blog archives
Ramblings
Turning 30
It's the last day of my 20s. I'm turning the page tomorrow and being all grown up now. It feels weird, like all the other milestones you have to go through. Going from primary to secondary school, finishing secondary school and going to college, turning 18, 21, 24, finishing college and starting work, moving to Australia... When you look back they seem small and insignificant,... more »
Sheep
I saw V for Vendetta last night, and I think it's one of the best movies I've seen recently because it resonates deeply with the way I feel about the state of the world today. I shall leave the synopsis and reviews to your own reading. The movie comes as a timely reminder that things are not all right with the world, and governments already... more »
Licensed to Drive
Yesterday I went for my driving test at VicRoads. I was nervous as hell. Having to take a driving test for the second time in your life, when you're in your late twenties, is just something harrowing that most people don't need to go through. I've already been stressed out enough with all the work I have on, and with deadlines for websites due before... more »
Merry Christmas
Seasons greetings and happy holidays to everybody who's celebrating one thing or another during this period. For those who've not received my Christmas eCard via email, you can go can click on the link and view it yourself :) I've never felt less Christmassy this year. I've just been flat out working the past month or so. My family was here to visit for 10... more »
New Transformers Movie
Ooh, I didn't even realize they were making a new Transformers movie until I saw this mentioned in my RSS headlines this morning: 5 Things You Didn't Know About Transformers. The best thing is they will be using the original Generation 1 Transformers, which were the best, not the various spin-offs and additions that came along later. Check it out. Technorati Tags: animation, movie, transformers... more »
Missing Out
It's Saturday night, and I just came back from a friend's birthday dinner. I excused myself to come back home early because I've got to work tomorrow morning, but my heart is aching to be somewhere else. Here I am lying in bed, headphones on, listening to BT's Movement in Still Life album as loud as my eardrums can possibly stand. BT is in town... more »
Feeling
I was ill yesterday. Woke up at 5am feeling like I had a fist shoved up my nostrils and thumping against my eyeballs and my skull. Took some cold+flu medication and that helped but I still felt like crap. Did some web work at home, but had to drag myself out to Officeworks in the afternoon, which wasn't much fun. Got home grumpy, cold and... more »
Tax Time
I've finally got my tax return over and done with for the year. The accountant who handled my case was very helpful and made it all seem so clear and simple. I spent the whole day yesterday sorting out all my statements and receipts so it was just a matter of telling him all the figures. And the result is that I will be getting... more »
Emotional Trip T-shirt Photo
OK you asked for it, so here it is, a photo of me in the threadless.com t-shirt I bought. ... more »
Package
The T-shirt I ordered arrived yesterday! Looks great but the material is a bit thinner than I expected it to be. And with this, I am now a proud owner of a limited edition work of art. I haven't had a chance to wear it out yet. Maybe next Monday :)... more »
Nude No More
Ok so I've just given in and ordered a t-shirt I've eyed for quite a while on Threadless. They have really awesome designs and the one I picked out is called "Emotional Trip", not that it represents my current state of mind or anything. I've wanted "Damn Scientists" ever since I've found that site some years back but they never seem to have it in... more »
The Book Meme
OK so I've been tagged by geekchic 1. Total number of books owned: 46 here in Melbourne. 2. The last book I bought: The Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape 3. The last book I read: The "Down Under" half of Bill Bryson's 2-book compendium "Walkabout" 4. Five books that mean a lot to me: The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (I could... more »
Ten Thousand
On this day, the 10th of June, the year 2005, I am exactly 10,000 days old. Hooray!... more »
Tram Fight
Such is Life
Yes, everybody, contrary to popular belief, I am still alive. I have been so very busy these days I haven't had the time nor the energy to sit down and write about what's going on. My part-time job in retail has definitely helped keep me afloat financially, and I think it was a good move on my part to take it. Having said that though,... more »
Stressing out
Events in the past week have been driving me mad. For one, my dad's condition is getting progressively worse and mom's been calling me nearly every day to update me on his situation. She sounded anxious on the phone on Sunday and I was going to try to go back mid-week. But I too had some loose ends here to tie up before I leave,... more »
Why I Hate Flash
OK, I've gotten too many requests as to why I dislike Flash as much as I do, so I'm going to put it on record now. When Macromedia Flash 1.0 appeared on the market in 1996, it was heralded as a ingenious format for putting up rich graphics to the web which was dogged by slow modems and huge GIF and JPEG graphics. Flash was... more »
Songs on TV
Hmm... I think I've been watching too much TV lately. I've been noticing myself humming songs used in the advertisements and promos, and to the point of looking for the actual songs themselves on mp3. Some recent downloads include: - Magic Carpet Ride (Steppenwolf, Remixed by Crystal Method) from last year's Channel Ten fillers - Amazing (Alex Lloyd) from the Ford Territory 4WD ad (not... more »
Losing time
Something very odd is going on. Every morning I get up, my watch loses time, and it appears to stop only at night. It's been about a week already... last night it was 30 mins, the night before 1.5 hours, and before that i had lost 3 hours. I wear my watch to bed and it's the only timepiece in the apartment that's affected. So... more »
Of Presidents, Crocodiles & Farts
A "one-word story" by Joey, Jamie, Selina, Jackie, Shirley, Colin, Jonathan and Tristan. 29 June 2004 What was the thing you saw that looked like a toilet? It seemed like yucky & yellow-y slimy Tristan who Colin ate is so surreal. Jamie didn't brush her eyebrows and wash her armpits with shampoo. Colin smelt like a bottle of toilet gunk. They were smelling each others'... more »
American-born Chinese?
