胡说八道

今年新年，好不一樣

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:29:00 +0000

農曆新年年初一剛過。如往年，初一下午與友人來個聚會。不如往年的是，人數又少了。一對夫婦新年前一個星期生了的小白兔女兒。妻子坐月，丈夫自然陪伴。不能與我們同聚。一位朋友的母親，除夕那天過世。自然也不能出現。我是百無禁忌，但是人各有信仰，也不輪到我出聲。

喜氣洋洋的新年穿插了紅白事。人總會比較在意壞的事情。所以這次聚會，雖然還是愉快非常，但是心裡還是覺得隔了一片黑霧。好不是滋味。

新年期間，若能拜會新生兒，那是最好不過。新年，新生，新希望。但同時若還要送別往生者，象徵著生命的終結，還是讓我覺得人，還逃不過生老病死之苦。

新年一般來說，人人都只會想著好的東西。不管你性格是樂觀或悲觀，見人都是吉祥話。新年是現代人罕有的為了段站快樂而自欺欺人的時候。這並不是壞事，只是忙了一整年，煩了三百多天，我們都想要幾天沉溺在歡樂樂觀當中。好讓我們記得，生活並不只是打拼，苦惱，殘酷的現實。

這個新年，我提早從這精神長假被拉出來了。回到現實太快了。雖然不過癮，但有人比我還痛苦。不知道明年的新年除夕，他會有如何的感受。隔兩天，會代表其他朋友到做白事的朋友那裡。因為信仰，假期的關係，很多人大概都不能出息。所以我必須到，傳達給他知道，朋友們都很關心，人雖不能到，心裡卻有你。人雖不能給你個安慰的擁抱，卻在千里之外默默的為你祈禱。

今年新年，好不一樣。

Review: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:49:00 +0000

2009, Guy Ritchie brought us a whole new Holmes. A major departure in terms of style and treatment of Sherlock Holmes live action adaptation. A new perspective to interpret the one of the most adapted fictional characters of all time. Victorian Sherlock Holmes with a post modernist twist. It was well received and loved. Robert Downey Jr gets another iconic role in another iconic franchise after Ironman, and Jude Law is not longer a pretty boy.

A sequel is fast tracked, and it still takes 2 years of wait.

If the first film’s major role is to reintroduce the characters to us, in second film, where all the character and the ‘universe’ of this Holmes has already established, it is just logical to add in more characters and reference to the books.

The film wasted no time to reintroduce the characters. It started of with Watson writing what he presumed the last adventure of Sherlock Holmes and provides enough exposition for the audience to join in the action.

If the first film focused on Holmes exploit in London, this film escalates into an international cat and mouse game. Although the role of cat and mouse shifted in between Holmes and Moriarty.

Speaking of Moriarty, this is perhaps the best Moriarty so far. Reason being, previous more faithful adaptation of Holmes will have Moriarty appear and killed of in one story – The Final Problem. The reason for this is obvious; the purpose of Moriarty creation is to have a foe to cause the death of Sherlock Holmes and that is the intention of Conan Doyle in The Final Problem. But the lack of appearance of Moriarty in the books also makes him such a legendary and mysterious figure. Many will think of imagine and Moriarty has more in his pocket that what Conan Doyle has written. The Moriarty in this film, played by Jared Harris, like Downey’s Holmes has given new breath to this character. No longer is he just a creepy senior citizen, but he does live up his reputation as the Napoleon of Crime.

Another pleasant addition is the great Stephen Fry as Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s smarter but lazy big brother. He has the physical build like Mycroft and also the sense of humor that is iconic in this franchise. He has limited screentime, but whenever he is present, he owns the scene.

In short, although I missed Holmes’s apartment, 221B Baker Street and the actions in London. Having Sherlock and John as action heroes with brain presented in such a unique style without the need to explain like the first film is just a great great pleasure.

This is never a review, for I almost forget how to write one…need to retrain myself on it.

Anyway, Sherlock adaptation is never bad, but this is just great.

Johari ar~ Johari~

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:01:00 +0000

"Johari Window:
Open: Adjectives that are selected by both the participant and his or her peers are placed into the Open quadrant. This quadrant represents traits of the subjects that both they and their peers are aware of.

Hidden: Adjectives selected only by subjects, but not by any of their peers, are placed into the Hidden quadrant, representing information about them their peers are unaware of. It is then up to the subject to disclose this information or not.

