Good Bye 2009

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Whats On My Mind:

OMG MELVIN HAS UPDATED!
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Yet another year went by in a blink of an eye.

I looked back at what I wrote in the beginning of 2009, my resolutions.

I got 6 of them.

Some I manage to achieve, some I did not, some just started.


Things we expect to turn up good and it doesn't.

On the other hand, somethings we never thought it could ever occur, it did.

Bottom line, circumstances may change, but it is our choice to ride with the wave or ride against it.

That ride might just turn out to be smooth sailing or crashing onto you.

I had my fair share of bitter sweet, what about you? :)

There is just something muscular about this cloud lol

I hope that 2010 would be a great year ahead, as you all can see my blog record has not been consistent.

I would wanna do better this coming year.

Wish you all a happy new year! May good opportunity come to you!

Pre-Indonesia Expedition

Words could not express my excitement!

Finally I am able to travel out of Malaysia again!

But this time, the heat is turned up many times.

I'm not talking about Singapore where everything is so organized, nor Sabah where everything can be solved with just a smile.


Its Indonesia! Besides the initial journey from Malaysia to Bandung, which I will be traveling down with another friend of mine.

The transit journey to Semarang and Jakarta would test my level of independence and fluency in Bahasa.

The tension between Malaysia and Indonesia politics isn't favorable to me at all, especially in Jakarta, a friend actually told me to be careful with the authorities there.


Whatever that means, I don't wan to come home "in a box."

Wish me all the best there~ I'll send greetings if I am able to on Facebook or here!

Stay tune~ ^^

Memories Of Term Six In Black And White

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Whats On My Mind:

This post was written on 19th of August 2009.

Yes I know what you wana say, sorry lor....

This wont be a long winded and emo-fied post,
just something short and sweet. ^^
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Long gone were the times we go up to 7th floor and pool till we forget class time.

Long gone were the times every corner we turn and we will see familiar faces.

Long gone were the times where the food stalls in campus were better then now.

And long gone were the times of being a noob, we all had in a way or another, elevated into a new phase today.

Jeff's birthday & farewell in KL

I came to college, its atmosphere doesn't seem to be like old times.

With both DH 28 Rooms Division and Food & Beverage students joined together in one same class along side with a hand full of new students.

The scene has changed.

Candid shot during class, stress term 6!

Nevertheless, things go on, I am sure all of us gotten used to the new surrounding, but it is good to recall those sweet memories of diploma days.

One such thing I always do was when I walked pass the 3 restaurants, looking at our recent junior batches performing service in there.

I would always say, "I was there".

I also recalled the moments where I HATE being in the kitchen.

Blardy fiche technique that I could never seem to understand, the smell and pre & post service experience.

Now, I walked into this place where I used to dislike, looking at the station we used to place and do our mise-en-place while chatting and ended up our work was behind time.

Suppose to study for exam

I got to be honest with you, I kinda miss those times a little bit.

Not a whole lot! Just a little. :)

I like this picture very much~
Thx to Elaine for the simple yet classy frame edit. ;)

Term 6 was the only term we had lots of photo taking session.

Regardless the person is narcissist or not, you either pose willingly and end up being in a nice picture or post unwillingly and end up having a distorted face in the picture.

Despite our finals was close to us, we still manage to have fun and pass our finals~

An achievement indeed. :P


I can say, we had run the good race, and we finished well. :)

Many had left to pursue different paths, nevertheless you will always be remembered as batch 28.

Good blessings be upon the path you take.

May we always be in your memories as you are in ours!

A new journey had already begin~

-The history of batch 28 (DH/DC/DT), its joy and sadness lived and rest here-

Long Live The Tang Emperor!

Sabah has always been close to my heart, my 2 previous visitation 5/6 years ago has left a strong imprint in what I become today.

I learned to take care of myself, sleep in sleeping bag, bath in the river and even shit in a toilet that don't have a flushing system. That is another story.

This time round, I was more fortunate, due to the fact I came 2 days ahead of time. I checked myself into a hotel in Kota Kinabalu town - 'Tang Dynasty'.

My room

I am going to share a rather funny yet creepy story about the place I stayed for 3 days and 2 nights.

I checked in at Tang's on the 25th of September, the hotel is kinda nice, small but peaceful, its a 3 start if I'm not mistaken.

So I took my key, room number 629. As soon as I reached the 6th floor, I walked out from the lift to look for my room, there was a sign showing room number what and walk to left or to right.

I scan through that sign board.

This is the sign on the 4th floor, I never took the one at 6th floor.

Where is 629??

My heart begins to beat... *dag dag dag* Imagination running wild, scenes if horror movies flashing in my head.

