hmmm..

i just bought a set of sennheiser CX 300 Earphones from a thread in hardwarezone.
apparently its from onlineshop.com.sg.



good service, and delivery right to my doorstep.
awesome stuff. and it cost only $50 from its usual price of over $100+.

contact me for more info on this.


due to the recent demise of my creative zen microphoto, i reverted to my Creative Muvo TX FM:

it's nothing much, but it's still in very good condition.


only downside was, it's 128 meg.




so i thought of my Creative Zen Nano:


it's better at 512mb.

prob was, it had previously been dunked in a cup of ice lemon tea.

being desperate for a larger capacity, i slotted a battery in thinking i wouldn't lose anything..




and it worked.
the lights were on, the sound was still good quality, and the new earphones worked perfectly.







such is the awesomeness and durability of creative players.

and the good Lord for this little miracle.










i've watched this great french movie:

Les Choristes (The Chorus).

Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_choristes

extract:
"The plot is about a passionate music teacher who arrives at a correctional boarding school for boys and transforms their lives through music. The film stars Gérard Jugnot as Clément Mathieu the teacher, and Jean-Baptiste Maunier as Pierre Morhange, one of his students, a musical prodigy....
...The film explores the pain of a child's separation from his parents, and the transcendence of music as the greatest form of expression."



the camerawork is awesome. it starts out dark and gritty, and as the film progresses it becomes clearer and brighter: exactly how the storyline progresses. camera angles are fantastic - absolutely beautiful.

camerawork: 10/10.

the storyline is captivating. never have i seen such a clean, good movie that's so enjoyable and heartbreaking. i actually felt for the characters - not something that happens very often. there aren't any plotholes, it progresses nicely, and the characters are perfect.

storyline: 10/10.

the sound. perfect sound. the children acting were actually trained in singing, and their voices are natural - it sounds almost angelic. morhange's solo was captivating beyond words.

sound: 10/10.



this movie is PERFECT.
perfect. guaranteed entertainment for ANYONE who watches it.

if an action junkie like me can enjoy this, i'd bet anyone else would too.




if you do want it, tell me. =)




more pictures, lesser words: ain't it what everyone wants?

It's Almost Over.

like prabakaran's nick says - 17 days before term ends.

1 more day to prepare french role play. urgh.
word of advice - languages are NOT the way to go.


mister sivanesan's turning 18 on friday - before we know it, the whole BoB3's gonna be 18..



those were the days of fun, nonsense and acts of random violence.








being 18 - what significance is there besides being able to legally do stuff that one couldn't do before?

things that could potentially harm your health?
things that would possibly eventually kill you?

drink?
smoke?
watch m18 movies?





bah. 18's overrated.

as sivanesan always says: "lol."

here's a animated clip redone from the 1980-somethings transformers movie. the cartoon one. give it a watch.. and dont forget to pause the music.




original video: http://www.hasbro.com/transformers/universe/

go here if you want to watch the high quality one.

Friends Forever Worxzxzz.

Once again i sit here in the dim lighting.. just staring at my screen.

it's 2.24 now.

project's due on friday. what have i done?









nothing.

searching countless google links,
browsing countless event management websites for an inkling of what i have to do, what data i have to get.

all in vain.








what's in a photo?


a group of people smiling as if all's right with the world?
when one looks at a photo like that, one has to wonder - is the happiness there truly radiating out?

or are the smiles there masking much sorrow underneath?






it takes a lot to understand some things.
like how so many people can smile at once.
like how the concept of friendship can be so tight knit the moment, and so distant the next.





the phrase "friends forever" never does come to pass.

think about it - how many people has one left behind as mere memories - in the dusty pages of a diary or a tiny speck on the digital highway?

how many people has one lost contact with?
people who were once close,
even people who once said the ominous phrase:







"we'll be friends forever!"









pish-posh.

poppycock.

balderdash.

tomfoolery.

hogwash.


the concept of forever is waaaaaaaaaaay beyond human understanding.













i guess that's why "friends forever" never really comes true, huh?







