Friendship is like bicycle cards

Engineered to last

Hung out with my brothers today. Cj, Yh and Je. Cj and Je got back from kl a few days ago. And apparently our Mr Kee got out of PLKN sooner than we thought. He had been inside for 3 days only actually. Faked asthma and fled. Oh he got a nice haircut. A very very thorough haircut. He pulled it off just okay.

Ah it's great to finally see them again. So we decided to go to cs for a small reunion. Met up with je at cs. He has gold hair now. Kinda beng-ish. Well he liked it. I would never go with gold. Black is still the new black. Had lunch there and talked about stuff. Feels awesome to share stories, not that I have any interesting ones, other than watching pps all day and baking cakes. Seems that they are having a pretty good life. How nice.

Then watched Shaolin. Uhh it wasn't too bad. Was just okay for me. Bumped into Cj (Chuan Jin), Wa, and Hl. Talked more. Cj showed us some pictures. All I have to say is unless you're emo, punk, gothic, or adam lambert, gangsters wear no eyeliners. You got it wrong bro. And I realise that guys don't really talk about personal things in front of each other. We talk more about things, like movies, school, technology. And sports. And sometimes girls. Nonetheless it was a very enjoyable chat.

Went home. Kee and I decided to find a job together next week. I'm not sure if he's absolutely in on this but I'll figure something out. Split up and that's bye bye for now. I'm looking forward to see you guys soon!

*Bobby Gaga is in INTI. Haha.*

!

MY GOD.

PANIC! AT THE DISCO'S NEW ALBUM "VICES & VIRTUES" WILL BE RELEASED IN MARCH 2011 AND ONE OF THE SONG "THE BALLAD OF MONA LISA" IS ALREADY OUT!!!

As you know probably already know, I am a big-time-major-no-joke-loyal-die-hard fan of Panic! At The Disco since I first heard them. That was in 2006. I Write Sins Not Tragedies came on the radio and immediately I fell in love with their music.

Their last album, Pretty. Odd. was released back in 2008. And now, finally, after 3 long years, their new album is finally ready. I can't explain how excited I am right now. I don't know how much longer do I have to wait for it to arrive in Malaysia. If I have to I'll order it online. I MUST HAVE IT.

Many do not really understand their music. I don't blame anyone for that. Their music isn't for everyone. It all depends on what you want to hear and what you find attractive in music. For me, it's simple. I seek ORIGINALITY. VERSATILITY. INNOVATION. CREATIVITY. SOMETHING NEW AND DIFFERENT.

In my opinion. They have the full package. Their music is definitely original. They write their own songs. And it does not just apply to their songs. Their musical STYLE is rare and original. Unlike anything that I've heard. Even their song titles are super creative. That Green Gentlemen, Nine In The Afternoon, Nails For Breakfast Tacks For Snacks, and their longest one, There's A Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven't Thought Of It Yet. However, my favourite thing about Panic! is their insane versatility. Their daringness to adopt a totally different style to their compositions. To give their band's outlook a 180 degree change.


2005.

A Fever You Can't Sweat Out

This is their first album back in 2005. I Write Sins Not Tragedies, But It's Better If You Do, Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off, The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage and Build God, Then We'll Talk are my favourites from this album. Back then they were more of alternative, punk and rock. They put on eyeliner, had this funky hair doo going on, basically they have the gothic-burlesque-circus-club-cabaret look.

Like this.

There were four

At the time I loved their music though I wasn't crazy about all of their songs. Some were slightly too punk-ish for me. I think they wrote the songs together with their ex-member Brent Wilson before he was replaced by Jon Walker. Oh and their I Write Sins Not Tragedies music video won the Video Of The Year in the VMA 2006. Back then they were all only around 19 to 21 years old. Just a few years older than some of the singers nowadays. Yet has more talent than they ever will have. This song is probably the definition of their first album.

2008.

Pretty. Odd.

Hands down. My favourite album of all the albums I've heard in my life. They took a huge risk of losing their fans by changing their style almost completely. That is why my friends I feel that they are the utmost versatile band other than The Beatles. There wasn't a single trace of Punk rock in this album. It was more folk, country, melodious, still alternative and very, very indie. Hell I think they used the Citar in one of their songs. By the way they took the ! sign off, so it was then Panic At The Disco.

There were still four

Obviously you can see that they look entirely different. Very classical-1800 s'-retro-gentlemen-style. I loved it. Some of the fans did not. Of course they lost a lot of big time fans for changing so drastically. But they stayed true to their music and did what they think is the best. That right there, is why I'm so devoted to their music. They're not influenced by the mainstream music society and write cheesy-cliche-commerciallised songs so that they can be decently popular.

Nine In The Afternoon, Norther Downpour, That Green Gentlemen, Mad As Rabbits. Best songs of the album. Nine In The Afternoon was nominated for Video Of The Year in the VMA 2008. It's easy to see that the video got inspiration from I Am Walrus by The Beatles. Nine In The Afternoon was the hit of the album.





2011.

Vices & Virtues

I have a pretty strong feeling that this album will resemble the first one. A lot. They put the ! sign back on. That was after Ryan and Jon left the band. So it's once again Panic! At The Disco. I saw the preview of the music video for The Ballad Of Mona Lisa yesterday and immediately sensed the similarities between that and the I Write Sins music video. I seriously cannot wait!

And there's two

Jon and Ryan left the band in 2009. Needless to say we are all expecting a change in the style of the music. Since there are now two, we can really see more of their personal styles and ideas. I think this is wonderful. For an artist to express themselves in an honest way. The Young Veins are doing great. Their album, Take A Vacation is phenomenal to me. The songs are very Beatle-ish and 60s'. You can sense the Panic-ness in some of their songs. You also get a taste of the old Panic in the current Panic!'s song, The Ballad of Mona Lisa. Yet, somehow, the songs from the two bands sound nothing alike.





