19th April

No, it’s not the date to complete at least half your income tax forms.

For those who didn’t know, this is the date 23 years ago that I finally escaped from my mum’s womb. It took me a few hours to get my map and bearings right to find that Exit sign, okay.

You think staying in there was fun?

Aaanywayyy, Friday after work, me and 4 girls ladies from my office went to Delicious in One Utama for dinner to celebrate my birthday. And that of my colleague, Vivian’s.

The prices there were a killer but the quality of food was great. Therefore, worth paying.

Sunday, on the big day itself, I was really surprised and happy for once in a year to receive mails in my Hotmail Inbox coming from Facebook. They were all notifications that I received messages on my Wall.

Potter Sam Leong - Be early Happy Birthday wish for you ~^^

Weng Kheen - Happy bday chris

Vivian Mah Jia Yee - u have an iPhone??!!!!!! damn..derma sikit boleh? hehe.. (Sorry Ms Mah, this phone’s mine.LOL)
anyway, wana wish u Happy Birthday! hope u'll have a great bday..take care! =)

Leong Weng Phoon - hey..happy birthday!!

Amanda Loong - Happy birthday!
Have a great one! :)

Wei Ting - hey happy birthday ! =D
hope u enjoy ur birthday !
take care =)

Mfeederj Elfione - happy birthday chris!!! a year older a year wiser LOL!!!

Rachelle Tan - hey there, happy birthday~

Chong Kim Hiung - Happy B day dude~ ^^ don't wear sunglasses la k? but if you like, no harm put it on haha~

Jasmin Lim - Happy Birthday! =)
Go have tons of fun yea? ;)
*cheers*

Jocelyn Toh Lian Yin - happy birthday! *hugs* :)

Andrew Yong - hey bro! happy birthday man!!!! be sure to have a blast there!

Ker Yong Low - hey hey!! long time no chat wey! happy birthday!! hope you had a great one!! =))

These were just a few. There were also that came in the forms of SMSes as well as personal wishes when I met friends at church. (wah, birthday only go church.) Some came as mushy little cute messages, some got me confused as to who sent it because my iPhone didn’t show the contact person’s name (long story) and I had to slowly search 300over names to find the sender. Some came as call wishes.

These little things made my whole day today. I was very happy for the wishes…especially some that came from friends which I’ve not kept in touch or have not seen for a long time. And yet THEY took the time.

You guys were great!!!

However, these also left me disappointed. Those “friends” who I thought were closest to me weren’t even heard from. Of all the people you expect to hear from on your day.

Some “friends”, huh?

When they were lonely and needed friends to talk to and encourage, you were there for them. But now when they’ve returned to their familiar areas, they never even bother looking for you.

“Action, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends” – George Washington

Could anything be more true, Mr Washington?

I should start re-evaluating who my true friends really are.

New Model. Original Parts.

If you haven’t guessed it yet, yes, that is the title to the newest instalment of the Fast and Furious franchise.

And the first thing I have to say about the screening is….

THE STUPID SCREENING STOPPED 3 FREAKING TIMES!!!

How can such technical problems happen on opening day screening of a much hyped movie?

It was such a bad mistake that so many paying customers started booing the projector operator.

One even exclaimed, “Woi, TGV beli cetak rompak."

But the movie isn’t bad though.

You know how sometimes a movie gets hyped up too much and in the end it sucks? Well, luckily this didn’t go the wrong way. Sure it’s more action than racing this time, but hey, it’s still a nice continuation to the franchise.

I like the way they use more muscle cars than tuners in this sequel. And boy, do those cars make a car enthusiast’s mouth water.

No one can deny that I am a car nut. I love cars down to the core. The designs. The power. The adrenaline.

The starting of the movie shows Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his gang hijacking a trailer carrying gasoline. This part shows the link to Tokyo Drift, when Han was still rolling with Toretto.

The comes the main part of the story, of Toretto taking revenge for the death of Letty by infiltrating Braga’s gang of drug smugglers, along with O’ Connor (Paul Walker) who works for the FBI trying to bring down the smuggling organization.

The clever use of the GPS system and street racing gives a great impact to the feel of racing. It kind of resembles playing a video game. I also like the way they used the tunnel to show precision driving at high speeds.

And Mr Walker, you slid a Skyline wide? Maybe a one-on-one tutoring with Mr Black on drifting?

It was reported that a lot of the stunts were done by the cast themselves. Only a selected few were done by stunt people.

The romance level in this sequel has been toned down. Thank goodness! It spoils the mood a little to see so much action and yet have to endure the mushy parts of it. There may be a couple of scenes, but there was nothing more than exchange of feelings and words. Focus had been given to the driving and the action.

However, when comparing this to the original Fast and Furious, the adrenaline had toned down considerably. Amongst the 4 titles, I would still prefer The Fast and The Furious. That’s a classic. And that was the one that spurred cars and racing fans all over to continue waiting for sequels to the Fast and Furious franchise.

I loved the original cast and action from The Fast and The Furious  & 2 Fast 2 Furious, the drifting cinematic actions of Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift and the precision driving and cars in Fast and Furious 4.

I didn’t like Eva Mendes from 2 Fast 2 Furious because I think she was just another pretty face who can’t act. I also didn’t like the introduction of Lucas Black and Nathalie Kelley in Tokyo Drift. Their acting was as dry as the wooden tables in my office. All shiny but dry.

Sure it’s not that easy to carry on the plot after seeing how Paul Walker and Vin Diesel did in the starting 2 movies. I do give them credits for trying, but the right elements are what makes this movie a hit in the beginning.

It would be good to see if Justin Lin (the director) can infuse the elements of all his franchise and make one giant, over-the-top racing action movie.

