Ramblings About My Life..

Chow and Paul's Visit To JB! (Days Three and Four)

It's been ages since I last blogged - so I'm very very sorry for the delay, which was actually inevitable due to my absolutely hectic schedule these past few days! Many factors contributed to the final result of the aforesaid hectic schedule, and Reason #1 is that I am currently playing the Star Wars - Knights of the Old Republic II (KOTOR II, if you will...) RPG. Wahahaha... Before all of you decide to knock my head off for giving such a bad excuse to justify the much-delayed entry, let me clarify one thing first - this RPG is absolutely addictive! The storyline is great and the gameplay is rather simple compared to the Final Fantasy series, making for countless hours of fun! Much thanks to Paul who introduced this game to me and blowing away all my misconceptions about the KOTOR series RPGs - and even more thanks to him for getting me so damned addicted to the game (not in a bad way, though)! I think I shouldn't go forth on the merits of playing this game, though - I suspect that you're already yawning as you read this. Alright then, onwards to Reason #2! Reason #2 is the fact that I am supposed to participate in some taekwondo demonstration on the 14th of July and as a result of my participation, I have to go for practice approximately three times a week. Three times! Every lesson I get my muscles, joints, tendons and whatnots subjected to extreme stress and go home aching all over and before my body parts even realize that they should begin healing instead of slacking off as they are wont to, I have to go for another lesson. My mum has stopped asking me why I walk around the house in a funny manner after two weeks of this. The jokes from Dad hasn't stopped yet, though. However, my body is showing signs of getting used to the new training schedule as I feel a lot better now compared to two weeks ago - maybe I'll even walk normally soon! Hahaha... But until then, I'll keep my fingers crossed. Reason #3 is the part when I start piling blame on myself - hurray. Anyway, the third reason is short and simple. I'm Just Too Lazy To Update My Blog! Adding Reasons #1 and #2 together, and rationalizing that I wouldn't have many hours left in a day if I did everything mentioned above - and include the fact that I'm a person who requires a little "me" time, well, signs are pointing that yes, these past few days I've been slacking off when it comes to my blog. And it's true. Nowadays, I just don't feel like taking time to write an entry even when I have time to do so. I'm beginning to question the very reason for owning a blog when I have to remind myself to type entries - writing entries seem forced to me, somehow. The only reason I'm keeping with this whole thing is because this is the only available avenue for me to practice my written English. When I first created a blog, I thought that it would be a platform for me to write about my daily life, my thoughts, so on and so forth. The blog would be the diary that I never had, the place to actually write down my unaltered thoughts and feelings that never existed before. But as time passed, I realized that this blog became something more of a news report - I write about everything happening around me. No internal dialouge, no dissection of thoughts, no self-diagnosis. Nothing of what truly matters. You might perhaps add that I could have written all of those if I wanted to, but the truth is that it's not really possible. Writing about one's thoughts is rather risky, you say a lot of things in your head that sometimes aren't meant to be public knowledge, and the end result of writing whatever is in your mind is that you offend people. The farcical product of trying to be as diplomatic as possible when writing about one's life isn't what constitutes a diary (at least, it isn't to me) and it is at the times when I ponder this is when I wonder if this whole "blog" thing is just a big, stupid waste of my time. Perhaps it's time I get a private blog. Perhaps. Just perhaps.

Right, I seem to have drifted off-topic again. Back to the subject.

Day Three (22/6/2005)

On the third day of Paul and Tze Chow's mini-trip to Johor Bahru, us Johorians brought the "foreigners" to the most happening shopping centre in Johor Bahru - City Square! Well, to set the record straight, it is the only shopping centre that is happening in Johor Bahru since it is the place with the largest variety of shops. I think the previous sentences typed above makes it sound as if Johor Bahru is a really lame place to be, but of course you can't compare it to Kuala Lumpur or any other big cities. Each place has its own attraction, and I'm guessing that in Johor Bahru it must be cheap and good food. Shopping complexes aren't exactly our forte, if you get my drift. However, City Square isn't too bad - there's quite a lot of stuff to do (or buy) there! Pirated CD/DVD/VCDs? Check. Clothing? Check. Computer accessories? Check. Restaurants? Check. Cineplex? Check. MOST IMPORTANTLY - Pikachu? Check! Hahaha... In case you're scratching your head and wondering what on Earth does Pikachu have to do in determining the "happening-o-meter" readings, Pikachu is a Japanese restaurant serving extremely good ramen! In fact, it is my favourite restaurant! The portions are large but the price is rather reasonable - coupled with extremely tasty ramen, it makes for a no-brainer whenever I'm there and I'm deciding where to go for my meal! The rest of my friends such as Yih Seong, Jeremy and Chye Hing don't share my enthusiasm towards that restaurant though - I'm guessing either they don't like ramen or they balk at the fact that I must order the "piss-smelling noodles", as they call it, whenever we go there to eat. Hahaha... Well, I can't help it! The bamboo shoot slices in the Zaru Ramen makes it smell like that - but seriously speaking, it tastes really really good! You won't notice the smell at all once you start eating the noodles, and once you get used to the smell, you'll actually notice how good it smells! Anyway, we reached there around lunchtime, and once everyone had arrived, we headed to - guess where? - Pikachu for lunch! Anyway, just so you know, Pikachu actually has a real name. And it's Nippon Yatamura. But most of us just call it Pikachu since there's a humongous picture of everyone's much-beloved (or equally much-detested) anime character displayed at the restaurant's entrance! Mention "Nippon Yatamura" and you'll be greeted with a blank look and a "huh?" to boot, but mention Pikachu and everyone understands one another! However, at the restaurant, Tze Chow told me that he had eaten in a similar restaurant before. Something clicked into place in my mind and all of a sudden I recalled that there was a restaurant serving exactly the same stuff in Midvalley Megamall in Kuala Lumpur! Everything was the same - from the menu to the layout of the place - it just had a different name! Ah, well... As long as we get to eat lunch then it doesn't really matter, right? Hahaha...