This is not the music video. This is just the song and lyrics. Hm I would say it's very new and clever stuff. But I'm not crazy and flipping out. Not like the time when I first heard Nine In The Afternoon or I Write Sins Not Tragedies. Sounds a bit mainstream. Too pop-rock and less alternative. I think that will gain them a ton of fame. I loved their last song New Perspective. And I'm looking forward to Vices And Virtues. I know that all of the songs will be superb.

Ah I wish they were back together. Panic! At The Disco is great. The Young Veins are great. When they come together, it's just MAGIC. They split not because of feud but creative differences. From my point of view I definitely loved them the most in their second album. I miss their musical chemistry. I miss the Panic with four person. Still, I think it's a healthy thing for both bands. They are now able to maximise their own taste and style in their music. As a fan, I am glad for them.

I AM DAMN EXCITED.


So. If you have not yet heard their songs before. I would urge you to spend a few minutes and listen to the songs above. They are really awesome. Who knows they might be your new favourite band.

*VICES & VIRTUES IS GOING TO BE THE BOMB.*

I love sandwich

Take #129

Another magic video of mine.

It's a contest entry for the skills contest held by youtuber 12OfClubs. Only 3 places this time. But the competition isn't that fierce. About 80 entries I reckon.

Transformer-ish

First and second place prizes will include a DeckONE Industrial Edition deck by Homer Liwag. Honestly I'm not crazy over the design. Looks a bit toy-ish. Though I heard it's quite good.

Idea is to perform an effect which he did a tutorial on. Though we were encouraged to change things a bit and make it our own. Creativity, patter, smoothness and everything are accounted for.

I did his sandwich routine. Which has already been in my repertoire for a few years already. I'm a big fan of card sandwich, as well as bread ones. So it definitely not a new thing to me. I added my sandswitch idea to his routine and tadda!

It took about 3 hours to film and 1 hour to edit. The whole thing was just 2.5 minutes long. I had to get it as close to perfect as possible. So, if I'm lucky enough I might place. If not, nothing changes.

Wish me luck.

*I say Zach will win.*

Khai Xiang bakes another cake

It's true. I just did.

I got up 10 in the morning, which is considered super early for me, and started on my second oreo cheesecake. Last time I overbaked it. However it tasted fine. The responses from my guinea pigs were rather positive. Especially Cui Ling. She seemed to have liked a lot. She'll probably come for seconds this time round.

Okay so I went online to look for some baking tips. How to prevent the cake from cracking, using water baths, bla bla bla. Nothing too useful. I just had one thing in mind. DO NOT OVERBAKE. I followed the standard procedure. Though I started with the batter this time before the oreo base. Not sure why. Not a great idea.

I tried to make the oreo base as powdery as possible. And somehow it seemed thicker than before. I crushed the oreos for the batter less so they were in bigger chunks. Cause last time I felt the cheese itself was slightly too oreo-ish. Um I would say the mixing job was far better last time. Maybe it was because of my sister's help. She has school today.

Oh yea, I did one of the most ingenius thing on earth. I mentioned last time that the baking pan touched the oven rod thing. I figured that could be the reason it overbaked. So I placed two wooden chopsticks to let the pan rest on top thinking that the chopsticks will insulate the pan. I preheat the oven. After a few minutes. I smelled something. Burning. Shit. The chopsticks got barbecued. Ahh it's like uhhhm... okay imagine the chopstick divided into 10 equal sections. It would be totally black and crusty at 3 and 7. Something like that. I wanted to take a picture of my brilliant success but kakak threw them away already.

I repreheat and was more than ready to bake it up. Last time it was 175c for 48 minutes. This time I set it to 160c for just 36 minutes. I waited. *Ding ding ding* Done. I went to have a look. Huh? It's not cooked! AHH! UNDERBAKE! Alright chill. 10 more minutes. I started to think if you bake it at low temperature will it take longer to bake or will it not bake at all. Okay after 10 minutes it looks like this.

On the darkside, it's not overbaked

This time the cake still cracked. I'll work on that some other time. It's no longer that brownish. But the oreo crumbs keep falling out. Guess I didn't press them firm enough before. After chilling to room temperature, it's now in the fridge.

So friends of mine. Remember what I said about my second cake? Yes later I'll be bringing some over to Chentel's and you juniors get to taste them tomorrow morning, provided that she doesn't finish everything by herself. I'll get soonming to try it too. And Vanessa, last time you missed it, so how bout this time?

Right, after this give me some comments please. Thanks.

* I prepared for 1.5 hours before I could bake it, is that too slow?*

* Out of ideas for witty titles *

Orderly messed up

So.

I live a laid back life nowadays. You know, there's a certain period of time in life where you have no life at all. As contradicting as it sounds, that is exactly how my life is right now. A life without a life. Profound. Nonsense.

I'm not sure if this is a good thing, but I'm not too worried about it. I know most of my friends have started their A levels, SAM and all, but meh I gotta study, then work hard to earn a living for the next twenty thirty years. A few months of break for now. Not that big of a deal. I'll add some colours to it don't worry.

People often go "Oh if you rest for too long, you'll get lazy." And I go " .... uhh your point? " So as you can see I'm not a constantly hardworking person. I do work hard sometimes for specific reasons, like exams or assignments etc. Other than that, I'm just a teenager who likes to sit back, enjoy life, and often does odd stuff that makes him happy.

Young people, students in specific, do not understand that we have the luxury of having nothing to worry about, and just relax and have fun. Seriously other than studies, homework, and all that stuff, what else do we really have to fret about? Boyfriend girlfriend? Come on, if you think that relationship problems are messing your life up, please remember that you brought it all to yourself. No one forced you to say yes in the first place. Jump on the bandwagon and go single. Life's easier that way.