Blind Spot: Adjectives that are not selected by subjects but only by their peers are placed into the Blind Spot quadrant. These represent information that the subject is not aware of, but others are, and they can decide whether and how to inform the individual about these "blind spots".

Unknown: Adjectives that were not selected by either subjects or their peers remain in the Unknown quadrant, representing the participant's behaviors or motives that were not recognized by anyone participating. This may be because they do not apply or because there is collective ignorance of the existence of these traits."

I put this name, Johari in my Facebook ID. Reason, to remind me of this phenomenon.

There are always part of me that already well known, and I need not elaborate more.

There are parts of me that are hidden, which I only disclose to a few close ones.

There are parts of me that I never see, but others can; and I hope those that can let me know. If it is good, I’m happy to continue. If it is bad, help me to improve.

There are parts of me that neither I nor others know. That, is something we need to discover together.

If there is a day when someone tell me a flaw in me, that I never aware of, what will I do? Will I able to accept that flaw is part of me? Will I even acknowledge it? Will I able to really stop it? I do not know.

Is it intended? I know not. Am I the person I always think I am? I know not. I know what I want, but I can’t read myself. That’s why I do need others…to let me know where I did wrong, to let me know my flaws.

There are times when my flaws become hurtful to others. I do not expect forgiveness, but at least a chance of redemption, a way to improve, an encouragement to fix it. Do I expect too much?

Nobody’s perfect. Is that my excuse or a fact? Do I mean what I say? I believe I do, but my action did say otherwise. Is that me? Yes it is.

If there is a mistake, I blame no one but myself. But sometimes, I alone has no the strength to overcome it. I do need help. So please help me. It can be as simple as a moral support, or an encouragement or just a space for me to speak up.

I don’t like to bring my sorrow to my close ones. Yet I can deny I need them in order for me to go on. I’m a lonely man. I have taken a lot by myself, for 30 years. I’m tired.

So, please don’t ignore me when I need you most. I need support most, when I realized I am not the man I think I am. It shattered my confident, dimmed my hope, sucked my energy away, lost my way.

It is horrible. I can’t take it.

我。。。要重新胡說八道了！

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 15:03:00 +0000

得空沒事屁股癢，回到這部落客來發現。。。上一個post竟然是一年多的事情了！
天打雷劈！慘不忍睹！
回想以前讀書的時候，一年三百六十五天， blog裡最少也會有三百六四五篇。。。如今。。。
現在有點難想像，怎麼當初能一天寫一篇呢？
為何如今什麼都寫不出呢?
老了嗎？悶了嗎？沒東西分享了嗎？沒想法了嗎？沒有不吐不快的事了嗎?
非也非也～
都不是。
也許是因為一天最少都要對著電腦工作，打電郵八個小時，回到家時就沒什麼想寫東西了。
就算心裡有很多事想分享，就算有很多委屈想吶喊，就算有數不盡的意見，看法想表達。不過就是懶。
雖說都還是臉貼著電腦，不過都是在面子書，其他網頁遊覽。只是不停的接收並沒那個勁去傳授。
James Bond電影系列分享第二篇寫了一半就在draft裡呆了一年多。。。
假面騎士系列的分享也停了良久。。。
該是時候繼續吧?
三十了，快要三十一了。。。該有所領悟。。。該會有很多事要分享的。。。
不管有沒有人看，我自顧我開心的寫就算了。
我。。。要重新胡說八道了！

posted from Bloggeroid

Today is public holiday...

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 06:35:00 +0000

And it feels kinda weird.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

敲鍾

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Tue, 04 May 2010 13:40:00 +0000

雖說明白做一日和尚，敲一日鍾之道理，而本人也從不厭倦工作，不過每當周末要結束時，還是懶惰蟲原型畢露。

我愛周末，但周末已經離開了。我不是懶惰上班，只是懶惰起床。想過要早點睡，奈何卻不捨的周末在我睡眠時，靜靜的裡去。

兩天的清靜，還五天的忙碌奔波。有人說，比例也太離譜了點。我卻認為剛剛好。物以稀為貴，若一周裡不是只有那麼的兩天休假，我們也不會好好的珍惜。星期五午飯後，也不會覺得興奮刺激。

我們每天每周希望日子快過一點，好讓周末早日歸來。但這樣日復一日的期盼，總有一天突然間停下來回頭一看，發現時間還過的真快，壽命配額也消耗得快。人生有限，每天得該好好珍惜，不只是周末而已。別太在意我們沒有得，該滿足感謝享受我們所有的。

