December blues

Most people have the Monday blues but I don't. I actually like Mondays because it's the start of a new week and I do so relish new beginnings. Over the past few years, however, I've been having December blues. What with mission trips, caroling, church services, the influx of overseas students back on holiday, year-end workloads & deadlines, Christmas and the new year, you can see why I dread this month. Don't get me wrong because I enjoy all of the afore-mentioned (except the year-end workload part =P ) but I don't like the energy and time that is paid in return.

Don't get me wrong again. Far be it for me to think that all of my energy and time spent doing all of it goes to waste but if there was a way I could do all of it and NOT be physically drained at the end of the day, I'd be set.

Anyways, don't expect a lot of blog posts this month people.

ps: Welcome back to all the overseas-ers(?): Abby, Bex K, Bex R, Cait, Jay, Joss, Panda, Sarah Ong, Tiff

pps: Sorry if I didn't mention your name. You have permission to hit me if you see me.

~Slick~

Home alone

I'm too exhausted to blog properly. House-sitting and dog-sitting 9 dogs alone will do that to you...... I want my mommy !!!

~Slick~

Rock, Me, Hard place...

Rock - Customers who buy drugs (I use this term medically) from the company I'm working in. This includes doctors, pharmacists and people who wouldn't know the difference between Panadol and Viagra. In principle, the customer is always right. Practically, it's a whole different issue. Bottom line is that these customers must be kept happy in order to ensure loyalty.

Hard place - Suppliers who give us their drugs (again medically) to sell to customers. Without them, we have no drugs to supply. They provide the drugs and we provide the services. In principle, the supplier's word is law. Practically, it's a whole different issue. Bottom line is that these suppliers must be kept happy in order to ensure stability.

Me - Customer Services Assistant currently employed under Zuellig Pharma Sdn Bhd, which is ranked at no. 1 in Brunei now as far as the market of pharmaceuticals go. We provide distribution of drugs (still medically) throughout the whole nation. The customers only care about getting their drugs and the suppliers only care about their drugs being sold. We take care of everything else in between. Bottom line is that I have to keep everyone happy in order to ensure that I keep my job.

Situation - A customer orders some drugs but has not been settling their accounts for the last 5 months. The management has decided to hold all supply to said customer until their accounts have been settled but the suppliers want their sales. Both sides are putting pressure.

Question - What would you do, especially when your job is to make sure both sides are happy? The following are not options you can choose:

a) Kill yourself, the customer or supplier
b) Resign
c) Pass the responsibility to someone else

~Slick~

I've been robbed...

Ok, so maybe I wasn't really robbed and maybe the title of this post is misleading but it's my blog and I'll type whatever the heck I want. Bleh!

Have you ever wanted more? Have you ever wanted something better? I have. All the time, I have. It's a never-ending process... *sidetrack* Whoever hasn't watched "Never ending story" should. It's a classic. *end sidetrack* No matter what you have, and I'm talking about material stuff here, something better always comes along. Phones, computers, cars, internet (connection), girls. Ok, I was kidding about the last one. Heh heh heh... Please don't hurt me.

Anyways, none of it ever lasts. Nothing ever lasts for long and it's the fault of our own arrogance, pride, selfishness, intolerability, ingenuity, passion, resilience...... The list just keeps going and going *sidetrack* Duracell ! *end sidetrack* It's like I've been robbed the instant I purchase something. I mean, if whatever I bought is going to be the second best in a couple of weeks then I've already been robbed of my item's value. The pace of modern technology is so fast, who can keep up?

It's funny how materialistically, the world is so keen to adapt and follow the things that wont last but spiritually, many of us find it so difficult to follow the one who is the same yesterday, today and forever. The one to which time is irrelevant. Whether we have taken, are taking or will eventually take Him for granted, Jesus will always remain the same and love us nonetheless.

I just hope we realise it sooner rather than later.

~Slick~

Silent guitar

I was surfing for some stuff the other day and came across this really cool guitar. It's called a silent guitar and it looked really weird to me at first but after staring at it for about 12 minutes and 48 seconds....i thought it was really cool. * Actually it was more like 12 minutes and 47 and a half seconds but I wasn't really counting. =p *

Silent guitar

At first I thought that someone drew an outline around the picture but later on, I found out that the outline is actually part of the guitar.

