S.H.E

S.H.E is one of the most popular female group artist from Taiwan. They are also one of the longest surviving idols in Taiwan for about 8 years with 11 albums up-to-date. That is probably due to that they are not some pretty-faces like a lot of idols today, they came out from singing competition, with Selina winning the contest while the other two reaching finals. They had also won a couple of golden melody awards and also many other awards. So they are what you called "More Than Meet The Eyes"- they are currently labelled by media as "The Number One Girl Group" But out of the three members, i like the Hebe the most.



The reason i started to like them is.........
One day few years ago, my sister was searching for posters of F4(pretty-faces, hahaha) from a magazine and then i saw S.H.E poster but don't know who they are at all. So i just took it and paste in my room. Then i decided to buy their album the next day, which is their second album. That is when i started to like them, immediately after i bought the second album, i went to buy the first and second combined vcd album the next day. Since then i started to collect their albums, hunting from Singapore and all over Malaysia- Limbang, Miri, Sarikei, Labuan, KL...

If you have ever visited my old room, you will see my previous madness regarding them, i have probably 50+ posters of them totally covering the whole of my room and still there are a lot more which i don't have anymore space to put up. i cut out different newspaper articles concerning them, buy anything with pictures of them. An act of crazy fans.


After such long backgrounds, it is time for me to showcase my collections of S.H.E
First of all, the shelf space i use to keep all my collection:


When you take it all out, it will looks like this:



I will separate all those into categories-

All the albums:


More of other CDs, VCDs, DVDs:


Official Books:


Other Magazines:


These are only a few of the magazines, there is more.

Two files and a folder full of...
Newspapers Articles Cutouts:



Photos of different sizes:



Stickers:



Jigsaw Puzzle:


Hanging Cloth Posters:

These are the only two hanging posters i have. But if its paper posters, i have more than a hundred. Too many to be shown here.

Files:


Calenders:


Fake display cds:


Postcards:


And

Other Gadgets:




My biggest regret is that i have never watch their concert live and also i have never got their signatures. The closest they came to, was to Miri to have a mini concert about 6 years ago. That time i was so happy because my cousin wanted to bring me there so i beg and beg and beg my parents to let me have holiday for one day, JUST ONE DAY!!! It's a lifetime opportunity as a fan to watch them life. BUT They just won't allow, giving reasons like it won't benefit you, study is more important bla~ bla~ bla~ WHY WHYYYYYY can't they understand a teenager? Why can't they understand what i really want? Just one day won't kill ba, it will instead makes me super happy right. I was sooooo disappointed. My disappointment gets to the highest peak when the night, the same night S.H.E is holding their concert, my parents brought us the whole family to Chung Hwa Middle School to watch SIAO HEI... the indian singer who sings chinese from Malaysia. WHAT THE HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!! Disappointment up to maximum, Mood down to minimum. That day is no doubt one of the BIGGEST LETDOWN of my life.

Lastly, if you truly is a S.H.E fan, then you might have notice one special feature about their album. That is, the logo of clover is found in each and every albums for theirs; it's just that it is in different design. Too bad as for the newest-11th album, the trademark logo only appear in the Taiwan version of album.


left to right--> first to tenth album

Future plan of mine

Recently, i had been thinking about what i should do after i graduated from ITB. Should i carry on degree or should i work? What will i gain from getting a degree? It's not like i have no plan for future, in fact i do. I always wanted to have a business so i think why not start it small.

My plan is that after i finish ITB, i will work temporarily to get some income first, for lets say one year. Then after that i should use the money i have to rent a slot in the canteen at Chung Hwa and do a small business without needing lots of capital. If i cannot manage it then i can start degree again the next year. There is still time. I think about $5000 is enough to start. Don't underestimate that, if you had ever study in Chung Hwa, you will know how good business is.



View of canteen:


Let me do some brief estimation for you:
Rent for space is $2000 every month including the need to pay for holiday time. This is what cause many to think that it is too unfair to do so.

Then let's assume utensils and other kitchenwares are $2000 which is quite a huge amount already cos you only need gas and few woks, plates... you don't need huge equipments like ovens.

Then the leftover $1000 you will use to employ a maid and buy foods. Good enough.


So now let me show you a few calculations:

People at the canteen sells chicken for $1 per piece. How much does one chicken cost? About $5 only. And how many pieces can you cut the chicken- 2 thighs, 2 wings, 2 drumsticks, 4 backbones, 4 breasts. These are just assumption.
So you got 14x$1-$5= $9(gross profit before deducting gas and cooking oil) That's a lot of profit for a chicken.


