9.0 Magnitude Of Death And Destruction

On sunday a quake in Sumatra measuring 9.0 on the scale caused massive tidal waves to crash into the coastline of my homeland Malaysia. Aftershocks caused tremors that could be felt hundreds of kilometers inland right into the capital. Reported deaths have reached 53 with scores still missing. Devastation of property is just unbelievable. Peoples livelihood gone in a matter of seconds. Some say the waves were as high as 5 metres.

Other affected countries include Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, India, Somalia, Myanmar. So far the total reported deaths reach a catastrophic figure of 20, 900.

I have friends from most of these countries. My heart and prayers go out to all who are affected by this disaster. May you find comfort and peace in these trying and uncertain times.

Good Vibes

Ive just woken up from the best nite out in central london so far!....went to Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club in Soho fer live jazz an blues acts...Ronnie Scotts has been around fer 40 over years and has played host to some of the greatest jazz musicions of our time.....George Melly & Digby Fairweathers Half-Dozen played 2 sets and so did the Ray Gelato Giants....man, ive been to a few jazz gigs but last nites performance was the best selection of jazz and blues ive heard in my life....they played a fusion of songs from italian to spanish and did a few requests....Ray Gelato is just brilliant with the saxaphone....a true maestro at work... when he plays the vibes just move thru you....EVERYONE at the club was shifting to his tunes...for a moment in time, the swinging 50s and 60s were brought to live....it felt like a scene out of Goodfellas and Casino...come to think of it, Ray seriusly looks like an italian gangster straight out of Godfather...not surprising he's italian....lol...for me, the best part is i managed to get a reserved table right in front of the stage!...5 feet from the musicians...UNREAL!

If u went fer a nite out at Ronnie Scotts and u didnt move or stand up from ur seat, i'd say u were a block of wood....seems the vibes were so great a few gals threw their tops at the musicians the nite before...lol...wat a nite!....too bad i missed Jose Neto's performance a week earlier...seems he's a great guitarist with classical background....combination of Hendrix and Santana some say....would haf been awesome....anyways Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club ROCKS !!!!

So if ur a huge jazz and blues fan, make it a point to spend a nite at Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club in Soho, London....i don usually advertise fer ppl but heres the website fer more info...

www.ronniescotts.co.uk

and heres Ray Gelato's website....checkout the cd sound clips from his latest album(Everybody Loves Somebody)

www.raygelato.com

u'll luv it...

Oh i just realised i havent updated my blog in ages....been too busy chilling out...just remembered i haf exams in january...damn...gotta switch to nerd mode now....hahaha....

HEY MAMBO!!!

Nerd

Its been awhile since my last blog....been drowning in assesments and presentations over the past week.....one of the most stressful moments in my life.....so stressful that ive grown horific pimples on my face and back due to mental and physical torture...ive been eating takeaway pizzas, burgers,and precooked meals....the most torturing part of my week was sitting in the library from 9pm till 3am...i had onli 4 hours of sleep over 3 days doin database assesment...i never imagined i'd have to turn into a library nerd to get my assesment done....anoder new experience.....well at least i didnt sleep at the library....surprisingly there are ppl who love the hard table surface....i saw this dude drooling at the corner on the 1st floor....sad...worst part of my week was the poor database presentation....don even wana go there....im just glad its over

Ive been chilling out these 2 days...not doing anything is just awesome....lookin back at the past week im not looking forward to working anymore....imagine the stress from work.....i'll probly start growing pimples where the sun dont shine....anyways ive just returned from a weekday bible study meeting...it was the final session for the term and there was a Christmas party after the study....i must say it was pretty good....cakes and pies were aplenty, music was good, and they had had hot mulled wine...never tried it b4 but it was pretty damn good....nothing like warm fruity wine to keep u heated up....all the groups had a small presentation or a special decoration at their table....ours was this skeleton christmas tree wit chocolate wrappers as ornaments...it was pathetic...but it was fun anyhow....loadsa ppl dressed as Santa and elves....some Santa's had really disproportionate bellies...hilarious...all in all a good event...i even managed to sign up fer a weekend getaway to the countryside in january....lookin forward to it...its a good time to meet more ppl....did i mention there are loadsa fine women at church.....so anyways here i am back in my room full and warm....not a bad day at all =>

Review Time!

Ok its movie time again...been downloadin and burnin loadsa movies....im startin to get guilty over this piracy thing....doesnt help that im studyin IT...in fact i did a module on Computer Ethics last year....not much software ethics goin on here...lol...

Well anyways ive just watched The Last Samurai...its my second time watchin it but this time i took more notice of the whole story instead of the fighting......i must say it does have some neat sword fighting scenes...they were choreographed pretty well.... u wouldnt expect less from japanese choreographers cos theyve been at it since the 50's...remember director Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai? or Ran?...highly recommended if u like classic samurai films...i like the whole code of honor and the respect thingy....really good values....

Anyways besides the good swordplay, i didnt think much of Tom Cruises hair....he looked like a mangy dog in the film....i get the whole drunkard ex-military part in the beggining, but i really think he should have had a shave and cut of his girly strands at the end....the part where he joins the samurai, thats wen he should haf cut it....my gosh, he just looks ridiculous....cant help thinking of Jackie Chan and his silly hairdo as well....haf u noticed Jackie's got the same hairstyle since forever?...he probly still thinks its the 80's..mebe thats why he's still doin monkey stunts in the movies...

