Some photos of the Super Moon
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It doesn’t really looked too ‘Super’ though @@
The final ‘Thank You’
I met you tonight once more, after close to 2 years not seeing you at all. My first reaction when I saw you walking through that door was ‘Oh shit, you have got to be kidding me’, but there you were, standing with the rest of them. We weren’t in contact for that 2 years, except for that one time when I asked that really stupid question of you. But other than that there wasn’t any contact for close to two years and I have got to admit, seeing you once more was awkward. And I slump into my ‘please don’t notice me cause I don’t know how should I act’ program and that eventually turned into ‘oh you noticed, self denial protocol initiated, Alan will ignore you today’.
And I am not happy for it. I didn’t wanted it. But I didn’t know what to do about it.
~I remember this was taken on my way back from sending you home 2 years ago. Later that night you broke up with me~
But still it was nice seeing you again.
You know that tingly feeling you have within yourself when you met your ex, knowing that he/she is seeing someone else right now. I had it in abundance this night. Things didn’t work out between us last time. And things might remain how it was like tonight for a long time to come.
But in my mind, I’m really happy (I’m lying partially) to see that you have met with a better person. I’m happy to see that you have found your own happiness (Still lying partially- I just had to be honest). I hope that he can treat you as how you will wish to be treated (At least I’m telling the truth here, you should be treasured). And you also need to keep believing in your own happiness.
I never really talk about us much to anyone else. And after all this time I’ve been trying to let go of that part of you within me. Because it makes me unable to love anyone else fully. But I guess I’m wrong. Why should I let you go. What we had was special, and so it should be there, even though things didn’t work out. After all, memories shouldn’t be kept hidden. It should be cherished. That is why I’m acknowledging you here.
There is one last thing I really want to tell you though. (Don’t worry, its not another ‘ I’m the Alan~~’ post.)
~This was taken when we were at Johor for Alvin and Janice’s wedding~
Thank you, for being the one for me, even though it was short. Thank you, for keeping me company for those few months. Thank you, for teaching me about God. Thank you, for all the cares you have given. Thank you, for putting up with me when I hurt you. Thank you, for that second chance. Thank you, for teaching me how to love. Thank you, for all that you have given me.
And the final ‘Thank you’ will be.
Thank you, Nat, for loving me once, for being my first love.
~It has become a norm for me to dedicate song’s that I’ve learnt to people who matters to me. This will be your song. Its translated as ‘Thank you takes on a deeper meaning’. Original song here~
I’m quite sure you would not be seeing these ‘Thank you’ since the cowardly me decided that it is totally unnecessary for you to see it. But if you ever found out about this, then it’d be great. At least I’ve done what I wanted to do ^^.
The boy who cried ‘Wolf’
Image via Wikipedia
I’m quite sure many of you would have heard of this Aesop’s fairy tale before
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
There once was a shepherd boy who was bored as he sat on the hillside watching the village sheep. To amuse himself he took a great breath and sang out, “Wolf! Wolf! The Wolf is chasing the sheep!”
The villagers came running up the hill to help the boy drive the wolf away. But when they arrived at the top of the hill, they found no wolf. The boy laughed at the sight of their angry faces.
“Don’t cry ‘wolf’, shepherd boy,” said the villagers, “when there’s no wolf!” They went grumbling back down the hill.
Later, the boy sang out again, “Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is chasing the sheep!” To his naughty delight, he watched the villagers run up the hill to help him drive the wolf away.
When the villagers saw no wolf they sternly said, “Save your frightened song for when there is really something wrong! Don’t cry ‘wolf’ when there is NO wolf!”
But the boy just grinned and watched them go grumbling down the hill once more.
Later, he saw a REAL wolf prowling about his flock. Alarmed, he leaped to his feet and sang out as loudly as he could, “Wolf! Wolf!”
But the villagers thought he was trying to fool them again, and so they didn’t come.
At sunset, everyone wondered why the shepherd boy hadn’t returned to the village with their sheep. They went up the hill to find the boy. They found him weeping.
“There really was a wolf here! The flock has scattered! I cried out, “Wolf!” Why didn’t you come?”
An old man tried to comfort the boy as they walked back to the village.
“We’ll help you look for the lost sheep in the morning,” he said, putting his arm around the youth, “Nobody believes a liar…even when he is telling the truth!”
The moral of this story is: Never tell lies. (Or whatever other moral values you perceive it to have)
Perhaps its cause the writer wrote it intending to teach that moral value to those reading it. But after thinking about it recently, I guess the reader might be able to perceive another side of the story.
