GAMES!

Recently, I've been hearing shitloads from Prim about how his Nintendo WII, his XBOX and his PS3, and how much fun he has doing what he does. Its gotten me really amped up about buying a gaming console for myself too...but they cost RM1k! So I guess I should be sensible and wait..for...my...bonus.

Anyway all of which got me thinking about my gaming lineage. I got my first console, an Atari, when I was a kid, and quickly moved onto a...cannot remember what. Both were quite shortlived, and although offered lots of fun, they were nothing addictive. It was just revolutionary because it was a novelty. The most outstanding games I remember on these machines are the old Mario Brothers, where the stuff you could jump and hit with your head were "bricks", and the easy bad guys were flat mushroom like creatures who moved sideways and had squinty eyes, Bomberman, and, Contra, which was my fav game because I was really good at it. It was basically you commanding a Rambo like guy who collected weapons, health, and shot up all sorts of bad guys. Cool stuff. Played with my sister, who sucked at it, and I had to revenge and rescue her all the time.

And then my mum bought me the Super Nintendo. And a whole new world of gaming emerged, where I became a fanatic, and the first signs of my hyper competitiveness started to make itself known to the world. I quickly conquered and mastered Super Mario Brothers, to this day the BEST Mario game in the series, where I happily killed all of Bowser's' musically named offspring. Ludwig's Castle, Wendy's castle, the Star dimension, Yoshi, all these are happy memories indeed, and I happily spent hours and hours immersed in this universe. I became very attached to Yoshi and hated to 'abandon' him, which was occasionally necessary. Then I had NBA Jam, which got me started on the road to real life basketball fanatic. You know it's an insane arcade game when you have Ewing nailing threes as long as you time his release just right. Then there was StreetFighterTurbo, with the 12 'original' characters. I was the indisputable champ at this, and used every character to finish the game just to watch the ending. It was this game that first brought out my competitive streak, where I would stay up til dawn honing my skills just to beat the computer. Eventually, none of my real life friends could beat me in this game, and my cousin even almost got to trading blows with me. I didn't care how I won - as long as I won. Then there was Super Mario go Kart, where I obsessively, pursued the unrelenting singleminded focussed mission of setting and rewriting all the circuit records, and whenever someone else broke my record, I had to reclaim it. It was a mission to ensure that all the record lists were populated only by my name. Yeah, what a freak right? Then it was Mortal Kombat, where I relished doing the Fatality finishing move. And not to forget, the fantastic Double Dragon, which, occupied me and my cousin for hours and hours. Even my aunt got involved in it, to the point where she was begging us to accompany her to play.

Not to mention the computer games. Besides being a loyal NBA Live fan through the last 10 years, I also played Day Of The Tentacle, loved it, Indiana Jones, Worms, the 11th Hour, Time Crusader, and all sorts of other RPG games. There was Wrestlemania, X-treme Sports, etc. And the unforgettable, Fifa, World Cup, Actua Soccer...

Funnily enough I never liked all the shoot em up RPG games like Doom Wolfenstein Quake Duke Nukem etc... got a headache from watching it.

Today I stumbled upon an article in the age, on the 10 most influential games. Take a look, see if you can talk a walk down memory lane like me, and see where your favourites rank.

A GIRL LIKE YOU

Recently, re-reading a book I read a long time ago, back in Melb. I stumbled across the mention of a song.

It was a song that I used to love. And after stumbling across it in the book, I trawled through my music archives, found it, and listened to it again and again. Instantly thrown back in time. Can imagine it playing in the background as I fall backwards at great speed through a tunnel with lots of bright colors and alternating darkness and light. Can remember the cigarettes, the booze, the wasted degenerative lifestyle, the speeding, glue sniffing...with this soundtrack playing lustily in the background. Followed by #1 Crush by Garbage.

Perfect for loud volume, dark rooms lit by a solitary tealight, as you look concentratedly at it, damaging yourself on purpose. Drip candle wax on your arms to feel the pain and to feel alive.



The video is awesome. Any girl who dances like that...has got me. Seriously got me. It's not a difficult move.

But it's not all macabre stuff. It truly is a very sexy song.

Champions

You can say anything you want. But you have to say we were champions. You can say anything you want. But you can't call us losers. You can say anything you want. But in the end, we were the last men standing. We were the winners.

The trophy

I remember quite vividly. The year was 2000. The venue was Albert Park. The occasion? Trinity College Basketball Tournament. One of the highlights of my still short sporting career.

