Gemynd - Preacher of Rationalism and Realism

Welcome to Unemployment

2010-06-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

Just got to know my provisional results. Can't believe I got a 2.1 average from the little work that I put in. Found out I was even more lucky that my average was 58.13 and that they bumped my grade up.

It's really crap because right now I don't really feel I deserve it. I look at all the people who worked so bloody hard throughout the year and it's like we're at the same level of achievement at the end of the day, mostly because I got lucky.

Not like it matters anyway. The fact is we're all graduates now, and that just means we're all unemployed at the moment. Yay.

Jamie's Italian - A Taste of What's to Come? Not really.

2010-06-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

I'm a few hours away from my trip to Spain/Italy. My diet ends here, with the meal at Jamie's Italian :P

Note: We didn't bring a camera so these pictures are taken from other sites and stuff so bear with me.

I had the scallop and squid ink linguine (£13.50):

The best seared Brixham scallops with chilli, parsley, white wine and capers

The first thing you'll notice is that this isn't the actual dish :P I couldn't find an actual picture so this is what it looks most like. Except with some chili flakes and capers. And smaller pieces of scallops.

I was told upon ordering that the pasta would be black and was asked if that was okay. Come on, that's just condescending isn't it? :P I wonder which other dumbarse customers would have ordered that and complained about it being black prior to this that made the staff have to 'warn' future guests ordering it that it would be black. It's squid ink, geniuses. It's not gonna be rainbow coloured pasta now is it?

Moving on... It was quite a pleasant dish. Quite light, chili flakes and capers really lifted it. But I'm quite unhappy with the amount of scallops. A huge portion of pasta with little shredded, miserable scraps of scallops strewn around. I ordered the large and the proportion of pasta to scallops was just way off. And they substituted my linguine with angel hair pasta without telling me (which I only noticed a second ago after rechecking the menu and realizing I ordered linguine). Tsk tsk, first the 'black pasta' warning and now subbing my pasta without telling me. Condescending pricks! Just kidding. I'm not that picky. Pasta is pasta :)

Next! Michelle had good old grilled steak (£16.45):

Chargrilled and served pink with grilled flat mushrooms, dressed watercress and flat parsley

Meh. It was really just that. I liked the watercress and parsley because it really balanced the flavours of the steak (which was really plain - but I suppose it was meant to be that way). I'm not impressed, really.

Desserts! Michelle had ultimate chocolate raspberry and amaretto brownie (£4.95):

With bourbon vanilla ice cream

Okay this dessert really kinda pissed me off. The ice cream came really watery like it had been sitting out for quite a while but that's not what pissed me off (the waitress was nice about it and substituted the ice cream for a different one). It's the fact that this brownie was SO DAMN GOOD - IF it wasn't for the berries. Seriously, towards the end the fudgy insides of the brownie had to be scraped off the paper underneath it - the texture was brilliant. It would have been the best brownie I've ever had if it wasn't for the berries spoiling the taste. It was a real waste and that's what I'm pissed off about. But I guess maybe that's just down to preference.

I had tiramisu (of course I fucking did, when do I NOT get tiramisu?) (£4.95):

Classic Italian coffee flavoured trifle with mascarpone and chocolate

I first dipped into the cream cheese on the top and even that was already a treat for me. It went down pretty good as a whole but I'm a classic tiramisu kinda guy and the orange flavour threw me off a bit. I think there was a little bit of Grand Marnier in the tiramisu itself. Once again, probably down to preference, but I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it wasn't for that.

The meal was alright as a whole I suppose. If you think about the prices, it was pretty good. It's probably just that my expectations were a little too high - come on, it's Jamie Oliver! But still, I wouldn't mind returning because of the reasonable price and because the menu's pretty interesting and there's a lot more I want to try out.

Staff were very friendly but they were really busy most of the time - I really can't blame them. The restaurant was packed and it's really annoying how close the tables were to each other. You'd probably have to be a dancer to manoeuver through that restaurant with plates on your arms. Props to the waiters and waitresses, seriously.

Well the bright side to this is I will be in Italy soon and I'm pretty damn sure I won't be disappointed by the food there :)

Loopie-loop

2010-05-26T17:29:00.000-07:00

Everybody on Youtube seems to be making use of editing and looping tracks and it may seem like another one of those annoying 'new things' that kills originality and messes things up but I really disagree.

The good videos show how talented they are and on top having good voices, they display their creativity and make use of their perfect ears to really listen to a song and interpret them in their own style. Amazing stuff...

One of the more popular ones:

Michael Jackson Medley

One of my favourites:

Mr. Sandman

One of the more humorous ones:

Knights of Cydonia

Too many blogs?

2010-05-23T11:27:00.001-07:00

Think again!

http://gemyndfitness.blogspot.com/

Coming soon...

What's Next?

2010-05-17T06:39:00.000-07:00

Finally done with the degree. Wanted to document this moment so I don't forget what it felt like.

I spent most of final year thinking a second-lower average would have been alright and generally had very low expectations. It was only after a certain point that I thought a second-upper would help me with the job hunting especially after I decided to start immediately after graduating.

Anyway, Company law first, was really disappointed because I was very well prepared for it but the questions really took me (and a lot of us) by surprise. Very tough paper. More disappointed because my marks are definitely not going to reflect the effort I put in.

Criminology and International Human Rights were both very surprising. I didn't go in very well prepared, and the questions weren't as straightforward as I thought. Plus, both were essay based papers and I was never really good at those, but I think I did alright. The questions ended up being good for me because they prompted me to put in a lot of my own opinion which is good because that's about all I'm good for. Extra reading is not for me :P

And did my final paper today, International Law. Very disappointed once again because I did work pretty hard at it (despite only working for a few days). I know I could have done better and at this rate I'm having a lot of doubts about how well I did because a lot of it was writing for the sake of writing and trying really hard to score a couple of extra marks by writing. So many sentences. One of them had to be a hit for at least one mark.

Final batch of notes!

They look thick but don't be fooled. It's just 2/3 pages of notes for each subject, re-written like 6-7 times each. My memory is terrible and that's about the only way I can actually memorize things.

Anyway, I know at the end of the day I just need to shut up and be thankful that I managed to get through the exams by working SO LITTLE the entire year, but I'm still greedy and I still do want a 2.1. I think after International my hopes of getting a 2.1 just dwindled and I just need to spend the next few weeks until results accepting the fact that I'm not gonna do that well.

This is a new feeling for me because for every exam I've taken, I've had very low expectations and accordingly, the results don't disappoint. But this time I'm actually hoping to do well, so results may actually be painful for me and FOR ONCE results will actually determine how I feel. For once.

I just finished today and I'm not really happy. I was expecting the last full stop or last word or last statement of my 'studying life' (probably) to be grand and exciting but it just wasn't. No magic. No excitement. I was so nervous coming into the exam hall but it hasn't picked up from there. It's reminiscent of the mooting days in Year 1 where I just couldn't wait for all of it to end but when it did, I just felt like a part of me went missing.

Fuck that. I'll get out of the mood eventually when I start having fun during my holidays. Dad tells me to go out and get pissed but that's the last thing on my mind right now. Maybe I'm just too tired to be enthusiastic about all of this.

But there is one thing I will definitely be enthusiastic about...

Moving from this...

(March 2008. Way before I became health-obsessed. ??kg)

To this...

(September 2009. End of my first ever 'cutting' + 'clean bulking' phase. Psht. Still no abs. 57.8kg)

To this...

(May 2010. End of my first ever bulking phase. 63kg)

Notice I left the chins on the first and third picture to show I still have a massive double-chin :P Whatever, doesn't bother me as long as I'm healthy.

I'm quite happy with my progress so far despite it being so slow. Progress is progress, I won't complain. I was caught up with my other obligations as well. I'd do a lot better if I had all the time in the world to work out and cook for myself :P

Well it's the end of my bulking phase and it is now officially time to throw away the chips and start with the edamame. Throw away the Snickers and start with the 70% cocoa dark chocolates. Throw away the Oreos and start with the blueberries and cranberries. Throw away any sort of sugar drinks and start with the green tea. Sacrifice some weight training for loads of HIIT. Believe it or not, I'm excited as hell :P

Oh and trips around Europe, that's always something!

Chicken, and the future

2010-04-13T05:09:00.000-07:00

Chicken.

Roast.

First attempt at carving.

Done.

Clean-ish carcass. Success!

I'm afraid I've learnt WAY more about cooking than I have about law in my 2 years here. Oh well.

On a completely unrelated note I finally have an answer to the question "What are your plans for the future?" Yay. -ish.

Wallet says no; Palate screams yes!

2010-04-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

Ladurée Macarons - £11 for 6.

Reduced to crumbs in seconds.

Oh well. Raspberry+chocolate FTW :)

Tomorrow

2010-04-07T20:54:00.000-07:00

If there's one thing I'm afraid of, it's my future. It's something so unpredictable to me, which seems obvious enough, but it just seems a lot more so because I haven't found my passion.

Arguably of course, it's a little too early to know what I really want to do and this is really the point at which most people discover themselves - after graduating or any other forms of being 'released' into the world with no defined routes.

I'm passionate about so many things. They make me cry, they make me burn up inside. Music. Food. Health and fitness. Law (at one point). Writing. I love reviewing things - sharing how these things affect my emotions. Then again those things don't point me to a certain direction. I'm just a guy who likes a load of things but can't see a job or profession he would like to stick to for the rest of his life.

It's getting especially tough now because I'm not the only one I'm thinking about. I'm in a pretty serious relationship and my decisions will ultimately affect it. Puts a lot of things into the mix and complicates things a lot. 'Going with the flow' seems a lot more selfish than it was before this, which sucks because that's what I've been doing my whole life. Going to school, finishing secondary education, getting into pre-U because of pressure from previous relationship, going to Reading because that seemed like an easy (in terms of requirements) and convenient option. And now graduating (assuming I actually pass my exams :P).

The pressure is really building on now and it's just getting quite ridiculous. I never knew what I was gonna do in life and I doubt that's gonna change in the near future. But it's good to have some perspective. I've heard some stories today and it just made me shut up and realize that at least I have a place to go home to. I have plenty of options, just none which I'm extremely keen on. At least I'm not buried in debt or being forced into something I don't want.

At least I'm a future law graduate with a supportive family, a girlfriend and a million options. I hope it lasts.

Maze

2010-03-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

Had dinner at Gordon Ramsay's Maze yesterday. T'was a good day :) After reading some reviews about his restaurants, I was expecting a little bit of a more intimidating experience. I've heard in some situations the waiters were stuck-up, the chefs don't take kindly to criticism, etc. But the actual restaurant had a nice, warm atmosphere. Waiters were very friendly and didn't treat us any differently (4 Chinese 21 year-olds kids in a fancy restaurant taken into consideration).

Taken from the website.

Silly cutlery set up that a reviewer was bitching about. I can see what he meant. It's not easy to balance it there at all times. Others at the table didn't have the same problem but maybe that's because I have no fucking class ;)

I've got quite a lot to say about the day in general but I'll spare you the details and jump straight into the food. Note that I went on a sort of double-date so I didn't taste all of the dishes you're about to see.

Bread - always a good indication of how the rest of the food will turn out. Not a big fan of the phallic ones, but the little seeded ones were amazing. Nice and warm, served with a generous slab of (yummy) butter with sea salt. It was a good start :)

‘Fisherman’s pie’ roasted Orkney scallops, bacon, celeriac and samphire

Our first - and probably the best dish of the night. Perfectly seared scallops served alongside some amazing shit that I don't even understand. Suffice to say we enjoyed the hell out of it.

Salcombe crab, brown crab and toast sorbet, sea herbs, pickled black radish, apple vinaigrette

I think this was a fantastic starter because of how light it was. Cold, springy flavours that really complemented the natural sweetness of the crabs. Really defines the word 'appetizer'.

Braised Dedham Vale lamb shoulder, wild garlic risotto, onion powder

I didn't actually have this dish but the person who had it couldn't shut up about how good the risotto was. Was from someone who had risotto a lot at restaurants so I'm guessing it's good :P

Turnip, leek and potato soup, baked potato, salt cod, leek roots and caramelised cipolline

Not mine either but I did have a very tiny bit of the soup. Didn't taste much but it was a little too salty for me. Not impressed.

Cornish red mullet, cuttlefish, garlic purée, rabbit Bolognese

Really sorry about this picture, but we didn't take a lot of photos last night. Too busy drooling over everything. I didn't have any of this either, just showing it off :P

Roasted sea bream, cauliflower and broccoli, mushroom cereal

Didn't have this. Anyway.....

Roasted monkfish Bourguignon, swede, carrots and marrowbone

This was the first time I had monkfish, and I quite like it. It had a pretty 'muscular' feel to it because the texture was sort of in between cod and tender chicken. The monkfish itself was good but I wasn't a big fan of the rest of it, particularly because the Bourguignon sauce was too salty.

Roasted Muntjac deer, pine nut purée, baby beets, oats, seeds and junipe

Something I was looking forward to before coming into the restaurant, having seen their menu online a week before. It didn't disappoint either. Probably the best bit of venison I've had. Make that definitely. Let me just congratulate Michelle here for 1. Having venison (not the first time but she's not a fan of eating deer), 2. For eating meat that was practically bleeding all over the plate, and 3. Enjoying it! Sitting in a dim restaurant where everything looks dark like baby beetroot (and not blood) probably helped that process along :)

Suffolk pork ‘cheek ‘n belly’, spiced pumpkin jam, red cabbage, crispy crackling

Pumpkin jam was a little to sweet, messing up the flavours of the dish a little. The rest of it was decent, and the cheek in particular was beautiful - extremely tender. Mash potatoes that came along with it were very rich and buttery. Really indulgent dish.

Cornish lamb and tongue, salt marsh mutton shepherd’s pie, spring cabbage, mint jelly

A big contender for the 'best dish of the night'. That's a horrible picture, by the way. Classic dish - lamb and mint. Beautifully executed with an added touch - little berries (don't know what berries exactly) that explode the moment your teeth sink into them. I REALLY regret not ordering this dish.

On to desserts!

Lemon meringue, citrus curd, lemon sherbet, basil sorbet

I was particularly impressed by this dish. If you're wondering where the citrus curd is, the lemon meringue is hugging it. Started with lemon meringue and citrus curd for a bit of an indulgent dessert. Moved on to sorbet which had a really strong basil flavour - not for everyone, admittedly. Ended with lemon sherbet which was sour-tastic (!). It was the perfect palate cleanser.

Bitter chocolate délice, honey gelatine, honeycomb ice cream

Talk about indulgence. Chocolate délice was just the most perfect dark chocolate that melts in your mouth. Honeycomb ice cream was to die for. Little, fragile bits of honeycomb that just crumble as you press your tongue against your mouth. Perfect for the sweet-toothed.

Devonshire rice pudding, spiced blackberry jam, clotted cream and blackberry ripple ice cream

Pretty sweet and indulgent dessert as well. Unfortunately, the size of the portion makes it quite impossible to finish alone without getting bored of it. Nice balance of flavours but a little on the heavy side.

Complimentary dessert. I couldn't hear what it was when it was described so I'm just gonna write based on what I tasted. Something with ginger. Some toffee with salt. And some dark chocolate with cherry honeycomb.

Damnit, I wouldn't have ordered dessert (let alone 6 desserts to share between 4) if I knew this was coming. Great stuff, but was too full by the time this arrived.

Damage. Dad, close your eyes now.

There were 4 of us so it was 53 on average per person. We're not gluttons, this is the concept of the restaurant. Tapas-style food where you order loads to try everything. We only had 2.5 dishes each excluding dessert but the waiter recommended we have 4 each. It was really filling though with dessert so it's a good thing we listened less to him and more to our CRYING WALLETS.

Good company, good food. (Horrible picture with no ambience)

T'was a good night :)

Thanks, Gordon ;)

None

2010-02-28T18:59:00.000-08:00

I don't involve myself in a lot of things for one simple reason. The impact isn't worth it, for the amount of effort I put in.

That's been my perception for so long that I even apply it to friends nowadays. I've been very close to a lot of people at many points in my life but have lost contact with pretty much all of them. I'm not blaming them. But I'm not blaming myself either. Why get emotionally affected by something that would not have actual significance to my future?

This is the way I've looked at things after a certain point in my life and that's when I became care-free about...well, just about everything in my life. No matter how down I get because of something SERIOUS, I know to learn to accept it and move on. And when something slightly short of serious happens, I brush it aside.

As a result, I give most people advice along these lines when they turn to me for help. Just forget about it. Think about the times you were embarrassed because you couldn't answer a question in class, or because you didn't do your homework and you were humiliated. Do you even remember any of those situations now? Yet, at that point, it was probably the most important thing to you and you couldn't get over it for days.

I don't know if what I'm saying is getting through to any of you but I just want to say this: Fuck it. Let life take its course and whatever happens, don't let it get in the way of your happiness.

Whether someone did something wrong or right is impossible to tell because we don't know for sure what wrong or right is. Whether someone deserves what they got is not something for us 'mortals' to decide. So let it be. Life is full of people who do the most fucked up things in the world yet succeed over everyone else; as well as great people who have hard lives and die young. Accept it. Life is unfair. Just make sure you live your life to the fullest and don't spend the whole of it whining about how lucky others have been.

If any of you reading this want to know my stance about the drama that's been happening around us for the past year in Reading (especially in the production of M Night), I can tell you this. I quite frankly couldn't give a shit. I don't care who's right or wrong. Some people did messed up things, some people didn't. But who cares? In 5 days this will all be over and half of us will forget about the things that happened. In a few months, I won't see 99% of the people I see here everyday. And for this reason I won't hold grudges against anyone for anything that they have done because it has literally no effect on my future. That's why it's practically impossible to get on my bad side - because I don't have one.

What really remains is that we are in charge of our own lives and we're here to enjoy it and make the best out of it. Single, or poor, or in terrible health, or planning to destroy mankind, or spending your last moments choking on a bottle cap; just do what you feel you've been put on this earth for, and don't let tiny things get in the way of your happiness.

Let It Snow

2010-01-09T15:53:00.000-08:00

Or not.

For those who don't know, I'm in Prague at the moment with a bunch of friends. We were supposed to fly back to Reading tonight. We arrived at the airport 2.5 hours before our flight was supposed to leave and the board didn't mention a gate/counter for check-in. An hour later, we were greeted with 'CANCELLED'.

We were expecting a slight delay for the next flight but it turns out, after lining up and staying at the airport for hours, that the next available flight would be on Thursday (5 days from today).

After all the stress, thinking about how bad it would be to miss the first week of tutorials and how bad it is that we don't have much money and how bad it is that we have to stay here in a random hotel for an extra 5 days, we stopped.