As we grow older... oh what the hell I sound like some naggy-wise-old people. Anyways as that happens, we'll have more responsibilities. Life will never be simple then. We have work , family, car, house, pressure, social life, relationships and another million things that I don't even know to worry about. Never will we then have a true moment of nothing-to-do-ah-I'm-so-bored-I'm-going-to-die-rotting. There'll constantly be things to bother us. To keep us frustrated and troubled. We will no longer feel the same relief and freedom like we did after every exam.

We have fun because we have no problems. Adults have fun and get back to their problems. We all know that the fun-ness of the fun is in no way the same. That is why we really have to learn how to enjoy life as youngsters. Not that I'm asking you to waste time playing dota (not that playing dota means wasting time), but to appreciate every millisecond of this teenagehood. We'll lose it sooner than we think.

Here's the worst part. We'll regret it. We'll all look back at our lives and think 'Dang I should've done more crazy things with my friends when I was young. ' By that time, all those things will be out of the questions. So back to now, I guess we all know what we should do. Enjoy life. No regrets. This'll probably be like one of my life resolutions. I wanna be able to enjoy life when I'm older like I do now.

This was meant to be a short update. And look what I've done. Anyway this is something different from my usual posts. So should blog like this more often? Or do you guys dislike this style. Let me know.

*I totally sounded like a cheesy-cliche-corny motivational speaker. Yikes.*

Khai Xiang bakes a cake III

Chillaxin' in the fridge

My alarm woke me up at about 10am. Nowadays there's an 80% chance that I'll let it snooze. Today's different. It's CAKE DAY.

So I went to the kitchen and took the cake out. Oh I wasn't the first to try my cake by the way. My grandma and sister did. Ladies first.

Nom nom nom

My brother was as excited as I was. We each had a slice on our plates. Here goes nothing. Here goes everything. 3. 2. 1. Dig in. I had a bite and...



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( I hate how they always do this for emails that involves wishing for something and then forward it or else someone you love will die or the wish will not come true , all that crap.)
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THANK GOD IT TASTED OKAY.

It was alright. Wasn't too good. Not bad though. Slightly towards the positive side. I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10. Plenty of room for improvement. Sure I did burnt the side of the cake. Still, considering this the first cake I baked, I would say I did fine.

Honestly. Making the cake wasn't hard at all. Actually rather simple. All I needs is a few tries before I can get it just right. Next time, I'll try not to let it overbake. It should not have cracks on top either. And I'll make it look more appetizing. This one looks nothing like a cheese cake.

I'm hoping to make another one soon. I'm going to make another one soon. This is just the first of many.

* Cui Ling was lucky enough to have a taste of it! *

Khai Xiang bakes a cake II

After some rest. I decided to get down to business. Originally I wanted to make a video out of the whole process and make it funny in some ways. Though my sister told me it was a stupid idea. Scratched that.

So I cleared the table and set up my 'apparatus'. This was, esentially, an experiment. My sister was there to help me. She was reading to me the online recipe. I was too lazy to write it down.

Welcome to the 2nd episode of my cook show yay!

Step 1. Smash the oreos.

Crush them into powdered form. As micro-nano-pico-femto as possible. Best if it's like the sands of the Hawaiian beach. Mine was like sands of Port Dickson.

Step 2. Form the base.

Melt 3/4 cup of unsalted butter and mix with the fine oreo crumbs. Spread on baking pan and press firmly. Voila, that's the base. Yea. That simple. Oh that reminds me. I asked the girl 'Hm so is the butter same as the ones that we use everyday?'. She replied 'No, it's unsalted.' -.- Like I didn't know that. And she said it in a cold unsarcastic tone, which made it more sarcastic. Nonetheless thanks for your patience!

So far so good

Step 3. Batter!

3 packages of cream cheese + 3/4 cup of granulated sugar. Beat with electric mixer till creamy. Huh, I don't have one. So I had to mix them with the metal thingy by hand. Then I was watching a youtube video where the guy got everything done within 5 minutes and I'm struggling to stir and mix and beat and blend. Pathetic to the max. And how is creamy like? Whip cream creamy? Mayonnaise creamy? Hair cream creamy? I wasn't sure. So I just kept on going and going. Beat them up for a good 20 minutes.

Handmade cakes are the best

Step 4. Add this add that.

4 eggs that survived + 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract + more oreos. Mix mix mix. The egg definitely gave the batter its creaminess. I don't quite know why they had to put it in one at a time. Used up another roll of oreos. This time it was coarsely crushed. To enhance its cruchiness I guess. Quite tiring. I seriously need to get an electric mixer. Finally. Something decent.

Now that I look at it, eww so yucky

Step 5. What else, bake it lah.

Preheat the oven to 315F. 176.666666666666666666 degree celcius. And just pop it in the oven. I have a small convection oven. Works just the same way. Set the timer to 55 minutes. Well says there in the recipe 50 to 60 minutes. And wait.

There was a minor problem. The baking pan thing had the circle thing in the middle where you can push it up to get the cake out. And the oven has this middle metal cover thing. So when I place the pan on the metal thing, the circle thing stays while the side slides down and touches the iron thing that becomes red and heats up the whole thing. So I called the shop and asked if it would explode or something. She said no. And I proceeded.

Sittin' pretty

Step 5.5 Clean up.

Everyone's 'favourite' part. Oh well. Have to end what I started. It's much better than how I pictured it. You know. Like cheese on my face, especially the nose. Cheese on the wall. I would wear an apron. Hair messed up. Everything everywhere. And when people see it they'll faint at the spot. I should really cut down on the movies.

Kakak to the rescue

Step 6. Take out. Cool. Chill.

