周杰倫背後的故事

Found this very touching story. It's about how Jay Chow become a singer and how he appreciate his mum more than anyone else. My tears were rolling in the eyes when I read this post.

Read on. Sorry for those who can't read Chinese. I'll try to translate and post it as soon as I'm done translating.

或許您不喜歡周杰倫
或是很納悶他到底為什麼那麼紅
看完或許你會很感動
對生命 親情 教養會有更不同的看法
祝福您

You might not like Jay Chow and are wondering why he is so famous.

After reading this you will change your view upon life, family and family education.

周杰倫來自破裂家庭「媽媽用愛 付出一切」

Jay Chow was raised from a broken family (his mum give him everything she can with love)

周杰倫，萬千青少年為他的歌聲而癡迷、崇拜的一位天皇巨星，對母親葉惠美有著似
海深情，因為在他最孤獨最無助的時候，是媽媽用溫 暖 愛的臂膀支撐著他。所以周
杰倫一直說，「只要媽媽高興，我願意為她付出一切！」

Jay Chow being a famous singer and admired by many admires his mum more than anything because it was his mum who gave him her full support when he was down and lonely. That’s no wonder why Jay Chow always says “I will do everything for my mum as long as she is happy”.

音樂天才破裂的家

周杰倫出生於1979 年1月，媽媽葉惠美是台北淡江小學的美術老師，爸爸是淡江
中學的物理老師。周杰倫4歲讀幼稚園時，葉惠美把他送到淡江山葉幼兒音樂班學鋼
琴。平時活潑好動的小杰倫一站到鋼琴面前，竟是出奇的安靜，聽老師彈奏一遍自己
就能復彈出來，老師告訴葉惠美，這孩子很有天分！

Jay Chow was born in Jan 1979. His mum was an art teacher at Taipei Dan Jiang primary school and his dad was a physics teacher at Dan Jiang secondary school. When Jay was 4, his mum sent him to Dan Jiang Junior music class for piano lesson. Jay who was always active appeared quiet whenever he stand in front of the piano. He can play the song without wrong after listening to teacher playing once. The teacher then told his mum that this kid was very talented.


為了培養杰倫的音樂素質，葉惠美主張拿出家裏全部積蓄為杰倫買一架好鋼
琴，請最好的鋼琴老師為杰倫輔導。而杰倫的爸爸則認為不必這麼認真，男孩子
嘛，隨意一點，沒必要拿出全部積蓄投資。最後，葉惠美還是背著丈夫為杰倫買了一
架鋼琴，弄得杰倫爸很不高興。小學三年級時，杰倫偶然聽到世界名曲《天鵝
湖》，被大提琴憂傷淒美的曲調迷住了，葉惠美沒和丈夫商量又為杰倫購買了大提
琴。

His mum suggested using all the whole family’s savings to buy a good piano and hire the best piano teacher for Jay to improve his knowledge on music. But Jay’s dad did not agree with her. He thinks that they should not take it seriously and there’s no need to use all the savings to invest on the music training. In spite of the opposition, Jay’s mum bought a piano for Jay without telling his dad. Jay’s dad was not happy when he found out this. When Jay was Standard 3, Jay unintentionally heard the classical song “Swan Lake”, he was enthralled by the sad tunes from cello. His mum bought another cello for Jay without discussing with his dad.

杰倫爸對妻子葉惠美「孤注一擲」的做法嗤之以鼻，他回家就指責葉惠美的不
是，家庭裡的溫馨越來越少，爭吵越來越多。杰倫不知道爸爸為什麼總要找媽媽吵
鬧，他用自己稚嫩的詩行記下他的困惑和傷感：

Jay’s dad was mad with Jay’s mum decision on Jay’s music training. The family started to fill with arguments. Jay didn’t understand why his dad always argued with mum. He then wrote down his young sadness and confusion in poetic lines.

從小到大只有媽媽的溫暖為什麼我爸爸那麼兇
There’s only warmth from mum since I was young, why is my dad so hostile?

