I smell smoke in my room. Is it something burning? Hmm... i don't think so. Smells more like tobacco mixed with nicotine and tar and also a host of other chemicals. I smell second hand smoke.

Ugh, i hate second hand smoke. It makes my room all hazy like some scenes from a ghost movie and it makes my head go heavy and dizzy. Don't ask me why, because i'm made like that. I'm an anti second hand smoke person. And i hate it when a smoker lights up without taking into account that the hostel that i'm living in now is smoke free. Even if you want to smoke, please go somewhere else so that your smoke do not drift into my room. Use a plastic bag or anything to cover your face. Smoke in the toilet, maybe. Sorry, i tend to get hostile over unauthorized smoke access into my room.

I just can't understand why the smokers don't take us non-smokers into account when lighting up. They go all around demanding for their rights to smoke and stuff like that but often forgot that us as non smokers have rights too. The rights not to smell second hand smoke, pardon you. 

But oh well, what i can really do about that second hand smoke coming from who knows where anyway? At most i could just complain about it here in my blog. Or perhaps i could buy a really large fan to try to blow the smoke away. Or i could just settle with dying early.

Even after leaving Malaysia for more than a year already, i still read Malaysian news now and then to keep myself updated about happenings in my home country. Other than that, the Malaysian news also happen to be one of the best entertainment you can ever find in the world. Mainly because we have politicians fighting like small kids everyday over small petty issues. Much like desperate housewives. Take the latest hot news for example, involving one headmistress named Siti Inshah, from Johor.

The story goes that one fine morning in the school she's teaching in, she decided to call the Chinese who were not fasting together with the Malays to go back to China. Her reason being that they fail to observe that other Malays were fasting at the same time and the act of eating in front of them is disrespectful. Of course, instead of doing it quietly, she decided to blast them during assembly. And that's were the exciting part starts.

As expected, the politicians picked up this story faster than the speed of light and over sensationalize it as if Britney is going to shave her hair off again. Before you knew it, the whole issue is turned into a your rights versus our rights thing. There would be uproars from groups claiming to "represent" a certain race and there would be this demand, that demand. And people from different groups will fight each other out, criticizing each other and viewing each other in an even worse way. As far as i can see it, the people who take this issue as a defending our own rights battle would be playing directly into the politicians' hands.

It's very sad to note that even after more than 50 years of independence, most of the so called Malaysians still think along racial lines. I'm Chinese, you're Malay and he is Indian and we are all different. So different in fact, that it prevents us from looking at the big picture and identifying each other as Malaysians.

The Malays, for example, think that the Chinese are out to get them and their country. Thanks to many years of propaganda, issues such as the special rights and the bumiputera status have became very sensitive to discuss. To the Malays, Chinese is seemed as cruel, demanding and disrespectful to the customs. Chinese are routinely treated with suspicion and contempt. Heck, some radical Malays even equate the Chinese to the Jews and Malays to the Palestinians. And like the Jews, the Chinese are in Malaysia to take away the country from the Malays, so it's not surprising that some of them think of it as a battle to protect the homeland.

The Chinese on the other hand, are not that better off either. To them, Malays are just a group of people who cannot survive without the bumiputera rights accorded to them. And the result that comes with that type of thinking would be the Chinese looking down on the Malays, thinking that they are more superior and higher class as compared to the Malays. As Chinese, we need to stick together or the Malays will trample on all our rights. Yeah, right.

By the end of the day, prejudice rules and we ended up hating each other even more. Til when must we continue bickering over these "rights" issue? Til when must we focus on the differences between each other rather than what we have in common? Til when only we'll learn to let go of our prejudice and stereotype and start to view each other in a more positive light?

I believe that Tun Onn Jaafar were thinking about all these when he asked for UMNO's membership to be opened to all and later when he formed Independence of Malaya Party (IMP). He was thinking of a Malaysia for all, not just for the Malays, nor Chinese, nor Indians but instead for all of us. And i believe that that is one of the best ideas anyone in Malaysia has ever had since independence. Stop seeing Malaysia through a racial or even a religious tinted glasses but instead choose to accept each other as brothers and sisters sharing the same country, the same culture and the same background.