We started off down by one man. We ended up winning it all. Big Ben, grimacing in pain as he got up from the floor with his twisted ankle, giving it all he had, in the final. Stan, with his wild hair flying, knocking down shot after shot, and sticking his middle finger into the opposition after. Michael, with his fierce disposition, flying downcourt while screaming DEFENSE! Darren, neutralizing their best player, and driving fear into the enemies' hearts. Richard, and his game-closing layups. Eugene, gobbling up every fucking rebound. Me, darting around, getting assists and pushing the ball on the break. All in black, cut off sleeved shirts and headbands, intimidating the hell outta the enemy.

Satisfaction indeed, when we held the trophy aloft. And when some immature S'porean army wannabe messed with Eugene, how our entire team was up in arms and normally placid Michael unleashed a stream of Cantonese profanities while throwing off his warm up jacket ready to wade into the fray. And Stan saying Fuck You each time he nailed another jumper. And Darren in his MJ imitation dropping in shot after shot. And Eugene wrapping his arms around me telling me to calm down and ignore the blatant fouls and testicle shots and then dropping the guy flat on the floor who did it to me the next time he challenged Eugene. And the celebratory dinner where Big Ben showed up in crutches.

The best part was how we had the most boisterous, biggest, international, vocal and prettiest fans. Our fan crowd was amazing. We held one team to.. get this... zero points.

I would go into battle with them again anyday.

Palmerston - HOME COURT

This is the Palmerston Street Court.

My home in Melb for 7 years

I think back to the Palmerston court days in Melb. That was our home court. And we defended it with pride, with honor. We never could take losing without a fight. Some of our hardest toughest battles, where both sides retreated with mutual respect, was done on this court.

-

Against the black guys, the white guys, the latino guys, the asian guys. This was our home. This chained fenced piece of asphault - this was us. No one can come it and claim it without first going through us. This was our turf. If they entered it, it was at their own risk.

-

Those were the days. I miss it. I yearn for the moment. The contact. The team spirit. Winning as a team, each man doing his part. Teammates making you proud. Teammates covering for you. Individually, we are good players. Together, we are champions.

-

No deception. No trickery. Step between those lines, and you are exposed for what you are and what you have.

-

I miss our Palmerston Court. The spirit of teamship with my teammates, the common goal, the killer instinct, going for the kill, never easing on the gas pedal, each with the same grim look, determination, same sense of purpose. On the court, we learn many of life's lessons, about human nature, and man, and each person's character. So many of life's lessons, cruel and kind.

End of an ERA

Listening to...The Carpenters - Solitaire .. (& their Best of Album)

*[Youtube videos attached] below

You know how you associate certain songs/movies/whatever to certain periods in your life?

Say for example, you would associate the smell of chicken porridge to memories of you as a kid sitting at the dining table having ur chicken porridge bfast b4 going to school. While Mummy combs my hair back ala Calvin-taking-photographs-with-exasperated-Dad style while maid wears my socks for me (look, only for a while as a very very young kid ok? I eventually stopped being so spoilt) while the driver prepares the car to take me to school.

Or, Puff Daddy's I'll Be Missing You brings back memories of high school everytime you hear it.

And Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit reminds you of the dances (Halloween, X-mas etc) held at the school hall and of solitary moments in ur room headbanging to this new discovery, this wonderful grunge sound you never heard b4.

Or fried chicken wings makes you remember lining up for 20 mins just to buy an overpriced, overgreasy and undersized piece of wing from the school canteen.

Or Friends evokes strong nostalgia of nights spent sitting on the couch watching it with your best friends and having a laugh/cry/emotional moment (eg when Chandler proposed to Monica).

Yep, I'm sure we all have such triggers. Recently, something sad happened that triggered me back to my life as a uni student in volatile-weathered Melbourne.

Peter Boyle is dead. To the uninitiated...Peter played Raymond's dad in Everybody Loves Raymond. For a year or so, I was very obssessed with that show, and never failed to watch it. It came on after Simpsons and followed on with Frasier (another favourite). Ray and Debra's rship mirrorred in many ways me and my gf's, and we had a fun time gorging ourselves while laughing our heads off on the sofa watching the show and waving greasy fingers at each other saying YAH THATS SO YOU. Yep..so many evenings with Everybody Loves Raymond, and now, to officially close the chapter on that, Peter is dead.

