Narrowband.org

A friend will be leaving for Sweden to further studies. He was the guy who taught me to ‘jump over’ the fence to get onto NKVE without passing through toll. Brilliant idea. As an innocent freshie, I joined his company for internship last year and guess what, I got much more than what I could ever bargain for. Little did I know, my arrival also marked the beginning of a lasting friendship with all the permanent staff there. On Friday, we (minus one lost pig who has already gone to Singapore) went down to the city for some Friday night fun.

Actually, we’re no party people. My previous such outing was donkeys years ago lar ok. It was because we wanted to send this guy off with a bang, we came up with something ‘out of the box’ (like how our boss always put it…). Let me tell you a bit about this guy. His super outgoing and adventurous personality saw him conquer mountain and sea alike - he scaled mount KK and possesses a valid diving license. (Diving ok, not driving. Of course, driving license also got lar). He also has an ‘Ikea…’ (private joke). Well bro, Sweden is also home to Ikea - the real one! Hehe. Two years hor, very fast pass one! Take care OK! I will try my best not to miss you!

It was also a joyous weekend - there were so many birthday celebrations. JW invited us for dinner on Saturday, while Sis celebrates hers today. We ordered an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins :D. Absolutely yummy! The week also saw the issuance of my first payslip from this company. *Happy happy*. Next week, there’ll be an annual dinner. More booze. -_-”

Happy Monday!

You know the thing about taking a shower at my gym is that, you have to put up with curtains instead of doors. After hearing stories about gay men lurking in gym locker rooms and stuff, I can’t help but take some precautions also lah. Since the curtains can be opened by anyone at anytime, I usually do a splash ‘n dash just to get out of there as soon as possible.

Also, I always face inside and rarely outside. Maybe it’s because that’s where the soap and shampoo are. Or maybe it’s that silly fear of someone popping me a surprise visit while I’m busy lathering. I don’t know. And because I have my back facing the curtain, it tends to stick to my wet butt cheeks when I move around in the tiny shower cubicle (hate it when it happens!).

You would think that the cubicles have hooks for you to hang your towels, etc. You’re wrong. There are no hooks - just a shower head extended long enough so you can hang your towel there. Normally, I bring in my undies in also lah. Now, since I have more than one item hanging on the same horizontal bar (which is the extension that leads to the shower head), removing any one of them is a delicate task. I wouldn’t want to drop any of them onto the wet floor.

Back in the locker area, it’s the usual sight of men checking themselves out in the mirrors. The mirrors there, I tell you, are a crowd favorite. We savor the ‘results’ of the day’s workout by looking into the mirrors. Actually, these results are usually less obvious the next morning because the muscles have relaxed. To get a more ‘permanent’ shape would of course require a consistent workout regime and an appropriate diet.

Sometimes, if I’m unlucky (or lucky, whatever makes you happy), I bump into someone who doesn’t mind displaying his ‘tools’ for all to see. I have to be very honest with you - I find looking at another male’s anatomy very disgusting. On a brighter note, it shows I’m totally straight. So, such sightings are not welcomed. My friends tell me it’s more rampant in some other gyms in KL, luckily I’m not a member there.

P/s: I’ve about two more months before I renew my membership. I wonder if I should…

Came across these so-called ‘tips’ in yesterday’s paper. In six simple steps, you can supposedly make a guy “proclaim undying love for you in no time”. With a title and an opening phrase that catchy, I couldn’t resist reading the whole thing. Here we go:

1. Take good care of yourself. Stay in shape and eat a healthy diet. Make sure you are well-groomed at all times (hair, nails, makeup). If you take pride in how you look, the man in your life will take pride in that as well.

2. Be confident. Confidence is not only a man’s game. Men like women who are sure of themselves and where they are going in life. If you are not all that confident naturally, fake it until you no longer have to.

3. Figure out where your guy hangs out, and you hang out there too. Before he can fall in love with you, he has to like you first. The more we are exposed to a stimulus (person, place or thing), the more we like it.

4. Once he likes you and gets used to having you around, start to become less and less available. There is truth to the saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder,” so make him miss you and work extra hard to have you around. Remember: things easily gotten are easily replaced.

5. When you talk to each other, look longingly into his eyes. Hold eye contact with him longer than normal, and you can trick his brain into believing he’s in love with you.

6. Make him feel like he is the only man in the world for you. Whether it’s a small note wishing him a good day, a light caress or gentle kiss, make sure he feels like he is the only man in your world. Men like the women in their lives to make them feel special, and the woman who can do that will be the one he loves.

** End of Tips **

Seriously, I can’t help but think more than half of it sounds superficial. If you go so out of the way like that, I wonder if things will be the same after you guys hook up. Then again, since when things that happen during courtship ever last? And what’s the deal with #4? Playing hard to get is so yesterday :p I also have something to say about #2: it’s not always true. It’s okay to be nervous, and I think most guys like things to be natural, no? Hehe. Ok maybe it’s just me. I’ve no comment about the rest of the tips. If you’ve any experience, tell me they don’t work.