It's not to late to realize Tun Onn's dreams, because i believe that deep down, all of us are tired of this racial infighting and want to see a more united Malaysia. We can, if we want to, as long as we're prepared to put down all the prejudice that has been passed down unto us from our parents, media or school aside, and accept each other for who we are.

P/s: Of course, with the rise of new technology, i think this is an ever better time to unite us all. From what i see in Facebook, discussions about the Siti Inshah case are in full swing. And hopefully with debates and exchange of ideas, though not all of them friendly, we would come to understand each other more beyond what we are led to believe. Perhaps a new generation of Malaysians would spring up thanks these advances in technology that the government is still yet to control. Go Facebook!

Gosh, there's so much to do in this few days. Updating member list, coming up with a year long work plan and drafting a budget proposal are among few of it. Jobs that i have never touched before during my younger days in Malaysia. Looks like my dreams of having absolute power and controlling every single thing may not be as sweet as i thought after all. The saying that a leader's job is not for others to serve him but for him to serve others could not have put it more aptly. And trust me, serving others as a leader is no easy job.

So, for today, i'm going to slack a bit and not try to squeeze anymore brain juice from my already dead brain for a nice post. For starters, ever wonder how would the Bible look like if Facebook existed a few thousand years ago?

And for those of you who are not that religious...

LOL, if my history books were like that, i think i would have scored A for everything. Perhaps Facebook can be used as a teaching tool too! Sorry, too much brain juice squeezing has made me gone nuts.

Prior to watching Step Up 3, i heard quite a lot of negative comments regarding about the movie. Most of it were about how the movie suck big time. So when Neeti told me that we're watching Step Up 3, i was a bit apprehensive at first because i'm not sure if it is worth watching a movie that so many commented that it was not nice. But i went anyway, keeping my expectations as low as possible and not hoping too much.

Surprisingly, the movie did not turn out as bad as rumored. I've seen worse movies that made me go cursing in the cinema but Step Up 3 was definitely not one of them. Of course, perhaps one of the reason why i did not hate the movie so much was because i starred in the movie! Okay, it was not me actually, but it's a person with the same name as me called Luke too!

And like me, Luke in the movie is a videographer too!

We share quite some similarities i realized except the only difference is that i don't have an exceptionally sexy girl approach me when i'm holding a camera, that is.

Similarities between me and the main character aside, the story is about "A tight-knit group of New York City street dancers, including Luke (Malambri) and Natalie (Vinson), team up with NYU freshman Moose (Sevani), and find themselves pitted against the world's best hip hop dancers in a high-stakes showdown that will change their lives forever."

The movie boasts of stunning choreography and dance items alongside with awesome cinematography that manages to capture the essence of the dance perfectly. To top it all off, it has excellent soundtracks that makes the movie a must watch dance movie. Although the plot is somewhat predictable and not new, with themes like believing in yourself and chasing after your dreams, it's not surprising considering it's a Disney movie. And Disney movies are usually catered for children and teens so don't go in expecting something like Inception.

All in all, it's a watchable movie. If you're the kind of person who enjoys sweet romantic movies with happy ending, and you enjoy watching awesome dance moves, this is the movie for you. If you want a movie that test your mind and thinking, please go watch Inception.
 

Rating: 7/10

Dear bloggie,

Today Yesterday was an insanely awesome day. Awesomely tired, awesomely exhilarating, awesomely fun and awesomely awesome. Aside from the usual boring class of childhood that i had to attend every Friday, i also had the chance of attending a bash organized by NUSSU titled Project X later in the night. Watched an awesome dance performance by Eusoff Dance (video ) and after that Funk Faction (video ) which were quite scary in this amateur dancer's eyes due to all the stunning moves awesome choreography. If i have the chance, one day, i would love to be on the stage too together with them dishing out some funky moves to the screams of pretty female fans. *winks*

Immediately after watching the performances, i had no luxury of staying back due to a SMS that i received from my fellow block mate notifying me about the lack of runners for the Inter Block Games Road Relay competition. As a responsible captain, i rushed back straight from the bash and did a Superman costume change to my sports attire. Faster than a speeding bullet i would say, or in my case, a half drunk Lukey. No thanks to the alcohol from the bash.

