New familiar JB

Continued from yesterday...
After our late night mamak outing yesterday, everyone decided to go home as Keith and Boon Hou wanted to go back edi. I bunked in at Yong Chen’s place (juz like wat I did everytime our plans lasted till very late at night) coz I couldn’t get thru to my dad and it’s past 12am edi. Felt very tired actually but we ended up online till 4am in the morning. Sigh…I juz couldn’t sleep early, can I? Haha =P

Woke up a little while before 12pm today then had lunch with Yong Chen’s family. My family came to pick me up at round 1.30pm. At this time I really really want to head back home and juz plunk myself on the bed. Too bad, my father had other plans in mind. He said we haven’t check out Danga Bay yet so he decided to bring all of us there. Danga Bay is this area near my secondary school which is currently being developed. It’s somewhere near Pantai Lido, the shore facing Singapore (or Pantai Lido’s in it, not very sure bout that).

Anyway, we walked around Danga Bay, bought something to eat, walked around some more, then head back home. Danga Bay had been in construction since a few years ago, and with part of the plans completed, there’s actually something to do in JB haha ;) (there’s even water-skiing now!) Actually, I’m rather impressed how big-scaled this development plan is. I think the area involved is even bigger than JB city itself, no kidding! They’re gonna build lots of housing area, recreational area and commercial area around Danga Bay. Once it’s completed, I bet I won’t even recognize JB anymore...

Come to think of it, JB changed quite a lot since I last came back. A lot of minor improvements here and there (like new lamp posts, wider roads and stuff) and then there’s Danga Bay. Overall, JB did look a lot nicer...but the familiar features are still there, juz as I liked it to stay the way it is. Traffic’s been worse though, it’s getting harder to see an empty road nowadays. I’m afraid before long, JB will be juz like KL, with all the traffic congestion and things like that =(.

Reached back home at 4pm, nap a little while, ate dinner, and it’s back to the online world. Sigh...I should find something better to do soon...

-5.00am,16 September 2004-
I'm sleeping later n later...

Regrets...

Regrets. Don’t you agree it’s inevitable, that sometimes, somewhere in our lives, there happen things that we wished wouldn’t have happened...or wished that we could have done something about it? After it became just a memory, we wished we could just forget bout it...hide it at the back of our mind so that we won’t recall it again. But that’s where it’ll stay. Regrets will always be at the back of your mind, making you remember...making you regret them all your life. And today, it happened to me again. Don’t know why, but I keep regretting things I have done...or rather, I should have done...

Keith invited us to his house for BBQ…think it’s some kind of farewell party coz he’s flying back to England on Monday. As my parents don’t know where Keith’s house is, I decided to go to Yong Chen’s place first coz Jem’s coming to pick him up later anyway. On the way, me and my family stopped by Skudai Parade for some minor shopping. Just as my father drove the car out onto the main road after our shopping, I noticed a familiar guy walking with an Indian friend. That guy was Sin Qing Sheng (it sounded something like this…). And so I told my parents that was my friend. Then they told me to go to him and chat for a while but I refused. But they kept urging me to talk to him at least for a while but I still did not budge. They seem to be over-enthusiastic about him that my mother even asked them if we could give them a lift. All the while I just kept quiet in the back seat of the car...I didn’t even look at him while my mom called out to him and his friend...

You know why I refused to talk to him? Not because I shouldn’t, or couldn’t. It’s because I was ashamed to see him...

Flashback...
We first knew each other in Form 2. He was in 2F(?) while I was in 2C. You see, both our classes join for Moral lessons. And it so happened that he sat near me so I sort of got to know him. Unfortunately for him, he also sat near to Yohannes and his gang...who are all my friends too. Being the practical joker he is, Yohannes always kacau him all the time...but he bears no ill intentions, mind you. I knew him long enough to swear by that ;). And although the jokes are not exactly appropriate at times, I would just laugh along and hope he doesn’t bore grudges in his heart...

Anyway after Form 2 we rarely see each other anymore. There are times when I saw him along the corridor...but I didn’t say hi. Not even wave. And he never greeted me too. Not because he didn’t want to. But because he couldn’t see me. You see, he’s blind.