He cried out because he was lonely, insecure and he did what he could to stop himself from feeling insecure. He wanted attention and he did what he could to get it. But those around him got a bit annoyed by his needs of attention. And when the wolf comes (I perceived as troubles), he cried the harder. But the previous securities whom he expects to come to his aid, didn’t help him at all.
I read the story and found a pitiful lonely boy.
But when you think about it, aren’t we quite similar to the boy who cried ‘Wolf’? Take away the things which make us feel secure. Take away the friends we are so bonded up with. Take away the partners we are living our lives with. Take away our internet connections and our mobile phones. Take away our wardrobe, our shoes, our fancy bags. Take away our pride and take away the fake-us we normally portray to others.
Underneath all those securities we hold on to, we will find the same boy who cries ‘Wolf’.
Don’t you think so?
But the most important thing is realize though is that, have you discovered the one ‘Old Man’ who’ll help you look for the lost sheep?
Think about it.
How the fireflies and a girl taught me something more about life.
I have to let myself settle down first before typing out this post. Because what I’m about to share really got me ‘emo’. Will be trying my best to share with you what I’m experiencing right now.
I wonder if you had come across this video clip on Youtube or on Facebook. Do have a look at it.
I’m not really good in Mandarin so I might not understand the whole story but I reckon I know enough to know what’s happening.
Anyway. I’m touched by her courage and her life-story. Even her outlook on life is touching. Life treats her unfairly, but she still managed to look on the brighter side of life. She believes she will have happiness. I wonder how many of us actually believes we will find true happiness, from the bottom of our hearts. We often give up and feel undetermined by the tiniest things, but this ‘young-looking’ girl reminds us that there are a lot more things in life to feel grateful for. To keep on looking forward with your head held high no matter what befalls us.
Thank you for teaching me something about life today.
Alan is ‘in a relationship’
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Or should say Alan ‘was’ in a relationship.
At least for one hour or so.
I changed something in my Facebook account. From ‘single’ to
Well since people might notice that it’s a particular ‘day’ and I changed the relationship status, we need something to further strengthen that ‘changed relationship status’. So I left this comment to myself.
In the end, I gotten a lot of comments. Some congratulating me, some being super curious. [And some definitely super angry and pissed off after this]
For the congratulations, thanks a lot for being happy for me, although it was just a one day relationship, I’m happy to know that they are a lot of people who are happy for me as well.
For the super curious, sorry for playing around with your curiosity. Alan most probably won’t be able to find a girlfriend any time soon for quite obvious [and perhaps quite unobvious reasons].
For the super angry and super pissed, I’m very sorry. But since it’s April Fools, I hope you don’t mind. Hmmm I’ll let you all be the first to know if I really do managed to get into a relationship after this 
So come 2nd of April 2010, I’ll be back to ‘single’
[Actually I feel so bad that, I’d changed my status back to ‘single’ after one hour]
[Dear Michelle, I’m so sorry to disappoint you. I heard that you were really happy after reading that status update.So sorry. I’ll definitely tell you first if I gotten into a relationship]
[Dear YeeWuen, sorry for cheating you. Thanks for being a good junior. I didn’t expected that message from you]
[Dear Miss Mermaid, are you still curious?]
Here’s a few of the kepo (translated- people who wants to know about other people’s stuff) messages:
And eventually, someone from my MSN decided to follow in suit
It’s contagious, this joke~~
Anyway. Happy April Fools.
And as JJ and Ian (from Hitz.fm morning crew) would say: GOTCHAAAAA!!!
Now I See! Spiritual Revival Concert 2010
I’ve went to attended the Now I See! Spiritual Revival Concert organized by ICM. It’s all thanks to Liannie and some juniors for ‘bringing’ me to the concert. It was held in New Era College, Kajang on the 20th of March 2010.
It was really an enjoyable experience, a bit different from what I would have expected but still enjoyable nevertheless. I really do enjoy the Praise and Worship session [a bit similar to what is done in CSS, except most of the time we in CSS tends to loosen up too much] and the drama act. And I also do enjoy the energetic dances put up by the dancers [Liannie included]
Unfortunately I had to go early because I have other obligations to fulfill [obligations as in to fetch some juniors to the balloon fiesta in Putrajaya]. So I think I wouldn’t be qualified to say that I have had the full experience.
Honestly though, it managed to open my eyes a bit towards my own spiritual faith and perhaps I might join in more activities in the near future. Also, I would enjoy being a photographer for their upcoming activities [Invites, anyone?]
Here are some photos of the event [Some of the photos was improperly exposed since I’m still not used to the external flash unit of my camera]
All the photos you’ve seen here would have already been pasted on Facebook.