Bad English makes your writing look bad. Especially in official documents, announcements, reports, etc.. Memos, however, are usually intended for internal circulation so they can be simply written - in bad grammar and all - as long as everyone understands the message. Let’s talk about the official documents and reports and stuff. So what if they’re written in bad English (yet still intelligible)?

The truth is, nothing will happen. It’s business as usual. Your clients won’t care if your English is good or bad. All that matters to them is the quality of your products, and your services rendered. They won’t boycott you just because you write horrible English. How about signboards and announcements in public places? As long as the message is clear, the bad English is not going to affect anything.

And universities? The same thing. Nobody will feel embarrassed, and parents will continue to send their children to that university. In fact, most of my lecturers did not write in good English. But what the heck? They taught technical subjects anyway. The online bulletin board as well as the university’s official website do not have 100% correct English too. Yet, it’s business as usual.

In reality, perfect English is hard to come by. If you’re not good in English, it’s okay. Nobody will get punished, or suffer any losses. At most - if you’re lucky - your work gets highlighted in The Star’s Boob Watch column. And then, instead of feeling embarrassed, you even get excited because your writing gets featured in a national daily. But what if your English is good? Good then good lah. So?

MG wanted to know what I would do if I had one million bucks. Since I’m in Malaysia, let’s assume that the currency is RM. Having joined the workforce just less than a month ago, I have been thinking about plans and stuff. Most of them though, are dreams. (Sure la, first paycheque also haven’t taken yet). But hey, who knows if they will come true? In Chinese, they say 美梦成真! Anyway, let us now dive into dream mode:-

Contrary to what most people would do, my first priority is not to get something I truly like. I would dive into investments. In other words - make the money grow! Invest in the stock market, funds, properties, etc.. Of course, I’ll need to study, do research and analyze thoroughly the market because I could make losses. I may get an expert or two to help me with this. The returns may not be immediately noticeable, but they’ll bear fruit in the long run.

I could also decide on buying my own house. It’s not gonna be a cash-and-carry kind of thing, because I could always work out a flexible financial plan. So now, what if I have some money to spare? This is where shopping comes in. Maybe upgrade my wardrobe, buy a new guitar, a nice watch, etc.. I don’t have spend it all right? I love cars - I’m a motoring freak but come to think of it, my job does not require me to drive alot. Maybe a cheap one would do, until I’m really earning enough.

So, if I had one million ringgit, yeah - I’d probably do as mentioned. Now let’s snap back to reality. It’s not gonna come easy. Although I think my job can provide me a decent lifestyle, I am not sure about becoming a millionaire. Maybe I could, if I get promoted to top-management level. Otherwise, it’ll take ’something else’ to make me a millionaire. I’ll need divine intervention, lol.

P/s: Would I have thought the same if I had a girlfriend? *Food for thought…*

I am not gonna pass this meme to anyone, but I hope you guys enjoyed reading my version!

I heard a juicy story today. Nothing big deal, just kepoh abit la. A teenage college boy actually took the handphone belonging to his coursemate - a girl - and sent an SMS. The SMS was meant to be a prank, sent to the girl’s mother. The SMS sounded more like a distress message. It ended with “Help me!”, repeated twice. I simply cannot imagine anyone so childish. Not only did the message cause a huge anxiety to the girl’s mother, it also resulted in a panicky situation during which the girl’s father actually rushed home from work earlier than usual. The mother tried to call her daughter but because it was set to silent mode, she didn’t notice anything. The parents subsequently went to the college to look for their daughter.

Needless to say, the two youngsters got an earful later on, and the boy promptly apologized. The girl, as far as I know her, is not known to be mischievous or even playful. She’s a very bright and quiet student. After listening to the story, I wished I had the opportunity to confront that boy myself. I even pictured a possible scenario plus dialogue - even though I am only an outsider. Aiyo, you tell me la, where got people so childish one? Play until nothing to play meh? I heard that the boy got scolded quite badly on the phone by the girl’s mother. Serves him right! Apparently, he’s actually from some small town - I presume he got too fascinated with this thing called ‘handphone’. So geram right?

As much as I hoped Raikkonen would start on pole, I hate to see Hamilton crash. Lewis Hamilton, who started his F1 career like a no other, made his first ‘mistake’ (in 9 starts) two weeks ago at Silverstone - his home GP. The 22-year old accidentally moved his car when the lollipop was flipped to indicate ‘1st gear’ during a pit-stop. Yesterday - during the German GP qualifying - Hamilton crashed into the tyre barriers at about 240km/h after his front right wheelgun failed, which was of course not his fault at all.

(Image belongs to Setanta Sports)

Having had a spectacular debut season so far - where he has been finishing in no worse than third place since the first race - Hamilton has won the hearts of millions of F1 fans, non-fans, and prospective sponsors, all of whom are equally excited to see if he’ll be continually writing history as he races. As such, there is little wonder why yesterday’s crash created a huge anxiety among fans and the media. Last month, his 22-year old compatriot at BMW Williams, Robert Kubica suffered a huge crash at Montreal, Canada.

