Dear friends, I have decided to move on. Go to my new blog to read what is currently happening in MY life. Sank kyou!

http://banana-kaijuu.blogspot.com/

Laugh all you want, but hear ye, hear ye -- believe it or not -- I am Kyouya-sempai of the Ouran High School Host Club fame.

I've been reading Psalm 103 lately as I needed to understand the context for thanking God for His goodness during Sunday worship. I was totally blown away. I've been EMO ever so lately and been running away from God -- and after some QT and confession, reading this psalm is like hearing God's voice from heaven blaring away. Wow, totally unexpected. Praise the Lord all my soul.

Psalm 103
Of David. 

1 Praise the LORD, O my soul;
       all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

 2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,
       and forget not all his benefits-

 3 who forgives all your sins
       and heals all your diseases,

 4 who redeems your life from the pit
       and crowns you with love and compassion,

 5 who satisfies your desires with good things
       so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

 6 The LORD works righteousness
       and justice for all the oppressed.

 7 He made known his ways to Moses,
       his deeds to the people of Israel:

 8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
       slow to anger, abounding in love.

 9 He will not always accuse,
       nor will he harbor his anger forever;

 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
       or repay us according to our iniquities.

 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
       so great is his love for those who fear him;

 12 as far as the east is from the west,
       so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

 13 As a father has compassion on his children,
       so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

 14 for he knows how we are formed,
       he remembers that we are dust.

 15 As for man, his days are like grass,
       he flourishes like a flower of the field;

 16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
       and its place remembers it no more.

 17 But from everlasting to everlasting
       the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
       and his righteousness with their children's children-

 18 with those who keep his covenant
       and remember to obey his precepts.

 19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
       and his kingdom rules over all.

 20 Praise the LORD, you his angels,
       you mighty ones who do his bidding,
       who obey his word.

 21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
       you his servants who do his will.

 22 Praise the LORD, all his works
       everywhere in his dominion.
       Praise the LORD, O my soul.

OK, I've just cosplayed. And, I'm asking myself: so what? Perhaps I am looking to get high in the whole event of cosplaying and not getting that thrill or either that, my expectation was so high that the experience from cosplaying left me a bad taste in my mouth. Either ways, I can't help to say it -- life's pretty meaningless after all. I could go on and on about the vanity of life and of its pleasures and still come back to the same conclusion of the Qoheleth of Ecclesiastes, 'Meaningless, meaningless'.

In all the hoo-hah of the week, leaving God out was the easiest. It's that easy to 'stare into nowhere, and can't feel the chains on' my soul. At the end of the day, life's just not worth living without Him. I can run, but I can never avoid the inevitable God. There is no other jealousy more terrible than that of God, who constantly chastises and confronts me whenever I veer towards other 'gods'.

The danger perhaps is not so much about doing too many activities at a time, but rather that of leaving God behind.

I'm that kind of guy that's eager to try out all sorts of stuff. And today I'm feeling totally empty, exhausted. Well, the back story is: I've been hyped up about my cosplaying debut this Saturday and I've been here and there getting my costume ready... and I'm back home feeling pretty darn tired, wondering what the heck I've been doing all day long. I dunno if it's just a long day, but to me, I feel as if I'd done something wrong, something that's unnatural, perhaps? Funny thing is, I used to love to stay at home so much so that I fear going out. Now, that I'm out a lot of the time, I feel a deep longing to be back at home again. I AM home, but frankly, I feel as if I'd just murdered someone or did something really sinful. Hope the feeling fades.

Dear friends,

Here's a prayer request from my pet-sister and true sister-in-Christ from Hong Kong. Please pray for her:

Hey, I hope all of you have a GREAT summer!!!! I have a little favor to ask, I need you all to pray for MY MOM. Yesterday the doctor found a tumor in my mom's organ and we really hoping that it is not cancer. The doctor took some specimen to test, and the result won't come out till my birthday. My aunt had cancer in the same organ, so the chance of my mom having it is real high. So, I need you all to PRAY that it's not anything serious!!!! I'm so glad to have you guys as my close friends, and I thank YOU.
P.S. Oh, pray for Cecily too, she went throught some testings and had to stay over night in a hospital, I don't think it's too serious. I can give u an update on it later.
 
BTW: Cecily is our friend. She's not a Christian and we've been praying for her lots.