...

And realized we have a 4 star hotel to stay in. We have all our meals provided. We have 5 extra days of 'holidays'. We have credit cards to back us up financially. We have a laptop with internet access so we can all e-mail our tutors to fix the problem with tutorials. We get monetary compensation for going through all of this. Bottom line, we're getting paid to extend our holidays!

So what the hell.

Let it snow :)

PS: I'll make a decent blog post about this trip soon. Some crazy shit has happened that deserve some mention. Until then, thank you easyJet for the extended holiday.

White (Pre-)Christmas (Week)

2009-12-23T08:50:00.000-08:00

Reading is a friggin' ice-skating rink right now. It's raining heavily now and the snow on the ground is slowly melting. It's quite funny to see everyone struggle to just walk 2 steps without falling down. Much fun.

Anyway, long overdue pictures of snow...

Day 1. First time I've ever had to use that ridiculous looking hat.

Creation #1. Ugly Darth-Vader-ish snowman.

Detail!

Creation #2. The 'snowfa' and its creator.

Creation #3. The snowduck and its creator.

Snowduck eggs!

Creation #4. Perfection. The snowdog and its creator.

Amazing what one can do with a butter knife and some snow. And a shitload of time.

#Creation 5. Igloo - under construction (still is!). Just look at how serious we all are. 4 hours of a load of work and that's all we could come up with.

Let me just say it's a load of fun and all that but it's HARD work to make that many things. It's cool that we're so organized and nerdy about building things and not just throwing snowballs around and killing each other.

It's been pretty fun but inconvenient as hell because it's hard to even leave the building for anything else. But it's been good. Lots of activity - football, basketball, snow-related exercises. Been keeping fit, but in different ways (yes, building a snowman is one hell of a full-body workout).

Also been eating loads because I've been trying to bulk. I won't even bother trying to explain. I get hungry every 1 hour or so and I spend most of the day cooking. And then the girlfriend is starting to bake, so:

Chocolate chip!

Peanut butter!

So I've been eating like 20 cookies a day ;)

..just waiting on my whey protein cookies now!

Holidays have been great. But it's about time I get serious and get myself out of the shit I've gotten myself into during Autumn Term by slacking like crazy. Still, I'll be good.

PS: So relieved about the good news. I always knew there was a probability of it going the other way but I never really knew how to deal with it if it happened. Anyway, since it's good news I'm just thankful things are the way they are.

Goal/Strategy Re-evaluation

2009-12-11T09:54:00.000-08:00

I'm about 1/3 through (in terms of time) for the goals I set myself a couple of months ago, which were:

a) To bench press my own weight for 6 reps.

b) To have visible abs.

I have to say I don't think I'm doing very well at this point, but in these couple of months of making more mistakes, I've learnt some ways to ensure I get there eventually.

In terms of benching, it's a bit of a no-brainer. More training, more eating. In terms of training I've learnt that forced reps really help the growth when I hit a performance plateau. And this is one of the reasons I keep bugging people to hit the gym with me especially on chest days :P

In terms of abs, this is gonna be one hell of a problem. I've noticed HIIT working very well for me in terms of fat-burning, so I'm gonna keep at it. But I think ab training once a week wouldn't suffice if I'm serious about reaching my goal. Gonna have to up it to 2 a week, while maintaining my training for other parts of my body, which is hell...

Oh well. My new strategy is that I will start bulking for now, give it about 1.5-2 months of massive bulking. No dietary restrictions, loads of food and even more strength training. When I'm bigger and stronger I'll start cutting until I hit my abs goal, just in time for summer. Should work well. I've always been a believer of being able to bulk while burning fat but I have to admit it is PAINFULLY slow in terms of results. So I'm gonna switch my plan for the next 5 months or so and I hope that will help. Makes a lot of sense anyway that I bulk when it's cold and cut when it gets warmer.

This will probably be a lot tougher to do considering I'm in my final year of studies but...no excuses. As long as my priorities are set I can do well in both fields with no worry. Hopefully.

In terms of motivation I'm slipping slightly, obviously not as enthusiastic as I was when I first started but being on the bodybuilding.com forums really helps. Here's my profile page if you're really bored.

Call it vain or whatever you will; it motivates me and that's all I care about.

PS: All you people who asked me to update my blog cause I haven't in a long time, here you go. A long-ass boring post about the thing I'm most passionate about. Now do you regret asking for an update? :P

PPS: If you have any tips or anything at all to motivate me that would be great :) But if you're one of the people who are gonna tell me to do 500 sit ups a day for abs or 500 reps of a 1kg weight to tone my muscle I suggest you run away before I kill you. Cheers ^_^

3 course meal for £5

2009-12-05T17:07:00.001-08:00

Smoked salmon with cucumber and dill.

5 million points for presentation? I concur.

Roast pork leg, butternut squash drizzled with honey and lemon, cranberry sauce.

Chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream. (No, I don't know what the 'crop' function is for)

A little more emphasis on the awesomeness.

Good stuff.

Diaries of a scrawny Mesomorph?

2009-10-23T18:38:00.001-07:00

According to several tests I've taken online, I'm a mesomorph. I'm too lazy to give any details, google if you want to find out more. Mostly just means I'm a 'good build' which doesn't have problem losing weight, manages calories well and I get broad shoulders without having to exercise. And apparently I put on muscle easily too which we all know is complete bullshit by now ^_^

That was for fun anyway. I'm not gonna follow it religiously. Part of me doesn't believe in classifying human bodies by types.

What's important now is it's time to list new goals since my last set of goals expired. So by June of next year I'm aiming for 3 main things:
1. To be able to bench press 100% or more of my body weight, 6 reps in one set (I'm at 83% now).
2. To have a visible set of abs (I have none whatsoever now).
3. To maintain or improve on everything else - stamina, strength, the works.

I've been doing well on my goals so far, I think, and I've been through that 'weak phase' where I make mistakes, figure out things about my body, diet, etc. and I think it's time to set myself tougher goals like the ones above.

Wish me luck.

~

Edit, 2 days later:

I figure I'm probably gonna have to eat a lot more as well to really get my rewards. Think I might not be eating enough protein. Time to get a little more strict on the calculations.

Have also been surfing bodybuilding.com which is a phenomenal website, whether you actually wanna 'bodybuild' or just get fitter, it's packed full of useful information. And really good forums which I've been addicted to. Here's a good thread:
You know you're a bodybuilder when...

I'm not exactly a bodybuilder nor am I even close to looking like one but I have half the habits everyone else here does, it's pretty funny. Check it out :)

Live High?

2009-10-12T16:06:00.000-07:00

341 days ago, I wrote about how great life was and nothing could even come close to touching my happiness. I kinda miss that.

Listening to that song again made me really nostalgic about how it was back then. To be honest, the way I see it, my life hasn't gone through much of a change since that post. I'm still the same guy, still with the same girl, still studying in the same place and doing the same things I used to do (poker, cooking, whatever my daily routine is).

But I have actually been under a lot of stress. Still though, upon listening to that song again after so long and re-reading my post, I feel like I owe it to myself to find that person again. I need that euphoria again. Not an instantaneous kind like from a jab of morphine (I assume that'll lift my spirits up some) but a lasting one that won't break so easily because it's standing on solid grounds and actual reasons to stay that way.

Well this post is ridiculous because I guess all I'm saying is I want to be that crazy happy fucker again. Isn't that what we all want after all?

I'm gonna make more time for myself. Do the things I like. Just indulge in life a bit. Starting with celebrating the fact that I've been nicotine free for 1 whole year. With a 15km (or hopefully more) jog. Whether it's tomorrow or some time in the next week, I'll make that time for me. I really do owe it to myself.

PS: One of the reasons I'm so stressed out (or one of the pieces of evidence that prove I'm stressed out, depends on how you look at it) is that my lower back has been giving me hell for the past 5 days. Not the usual problem for a 21 year old who has a pretty active lifestyle (10 hours in front of the computer a day aside). I figure it's structural and related to the bone because it doesn't feel like muscle injury. It just sucks because it hurts even when I get up from sitting down. I hope this won't get in the way of anything.

If you'll excuse me I'll go sleep on the floor and sit up straight in lectures for once to correct this ridiculous pain. Sherfield Hall mattresses are crap for back support because they're as soft as unicorn pubic hair. Good night.

The best mouse set-up in the world

2009-09-30T04:26:00.000-07:00

...is one Razer Lachesis, one Razer Sphex and the gel portion of an old mouse pad that is blue-tacked onto the table.

Yes. Get one today for only RM279+RM59+RM(however much the gel portion of a mouse pad+a pack of blue-tack costs).

PS: Thanks Chelle and Dad for contributing to this wonderful piece.

THIS

2009-09-28T09:14:00.001-07:00

IS WHY YOU DON'T BUY TOO MUCH SHIT.

Yes that's my entire room filled with stuff.

Just got all my stuff back from storage and did a little extra shopping today. Looks like I'm gonna take quite a while to unpack this time. Maybe about 3 hours. ^_^

Damnit. I can't even walk to the toilet/out of my room now if I wanted to.

=(

2009-09-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

Chelle and I have been assigned rooms in separate buildings :(

Let the long-distance relationship begin (a whole 30 steps away from each other)! Gotta love how our backgrounds are pretty much the same.

No, I did not feel the need to censor my conversation about me taking a crap.

PS: I did not appreciate how the car died a good 7 times before we got to the airport. But thanks for the lift, JH :P
PPS: My luggage weighed only 15.1kg which must be some kind of record for an international student. And I actually brought shampoo, soap, toothpaste and other such heavy shit.
PPPS: E02 sucks. I want F11 back :(
PPPPS: High speed internet access!
PPPPPS: POKERRRRRRRRRRR.

'New' Beginnings Pt. 5 (END)

2009-09-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

Well I'm an idiot. Got injured in a pretty stupid way and at an extremely unlikely region. Whatever it is, putting pressure on my abdomen in the next about 5 days would worsen my injury so it looks like I'm gonna have to take my break early. It's such a waste, I have 7 days left on my gym membership :( But I have to say I'm REALLY glad that I went with my gut, and skipped gym for the past 2 days because it could really have worsened it. I just didn't think it'd be that serious because it felt like nothing. Good thing I got smart / very lazy.

Anyway, a break was long overdue because I haven't had one in a long while after this crazy regime. I hate how I'm virtually FORCED to do it though. Well, I learnt the hard way. Don't lower weights into your groin. My genitals are fine, though.

Sigh. What a bad end. I'll be back!

'New' Beginnings Pt. 4

2009-08-31T04:03:00.000-07:00

Damn, I'm tired.

Today is the last day of the month and 'Fitness Month' is officially over. I've exercised 20/31 days, which is 1 day short of what I had planned. Either way I averaged about 5 days of exercise per week which only leaves me with 2 days of break a week so this is pretty good. Combined with the fact that I got sick and felt like giving up on life when I did, I'd say I did pretty well.

Performance has gone up quite a bit in terms of both strength and stamina. Just did a 11.11km run yesterday (seemed like a nice number to stop the treadmill at) and it's quite a bit of an improvement from previous runs because my stamina has always been pretty shit. Looking forward to do more of that, and more regularly too. Also started a couple of months ago bench pressing 37.5kg, now I'm up to 45kg, so I'm pretty damn happy with that.

I'm not just gonna stop here. I've got 2 more weeks before my gym membership expires. I'll take a 5-7 day break on the 15th when my membership expires (if my body allows me to take breaks now).

Also planning to make pretty major changes to my diet. I think eating in moderation and the 'eat what you feel like eating but try not to overdo it' diet has worked well but I'm gonna need to improve it further. So fuck your low-fibre simple carbohydrates, and allow me to pile up the salads, meat, fruit, vege and oats.

August was awesome =)

~

Newly discovered exercise of the month!

Best core exercise I've found so far. Combine with medicine ball pikes:

...and you get yourself a kickass core workout. Note those are just pikes, medicine ball pikes can be done either with the medicine ball in your hands or in between your ankles (as is explained at the end of the video).

Wtf.

2009-08-24T22:23:00.000-07:00

I'm bored. Bear with me.

My measurements are...

White = current
Red = ideal
Green = need improvement
Blue = already ideal / better than ideal? wtf?

Neck:
13.2", 14.43", +1.23"

Forearms:
10", 11.31", +1.31"

Bicep:
12.5", 14", +1.5"

Chest:
34.5", 39", +4.5"

Waist:
29", 27.3", -1.7"

Hips:
33", 33.15", I have tiny hips.

Thighs:
21", 20.67", -0.23"

Calves:
13.75", 13.26", My calves are too big? WTF?

Okay this means absolutely nothing.

I need a bigger neck, apparently.
My forearms could stand to get a little bigger.
My biceps need obvious improvement (but less than I thought).
My chest needs MASSIVE improvement.
My waist needs some help. Flabby shit.
My hips are already smaller than ideal? WTF?
My thighs..I don't know? Reduce fat increase muscle?
My calves are...above ideal size? Wtf is going on?

I don't know how accurate these are. Well anyway it's not about the number, it's about whether I can improve. Falalala.

Thriller

2009-08-19T08:26:00.000-07:00

On the 19th of August 2009, 3 friends decided to hike Gunung Angsi in Kuala Pilah. This is the story of those faggots.

We planned to leave by 7.30 a.m. so we can grab some breakfast, drive down to Kuala Pilah and hopefully begin our hike by 9 a.m. We woke up around 7.40 a.m. because we were all so tired and fell asleep so late (especially me, due to some snoring) and waited around a while before we decided we still could make the hike in time.

At this point we're sleep-deprived, late (our biggest concern is that we leave late and would have to hike back down in the dark) and my calves were aching pretty bad from some exercise a couple of days back. But our spirits were high! (And Counterpain helps)

We arrived at 10.30 or so and started getting ready. Counterpain, snacks, drinks, torchlight (singular), etc. We left this point at 10.45.

The stream exactly an hour away from the starting point. Nothing particularly exciting the first half of the trip, except for trivial stuff like...

Aizad sitting down on a rock and his phone dropping out of his pocket, into the water, picking it back up within the next 15 seconds (lucky bastard) and Daniel coming from behind asking, "Why did you wash your phone in there?" Condolences on the phone, but that was hilarious as fuck :P Another thing...

Daniel's shoes threatening to fall apart. Oh well. I just realized there's a leech on the rock right there.

Some scenic shots before we go off.

Lalala.

I'll admit it, we didn't take a lot of pictures on the way up because the hike was pretty killer. The first hour or so was easy as hell but when it started becoming a non-stop uphill climb, we slowed down a lot. In fact, somewhere near the top, after hiking for approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes, we decided it would be smart to turn back if we didn't reach the top within the next 30 minutes.

Fortunately, spirits were high with all the 'I THINK THIS IS IT, LAST STRETCH!' talks, and because of our awesomeness, we reached the top at approximately 1.45 p.m., which was 3 hours after we started. This came as a surprise to us because we estimated it would take about 4 hours to get up and 3.5 hours to get back down (based on Aizad's calculations who hiked here about 4 years ago).

Celebratory 'feet in' picture! Admittedly, we were too lazy to get off our lazy arses.

Look how far we've come!

I'll never forget the feeling of reaching a peak (especially when you feel like you're about to die). It's probably one of the most satisfying feelings in the world.

Some celebratory shots later...

...bear with us...

Also had to give up on some soles.

And we're off! Morale was extremely high for many reasons. We felt great for being able to reach the top and mostly because we were walking down as opposed to walking up (seemingly) the entire day.

See what I mean?

Okay, two accidents happened on the way down.

1. In the spirit of being happy and running downhill, I tripped over a branch, fell, and glided on the slippery ground. At least something stopped me from going further. Another large branch. At my left hip. I got an awesome, huge bruise on my left hip as a result of the massive impact from that fall. Took a short break before continuing.

The second one happened at one of these steep parts with rope.

Poor guy didn't know what was coming.

2. Aizad was going down one of these areas that was particular dangerous, because the rope was probably a little too short. Towards the end of this section, you'll have to let go of the rope and let your legs do the work to secure a safe landing below. I gave tremendous advice, "Hold on to the rope really tight and nothing will happen!"

Which is what he did. Held on to the rope so tight and never let go. When his feet couldn't find anything to latch on anymore, his body lost balance and followed the rope, smashing him into some hard soil on the left, right in the ribs. We took another 5 minute or so break before continuing.

I'll take this opportunity to say he had three cramps throughout the day as well. Counterpain is good =)

And now for a lighthearted moment.

And now for a not-very-lighthearted moment.

I is skurred :(

Well not anymore, I owned the thing.

Right at the end of this hill, it started drizzling. At least it was just a drizzle.

Somewhere along the way we forgot to pack pads with wings. Poor guy. On a serious note though, I've never seen a leech bite with that much blood.

And then here, all of a sudden, all the pictures suddenly stop getting taken. I'll tell you why. We were scared shitless.

We reached a stream we remembered to be roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes away from the entrance, and we were thrilled. We were making great time (in relation to our estimation) and we could definitely make it out by 5 p.m., which again was fantastic considering we left more than an hour late.

We took a short break and went back up into the trail. About 15 seconds up the trail, Aizad (who was all the way in front) suddenly stops, turns back and we instinctively knew what to do. Run like pansy ass faggots. He saw a wild boar headed towards us. There was a pretty loud snort, and then the bushes were rustling, closer and closer towards us. He couldn't estimate the size of the boar because he could only see brown patches between bushes, headed towards us. Daniel also heard the snort, but I was too far behind to catch anything.

We took a while to calm ourselves down but we were clearly still panicked. This might have been added by the fact that earlier in the hike, we were talking about how a rubber tapper was killed by a wild boar pretty recently in Negeri Sembilan, the same damn state we were in. Aizad suggested a route through the stream. We were hiking against the flow of the river when we were going up, so we followed the stream this time.

25 minutes down the stream, with water up to our waists, and risk of snakes and other water creatures such as Nessy, we thought it might not be a great idea to continue anymore. Anyone who has gone hiking at least once can tell you that everything looks the same after a while and we were afraid even if we were in the right direction, we wouldn't know how to turn back into the jungle trail. We didn't wanna risk getting lost on top of being tired and scared as fuck, so we just turned back and walked back up against the stream.

We were at the same spot again (seriously thank fuck for the markers other people left, i.e. the red string tied around the tree) and we took a while before we started again. On the way back up from the stream, we managed to get large logs and Daniel had a pen knife out. We didn't know what the attack plan was exactly but if the boar was still around, we'd just stop so we don't startle it. If and only if it charges at us, we'd have to start poking.

Fortunately, nothing much happened after, and we reached the stream and resting area one hour away from the entrance.

