Hail the new King

A year ago I was mourning his loss, a year and 11 days later I'm cheering his dramatic win.

First black F1 drivers' champ, youngest ever at 23 yrs old and first McLaren title in 9 yrs.

Won't be the last I'm sure.

麻将

Wrote this piece on 16 July 2008, its the 26 March 2010 now. Thought I might as well publish it.



Been a year since my faithful affiliation with this beautiful game.

The giam ka/nerng ka

Also known as the ‘一台王子’ (1 tai prince), they will do out of their way to 胡 that particular game. The most common practice is the legendary J.P.G (Not ah beng jean paul gaultier but Jia Pong Gao). This despicable and loathesome method often drew catcalls and loud boos from the remaining 3 players.


The hiong ka

There are 2 kinds of hiong kas; first kind is those who is sitting on 1 dai and still try his luck up against the 5 dais.

Second kind is those who bochup everything be it , bao dapai, bao shuozi, bao tongzi, bao wan zi.

Commonly known as 'The leader', they are extremely popular on the table (at that particular moment) because they open the way by tossing tiles nobody else probably will.


The tua ka

This is one personal favourite of mine; the builders of spectacular combinations that will silence the crowd. Like a century break.

Commonly known as the 'cake baker', they like to brew things up to the optimum temp before launching. Not shy to show their intentions, they dont like to throw caution to the wind, setting extremely high standards. True masters of the game.


The gang shen

These people have a knack for drawing 4 of a kind, which allows one to exchange for instant cash. It was tested and proven on numerous occasions that you dont need the finishing touch to emerge as the eventual winner. Just by ganging the whole night will be enough to salvage your game on the whole.


The teng ka

They are tough and resilient, taking one for the team in each and every game and round. Also known as 'Guards', they provide a rigid wall for the ascending player. Difficult to penetrate, they often give up their own game to make sure that the next player doesnt gets his as well. A great team player.


The chao ka
The typical 'play but no pay' player and this is the meanest of 'em all. They normally respond fastest to your smses for sessions because to them its just a game. Yes, a game where the money is just credit ~ you dont pay when you lose, and when you win you grab whatever cash there is on the table.

....and then it died

I really should have done this long time ago.

It was a matter of 'Aiya I'll do it tomorrow'

And tomorrow never came.

There was no symptoms, no indications, no warnings whatsoever. One faithful night 3 weeks ago I came back home and it was still breathing.

Then it freezes suddenly.

'No big deal' i thought and let it to rest. Just have to call Dr Mervyn and everything will be solved.

And so without too much worries I let it rest for 3 weeks before calling Dr M to came by for a house call appt on Wednesday night. His initial diagnosis was to give it new blood and a fresh lease of life and everything will be back to normal.

Little did we expect that the condition was worse than expected. It was in critical condition, and Dr M decided we should bring it back to his place rightaway.

He tried everything in his capacity to revive it, all 5 hrs of furious rescuing. The whole process started over and over again, and as each minute passes by, i prepared myself for the worst case.

At 2255hrs, Dr M announce it dead.

'Sorry man, I did everything i could. Your hard-disk is gone case.'

It took a while to sink in.

I wrapped it up in a plastic box. On checking my external hard-disk (the one i bought to do BACKUP and NEVER DID), ok, consolation, at least some important data was backed.

BUT counting the losses:

• 18 GB of photos (10GB done in 2007, the pivotal yr)
• 12 GB of music

To sum up my feelings, allow me to do this over the net for once:

'KNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

The King's Birthday

Gf kept 'ti ti niam ti ti niam ti ti niam niam niam' about how wonderful the food is at this luxury arm of the famed Seafood Paradise at Defu Lane. So we went about and planned a celebration of the King's bday at the Chinatown restaurant.

Service: 90% full marks

The place was pretty empty when we got there at 1pm, probably the reason why we got undivided attention from some of the waiters and waitresses. One thing that impresses me was how all the staff can wear a smile and an eagerness to serve the whole time.