若太忙碌的追求鏡花水月，到最後，失去的可能不只是單單的時間而以。。。

正宗西刀魚丸

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Sun, 02 May 2010 07:47:00 +0000

星期六，本想自個兒去看場戲（單身的我，只好如此）。那知今天卻是勞工節，商場裡都是人潮，排隊買票的建置可以組成一對小軍隊。

掃興無比，只好黯然離去，駕車到市中心裡，前國泰戲院後面的大排檔，來碗『正宗西刀魚丸』清湯麵。這麵檔，少說都有三十年了。記得小時候大多數時間都是在市中心裡住，這麵檔都常常光顧。只是在我乾娘搬到百家利就很少到那裡了。近來有了車子代步，心裡突然懷念起來以前的味道。

且說這麵檔的麵，湯晶瑩剔透，入口清甜，不太淡也不過鹹。麵是普通的黃麵，煮得恰到好處。配料呢是正宗的西刀魚丸。這樣的一碗麵，到處都能吃到，但卻沒有任何一家能做到這樣讓我滿足的味道。在這酷熱的下午，喝了一口新鮮滾熱辣的湯不覺得熱上加熱，反而覺得清爽，有一種讓我覺得活著真好的感覺。

依舊簡陋的大排檔，依舊在它對面的古老商店，懷念的一碗才賣三塊半的清湯麵，彷彿讓我時光倒流二十年。但景物依然，面目全非。人，也老了。乾娘也過逝甚久。以前過的簡單美好日子，如今不過是腦裡的零碎片段。

最近常到吧生市中心裡找以前喜歡光顧的麵檔飯店。目的就只是吃飯麼？還是有些甚麼別的理由？嘗試想，不得要領，就只好不想。好好的，幹嘛讓自己苦惱呢？

心血來潮

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 09:51:00 +0000

心血來潮．怎說呢？

最近電視正熱播著中國版的『倚天屠龍記』．受其影響，把三年前買了還沒看的１９７７年修訂版的『倚天屠龍記』小說來看．

看著看著，卻不知怎麼的，突然間好想再看看一些佛學書．所以又把若干年前向朋友借回來但忘了歸還的兩本蔡志忠的漫畫版『心經』和『六祖壇經』來翻閱．

於此同時，又覺得是時候收拾一下辦公室裡的抽屜和我的房間．辦公室的抽屜，我今早就搞定了．本打算在週末才相我房間下手．『倚天屠龍記』．不過就在晚飯過後，看完電視版的『倚天屠龍記』後，突然沒甚麼心情再繼續看電視．

打開了去年買的『倪匡說三道四』，看了一小半，卻再也忍不住了，把書本放下，取出抹布開始打掃起來．

就這麼的一口氣做到凌晨一點，才只完成了一半．不過房間相比之前都比較像是有個活人住在內的樣子．剩下的一半，只好留到週末吧！

寫到這裡，突然想起那麼一下子回有機回心血來潮之前都發生過好幾次．每次都在我的興趣要換季的時候．

我的興趣在一年內會換機次，雖然換來換去都離不開書，電影，動畫，電動，玩具，酒．那也好過永遠都是獨孤一味那麼單調．
看來即將來臨的是‘中文書籍’吧！

不然的話怎麼會心血來潮的以中文寫部落客呢？哈哈哈哈！

去年今日

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 00:35:00 +0000

一年了．．．都一年了．每當有困難時，很喜歡如此想：明年今日，我會怎樣了？
去年的這個時候, 正是我罕有的低潮．

竟管工作如何的不如意，討厭的經理遲遲還不死．不過總覺得，有份職業，有份固定收入，就算受受氣，都是一般工作裡的家常便飯．上至天子，下至奴隸，氣，是避免不了的．

就在這是，正如黃子華所說的，當你終於決定做死一世的時候，你老闆就會說：炒你魷魚！

就這樣，討厭的經理死活在也與我無關啦！那我的固定收入也化為烏有，從此兩袖清風，遊手好閒，好不消遙，好不無聊！
久東家過喬抽板，苦命的我也只好硬著頭皮去另找出路囉．

