im alive

Hello world. First of all, do forgive me for not updating for awhile..what, sumthing like 2 months plus? Oh well. At lot has happened since the last update, but screw that(unless u guys wanna read a fu**ing long update). So fast forward a bit la. Im on the last day of my hols, in miri. Will be going back to college tmrw to start sem 4!

Only one subject for me baby. Im gonna be so free..(i hope). But enough of that. Ive had such a great time in miri keeping myself busy by going to the gym, jogging and hanging out with my best buddies namely Rach, Lau n Eugene.This small town hasnt changed much, except for the fact that they decided to give steroids to bintang plaza. The extensions are huge..multistorey carpark? WTF...

On a lighter note, secret recipe is comming to miri. HAHA! Caramel cheesecake mmm. And we have a Delifrance!

ok..time for some pictures of my hols( sorry its not much, i dont like taking photos..credit to rach for the pics, i ripped it frm ur facebook XD)

yamcha wif frens..had kueh tiaw( best in miri baby!) n fried ice cream...I dunno why but i look like i was gonna kill eugene haha!

Party time...Went to The Balcony.Here i am with rach.I tried experiencing Miri's nightlife for the first time..no where near Ministry of Sound, but at least i had fun!

with lau n rach in.Well, The Balcony ended up being a drag, so we left n went to rach's house first to get tipsy manchester style.

Behold, grey goose vodka, fresh from france..mixed it with 7 up. Had 5 glasses of these..or 6..or 7? haha..then it was time to go clubbing again.We went to Thai Bar(Because The Balcony was so dull). Btw, miri is so bloody small..i met so many ex st columbans in The balcony.Even the famous amy mentan..thats right avery, ur ex.HAHAHAHA!

Can you see the difference in facial expressions before and after the vodka?Not really...ah wells, in this pic is Joanne which is lau's fren from curtin. Nice to meet you! There were some other gals as well but dunno where they go after The Balcony.So anyways, we clubbed till like 2 sumthin then we sent rach home first..tsk tsk. Mabuk la u rach. Went to makan after tht n arrived home around 4am! The latest ive been out in MIRI.

well,my time in miri is up, and its time to go back to school :( Ill be back to rock miri+kuching again in 2 months..and this time its with my partner in crime avery wee chee sin..but untill then, im pretty sure ill be seeing alot of this..

That is the map of all possible metabollic pathways in a given system..courtesy of Garret and Grishams Biochemistry 3rd edition.I dont think it includes inhibitors, activators, coenzymes, cofactors bla bla bla. Its quite interesting actually, i never knew u could get an amino acid from a fatty acid, and then convert it into a intermediate in the krebs cycle........just leave all that for sem 4 yeah?

il update again soon..till then, see ya!

the river flows on

Life is like a river. Born in the violence of clashing rainclouds with the echoes of thunder and flashes of lightning, water falls from the heavens.This is the beginning of life, much like the birth of a newborn, who comes to this world screaming for air.
Calmness soon follows after, as water settles on earth, running down the sides of mountains to join small streams and other pockets of water. The pace of life soon starts to pick up, as the flowing water gets faster and wilder. From streams the flow of water will mature into large rivers, flowing in their full majestic might.From here on, the river will go through many phases, just as we humans would go through in life. At certain times, the river is wide. The water calm, serene and peaceful. Life is good, and we are content.The rules of nature does not allow this to go on forever. There are certain periods of time when the river will be restricted, flowing through narrow ravines, littered with razor sharp rocks. The body of water violently crashes on the banks,with full fury and awesome power. These represent the troubles that one must go through in life. It is inevitable, as troubles would come and plague us at every opportunity. Like the river, we must continue flowing, come what may. Jagged rocks, whirlpools or any other obstacles must be faced head on.
There are times when i want to give up, and just let the winds of fate take me wherever it wants me to. But in that moment of weakness i realise things. I realise that there really is no such thing as fate, and that man controls his own destiny to a large extent, with luck guiding a significant proportion. We have 2 choices in life, either we fight and struggle in our present situation in order to achieve our dreams and goals, or we stay content, and allow the situation to remain as they are. the status quo. To remain with the status quo is to bow low and to submit yourself to defeat, just as a river submits when its awesome power is confined within a dam. To struggle against the present, is to break free from that dam, and continue flowing will full force, living life the way you intend to, not constrained by any other factor.Living life to the fullest.
There are times when the river will go through violent incarnations as waterfalls, when the world comes crashing down on you. Everything is your fault, everything you do is wrong. Negative negative negative. You feel down, your self esteem drops. But what does the river do? The river falls, and crashes to another bed of jagged rocks, but it collects itself in a fresh pool of water, and it flows on. We pick ourselves up and we go on with life,with a fresh start. Within our lifetime we may meet many jagged rocks, rapids, whirlpools dams and waterfalls. All we can do is to keep on flowing. We must keep on flowing, because at the end of the day, when all is said and done, the river of life flows on into the vast ocean of eternity where our purpose in life will finally be fulfilled, where the pains of getting there would just be a distant memory of the past. And this is where we will live, until the day we are called back to the heavens, and begin another journey of life.

