I'm wondering whether I should get an Ipod. I think I had posted a similar dilemma few months ago. Now, the Ipod fever is coming back.



James bought one last Spring and it's just too beautiful. The packaging that Apple sent it in is way above what we can imagine. I can get one for $269 at student discount price. Oh man. I just can't resist not having one. But spending $300 on one isn't it too much? That's the other half of me telling. The more thrify part of me which I gained from my mum.



A sexy 20 GB Ipod is just a few clicks away. Should I make that few clicks? I have these next 2 days to decide so that I can have it with on the long flight home.



Damn you, Steve Jobs.

Another cycle of week ends and of course, it's weekend.



For the past few nights I've been watching the Democratic National Convention on TV. One thing that this event attracted me is watching the speeches made by all the politicians. Bill Clinton gave the first night's addresswhich many said proved that he is still capable for being a president. I wonder what is he doing after his presidency. 54 when he retired. That's not the age for retirement. I bet many of his classmates or peers would still be working their asses off. The presidency is the pinnacle of all jobs. Is there anything greater than being a President?



On the second night, the key speaker was Pittsburgh's own Teresa Heinz, the widow of the late John Heinz III who is also Mrs. Kerry. She seemed to have this air of a royalty from the way she carried herself on the stage. Much like a queen in fact. Palms crossed on her chest as she thanked the crowd. I would like to see her as First Lady. If John Kerry's moving into the White House next January, she'll be the first First Lady to be born not as an American. It's good for Pittsburghers too. Perhaps when John Kerry is President, both of them will visit Pittsburgh often. Her late husband was the sole heir to the Heinz ketchup empire. If you come to Pittsburgh, the legacy of the Heinz family is everywhere. Just across the road from my apartment is the Heinz Chapel. I've never been inside but I read that it was modeled after some Gothic French basillica. Then, it's CMU's Heinz School of Policy Management. John Heinz briefly taught here before. There's the Heinz field which is Pittsburgh's major stadium.



I did not watch John Edward's speech last night but I think Kenneth did. Not particularly interested.



Tonight was John Kerry's turn to give the final speech of the convention. It was the usual politician's campaigning speech filled with "I will"s. But the air of the convention center was if John Kerry has won the election. People were cheering and congratulating Kerry and Edwards. Balloons showered the whole place. It's amazing how they staged this convention. Much more gempak that a rock concert.



I just hope Kerry wins so that another Bill Clinton would helped to make jobs and give some government support to healthcare.



wtf are these comments on American politics..hahaha

A movie everyday, keeps the dean's list away.



I found out that the Bourne Supremacy is part of Robert Ludlum's Bourneo Trilogy. There's a sequel to Bourne Supremacy called Bourne Ultimatum. I hope the producers are already working on it. The writer has passed awat 2/3 years ago. Apparently, the Bourne trilogy was written in the late 70s and early 80s which was in the midst of the Cold War. No wonder there are Russian elements in it. Now it's clear why most spy movies have some Russian element in them. Most of these movies are adaptations from cold war fiction writers.



I just read the news about a bunch of Singaporeans breaking the World Record for marathon movie watching. The last world record was  66 hours. Hey, that's quite feasible. I sent out an email to those friends of mine who are big fans of the anime and told them we could try doing such feat someday. What a disappointment. None of them replied with any enthusiasm. Seriously, 3 days is quite feasible considering the fact I've spend entire nights watching 3 or 4 movies straight. The only I'm scared of is that too much of movie watching for the feat would make sick of movies after that.



 

Missing



Our summer movie watching activity added another new release to the list, Bourne Supremacy. It was the sequel to Bourne Identity which I think is an awesome spy movie.



In Supremacy, Bourne's girlfriend whom he met during his escape in Geneva was killed by an awesome long-range shot across some paddy field in India. Hitman was paid by a Russian oil tycoon. Pretty sad because she was a leading actress in the first movie and now she's dead in less than 10 minutes into the movie. Bourne was of course was mad angry and the story is about him trying to piece the jigsaw and eventually kill the assassin. So, he went to Europe and the actions were mainly in Berlin and towards the end, in Moscow. There's one scene where Bourne paid a visit to a fellow CIA hitman and killed him. I had hoped that both of them would work together against the CIA but eventually the hitmen only worked on their own.



