Entries for August, 2006
just got back from my "summer vacation"..heheh..i was in california, oregon and washington for the last ten days or so. i went with my housemates and met up with Leo and his gf Mika in san jose, cali.
the trip was tiring man. the amount of time spent on travelling, i tell you..first, we drove five hrs in our rented car from the LA airport to get to San Jose where Leo lives. then the next day, we went to San francisco, to and fro is 2 hrs. AND THEN it was the 13hr drive to Seattle via Portland, Oregon. but then i didnt drive lah, still being in the car with barely anything to do is as torturous.
sanfran is a beautiful city man, i like it. you know those very steep roads you see in car chases in hollywood movies, ohh yea...darn steep man...anyway, we went crab fishing at the sanfran pier..so easy, you need this metal loop as the net's frame, put a piece of chicken drumstick in the bait hatch which is in the middle, then toss the whole thing into the ocean. wait ten minutes, then pull it up by the long rope, if you're lucky, you get your crab. we managed to get 11crabs..hahah..almost two crabs for each person heheh..
yea i know, eating crabs caught off sanfrancisco pier? wont get hepatitis/poisoning ar? dunno la, anyway i'm still alive now. heheh..they taste pretty good too. best of all, we didnt have to pay a cent. FREE CRAB
portland = boring.
ok seattle. my first impression was, wah damn nice city! everything looks new, no ghetto feel, well mbe cuz i didnt see the whole city, anyway.. went to this restaurant where they shot Sleepless in Seattle (tom hanks movie) then right across, is the FIRST EVER Starbucks that opened shop. then we had some really good sushi from Shiro's.. had sashimi for the first time in my live: one fat piece of raw fish (salmon/mackerel/tuna)....but it was good because it was so fresh. we had sashimi again when we went back to san jose, but not so good. mbe i cant eat too much..heheh
then we went to yosemite national park. beautiful place, there this one station where you can see a fountain coming down from the top of a cliff and because it's so far away, you can't hear the sound of the water and it looks like the water is just slowly trickling down the face of the granite. it almost looked like a desktop wallpaper kind of thing hahah.. there are wild black bears, deer and mountain lions also in the area, but we didnt get to see any of them...sigh..worried abt mountain lions? no worries, the safety guideline says if you get attacked, fight back! 
oh yea, then there's the story of GPS = global positioning piece of crap. the road we were taking to yosemite was closed, and it was just blocked after we had to travel thousands of miles. no early sign/warning watsoever. we had to turn around and take ANOTHER highway. but we had no map, only Leo's GPS. and you can't tell it which route you want it to take. you just tell it where you want to go and it just calculates the shortest route. doesn't sound like a problem? the stupid thing took us INTO THE WOODS where halfway the road became UNPAVED,UNMAINTAINED...we literally went through a Karamjit Singh/Allen Oh WRC UP and AROUND A MOUNTAIN for 45MINUTES. so damn scary man. if anything happened to the car, we were toast. it was 6pm and getting dark in several hrs. no cellphone signal how to call for help, want to get help from one of the four ppl living in the woods in the middle of nowhere? you risk getting a shotgun to your head, my friend (i heard the stories).
we decided to give Leo's GPS another 10mins before we would tell him to turn our cars around. luckily, within that time we began to go downhill. throughout the journey, the tyres kicked up so much sand, it was literally glazed over our cars. and because i was in the car behind Leo's, the finest sand got through the aircond filters. dry eyes/throat/hard to breathe. worse still if we opened the window. we passed a guy on a dirt bike on our descent and as he passed by he couldnt stop looking our way. he must've thought, WHAT on EARTH are you guys DOING in THESE PARTS???
Written by cap at 11:31 PM.
Written by cap at 01:50 PM.
I always think i'm imagining noises in the night when i'm half asleep. Like the time my speaker fell off but i thought i was imagining it, and the time my housemate knocked on my door but i thought i was hallucinating and continued to sleep.