When i was young.

Wow..this blog reeks of stagnancy..oh well, blame it on the busy weeks. Today was the worst. 8am-1pm-Biochem lab(Agarose gel electrophoresis and SDS PAGE)..no breaks mind you..only 10 minutes to swallow as much nasi goreng as possible from sidewalk cafe.1-2pm, study for management test<--(stupid credit filler made compusory by Inti). 2.15-3.50pm, management test.4-6pm, continue biochem lab experiment.amost 10 hours non stop. Im getting used to it.The toll on my body was evident..i barely made 1km on my jog before giving up.


Now, back to the main title of the post,when i was young. When i was young, i had no such worries..the most fond memories of my childhood were of those when my dad was posted to London for 2 years. i was 8.

this is my family..from the left: Me! hahaha..my dad, nick, pat, mum and liza.We were celebrating pat's birthday.

Nuing Jeluing a.k.a dad..10 years ago he still looked quite dashing with no pot belly evident hahaha.

was i cute or what hahaha! Me and my brothers. If u see us now, the height and size would be terbalik already. I had plenty of fun during my stay there..

We visited Old trafford, Stamford bridge as well as Anfield..this particular pic was taken in front of Anfield, home of liverpool f.c..you'll never walk alone hahaha!

we toured various cities in England(vivian, if ure reading this, england is not above london k..)This was taken in liverpool..same time when we visited Anfield stadium.

in front of the museum of natural history..by the way im standing, i probably start to mogok already. wanna go home.

the garden behind our house in 106 Golders Green, North West London...after balik from anfield terus wear liverpool jersey. Aisehmen.

sigh..nostalgia man. All i cared about at that time was toys and games,fighting with patrick and collecting football stickers.There was no such thing as girlfriends and relationships, and there was no such thing as staying up till morning to finish journals or assignments (Bed time was 9pm!)but those days are long gone and it only exists as sweet memories which i would cherish for a long time.I will return to the UK one day. Not now, but soon.

soon =).

P/s: callumn, max,neel,joey,sasan,faisal,dinesh,neil,jaymini, deema, nissa and all my pals from Hendon prep school, i will find you guys one way or another.

The Sanctuary-28th May

This sem we were blessed with a timetable which gave us free thursdays, giving us the chance to go clubbing on wednesday night...we went to The Sanctuary located at The Curve, Damansara.

And yes, i had the honour to escort 5 lovely ladies to the club..Left to right, Brenda, Michelle, Phei Woon, Vivian and Angie

Still looking okay...the girls are sober.

Then came the bottle of Bacardi white..i remember phei woon being hesitant about not being able to finish one whole bottle as the girls werent heavy drinkers..haha..right..30 minutes later the bottle was drained.(Vivian was looking for somemore...)

me and Brenda..luckily you didnt do any of your wild behaviour that night brenda..hahaha!Not drunk enough i guess ;p

Group shot with the girls..I look like a bapa ayam man...

Hahaha..Vivian starting to get a little bit excited..

