40th Anniversary of Sesame Street

Guess what I saw when I typed google.com?

I remembered growing up watching Sesame Street. My favorite character is non other than Cookie Monster himself... Nom...Nom...Nom...

Happy 40th Birthday Sesame Street!

Kuching DUN Official Opening

Phew... I can barely catch up with my schedule these days. Being away from Kuching for some future related endeavor, 800++ photos from my buddy's wedding pending to be filtered and tonnes of paperwork and simulation test at work, I felt physically and mentally drained. But thanks to some quality sleep last night, I was able recover.

Just wanna post something on the current (maybe not so current anymore) hoo-hah of Kuching city, the opening of the new DUN of Sarawak. This new landmark was officially open by the Agong on 27 July 2009. It was broadcasted live by the national TV stations. The opening of the prominent building also coincide with the Rulers Meeting which was held at non other than this new DUN building. Apparently there was also a Regatta which took place at the Sarawak River.



My photo buddy, Allen asked me to join him for photo shoot session of the firework display at night. We both thought the fireworks will start at around 7:30pm but to our dismay it didn't start till 10pm++. After waiting for more than 3 hours (we even joked we could catch a full Harry Potter movie and still be on time to catch the fireworks), our patience was paid off because we Kuchingites were treated to a rare HUGE 15 minutes display of fireworks. I will just let the photos do the talking here.


Boom...


Boom...


Pow...

And the aftermath after the display...

Wangan Midnight - The Movie

For those of you who are not familiar with this title, you can always refer to the ever reliable definition at Wikipedia.



The official website of Kodansha Comics has announced on last Saturday that a theatrical film based on Michiharu Kusunoki's Wangan Midnight street-racing manga will open in Japan this summer. Like the previous television anime and video features, Wangan Midnight the Movie will center on a young man named Akio who salvages "Devil Z," a custom-tuned Datsun Fairlady S30Z car with a supposedly cursed history. He saw his dream car at a local junkyard and instantly bought it from the junkyard owner. And soon enough, he finds that the car is unnaturally fast due to a tuned L28 engine, bored and stroked to 3.1 L and fitted with twin turbos. He also finds that the one of the car's previous owners shares his first and last name, and had died in a horrible crash on the Wangan. Every person who takes possession of the Z ends up spinning out of control and crashing, as if the car is rebelling against its driver. This gives the blue Z the nickname "The Devil Z".

So all you engine buffs and speed demons out there, be sure to catch this movie. It will officially be release on 12 September 2009, but I am not too sure if the movie will ever reach our shores on the big screen. If it doesn't, then it's really a shame, but at least we can pay a visit to the nearest DVD peddler. ;)

Check out the 1:58 minute trailer

Featured (sorta) in KennySia.com

Guess what a shock I got when I read Kenny Sia's latest entry on "Keluar Sign FAIL"?



My previous post "Celebrity, Spotted" was sorta featured in Kenny's Short Talk.

I just wanna clarify myself here to Kenny. I didn't mean to do you any harm. It's just another post in blog. That evening me and my buddy were on our way to Taman Sahabat to shoot sunset and chun chun (means coincidentally in Hokkien dialect) we saw you jogging. So the natural thing to do with our camera gears in our hands, we snap pics of you. So cheers buddy!



p/s Jogging rocks!

Breeze Model Search - It's Time to Vote

They have flexed and posed, and now it's time for you all to choose who is the fairest of them all.



Just pick up your phone, and VOTE now!

Quick! Vote now and find out who will be the WINNER for BREEZE MODEL SEARCH Sarawak.

Note: I have voted... :P


60 Earth Hour

Heard of "60 Earth Hour"? This is actually a GLOBAL awareness program where we (earthlings) will turn off all our electricity sources for one hour from 8:30pm till 9:30pm local time on Saturday, 28th March 2009. Actually this is an election exercise to choose between Mother Earth or Global Warming. If you choose Earth, then turn off your lights for an hour. If you do happen to choose global warming... hmmm, then I'll whack your heads and ask you to move to Mars. So please remember...

28 March 2009
8:30pm ~ 9:30pm

TURN IT OFF!!!



