite? He has bigger plans for me!

I actually never given much thought of it, until I look through the pictures after the ceremony has ended. I thought I was over it after results day, but there’s this tiny tinge of regret still lingering. I should have been there.

My name is supposed to be on the graduation booklet.

BUT ANYWAY. I know there’s no point dwelling on the past, but rejoice at the fact that I’ve been given another chance to try again. When you fall down in life, pick yourself up, of course it would be nice to have a friend extending a helpful hand too.

I was genuinely happy for a few of my close friends. I can’t even begin to explain the happiness I felt for them as they grace the stage to accept their graduation scrolls. To be a part of a ceremony that probably meant a lot to them, is the most I could do as a friend.

Melody Ng Su Ann

You’re so soft spoken sometimes I wonder if you’ll ever survive the cold harsh world out there, but I guess the maturity comes with experience and I know, you’ll do fine when you tell me you’ve made up your mind to join PwC. Thank you for all the times that you’ve put up with my unreasonableness, I know I haven’t been much of a friend sometimes, but I just want to let you know, for those times that I’ve hurt you, it was purely unintentional. I never meant the words I say, or the things I do, but I’m always glad you never turn your back against me.

You’re a friend that will always be there. Though sometimes I know you struggle for words to comfort me, or advise me, I just want to let you know it’s okay. It’s always the presence that matters. For that alone, you’ve never failed as a friend. You’ve worked very hard for the last semester, and your success is only fair as it is really your fruits of labour. You have finally made it to the finish line. Congratulations, my dear friend.

Lydia Kong Mei Ling

The Starbucks kaki. It’s what she calls me, and so I shall return the favour. Our random Starbucks sessions has led from one intelligent conversation to another, and soon we found ourselves talking about anything under the sun. That includes our private thoughts too. A close confidant that would just call me up to talk about stuffs or share a happy news.

Sometimes so happy to the extent that she can ask, “So nic, when are you collecting your graduation robes?” only to realise what she has said. SO DEPRESSING CAN! That aside, thanks for always being there to talk. Though we may not be able to graduate together, but to be able to celebrate the event with you is a form of compensation Hmm I wonder if she actually reads Coffeestops. LOL!

Tian Pei Yi

What more can I say? I think ever since we knew one another, to the point that we became close friends along with Ying Wei and Christopher, she has always gone the extra mile to show concern for all of us. Our history has had its own setbacks in our friendship, but I’m glad, today all of us are able to sit on the same table sharing jokes and talking about life like how we used to be doing.

For obvious reasons why I feel all the more happy to be attending the graduation ceremony. When I found out about her passing her optionals, I actually felt a huge relieve for her, even before I found out about mine. Huge relieve in that she doesn’t have to carry her ACCA burden all the way to UK, I can only imagine how bogged down that would be. If there’s someone I was more worried about results other than myself, it would be her.

A very important friend to me. I think no matter how others may disagree with how she sees things, I have learnt to see it from her point of view. Of course our friendship is not without disagreements, but one thing she once said to me that I quite agree to. “I like how our friendship is so open.” We talk. Definitely not your typical girl out there, just like how she always like going against the flow, which often attracts some not so nice comments, but sometimes it’s about living who you are rather than who you’re not.

A friend that empathizes with you, and always tries to be there whenever you send out SOS signals. Not to say both Melody and Lydia aren’t like that, but Pei Yi is the nearest help I can get! A friend that I would always personally be a present help in times of needs.

I’m just glad, I was able to be there, to be your photographer, and to share the joy of this memorable event with you. Congratulations, once again!

I can only say how much I regret not being able to graduate together with all of you. I still wonder if any of you will be able to attend mine in April. Perseverance is key! I need to hold myself together, peak period is looming. T_T

Well anyway, so is there anyone out there you wanna show gratitude to? Do it today, you’ll never know what’s gonna happen the next day! Jesus said, live in the present, not the past or the future.

Learn to live a life without regret, and you’ll see how much one can achieve in a single day!

That almost sounded like a marriage ceremony eh..? Well, it is depending on how you look at it. So on this very day, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore joined the Malaysian Federation to become one kick-ass nation. Though Singapore pulled out 2 years later for whatever reasons we cannot be sure (due to a bias historical view from both side). It makes me think how things would have been different if Brunei did join the Malaysian Federation… more oil for the masses???

I would like to take this opportunity to assure our East Malaysian (Sabahans and Sarawakians) brothers and sisters that there are West Malaysians that cherish/celebrate/remember this day as much as you do!

I have on numerous occasions been to Sabah (unfortunately I haven’t been to Sarawak) for a month or two for vacation. That was also during my dad’s work obligations over there. What I like about Sabah is the seafood! I can recall the amazing seafood I enjoyed as a kid … and most importantly…. for a cheap price! Places I remember going to are Tawau, Lahad Datu, Sandakan, Semporna, Kota Kinabalu, Labuan and…… Sipadan Island (just beautiful!). Could recall the roadside stops to purchase “Udang Galah” from “fishermen” and also playing snooker/watching TV in the middle of nowhere (in the oil palm plantation). Also saw a wild hornbill.

Okay I seem to just been bashing out sentences instead of writing as awesome as Jian Wei… that’s what happens to you when you study Engineering … ahha jk jk

Also climbed the Kinabalu Mountains till the 3rd station.. my sister went on to the peak a year ago… UNFAIR!

So I saw a video of Wei Ling’s birthday celebration by her Kampar mates popping up on Facebook recently. It is a 18 minute clip! Good if you want to fill your time with something to watch. Was looking through the clip and I saw something in particular that caught my eye. Did you see the Coffeestops! crew picture (from the about page) used in one of the presentation!? Thanks to the peeps who included us into Wei Ling’s birthday wish. Ha ha… We’ll I guess now that close to a hundred people have seen our faces, we gotta be extra careful where we go. Perhaps there are some Wei Ling fans who are just itching to seek “justice” for her after some authors, ( I’m sure I have) embarrassed her via videos and blog posts (sometimes).. Ha ha…

Why la didn’t put more embarrassing pictures of Wei Ling up for the whole class to see?!?!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=7035661&id=656660827&ref=fbx_album#!/video/video.php?v=441553279456&ref=mf