That’s why I didn’t go up to him and talk when I saw him outside Skudai Parade today. I was ashamed of myself. Ashamed for shunning him all these years. Ashamed for not being a friend I should have been.

It seems that he and his friend are going to Kulai so we juz went straight to Yong Chen’s place. I realised something though, his friend was guiding him to the bus stop opposite the road to take a bus to Kulai. That’s what a friend should do. That’s how a friend should be. Not like me, didn’t greet him when I saw him just because he couldn’t see me so I thought it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t. Kind of make me realise I’m not a friend to some people as I thought of myself as...

Back to our party…
Then my father drove straight to Yong Chen’s place and dropped me there. I lepaked in Yong Chen’s room playing the computer and confusing Paul by being online at the same time haha. Around 6.30pm, we went to MPH in Leisure Mall to wait for Jem who drove there with Ashok at 7.30pm. Went to Keith’s house (or should I say ‘houses’ hehe…his house is made up of 2 terrace houses joined together) to see Fong Boon Hou (from the same primary and secondary school as some of us) and Leong were there already. Then Ng Ee Von and Irwin came. Spent most of my time trying to finish the beef and prawns they dump on my plate...i was nearly stuffed to death haha =P.

Around 10pm, we were done with eating so we went down to the living room for a while. After Leong went home at bout 11 something, Ee Von suggested we go ‘drink tea’. So Jem and Boon Hou drove the rest of us to Ayub’s coz Keith and Boon Hou wanted to watch football matches. Sat there, drank, chatted and left. I have to thank Keith and Boon Hou here for paying for all our drinks =).
To be continued tomorrow...

Conclusion…
Maybe I wasn’t being a friend enough to some people...though I admit there are some people I rather not be a friend to (I’m not going to name names here). But that incident today really made me feel that I should at least try to be more of a friend. I’ll juz try harder next time...though it’s rather hard to make a complete transition from an extremely quiet and shy guy of the past :-/. Sometimes, I find it hard not to hate myself. I hate myself, not for being the person I am...but the person I am not : a friend.

A friend in need is a friend indeed.
And to Qing Sheng, I’m no friend, indeed.

Blissful holidays...

Typical day of my holiday =)
Ahhh...the bliss of holidays. Juz spent the whole day sleeping today =). What a nice feeling to be home on the bed, with no homework to finish, no exams to study for hehe. My typical day during the holidays is something like this : Wake up at around 1pm, eat lunch, nap till dinnertime, wake up for dinner, watch a bit of TV, spend the whole night online, end the day with sleep at around 4am in the morning and the whole process restarts. I think my lifestyle is called the dusk to dawn life...I’m a nocturnal animal ;). And i'm lovin' it haha.

Anyway yesterday was a break in routine...I watched Dawn of the Dead on my computer. Borrowed the DVD from Ashok the day before. The movie was ok...and now I understand why it will never be shown in Malaysia. More than three quarters of the movie shows a zombie’s head shot by a pistol, blasted by a shotgun, stabbed by some sharp thing, poked by a crowbar, those gory stuff. If Malaysia’s censorship board were to allow this movie to be shown, all that’s left takes less time to watch than reading any one of Irwin’s blog entries haha =P. The gory thing aside, it’s pretty much average...it’ll only appeal to Chuin Hau kind of people haha (oops...shouldn’t offend anymore people now =P).

Then tonight saw Paul online for the first time hehe. I know he’d been online often, judging by the replies he posted in the chatbox, but I’d never seen him online before. So it was quite a surprise to see him on my online list (said I online very late compared to him...izzit? I never realise I online very late =P). Nothing much, juz chatted like how classmates-for-8-months would have chatted I think. Juz wanna note here that you are really amusing Paul haha ;). The way you type your messages is damn cute – don’t get me wrong here, it’s not Afree’s Paul-you-are-so-cute type of cute or Anne’s Brendan-is-so-attractive type of cute haha. It’s juz that everytime I chatted with Paul online, I got the feeling he’s like a child...really. Ok, maybe I shouldn’t go on anymore about this haha. Juz wanna say great to see you online Paul ;). Now, all those nights with only me online alone won’t be so lonely anymore hehe...(i'm an online addict ;). Can't live without internet...)