如果真的我有一雙翅膀兩雙翅膀隨時出發

If I have a pair of wings or two I will fly away anytime

偷偷出發我一定帶走我媽媽……

Fly away quietly and bring my mum along

這傷感的詩行杰倫後來為它譜了曲，就是那首令萬千歌迷傷感的《爸，我回來
了》。

This naive poem was then integrated into a song in his album called “Dad, I’m home”

周杰倫初中二年級時，父母終於離婚。 14歲的周杰倫寫道：「爸爸媽媽彼此沒有
愛，難道這就是生命的真諦？」沉默、倔強和叛逆已經塑造了另一個周杰倫。

When Jay was in Form 2, his parents finally divorced. The 14 years old Jay wrote: “There’s no love between mum and dad, is this the truth of life?” He started to become another person: quiet, stubborn, rebelling.

世人不識君苦悶中的徘徊
Everyone won't know his dilemma

周杰倫有音樂天賦，但功課卻很糟。高中聯考只有 100多分，連普通高中也
沒考上，前途一片黯淡，母子倆相對無言，難道兒子就這麼完了？恰好淡江中學第一
屆音樂班正在招生，周杰倫考上了。

Jay has great music talent but his academic was terrible. His high school exam total score was only 100 plus. He couldn’t even get into normal high school. His future was unknown. Jay and his mum wondered “Is this the end of Jay’s future?” Then so happened Dan Jiang Secondary school first batch of music class was recruiting students. Jay got in.

因為彈得一手好鋼琴，拉得一手好大提琴，又時常活躍在籃球場上，周杰倫成為
許多女同學關注和談論的對象。但是，周杰倫卻常常面無表情，很少露出一絲笑
容，除了音樂成績出類拔萃以外，其它科目成績幾乎全線紅字，老師們紛紛認為他智
力低下，他的英語老師甚至直言不諱對葉惠美說周杰倫有智力障礙。葉惠美陷入了深
深的思索，她還是決定要把杰倫培養成才，至少當一個鋼琴師吧。葉惠美沒有指責杰
倫，她認為杰倫走到今天冷漠、叛逆的地步是家庭的不和睦造成的，並且深信自己的
孩子沒有智力障礙，於是她嚐試用姐弟式的關心來「馴服」周杰倫，規定自己「三
不」：不嘮叨、不指責、不脅迫兒子。

Jay could play good piano and cello. He was also active in basketball. Suddenly he became the idol of many girls in school. But, Jay always showed no facial expression and seldom smiles. All the teachers think he was stupid because all his subjects in school failed except music. His English teacher even told his mum Jay was retarded. His mum then thought deeply and planned to train Jay in music field and hope he can at least become a pianist. She didn’t blame his son of becoming weak in all subjects and rebelling and all. She thinks this is all because of the family crisis and she believes her kid was not retarded. She started to use a different way to teach Jay: no nagging, no scolding and no forcing.

果然如老師們的預測，周杰倫沒有考上大學。葉惠美多方打聽後，鼓勵杰倫去考
台北大學音樂系，結果他沒有被錄取。周杰倫咬著牙考第二次，還是失敗了。媽媽和
外婆外公都為杰倫的前途擔憂，這孩子究竟將來能幹什麼呢？

Jay didn’t get into university as expected by all the teachers. After inquiring in many ways, Jay’s mum encouraged Jay to apply for Taipei University music course. But he failed to enroll. He tried second time, but still failed to enroll. Once again, his mum, grandma and grandpa worried about Jay’s future. They all wondered “what can this kid do for living in the society?”

極度迷惘的周杰倫無所事事，只好等待服海軍兵役，這期間，竟得了僵直性脊椎
炎，令人沮喪的是這種病無法根治，只能靠藥物緩解，到了晚期全身甚至會像殭屍一
樣僵硬，也可能導致癱瘓。葉惠美和外婆說起杰倫就垂淚。

With nothing to do at the moment, Jay could only wait for the navy military service. But, during this waiting period, he was found to have spondylitis. The sad thing is this disease could not be cured. It can only be alleviated with medicine. The later period of this disease will even lead to rigid muscles like a zombie and even might cause paralysis. His mum and grandma always cried whenever they discussed about Jay’s disease.

