Looking Back on Schooling Life…

There was some minor renovations at home today and that means clearing out old cabinets of old stuff, and while clearing them out, I discovered my secondary school and junior college diary… Yes dated from the year 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000. I seriously didn’t even imagine it was still there somewhere!

Looking back on those years, I found them to be the most memorable days of my life thus far, life was easy and simple back then: Wake up early, catch the bus to school, slack at class before assembly, go for lessons, sleep through those boring ones, go to the movies or the mall after school, and when you reach home, play the video console or Command & Conquer on the PC. And there was always the super long holidays to look forward too! Even the regular PE lessons at school seems to make me fitter in those days. Life seemed to have more fun, adventure and meaning back then – I remember the carnival held at CJ, there was the whole class participating in planning the booths and getting the materials and prizes ready. Then there was the annual cleaning the school thing in Cat. High, and the slightly awkward performance our class had at our last Teacher’s Day. And there was the push ups that teachers gave us for either forgetting your assignments or when the whole class misbehaved…

All this seemed to be in stark contrast to the time I spent in working life. Working life doesn’t seem to have that kind of ‘fun’ put into it. I got down thinking about this after watching this YouTube video from a link posted by a friend in Facebook:

It seems that ‘fun’ when injected in everyday life can make people to behave in surprisingly different ways. Fun in our working lives would also create a sense of well being that will make the workplace a better one!  And my life now has been trying to find back what makes life ‘fun’ such as those days in school…

Games and Gadgets Galore!

I was in Singapore for the last 2 weeks and just nice, there was the COMEX show in town, in which I got a good deal, paying just S$119 for a 500GB 2.5″ portable hard disk drive. This is my 3rd Western Digital Passport HDD, giving me a total of 1.32 TB of capacity. In addition to that, I finally got some new games to add on to my collection, which includes a Civilization IV for Mac. Actually, it was the Gold Edition including the Warlords expansion pack. I was a huge fan of Civilization II which still can keep me occupied a few years back. As for Civ III, I didn’t really play it much, but Civ IV seems good and I got it since I had that little games to play on the Mac.

Another great collection I added was accessories for my Wii! Suprisingly, Nintendo has kept the demand for Wii high through its ever burgeoning range of accessories for the console. One game I was playing recently was the Super Mario Kart on the Wii and thus I got for myself the Wii Wheel setup as well as the Wii Motion Plus Controller. And both of these comes with their respective games.

Nintendo Wii Wheel. Pictures from Nintendo USA.

Wii Motion Plus Add-On. Pictures from Nintendo USA.

As the Wii console is at Indonesia, reviews on how fun these add-ons are would be up only in October when I will be back home. From the box of the Wii Sports Resort (the game that comes with the Motion Plus Add-On) there are new games like water-ski, fencing and 10 others that would make the Wii-mote sensitive to even flicks of the wrists… Sounds interesting!

Now for the new gadgets or toys for grown ups First of all, I have decided to ditch my Apple Wireless ‘Mighty’ Mouse a Logitech Bluetooth Mouse (Black) to suit my black Macbook. The Apple Mouse is great in that it has more functionality and shortcuts. A feature I’ll miss is its horizontal scrolling. But the vertical scrolling of the Apple Mouse always gives me problems that requires cleaning once every 2 weeks. That I can do without!

The last gadget I got was also the best! It’s a Wacom Intuos4 graphic tablet. For those who don’t have an idea what this is, its actually a tablet that connects to your computer via a USB cable allowing users to draw, sketch, edit and write stuff all at the same time. I am intending to use this to do some sketching, logo design and for photoshop use as well. Now, I just can’t wait to get back to Indonesia to try out all these nifty games and gadgets

Wacom Intuos4 Graphic Tablets. Pictures from Wacom.

Why Countries should NOT Interfere in National Affairs

People all around the world crave for a democratic society, and they aspire for a society based on the American style of democracy with freedom and liberty placed top within the list of values. However, is it the only form of government? More importantly, the question of it being the ‘best’ form of government beckons.

Supporters of democracy points out to the high standard of living in democratic countries, and the low level of corruption. And it is precisely on this basis that countries like the United States of America have imposed their form of democracy on many countries, notably Iraq and Afghanistan of late. Not too long ago, the United States interfered in Indonesia’s national affairs, placing Soeharto in the dictator’s seat for more than 3 decades, effectively ousting then USSR-friendly nationalistic president Soekarno. Whilst Indonesia progressed through industrialization under the reign of Soeharto, progressing faster than its larger neighbours like India, Vietnam and China, the country faced setbacks and have been slow to progress since the 1998 financial crisis.