If you don’t understand this post, you need to get on down to your nearest cinema and catch this movie. Or if you’ve not watched any of the previous Fast and Furious series, you need to visit your local video store and get a copy. Period.

Growing up

These past weeks, I’ve found myself changing. Hopefully for the better.

My mindset has changed, my priorities had changed, my interests had changed.

I left the whole MTV mindset behind now and moved towards the Financial Times mindset.

I’m now more interested in news, whether normal or business, more than I am interested in songs. And that’s a little shitty for someone who hasn’t even touched the 25 year-old mark.

Maybe this is because of the desire to start building myself up financially and moving towards a more matured thinking. And maybe it’s also towards the fact that my family would soon be starting our own business. Just a small one.

But for me, I’m already planning on whether this business has an opportunity for expansion.

On a totally unrelated topic, there was an interesting discussion on the radio this morning.

The deejays were asking callers if they had talked back to their parents before and whether do the callers think it is a good thing or a bad thing.

Being Asians, we were always taught never to talk back to your parents or elders or superiors. This concept had been drilled into our mind that it’s against ethics to talk back to someone who’s of a higher position. In classrooms, we were never taught to voice out our opinions on serious topics. We just have to accept everything the teacher says, and we learn blindly. Failing to question the norm and push the teachers into explaining facts until that fact is justified.

This makes us Asians non-confrontation nations. Most of us dare not voice ourselves out over things we sometimes do not agree on. Even when we do agree on things and are largely satisfied, we still keep it to ourselves and do not voice it out publicly. We never compliment the chef for an excellent meal, nor acknowledge an employee for a good and thorough service.

So when people give orders, which you’re not fully agreeable with, you’d still kowtow and just accept it for the way it is.

I wouldn’t say everyone is that way. We Malaysians have gone a long way to speaking our minds publicly. But not enough.

We shout out our dissatisfactions, while hiding behind the curtains, hoping that no one will point out exactly who said that.

If we had all been trained to voice opinions and speak our minds at an early age, we would grow up with a more matured mindset rather than one which is half dead and only knows how to take orders and not analyse it.

The Western countries had long started expressing themselves freely and openly and this is one of the reasons they progress way faster than we could ever have. By having discussions and debates, we elevate our mindset and our analysis on issues faced. By keeping things to ourselves, nothing gets analysed and we don’t go anywhere with it.

In fact, if we had escaped from this non-confrontational mindset earlier, Malaysia would’ve been a much more developed and mature nation.

And, please. Debating and arguing on who should be Prime Minister and who should take which State seats is a whole load of bullshit in our country’s issues.

The whole world is debating about the Global Economic crisis and our local news is focusing on who’s going to be PM, who’s quitting the Cabinet and stupid tri-elections.

That’s just so pathetically childish.

I like the way the Obama administration is going. Even their national car maker and one of the biggest car manufacturer in the world, General Motors (GM), has to fight to obtain financial backing from the Government. Or else, it’s pack up and close down.

Same can’t be said with Proton now, can it?

Women and driving

I just realised how long I’ve not blogged.

Been travelling around a lot lately for work and also bogged down with projects at the office. Feels great to have just a moment to sit down to just put in a post or two.

Travelling often, I realise something while I’m on the road.

2/10 bad/crazy irritating drivers on the road are men. So, you do the math and find out how many are women.

Yes, I stand by my words. Especially when you’re in a rush, you tend to notice these sort of things.

Now, I didn’t say that ALL women are bad at driving. Those that are real good behind the wheels are almost as rare as the Malaysian Government awarding Datuk-ship to a good Samaritan. There’s barely 1% of them IN THIS WORLD.

So far, the things I’ve noticed from women drivers are:-

1. Signalling and changing lanes immediately. Just because you’ve signalled, it doesn’t mean you can immediately change lanes and other drivers will jam their brakes and yield.
2. Driving below the speed limit on the fast lane. Don’t you know the function of the last lane?
3. Not showing appreciation when people give way, even if it was a forced situation. Is lifting a hand up to say “thanks” that hard?
4. Slow in giving way to oncoming speeding vehicles, on the last lane on the highway.

Sometimes, I don’t really know whether women drivers are really clueless to driving rules, regulations and road ethics or are they just plain ignorant.

Therefore, I have some advice for you women/girls/females.

1. When you want to change lanes, signal, look at the oncoming traffic, and only change lanes when situation REALLY allows.
2. If you do not want to go over the speed limit, stay in the centre lane and only go into the fast lane to overtake.
3. When other drivers give way, whether willingly or by force, just raise your hand and give a “thank you” sign.
4. If you’re gonna be driving at not-higher-than-80km/h, please, PRETTY PLEASE do NOT buy a Honda VTEC/ Mercedes/ BMW/ any luxury, high performance vehicle for that matter. First of, it’s a waste of money and you can get a Myvi for the same purpose, with better fuel efficiency. Secondly, hazardous to security?

It is well documented that women do not have the skills to manoeuvre at speeds over 110km/h on a busy road/highway. So, please stay in the centre lane and try not to use the fast lane unless for overtaking.

And PLEASE, check your rear mirrors for oncoming cars. When other vehicles flash their lights asking you to give way, do so quickly and not ponder on it for a whole 10 minutes! Don’t make us resort to tailgating you. We don’t intend to do it on purpose, if you’d have only given way.

Now, just so to state, I’m not a sexist. These advise goes out to some of you no-skill, slow poke, stupid-excuse-for-a-male drivers as well. Stay in the slow lane!

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On an entirely different note, my 1.3 Auto Myvi beat a 3.0 Mercedes SLK280 on skills and handling.

That’s a David vs Goliath competition.

Oh happy day~~