I actually danced! HAHA! Alcohol DOES help you let go of your inhibitions.

The party kicks into high gear..Angie and michelle looking quite drunk.
Vivian stoned! HAHAHA!!!!!

And they still deny being drunk. LOL! Angie looks totally wasted.

Im sorry vivian and michelle, but the evidence is overwhelming..you guys WERE DRUNk!hahahaha!!!

we all look so happeeeeee..hahahaha!

Here's some random pics from tht night

Well, overall it wasa great night..some perverts tried to take advantage of them but it was all under control because Me, Phei woon and Brenda were still sober..the short walk to the car was hilarious. We got lost on our way back to Brenda's house and Vivian puked by the roadside on LDP(outside kelana jaya station) LOL!! We arrived safely at the hostel by 4am.

It was worth staying up all night to complete my Biochemistry journals :D

Looking forward to going again soon..after the first batch of internal assesments are over i guess. Till then, hardwork and suffering is to be expected on a daily basis = ( Cheers!

kickboxing

Went for the 2nd kickboxing session of the new sem yesterday. Some of the seniors have graduated so a few familiar faces are missing =(. However, plenty of freshies have also signed up so its all good :D

As this is my second semester in the club, i am now classified as a senior. Woohooo! hahaha!

some of the members hanging around before the actual session began..the dude in the white shirt is a junior who as you can see, so berkobar2 wanna punch ppl.Hahaha! well actually he's practising cross-jabs which the seniors were showing..

The instructer only comes next week, so the juniors were put through the basic drills by senior members whereas the remaining seniors were allowed to do whatever we wanted(related to kickboxing ofcourse...)

So,I had a light contact sparring session with Casey from the USA

The rules: No punches to the head and controlled punches to the body(as i wasnt wearing gloves)..kicks with full power are allowed to the body, legs and head. Normal Chinese kickboxing regulations also apply la eg. no elbows and knees.No hitting the balls(MOST IMPORTANT!) and neck region. haha!

we tried to control our power so tht no one got hurt too badly as this was supposed to be "light contact"..

but as you can see, we get carried away sometimes..Unfortunately,the 24 solar drums were practising in the same venue...their traditional chinese drum beats didnt help coz it only added to the combative atmosphere =.='

dunno what made me do that stance..now tht i see it, it looks kinda stupid hahaha!

one of my favourite moves, the leg catch..as casey put it " you catch the leg, you win".In a real sparring session or fight, you normally kick his remaing leg and he'll drop like a rag doll..it's impossible to balance urself from this position.But as this was light contact, we just let go if we managed to catch each other's leg.

end of a great sparring session..picked up a few new things from casey coz he's much more experienced as he's been fighting for quite some time. Thanks to Chun Hao for the pics!

here are some random pics from tht day..the guy in blue shorts is Bryan..my regular full-contact sparring partner.He's observing one of the juniors do his jab-crosses.

the meeting of two presidents..Jon(left), president of Inti Aikkido club, and our very own Kickboxing president(right). Jon decided to come for the intro class to see if he likes it or not hahaha! Join us man!

our president demonstrating some jabs..

Lai lai lai..Lelong murah. Single guys up for grabs..low maintenance,good investment for the future. All are willing to fight with their lives to protect their loved ones HAHAHA!!!Jon, myself and Chun hao..the 3 DSCAU sem 3 buddies in kickboxing.

Im glad that im kickboxing again after the sem break. I look forward to the thursday night full contact sparring sessions as well as using the punching bag, and kick pads.muahaha!

and if chun hao and i are elected as committee members, we might propose a Mixed Martial Arts contest between the Chinese Kickboxing Club and the TaeKwonDo ppl..tht should be fun hahaha!Since there seems to be some kind of bad blood between the two clubs.LOL!

Well thts all for now, thanks for reading. I'll post again as soon as im free,Cya!

bake a cake with joe

Cheesecakes. mmmmm. One of the few things which can give me a foodgasm. I had my first cheesecake from secret recipe a few years ago. It was a caramel cream cheesecake which jacintha was having. I took some and was converted.