In fact at around the same time, the United States failed to democratize Vietnam, allowing it to fall into communist rule. Now lets go back to present day, Vietnam is the 2nd largest producer of coffee crop, outpacing Indonesia’s production. Not too long ago, Indonesia was the 2nd largest behind Brazil. Vietnam now has a highway system spanning much of the country, whilst Indonesia barely copes with its road networks in Jakarta. The only major highway is one connecting Jakarta to Bandung… And today I read on Bloomberg News of the plan by Vietnam to build a high speed railway network linking Ho Chi Minh in the south and Hanoi in the north. The pace of development of Vietnam as a country has truly been short of the spectacular rise of its larger neighbour which is China.

However, more importantly, it shows the need for the world to recognize that sometimes interference in a country’s national affairs is not right and for people all over the world to understand that democracy does not work in all civil societies. Thus it should never be seen as a de-facto form of government. What matters more is providing a leeway for a country to develop its own form of governance through its own revolutionary methods.

Sneak Preview!

As posted on my blog, I was preoccupied with building the website for our family business. Though it’s a small business, I do think the website should still look good. Website design was something I learnt while part-timing with my University Research Centre, where I helped to make one of their websites. I won’t consider myself a professional at it, but I do relish at the final outcome, as it allows me to incorporate some of my images I took from photography with my DSLR!

Well the website isn’t ready yet, but for a sneak preview, here’s a teaser:

Teaser of Website under Construction

Done using Dreamweaver, and nothing fancy programming, just CSS and HTML.

Back to Indonesia and Work

It’s been nearly a week since I returned from Canada. For the last few weeks, it was mainly doing more read up on CSS and HTML as I went on to craft a website for the company in Indonesia. There was also a lot of movements in the Indonesian Rupiah and Cocoa/Coffee markets in the past few days with the Jakarta Bombings and increased sentiment of economic recovery.

Talking about the bomb blasts in Jakarta, I was in town that day, having breakfast in another hotel when Dad received an SMS informing him of the bomb blast… And I was just that close to staying in the Ritz Carlton that day… It was really fortunate I found the extravagance of staying in the Ritz a bit unnecessary for a short transit and stay-over in Jakarta. Anyway, the general idea is to avoid US-branded hotels in Indonesia (think Ritz Carlton, Marriott, Hyatt, and Hilton). As an Indonesian resident, I found it disturbing that much of Indonesia’s natural beauty and charm is destroyed by this cowardly act of terrorism…

As for the website design, I finally got CS4 on my Macintosh all up and running and currently using Dreamweaver for my work in doing up the website for the company. A draft version is up, though more modifications needs to be done before I can really say the website is done! Hope to launch it officially in the end of the month!

Revenge of the Fallen was a great sequel for Transformers

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen was one of the most awaited movies of this year, at least for me that was. However, upon reading some bad reviews of the movie online, I had prepared myself for some disappointment, but the movie turns out to be entertaining and a worthy sequel to the first series.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

First of all, I caught the movie on the 2nd week since opening, on a Friday in SilverCity at Richmond. Went out with my brother and his college friends, and with the movie being such a big hit, the tickets was sold out, with us having to settle for the later movie at 10.30pm. As we expected a huge turnout, we had to queue early for good seats, as seats are not pre-allocated in North American theatres (the bad), though they supplement that with great snacks like NY Fries’ Poutine (the good). Well to get on with the review, the movie started on where it left off with the show’s protagonist, Sam Witwicky having to leave for college and leave Bumblebee behind. However unknown to them, ‘the Fallen’ has planned for a comeback and rescue Megatron from beneath the Pacific Ocean floor-bed. In fact the starting scene begins with a bang of Autobots hunting down for renegades Decepticons in Shanghai.