Slightly turned

The reason why it's called a silent guitar is the fact that it doesn't make any audible sound when you play with it. Of course, headphones come in very handy here. That, and an amplifier, is the only way to hear what you're playing. Unless you just happen to have super-hearing; Which, if you really did, would be totally wasted on listening to yourself playing a silent guitar.

Anyways, I don't need another guitar nor do I need a silent guitar but it'd still be cool to have one. After all, Christmas is just around the corner...... *cough* *cough*

~Slick~

Some things going thru' my mind right now

1) The world is round. If it was flat, there would be people constantly falling off the edge of the earth and space would be full of lifeless bodies.

2) When people say they are fine, they're not really.

3) Cookies should be called bakies since they are baked and not cooked at all.

4) Life is a disease. Every day you've lived is another day you've died.

5) A chinese man with only one chopstick will go hungry.

6) A chinese man who runs after his car rolling down a hill will lose alot of weight. A chinese man who runs after his car up a hill is committing suicide.

7) Spit in the wind and it'll hit you back in the face.

8) The teletubbies are just plain wrong.

9) The lines on a road are as straight as the road it's painted on.

10) The sky is a reflection of the sea on dust particles in the air.

11) A bird can fly but a fly cant bird.

12) Our imagination is exactly that, just an imagination.

13) Nice guys don't finish last, they don't finish at all.

14) Eat to live to eat or live to eat to live?

15) My head still hurts cos one of Tim's flags totally bonked me there. I wonder if I have ESP...

16) No use crying over spilt milk, best thing to do is get a towel to dry it up.

17) The more advanced the technology, the lazier we get

18) No pain, no gain.

19) Have car, will travel.

20) I'm tired...sleepy time!

~Slick~

Mole 'b' gone

If you've known me for a very long time, you would know that I have a pretty big mole underneath my chin. Ta-dah!


Everyone has them whether big or small, easily seen or not so easily seen. Hehe... I've had mine since birth but you wouldn't be able to see it when we're talking face to face unless I tilted my head up slightly. I know that my picture makes it look like a huge zit but that's because I'm finally getting it removed.

Anyways, I've never really liked my mole, which is why I've always thought about getting rid of it. I've just always been to lazy to do anything about it until now. In my lifetime they've been many 'chinese-ey' people who have told me that my mole is a very good one and that I should leave it as it is but I think it's all hogwash.

You see, many people believe that a mole in particular spots on the body bring about certain things in one's life. Mine is supposed to bring about wealth. What's more is that they believe that if hair grows out of the mole, it amplifies the mole's "power" and that this power grows with the length and amount of hair coming out of your mole.

HahAhAHAhAhAahahAHAhahAhAAhHAAhAHahAhAHaHahAHAhAHAH.............

Oh well, I guess I'll take my chance anyway and get it removed.

~Slick~

ps: I just realised that I have a pretty elongated neck...

Detox diet

So, I started my detox diet today and let me tell you this, IT'S SO FRIGGIN' HARD !!!!! Anyone who tells you otherwise needs some sense knocked back into them. No matter how many times you've done it or if you're a "pro" at it, denying food will ALWAYS be tough.

No sugar, no salt, no meat, no preservatives, no artificial stuff, blah blah blah...... I should just give up eating altogether. That would be a whole lot easier for me. Unfortunately for me, it's too late to back out now since I already bought 5 bags of apples, celery and cucumbers...... Abit much, you think? Well, I relish the idea of having more than enough. That, plus I'm crazy. Hehe...

I've always loved apples as a kid so I hope that at the end of my detox diet, I wouldn't have learned to hate them...

~Slick~

Guitars go 'jeng 'jeng 'jeng

There are some guys who should just be shot if they have any pink on them. But then, there are other guys who can pull it off. Ahem! Like me...................and Mark Hoppus from Blink 182. Check it out, his microphone stand is pink too...

I wish I had a pink bass....but it's just so hard to find nice pink basses around these parts. I mean, this one is just plain ugly.