And so i ran. "How hard could running get?", i thought. Boy, was i not prepared for the situation of being left behind just at the start of the competition. Before i knew it, there was i running alone while the other runners were few hundred kilometers in front of me. So much for faster than a speeding bullet.

I held on. I pushed my body to the limit with a thought running in my mind saying that as a senior, i must at least save some face and not get last among the freshies. I tried. And at least i finished together with another person for the final place, so it was not that embarassing. But boy, was i wanting to faint that time.

Next up on my to-do list, EHOC Programmers outing to watch Step Up 3!

Although i'm already half dead trying to catch my breath back, still i went. And i must saym the movie is awesome! Will do a full movie review tomorrow when i don't have so much alcohol and tiredness stuck up in my system.

So yeah bloggie, there goes my day. And oh, did i forgot to mentioned that we went McDonalds immediately after the movie? Because we did. That pretty sums up my day i guess. Bash, run, movie and McD. How's your day?

I've never been much into the hype of what's happening in the blogosphere. Who's the currently most famous blogger, who's the blogger who posted nude photos in her blog or which bloggers who are having cat fights never seem to interest me. I'm more of the person who prefers to stay in my own world, not wanting to bother anyone and the same vice versa.

Well until recently, that is, when the blogging community in Singapore was rocked by allegations of this food blogger called Brad Lau who allegedly demanded free food from a restaurant. The story goes that one fine day, this Mr Brad decided to call a restaurant named Private Affairs to tell them that he was going down to sample their food out of the blue. After "sampling" the food, not only did he refused to pay for the bills but reacted rudely even after the restaurant chose to waive the fees of his bill. His sentence, "“I never pay for food in any restaurant" became famous overnight in Singapore. You can read the full story and the comments from many appalled people here: http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/08/23/food-blogger-who-asks-for-free-meal-sparks-outrage-online/

The news sparked such an outrage that even mainstream newspapers decided to report on the news, criticizing Brad's actions at the same time. Many netizens also flamed him for his allegedly outrageous behavior. In everyone's eyes, Brad was the bad guy and Private Affairs was the victim.

Mr Brad Lau, the allegedly freeloader

But to what extent of the story that is true? One problem that arises together with controversies such as this is the speed in which we choose the condemn the "bad" person in the story. One important thing that we always forget is to check on whether what is reported in the story is entirely true. In Brad's case, it was not long after his story made it into the internet that fellow bloggers began baying for his blood. The incident of him taking down his blog made it worse.

No matter how serious is the case, when looking at controversies like this, one should always view two sides of the story. Not everything that is reported in the newspaper may be true, considering that journalists do not like bloggers very much. It is very important not to let our decisions or judgments to be determined entirely by one side of the story or we might end up killing the wrong person eventually.

Private Affairs entrance, taken from Yahoo.com

It was not long before someone eventually took into Brad's defense. In this case, Brad's defender came in the form of one of Singapore's most famous female blogger, Xiaxue. A few days after the Brad news went up, she came up with a post detailing the story from Brad's point of view. Apparently, according the Brad, he was in fact invited to Private Affairs to sample their food instead of choosing to walk down there randomly demanding for free food.

He also clarified that being an invited event, he assumed that the cost will be covered by those who invited him which in this case would be Private Affairs. Though Brad did admit that he was kind of annoyed when informed that he needs to pay but it was nowhere near throwing the credit card and stomping out of the door. To view more of Brad's explanation to the whole event, go to http://www.ladyironchef.com/2010/08/24/truth/. To view a even better commentary by Xiaxue, go to http://xiaxue.blogspot.com/2010/08/everybody-hates-bloggers.html.

The whole Private Affairs VS Brad Lau thing is getting way overblown

My point of view? Take it with a pinch of salt. What the both sides say may not entirely be true and the truth may lie somewhere in between. After all, we humans do want to look good in front of others and save some face for ourselves. However, my bet is one Private Affairs trying to make this story as sensationalize as possible to gain as much publicity for their restaurant. The number one reason would be because Private Affairs has indeed asked other bloggers to sample their food before for free, making Brad's story more believable. Go to http://thesimplestaphrodisiac.blogspot.com/2010/02/invited-session-private-affairs.html and you'll see what i am talking about.