I picked to walk along the sign that point towards 628, though it did not say 629 is over that side.

Step by step I walked, pin drop silence echos the entire 6th floor, only the sound of the exhaust hood could be heard from the other end of the hallway.

As I approach the end of the hallway, at the corners of my eyes, I caught 2 separate door openings, the creaking sound of the carpet gets louder as I am getting near to the end.

This is not the 6th floor, its the 4th, the room at the right end there, is mine

The 2 separate doorway turns out to be an opening into another 2 room, the feeling is like 2 rooms inside another room.

Darn, it feels like a mortuary I tell you.

I hold up my key card, the moment of truth.

*teeeet teeeet*


Invalid key card!

I could not say how happy I was! I rushed down to the reception, put on a pitiful face, I told the receptionist, "can I change my room? I cant enter my room..."

Bingo! Score 1~ Hence I changed to the 4th floor, and I don't have a trouble since then.

Later did I know, Tang Dynasty hotel actually undergo a renovation and in the process an accident, a few of the workers died.

And 629 was one of the new rooms after the construction.


Shit, thank goodness the door was jammed!

In addition to the horrors of Tang, I had 2 more friends whom are girls with me that time, they were in a different room on the 5th floor.

One of them were in the shower, and one was watching TV, suddenly she heard someone calling her name.

"Hannie... Hannie... Hannie"


That was freaky when she told me the story later.

Sabah indeed is a land filled with mystical elements, for those who had never been to Sabah, you got to come here someday.

With that I shall leave you guys with this post for the week.

Till then, more to come! ;)

March of The Flying Ants & Its Friends

Good greetings!

It has been 2 weeks of survival in the land below the wind.

Things are starting to get better and I am getting more and more familiar with the lifestyle here.

I am currently over at Joel's place at Luyang, KK.

Road to Joel's house

I've actually hand written a post on my note book, totally prepared to just type out everything and post it up.

Apparently I forgot to bring my note book with me. :(

Not to worry, nevertheless I shall just update a few memorable events here.


Other then getting hit by the tail of the Manila typhoon which in return caused quite a few parts in KK (I assume) to black out and unending rain pour.

I was down with food poisoning just 2 days ago, and thankfully I am well since yesterday!

The experience was one of the worst in my life.

Night view from his place

Never once I vomited 5 times and shit 4 times in any food poisoning event.

It was so bad, I beg God to take me back to heaven.

Partly because of the ringing headache that just cannot go away.

The pain was so agonizing, I couldn't sleep at all, thoughts run wild, I kept thinking that I will not make it back to West Malaysia alive, the chant of "I want to go home" kept ringing in my head.

Monuments found in one of the catholic church

I am serious! The effect of the pain can drive anyone up the wall.

Finally, I could not take it anymore, I told myself I got to go to the doctor.

To cut the story short, I got myself an injection in the ass to stop the headache and a hand full of medicine.

I could barely walk after the shot, Lin Yin who accompanied me throughout the entire journey couldn't stop laughing at the way I was trying walking properly. :(


A moment I was walking like a penguin, another moment like a pregnant lady (if I place my hands on my waist).

And the rain made it worst, she was holding an umbrella while walking behind of me, and as the light shines,

The shadow projected on the wall looked as if the Sultan of Melacca was strolling in pain with a kuli holding an umbrella behind of him..

Nexus Karambunai's lobby

Laughter in the mids of pain, boredom is definitely not the word to describe this training. I am sure there will be more yet to come! ;)

Till then, I'll leave you guys with this piece, better hope I don't forget to bring my note book next week! Take care!

Greetings From Sabah

Bonjour!

This post affirms that I had arrived safely here in Sabah.

I still cannot believe that I am back here again, after almost 5 years.

As the plane was taking off this morning, in my heart I was thinking "ok I am leaving finally!"

Upon taking off, in my heart I was counting, "1,2,3,4,5,6.... It has already been 10 seconds I'm off West Malaysian soil."

There I was, looking down from the plane to the ground, knowing that I wont be back here after 2 months made me wonder how would things be back at home ground.

I do hope things will be good at home.

Anyway, this will be a short one, work starts on Monday, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

All the best to you guys back home and anywhere else!

Till then, take care! ;)

To The Land Below The Wind

Hey guys, I'm back for another short update!

Due to my long absence from my blog, a lot of things had happened and was never told.

1st and foremost, I just came back from my class trip.

We went to Eagle Ranch Resort at Port Dickson.

Once the pictures are uploaded by my classmates, I shall write about it even more later.

Check out Danial's facial expression! XD

Today, I just wanna take this time to inform all of you guys, I will be leaving KL.

