Drum sifu wannabe...

Wanna learn how to drum....no not hum, drum. No, not drumming on your beer bellies...on actual drums. How?......Yes, yes I know. You can't find one class in your town. For KL flers, this may not be a problem. But for other small towns...say like Kuantan, Seremban, Kemaman, Kerteh....most East Coast region states do not have a proper drum clinic that you can go to. How can I learn at home? Here's what you can do. Learn the basics of drumming rudiments. What the heck is that? "Rudiments" if you look thru thesaurus simply means basics, essentials, fundamentals....etc. Firstly, stroke play (dont think dirty ok).

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There are various types stroke play. Im gonna teach you the 1st one, which is the single stroke roll. All you need is a drum pad (you can buy this from a local music store or make 'em). How to make 'em. Simple.......1stly, buy a chopping board (preferably to wood ones). Then try to get a used bicycle tube (cut em to square pcs 15cm x 15cm) and nail em on the board and voila!!! you get a self made drum pad. And next, of course you need a pair of decent drum sticks. If you wanna have a good one, then Id advise you to get Pro-mark, Vater or Zildjian drumsticks. Costs you about RM40. Ok.......single stroke roll. Simple, just follow this :-

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R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L

(R=Right Hand, L=Left Hand)

Consistently hit the drum pad from your right to left to right to left....(if you have a metronome, for those who once played piano, then you can set the speed of your stroke)

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example below

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This concludes our first lesson. Now pay me my money....... :P

Amazing pictures...winners from National Geographic Magazine

I was surfing the National Geographics site and discovered these most amazing pictures. All were winners of their own respective categories, and I would love to share them with you. Feast you eyes on theseeeee....

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Elbow drummer...if only I can do this.

What to do if stopped by a Malaysian police

This post was taken from my mail quite some time ago. Rachel asked me the question on what to do if you're stopped by our Malaysian police and I decided to share with all of you. I'm not trying to scare anyone here but many tragic assaults have been happening by the "so-called policemen", they're dressed in sheep clothings but they're actually the wolves.

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This is is very useful information. Please pass it on to your friends and family, especially the women folk!The next time you are stopped by persons who claimed they are plain clothes police, you are under no obligation to answer their questions or follow their orders, lawyers told Malaysiakini today.
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’Policeman who is not wearing his uniform does not have the authority to stop anyone,' lawyer and human rights activist Sivarasa Rasiah said.

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Sivarasa was commenting on the alleged gang-rape of an 18-year-old Uni student by four men claiming to be police officers on New Year's Eve. The girl said that her car was stopped in Taman Tun Dr Ismail in Kuala Lumpur and were asked by the men to open the car bonnet. She was then told that she had committed an offence and ordered to follow the men to a police station. The girl was driven in her car along the North-South expressway to the Tapah-Cameron Highlands road before she was raped in an oil palm estate.

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This incident, and many others, have sparked confusion over the procedures which motorists must follow when flagged down by the police. The most common problem is that most people take instructions without determining if the other person is really a cop,' lawyer Annie Santiago said.

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However, if you are stopped by a uniformed policeman, then you are required to stop. But you need not get out of the car because you are not expected to do so, Santiago said. He other rule to follow is to provide your identity card only when you are asked to do so. 'Even then, you should get his ID first to confirm if he is a cop. There is no harm in calling the relevant police station to verify if he is supposed to be on duty that day,' Sivarasa said.

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Both lawyers said that motorists should never follow an officer to the police station unless one is under arrest . 'If you are not sure, and your instincts tell you that something is wrong, then drive off to the nearest police station and lodge a report,' Sivarasa said.

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In response to the alleged gang-rape of the 18-year-old, Women's Aid Organisation executive-secretary Ivy Josiah called on the police to launch an education program to teach the public about their rights to prevent them from being victimised by bogus police officers.

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Procedures to follow in the event you are stopped by uniformed police Officers while driving:

1. Stop the car and wind down your window.

2. If the police officers ask for your documents, request to see their IDs first.

3. If you are satisfied about their identity, ask them if you are being summoned, and for what offence.

4. Produce your identity card and driver's license and wait to collect your summon ticket.

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In the event that the police officers ask you to follow them to the police station:

1. Ask if you are under arrest and for what offence.

2. If you are not under arrest, you have the right to leave.

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In the event you are flagged down by persons you believe could be plain clothes police:

1. Do not stop because plain clothes police officers do not have the authority to stop you.

2. Drive to the nearest police station and lodge a report (the same procedure applies to pedestrians).

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In the event the police come to your house:

1. Do not let them in before checking their IDs.

2. If you are not satisfied, phone the nearest police station and confirm if they had been sent to your house.

3. You are under no obligation to allow them into the house if they don't have a search warrant.

4. Do not go with them if you are not under arrest.

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In the event persons who claimed to be plain clothes police come to your house:

1. Do not let him in because they do not have the authority to do so.

2. Lodge a report at the nearest police station.
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I trust this post may be of some use to my readers as they were to me.

