Phantom Reborn

Years before this year, to me, no.. I mean to us (all my family members), is just a festive season where everyone indulged in unlawful gambling activities, receiving the reds, houses hopping, etc. But things got a little twist this year.

In this Year of Ox, it's the first time ever my relatives and I went to KTV, and boy... We spent RM32.20 for each person in the afternoon! And there was 8 of us breaking our throats in the KTV room. To top it all, there were a few of us who are aged in the range of 11-12 (and they too, are beheaded for RM32.20 each).





Though a large amount of money is spent, but those kids sure were delighted with it.

In one of the nights, the adults had a plan for a night outing, and these adults seemed to receive a sudden brainwave. They suggested a fine idea which benefited themselves, an idea which makes us, the children, big spenders instead of the parents. Firstly, a treasurer was assigned. After that, every one of us, who lives up the role of the grandchildren, are required to pay RM10 to the treasurer for that outing.

When 22 of us arrived at Cyberjaya's Old Town Cafe last night, we as the grandchildren suddenly became so calculative while busy ordering our food. Some kiddos who were still not mentally matured, were dropped into the trap set by the adults. Consequently, the adults did not pay a single cent to enjoy the meal. Kudos to them on that...


Two courts, one for basketball, another one for futsal were placed near the cafe. Being a long time football fanatic, a few of my little cousins and I could not suppress our love for soccer and ran into the court, started dribbling and kicking the ball like Christiano Ronaldo.

My sister must have deleted the photos where we were occupied by futsal as well as basketball in the camera... Interrogative session soon... Hmph...

恭祝各位：

事事顺利、 鸿运当头、 恭贺新禧、笑口常开、 福星高照、 身体健康、 扭转乾坤、 金玉满堂、 五福临门、 长命百岁、 万事生意、步步高升、 风山水起、 生意欣荣、 心想事成、 出入平安。

牛年行大运！！

Late last year, I lend a hand to my current company in their Annual Dinner Night for their distributors. Everything seemed sound and fine. Back then, I did not recognize my future colleagues, I did not speak much nor talk to them, I was like being left all alone in the heart of the restaurant. But well, that's what normal fresh people experienced when they suddenly appear in a new environment claiming I'm here for a 6-month internship right?

But after a month, things got a twist as I got to know more about my colleagues, and guess what, another Annual Dinner is coming up. The dinner held last year was for the distributors, but this upcoming one is for the staffs. So I.. err.. quite looking forward for that.. But at the same time, that dinner keeps me withdrawing from attending.

Well, this dinner is very much resembles to course nights held in my university. It comes with a theme, and that's what causing me a mind of shunning away. It's really the theme... And yeah... It's "The 70's Night".

Oh holy cow... so we must all dressed up like those 70's blokes dancing around in the disco? The attire is bugging me...

A 70's tie ?


A 70's groovy costume for mascot-wannabe like the then John Travolta?


Err.. hairstyle.. let's see... An afro would probably do?


I really have no idea what to wear :S

Ashton Kutcher, please enlighten me alright?

My colleagues claimed that penalties will be forced on those who does not abide the rules. And they are very much anticipating to fool me around in that night.

Barack Obama has finally steps into the White House and started to take office, and the ex-president George Bush, I'm sure is reluctantly passing the baton onto President Obama.

When I watch the inaugural speech of President Obama, I was stunned as always when I watched his debates with Senator McCain and several speeches by himself. His words are powerful, a comparable charismatic speaker to Abraham Lincoln. Can he change the world? Can he turn around the bad economics with haste?





Millions of trillions of watchful eyes are about to witness this new chapter of historical moments in the years to come. Way to go, President Obama.

Fortification of the safety belt law has been raised ever since the new chapter of life starts in the year 2009, but do we really abide by the law? Perhaps, on the surface, yes, we do. We are fully aware that if we're not making the full use of the safety belt, especially for passengers who always sit on the backseats in a car, the punishment will be very heavy, the punishment will be like emitting a ray of laser onto your wallets and purses.

But hey, all I could hear from the people is, "make sure you use your safety belt, I would be fined for RM300 otherwise!" Yea... That's the biggest reason why people like us, willing to go through all the troubles to tie up that elongated piece of belt as though we are beauty queens in the making. But don't get me wrong, I did not mean that this implementation was improper though.

But the point is, how does the paradigm of us looks like? Are we gonna tie up the belt for the sake of our own safety, or for the sake of our money? Well... I'll be the first one to admit, I go for MONEY, I believe everyone else does too.

Chinese New Year is just around the corner! Expect people visiting your house like a herd of bees if you are a Chinese, anticipate in receiving the reds from the elderly if you are still not married, prepare to punch some holes in your wallet if you are a married Chinese. And get ready to spread the New Year messages around! Whenever you see a Chinese, be sure to spill out prosperous messages with the likes of the famous "Gong Xi Fa Cai".