What's even harder is finding a pink bass that is made by a professional guitar making company and not some dodgy one. And trust me, there are plenty of dodgy ones out there. Like this one for example.


Yes, that DOES say what you think it says...

~Slick~

Prayer

Lord, You know my heart. You know my wishes and desires. Lord, I submit them to You. Please help me to achieve them with the integrity of a Christian, the strength of a true believer, the faith of a righteous man, the grace and mercy of a blessed man and, most of all, the heart of a servant. Amen!

~Slick~

Korean food

A couple of days ago I joined a couple of my colleagues for lunch and they decided that we should go for Korean food. Don't ask me which one i went to, cos there's only one in Brunei and it's in Kiulap. Though it was my first time trying Korean food, I was game because I like to test the limits of my stomach sometimes and I must say that it was........................unusual to say the least.

For one thing, we had to sit on the floor since the tables were only about 2 feet off the ground. That being said, you can see why it was so uncomfortable for me what with my long legs and all. Bleh! I can't remember all the names of the food but I did take a few pictures. Take a gander below...



One thing that I noticed is that they always seem to give you more than what you ordered. The pictures above were just what we ordered for everyone to share. Meals always come with appetizers and complementary refills (up to a certain extent) All that topped off with our a la carte orders makes for a VERY hearty meal. And being the only guy there, I was given the priviledge(???) of finishing everything. Burrrrp! Not to mention all the "auntie" talk I was forced to listen to. *I swear, if one more person says that I'm too skinny and needs to eat more otherwise no girl would want me as a bf, I'm not gonna be responsible for my resulting actions*

A word of advise here, If you don't like spice or sour stuff then I suggest that you don't ever try Korean food because it's all basically spicy AND sour. Kim-chee, Yum! However, if you choose to ignore my first warning and go there anyway, please take heed to my next warning... You paying attention?

DON'T ORDER WHAT I ORDERED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you're thinking that you're in for a real treat if you order their Korean noodles or more commonly known as "Kor-yun" then you're mistaken. TERRIBLY MISTAKEN!

What you will get is a packet of Maggie Mee Kari with spring onions and an egg beaten into the soup. There's nothing Korean about it at all. It probably wasn't even cooked by the Korean chef. My colleagues were debating that it wasn't really Maggie but I am a veteran Maggie mee eater. Maggie with soup, kolo-maggie, fried maggie, maggie keropok; I've tried it all so I know maggie when I see it. Who are they trying to kid?

The worst part was having to pay $3.50 for it. Being the logistics person for youth camps, I know my prices. So, let's do the math. One bundle of spring onions = $1. Averaging about 10 sticks per bundle that = 10 cents for one spring onion. One egg carton costs about $4.80 and contains 30 eggs. That = 16 cents per egg. Maggie mee always comes in packs of 5 and costs $1.50. That = 30 cents per packet. Tap water = free. Put it all together and it comes to 56 cents for the whole dish. I paid $3.50 for it. *Bloody ripoff*

At least one thing I liked out of the whole time I was there were the metal chopsticks. For some reason I just couldn't stop playing with them. It isn't everyday that you can play with flat, metal chopsticks. Haha...

My rating for Korean food in Brunei - 2 out of 10

~Slick~

Patience is a virtue, tolerance is a caliber

I have absolutely no patience at all, just lots of tolerance...

~Slick~

Superficiality

Lately, it seems that the level of superficiality in friendships have increased. Well, for me anyways. As always, I speak from my own point of view and doesn't necessarily have to be the same for whoever is reading this blog.

Back to the subject at hand. Superficiality will be the downfall of many a friendship or relationship in everyone's lives. There's no escaping it. No matter what you claim, there will always be a level of superficiality in every friendship or relationship that you build. And why wouldn't there be? I mean, who wants to know every single detail of someone else's life or wants every single detail of their life to be known? It's unrealistic.

There are two sides to every coin. There are people who complain that they feel that they don't know you enough yet reveal nothing practical about themselves to you; Then there are people who keep everything to themselves but wished that they could have someway or someone to spill everything to. So, as I said before, unrealistic!

What constitutes as superficiality anyways? If I told you something that is true for me but sounds like utter bull crap to you, then is it superficial? Was I being lame again? Was it superficial just because what I said is not the kind of thing you expected to hear?