1) They decide to chew up your good pair of shoes just when you've had a terrible day.
2) They poop strategically that you would drive your car with your feet all covered with crap.

Don't you hate it that when you get people gifts and they go like, "Oh, you shouldn't have" or "Wow, you're so rich ah?". I mean it's clearly understandable to receive such reactions and I mean I would react that way too, sometimes. But I guess, the crux is, we just hate receiving gifts. Breaking down to the gist of it all, we often feel guilty -- unworthy even -- and we'd think about, "What should I get so-and-so for his/her this-and-that to repay him/her for what he/her has given me". We feel guilty because we feel as if we owed that person something after receiving the gift(s). But what bothers us even more is the sad fact that many of us cannot afford to repay what that person has given us.

And it's certainly true when I swept one of my friends feet off the ground, literally, when I got him a quite expensive gift. For all the pranks that I've pulled, this one is THE most emotional. Truthfully, there's just no reason why I would go high and low to get him that present. There's no check list of what good he has done to merit that gift -- although, out of 'pai seh'-ness, I would have to digress. It's just one of those "Happy Random Present Days", where you'd just get things for people on your whims and fancy. Of course, like my Dad, I have to give it a lot of thought to it before buying and yes, I have to work my butt off for a long, long while. But it's worth it, I suppose. Sometimes, it's nice to pamper friends, sneakily and it's definitely worth it to endure their pleas of, "Ah, you shouldn't have".

At the end of the day, I realized amidst all the fun of giving, I too have been given a gift.... an even greater gift than the one I have given -- one that I've been neglecting all too easily. Apart from being EMO the whole day because of my mutt's destructiveness (she chewed my leather shoes up -- thanks, Autumn), I failed to keep in mind the most precious gift that a person has ever given to me. OK, setting aside our tendency to even accept this gift in the first place, don't we have an even bigger tendency to overlook this gift in the midst of our everyday life? Know what, this greatest gift is one that you know you can never repay (not in all eternity) and it makes you feel like a loser, if not a downright unworthy filth. And that gift is not one paid through any currency of the world but through the very life of the giver. Additionally, this gift is given only to those who don't even deserve it (and the fact is plain simple: everyone's just out of the game -- nobody deserves it)

Next time I receive any gifts, I will try not to be swept off my feet so as to displace this gift as less that THE greatest gift. Next time I choose to give, I will try to remember that I can never give enough to actually give myself in the process. This is the greatest and most awesome-mest gift: Jesus Christ.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son..." John 3:16

In 4 more weeks, I'll be flying back to the States. Kaeri taku nai yo! (I don't wanna go back!)

The prospect of going back to the States scares me a little. Maybe that sort of says a lot about me -- yes, I'm enjoying my time here. Oh well, the part of growing up is to, sometimes, do the things seemingly contrary to our feelings. I've never quite grasp the idea of letting go and letting God. I feel vulnerable and yet I know I'm helpless without Him.

Psalm 139:16 says, ' In Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me' Is there a reason not to trust in the God who not only shapes me into who I am but also the One who actually molds each and every single day that I live in -- both the good days and the EMO days?

It's hard but I'm gonna give it a shot. For all I know, I might repeat 'Kaeri taku nai yo!' just before coming back to Malaysia next year.

I would regret it if I didn't record the moment where I lunged into hot lava today. Well, not literally per se, but Ken and I were playing Soul Calibur and it happen in a way that I used Taki who has a move where she shots up into the air and lunges at her opponents. Unfortunately, I was so close to the edge of the arena that the lunge landed me in hot lava.

Soul Calibur tip no #253: Never use Taki's air lunge attack near the edge of any stages.

I'm so depressed lately. She has been in my mind  constantly and yet I know that I've got nothing to lose if I'd just tell her. The question is: why am I hesitating? True love waits, yet time waits for no man. I had two chances to tell her yet I blew them all out. I just want to remain insignificant, inferior and unworthy of her. I'm such a coward.

Juju, you're so lucky to have Xin.

If there's a Malaysian colloquialism that has become my chief and perhaps, primary phrase, it would be 'Yeah man!'. Over the course of two weeks, I have somewhat picked up this odd phrase from Ken and friends (including Simon, Elena Lee, and maybe Jon). I just can't get over the usage of 'Yeah man!' so much so that I almost used it in place for 'Amen' in church today! =D

Yeah man!

