Are You In,Or Out...

Melvyn's Project for a Happy Malaysia!

2006-08-30T20:39:00.000+08:00

Rakan-rakan sekalian,

Selamat Hari Merdeka!

This is my hastily written contribution for Vincent's Project Happy Malaysia. I had originally planned to write something by Monday, but due to exams until Wednesday, it was just too hectic to complete.

Well, this article is mainly about one of my rare experiences with a cab driver. It had happened many, many moons ago when I was still going for tuition during PMR.

You see, normally while I was at that age, my main mode of transportation(aside from getting my Dad to pick me up at night) was public transportion....it being just the bus. I was admittedly quite miserly at that time, and as a rule, never took the taxi whenever I could take the bus.

So what happened one fine day was that my parents were outstation, and I had a replacement tuition class that was scheduled to end at about 9pm. Murphy's Law struck, and I was left outside the tuition centre at 10.45pm.

Now me, being the ever optimistic guy, was so smart that I only brought enough money for a bus and NOT a taxi. Shit, and walking back is not going to be fun at all, as it started drizzling.

OK. So I really have to take a taxi this time. No one to call coz, well handphones weren't that common those days and I didn't have the luxury of owning one. And the public phones...hmm...I guess 'cordless' is the right word.

Never mind, I know what I'll do. I'll take a taxi back home, then borrow money from one of my neighbours to pay the cabbie. Lo and behold, with that thought I flagged down a cab. This one was a little different from the rest I guess because the cab driver happened to have his 8 and a half month pregnant wife sitting in front.

Reached back home. I had kept my eye on the meter as to have a rough idea on how much to ask from my next door neighbour. CRAP! Remember guys, if it CAN happen, it WILL happen. Not one, or two, or even three, but all four of my neighbours were out, empty garage spaces just gaping at me.

For a minute, I was just standing there, stunned by my rather unfortunate turn of events. The fare was around RM8 something, I think it was RM8.60. And I had about RM3-something with me.

And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, it didn't. The cab driver just gave me a sympathetic look and told me to go ahead, "Tak perlu bayar-lah, kali ini tak apa, tetapi jangan buat macam ini lagi ok?"- or something to that effect.(Can't really remember, it was too bloody long ago)

No shit! A KL cab driver letting me of just like that. Maybe its because his wife was in the car, or maybe he was expecting a kid on the way, I don't know. At that time all I could think off was not to look at a gift horse in the mouth, savvy?

Nowadays, there have been many reports in the media about cabbies ripping off customers and the like. Call me naive but hey, you hardly read reports on the good deeds that cabbies do.It only takes a few rotten apples to make the whole barrel go bad eh?

Anyway, thats the only story I can think about currently that I can contribute for this years bloggers Merdeka Celebration.

Selamat Hari Merdeka semua!

Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young...(Filler)

2006-08-28T19:30:00.000+08:00

Ever since it was published in 1997 in the Chicago Tribune, everytime I read this essay it never fails to remind me about what is TRULY important in life. Many of you have probably read this countless times, but hey, is another time gonna hurt that much?

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Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’97... wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be IT.

The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.

I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.

You are NOT as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself, either. Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

Dance. Even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Mary Schmich , 1997

In, Or Out: The Black Bunny

2006-07-27T12:22:00.000+08:00

The Black Bunny from Luke Chueh
I find this quite interesting, mainly because it, in a certain point of way probably reflects who I am, as well as most people around.

Hmm. How many of you people think that this image reflects your own personalities, in one small way or another?

In, Or Out: Semi Precious Stones for a Good Cause!

2006-07-21T23:48:00.000+08:00

‘A SPARKLE OF HOPE’

YOU ARE GRACIOUSLY INVITED TO A FUND RAISING SALE OF
SEMI PRECIOUS JEWELLERY IN AID OF KASIH HOSPICE CARE SOCIETY

DATE: SATURDAY 29TH JULY 2006
TIME: 10.30am – 4.30pm
LOCATION: THE LITTLE NYONYA RESTAURANT
B301, BAYU WALK
MONT KIARA, JLN KIARA 2
50480 KUALA LUMPUR
03 062031823

CONTACT: ANITA CHIN 012-2242126

KASIH HOSPICE CARE SOCIETY is a non-profit, non-governmental organization with a multi-disciplinary team of doctors, nurses and volunteers offering emotional, spiritual and practical support to patients with life threatening diseases such as cancer and AIDS.

They serve clients of any ethnic and religious background, and provide services free of charge. Public donations is their source of income. Therefore the more generous the public, the more they can help people needing hospice services.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Come on guys, this is a great opportunity to buy some good stuff for the gals; and its all for a worthy cause. Even if you are not that interested in the stones, come on by and support this event, coz hey, this is for the elderly and we'll all be there someday.

Are You In, Or Out: Took a Jap quiz..is this me?

2006-07-10T03:04:00.000+08:00

Answered this quiz during the half time break between the World Cup Final between France and Italy...while Shakira was performing. Bah..

You Are a Sarariiman!

Or "salaryman." Whatever. Treadmill off, treadmill on.
Most of the sleep you get is on Tokyo's extensive subway system, since you are putting in 14 hour days.
You're a workaholic who works hard for no overtime. And vacations? Forget about it.
You spend most of your trip hunting around for gifts to bring back all of your coworkers.

What's Your Japanese Subculture?

In, Or Out: North Korea with missiles?

2006-07-05T07:03:00.000+08:00

Just a personal view.

North Korea test-launched 3 missiles, 2 short range Scud-like and one long-range Taepodong-2, the launch of a fourth missile was being determined.

All during the Germany Vs.Italy game.

From CNN.com

'North Korea test-launched a Taepodong-2 missile early Wednesday along with two short-range rockets, but the long-range missile apparently failed, U.S. officials said.

North Korea's preparations for a long-range missile test have been closely monitored for weeks. A senior State Department official told CNN the Taepodong-2, which some U.S. analysts fear could hit the western United States, appears to have failed in flight.

