Thank you!

我的生日才刚过了一天。虽然今年的生日不像第一年时搞得热热闹闹，很多人为我庆祝，然后较多的贺卡寄至我宿舍，但是那不是重点。重点是，今年我也很开心，因为我还可以继续收到我好朋友们的真挚祝福。即使是有些平时都没什么机会碰面讲话的朋友，也会通过email, Friendster, Facebook, sms, e-card,或在MSN祝我生日快乐。无论是什么方式，最重要是有诚意。所有有诚意的祝福我都会感觉得到，和深深感动。

首先，我要谢谢婉仪。你提早为我用心制作的精致和充满心意的生日礼物，我无法带上飞机与我飞行伴随着我。我只能将它拍摄下来，然后将它小心翼翼地放在安全的地方。还有你同时为我准备的生日贺卡与里头藏着的小信，我在生日当晚才拆开来看。真的谢谢你，因为太感动了。

我也要谢谢Andy,Dave(近来他比较喜欢我们叫他杰伟),和Tong。因为他们送我这个‘特别’的背包。hhmm... 那书包外形，设计，和素质都看起来很不错。不过，好玩的是那背包上的图形里的文字有点，err...那个。知道顽皮的他们是这样的啦，不过有时背着它出去时怕会被人笑咧！

Take a look at this bag i received from Dave, Andy and Tong:



Then take a closer look....



wahhh...i don't know what it really mean....i don't know/want to translate in Mandarin, please...

还有，谢谢你，嘉惠！你的西班牙牛奶巧克力很好吃。你又知道我好吃巧克力？嘿嘿，我知道那一定是你从上个月的西班牙之旅带回来送给我的。当然，更有份量的是里面的藏着的小信。
别怕明年后我们不能为对方庆祝生日，只要有心，何怕你我在天涯海角，我都会将温情祝福往你寄送！认识你是我在英国念书的其中一大收获，能做你的朋友更是我的福气，记得把握这段得来不易的缘分喔！（你真的是从网上学习做芝士糕的啊？那么厉害？不如也给我那网页吧，看我能不能做得比你更好吃？:P )

谢谢陪我吃生日晚餐(然后陪我玩扑克牌至深夜）的朋友，还有谢谢我的屋友Qi Zhen和Logan (not in the picture)晚上给我的惊喜蛋糕：



(the birthday cake is cute, isn't it? Dave is also...hehe)

Lastly, and not least, i want to thank all my friends who took efforts to wish me happy birthday in many ways. I appreciate it very much, even though it's just friendster message/testimonial, or Facebook wall message. Why? 'coz not everyone did it, but at least you show me that you do sincerely want to wish me. Among many, there are also some who i didn't meet or talk to often. For those my good friends who are still in M'sia who sent me sms, thank you so much -- i can feel the warmness of the sms flying 7000 miles across the continents (pls leave ur name there for me to identify you in the message -- coz the number from m'sia will only be displayed as UK no. most of the time)

Thank you everyone for making me a wonderful birthday. I was and am happy (until now).


B'day card front cover from darling ^_^

My bro & co 's homemade short film : Gotparted

Before my younger brother, Chee How is leaving to US, his secondary schoolmates/friends and him decided (after a 'serious' meeting) to make a holiday project together. (His gang of friends is called 'GotBird' , named after their soccer team formed last time in school) Then they had this idea of making a (parody) movie based on the storyline of 'Internal Affairs / Departed ', and then they explored themselves in this new area. My brother took the role of Wong Sir (Originally by Wong Chow Shang). They shot the movie at various places, including my house too. And i know many of his friends, that's why when my brother told me about this, i'm actually quite looking forward to watch it.

Finally, their movie is finished and made the first premier at one of his friends' house. I was one of the lucky guests to watch it, and had fun. Honestly, for a bunch of guys (yes, the whole movie is without even a female actress) who did it for the first time and spent so little money in the production (just merely RM35++, with almost all the equipments they already have). Later, when they were getting more serious, they even wrote the soundtrack especially for this. 3 songs were written by my brother (all music; lyric and vocal), and his friends (vocals, and lyrics). They went into studio and had their songs recorded (in a full band, formed by the members of the same gang). Also they made side-products such as advertisements and Behind-the-scenes shoots. Many videos are already available on Youtube, and Google video.