Waking up in the morning -- I mean, early in the morning -- is the cruelest method of torture. For all the water boarding techniques developed by KGB officers, I still firmly believe that getting up in the morning after a hellish night (of being mosquito bait) is far worse. Well, I'm not being rational here -- realistic, nah. Then again, and then again, and yet again, Ken's alarm 'clock' failed to get us up for the 7.50 am devotional, so there shouldn't be any reason why I shouldn't be irrational (we WERE supposed to get to the conference room, darn it!) -- the trusted alarm clock was a joke, seriously. We did get there actually, though a little late. Well, actually, Simon was still in bed and I reckon that David was doing his super-über yoga poses asleep, so there's little reason to bother those morning glories. o_O

But you've got to love it when people remind you a second time that you need to remove your shoes before stepping into the conference room. Ken and I were the only, I think, Chinese dudes other than Mr. Koh (Sanae can't be counted, she's Jap) before Hairy and David came strolling in at the last 5 minutes. For the little time we had in the devo, I suppose it brought perspective into our journey to Bethany and it served as a strong reminder of the presence of God whenever the time and wherever we are.

After the devo, we met Mr. Koh, the coordinator of Bethany Home. We had a brief chat with him before being ushered by Ruth through Bethany. The 'kids' were already everywhere by that time. Small ones, big ones, some in wheel chairs, while others on walkers. Some could talk, others were silent and still more who could talk and yet choose to remain quiet. Many of the children looked happy -- way happier than many of us city folks and their smiles, genuine. Walking through the crowd of Bethany Home's students, we were greeted and so much attention was poured unto us, by way of hand shakes, greetings and of course, an occasional chat.

As we trekked through Bethany, it not hard to just stop and think about our own lives. I went to Bethany thinking that I could offer myself as a service to the kids here and yet, somehow, these looked down, 'unfortunate', hidden people taught us a lot more about being human and what it means to be child-like to God. I wouldn't be wrong if I said that we didn't really serve much but felt more like we were served. It's humbling indeed. We often seem to be on a quest to discover life-motivating quotes from intellectuals to feel awed and yet, ironically, without so much of a word uttered, these children were able to soften our hearts and open our eyes deeply and more profoundly.

Actually, I was supposed to save the previous paragraph as the conclusion for this whole 'Untarnished Innocence' series, but I felt I couldn't keep it in anymore. Our second day, we did as much as we could, and I believe and am praying that I'm not overly exaggerating, that in the deep recesses of our minds, heart and soul, there was a sense of new-found humility within us as we helped in the various work around the home.

When the tour was over, we were divided into two groups. Ken and I went to help in the physiology building while Simon was with David (actually, I couldn't remember what the two did... Gomendasai! ^_^;). In the physio building, both of us helped the teachers around in pushing the children with cerebral palsy, who were obviously wheelchair bound. Having such an exotic name, it was such a difficulty for one of the teachers to grasp my name, so much so that she thought that my name was Siva and she called me by that name ever since. In the physio building we, played quite a bit in the Snozelen room. It's kinda hard to describe this room, actually. It's a place with flashy lights moving here and there, toys that would change colors when you speak to it and coils of fiber-optic wires that changes color. Well, let's just say that the room is built to  improve the children's hand-eye coordination by encouraging them to use their God-given senses.

By the time we know it, it was already close to noon but before that, we met Sanae, a Japanese volunteer in Bethany Home. Well, good thing I was able to converse with her, albeit a little broken, in her native language and still fall back into the comfort of just blatantly using Malay to converse with her in the end. Oh, yes, she speaks such a fluent Malay that it would shame many of us who consider ourselves Malaysians.

The introduction was brief and Sanae was wearing a pink Punjabi outfit, complete with the Indian putu on the forehead. Why the dress? Silent like any great hostesses, our new-found friend, Ruth was retiring from her work at Bethany. We had a goodbye session for her and there were various performances by the children. And I muttered to Sanae, 'Kyou wa tanoshi kute chotto kanashii desu' (Today is fun and yet is a little sad) only to receive a nod with a sad smile from the petite Japanese oneechan.