Military officials told CNN the long-range missile appeared to have failed less than a minute after launch.

Two smaller North Korean missiles were fired from a different site shortly before the larger missile was tested, U.S. intelligence and State Department officials said.

U.S. military sources said those two missiles landed in the Sea of Japan, one closer to Russia and the other closer to Japan.'

IMHO, although the official report says that the launch of the long range missile failed which indicates that North Korea is still years away from launching a proper ICBM(Inter-continental Ballistic Missile), I think it is just a short time before North Korea causes a major global crisis, looking at the way they stick their fingers up to everyone else.

Just something to ponder...

Edit: Italy won 2-0 in extra time. Tough luck for the Germans.

In, Or Out: Fast & The Furious - Tokyo Drift

2006-06-16T02:17:00.000+08:00

Just watched Tokyo Drift, before the match between England and Trinidad and Tobago.

First of all, I would just like to mention a little about the previous installments. The first movie with Vin Diesel was basically the life of street racers that hijack some semi-trailers. It tried to concentrate on aspects of life as a skilled street racer and an undercover cop that is stuck in between.

Then we have 2 Fast 2 Furious. Aside from the first race and race for between the Mitsubishis and the Dodge Challenger & Camaro, it kinda lost its heading as a storyline, meaning that it almost had nothing to do with street racing. It felt more like a cop show with specialist racers.

Now Tokyo Drift. I would just say it has gone back to street racing, just in a new place (ie not in US of A). Overall I would call it definitely better then the 2nd movie and almost on par with the first movie. Gone are the NOS except for one scene and its all about rear wheel drive now. New cars are in, mostly Japanese with the slight feeling of inevitibility of an American car showing up in the form of a Ford Mustang for the 'American Muscle' aspect. Anyhow I don't think it was possible to put a Skyline engine into a Mustang that easily.

This show featured an EVO 9,RX-8, a few Fairladies, Nissan Silvias and a few others that I can't really recognise cause it just whizzed by. The characters were talking about a Skyline but I must have missed it cause I didn't see it. There was a Viper at the beginning and oh yeah, a familiar looking Camaro at the very end. I won't spoil it, but the last few minutes and the oh-so-cool cameo made me like this show a lot more, which kinda leaves it open for another Fast and The Furious installment.

Overall, nice to watch especially for the cars and the hot Japanese girls. The races are better(especially the first one) to watch except for the last race, where I think the Toyota Corolla AE86 in Initial D shows a way better performance. But, thats another story altogether.

Another World Cup post....on Balls...

2006-06-13T10:07:00.000+08:00

Why the new Adidas Teamgeist football is a bane for goalies?

'In the opening match of soccer's World Cup Friday, German midfielder Torsten Frings scored an amazing goal from 40 yards out. The ball started off straight and then tailed sharply to the right in the last 10 yards or so. It was an unstoppable shot, but with a different ball it might have been a simple save.

A scientist has explained why a new ball being used in this year's World Cup is frustrating goalies.

The new Adidas Teamgeist football, as it is called, has 14 panels instead of the 26 or 32 that traditionally create the hexagonal pattern.

Fewer panels means fewer seams, which will make the ball behave more like a baseball, says Ken Bray, a sports scientist at the University of Bath in the UK.

Complex whirls of air cause a spinning ball to drift toward the side that's spinning away from the ball's direction of movement. A ball that's not spinning can bounce around unpredictably. Pitchers rely on this physics when throwing knuckleballs.

A good knuckleball is crazy because the ball rotates lazily in the air and the seams disrupt the air flow around the ball at certain points on the surface, Bray said.

"With a very low spin rate, which occasionally happens in football, the panel pattern can have a big influence on the trajectory of the ball and make it more unpredictable for a goalkeeper," Bray said last week.

Bray suggests one way to watch for the effect on TV.

"Watch the slow motion replays to spot the rare occasions where the ball produces little or no rotation and where goalkeepers will frantically attempt to keep up with the ball’s chaotic flight path," he said.'

Hmm...I didn't realise this until watching the slow-mo replays of another game. Wonder who standardise these balls, and what is the criteria?

In,Or Out: Books and readers...

2006-06-01T01:09:00.000+08:00

Ever wonder why some people read loads of books and others just don't bother? And I'm talking about novels be it fiction or non-fiction, not those that you have to study for exams.

For me, I was definitely in the nerd/geek department. I still remember my primary school days, where I always sit at the back of the class reading a science fiction novel or fantasy book, either a Forgotten Realms, Star Wars, Raymond E. Feist and David Eddings. As a matter of fact, I still keep up with those books nowadays 12 years later when I have the time. To me its always a pleasure to escape into the realm of imagination. Although nowadays its more of Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy and Lee Child. (I refuse to mention Dan Brown; thats just a bandwagon)

Anyhow, remember there was a survey done some time back saying that the average Malaysian only reads about 2 pages of a book A YEAR! When I first read that I couldn't believe it, comparing myself at the age of 15, consuming loads of books per year depending on my pocket money and the availability of old paperbacks from 2nd hand bookstores.

But today, it still eludes me why the average Malaysian reads so little. No time, no interest etc all seem to be the most common excuse I hear but somehow, I just can't get it. But then, I'm just 23 years old, what do I know?

In,Or Out: X Men 3

2006-05-26T03:40:00.000+08:00

Definitely out...

There are some spoilers, but since its such a crappy show, you shouldn't worry much....

What the heck does it mean, The Last Stand? With all the hype, I was having visions of all the mutants in one big war with really cool fight scenes. I suppose "The Last Stand" probably refers to where the scriptwriters all line up in a row waiting to get shot.

Actually, aside from the Golden Gate Bridge being relocated, everything else about this movie is at the most, mediocre at best. The one thing I liked about the previous X Men movies was the one-on-one fight scenes between the superpowered mutants. This time round, it was all too disappointing. Storm kicking around some unknown mutant around, Iceman against Pyro etc, in a word, was ultimately BORING.

And the scriptwriters....how could they produce such horrendous material? I know, they are trying to get Wolverine to bring off the show, but at the expense of killing of major characters so early?

