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Edit @ 2 Oct 2007: I recently came across an article, on what we normally call ‘miss-calling’. Describing the practice as ‘beeping’, the article teaches you 4 rules that you should think about, before deciding to miss-call anyone. Read it here in full!

In a blink of an eye, it’s another weekend again. It seems like the best time for me to blog is during the weekends! Well, it doesn’t help either to know that many of my entries remain as drafts, and have little chances of getting published. Anyway, during the inactivity of my blog in the past week, Angel and Rinnah wanted to know what phones I’ve used before.

If you’re in the same age bracket as me, you most probably have used a Nokia 3310 before. However, if you’re a little older, you might have used the Nokia 3210 instead. I know many of my seniors had that phone! I used up my savings to purchase the 3310 during the year-end holidays in 2000 (wow it’s been 7 long years!), and I must also add that at that time, the phone was everything to me. Gone were the days when my friends and I would call each other on landlines. Gone were the days when we’d say, “Hello auntie, may I speak to xyz please?”. The 3310, despite its non-coloured screen, was a hit back then. It was durable, user-friendly, robust… it was a luxury! I remember spending time looking for ringtones, operator logos, and nice casings for my phone. To think that we only had monophonic ringtones back then…… lol. Anyway, my 3310 was stolen by some brat during a basketball game. Yes, 3310 was no cheapskate phone those days, so much so that it attracted thieves!
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Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there lived a great warrior who was very well respected and much feared. The warrior was known as Hou Yi, and his wife, Chang Er was one of the most beautiful women in the kingdom at that time. Those days, the moon was widely perceived as a representation of the feminine principle, or the yin. On the other hand, the masculine principle was symbolically represented by the sun, or the yang.

One day, legend has it that the Earth was surrounded by 10 suns at the same time. The Earth was too overwhelmed with heat and the appearance of the 10 suns had upset the yin and yang balance. Therefore, the Emperor ordered Hou Yi to save the Earth. Hou Yi, a renowned archer himself, then stepped up to the occasion and shot down 9 suns. He became an instant hero after that. Little did he know, the Goddess of Western Heaven had witnessed his heroic feat.

She rewarded Hou Yi with a special pill that would make him immortal. Hou Yi was extremely happy. However, there was a condition that came with the pill - Hou Yi must meditate and fast for a year. He must take the pill with an absolute pure heart, otherwise he would not become immortal. Upon agreeing to the conditions, Hou Yi proceeded with his heart-purification mission, without the knowledge of Chang Er.

(Image taken from A Doodle a Day, via Google Images)

However, Chang Er accidentally found the pill and out of curiosity, she swallowed it! Hou Yi was very angry about it, and Chang Er was consequently sent to the moon as a punishment. That is why we see images of a woman on our mooncakes, today! Mooncakes are a must during the Moon Festival, which is meant to commemorate this legend about Chang Er. Actually, my version of this legend was derived from a number of sources, including a speech delivered by fellow Toastmaster recently.

So have you eaten any mooncakes yet? I prefer yolkless ones ;D One of the first mooncakes I had this year was the much-hyped, durian-flavored one from Tai Thong. It tasted surprisingly good! I also love the ‘cold’ mooncakes (to be kept refrigerated), or 冰皮月餅 (bing pi yue bing, literally translated to be ‘ice skin mooncake’ in English). They’re my favorite! This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival falls exactly on the 25 September (coming Tuesday), but celebrations usually begin about a month early. Happy Mid-Autumn, everyone!

Narrowband’s trusted references:
1. The Moon Festival - About.com
2. The Legendary Stories of the Chinese Moon Festival
3. Mooncake Legend
4. Moon Festival Overview
5. The Legend of Eating Mooncakes

Photo update@0015hrs, 29 Sept 2007:

Super yummy Snow-Skin Lotus mooncakes from Tai Thong. By the way, anybody can tell me what to do with mooncake boxes? Lol… I don’t feel like throwing them away - what a waste!