The exact formation we were in, walking slow as fuck.

Of course the experience didn't deter us from being the camwhores that we are.

We dumped the logs and pretty much speedwalked the entire way back, finishing the route in 50 minutes instead of an hour like we took coming in. We were followed by monkeys on the way back, but no problems there because they didn't do much to us aside from make a shitload of noise way up high in the trees.

We made it out at about 6.30 p.m., before it got all dark. Total time of under 8 hours, including that little stream tour that we took and that extra time it took to carry those heavy-ass logs.

No prizes for guessing who dumped their shoes the moment they got out.

Looking back at it, I can see how this story isn't as impressive as we thought it'd be. It was just a slight encounter and it wasn't even like the boar caught up to us. But during that point when we were hiking through the stream, it crossed all our minds at least once that things might not go so well at that point. Added by the fact that we were the ONLY 3 PEOPLE who hiked that route the entire damn day. Nobody would even know if we had to spend a night there or something.

I took 2 showers, ate 3 plates of pasta, washed my shoes, got rid of the sand, washed the mud off my bag, soaked my clothes, ate loads of ribs, drank a protein shake and loads of water, chilled around for a couple of hours and I still can't believe I'm out of that jungle.

That entire night I tried so hard to close my eyes WITHOUT imagining branches, trees, leeches, and all that shit around me despite of how crazy tired I was. In a sense I guess a part of me still couldn't believe I was out of that place because we spent the whole day in there and it just felt surreal.

Call me dramatic if you want but if you were ever in a situation like that, let me know :P

'New' Beginnings Pt. 3

2009-08-16T07:42:00.000-07:00

I really thought getting sick would just ruin everything, but it really didn't :) I managed to stay quite healthy even though I was sick by sleeping loads, drinking loads and eating loads (vitamins, food, etc.)

Managed to run a (pathetic) 5.5km on the third day I was sick and well from then on, picked myself back up to continue with my plan.

What I've learnt this week:
Keep exercises and workouts fresh and surprise your body with new things. How I learnt it: It's been 2 full days since I've played futsal and my body is still aching horribly...in a good way :) (haven't played futsal in about 10 months)

Gonna start making a list of new things to do to keep myself healthy now. No more routines for me!

PS: I'm lagging behind now, I've worked out 10 days out of the 16 days in August so far. Need to speed things up to catch up.

Boom.

2009-08-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

Forget introductions.

WATCH THIS SHOW.

It's like boom. Then BOOM! And you're like "wow, that was cool". But it doesn't stop there! It goes pkaw pkaw pow rat tat tat tat pewwwwww BAM.

Easily replaceable movie in terms of storyline. Not an easily replaceable movie in terms of action, graphics and sounds. Absolutely amazing. Watch this in a bloody cinema, and have your motion-sickness pills ready.

But if you're not into that kinda mindless action thing then forget about it =)

Bonus: Decently hot girls. Extremely hot guys. I'm just being honest/objective.

~

Cheras Leisure Mall has easily the best popcorn I've ever had in my life.

'New' Beginnings Pt. 2

2009-08-06T04:41:00.000-07:00

Cross 1,2,3,5,6 off. Week 1 is over.

It feels good but I'm constantly tired and it's getting old. I hate feeling sleepy at 8 p.m. This would all be fine if I had something to do, too.

Oh well. At least I'm getting somewhere. 2 things I learnt in two separate occasions, but through similar events (dropping a 40kg barbell on myself):

1. Slow-release carbohydrates take time to digest. Don't rush to the gym before your body has fully processed the food, else you'll have no energy.
2. Don't do 1.5 hours of upper body training and do a 'last set of bench presses' because that will result in pain. Which it did.

The second time was terrible because nobody helped me when the bar dropped on me, so I had to tip the bar to one side, drop the weight off and do the same for the other side. Push the barbell off me and I'm good!

Bah, I'm weak.

'New' Beginnings Pt. 1

2009-07-31T11:16:00.000-07:00

As promised to myself by myself about a month ago, August will be fitness month. Like I haven't been training enough, I'm gonna push myself to the limits.

This is more for a personal reminder, but if you're interested, I'll be working out on:
1,2,3,5,6,8,9,11,12,13,15,16,18,19,20,23,24,26,27,29,30 of August.

Sigh. Wish me luck. Planned a little circuit exercise and some breaks in between so I don't overwork myself.

It's the 1st of August and I'm ready =)

Pewpew with my Reviewview (Pt. 2)

2009-07-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

This is the part where I review a game. If you're not interested, scroll down and read about the food part of the review. If you're not interested, have some horse excrement.

Every once in a while I go through the interwebs to look for games to get hooked onto. Which is why I keep going back to MUD, Diablo II, a wide range of browser games, WoW on private servers, and some really crap free online games. Most of the time I play those for a while and get really disappointed, especially crap free online games because let's face it, most MMO/MMORPGS that are good at least charge some money for it.

I was in trouble this time because time has caught up to my laptop and several games I've tried keep crashing and well some of them I don't even bother trying because the system requirements are far too high. So I needed to try free games, and went game searching on the net and played about 7 games at once, one afternoon. I downloaded some, played some on the browser and finally got something that didn't suck absolute donkey balls.

Wind Slayer

Here's a screenie.

Before you start loading up the car with explosives and driving to my house to blow my face up into pieces, hear me out. It looks bad and cartoonish, but it's pretty awesome.

First of all, it suited everything I needed. An MMO game. Low system requirements. Free to download and play. Everything just worked. As an added bonus, awesome PvP! Let's break this down a little.

In terms of graphics, it's about the best you can ever get at such low requirements. I think the recommended amount of RAM for this game is about 300MB. Who the hell even has that little RAM nowadays? I've got no problem anyway, graphics were never very important to me. And I'm serious when I say this because I play games with bad graphics and even games with no graphics.

In terms of gameplay, it's pretty standard. You do get the quest + mob grinding kinda thing, but there are a number of things that soften the blow. Firstly, the party system is great because the more members you have, the more exp you gain regardless of their levels. Secondly, the exp rate of this game is pretty high compared to most MMO games I've played and it doesn't take very long to progress.

As for PvP, I think it's a pretty good system. There's an arena you can get into at any time during the game, which is a separate room. It has two brackets, one for Novices and another for everyone else. Novices are the default characters who start with no defined class, so all they do is jump around and hit each other with a sword. The other bracket is for the ones who have picked their classes, so there's a lot more to it.

The absolute best part about the PvP on this game is that while you're in arena, you're set to a certain level and all your attacks do a standard amount of damage. No amount of levels or equipment you've gotten from grinding like a retard can help you. It all boils down to skill. The people at higher levels do get the advantage of having more spells but that won't help much if you suck at life, would it? There's a reward system for PvP-ing as well, to accumulate points which are crucial to progress throughout the game. Oh noes this will scare the PvE carebears away!

So far, in general, it's been a pretty good game. Try it out if you have loads of time to kill, and let me know what you think. Overall I'd give it a 7.2/10 for an unbiased opinion. For a completely biased opinion because it suits my laptop's specs and because it's free and available for download online, 10/10. Wheee.

Pewpew with my Reviewview (Pt. 1)

2009-07-30T09:41:00.000-07:00

Looong overdue post. Got a few things to talk about/review:

1. Char kuey teow at Lorong Selamat, Penang.

The most expensive one you can get from a hawker stall, RM6.50 for a tiny plate like this.

Feel the grease!

Okay, I'll admit it was the best char kuey teow I've had in my life (which is pretty exciting). But my parents ordered as well and it really pissed me off that theirs was burnt and pretty crap. You'd think to justify charging RM6.50 a plate IN PENANG, there'd be some kind of quality control. But oh well. My plate was fine so I was happy ^_^. Nah, just kidding. I probably won't ever go there again. I don't agree with them charging so much and serving crap food occasionally.

Google if you haven't heard of it. Really, really well-known place.

2. Tenji Japanese Buffet Restaurant at Solaris Mont Kiara.

It was 9.30 p.m. We were greeted by this queue. We had reservations. So did they. I thought it HAD to be good!

Let me start off straight by saying THIS PLACE IS BAD. I wasn't willing to say anything much at the dinner table because I was treated by Chelle's parents and it wouldn't be very polite but I had so much pent-up criticism that I still feel like commenting on it today. It was 7 days ago.

Price - Hmm - This would totally depend on the quality of the food. It was a little under RM60 per person and that was the promotional price. The normal price is RM100. RM100 for a buffet is pretty crazy so it HAD to be good! Right?!

Atmosphere - Okay - Decent design and view, but hot as hell. Packed with people. Noisy.

Service - Crap! - It was okay at the beginning but after a while it took so long for them to refill on plates and stuff that I had to clean my old plates off to put more food on them. Meh.

FOOD - Shitty as the oldest toilet bowl in the world - It was fusion and Japanese food. Naturally, it was a Japanese buffet, so I started with Japanese food. Decent salmon sashimi, which was the first thing I had. Everything from then on sucked so hard. The sushi, the tempura, the rice, noodles, lamb, beef, anything you can think of.

But I'll be fair. I'll give you a few good things about the place. Coconut. Roast duck. Peanut cookies. Soba. Grilled beef skewers.

Yup, so if you're willing to pay RM60 for that and have to line up for your table, go right ahead! Please don't be curious and go just to see how bad it is. Just save yourself some money and have 12 plates of chicken rice with that money. Stay away from this place!

Random shot, from outside the restaurant.

3. Travels in Johor and Malacca.

Had a great time with Chelle and her family. I'll skip the details. Let's talk about food!

I regret not taking pictures of the wan tan mee we had there in Batu Pahat because it was really one of the best I've had. It was weird because it was swimming in a weird chili-based sauce and looked a little wet and soggy. I was expecting to be disgusted but damn, it actually went well. I'm not gonna say much because I have no information about the whereabouts of this place nor do I have pictures, so let's just say it was good and leave it at that. Worst review ever!

Here are some pictures I DO have! Durian cendol (half-eaten), in Malacca.

It's sad because when we're here we're forced to go to Jonker Street which is about the most touristy place I've been to in a long time. I'm pretty sure you don't get the best food in Malacca here. But it was convenient, and it was impossible to get lost here, so it was our best choice. Oh and durian cendol is awesome :). But it's exactly what it sounds like, so I can't say anything more than that. Cendol with some durian on it. Woot.

Ais kacang (also half-eaten). Nothing special. Just wanna show you what a pig I am.

Curry laksa. Yep, I'm a fat fuck. Deal with it.

Asam laksa. Mmm, fat jokes ringing in my ears.

~

That ends the food section of this review :) Allow me to finish with pictures of a very skinny dog.

Help me I'm caged =(

Mmm, camera.

I ruff roo food pls?

Have a good day =)

Death

2009-07-28T14:13:00.000-07:00

I started thinking about death since I was about 6. I had a dim light in the room, and I started having difficulties sleeping when I was 8 or so. I'd stare at the orange light for hours before sleeping, thinking about everything. But the biggest thing that was on my mind was death. What happens to dead people?

I was more inclined to believe that dead people would just disappear. And then I thought, what does that mean? What happens to me when I die? Nothing. But what about the thoughts I'm thinking right now? Would I still be able to think them? Chances are, nope. I didn't believe it. I believed all the thoughts we've had, every single emotion we felt didn't matter when we died because it would all just disappear.

I still believe it today. Despite of being a part of two different religions (at separate points in my life), I just stopped believing all of it and just went back to that kid I was when I was 6.

Today it is 5.18 a.m., I am 20 years old, and I am still having trouble falling asleep because I'm too busy being worried about what would happen to me if I died. I'm not really afraid of death - curious would be a better word to explain it.

I'm happy and I love my life. But I'm getting pretty sick and tired of going to bed thinking about just what the hell I'm doing continuing to live when I can just solve all curiosity and end it all now - so I can get the answers to all my questions. And if I was right, that nothing mattered at the end of the day, I'd save myself a good 50 years or so of time before I died of a natural cause or something.

PS: I'm fine. Don't worry. I just needed to express myself. Don't share religion with me after reading this post. I simply can't believe in any of it.

Daft Punk

2009-07-21T11:07:00.000-07:00

I'm a human fueled by progress.

I secretly kinda like watching loading/download bars go from 0% to 100% sometimes.
I love making charts and graphs to keep track of something I get into just to monitor progress.
I love RPGs with an endless stream of gaining experience points and getting stronger.

I look at middle-aged people in the gym or jogging on the streets and I really hope I'll be like that when I grow up. Still persistent, still in proper shape.

I've been working much harder than I used to and have been progressing, which just drives me to work harder and harder. My only concern is that one day, my performance might stop improving much and I might lose it all again.

Now, more than anything, my focus is on this aspect of life. You could even say I'm obsessed. I'm prepared to keep going for now.

Harder
Better
Faster
Stronger

Roll a dice

2009-07-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

Just had a few rounds of Mahjong (and money-making, naturally), and it really got me thinking again about how little things affect everything. The shuffling, changes everything. The stacking of tiles, changes everything. The roll of a dice, to see where the tiles are taken from, changes everything. Every single person's move from then on and what tiles they decide to keep and which they decide to discard, changes everything. Every mistake, every rash decision, every time I feel greedy and decide to take a chance, changes everything. Then a new round starts and the winner is decided based on these events and he picks up the dice to roll. Changes everything.

Tomorrow I may get out of bed 5 minutes later than I normally do, and drive to work. I may drive recklessly because I'm late, causing someone to spill his coffee while driving behind me. He may feel like he's having a horrible day from then on and take it out on his girlfriend. They may argue. She may feel like it's the last straw. They may never create the child they wanted within the next year. The child may never go to medical school. It may have discovered the cure to cancer, but it didn't. Millions of people in the world may die of cancer over the years. I may have killed millions of people by getting out of bed 5 minutes late.

1. Life is so fucking interesting, but sometimes we forget to take the time to realize it. You can be the most hated person in the world, you can be the biggest asshole or the nicest person; but as long as you're happy, you live in your own world where everything's fine. Which is fine.
2. Because I'm so affected by tiny things, I am REALLY afraid of big decisions that might change even more. I still have no idea what I'm doing after graduating, which scares the shit out of me.
3. I love gambling.

Self-loathing

2009-07-02T07:17:00.000-07:00

I'm normally a pretty egoistic person, but I have to be realistic and call it like I see it. Especially today.

I'm a retard on the road. I have no sense of direction. It takes me about 30 different instances of driving on one road to be familiar with it. And even then, I lose my way once in a while.

I have the ability to miss a turn, go around, miss it again, and go around, and miss it AGAIN for the third time before I tell myself, "Hey, turn here" the next time I come around. This has happened multiple times.

Today it took me 15 minutes to find a building that I passed by everyday for one year. Today I drove 2 freaking hours in a weird residential area in KL and had to refill a tank of petrol there to find my way out. When I found my way out, I passed by a familiar spot about a 30 minutes drive off my place and realized, "Oh, I got lost here before."

I probably wouldn't be able to give you directions to my house that I've been living in for 10 years if you asked me.

I don't know ANYONE with a worse sense of direction, so if you think you're bad, just know there's someone worse ;)

If there's one thing I hate about myself and wouldn't mind changing, it's my ridiculous sense of direction. Sigh. It's frustrating.

You wanna know how I got these scars?

2009-06-26T20:03:00.001-07:00

From cooking and cleaning.

Didn't come off as hardcore as I hoped.

Leaving Sherfield in an hour. See you guys back in Malaysia in a while.

Revenge of the Ffffff...

2009-06-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

(Chose a poster with more Megan Fox in it on purpose - note the hilarious heading at the top)

Okay let me just start off by saying the first one was better. Because that's obvious. I'd give the first one about a 60% because it was pretty entertaining, as opposed to rottentomatoes.com's 57%. The first one was better by a mile which means that this one was pretty much crap. Rottentomatoes.com also reflects this by giving it a 39%. I'd personally give it about 25%.

I know nothing about Transformers prior to the first movie and in no way am I a fanboy, but I truly feel horrible for the people who are. I mean seriously, this movie shoots straight for mindless entertainment with cheap laughs and lots of explosions scattered around. I'm not complaining. I enjoy movies like that from time to time. But if you're gonna keep me in the goddamn theatre for 150 minutes, there better be a damn good reason, or I'll fall asleep. Which is what I did, for 5 minutes somewhere in the last action scene of the movie. Yup, I choose the best times.

I expected to be thrilled and interested in it after watching it, like how I read the book after watching Fight Club. How I watched every single Batman movie after watching The Dark Knight, etc. This movie did nothing for me. Fine, maybe that was too much to expect. Let's lower our standards a little and dissect it.

Shia played his role pretty well. Megan Fox was HORRIBLE (look at this faggot talking about Megan Fox's acting instead of her tits and arse). Okay, she's fine as hell and the director has done a pretty good job at displaying her sexiness with little clothes and lots of slow-motion scenes. But are we making a porno or a real movie here? And as good as Shia's acting was, there were a lot of awkward scenes, (some slow-motion ones) where you just cringe and wonder if there was ANY editing at all. It's like they filmed it all in one reel and went okay let's put it up on Youtube or something. They could really have done a better job piecing the scenes together.

The movie excelled in certain criteria, I won't deny it. Great graphics, fun and laughs, lots of action. But as I mentioned earlier, movies that are good for these things and only for these things shouldn't be so draggy. Cut it to an hour and 45 minutes, remove some unnecessary scenes (especially at the beginning) and we got ourselves a much better movie. Don't get me wrong, I love long movies and all but movies like these should not be long. It would at least be proper entertainment for kids that way.

If you're the kind of person who needs proper storyline and acting to enjoy a movie, don't see it.
If you're a Transformers fan, I can't stop you from seeing it but you're gonna have a shitty day.
If you're like the rest of the 99% of people who watched the movie just for Megan Fox and explosions, then knock yourself out. You might actually enjoy it.

Travel/Weekend 6

2009-06-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

Moo. This is long overdue. Just a few pictures of a day-trip in London.

Returned to Borough Market. Paella and Sangria.

Paella, sausages, burgers, etc.

Sangria.

Yum. Olives.

Yum. Livers.

Yum. Foccacias and bread.

Yum. Turkish delight.

Yum. Baklava.

Yum. Cakes.

Yum. Pies.

Yum. Toffee and walnut cheesecake.

Yum. Beard Papa. Which we hunted down via Google.

Ick. Crappy Chinatown food.

Ick. Very crappy Chinatown roast pork.

Ick. Even crappier Chinatown food.

Oh this post is primarily to show my parents what they missed out on in Borough Market. I didn't take a lot of pictures but there was much more. Fresh fish, meat, olive oils, herbs, pestos, fruits, veggies, sausages, pastries, chocolates (oh, the chocolates), cakes and so much more.