5 tips to resolve an argument
I argued with a good friend recently until both of us left fuming in the end. The reason? A difference in thoughts and a minor misunderstanding. Those who truly know me will know that I stand very very strongly on what I believe in, be it friendship, love, relationship, trust etc. And I will defend very very strongly on those who try to stamp on my believes.
And we left fuming for a day. I found that even the minor things influence me quite easily when I get angry. The argument continued the next day because of a Facebook status update. [Funny right?]
Anyway, it was resolved in the end. It took a lot of patience but it reached that point in the end. And I found out that one must really comply to a few rules to settle an argument.
1. Never ever talk at the same time. [The resolution happened through FBChat as well; I started by asking her to give me a moment to talk. And everytime she interrupted, I spam ‘WAIT’ till she keep quiet.] Reason is that I realize that when both of us are chatting, none of us are actually reading what the other is typing. That’s no way to solve an argument. Also remember to give the other party a chance to talk and do not interrupt.
2. Be humble. Accept the fact that you CAN be wrong. That is very important. If you are wrong and you know you are, be humble and admit you are wrong. Say sorry and then try to explain what you wanted to say, but in a nice way. There may be times when you aren’t wrong at all but if the other party do not want to admit their fault, you shouldn’t force them to. Accept it if they do not want to admit their wrongs. Its either you apologize or you forgive. One party must be tolerant to either say sorry or forgive the other.
3. Do not use sarcasm or criticize the other party. Sarcasm and critics will just add fuel to the fire. Refrain from doing so. Most of us will tend to criticize and be sarcastic when we are angry. So I will suggest for you to take long deep breathes and keep your anger under control. And when one is angry they will most probably relate everything the other say as sarcasm or criticism. Keep your head cool.
4. There’s no such things as letting the fire cool down [unless you are talking years of cooling down]. Things will sure to ignite again every now and then so long as the misunderstanding remains. It may be a good idea to resolve the misunderstanding before it accumulates and another war of words begin. It’s a bit like Neyo’s Mad- And I don’t want to go to bed, Mad at you. So try to resolve the argument as soon as you can, but properly.
5. Make sure there are no interruptions during the resolution. Settle the argument before focusing on anything else. Give your full focus towards settling the argument.
I’ll make it simple with these 5 points first. It should be sufficient to resolve an argument [hopefully I’m not wrong or I’ll end up getting flamed here]
Happy Valentine’s Day
I gave myself a bunch of paper flowers this year (since I’m still single, can’t help it)
The flowers are really well made (They are made by Jacklyn, you can check out her blog here).
I’ve received a cupcake from my buddy, Elaine as well. Thanks girl.
Just want to wish all my friends and readers a Happy Valentine’s Day.
Here’s a song I’d played. Ain’t perfect but dedicating this to all lovers out there and also all those whom I care for
Leslie and Jennifer’s Wedding
I managed to attend Leslie and Jennifer’s wedding in Penang 2 weeks back. For those of you who might not have known them, Leslie and Jennifer are both from UPM and was once very active within CSSUPM. It was indeed a very special moment for them and also for us seeing two CSSUPMers tying the knot. Some photos of the wedding mass and the wedding dinner can be found below.
The wedding mass.
The I dos’
The exchange of the rings
The prelude to the kiss
They exit as husband and wife
CSS family with the newlyweds
The cute couple
The wedding dinner.
The cutting of the cake
The Yam Seng bros (Who each took the mic and yelled yam seng!!!!)
Dora, doing what she does best
Wine pouring
Dr Kenny giving Leslie a big hug
Fr Chris
Past Presidents of CSSUPM (From right to left : Audrey 2000/2001, Sabrina 2002/2003, Greg 2003/2004, Janice 2006/2007, Alan 2007/2008 and Dominic 2008)
Past Presidents and Vice President of CSSUPM (inclusive of Leslie and Iris)
Leslie and Jennifer, we wish you to have a Blessed Married Life together
P/s: I wonder who is next on the list.
I saw a comet today
Juliana was sending me to the airport this morning when we saw this one thing in the sky. I took a few photos of it and it really do look like its a comet. (Click on the photos to see a larger version of the photos)
Dear Miss N,
*This is a delayed entry.*
Dear Miss N,
I’m typing this while waiting for the moment to fetch you from the bus station.