So I took it out at about 48 minutes. Oh my god, why the hell is it chris brown. I mean crispy and brown. The recipe lied. It's overbaked. By how much, I don't know. 50 to 60 minutes your head. I left it to cool down to room temperature for about an hour plus. It's now in the fridge. I have an odd feeling about this. Not bad, just odd. Like maybe I would find a coin inside or something. Or maybe it will taste incredible? Or incredible shitty.

This looks nothing like anything.

Step 7. Wait.

It'll be in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Will be ready around midnight. Still. I wanna build up the excitement. So I'll let it stay overnight and have it as breakfast tomorrow morning. If I can resist that is.

If I have diarrhoea (wow I have no idea I can spell that), this cake will be remade on April Fools.
If it tastes okay, an improved-second-comeback-cake will be made and it will be for you guys.
If it tastes great, it'll cost RM5 per piece. Haha. Nah I'm fooling around. We're talking USD here.

We shall see.

Oh random baby cousin!

* I can't wait for tomorrow. You can't wait for part III. *

Khai Xiang bakes a cake

Hey.

So a while ago I was thinking of baking a cheese cake. Just for the of fun it. Cause I'm bored. And I love cheese cakes. I wasn't joking. I looked up a few recipes online and felt that oreo cheese cake was a good start.

Oreo cheese cake, I choose you!

Just today morning I rode a bicycle to Perling Indah, probably the only confectionary shop in Perling. I could drive. I mean my parents are at Thailand, and my mum's car is just sitting there. My mum most probably wouldn't approve of me driving alone so I took a bike anyway.

I got help from a girl whom I knew a few years ago. She went for training as well. Her mum owns the shop and she was helping there. Or working maybe. I literally had no idea what I was looking for. So I just said 'I need whatever that is on this list'. She was patient with me. Granulated sugar, oreos, cream cheese, unsalted butter, baking pan, vanilla extract, eggs, measuring cups and spoons, yea that's about it. Check check check, oh, sour cream. Uhh not selling in Perling Indah. Oh well. I spent a total of RM89. Minus the baking pan and some other baking utilities, the cake itself cost about RM50-RM60.

Then I rode back home carrying all those stuff with me. Good work out I would say. I reached home and... Oh shit, one of the eggs broke. A few cracked. Luckily I bought an extra one so it was just nice. 4 usable eggs. Oh shit, sour cream! I hesitated for a long while and was like 'Ah screw it, I want this cake done by today. So again I biked to look for sour cream.

Searched every possible shop in Kosa. No sour cream. Went to Perling Mall. I kept on saying 'I need sour cream, SOUR CREAM' and the people there kept on taking me to get shower cream. Oh god. Was my pronounciation that bad, or was your english that crappy? Haha guess what, NO SOUR CREAM. I even asked the people in Secret Recipe, the lady boss told me it was hard to get hold of and nowhere that she knew of sold it. Damn. Wild goose chase.

By the time I reached home again. I was very tired. Ahhh I haven't even started on the cake!

* Sour cream doesn't exist in Perling. Like it's some dinosaur fossil. Can you believe that. *

This is not a sonnet

I'm sad because we will no longer be in each other's lives as much as we were.

I'm not sad because it's not as if I won't get to see guys forever.

I'm envious because you people still can meet up often and have fun.
I'm not envious because I have faith in the path of my choice.

I'm looking forward to seeing new faces in the days ahead.
I'm not looking forward to missing the old ones every single day.

I'm happy that you guys are moving on.
I'm unhappy because you all are leaving.

It's sometimes good to be alone.
It's all always bad to be lonely.

The glass is half full.
The glass is half empty.

One thing's for certain.

I will miss you because I love you.

That's more or less how I feel right now. Haha bet you didn't see that coming. This other side of me that takes over once in a blue moon. I know it's kinda funny. Like which teenager would get all emotional about their friends leaving for their studies. It's not like their going to fight World War III and die or something.

I wish I am stronger, so I don't have to crap about all this stuff. Why do I feel so nostalgic? Why am I so sentimental? Is that a good thing? Aren't guys suppose to be all cool about it? Like just a handshake and go 'Good luck bro' and go on with my life? Or is it that everyone feels that same? And that I'm just more vocal about it? Or could it be that I'm the only one making a big deal out of this?

Ah whichever it is. I'll get over this. And I'll definitely update this blog soon. I hate to see this post everytime I log on.

*It's time to move on.*

In my life, I love you more

For those who are going to KL for their studies. All the best. I love you.

And of all the songs that I've heard in my life, this is the one that never fails to make me want to cry. I think of you all, my beloved friends whenever I hear this.

Appreciate the lyrics and the beautiful melody. Realise how much you mean to me.

There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed

Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain

All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall

Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you

And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before

I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before

I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more

*The sun is the only thing that stops me from crying*

这样可以吗?

Today I walked.

Walking is fun. Sometimes. Not when it's in the afternoon. Not when the sun is roasting you. Not when it's from my house to Pizza Hut. Wait, what? Pizza Hut? Yessss!!! All the sweating and walking was worth it.

It's been a while since I have had lunch with the juniors, who are now seniors, who don't look exactly like seniors, but are still essentially seniors anyway. The usual four minus May. Oh special guest, Esther was there too.

I was just enjoying my food and observing what in the world they were doing. Let's see. They got approval from each other for every mouthful of cole slaw that they were about to eat. They pretty much giggled every ten seconds. For whatever reason which I don't quite understand. So it's either the school turned them into kooks. Or that they were like that all along and I only found out today. Ah, at least now I know I'm not the only weirdo.

Oh I got a gift from xh. It's a deck of cards from Taiwan. Pretty cool stuff. I got it out of the box and played with it for a while. The quality of course isn't great but the design is quite extraordinary. Very chinese looking. Haha. The one way back design reminded me of the dragon fanning deck. Thanks. I like it a lot. Have fun with your kaleidoscope by the way.