Buka puasa at Megaview Hotel

Since we are in the third week of Puasa, it is only appropriate for me to post something about it. The bank had our "Majlis Iftar" at Megaview Hotel, Kuantan. The food was actually not bad. Lots of choices at only RM30++ per pax...but of course, the bank paid for it. For our Muslim colleagues, they wore baju melayu and for the non-Muslims, we had to put on our batik shirts, just to make it a little formal. I tried to put on my old baju melayu. The last I wore those were about a year ago...but man!!! I couldnt fit into that damn thing....%&^!#*@. I am fat!!!

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Anyways, back to the main topic. The buffet spread was quite good. I am a good eater when it comes to a course dinner but never during a buffet. Here are some of the stuff that I cramped into my belly, and of course I tried to practice my photography skills.

The main dish...I think I had some sotong, soto ayam, ikan keli goreng and vegetables.
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Ikan goreng with some raw vege and my favourite....sambal belacan. A must with every malay cuisine.
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Next up was Laksa Johor. The portion I took was a tad too small. A little dissapointed with the laksa though.....
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Desserts......choc cake, some pudding and local kuih sagu.

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I'm actually not a pudding freak...but when I saw this served, I had to have one. And it'll look good in photography...hehehe
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Not much ingredients in their ABC....just some bits and pieces of sweet corn, syrup and nuts.
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I took these but didnt eat them.....now tell me, who eats jeruk for dinner!!!
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....and of course some fruits.
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Saw these hanging from the ceiling....decided to practice.

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Our tables were decorated with white roses.....looked a little dry, but what the heck!!!

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And of course, after dinner we had our regular chit-chat and "busybodying" about work and craps. Overall, dinner time was fun coz its not always all of us get together for dinner. And since Hari Raya is coming very, very soon...Id like to wish my Muslim readers (if there is....) a very Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri & Maaf Zahir Dan Batin.....cheers & God bless.

Road Covers Only In Japan

The Japs are so creative, even the road covers were artistically made. This is one of the many reasons for visiting Japan..... and it is my number one priority in my wish list.

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I wonder what will happen if our Malaysian government were to do this as well. I can positively say that these covers would be stolen in just 5 minutes.

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Sunset Photo

Here are 2 shots which I took yesterday from Kemaman. I reached Kemaman at about 7.00pm and it was raining from Gebeng, Kuantan. Tell me what you think...

This was right outside of Rachel's house in Kemaman. Too bad there was a telephone line smacked right in the middle of the picture.

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This second shot is about 5km away from Kemaman town. I just cannot "tahan" but to ask permission from Rachel to stop by at the road side.

D.I.Y. Slippers

Do you a pair have cosy bedroom slippers? If you don't, well....you could always drop by 7-Eleven, or Watson's, even Guardian Pharmacy's to purchase one at the cost of about RM10-RM15. With the rising inflation that Malaysia had to suffer (at about 8.5% now actually), you could always try to do one for yourself at a much lower cost. The materials could be purchased from any leading supermarkets....heck, even your nearby "kampung" mini markets. Look no further, the solution is HERE !!!! All you need are......THREE PAIR OF LADIES PADS. Yup, you heard it right. It doesnt matter what brand it is. However, the more expensive it is, the more comfy your bedroom slippers will be. Ok now, I'll guide you step by step :-

STEP 1

Get 3 pairs of your own ladies pads (for ladies), for men "pinjam" from your mrs or gf....

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STEP 2

Lay one flat on the floor, preferably the side with the best absorption for liquids below.

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STEP 3

The second pad is to be folded as per the above picture

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STEP 4

Lay the 1st pad in between the folded pad with the second a little bit to the front. Now take the 3rd pad and lay it on top of 1st two pads and glue them together.

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STEP 5

Once the glue are dried, now turn them over to the front. Add some "bling blings" if you want to for decoration. The examples on the top picture are silver starfish and green pineapples decor.