For more info, please check out the official website HERE

Kuching B-Boys Challenge 2008

This is a long overdue post. But, I am still gonna share some photos I took at the site of scene.




This kid has some serious talent


Doing the Scorpion


"Chief Judge" from KL


My sifu - the one in cap


Strategizing


B-Boys from Kuching

Well if you are a hip hop and breaking fan, please do check out the latest local production "Sayang You Can Dance" in cinemas near you (in Malaysia only). My childhood friend, Smyth is in the movie. Check out the trailer after this...

Cold Again

According to the weatherman, it's gonna be a cold day in Taiwan.

During the day, the temperature for Taichung is between 16-26 degrees Celsius.


Day

But During the night, temperature would drop to 16-19 degrees.

Night

Sigh, I think I had better get myself another fuzzy warm jacket.

The Knot Was Tied

Wendy, my secondary classmate just got married/registered.

I have known Wendy since Form 1 back in SMK Batu Lintang. She came into our class in the 2nd semester. Along the 5 years of secondary school life, we got along pretty well. I'm really delighted with her taking this big step into a new chapter of her life. I wish Wen and her hubby many happy years to come.


Wen and Ming - don't they look blissful?

I regret that I will not be able to attend her wedding dinner reception on the 23 Nov (yeah, I'm still in Taiwan), but she has all my best wishes in her new journey with Ming. Will catch up with you guys when I get back next year.

Autumn

Today's weather forecast (Courtesy of Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan)

Finally, the long awaited (not so welcome) autumn is here. The temperature here at Taichung has dropped to 20°C now. Brrrrrr....... We are all lazy to go outdoors now because it's just too cold. Guess I can finally pull out my jacket from the bottom of my suitcase.

Two pilots missing...

Yesterday's headline in most newspapers here in Taiwan "Two Pilots Missing After Plane Crash". Ironically, the place where I stay is just a stone throw away from the Air Force's Chingchuankang Airbase here in Taichung.


Entrance of the Airbase

One very notable difference is I don't hear jet fighters flying around doing their routine patrol around this area anymore. I guess all jet fighters are grounded at the moment.

May God bless the two deceased pilots.

Problem in Taiwan

There are a few problems which I face ever since I arrived at Taichung. Here I would like to share with you all a few of the major problems:

1. Plug


As you can see, all the plugs here are 2 pin plugs... damn mah fan at first cuz I do not have the adapter for it.

2. Mattress/Tilam



Some call this tilam, some call this "Macbook Air", but what I know is, this is what I sleep on. Sigh. Never thought there would still be people using this to sleep on. Pathetic.

3. Transport

Getting from Point A to Point B is really a hassle if you do not own your own vehicle here. The place where I stay at is very secluded. Besides a 7-ELEVEN, there's no other decent shops nearby. Damn boring can... TMD. Taxi is very common here but it ain't cheap. Sigh.... I miss my ride back at home.

4. Language

Everyone told me that there won't be a problem for me to settle down in Taiwan because I can speak Mandarin. But don't be too sure of that. Back in Malaysia, back in Kuching, the Mandarin we speak daily is not even standard Mandarin because for we tend to mix our conversation with English, BM, hokkien, hakka and other dialects... So when you want to speak to a Taiwanese here, it's common for you to pause left and right, searching for the right words.


Sigh... I still have a lot to learn here...

Taipei

Since last Friday (10/10/2008) was a public holiday (National Day) here in Taiwan, me and Lau went to Taipei to meet up with Ang Wie and Frankie. I just got back about 4 hours ago. I am feeling really tired because throughout this trip I was still not fully fit. I carried my cough to Taipei and back to Taichung. We went to many interesting places, ate different kinds of local delicacies, and even watched a local produced movie - 海角七号(which has became a mega blockbuster here in Taiwan).



More photos in my next entry...

Still Alive!

For all of you who is wondering if Louis is still alive.

Answer: Yes. Very alive and blogging!

Typhoon Day (Sunday 28/09/2008) started like any other day except for a few gentle gust of winds. But around noon time, things got really bad. We could hear the wind hitting hard against the windows and it was scary at times. By noon, me and my homey had to brave the strong wind aka typhoon to 7-eleven to get our lunch. We stayed indoors after that and keep ourselves abreast with the latest typhoon updates on TV.