Ok enough of actor bashing....back to the review...nowadays i make it a habit to draw a positive aspect, an inspiring phrase, or an interesting caption out of each movie i see....wat caught my atention was the ending scene where the Japanese Emperor said these stiring words " I have dreamed of a unified Japan, of a country strong and independant, and modern, and now we have railroads, and cannons and western clothing...but we cannot forget who we are, or where we come from"

"But we cannot forget who we are, or where we come from"

He couldnt have said it better....as foreign students in a distant country, we sometimes get too caught up in the lifestyle and culture here.....so much so we forget the values we learnt, the culture and tradition of our forefathers...but most of all, we tend to forget the very people who brought us up and provided the means for us to study abroad...thats something we should never forget....my 2 pence...cheers

Is It Me?

I just cant figure out wats wrong...i was just tryin to help!....it'll seem funny when u read but heres the story...

Over the past week i had a face-off wit Ally and today it was Chris....i think its just stupid....Ally was pissed at me cos he said i accused him of taking my stuff(which i didnt)...all i did was ask him if he saw my chopping board and beer....now he took it really badly....to him it was the same as accusing him of stealing...its just frickin ridikulus!...i asked everyone else the same question and no one else took it personally.....so i got fired up and told him it was fuXXXin bullshit and he was acting like a girl....ok mebe i shudnt haf said tat....so he was pissed at me fer 3 days until i apologised to him....sigh....

Now about Chris...i must mention that all of us consider Chris a good friend...now freinds are suposed to help each other and be straight forward wen things arent goin right....now it seems Chirs doeasnt think that way...he doesnt appreciate it wen jack and me try to help him....he thinks we're tyrin to embarass him or sumthin(which again is bullshit).....so today he had enough of my help....it happened wen we were watchin tv in his room....he asked me wat channel it was...so i told him it was channel 5...so he went over to his pc to check the tv schedule....to help him with his search, i told him channel 5 wasnt under BBC broadcast....naturally he didnt listen and kept searching the BBC website....after awhile he asked me how to find channel 5 website....so i did...after showing him the tv listing he still didnt believe me!...in fact he asked me if that was really the website!...man, that blew my top!...i told him he was an IT student and he shud haf been able to find it...i also asked him if he wanted to take a bet....i guess that sparked him off...so now ive got an angry Vietnamese next door....sigh...hopefully he doesnt knife me....it seems its common in vietnam for enemies to kill each other over an argument.... thats wat he told me before...really

well anyways i did apologise to him ...dont know if he's still mad at me...wats this world comin to?!!....since wen do people hafto apologise for tryin to help?....this is just so stupid....well im ok bout it now...hopefully he realises im just tryin to help....i spose its partly my fault...sumtimes i can be really blunt and it offends ppl....its sumtin i gotta change....but at least im identifyin my flaws which is a start....plus i think i haf more heart now and im more patient nowadays...3 years back i'd haf told him to fXXk himself and one of us would've ended up bleeding...anyhow im past that now....i prefer to talk things out nowadays...no point losing a friend over a small issue...really not worthit....plus we live under the same roof, share the same kitchen and bathrooms....sometimes we just gotta let it go...anyways i like him cos he makes me laugh....he can really crack u up...ahha....

i think i'll get him a beer now...he shud be ok by now.....what a week!

About Time (Nottingham)

Aloha!....Well its about time i update this blog...dont know why the website is so slow...its been like this for a few days now...anyways ive finally pulled my lazy fingers together...here we go!

Ive had nothing short of a funtastic and eventful weekend....my uni Malay Sock(malaysian society) decided to go down to Nottingham to join the Notts Games.....Notts Games is an annual sporting event organised my the Nottingham Malay Sock...all Malay Socks across the United Kingdom were invited....i think bout 500 plus malaysians attended...Nottinghm Uni campus is huge!....i think its 3 times the size of University Malaya....wen we reached the sports centre, it felt like a jungle oveflooded with malays....everyone was so lost and confused....the games officials were running about like ants looking so frustrated...man, it was a funny sight!...

Anyhow we managed to get around to the games....my uni took part in football, volleyball, and badminton....we got thrashed overall but managed to whip Oxford's ass at football 3-0...those brainy guys showed really good sportsmanship even tho they were gettin whipped.... they kept on smiling even after they got beaten at every match....it was hilarious!....ahahah...overall we had a good time....i managed to meet up with some old shcool frens....it seems they were also getting a kick watchin the Oxford boys...lol

But for me, the best weekend experince was driving to Nottingham in a minibus.....yeap thats right...i drove to Nottingham in a 17 seater minibus....it had a 2.4 liter, twin cam, 4 cylinder, turbocharged diesel engine.....it was pretty damn powerful for a minibus !...the pickup was monstrous even with 17 ppl on....ahhaha.....we left for Notts at 6am on sat so i got to watch the sunrise while driving on the M1 motorway...u can actually see the sun rise over the horizen bcos the land is very flat.....just awsome!...

Well so i guess if i cant find a job back in malaysia, i can always work as a bus driver for Intrakota...lol....im still wondrin if i shud add 'Bus Driver' in my CV...mebe i can put it in the 'Other Skills' section...ahhahaha!....

Well thats bout it fer the past weekend....oh yeah, yesterday the guys down the hall showed Ally and me their shower room...right underneath the shower, there was this huge yellow horrendous mutated mushroom growing out!....it was absolutely disgusting!...Ally told them "This just shows how dirty you guys are!"......

Cheers!