Good to see all of you. You people made me miss the school days even more. When I get to have lunch with friends after school. Talk crap and just laugh like hell. Teasing and dissing each other. Just time spent together as close friends. You all still have that, so appreciate it and use it wisely!

*海南颠 is for real. I've seen it with my own eyes. Haha. *

Season finale

Wei Qing didn't close her eyes

Event : Jia Min and Wei Qing's birthday picnic
Venue : Danga Bay
Date : 11.1.11
Time : 12.30pm
Attendance : 7 person
Food : Fishballs, nuggets, sandwiches, cakes, fried mash potatoes, junk food, drinks

We took a bus to Danga Bay and walked about ten minutes just to find a circular concrete ground with a circular patch of grass in the middle. That's where we picnicked. I'm very sure that no man in this world has ever picnicked there. So we're the first. Cheers to that. Ahh we should carve our names there or something.

The sun wasn't out. Perfect. We laid out our portable buffet meal on the ground and started off with the cakes. 12 pieces of cake from Secret Recipe of 10 different flavours. What a spread right. Each one of us just took a spoon and started to dig in, literally. Uhh we had oreo cheese, baked oreo cheese, marble cheese, raspberry, hazel nut, chocolate etc.

I bet you went *Gulp* too.

So after the cake session most of us were full so we only had a little of everything else. I ended up bringing back home 17 of my fried mash potato balls. I thought we were going to be ravenous. I thought wrong.

We tried our best

Conclusion : We were the only humans having picnic about ten meters away from the main road in the middle of a solid concrete ground without a mat surrounded by a shallow pond which I'm pretty sure that its water was dirty. BEST PICNIC EVER.

We moved on to cs to watch The Tourist. Starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. Leading actors in the film industry. I thought it was going to be great. It turned out to be fairly good. Minus the fact that I almost fell asleep in the middle of the movie. 7 out of 10. Guess I wasn't too mesmerized by Angelina's looks. Thick lips doesn't work on me.

Outing. For the last time. Took a bus with friends. For the last time. Walked home with jm. For the last time. Walked jm home. For the last time.

Ahh I'll miss you all so badly when you all are gone. =(

* Time to look for a job. *

Nanyang = Hardsheep = Hardship ?

Makes me wanna go to school

Our final stop was Nan Yang Polytechnic. NYP. It's at Yio Chu Kang. We didn't go to Temask Polytechnic because it's way to far. All the way at Tampines. Kind of a bummer, cause I heard TP's open house was very high. Like people cheering and singing welcome to you. Ah well.

I like NYP. Everything looked cool and well organized. Senior Lwe Kai Wen, he was there. We met up with him. He's a student of NYP. Currently taking Food Science and Nutrition. He's doing well. He gave us a simple form to fill in and we got our bags at the counter. A very nice one. And then he brought us to the auditorium.

The auditorium was the place where they had the exhibition for their courses. Of course I took a look at the engineering courses first. The lecturers were there to give us indepth detail of their courses. Which I like a lot. They're very sincere in what they do. And there was a lady, Kallen Chong (I think), who gave me lots of advice in making the right choice and a thorough guide on how to registration procedure works. Thanks! I appreciate it.

Then we saw some stuff from Chemical & Life Sciences. Quite interesting. There was Molecular Biotechnology, Chemical & Green Technology and other courses with very exclusive and sophisticated names. I didn't go to the Business part though. I liked what I saw.

Be jealous

Oh and I spoke to an angmoh. Rafe Sacks. Don't know who to pronounce Rafe. He's from the Info-comm Tech department. CGI animations, design, editing, special effects and stuff. He says it's a fun course to learn and more interesting than business. Haha. Pwned! His starting pay was 30k-40k USD per year. He told us in Singapre it's probably the same. And in a year or two, it can go up to 60k-70k per year. That's what he said. The good thing is that in the future you get to travel a lot to work in different places like New Zealand, San Francisco, California, Australia etc. Haha I asked him about himself. He's married to an Indonesian wife who's in the same industry. Thet travel together. A pretty girl came up to us and explained to us about the course using an iPad. Awesome I know.

We went to the School of Engineering. The block itself. Games were organized. We collected a few badges and even got a customize badge. One of the games was card memorizing. My hands got itchy and I took the chance to show them a card effect. Just a simple DL sequence. They flipped out. Heee. Uh we didn't get to see much of the places cause we didn't really know where to go. We had lunch at the foodcourt. Bla bla bla. Walked around for a bit and went back.

Fancier than a mall's

Sm went back with his dad. I went to Serangoon to check out their new shopping mall. Kai Wen was nice enough to accompany me since he was off duty and had nothing much to do. We went there. It was okay. Not as impressive and big as told by my mum who was told by her colleague. Walk walk walk. Got tired. Bought nothing. Went back to Sembawang. Thanks Kai Wen for the accompany!

While waiting for my mum, bought myself two polo and a T. I lack polo. Then I went home.

See it for yourself.

*So in the end, only SP has no fountain. Haha.*

You're just a pretty face

Ooh... Preeeettayyy

Umm.

So SM and I went to Republic Polytechnic yesterday. We took the MRT to Woodlands. It was still early so we walked around the campus. First impression? Beautiful. It has a shallow-pool-like pool with a fountain in the middle. And the buildings are all very... glassy. The kind of green green glasses you would find in some high profile company office. Very classy.

The outside of the building is even more impressive. Looked very green. Grass, trees, benches. Exactly like a park. Very serene and tranquil. The compound wasn't too big at all. We walked along the road and saw a sports hall. Almost like a stadium. And then there were badminton courts and a few other sports stuff. By far the best developed sports facilities. It had a hostel. Two blocks if I'm not mistaken. Pretty rad.

Take that lakeside!