The charm of these movies is that they are out to impress us the audience especially those loves spy fantasies. It's the way these hitmen live that impressed me a lot. They act based on instructions sent via text messages. They carry sniper guns like an angler carries his fishing rod. Their marksmanship is just awesome. In Identity, Bourne killed another sniper at long range using a shotgun rifle (is there such weapon... it looked like a long shotgun). More impressive was their insane driving skills. There's Ronin-like traits in these two movies.



But why American spy movies are always shot in Europe? The Cold War ended more than a decade ago and most of the former Eastern Bloc are now even members of NATO. Maybe producing spy movies on current military threats like on wars against terrorism is too much of a risk for the producers. Even though the Bourne movies have no explicit mentionings of communism or the KGB, still the impression that I get from seeing the drama unfolding in Berlin and Moscow just gives me that traditional perception that spying is only against the Russians. I think spying against the current terrorists is harder since the obvious difference in skin color.



During the weeks before I came to the States for my freshman year, I half-read a book about the life of a former CIA agent who was in the midst of the middle East turmoil of the late 1980s especially in Lebanon. Holywood should produce movies based on such stories and not just popularize the long-gone tension between the Western world and the Russians. Probably they should also produce spy movies based on Latin America too. Spy games (Robert Redford and Brad Pitt) had a good mix of espionage scenes from all over the world. It had Lebanon and East Germany included.



Anyway, spy movies are there to satisfy our spy fantasies. These kinds of adventures do not happen to most of us everyday. I wish it happens to me sometimes but I actually shouldn't wish for it to really happen. I might not live to see 30 and even "mati katak" or die like a frog. These kind of movie are just means for us to escape the world that can sometimes be a little too mundane.

I'm ending my long night with a blog entry which also welcomes the sunrise of this Friday morning. i just spent the whole night writing long responses to the world history questions.

there's a surge of newly-burned downloaded divx movies. bob brought some back from penn state so this weekend will not be that boring. in fact, i had lived boring days by watching movies. watching movies is an escape from the real world that can be uninteresting. this weekend shall be bourne supremacy's weekend. i hope it's as good if not better than it's prequel, Bourneo Identity. all these spy movies that travel to europe kick ass. maybe i should go to some less visited part of europe. Professor Kats of my World History class often told us stories of European cities. The old man had been a tour guide in Rome in his young days. He said he spends most of his earnings in travelling. I guess he has visited every country in Europe.

back to movie watching, this is one of the few things that is uncommon between my father and i. i'm a movie buff and he's not. he thinks movies are just bulllshit because they are not true. the television shows he watches are the news, documentaries and boxing matches. home is two weeks away and i think i should introduce to him reality shows. i'm sure he'll like them.

 

 

Fuiyo. I just spent the past 12 hours coding with only an hour of intermission to cook and eat dinner. This further delays my world history homework which would take around 2 or 3 days to finish.



I was Joe's navigator throughout the trip to D.C. I had thought of lazying at the back seat until Amos gave me the front passenger seat because I'm the biggest in body size among all 8 of us in the van. It was a good experience though. The trip to D.C. was smoooth and in D.C., it went well also. Streets there are manhattan like but there were confusions when going to the Union Square. Going back yesterday was different. I misread Map Quest and missed the junction to I-70/76. What should be a mile ride along US-30 ended up a 100-mile ride along the countryside of central Pennsylvania. The road was just like Sarawak's intertown roads. One lane for each direction. Vehicles were very sparse and there we passed places that we absolutely uninhabited. Spooky at times especially when we passed empty and dark mills and houses. We even went up some higlands where the road were quite winding. Very much like the road up to the Kinabalu highlands in Sabah.



Joe stopped for a visit to the washroom at one gas station. I took the chance to ask the elderly man who manned the place. Absolute good samaritan. Although I didn't spend a penny at his shop, he gave me a detailed instruction on how to get back to highway. Actually, we had thought of just following US-30 all the way to some town called Greensburg and find out way to Pittsburgh from there. The straying into US-30 cost us an hour but nevertheless, it was an experience that I brag to my parents.