All of which made me reminisce a bit...I miss watching Friends on the couch with my buddies. I miss laughing at their Foosball antics, at Phoebe's cat song, Joey's blurness, the annoying cleanliness of Monica, the occasionally irritating cuteness of Jen, and Ross' long cucumber face. I think I just miss the times when we were all younger and hung out together. Coz eventually Friends got a little too sickly sweet and yucky for me.

This is a video we took in younger/happier times, during one of our holidays back in KL, at HG's place, where we attempted to do a poor man's cover version of Joan Osbourne's If God Was One Of Us..thats me on guitar, HG on drums, JB on piano, and a ventriloquist on vocals.



And this is a short photoalbum JB made herself, a time when we were less stressed, less bogged down, not yet needing to face the realities of life...just simple 20 year olds, carefreely n selfishly indulging in happy activities, unaware to what was to befall us.

Chronicles of growth...

---

Now playing..."Rurouni Kenshin - Parting (piano)"

---

I never asked to be born. But I was. And I was literally dragged kicking out of the soft lazy comforts of the womb to the world. Well, if you were bald, couldn't speak, fat, red, needed to be fed, suffered the indignity of having ur privates exposed to the world, had no control over your lavatorial functions, and were to start a life of hard work n toil, would you not come bawling as well? How to appear cute?!
It all started with an act of copulation b/w 2 very plain looking people (which explains my painfully plain self).

And then there was me. At first I was a normal baby. Then I refused to drink milk or eat or whatever. Pretty soon I had grown into a malnourished little boy.

Thats me in the red white ensemble staring at the camera trying to unhook my lower jaw

Then I grew. Then I stopped growing. Well in between, I don't have softcopy photos anymore and maybe I will scan em one day. Eventually, I ended up like this:

Taken at school camp in Yr 7

And this:

Year 7 KKB Camp

Ahh the disgruntled look of youth...

Somehow, against all expectations, I continued not to grow...

This is in Yr 8..Young Dynamic Explorers Camp at Awana

Well I shall skip you the year by year growth (not much of it) chart torture. We shall fast forward..

And so here I am..in 2001, deciding that no, being vain out of necessity (darn, plain parents) is NOT an embarassing hide in closet secretly put cucumber on eyes kinda thing...and its NOT GAY.


Then, my sister got married! To her beau of like, 10 years...

Sister's wedding 2003.. must look appropriately fierce so nobody dares to bully her

Aish...the duties of a brother.

And then I graduated...

Can spot me? No fringe..cheapskate Melb uni no Hat! For those who suspect whether I do possess a tertiary qualification...here u go!

Then 2005 rolled around...which caught me slobbing through life...

Dimsum on a cold winter morning, Scholars only

And just before leaving Melbourne, decided to go around taking some photos..

St Kilda Road..the last go round b4 leavin'

Aish...the good ol carefree times

IJ! Ah...good ol IJ...

[2006] And the latest reincarnation:

I AM BACK IN KL!

At Cathay Cineleisure just after it opened..b4 the crowds, the graffiti was what really stood out..so nice to see M'sia embrace this stuff for a change, n giving our graffiti artists a place to legally showcase their works..S'pore is way ahead of us here

[Sept] Company treasure hunt - my team..(honestly? if everyone played fair we would have gotten a podium spot lar!)


And..most of the (then) workgang..


As I look back over the photos...I can see the change coming over me..maybe its coz i know myself best... but theres the younger/more naive version slowly looking more jaded and guarded. ANYWAY...this post is supposed to LEAD into the next post...which is coming up..!

Memories of Melbourne

Currently Listening What Am I to You? By Norah Jones see related

Bout of nostalgia..

___________________
[ Melbourne - Lygon Strt - 2004 ]

---

Actually, on second thoughts...I don't think I will sleep.

If I sleep...that is another 2 hours of my life gone, unlived, unexperienced...

At this juncture of my life, I can feel the vapid remnants of youth slipping by, like the last remaining drops of sand disappearing faster and faster in one of those ...watchamacallit..those 2 glass tubes conjoined by a narrow neck and you can tilt the thing upside down and the sand falls from 1 cylinder to the next through the narrow tube.

As I lay down, tossing & turning trying to catch some shut eye...the playlist automatically flipped to Norah Jones..which, as these things sometimes happen, instantly transported me back to another time, another place, so far away, and not so long ago.