It feels like the writers are intentionally trying to get their fans to HATE this show. Its a wonder Stan Lee actually still wanted his obligatory cameo appearance.I guess Bryan Singer was smart to pull out of doing this one, though we'll have to wait for Superman Returns to confirm that.

Long story short, don't waste your money on this show. Save it for the 12% increase tariff electricity bill next month and the 2 hours reading random ramblings of other peoples blogs.

Slow going and fresh beginnings..

2006-05-19T04:25:00.000+08:00

Its a Thursday night(or Friday morning) and I guess that if you can see this then it means that the template completed actually works. Woohoo!

So far this year it has been a whole load of downhill rides into this hell of a deep rut. Not too bothered to go into the details but suffice to say, it has probably been the worse year in my life in ol' Mother Earth....and I say this pretty confidently even though it hasn't even been mid year yet.

Actually I had pretty much decided to let this blog drop into the whole oblivion thats known as the World Wide Web but since I haven't been doing too well, decided instead to start afresh with a new title and template for an outlet for my complaints and rantings...coz if there is one thing I learned this year is that its definitely not good to keep things bottled up inside.

Guaranteed it will definitely eat you up maybe not today, tomorrow but for sure.

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On another topic, it looks like most of the online TV series are having their season finales for the fall and its going to be back to the mostly mediocre shows the cable networks have been saving for...

Will write about my favourite shows some other time when I feel like it.

Bah

Whew...

2006-04-30T16:57:00.000+08:00

Moving on, moving on...

Deciding on a new template now that I have (slightly) more time to waste:).

It will take a few days while I actually figure out what I want and actually get it working.

Heheh....I'II BE BACK...

Coming soon....

2006-04-01T21:00:00.000+08:00

Title says it all... :)

Darn....depression slumps..

2005-09-14T21:08:00.000+08:00

First Vijay, now Sam.

We are with you.. man. Eminem rules. Go in peace.

*Moment of silence*

Having Unis now. Its going too good. To those who know Sam there will be a condolence event at the Main Hall of MMMC. Funeral later at about 3pm( At Christ Church I think). Dunno if I can make it cause Opthalmology final is the next day, and I dunno how to pull through for ENT now for tomorrow.

*Bang head on wall*

MUST MUST STUDY!!

-n-

Quote of the day...

2005-07-18T20:42:00.000+08:00

Quote
"I cannot please everyone everyday.

Tomorrow does not look too good either"

Unquote.

Thats what I would say....

Testing a little geography....

2005-07-16T02:27:00.000+08:00

Was out with my cousin and a couple of ex-classmates for a typical yum char at a local mamak. Turned out to be very informative, this time as one of them (Ben) is currently working as an engineer with BP in Azerbaijan.

Now all you Malaysians out there reading this......do you know where is Azerbaijan?
Yea yea....some place next to Russia, Turkey and someplace else. This just simply goes to say that we can't really complain about other countries not knowing where the hell Malaysia is, if you don't know that.

One consoling fact is that Prav,medical student and all, could and did answer that question which was asked by SC (my cousin).

Just a couple of other facts I learned of Azerbaijan.
1. Population of 4 million
-cool.....how many in KL?

2.Capital name is Baku
-fully admit it, I didn't know it

3.Their clubs have windows in them that let daylight through whilst people are still dancing,
-oook

4.Police cars are slower then normal passengers cars
- never caught anybody without using a loudspeaker did they?

5.Best one, they give parking tickets by unscrewing your number plate and taking it to the police station to wait for you to reclaim and pay fine.

Hmm....all in all I think that was interesting. There were other interesting bits which I may or may not mention later

Mel out

London and explosians....Blimey

2005-07-07T19:35:00.000+08:00

Just wondering,

The day after London gets the highly coveted but not-really-sure-whether-its-good-or-not chance to host the 2012 Olympics, there are major explosions including tubes and double decker buses.

Is it all just a massive coordinated terrorist attack by the Al Qaeda(A Secret Organisation of Al=Qaeda of something in Europe), are or some OTHER group of people that were hoping to get the chance to host the Olympics, more that a little cheesed off.....

Whichever case it may be, one thing is for certain. Nobody is safe. Anywhere. Whatever you may be doing that is safe, it only means that the number of health hazards and the likelihood of something bad happening is simply less.

Now, I'm not saying 'Hit the PANIC Button' or crap like that. Just be more alert in the everyday mundane things that you do.

Just got an SMS from Kelly, saying there were explosians everywhere and things are in a mess but she got to work fine. (My dear, I wouldn't work on a day like this!)

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On another note, my handphone and money got swiped. In the hospital. Damnmit!! An exact example on how alert you all should be. The bastard took my AMOISONIC phone, which I'm sure is quite unheard of in Malaysia, so I'm pretty sure its gonna be an expensive piece of metal in a few hours.

BTW, my handphone number is still the same. Those who have it, send me a SMS with your name in it. If that COSTS too much, simply send it to me here...privately of course.

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PS I just woke up.I don't think I have thought some things through. Anyway, just some 'Mindless Ramblings'

Mel Out.

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Edit: Kelly just sent me another msg saying its chaos there, with constant sirens everywhere. She says its just like 9/11....except that its now 7/7 ?

Melvyn nodding out.

Everyone lies....

2005-06-14T15:03:00.000+08:00

Another great law of life. Everyone lies...

Be it a greater whopper of a story to a little white lie or even telling a girl that her pants does not make her look fat, everyone lies.

Its ok, because to some it is merely a survival instinct and it can't be helped.

But what I REALLY hate is the lady coming into the hospital CLEARLY and blatently pregnant and claims to be a virgin. (Or something to that effect in Malay..)

And it really sucks if you have to take a patient's medical history and she lies about something like that, because the trust is hard to regain.

Lesson to learn, if you are gonna lie....either don't let it be so unbelievable...or don't get caught.

* One possibility is that her boyfriend is a Sith Lord and could use the Dark Side of the Force to get her pregnant with a kid, but I thought I would leave that to George Lucas.

