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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'