Excerpt from the above blog

Photo proof of the bloggers who ate free meal at Private Affairs

So yeah, take the story with a pinch of salt. Not entirely story that is reported by the news might be true sometimes. One sided media report can be twisted in so many ways.

As for me, well, looking at how the story turned out, i think i'm gonna step into some random brothels in Geylang and declare that i'm a porn blogger. Who knows? This might be one of the best ways to increase traffic hundred fold to my blog rather than trying to win some random blog competitions.

Do you remember about the day when Mr Luke was in third person and posting about his adventures in auditioning for a place in Eusoff Dance Corps? 

(Blog post here: https://lukeyishandsome.com/2010/08/today.html)

Well, Mr Luke is going to do it again today!

So there was Mr Luke, as usual, in front of his laptop happily surfing the internet at 1am in the morning. Mr Luke, for your info, has this strange tendency to keep refreshing all his tabs in his internet browser now and then, hoping to see some new notifications or news the minute it pops up. Among the sites opened by Mr Luke in the multitude of tabs include Facebook, Gmail, Twitter and a variety of blog sites to help Mr Luke keep track of the visitors to his narcissistic  perasan blog, LUKEYisHandsome.com.

Just as Mr Luke was about to hit the refresh button for his Gmail account for the #67356127635 time, he noticed an email with the title Eusoff Hall Dance Audition Results. "Could it be?", Mr Luke thought. After all, there was a lot of good dancers that auditioned alongside Mr Luke on that day and Mr Luke had not put too much faith in getting into the dance corps that was filled with capable dancers while he was just an old uncle with wooden limbs. Mr Luke was also reminded of an email that he received precisely one year ago with the same title.

"Thanks for coming down for the audition, but we are sorry to announce that you did not make it into Eusoff Dance. Try again next year!" was the first line of the email. It was not the only email Mr Luke received too. In fact, Mr Luke received two of the emails asking him to try again next year as he went for two separate dance auditions. Two!

Try again next year, Mr Luke eventually did. With a thumping heart and as much optimism that he could muster, Mr Luke moved the cursor over to the title of the email. He closed his eyes and clicked.

He made it! Mr Luke actually made it! And the next thing he knew was wanting to shout on top of his voice, take off his shirt and do a naked run around the hostel.

Turns out that if you do not give up and persevere, no matter how much failures you had to endure, turns out that you can actually achieve what you wanted to. Just like what Mr Luke read from his psychology textbook. The difference between a successful and a normal person lies in the way they cope with a setback in life.

An average person, when faced with a setback, gives up and blames it on his/her genes. That he/she do not have the inborn traits require to be good at the thing that they want to learn. They view the abilities to excel as a gift or talent, you either have it or don't. Successful people, however, view setbacks as a sign that they have not trained or tried enough. To them, the ability to excel is not in the genes or brain. Not something set in rock. It is a skill that they can improve on if they keep on trying and only if they want to. So when met with failures, a successful person does not gives up and blames God or the genes, he/she tries harder the next time to achieve his/her goals. And that's the difference.

Mr Luke needs to learn more of that quality. Refrain from saying that he do not have the talents and he is just a normal person everytime he is met with failure but instead choose to try harder and remain optimistic under all circumstances. And above all that, believe in himself. Perhaps one day, with sufficient training, Mr Luke could dance as well as this guy too.

Yeap, never give. And Mr Luke hope you too, will not give up no matter how tough a situation can be. As long as you believe, nothing is impossible. Cheers =)

This is gonna be embarrassing, but watching this video made my eyes wet. I have to admit that i do not understand what she's singing but her voice accompanied by the story portrayed in the video along was enough to move me to tears.

 

JUJU - Hello, Again ～ 昔からある場所

Hi world. How are you, world? I'm just deciding to pack up and call it night for now. I guess tonight will be the earliest time (12 am) that i'm going to sleep in the last two months. Living in university campus sure have distorted my perception of time. Morning, afternoon, evening or night seem to have lost all meaning for me. Midnight and dawn seemed to have become my best friends.

Well, at least tonight will be different. The reason being the 10 am class that i have tomorrow. I can't afford to be sleepy and not able to pay attention in class anymore. It's already my second year in university and it's now or never to buck up. So yeap, i'm guess i'm turning in for the night. Goodnight world.