I love Borough Market. It's like a cheap version of the Harrods' food section. Highly recommended if you love your food. I love food. I like eating them. They are nice. I am sleep deprived. I am hungry. I am fat.

Bad Beat Extraordinaire

2009-06-18T21:01:00.000-07:00

Today I played a game that I thought was poker but it didn't really turn out to be poker.

Hand 1:
A/A v K/K, all in pre-flop.
Happens. Not often, but happens.

Hand 2 (worst beat in my life so far):
K/K (ME) v Q/Q v 5/5.
I raise 12, Q/Q raises 36, 5/5 calls 36.
I re-raise to 120, Q/Q calls all-in with ~110, 5/5 GOES ALL IN (don't ask me).
I snap call because he thought a while before he went in. I knew it wasn't Aces. ~300 chips all-in.
Board: x/x/x/5/Q.

F - M - L.

Hand 3:
Dealer misdeals and I get K revealed (I kept it), and 10, so K/10 with K revealed.
I raise pre-flop, about 30 I think. I get a couple of calls.
Flop comes 9/7d/4d.
I try to represent top pair or overpair, I bet 50.
2 callers.
Turn is 10d.
I have a legitimate hand and somehow knew I had the best hand. People called me because they thought I was bluffing. Good timing to suck out on turn. I bet 80.
One caller.
River is Jd. 4 diamonds on board.
Check. Opponent goes all in. I called with remaining 40. Opponent opens 5d to beat me with flush.

The only reason he called so far was because he was sort of on tilt and gambling. This hand occurred RIGHT after he bought in 200 chips so he had me covered and took my stack down.

I'm fine with losing money tonight because I played the hands right and I don't need to be angry about anything that I did wrong. The only thing that surprised me is after those hands I still kept my cool and played properly. Looks like I've evolved into a much more patient person (the right gambling attitude!). That, or I just still can't believe my luck today and am completely stoned. But I know about 90% of poker players out there would jump off their seats and throw a fit, so I consider myself relatively calm (unless you compare me with Greenstein, Negreanu, Brunson, Antonius, etc.)

Today was not poker, people. Let's not do that again =)

PS:
Hand 4 (arguably my fault):
I get dealt A/A, raise to 12 and get 3 callers.
Flop is 3/6/9, 2 suited ones. I bet 18 I think and get one caller.
Turn is 3. I go all in with the little that I have and get called.
Opponent flips over a 3 for trip 3s.

Bet too little on the flop? Meh. Still sucks when you get busted by a 3 with a pre-flop raise.

PPS:
I'd feel a lot worse if I didn't cash out like 40 pounds this week (5 nights in a row is sick, guys) =)

Experiments!

2009-06-06T16:50:00.000-07:00

Baked haddock with broccoli and roast potatoes + onions.

Was originally supposed to be a simple haddock pan-fried with butter but that went to hell. It was too plain and so was the taste of the haddock (yeah, we've never done this before). Tried that on one piece and had 4 pieces of haddock left.

Was about to try some random tomato and onion pan-fry thing. Then thought about steaming it with ginger and soy sauce. Then we kinda agreed on baked with garlic butter. Then that suddenly all went to hell and Chelle went into a pretty amusing frenzy where she started digging things out of the fridge and seasoned the fish in a most random way. We've still got the garlic from before. The usual salt, pepper and olive oil. Then tomatoes. Then loads of lemon juice. And as if that wasn't random enough, cheese!

At the end of the day it was actually pretty decent. Unique and a little scary but definitely edible because I ended up eating like 3 of those. Haven't gotten full on fish in a while. *burp*

=)

What else but more

2009-06-05T14:21:00.001-07:00

Sirloin steak with roasted asparagus, mash potatoes, steamed corn, and cherry tomatoes. This was a messy one to prepare. It's a good thing the asparagus, mash and corn were all done by Chelle. Wheee. Easy for me.

=)

~

Just finished watching 2009's National Heads Up Poker Championship and wow have I missed out on these. I need to start watching 2008's, 2007's, etc. Entertaining as hell because you get the best players of the game and they're all so relaxed and they joke around so much. Including Hellmuth this year, wtf?! Those who've watched it, you know what I'm referring to. Daniel's impersonations, Farha going around offering insurance for all-in hands, and his answer to the question, "What is your favourite/luckiest hand?" - "...when you bluff before the flop, on the flop, on the turn, and on the river you make your hand."

My thoughts on the event this year? It's pretty simple. The people who got all the way to the final deserved to be there because they beat out the best players in the world. I'm not doubting Vanessa Rousso one bit even though she's not considered to be one of the best but hey, anyone who beats Doyle Brunson in the first round, Phil Ivey in second, Paul Wasicka in third, Daniel Neagreanu in forth, and Bertrand Grospellier in fifth I think deserves a shitload of respect. Huck Seed did play well to get to the finals but I think Sam Farha actually played better. Sammy did get bullied a lot towards the end but he did go in with the best hand but the deck wasn't on his side. Oh well. Huck got the better of it and steamrolled Vanessa with a 2-0 victory (deservingly).

Good times! *off to watch 2008*

More fewds

2009-06-03T16:07:00.000-07:00

Beef stew. Have done this at least 30 times while I've been here. Either I really like stew or I really like myself.

Found this on my table when I woke up. You gotta love having bored girlfriends who have messed-up sleeping hours and bake cookies at 3.30 a.m. Hee. Oh, and ones sweet enough to do things like that. Thanks =)

EXCELLENT? WHY, THANK YOU! =)

This is the most encouraging thing I've read in my entire life. Click to enlarge. This test I took at a pharmacy today says I have 10.0% body fat which is in the 'athletic' region (8-10%). This comes as a surprise to me because the shit little hand-held machine I bought has been telling me I have 14% body fat. I need to get rid of this piece of shit. Or I need to sue Boots for having that fake machine display thing.

Ah well. Right after this, after grinning like an idiot stepping off the machine, we did something not-very-10%-body-fat-ish:

Triple play! Actually half of it. Forgot to take a picture and we were already half-way done by the time I remembered.

Baby back ribs! I have been waiting for this day for so long.

Chelle's rib eye.

Well okay. Before the starters arrived we were drooling as food came by. I was eying every single other diner and observed all their expressions upon putting beautiful scrumptious Chili's food in their mouths. They didn't seem to enjoy it that much. Ingrates.

Then starters came. Then a quarter into the main I felt like extracting food from my stomach so I could continue eating. But that didn't happen. So we took it slow and after an hour plus plus,

Burp.

Burp. Thanks for handing me bits of steak while I was having enough trouble of my own trying to handle my ribs =( But the steak was awesome. Hee.

Well let this be a lesson to greedy bastards like me in the future. In Chili's, never order 1 starter and 1 main and think you can finish it. It doesn't work that way. It really, really doesn't.

Took us a good 40 minutes to walk home instead of the usual 20 minutes it normally takes. Uuurrrghhh.

Good day, though =)

BGT

2009-05-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

Auditions:
Flawless
Diversity
Aidan Davis

Semi-final:
Flawless
Diversity
Aidan Davis

Superb, superb dancers. You HAVE to watch them. At least one, if you're too lazy.

...Update!

Finals:
Flawless
Diversity
Aidan Davis - no sound because of copyright issues
Aidan Davis - with sound but may not work (let me know)

Spoiler time!

Diversity deserved it. I didn't think so after the semi-finals because Flawless and Aidan Davis showed a lot of improvement during the semis but Diversity seemed just a little too focused on selling the storyline and ideas. Creative as hell, but not the best dance performance as a whole because Flawless and Aidan were in the mix.

But in the finals, Aidan was disappointing (I'm sure it was because of the only 1 friggin' day he was allowed to practise). Flawless performed well but in comparison to Diversity, they didn't look that good anymore. It's either Diversity grew a whole lot throughout the competition OR they were smart enough to save their best moves for the last because they really did outshine everyone on the stage tonight. It became a brilliant balance of creativity and it was easily the best dance performance between the 3. That was it. I wasn't surprised.

I'm sure it will all work out, though. Flawless is already rather well established as a dance group. Aidan Davis has a whole bloody life ahead of him and if he's THAT damn good at his age, especially considering the fact that he's self-trained, he's got one hell of a future coming for him.

I don't care too much for the rest of the contestants. Susan Boyle is overrated (though I have to admit she did get better in the finals). All I can say is it's a bad, bad year to be a dance contestant in BGT this year. I wouldn't doubt for a second that if Aidan Davis was in with George Sampson last year, he would have won it. But anyway for all the other contestants I'm sure they've had enough fame to boost their career a little. Susan Boyle's bound to start selling records soon, etc.

Here ends my sudden interest in reviewing something that I don't know that much about. Hope you enjoy the videos, regardless.

Anyway,

2009-05-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

here are some things that don't look great on the plate but taste great:

Stir-fry noodles with pork mince.

Kuey teow soup (noodles, pork balls, fish balls, pork ribs, prawns, Chinese leaf).

My life is just about as boring as it was during the exam period, pretty much.

Here's proof.

Hope you're having a good summer.

I win at admiring myself

2009-05-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

Roast chicken with broccoli, mash, and plum tomatoes.

Yeah. That's it.

Yum

2009-05-19T14:05:00.001-07:00

Salad - lettuce, plum tomatoes, chickpeas, jamón ibérico.
Dressing - lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper.
Salmon - fresh rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, olive oil - baked.
Mushrooms and potatoes - salt, pepper, olive oil - baked.
Lemon - lemon.

I am truly satisfied with this. Yes, I want a fucking award for this. And in my acceptance speech I would say, this meal was made possible by:
Chelle - for the idea of the salad and the hassle of soaking and boiling chickpeas. I don't think it's worth it for that much trouble. Also for helping out in the kitchen. Also for good company =)

Mom and dad - for the jamón ibérico. Sorry for the late reply on what I thought about it, I hadn't actually tried it until today. And I know you're gonna kick my ass for wasting quality ham on a salad. It's not what I expected because I was used to expensive Spanish ham being really rich and salty. This one tasted a whole lot like Chinese waxed sausages, and wasn't nearly as salty as I thought it would be. I didn't really dig it at first but it was kinda addictive after a while and I'm currently loving it. Would go nice with some melon but I'm too lazy to get some. Oh well. Such a small pack, will be done with it by tomorrow anyhow.

More good meals to come, hopefully. I absolutely love having time to spend on preparing meals.

Mer-lay-jea

2009-05-17T14:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome back! Roti, dahl, teh tarik. Dinner in Reading at 9 p.m. is served. Who needs Malaysia?

Just kidding, I can't wait to go back. Forgot to mention in my previous entry I'll be back on the 27th of June. Sorry to the people I told that I'll be back on the 10th. Shifted my flight to a later date because Chelle's flight is on the 27th as well. Besides, already paid for accommodation fees til the 27th, might as well make good use of it.

Cya guys then.

Ding!

2009-05-16T21:12:00.001-07:00

Exams went...alright. I've had 4 papers:
1. Should be fine, didn't have to memorize much and had 5 days to prepare for it alone.
2. Tough as hell. Memorized a shitload and struggled even with 5 days of preparation. Felt like giving up on life after it all but it was worth it. I hope I'll do well enough to at least pass. NOT a subject I would be keen on retaking.
3. Thank you pre-seen questions and 2 general-scoped questions. 2 days of preparation. Hopefully enough to pass.
4. Studied limited topics and got very lucky as I hit 3 topics out of 8 questions that I targeted. My exam luck is pretty awesome. Don't wanna know what it's like to retake either because questions were rather easy. May not be so lucky on the resit.

All in all I can sum up all 4 papers with - I hope I did enough to pass. Yup, not a very ambitious person.

I have to admit throughout those weeks I was really depressed and just couldn't wait to let it end so I can finally be put out of my misery. Quite frankly I sort of stopped caring after a while. Luck was on my side, though, and helped me on the last 2 papers. Phew.

So I thought the solution to my depression would be:

~

Wrote down exercise plan before hitting the gym today. Wrote date like I normally do. 16/5. Flip back to check out what exercises I can start with. Realized date on previous gym visit. 16/1. Feel like crap.

I guess I didn't realize how fast time flew by. I did go for several runs after the 16th of January but it just wasn't enough and it's no excuse to be off for that long. Sigh.

Hit the gym for a whole 32 minutes today. Pathetic. But I'm sure I won't be able to sit, stand, walk or god forbid squat down tomorrow, or lift objects like a toothbrush or a paperclip. Already feel the lactic acid building up. Welcome back to walking like a duck for a month.

Well it's time for an exciting new start so time for new plans. No specific targets aside from I have to be able to do 5 days of work-outs a week without killing myself in the process. Planning to make August fitness month, where I hit the gym thrice a week and cross-train with runs twice a week. If I can keep that up for 4 weeks I'll be happy. That's my plan for now.

Also I lost weight for some reason. Probably mostly muscle depletion. Can't be fat loss because I've been eating crap and not exercising. Currently 58.7kg, 14% body fat. I'll get there!

~

I can't wait for Inglourious Basterds. Brad Pitt, Quentin Tarantino, an interesting storyline. I predict it'll be one of the best movies of all time soon.

PS: Star Trek is surprisingly good :)

~

Those of you who haven't had lunch in Zerodegrees (Reading, etc.) before, you are really missing out. It's £7.95 for the lunch menu (a starter and main) and it's absolutely brilliant. I've eaten there like 8 times so far and I've tried almost everything on the menu and it still never fails to make me happy. Big portions, delicious Italian food, well worth your money. It's on the same row as Sakura. Go for it! I recommend bruschetta for appetizers and either one of the 1/2 kilo pots of mussels for main.

Check it out for yourself =)

Btw it's actually a bar with their own beers, ales and stuff which I don't really take anymore because I'm a pussy (who asked if he could have a salad instead of fries). So if you do that kind of thing, try their alcohol out and let me know how it goes, thanks :P

PS: Those of you who are worried you're too hungry and it won't feed you, I can guarantee you it WILL fucking fill you. And of course it'll satisfy your palate. Brilliant food, seriously. Highly, highly recommended.

Resume

2009-05-05T06:44:00.000-07:00

I'm quite impressed with my ability to cram that much information in 8 hours (after regurgitating my notes 5 times on blank pieces of paper). It didn't work as well as the previous subject because Land Law has a good 40%+ more cases/statutes than Equity.

I'm not bragging. I can't say I'll pass for sure. I wrote stuff. That's all I can say. Pass or not is a whole different story.

All I can say is I'm just glad it's over. 50% down, 50% to go.

I've been gym-deprived for a couple of months, I've been lazy to cook and have resorted to fast food *gasp* on some occasions and I'm quite disgusted with my lifestyle. PLEASE END. I NEED MY LIFE BACK. Not because I'm working very hard but you know it's hard to enjoy life when you have that nagging thing telling you you should be doing work.

-15km run to celebrate Day 200 is overdue
-date with girlfriend to celebrate Month 6 is overdue
-meet up with parents in UK is somewhat overdue

Pause

2009-05-04T16:35:00.001-07:00

Just hold all the Land Law information for just a second and forget the fact that I am yet to memorize and be able to regurgitate over 50 cases/statutes with their principles within the next 8 hours.

I really need to stop and appreciate life again like I used to. The first couple of months I was here all I could talk about was how exciting and beautiful everything was and that kinda just faded away. I still get it from time to time but it's not a lasting feeling because things have become mundane. But when I do stop to think about it...damn, I'm living alone, cooking and cleaning by myself, exercising, not smoking, in a beautiful country/city, have a wonderful girlfriend, and so many other things I should be thankful for.

I want to be that side of me again who would stop and be truly happy by appreciating how great life is. I promise I will, in exactly 7 days (when my last paper is over).

Help.

2009-05-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

I need to memorize GBEMBP14BHRN52(1)54(2)CPESAUSABBCHSch15P7CSch6p1,3,4-5,
reg189,HBMPWBP2(1)(2)(3)UWY274379(1)6781112Sch4P2,3,34(2)B184C36(2)Re196(3)
KWGRe27CTHSL37OS6(1)(5)11(1)(a)(b)12(1)14Re335AReRe24,25W65,66IA(WCH)NO(sch3P2)
KAWTGCPGReC

Along with the full names, and the principles of each letter or number. Thanks.

I really hope I can get this done by the time the exam is here. Must finish by 9 hours. Wish me luck. Land Law is a bitch.

Singing and Dancing

2009-04-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

"Suddenly an unconscious Argentinean fell through my roof."

"Does a business but I notice something weird. Lately all her neighbors' cats have disappeared! Have to hand it to her --Wot I calls. Enterprise. Poppin' pussies into pies!"

I love rewatching musicals. Don't you?

Both with horribly sad endings too.

+

"...make a sound like a dying giraffe."

That counts as a musical too, right?

Jack Deuce

2009-04-05T17:19:00.001-07:00

I'm so pumped up for poker again for some reason. Damn, what bad timing.

Yesterday was pretty awesome. I particularly loved the J/6 hand. I can't remember the details of the hand but the community had J/6/2/2, and three players held J/6. All Jacks and sixes were out and were dealt in that order. That was some seriously sick shit. Never seen anything close to that. It was boring as you could tell though, a raise by one J/6, a call by one J/6 and a fold by the other J/6. STILL!

Have played 8 tourneys and have won 3, that's pretty fun :P To the players of last night, do you guys realize I lost a grand total of 2 pots in the tourney? I lost a big one to Paul right at the beginning then a tiny one later on to Mark(?). Every other hand I either (i) didn't participate, (ii) bluffed to win or (iii) won the hand legitimately. Everything I tried worked for me. Bluff with 9/5 pre-flop by only raising 100 (1 big blind) when it was 50/100. Check raised by only 100 with a full house so I would get a call by King pair. Man, I've never been rewarded for every little play I made in a single night before. Plus a one hand heads-up match? So much fun :P

Now watching pokertube.com again on my little breaks between writing credit research. And wow. Where the hell did this Tom Dwan guy come from?

I love this scene!

*spoiler alert* Those who actually watch/play poker, watch the video before you read the paragraph below.

I am in fucking awe, watching him make Peter Eastgate fold 2/4 to make trip deuces and Barry Greenstein fold A/A. You gotta watch it to know what I mean. An eight-way pot with an initial raise of 2,500 and you don't understand what the hell Dwan is even doing in that hand raising on the flop and throwing shit in with just top pair. But he makes it work. And that was one of the most magnificent plays I've seen on HSP.

Sure you'd understand why trip deuces or pocket Aces would fold in a situation like this but it takes a player of true class to make those folds happen. That was truly beautiful.

~

Bah. Exams.