I wont be here no more, but I will be going to Sabah.

I only have 4 more days at Semenanjung Malaysia, my flight will be on the 25th of September, which is this Friday.

It will be after a long time before I return to this part of the world.


Come to think of it, I never thought that I would leave my comfort zone so soon!

Geez.. I always wanted to leave (don't get me wrong, I'm excited to go actually), but having to leave the usual things behind and go to a place with no cheap access of communication with the people back here makes this move out a heavy one.

Me being me, I started to think how would my departure affect my current surrounding?

Will my absence be just another absence? Or will my departure mean something to anyone at all.


That is something I will or will not ever find out.

Till then, I shall talk more about it soon! Take care guys! Have a good Raya Celebration & eating all the good food!

To all my BDH counterpart, all the best for your training! Will see you guys next year! ;)

One Dumb Thing I Did

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Whats On My Mind:

1st of all, I wanna apologize for my long absence, indeed I was very distracted by all the happenings these pass few weeks. Though I was not physically tired (sometimes), mentally it was taxing. I will further write down the details of my happenings soon. :)
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Yesterday was my Law exam.

The night before I was out to study, lets put it this way the so call night study session was more of a food for the soul then food for the brain.

Then I came home, knowing what I did was very little and I was too tired to go on, it was then I got a great idea!

I shall set my alarm at 5am, wake up and then study till I have to go college.

The plan was good, I've done that before and it was rewarding.

BUT!


This time round, something went terribly wrong...

If you are thinking that I forgot to set the alarm, well....

Sorry to burst your bubble, but no I did set my alarm.

However, the mistake I did was to leave my phone beside me on my bed as I fall asleep.

What made this mistake even wrong was this.


5am, the alarm rang!

*Melvin was half asleep, but heard the ring*

*Melvin though it was a PHONE call, thus conveniently took the phone from the side, press the button to "answer the call", in reality he hit the turn off button*

*Melvin then place the phone on his ear, and say "Hello.. Hello.. Helloooo..."

*Knowing that no one was "on the other line", he "hung up" and went back to sleep.*


I got up to realize the time was 7.30am!

Absolutely wonderfully dumb dumb, don't you think so? :)

Jangan Menyerah - d'Masiv

Dear friend,

I had believe in you and I will still believe in you.

You said you are a lost soul, lost your dream and etc.

But have you started with what you can do (I'm sure you know what am I talking about)? Everyone has to learn to find time to fight the good fight, the key is time management and passion.

The feeling of dragging our feet up after every crap thrown at us is doubtlessly tiresome.

You, me and anyone else too.


Self-discovery is never late, it is an ongoing process, a famous Mandarin saying (direct translation) "live till you are old, learn to you are old".

Changes are bound to happen, it is part of the menu of life, it could be our character, environment or even our philosophy that changed, its the matter of for good or for the worst.

Let me ask, whenever a new task or opportunity (some you have to find yourself) given, are we the 1st to back off and say no? Maybe out of fear or maybe "lazy la"? :P

That is why things remain the same, because without trials and hardship, we can never mature, things might get out of hand or screw up, but there is where we can learn to pick ourselves back up.


When we don't swim against the current, sooner or later, it will sweep us away with it, because that is how the world is, "look in the mirror and change what you see, and your world will change."

By saying all these does not make me perfect, neither by complaining that we are at a disadvantage point, that will only keep us at where we are only to look upon others for the rest of our lives.

I still fail and I do succeed at times, because I am still human.


I have my own version of current to swim, and you have yours too, don't ever compare others to yourself, because each of us are unique and have a different destiny.

If you try to walk in someones destiny, you will only realize you cant catch up or meet the mark, because that destiny is NOT meant for you.

Learn to say yes to changes and adept in them will give us the edge, with commitment and passion, it will drive us even further!


I'm glad that you said you refuse to stay that way (to give up), everyone needs assurance and encouragements from time to time.

I cannot make it this far if I don't have people encouraging me, sad to say, my mother is not one of them, nevertheless, that is not an excuse to stop us rite (dad or mum alike)?! XD

Like many had encouraged me, I am here to encourage you. :)


Why say we wanna becoming someone when we ARE already someone just yet to be known by others, its just publicity problem. :)

Don't feel pathetic, because you are not the only one feeling that way. Yes, we sometimes feel that we don't know where are we going, that is why we have to learn to stay focus, and aim for the finishing line ahead.

In the Olympics or sports event, tell me when we ever saw a runner looking back while running? I can confidently say, none of them do, they look ahead and all of them will fix their eyes on that white line ahead of them.