A tale goes that once upon a time, in a small island far, far away, there lived a blogger. A random handsome blogger out of the millions of blogger out there wanting to be famous and earn thousands of dollars a month from his blog. Sadly, like the millions of bloggers out there, thousand of dollars per month is but a distant dream for this random guy. Even one of the basics of having a good blog, which is owning a custom domain without the .blogspot.com, is already a momentous task for this blogger to achieve.

Along came Exabytes, a blog hosting company. The random handsome blogger have seen the name of the company before. It was during those moments when he was admiring famous blogs from famous bloggers when he noticed that under each of these blogger's blog, like Kennysia.com and Cheeserland.com, had the same company name. Turns out that Exabytes was hosting their blog!

But how could a small random handsome blogger benefit from such a large company? The answer came from a competition called the contest currently organized by Exabytes that aims to give every blogger a free custom domain for one year along side a chance to win one iPad!

The requirements of the contest was surprisingly easy too, something not normally seen in competitions promising free things. All the random handsome blogger had to do was simple.

1. Download the above picture to his computer

2. Upload the picture to profile, not the random handsome blogger's own profile, a mistake which he did. Exabytes FB profile btw, can be found at

3. Tag five people in the picture that he had just uploaded and get all five of them to like that picture

4. Add another equally handsome guy called Michael at and notifying him of the 5 likes on the picture

5. Wait for handsome Michael to respond to his message with the coupon code and head over to Exabytes website given by handsome Michael to "purchase" the free domain name

The steps got kinda tricky after that which left the random handsome blogger utterly confused with the tons of steps that one must go through in order to get the domain. Thankfully for the random handsome blogger, he also have a pretty blogger friend who happened to be doing the same thing as him! What's even more, the pretty blogger was kind enough to upload all of the steps that was required to "purchase" the domain to her blog. All the random handsome blogger had to do was to head over to her blog at http://rollingfumblingthug.blogspot.com/2010/08/christmas-is-around-corner-4-months.html and carefully follow the step to step guide there. So easy!

And after that, what is left to do was to be patient, which the random handsome blogger sorely lacked. He did not know that it will take at least 24 hours before the custom domain can come online and went around panicking after 15 minutes when he still could not see his custom domain online. He did everything a panicky random handsome blogger could do, including Googling every single concern and sending tons of messages to Exabytes. Thankfully, the friendly staff from Exabytes were there for him, assuring and guiding him through the process of getting his domain set up.

A word of note though, as this custom domain does not come with the necessary DNS clearance, bloggers who were previously using blog hosting websites like Blogger.com must email the Exabytes stuff in order for them to do the DNS pointing so you would not lose all your previous blog post. On top of that, the blogger also must also change the settings in Blogger so that hits on the previous blog address will redirect to the new domain. More info at https://support.exabytes.com.my/KB/a2593/pointing-your-domain-name-to-bloggerblogspot.aspx?KBSearchID=40236

Alas, all stories must come to an end. The custom domain is finally up and the random handsome blogger is feeling more handsome-er than ever with his new domain name, lukeyishandsome.com. It's much more memorable and narcissistic as compared to the old address, cherhong90.blogspot.com. It's also a much better way to boost the ego too. Of course, there's a whole long story behind the reason for the new domain name, but that's for another story, another blog post. Now, what's remaining is for the random handsome to do is to copy and paste the link of this blog post into the photo album of Exabytes in hopes of getting an iPad!

Don't you think an iPad would be great as another way to further boost the handsome-ness of the random handsome blogger together with the domain name lukeyishandsome.com? 

Perhaps even more handsome-er than Steve Jobs :p

I woke up today to find that i have one reading journal due tomorrow at 10 am from the IVLE website. Trying to contain the panic that is slowly building up inside me, i went and checked to see if other students have submitted the assignment before me. And guess what i saw? A guy has already submitted four of the assignments when i'm even not done with Assignment No. 1. On top of that, i will be having a road relay match tonight all the way til 12 am. What a good start to a depressing week ahead.

FML

After what seems like 1098217 hours of waiting and going through every single tutorial regarding every single thing about blogger, DNS and CNAME records etc etc, finally the completely revamped look of my blog is up! With a new name too!