Come What May

2009-03-30T15:28:00.000-07:00

Alert: Avalanche of cheese headed your way. Avoid at all costs.

Never knew I could feel like this
Like I've never seen the sky before
Want to vanish inside your kiss
Every day I love you more and more
Listen to my heart, can you hear it sings?
Telling me to give you everything
Seasons may change, winter to spring
But I love you until the end of time

Come what may
Come what may
I will love you until my dying day

Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place
Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace
Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste
It all revolves around you
And there's no mountain too high
No river too wide
Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side
Storm clouds may gather,
And stars may collide
But I love you (I love you)
Until the end of time(until the end of time)

Come what may
Come what may
I will love you until my dying day

Oh, come what may, come what may
I will love you, Oh I will love you
Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place

Come what may
Come what may
I will love you until my dying day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVAoKTKFDzU

PS: Stupid embedding is disabled, but it's the best video of it on Youtube.

PPS: I just watched Moulin Rouge again on surfthechannel but it wasn't enough because the quality was absolute crap. So I ordered the DVD from hmv.co.uk. I LOVE IT. £2.99 for a DVD. And I have a student card so I got a 30p discount. At £2.69 it's at an estimate of RM16 even with an exchange rate of 1:6. That's one hell of a price for an original DVD. Woot.

ParisParisParis

2009-03-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

ParisParisParisParisParisParisParisParisParisParisParisParisParisParisParisParisParis

That's a link, if you didn't notice.

Or there's a link in the side.

Critical!

2009-03-19T05:37:00.001-07:00

Mari e Monti in The Walk in Reading. Disappointing.

I don't know if it's just the lunch menu but it was horrible! We had carbonara and some other seafood pasta thing. I've honestly tasted better carbonara out of a bottle and that is the kind of standards I'd expect from a mamak stall that attempted to do it, not one of the most reputable restaurants in Reading town. The other dish was fine but they both shared one common thing. The pasta itself was FAAAAR from al dente. Soft as sh..diarrhoea. So you can give me the excuse of having a lousy lunch menu (since it was empty at lunch and absolutely packed at night to the point that we're unable to make reservations 3 days before a weekend), but if you serve pasta like that there's no possible way to redeem yourself.

Dessert was pretty lame. I had a panna cotta which was..meh. And lemon cheesecake which was...alright but not something I'd go to a restaurant for.

Goodbye, Mari e Monti. Hope you enjoyed my money. It's come to the point where if I wanted Italian food in Reading I'd have to go to Strada. Which is really sad. No offence to Strada (or the people who work there :P) but generally, what do you expect from a chain?

~

I was gonna review the Young Victoria as well (in the light of being critical) but I think I don't feel strongly enough about the movie to say much.

Suffice to say you'll probably enjoy it if you like this historical costume drama kinda thing and don't mind a little sap, cheese and corn tossed around. It was actually quite enjoyable for me, just not something I'd like to do all the time.

PS: If you watch this in Reading, be prepared to step into a room with about 30 elderly English people (mostly women). Never again will you feel more out of place.

~

Goddamn, I have never seen a club so packed in my life.

For those who don't know, 3sixty is a part of campus which is the Student Union's club on Wednesday and Saturday nights. This Wednesday being the last night it's opened for clubbing until Easter holidays are over, it was a pretty big thing.

To give you an estimation on the number of people, the club itself has a load of separate rooms with different music in each, and I wouldn't be able to tell you how many rooms or what the club looked like. All I saw was people. The queue when we arrived was disastrous, with about 100 people crowding the entrance.

All in all it was a pretty good experience. Music was pretty decent (contrary to my expectation) but it kinda crashed at the last 30 mins when it started to suck bigtime. Still, open atmosphere, open crowd mentality, fantastic feel to it. Goddamn, I'm gonna have to start going more often next academic year. Probably the best club I've been to so far. Not in terms of musis, but the general ambience.

Benji

2009-03-16T02:15:00.000-07:00

Let's get right to it. I'm feeling very open so this post will have spoilers right from the beginning to the end.

Nominations for movie of the year, Benjamin Button has a striking resemblance to Slumdog Millionaire in terms of its theme. They start and end in completely different ways, Slumdog your more conventional fairytale-type, and Benjamin Button your absolutely unique artsy way; but both are based on how beautiful life can be no matter how different your background may be or where life takes you.

Benjamin Button however took a different path for the end of the movie which I enjoyed a lot more. Slumdog had a nice feel-good fairytale ending and didn't leave me with a lot to think about. With BB's ending though, it made me reflect a lot on what the movie was about and every little event that happened throughout the movie and what it might have represented. My only complaint about the ending was that it was slightly abrupt. It was a really quick conclusion especially in relation to the length of the movie (166 minutes).

But I'm not complaining about the length. In fact I think it should have been longer! (as opposed to what many say about how it can be slow.) It was a beautiful story about a life journey and it should have been longer (a) to describe it in more detail because even the smallest things in life count and (b) to talk more about what happened towards the end of BB's life. I thought everthing went very nicely, in a good pace, until towards the end when he was a teenager and you don't see much of what's happening and then it was rushed till his life ended. It just went a little too fast.

I wouldn't know, perhaps it's another bit of symbolism about how little of your life you can remember when you're older or something.

This movie reminded me a lot about Forrest Gump and how little events seem to take up most of the time in the scenes, and not the drastic plot-changing events. Also love how the story was told - with both lives ending.

I don't have a lot of complaints aside from that. Great acting, fantastic directing, unique plot. And here comes another movie in my favourite movie list which just so happens to have David Fincher directing and Brad Pitt acting.

First comes Se7en - #33 on IMDb, 84% on rottentomatoes.
Then comes Fight Club - #21 on IMDb, 81% on rottentomatoes.
Then comes Benjamin Button - #145 on IMDb, 72% on rottentomatoes.

Work more together, guys. Make more movies. They work.

SHSOP

2009-03-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

Tourney 1:
Nothing exciting here. EXCEPT ONE RAGING MOTHERFUCKER (Dan) WHO ELIMINATED 5 OUT OF 7 PLAYERS WINS IT ALL - that's gonna be a hard record to beat.

With Jacks.
Pocket jacks against me (on two separate hands, both big pots)
Jack on the turn against someone (can't remember la)
Jack on the river against another person (can't remember who also)

Tourney 2:
1st - Me
2nd - Paul
3rd (bubble boy) - Dinesh
4th - Dan

Was underdog for a really long time but sucked out on Dinesh to knock him out and then took control of heads up and eventually (after a REALLY long time won with pocket 10s against A/9).

Tourney 3:
1st - Dinesh
2nd - Paul (again, mofo!)
3rd (BUBBLE BOY) - ME =(
4th - Dan (again, mofo!)

Most significantly I was chip leader most of Tourney 3 until I was slightly behind Paul and the bastard knocked me out with tens when I held jacks. 10/9/7 on the flop and I call Paul's all in with overpair and straight draw. Nothing happens, the set stands =(

Should also mention Paul bought over Alex's position in the tourney because he got sucked out on, on the second hand. That was pretty funny.

~

One hell of a night. I saw pocket 10s (Sushan) fold against pocket Aces, and on another occasion Jacks (Dinesh) fold against Kings. BOTH PREFLOP! Sick reads tonight, guys. Well played - especially sick reads from Paul and Dinesh.

Might be our last night of poker before the exam stretch. Bleh.

Whiny as hell

2009-03-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

NYEHHHHHHHHHHH.

Click to enlarge. 10 pounds for Vans shoes!! WTF!!! NO SIZEEEE =(

Actually when I checked yesterday there was still size 5, 6 and 8 available. 8 is one size below mine.

I've never wanted something shopping-related so badly. I got my balls broken.

~

On a more serious but equally as whiny note, hall application letters got sent today, exam timetable drafts were published, it's the second last week of school etc. All snapping us back into reality. Time to get busy!

And I still haven't written my review on Benjamin Button =(

~

This is a three-in-one, really.

1. To those who care, that's what my hair looks like now.
2. A tribute to The Lonely Island.
3. I have too much time.

This is two-in-one.

1. Youtube HD videos are off the friggin' hook!
2. I paused this video at the optimum time so I could practice taking my personal 'flippie-floppie' shot, which reiterates point 3 (above).

Wealth.

2009-03-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

I fucking love cash.

I know. Who doesn't, right? But I'd like to think I'm particularly exceptional.

When I was younger and received ang pow and had nothing to spend it on, I used to love storing it. And I'm not talking about giving it to my parents to put in a non-existent bank account in my name, I'm talking about storing it in my safe place. I loved counting it from time to time and made little tabs and tables to keep track of how much I spend/put in. Granted I never spent much as a kid (scrap that, I never spent ANYTHING as a kid), the money always went up.

And that's when the addiction arose. That's when I'd start looking for ways to make money. I've tried drawing comics to sell to relatives, I've tried offering to wash cars (I don't think this ever worked out if I recall correctly), I even got into the habit of collecting unwanted or found 1 cent / 5 cent coins just to add to the collection. The funny thing is I never bloody spent it. At a very early age I refrained from getting extra candy or chocolates just because I thought those were worth a lot and I just resisted temptation. I never saved for anything in particular, I just enjoyed saving so much.

That money is close to meaningless right now. That amount that I've kept and saved over the years is about as useful as a few meals when I'm here in the UK. That doesn't change anything. I still love the feeling.

Sure, my habits have changed. I spent a lot more than I used to - and I do mean A LOT in the past few years. But that doesn't change the fact that I do have some weird habits like spending all my 1p/5p coins whenever possible (I used to have a whole plastic bag of those coins worth about 3 pounds and they're all gone now - you'd be surprised how hard it is to get rid of those). I try to walk to town as much as I can instead of taking the bus. I keep a tab of how many times I've been to the gym, how much I've spent and how much I would have saved had I changed my membership to a term one instead of a pay-as-you-go one.

Here, I'm not even kidding you.

At the end of the day, these efforts have all saved me what? Enough to buy me a few meals here? Almost nothing? Negligible?

I know this. Yet I still continue.

You might jump to the conclusion that this is just the kind of person I am. I care a lot about money and I am stingy as hell and I'll save a penny whenever possible. I thought so too, once. But I don't think that's it anymore.

~

This habit extends to more than just that, it extends to every friggin' game I play. In beginning levels of RPGs, I never spend money. I always think it's more worth it to spend it only when I'm at a higher level. But that time never comes. I just save and save and save until I have enough to buy just about anything. And I only spend on essentials. I've spent hundreds, even thousands of hours on games where all I do is make more and more money. Sometimes it's because I love the game and want to carry on being powerful. Sometimes I'm not even interested in the game anymore but I just love having more and more money so I just carry on until my interest in it has completely run out, then I stop playing.

What am I getting at? I think it's not that I care about money so much, but it's the concept of it. Money can be traded for so much nowadays. Don't even start to give me shit about how money can't buy everything, because money can buy almost anything. Even most health issues are cured by money. I'm talking about gym membership, a good pair of sneakers to run with, good healthy food like organic stuff and fruits. It all costs some money, which makes it all the more important.

I may have an addiction. And this might drive people away from me. Because I'll be very honest right now, that I would never spend that much money (the amount of money it normally takes to raise a family) on a family just to see my hardwork disappear. Who knows. Maybe the time will come where I snap out of it and realize that's what I'm working for and to just let go of it. I really do hope that's the case. But I don't see myself doing that right now. It's not because I'm selfish and I want to save it up to buy myself something nice. I just love saving it. And saving it.

Saving it until the game is over or I stop playing the game and my account/characters are left with loads of cash, unspent. Saving it until I die and it goes to the people I leave it to.

~

In a purely financial sense, I really wished I'd waited an extra year before transferring to school here. It just cost so much more to be here this extra year and it feels quite ridiculous. I don't know why my dad allowed me to.

Tourneyyyy!

2009-03-06T18:39:00.000-08:00

I have to say, the tournament idea really re-lit our passion for the game. Now we're playing real poker all over again and not J/2, all-in, hope for the best, if a miracle doesn't happen, re-buy.

K/2/3 flop.
All-in with K/_.
Opponent calls with A/5.
4 on turn.
Woot!

Disheartening, but funny as hell nonetheless. That's what happens when tired people play cash games that don't have much value to them. Aaaaaaaaaaaaa. Fun night, regardless. Tourney all the way!

It's Activity Time!

2009-02-28T19:20:00.000-08:00

What did you cook?
Dahl.

How was it?
Alright.

What do you need?
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
1 cup lentils
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
5 tablespoons oil (any, I used olive oil)
2 tomatoes

How did you make it?
1. Heat coriander and cumin in a pan for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Your kitchen should smell Indian by the end of the 2 minutes.
2. Pour in oil. When oil is hot, dropped in finely chopped onions and pressed garlic cloves.
3. Stir at high heat constantly for 5 minutes to caramelize (pronounced car-mer-lice in this great country).
4. Throw the pan mixture into a pot. Throw away frying pan.
5. Put lentils and add a cup of water. Throw in tomatoes too. Add salt to taste. Stir around a bit, cover and reduce to low-medium heat for about 25-30 minutes.
6. Check constantly to see if more water is needed. It's flexible, so just put in water if it's too dry, and take off lid if you need to reduce it. Adjust the consistency to your liking. A rough estimate for the texture would be very mushy brown dog diarrhoea.

What does it look like?

What the hell were you expecting? It's dahl. It looks like shit.

Why did I make this?
Because lentils are one of the best sources of carbohydrates which are extremely high in fibre, even better than wholemeal bread, brown rice, oats, etc. I've been doing my research :P Also a great source of protein in comparison to the low amount of calories it has.

I've also planned my diet for when I'm stuck at mamaks and it's impossible to sit down there without food for hours, watching other people eat.

What's the plan?
Thosai
Dahl
Tambah dahl
Ais kosong
Thank you.

~

Also baked cookies 10 minutes later. Have way too much time on my (our) hands.

Pain in the ass to make.

Product. Bad shot, I know. I would have taken more shots but those cookies were gone within the next 30 seconds. In our tummies.

Congratulations to Chelle and I for finally being able to bake cookies after some embarrassingly disgusting failed attempts (mostly my fault anyway).

Losing proof of identification

2009-02-26T16:36:00.000-08:00

They actually look more or less healed now, but don't be fooled. There are a tonne of tiny cuts along my thumb that can't be seen from the camera shot.

I moisturize everyday, it just never seems to heal. It was first caused by dry weather of course. Followed by a shitload of washing and cooking. I love the burn I get every time I run in under water =(

Seriously though, does this affect how my thumbprint looks? I might be in trouble if I don't fix this by the time I need to take a flight back =(

~

I haven't been blogging a lot because it really hasn't been very exciting. Nothing else. I foresee my next post coming next Wednesday/Thursday when I'm done watching and reviewing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I NEED TO WATCH THAT.

~

My original weight when I first weighed myself here was 59.9kg. The highest it got after 2 months was 61 when I kept forcing myself to eat until I felt like puking every meal. Then I decided to tone it down because bulking up is really expensive. So I watched my diet even more strictly, trying my best to never buy food and eating oats/brown rice/fruits whenever possible for meals. Then I weighed myself a couple of weeks ago and I was 59.9. On Monday I was 60.5. Today I'm 60.6.

THIS IS THE TRAGIC STORY OF MY WEIGHT BEING CONSTANT. It's been months and my weight still ranges between 59.9 and 61, meaning it's been in that range of 1.1kg. I can put that weight on by drinking water, FFS. Give me some significant weight change please (preferably lower, I need my body fat percentage lowered from 15%).

Just for your information:
Statistics are based on a male between the age of 20-39.

Too low body fat: 0-8
My body fat: 15
Overweight body fat: 20-25
Obese body fat percentage: 25+

I'm nearer to overweight than I am to too low.
I am fucking fat.
My long term goal is 11% body fat.
Wish me luck.
I'm not anorexic. I'm just following stats.

~

Okay that probably bored the shit out of you and is a testament to how boring my life is and now you believe me when I say life has been boring.

On another note though, this has to be one of the most interesting things I've seen in a while:

Those of you who know him, do you recognize the guy on the far left?

Hahahaha. If you're reading this, Yuktes, I have never been more proud of you in my life. That was spectacular. YOU GOT ON THE FRIGGIN' NEWS.

And an online news article on your retarded escapades.

I love you, man.

M

2009-02-16T12:23:00.000-08:00

Sometimes all I wish for is that relationships were as simple as two people really, really wanting to be with each other. Often that alone doesn't stand as the sole reason for two people to be in a relationship. Often it's not enough.

Never at any point did I wish for a dramatic and rocky one full of obstacles for whatever reason. Not for fun, not to make it feel more real, or whatever it is drama whores go for. But it's inevitable. It's easy for me to take in small doses or infrequent ones, but when they get catastrophic and tend to repeat themselves, it's tiring for the both of us. No matter how much we just want it to stop.

Being haunted by the past is one of the main issues. It's funny when you know for sure what the problem is, but have no idea how to even begin fixing it.

Yes, obviously we (or any other person in a committed relationship) came into it wanting nothing more but to be happy with each other. But somewhere along the way things get messy, bumpy, and it sometimes even becomes a competition that has nothing to do with it anymore.

Well it happens.

And we've been through some really rough times despite it being only under 4 months that we've been together. But I'm not giving up because I know the problem is not that we're incompatible or anything, it's just that there are some obstacles still lurking around, waiting to be solved before we can move on.

What can I say, aside from: Keep trying. Keep trying. Keep trying.

Again, I never opted for a relationship this complicated, but I'll work through it. We will.

~

12°C tomorrow! Woot!

AaaAAaAaaAaaA.

2009-02-03T11:41:00.001-08:00

How can you mend
a broken card
How can my laptop
breath again
How can you fix
this awesome thing
What makes me not so bored.

to the melody of 'How Can You Mend A Broken Heart' by the Bee Gees.

~

Hi. My video card is screwed (that's my intelligent guess at what the problem with my laptop is). It won't boot up. So I won't be around on this internet thing a lot until the HP people come and give me another card (international warranty is the best thing that has ever happened to me).

So...anyone have any...books to recom...fuck that, I'm not doing that. Nope. I'd rather just extend sleeping hours and workout hours. Nope. Yep. I'm a dorky nerd who tries to be a jock. I'm good at neither. Let's leave it at that.

Thanks, Russia.

2009-02-02T04:56:00.000-08:00

I see some MSN personal messages talking about snow. I only saw it snowing for 5 minutes while I was in the kitchen. Wondered what the big fuss was about. Opened my window.

Damn. I was only hoping the snow would melt by the time I had gym (9 in the morning).

Then I woke up to this.

Sweet.

A freaking hailstorm couldn't keep me away from this place.

