WOW - World Of Warcraft

I had an opportunity to TT (teh tarik) with a bunch of WOW (World of Warcraft) kakis couple of nights ago. Except that this TT gathering was held at KLCC’s Chillis instead of the real teh tarik at some mamak somewhere. We head down for KLCC after my gym session at 9pm (die die also must go gym yesterday. Haven’t been gym-ing for more than a month).

It is not me that plays WOW. It’s Harrison. Everyday except for Tuesday, he works from 9am – 6pm as an engineer, 6pm – 10pm, as a loving husband and 10pm – 2am, as a Rogue. You hear me right. A ROGUE (in WOW). I don't know exactly what is a ROGUE. According to "Your Dictionary", here's the definition of Rogue.

1) a wandering beggar or tramp; vagabond
2) a rascal; scoundrel
3) a fun-loving, mischievous person
4) an elephant or other animal that wanders apart from the herd and is fierce and wild
5) an individual varying markedly from the standard, esp. an inferior one

I dont know which one of the above described his character actually. Anyway, so, he would raid dungeons, kill monsters and god knows what else in WOW. That’s his duty roster in a week. Tuesday, he is a full time human being. No dungeon raiding, no killing of monsters. WOW closed on every Tuesday for maintenance. After a long week of raiding, fighting & killing, I am sure there are lots of maintenance works to be done. Cleaning up of dead corpses, spilled bloods and etc. Don’t believe me, I am just blabbering.

Anyway, we arrived in KLCC at about 9:30pm, met up with this small bunch of WOW fanatics, who Harrison has been meeting online every night. It is a very fascinating bunch of people with age ranging from 19 ~ 40, profession of students, analyst, engineer, property agent and etc, Malay & Chinese. This is Muhibbah. Including me, there are a total of 9 people there that night.

I am not a WOW fan. I don’t play WOW. So I just sit back and relax, enjoy my dinner of Crispy Fried Chicken & lemon tea, observed the on-goings around and eavesdropped what they had to say about WOW. You will be surprised to find that these species identify as MAN/BOY/GUY/MALE, who usually don’t have much to say about anything else, was talking non-stop. Strange.

At one point, when they stop talking altogether, the restaurant were like so quiet. One of them even asked, “Eh? How come suddenly so quiet one??” Trying to say it as polite as possible, I told them “Ahemm… all the earlier noises are from our table”. They broke out in laughter and continue their conversation of WOW. Amazing.

Being a non-WOW kaki, and an evesdropper, I don’t understand a word they were talking about. I tried to make some sense out of their words but to no avail. They refer to each other with their online nicknames, i.e. Roti Prata, Shadow, Fumakila, Kaka, Little Bell and etc etc. And every sentence they talked, sure to have words like these:

Elves, Orcs, Troll, Dwarves, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladdin, Priest, Rouge, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior Balcksmithing, Enchanting, Alchemy, Daggers, don’t know what spine and many many more.

By just listening to their conversation, for a moment I thought I was in some magical ogre land. It would be very intriguing for neighbouring tables too if they heard the conversation. I am not saying that people are kaypoh la… just they were all talking so loud that it is quite difficult to not hear what they are talking about. The other evesdropper will have a hard time falling asleep that night trying to figure out what the hell they were all talking about. Hahahaha…

Everyone was still talking excitedly when we realized Chillis became very bright all of a sudden. Kononnya, its already 12midnight. The sudden brightness is to inform us politely, its time to get the hell out of their restaurant. We look around us, the restaurant was already empty. We are the last table that are still yakking away…..I mean, the WOW fanatics are the one that are yakking. I merely observed.

Despite of being a little bored sitting there observing, it warm my heart to see people of various age, etnic, profession, sitting together enjoying their drinks, sharing tidbits, laughing & talking, totally enjoying each other company. Perhaps its about time Mahathir & Abdullah start WOW-ing. Then, we rakyat will surely benefit from it...

Our fate with a Rinpoche

I was halfway thru an entry about something but decided to write about something else instead.

Sometime ago, my uncle told me some amazing stories about a buddhist priest, who he accidentally met, and who that had helped his friends in one way or another. My uncle also told me that this high priest, is a incarnation of a Lama (a buddhist monk from Tibet/Mongolia) and I find it hard to believe him.