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FINALE

......and voila!!! You have a nice comfy bedroom slippers. The advantages are you wont be stepping on dirt all the time, your slippers could absorb all the moisture in your room (should you have spilled any drinks or whatever liquids.....?) and....you can walk around the house showing of your latest creation with "bling blings" all over. Now this is what you call "THINKING OUT OF THE BOX".

The secret of success

1. Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission. Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. In the long run, we only hit what we aim at.

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2. Life is what we make of it, always has been, always will be Life itself cannot give you joy, unless you will it. Life just gives you time and space, it’s up to you to fill it.

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3. Every day matters.

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4. Never, never, never, never give up. Make a success of living by seeing a goal and aiming for it unswervingly. You never really lose until you stop trying.

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5. Champions believe in themselves even if no one else does. In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can. They can because they think they can.

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6. To move the world, we must first move ourselves. Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right. It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.

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7. A mistake is only a mistake if you don’t learn from it. Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they are supposed to help you discover who you are. If I had to live my life over again, I’d dare to make more mistakes next time.

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8. Winners make goals, losers make excuses.

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9. The path of no risk is the biggest risk of all.

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10. Early one morning, an old man was standing on the beach throwing back starfish that had washed ashore in the night. The man was weak and very old. Each throw took a little more energy out the man, but he kept on throwing. The beach was covered so you could hardly take a step and not find another dying starfish. A young man approached the shoreline and asked the old man what he was doing. He replied “I’m making a difference.” The young man looked around and laughed “A difference? There are probably a million starfish on this beach, you can’t possibly think you will make a difference. The old man picked up another starfish and said “It makes a difference to this one...” and threw back into the sea.

Happy random pictures....

There comes a time of the day, or maybe a day of the week that one would feel depressed and down, having to work "too" much that you had to skip breakfast and lunch, you do not even have the time to go to the loo, and reading the papers gave you the chills about the government making you feel like punching someone or something in the face.

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Men do have "PMS" too you know.

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These "pms" times are so much rampant now. Maybe I need to see a psychiatrist......But even so, I have my own method to release stress...no, not screaming to the top of my head, and no.....I dont go slapping peoples' faces. I'll just pop open some happy rampant pictures which I had saved in my handphone, some of Rachel's pictures (the love of my life), my funny pictures, my nieces and mom's pictures. Just to share with you, here goes :-

Rachel at one of her cousin's wedding in Awana Kijal, Terengganu

Me and Rachel on our way to church

Rachel looking absolutely lovely in her wedding gown......melts my heart

One of Rachel's buddy drew this.....aiyo, why I look so chubby ar?

"ROCK ON!!!" Me having breakfast in Old Town Kopitiam

Mum and my nieces in Pizza Hut

Absolutely adorable Phoebe......I'm wondering why she has the peace sign whenever she took pictures.

Me and Zarni doing the "Wong Fei Hong" at this year's Chinese New Year Customers Appreciation Dinner at Hyatt Regency Resort.
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p.s. Now my stress level has dropped from 100 to 20 in an instant...hahaha. Haih!!! Monday!!! Why so much tension one ar??? Tell me, tell me.......*sigh*

Will you help me...? Puh..leezzzzz

After reading cleffairy's blog yesterday, it made me ponder and think of a topic to blog today. As Malaysians, we were taught in school to be good and obedient children from our moral and agama classes. Always listen to your parents, and if you were a Muslim, you'd have to perform your prayers 5 times a day. Do not cheat, do not steal, do not tell a lie and always...always lend a helping hand in time of need. This is the topic I wanna talk about today. "LEND A HELPING HAND IN TIME OF NEED". Now, I'm not going to be bias about any race or religion, just facts and truths, and random thoughts.

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One of my good friend Lee, once told me of his encounter with an accident. The story goes like this........