Here are more pictures for your amusement.

Shinfield Road FTW.

Um. There's something behind you.

Good ol' Sherfield.

One of many news stories:
Here

Emotions? Really?

2009-01-30T19:17:00.001-08:00

I think poker for many of us has become a drag and emotions get involved for no particular reason. Sure it's money, sure it can get frustrating when we lose a tonne, but the bottom line is we're just people who have something to do with friends on a Friday night that's somewhat exciting.

I don't know if it's because some of us have lost the enthusiasm or it's because some of us are having bad runs, but poker has actually become somewhat political and it irks me a lot. I've always been an advocate of someone who plays games for fun. Playing professionally is a different field altogether and shouldn't be done within a group of friends.

That's why I try my best not to play competitively among friends in games like DotA, but of course take it a whole lot more seriously when it's in a tournament. Just as we're playing poker on a friendly, weekly, non-educated (we don't read a whole lot of poker books) basis, none of us should carry that much emotion into the game.

I don't know. I sometimes feel it can become a hassle and it really sucks to have a game that made me feel so happy before (regardless of whether I won or lost) turn into what it has become.

Sure we had our usual laughs, retarded jokes and taking the piss out of people who win just for the fun of it, but it doesn't take away the fact that there are some things getting in the way of just enjoying a night of good poker.

HAPPEY TIEM

2009-01-28T12:02:00.001-08:00

Purchases
1. White tea & Goji berry
2. White tea & Acai berry
3. Exercise mat
4. Men's Health magazine (which I picked over FHM and definitely think MH > FHM now)
5. Frying pan (ABOUT DAMN TIME)

I am happey.

Gifts
1. Prince of Persia PC DVD-ROM

Jizz.
In.
My.
Pants.

~

People who have watched Pulp Fiction, may I recommend:
Pulp Muppets

Here's a handful

2009-01-27T02:12:00.000-08:00

One thing that never failed to impress me this academic year was the fragility of relationships between people while I've been here.

It always started off with my perception that everyone loves one another, and this isn't groundless because I came from groups of friends who never turned their backs on each other (and even if they did, they snapped out of it and it was all good again). Then comes the part where some super minor event occurs and because of it, everything is in chaos. And somehow everyone will know about the drama and involve themselves with comments about who they think is right or wrong. It normally goes "They're both wrong. Fuck them." And then it explodes and things get out of hand unnecessarily.

I think this has happened about 5+ times on separate occasions involving different people. It's been quite amazing. I mean we hear this shit happen before like once a year or something but it's been just a few months here and it's been pretty explosive. The worst part is that it's been unnecessarily explosive.

I dunno. Just when I think one's over, another one starts. I'm getting quite bored, frankly.

~

It's happened again.

I was smoking. Initially it was like "ahh, that feels good". Then it was "HOLY SHIT THIS IS BAD FOR ME. WHY AM I DOING THIS?" Then the number of days at the time appeared in my head again (Day 106). Then I woke up. Then I was glad it was a dream. Then I spent some time walking around. Then I woke up. So I dreamt that I dreamt I was smoking. Sweet.

STOP IT.

108 days off nicotine, though =)

~

CNY dinner was awesome. I think it's the most I've eaten. As in the most I've ever eaten. 1 hour and 30 mins of eating and eating and eating. Homemade yee sang, sweet and sour prawns, steamed fish, fried noodles, stirfry vegetables, peanut and lotus root soup, roast pork, roast duck, steamed chicken in soy sauce, tofu, and a shitload of rice.

Homemade yee sang. One of the components was replaced with apples. Pomelo replaced with grapefruit. Everything else was as it's supposed to be I think? Well done, very resourceful =)

I only stopped eating when the guy asked if he could clear our plates after everyone had been walking around for about an hour. I didn't wanna make them hold the dessert just for me ^_^

Sorry, I don't bring my camera around anymore because ever since people got hooked to Facebook, you'd get about 200 pictures of the event from like 10 different people uploaded the very next day. I figure I didn't need a camera. But if it were up to me, it would have been 150 shots of food and 2 shots of people. Oh well.

1.

2.

3.

I don't have a picture of the last table, so for fair representation, here are their hands.

Poker crew getting ready for our big night :P

~

10 pound poker buy-in --> 5 pound poker buy-in. Still.

Only 98 pounds, i.e. RM490. No biggie.

PFFFT. DAMN THAT'S A BIG POT.

Didn't go that smoothly but it was still quite thrilling to play for that amount of money.

Some players were missing from the shot. But still, good shot :P

Good night, regardless. Cashed out profit of 5. And watching Sha get drunk? Fuck-ing-price-less.

~

Then real Chinese New Year came and we had BKT yesterday. No pictures. Just 4 cooking mates, like 1.6kg of pork and 5 cups of rice. Ate at 9. I think I had about 400g of pork and 3 full plates of rice. Felt like vomiting. Drank water. Felt like vomiting more. Stayed up till 10 (as long as I could). Slept.

Woke up today with a flat stomach. (With garlic breath.)

Gym is a magical creature, it is.

HAI! (Heavily Accented Indians)

2009-01-26T07:50:00.000-08:00

There was just a little complaint about the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire', about how all the actors seem to speak English a certain way and the person who complained went on to say it's unfair how in all movies, Indians are portrayed to have that kind of stereotyped image also in the sense that they dress weird.

My response (proper): It's just a movie and not all people are ignorant enough to think of a race in a certain way just because of a movie.

My response (slightly more improper): This is not very uncommon in terms of other races in movies as well. Most Chinese in even the biggest movies are portrayed by actors who can't speak very good English, and it creates a stereotype that most Chinese are the same way.

My response (politically incorrect): HAHAHAHAHA. FUCK YOU. NOW YOU KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO HAVE YOUR ENTIRE RACE JUDGED BASED ON JET LI'S HORRIBLE ACTING AND ENGLISH-SPEAKING ABILITIES. HAH.

*cough*

Now on to the actual reason I wanted to post:

was a fantastic film!

I think the movie starts off a bit slow especially when you don't know what it's actually about. I personally went to see it not knowing what the hell it was about, aside from the fact that it's IMDB's #34 best movie of all time and it got a rating of 95% on rottentomatoes.com. I just assumed immediately that it would be worth my money.

Anyway, it does start of rather slow because you're wondering how lame the movie would be if it was just question after question on the Millionaire show and some dumbass answering all of them. But it progresses, it tells heartbreaking stories in an absolutely unique way, and turns a potential chick-flick into one of the most brilliant movies made. Also like how the style of telling it sort of changed throughout it and twisted things a bit to keep it interesting.

I can't dive into much detail, except that the acting (especially by the kids) blew me away. Another big thing to highlight is the director who transformed this piece into a beautiful journey through a man's eyes, which would otherwise have been a really mundane story.

I wouldn't say the storyline was exactly flawless, and that's why it would kinda suck if you get someone to explain to you what the movie was about in detail. Very simple storyline, but produced and captured perfectly which made the movie what it was.

You will realize looking back on the film that there were some SERIOUSLY corny parts that resemble one of a B-grade romantic comedy chick-flick with a teen star like Lizzie McGuire. And I think the ability to throw that at the audience and not have them laugh their asses off is honestly very impressive.

Destiny, love, fate. Everything that would make me 'PFFFFT' in any other movie but the cards were played to perfection here, ALMOST putting tears in my eyes. Almost.

A fucking huge must-watch.

(No. It wasn't the best film of 2008. How the fuck do you win that title when The Dark Knight was produced in that year? Just give up and release it in 2009. Dumbass.)

sneef

2009-01-22T15:32:00.000-08:00

Mmmmmmmmmmmm. WATCH IT.

Bobby McFerrin is absolutely spectacular.
And of course, so is Bach.

Damn. Makes me want to cry.

PS: This is pretty fantastic too.

Sweating at 4 degrees

2009-01-19T07:14:00.000-08:00

Day 100.

And I celebrated with a 50% longer session at the gym. There goes my limbs.

~

Smokey the Bear will be proud. Remember, only you can help prevent wildfires.

The correct name for Smokey the Bear is actually Smokey Bear. The name has always been that way since the 1940s, and the word "the" in between "Smokey" and "Bear" was only added in the anthem for Smokey created by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins in 1952.

I am obviously too free.

~

"Subject:

How much protein in a chicken breast?

Depends on whether or not the chicken worked out much.
If he did then he will be muscular and hence 40g per 100g.
If he was a lazy fcuker and sat down all day on his ass then he would be a little fat shit and hence <20g per 100g.
Hope this helps."

K. Bye.

:@

2009-01-15T03:17:00.000-08:00

I take pride in my commitment to exercise.

I've never missed a single planned day at the gym.
I've never left the gym in under 1 hour.
I walk there in shorts when it rains, when it's foggy, when it's -1 degrees.
I don't mind paying the 1.90 each time I get in.

But most of all,

I stay in the gym regardless of whether or not Rihanna or the extremely sickening songs like Infinity 2008 are playing. Over. And over. Again. I ENDURE.

I FUCKING HATE GYM MUSIC.

~

On a brighter note, I'm really starting to love barbell dead-lifts and abdominal bicycles. Today being the first time I've worked my abs (properly) in years, and the first time I've kept a list of specific things to do at the gym, I feel like dropping dead, even though I've only been awake for under 4 hours. Feels good, though =)

PS: Protein's on the way!
PPS: Day 96 woot!

Revisits

2009-01-12T03:16:00.000-08:00

Ali G: Let's talk about in the airports. You know those machines that beep when you is got coins in your pocket? Why don't they develop a machine that beeps if you is carrying a gun?
Ziegler: Well, it does too. It will...a gun will also set it off, or a knife.
Ali G: Basical...they is mainly designed for coins and keys innit?
~
Ali G: Does they use dogs in airports?
Ziegler: For explosive devices, yeah.
Ali G: Ain't the problem though that 99% of dogs can't speak English, so how does they let you know who is carrying a bomb?
~
Ali G: People has been reading books for millions of years. But thanks to new technology, now they is able to write them as well.
~
(Interview with the Posh and Beck)
Ali G: So how many of the Spice Girls turned you down before you went for Posh?

Ali G: Now Beckham, do you reckon the better the footballer you are, the fitter the girl you go out with?
Beckham: Obviously.
Ali G: So you is the best at football, you know, so you gets Posh. So does Sporty Spice go out with someone from Scunthorpe United?
Posh: That's horrible.
Ali G: What do you mean?
Posh: That's my friend. And she's lovely.
Ali G: Exactly. What are you trying to say Scunthorpe is not a good team? That is a horrible thing to say.

Ali G: So do you want him (their son) to grow up to be a footballer like his dad? Or a singer? Like...Mariah Carey?

Ali G: Let's talk about fashion. Beckham, we is all seen pictures of you wearing clothes that is well embarrassing and make you look like a laughing stock. Why do you wear that England football shirt?

~

Ahh man. Just spent hours and hours revisiting those moments that made me laugh so hard before. Just to laugh all over again.

Sacha Baron Cohen is one of the best comedians, if not, the best ever. His Ali G persona owns the Borat persona so much. Borat's overrated as shit when you compare it with Ali G.

~

First time in the gym in 5 weeks now. Feels great to be working out again but I feel so weak. Especially with the packed gym now that the new year has just begun and everyone's hyped up on making their resolutions.

The only thing I'm happy about is nobody ever uses the super light dumbells in the gym and I never have to wait for someone to finish using them. Yes, I'm always the weakest person at the gym by far. Yay?

Toilet Bowl

2009-01-10T20:50:00.000-08:00

I just love familiarity.

I think one of the reasons I tried so hard to make things right and smoothen things out again was that I subconsciously felt it would all be worth it when the initial part fades away and familiarity seeped in.

And it did.

And it was.

I just find it a little funny because I somehow only realized this while I had a conversation on the toilet bowl.

With the holidays coming to an end I at least have this to hold onto.

I can just feel how much more solid it became, despite of the silly and meaningless, yet big arguments. For those of you who've asked me how it's been going, this post pretty much sums it up.

I'm confident =)

^_^

2009-01-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

Thx bro ^_^ Nice packaging (nice box too). And that's some seriously expensive chili.

For your birthday I promise you one jar of toe nail clippings, flaked dry skin and toe jam. And then another bottle of jizz ^_^

Travel/Weekend 5

2009-01-04T16:07:00.000-08:00

Gonna take a quick second to explain why I haven't been blogging:

1. I'm fucking boring and probably none of you noticed my absence anyway.
2. I was out of things to talk about. Holidays were boring.
3. I was sick. And then sick again. That killed about half of my holidays.
4. I was in London in the afternoon of the 31st of December till the 4th of January.

Overview
It's been pretty good. Had some pretty great experiences - ones that I'll definitely look back on, and a lot of one-off things that I definitely won't be revisiting but am glad to have gone through.

Only got one 'ni hao' and one 'herro' throughout the 5 days.

Spent only 2/3 of my budget (to be fair it's a pretty big budget).

And got some really neat stuff ^_^

But put on some weight in the process, eating supper everyday and two portions of dinner almost everyday. Also haven't been to the gym in 3 weeks, which is pretty bad =(

But do read on =)

Day 1
It's been three months. You can't blame me that the first thing I do when I get here is

FEAST. Mmph. Chinatown, Leicester Square. You are truly beautiful.

Aaanyway, went to London Eye for new years countdown, which was pretty spectacular. It just felt like a really big rave, except it's -2 degrees and there's shitload of fireworks. 10 minutes long. HUGE. Easily the best fireworks display I've ever seen and probably will be for a really long time.

The rave atmosphere. Just imagine some loud music (which there was, btw).

I was too busy video-ing the entire 10 minute fireworks display, so I'm just gonna steal a few pictures off others.

View from where we were (across the bridge from London Eye, along the river).

*shrug* Google it or something for better pictures. I'm too lazy.

Day 2
Visited Harrods, which is just one sick department store in Knightsbridge, which basically consists of so many things for extremely bored and extremely rich people. I'm talking about (Please excuse me if the quality of the pictures suck. Apparently we're not supposed to take pictures in there so I didn't have a lot of time to take good shots):

Gold foosball tables,

ridiculously pricey poker chips (the price tag says 1699 pounds, if you can't see clearly),

Star Wars poker chips?

This was when someone warned me to stop taking pictures. I'll tell you what other things I saw in the game room anyway. Official WPT poker decks, beautiful chess boards and chess tables, an updated and more realistic version of Monopoly - Anti-monopoly, miniature cards, super large cards, Mahjong sets, and so many other ridiculous things priced at over a 1000 pounds a piece.

I bought a deck of Beatles cards, which is like the only thing I could afford (which was pretty damn expensive anyway). Moving on.

Ohhhh the food section:

Dim sum! It's been a while! (I didn't have any because each of those pieces cost 1.20 pounds. Even at current exchange rate that's at least RM6 a piece. Sick fuckers.)

Cheeses!

Olives!

Caviar! Truffles! Foie gras!

Check out the price on this little tin of 125g of caviar =) (950 pounds, if you can't see.)

Umm, random food!

Big slabs of meat!

Baklava =)

More of it =)

Lollipops and candies!

Fishies! And some random seafood. I wish I'd taken more shots. The other shots of oysters, etc. were blurred. Can't post 'em, sorry =(

Choccies! =)))

More!

Okay so that was enough pictures to cover about 5% of what Harrods is. The place is huge, I didn't even talk about the super-crowded perfumery thing (because it was really cheap), their clothes, bags, shoes, more food, sports, and all that other crap.

And there were eat-ins, like oyster bars, sushi bars, pizza places, bakeries, and so much more all in that little food department. To give you an estimate though, the fish and chips were 17 pounds for a plate. Again, sick fuckers.

Day 3

Bam! Got you something from here, mom. You will get your surprise when I get back. ^_^

Boring day. Moving on.

Day 4

Tower bridge. Yawns.

View from Tower Bridge.

Off Southwark Bridge, looking at Millennium Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral at the end of it.

Ding.

On Millennium Bridge, looking directly at St. Paul's Cathedral.

This is a cathedral. I won't tell you what the name of the cathedral is. You will have to figure it out by yourself. OOOH MYSTERY. Yawn.

In between the bridges somewhere, we stopped here for food. IT WAS FANTASTIC.

Paella! Absolutely beautiful. Camera was low on battery so we couldn't take a lot of pictures. And it was really busy anyway.

This is a fantastic place to be, anyway. Mom, Dad, when (!) you come down, I'll definitely have to bring you here. Some really good food here.

*gets ready to be flamed* Hee.

Hee. They cost a fucking bomb btw =(

Stamford Bridge after an FA cup match. This is the line for the fucking store.

We were running late by the time we got out and we needed to get to London Eye again to collect our reservations to get on the damn thing. And because of the match, there are like 10 fucking policemen on horses, like 7 police vans, shitloads of policemen and like 300 people queuing up for the fucking tube station.

We couldn't wait, so we just tried to walk our way to the nearest station that isn't this fucked up, which took us like 25 minutes both because it was far away and we lost our way several times.

The girlfriend was wearing heels. Mind you, through all the bridges and all that too, so it's been like 2 hours of walking total for the day.

Finally unscrambled out of the mess and I ran across the bridge to get to London Eye after getting off the tube which is when my shirt chafed my nipples because they were so damn hard (-1 degrees outside) and actually almost bled - I'm talking very pinkish, sensitive skin. I dunno why I just shared that bit of information.

Got there in time anyway and it wasn't very worth it for all that and 13.65 pounds =(

The ride was fine, the pictures weren't.

Somewhere up in the eye. Yawn.

We got better pictures on the bridge off the eye anyway.

And then this - the handmade photo frame thing we got off someone at the bridge. He made it in like under a minute with two pieces of wire and pliers. Sick stuff. Only 4 pounds =)

Day 5
Going home day =(

I was coughing throughout the night and didn't get much sleep so I had to skip Buckingham Palace. Met them later at Baker Street where Madame Tussauds is - that silly wax museum thing. Wasn't very interested so I just hung around the area. And had something else planned anyway:

It was all planned ^_^ I was looking forward to this the whole trip. Dayumn. Needless to say, got something for you off this shop, dad :P Will surprise you when I'm back.

Seriously pricey stuff, though. But their collection was impressive. They had plaques, autographed books, old records and shit that go up to a thousand pounds.

There was an Elvis shop and a Rock and Roll shop with similar stuff around too. One thing that particularly impressed me was a guitar in the Rock and Roll shop with the Rolling Stones' signatures.

Priced at 4000 pounds ^_^

Sick.

Guess what I got! (All courtesy of a 'friend' who bought them for meeee ^_^) A steel plaque of Sgt. Peppers, a Yellow Submarine keychain and an Abbey Road guitar pick (I don't play the guitar =().