After the perhimpunan, we met with the head of Bethany Home, Mr. Jaya Singh and subsequently we had lunch together with him and a few others, including Ruth, Sanae, and Vandana. We had a great meal together. I mean, you seriously can't go wrong with fried chicken, can you? Later, it was more work and Ken and I had a chance to play boche (I think that's how you spell it) with the kids. It was nothing more than a game of throwing balls as close to the white ball as possible. We were in the field -- actually, more like a taman -- and the first thing we had to do was to throw the white ball  into the 3rd quarter of little 'court' divided into quarters. Then, we took turns to throw our balls as close to the white ball. The one who throws the ball nearest to the white ball is the winner. Apparently, I won, by some chance. Hah, I whopped the bowling champ, Ken! =D

So much fun. Later in the afternoon, we toured the houses of the children. We visited two houses, one of which was 'independent'. The houses were lively and the children were surprisingly independent. They actually clean their house, wash their clothes, and cook by and for themselves. That's really impressive. What's more, they really displayed their wonderful personalities. Contrary to the serious and hardworking personality of the Leader (he has Down Syndrome) of the first house, Joseph, the clown of the house, kept on showing us his balloon and demanded attention. In the first house, we also met Sister Alice, the one and only Roman Catholic among the sea of Lutheran teachers -- and a queer personality indeed! While being strict to the children, she manages to not only provide them their needed love and attention but also a dab of common humor.

Moving onto the other home, I walked persistently trying to catch up with Sanae while Simon and Ken were talking as they trailed behind us. Well, like the inquisitive creature that I am, I made use of the 10 minutes or so time we had walking to the next house to imbibe a little more Japanese from Sanae. What better way to appropriate my time than to use it up to upgrade my 4th spoken language!

A little down the trail, we finally reached the next house. The house is a little darker and less cheery than the former. The inhabitants are definitely older and they required less monitoring from the teachers. We were told that they are graduates of Bethany Home and they no longer attend classes there but rather they work either in the Lighthouse (a little shop run by Bethany Home selling reject clothes and doubles as a factory parts workshop of the graduates) or Bethany Home (as helpers or gardeners). In the evening, we went out for a little walk with some of the inhabitants of the house.

Having a little breath of fresh air around the neighborhood of Hutan Melintang was refreshing. Even more so when we spotted two kids riding on a little miniature sports bike. The neighborhood is semi-modern and the community is close knitted. We walked for about half and hour before retiring back into the house. Walking back to Bethany Home, I was quick to notice that my cellphone was missing. Ken rationalized that I left it back in our quarters and that seemed to have prevented me from having a panic attack, which only made me slither all my way to Sanae again for couple more Japanese lessons.

It was quite late when we arrived back at Bethany Home. First off, I went to search for my cellphone.  Nope, it's not here. Lalala, I went, 'Oh well, it was my fault... I deserved this'. Great thing our unelected leader also doubles as a silent helper as he called my cellphone and reassures me that l dropped it in one of the houses. True enough, after we were done preparing ourselves for dinner, one of Bethany Home's worker passed me my cellphone he retrieved. Thank God!

Walking across Bethany Home to a Malay restaurant, we had our dinner with Ruth, Sanae and Vandana. Most of us had some sort of ayam paprik and Sanae had tom yam, which was the star of the dinner. After dinner, we went out to check the second hand shoe shop next door. Who can beat a beaten up Nike for 3 Ringgit?

Before everything is said and done, we had a fashion show once we reached 'home'. It was two days before Bon Odori and so, it was fit for the night for Sanae to showcase her blue floral yukata. First it was Vandana, then Ruth and then Sister Alice. Posing and smiling, the three would qualify as super models. Why bother with a walkway of almost-anorexic models when two middle aged ladies and a Canadian-Indian look just as superb? Just as the night was ending, I was also dragged into the picture as I was made to wear Sanae's yukata. What a sacrilegious occasion! Sporting an umbrella-katana, I tried my best to strike a pose as the Floral Samurai. *Wipe sweat off my brow*

So, ends yet another day in Bethany Home and also our last night there. Oh yeah, I've learned my lesson. I decided to spray the heck out of the bedroom with Ridsect before retiring for the day! Die, you bloodsuckers!!!