There are tons of New Year Messages which we used as an indication of traditional blessings for Chinese, but things will never be the same again for this year of Ox. The year 2009, is the year of massive downsizing.

Thus, I reckon some New Year messages should be essentially prohibited in this year:

裁员广进 (Unstoppable downsizing!)

裁员滚滚来 (Welcome! Poor downsized fellas!)

恭喜发裁 (Congratulations on being downsized!)

裁神到！ 裁神照着你！(The God of Downsizing is here! He's looking after you!) --> Oh boy.. this one is so eerie...

Therefore, please watch your mouth before saying messages which you thought are the greatest greetings in the world, because not only you jeopardize your precious chance of receiving some cash, you could also potentially bring yourself unpredictable disasters and ill omens in this year of Ox, like a massacre event in Spain, you know.

But in spite of all that, enjoy a good and harmonious gathering with your family members. I gotta spend my 7 days of holiday happily too... ^^

I hereby wishing you an early Happy Chinese New Year!!

Chinese are always very proud of their own race. Starting from hundreds of thousands years ago, Chinese individuals have been playing their parts as one of the most competitive nation in the world. They are conversant in trading, they are acute businessmen. Chinese also often call themselves as "The descendants of the Dragon".

These special genetic characteristics which are passed from the Chinese ancestors gleam even brightly especially for those who lives in Malaysia. Due to certain reasons, Chinese need to toil even harder for a modest success.

But by the time the Chinese in this country are hailed as the rising suns, an embarrassing scenario as shown below caught our attentions (exclusively for those who haven't seen this) :



Mr. Kua Kia Soon, a very influential figure indeed. All the students were enraged because of the disagreement of the top management in renewing his contract as the principal of New Era University. I don't really know the real story behind.

But the book which is published by him, "513 May", a book which narrates the infamous riot event in Malaysia, seems to have certain connections with the contract renewal issue. I have not read this book though... Don't really know what he wrote in it. But the content of this book triggered controversial debates between the ministers in the parliament.

Gaza Under Attack! Gaza Under Siege! Those are the words which catch your eyes in every piece of newspaper. Precisely, those words catch your eyes in almost all the English papers which you can find throughout Malaysia. But have you get yourself a chance to have a glance at how Malay newspapers describe the incident in their headlines?

"Kejam! Kejam! Kejam!"

There it goes... Those are the words which I could see from one of the Malay newspapers' headlines. Very apparently, those publishers concerned indeed are very upset regarding the current war between Israel and Palestine. Spiritually, they share what the unfortunate Palestinians experienced. Some of the rakyat even weep and mourn for them. At the same time, they chant words of Israel's cruelty while implementing anti-US campaigns.

But sadly, news reported that Palestinians were the one who launched the attack on Israel first hand after the cease-fire agreement has ended. Preventing to be labeled as a wimp, Israel reacted and showed their true guts by counter-attacking.

Some news also reported that, the radical tribe from Palestine, Hamas, is actually intentionally evacuating innocent Palestinians to sites where Israel troops would probably launch series of attacks on, so as to show Israelites are merciless people by slaughtering, achieving ethnic-cleansing effect brutally. As a consequence, all the newspapers are therefore reporting how devilish Israel could be. How true is this? Well, there are just some points to ponder, since Palestinians are attacking the Israelites at the same time, why are the newspapers showing only the pitiful faces of the Palestinians who lost their beloved ones to the war, but not showing any of the pitiful faces of Israelites?

Apart from that, some hearings revealed that within the few months long of cease-fire agreement, Hamas members were digging routes underground, which could lead to the country of Pharaoh. What are their intentions? Furthermore, Lebanon, a country which got involved in the mess reluctantly, was launching attack on Gaza as well. News reported that those were the doings of some Palestinians who are currently dwelling in that country.

But well... primary school teachers and my mama always used to tell the kiddo Phantom that, when a person hit you intentionally, and in any case you hit that person back, both of the individuals are pleaded guilty. Israel just seems like the country which carries the role of hitting back, thus causing such terrifying aftermath.

So, who's right and who's wrong? There's no answer to this million-dollar question. But all we know is both countries are cruel, they are all Hitlers of the new generation who lengthen the suffering period of the globe.

The terrible war between Israel and Palestine just seems to continue like this forever, it will not come to a halt, and United States, without a doubt is always live up to its role as the Great Wall of China for Israel. With such a huge back-up forces watching their back, it is almost certain that Israel could continue the war and do whatever they see fits.

In spite of the newly elected President-to-be Barack Obama seems to be a better reason to cheer from every corner of the world, but many, including me, still doubt that the President-elect is going to be successful in completely implementing US troops withdrawal from Iraq within almost a year of time as how he had promised before he was elected the successor of President George W. Bush. But well, although we know that it is highly possible that he could not do much about it, and things would just be the same as what is happening today. But at least he is a new face whom every one acknowledge.