BUT HELL YEAH. (They were pricey. Thanks. <3)

And finally, our last meal (naturally, in Chinatown):

Mmm. Tastes nothing like the stuff I get back home but it's still something :P

Also got myself a couple of bottles of this =) 5 pounds each is a pretty ridiculous price to pay but what the heck, it's good shit.

Back

Pretty good to be back, but it's been one hell of a ride. Random final notes:

1. I need to watch Chicago, Monty Python, The Sound of Music, Avenue Q, Grease and Phantom of the Opera musicals. I really do.
2. Pocky costs 4.99 pounds for a big box. In Japan you could probably get a crate of it for that amount of money. Fucking Chinatown bastards.
3. I wasted most of my days here sleeping a lot - not a very good travel tip.
4. I suck at ping-pong.
5. My throat is dry, my skin is flaky, itchy and disgusting, and my nipples hurt.
6. I ate pretty authentic sushi - Ebi tempura and a salmon plate with salmon california rolls, salmon maki rolls, and more salmon. I jizzed in my pants as a result.

Thanks for giving me this opportunity to go around London like that.

Thanks for the place to stay.

Thanks for getting me off my fat lazy arse from Reading to do something worthwhile with my holidays. And I did. But ironically, my arse got fatter =(

Happy New Year, folks.

Woot!

2008-12-15T20:11:00.001-08:00

Tonight was probably the best poker night I've ever had. I'll jump right onto details.

~

I have A/K. I raise 12 on the button and get 4 callers. The flop is K/J/5 rainbow. It checks to me and I bet 12 (my standard value bet). 2 callers. Turn is K. I've got top set with top kicker, so I'm in fantastic position. What's even more fantastic? One raises 25, another calls. I raise to 70. One folds. The other calls. The river is a J. This is the most fantastic card I could ask for. The guy who folds is expressing some anger. The guy who called bets 100. I re-raise all-in to 283 and he calls. Flips open a J.

1. Full house Jacks against Full house Kings. Ouch for Jacks.
2. The person who folded on the turn bet had a Jack, and would have made Full house Jacks and paid me off even more.
3. Who folds Jacks full like that? I feel sorry for him, but these situations happen in poker sometimes and they kill you even if you're the best player in the world, because you can't possibly fold hands like that unless you're in a tournament.

~

Another hand, I have Q/Q in middle position. UTG raises 98 (all-in) pre-flop. Hah! Player after that pushes all-in 67. I have no choice. This was immediately after the full house hand and I had the chips to call. I'm in for 98! I reveal Qd/Qh. UTG reveals 2/7 (we apply the 2/7 rule where if you win a pot with that hand, every player pays you 10. Bad timing). Caller reveals Qc/Qs. Yes, we both had Queens (and were scared of hell of each other having Kings or Aces). Flop comes 2c/8c/9c. Hilarious!

I went in with the exact same hand as someone and he now has a pretty big draw against me! 8h turn. 3s river. PHEW.

1. I've never seen pocket pair vs. same pocket pair in a game before. There was this one video I watched on youtube of AA v. KK v. KK, but that's about it. I have NEVER seen anything like this.
2. I steal the 32 and we split the rest (which is deserving because we went in with the same hand :P)
3. It was his birthday, he should have gotten a club on the turn or river, that would have been awesome :P

~

Then on the 4th last hand birthday boy hits quad 7s on the river. He gets a call by someone who turned over a 9 high hand and swore he had a 7 in his hand. That's what happens when you play 4.5 hours of poker without stopping. Lmao.

~

Final hand! I have Q/Q again! I can't remember the bets exactly but there was consistent betting throughout. The pot ended up being at least 250 (a lot of mini bets called by all 4 players left on the table) till the end. One of the players went in without looking at his cards.

Community: 5/7/8/J/3.
Player 1: 5/_. Pair 5.
Player 2: 8/_. Pair 8.
Player 3 (went in blind): Opens a 7. 7 pair! Opens another 7. Trip 7s!
Me: Mucks Q/Q.

FUCK!

~

Aside from that I had a lot of crazy bets today, probably because I was high on poker and lack of sleep. I'm talking bluffs with 6/7 suited that cost me 250 chips, pre-flop raise of 60 called with 4/6 only to bluff and steal a pot of 180 (with a flop of K/Q/4), etc. The exciting hands were just endless today.

I wouldn't have minded losing 1000 chips today (I ended up with 650 chips, 500 chips of buy-ins including the girlfriend's), it wouldn't change the fact that I really enjoyed today. Cheers, guys. Happy Birthday, Paul :P

Love is...

2008-12-14T16:16:00.000-08:00

Dorothy Perkins and Burton, intertwined.

Oh Burton, how I love you. Even though you closed on me when I was just about to step into your store in London today, I can never remain angry at you. We had our moment of weakness. Let's put it behind us and move on.

Fucking give me a good sale on Boxing Day. PLEASE.

Bad Beat Runs!

2008-12-12T15:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight was pretty much bad beat night. We've seen 4 separate occasions where a person is down post-flop, goes all-in, and ends up making a straight on the river to defy the odds. The 1 outer hands. The 2 outer hands. Sick!

I personally benefited on one of those early in the night, catching a Q on the river (with my A/K) on a flop of K/J/10 and an opponent's K/10.

I got owned on an Omaha hand with a 6/7/8 rainbow flop, when I had 9/10/_/_ and put a hefty bet in, and the pot was a good 250+ by the time it was all-in and was called by 7/7/_/_. Turn K. River K. Straights beaten by Kings full. Huge pot too! =(

My game wasn't very exciting today as I broke even (I consider myself lucky with the bad streak I've had - was even at -360 chips at one point tonight). Second last hand tonight was pretty exciting too. T holds As/9s. Flop comes Ks/Qc/_s. There's a little bet and the turn is Qs. A little raise re-raise re-re-raise action goes on and it ends up being an all-in. P holds Q/Q for quads.

Ahh. I personally will never want to be in a situation where I get an Ace high flush against quads. And man did P get paid off. Congrats on the 600+ chip cash-out.

Tonight was just really exciting because of the huge hands that took place. Virtually every round had pre-flop raises and there was a lot of re-raise re-re-raise re-re-re-raise going around. Well played, everyone. Have fun in Spain, Berlin, Malaysia, London and wherever else you guys are going off for break.

~

Watch WPT S06E23 (finals of the main event) for fantastic tournament play. Full of excitement, full of things to learn. Definitely the best poker tournament I've watched so far.

And a summary..

2008-12-11T12:49:00.000-08:00

For the things I've done here. The things I've said but nobody bothered to read. And the things I haven't said yet. (All of which would probably never be read anyway.)

I just feel a little sentimental (as always, at the end of something) and need to talk about it so I can read back one day and remind myself how great it's been.

~

Uni's awesome. The moment I got here I couldn't help but to feel excited about everything. The weather. The change. The everything. I found it quite funny that I was just so afraid of it before I came but the moment I even landed in Heathrow, the thrill of being alone in a foreign land with quite a bit of money was keeping me going the whole time.

It's died down a little, I admit. For instance I now take for granted that nowadays I can just borrow something from someone by walking two steps from my door, that I pretty much bump into everyone everyday around home (hall - feels a lot like home now), and that half my 'Uni' group on MSN lives metres away from me.

But the moments I stop just to think about it for a while, it makes me appreciate it all.

~

Lectures and tutorials have been the best. I admittedly took quite a while to adapt to the big lecture hall and one faggot speaking for 50 minutes system, but I found my way to study most effectively under each subject and each lecturer. Most of them have varying styles so it's important to be mentally prepared for what you're running into for a lecture.

The subjects this year are really boring, but at the very least I've been trying to keep on the consistent work and haven't skipped on homework or missed assignments or any deadlines, so in a way it's pretty much a smooth flow. Maybe a little underworked, but ahh, it's only autumn term.

In order of...well, the other Part 2 students should know what the order is: Peter Smith, Stuart Lakin, Nowrin Tamanna, Grace James, Charlotte Smith, Patricia Leopold and Chris Hilson. Thanks for the lectures. Sidenote: Some of you are boring, but it's a bit too much to expect people to make law subjects interesting. I am a fanboi of Peter Smith and Stuart Lakin.

Nick Cartwright, Rosalynd Roberts, Sebastian Watkins (English class, heh) and Ray Duncan. Thanks for the tutorials. Sidenote: Nick just reminds quite a lot of us of Mun Onn, our lecturer in Taylor's. I'm talking about same hairstyle, same glasses, looks-young-enough-to-be-student, down even to same tutorial styles and off-topic jokes :P And Rosalynd's the one some of us...check out :P

Looking forward (wtf) to see you next term. (Who's fanboi-ish enough to know all their lecturers' and tutors' names?!)

~

I thought I'd be kinda lonely here because I was close to almost nobody on arrival, but it's really been good. Sure, I'm not gonna deny there have been a couple of issues here and there with the politics (even up till today) but that's just natural and it amazes me how well some people deal with these issues and how we're still at a pretty good state at the end of the day.

And then there's the girlfriend, who I just won't say much about. One of the reasons being to avoid a corny, cheesy post (too late). Another, because it's hard to describe what's been going on, suffice to say everything's brilliant =)

~

Our activities ranging from weekly (sometimes bi-weekly or tri-weekly) poker nights to visits to places, new experiences and even the boring trips to town. (Marks and Spencer is food heaven, btw). And let's not forget football at 0 degrees, getting lost on the way to lectures the first few days, the random bus trip to fucking Calcot (bout a 30 min bus ride) to...buy groceries, the parties...and drinks :P. Then there's cooking every night with the 4 of us and it's actually quite impressive we managed to keep it that long. Not because you guys suck, but because it's just generally quite hard to keep a group to cook that frequent for that long without any problems. And Sunday grocery shopping online :P And laundry rituals. And walking to lectures in pitch darkness. And yeah, stuff.

~

And most thankfully, the healthy living aspect. The 4 (or more) cups of green tea a day (200g of it finished in two months). The cut down on snacks and disgusting food. The gym sessions that have gotten more frequent (and will continue to get more frequent, hopefully). The consistent daily exercise. The loads of walking we've done everyday in between lectures. The homecooked dinner everyday for the past couple of months. The 59.9kg body (scrawny as opposed to fat bitch). The 29.5 inch waist (new belt solves it).

And the bar collapsing on me. And my stubborn double chin. Never mind those.

And of course the 61 days (and counting) of being free of nicotine. Ah.

~

I've got 1 more tutorial (which I haven't prepared for ^_^) and 2 more lectures tomorrow and I'll be done for the term. I don't even know what I'm excited about because it feels like such a short time since I landed, and already half my syllabus is complete. Also because I don't even have anything planned for the holidays.

But damn, everything's been going so well (also glad about the good news from home :)) and I just can't help but to feel lucky for being in such a position. That all these random sets of events have somehow formed into a nice bundle of happiness for me. (A pinch of skepticism there.)

Don't get me wrong, I do miss home once in a while. Everyone who's there, the food (just a little bit), the gym being just downstairs, the car, etc. But then it only gets me thinking for 5 minutes and I can no longer give a crap because I love it too much here, so screw you guys ^_^.

~

Thanks to everyone who has played a role.

Phew.

2008-12-08T02:41:00.000-08:00

Streets are glistening,
Ice settles on car windshields,
Zero degrees, shit.

Grass is crisp and iced,
Slippery paths await me,
Fuck this bitch weather =(

These are a few of my least favourite things.

Those were haikus. Clearly I'm bored.

Speaking of my least favourite things, I just love how today was the first day after so long I went to the gym without gym buddies (who ffk-ed =(), and it was the first time the bar decided to beat me.

That was really scary. Thanks, stranger at the gym for pretty much saving my weakling ass. I forgive you for stealing the 2.5s from my bar when I was away. You probably knew I was too weak for those anyway. Sigh. Phew.

What do I do?!

2008-12-06T19:12:00.000-08:00

I've had a really bad streak.

Tonight I played bad on some hands, I was outplayed in some hands, I got bad beats in some hands. 3 contributions to losing = one big loser :P

But I think I played well today. I successfully bluffed about 6 pots throughout the night which is a pretty big number because I was playing against people who had 10-20 times more chips than I did most of the time.

And then just when I thought I could win it all back, I get J/J, someone raises 7, person after that re-raises 20, and I re-raise to 47. Guy who raises 7 folds, guy who raised 20 calls 47. The flop comes Q/7/4 rainbow and I was somehow confident with my hand. He raises 30 and I still call it with jacks. Turn comes a blank I can't really remember and he checks. I check (I had like 25 left and was lazy to count because most of them were 1s). River comes 7 and we check again (once again lazy to count). He opens 7 for trip sevens.

In one sense the game was just affected by the fact that we were tired and friendly enough to do these kinds of things. On another hand it's hard to see that you've bought in so much the whole night, you play to a stage when you CAN win everything back, you play the absolute best you can and get the calls you want, then it all crumbles. Drowning in the river again.

My dilemma is this. I love poker. I love friendly games with my friends. It calms me down whether I win or lose. But how long more can I take this? It's like sometimes you think you know a lot about poker because you've been reading and watching and playing for quite some time, but what happens when it all crumbles and you start to see that sometimes luck just plays a bigger role? Do you get discouraged or keep going until it stops working out that way?

PS: I'm never quitting poker, just got me thinking a bit tonight :P

~

Okay, sour stuff aside, tonight was actually really fun. I remember that hand where a player in front of me raises, another calls, and I raise 35 with nothing. The first player folds, the second player takes a minute to think and re-raises me all in when I had a good 150 in my stack. I obviously fold. GOOD READ! I don't mind losing when I'm outplayed :P

~

Another one that absolutely freaked me out was how the last hand of my first tournament was replayed. I wasn't in tonight's hand though. It was the exact same chain of events (with the amounts altered). A/A raises 12. J/10 calls. Flop is 10 and two undercards. J/10 goes all in with 100. Aces call without hesitation. EXACT SAME THING that happened. I was the one with J/10 who pushed all-in first out of position and Aces called me. It was a bit freaky. But rest assure the Aces won in both occasions :P

~

Just had sushi with the girlfriend (3.45 a.m.). Ohhhh it's been a while since I had raw salmon. I have never felt a stronger ejaculation in my life.

It's Time.

2008-12-04T17:46:00.000-08:00

Thanks to a really thought-provoking conversation, I am finally ready to write about how I feel instead of giving you cryptic entry after entry which you will never figure out anyway.

I'm an atheist. I do not believe in God or any forms of god. I do not believe in a higher power of any sort.

I was at these crossroads at one point in my life where I could go either way, and I honestly opened myself to it. I've been to church a good number of times, I've talked to a million people about religion and have thought about this for more than half my life. I remember I was about 7 when I first started thinking about this concept of God and asked myself if I genuinely believed in it, as I was given the choice and knew that people either believed or didn't. I wasn't bought up in a way to believe and to be educated that there is God and I should worship Him.

The only reason I'm so closed to the concept of God now is that the period of thinking was over. At one point I could go any way, and a slight influence might have turned me from a skeptic to a hardcore believer. But it didn't. And I've had at least 8 good years of my life to think about that and it was then I made my decision. I don't believe.

I see the strength religion brings to people. Given a situation where my memory was completely erased and I had to choose between believing and not believing, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to choose to believe. I see how powerful it is and how beneficial it can be. But that doesn't make it any easier for me to believe in it.

At this point, because my mind's been so set on the fact that there is no God for me, it would take something monumental to change it. I'd admit here that finding a single flaw in my argument would be the first step towards this change. But I haven't found one yet, no matter how many times I've argued/disagreed/disputed with others. My self-confidence in most issues may be shit but this is the one thing I would lay my life upon.

And today I still await for an argument that would make me pause for even a second to doubt myself or struggle to look for an answer. I've channeled so much of my thinking on this subject and everything I have to say is at my fingertips, which is why I am this confident.

First of all, to the people who would like to give me the millions of examples of things that can't be proven by science or logic, let me stop you there. My reasoning is simple. The absence of something does not necessarily prove the presence of something else. There have only been scientific theories regarding how everything was created, and all attempts at scientific explanation are at the very least flawed. But that does not in any way prove that God was the answer to it. My logic is not that there is always a logical explanation to everything, but that you cannot conclude that God is the answer just because you couldn't find a logical explanation. Life is not a multiple choice question where you can eliminate possibilities of answers out because the possibilities are endless.

So if you are going to give me a million examples of things that haven't been explained by science, allow me to stop you there and say I'm well aware of that, I concede on the fact, but it still does not necessarily prove that God is the answer.

I used to believe. There wasn't a significant event that made me change my mind, but in a sense I sort of 'grew out' of the belief. The more I learnt about logical reasoning, the more I felt less inclined to believe in something just because I didn't have the answers I needed. There are so many things in life that would be simpler for me right now if I just believed and stopped questioning it. But I can't possibly force myself to. Not for anyone. Not even for me.

I'm close to so many people who believe in God in their own ways, and in a way I do feel really sorry for those who genuinely want me to believe because they want me to live a better life. But I feel the need to tell you all that this is my stand for now. I'd like to see the day I'm proven wrong, but I realistically don't see it happening. Ever. If you think I have a perception that's too closed and have blocked Him out, then you may be right, because I've spent too much of my life leaving myself open to it but nothing has changed in that long period of time for me to accept and believe. Thus I remain this way.

Sorry.

~

2008-12-04T04:46:00.000-08:00

If this was your test to see if I could remain care-free and optimistic my entire life, then I've failed. And it was a fucking stupid test.

I hope you had your laugh.

Now fix it.

Iceberg

2008-12-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

Hey.

You are a lot more than what you seem, in our lives. It may be disrespectful to see you as an object, because you're more than that, but I can't help but to.

You just seem to be something to laugh about, something we can all talk about and something we just love to hate. In a sense, you unify us. It's brilliant. Not your intention, but brilliant nonetheless.

But you're so much more than that. You're practically a test I can take to know whether I actually know myself. At times, I say things I'm absolutely against saying and I just come out surprising myself - obviously failing the test. Then I'm certain I don't know myself very well because I said something that shocked me and I couldn't even believe it after hearing the words leave my mouth.

You're an iceberg not because you choose to be one, but because you're so much more to us than just something we love to bitch about. I'm doubtful of myself because of you.

You scare me and you don't even know it.

AD..

2008-12-02T15:30:00.000-08:00

..VERTISEMENT.

Food stuff, courtesy of the infamous 'wei' of the chatbox.

We could really use some of that food here, bro. Kthx.