** Michael Jackson just got acquited. Go figure...

*** How did you know I didn't lie about this post?

Money for nothing and hot girls for free...

2005-06-13T19:03:00.000+08:00

One of the great laws of Life....nothing is ever truly and absolutely FREE. No matter what you get or receive it will never come for nothing.

"Free gift", "Free gift". What rubbish. Even the English is wrong being that since a gift is already free, how can you call it a "Free free gift"! Bollocks.

Sorry, I'm easily irritable today...its been a lousy day so far. Just one too many "Free gift" ad.

**Oh yeah, I should think the same goes for the hot girls...

Dialogues..

2005-06-12T19:37:00.000+08:00

Just a few somethings that got stuck in my mind.....

Excerpts from House MD.

"Dr.Cameron: Sex COULD kill you. Do you know what the human body goes through when you have sex? Pupils dilate, arteries constrict, core temperature rises, heart races, blood pressure skyrockets, respiration becomes rapid and shallow, the brain fires bursts of electrical impulses from nowhere to nowhere, and secretions spit out of every gland, and the muscles tense and spasm like you're lifting three times your body weight. It's violent, it's ugly and it's messy, and if God hadn't made it UNBELIEVABLY fun, the human race would have died out eons ago. [pause to breathe deep and stare at each other] Men are lucky they can only have one orgasm. Do you know that women can have an hour long orgasm?"

"Patient: I just want to die with a little dignity.
House: There’s no such thing! Our bodies break down, sometimes when we’re 90, sometimes before we’re even born, but it always happens and there’s never any dignity in it. I don't care if you can walk, see, wipe your ass. It's always ugly - always! We can live with dignity - we can't die with it."

"House: Like I always say, there's no 'I' in TEAM.There's a 'me' though, if you - jumble it up"

If only....

Day in day out...

2005-06-12T13:37:00.000+08:00

Its been repetitive for the past few weeks (about 2 months now) as I'm going through my Community Medicine posting which daily routine can really kinda bore you. Well at least I can sleep the recommended number of hours daily.

I wonder if the other nedical universities have this same routine.......

Time and TV shows wait for....

2005-05-11T22:16:00.000+08:00

Exams are coming up in less then 2 weeks.Did quite poorly in the last one so I really have to buck up in this one....

But.....to those with good internet lines, this is a list of recommendations of TV shows that I will stop watching until my exams are over.Because of its way addicting nature...

1)House MD (Currently season ending)
Ripping good, gives you the image of everything a medical student wants to be.

2)Desperate Housewives (Currently season ending)
Good nightime soap opera. If only us guys get to choose 'housevives' like that....

3)Hustle (Second season just ended)
Revives my faith in British Television. Jaime really reminds me of Liv Tyler and first glance

4)Smallville
What can I say, Kristin Kreuk will always have a special place....

5)CSI(s)
Hard to find a bad episode, though I personally think Miami is the worst comparatively.

6)Revelations
New and interesting at first glance.Maybe because I was always an X-Files fan.

7)Justice League Unlimited
Actually didn't think I would like this one, but the writers of the show are pretty good in throwing in a small saga in 20 minutes...

8)Grey's Anatomy
I'm an 'Izzie' fan....still it could be better if there is more character development.

Thats it for now. Am stopping these shows for now till my papers are over. Next post will probably be the anime shows I watch.

Hah...and double hah...

2005-04-26T22:05:00.000+08:00

Just sitting in my new room with my new streamyx line....

And nothing really to blog about...

Laters...

Hey...and again

2005-02-23T01:05:00.000+08:00

Hmm...haven't updated in a while. I could easily say I had no time but...hey no excuse I guess.

Having semester exams next week. And it really sucks.This is mainly because my * college doesn't even know when our exams are. This is what happens when the teaching faculty and the administrative sides do not see eye to eye...

Actually the real reason I'm blogging is that I'm locked in a friend's house, and all of them has gone out for dinner, leaving me with his air-conditioning on and his broadband internet. This would be kinda dangerous (yeah if anything happens I'm toast;) but I guess I'll have to make the best of it until they come back...Oh yeah, don't ask me how I got locked in here. I don't know.

Heheh....

Mentality? I wonder....

2005-01-23T00:49:00.000+08:00

This happened a while ago,but this came up in a conversation with a few friends yesterday.

It was basically about a woman selling a grilled sandwich supposedly bearing the image of the Virgin Mary for $28,000 and a rock that sold for $2550 which supposedly holds the image of Christ. We came to the conclusion that..

1)There are a lot of suckers out there. For every conmen born, there are.....
2)There are also a lot of conmen out there....

Why? Well, basically I feel that all these supposed images are just plain bullshit. I mean, who can really tell how does the Virgin Mary or Jesus Christ really looks like? Its not like there were photographs during that time or any lasting portraits that lasts 2000 years or more...

Not only that, who can really say what does these supposed images really mean anyway? If you pay $28,000 for a stale grilled sandwich, what would you do with it? I suppose you could look at it at the beginning to enjoy the novelty of it, but whats the point? If it could really heal people and change lives wouldn't the owner simply keep it for themselves?

I really wonder sometimes...how do these people that buy stuff like this actually wear their clothes the correct way everyday, without help?

p.s. if they have money to burn, its easy...just donate it to my college fund...you can contact me here at this site...

Darn....

2005-01-07T17:33:00.000+08:00

Sometimes the extent a guy goes to just to catch a glimpse of a "blessed" female can go a little far.

This morning I went to have breakfast with WH and YC at Taman Tun, who was helping me with a bit of Mandarin translations. WH is a friend that studies overseas and is leaving tomorrow and YC studies at a local college.

Now after breakfast, we sent YC back to his college(WH was driving). As you know, some college students dress to kill sometimes so I just was looking around out of sheer curiosity. While we were driving towards the main building there was this black Wira coming from the other direction, I think looking for an empty parking space. Hey, not bad...about 7/10 based on seeing from one car to another. Told WH, check it out...