Jesus - the One and Only Friend that lasts forever.

Because He knows what forever means.

i'm posting this as i take a break from typing my percomm journals.
it's 5.15am in the morning.



first up:
for those who don't know or don't bother, here's my msn nick:
[BoB3] FeiZai. A BIIIIIIG LOL TO ALL THE PPL WHO CLICKED ON THE MSN VIRUS LINK. HAHAHAHAHA.


no, the focus is not on the origins of [BoB3] or FeiZai.
rather, it's on "A BIIIIIIG LOL TO ALL THE PPL WHO CLICKED ON THE MSN VIRUS LINK. HAHAHAHAHA."




and indeed, a great big raspberry blown to all your fellas out there who got the virus indeed. you peeps should use your brains more often.

no condemnation btw.



A brief history of the msn virus:
(DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT OMNISCIENT AND DO MAKE MISTAKES, SO IF I STATE ANYTHING THAT YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH OR THINK IS INACCURATE, FEEL FREE TO TELL ME.)

some time ago, the msn virus was a harmless program design to change your nick.
your friend would send you a file and claim that it's a picture or a collection of pictures or a program.
this was usually voluntary.
on opening the file, one's nick would then be changed to "I HAD MY PERIOD" or some other distasteful nick like that, until one signed off and deleted the file.




then, it evolved. some joker decided to put in a real virus (i don't know what it does, because i've had the good sense not to click on it.)




it was a zip file, similar to before - it was usually named 'imageX.zip', X being a number.
the bozo who got the send invite, not waiting for any explanation, would just click the file and download it. upon opening it, the bozo would then have an automated message from the virus sent to the rest of his list..

and some other fellas would be suckered into accepting the file.




some thought the reign of the msn virus was over with the passing of 2007.
not quite.


it evolved yet again, like some nasty bug that just won't die.
instead of sending the actual file, a link is sent to an individual's msn chat window.
it is usually accompanied by quotes, and in this format.



Hey, is this your picture?
[insert link here]


or


I Really Shouldnt Have Gotten This Drunk.
[insert link here]


etc etc.


the sucker then clicks on the link, which tries to download the virus on your com. accepting it would probably mean the death of you.

okay, maybe not quite. mr prabakaran has reported that the virus won't do anything if you have the brains to save it in a safe place. i have no idea what he means.



for the laymen out there, what the virus does (according to what happened to my old pentium 4 computer THANKS TO MY DARLING SISTER) is to prevent you from sending or recieving any messages on msn.






"it's only a link, how would i know?"








COME ON.

does one actually believe that your friends Would Bother To Type Like This On Msn?

once again, this calls for good sense.


if a friend has been typing the same way for AGES, why would the same friend Type In A Different Manner? typing in a nick, i can understand.

but on msn windows? -_-



some of these things are blindingly obvious. you don't just click on some random link, save the file to your com and open it would you?















apparently some people do.
seeing 5 people simultaneously send the same message with the same link to be obviously says something..

either they're all psychic, or something's wrong.









gah. go figure. i'mma complete my last journal while you bozos out there are happily infecting your coms.


good day.

ANDY LAU.

these are the pictures i took of Mr Joshua "Million Dollar Smile" Poh for my photography portrait assignment.
and yes, he does look like andy lau.

remember the andy lau watch advert near city hall mrt?

here's a fresh take on that:






projects, projects, projects.
urgh. drowning.






backstreet boys - who grew up with em?
surely you must remember.. they were all the rage in primary school.
hearing their song 'inconsolable' certainly brings a sense of nostalgia.

with the end of this post, presenting:



Inconsolable.
----------------------------------------------------
I close the door
Like so many times, so many times before
Felt like a scene on the cutting room floor
When I let you walk away tonight
Without a word

I try to sleep, yeah
But the clock is stuck on thoughts of you and me
A thousand more regrets unraveling, ohh
If you were here right now, I swear,
I'd tell you this