PS - Been talking too much cock edi...i think i'm drunk. Drunk with excessive sleep =P.

-1.19am,13 September 2004-
My blog is getting quite outdated rite...

Outing in JB with the overseas Johorians...

Football and basketball in the morning...
Jem SMSed me yesterday morning to tell me bout today’s plans. Normally it’s me who asked them to go out and play basketball but this time it seems like Jem got bored first haha =P. Anyway I got to the basketball court at 7.30am, one hour earlier than agreed on coz my father had to work but he won’t let me drive his car alone >=(. So I reached Larkin first and unsurprisingly, it was rather deserted there...which was fine with me coz I dun want anyone laughing at my worse-than-mediocre skills in football and basketball ;). Thrown the basketball around and kicked the football around alone for 40 minutes then I decided to summon upon Yong Chen to come earlier. Then at 8.40am Jem came with Irwin, Keith and Yih Seong. 10 minutes later Ashok came.

And so we split into two teams to play football on the basketball court. Kinda feels like futsal only that there’s a boundary. Me, Jem, Yong Chen and Ashok (he joined us later when our team was down 0-2) vs Yih Seong, Keith and Irwin. Before Ashok came we got thrashed…but we got even with Ashok on our side =). Then we played 3-on-3 basketball...didn’t really keep track of the score. We were juz playing for fun anyway so wat does it matter hehe. Played till 10.30am, everyone went home (I went to Yong Chen’s condo coz my house is too far), bathed and changed clothes, ate chicken rice at Buddy’s Restaurant and off we go to Kingsurf (the best cc in Taman Pelangi...or maybe even JB).

And 5 hours of cybercafe in the evening...
Me, Chua, Yong Chen, Leong and Keith went to cc first while the others had their lunch. Then Ashok, Irwin, and Jem joined us. First we played a few rounds of Counter-strike...with Chua killing all of us all the time. Well, all those time playing online sure pays off hehe. A few dozens of minutes later, Yih Seong and Pat joined us too (we had to shift to the other Kingsurf coz the first one was full already). Before we even get to our coms they were already ready for Warcraft. So we played Warcraft even though Keith, Irwin and Chua didn’t know how to play.

First game was me,Yih Seong, Pat, Leong and Keith on one side and Jem, Yong Chen, Ashok, Chua and Irwin on the other. A few minutes into the game, Irwin’s com hanged so Jem controlled his base. After a very very long time, they decided to attack my second base. Four of us (except Keith...he’s still learning how to play) defended against them then they decided to retreat. So we launch our counter-attack on Yong Chen’s base, with Keith joining in. It’s 5 armies on 4 armies so obviously we whacked their armies. As it was an unfair battle, Pat called for all of us to retreat. Well, we did retreat (Pat even teleported back haha) but Keith didn’t get the order so I think he destroyed everything of Yong Chen’s base (ok…so we destroyed most of it but I remember there’s still a Tree of Life left when me, Pat, Yih Seong and Leong retreated...). As there’s nothing left for Yong Chen, he quitted the game.

After the battle, it’s mostly Yih Seong, Leong and Pat against Jem, Ashok and Chua (I decided not to join in the attacks as it will tilt the scale too much =P and Keith was still figuring out why he can’t train more knights…hint:upkeep). A few battles took place but nobody seems to be winning. Then after like 40 minutes I decided to juz join in and end the game (it’s 5 on 3…the results are too obvious). But when we attacked their bases, they attacked OUR bases and left Yih Seong, Pat and Leong’s bases sparkling clean…juz as we left theirs =P.

After we destroyed all their bases, we still haven’t won the game. Obviously, Jem’s trying to buy some time (hint:hidden bases) while they destroy our remaining bases. So Yih Seong, Pat and Leong went after their armies and got whacked by their aerial units. Then they attacked Keith’s base and Keith went back to defend and got whacked too...leaving my base the last one. In the meantime I was trying to find their last buildings but only managed to find a few small bases but there’s more of them it seems. As they are trying to attack my base (I think only Jem’s army was left), I teleported back to face them head-on. Well, an intact army vs a damaged army...the end will be too clear. Jem tried to cast Tranquility on his army so I decided to juz lunged at his army…which I won and the ending was juz us searching for their last buildings.