WH, either being blind or else with standards that shot up 1000 times after being overseas immedietly said cr@p and told me not to waste my time. 2 seconds after that, jammed on the brakes just to stop in front of that hot girl's car just to take a second look. Hah! Must have scared the bejesus out of her, another car just stopping in front like that.

WH still couldn't take a good look at her(musta been half blind or something...don't know why he was driving anyway..)he drove a little further and stopped just to see her park and get out. Note that we were in the middle of the driveway and other people were also looking at us looking at hot girl then continue looking at the hot girl.Hmm..very good figure...8/10. It was only after we couldn't see her anymore we left, wondering why the hell were we doing.....

Sometimes I wonder...how far would a guy go just to get a better view of the fairer sex?

Darn...

Invincible? I don't think so...

2005-01-06T20:46:00.000+08:00

Something bullsh*t happened a few days back.

I was on my way to play badminton with my father, brother and a friend. My friend was driving us in his spanking new E240.(Naturally being protective as hell).

We had to pass near through a squatters area to get to the badminton hall. Suddenly, out of nowhere this SOB small fry on a bleeding "cub chai" drove by us and started cursing at us, like we drove on his grandfather's road.

Now keep in mind this bleeding SOB is a young, small sized,helmetless,long haired Malay bum who looks high on drugs. What he didn't realise that he was cursing 4 fair-sized guys in the car. Not only that, when the bastard purposely slowed down in front of the car and did several swerves just to irritate us, we slowed down too and the cars behind started making noise...damn, if I was in my van(with kangaroo bars) I would have rammed the bugger and to hell with it.

But since it was my friends new car, and worth way more then some low-life's shit head, we pulled over and let the car behind us(a new Camry btw) to deal with the fucked-up shithead. The dude behind us pulled out all stops and horned the shithead, still pulling his antics like some jackass. Finally he pulled aside (somewhere outside the squatter area)and we all drove by...still that SOB was cursing, swerving and waving his hands like some drunk freak at us.

Screw that little shit, we were already late for our game and we were not about to lock horns with some power-mad little fuck in front of a kampung where he would probably squeal and hide behind the big guys. Definitely not worth it, especially since my friends car probably cost more then have that village put together. Needless to say we just left that bastard cursing and making a bloody fool out of himself.

Note: Motorcyclists are banes to all cars. They think they can get away with banging your wing mirrors and every other street law but start squealing like stuck pigs whenever they get an accident when they break the traffic laws.Heck, even the punishments for motorcyclists arn't too bad. It should be raised to curb such stupid nonsense from these arrogant SOB.

All I can say is that to all drivers out there, if you accidently hit a motorcyclist when the bastard is trying to squeeze where he isn't suppose to be, reverse back and roll over him again....to make sure he is dead. Otherwise its not worth the effort...

Happy New Year 2005.......sigh

2005-01-03T01:10:00.000+08:00

My most heartfelt condolences to everyone affected by the tsunami in the world.

Another year has passed, and so far it has started in a bleak way.

It feels really depressing when one sees the pictures in the papers about the situation overseas especially in Aceh.

Damn, it makes me wonder if I can go there to help out....all I've done now is donate cash (But, being what I am now, I might be doing more harm then good...)
....its now Elective posting month for me and I have about 3 weeks left before I leave to Malacca.

Interesting thing to note...Malaysia was actually hit by a secondary tsunami transferred by shockwaves from the Sumatran coast.

According to some local geologist, we were apparently quite lucky as the Malaccan Straits are quite shallow and this didn't allow the waves to built up.

Well, not to demean anything, but personally I feel that any loss of life regardless of how little in number compared to others is NOT "lucky". Just imagine yourself losing a loved one, and you will know what I mean, if others treat it callously.

Anyway, I just finished my first week of GP elective postings in Rawang. Got to start my project and case reports soon...(nah...got 3 weeks....just chill)

Hmm...the world seems to be falling to pieces. Unbelievable events has occured. If I was on a beach in Penang last week and someone told me a tsunami was coming, I think I would have laughed it off...just think, what would you have done?

Imagine that.

Side note: According to the newspapers, pledges and donations are coming from all around the world, EXCEPT the Middle East. If I remember right, Indonesia has one of the largest Muslim communities in the world...what I'm asking is, are the coffers in other Muslim countries in that part of the world just for their so-called jihad or can it be used to help the disaster victims? Smells of either hypocrisy or plain selfishness to me...

The world is mad.

Oh yeah.....Happy New Year.

Ages ain't it...

2004-10-24T20:19:00.000+08:00

Yup, its been quite a long time since I blogged. Somehow I have lost most of my internet cravings with surprisingly low withdrawal symptoms.Sigh...

Heheh...actually I have nothing much to blog about cause its a long time since I actually wrote something.....so there....

Useless crap!

2004-09-18T08:40:00.000+08:00

Darn, it is getting harder and harder to find a place to blog.

This so because I have now moved away from the "Wasteland" and now am staying temporarily with a couple of friends until I get my own place in the small little town for simplicity's sake I would name it "Humpland".

Hence, without a "Net line in the house (Actually also without a com; my laptop is giving problems:) I am forced to cannibalised my poor classmates Streamyx lines whenever free. (Crap. I should use the library com but thats wayyy to far to walk)

Anyway, blogging will be sporadic until I get a permanent internet line(Damn phone guys;().

Sigh.

Creaming pussies just for you!

2004-09-10T22:20:00.000+08:00

Hahah!

Now if any of you perverts happen to come through this site after a Google search, shame on you....I just want to see how many of you get linked here after searching for porn.....call it "Curiosity with a Creaming Pussy"

Not much time, but now just a general update.....I'm now studying in Malacca to continue the second half of my program. Kinda hectic with finding accomodations so not much time to do stuff...

Heck, not much to say...will do when I think of something....

Cheerio..

Bloody freaking pilot......Part 2

2004-08-27T00:16:00.000+08:00

Oh yeah...