I salute.

Here's their friendship site: http://gotbird.blogdrive.com/ which contains the movie and the details/descriptions. You can watch it there.

And all 3 tracks of their soundtrack (in English, Rock/acoustic) can be obtained here.

My family on Sept 24, 2007

This is one of the most recent family photos. I can also call this as a reunion photo. We took this in September, before I go back to UK for my third year of studies. Initially this is my mum's idea to capture this moment when we are still altogether. She is getting a bit emotional when asking us to do this favour.

This photo is valuable, because I don’t think in these few years to come we could come altogether to take this photo, as my younger bro’s away to US to pursue his studies recently, while I will still be in UK for sometime.

Next time, when we have the opportunity to take this photo again, some of us may be different. Maybe my elder is married and have children? Maybe my younger brother won't come back and settle in US? Or i will spend quite sometime also in UK (if i consider to study phD)? My parents will then be/look older than now. Just hard to imagine how the future will change us.

(from left: my dad, my mum, my elder brother - Chee Keong, my younger brother - Chee How, and me)

Club 22

Today, I join Club 22.

Any significance? Every year is different, 'cause we're all growing up, and thinking not the same than it used to be. One year, can make a lot of difference, sometimes even one month or less you could see how a person turns into another (better or worse or unknown) person.

This year, a different situation. First of all, i feel like bearing a bigger responsibility to accomplish my mission of my life in order to move on to another, before i could ever fulfill the bigger meaning of my life. Basically, when you come to this stage of life, your past is somehow shaping your future (although you still have some degrees of freedom), paving the way that you've already made up your mind. Well, in a way, this isn’t bad at all. This is the process of knowing yourself – what you want and who you want to be.

My wishes for this year, could be no more simpler than sailing smoothly on my studies, my relationships. I know I’ll also face the time when I bid farewell to some of my dearest friends during my IC years. Who knows what future will bring? Maybe one day we’ll be meeting again, and we’ll be more different than we are now. Maybe some are changed, and some are not --> that’s your heart, what you believe in, and have faith in. I really believe in friendship and will still give my true heart to treat you as my lifetime friend, as long as you were once in my heart. Good luck, and keep in touch~

On another note, to someone I love. I don’t care how far is the physical distance between 2 continents, because the real distance of relationship isn’t bound by the distance I just mentioned, but the distance measured between hearts. ‘Coz I can feel instantly when you send me your love, like I don’t feel any distance between us. What I know is, time flies, just like I spent the one month each in September and December back home. 6 months will be over very soon, and I’ll be graduating as Bsc. That’s all. ( It seems like I’m more looking forward to future than what I am doing now. However I must remind myself that I can’t have better future without handling well about the present.)

OK. Today’s just the first day of being a club 22 member. I only have a year to find out what’s in store of club 22. Hopefully it’s a good club (year) to stay and full of wonderful memories.

柬埔寨游记

记得在上个月，我与母亲到柬埔寨的吴哥窟去旅行。那是我母亲很想去的地方，却又找不到朋友陪她去的地方。我也觉得，她也应该是时候到那里去了，不然年级再大一些可能就爬不上很多的寺庙了。（当然我也目睹很多老当益壮的阿公阿麽爬上爬下，厉害得很！）

这里，我只想要分享旅程中发生的两件事和我的心得。

买画记

我妈很有兴趣买一幅描绘吴哥窟的油画。在游客区，到处都可见到摊子摆卖油画与其他艺术品和纪念品。当然，我们也看过不少画得很精致细腻的画，只是当时可能不方便购买或我妈还没下定决心。