Inside it looked equally mesmerizing. Beautiful library. Glass-walled. Has the feel of an apartment's show room. Subway. 7-eleven. Big food court. One of which was called South Food Court so I'm guessing they have four of them, or maybe eight, probably not. All in all it does not look like a school at all. I love that about it. Studying in a school that looks like a school just makes things seem more pressurizing don't you think?

So the reason that I described oh-so-wonderfully about the design and outlook of the polytechnic is because that's all there is to it. It's new, so naturally it's bound to be the prettiest. Other than that, there's nothing that I admire about this polytechnic.

The people there aren't very friendly. Not all, but most. I mean I walked up to them looking at their stuff and they didn't even bother to speak to me. They had booths, not like counters, booths. Like the ones you would find in cs selling expensive-and-I-don't-know-why-but-girls-like-to-have-them-anyway-accesories. That left me a bad impression.

The school of engineering had a whole room to themselves. Thank god for that. Or I would probably just leave right away. Inside it showcased robots, model airplanes, and very fascinating 3D technology. They had this simulator where you can control the person in the computer where to look by moving only your head. There was also this special glove that controls the guy to do various hand movements.

Oh yea and the touch screen glass the size of three quarters of a door. It was like a shirt design simulator. You could press on the shirts and colours and drag different pictures onto it. The idea was to choose the shirt you like and look into the glass to see your reflection so it looks like you're wearing the shirt. In the future they hope to further develop this technology so people could try clothes on without actually trying clothes on. There were people there dressed up as movie and game characters. Um basically the tehcnology, arts, and design stuff captivated me. A bit. Other than that nothing too interesting.

One of them was a fat Darth Maul

Then we took part in some 'games', if that's what they call it. So they guy asked us to stand on two rubber mats and hold the metal rod. Okay right then I was fearing that I was going to get electrocuted again like I did in SP. *Refer to SP post* So I was a bit paranoid but the guy held it himself and showed there's nothing suspicious. So I was dumb enough to follow his instructions. We both did. He started to spin the wheel thingy and wanted us to touch the tip of each other's fingers. Yea like ET. Guess what. ZAP! I could see the blue coloured electricity shocking us both. Ouch. Didn't felt great.

Here's the funny part. We saw two RP people playing with that stuff. A fat lady and a guy. They were zapping each other and screaming 'OU! OU! AAHH! AA!! A! OOUU!!' all the way. Haha pretty damn hillarious. Looked painful but exhiliarating.

Basically it's a beautiful place but sad to say there was nothing great about it. Not many courses too. Between what-the-hell-this-sucks-like-shit and oh-my-god-this-rocks-my-world, I would give it a MEH.

Clic for pic

*Oh, the girls are prettier there.*

Cause NAP sounds stupid ?

Looks like one of those wallpapers you downloaded online right =)

Whoo!

Ngee Ann Polytechnic, NP was a different experience! We reached there via bus after visiting SP. It was raining then.

There was a spot where outdoor CCA activities were exhibited. Wushu, Aikido, Taekwondo, Silat, Archery, Basketball, Netball, Golf, and Fencing. We held fencing swords. There were three types, the sabre, the what, and the other what. I think it's the eppe, or eepe. Anyway, it was something new to us. And I asked the Wushu guy, 有血滴子吗? Haha. We tried out some other things and got like 3 badges. Indoors there were more CCA going on. Malay Culture, Indian Culture, Strings, Klavier Ensemble, Army, Dancers , Cheerleaders and a bunch of other stuff.

We made our way to the exhibition hall. It's not really like an open house actually. More like NP's own education fair + CCA exhibition. The hall wasn't too big. Crowded of course. Well decorated. Looked very pleasing. I right away found the engineering booth and threw all my questions at the people there. Oh new course, Engineering Science. Something like partnership with NTU. So yes you do have a good chance of entering NTU upon taking up this course. Of course there's a catch 22. 40 students intake only. So yes I do have to be the crème de la crème to get in. My hopes aren't up.

After the Q & A session, we wandered around the campus. Compared to SP, it has more lush greeneries. There were ponds, small fountains, mini waterfall. Green trees and grass can be seen everywhere. The buildings do look older and greyish. SP looks way modern in that sense. Back to the indoor CCA spot. We watched an ah gua dance. He's like in the middle of the front row of the whole dance crew. And then there was cha cha. Looked professional. I participated in a game and got another badge. I folded a paper crane for the disabled people and got a different badge.

Walked around for a bit. Then my mum fetched all three of us back to home sweet home. I'll be visiting Nan Yang Polytechnic in about 9 hours. Is looking forward to it!

I pressed the 'like' button

Oh my god I just realised that the guy in green is my cousin Khai Dan?!

Same thing, visit my facebook profile for pictures of Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

*Thank you uncle-whom-I-forgot-to-get-your-name for explaining all those stuff on engineering!*

The SPerience

I don't know why they gave me a gaming magazine

Wow!

SP is mad awesome! Ah I'm really excited. Okay I'll keep this as short as possible

Went there via my mum's car with Soon Ming. Met up with Woon Ann there. First impression is 'Wow this place is hella big'. And I was right. How do I put it. Okay, they have a freaking location map for the polytechnic. It is probably the size of 15 smksp. No joke!

By 11am, the crowd was huge. As if there was a concert or some 90% discount sales. There were people everywhere. We got our goodie bags outside the auditorium. There's really a ton of goodies inside. Pictures later.

One of the SP student gave us a tour to look at the final year projects of the engineering students. He's really friendly. We saw very fascinating projects by Aerospace, Info-com, Bioeletric, and Electrical & Electronics engineering students. Of course the students did the explanation and demonstrations. I was really impressed. My favourite one was the shoe whereby you can use it to charge your phone or mp3 (hopefully ipod in the future) while you're walking or running. Neat idea! I survived a 4kV electric shock by the way.