Then me, Ashok and Jem played a heroes map, Yih Seong and Pat tried to fight an Insane com, and the others played Counter-strike. Towards the end, all of us (except Pat and Yih Seong who went home early) played Counter-strike. Everyone’s skills haven’t deteriorate a bit I see...Leong, Yong Chen and Ashok are still as good as ever. After the CS game at around 5.30pm, while the rest were deciding which movie to watch, I went home coz my father was waiting outside Yong Chen’s condo already. There’s no nice movie to watch anyway…

Just a little note on the overseas guys...
Irwin and Chua came back to JB from Singapore while Keith came home from England as they got holidays now. It’s been quite some time since I last saw them (I think that was during the last BNO) but they haven’t change a bit hehe. Maybe we didn’t really separate that long for us to notice any difference in each other. Neway it’s great though to hang around with them again...we won’t have so much time for each other anymore after college. All of us will go to different university (most probably) and it’ll be extremely hard to host another outing. I just hope the BNOs we had every year will take place for a few more years at least...

-3.49am, 10 September 2004-

The ride home...

Our not-so-smooth trip home...
Woke up at round 9am...though we’d originally planned to wake up at 8. Well, the alarm I put on my phone did rang but all it did was wake me up juz long enough to off the alarm hehe. Seems like Jem experienced the same thing. Everyone woke up around 9am anyway. But that’s no surprise, considering all of us only slept for like 5 and a half hours. All those hours of cc is starting to get to me...I can’t really think straight the whole morning...

Neway after making sure we didn’t miss a thing to pack home, me, Jem, Ashok (yes, he DID follow us back...though till yesterday he was still not sure whether his father will come up to fetch him back. We kinda expected him to stay in Subang a little longer ;)...), Yih Seong and Leong took the Metro bus to Pudu. Seems like taking bus is much faster and cheaper than lugging our bags all the way to KTM. Thanx Leong and Jem for discovering this much faster route! =) (They found it the last time they went back)

Reached Pudu at bout 10.50am n bought tickets for a 11.15am ride. Last time we bought the bus tickets in Subang a few days before we left for home...but Leong and Jem said juz buy at Pudu can get the much better Konsortuum bus than the Transnasional bus. Well, I can’t agree more ;) (all the Transnasional bus we had sat in always have one problem or another - there’s even one bus with so many flies in it O_o. That was the one we freeze in, Yih Seong...remember? hehe ;) ).The bus took off at 11.40am which was not really delayed. Then juz a few kilometres from the Pudu station, a car started honking beside the bus, telling the driver something. So then we stopped, and it seems like the baggage compartment door was loose and a few bags flew off (the bus was swerving at a rather high speed). Luckily we brought our baggage into the bus with us (Yih Seong was considering whether to put his baggage into the compartment juz before we left...). The worst thing was that we had to stop there and wait for 1 hour before we got transferred into another bus. Sigh...there’s one thing we learnt though : Everytime we travel in a big group, there’s bound to be some problems haha…and it has been proven a few times ;)

After bout 4 hours of bumpy ride, I started to notice the familiar surroundings. Sigh...two months away from home and now I’m back again. Somehow I was supposed to feel more homesick but strangely I missed Subang more than I missed home O_o. Maybe it’s because the thought of living in Subang for another 9 months only made me feel that I ‘should’ miss Subang more...I juz can’t see wat it’ll be like living alone in the future...and not going cc every other day =P. I think I’ll miss all my friends in Subang and JB when I go to university next...I’ll miss them very badly truthfully =/

-2.37am, 9 September 2004-

PM1 Photo-Taking Session"Battle for Anne's Love"

Photo-taking Session at Taylor’s ‘Quadangular (how the hell you spell this?) garden’
Ian Zing got everyone to stay back after the Thinking Skills paper to take photos to be put into the college magazine. Took quite a number of photos but I haven’t seen how do they turn out yet. I’ll get them from Yong Chen once he came back from Subang. (They even made me took picture with my ‘wife’, Anne. I still couldn’t figure out why did I agree to do so ^^”...)