三個月說長不長，說短不短，但看見皮包日復一日的消瘦，銀行戶頭裡的債務由三位數升到四位數，心理很時緊張難過．

活了快一世，還是第一次覺得前途茫茫．但是在朋友面前卻故作瀟灑，不讓他們為我擔心，不讓我的不快破壞了我們難得的相聚時光．

回想回來，上一場金融風暴裡的受害者，我的遭遇還算不錯吧！
畢竟也才失業三個月，就能為一間業績不錯的公司裡上班．

上個月３１號正是被裁員的一週年．想想去年的這個時候，我是怎樣幻象現在的我呢？
靜看天上浮雲，細吐濃濃灰煙，過去一年，入電影倒帶的迅速播放，暫停在我問：明年今日，我會怎樣了？

當時我的猜測，我的希望，如今想來，讓我開懷大笑，也讓我苦笑．
去年的我，問我自己：明年今日，我會怎樣了？
去年的我，回答自己：應該是在埋頭苦幹，直到夕陽吧！
現在的我，一月工作，多半如此！

開懷大笑，因為總算達到目標，有份工．
苦笑，是因為要做死一世囉！

Weeks of Hell

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 03:37:00 +0000

It's been a long time since the last update.

What took me so long? Laziness? Business?

Can't say for sure.

What I was hired to do, has went live now.

I am actually doing what I was hired to do.

Unlike the past 6 months, doing random task, now I'm doing what I am suppose to do.

Unforeseen incidents, a few of them happened during the eleventh hour of the transition.

Trainer got sick, system got sick, colleagues got sick and even the consultant far in South Africa got sick.

Diu!

Trainer got sick, mean we had no direction. What to do, when to do, how to do is never properly communicated to us.

System got sick, mean that we can't even do whatever that we can do, within our limited knowledge, due to the absence of our trainer.

Colleagues got sick, meaning we have to do her part, a totally different role, but still time consuming, and ate away a lot of our time and focus.

Consultant got sick, meaning the second person after the trainer that can help up is not available and basically we are running in the dark abyss of nothingness.

Worse, it was the last week for the consultants. After that they are here no more.

Last two weeks was like hell. But I kind of like it.

My job is very transactional based, in other words, it may tend to be repetitive and boring.

Give me problem, give me issues, and then things will get more interesting.

Hahahaha~

Nothing To Do

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:09:00 +0000

When you are working, you wanna go home.
When you are home doing nothing,
you'll say, better of go work.
When you are diong nothing, you wanna do thing.
When you actually do thing...
you say to yourself...
"Are you mental?"

Review: 風雲 II The Storm Warriors (2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 09:40:00 +0000

The much anticipated sequel of The Storm Riders has finally arrived. To be exact, it is not exactly a sequel, since it is produced and made by different filmmakers, but it retain the same leads, and the story take place after the event of The Storm Riders. To distinguish this, and prevent any possible legal action, the new film is named The Storm Warriors instead of being The Storm Riders 2, since the English title was created by the previous company. Still, the Chinese title still retains 風雲 and the title is simply風雲 II.

Cloud is still played by Aaron Kwok while Ekin Cheng is still Wind, but the rest are new characters, except for Cho-cho楚楚 who was previously played by the Shu-qi but now replaced by a piece of wood.

The plot of the film is based on the Japanese Invasion arc in the comic, where a Japanese warrior is invading China. The film start at the end of the first step of the invasion, where the villain 絕無神 successfully drugged the best martial artists in China and have them capture in order to a) force them to serve him b) stripped of the most physical powerful peoples in China that will rise to fight his invasion. These martial artists however manage to escape and Wind and Cloud have to undergo special training to upgrade their power in order to fight絕無神. In the course of this training, Wind succumbs into the dark side. The second act of this film is the defeat of絕無神 which is rather anti-climatic, but we all know what will be the direction of this film when it choose to use Japanese Invasion arc for its plot. It is the fight between Cloud and the dark Wind at the final act. This is one of the best plots in the comic and it also serves as the conclusion of the first part of the comic.

The casting of the film is good, save for楚楚. The actress performance and presence is almost non-existence. While Shu-qi in the previous film provides a good contrast to Cloud, this楚楚 is almost as quiet and gloomy as Cloud. There is no on screen chemical for this couple, and I was quite happy that she died in the end, but sadly, her bad performance made us unable to identify with Cloud’s sorrow at the sight of her demise.