And then we headed to the Spinnovex (I think that's how it's spelled), where projects that received gold award were exhibited.There were a bunch of amazing stuff. Some weird bicycle-car like model, advance sewage filtering system, artworks and sculptures, walking robots, video game invented by the IT students etc etc etc. Oh and do you know that Pokka, yes the drink, were invented by SP students? Haha sick right!

We then had lunch at foodcourt 3. I think there are 5 foodcourts altogether. Everything was cheaper than outside food. Oh they have McD and Starbucks in SP too. After lunch, we continued to explore what I hope to be my future studying premise. We bumped into Qi Yuan, a friend as well as a student of SP. He was to perform street magic for the event. Before this he asked if I wanted to perform as well. Ah too bad I had to visit other polys so I couldn't. Next time maybe?

Hm what else. We saw people playing the drums, 太鼓, like the ones in game arcades. Uh there were people walking and doing stunts on a long rubber strap. Hard to explain. There was a live band. Awesome singing by the way. A beatboxer yes. An impromptu band using homemade musical instruments. I saw some girls dressed in kimono. I don't know what they were doing. Free popcorn and candy floss. We didn't had any.

We headed back to the auditorium and inquired somemore on engineering. The people there are knowledgeable as well as approachable. It felt very welcoming. They had this new course, common engineering. Long story short, it sounds good but actually isn't that great at all. The guy discouraged me to take that course. How honest. That's what I love about them. Their purpose is to help you with making the right choice, not to brainwash you into going into SP.

I learnt a lot. I've acquired a deeper understanding the courses that I might take up. Mainly engineering. We hung around for a while and moved on to Ngee Ann. On to the next post!

Oh wait before that, here are some pictures of the stuff I have gotten. I normally don't do this. But whatever.

Read from left to right. Gotta love this pen.

Awesome bag

They even take care of the student's acne problems, how sweet


Cute right




Custom SP sticky sweet?! For real?!!


We are legacy



Pictures of the polytechnic itself can be found at my facebook profile.

*There was Nescafe inside the goodie bag too. =) *

Sayon_ra

Whee.

Had a farewell outing at Jusco Bukit Indah. Dedicated to those who are going away to study. Altogether there were 12 of us. Quite a crowd right. People only realise the importance of togetherness when they are about to part. Ah humans.

We had lunch at Pizza Hut. Lingered around for a while. Then we bought a kite at Daiso. Yea that was the plan. We were going to fly a kite. Jia En left early so he was not there to join us. We were discussing how to get to the field when we realised it was raining. Ah great.

I'm touched. This picture is exaclty what I feel.

The rain paused and we made our way to a pondok in the fields. Paused? Yea paused. Cause right after we got there it rained again. Heavily. Plan screwed. So we just sat around and waited for the rain to stop. When the rain finally stopped, it was late. We all went home by bus. Nonetheless it was fun. Just like everything else when done with friends. Ah good times.

No one should forget about the camera man

I guess this is it. Our last outing together. Wait no. We're having a birthday picnic for Jia Min and Wei Qing next Tuesday. Hope it turns out well. That, will be it. After you guys are gone, I would have no one to go out with. You all know how I feel. Ah reality sucks.

*Sayonara with a missing 'a'. Incomplete. Why? Because I don't want to say goodbye.*

The post-it post

Yay.

Just got my shipment from Jay aka mismag822 today morning. It's my prize for claiming 9th place in his christmas contest.

All the way from Denver, US.

So I got a blue, a red, and a green bicycle rider back deck. Plus the card where he wrote my youtuber username on and a congratulations note scribbled on a piece of A4 paper.

My handwriting met his match

The blue and red rider backs aren't too exciting. It's the green one that caught my attention. I opened it and wow. Green didn't suck at all. It actually looks kinda nice. It comes with a blank face card and a mini-deck-card. I'll figure something out to use it for.

In the background is my gracefully messy table

Oh and a small surprise. The blue rider back has smaller pips compared to regular USPCC playing cards. Looks just fine. I have not open the red one yet. Should be the same.

So thanks Jay! I'm looking forward to your future youtube contests. =)

*I love mail, parcels, things delivered to me.*

Yawn

School started a few days ago.

It's not longer my business anymore. Feels kinda weird not having to wake up six in the morning and prep myself for school. Feels kinda empty being unable to see my classmates and chit chat. Feels kinda bored just sitting at home doing nothing much. Of course I'm clearly aware of that when I continue my studies, I'll surely miss this period of pure slacking and laziness. So for now, I'ma enjoy my every second of it. Good luck to my juniors!

What else.

Denim blue is smoking hot

Oh, I ordered some stuff online a few days ago and the parcel is already here. Pretty efficient. Let's see.

Silver card clip. Sweet design. Nice quality. Protects the deck. Makes me look more professional perhaps?

Andthensome dvd and Andeverythingelse dvd (beneath Andthensome) by Dan and Dave Buck covering sleights, tricks, flourishes and many other cool stuff. Looking forward to learning new things and improve myself as a cardmen. It's time to get my fingers busy. This'll keep me busy.

Finally, see that humble blue deck sitting there? That's the Smoke and Mirrors v5. Only a few thousands of these are printed worldwide and they were sold out in less than a day I think. I manage to got hold of this one last piece that was selling at RM55. Now it's RM75. V4 was green while v5 is denim blue. Hell it looks great, from the outside that is. I don't plan to open it. I'm waiting for its price to go up up up and then probably sell it online. Same goes for my v4 and v3. Ah, I so very want one for myself. We'll see. Rumours are spreading that v6 is going to red. If it's true. I'ma flip out. By now it's obvious that my favourite colour is red. See? * points at all directions in my blog. *

Side note : V5 is made from recycled paper. Magicians are green. =)

Since I've nothing much to blabber about today, I'll tell you what all the decks that I use have in common. They. Are. Normal. Decks. I'm getting tired of people claiming that the deck is gimmicked, altered, or is different in any way. The only things that are different are its high quality and kickass design. Which is why it cost more than your usual two dollar deck. Not that it's a special deck or anything.