And so after tasting cheesecakes from various different shops and bakeries i decided to learn how to make one of my own. I carried out the ambitious project during the sem break under the supervision of my mum.

after being warned by mum tht it had a high probability of failing, i started work.

im sorry tht i cant remember the exact measurements and methodology as this was done a couple of weeks ago and im writing based on memory. So just take this post as a bit of general knowledge lah haha!

Part 1: the base

we start by making the base of the cheesecake. My favourite part. The ingredients include 1 cup of butter, 1 cup of walnuts, and a few cups of castor sugar. When i first saw cups, i thought it meant any cup also can..like my coffee mug..actually its a standardized measurement..joe has learned sumthing new =.='

mum chopping up the walnuts..walnuts are not really important..it can be excluded from the base without causing a noticable change in texture

okay, next we add this baby. 4 cups of crushed biscuits.Try to crush the biscuits till they are fine but not too powdery lah.U can use any biscuits such as marie biscuits or even graham crackers.( i wanna try oreo's next time hahaha!) .Mix the crushed biscuits together wif the other stuff and flatten it into a springboard pan..try to compress it as much as possible..this was the only flaw in my cheesecake as the base turned out to be quite thick. Mum says it wasnt flattened enough.

tadaa....put this in the oven for 15 mins and let it cool down by leaving the oven door ajar.(oven must be turnned off ofcourse..) In the meantime, we prepare the main part, the body of the cake.

Part 2: the cake.

mmmmmmmm..the main ingredient..i think approximately 500g of cream cheese(2 packets of 250g). Six eggs, with the egg white separated from the yolk.1 tablespoon of vanilla essence and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.U'll have to add sour cream as well but i forgot how much.

put all of the said ingredients in a bowl and mix em up baby!..i learnt it the hard way, but try not to let the thingy spin above the mixture unless u want to have stuff flying all over the kitchen hahaha!

Pour the mixture into the base and bake it in the oven..i cant remember how long. All i know is tht our oven was abit sot so we had to bake it longer than what was stated in the recipe book.
After baking, u let it cool down to room temp..this could take some time.Then, u put the cake into the fridge.

.

.

.

..

...

....

.....

.......

........

.........

TADAA!!..the end product..as u can see, the top part is abit crooked coz i pandai2 open the oven door whilst it was baking causing the cake to sink and thus causing the top part to crack hahaha!..joe has learnt sumthing new again =.='

my very own baked cheesecake..the base is quite cacat but nevermindlahh..first try ma. Enjoyed eating this with vanilla ice cream mmmmmmmmmmm...

2 reasons why i did it

1. i like cheesecake

2. a lot of girls like cheesecake.-important point here...

hahahaha! So guys, go and bake one for ur gal today.Thanks for reading and hope u all learnt sumthing new.

thts all for now. Cya~

hello sem 3

Hols are over and another sem is here. And this time i've come mentally prepared. Haha!.Come what may! Biochem? i dont fear you.Genetics? I spit at you. Shit ass electives? I kill you with my gaze.(i sound very confident now, but after the intro week i may feel differently)

But i must say the holiday was fun and offered much needed rest eventhough it was short..

looking for Ms See's baby present with my classmates in One utama...where we spotted some very naughty toys.

oblivious to the dirty looks they get from shoppers, the 2 stuffed toys get it on.

Ok, enough with sick stuff..flew back to miri and spent time with my family and friends. I even learned how to bake a cheesecake from my mum.

my masterpiece.I swear its just like secret recipe..maybe even better.HAHA!I'll do a post on how to make one in the near future.

and ofcourse, a trip to the beach..oh the lovely beach..

a lower tide would have made this place heaven but still lovely nonetheless.

one last shot before leaving.The horizon at 5pm.

Now im back in the hostel..grey and dull. I bring back a few things from miri. Good memories, sandfly bites and the burning desire to get things right from day 1.

I'll be back in another 4 months. 4 months of struggles and stress, pain and euphoria.Till then, the beach will have to wait. Adios people.Sem 3 here i come!