Saturday, February 21, 2009

Cambridge diary 3 (cambridge in snow)

It's the biggest ever snow in Cambridge. Even the Brits find it hard to believe!!

There's always something romantic about snowing, especially for M'sians like us, who have never experienced it before. We could only experience it from the romance movies or story books that we watch or read, and maybe because of that it remains elusively romantic to us. The story books, however, forgot to mention to you how cold it was...(and it makes it so difficult to apprecite the scene or the ambience in such a weather).





It's so 'romantic' seeing how the kids and lovers threw snowball at each other on the field. People skiing, rolling ice balls, etc. But it's actually very unhygienic because the snow is essentially ice and dirt. Yes, so if you see closely, you can see that there's lots of dirt in it. But well, as with all things that are romantic - you focus on all the 'wooo's and 'waaa's and at that very instance we all forgot that we are really throwing shit at each other...

The entrance to Engineering Dept. (actually these pictures are taken while I was on the way to the Eng. Dept. and by the way, I was late for the class because I stopped by too long to take these pictures =P)


Looking out from the department's cafeteria.

I don't want to be driving in this weather!




Or riding a bicyle...
And finally, how can I show you pictures of Cambridge in snow without showing you snow at Cambridge's most famous site. Ah... King's College. It looks awesome in winter, autumn, summer and spring. I wish I was like that.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Problem with choosing a topic for my PhD dissertation

When looking for suitable topics for my PhD dissertation, I'm looking for problems. Because if there is one, then there is chance it could turn out to be my PhD dissertation's topic. Interestingly, after reading some journal papers, they presented me with 3 kinds of problem:

The first kind is where all the theories and foundation work have been laid down. All it takes is just for you to learn it, apply it and then share the result with everyone. E.g. someone has theoretically calculated that earth is round. You just have to travel around the globe and then tell everyone about your 'epic' story.

The second kind of problem is where the problem has been clearly identified, but even the experts have no solution for it. Then one should wonder, if these researchers who have been researching for years with vast experience cannot come out with a solution, can I?

Then the third kind of problem is...when there is no problem. Which is, in fact, a problem itself. This is because if there isn't any problem, then there isn't anything I could write for my PhD dissertation.

Damn...

Monday, February 16, 2009

Arsenal and Arsene Wenger

I'm an Arsenal fan. But with the way they are playing recently...

Arsenal and Arsene Wenger is more like...
Arse-anal, and Arse-and-Wanker.

fdgsdfgs df

gasdrf ,.jhg lkjfgkljsb kcbs,msfdb
adrgkjh sfdg'[
adg;lishg lkjsfad
sadgklhjfvl;cvb sadf
sdgrtkljsgb
lskf
s fdglikfs h sdfg s fgdd fg9087q430-o

唐伯虎点秋香--经典好诗!

(用粤语念)

“河边一群鹅,嘘声赶落河;落河捉鹅医肚饿,吃完回家锄老婆。”

跟着,四大才子之一紧随着叫到,“好诗,好诗!”

果然经典!

(采自于周星驰演的《唐伯虎点秋香》电影)

Venting out my frustrations....

I realised, after coming to the UK, that I rant a lot. And therefore, I constantly need a place to rant, or to sink my frustrations. For many years, that was debate team.

And I'm not surprising to know that many of my fellow debaters feel the same way. Just go to BS, crack a few jokes, try out a few free debates, cracking your head with our arguments or just plainly talk crap. Surprisingly, suddenly all your unhappiness will disappear.

Many years ago when I left for UK, I missed the UM debate team. Today, the same still applies. As I am feeling so frustrated today, I just wanted to go BS and see how those juniors are preparing for the Taiwan competition. And maybe I shall lay my wrath upon those unsuspecting juniors!!! muahhahaha.........but alas, BS is now MYR 4000 and 10k miles away from me. And my car won't take me there.

So when I have frustrations, I just have to swallow it. No one will listen to my rants here. I'm all alone.

On the brighter side, this may teach me patience. (but I doubt so, LOL)

*********************************************************************
postscript: I did not mean I go to BS and UM debate team and just go scold you all to let go my anger a......I know you all debaters one...sure think like that. Shit, after saying this, isn't it like "this place got no silver 300, 2?"