直到了最后第二天，我们停驻在一间餐厅用餐。享受了还不错的午餐后，在餐厅外面路边有一摊卖画的。那时我们所在的餐厅地点偏离主要的游客区。我与妈看中了其中两幅，然后就在那里讨论应不应该买一幅。那里顾摊的小女孩见到有机可乘，就趁热打铁游说我们购买。她开价30美金。开始时，我认为该画应该值15美金，而我妈却叫我开更低至12美金。我那时想，不会吧？那么大幅的油画（宽长5尺，差不多我妈的高度）才值12美金？再况且那女孩（和她的家族）也只不过是中间人而已，我就斟酌思考那可怜的画家的卖出价。我以为我妈开得太低了。

但是，杀价还是要有功夫。我妈不会说其他的语言除了中文（与方言）。杀价还是由我亲自出马了。那位女孩还会说少少中文单字（用来接触游客和简单沟通的—我亲眼看到很多兜售纪念品的年轻人和孩童可以口操七，八种语言（简单几句）--实在惊讶！）

我出招了。我就依我妈， 从12美金开始喊价。她摇头说不可以，然后说便宜给我卖20美金。我摇头。我再提高1美金，她说不能，说最低是18。她说，该画是好画，是老师亲手画的，不是学生画的。我就与妈再去‘检视’该画。我们就开始‘投诉’他们没有好好照顾该画，一些地方皱了有痕迹，然后还有其他地方尤其是该画的底端有很多沙尘。我妈怕买了这幅画那些痕迹沙尘不能脱，破坏了美感。他们说不会，然后那女孩还真恐怖，拿块湿布就往那画拭擦！我们大叫，说我们还没决定买的。他们说没事，示范给我们那些沙尘是可以去除的。但是那些皱痕却没有办法—虽然也不是说很明显。然后，我们好像决定要走了。那女孩就与家人讨论一下，脸上挂着了无奈与挣扎的表情，才咬紧牙关说13美金也卖！哇，我也被吓到，没想到我妈的眼光比我准。他们把画卷起来，拿条塑胶圈就这样捆住它了。我与妈都觉得不妥，就要求要画套。他们说要加1美金。好啦，这次我很快就让步，最后14美金成交。

过后，我与妈就一直讨论这个话题—到底那个画家卖多少钱？之前13美金都可成交，我想那画家应该只有10美金的收入。非常可怜。我看，如果我给你马币35令吉要你画这么大幅又那么漂亮的画，不会有人理睬我。我觉得那价钱很剥削该画家，但是这不是我们的错。我们也不是不愿意付更多钱给该画家，只是不需要对中间人太客气。若不是地点和他们门可罗雀的关系，他们会给我们割喉价只赚那么区区的3，4美元吗？反观我们的嘟嘟车（德士）司机，包他一天他就稳赚10美金了，成本只是一点的摩托车油。他可以带我们到他相熟的餐馆，本身可享用免费的一餐。我们在观光时，他可以有更多的时间休息，与他的朋友聊天快活。我想，如果我是柬埔寨平民，我宁愿做一个嘟嘟车司机，或导游（一天25美金，讲其他语言的还有额外收获）。

游船记

同一天，我与我妈到闻名遐迩的洞尼萨湖（Tonle Sap Lake）。给了不少钱上船，结果那一小时的航行有点让我们大失所望。我们看到的海上村庄，有点像大马吉胆岛的景象（除了更落后）。那天下午的游客不多，船只更多是闲着在那里。结果他们让我们两人一条船。陪行的除了该船的司机，还有一个小孩。那小孩说他是那司机的儿子。OK。他用还过得去的英语简单地介绍沿途的风景，还有指出他就读的小学。间中他会问我们一些问题，和关心照顾我们乘船的舒适感。

我与妈就觉得这个人的角色很奇怪。我们并没有要求导游啊！还有那孩子平时放学后有时间，怎么不花多一些时间读书或做些更有意义的事情，与其陪不相熟的游客闲聊？当大家不讲话的时候，他就在那里呼噜大睡。