I just came back this morning from Singapore. I've managed to meet up with a few friends who are working there now. In between appointments (all busy working people now) I'd do a bit of shopping, not that I bought much. Just a pair of pants and a Logitech Cordless MX Duo keyboard and mouse set. One of the unusual things that's happened to me... more »
Shopping Moods
I've been back home for two and a half weeks already and mostly been home-bound. There isn't anybody around to go out and hang out with, and I just don't feel the urge to go out and spend money. Even on my 4 hour transit in Singapore Changi airport and the last trip to KL, I was walking around listlessly and not even really paying... more »
Virus-laden email
Will the people who are infected with the recent spate of Windows viruses please remove me from your address book? I've been receiving emails from strange people containing questionable attachments and also loads of virus warning bounce-back emails from mail servers telling me my computer is infected, but it is obvious I did not send them. I keep my sole Windows machine patched and updated... more »
My England seem to be gettings worst
Perhaps I'm being a little too self-conscious, but I've been noticing that when I talk, I'm starting to stammer and even have trouble pronouncing long words like 'totalitarian' and 'inexplicable'. I don't know when this started but it does seem like my grasp of the English language seems to be slipping, at least when it comes to speaking. Could it be that I might also... more »
absence
I meant to make a post yesterday about the availability of new photos in my gallery, but Streamyx was really acting up and i could hardly do anything online.. email retrieval kept timing out, my photo uploads would never complete (leaving corrupted and unlabeled images in the album), and for a while i couldn't even login to my admin section of my photo gallery...... more »
Unending Matrix
Wow.. I've got a headache. I spent about 6 hours in total reading every single comment on Jason Kottke's post about Matrix Reloaded and I've only reached about halfway down the page. Mind blowing stuff. I'm pretty sure a few more pages worth would have been added since I loaded the page this morning.It's amazing what these people are discussing about. From the good/bad CGI... more »
My 4th SETI@home Anniversary
I got a notification today that I signed up for seti@home [berkeley.edu] on 16 May 1999, so today marks my 4th year of participation in the project. A quick check on the stats shows that I'm No. 45 [setiatwork.com] on the Top Malaysian Users List. Not too shabby. :)... more »
Music Industry supporting viruses?
Just as I was getting all upset over copy-protected CDs, I had to read about record companies quietly paying small software companies to write viruses, worms and Trojan horses to sabotage computers [news.com.com] and Internet connections of people who download pirated music. It is said in the article some of the methods used include redirecting your web page to a site where you can buy... more »
Bought my first copy-protected CD
I just bought Massive Attack's 100th Window album today, haven't listened to it yet. Only after I paid for it and was getting back to my car in the car park I remembered someone telling me something about it being copy protected. In a wave of panic I dug out the CD and checked the back cover and sure enough it stated that "This disc... more »
Oakley Prescription Lenses
I went out and to optical shop to ask about changing the lenses of my Oakley C-Wire sunnies, cos they are unpowered and I get a bit of a headache after wearing them for a while especially driving. I had found this shop in Ipoh Parade listed on the Oakley [oakley.com] web site as a authorized dealer for their prescription glasses. me: "So, how much... more »
My Goldfish Tale
Last night I watched a play in the Malaysian Playwrights series, called A Goldfish Tale. I was already feeling bad after coming back from the hospital but since the tickets were already bought and all, I just went anyway, with my friend Jody and his mom. Due to the mental and emotional state I was in at the time, I didn't think I would be... more »
Thoughts on Death
This has been something I've been thinking about a lot in my adult life, morbid as it sounds. Even more so with the War in Iraq and that deadly SARS disease that has yet no cure, and my dad in hospital [jonathanpoh.com]. I've given it much thought and have managed to convince myself that death in itself is not the end, but rather a continuation... more »
Blank
I can't think of anything to write about today..... more »
Numerology
There must be something going on here... I didn't realize it before, but the date (and time) i chose for my flight has some weird connections.. 5th April, 2003, 9pm flight... in another format, 05-04-03, 21:00 -- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Brrrrr...... more »
On the Eve of War
Well, this is it.. In a fit of moral blindness, the US is about to attack Iraq at around 9am tomorrow morning (Malaysian Time). How is everyone feeling? To all my friends and family, I love you all. Peace.... more »
Six Degrees of Separation, Proven!