I do hope you get what I had said, I might not know what are you really thinking inside your head or your emotions truly feels, nevertheless once again I tell you.

I will be here to encourage you!

Besides that, I got a song here for you, I hope it will bless your heart as it has inspired me. :)



Jangan sekali menyerah~

Dulu And Then Sekarang

I was browsing my Facebook like any other day, but all of a sudden, I just got a sense of nostalgia due to looking back at so much past photos.

These pass few days and months I was forcefully tagged in many of those old photos that I forgotten I even took it before.

Its amazing don't you think? Especially when you notice in such a short time spend, and each individual changed so much.

2006 after drama production in school

I don't know about most of you, certainly I had change a lot, my friends said I do and I 100% agree to their statement.

In just a spend from 2006-2009.

Its like turning around the number '6' and the '9', so different yet still very similar.

5Bestari 2006

I see myself grown from being ignorant to sensitive to the people around me, though sometimes my senses are wrong, or sometimes its just only me.

Nevertheless, its a process of learning.

I also see myself strengthening my dreams, until today my dream has never died, disappointments for sure led me down many times,

Some random photo taken in 2007

There is a saying, "what cant kill you builds you."

My dream became an even bigger picture, there are more installed for me then what I 1st dreamed and expected.

I learned that I have to 1st empower myself before I could empower others, for this will be apart of the bigger picture I see in front of me.

Elementary school reunion 2008 at Sunway Pyramid:
class of 2001 6D, SJK(C) Lick Hung

I see myself living a non-routine life, though present time stories and circumstances scares me, the fear of being marginalized in society is certainly unbearable,

But I wan and I choose to press on, though the thought of giving up sometimes popped in my head,

I would always comfort myself with words like "to dream is a one time event, the step for the dream to turn into reality is a process."

BDH 31 option-A group 9, 10 & 11 steamboat dinner outing 2009

July has ended and August is now, another half way more the there goes another year, all these moment will soon be stored in memory and turned into past stories.

What lives on must move on, to adapt in this ever changing world.

To remain in where we stand and think that we are alright, not doing anything to improve things is already a conduct of complacency.

My hope is to see the best potential manifested out from us all, be it for a dream, ourselves, family, love, friendship or country!

Happy half year! ^^

The Big Blank

Hey guys, I know I haven been updating consistently, the photo uploaded problem and some other stuff caused me to temporary lose steam to write my new stuff.

You know, after you get used to not blogging for so long, when you sit in front of the desk again, you just don't know what to write...

Term 6 flash back, new semester post and a few others still pretty much pending.

I don't wanna just write some half bake crap and post it up, better off my attention turned towards something else then those important post.

Never fear! This will just be a momentary phase, I will be back soon! The best is yet to come! ^^


Anyway, I know I've said before I wont be writing typical "my life this and that" kinda thing, but sad to say, I am currently lack inspiration to cook up some funny crap.

But I think its a good idea to just shed some light on what is going on right now, and what am I up to at this season of time.

Well, 1st off, in case if you guys still wonder, I just started my 1st year of degree few weeks ago, it was rather odd and weird at 1st, looking at unfamiliar faces in class.

Not that I don't know most of them, except some new students, but we had never had a class together before, I guess I will get used to it some time soon.


We are going to have a class dinner at Summer's Steamboat this coming Friday!

I hope many will turn up and not FFK last minute!

"A class that eats together, stays together!" ^^


Other then that, this semester there are many projects, and especially video projects!

I don't know if its just me, the trend of doing assignments had evolved from boring reports and presentations to video presentations & role play!

Best part is, its a blardy hotel school!

But.......... I like it~ X)

Just a little spoiler, we have to do 1st an advertisement for English assignments, and the boom is a short film in FRENCH for of cost none other then French assignments.


Baybeh... Its hell load of challenge, but I have an inspiration! Just you guys wait, do check it out when its done.

Nevertheless, I'm looking forward for a great new term and season, till then will further update some more!

Take care guys & girls!

To Train There or Not To Train There?

I got a rude shock yesterday morning.

When I log on to my Facebook, the 1st thing I saw was a shot out posted by one of my friend(from Indonesia) which was, "**** you terrorist!"

I was like "okey..."

As I was further scrolling down my page, I saw another statement posted by another friend of mine(also from Indonesia), the content are similar, talking about some terrorist thing.

And there was another statement, and another and another!

My suspicion was high, I went onto yahoo news but I did not find any terrorist act of any kind. It then strike my mind that yahoo is based in America, maybe they haven wrote about it.

I could not help but to log on to another website 'Malaysiakini'.

To my horror, I saw this.


Ritz-Carlton & JW Marriott Jakarta was bombed!

Why am I reacting so much?