Getting Kenny Ho to play Nameless無名 is almost flawless. Kenny has previously played Hero華英雄 in ATV’s TV drama adaptation of 中華英雄, a comic by the author. Hero is actually used as the blueprint for Nameless in風雲. His loneliness, his costume, hair cut and looks, and even one of his servants, 鬼虎 are exactly the same as Hero. So although I personally will wish to have Andy Lau as Nameless, but having Kenny Ho is good enough. The only thing is his voice. I was looking forward to see the first big screen Nameless, and finally saw it, but the moment he start to speak…WTF? He sounds like a thin and sick guy! I thought maybe that is because at the beginning of the film Nameless was drugged, and thus having such weak voice, but apparently not. He sounds like that for the rest of the film. How sad. You know how shock I was? Try to think back the first time you heard David Beckham speak. This good-looking footballer looks manly enough, and you may expect he will at least sounds like Brad Pitt, but at the end, he is speaking as if Victoria is squeezing his balls all the time! The same apply to this Nameless.

Kenny Ho is ATV's 中華英雄 more than 20 years ago

Kenny Ho as Nameless

The best acting performance in the whole film perhaps is from a tertiary character, the Emperor, played by Patrick Tam. In just a few minutes of screen performance as the kidnapped Emperor who is force to make a choice between revealing China’s biggest secret or having his family murdered, Tam is able to show the elegance of a royal family, the dilemma his is facing and the heart-breaking sadness of witnessing his family being slaughtered. It’s rather ironic, the most successful emotional scene are not about the primary characters, but rather this little character that has little to do with the whole film.

As always, adapting a book is hard, but adapting a comic book is even harder, especially Chinese comic book. One arc usually takes a long time to end, and for most of the time, it has a lot of characters and the events are connected with events of other arcs. Thus, the plot of this film feels weak, and there is no one major focus. One third of the film focus on the fighting 絕無神 and the final act is Wind and Cloud fighting.

Characters chart

To have such fight as final act, the whole arc has to be compress, and the plotline showing the start of the invasion, how the martial artists get drugged and kidnapped, and character development for the villains, Nameless and other secondary character are omitted. Even there is little character development for Wind and Cloud. After we were left with the conflict reconciliation between Wind and Cloud in the previous film, now we hope to see more on how they interact as a team, partners and brothers. But all this are sacrificed for the sack of having a good and cool pose visually. The on screen development for them is important, for only then we can actually feel the impact and identify with the pain of Cloud having need to kill Wind once he is totally turn into an evil monster. This does not happen, and unless you read the comic and know the significant of the third act, basically you won’t give a damn on who is winning.

Wind turning evil

But the main star of this film is still the special effect. Like the previous film this is still a GCI porn. Ten years in between and we can see how advance we are. While the imaginative fight scenes and martial arts portrayals in the film is slightly different from the comic, it is still a marvelous job on interpreting lines and colors from page into realistic looking visual effects. The directors certainly have a good eyes and ears on the pacing, look and impact on how a comic book still fight should be. But still, there is still a lot of room for improvement, especially in creating a virtual set. The computer generated outdoor scene still can be easily recognized as CGI, but I don’t know if this is deliberate to give the film a fantasy feel. If they want to stay true to the comic, they should make it looks real. For the magic of the comic is, it has very conventional costume, set and scenery; only the fights and supernatural elements are presented with superb imagination. It is such contrast that makes it so engaging.

As a whole, this is a great interpretation of風雲, its success is due to its special effects and one of its flaws is also the special effects. The original comic has very good visual of scale. We need it. If it happens in a massive mountain, we need to feel that it is massive. The CGI work in here does show us literally a certain scene takes place in a huge area, but it does not feels so. The screen shows peoples fighting in a wide area, but we still felt like it takes place in a small soundstage.

Perhaps, and hopefully, in the coming sequel, the third film, the filmmakers will improve again. Although this film is a good take, but I also long to see scenes where the pages on the comic literally comes into life, a combination of authentic Chinese scenery, natural rays of sun, real grass, real mountain with imaginative special effects. Need not to get production and costume design to redesign the characters, the sets, just take the pages from the comic, and make it real. Then perhaps, the definitive風雲 adaptation will be born.

Strange...me...

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 06:48:00 +0000

Sunday afternoon, bored. The kuey-teow soup does not taste as good as it was two weeks ago. Wanna, find a place to online with my T42, decided to go Centro, but don’t know why ended up in JJ.

Maybe it is because of the crowd. People walking around. To a certain extend, better people than those crawling in KP.

After a couple of tries to get my batter charged properly, I found a corner place, close to the outlet. But it is also close to the pathetically low fence that dividing Starbuck with the rest of the mall.