The first new Black American. A black, to be frank, is basically a nation which was not supported by majority of the Whites many years ago, but Barack Obama, with his great charisma, won round of applause all over the world because he is a symbol of the word "change". He proved that a Black, being once a discriminated individual, can achieve the highest success in a country like America. Consequently, many countries which their liberty is being ripped off, particularly countries which practice liberalism, are all awakening from the snares.

Will he make a change in the days to come when he takes office on 20th January? That's a million dollar question which falls into ambiguity. But our beloved Chedet, is now urging our country to boycott US products openly, urging the rakyat not to use any of the US dollar so that we will not be contributing any penny to the United States in making weapons to kill people (as if United States is only using its money t create weapons =S), sacrificing innocent people's lives, as in what is happening with the Palestinians now. He pointed out that the United States is the only driving force of the war.

Yes, perhaps he is partially correct about it. But by criticizing with such comment publicly, will it strain the potential good relationship between Malaysia and the upcoming New America? Perhaps we should just put in some faith in the United States, and watch how America could really change in the near future before pointing fingers?

After everything was checked so thoroughly and recruiting the '95 car into my possession weeks ago, I thought that this piece of machinery would gets me to places which I wanna be, in a safely manner, at least within the first few months.

Since I need to work on Saturdays as well, so, as usual, I drove happily to the company, without giving much care on the sound of the worn-out radio (it switched on by itself every time I start the engine, you see.)

Saturday, is a day where there are not much vehicles on the road. And I'm really glad that a normal Saturday work out that way. When I was carrying on with one of my hobbies now (driving!?) on the road, while listening to the stuttering voices and melodies from the DJs as well as some radio-editted songs. Out of the blue, my brake pedal was not functioning at all no matter how hard I stepped on it. Whenever a traffic light appeared in front of my eyes, I just could not correlate with my own intention of stopping the car. All I could do was rely solely on the gearbox to make the car stoppable. Thus, I always stopped ahead of those so-called permitted lines for halting.

When I arrived at my company, smokes kept coming out from two tyres, and to top it all, grease was found all over the wheel too! That was quite an unexpected experience. Some guy told me that I had forgotten to pull my hand brake down while I was on the road, but gosh, I remembered vividly that I put everything in order before cruising off with the car.

Eventually, I had no choice but to leave my working place earlier although it was just a half-day of working day, and sent the car to a car servicing workshop. There were no problem with the handbrake at all, the problem was rooted from my Brake Master Pump, or whatever it is called... A master system which controls all the motions of braking.

Maklumlah, to what extent a local car which cost for only RM5000 could function... I seriously think that there are many internal parts which are still unveiling their foxy tails yet.

A New Year marks a new start to many people. And this particularly marks a new start for the government, especially the police officers.

Recent news revealed that one of the well-developed states in the country, Johor, would have setting up a kind of outraging party at one of the beaches, as a celebration of countdown for 2009. Reports concealed that there were two individuals organizing a so-called "sex party" in one of the beaches in Johor, and those who are informed about this particular party are all welcomed to join. But entrance fee is required.

Fortunately, the government acted fast and put numerous police officers at those beaches, and those places were under surveillance during the New Year Eve. Thus, no ridiculous occurrence was spotted at those places. Nonetheless, the expected shocking news unveiled in the heart of the country's capital instead!

26 people involved in a sex party organized in one of the hotels in Jalan P.Ramlee, a few people among them are highly revered figures in public eyes. An actress whom featured in a handful of famous local productions?? A female newscaster whom happen to be a regular face in cable TV?? A medical student?? Ketamine and syabu are found everywhere in the room?

Great, the new year really marks a new beginning for these guys, I reckon...

As far as I know, New Zealand was the first country to declare and opened their arms to welcome Year 2009. So where were you and what were you doing for that time being?

As for me, I was busy working on my freelance articles so that I could meet the deadline.

My sister went for a 1-month camp in Slim River, I wonder how she celebrated the New Year there.

Whereas my youngest sister was staying downstairs all the while, sitting on the sofa with a remote control in hand, watching the tube, waiting for the countdown to begin.

My mom? Oh, she was sitting besides my youngest sister. She seemed to be determined to stay awake to embrace another year to come when I asked her about it after I came back from office. But still, the bio-cycle was hypnotizing her, her eyes were nearly shut when the clock nearly reaches 12am.

My father... Ugh... He was in the toilet then... I heard many forwarded messages kept flushing into my cell phone.

Oh.. this seems to be one of the greatest New Year Countdown bummers.

Although another year is just an alteration on the number, a mere little change of "8" to "9", but for certain people, another chapter of life has just begun. What had passed, is passed; what will be, will be. Que sera, sera.

I hereby wish all of you a very Happy New Year 2009 and hopefully, all my plans... as well as your plans for this new year would work out like miracles. Cheers~~