I guess I must be thankful for remembering that you are coming back today. I must be thankful for taking the courage to sms you and offer my help to you. Honestly I thought that my sms will be somewhat like the most of what I’ve sent before, without a reply, but well, you did reply and you did accepted my offer for help (even if you did give me reasons and conditions for it). Honestly I don’t mind doing this for you even if you did somewhat ignored me for the past few months. I’m glad I still keep believing that things will be better and didn’t give in to my sadness and anger. You might not know how many times I almost gave in, especially to the latter.
I’m going to be fetching an angry person later. I do hope that person don’t lashed out at me. Haha. I remember someone very dear to me once said. Don’t let your anger consume you. (That person was my ex) She understands that I was a person who let anger get the best of me, especially during my undergraduate years. And many times I just felt depressed and tired after all unleashing all those anger. I’m not in a position to judge you nor do I know what’s going on with your life. But I do want you to know the one thing I found out all those years ago. Feeling anger does not help with things. You’ll only get tired and stress out in the end. It won’t help you with in the relationship with the person you are angry with and it will ruin the relationships you do have with others around you. She helped me out with those words and I in turn hope that these words will help you out as well. Life’s a bitch sometimes but life will be much more of a bitch if you let your anger take control of you.
And honestly I am happy today because things seemed to be looking better after the “cold-war” all these months. I just hope that things will continue to get better as time pass. And I do hope I remember to keep my mouth zipped later while fetching you. Though you might not want to hear this since you seem to loathe and despise this place but still, welcome back. And I look forward to tasting that cupcake. Haha. Cheers.
Alan
*I guess I won’t have the chance to eat that cupcake. Haha. Miss N messaged me a few moment ago saying that she has found some other friends on the bus and will share a taxi with them. Somehow I did look forward to fetching the angry girl back but seems like its not this time. Sigh. I do hope that this is not another bad sign though.*
I got featured on WordPress main page.
I got featured on the front page of WordPress website a few weeks back. For those who had missed it, here’s a snapshot of the front page that day.
Never had I though that I would be featured for a post that sums up my shitty 2009. Not to mentioned that I almost made an online confession in that particular post.
And being featured really spike up my blog hits. From a measly 20-30 hits a day till 600+ hits a day.
On the way to 600+ hits.
Unfortunately I’m not hosting any ads nor am I with Nuffnang. Haha. But still, it puts a bit of life back into this dying blog. Its harder to find time to blog since I’m back in KL, Malaysia doing my 4th semester of PhD studies. I really need to put more initiative towards blogging from now on. Perhaps cut down on my TV time and also my DOTA time to make more time for blogging.
There will be a post on ‘My life as a post-graduate student’ up soon. As well as the remaining post on my Taiwan trip. I hope I still remember all the places I visited while I was there.
Till then, stay tuned!!
9 things for 2009
1. Learnt the keyboard. Can you believe it? I’ve been wanting to learn for quite some time but hadn’t really the passion for it until…Well something happened. Lets just say that I no longer know what I can do. And I started learning the song because it has all my feelings in it. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting Alan’s first simplified song. River flows in you by Yiruma.
It was late one September night when I was having insomnia because of the problems I was facing that I heard this song. I remember how it calms me. And how it gives me resolve in holding on even till today. And I knew I just had to learn it. And one month, a keyboard and a lot of hard practice later, I finally got it. My dear problem, this shall always be our song.
2. Trips. I’ve had a number of trips lately. Genting, Kelantan, Limbang, Brunei, Ipoh, KK and ultimately Taiwan. I hadn’t been to Genting for a long long time. I can’t even remember my last trip there. It should be when I was still a baby :p. The same goes for Brunei. I hadn’t been there since I left 12 years ago. I was studying there until Primary 4. Now when I went back for a day trip, I can hardly remember the places there. First time trips will be to Kelantan (where I attended my first conference and stayed alone in a 2 beds five class hotel), Ipoh (visited here with Shirley and gang early this year) and Taiwan (visit this link for full trip details).
KK-Harbor side
Limbang harborside
Labuan harborside
I’ve not been back to KK for around 5 years. Last I remember being back there was when I met up with Stephanie and gang whom I met while studying A levels back during Matriculation. A lot of things had changed there. I have-ot been back to my hometown as well for the last 2 years. A lot have changed most notably the cousins look so grown up now. All handsome guys and pretty girls. I had to try to resist falling in love with them (the girls I mean) Ha ha. Looking forward to more trips next year.
3. Project progress. Now I’ll sum this up in a graph. My progress this year:
Frankly speaking, I’m having loads of troubles this year that it seem to make of think twice about whether I should quit or not. Sigh. I think its always cause I’m not hardworking enough.