Not forgetting a new header, a new favicon and a new template to go with it! Since moving over to a new domain without the .blogspot.com is a big thing for us bloggers, i guess all the new things are kinda necessary for a new start. Of course, no one told me how hard it would be to change tons of stuff at one go so i ended up wasting pretty much of my Sunday revamping this blog. And i must say HTML codes can really drain the energy out from you.

As for the change of name, i guess many of you are dying to know more about it. From rantings to handsome is a big thing too. Long story, perhaps in the next post when i have the time to write about how i manage to get this custom domain and also why lukeyishandsome.com ended up being chosen. For now, i have to retire to my bed and get a well deserved sleep, night world!

Lukey's To Worry To Do List as of 1600, August 21st, 2010

1. Come up with a work plan for EusoffWorks Video Wing 2010/11

2. Figure out what to teach the new video wing new members in the coming lectures

3. Design 10-15 video related questions to ask freshmen when they come for the video wing interview next week

4. Start writing the reading journal for the Childhood and Youth subject

5. Start reading at least something for my Social Psychology, Abnormal Psychology and Statistics for Psychology subjects

6. Attempt to deliver the remaining Block B t-shirts to residents who always seem to be not in their room, i wonder why they stay at hostel if they are half of the time somewhere else

7. Figure out where the hell can i find a child to interview in this foreign land for my assignment

8. Get something to eat as brunch (at 4 pm)

9. Participate in some psychology experiments as a requirement of being a psychology student

10. Head on down to join road relay competition for Block B next Monday

11. Try not to kill myself in the meantime amid all these work requirements

My girlfriend showed me this video when i was just starting to play Starcraft 2. It couldn't have come at a better time, i think. I guess it must have been because of the hours i spent on computer games that made her worry. You couldn't blame her, of course, after listening to what the guy in the video said. Thirteen reasons why video games are better than girls? That's a lot.

But of course, on my opinion, girls, or girlfriends are still more important than video games. If video games were that much better than girls, many guys would be walking down the streets single already. Heck, they wouldn't even give a damn to girls anymore. I'm saying this not because that i'm afraid my girlfriend would kill or anything, but there's just something that video games can't do no matter how hard they try. Maybe it will in the future, but for now, girlfriends are still better than video games in many things.

Things like a hug when you're feeling sad and down and need someone to assure you that everything will be alright in the end. Works way better as a de-stress method than blasting aliens to shreds.

But of course, for me, i have to travel all the way back to my hometown to get one, but i'm not complaining. I'll just make sure that hug counts when the time comes.

And of course, there's other reasons why guys would always prefer a hug rather than a video game, but i'll just let the picture do the talking.

So girlfriends, no need to worry over the video/computer game taking over your boyfriend. By the end of the day, you're still important to them in so many ways (the last picture not included). Cheers!

Well, what do you know, i've actually managed to finish the entire Starcraft 2 : Wings of Liberty single player campaign in less than one week. As the final scene closes, strangely, the rain began to fall outside of my room. I guess it kinda add to the mood of the story alongside the epic background music. And i'm happy to say that Starcraft 2 did not disappoint. It still manages to capture my imagination and leave me grabbing the edge of my seat as it used to when i played it last time. 

When the final cinematic began playing, it almost brought tears to my eyes watching how the story unfolds. The rain came in the right time too. And to top it all of, i have Xian You, my neighbour happily playing guitar next door. Nice.

Oh, well, a good things must come to a close eventually. As i see Jim carrying Kerrigan into the sunlight, i thought this would be a great end to the Stracraft story, finally. And i could finally stop myself from being so engrossed in the whole Starcraft thing and get myself to focus on my studies and reading, which is like, so much more important than saving Kerrigan in the first place.

Or so i thought when i saw the accompanying message next: "Watch out for the second installment of the Starcraft Two trilogy to know what happens to the Zerg!"

WTH?! You mean the entire Starcraft Two is a trilogy? Like Lord of the Rings? Oh i can so kiss my results goodbye... and it's 5 am now... ugh...

Today, Mr Luke went for a dance audition for his hostel's dance corps. Mr Luke had enjoyed his previous experience with Rag Dance very much and hoped to have the chance of dancing again. Upon entering the dance studio, Mr Luke suddenly realized that he and his friend, Kok Weng, happened to be the only two seniors out of the multitude of freshmen auditioning too. Mr Luke thought that perhaps he was too old after all for stuff like this.