CHORUS:
Baby I don't want to waste another day
Keeping it inside it's killing me
Cause all I ever want, it comes right down to you
I'm wishing I could find the words to say
Baby I would tell you every time you leave
I'm inconsolable

I climb the walls
I can see the edge but I can't take the fall, no.
I've memorized the number
So why can't I make the call?
Maybe 'cause I know you'll always be with me
In the possibility

[ Inconsolable lyrics found on http://www.completealbumlyrics.com ]
CHORUS:
Baby I don't want to waste another day
Keeping it inside it's killing me
Cause all I ever want, it comes right down to you
I'm wishing I could find the words to say
Baby I would tell you every time you leave
I'm inconsolable

I don't want to be like this,
I just want to let you know,
Everything that I'm holding,
Is everything I can't let go, can't let go.

CHORUS:
Baby I don't want to waste another day
Keeping it inside it's killing me
Cause all I ever want, it comes right down to you
I'm wishing I could find the words to say
Baby I would tell you every time you leave
I'm inconsolable

Don't you know it baby
I don't want to waste another day

I'm wishing I could find the words to say
Baby I would tell you every time you leave
I'm inconsolable
----------------------------------------------------


song on blog soon.

Photos Long Overdue:

Mabel's Birthday pics (which i forgot to post. sorry mabel!)




Cell Outing to Pulau Ubin pics.



Phildia's Surprise pics.



I believe a picture speaks a thousand words, so i shan't post anything for this seeing as you've gone through several thousand words already.


heh heh.

It's Quiet.

1.23am. and everything's deathly still and quiet.

so hard to imagine i was frantically rushing for my projects just a while back.
it's peaceful - deceptively so.

sometimes one wonders how one can have made certain decisions and have done certain things - and look back and regret in another moment.

isn't it fascinating - the way each second passes by, the way one's body passes through time?
who one was one second ago and who one is now - one can never be the same person one was a second ago.


imagine reliving certain moments of one's life. the whole experience.
truly, one can never truly understand the concept of time - what was, what is, and what is to come.
one can only remember vaguely what something felt like - and nothing more.



the people one has known -
those who were once close, those who are, and those who will be.
the ties that bind.
does one ever wonder how long a tie will last?



one could be talking to a person and thinking that that particular person is the best friend in the world, someone who would always be there - only that in a few months no connection/bridge even exists anymore.

there isn't even a particular reason why the friendship dies off. it just does.


the times and tides of life shift us further and further away from our friends - how tightly do we want to hold on? and if the friend is really precious, would one even let go?


when one thinks of the people that one has let go - or even the people that have let go of one's hand, does one feel bitter? or does one not realise the inevitableness of it all?



people change, friendships change.
no friends truly last forever - the spur of the moment phrase: "we'll always be friends." is but an illusion.
somehow, somewhere along the line, one has to let people go.

ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
we all came alone - and alone we shall depart.
one can't take one's friends along with oneself, after all.




past experiences are just that - past. given a choice, would one even want to relive those moments?
does one think that one can change what was meant to be?
if it came to pass - it was meant to be.

but how many times does one inevitably look back during one's lifetime?
would one want to change certain things that happen - to alter their past experiences and thus influence their present?




and yet, it is these past experiences that make us who we are.
would one really want to accept that reality?
this brings the grandfather paradox to mind.











peaceful nights like these are too good to waste sleeping..
sleeping should be saved for the more rowdy ones.

Suddenly, the futility and mediocrity of it all settles down.

who would bother reading about a person's life experiences in blogs?
for example - practically 8273 posts all arranged around the same format:
"oh today i met X and Y and we went to Z place.
it was (insert descriptive word here) lah.
then we went to this place where we saw this and that."


who would bother?

this applies to mine as well, FYI.


putting yourself into the shoes of a complete stranger who chances upon your blog - what more would you be viewed as other than a shadow behind some 245kb html file?
nobody else would bother how one feels or what one went through - save the people who went through that same experience with you - simply as a recap. after that, the post is left to rot forever in the dusty archives of the internet.