But the inevitable happened at 330pm when the electricity supply suddenly tripped. We were all cast into darkness with no news and updates on the typhoon which is looming large outside. Electricity supply only came back at 11pm ++. But unfortunately, the TV and internet did not recover until today.

I went to work for the first time today at AUO (where I'll work for the next 3 months).

Use one word to describe AUO fab:
HUGE

Use one word to describe your first day:
TIRED. :(

Typhoon JangMi 颱風薔蜜

Finally, today will be the day when Typhoon JangMi 颱風薔蜜 will hit the North Eastern shores of Taiwan.


Typhoon JangMi's track (picture courtesy of Yahoo! Taiwan)

Jangmi had a radius of 250 km and was moving northwest at a speed of 24 km per hour, with maximum sustained center winds of 154.8 kph and gusts reaching 190.8 kph. It is predicted to arrive on the shores of Taiwan at around 6pm this evening.

I have prepared some food enough to last me for at least 2 days for this nature disaster. So for this episode of "Twister", I just stay at home and chill...


1:24pm update: Me and my homey just went to the nearest 7-eleven to get our lunch on foot. Gosh, it was indeed a helluva experience. Almost got blown of my feet. Clouds above our heads were really fast-moving.


walking to se-ven (as how the locals here call it)



shopping for lunch

2:54pm update: The winds are showing no signs of calming down. Check out the video below (pardon the silence, cuz my camera does not have a speaker, but in actual fact the sound of the wind increased the drama and effects of the whole scenario).

Take notice that how bad the sugar cane plants are trying to whithstand the wind.

Leaving

I am now waiting to board my flight Eva Airlines BR0228 bound for Taipei.

Woke up at 6am, took my flight from Kuching to KL, rushed to KL Sentral to collect my passport from someone who brought it all the way from Taiwan Embassy, rushed back to KLIA, had my lunch at McD, checked in, and now I'm in the waiting hall.

Take care my frens, I will miss you all...

New Mall

There will be a new mall opening soon in Kuching. It will be the equivalent (in terms of contents but not size) of Lowyat Plaza in KL


Plaza Low Yat

and Sim Lim Square in Singapore.


Sim Lim Square

It's called One TJ (but of course it's much smaller compared to the 2 shopping complexes above)


One TJ - Powering Up soon

This mall is actually the replacement for Wisma Saberkas, well-known for its electronics and computer gadgets. Wisma Saberkas has been around since the 1980s, so I guess it's time we Kuchingite deserve a better and more decent IT shopping mall in town. One TJ will be officially open on 22-Nov-2008 (thanks to Helen for the heads-up). Too bad yours sincerely won't be in town to give you the latest updates, but do not worry, I will be giving you updates from Taiwan instead.

Did I hear Taipei 101?


Taipei 101

Fly Away

As mentioned in my previous entry, I won't be here when Chloe pops her head out into this world. That's because I will be on a working trip to Taiwan.

If everything goes as planned (visa especially), I will leave Kuching on next Thursday (25/09/2008). I will be working in either 台中 （TaiChung） or 台南 （TaiNan） for the next 3 months. I'm really looking forward to this trip, but I'll surely miss my family and friends and of course the food here.

But don't worry, I will keep you all posted with my life there... teehee!

Latest update (19/09/2008 13:41):
I'll be leaving for 台中 (TaiChung) next Tuesday (23/09/2008), 2 days ahead of my scheduled trip.

Missing!!!

If anyone of you out there spot a white male chihuahua who looks like this


Hi, I am Shiro

please email me at lwongss@yahoo.com.

His name is Shiro.

I was told by my neighbour last night that Shiro has gone missing since yesterday afternoon. It was last seen at Taman Woodlands, Jalan Stutong area.


Shiro looking for Schumi

Please return this cute puppy back to its rightful owner because she is really very depressed and heart-broken right now. Not sure bout the reward, but I am sure you will put a very big smile on this pretty lady.

Thanks!