母愛呵護下一飛沖天


病緩解一些後，周杰倫到一家餐廳打工，作為端盤工的他因為時常打翻菜盤，每
個月的工資幾乎被扣掉了一半。餐廳中有一台鋼琴，一次閒暇時周杰倫彈了一曲《肖
邦舞曲》，把老闆驚呆了，老闆靈機一動，叫周杰倫不要端盤子了，就在餐廳彈
琴，然後請來電視台記者炒作，不但使得餐廳生意火爆起來，還節約了一大筆請鋼琴
師的費用。

When the sickness gets better, Jay went to work in a restaurant as waiter. He was clumsy and always dropped the dishes. So, his monthly pay was always halved. The restaurant had a piano. One day when he was free, he sat down and played a Chopin’s song. The boss who heard him played was shocked. The boss suddenly got an idea, he told Jay to stop being a waiter. Instead the boss hired him as a pianist in the restaurant and invited reporters to his restaurant to publicize his restaurant. The boss not only got more customers, he even saved a lot to hire pianist.

葉惠美感受到了杰倫的音樂潛能，她替兒子在台北星光電視台娛樂節目「超猛新
人王」報了名。周杰倫精心創作了一首歌曲《夢有翅膀》，但他對自己的演唱實在沒
信心，請了一位歌手演唱。演唱者不能理解他的曲風，而他的鋼琴伴奏又顯得怪
異，弄得台下聽眾噓聲一片，初出茅廬的一場表演徹底搞砸了。

Jay’s mum then helped Jay to apply for Taipei entertainment programme. Jay wrote a song called “Dream has wings” for the show. But he is not confident with his voice, so he got a singer to sing the song for him while he play the piano. The singer could not understand the style of the song, and his piano alone could not let the song stood out. The audience didn’t appreciate his song and this opportunity was not a success.

葉惠美急了，性格內向的她鼓起勇氣找到了主持人吳宗憲，把《夢有翅膀》的曲
譜拿給他看。吳宗憲當時是台灣阿爾發音樂公司的老闆，他對周杰倫的第一印象並不
好，應付似的拿起曲譜掃了一眼，卻是眼睛一亮，歌譜不僅抄寫得工工整整，而且譜
得十分複雜。慧眼的他立即改變了主意：「這孩子還可以，明天叫他到我公司來上
班！」

Jay’s mum was anxious. She then went to look for the programme MC Jacky Wu and showed him the music chord of “Dream has wings”. Jacky Wu was the boss of ALFA music. His first impression on Jay was not good. So, he simply took the chord and glance through the chord. Suddenly the chord caught his eyes, the chord was written neatly and it was very complicated. So he changed his mind instantly and told Jay’s mum: “This kid is ok, ask him to come work at my company tomorrow”

周杰倫進了音樂公司任音樂製作助理，在媽媽的鼓勵下，每天主動幫同事們買盒
飯，大家對這個沉默寡言但又勤快的小伙子有了好感。而葉惠美總擔心杰倫冷漠而倔
強，又不善言辭，生怕他無意中把老闆和員工們得罪了，於是常常在下班時間站在公
司門口，準備一些可口的比薩、炸雞送給員工，請他們包涵杰倫。一來二往，葉惠美
對公司員工比周杰倫還熟悉，同事們都知道周杰倫有一個好媽媽。

Jay became the music production assistant in the company. With his mum suggestion, he bought his colleagues lunch. Everyone started to like this quiet but hardworking kid. Jay mum worried that Jay’s stubbornness and would offend his colleagues and boss. So she always waited at the company gate in the evening to give some pizza and fried chicken for Jay’s colleagues hoping that they will forgive Jay if he did anything wrong. Everyone in the company knows Jay’s mum more than knowing Jay. They know that Jay has a good mum.