4. Accidents accidents. Since I started driving in KL, I had been involved in 2 minor accidents with both happening in the span of 2 weeks. First off, a miscalculation on turning angle on my side caused my to dent the right side of my car. And a few days later, a mistake by both parties caused both car’s buttocks to become blue black. But I am thankful though that none are serious incidents. And I pray that my driving will continue to be safe throughout 2010. In addition to that, there’s that time when my car rear glass got smashed (Most probably by those cutting the grass). Pain to look at it you know. But lucky everything is okay now (I hope).
5. I’ve gotten a new girlfriend. Say hello to Esme. She’s very high-class and also made me have a huge hole in my wallet. What to do. I fell in love with her. Haha. Here’s a picture of me caressing her.
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I do love her, really.
6. I’ve went to my first out of KL conference and it was at Kelantan. Stayed in a 5 star hotel with 2 queen size bed to sleep on. Slept in different bed every night some more. Ah… The life… Hahaha… And just paid RM50 per night for the 2 beds. Really a blissful life 
Alan was here… on both beds.
7. Suffered emotional breakdowns a few times this year. It was from bad to worst I guess. Sometimes it makes me wonder if what I’m doing is correct. Can’t a kind person treat another person kindly without hidden intentions. If it’s possible then why are there conflict among us?
8. Enjoyed photography and ventured into the world of HDR. Gives off the best in photos but then haven’t really do very well in it. But nevertheless still loving it. Hope to be able to venture into portraits soon. With real pretty models this time. Hahaha
Genting cable car (HDR)
Faculty at Sunset (HDR)
Labuan Sea Sports complex at night (HDR)
I’m loving HDR.
9. Broke the 20k visits barrier earlier this year. Thanks to you all for visiting. I know I hadn’t been updating much lately. But still really thank you for tuning in.
I know that this year really hasn’t been an interesting year for me. But I do look forward to a more fruitful 2010. With a lot of hopes of things that may happen.
Everytime we touch (Slow version) – Cascada
I liked Cascada’s rendition of What hurt’s the most… So looked up on some of her songs and found this…
Really nice…
Earth Hour at St Anne’s Chapel, UPM
Earth Hour has come and gone… Have you done your part?
And for those who did do their part… What did you do during that one hour of darkness??
Hope it was something special.
I was at St. Anne’s chapel during Earth Hour, attending the mass there. The recent electrical problems in the chapel made the Earth Hour this year very natural and longer than the supposed ‘hour’.
The chapel was in darkness for the whole 2-3 hours that the mass was held because we couldn’t turn on the electricity even if we wanted to.
But then, it was special nevertheless…
Where else could you celebrate mass in candle light aside from during the Easter Triduum…
So here’s a few photos of the night
~It was pitch black…Lol… Imagine if all the photos were like this…~
But then… They’re not…
~Preparing for mass… It was still bright outside~
~It might be hard for the musician to play the music in the candle light…~
~And so more candles were lit up for them~
~Sky outside has finally turn dark~
~Dominic’s praying~
~Some changes in camera setting while the rosary was on-going~
~And the candle kept on burning~
~And burning…~
~And burning… (I like the hand movement effect in this photo)~
Earth Hour is finally over… But what we did on that night (all the turning off the lights and ‘saving’ energy)… Did we did it because it was the in-thing of that moment? Did we all turn off the lights because everyone else is doing it? Because the radio stations, the newspapers were telling you to? Because your friends are telling you to?
Then after the hour is over, do we just go on back to our normal lifestyle? Being how we were before and thinking that since the hour is over… We can just do what we want once more… Does it end just like that?
Earth Hour was carried out to teach you something… And the only question that I really think you should answer now is… ‘Have you learn anything new?’
The ‘Have a nice day’ message
Have you ever received a message which sound like this ‘Good morning, have a nice day ahead’ from someone else??
Well… Another possible Alan-only thing is that I always send this type of message to certain people on certain mornings… Just to wish them a good day and hope that they will be cheery that morning…
And sometimes what I felt after sending it was that I am annoying… Imagine sending the message every few days to a person… That person might think ‘OMG, he’s so annoying… Why can’t he quit it with the messages already’
But regardless of that I send… Perhaps it will help you remember that I’m still around… And still keeping contact
And honestly I didn’t really expect someone else to send it to me out of the blue…
So it was a pleasant surprise when I received one yesterday
Honestly it was really a pleasant surprise… It felt as if someone cared… Haha… A wonderful feeling.
It was sent from someone whom contact I didn’t have on my phone…
It really made my morning cheery
Thanks Donelia.
Perhaps we can all do this sometime… Make others cheery in the morning… It may be a simple message worth a few cents… But it could mean a lot to another person