"Let's put a smile on that face" *Smiles and chuckles*

Dark Knight is perhaps the only few shows that actually left me feeling less than hee-hee-ha-ha, with an occasional knee jerk. Well, perhaps I'm not utterly trilled with THE Dark Knight per se, but rather, it was the Joker that brought much enjoyment to the movie. You've got to love the Joker. No sweat, the clown's just pure evil, not in a la-di-da sense but he's just *gushes* soooooo freaking cool. And yes, I'm purposely not trying to be coherent. There's just so few villains that could actually impress some awe into me. Fact undeniable, the Joker is THE villain.

"Why so serious" *Smiles and chuckles*

It’s been roughly 15 minutes of nail biting, plus maybe a few hours, if not days beforehand that I could actually record my thoughts about our trip to Bethany Home. I feel as if I am actually handling the Ark of the Covenant, that if I were to even spell out a slight alteration of our journey as if I had mishandled the Ark, I would be dead. It’s such a humbling experience to write about our shamefully short trip there.

 I could just go on telling about the trite and oh-so-common yada yada of how eye opening it without including any shred of description of what we actually did there (which, by the way was really insignificant), but I at the same time, I feel I would have deprived the world of a story worth telling if I did not write in detail of our puny contribution to society.

So, it all started with a ‘human trafficking’ agency CEO, called Kah Wan, who decided to ship four of us blokes all the way to Teluk Intan. Well, the mode of transportation is none other than a modest bus. Even then, we somehow almost missed our ride there due to a slight misunderstanding of communication, which might have proved to be a major road block to us. Thank goodness we decided to ask around to know what belakang meant 5 minutes before our bus took off. Huffing and puffing, we tarried behind our unelected leader, Ken and found our bus ride. Teluk Intan, ikuzo!

As with every bus rides, I often suffer from bus-seat sores after a while from seating on the seemingly comfortable seat. Maybe, like what a naturalist would say, I’m an under-evolved human being with a tail bone longer than the average human being, jutting out almost like a monkey’s tail – hence the bus-seat sores. Fortunately for me, I’m glad that the ride was shorter compared to the grueling 5-hour trip to Penang. Then again, who’s to complain? After all, it’s an economy special. However, if there’s a complain worth uttering, it would have been the woes of Ken and his ‘unfinished business’. Well, at least he did try to do some in the bus, only to juggle in between two cell-phones, almost losing one of them.

It was already three-something that we reached Perak and it was drizzling. We were supposed to stop at a place called Simpang Empat but for some unlucky twist of events, we missed our stop and overshot into Teluk Intan. Well, for that, we had to fork out some 2-ish bucks for another bus ride to Bethany Home. This time, although we almost missed our ride, Simon, from the corner of his eyes, managed to spot our destination – yes, it’s a miracle we actually made it to Bethany Home.

Walking like reanimated corpses, we dragged our belongings and ourselves to Bethany Home, a five minute walk from our stop. Like the blokes that we are, we decided not to do anything but to wait and stand under the shade of a bungalow-like building, as if hoping that somebody would notice our gaijin presence. Nope, life’s not a bed of roses and we were forced to find somebody in this place almost devoid of any sight of Homo sapiens except us.

Well, we did manage to find two people around after exploring the area. We were introduced to Ruth, a full-time worker in Bethany Home and Vandana, a Canadian-Indian volunteer worker. And then, proceeded
into our humble living quarter and hurriedly took a shower before pursuing our grub at the local mamak.

As usual, Simon ordered his Neslo ais, Ken, sirap bandung and me, kopi o’, of course. The food was not exactly that great of a deal (we’re not in Penang, are we?) but we were hungry and it didn’t matter what we had. What made it worse was not the fact that the mee goreng was overly spicy but our dinner was paid by Ruth and the on-the-house fried chicken was NOT on-the-house.

After dinner, we had some casual talk and more la-di-das before realizing that we are apparently mosquito-bait. If only us attractive, single young men could attract females of the same species more effectively… sob, sob, sob….

It was already quite late then, and half of us wanted to get some Zs. After some David Blaine on Astro, David (oh, how I wished it was Blaine… EMO) and I went straight to bed, only to find out that the bedroom is an even bigger hive of lurking mosquitoes while Ken and Simon stared at CSI back-to-back, oblivious of the little critters sucking away their health.

So, ends our ‘first’ day of our adventure in Bethany Home. Hope y’all stay tune to more Chronicles of Simon, Ken, David and Siva (heheh…). Mata ne!

'Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is an average of six "steps" away from each person on Earth', Wikipedia.