The triumph of evil...

Dedicated to the fighters for freedom and democracy in Malaysia:

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing"
-Edmund Burke


Shin Liang says, "I am a good man."

Sunday, February 15, 2009

雨后、雪后

跟你分享一个回文:

“下雪后,下雨;下雨后,下雪。”
- 勋亮

这是剑桥的气候。真是TMD。

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Valentine's meal...

I have cooked something special for myself during this Valentine's Day!! Let me guide you through it, step-by-step...

Onions, garlic, potatoes and tomatoes all chopped up nicely.

Two pork steaks (sorry if you are a Muslim...). Use knife to cut several 'gratings' on it. Then apply some salt and oyster sauce over it. The gratings will ensure that the flavor gets deep into the meat. Then, take one egg and beat it until the yolk and the white are properly mixed. Apply a layer of that egg on the meat. Rub the steaks with your fingers so that the salt, oyster sauce and egg are well mixed (engineers call it 'homogeneous') and that they gets deep into the meat.


Heat the pan and oil. First, fry the onions and the garlic until they are golden brown. Then put in the potatoes and stir-fry them.

On the other pan. Do the same, i.e. heat the pan and oil and then fry the onions and garlic. Once you can smell the wonderful aroma from the golden brown onions, push them to the side of the pan. Place the steaks in the middle. Cook with low heat and slowly let the steaks cook from the bottom-up.




When the potatoes are fried to golden brown, put in the tomatoes and squash them so that all that juice comes out oozing onto the pan.

On the other pan, flip the steaks. Wait. And then repeat after 5 minutes. Finally, once the steaks are properly cooked, you can now apply the onions and garlic (which was push aside earlier) on top of the steaks.


Now, just place the potatoes and the steak side-by-side on the plate and wahlaa.....the final masterpiece!!!!


It was more or less an experiment. And it was a success because it tastes sooooooo goooood!! Well, I like onions and garlic so it can't be bad. But it turned out to be much better, much better than what I thought it would be.

=D

Happy Valentine's Day.

My most popular post on this blog...so far

Surprisingly, the most visited post in my blog (besides this one which was linked by Tony Pua's blog) is the post regarding my rant on British High Commission of Malaysia when they rejected my UK Visa.

It'd seemed like many people actually googled their way there. I'm surprised that if you googled phrases like

"An Example of a Letter of Appeal to the British Embassy"
"complain about high commission in Malaysia"
"who hates uk immigration officers"
"Appeal Allowed Letter from ECO"
"Visa appeal letter"
"how to complain to the british consulate"

you'll actually get google 'recommending' my blog by putting it in the search result.

And sometimes, I get angry comments like "f*** off!!" or "stay away from UK!!" etc. Luckily, I moderate the comments on my blog.

For all the BHC officers, UK Visa entry clearance officers and Mi5 who read that post, I hope you don't get the wrong idea (I'm sure you won't! =D). I'm glad that the entire fiasco was over and that I'm here now. I just hope that the next time I apply for the UK Visa, the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) would not bring this up. LOL.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

More on Perak defection...

I've wrote something about the Perak defections (in Mandarin) here.

A lot of my friends, as you may suspect, were infuriated with the Sultan's decision and with Hee's decision to defect in particular.

But many fail to see that this is actually PKR being too complacent after their recent win in the elections. Always boasting that "the tide has turn", "UMNO's end is near" and "the people is with us" but failing to see that although there is a strong rise in the opposition, it is hardly an overwhelming win against the BN. In fact, it's not yet a 'win'.

1. The PKR candidates are weak. Many of the candidates that were chosen during the elections were just to make up the numbers. It's true that among them, some are of good quality. But all it takes is just 20-30% of "weak" candidates to ruin the whole lot.

2. The PKR coalition is weak. As much as we dislike BN, this coalition has a long history since our independence. Whatever disagreements between the component parties within BN, there is a systematic way of resolving it. Although it could be a very unfair process, it has been proven to keep the coalition together for a long time. PKR is a new coalition and I think the most important problem is that component parties of PKR have very different goals and most of their leaders are great politicians who can really make speeches in public, but perhaps lack a skill or two in PR and teamwork. Just look at what Karpal Singh said about Anwar recently. If PKR sinks, isn't he as guilty as Hee?