other than that, it doesn't really make sense.

why, why then does one even bother if one knows the insignificance of it all?
excluding the popular blogs which are slightly more noticed, why does one even bother to set up a public webpage to 'document secrets and rant'?

would one's blog even achieve a second glance from a bloghopper? would one's opinions even be taken seriously?

why would one take up webspace just to post some mundane wall of text about one's life experiences?
does one not realise that one is simply a speck of dirt in this wide wide world - that your blog would be passed over just as quickly as your world rushes by in a blur?
and once one realises that, what then would happen to the blog?


it's amazing, really. the way how such insignificant little insects like us humans could be so full of ourselves - thinking that our opinions are actually heard, as if our wellbeing really matters to the majority, especially when one passes on, it's just that - a simple strand of life in the humongous soupbowl of the universe withers into nothingness.


as the famous quote goes:
"resistance is futile. you WILL be assimilated."

why does one then even try resisting?










sometimes i feel like a hypocrite.

AVP-R.
Alien Vs Predator - Requiem.

First look: the poster brings one to think that its a worldwide thing - with preds on one side and aliens on the other. and the tagline's cheesy.

Camera Work: 3/10.
the camerawork was bad. VERY bad.
the fights were shaky and the lighting was horrendous. i swear, most of the movie was too dark to make anything out properly.

Storyline: 1/10.
remember the pred from AVP? the one who got impregnated and had the chestburster come out at the end of the movie? yeah, that pred. he was escorted onboard the ship by a group of preds including this really royal high class looking one right?

guess what. this time, the ship only has ONE pred. where did the rest go? to the north pole to make merry with santa's elves?

the ship crashes because the little predalien chestburster grows into a fully-blown xenomorph in a matter of MINUTES. how is that possible? aliens originally needed at least DAYS. argue all you want - 'it's a hybrid what? more power correct?'.

well, the normal aliens in the film all grew in a matter of minutes too. which is too weird to be true. such a huge shift in mass? this ain't men in black.

so the aliens descend upon this happy little down and start to infect it. effort points here for the gore - which was totally not needed.

so basically this predator gets sent to mop the mess up the aliens made - a pred with no link to any other preds whatsoever. not the other pred's uncle/father/mother/toyboy. just some random hunter. so he sets off to earth and gets there in one piece. he fights aliens and dissolves both aliens and human bodies with this TINY vial that never runs outta acid.

then he fights. insert shaky camerawork here.

the humans run. insert shaky camerawork here plus heavy breathing.

humans die. insert gore here.

army fella decides to nuke the town. boom. everyone dies.

oh happy day.




WHAT KINDA STORYLINE IS THAT? a nuke?
the storywriters ran outta ideas or what?

"hey jim?"
"yeah?"
"wanna go for a coffee break?"
"but i still have the ending to write!"
"screw it, i need to take a piss NOW."
"argh.. but i need to finish it before the boss blows his top!"
"GIMME THAT PEN!"

*scuffling sounds*

"army... guy... nukes... town. THERE. done."
"but.. but.."
"SHADDAP, JIM. LET'S GO!"

that's probably what happened seeing as the ending didnt make ANY sense.

Effects: 5/10.

the predalien looked awesome, the aliens looked like they've always looked - but the pred.
THE PRED.
looked like a wimp.
WHO WANTS A WIMPY WARRIOR?
urgh.
'nuff said.



for the benefit of those who haven't watched the show:
please, don't waste your money. even high school musical has more storyline.




choice quote of the movie:
"BUT THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T LIE TO US!"
snicker.
chortle.
chuckle.