In a similar fashion as the first Transformers movie, Revenge of the Fallen was heavy on the use of CGI and special effects for the robots and there was much more metals clashing and robots transforming as the sequel adds in more robots. Critics said there was too much chaos in the movie, but I found it had a lot of action packed scenes which was a bit of a fireworks but truthfully I could differentiate the robots while they were fighting. There was also the mention of the high decibels and loud clanks, but what do you expect from dozens of cars and robots fighting with lasers and missiles? Personally, I found the movie took what was good in the first series and expanded on the strengths. On top of that, Revenge of Fallen details more of the Decepticon’s rise and tells more of the link between Decepticons and Earth.

Finally, the really good part of the sequel was how it brought out Optimus Prime as the main robot to watch unlike in the first movie where Bumblebee seem to have a more prominent spot. And who could forget the scene where Jetfire combined with Optimus Prime to combat ‘the Fallen’! It deserves its box office success, in my opinion, no matter what the critics say, for I truly was entertained even with the lengthier showtime of the sequel.

Star Trek, the suprise movie of this Summer!

For a start, I had never intended to really watch Star Trek the Movie, but had received great reviews of the movie from my friends. And since I was a bit bored on a weekend night in Vancouver, I went to watch the movie with my brother. If you want to know what I would rate this movie like, read on!

Star Trek Movie Poster with USS Enterprise on Warp Speed

It wasn’t a great start, as we were late for the show after having a late fish and chips dinner and had difficulty in getting parking. And we didn’t get good seats either, as the theatre was relatively full even after the movie being screened for a month or more. But the amazing thing was I got to follow the story line even though I wasn’t familiar with the Star Trek story. The story begins with the attack on a Federation ship by Romulan renegade Captain Nero, whereby Acting Captain George Kirk sacrifices his life for the safe evacuation of his crew, and pregnant wife. It goes on to show the young lives of Spock and James Kirk (son of George Kirk) in separate planets Vulcan and Earth.

Both protagonists are ultimately reunited aboard the USS Enterprise for a mission to check out a distress signal sent by planet Vulcan. This turns out to be a trap set out by the Romulan Ship which has set out for a revenge to destroy Spock’s home planet due to an incident that destroyed Romulus as a result of the actions of Spock in the future. While Vulcan was eventually wiped out, Spock managed to save the planet’s elders and his father, but his mother perished in the process. On the other hand, the Captain of USS Enterprise volunteered himself as captive to the Romulan Ship and the reins of USS Enterprise goes to Spock while Kirk became First Officer. However the reckless nature of Kirk results in an argument with Spock which results in Kirk being left in a desolated planet on the excuse of him committing a mutiny. It was here that Kirk met the elderly Spock from the future who has come to tell him of Nero’s plans for revenge and how Nero is bent on using the red matter to destroy Earth and the Federation. The ending battle was staged on the Romulan ship where the 2 protagonists beamed onto the ship to rescue Pike and save Earth from destruction.

The way the movie was planned allows viewers to appreciate the story line and the main technologies used in Star Trek such as the warp drive system of the Starfleet, the Academy, and the idea of teleportation (Beam me up, Scotty!) In addition, the acting of Zachary Quinto as Spock and Chris Pine as Kirk had a great effect on the screen as they really fitted well into their characters. Overall, it was a really good movie that even non-Trekkies like me could enjoy and appreciate!

Canada Day : A Celebration

1st of July is Canada Day, a day when the country celebrates its nationhood and their citizens do show it proudly! In fact even supermarkets get into celebration mood by giving out flags, cakes and balloons. I think its remarkable that countries get to celebrate a day like this! It was a great day today for us as well, with home cooked meals and great desserts! We had decided to prepare a meal at home today, and we started by making Avocado Spring Salad with croutons, corn, avocado, mixed greens, smoked salmon and topped with vidalla onion dressing! A very healthy and wholesome meal, if I must say.

Avocado Spring Salad for Lunch

With extra avocados from the preparation, I made my favourite dessert – coffee ice cream on top of sliced avocados covered in chocolate fudge! This was what I had always loved when I was a kid, and partly the reason why I love Mocha/Coffee flavoured ice cream. Somehow coffee and avocado are just a great match for each other!

Avocado Coffee Fudge Sundae for Dessert

And for dinner, I created something that I could cook relatively well – Bacon Aglio Olio. It was a dish which I have prepared numerous times while staying alone in Singapore, especially when I can’t think of what to have for dinner outside… or just when I crave for a home cooked meal.