Aaaaahh... just had a bone-chilling experience while browsing idly around blogs of people I don't know. Let's trace the path... After checking my own site for comments, i surfed over to Midnight Lily's to see if she's posted anything today. (she did). I noticed she had a link to teddybwear which I found rather strange cos my brother also has a link to teddybwear. Two... more »
Suggestion to World Leaders
Give all the world leaders a spankin' new computer and put them all in a cybercafe, (oh.. maybe in Korea? Heard they have fantastic cybercafes there), and get them to play a few rounds (heck maybe more than just a few rounds, give 'em the whole day!) of Counter-Strike or Battlefield 1942 or Unreal Tournament. That should ease their bloodlust and allow them to play... more »
At the Brink of War
Every Tom, Dick and Harry has already written a commentary on the anticipated attack on Iraq by the United States of America. He's my take on the whole issue: I hate wars. I find wars boring. I fall asleep watching war movies and listening to war stories. There is nothing heroic about wars. It's just glorified acts of murder. President G. W. Bush must be... more »
Blue Cola
Had my first taste of Pepsi Blue today. Mmm.. not bad.. but i got 2 words for it. Marketing. Gimmick.... more »
Valentine's
Happy Valentine's Day to all you beautiful couples out there, and also to all you hopefuls professing to your loved one for the first time. Whatever it is, remember: Play Safe, Use Malaysian Rubber. :D... more »
Lime
Lime? What's wrong with lime? It helps cut out the horrible taste of freshly slit animals.... more »
Birthday? What Birthday?
The last few days people for some reason have been wishing me a Happy Birthday, or belated birthday, especially on the 23rd of January when I was still in Langkawi. How strange... I don't know what's going on, 23rd Jan is NOT my birthday and I am NOT 25 years old.(yes, I am in denial)... more »
Endoscopy
Just came back from the gastrointestinal specialist where I had an endoscopy done. That's the procedure where they stick a tube with a camera attached down your throat and esophagus to have a look at the inside of your stomach. Yes it feels as bad as it sounds. As some of you might already know I've always had gastric reflux for quite a while already... more »
Flu
I've come down with th flu since Saturday.. On Saturday itself i woke up with my throat BURNING and felt scorching dry.. and mucus dripping from my sinus down the back of the throat made it worse.. i could hardly talk and just stayed at home eating bread and soup. Yesterday I was much better after some rest and a lot of fluids.I may be... more »
Welcome 2003!
Whoops I just missed posting on the first day by a few minutes... technically on the 2nd day of the New Year already, but what the heck, Happy New Year to everyone all the same. Hope all your resolutions become reality. Myself? Well my resolution is to put on some weight. Yes you heard me right. While millions of people around the world are going... more »
God Jul!
That's Merry Christmas in Swedish. Last nite we had a nice turkey dinner and we just had leftover turkey sandwiches for lunch.This year i didn't get many presents, a beanie from my brother, a few bars of chocolate, a pen, a couple of CDs, but saving the best for last, i received a 10 GB iPod. Something I have longed for for a long time.... more »
unseasonal greetings
hmm, yesterday i received in my email a greeting card, not just any greeting card but one from my own eCards section of my site. Thing is, the only card i have there is the one i designed for Merdeka Day, so it was doubly amusing. Thanks Stephanie, whoever you are, for the not so subtle hint that i have neglected to put up christmas... more »
Christmas Eve
T'was the day before christmas and nothing was stirring, not even a mouse, well... not yet anyway. I'm sure later this afternoon everybody will be running up and down and rushing for this and that in preparation for our annual christmas dinner at home. A small family do but still involves a lot of work, esp for Mom. Thanks Mom!... more »
4 Days to Christmas
AAAaarghh.. It's happening so fast. Four more days, and i still haven't finished Christmas shopping yet. I went down to KL with my mom on Thursday to do some shopping, but I had some errands to run so half the day was spent, and i didn't buy much in the remainder of the day.We haven't even put up the Christmas tree in our house yet,... more »
Dazed and confused
Got back from Penang at 2am last night. Phew what an experience. We Left Ipoh around 5pm but got caught at a massive traffic jam at the penang bridge for almost 2 hours. We thought we'd have time for dinner but because of the unexpected delay we only just made it for the show at 8pm. Because we didn't have dinner, my gastric reflux started... more »
Blue no more
Just got back from the hairdresser for a haircut. The last of my blue hair is all gone now.. back to normal boring Jon. :D Going to Penang later this afternoon to catch tonight's performance of Madame Butterfly there.. i probably should take a nap to catch up on last night's lack of sleep.... more »
insomnia
this sucks. i can't sleep. had coffee during supper and here i am posting at 5:30 am. My caffeine tolerance level has really gone to the pits.. i can't even take coca-cola during dinnertime, not to mention brewed coffee at 11pm. I'm having a splitting headache, don't know if it's the effect of the caffeine or the lack of sleep. Maybe both. On the bright(er)... more »
Moving, among other things
Phew! What a day! This morning, correction, YESTERDAY morning, I was busy packing up, not just stuff for a trip, but essentially moving out of my residence in Kelana Jaya to come back to my hometown, Ipoh. Well what's happening is that come of Colin (my brother)'s friends will be moving in January and since i've quit my job so they are going to move... more »
Monday Blues
urk... Mundane Monday... especially worse when it's the monday after a long holiday weekend. Back to work. Back to work.... more »