So amidst all the blog entries that is now blindly throwing their support behind PKR and insisting that this is not a defeat, I advise you to read this post by Raja Petra (RPK) here. I think PKR should just admit defeat and learn a lesson from it. Learn to be more vigilant next time. Don't learn from Arsene Wenger who gives an excuse everytime Arsenal loses and claimed that they have played good football. What good is football if you can't win? What good is politics if you do not lead (by forming the government)?

Friday, February 6, 2009

霹雳的晴天霹雳

你可以说,国阵有苦衷。
你可以说,其实它想,只是心有余而力不足。
你也可以说,它玩弄种族政治是无可奈何。

但,你无可否认它确实在玩弄种族政治。你无法否认在马来西亚独立以后,国阵对其他种族(除了对马来人以外)实行了各种不公平的政策。

就是因为这样,行动党的斗争才有意义。加入行动党不会是因为为了什么荣华富贵,反而要吃不少苦是真的。吃苦,为的不就是更公平的马来西亚吗?为的难道不是要实现两宪制吗?

那么,许月凤可以是为了什么理由,做出这么残忍的决定?他不是行动党为这次选举而随便找来的,他可是10多,20多年经验的行动党党员。有什么委屈吞不下,大不了,退出党。何必帮忙敌人建立江山呢?这不是跟我们辩论员喜欢挂在口边的史实人物--吴三桂一样吗?你可是被你敌人羞辱过,歧视过,而你也知道你这么做最终还会是“飞鸟尽,良弓藏;狡兔死,走狗烹”。你这样“引清军入关”值得吗?一个人跳槽倒还不用紧,但你做的是一手促成换政权的局面。这样的事你做了以后,心里过的去?为一时的情绪而冲动,值得吗?

我相信,每个“老板”都有难“顶”的地方。我也不认为林冠英是什么杰出的领袖。而且很多决定都让我无法信服。认识我的人也知道,我对行动党没有太大的好感。但是,怎么烂也不会烂的过国阵吧?你可能不认同他们的手法和处事态度,但至少他们的大方向和理念应该跟你的吻合吧,月凤姐?

就算你完全不喜欢行动党或民联也好,你也起码渴望马来西亚两宪制的出现吧?惟有两宪制,政党之间才会竞争。有了竞争,不管是国阵或民联都会更快的进步和提升自己,这对人民来说是百益而无弊的。你怎么能这么忍心呢,月凤姐?

因为她的决定,霹雳回到了国阵手里。然而许多博克认为从长期而言,这会有助于反风的增长。许多博克都认为反风特别强。人民都一心倾向民联。我个人认为,其实不然。反风一直都在,是比过去强了一些。但国阵的支持依然不薄弱。只不过有了电子媒体,反对的声音比较容易听见而已。我认为民联不应该过于自信地认为,人民一定倾向他们。也正是因为这个,许月风的决定更关键。

我们不能在这个时刻给国阵任何翻身的机会。要趁敌人在撤退的时候,气势低落的时候,追打。固然敌人后防还有很多军备,然而要趁敌人撤退的这个时刻,能“杀”多少就“杀”。许月凤却在这个时候做出这样的决定,造成霹雳现在的混乱局面。民联的气势会不会就因此而停滞呢?

Thursday, February 5, 2009

对爱的一点点感想。。。

当你发觉你最高兴的,并不是因为你拥抱着他,而是因为他得到了你的拥抱时,那么你可以肯定这份爱是值得珍惜的。


/////////////////////
后记:
辩论员的小毛病,所以在这里做一点预设反驳!:X 

这句话有个前提,那就是你拥抱着她时不是分手,也还未分手。否则,“对方” 可以说一对恋人离别时的最后拥抱,也可以是这种感觉。

我想说的是,这个世界上很多爱情都是自私的。人们渴望的是在这份感情中付出后的所得。人们都集中在得到什么。然而,很多时候在感情上付出即等于收获。就好比拥抱吧,当一对情人抱在一起时根本没有分谁抱谁。在这个时候,与其因为得到拥抱而高兴,不如换个角度去想。效果虽然一样,但这样的爱情感觉比较“纯”。

我们能做到吗?