“Everybody loves a hero. People line up for them, cheer them, scream their names. And years later, they'll tell how they stood in the rain for hours just to get a glimpse of the one who taught them how to hold on a second longer. I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams…”

i need a hero.
my inner hero has been vanquished.
he can't take no more.


i'm in a fight for my life.
a war i've been fighting since i was kindergarten. those who know me will know what i'm talking about.
this time, it's gotten worse. it's hurt me badly.

mental, spiritual - even physical.

i don't know if i can hold on after so many years. almost automatically, at the start of a brand new year - it happens again. a never-ending cycle of hurt and pain. of living life in fear never knowing when something is gonna screw up.

believe me, this is no joke. and if you've never experienced this before (i really doubt many people have) then don't think you do.
just pray.

if something does go horribly wrong, let it be said: that Ian was someone who loved his God, who loved his friends, who loved the people around him; that he never wanted things to go this way.

all those who can - prayers are greatly appreciated in this time of need.

thank you.






Though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me.
I know You are with me.

My God is Mighty to Save.

Being alive is truly a wonderful thing.

2007.

first up:
SMASH pics.






the new year - 2008.
where people my age turn 18. whoopee.
before we know it we'll all be 28, given how fast time passes.



as i sit here and think, several thoughts come to mind - the bad things of 2007.
it is only basic instinct that one remembers the wrong done and not the good.
however, for the benefit of the masses (and the fact that big brother is always watching) and of course how uninteresting it would be to read blogs about one's failures and losses (oh, the irony.), i would like to fill this post with:

thanksgivings.

the good stuff that happened in 2007 has been largely overlooked due to my preoccupation with my snazzy relatively new laptop, the new sights and sounds of poly, and the overwhelming new amount of freedom i have.

as such, this post is to thank the various people out there who have touched my life in one way or another, and to thank God for the many things that happened.





the major miracle of 2007: my O level results.
for someone who got like 36 points for prelims, it's a miracle that i got 11.
i can safely say i didn't deserve it - and i certainly couldn't have attained that kind of results without any form of divine intervention.

i was resigned to my very possible fate: ITE.
more specifically, Beauty Therapy, as recommended by Ms. Yew.
and yet, i survived.

only God could've pulled off such a stunt. heck, i even passed my chinese. that in itself is a miracle.




then of course, there's the little miracles and thanksgivings.



having somewhere to stay, having a complete family and having a school to go to. those few alone aren't privileges held by many. i'm thankful none of these have been taken from me. these mercies are few nowadays.


my cell cluster (or most of them) have touched my life in one way or another. despite the busy year where we had very little contact (at the very best), they haven't forgotten me. i still remember the birthday surprise. probably the best birthday yet, and in the years to come.
thank you. especially my cell.
this year, i won't pangseh you people like i did last year. quote this to me if i ever do go back on my word. ;)


the KFC youths: it's amazing how you people have made me feel like one of you. the warmth, the family i found in you people - i felt all these the moment i was officially introduced to you all. and surprise, surprise. you people are gonna be sec 2 already. time flies - and bonds must be treasured deeply. sooner or later, you're all gonna grow up.
sticking together is waaaaaaaay important. never forget that.


my clique in cmm: you know who you are. the times that we had in ITAS laughing for no reason, the outings all around singapore, and the panicking together before a major assignment is due or a presentation, you all have made a huge impact in my life - never would i have thought that i would find such good friends in poly.


BoB3: i know you people don't read this blog. still, i'm surprised at how we somehow managed to stick together despite poly/jc lives separating us all. hopefully the bond between us all will stay strong in the years to come.





i won't thank individual people here due to possible bias - and the fact that it's gonna take ages.
you'll know if you're appreciated, believe me.











i don't believe in yearly resolutions. they almost always never work out anyways. making resolutions on the spur and hype of the upcoming new year isn't the way to go. rather, habits should be inculcated through one's sheer determination.















however, i will do what i've always planned to do: make a stand.
the buggers who've irritated me, the jokers who think it's fun to insult me - you know who you are.
nobody is gonna get away with insulting and laughing at me anymore. no more am i going to be a pushover. from the time of this posting onwards - watch yourself. touch me and i WILL make you pay.









with the end of this long post, i can only sit and wonder what's going to happen in the year to come. 2007 was a rollercoaster - i can only hope this year's as exciting as the years before - and hopefully even more.



nice to meet you, 2008.