The weird thing about Starbuck in Bukit Raja’s JJ is, apart of there is no smoking area, it is situated right in the middle of the left wing. Right in the middle, which make the patrons looks like animals in zoo, fishes in aquarium. Weird. And there is little privacy, for people can look over your shoulder and see what you are doing in your laptop.

The corner seat, though close to the power source, but it is right in front of Guardian. Some brats where their ignorant parents let loose like wild dogs are chatting right behind me. How annoying. Broken Chinese, undeveloped mind, ugly and stupid. Fuck, they don’t produce children like they used to. Are we still evoluting into a better species? With these kids around, it is rather hard to believe than evolution still happens to humankind.

Strange, weekends should be relaxing, but why am I so grumpy? Is it the people? Or is it me? Strange…

A Sudden Rant

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:03:00 +0000

Don't know why, am getting tired of the town where I live.....

Saturday, as usual, sleep till noon, and as usual, after having an insanely heavy instant coffee and read the paper, I head out for my late breakfast or lunch. And of course, loitering around, sometimes read a book I bring along, smoke, observing...

What is this place? Who are those people or rather, what are they? Lala everywhere, Bah Kut Teh(not the dish, those insanely fat and ugly people) everywhere and their children who they left roaming around like stray dogs. Filthy, simply disgusting.

Perhaps all the better people has all gathered around the new big mall, and what left here in my area's mall is nothing but leftover waste. Regardless if they are educated or not, rich or poor, man or women, the way the speak, the way they behave, the way they live...just fucking annoyed me, even I am just observing, not in the crowd, not interacting with them...just looking.

How can this happen? What has happen to this town? Why can I see one likable being in the whole afternoon? Where are they?

Or...should I ask, what happened to me? What's wrong with me? With my mind?

Am I really grew tired of this town, or I just grew tired of myself? Or am I already, mentally, disengaged with current running in this town?

I...do not know.

Song : HE有激人 - 超級白

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:42:00 +0000

HE有激人 - 超級白
詞曲：HE 有激人 Hyhy & Eli

Love it~!

Mindset on food

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:17:00 +0000

After 6 weeks in Witbank, in less than 24 hours after returning to Malaysia, I flew again. This time, to Taiwan, for vacation.

How is Taiwan? Great. How is the trip? Great. But still there are ups and downs. Strange, I may not be the keenest member to go to Taiwan, but I think I enjoyed the most. My friends, however, also enjoyed it, but when it comes to the food...hmmm, I kind of miss my Witbank gang.

When my seniors complained about Witbank's food, the first idea I have, after trying to food there is, do not expect it to be same as Malaysia. Same goes to Taiwanese food, or any other countries. Reason being...should I say it? It is totally logical to expect things to be different when it is from different country!!!

My colleague is a Muslim, she has limited choice in Witbank, but as long as the meat she eat is halal, she does not particular if the cooking utensil has been used to make non-halal food. I'm impress with her flexibility.

The irony is, my Taiwan gang does not eat beef. I don't think they are Buddhism, for it is never a Buddhist thing, and Buddhism does not encourage stubbornness on choice of food, it does not have any commandments like those religions that has God as the central figure. They are more like typical Chinese religion that worships the deities which is more like a blend of Taoism with the appearance of a few Buddhism figure in their rooster. So what happen is, when I was happily indulging myself in any food I am interested in in Taiwan. They were restricted to things that they can eat. They can't even accept it if the soup in steamboat has been used to cooked beef. But luckily one of their Taiwanese friend unknowingly dip a piece of beef in it. After this, I am free to use the soup to cook my beef. Everything is different, of so many food we tried, they only like one. How sad for them.

Funny thing is, despite being 10 years of friend. There are still a lot of behaviour I totally do not know, and need time and patience to cope with. Like my Witbank hater senior, I mentally comment the Taiwan gang that they shouldn't bring along Malaysian mindset on food to Taiwan. But when think about it, didn't I did the same mistake. My friends are good people, but in terms of food and culture, they are not as open or adventurous as the two ladies I went to Witbank with. Maybe I myself are too accustomed with them that I brought my openness and adventurous mindset to Taiwan and forgot that I actually going there with totally different group of people?

Still perhaps the group is too small. Hopefully next year we have a bigger group. The bigger the merrier ma. But then again, it was a great trip. More on that in future entry.

All My Bags Are Pack, I'm Ready To Go...

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:45:00 +0000

Wow...that is fast~!!! Almost unbelievable. It's tomorrow? We gonna leave tomorrow and back to Malaysia!