杰倫很快創作出大量的歌曲，但讓吳宗憲感到不可理解的是，他創作的歌詞總
是怪怪的，音樂圈內幾乎沒有人喜歡。一次，周杰倫又拿著自己的得意之作送給吳宗
憲審讀。這次吳宗憲連看都不看，便將那首歌曲揉成一團，隨手丟進身邊的垃圾桶裡
去了。周杰倫的眼淚禁不住流了出來。

Jay produced a lot of music but Jacky Wu did not understand why Jay’s lyrics sounded weird and everyone in the music industry did not like his music style. There was once when Jay sent his music to Jacky Wu. This time Jacky Wu did not even glance at it and threw into a dustbin beside him. Jay could not help but weep.

是放棄還是繼續？媽媽每天來公司門口已經成為一道風景線，如果放棄，太對不
起媽媽了，周杰倫硬著頭皮支撐著，他吃住都在辦公室，以每天一首歌的速度進行創
作。葉惠美每天晚上都到公司看望杰倫，望著日漸消瘦的兒子，她強忍著不讓自己的
淚水流出來，儘量說一些鼓勵的開心的話，然後將杰倫換下的髒衣服拿回去洗乾
淨。一連一個多月，吳宗憲每天早上八點鐘上班時，總能準時見到周杰倫新的作
品。終於，他被這位小伙子的勤奮和天賦深深地感動了，他「嗅」出了周杰倫的歌曲
隱隱有一種味道，答應找歌手演唱他創作的歌曲。

To give up or to continue? Jay was thinking. If he gave up, he would feel sorry for his mum for all her efforts on him will be wasted. So he chose to continue. Everyday he slept and ate in the office to produce at least one song a day. Jay’s mum went to visit Jay in his company every night. Seeing her son getting skinnier and skinnier, she tried not to cry and instead said something happy and encouraging to Jay. Then she would bring back the dirty clothes to wash. For more than a month, Jacky Wu always received Jay’s song every morning when he got to work at 8am. Finally, he was touched by Jay’s diligent and talent and he started to sense something special in Jay’s songs. He promised to Jay that he will find singers to sing his songs.

吳宗憲將周杰倫的《眼淚知道》推薦給天王歌星劉德華，劉德華看了一眼就拒絕
了。不久，又將他的《雙節棍》推薦給火爆華語歌壇的張惠妹，沒料想，張惠妹也毫
不猶豫地拒絕了。吳宗憲決定給周杰倫最後一次機會，讓他自己演唱自己創作的歌
曲，如果這樣也不行，他就只好請周杰倫走人了！他將周杰倫叫到辦公室，十分鄭重
地說：「阿倫，給你 10天的時間，如果你能寫出50首歌，而我可以從中挑出10首，那
麼我就幫你出唱片。」

Jacky Wu recommended Jay’s song “The tears know” to Andy Lau but he rejected it. Later, he recommended another Jay’s song “Nunchakus” to A-Mei. But she rejected the song without hesitation too. Jacky Wu then decided to give Jay a last chance. He allowed Jay to sing his own songs. If this still cannot work, then he had to sack Jay Chow. He called Jay to his office and told him seriously “Ah Lun, I give you 10 days. If you can write 50 songs and I can pick 10 from them I will release an album for you.”

老闆的話刺激得周杰倫興奮不已，他打電話告訴媽媽後就跑到街上買回一大箱方
便麵。他想，就是拼了命，也要做最後的搏擊。

This excited Jay. He called his mum and told her this. Then he ran to the street and bought a box of instant noodle. He decided to put all his effort on this.

周杰倫熬紅了雙眼如約寫出了50 首歌曲，而且每一首都寫得結構合理，譜得工工
整整。吳宗憲終於有了讚許的笑容，他挑選出10首，2001年初製成了周杰倫的第一張
專輯《杰倫》。

With many sleepless nights, Jay wrote 50 songs as promise. Every song chord was neat. Jacky Wu chose 10 from the songs. Finally, in 2001, Jay had his first album called “Jay”.