I do own a few gimmicked decks but I almost never use them to perform. By almost I mean less than ten times in my life just so I know how the gimmick works. All the card magic that I perform is entirely sleight of hand based. Techniques. In other words, I could use any deck in the world to perform the effects. Even your few-cards-missing-yellow-crimped-old-chinese-new-year-blackjack-playing deck. I won't like the feel of it but I'd make do.

Yea so start believing in what you see. Appreciate the art. Love magic.

* Intentionally bought fake Jerry's Nuggets the other day. I like them anyway. *

The past is a present for the present

So.

What's 2010 to me?

2010 was an important year. First off, I had my SPM exam, which is the major event of the year. Students of my batch pretty much worked our heads off just to ace this one examination. Very glad that I'm still able to maintain the balance between work and play. Will our hard work pay off? Yet to find out in March.

2010 was an amazing year. I became much closer with my old friends. Knowing that we haven't much time left together. We treasured every moment we shared. I don't want to get into the sad part but I will miss you all. All the best.

2010 was an awesome year. I have made new friends. Some of which are my close friends now. I'm really glad to have known you. It has always been a great pleasure to bond with you all. I might not be able to do so in the days ahead, but we'll definitely keep in touch.

2010 was an inspiring year. I performed for the first time. Magic wise of course. It was good exposure. It showed me how people look at the art of card magic. It taught me how to deal with hacklers, spectators who screw you up intentionally or unintentionally. It made me realise how small I was and how much harder I have to work to do my magic justice.

2010 was an unforgettable year. I learnt how to drive. Of course it's fun. I want to fulfil my promise. Trust me one day I will. I had one of my most memorable birthdays ever. One of the most delicious birthday cakes too. Oreo cheese cake I will devour you again someday.

2010 was a year that will make me smile whenever I look back at it. I took my first step. It changed me a lot. I learnt when to listen to my head and when to just close my eyes and show no fear, to just do it. Of course, it told me not to think that what people think is what I think that they think because I think they know what I think.

2010 was one of the most significant years of my life. If I had to sum it up in one word...

2010 was badass. =)



Now now now.

2011. I know you have a lot in store for me. And I'm ready to take you on. I'll own you like I owned 2010.

* PG18?.... pfft! *

One and only one one one one

Happy 2011 to all. =)

The reason that I didn't write a new year post (reflections, resolutions and all that) is because I've been working on a video project of my own. So I'll leave that to my next post.

Anyways, it's 2011. It's a new year. It's a new start. And I thought why not try something new? So here you go guys, my first card flourish video. For those who haven't heard of the term card flourish or cardistry, let me break it down for you. In the art of playing cards. There are mainly 3 main genre. We have card magic, card cheating skills, and card flourishes. Card flourish is basically.. um... well.... it's like uhh... ah here's wikipedia.

Card flourishes are the magic jargon term for visual displays of skill performed with playing cards designed to show the skill or manual dexterity of a magician. Card flourishes are more akin to juggling than magic, as they are primarily intended to be visually fascinating and to appear difficult to do.

Card flourishes for magicians can be divided into many genres: one-handed cuts, spreads, two-handed cuts, fanning, aerials, and springs. Card flourishes are performed both as part of magic performances and on their own.

The great names in cardistry are mainly Dan and Dave Buck, they pretty much popularise card flourishes, and Virtuoso, world class flourishing team from Singapore. This art form has become so popular in the world of playing cards that it's starting to become a sport on its own. Look up youtube and you can see tons of card flourishing videos featuring crazy cuts, mad skills, totally unbelievable dexterity.

For your information, I'm not a card flourisher. That's why this is something new for me. I have been doing 90% magic and 10% flourishing with cards. So it's not that I know nothing about them, I do know a flourish or two, I just don't specialise in them. The moves I know are extremely limited. And as complicated as they make look, they're just amateur stuff. Though they do require constant practice.

Anyway, I figured it would be challenging for me to make a flourish video based only on what I know. And if anyone who were amazed it would be you guys. If a card flourisher sees this video, he wouldn't be impressed at all. Not one single tiny wee bit. I emphasized on the editing rather than the card skill itself. I do wish that you appreciate my work.

To me, good card flourishing has to fulfil three criteria. Smooth. Clean. Visual. That's what I've been trying to achieve in my video. In my practice of card magic too. I hope I did it right. I call this Eyeris. I actually have a list of names that I will use for my future videos. Iris was one of them, though I changed the spelling to Eyeris hoping that someone would pronounce it as E-ye-ris so I could laugh at him. Haha nah I just thought Eyeris sounds cooler. This 1 minute 20 seconds clip took me about 3 hours to shoot and another 5 hours to edit. I pretty much sacrificed my new year's eve for this, so you better like it!

Haha yea I did throw in a footage of a failed deck twirl. Ah well, it's always fun to have a laugh. And for those out there who doesn't believe that it was me in the video, you can see my face at the very end. Take that skeptics!

Oh the music was Ghostwriter by RJD2. Sick beat right. Told you so that I listen to all kinds of music. I first heard this song in a video of Jordan Lapping's. That was also a card flourish video. Ever since I've been wanting to make a video with that piece. Finally after 3 months, I got to do it. It took serious work to sync every moment of the video with the beat of the music. I had to adjust every frame by milliseconds to achieve perfection. I won't settle for anything less than that. Not that I'm a perfectionist. Just that I know for a fact that it could be done. So why not do it ? =)

*That deck was a birthday present from May. Thanks again! I owe you!*