Most people have their minds made up about me!

Many people have mentioned that I am a very superficial person, or that I'm really hard to predict/read, or that I'm too mysterious, or that I don't open up enough, or that I'm afraid of people finding out the real me. Well, maybe everyone should consider the fact that it's not that I have lots of things to hide but rather, I have nothing to show. All I ask, is for a little consideration that maybe I'm not as closed as everyone makes me out to be.

~Slick~

Diapers

I remember a time when the only diapers available were called "Pampers." These days there are so many different brands available that they're running out of names for their products.



Pity the kids who have to use these. Haha...

In other news, Congrats to Siew Fung and her 'Lao-Kung' for giving birth to their first child today. I hope they stick to "pampers" for their baby son. Hehe...

~Slick~

Ketchup week

Ketchup! We all need it at times; And I'm not talking about when you're eating a burger, fries or something of the like. There are times when you just need to get together with someone and play 'ketchup'. Whether it be a recent acquaintance, lifelong friend or childhood buddy, times like the ones I had today will always be nothing short of refreshing.

I really thank God for giving me the chance and also the boldness to seize the opportunity to catch up with 2 of my friends that I haven't really talked to in a while. First with Laurice for lunch and then with Nikki for dinner. Both times very different in essence but still refreshing nonetheless. For both of them, I pray that the Lord will continue to be a very real entity to them and that His love and mercy would continue to outshine any circumstances in their lives.

I'm not gonna post any of the conversations up but suffice to say, God gave me a really interesting day today. Hehe... Now lets see who's next on my list.

~Slick~

Doulos

After 8 years, it's back again. I'm talking about the Doulos. I vaguely remember my experience from when it was last here because I've never really had a thing for books since I'm not much of a reader. I didn't even want to go see the ship but when you're young and unable to drive, your parents have pretty much every say in the subject.

The only thing that I clearly remember is the really nice girl I met on the ship that day. I dropped something and she picked it up for me, so on and so forth. I'm not gonna get into any details. :P She was real pretty too and same age as me. If i believed in that stuff, I woulda probably called her my soul mate. Imagine that; Finding a soul mate when you're 15 years old. It's like stumbling across the batcave. You don't know whether to rejoice or be very afraid.



Anyways, teenage drama aside, I visited the Doulos this time out of my own volition. I was there with Pete, David and a couple of the SACFC members. Go St Andrew Lions! The crew members organised a sports cafe to help spread a message about God using sports as a theme. Didn't know what to expect outta it but I went knowing that God would somehow get some sort of message across despite all the restrictions imposed by Brunei's government. All in all, they did a splendid job in effectively getting the message across. Kudos to Doulos. *Bada bish!*

Because we didn't have time to eat before our visit to the ship, we decided to go for a bite afterwards. Which we did, we went to a restaurant nearby the muara port and as we walked in we immediately realised that we had stepped into a Chinese restaurant. One word - Karaoke...

David's theory was that they were having a karaoke competition and mine was that they were practicing for when weekend comes but either way it was pretty hilarious. Haha. For one thing, one of the songs sung (badly :P) was a malay version of the theme song for The Legend of Judge Pao. SERIOUSLY !!!!!!!!! For those that don't know, Judge Pao was a Chinese legend with a crescent moon on his forehead who always judged fairly in all his cases. Please note the word 'legend' here because I don't have any evidence of his existence. Unless you count VCR tape volumes of 'Pao Qing Tian'. Kekeke......

Overall, I thank God for today.

~Slick~

Deep penetrating pain relief

I wonder if it's wrong for me to ask God to bankrupt the company that makes this......

~Slick~

Finishing well

I've been pondering on something today. More specifically, the fact that I always set out to do something but I never finish anything well enough. Imagine a first place marathon runner who collapses out of exhaustion 3 steps to the finish line. That's how I feel. It reminded me of a sermon that I once heard about finishing well. Though I could not remember it word for word, I remembered enough of it to realise it's truth.

It is indeed very important to finish well. Not just in life but, more importantly, our Christian walk as well. This is not because it is the way things should go or because it is the right thing to do but verily, it is what really counts. Any fool can start something but only a wise man finishes well. I dont know about you, but I definitely want to be that man who finishes well. What's your decision?