Bacon Aglio Olio for Dinner

Since it was a summer evening, the sun doesn’t set so early, which is why you still see sunlight from the window of our apartment! Anyway my day wasn’t all just spent at home for I had great fun taking photos out at Granville Island during sunset before I went to prepare tonight’s dinner. With the weather being great and today as a public holiday, the crowds were there in Granville Island Public Market. There was people performing, youngsters canoeing, couples dating, tourists cruising, families enjoying the day out and photographers like me happily taking shots.

Canoeing by Burrard Bridge

Besides the scenery available, there was also shots of birds especially seagulls one could take in Granville Island. And the best part is how these animals seem so keen to have their photos taken.

Seagull at Granville Island

Granville Island isn’t exactly an island detached from Vancouver as it is joined and is located right below Granville Bridge. The place is one of Vancouver’s tourist destination, but also a nice place to have a stroll for locals as it offers plenty of waterfront dining options and a place to get some fresh meats and vegetables, as there is really a public market at this place. The great vantage point to view downtown Vancouver and 2 of the city’s most prolific bridge just come as a bonus!

Granville Bridge linking Vancouver and Downtown

Angels & Demons – great novel, average movie

Dan Brown’s novel Angels & Demons was one of my favourite novels and I found it to be more thrilling and full of adventure compared to The Da Vinci Code, which was the more famous book. Having watched Da Vinci Code, which I found to be as good as the novel, Angels & Demons was naturally on my list of movies to catch this summer. I got the opportunity to watch it after my roadtrip to the Rockies. Initial impressions was that the start of the movie faithfully reproduced the novel, starting with the murder at CERN and the calling of Professor Langdon to the Vatican. However from there onwards, there doesn’t seem to be any momentun of suspense that will leave a heartbeat. It wasn’t what one would expect after watching the trailer and reading the book.

Angels & Demons Poster

One reason perhaps the book was much better was the fact that it shows much more of Rome and includes the map of the city which is linked to how the story works out in the end. In addition, there was more explanation on each of the sites of the murder of the cardinals. Furthermore, while the movie tries to show the race against time to find the antimatter and save the cardinals, it could have been made better, to create more suspense for the viewers.

The lack of suspense and suprise was another of the movie’s downfall as I remembered leading the last segment of the novel fervently due to the much twist and turns in the events that unfold. However the ending at the movie seems to be much of an anticlimax with a lack of momentum bringing it out onto the last stages of the show. To conclude, watch the movie first before reading the book as I think it might create more enjoyment this way as one reason the movies might not be as good as the novel was because the novel had placed a high bar in the first place.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Read the above book before I left for Canada, all the while thinking I could be reading this book while on the plane. It turns out the story was so well written, that I finished it way earlier even before I left for Jakarta. This novel is written by Afghan-American Khaled Hosseini, and tells the intertwined story of 2 girls in Afghanistan.

A Thousand Splendid Suns Book Cover

The story begins with the 1st female lead in early 1970s Afghanistan when the country was still ruled under a monarch and the country was a peaceful and serene place. It depicts the life of Afghans during the time and reminds of my literature read during my secondary school days – ‘Village by the Sea’ by Anita Desai. From page one, the author pens a sad story for the young protagonist and details the circumstances for a female child born out of wedlock. From there, the tale proceeds of her marriage to another part of Afghanistan, and how women follow the husband in this male-dominated society.

One might think that it is relatively boring with all these romance and sadness in the story, but in fact, it is refreshing for it includes snippets of non-fiction in the form of historical accounts of what happens to Afghanistan in the turbulent 70s and 80s. Being an Afghan, the writer also puts in the emotions of his countrymen and women during the time. By standing neutral in his position, the author provides an unbiased insight on what led to the present state of Afghanistan. While in the late 70s, the story introduces the 2nd female character and her tale is as sad as the 1st female lead. Eventually these 2 female characters bond and became friends through chance. By introducing the 2nd character here, the author have inadvertently created more ‘thrill’ and pushes the reader to root for these 2 characters in their times of adversity and feel their pain in times of their sufferings under the Taliban rule.

In the last segment of the story, especially, one will start to feel sorry for the women in Afghanistan. However the greatness of this book doesn’t come from the emotions that is pushed out but rather by the meaning of sacrifice, perseverance and justice in the ending chapters. And all at the same time, the author provides a fresh perspective into the history of his home nation as well as a greater understanding of the politics of Central Asia. Overall a good read for those looking to know more about the country and enjoy reading a great book!