I'm even more excited. In less than 24 hours after arrive in Malaysia, I'm going to depart to Taiwan!

Funny how things happen. Now I starting to miss South Africa already. Although we live in Witbank, a place that generally agreed by all, even the local to be the most boring town in South Africa, but I'm glad we can still enjoyed our short term stay here. Ultimately, it is not the place, it is the people. Who are we and who we are with actually plays a big part in determining if a trip is a dream or a nightmare.

There's a lot of first time here in SA. First time being out of Asia, first time on a business class flight, first time touching a lion, first time being to a safari, a reserve land where all the wild animals roam and live freely, first time eating springbok, a local cute animal with very cool horn and many more.....

Well, in less than 24 hours we will be in the airport waiting our flight. Can't wait to be back, but I'm sure will miss this wonderful place.

Furniture in Witbank

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:35:00 +0000

In the first two months in BHPB, we, the newcomers, the Colonists (not people living in the colon, ok) have nothing to do in the office. For most of the time, we moonlight as furniture. The most productive thing we do, other than training, is monitoring the traffic in Federal Highway and decide when is the best time to leave to office, or should we go have some coffee for a while to wait for the traffic to recover.

Before even my real work started, I am to change my role and travel 16 hours to South Africa to learn what I need to do for my new role. Well, it may not be the most glamorous place to be for training, but we like it so far.

After more than a month here, today, a day after the payroll run has ended, we end up being furniture again in the aged office in Witbank. And in such a good day, I have a headache. Fuck!

Pictured: Me

Maybe tomorrow, or next Monday, the training will presume and that is bad, for me, as you know, are one hell of a lazy piece of protein (with rather high fat level).

Countdowning now...

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:44:00 +0000

Less then two weeks, then back to Malaysia for a day, and head straight to Taiwan for the long awaited vacation.

The couple returning from UK has returned, and don't know if I will see them first in my one day in Malaysia before departing to Taiwan. Ah, how I miss them. It has almost been a year since I last see them, the dinner in Restoran Boston, if my memory hasn't fail me yet.

Sigh, how time flies. Sometimes, I wonder if it is travelling too fast.

Life here...

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:52:00 +0000

Not even a month here, in Witbank, South Africa I have already get use to it. Rise morning, breakfast with cereals and my choice of eggs and sides.

A short trip to the office, work till lunch, where we will usually buy some pre-cooked or frozen food which we'll reheat in the microwave, and a little chat after lunch.

Then work again until 5, wait for our ride, shower, then maybe a dip in the bath tub, followed by a three course dinner.

After that will be an hour or so on the net, until my thinkpad's battery reaches the critical level, then head back to the room, watch some TV, then sleep.

Curiously enough, I do not miss home much, save for a few things, the people, the food and my little car...Well, still have 20 odd days to go. Seriously, I hardly make countdown to home here. Haha~

A Sunny Day in Belle Done

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:00:00 +0000

From the first day we reached here, on September 17th until now, we hardly stay in the hotel for 24 hours. Whenever there is a local holiday or weekends, we'll try to make use of the time to go out exploring and hang out.

But this Sunday, we decided to stay in, after spending the whole Saturday outside. Frankly speaking, we need to rest a while and this is a perfectly nice place to do that.

This is a sunny Sunday, there's some occasional wind, but overall not windy or cold. The weather is dry here, so even if the sun is burning, unless we stand under the sun, we can hardly sweat.

After a late breakfast and spend the whole morning in the room watching random channel in the TV, I decided to come to the patio and online, and of course, puffing. Belle Done is kind of isolated from the town center, expect of some faint noise from distant vehicle, there's only some birds' chirping accompany me here.

This is nice, and I'm happy that we chose this hotel or more accurately guest house instead of those conventional hotel that lack of human touch. It is time like this that our reality blurs, for we feel like we are on a holiday rather than on a business trip, with an important mission to accomplish in 5 weeks.

Tomorrow will be another start of working week, and it will be a full working week, for there is no holiday. But even in work we feel little pressure, save for a lack of direction, since what we learn here is not exactly what we suppose to do. Well, I mean, they way of doing is different, and we need to learn the smart way, absorbing the core essence, rather than expecting to replicate all that is done here.

Still, a challenge in work is better than just work. For things will be boring if there is no challenge. Right?

South Africa is not for sissy

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:06:00 +0000

"South Africa is not for sissy" said a guy in the SA office.

I guess that is pretty true. But so far, I don't think why a sissy can't survive here. So far, things are good.