---

A boy. Its late and he can't seem to fall asleep. He lies there, as the hands of the clock tick by, ever so slowly, loud and clear in the silence of the night, sharply contrasting with the thick stillness of the air around him. He sits up. He has a burning desire to get out of the room and go out into the night. Do something that makes him feel like he is all alone, the only person alive in the world at that moment. And what better time than this? He decides to grab the camera, take his bike, and get out into the night. The feeling is indescribable, as he freewheels and caroms around the streets in the cold winter night, heading nowhere aimlessly, just pedalling in any direction he fancies. "Should I take this turn left, or that turn right? Doesn't matter...just turn!" He cycles fast, and delights in the cold air rushing against his face, and the cold chills running up and down his spine. He lets go of the handlebars and opens his arms. He faces the sky and closes his eyes. He inhales deeply. A wonderful, wonderful feeling. Have you ever felt like that before? Like the whole world is asleep. And only you are awake. And only you are enjoying the night, like it is your own little secret. Places and things that looked a certain way look different in the night. Every tree. A busstop. A sign. A scene. Everything is alive. There is no 1 on the streets. Ahhh...

---

That boy, obviously, was me. Magical moments like these are what I miss a lot. Its a good thing they are captured on film.


[ Old Law Quad - University of Melbourne - 2004 ]



[ IMAX Theatre - Nicholson Strt, Melb ]



[ MacArthur Sq - Melb - Experimentations with light]




[ Top view of road - Melb - These are car taillights - Experimentations with shutter speed/aperture ]



[ Same as above ]




[ Union Sq - University of Melbourne ]

- - - - - - - - -

Guess I should sleep now.

The birth of modern radio in Malaysia

[Currently listening to: Butterfly Kisses: Daddy's Little Girl - Tim McGraw & Faith Hill]

Remember when this song first came out? I remember it was probably somewhere in the mid-late nineties.. i was around year eight/nine then.. to those of you as ancient as me..remember when Hitz.FM first came out? Yeap..it was roughly the same era..part of the second wave..I remember sitting in front of the radio, Rick Dees going on and on, and saying how when this song first came out in the US on the airwaves, all the cars stopped at the side of the road, and people were crying in the cars. Apparently people could relate to the song. I must admit, it IS pretty good. Though being as shallow and unappreciative as I am, it might mean more to someone else. It does have shades of incest around the title..

THE 90s HITS WERE GOOOD

Wow..remember those early days of Hitz FM? ...those were the days.. before that, we had radio 4 (a bit b4 my time) and time high way radio. fly guy was alredi peddling his trade wayy back then.. but then they started to play less international hits, and kinda messed themselves up.. then hitz came out and it was the final nail in the coffin for 99.3 THR with the cars horning ad that sparked public complaints that it caused confusion as people thought people really were honking at them. 99.3. haha..yea.. hitz.. when it came out it was good... nobody had experienced the joys of such a hits-dedicated english station 24-7...the early DJs were diana..lil kev.. the fly guy..john...the old timers.

i remember listening to counting crows - a long december, duncan sheik - barely breathing, no doubt - don't speak, collective soul, INXS, kula shaker, hanson (who thankfully grew up normal and didnt go queer), etc etc...we had the top 10 at 10..i would fall asleep listening to the radio, then wake up in the night to the sound of the cardigans - lovefool, en vogue, soul asylum. those were the days man! and metrovision started to play MTV video clips for us. folks, this was before astro... it might even be before megatv but im not so sure anymore.. im only 23 by the way, though i sound like a dinosaur even to myself..saturdays n sundays we had rick dees...and i would sit roooted to the radio to record whatever hit i wanted to record..The Freshman . vervepipe...

ahh.. those were the days... travelling to school by bus while listening to name that hit.. lil kev and the fly guy..

then, as usual, it all got too commercialized...too many ads.. too many cheesy ass ads.. with a bit too much local accents spoiling n cheapening the air waves..we had light n easy.. then we had mix fm.. there were folks who seriously doubted mix fm's survivability but hey, they still ard man.

today its all about flyfm..so flyguy actually has come soo far..to actually warrant his own station..and yet another breakfast show.. with yet another partner this time.

ahh..the evolution of malaysian radio..what next? lets hope flyfm doesnt become overly commercialized and turn into a 80% ads and repeats station..

*shudder*

I miss you, melbourne...i do.

(careful..sentimental blog coming up..pls do not continue if u expect to be entertained)

How many of you have been overseas to study/work?