We were stuck in a pretty decent hotel for about 24 hours. The only uptake to that was that I could sit down and watch the Olympics uninteruptedly although it royally pissed me off that all the good badminton matches were over....

Then the marathon began. Not the Olympic marathon, but the lines at the airport. Because of one single plane clogging up the one runway, all consecutive flights were delayed and when we went to the airport later at night the queues were phenomenally long! Hell it took me just 2 hours to even get my boarding pass!

Anyway I'm back home and enjoying all the food I can eat.....argh putting on massive loads of weight...

Hmmm....going to watch AVP later. Should be interesting, at least.

Bloody freaking pilot...

2004-08-22T14:20:00.000+08:00

Dumb crap...

I have entirely lost confidence in MAS.

Guess what? On my final international flight from Bangalore, in what appears to be amazing pilot error, the plane, taxied off the runway, and got its front wheels sunken halfway stuck in the mud.

Yup. That really happened. And with yours truly sitting in seat 33 something oblivious to all this crap. Apparently when the plane was taxiing on towards the runway, the freaking pilot started accelerating too damn early when he was still facing the side of the runway. Freaking hell...

Then, with the usual rigmarole of doing things the hard way, we had to wait freaking ages in the plane until we were allowed to evacuate to the terminal. Then, we waited for another 3 hours before they finally decided that they couldn't dig out the damn plane in the next few hours so they took us for to a hotel to spend the rest of the day....keep in mind my flight was scheduled at 0050 in the morning and I reached the hotel at 5.30am.

The only good shit that happened was that the hotel was not half bad. Heck I even took the bedroom slippers home while Farah took the hotel stationery....

(Continued next post...)

Food...food......I'm coming home.....

2004-08-20T09:16:00.000+08:00

Heheh....

Leaving the wasteland tomorrow. Just finished my viva. Somehow I gotta get rid of all this crap still left in my room. Wonder if I can make any money....

That was fast...

2004-08-17T22:39:00.000+08:00

You know, after all that hype about our Malaysian badminton players bringing back their first Olympian gold medal.....what can I say? Everytime there is a big hoo haa about these sort of thing we always lose...

Serious!If there is any hardly any mention of any tournament in the papers, next thing you know, "So and so" just won the tournament. Then all the hype begins again only to watch them fail the next tournament...

The only upside I noticed this time were our female players, which actually qualified on merit this time. Even when they lost to the 3rd seeded Chinese pair, I think if they keep this up they can really perform much better next time round...

Sigh..

Let The Games Begin

2004-08-13T02:29:00.000+08:00

Hahah,
This is the time where athletes all over the world come together under a flag of truce.

The ATHENS 2004 Olympic games begin!

'm sure there's gonna be lots of controversial stuff that will grab your attention so sit back and enjoy....

Till next,

Everyone on the bandwagon...

2004-08-12T22:44:00.000+08:00

I should be studying now...

BUT...

When I was just browsing through a couple of blogs(Actually it was quite alot) I realised that almost everyone made an entry about the now infamous "sex-romp" in a Kancil.

Is it because it just happens to be a conincidence that most people are plainly captivated by the act? Or is it that most people have those *deep subconcious desires* to perform such an act, akin to joining the "Mile High" club? I think Freud wrote about something like that...

Still, I must admit that copulating in a Kancil is quite a feat, considering its about the size of my cupboard....

Hmmm

Oh well...

2004-08-12T21:14:00.000+08:00

Argh.

Sat for my Pathology paper today. Did my best. Hope to scrape through. Damn. Wrote wrongly about bronchiectasis......

Its a wierd feeling...After cramming and slogging through the last 2 and a half years and cramming whatever crap into your head, it all boils down to a 3 hour written paper.

If you actually think about it, basically your future depends on what you know within that 3 hour period, regardless of the umpteen numbers of hours you had spent studying beforehand.

Yeah, I know it sounds obvious, but what the examination system is trying to prove is how much you actually can mug and not how much you actually understand any of that crap. Oh they can have viva voce etc but there really isn't a way to display what exactly you had learned.

Ok. Just rambled without actually realising what I just blogged.

Anyway, hopefully someday someone can figure out a better way to *evaluate* students at what they actually do (Note the word "test" wasn't used)

I have to cram for Microbiology now...

Damn..

Inconsiderate People....

2004-08-10T21:32:00.000+08:00

I really shouldn't be blogging at this time, as my finals is in less then 2 days, but I'm stuck in a rut....

As many people are sitting for this university finals paper, most people head to the library for some peace and quiet to concentrate. I mean, thats what libraries are for.

But yesterday, this ass-wipe of a bastard apparently didn't give a shit about other people and decided to walk around the library with his keys AND keychain bells hanging out of his pocket. Shit, the tension was already high enough but luckily enough the librarian told him to get out or else someone would have just murdered him there and then...

Darn its so tense you can just walk on it.....

Oh well, wish me luck...

XM's

2004-07-27T02:34:00.000+08:00

Major shit crap exams on the loose for the next month or so...will have no posts till then......SOrry people, I have no choice, I really need to pass this exam:)

Psychiatric postings...

2004-07-18T14:26:00.000+08:00

Hmmm...

Psychiatry posting is quite surprising sometimes. You never really know what you are going to see...

Just a couple days back, we had a good chance to observe a schizophrenic proper patient. It was interesting during the initial interview because she kept talking and muttering to herself whist her mother, who was also attenting, tried to hush her up each time.This was frustating for the doctor on duty as she was trying to explain to us the classical symptoms of a schizophrenic case.

Not only that, I also got to see my first ECT (Electroconvulsice Therapy) session. This is where a patient is given a sedative and is held down while 2 electrodes are applied and the "shock therapy" begins. Damn, it was wierd. Anyway, I found out later thatECT's are only observable in this place, as we are not allowed to see it back home.

Oh well....

Life...

2004-07-12T01:39:00.000+08:00

I was just thinking about one of the great mysteries of mankind; women.

It came to me, if it all happens to "WOMEN", why is it called "MEN-strual cycle", "MEN-norrhagia", "MEN-opause", etc...