(The following will be all about Warcraft so those who don’t know what Warcraft is, it’s better you skip this entry ;) )
Massive Warcraft Battle a.k.a The Battle For Anne’s Love
So the day we all have been waiting for is finally here. Yih Seong and Pat has named this massive Warcraft battle ‘The Battle for Anne’s Love’ (the reason : apparently every guy in our class is secretly in love with Anne according to herself…and seeing most of the guys in our class is involved in this battle, Pat decided to find Anne’s true lover through this battle lol..). Anyway here’s the teams after lots of adjustment (thanx Jem for all the trouble! =) ):

Team 1 Ashok Kumar Jeremy Gerard Nunis Chow Tze Chow Sanmugam Team 2 Yee Yong Chen Paul Kong Fu-Xiang Leong Jit Sen Lim Zi Yang

Team 3 Siaw Chye Hing Patrick Ho Mun Wai Wong Yih Seong Loo Wen Hoi Team 4 Lum Wy Keen Wilson Low (and another two of Wy Keen’s friends)

Semifinals – My team vs Ashok’s team, Yong Chen’s vs Wy Keen’s
First round was my team vs Ashok’s team. It was a pretty fierce fight, with us attacking the first two times. At first we found Shan’s base so we decided to go for it (Yih Seong was dying to attack haha). Sadly the entrance to his base wasn’t big enough for our whole army so our army was blocked by their army while Shan’s towers just tear us into pieces (Pat found a back door which is unguarded…but we were too engaged in battle to notice it). Then next we targeted Ashok’s base which is just above Shan’s. Our army went through his back door which is relatively unguarded (his front entrance got like more than 10 towers but wat’s new hehe). Unfortunately, we didn’t bring enough anti-air units and they got so many Frost Wyrms so we got slaughtered again.

After that it’s mainly us defending against their attacks all the time till the end. Their first target was Wen Hoi where I teleported into his base and my whole army together with his Demon Hunter were blocked by moon wells all around his Tree of Life. He had to destroy one of them before we managed to get to the enemy. But at least we got there just in time to repel them. Next it’s Pat’s base. And they got lots of Frost Wyrms. Add to that the number of mortar teams Chow has and our whole army couldn’t put up any resistance at all. After the last battle it’s just them steamrolling over our base destroying every single thing (except for a small secondary base which Yih Seong built at the corner of the map. They took quite long to find it hehe...they even thought we used Jem’s tactic : hide the moon wells. Well, I thought of it and wanted to use Hoi’s wisps to build some moon wells but I figure they’ll find it sooner or later so why not juz make things short. Btw it’ll give them higher scores anyway...So sadly, the last defense Yih Seong put up didn’t even last a second...the militia defense kind of didn’t work against frost wyrms and chimaeras ;) ). Frankly, I think we did our best but obviously they were too strong for us. Everyone played well and i must commend them for that. We juz didn’t have the teamwork and tactical expertise of the other team...maybe I was to blame for refusing to think of any plans at all despite Pat’s pestering...Oh well, we’ll juz train harder next time ;)

Finals – Yong Chen’s team vs Ashok’s team
Heard Yong Chen’s team breezed through the semifinals to meet Ashok’s team in the finals. For more info on the finals, check out Yong Chen’s diary or Paul’s diary. In the end the winner turned out to be, not unexpectedly, Ashok’s team! As for the third-fourth placing match, we abandoned it for a round of DoTAA (don’t ask me what they stand for...I only know it’s a heroes map). Me, Wen Hoi, Ashok and an unknown guy vs Wy Keen, Wilson and two other guys. Well, DoTAA is Wy Keen’s friends expertise so we got owned like there’s no tomorrow (especially after Chow left for the Finals match...there’s no hope at all). Juz before we gave up, their heroes’ levels were double ours. Neway, did enjoyed myself a lot today =). Hope someone organize another tournament after AS exams, Semester 2 exams, Semester 3 exams, A2 Trial exams, A2 exams,...I’m thinking too much, rite? =P

After the tournament...
Most of the guys left except me, Jem, Paul and Yong Chen. Actually we had wanted to leave but it was raining so we were 'forced' to stay longer =P. Anyway we played a few heroes map...but the most memorable one is Enfo's Team Survival. Four of us lost very early in the first game so we decided to have another go. The second time we lasted longer (mainly bcoz i wasn't using the useless peon hero anymore...). We had much fun trying very hard to survive hehe. Apparently Paul like this map so much he wanted to go back for more even though our timers told us we had spent 235 minutes in the cc...well, you have to know your limits Paul haha. As if we knew ours =P...