Then they also sell nuggets and balls(fishball, squidball, etc...) Purchasing price of a packet of nugget cost about $8, consisting of about 40 pieces. And the selling price? $1 for 3.
So you get 40/3x$1-$8= $5 gross profit


They too buy LoSan nasi lemak to be sold at canteen again. They buy $0.70 per pack and sold at $1 per pack, making it $0.30 net profit per pack. Imagine how many you can sell per day. Let's just put it a minimal amount at 50 pack per day so you get $15 profit without even doing anything much.


And most profitable is selling drinks which needs to add water; like sunkist orange, wheatgrass... You just buy one big bottle of it only at about $6. Then you add water and sell it cold at about $0.50 per cup. You know how many cups you can produce and sold. Again we take minimal amount. Let's assume we only sell 50 cups.
So you get 50x$0.50-$6= $19 net profit(not counting gas for boiling)

You see what i am trying to say? The profit seems small but actually it's not, this is a business strategy by selling at low price with high quantity sold. I forgot what it is called but income definitely overtake expenses. Accoring to my assumption, with more than 10,000 students, morning and afternoon. Assume only a quarter buy from you with $1 each. It makes $2,500. Then reducing all expenses, i assume that one day net profit will be at least $200 at worst, that means at it lowest. If business is good, a profit of far bigger figure is possible.


Money does not grow on trees. You don't get them, you earn them!


I have discussed about this plan a lot of time with my parents. I asked my dad to take the free space at the canteen but he just won't do it cos he said it's not worth that you still have to pay during holiday without doing business. While my mom always agree with me, supporting my suggestion and she said she will contribute too if i am to really do the business. I think i will in the future.


Don't think of failure before you even try investing, it's not a big investment or business. Every business has its own risk, so it doesn't help worrying too much. It won't cause bankruptcy... If it is not profitable, then how did all the others who were there for about 20 years survive so long until today? Makes sense right?

"La Mian"- the pulling noodles

After that disgusting post about spiders yesterday, today i am back with more introduction to good food i tasted in Brunei. Don't get me wrong, i am not making my blog a food blog. It is still the same as usual; introducing things i think is worth mentioning.

In Brunei, if you heard of 'La Mian'(pulling noodles), the first place you think of is probably going to be LaMee, the first ever 'La Mian' shop in Brunei. But for me, it is not. LaMee is a nice restaurant, no doubt about it but what i wanted to mention about is the small food corner inside Hua Ho on the upper basement in Hua Ho Manggis Mall.

Night view of Hua Ho Mall

Inside here, there is a stand where it sells 'La Mian', made by two chefs from China. There are varieties of noodles to choose from. All the noodles are at reasonable price which is quite cheap, ranging from $3 to $3.50 depending on what you choose, the quantity very satisfying- surely it will fill your stomach full tank.



Out of all the different noodles, i recommend "La Pan Mee with Lamb" the most. Cos the nice smell and taste of the lamb meat blend well along with the taste of different bell peppers. For more than 30 times i think i ate there, i ALWAYS order "La Pan Mee Lamb", i never change it cos it's just too good to change, until everytime i go, the chef will smile and know what i will order.

This is how it looks like:
Dining In


Take Away


There will not be any extra charges for the container.

Another thing that i have to mention earlier before anyone go try it. That is ordering these noodles will be like a lucky draw. Because the vegetables added to the noodles are always changing, you never know what to expect. Sometimes you get bell peppers; maybe just one colour or all three colours, sometimes you get long beans instead, if you are lucky, you may get chinese cabbage, and etc... So you should understand by now what i meant by its like a lucky draw. It's good that way, you get to taste something 'fresh' or new once in a while.
NOTE: The sauce for the noodles is sometimes quite oily.


Long ago(well, not really that long, only a couple of years ago), when 'La Mian' first existed in Brunei, i can't resist of trying to also make them. Nobody teach me how to make it so i just tried it randomly without any knowledge of how to make it. That's how cooking supposed to be right? It's an experiment.

So i "KAY GAO KAY KIANG" go make my own noodle......
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It was a total failure... HAHAHAHA

The end product looks like this:


The look is ok i guess but the taste is quite bland. It still has smell of flour, it is not "Q"(elastic) at all. It just doesn't taste right. Only after that i learned that i did not use "Gee" which is a neccessity for making noodles because it makes them pull-able and extend. Too bad, all the noodle i made, i dumped it. But the leftover flour which i already used, i did not waste it, i turned them into:


Meat Pies with fillings i made:


See how wonderful cooking are, one failure leads to another success as long as you dare try.

So there you go~ Try the 'La Mian' at Hua Ho and you will notice the difference as compared to the one at LaMee. Decide for yourself- which one taste better.