After our lunch, we went to catch the movie "Batman Begins". The movie was rather okay, it provided an interesting insight on how the Dark Knight began his...um..."crusade", so to speak, against evil, tyranny, injustice and all the other bad stuff you can think of. However, like all comicbook adaptations, there were plenty of no-brainer scenes and painfully cliched lines. The explosions, butt-kicking and huge mean driving machine made up for those scenes though, and all in all it was an interesting watch. After the movie, it was almost dinner time already and a new problem befell us after we stepped out of the cinema - where do we go for dinner? We had a really tough time working out this problem (Hahaha...funny, isn't it? We're in a shopping complex with at nearly 20 restaurants and we don't know where to go for our dinner!). There were several angles to the problem - one, the price musn't be too expensive; two, the food must be good and different to what we already ate so far, and three, it musn't be too far away from the shopping complex. After much discussion, the final consensus was to heck with angle no. 2! since some places recommended were too expensive or were situated too far away and so, we went to have our dinner in the Tebrau Hawker Centre (mentioned in the entry about Day One) again. Not only did we have our dinner in the same place, nearly all of the food we ordered were repeats of Day One! But I'm not complaining since the food there is really good! This time, the ikan bakar we ordered was even better than the ikan bakar we ordered before since Yih Seong and myself chose the pieces of fish to be grilled, and the "oyster omelette" we ordered was simply delicious! Ah, the pleasures of hawker food - good, cheap, but not necessarily healthy! But who cares? Hahaha... After our sumptous dinner, when everyone was stuffed to the max, Tze Chow suddenly had the craving to play DotA! This notion was immediately seconded by a few of us and we proceeded to good old KingSurf, where much expectedly, the team with Tze Chow in it whacked the other team's collective rears to kingdom come. He really doesn't know how to go easy on us, that guy! We should gather forces to teach him a lesson one day (like having a 5-on-1 match), but I have a nagging suspicion that despite us having greater numbers on our side, he'll still beat us in DotA! Hahaha... Yeah, he's that good! After the game, everyone went their separate ways again to sleep the exertions of the entire day off - with that, ended Day Three of Paul and Tze Chow's visit to Johor Bahru!

Day Four (23/6/2005)

Day Four of Paul and Tze Chow's visit to Johor Bahru had an inoccuous beginning - never in our dreams would we have foreseen what would happen later on! The day began with a quick cybercafe outing involving Paul, Tze Chow, Jeremy, Yih Seong, Ashok and myself at KingSurf before Paul and Tze Chow caught the late evening bus back to Kuala Lumpur since we had nothing better to do in the morning anyway and DotA is always a great way to fill up unused time! Everyone, bar Ashok, gathered at my place early in the morning before heading out to the cybercafe - a reversion to the days when my place was the rally point for any cybercafe/movie/bowling outings at Leisure Mall. However, approximately ten minutes before leaving, Yih Seong "discovered" the wonders of SWAT 4 on my PC and began playing it. Everyone lost track of time as we watched Yih Seong shoot hostages and his SWAT team members - until Jeremy reminded us of our appointment at the cybercafe with Ashok and Ashok called to ask us about our whereabouts. We then made our way to the cybercafe as quickly as we could. Once there, there was no sign of Ashok. We then went into the cybercafe to book the computers first. We waited for quite some time and decided to start on a dry run of DotA while waiting for Ashok. While we were playing, Ashok called Yih Seong to tell him that he was involved in an accident! Yih Seong immediately asked if he was alright and Ashok told him that he was okay and would be joining us later. Then, not long after, Yih Seong was called by Ashok again - this time, Ashok asked us if we could go over to the clinic. We left the cybercafe immediately and went over to the clinic. Anyway, to cut a long story short, what transpired was that while crossing the road, Ashok was knocked down by a motorcycle and that there was some trouble involving the motorcyclist's friends and us - but it was all straightened out in the end. After that incident, Yih Seong brought Paul, Tze Chow and myself for a bak kut teh lunch, but it was a rather subdued affair after what had happened. After lunch, Jeremy sent Yih Seong and myself back home - and Paul and Tze Chow to his home to get ready their luggage for the trip back to Kuala Lumpur. Thank goodness Ashok only had a few lacerations and abrasions - no broken bones! He recovered rather quickly after receiving treatment at the hospital and resting at home for a few days - when Jeremy, Chuin Hau and myself visited him, his sister even said that barely two days after that incident, Ashok was already playing computer games! Hahaha... Maximum respect to you, Ashok! Well, all's well that ends well, I'd say, and I hope that this incident will never happen again to the people I know. Once is one time too much.

And thus ended Paul and Tze Chow's visit to Johor Bahru. For me, it ended when I waved goodbye to them when I got off Jeremy's car. Waving goodbye to them, I felt sadness dominate my emotions, tinged with a bit of hope in the fact that I'll get to see them again when I go to collect my results in August. I hate goodbyes - especially those to friends that I've come to treasure. Paul and Tze Chow have become extremely great friends to me, and it's been a great honour and pleasure knowing them. Well, c'est la vie... Goodbyes are part and parcel of life, but one can be happy knowing that nothing, not even partings are permanent - one may meet them again if their paths cross in the future and even beyond the circles of the world, who knows what awaits us there?

posted by yong chen @ 4:54 PM