~Slick~

ps: the word 'man' here refers to mankind in general. Please dont start any sexist wars here... hehe...

Worshipful worship

Worship isn't something that has to be perfect, just practiced. It doesn't matter if you think it looks or sounds stupid, as long as it is glorifying to God.



This is a shout out to :

Patient Philip
Likeable Lian-Lian
Gung-Ho Gilbert
Steady Stephanie
Karing (caring) Kenny
Kool (cool) Kelly
Charming Clyde
Radical Rachael

"You guys all inspire me!"

Coming from the youngest in the group and also the rhythmic wood tapper himself - Bodacious Ben

~Slick~

ps: alot of you wont really understand this post...

yum yum !!!

Hungry? Try some placenta... Apparently, it contains high levels of prostaglandin, which basically means that it helps to clean your uterus after giving birth. Yum......? o_O

So, my dog gave birth to 5 cute puppies yesterday and she picked a heck of a time to do so because I just happened to be home alone. Not to mention that I had to watch as she proceeded to eat her way through all 5 placentas.

* Note: puppies come out of their mommy's wombs covered in a placenta sack, which the mommy dog has to eat so that the puppies don't die from lack of air *

Needless to say, watching a birth is not for the faint-hearted. One thing to be careful about is the stench. Somehow, the smell of amniotic fluids, blood, placenta and freshly born puppies mixing in the air just doesn't produce a very pleasant concoction for the nose. Ick!

One by one, the puppies just kept coming out and I had to restrain my other dogs from getting near them because one of 'em just happens to be very territorial and has a reputation of biting off puppy heads. * Bad dog! * One thing that I've gained out of this whole experience though is a taste of paternity. I realised that when it comes down to it, I have a pretty developed paternal instinct. Of course this is not to say that a dog giving birth and a human giving birth are the same thing. I still have no idea how I would react to an actual birth but thankfully I don't have to worry about that just yet as I'm sure that God and nature will run it's course. All in all, it was a really cool experience for me, although I could have done without my dog splashing placenta juice on me while I was trying to take pictures. >_<

However, if you're still hungry, I've recently found a substitute for indomee goreng. It wont clean your uterus but it definitely tastes better.

~Slick~

Hello to the peeps...

Ah yes, it's all coming together. More and more people are finding out that I have now started a blog. Hard to believe, but this was all part of a carefully constructed, well thought out plan designed to be orchestrated to fruition. What? You thought this was just something that i decided to do while having a conversation with two guys hanging out in my friend's room after supper on a Saturday night? Err...where do you people get these ideas from? *raised eyebrow*

Anyways, to all the people still finding out that I have a blog...

** Everything is going according to plan. Muahahahaha **

~Slick~

Rrring.....ka-pow!

I think I can safely say that most people (with very few exceptions) absolutely hate the sound of an alarm clock. Personally, I'd love to throw my alarm clock at the wall every time I hear it go off. But obviously I don't, mainly because I cant afford to buy a new clock everyday. That being said, I doubt I would do that even if I could afford to buy a new clock everyday. Nevertheless, the alarm clock ranks high in my list of things to hate. I mean, anything that sounds like it's about to explode can't be very helpful........................................can it?

~Slick~

Never thought I'd do it

Have you ever told yourself that you wouldn't do something only to succumb to it later on? That's how I'm feeling right now. Haha.......

I didn't think that I'd ever get into the whole "blogging" thing but here I am, blogging for the first time. Speaking of blogs, I've been wondering when the word "blog" became a usable term. These days, you can find the word "blog" in quite a few dictionaries. Webster's New Millennium Dictionary for one states the following:

Main Entry:	blog
Part of Speech:	n
Definition:	an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page; also called Weblog, Web log
Example:	Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
Etymology:	shortened form of Weblog
Usage:	blog, blogged, blogging v, blogger n

I guess one day some lexicographer said to himself/herself, "Hmm, I think I'll add the word blog into the dictionary." and voilà! Anyways, enough blogging for now. I hope the world wide web is ready for me, because it's about to become a lil bit more lame......

~Slick~