Seriously, I don't really believe in this mambo-jumbo, hocus-pocus hypothesis. Then again, just last week, I was told that my good friend, Elena is the daughter of Uncle Kok Keong's house-mate and that her Mom was a friend of Nyuk Lim. Let's just sum it up: her parents knows almost everyone in our church from Colin Kirton to Auntie Eng Lee to Uncle Kong Beng. Again, another friend, Joni, who also like Elena attends the same ACU as me, is the daughter of the owner of the Gopeng Christian Centre. What a surprise! And our youth group went there for a retreat. Maybe the world ain't that big after all...

God, I'm at your throne of mercy. I'm just so lost without you. "Meaningless, meaningless", cries the Qoheleth of Ecclesiastes, and I come before you, acknowledging that I've strayed away from you yet again. I've flirted with meaninglessness, O Lord. I've turned my eyes away from your love and your whole Being. Time and time again, I'm beckoned to come back into your welcoming arms and yet, more often than not, I've willingly allowed myself to leaped out of your safe and loving embrace. Lord God, forgive me. My heart has grown empty and cold without you. There is nothing but meaninglessness within me, if I bracket you out of my life. Jesus, I want to come back to you. Will you just teach me to love you and to have a wholehearted desire to follow you? Lord, let it not be just a confession of mouth but an active willingness to obey and desire to follow you. Jesus, you're my all in all. Do not remove thy Holy Spirit from within me, O Lord. I'm not worthy to be forgiven and I know that, yet out of your grace, you have willingly died for me. Jesus, let me not take for granted what you've done on the cross for me or to allow my emotions to dictate and define my love for you, but rather, I pray that you'll just help me to walk with you, step by step. Jesus, I love you. I ask for your forgiveness in your name I pray. Amen. 

There's just some days that I feel that the world has been knocked out of its orbit. Today's just that day. I woke up because of the incessant drilling noise coming from my neighbor's house (which is still going on right now) only to find that my home's running water has just struck dry. Adding to the insult of not being able to take a shower in the morning, I could not make my soy milk  -- that I've been waiting all week to make -- because of the freaking drought plague. I'm so freaking frustrated already! I'm really tempted to just scream my lungs out and just damn this world!

Just give me a break already! The night before, I've had to read some bunch of nonsensical journal about how the world of advertisement affects humanity and it was all crap. Wasted my freaking time just reading an article that kept on chanting again and again the same issue non-stop. Couldn't make heads or tails with the idiotic crap of an article. To say the least, I just hate final's week. It's just one of those weeks in a year that just sucks the life out of people and leave them into cursing and swearing zombies.

I'm just so Sith today...

Procrastinating... I'm  that sort of creature who loves to procrastinate and I make it into my prime time hobby. Just a few days ago, for some self-gratification, I browsed eBay for two hours over some Power Ranger toys that I used to have or look covetously at the 80's Scorponok that I never had (which cost a whopping 500 USD today). Even now, I'm flirting with escapism. I just don't wanna do anymore assignments for two of my online courses! Curse that day that I decided upon registering for online courses! Fool of a Took! Throw yourself next time and rid us of your stupidity. Right... Tell me that before I jumped into the chasm. So much for Gandalf the Grey. No wonder he died-ed. =D

So... Today, what am I gonna rant about? Food obviously!!! Since Dora commented that my blog has been nothing but food and more glorious food, I will not withhold my natural tendency to write about food that's, "though not utterly aggressive but still packs a tight punch" ~ ala Iron Chef USA. (Speaking of Iron Chef USA, you guys should check it out one day... the comments are waaaa~y hilarious!)

Just a few days before I flew back to Malaysia, I had the opportunity to host a Malaysian banquet for a bunch of my friends, uh, actually more than 30 of our hungry guests. Obviously, us Malaysian ACU students stuck with the safest food there is... Chicken Rice and kari ayam. Chicken Rice is for all the kwai loh friends who can't eat spicy and kari ayam is for our Malaysian friends so that they will not complain. Of course, the recipe for the chicken rice chili sauce is also modified. We had to use jalapeño chilies so, the sauce is dyed bright jade green, which is, to me, kinda yucky. But, since 3/4 of our guests don't actually know the real stuff, it doesn't hurt to fool them once in a while, right?