Make us feel cheery too. :)

Food: 80%

True to gf's 'ti ti niam ti ti niam ti ti niam niam niam'-ing, the food is good, almost spectacular, esp the cod fish （鳕鱼) and their '招牌菜s' double boiled Sharkfins soup with that extra thick gravy in traditional broth and mini Buddha-Jump-Over-The-Wall. The Peking duck was normal thou, i prefer minjiang's or royal china's.

The score would've been 90% if not for that small lil hiccup which i shan't mention here la. Not that we are complaining too much though; we got a 10% discount on the bill and a complimentary peking duck on the comeback.
In any case it was good for a return and give their other delicacies a shot.

Back to reality

And so the love affair with the roadster lasted for less than a yr. Everything came and went in a flash, shit cos I got no time to bid a final farewell before we trade for the beemer.

I dug deep into my 2006-2007 archives and found only I had only one outing with the mazda. Doesn’t help when 2007 was a blerdy busy yr for all of us.

The NB MX-5 was definitely a fun ride, and having said that, I must say that is all it has to offer. The car felt like a toy right from the onstart, the plasticky interior, the manual soft top and having to need an extra pair of hands when u want to remove/put on the hard top. There is zeeero practicality to the car, the jap designers definitely designed this over sats/suns; it serves well to be a weekend ride, or rather a weekend-night out drive in 'good' weather. And no-rain doesn’t define ‘good’ weather; you need a cool climate as well cos the air con doesn’t serves well despite the crampy cabin.

Coming back to the fun part, it is surely a cute car to drive around town, a mini head-turner. Try avoiding the rubbish trucks/buses/fortuners beside you at the lights and everything is alright. I had the luxury of being given the chance to drive the RWD and yet not owning it on a daily basis. The few times I took it out for a spin with gf we had lotsa fun and laughs with the top down strolling around in town and marina south.


The 1.8-liter BP-Z3 I4 serves up enough power for easy maneuvering its short 2265mm wheelbase. Drive is energetic and vibrant across all ranges (esp when the loud engine note is so audible within the cabin), and gives u the happy dial feel of 120 when ya actually doing 90 on the 1ton machine.

In any case, I’m sure the couple’s glad to be back in the german camp again with the E90. And this time round, I’m taking it for a shoot soon. Just in case.

:: 1 year ::

Over a hundred episodes of HK serials together, thousands of hours over the phone, countless jokes, laughter and tears and seeing each other for 364days in a yr -- we are past the significant 1st year.

Shopping for her gift cant be easier; I had this in mind since sept:

Well I think it’s a beautiful piece of jewel, and these are words from someone who doesn’t appreciate stones or metals.

Most importantly, she will be extremely pleased I bothered to check out that corner shop at taka.

Dear her made me a sweet photo book, its a lovey dovey walk down memory lane as you turn the pages. There were our 'firsts' of everything, the overseas trips, the the candid shots, all nicely captured.

And we had a quiet and slow dinner at Wacha. Nothing beats good food, nice ambience while talking hearts out just like it was the first date again.

HAPPY 1 YEAR DARLING :)

Thank you for everything.

Up close & personal with iPhone

Mrs cheng got the pirated-smuggled-hacked Apple phone and i got to first hand try it out.

Well, in actual fact, there are more cons than pros getting the iPhone.

Firstly, it doesnt import all ur contacts on the sim.

Second, it doesnt have a stylus, its an out-and-out 1001% full touch screen phone.

Lastly, Sis' phone failed to engage smses by the 2nd day.

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BUT WHO CARES!!!! ITS COOL!!

Verdict: I'm getting one once it comes in via Singtel.

The resolution is amazing, perfectly complimenting the highly touted animation within. The phone responds cleverly to every touch, and there's a feeeeeel connection between phone and user.

Simi HTC Group. NEH. Muahahaa~~ :P