公司對這張唱片沒抱多大希望，能收回製作成本就算不錯了。然而《杰倫》橫空出世後，猶如一場猛烈的颱風橫掃台灣，很快被歌迷搶購一空。《杰倫》一舉奪得台灣當年最佳流行音樂演唱專輯、最佳製作人和最佳作曲人三項大獎。《杰倫》的成功讓公司始料不及，讓台灣的歌星們大跌眼鏡，紛紛詢問哪裏冒出來的周杰倫？如果說第一張專輯小有成就的話，那麼，周杰倫第二張專輯《范特西》已經形成了風暴，席捲了大陸、港台、東南亞整個華語歌壇，各種大獎紛至沓來。

Company did not put much hope on Jay’s album. They thought it’s good enough if they can earn back the production cost. However, upon the release of “Jay” album, the whole Taiwan got attracted to his songs and his album was successfully sold. “Jay” album was then awarded with Taiwan best pop music album, best producer and best composer. The success of “Jay” not only shocked the company but also singers in Taiwan. They started to ask who this Jay Chow was. Jay’s second album “Fantasy” was gave even more shocking response. It became a strong trend in the China mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and even the whole South East Asia. This album got a lot of awards as well.

周杰倫終於成功了，他深深明白，沒有媽媽黑暗中明燈般的溫暖，他支撐不到今
天，媽媽為他一直未再嫁，點點滴滴都是舐犢之情。他將所有的收入都交給媽媽掌
管，儘管自己有了公寓，每個週末依然回家，同媽媽、外婆一起享受天倫之樂。葉惠
美更是百感交集，當年丈夫的譏諷、老師的搖頭、生活的艱辛都隨風而去。

Finally Jay had succeeded. He truthfully understands that without his mum giving her care and support when he was down, he won’t be able to carry on with his efforts until now. His mum did not re-marry because of Jay. She loves Jay so much that she put most of her time on him and had no time for herself. Now, Jay gave all his salaries to his mum and let his mum keep his money. Even though Jay has his own condominium, he will still go home every weekend and spend his happy family time with his mum and grandma. His mum is very contented now, those years of cynicism of her husband, the distaste of Jay’s teachers and the hard life had all gone.

葉惠美退休後，周杰倫總擔心媽媽寂寞，只要在台灣，他都回家同媽媽住在一
起。週末時，他會約上媽媽一起去看午夜場的電影，媽媽喜歡看經典片，周杰倫就陪
著看，而周杰倫喜歡看的前衛片，葉惠美也陪著兒子看，幸福的暖流縈繞在母子心
間。周杰倫的第四張專輯就叫《葉惠美》，這是兒子獻給母親的禮物。

After Jay’s mum had retired, Jay always worries that his mum will be lonely. Whenever he’s at Taiwan, he will go home and stay with his mum. During the weekends, he will go watch midnight movie with his mum. His mum likes classical shows, he will watch along with her. Jay like action movies, his mum will also watch along with him. The love between the mother and son is unbeatable. Jay’s 4^th album was called “Ye Hui Mei” (his mum’s full name). This is a present to mum from a son.

Finally got this article translated. But the English a bit weird though. Some of the content I could not translate 100% similar to the Chinese version. I've tried my best. Enjoy.

To Heng

The smile you lit on for me is the best smile I’ve seen
I’m so glad to have you =)

Pem-modify-an of Malay

Was watching China Open Badminton Tournament yesterday. Me, Zhuang and my aunt were fixing our eyes on the TV screen giving our full support for Lee Chong Wei in the game against Bao ChunLai from China. We were so pissed off when the linesmen were not fair in telling whether the ball was in or out for freaking 3 times!! So did Lee Chong Wei.

Then, the TV1 Malay commentator said something like "pengaruh linesmen terhadap Lee Chong Wei semakin meningkat". After I heard this, a sentence suddenly popped out from my always-looking-for-funny-words-brain: "Ke-bushuang-an Lee Chong Wei semakin meningkat" I think this describes better. lol.

I remember pem-modify-an of Malay words was a cool trend back in my secondary school time. We meng-add-kan Chinese/Hokkien words to the Malay words. One of them which I remember is "Jangan tunjuk ke-haolian-an anda ya" and "Jangan men-siasui-kan saya". I think this is a positive multiracial effects on our languages.

Few days ago this word in newspaper caught my attention: Bocorable. Lim Kit Siang created this new word when Mr Samy Velu was concluding the new palace building plan. He was asking Mr Samy Velu whether the new palace is bocorable. lol. This word sounds creative though.