Or perhaps we just have the balls of steel...

Haha~!

Dinner in the room

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:50:00 +0000

So, today is Raya, we spend the morning travelling for more than hour from Witbank to Pretoria trying to reach the residence of some officer / advisor in Malaysian embassy. Our transport does not know exactly where the place is,and ultimately we fail to reach on time for Nazlyna to attend the takbir, but nevertheless, we spend some great time there beramah-mesra with some fellow Malaysian there.

The afternoon, we walk around a so call very big mall nearby and had a rather late and heavy lunch, thus we decided to postpone our dinner or maybe have it in our own room. So, when dinner time, this is what delivered to my room. I already know the menu, but do not expect it will look this good (but so far every meal in Belle Done looks good to me)

As usual,a three course meal for dinner, your choice of starter, main course and dessert. As for drinks, I mostly will order the local Castle beer. Not bad, man.

Today's starter is something familiar, vegetable spring role or fried popiah. It does not taste different from those that we can get back in Malaysia. Pretty nice.

My main course is medium beef fillet, with grilled pepper, potato and some local thingy.

Well, another surprise this evening is the beef. I ordered medium, and medium I get. But unlike any steak I had back in Malaysia, this beef is so tender and juicy that I cherish every bite of it.

And the dessert is this quite little strawberry cheese cake. One thing good about the food in Belle Done is, for the dessert, it is never too sweet. Just nice, and the dressing is simple but elegant. Apart from the sour strawberry, this dessert is almost perfect for me!

I wonder why those came here before me complained that the food here sucks. Either they frequent 50 stars place everyday in Malaysia or I'm too kampung or they are just don't know how to appreciate really good food, I don't know. One thing I know, to food here, so far there isn't one big disappointment yet.

Mission to Witbank

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:10:00 +0000

And so the journey begins with a sip of a pre-flight champagne. What awaits us, we have no idea. News from those who went before is not promising. They say it gonna be hell, and thus, in the more than 10 hours flight and transit, where we still close to the touch of civilization, we must utilize all of it.

What this trip will bring me is a new job role, learning things that I never thing I will going to learn, and doing things that I did not plan to do in short term. What bizarre about this situation is, it is just hours after I tell my lead that I am always game for anything new, and that very evening, I got the news. Ha~

If I say I'm not worried at all about this trip, this mission, then I am lying. But thing is, this is just a job, not about life and death. My job now for the next 6 weeks is to learn from the people there, and their job in the next 6 weeks will include teaching me what they got. Strictly business, nothing personal.

With that idea in mind, I am more relax and decided, when work, I give my all. After office hour, I'll enjoy the best. I'll eat the best, and drink the best (as long as it is reasonable) and I definitely won't let the fact that the cultural difference in this country to be a detractor of me having fun. If you are not open to other's culture, then you shouldn't even be a Malaysian. Wahahaha~!

Although Eve can not make it with us, but this two comrades are good enough. Oddly enough, all three of us are analytical and a bit of introvert. But that means we can cope with each other better. Nazlyna is a cute fella, and Annie, a mother of two acts a bit like Ziva in the NCIS series, but still have a good dose of humour in her.

Looking back after we landed on Jo'burg, it is rather surprising, at least for me, that for the past 24 hours, the only thing we have done is all about travelling. Seeing what welcome us is such a beautiful scenery, I feel that, although the knowledge transfer maybe taxing, but at least the none working time will be such an interestingly peaceful vacation.

So the plane has landed, and our mission begins. Wish us luck, my friends~!

Cause I'm Leaving...On A Jet Plane...

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:48:00 +0000

It's final, I'm here in the Cathay Pacific's Lounge, waiting to depart for my first business trip which bizarrely due to unknown fate, have to be South Africa. I always wanted to travel out of Asia, but never know the very first non-Asia country I'll go is South Africa. It's not even in my Top 10 list of country that I must visit some day~!

But still, fate is weird, and G** may be gay.What lies ahead is unknown. I am to get trained on what the guys in Africa is doing so that I can take over their job and they get retrenched. Half a year ago, it was the other way round. How ironic life is, sometimes.

I do hope that I will get a good karma. Last time I treated the Chinese quite well, give them full co-operation, and be supportive. Just that their then boss from kiasu land is a bit of a queer. So, lets hope that I will at least get a similar level of treatment here, but still, I prefer it will be better.

Too bad, team lead is not going in the same trip, I don't have kaki minum here then. When is she coming? Hmmm...