I did a search on Youtube with keywords “Hamilton crash” and sure enough, I found more than 10 different videos of the same incident. Although his crash may not be as strong as Kubica’s, it did require a stretcher to remove him from the track (he was subsequently airlifted to a hospital). A video showed that he was trying to walk away from the car when he decided to lay down and wait for the stretcher. He also appeared to be moving his legs repeatedly shortly after the impact - a move I later learnt (from one of the commentators) was to ensure that his legs were okay.

Anyway, despite the heavy impact, he has been cleared to race later today. He will be starting from an unfamiliar grid position - as far as 10th on the grid. It will be really interesting to see how Hamilton attacks from mid-field.

Edit@23/07/07 at 2019hrs: The race was awesome. I’m not gonna talk you through it, because it should be splashed all over the net by now. I had never seen a race being red-flagged before. So many cars were beached. The closest to what happened in Nuerburgring would probably be the Sepang GP about 5 years ago (if I’m not mistaken). Almost everyone waltzed off track and at one moment I thought, “How can the race continue like this?”. Ferrari were the biggest losers yesterday. Kimi could never seem to shine in Nuerburgring, huh? IMO, the most entertaining part of the race was mostly when the cars were stationary. Yes, during the restart (where Markus Winkelhock was leading in his debut outing with Spyker Ferrari), and after the race.

Alonso and Massa were two angry men and it showed. Haha! I enjoyed that :p

Duncan was the man of the moment went we gathered at TGIF to usher in his 23rd year carrying the Homo Sapien DNA. Dude, sorry for the slightly screwed up handwriting on the card man, hehe. It was a gathering of sorts because it was also the last get-together before Steph and her beau leave for Penang on Friday. We talked about stuff like job-hunt, graduation, and Malaysian football. Haha. Well, basically we were just catching up on each other’s lives.

That’s Duncan, radiating some sorta nucleic energy ball from behind his neck :p. Thanks Chiawyin for calling me in the first place. I made a brief stopover despite the short notice, before adjourning to another secret location for yet another birthday celebration. This time, it’s the Princess‘ birthday. We had already planned to meet up since last month. They’re the ones who bought me my tie, ingat tak?

It was nice to see everyone again, especially after having started working (I thought my social life would reduce to zero. Haha!). I went home quite late and almost couldn’t get up for work this morning. Nevertheless, when I thought about all the smiles and laughter we had last night, I knew I had a great time and it was all worthwhile. Happy birthday to you July babies!

Tomorrow’s my lil sis’ birthday (got sleep-over party summore… Arghh… kids!!), and 9 days later is my other sis’ birthday. There’s one more guy who’ll be celebrating his birthday on the 30th of this month but after assessing their priorities, this guy ranks last lah. Heh. Anyway, he’s already driving a brand new Honda City about 3 weeks before his birthday. Good hor? :p

Why July so many birthdays wan -_-”

P/s: Btw hor, I’m going to watch Jacky Cheung live in Bukit Jalil leh. Any of you going ar?

Edit@21/07/07, 0055hrs: I left out two three more July babies - all of whom are turning 23 this year! Chiawyin will be celebrating her birthday tomorrow, Faylin on the 25th, and Mayling a day after. Boy oh boy - October’s the month, huh?

I thought I saw ’s-m-o-o-c-h’. Although I’m no less good at that, I wondered how Angel knew :p Just kidding. HAHA! Ok now, if I told you I knew the meaning of the word ’schmooze’, then I must be lying. According to online definitions, ’schmooze’ means “to converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection.” And to be awarded by the angel herself… WOW! - It must have been my lucky day. I feel really honoured.

Being a recipient of this coveted award made me feel almost like I could fly. Hehe. Now, I’m supposed to make five other people feel the same!

1. Day-dreamer
2. Wuching
3. Rinnah
4. Bkworm
5. Hooiching

Don’t you just feel loved? ;)

Ok look, I’ve never been tagged with something as noble as this. Thanks to Bkworm, here’s my version:

1. To love someone is to keep her away from pain.
2. Money makes me grin from ear to ear.
3. Nothing makes me happier than seeing my loved ones happy.
4. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could be someone whom people look up to?
5. I smile when I hear my little cousin call me kor kor.
6. Money is not everything but happiness is.
7. If you want to achieve something, then you have to work for it.
8. My way of saying I care is by offering assistance, or lending an ear.
9. Friendship is always life-long.
10. A person is only as good as he wants himself to be.
11. I try to spread love and happiness by making people laugh.
12. When I was thirteen, what I remember the most was entering secondary school.
13. I miss being in school.
14. When I am happy, I talk a lot.
15. The best thing I did yesterday was lifting weights at the gym.
16. One thing I must do before I die is to visit all 7 continents in the world.
17. Doing this meme, I feel like being part of something charitable.

And to pass this on…:-
Jian, Che-cheh, and Sat, consider yourselves privileged :p