Or some Malay-ed English sentences. "Where are we makan-ing?" or "I'm mandi-ing". And even more geng punya example: "I ter-say something sensitive" (instead of saying "I said something sensitive accidentally" which is long)

Hence, I ingin meng-conclude-kan that pem-modify-an of Malay words sangat fun loh. Seriously lol...

Maaf yea.. to some Malays who feel offended from this modification of Malay words. I just personally think that this is a fusion of multiracial culture =) And this can be a good thing =)

HTML crisis...lol

I'm learning CSS and HTML for my blog's template now.

Found a nice template from Ice Angel. <http://www.blogskins.com/me/ice-angel> It was in pink initially. I changed it to yellow cuz I love yellow-orange-pink combination colour.


But there's some problem with the extension of the yellow bar on the right. I can't just copy and paste Ice Angel's HTML code to mine because my template setting is new one. So, I just paste the jpg address from her code and edited my template html settings. It took me whole night to try and error on every single unfamiliar code to remove the header's border, to adjust the sidebar's margins and the header's margin.


But for the extension of the image, I can't just repeat the image because the top part with the word 'sweet touch' will repeat.

Very ugly lah...

I just want to repeat the continuous yellow bar like this:

I tried putting the second image in the html background image. But the image was too small it only take part of the page. =(

So now in order to make the blog can work temporary with this template I fixed the image.


But I sincerely hope there's a way to repeat the yellow bar.



Who can save me?

Missing you

I miss Heng so much. =( Maybe I should think of other things more to make me think less of Heng.

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Alright... Stop thinking..

Finally I've done reading 'The monk who sold his Ferrari'. My next target will be 'The five people you meet in heaven' by Mitch Albom. But I feel like buying the 'Bioautography of Nelson Mandela: Long walk to freedom' too.

or

I first know about Mandela from newspaper review on him being a famous democratic symbol. I'm definitely gonna grab this book to know him more.

But there are many good reviews on 'The five people you meet in heaven' too. Hmm.. Maybe I should buy both?

lol. I'm greedy. =P

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Yesterday Zhuang finally got a car temporarily from the car dealer before she gets her new car. I had been staying at her house for a month. This whole month we went to work together cuz she had no car. Was having fun staying at her house because we played monopoly when we were free at night or weekends, and went to buy bubble milk tea because we just feel like drinking the tea. =P

Actually I can go back USJ now since Zhuang has a car with her now. But I can't miss the chocolate truffle making session with her we decided earlier on. So I'm gonna continue staying at her house until this Sunday. Keke. I can feel the taste of the truffles in my mouth now already. Yummm!!

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Tonight I was inching between the crowd in Pasar Malam (night market) with my cousins. Then this face of Ah Keen appeared in front of me. He was staring at me in disbelieve look. Looking back at him I was like "lol.. Can't believe we meet again unintentionally!". haha. That was so funny. Imagine we had the same bumped-into-one-another-unintentionally-thing happened exactly one month ago in the Midvalley Mall.

Last month we were discussing about whether we should go hiking with Raleigh and that we should drag Adam along. Then we met in the mall and we started discussing about the hiking thing. This time, I was pestering Keen to go canoing with me (because he don't feel like going and Get Pei can't join the canoing thing, so left him or Adam to accompany me go =P). And there we met in the pasar malam.

lol. Keen, I am so sure you are fated to go canoing with me =P haha...

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I still miss Heng so much. =(

Canoing

I know I have been posting on Raleigh's activities and I might sound like a salesgirl. lol. But I just can't help it. I can't stand the coolness from Raleigh. lol...

So here's another one. hehe.

Raleigh is going to CANOE on 1st Dec at Titiwangsa Lake Garden!! So I went to looked up the details of the plan. We are going to have trainers teaching us how to canoe at the lake. That sounds cool. =)

Canoe racing I guess


When I first read the details from the facebook event CK sent me I was like: Whoa, we actually have Kuala Lumpur Canoe Sports Association (KLCS) here in KL?