Come on, it's a little hard to believe for this are things we see only on Discovery Channel. Not in real life. Anyway, I just listen to the interesting stories and nodded my head. Afterall, the stories are quite entertaining.

I was quite sceptical with the whole idea. It is just me. I've difficulty in trusting people. Especially people who claimed they are some spiritual monk or sifu or master and that they can do miracles. There are just too many con stories in the newspaper these days. Bogus monk, miracle healing stones and etc... It's only right that I am sceptical.

Nevertheless, my uncle passed me the High Priest's namecard, and told Harrison & I that it would be good for us to be blessed by this High Priest for our new life together as husband & wife. One look at the card, somehow, it gave me a feeling that this High Priest is for real. His name ends with a Rinpoche. Must be quite high rank despite not knowing how high it is. So I made a mental note to call him and make an appointment when we are back in KL for blessing.

3 weeks passed on and I never got the time to call. Maybe I didnt really wanna call. A part of me still holding back and still sceptical with the whole idea. Anyway, my uncle also told me that whether we are able to meet the High Priest or not, also depends on whether there is 'fate' between us. I was like... ya ya ya... see how la...

Meantime, I did a search on his name from the namecard and found this on the net:

"I met one of the high priest of the Dalai Lama the other day. His name is Charles. I mean, we used to call him Uncle Charles. Of late, he has already been promoted or rather ranked as one of the highest priest in Tibet..... When i met him for the 1st time after a while... it somewhat felt..... weird. I dont know what to call him and how to greet him. In Kathmandu, people bow to him like his subjects and awaits his blessing... but here... i didnt do that.. He's in dire need to raise funds for the monasteries he manage in Kathmandu. I will go back to see him on Saturday and will tell you more about him and perhaps how we can help him."

Note:

Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist religious/theological honorific title. "Rinpoche" literally means "precious one". The title is generally reserved for tulkus (incarnate lamas) and those recognized by the proper authorities within a lineage as "choje lamas" ("superior dharma masters").
Rinpoche, epithet for a fully developed Tulku; that is, one who has intentionally taken rebirth in samsara to benefit sentient beings on the path to enlightenment. Sometimes this title is also given to spiritual teachers, who are not necessarily Tulkus, but are held in very high esteem by their students.

Strange thing is, we accidentally met today. We even had lunch together. I guess this is what they called 'fate'. It is so coincidentally Harrison decided to take leave today (which he hardly did) and coincidentally I decided to go KL and also coincidentally I need to discuss something with my uncle. Right timing, no planning. That's how we met the High Priest.

I felt a strange kind of peace after that chance meeting. I cant explain it. Somewhat peaceful and tranquil and happy. More like contentment. He is for real i guess.

That's all for time being. Will tell you more if I see him again.

Luxury-less Life = No Life

Since fuel prices hike on 4th June 2008, I haven't fill a drop of petrol till yesterday. Not because my car is running on water or electricity, or that I am boycotting the hiked. Just that my tank was almost full during the price hike and I didn't travel much, therefore eliminating the needs to fill up until yesterday.

This is my findings. A freaking 28% increased; RM22.67. Assuming if I fill petrol 3 times a month, my spendable income will reduced by approximately RM70. That's quite a lot isn't it?? This RM70 which can otherwise be spent on 2 bottles of fresh milk (RM10), milo (RM18), fruits (RM20), 2 cans of tuna (RM8), 2 loafs of bread (RM5) and 1 car wash (RM8) monthly.

Besides the direct impact of the hike, there are also many indirect impact such as the increase prices of food in restaurants, services, electricity and many more other consumables. Its a chain effect.

I've lots more to say... about how terribly timed this fuel hike is basing on the current political & economical state we are in... and that the government shouldn't constantly state how low our fuel prices are compared to other neighbouring countries as their currencies are much stronger than ours. Just afraid I wont be able to stop my blabbering.

So, I guess for time being, I just gonna do without milk, milo, fruits, tuna and bread. Oh, do I also have to start washing my own car?????? What the hell....! Cant wait for next election.

Gotta start looking for a real job soon...