The trip to D.C. was to meet the Prime Minister at the Malaysian Embassy. He was on a very very tight schedule. During the morning, he had a short meeting with Bush Jr. at the White House. He met with us for less than the time planned but he did give quite an inspiring message to work on the country's human capital. "What's the use of having first class facilities when we're third class people?" he said. I managed to shake hand with him. He shook hand with every single student actually.



One thing I noted was there presence of the U.S. Secret Service. Yeah,  they provide security services for visiting foreign leaders too. I was impressed with them because while everyone were happily talking and smiling, they kept a serious look as if somebody would come out of the crowd with a gun. They were in their world of their own. A world of constrant suspicision.



The Malaysian Embassy is fairly a huge building. Few stories high with a few halls and a main ballroom. The diplomatic mission moved in quite recently so that explained why everything looked new. Dr. Zahratul, the MSD Officer for the Eastern region, was there. So suprised to see her remembering my name. In fact, she remembered many students' names.



About Washington D.C., it's a city where buildings are not closely built. There are no high rise like in New York. To me, the city's like a park where's there's less air of business around. Smithsonian Musuems were many around and are the tourist magnets. There's a huge memorial of Abraham Lincoln. So huge that the steps to his giant statue were as many to Sibu's Sacred Heart cathedral. We visited Arlington Cemetery where the assasinated Kennedy brothers were interned together with Jacky Kennedy and JFK's babies who died during birth. We were astounded were the huge number of white tombstones of the dead soldiers there.



 

Lots to write about but need to finish a stack of homework for this week. Will try find to write asap.





The Prime Minister came for slightly more than an hour to give us his advice and his vision for the country.

My bag is packed for Washington D.C. tomorrow and I have to bring my suit along. sigh since the high tea with the Prime Minister will be a formal occassion. Ah, the word Prime Minister still lingers around Tun Dr. Mahathir despite his retirement last year. He was there for so long that I grew up knowing no other Prime Minister except Mahathir.

 

I borrowed Bob's spindle of downloaded episodes of 24 and Monk. 24 is an interesting drama series where by a season is a story of a full day. So, an hour-long episode is about an hour. 24's about this Counter Terrorism Unit expert who's battling a conspiracy on the assasination of the African American Presidential candidate.

 

There's one flaw though. It seems unrealistic to have so many actions in a hour. I don't know about the rest but certainly in a hour for me, there's a certainly some period of daydreaming. In other words, there are periods of time  when mind just slows down and perhaps go blank. In 24, every single second has an action or a conflict. What sets this drama series from the rest is that it each episode has tail or ending. Basically, it's a 24-hour long movie cut into 24 parts.

 

On Monday morning, the Prime Minister will be meeting President Bush at the White House and in the afternoon, he'll be meeting us. Kenneth and I agree how great is it to be included with George Bush in Dato Seri Abdullah's agenda for the day.

I have a shitload of work to do, man. How am I going to perform my career one day with all these procastinating habit that seems more of a genetic disease incurable even by the latest medicine. My mother and my grandmother will be very disappointed seeing me like this.

For lunch, besides eating, I was watching American Psycho. A year 2000 movie but with a setting in the 80s. It's definitely an R-rated movie. Not a good idea to watch it during lunch.



It's about this young man. Good-looking, ive-league-schooled with a career in an investment company in Manhattan. But he's often jealous of anyone who is better than him. He's even jealous when his colleagues have better business cards. There's one scene where everybody swings out their business cards like a gun, trying to show that who's better. So, he murders anyone whom he feels as a threat. He also murders the prostitutes he brings home. Perhaps the expectation of making oneself better than the rest in every possible way can make u crazy.



But of course, there are other ways that could turn someone into a vicious murderer.

For lunch, besides eating, I was watching American Psycho. A year 2000 movie but with a setting in the 80s. It's definitely an R-rated movie. Not a good idea to watch it during lunch.



It's about this young man. Good-looking, ive-league-schooled with a career in an investment company in Manhattan. But he's often jealous of anyone who is better than him. He's even jealous when his colleagues have better business cards. There's one scene where everybody swings out their business cards like a gun, trying to show that who's better. So, he murders anyone whom he feels as a threat. He also murders the prostitutes he brings home. Perhaps the expectation of making oneself better than the rest in every possible way can make u crazy.



But of course, there are other ways that could turn someone into a vicious murderer.

Another weird dream. This time it's about a trip to Europe. Maybe the movie Eurotrip has quite an impact.