So I looked up KLCS on Google and found their website: http://www.klcs.org.my/ENGbackground.php They give trainings on canoing to the public at the lake garden. They even give trainings on canoe polo, flatwater racing, education, expedition and white water?!?!

Wow! They have canoe polo?!?! I wonder how they are going to grab the ball when they are already busy grabbing the paddle.



Oh I see. So they throw their paddles away when they want to grab the ball. Complicated game this is.


And white water canoing! It can be WoW So Cool!!



Sometimes not so...


Especially when you stand right up when you are not supposed to.


This looks so much fun than the flat-water canoe. With the water splashing here and there. So refreshing and wild. But of course there's some risk in it lah.

But nevertheless, I still have a strong urge to go try the not-so-exciting-type-of-canoing: the flat-water canoing on 1st Dec with Raleigh. lol.

But hor, although I got permission from my mum for the canoing, nobody is free to go with me =( I mean, yes, there will be Raleigh people, but nobody to talk to during the event very boring one mah... Get Pei is going to a marathon in Singapore, Adam is not sure whether he will be free that day and Keen is not interested with canoing. Sob Sob... Then even Choo Peng also going for the marathon in Singapore and Lian Shiang although finish exam already but she had already moved back to hometown.


Am I really going alone? Or should I not go? Sigh...

Counter gone hay-wired?

I just changed my visitor count to unique visitor counter 2 days ago. Yesterday at my aunt's house (using Streamyx broadband) the count was genuine, i.e. when I refresh the page the visitor count doesn't increase because unique visitor count is suppose to count one person per day basis. So even if one refresh the page many times it will only count the visit as once. If the person visit again the next day only it will recount it as second visit and this thus add up to the global visitor count.

But today when I refresh this blog in the lab, the visitor count increased with every click I made on the refresh button. I'm not sure what went wrong because the code should be exactly the same since I didn't touch the code part last night. The code won't change over the night won't it? Or maybe it's the type of the connection system here in the lab is different thus making the counter unable to recognise the visitor identity? lol.

Just wondering why so weird one cuz I want to keep tract of the number of visitor per day. =)

The monk who sold his Ferrari

Am going to finish reading this book soon. I bought this book because the readers reviews in shelfari.com suggested this as a good and inspirational book in achieving goals in your life.

However, I find this book more like telling people to have a balanced life from the rush hours most people have. There are 3 emphasis on Robin's book:

1. Balancing your spiritual and material lives.
This book reminds people, especially those busy ones, to sit back and look at yourself and look around for your loved ones. He questioned:


-Are you treating yourself good enough while you are chasing for your dream?

-Do you have enough sleep? Enough nutrients for your body? And enough time to let your mind rest and enjoy the short break?

-Have you talked to your loved ones recently? Or you haven't even looked into their eyes because you are too busy with your work?

-What do you do after work? Do you have 30 minutes for yourself, just for yourself, reading your own mind, asking yourself what you want in life? Or do you just sit there and stare lifelessly at the TV or PC?

If you can't answer all these. You need to sit back and think what is wrong with your life now. Because life is not all about that one thing-- your work. Don't forget your family, your loved ones and you yourself!

Health and happiness is the key to your life. Without it, money is nothing.

Sleep well, eat well, rest well. Then only can you work 100% effective. Just take ten-minutes three times a day, one before you sleep, one after you wake up and one during work, close your eyes and rest your mind.

Listen to your body. Your body won't want a restless life.

Balance up your life now. =)

2. Make full use of your time
Do you have a target in your life?

As simple as just being happy? Or being closer to your family? Or excel in a certain field e.g. public speaking? Or being success in business?

But, do you find yourself doing unimportant thing most of your time rather than doing what you should do to bring yourself towards the target?


Do you find yourself wasting your precious time sitting there allowing the time to slip away when you can actually spend the time reading a good book or practice on your speaking skills or spend more time with your family?