A few nights ago, i heard a bump somewhere in my room. I feigned hallucination again. But then i heard it again, in the same place, somewhere. A light bump. I was not so deep asleep for my mind to play tricks on me, so i looked around.
Then i saw it.
Something was circling above in my room!! I thought WHOA A FREAKIN BIRD?? I switched on the lights and the thing looked big! I ran out the door when it swooped down my way. I closed the door leaving a gap to look at it. It wasnt a bird, it was a BAT! HOLY COW. Stupid bat flew into my room that idiot! It was circling and circling in the air, and I thought "get out the window you idiot!!" But it doesnt.
It keeps flying for a few more minutes, then hangs itself behind my closet door. I put a table lamp just outside the window, turn it on, poke the bat to make it fly again, and switch off the rest of the lights. The thing still wouldnt fly out the window. Then i thought i remember reading bats were blind or have really bad eye sight or something. Gah!My housemate's friend who was staying here temporarily, stood beside me laughing his head off. "WHY GOT BAT WAN???" he says...
After another few minutes, i hear a loud THUD. It ran out of breath again. This time it was on my air purifier and within easy reach. I tell my friend to catch it. I give him a bag, but he says nonono and runs out the room. I look at the bat, it's actually pretty cute, it looks almost exactly like a mouse actually, like the ones i used to handle in the lab where i work. I wear a pair of gloves because i think bats can spread rabies and i approach it slowly. Weird, it seems to be able to see me coming. I try to get a grip on it when it SHRIEKS, mouth wide open baring its TEETH! I ran out the room.
My housemate from taiwan wakes up to take a leak. And i asked him to catch it. Easy he says! He grabs a plastic bag, stands on a chair and approaches the bat which is now hanging from the top of my closet. It shrieks, my housemate bolts out the door muttering aiyoyoyo and holds the door open by an inch. "Wah it's a big one" he says.
My visitor friend says bats are a sign of good luck! ....well, watever good luck it brought, the taiwanese smacks it in midair with a cardboard like baseball, grabs it when it lands on my bed, and tosses it out the window with its head spinning.
Written by cap at 12:25 PM.
photos taken at the olympic park near seattle.
Written by cap at 11:17 PM.
When we were on our journey to seattle from san jose, we stopped by a fast food chain i've never heard or seen before. It's called Jack in the Box. They sell burgers for the most part. When we were eating, i read the piece of paper advertisement that fast food chains always stick in your tray with your food. Yea i read those all the time. Along with whatever nonsense they put on McDonald's paper bags and Chipotle's paper cups.
Anyway, it was about being able to have anything on Jack in the Box's breakfast menu at any time of the day, no restrictions. It didn't sound like anything fantastic at the time. But it made a whole lot of sense to me last week, back in Kansas City.
I go to Winstead's to have breakfast. This is my third time or so here. I sit down, wait for the server, and tell her i want the combo breakfast.
"I'm sorry, breakfast ends at 10.30, and it's already 10minutes past."
"?????"
Until now i still can't figure out the logic behind this. Do you switch chefs at 10.30 and your other chef can't cook eggs, hash browns and ham? Isit because you can't leave the potatoes outside the fridge for more than two hours? why, why, why can't i have breakfast at 10.40am??
10minutes later, a gruffy looking man (who i think just got out of bed, howz it going bro) and his 5kids come in. And he is also told breakfast is over. And he rolls his eyes at the server. Good, i'm not alone in this fight! If Jack in the Box opened next door, i'd go there every morning to support their all-day breakfast campaign.
I mean come on, seriously, i should be able to order anything from the menu, anytime you're open for business. Got such thing as can't order nasi lemak after 10am ar? Just look at the mamak stalls man. Nasi briyani 24hours!! if you want, you can eat till u sick.