A month and much more

2008-11-26T18:29:00.000-08:00

2 months and a day ago:
If you pointed her out to me and told me I'd be dating her in the future, I wouldn't be surprised.
If you told me I'd fall in love with her, I'd be a little shocked, but would calm down and accept that as a possibility.
If you told me I'd be going through everything I had gone through in this one month of being together and still be as crazy about her, I'd...call your all-in bluff within a second (Sorry, just played poker for 5 hours. Mind a little tuned to it.)

But yeah, here I am.

Dating her.
In love.
And still as crazy.

It's not in my nature to do this monthly crap but yeah, happy one month and much more.

PS: Too soon? Not really, no.

I lied.

2008-11-26T18:25:00.000-08:00

It's humbling to get your ass kicked 5 poker nights in a row by the same person. The difference is he cashed out 16 pounds today (again, >50% of the prize pool).

It's also humbling to go from being up 6 pounds at one point to losing that and more in the next hour :P

Ahh, I'm not a sore loser in terms of money. I'm a sore loser in terms of actually realizing I'm not so indestructible in poker anymore (ego, obviously). And it also sometimes hurts when time and time again you make the right decisions but get punished for them.

Like every other player in the world would say, "That's poker" =)

Alternate

2008-11-24T14:59:00.000-08:00

You wake up and live it like every other day. The slight difference today is that it's been a year since he died. You walk across the road to fetch yourself a carton of milk.

You begin to wonder whether it was all left up to fate. Whether his death was truly because God, or something, had intended for it to happen that way. And whether or not any of the other accidental deaths around you were planned that way just revolving around your life, affecting you and only you alone. You brush the thought off, and begin to walk back with a carton of milk in your hand.

BAM.

A car hits you and you bleed. You reach out. You fade. You die.

But that's not how it was supposed to happen. It's inconsistent with the theory you just thought about. If everything revolved around you, it wouldn't make sense to kill you off, because then everything else would be insignificant.

No. It wasn't supposed to happen. It didn't. That was an alternate reality. Reverse. Start anew. Fast forward.

You pour milk into your cereal bowl. Crunch.

The End.

~

PS: Two entries in a day? Damn.

The True Tests

2008-11-24T06:34:00.000-08:00

One
To see how strong the bond actually is between us. To see if I'd stay loyal and equally as enthusiastic as before even after cast in shadows and doubt. To truly apply tonnes of weight on the strings and see if it ever breaks, even if the strings are relatively short (but strong).

Two
To remain completely impartial. To understand that not everything is comprehensible on its surface, and to refrain from judgment until (or if ever) the facts are crystal clear. To remain absolutely rational even though I am bound to have feelings.

The Problem
They both seem impossible.
They both are lasting tests, so the answer to whether or not I succeed will never be certain.

The Spectators
For the last time, I'd ask that everyone remain impartial as well, as best as possible. There's no sense in jeopardizing anything for an insignificant issue.

The Silver Lining
I'm doing well.

Rationalism, rationalism.

2008-11-23T16:05:00.000-08:00

It feels like I've been set up with rational thoughts vs. emotions situations so much in my life, especially in the past 2 years or so. It becomes a lot clearer when you have a definite understanding that in 99.9% of situations, rationalism > emotions.

Why did I make such a bold statement? Let me just clarify that my perspective on rationalism is of course an unbiased, unclouded, incontrovertible judgment of rationalism. It's easy to see that with that, your emotions are obsolete in any decision-making process.

I've seen too many situations that were an inch from being an absolute cluster-fuck but gets saved when one of the parties decides to go with their brain instead of their heart. I've also seen too many situations that completely blow up thanks to everyone having an absolute need to follow their emotions instead.

I know I've referred to all these like a million times in all my previous blog entries in all my previous blogs but I just can't stress on how important this is. There's just this moment of clarity with a fucking brightly lit light bulb smashing into your face when you finally realize how simple life is when you take it as rationally as possible.

I'm just glad that things worked out with what happened today and once again I'll just have to thank rationalism for where it got us once again.

Hmm.
Thank Rationalism.
Praise Rationalism.
Give me strength and guide me, Rationalism.
Cult, anyone?

(This marks the change of the blog title from 'Preacher of Realism' to 'Preacher of Rationalism and Realism', as well as the label 'Realism at its best' to 'Of Rationalism and Realism' - just because it's all more appropriate that way)

Perhaps the end?

2008-11-21T20:33:00.000-08:00

I'm just a little bored of blogging about poker, but we did play for 6 hours today. We played a little Omaha just to get exposed to the game and of course, what is my first poker game without a bad beat? Gotta love losing with full house 7s over 5s against full house 10s over 7s. Reminds me so much of my first Hold'em game where I lost with Q high flush against a straight flush. Maaaan, it's like there's something out there that wants to discourage me from playing.

Tonight was awesome for so many reasons:
1. We had 9 solid, committed players (almost all of which played the full 6 hours).
2. There was no tension at all between anyone at any point of the game. Super friendly atmosphere. It was all just about friends chilling out on a Friday night.
3. We had a total prize pool of 23 pounds today, equivalent of 23 buy-ins. What's hilarious is I contributed to 5 pounds of it :P (I ended up cashing out 5.60 anyway, relax).
4. This is a bit of a side note, but Joel cashed out 1100 chips (breaking my old record!) with one buy-in even after losing ~150 chips in the last hand he played (which he played blind, as he always does on his last hand). Another round of applause for your sportsmanship. He played at ~1200 chips most of the time in the game and let me tell you, controlling 50% of the chips on a 9 player table is fucking amazing.
5. A lot of exciting plays today but none of which I'll mention because I'm just tired. Perhaps it's the end of all poker-related blog posts (which is fantastic for my readers). Perhaps it's just that I'm tired tonight. We'll see how that goes.

It's 4.39 a.m. and this is by far the latest I've ever stayed awake since I've been here. It's been a while =)

Too much time on your hands?

2008-11-21T13:45:00.000-08:00

Probability Calculations in Texas Hold’em Poker
(attempted to be) made easy by Gemynd

Note: It is assumed that readers have a basic understanding of the rules of Texas Hold’em Poker.

Introduction
Have you always wondered if you should call a bet with 2 hearts in your hand and 2 hearts in the flop, hoping to make a flush on the turn or river? You may have, and people may have called it luck, but was it really luck or probability that got you there? This guide will just run through some basic Hold’em calculations and examine the margin of error between estimated chances and real chances.

First and foremost, the system I will be using relies wholly on ‘outs’. ‘Outs’ are the cards left in the deck for you to achieve your goal.

Note: The parts that really apply are the sections “Real percentages – How do I do it?” and “Estimated Percentages – An easier method?” The rest is pretty much evaluative work of how precise that method actually is.

Real percentages – How do I do it?
For example, let’s say you have the Ace of Hearts and King of Hearts. The flop is 2 and 6 of Hearts, and 5 of Diamonds. An opponent bets out a million dollars, and you’re stuck. If another Heart comes on the table, you have an almost unbeatable hand, with a 2, 6, x, K, A flush. But what are your percentages? This is basic probability.

There are 13 Hearts total in the deck. There are 2 Hearts in your hand, and 2 on the board. You have no idea what your opponents have or what the burnt/closed cards are, so ignore those for now. On a strictly statistical basis, there are still 13-2-2=9 Hearts (now these are referred to as ‘outs’) left in the deck that can make you the flush. Let’s hold on to that number.

There are 52 cards total in the deck. There are 2 cards in your hand, and 3 on the board. These are the cards open to you, and the information you can count based on. Thus, there are 52-2-3=47 cards left. Let’s hold on to that number.

Statistically now, the chance of you getting a flush on the next card is 9/47. In percentage, so we multiply that number by 100. You must also take into account that after the flop, there are 2 cards left to be dealt, the turn and the river. So we multiply that number by 2. The formula at the end? 9/47x100x2=38.298%.

Let’s say you do make that call of 1 million dollars, and the turn is the 8 of Diamonds. You have one card left that can make you the flush. What is your percentage now? 9 Hearts left in the deck, as was before. 46 cards left in the deck, because the 8 of Diamonds was dealt. You don’t multiply the number by two (as we did earlier) because there is only the river left to be dealt. The formula now? 9/46x100=19.565%.

Note: At this point it might be quite stupid to call a bet based on your 19.565% =)

The problem with these complicated (?) calculations is that it’s impossible to do these things in your head and it’s quite ridiculous to keep tapping a calculator every time you need to get the information you need in the middle of a hand.

Estimated Percentages – An easier method?
Let’s reuse the same situation. You have the same 9 outs after the flop. The percentage to hit one out on one card (e.g. the turn or the river) is 2%. Post-flop, the turn and river are yet to come out so that doubles your percentage of hitting an out, which makes it 4%. With 9 outs, your estimated percentage of hitting it on either turn or river would be 9x4=36%.

If you didn’t hit your out on the turn, then the chance to hit the river would be halved. Or we can recalculate using number of outs multiplied by 2%. 9x2=18%.

In the previous real calculation, the chance to hit one out of nine outs in either turn or river was 38.298%. Our estimation is 36%.

The chance to hit one out of nine outs on river alone was 19.565%, and our estimation was 18%.

Margin of Error – Negligible?
So with our previous calculation of 9 outs, there was a margin of error of 2.298% on turn and river, and 1.565% on river.

Some people believe this is negligible and the tiny percentages do not really contribute to the game. If you do however choose to believe in statistics that much more, or if you are involved in a very huge hand with a lot of money and need to consider every possible outcome, you may want to rely on the more accurate real percentage.

Below is a table of estimated and real calculations based on the number of outs, and the margin of error between the two calculations.

You may observe from the table that an increase of the number of outs increases the margin of error between the real and estimated calculations. This may be troublesome for some, but memorizing the table or tapping a calculator during a game would be unfeasible.

A simpler (?) method?
It can also be observed that for an increase of 1 out, the margin of error between real and estimated calculation for both turn and river is 0.255%, and the margin of error between real and estimated calculation for the river only is 0.174%.

In terms of ratio, 1 out : 0.255% (turn and river) or 1 out : 0.174% (river only)

For a situation which is more simple and realistic for our purposes, here’s a method I use instead of relying on real calculation all the time.

Real percentage = Estimated percentage + (Number of outs x 0.25 or 0.17)

We’ll use the 9 outs situation again and check if it tallies.

Real percentage
= 36 + (9x.25)
= 36 + 2.25
= 38.25

Based on real calculation earlier (refer to previous calculation or the table above), the percentage was 38.298. We how have 38.25, which is a very, very slight bit off the real percentage, and probably doesn’t matter. This calculation reduced the margin of error substantially (initially 2.298%, now 0.043%).

Of course I would only suggest using this method if you REALLY need to think about every possible aspect in a very big hand, otherwise it would just take up a lot of times and you’ll get a lot of pissed-off opponents.

Final Thoughts
Thanks for reading. I hope this helped you in your calculations and contributed a little to your poker game (that is of course providing you’re a beginner looking for a rough guidance to help you make decisions in your game).

PS: All these calculations were done by me, so please do point out if there are any flaws in my reasoning. I did not refer to any source of any sort throughout writing this. Every bit of it belongs to me. These are just the results of boring classes and random thoughts.

PPS: It only took me 40 minutes to write this guide. It's not that I had that much time.

Drown! =)

2008-11-17T19:05:00.000-08:00

You remind me of a time where I used to be knee-deep, but I'd kneel anyway just to drown in it.

And boy, do I love drowning.

PS: This is the kind of shit you can only come up with when you wake up at 2 a.m. because someone knocks on a door near you (not sure if it was my door?) and can't get back to sleep. Meh, it was only a matter of time until my sleeping hours got fucked anyway. (Do you like how my postscript is longer than my actual 'script'?)

Another night, another round.

2008-11-16T10:55:00.000-08:00

I've never been owned so hard by a single player at a poker table before.

Had a good start to the night. Joel raises 6 and everyone folds to me where I make the call with 3/6 off-suit just because I'm the last player in. I move all-in post flop (2, 4, 5 rainbow) and get insta-called by his pocket Jacks. I double-up my initial buy-in.

Here I am making great plays with my new and gleaming chip stack so early in the night, pooling up to a nice stack of 250+ chips. It all died when I got outplayed hand after hand against Joel heads up.

I limp in with J/4 and the flop comes 2/4/K. Joel leads out with 20 and I re-raised to 45 just to see where I'm at. He calls. Turn comes Q. Playing off-position perfectly, he bets out another 25 and chases me off the hand because of the two overcards. He reveals 2/6. That had to be one of the best bluffs played against me, more so because even after re-raising on previous round, he continues firing bullets off-position (with 25 - what seemed like a value bet) which was a fantastically well-planned bluff.

In another hand I hold K/K and raise 12 UTG. Joel re-raises to 15, player after that goes all-in with 11, another call for 15 and I raise to 24 (at this point being very happy). Joel calls and the other folds, leaving the 3 of us including the all-in. What seems like a fantastic flop comes out, 4/7/Q rainbow. I lead out with 40 and get called. Turn comes A, which worries me a bit, so I check it. He raises 20 which seems like an awful tiny bet into such a big pot, so I found it suspicious and re-raised..I can't remember the amount. I get called, river comes a blank I can't remember. I check, he throws in another 20 and I call to see A/Q. Out-played? Cold deck? You decide. Whatever it was, that chipped off another huge stack of my chips.

From then on everything went down and I finally got kicked off when trying to pull a play against pocket 3s who made a set on the flop. And that was it.

The night ended up with Joel cashing out 550, another cashing out 470, and another 180. That basically meant 3 players raping the entire table of numerous buy-ins. Talk about getting dominated.

These are one of the nights I just gladly smile and acknowledge that at least the best players won tonight =)

~

I just finished up on Episode 32 (final table) of WSOP 2008 and man, they may have just been highlights but you can truly see why these people are up there in the final table and how they managed to beat 6,800+ other people to get there.

Of course the hand we were all impressed with, Kh/Qs of Ylon Schwartz against Ah/10c of Ivan Demidov. There was a little initial raise and it was between the both of them, when the flop came 5h/7h/Jh. Nobody seemed to want to put a semi-bluff in on a flop like that so they checked to the turn, which came 9h. Both players hit a flush, one nuts and another second best. There was a little bet on turn by Demidov and it was called. River comes 5s and Demidov throws in another huge bet, which Schwartz folds to.

1. Folding K high flush is one of the hardest poker decisions you'll ever make.
2. The only card you would put your opponent on (that can beat you) is Ah, because you would never put your opponent on a full house with bets like that.
3. Why would you then call a bet on the turn, find a weird card like 5s, and fold to it later on? If you think you were ahead on the turn, why would you fold to a bet on the river?

Another hand that impressed me was Demidov's K/7 suited against Peter Eastgate's (I think) 2/3. The community was 7/3/6/K/3 and they played all the way till the river bet when Eastgate puts out a big bet and Demidov folds K/7, also one of the best laydowns I've seen. The immediate hand after that, he raises with A/4, gets re-raised by Dennis Phillips's A/8, goes all-in and makes Phillips fold out of that hand. Making 2 plays like that beautifully is one of the main reasons I think Demidov is one of the best players around.

Well after watching all that I'm not even going to attempt to say whether or not the best player won. I'm in no position, but I do think the people at the final table are there because they obviously deserved it. None of them showed any bit of low class and they mostly deserved what they cashed out with.

It's just very humbling to see them play and know how bloody far you actually are away from levels of 'professional poker'. Never again will I ever doubt that skill > luck in poker.

PS: On a final note, regarding the last hand, playing 2 pairs against straights is also one of the most painful games anyone can experience in poker. It's common, it happens all the time and you're bound to be on the losing (and overconfident) side with 2 pairs at one point. I've personally gone through a night where I've had my 2 pair beaten by a straight, 5 times in a single hour of hands. Naturally, I folded 3 of them, but still. It reminds us that even at the highest levels, you see the same kinds of plays take place at your own tables.

Tonight, tonight.

2008-11-14T17:33:00.000-08:00

"The beauty of simplicity is the complexity it attracts."

What the hell then, is the beauty of complexity?

I never questioned it until I realised just how complex everything was and it was only after expressing myself that I realised why I'm actually in this position. Why I've fallen and had my feet swept off the ground, not bothering about the past that let me down before. Why wasn't I taking extra precaution?

Because I gave up on asking for a reason on most occasions and hoped it paid off. It did. Like taking a dive off the cliff blind-folded, not knowing what the hell to expect and I land in a swimming pool. Of cash. And naked women. With booze. Except better ;)

Tonight was fantastic merely because I realised these things. Not because anything in particular happened as a result of realising it. If you think I couldn't get any much higher up on the optimism scale, here we are =)

PS: Can you believe I won another lucky draw at an event? I'm just destined to do these things. Thanks for the 20 pound voucher, RUMBSA =)

~

Speaking of swimming pools (water), the "Drinking Water" sign in my toilet just got replaced with a "Do not drink" sign without any of the residents of Sherfield knowing... So what the fuck have we been drinking for the past month? Jeez. Sherfield is the wrong place to try and avoid a lawsuit, you've got at least 20 law students in there who are well aware of their rights. Bitches.

~

Just gonna briefly talk about a few hands in poker the past 2 sessions and come up with a nice conclusion.

First night 10+ buy-ins, 1 pound each, broke even.

5 of us played the last 7 hands which I swear, came in this form: 2/9 off, 3/10 off, 3/9 suited, 2/8 off, 3/7 off, etc. I got sick and tired and I was just bored (especially knowing the girlfriend was waiting on me), so I got up, cashed out 100 chips, was left with 13, and went all-in on the next hand in the dark (without looking at my hand). I picked it up to see after the bet of 13, A/A. Only 1 other caller, and the opponent flips over K/K. I just thought that's a "what are the odds" kinda thing and laughed at it but seriously, that is some god-awful timing. ARGH. Played a while more and lost it all anyway cause I just wanted to sleep.

Second night, 12 buy-ins, 1 pound each, bought in twice, won 50p.

I just want to highlight this hand and point out how much play at our tables have changed. I hold K/K, I raise to 12. 4 calls. 5/7/8 rainbow. First to act raises 20, I raise 71 (to see where exactly I'm at), everyone else folds. After thinking forever, he folds and reveals 5/5.

Now this is play that I may not agree with, but to fold bottom set on the flop has to be one of the coolest plays I've seen, and just highlights how much we've grown from those gung-ho call-everything on flush/straight draws and how much we've all improved as a group.

My conclusion anyway was this:
3 poker nights ago I lost 3 pounds.
2 poker nights ago I broke even.
Tonight's poker night I won 50p.

Compare and contrast it to the nights where I used to win 3-5 (and sometimes even 7) pounds without fail? Yes, I'm proud to say the table has improved a whole lot. Great times =)