I spent ...6 years in Melbourne...and i just returned to kl..well not just returned...i came back in august last yr..

the 6 years in melbourne, when i look back, had its ups and downs, the great and the not so great...by the time i left, i was eagerly looking forward to coming back here...and i never thought i'd miss it.. after all..having spent.. a quarter of my life there...i reckoned i'd had quite enough. i went there shortly after celebrating my 17th birthday in kl...and i celebrated every single birthday there for the next 6 yrs. when i got back.. i hit the ground running... did not have time to reflect or do any of that namby pamby stuff...i more or less clinched the job here while i was still in aus, came back, started work, and never looked back. then i switched jobs, which occupied much of my time. i thought i was happy, i thought this was the life i wanted.

i had had enough of the student life...u study.. u work..u get ur PR..yada yada..but in the end, i realized that what would make me happy is to come back to kl.

i thought coming home, working hard, being around my friends, being in malaysia and feeling the malaysianness of things would be all i ever needed.

all that is true. its still true. still, lately, as ive gotten so caught up in work, i've been thinking...is this what life is really all about? wats the problem here?

a) life is REALLY all about working hard if ur after financial success. so if u want to be pretty well off, then, slog ur ass off, there aint no short cut, and put up with it. everyone else is who rich did it the same way. they suffered too. just that we didnt see it happen doesnt mean it didnt happen. they probably sacrificed a lot. u cant have ur cake and eat it too. so, quit whining, and get on with it.

b) life isnt all about working hard. it doesnt have to be. theres other ways to it. life is about enjoying urself, really, taking the time to experience everything around you. YOU ARE ONLY YOUNG ONCE. YOUTH CAN NEVER BE BOUGHT WITH MONEY. remember that.

my time in melbourne really taught me a lot.. dont get me wrong, i had a lot of fun there..maybe im just lazy..not used to working hard... 12 hour days are the norm alredi..just seems that.. when i sit back n go thru the memories of whatever i did back in those days as a student.. (gosh im only 23 right now and im speaking like im 33) .. it feels like it was long ago, and it wasnt long ago. u know? i cant believe that 1 year has passed since i left the place. wow.. theres so much i feel at the moment that i cannot articulate..i think i will just take a little quick walk down memory lane..

Bogong Village..Melbourne, April 2003. Taking a break from tennis/football. In the depths of winter.




Bogong Village..Melbourne, April 2003. Taking a water break by a shallow stream after cycling up and down the rural country farm roads for hours...with nothing but farmland, dried australian shrubs, lambs, sheep, cows, lambs..beautiful.




Bogong Village.. group pic.. I'm in the back right corner with the blue cap..



Ballarat Wildlife Park, Jul 2005. My friend John..the 1 on the left!



Another Kodak moment..



Searching for his balls..



Looks like we went pimping (say pimpin' like russell peters folks!) in Thailand huh..



i want a garden like this next time.



thats the sydney myer building behind the tram.. melbourne uni, folks..



only in australia..





cute. the koalas look like that jap dude from karate kid..




next up...sovereign hill..ok quick history lads n lasses.. when melbourne was first founded.. they discovered gold in this place called sovereign hill..and..a lot of chinese, english, etc etc came from all round the world.. n settled here n started this rich gold mining community.. of course, theres no more gold..but what they did was they reconstructed on the site an exact replica of how the town looked like.. wherever possible they even used original stuff like er the posters n bills n fliers..they hired all these like locals to wear period costumes n walk around n pretend its like back in that era..the shops r fully functional..the blacksmiths place has a real live blacksmith hammering away (girls, sorry, he aint sexy) and the bakers shop actually sells bread.

original flier.



room to let



reconstructed original flier.



bowling alley



real street.



IN MY ROOM (babe.. i miss u..u were small..but u let me mess and use you anyway i liked without complaint.)

drinking n gaming..hip hip, hurray



mirror shots..the alfie look man, the alfie look.



chinese rock band album cover.



steamboat! my style.. i.e...chuck everything in, wait a while, get impatient, fish it out, dont care cooked or wat, swallow only. must have fishballs, sliced beef, noodles, eggs, tomyam paste, vegies, odds n ends, pig ears.. dog tails..saliva mixing..yea baby!



and damn! i miss the chicks too.



Silhouette experiment gone wrong! early dabbles with the camera..years from now when im a famous photographer i will look back on this moment. haha

- - - -

ok voyeurs..thats all for the time being..its late im sleepy, and i cant b buggered..gnite yall!