Written by cap at 11:37 PM.
are you the kind who thinks about your past mistakes? you know, memories of past events in your life which you are not proud of? the thoughts usually come into your head when you least expect it. You weren't probably thinking about anything in particular, and one of these memories just pops in your head. And you cringe/sob/sigh at the thought. Or if you're like me, you go "ARGH!! IDIOT!!"
i'm not the nicest person in the world. i get irritated at people when they don't understand simple things. Ironic, since I find myself to not understand these simple things all the time. Familiar with what goes around comes around? Such a painful lesson.
It was during my biochemistry lab last semester. My partner was this man from Russia or somewhere. He's a lot older than i am, he's maybe in his thirties. and there's abit of a language/mentality barrier between him and i. No, not the most compatible of lab partners. And i would get irritated when he asks me questions i don't know the answer to, every single time. And I end up hating myself if i tell him something that's actually incorrect, within earshot of everyone else. I think my frustration showed most of the time.
I get a rude reality check when i end up in his shoes, unexpectedly. I ask another lab mate a question and get her frustrated because she's not sure what's going on, and i get a taste of my own medicine.
I'm not sure why, but sometimes i saw abit of my dad in my lab partner, and i felt bad. I can see it now, if my dad were to go to college now, the number of obnoxious hot shots he'd meet in every class. i just wish i could have been more gracious to someone who was returning to education after a lapse in years.
Written by cap at 11:34 PM.
CROSSING OVER
City Harvest Church
CROSS
G-D C, G-D C-D
G-D C-D, G
C-G-D
G D C
we come before Your throne
Am D
our hearts we give to You
G D C
we long to see Your kingdom come
G/B Am D G
and bring Your truth to all the earth
C D
nations will cry out Your name
G/B C
send us to Your harvest
D
Lord we pray
G Bm7
by Your Spirit oh Lord
Em7
we claim the nations
D G
of the world for You Jesus
C Bm7
pour down Your rain
Am D
Holy Spirit move in us today
G Bm7
by Your spirit oh Lord
Em7
we claim the nations
D G
of the world for You Jesus
C Bm7
by Your word of truth
Am
we're crossing over
C D G
to win the lost for You
G D C
Your cross before our eyes
Am D
You set our hearts on fire
G D C
to give what we can never keep
G/B Am D G
to gain what we can never lose
modulate to A
Written by cap at 05:41 PM.
I GIVE
City Harvest Church
CROSS
D Dsus
G A Bm
come and fill me Holy Spirit
G A D
i seek the warmth of Your embrace
Em D/F#
Lord i'm longing for Your presence
G D/F#
just one touch of Your grace
Em A
i'll keep on waiting, waiting on You
G A Bm
all my life i've searched for heaven
G A D
my heart it longs for so much more
Em D/F# G D/F#
a love so true now i found it in You
Em A
i'll keep on waiting, waiting on You
Dsus D
Lord i give my life
Dsus D Bm
a living sacrifice i place at Your feet
A
i offer to You
F#m B
for only You can satisfy my longing
Em7 D/F# A
Jesus You're all i desire
Dsus D
Lord i give my life
Dsus D G A
a living sacrfice i place at Your feet
F#m
more than what this world offers
B
You are my only treasure
Em7 D/F# A
my world means nothing without You
D/F# - G Bm A D/F# - G Bm C
my world means nothing without You
D/F# - G Bm A D/F# - G C
my world means nothing without You
Written by cap at 12:43 AM.
Cry
City Harvest Church
CROSS
B G#m E F#
G#m
lost in You alone
F#
is where i want to be
E
to hear Your voice
G#m
softly in my hear
F#
You whisper words to me
E
that i am Yours
C#m B
cant live a day without Your presence
E F#
closer to You i want to be
B G#m
my soul cries out for more of You
D#m E F#
my Lord, my portion and whole
B
i close my eyes
F#
and feel You near
A
there's nobody else
E F#
that can take Your place
B
in my heart
B G#m E F# X2
Written by cap at 01:55 PM.