P/s: psssttt...... who wants my dogs?? they are quite expensive to keep. Dog food, RM60/month. Grooming, RM180/month (just kidding)

Poor Rumba & Sunshine

Despite wedding is all done and over, I am still busy. Supposed to be relaxing now and planning for honeymoon, yet... sigh..!

A different set of busy. Busy organising thousands of photos. Processing it to be web worthy, resizing and rearranging it. Only managed to upload photos of wedding day. Still have those taken throughout the 3 dinners not uploaded yet. Also busy getting used to my new married life, shuttling between my place and my in-law's.

Rumba & Sunshine was left home alone last night as we were spending the weekends at my in-law's. We left after feeding them their dinners at about 8pm. Harrison & I felt so sorry for doing so. We went back this afternoon to check on them and fed them lunch. I feel really sad to have to leave them at home alone. Therefore, we left plenty of food in their play-pen, turned on the fan and radio, hopefully they wont feel so lonely. :(

You may be asking, the radio??? hehehe... i dunno. I just switch it on, at least there are people talking on the radio, and they will feel entertain a little. Who knows they might understand what the deejays are talking about or probably hear their favourite songs being aired over the radio. (who knows, they might jive a little too..) ok ok.... think too much.

(just imagine the 'cat' is Sunshine. Cant find 2 doggies dancing together picture. Afterall, Sunshine is quite cat-like)

Honestly, we both feel realy guilty about it. Then Harrison thought of the auto feeder which we saw being sold in one of the petshop. This auto-feeder which will churned out kibbles on set time. At least something for them to look forward to. Besides just waiting for us to come home, they can also wait for feeding time. It will keep them entertained a little.

Then, more idea crops up. I was thinking, perhaps i should set the radio on timer, so it will came on every 3 hours. And it would be lovely if there are some kind of moving toy which can be set on timer too. So that these few activities will come on every now and then to keep them entertained. For eg:

10am : breakfast served by auto-feeder

12pm : radio played by auto-timer

2pm : automated toys performance set by auto-timer

And this 3 sets of activities is constantly repeating in a 2 hours interval. Brilliant isn't it?

Automated toys. An image of this choo-choo train model that blow smokes came to my mind instantly. Maybe I should set up its rail track around Rumba & Sunshine's play-pen. Am sure this will keep them occupied for awhile.

I think I am thinking too much. For all we know, maybe dogs dont feel the passing of time. They dont count days. Or maybe, they didnt even realise we are gone for they are too busy enjoying themselves jiving to the rhythm of Houndog!

Anyway, this lifestyle pattern will only be for 2 months the most. Once the rott is out, they can come into Tmn Desa with us. Its better to be lonely doggies (weekends only) than to be breakfast doggies right??

Ok la... I wanna sleep already. If free free, do check out our wedding site. I've uploaded some photos (when i say 'some', I actually meant 'hundreds'). There are still more to upload. Stay tuned.

Married Life - 10 days old!

(Photo taken with my silly cousin, Kelly, in Kluang on 7/6/2008)

My new married life is 10 days old! Our wedding finally came to a finale on 7/6/08 with a dinner reception in Kluang. All done now. Civil ceremony, Guo Dai Lei, setting up of bridal bed, Chinese Customary Wedding, 5 dinner receptions.... officially over. No more flowers, liquors, songs, gowns, colours, candles, gifts, menus, shoes, invitation cards, guestlist list, itineraries to worry about. Hallelujah!

All are well for the past 10 days. My in-laws were superb. I eat better & sleep better too. Eat better cause we always have dinner together and sleep better cause perhaps I've a peace of mind knowing there are many people at home. The only problem I am worried is, I am gaining back the kilos.. Time to start hitting the gym again...sigh!

Currently we are staying both sides. Meaning, weekdays at Court 9 and weekend at Tmn Desa. This will continue until my in-laws shift to their new home. Only then, we will live in Tmn Desa permanently. All these inconveniences are because of Rumba & Sunshine. Just afraid that they will become the rottweiler's breakfast if we shift them over now. hehehehe.....

Special note to few good friends who has travelled all the way to Kluang to attend our dinner as well as helping us out. They are Tracy & Calvin, Josephine & Mom and Jenny & Harry. I just want you guys to know, we appreciate it very much. Thank you.