I just read the paper and had lunch. The horrifying discovery of Nurin Jazlin’s body was received with gritted teeth by many of us, and deliberate denials by the parents, even after the DNA test concluded that the body found in the sports bag was indeed that of Nurin’s. Yesterday, Nurin’s father finally (after a long silence in a car together with his elder brother Jasni) uttered, “Enough. Bring my daughter home. I do not want her to be cut up again.” Therefore, a second DNA test will no longer be necessary.

Nurin’s father must have mustered a lot of courage, before finally giving in. There was no use denying anymore, as various tests have sufficiently confirmed the girl’s identity. My heart sank. And the nation shares his grief. As if losing a daughter to a psychopath is not enough, now everyone - including the police - is wondering why did Nurin’s parents let her wander alone in the night market. I don’t know what to say… *shakes head*. It is said that the family’s home wasn’t very spacious, so the children often went out to play. In any case, although it may seem like the parents have been negligent, I think it is unfair to question their parenting. It’s like blaming rape victims for ‘dressing provocatively’.

Anyway, Nurin’s murder shall serve as a grim reminder that our country, though peaceful, progressive and gemilang as it may seem, is home to some of the sickest paedophiles around.

In what may be his final world concert tour, Jacky Cheung put up a superb performance at the national stadium in Bukit Jalil last night. We were initially worried that he might not be able to perform because he canceled two concerts recently due to a bout of flu. As it turned out, he not only recovered in time, but also pumped in 110% into the 3-hour-plus concert.

This photo was snapped using my phone, and it’s probably the only clear photo taken during the concert as I didn’t bring along my camera. We were not supposed to bring one, anyway! One of the best features in the concert was the computer graphics displayed on the giant screen, as part of the stage’s backdrop. The picture was very clear and crisp, with occasional animations which blended very effectively with the music.
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Okay, I had never thought that I’d actually do this - blogging from work… lol. But hey, I’ve been drafting this for some time now, and the pictures have all been uploaded long time ago. So what I’m actually publishing now is actually an entry that is long overdue, especially because it’s also a tag passed on to me (long, long time ago!!) by two very generous bloggers, Rinnah and Bengbeng! (Warning: If you’re fasting, you may want to skip this entry… hehe. Happy fasting, by the way, to all Muslim readers)

In that tag, I’m supposed to tell you about my favorite food, but let me just say this: I don’t have a favorite food. I down almost anything edible, hehe. I kinda like seafood though, and all the pictures shown here in this entry was taken in a restaurant called Seaview (something like that, I can’t remember), located somewhere in PJ New Town. The picture above shows their Jiu Pai Min, which means ‘Trademark Noodles’ in Cantonese.
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Damn, I abandoned my blog for almost one week! Been a little busy, but surprisingly, all are non-work-related. I’ve been doing some other stuff, after my working hours. You won’t be interested to know anyway ;p Oh, I’ll be going to watch Jacky Cheung live at Bukit Jalil stadium (outdoor) tomorrow, and here’s one of his old songs which I like very much…:

It’s called the Ageless Legend. I look forward to the concert, it’s a huge relief for me as I have been having one helluva rollercoaster-week!

Update @ 2241hrs, Sept 15: Write-up of the concert is now up!

Note (Edit@2228hrs, 30 Sept 2007): If you’re here via a search engine looking for exam tips, sorry, the only tip I have for you here is this: Don’t waste your time surfing the internet looking for tips. Instead, use it wisely to do your revisions!

I was on my way home from buying groceries when I heard a special announcement on the radio just now. No it had nothing to do with the National Budget, it’s something more interesting, less predictable. Do you remember my entry about SPM tips and the craze for more A’s in today’s exams? Someone took it a step further by announcing exam tips on the radio today. Well actually, he made the announcement over the telephone, and it was broadcast to public.

Apparently this man, more popularly known as Mr Andrew Choo, had ‘accurately predicted’ this year’s UPSR questions, and now he’s doing it again for the upcoming PMR paper. He is also said to have predicted last year’s exam questions accurately. The radio station I was listening to was 988, a local Chinese radio station. He was actually invited to make the announcement on-air. He also has a website, which seems to be quite a hit itself.