Eight-legged freaks

Today's post will be a little different as usual. Usually i talk bout things that i like, but now this is about something i dislike and FEAR~~~

I had a long chat with my cousin today at work in MSN, he asked me,"You know what..." It makes me very curious and then he said at his house in Australia now, there is a very poisonous spider in the electric circuit. WHAT THE HELL!!! He also provided me a couple of pictures of it.



Yup, the white round balls are the eggs. If you not already know, Australia has unquestionably some of the most dangerous species of spider, the well-known Black Widow is one of those. But the spider above is not Black Widow, but some red ass spider. But surely it's poisonous.

Actually i have a fear for spiders, yes Arachnophobia. This is what i found online regarding the symptom.

Symptoms of spider phobia:

Seeing a spider or only thinking about a spider can result in the following symptoms:
breathlessness, dizziness, excessive sweating, nausea, dry mouth, feeling sick, shaking, heart palpitations, inability to speak or think clearly, a fear of dying, becoming mad or losing control, a sensation of detachment from reality or a full blown anxiety attack.

Out of those, i experienced inability to speak, dry mouth... other than that, i also feels like my hairs are tingling like spiders moving on my body, so i supposed i really do have arachnophobia. I must have the spider i saw, DEAD or else i will have sleeping problem at night usually.

Here is another picture of the spider mentioned earlier



See the spray? It is not ordinary Ridsect, the usual pic of mosquito is replace with spider. It is a kind of spider spray which is a MUST HAVE in countries with poisonous spiders.

Close-up view of the great spray compared to Ridsect:



See the differences?

I wonder whether Brunei is selling this or not, cos i would be 1000000% positive in getting one. Did you read the description in the above photo? 6 months WITHOUT spiders after spray. That's just heavenly!!! Please if anyone saw it anywhere in Brunei, inform me bout it. Cos it may not be possible to ask my cousin to bring it to Brunei, it may not pass the custom due to it is a kind of chemical.

That's about all, but before i finish the post, i would like to say that i too had seen some weird spiders. One of it was at Trusan, my old kampong in Malaysia. I saw a really big and i mean really BIG one, bigger than my palm, no kidding. I don't know the name though, it paralyze me immediately when i saw it but it was killed by my cousin(the same guy i mentioned above) Or else...



Thanks for the photos SHUH!

POOL is the game

Before i start, i would first like to apologize for not keeping the promise of posting yesterday. The reason is due to sudden unexpected happenings. That is why i blog early today.

First of all, my mom always nag me for not doing any sports. Who said so, i did but it's just that it is indoor sport. I like to play pool (billiard not swimming pool) and also watch it on TV. So i am kind of like a fan to this sport. The player i idolized is a Taiwanese professional pool player, nicknamed "the Son of Pool"- Yang Ching Soon (楊清順):




Therefore, as a pool fan, you should see why this collection of mine will be valuable and precious to me.

Once again before i carry on, i would like to emphasize a bit on Brunei. As many people should know, Brunei is a very peaceful country but also in my point of view, it is a weird country in a way that they always do something really UNEXPECTED; such as sudden lifting the ban of selling fireworks, inviting Michael Jackson or Jacky Cheung to Brunei for a concert, etc... Well, maybe that is what the phrase- "Kingdom of Unexpected Treasure" suppose to mean.



You might ask why i wanted to talk about Brunei? The reason is that i am really happy Brunei also did something i did not expect, and that is inviting some of the world's best pool player to Brunei for a mini competition. What makes it even more better is that ITS FREE OF CHARGE to watch!!! I went to the events i think twice out of the three times it was held in Brunei in year 2005, 2006 and 2007, if i had not mistaken.

Fortunately and unfortunately, i had watch my favorite player play live in the stadium but never have the opportunity to get close to him. The security was a bit tight.

However one night during the event in 2007, all the players are not guarded and instead they are sitting in the audiences' seats with some of their friends in Brunei. So i seek this opportunity to approach all those international best players and got these:

Wu Chia Ching


Ricky Yang


Chang Jung Ling


Ronato Alcano



All pool fans should have know who these heavyweights are. Too bad i did not get to get signature from Yang Ching Soon because he did not join during that year, i wish in the future i will get it.

It is real interesting for these "stars and signatures" hunting. I was like scanning through all spectators and find where they are sitting. I approach Wu Chia Ching last immediately after his match, where he points to an open area signaling he will sign there, in order not to affect the other matches carrying on. I was so nervous and was shaking when approaching them to ask for signatures cos nobody did ask for signatures. I am the one who started then everyone saw what i did and follow. The players are all very friendly, they sign with a smile and even say thank you. That's real sportsmanship.