More Warcraft action...
After me, Jem, Paul and Yong Chen spent 235 minutes in cc earlier, the last thing we need is another Warcraft game. 'Unfortunately', later that night, after my dinner with Ashok (*wink wink* haha =P) we came home to a very very desperate Pat (you know, the druggie-that-didn't-get-his-daily-dose kind of look haha). Kept asking us to go cc coz he's very very bored at home but we told him to wait for everyone first. Then Yih Seong came home and he contracted the i-desperately-need-to-go-for-some-Warcraft-action disease from Pat. So i SMSed Paul and asked whether he'll like some Warcraft action later (he and Jem were out for some church activity) coz Pat really looked like he's gonna die if we didn't bring him to cc haha =P. At bout 12am the next morning after Jem came home, Pat, Paul and Yih Seong went to Melur for supper (Paul and Pat was hungry...wat's new haha). Then all of us in 121D (except Ashok...he went downstairs but he found us in cc later) and Paul went to search for somewhere to play. Unsurprisingly, Inferno was full. So was Silver Surfer 1 and Games World nearby. Moreover we couldn't get a place in Globalnet and Warnet. Wow, that's 5 cc with like bout 500 places maxed out. Wonder where all these sad people with no lives came from...but then again, we were juz like them so why am i sounding them =P.

Neway, as we got no other choice, we had to turn one big round back to Silver Surfer 3 which was very near My Place...juz opposite Taylor's (but it's the worst cc there even though it has faster coms than most of us here). Played two Warcraft games where Jem's com hanged. Then we decided to try some heroes maps. One thing to note here is the last heroes map we played...which was Enfo's Team Survival. Me, Paul, Yong Chen and Ashok on one side and the rest on the other. Well, we lasted longer than the other team thanx to Paul's hero! His hero saved me and Yong Chen's asses coz he's the melee one and got every creep to attack him instead of us spellcasters =). Great job Paul!

And so with this we ended our last Warcraft action in Subang at 3.30am in the morning after playing for bout 150 minutes. And we have to wake up early to buy bus tickets at Pudu a few hours later. Sigh...even though we're going back to JB, i'm pretty sure we're going to cc again very soon hehe...

-started 1.27am, 8 September 2004-
-ended 2.37am,8 September 2004-
Phew..finally finished this...

Trials - Biology and Physics papersLast Warcraft Training

Trials - Bio papers and Physics papers
At last, the day we all dread has come. Due to some clever arrangements, we took both our Bio papers and both our Physics papers today. Physics was goddamn hard...the worst subject this time. Found it hard just to understand some of the questions, let alone answer them. On the other hand, Bio was relatively easy, surprisingly. Managed to answer almost all of the questions =) (thanks to my late nights of studying Bio…or maybe it’s juz that Ms Ho didn’t set the papers this time).

Our last Warcraft training before the big match...
As all the ‘major’ papers are over (it really felt like holiday has started hehe =P), someone suggested we go cc today (I think it’s either Pat or Yih Seong...or both). So we waited till Jem came home from his auntie’s house at night before going to the newly opened Warnet at 10.50pm (actually it opened quite some time ago but we’ve never been there coz everytime we go there, there’s only places left in the smoking zone). All of us in 121D + Paul went this time which was supposed to be our last training match. Yong Chen trained with his team while Yih Seong was trained by Jem. That left me, Ashok and Pat so after whacking 3 normal coms, we decided to try out against 1 normal and 2 insane coms (apparently Pat wanted more challenge than the normal coms we beaten haha). Let’s just say it’s a bad idea…very bad idea ;). Played till 1 something in the morning and then we chatted bout Warcraft (this has been our main conversation topic for the past week now...). Before we knew it, it’s 3am. And we got Thinking Skills paper tomorrow. But we don’t really care anyway =P. As I said, our holidays has started...albeit ‘unofficially’ hehe =P

-1.42am, 6 September-