Now isn’t that interesting? Haven’t we just heard about this year’s UPSR leaks? In case you’ve forgotten, students who sit for the UPSR exam are mostly 12 year-olds. The people who bocor-ed the questions clearly wanted to start these kids young! After all, there never seems to be a shortage of ‘tip-providers’ for PMR and SPM exams, every year. The announcement by Mr Andrew Choo on the radio, at one part, actually went something like this (spoken in Cantonese):

“Our recent predictions for the UPSR had turned out to be very accurate, so now, dear PMR 2007 students, listen up carefully…”

He proceeded to read out the questions, in BM, word-by-word. I found it quite unbelievable, and even thought it was a joke. Honestly, I have heard about exam leaks all my life, since I was in school myself, but I had never heard them being announced openly before. This brings up a question: Can someone actually do that, legally? With the level of confidence that Mr Choo had, I could almost tell that he meant business, especially since his UPSR 2007 predictions turned out to be highly accurate.

Personally, I don’t believe in accurate ‘predictions’; there is no such thing. To me, if the questions are really accurate, then they’re as good as leaks. What happened to the good ol’ way of studying hard for exams, without relying on tips? Do we actually need them? It is unfair to those who have no access to the tips, especially those who’re from the lower-income group because these tips don’t usually come for free. Usually, you either need to find a tuition center that boasts the ability to accurately ’spot’ questions, or buy special ‘workbooks’ that claim to contain accurate predictions of future exam questions.

With all these unfair advantage for the select few and blatant disregard for exam integrity, I wonder where our education system is headed. Our bolehness is getting a little out of hand, don’t you think?

It is my pleasure to share with you some good blogging tips that have been passed around the blogosphere. With each pass, a new entry will be added to the list and I’m honored that it has been passed to me, not once but twice. Thank you, Che-cheh and Bengbeng! Does that mean I get to add two tips instead of one? :p

-Start Copy-

It’s very simple. When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.)

Write your own blogging tip for other bloggers.Try to make your tip general.

1. Look, read, and learn. http://www.neonscent.com/***

2. Be, EXCELLENT to each other. http://www.bushmackel.com****

3. Don’t let money change ya! *****

4. Always reply to your comments. http://chattiekat.com/****

5. Blog about what you know & love. http://sugar-queens-dream.blogspot.com****

6. Don’t use filthy language-buy a dictionary. http://shinade.blogspot.com***

7. Blog about something educational http://climateofourfuture.org**

8. Be yourself; others will follow http://sfgirl-thealiennextdoor.blogspot.com

9. Don’t have too many blogs that will become a chore to maintain http://cubicledenizen.blogspot.com*

10. Keep it simple, user-friendly, interesting and organised! http://erishaling.blogspot.com****

11. Keep the blog simple and sweet!! http://www.leslieho.com **

12. Share with others your thoughts and don’t be shy! http://groovy-olives.com/blog

13. Never ask for link exchange. Blog hop to increase traffic. http://www.jessieling.com**

14. Blog about something uniquely you. Or post some unique pictures. http://bernardchan.net

15. Avoid too lengthy posts e.g. less than 200 words if you can help it. http://www.mylongkang.com*

16. Avoid Doing Tags.. clementwongpy.blogspot.com

17. Remember to go to the toilet when nature calls, don’t just sit glued to the computer or you’ll shit in your pant! http://wuching.blogspot.com

18. Blog hoping is fun. You’ll never know what gem you’ll find in the blogsphere. che-cheh.com/

19. Do. Not. Plagiarize. http://narrowband.org/

–End Copy-

Number 10 and 13 got my star ;). And to pass this on, here are my hot-picks…:
Angel
Giddy Tiger
Jasonmumbles
Rinnah
Eastcoastlife

Consider yourselves tagged, my friends!

Nothing much going on during this weekend, except that I happened to have entry passes to MY FM’s 9th anniversary celebrations concert, which took place in the Arena of Stars, Genting Highlands, last night. To the uninitiated, MY FM is the most popular Chinese-language radio station in Malaysia, with listenership of more than 2 million in year 2006. You must be surprised that I actually listen to some Chinese songs as well.

Well my spectrum of musical preference is pretty broad, I’d say (much unlike what my nickname ‘Narrowband’ suggests). Remember I told you about my growing up listening to alternative rock? I later began tuning in to Chinese radio stations and like they say, the rest is history.
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