Good thing that it was nearing summer. Instead of dining in my stuffy dorm's living room, we decided to go out of the porch and eat under the tree outside my dorm. Fortunately for us, after cooking so often for friends, 4 of us ACU Malaysians planned thing ahead of time and we had everything in hand when the dinner officially started. For 30 over guests, our resources included five whole chickens, 20 cups of rice, 5 pounds of potatoes and a whole lot of soy sauce and authentic Baba's curry powder.


Maybe eating outside the porch wasn't a great idea... A little past 7 pm, mosquitoes became a nasty problem to deal with, resulting to our guests leaving early due to other-things-to-do excuses. I dunno, since everything in Texas is usually super large, maybe mosquitoes are unusually larger than usual too?

You know what, I've gotten to the point of realizing that I'm just not cut to be a writer. Bleh, the thoughts of molesting my brain in search of unpronounceable, antiquated, and more likely Shakespearean lexicon just isn't my thing. So never mind the slip shot grammar and the English what nots, I just want to get my ideas across, and I don't really care about my major in English (actually, according to my dear friend, Holly Perkins, it's not English that I'm learning, it's American).

Apart from language barriers (I'm really taking the term out of context, =D), I'm finally halfway done with my online courses and probably would have died already if I was actually the character of the current game I'm playing. Voila, I'm going back to the oldies. What's better than to dig up some long lost treasure within the family collection of video games like a mutt finding some rotten food in the thrash can?

Just last week, I resurrected my Bro's old Sega Saturn, smuggled it to Ken's house and plug it into the TV, with some minor sweating about... and we just gave a stare that seem to say, "It's alive". Pop in the the disc (obviously ORI), and we started off with some Marvel Super Heroes VS Street Fighter, which obviously brought lots of nostalgia and notably, arthritis too. And yeah, unlike the gimped PS1 version, the Saturn version features a two-on-two tag battle simultaneously with NO lag whatsoever and NO loading time.

Soon, we got bored of it, and then switched to some fighter plane shooter games. You know, those games where you control airplanes or spaceships of sorts in a vertical (or diagonal) 2D auto scrolling stage. We kicked off with Layers Section. If you guys know Ray Storm, Layers Section is actually the prequel of Ray Storm. Sadly, like many prequels, it apparently lack the advancements of their latter series and Layers Section proved to be too difficult for Ken and Chui Yeng to manage. Can't blame them though, the ships in the game is as large as cows and the enemy bullets are also equally large. Sadistic game designers whose only meaning in life is to kill gamers through their creation.

Then we moved on to Battle Garegga, a legendary, though uncommonly heard game and then shifted to another shooter called Soukyugurentai. We decided on moving on as Battle Garrega's a little messy. Enemy explodes, scatters debris that looks like enemy bullets. We were squinting so hard that our eyes, I swear, was almost literally coming out of our sockets.

Finally, after all is said and done, we finally settled with X-Men VS Street Fighter. Ah, the joy of demoralizing my opponents. Oh, well, then again, I lost 4 times to Ken who really gave me a hard time with his Ken. Right... Ken and Ken. =D

Now, that the spark of interested has been ignited within me, I began my quest today in search of my Sega Dreamcast.

~Censored~

Found it. Took me an hour to locate the stinking machine.... Maybe I was the one who's stinking as reek of sweat and grim and dust, scavenging for the machine that died many years ago, killed by the Playstation 2. After finding it, I began to think that the Dreamcast did indeed deserve to die in the console wars.
 
ぼくのドリームキャストと小さいのテレビです。



悪魔のゲーム。じょうだんだよ。これはゲームがとても難しいでしょ！超難しい！

Plugged it into my ancient 14 inch Sony TV that still survives till this day... and, "It's alive". The machine is kinda yellow but as long as it works, what the heck!

Pop into the machine my all time favorite, Marvel VS Capcom and after half and hour, I began to regret my decision of ever bringing the machine of hell into my room. Got whooped and game over-ed like nobody's business. Before I can even land the first attack, I'm already up in the air being aerial raved like nonsense by Strider Hiryu. It's either that Rockman is really a lousy character or I really suck and I believe the latter is true. So much for winning an entire game of Capcom VS SNK in the arcade with just one coin, huh?

No wonder I sort of gave up on gaming... I'm at a loss. Still am and not sure if anybody can bring me back to the old See Huang who used to be THE gaming guru.