I was backpacking alone and I was at some Scandinavian port town. I was suprised there were Malaysians working there. To be exact, they were Malaysian Immigration Officers. I approached one Malaysian lady and she said the Malaysian Government sent their trainees there to be trained as immigration officers before going back to the country for the actual job. That lady was even from my hometown. In fact, I approached the lady because I had lost my backpack which contained cash and my travel document.



I met two friends of mine who are backpacking Europe as well and we walked together to the train station. On the way to the station, I realized how large was the Malaysian community there. There was a school for Malaysians students and even a mosque that looked exactly like the Shah Alam mosque. Then, I passed a hospital which is built by Malaysians.



At the train station, my friends intended to go to Munich. I told them I was going down to Italy. So, we parted. I woke up and realized it's Sunday morning.

my mind's blank. nothing to write. if i write about what happened today, it would be boring.



i bumped into Carolyn in the Wean cluster today. She saw me editing C codes using Codewarrior and was surprised why I was using the IDE meant for introductory programming in CMU. In a matter a few minutes, she was teaching me a lot about xemacs and how I can using x-win32 and run them off a telnet window. And there was xemacs, a highly reputable code editing tool among the UNIX programming community. The GUI may not be appealing but it has a shitload of functionalities and options. Seeing how Carol tweaked her xemacs and how complex this software is, I decide that my next goal in programming is to learn to use this software. Sorry to say that the internet connection in Webster is not within the CMU network but through Comcast DSL. It's not as fast as CMU's. So, the disadvantage is that I'll be having lagging x displays.



These days life is about watching download movies and dramas, reading and writing answers for World History questions and writing C codes.



i think i want to be a spy and be stationed in Europe.

Had a very unsual dream. Went to Iraq. Was liked by the daughter (ehem) and the son of a popular religious leader there who looked and dressed like the Iranian President, Mohammad Khatami. The son was very friendly but had a flamboyant image like the Libyan dictator, Moammar Ghadafi. Then when I was about to leave the country, the feared government police came to search my house. I think I was with my brother. If I had feared the police, then that Iraq was Saddam's Iraq.

The flight home to Malaysia is a month away. I'm all happy and excited about seeing my family and friends as well as the small little town of Bintulu and the house where I grew up. However, one silly thing is bothering me that. The possible surprise among my family members and friends on how much fatter I've been since I came to the states have kept me wondering how can I lose a significant amount of weight in a month. Fore warnings were given when my family saw my photos. What can they expect, I've been under a meal plan that is enough to feed my brother and I. American drinks and cakes have sky-high levels of sugar (Corn syrup). The intensity of the workload here in CMU kept me from working out (ya ya ya). What more to say about the freaking cold winter that lasted for around 3 months. That too kept me from working out outdoors. Oh, since I live off campus, the CMU gymn seems lightyears away. It seems I have all the reasons not to be able to exercise much for the past 1 year.



It has been the other way round. My younger brother is now boasting that he has lost weight and is even considering joining a mountain bike race in Kapit. Max said he now eats once a day in Northwestern. Very much of a contrast to Max in Shah Alam. My Malaysian seniors have been telling me to join them in soccer every weekend. I just wish the need to exercise is as intense as the need to brush your teeth when I wake up in the morning. I wish that without a day of exercise, I would feel feverish.



Ah, too much whining for something trivial. At least, I am still healthy at the moment.



The Prime Minister is coming to the U.S. the week after next week and the Malaysian Student Department in D.C. are inviting students to attend the meeting with him on July 18. A night stay in D.C. and transportation costs will be on MSD. Will be going. I need to get out of Pittsburgh. I need to see America man! 4 years ain't enough.