I wonder, could it be because that women in general blame us poor males for such conditions? Nah, must be a figment of my imagination...

First and foremost, the one thing I admire most about women is their ability to get pregnant, carry to term and go through labour. Personally, I can't see myself being tied down for 9 months and sustaining another living person inside me. I truly respect that.

The reason I'm thinking along these lines is that I recently saw my first labour. Man, was that something to see. Basically it was a normal labour (that means no caesarean or forceps was used;) and only local anasthesia was used for the epiosotomy.

Only 3 of us were allowed in the labour theatre, and the first thing I noticed was the smell (well, was used to the blood already I guess:). It was a kind of cross between a fish market and a post mortem...Oh yeah, and the lady was screaming her lungs out.I guess that must have scared her husband half to death waiting outside, because it did so to me.

Long story short, basically my lecturer did what she was suppose to do, and delivered a healthy looking baby boy (Well,later we found out he had pathological micro-penis defect but hey;) and did all the formalities of cleaning and weighing the kid.

Anyway, the 2 things that struck me the most about it was the birth of a new life in the world, and the PAIN involved. Damn, but it looked to me good enough to discourage my female classmates from having kids...

Heheh, something new to see,I guess...

Thanks, Mom...

....

2004-07-05T23:27:00.000+08:00

Hmmm....Greece won the Euro 2004...

Hadn't much time to follow the tournament this time round, but I don't think I've heard much about the Greece international team, much less name a Greek player...

Darn..

Electricity....

2004-07-05T22:58:00.000+08:00

Just how many of us take the luxuries in our daily life for granted?

Take electricity for instance. Just imagine, how limited your life would be, RIGHT NOW, without the power to turn on your electrical appliances and continue what-ever it is you are doing.

Tough, isn't it? Just imagine how your grandparents must have went through...

Well, since I'm not home enjoying the services of TNB, but instead in a remote little town:), this came to me while I was perfoming on stage about 2 days back.

It was the MSA(Malaysian Students Assoc.) night and yours truly, with 2 others (Kevin and Farah) were to play an acoustic song group with a couple of songs...

Hah. We were the 7th performance lined up out of some twenty-over others and right at the end of our 2nd song, there was a blackout. Despite that, we kept on playing amidst the catcalls/boos....Pure Melvyn luck,so the blackout was quite long(relatively) about 4-5 minutes.Imagine sitting on a stage in front of an audience of 800 in the dark...

Interestingly enough, I noticed that the crowd started bringing out their mobiles and waving their lighted screens up. Not only that, people were still taking photos with the flashes blinding us. Ah, the mentality of people...when I turned to comment this to Farah..lo behold, she was waving her own phone....

Needless to say, when the power came back on, we continued on like nothing happened....
The blackout during my performance was kinda a blessing in disguise for the whole show, as we were more versatile then the other groups, whch consisted mostly of dances. Gosh, the havoc that would have occured in the middle of one of those dances....Not only that, Kevin told me later that he forgot his lyrics at that time....

Heheh...chalk it up to another experience in India.....

At long last....

2004-07-05T22:45:00.000+08:00

Whew!

Yeah, I know its a long time since my last posts but the long story short,my com decided to take a long walk off a short pier. And I had to spend some considerable time trying to fish it out of the water...

Well, for a recap, psychiatry posting is quite interesting. Last week I had a class on role-playing between patient and doctor (just to show to the lecturers that we ACTUALLY were listening in class;) and in one of those scenarios I was playing the shrink with Farah as my patient with anxiety and panic attacks.

Damn, she was spontaneous. My history taking was actually going quite smoothly until she started explaining about her sex life...shoot, after that we just played it by ear...couldn't stop laughing to save my ass though....

Wierd ass stuff though, the PG(Post Grad) that was taking class at that time look at us funny after that...

Euro 2004....

2004-06-28T03:10:00.000+08:00

Decided not to torture myself and watch the game between the Czech and the Danes and slug it out. I've got classes tomorrow...

Had a rather slow day today. Sold my oven to Jackie (technically not right because the price is no set) and he should pay me by tomorrow or so.

Was just speaking to one of my friends and she was just asking me, in the court of law, why do witnesses take the oath and not the lawyers? Well, I told her that is because lawyers are a sneaky and smart lot which is required for getting their clients freed.Witnesses take the outh because they are compelled to tell the truth. Lawyers just twist them. Nothing really, but haven't all judges at one time or another were lawyers them selfs?

Got a dry cough. Just surviving day after day. Band auditions been postponed and its tomorrow. Can't wait to go up there and make a fool out of myself(nothing new;)again so there......

Another thing, rainy season here has gotten wierd. Its almost Malaysian weather after a while......without the falling cows and the screaming people....(don't believe everything you see on TV people, its not good:)

Ah, life...
You never know what is gonna turn up next.......

Mel no Hibi!!?

2004-06-26T03:33:00.000+08:00

Heheh...from that title I guess you can tell my latest interest:)

Ah, just finished my ayurvedic assignment with Yi Shen and Swee Boon (not really done together, but all just in the same room, 1 at the com, 2 writing...). For all, its just an assignment to evaluate my end-posting this week, which I'm eternally grateful because if they have an exam about it, I'm screwed...

Yeah, ayurveda......what a bunch of hypocrites. Always claiming that thir way is too extraordinary compared to the 'normal' bunch of medicine. And in the very next sentence crap that they can't do cardiac cases and have to go for referals...

Its a bit wierd if you don't know any Sanskrit (like me:) so all the terms they use just blow right by me. Yup thats right...it didn't even make it through my ears..

Got quite an irritating dry cough now.A bit worrying as when I'm in this condition, Kevin also has malaise, fever and chills, and not only that, Farah has confidence issues. And our band(?) is having our audition tomorrow....

Ah well, we'll just see where the winds blow this time....

Mel no Hibi...

ps. France is playing Greece now...wonder how its going..

OBG postings...just a note...