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On his way back home from school, he and another of his classmate was cycling thru the usual road, minding their own business. They stopped at a junction to take a shortcut. While waiting for the traffic to clear, he noticed a pair of legs under a bus tyre. Then he pointed out to his classmate to look. The more they stared at those pair of legs, they became more curious. So Lee decided to head over nearer to the bus...To his shock, it WAS a pair of legs belonging to an old lady, who was trampled against the bus's tyres. Her body was crushed from the waist down and she was splattering blood all over. Nobody noticed this, or maybe nobody WANTS to notice this. Lee and his buddy threw away their bicycles and ran towards the old lady and shouted for help. After about 30 seconds or so......typical Malaysians scurried over to WATCH the event. Lee was calling for help, asking someone to call for the police and the ambulance. Nobody called....just stared. "Aiyo kesian!!!" "Aiyo what happened ar?"....at this point, I am really embarassed to call myself a Malaysian....*sigh*. So Lee ran towards the traffic and practically put himself in danger to stop a passing car.....1st car said cannot lar, dirty my car seat (Chinese).....2nd car said cannot lar, no time (Chinese), 3rd car said cannot lar, not on the way (Chinese). All three cars were Chinese drivers.......so sad. The 4th car was a Malay and he said....cepat-cepat, mana orang tu.

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I am not saying that all Chinese are like this, but generally speaking.....in situations like this, you can hardly find a Chinese offering help in time of need. Call a tow truck, boleh lah......call for police, boleh lah......put in an old lady with blood all over, who will in turn dirty your car's cushion seat.....errr, next car can ah?

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I myself was put into a situation when I met with an accident riding my bicycle back home from school. A motorcycle banged with from behind and I flew like superman.....practically flew. I twisted my ankle, had scratches over my hands and legs, bruises on my body......and that fler took off. Nobody came to my aid......I mean nobody. I was in a Chinese neighboorhood. I picked myself up, limping towards my bicycle...which was practically bengkok. A Malay man who saw the incident from the adjacent traffic light took a right turn and came to help me. He asked me whether i want to go to the hospital or go home....I said go home, should be ok. He fetched me home with his buruk Honda kapcai.

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So what can i say about this......as bad as it may sound, we Chinese (not all ok) do not care of others as the Malays do. This is a fact. "Lei sei, lei ge si - You die, you're on your own). Sounds familiar? Maybe its because of their religious teachings that whenever you help someone, you're gain extra points (pahala), or maybe its their way of saying, you help me, I'll help you.....but for whatever reason it is...you can count on the Malays for help.....a Chinese, maybe.....

Will he really quit...??

"If I want to leave before 2010, I can do that,'' Abdullah told reporters. "I will hand over certain duties to him (Najib) from time to time.''

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........Paklah's resignation would really....I repeat.... really make lots of Malaysians happy, other then his own cronies of course. But then again, if he hands down his resignation to Najib, would it make things better. Would the happy Malaysians rejoice only to know that their lives would be in a greater stockpile of shit than ever before? Since the 916 issue did not come into play, it means that we still had to endure BN's "cruel" bashing. Our economy has taken the plunge and are in deep waters...our KLCI has been declining and most likely to hit the 1000 mark. What are "they" gonna do about it?

And still they are blabbering about whos right or wrong, whos more powerful than the other, who can stick their pole into someone else's butt hole......come on!!! Do the RAKYAT a favour....shut your huge gap and do something!!!!!

Im gonna get this.....yeahoo!!!!

OR

After months of calculating and re-calculation, budgetting and re-budgetting, evaluating the pros and cons of getting a new car.........Rach & I came to conclusion to purchase either the all new facelifted Honda Jazz or the new Impul Latio Hatchback. Why? With the uncertainty of our nation's policies and rising inflation, why on earth do you want to buy a car now?.....

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Im currently driving an Iswara.......much to my dislike and due to my shortage of cash 2 years back, I have no other option but to settle with a Proton. The car itself didnt give me much problems, yes they were creaks and sounds coming from the car after just 5 months driving, having bumped around the corners from some ignorant stupid drivers......I still must give her the credit, being able to sustain our harsh Malaysian road conditions and my driving "skills".

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When is "the" best time to buy a car? Now, wait for another year, another 5 years or maybe not buy at all. As many of you are aware, Proton cars devalue at a higher percentage over other makes. The longer I wait, my car would have no value at all. Furthermore, a new car could consume less petrol than the existing Mitsubishi engine, that drinks petrol as fast as it pisses. So why wait?

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Then it came to the final stage......choosing a brand, a Honda or a Nissan. I wanted a white Honda with the sexy curves but Rach wanted a red Impul Nissan Latio coz there were not many Impuls around town, so can actsy a bit lar.....especially in Kuantan. We didnt argue, we talked and talked and talked....but did not come to a conclusion. And so, here we are still talking...to this very day. Based on the technology, I think both cars are almost equal, the price almost at par, the shape.....both sexy. So guys, what say you?