Cities throughout America except those with dry spells had their skies lit with fireworks tonight. For Pittsburgh, the pyrotechnics at The Point was spectacular. I've never seen any fireworks show as beautiful as tonight's. There was a large crowd at downtown to celebrate America's Independence. I'll be posting the video clips of the show as soon as I get my camera back.



the crowd at the park was great except for the shooting incident that marred the event. i just got back to the place where my friends and i were sitting. i heard a few shots. i thought they were fireworks warmup so i didn't really bothered. a few minutes later, police officers were shouting for the crowd to make way. i saw this african american man being rushed out of the park on a stretcher.



later when i went home, i checked the local news. 2 youths were shot just before the fireworks started at the park.



http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/news/s_201955.html



Beautiful days are long gone

I can't seem to breathe

Feels like it hasn't been that long

Since you walked away from me



Now I can try to act real strong

But you and I both know

I still think of you that way

And you should know, that



The beautiful lights, the star-filled nights

They don't mean a thing

Cause you were my star

So it don't seem right

Without you here with me



Now I can try to act real strong

But you and I both know

It's hard for me to say

You were my soul



Now I could say that I don't love you no more

And I could say that I've closed the door, for our love

And I could tell you I feel it's time for us to go our separate ways

But baby I just wouldn't be the same

'Cause girl your love is still on my brain



Now when you're in love

It takes time to heal

When someone's broken your heart

And changed just how you feel



Girl I thought that you'd never do me that way

But even after all I still think of you that way



Now I could say that I don't love you no more

(I could say this, I could say this)

And I could say that I've closed the door, for our love

And I could tell you I feel it's time for us to go our separate ways

But baby I just wouldn't be the same

'Cause girl your love is still on my brain



Now love is a game

That we both like to play

Well will I win or lose if I go or if I stay, yea

Even though I try to hide my broken heart inside

Girl you know me inside-out

I can't get you off of my mind



Now I could say that I don't love you no more

(I could say that I, yea yea)

And I could say that I've closed the door, for our love

(Closed the door)

And I could tell you I feel it's time for us to go our separate ways

(No no)

But baby I just wouldn't be the same

(Wouldn't be the same)

'Cause girl your love is still on my brain

(Still on my brain)

I practically spent the whole day out today. Morning was at Strip District with Irwan. Main intention was to get Irwan's new cellphone. I had been eyeing at the the seafood restaurant that has some outdoor seats. During the previous trip to the Strip, I saw lots of people at the restaurant so I told myself I have to try out the food there. So, Bob and I went to the 2nd floor, ordered drinks and was give only a one-page menu. I was surprised with the limited choices. I asked the waitress why so and she told me that the restaurant below was a different one. So, we paid our drinks and moved downstairs. It was so funny. Sigh. Contrary to what I had expected, the food wasn't that great at least to my standards. We both had pastas and seafood but I think I can make a better pasta sauce that the one I had. A pricey lunch it was but we comforted ourselves by saying sekali sekala takpelah (once in a while).



We rushed home in time to catch the bus to Waterfront since we booked the 3.30 pm Spiderman 2 show. It was a good sequel since the outcome whether M.J. would discover Spiderman's identity. I thought she wouldn't find out. It would be a disappointment if she didn't. So, she found out who Spiderman is and became a runaway bride. Now, she's with Spiderman but I think the sequel would not be much on Pete's relationship with M.J. anymore. That kiss in Spiderman 1 is no longer a mystery to M.J. She now knows who's that great kisser.



It's 4th of July. God Bless America!

Pink-shirt girl at chess.cyert.andrew.cmu.edu



I'm sick of Php-nuke. Almost every portal that I visit these days run on php-nuke. Despite being able to change the skins for it, still the basic structure of php-nuke is there. Why can't some other group of people come up with a better designed portal system?



I'm sick of php-nuke because I had a horrible time installing it. Once installed, there were only 6 members who registered. That's why I'm sick of php-nuke.

ah. i just feel so freaking horrible. down with a fever. first with a sore throat. now with a flue. how much worse can it get? a terrible cough that will last a week? i've been in front of computers since this afternoon. i'm not a programmer neither am i chatting with my girlfriend as if i have one. so wth am i doing in front of these machines all day. i'm just an internet addict.



eunice and kenneth gave me an apron today. maybe because i used to complain that my shirt will get dirty when i cook for dinner. so kind of them. even there's an embroidered 'APIN' on it. yes, people call me the meal plan for provider for the summer. providing dinner for myself and four other friends. it has always been chicken everyday. beef and pork are out of the question. fish is too expensive in this part of America. Lamb is too costly and some may not like it.



I wish there's some other domestic animal that most ppl will eat. Something as universal as chicken but tastes different and yet still as delicious. or maybe it's just the way i cook my chicken nearly everyday. baked at 350F.