2004-06-23T22:57:00.001+08:00

Heheh, currently I'm doing my OBG postings (Obstetrics and Gynaecology for the ignorent;). The doc was explaining to us the procedures in gynae examination with a model (plastic, not a real one...I mean come on guys...)

Doc: Now in gynaecology examination, what is the one thing you must not forget during the general examination?

Classmate: Sir, we make sure of the patient's past history of important medical diseases, any major surgeries etc....

Absolutely safe answer. As our topic for the day was vaginal examination, we weren't sure where he was going with that question. As I was racking my brain for another reasonable answer....

Doc: Yes, I can agree with that, but what you must not forget is that you cannot miss the opportunity for the breast examination!

Huh? By that time all pens stopped writing and we were looking at each other to ensure we weren't hit by an auditory illusion. I mean, he sounded so damn enthusiastic about it.

Ahhh, the penny drops. According to my lecturer, in his experience, even though most women know about breast carcinoma and its good prognosis if detected early, many do not undergo regular checkups or even perform self examination. So just a note to all women who read this...think about it....modesty or malignancy? Don't go through life with a decision you might regret later....

Anyway, on another note, my lecturer looked damn violent when he was showing us how to do a 'bimannual' examintation (using the digits:) on the model.........

Fascinating....

Epidemic season again...

2004-06-22T01:13:00.000+08:00

Hmm...

I think I'm sick again. No seriously, I think I'm having malaise now and that could mean everything..Thoughts are hazy..... ... .. . WAKEY WAKEY! Darn, its the first day after my final Pathology practicals and i'm sick? How much worse can it get!!?

Anyway, I have a reprieve of about 3 weeks before the shit hits the fan (again) and go through my next postings, psychiatry and ayurveda medicine(Study of Indian traditional medicine...think Tongkat Ali Indian style..). Since I had an exam this morning I missed my 1st Ayurvedic lecture. Thank God. My poor classmates were reeking in the procedure room which kinda smelt like a kitchen...2 weeks old.

Boggles the mind, will be jumping into that mess tomorrow. On aother note, we have an outbreak of malaria, cholera and filariasis in the Wasteland. Which is why i'm feeling wierd...could be malaria because of my relapsing fever or cholera because I have to make a 'pit stop' every 15-20 minutes.

Gotta read up Davidsons on that,will follow up

Oh yeah....Russia beat Greece...cool....all the more to me..

Next time - Fahrenheit 9/11
- dinky place i'm staying in....

Psycho thrillers...

2004-06-18T19:36:00.000+08:00

Hmm....

I was just watching the trailer for the movie 'Saw' at themoviebox.net. It was quite "fascinating" in the sense that I had never really thought about what would happen if I was in the hands of a psycho killer.(FYI, its about 2 guys that wake up in a room with a serial killer that is damn sadistic....think Hannibal, but kinda more violent;)

Well, not to give away any spoilers but I think this is the kind of movie most people would love to hate but watch it anyway.....just for kicks go check out the 'uncensored' trailer..

Oh yeah, England won.....damn...

Exams exams...

2004-06-17T20:54:00.000+08:00

Argh!

Again, brilliant scheduling allows yours truly to cram examinations in a span of a couple of days. Sigh.

Anyhow, the only reason why I'm blogging is that my major theory papers are over and now I have to cram for my end-posting exams in 2 days. Not really a mess for Surgery as I passed my previous posting(They take the best out of 2...or so they say;), and to me Community Med is a joke. ..

Just imagine memorising Wasteland's methods of treatment in Com Med for only 2 months as the these methods are not applied at home...
Eg. One of their main problems here is malnourishment,(really skinny kids) whereas back home in Malaysia what do we have? Obesity. Now how am I suppose to learn from that?
(Although the experiences here are unique i guess...)

Damn, I'm immune to exams...my blood pressure isn't rocketing anymore though I had a high fever yesterday..oh yeah "Doctor, heal thyself" isn't really a good thing...I had the most morbid thoughts on what kind of freaking disease I had ranging from
malaria to filariasis , which is a kinda infection that blows your lymph nodes and gives you elephantiasis....shit, that's scary..

Anyway thats it for now..will have more time to mess around with the template in the next few days so bear with the mistakes..

2004-06-14T02:39:00.001+08:00

Ah crap!

Damn I hate the exam season....not because of the stress (well, that also really:) but due to the incredible time schedule set up by my college administrators, I have to sit for 2 exams at the same time later this week. Luckily I spotted the conflicts and told my Dean immedietly.

Nuts man, I can't be expected to do their job for them, can I? Jeez I mean, just who is paying for my tuition fees?

Just one prime example of the 'magnificent' organisation of the wasteland......

Life as such.....

2004-06-13T03:11:00.000+08:00

Well Looks like I'll set up camp here for now...couldnt be bothered about my age-old one last time so i guess this is where I will start posting my stuff..

Will be busy for the next week or so due to my clinical end-posting exams and the like but will be in and out every now and then....heheh

Are You In, Or Out: North Korea with missiles...

1990-01-05T05:00:00.000+08:00

Just a short post on what happened this morning during the Germany versus Italy.

North Korea test-launched 3 missiles, 2 medium range Scud-like and one long-range Taepodong-2, the launch of a fourth missile was being determined.

From CNN.com

"North Korea launched a long-range Taepodong-2 missile early Wednesday in an apparently unsuccessful test that failed in flight, a senior State Department official said.

North Korea also tested at least two smaller missiles, U.S. sources told CNN.

Both missiles were launched from a site other than the one intelligence officials have watched for weeks ahead of the long-range missile test, a senior State Department official said.

The United States, Japan and other countries have warned North Korea against a long-range missile test, saying such a move would be considered a provocation."

Even though the official opinion is that the results which failed indicated that Nort Korea is still a long way from launching a proper ICBM (Intercontinantal Ballistic Missile) I kinda doubt it.

I'm not a pessimist, but it seems that North Korea is practically on the verge of causing some major global chaos in the near future.

Just something to ponder about...

Edit: Italy won. Tough luck for the Germans. Ah well.