I'm amused by a great sentence Robin had just said--"Stop acting like you have 500 years to live". Haha.. This is so true. I think this is the most eye-catching sentence I read in this book. And this same sentence enlightens me and reminds me that I shouldn't simply live my life now. I started to think I should put more effort into my life. =P


3. Contribute to the society
Robin also emphasized on contributing to the society and being selfless in the book. He stated that the ultimate purpose of everyone's life is to serve and contribute. Contribution can be as tiny as letting a few cars to pass in front of you during a traffic jam or as major as volunteering for the needy every weekend.

You will feel good after contributing, thus giving more energy to your life. =) I believe when you find yourself able to contribute to the society you will feel contented with your life because your life become far richer and more meaningful.

Introduction Weekend December 2007 anyone interested?

Guys and girls! Here's for those who:

1. Love outing
2. Want to understand themselves more
3. Want to escape out of their comfort zone
4. Want to know people from different field
5. Looking for fun and more fun!!

During this Intro Weekend, you get to:
1. Stay in the jungle
2. Pee and poo in the jungle
3. Cook your army food
4. Bathe in the river
5. Make friends
6. Learn the importance of leadership and teamwork
7. Refresh yourself from the hustle bustle of the city life
8 Energize yourself to the fullest!!



It's more than just a stay in the jungle
It's more than just a leadership camp

Bukit Tabur pictures

Ian took the faster route. We took the longer but easier (less steep) route =P

Like this


And this

Raleigh monthly meeting on hundreds meter above sea level


Everyone got their spots to sit on


After the meeting we continue to climb and saw this magnificent view

Act cool. lol

Drop backward and you will 'fly' down. lol


Going up


And down


CK abseiling


But after abseiling we saw this beside the rock we abseiled

Dangers ahead??

Seems like it

So we going up again

We saw smaller Klang Gate dam cuz we got higher and this

Genting-like Kuala Lumpur. lol. Hazy and dirty city.

And abseil down again (this is second peak)

Dun remember which peak this was. One of the four or five.

And took another pic at another peak. lol

Prank websites

Just now was opening a page I got from the Friendster Bulletin. It was claimed to be a personality testing. So i answer the questions. But when I clicked to obtain the results I closed my eyes and covered my ears with my fingers.

Know why?

'cause everytime I got the scary prank with very closed-up ugly ghost popped up in front of me. And yeah... Especially the eerie scream. When I see the big eyes staring at me, all my hairs on my neck stood up and my heart missed a beat.

I wonder who photoshopped that ghost. Very successful indeed. But too bad nobody wanna take a second look at their creations, at least not me. =P

The first prank was about a hearing testing. I put on my headphone and listened properly to the sound (do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do) and clicked the "I can hear" button. Then, there's one note where no sound was heard, so I thought it was too high-pitched.

So, I turned my headphone to full blast and clicked on the "listen again" button.


The next thing I know was the eerie scream magnified 1000 times in my ear and at the same time that DAMN pale face ghost popped in front of me!!!


I almost fell from my chair.

After that I kept getting this prank. Luckily I had my speaker and headphone off. But the image is scary enough.

The magnificent Bukit Tabur and Raleighians

Just came back from hiking at Bukit Tabur today with Raleigh. It's a cool experience.


Bukit tabur is actually totally rocky at the peaks. And because of the steep rocks we had to use ropes to climb down two peaks (but use our hands to climb up lah) and another two we climbed down without the help of ropes.


I just said I want to do rock climbing in the previous post. Then so fast got the chance to experience it today. But my rock climbing down the peaks skills (with the rope) is really lousy. LoL. Lucky Ian was there to grab me. Otherwise I might be thrown down the hill already. Or swing to another side of the rock if I grabbed the rope tight enough? And maybe can swing back to the correct side? haha...


Dunno why I just love climbing up no matter how steep it is. Climbing down is like putting my life in the hands of Mr. Gravity Force. And if my feet slipped there goes my yet-to-complete life, rolling down the hill into the middle of the jungle. lol =P Maybe it's because I trust my fingers and palms more than my wobbly feet. =P


Pictures of the magnificent Bukit Tabur and Raleighians will be uploaded as soon as I get the pictures from Keen and Vincent. The pictures in my camera could not be taken out because I forgot to bring the cable. hehe...