在折返码头的航线，我与妈就好心想要给他一些小东西，包括一支原子笔（因为他是学生嘛！）和一些我们随身携带的零食（小孩嘛! 总喜欢零食的，对吗？）。怎知他接受我们的小礼时，脸色一沉，目无表情很不开心的样子。就奇怪了，我们不明白。

过后，他出声了。他问我们，可不可以给他爸一些贴士？哦，我与妈懂了，原来他要钱。给他爸贴士确实没有这个必要，因为我们已缴交了一笔为数可观的数目给他爸的代理公司了，况且他打工的。我们想，这笔钱其实应该是他要的啦！我妈刚好用完了小钱（美金），又不愿意拿出10美金给他。她就问我有多少小钱。后来我们发现各自只有柬埔寨钱币小钱（4000= 1美元）。我们想，惨了，他一定会不高兴的，说不定他会到处传马来西亚人很孤寒吝啬。看到他那张已失去童真，陷入成人的充满臭铜味的金钱功利世界里，其实也怪可怜的。可能家庭太穷了？还是他爸被公司剥削？真的不懂。

靠岸时，他也一再提醒我们给他爸贴士。顿时我妈才发现她还有一些美金藏在她的暗袋，就决定只拿2美元出来，不管他高兴与否，上岸时就头也不回地‘跑人’。

Haih… 柬埔寨的小孩年纪轻轻就被迫找吃了。他是个我懂的个案，我在那里看到还有其他的孩童，放学后兜售产品给游客。我实在怕了他们死缠烂打的招数—烦死人！看来，柬埔寨的孩童也不怎么开心和幸福。但是，金钱是否就能买到快乐呢？

A decision seemed so right at the beginning...

You can never know what happens in future, nor can you predict it well. I just want to tell an incident which happened to me on the day of flight back to London.

That early morning, i was awaken by my mum. After wash-up, then i ready to go to leave home and go to airport. (I finished packing last night, and damn, i still have few kg space for the first time).

My flight was at 9.40am. Initially my mum said she wanted to bring me to the airport to have my breakfast, and then she and her friend will have their breakfast at Seremban. I came to think about the decision, and suggest another --- cause the food price at airport is at least 3 times higher than other place, thus i asked if she can bring me to a mamak restaurant (tanjung, 24 hours) at SS14 before i departed to airport.

I thought this is the best decision (at that time). Later when i reached airport, i found a long long queue to MAS counter for check-in purpose. When it's my turn, cialat, the computer system was down... i can't check-in and even get my boarding pass for at least 45 mins, standing in front of the counter. Bored at their problem.

Next, the flight is delayed. i was the last few 20 passengers who boarded the plane late. The whole plane was full, and all the rest of the passengers are taking their rest while waiting for the 'latecomers' like me. The aeroplane took off almost an hour behind the schedule. Also because of the weather condition, the plane had to slow down a bit because of the strong wind it experienced. Therefore it's one and a half hour late. Not my fault.

On the plane, i was so sick...sneezing all the way of the journey. Luckily there's a very kind and friendly Irish passenger sitting next to me, taking care of me by offering me some pills and tissues (i used damn a lot).

When i arrived in London, i called straight to my mum and my gf at the airport, telling them i was late and was fine. My mum was aslept and my gf was still waiting for my call before she can sleep. OK. After the immigration control point, the next bad thing happened is, my luggage was not there at the baggage pick-up point!!! omg... then i filed a complain at the service counter, and they reassured me that once they found it, they will deliver to my uk house. The reason it might get lost, i think it's because when the computer system was down, the check-in system also in disorder and confused. I suspect it gets to another plane to China (2 previous flight and one after are all to China).

Haih... so, if i decided to reach KLIA earlier to check in, i'll sure avoid all these problems. I don't have to stand for 45 mins in front of the counter like an idiot, and have plenty of time resting at the plane. My mum and friend can go to Seremban early and not wasting time waiting for me too.
And then i don't need to get that shock of losing my luggage. Luckily it arrived at my door today as promised. This is a good example of a decision made that changes the entire consequence. But who knows? i never regret of the decision i made at that time, cause it sounds more reasonable to have breakfast at Tanjung.