Well, for your info, those 2 hotel simultaneously was within my industrial training placement list!

Thank goodness they did not decide to explode at the time that I will be there.

Ritz-Carlton's after the blast

I am speechless...

What can I say.

R.I.P victims of the bombing.

Yahoo news link here.

Counter-Strike 300 Parody

I really apologize for the long hang, until now I am still unable to upload any pictures.... :(

But I finally got an idea.

If pictures cant do the talking, then videos will do the job pretty well!

I stumbled upon this really funny parody intertwining the game 'Counter-Strike' a.k.a CS, and the movie '300'.

Such creativity! They way they played with the characters movement are simply entertaining to watch, very cute also.

Once again I'm very sorry I could not update this time round, I will try my best to fix the problem.

Till then, I leave you with this video.

Enjoy~ ;)



"This is Sparta!"

*head shot* XD

A Waiters' Rant

Caution: I'm a little tipsy after eating too much of chocolate! So this post is written in a sarcastic manner, nevertheless it might help anyone of us to be a better customer! Enjoy~

As a hospitality student majoring in Food and Beverage, I hereby going to share a piece of my mind to all of you out there!

The silent ranting of waiters had begun since human started not appreciating the good things people do for them.

Little do you know,

But I say it ends today! *put on the Hitler look*

Here are the insider secrets about restaurants, from tipping to what days to avoid dining out and what will put you on a waiters black list.

This is a Malaysian-ized version based on the original inspiration.


1. Avoid eating out on holidays, Friday and Saturday nights. The sheer volume of customers guarantees that most kitchens will be pushed beyond their ability to produce a high-quality dish.

2. There are almost never any sick days in the restaurant business. A busboy with a kid to support isn't going to stay home and miss out on their salary(RM5 per hour) because he's got strep throat. And these are the people handling your food. :)

3. When customers' dissatisfaction devolves into personal attacks, adulterating food or drink is a convenient way for servers to exact covert vengeance. Some waiters can and do spit in people's food.

4. Never say "I'm friends with the owner." Restaurant owners don't have friends(some of the sad ones). This marks you as a clueless poseur the moment you walk in the door, sorry la, still no discount for you.


5. Treat others as you want to be treated. Yes, people need to be reminded of this, and clearly most people are blardy ignorant, even the rich and educated people sometimes behave like that!

6. Don't do that annoying "kissy" sound to get our attention, especially in a high class restaurant(if mamak, that depends which one)! I had customers doing it to me when I was training in the HOTEL! Good God! @.@ Remember, we have shears that cut through bones in the kitchen. ^^

7. Don't order meals that aren't on the menu. You're forcing the chef to cook something he doesn't make on a regular basis. If he makes the same entrée(main course) 10,000 times a month, the odds are good that the dish will be a home run every time.

8. Splitting entrées is okay, but don't ask for a glass of hot water and pull out your Milo 3-in-1 packet so you can make your own cheap Milo panas. What's next, grapes so you can press your own wine? -.-"


9. If you find a waiter you like, always ask to be seated in his or her section. Tell all your friends so they'll start asking for that server as well. You've just made that waiter look indispensable to the owner. The server will be grateful and take good care of you(only in high class restaurant and hotels).

10. If you can't afford to leave a tip, you can't afford to eat in the restaurant. Servers could be giving 20 to 40 percent to the busboys, bartenders, or hostess, but in Malaysia, is every man for himself, not that I want it to be, but I've experience being con by senior staff before on tipping, so I ain't gona share my catch no more. :)

Prawn cocktail preparation

11. Always examine the check/cash. Sometimes large parties are unaware that a "gratuity" has been added to the bill, so they tip on top of it. Waiters "facilitate" this error. But typical Malaysian very stingy wan, sure wont give tips and left over coins ain't tips, what do you think we are, beggars?, what more accidentally pay extra, fat chance!

12. If you want to hang out, that's fine. But increase the tip to make up for money the server would have made if he or she had had another seating at that table.


13. Never, ever come in 15 minutes before closing time. The cooks are tired and will cook your dinner right away. So while you're chitchatting over salads, your entrées will be languishing under the heat lamp while the dishwasher is spraying industrial-strength, carcinogenic cleaning solvents in their immediate vicinity.

14. If the person serving you is a trainee from a hotel school such as Taylor's School of Hospitality and Tourism, give them more tips because it encourages them very much, dah la kena buli from senior staff, getting a fat tips makes them feel as if they got a higher pay then the restaurant manager. XD

Hope you guys enjoy reading, original source from Yahoo news, done a little modification to the content, and there you go~ ;) Till then, take care guys and girls~ ;)