Or perhaps Mr Luke needs to stop thinking about all these stuff and just be himself. And not to update his blog 3 am in the morning. So Mr Luke is just going to do some reading for his class tomorrow before sleeping. After all, Mr Luke has some serious catching up to do in his studies.

And by the way, Mr Luke has a strange tendency to refer himself in third person view these days. It must be the stress getting to him.

Textbooks.

I thought i've seen the last of them when i officially ended my secondary/high school studies two years ago. Sadly, i found out the hard way that it was not the case when i first stepped in into university. In university, at least in NUS and in the course that i'm taking, there's no escaping from textbooks if you want to do well in your studies and not get kicked out from university.

I'm not complaining about textbooks being inefficient or anything, but when you have to buy one textbook for every single subject you are taking each semester, you can't help but to feel pissed sometimes. Take me for example, i am taking five subjects this semester and four of them require textbooks. Two of the subjects even went further to have two compulsory textbooks each. In total, i need to buy myself six textbooks this semester.

Six, can you imagine six? That's almost 3600 pages that i need to finish reading by the end of this 6 months not including the journal articles, assignments and other things of the like. To accomplish that, i think most of us would need to lock ourselves in the room for five hours everyday just to finish the readings. And it would only get worse every semester. They must have thought that we were some lean mean reading machine, which sadly we are not because we are just normal human, when they assigned those reading to us.

And to make matters worse, these textbooks do not come cheap. Each textbooks cost about 50 dollars (six textbooks = 300 SGD = RM 1000++) each brand new. Getting second hand ones on the other hand, is no easier as the lecturers taught it would be very fun if they kept changing the books each semester. For students like me, that would mean a month of skipped lunches just to save enough money to cover the textbooks costs. We are, after all, just normal humans, not some money printing machines.

Sigh. Textbooks. And they wonder why the suicide rates is so high among university students.

I realize that i mostly update my blog when i'm waiting for my hair to dry after a bath. A not very normal bath considering that it's already 2 am in the morning. It's the only time that i'm free so, yeah, that explains why Lukey's Rantings gets updated around after 12 am daily. I guess this is the kind of life style that someone will experience after stepping into university. They have this course that teach you the basics of vampirism, which is sleeping late and avoiding the sunlight whenever you can. Explains why there are so many Twilight fans around university.

Alright, i'm blabbering again. I get distracted and wander off so easily when i'm writing typing. 

Anyways, i should seriously stop sleeping at such ungodly hours. Sleeping after 12 am everyday only means more eye bags and being unable to focus in class. Not a very good thing considering that i need good results to graduate. Maybe i should bring my mum over. She's the only thing can make me go to bed on time back in my hometown. The nagging never fails to work.

Or perhaps i could arrange for one of my friend to club my head with a hammer every night at 11 pm. Either way, i could go to sleep on time and not continue this life style of updating my blog every night morning while waiting for my hair to dry. Seriously not good for my results.

After so many years of waiting, i cannot believe i am going to fight side by side with Jim Raynor again. It's been a long time since both of us kicked some Zerg's ass good. I guess it has been more than five years by now. Boy, do i miss those adrenaline pumping moments. And for those of you who are wondering, yes, i'm talking about some random computer games. In this case the random computer game i'm referring to happens to be Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty, one of the most anticipated games of all time.

Starcraft was one of the first ever computer games that i managed to play using my old computer back at home. The old computer have long since been dead, sadly, but memories of me playing Starcraft was not. The game, unsurprisingly, has left me with such a deep impression until i still remember much of the main storyline of the game. A science fiction story set between a war among three factions in a distant galaxy. Much like Star Wars, but unique in its own way.

Starcraft has never fail to make me hold on to the edge of my seat every time. The storyline and gameplay fits perfectly together. There's always sufficient surprises and twists in the plot that will never fail to bore. Add that with good voice acting, i almost feel as if i were in the story myself.

And thanks to the internet, i can now officially play Starcraft 2! It would be good meeting my old buddy, Jim Raynor again. But from what i've seen from the trailer, it seems like he's gone through quite a bit of facial change. Not the usual Jim Raynor that i'm used to.

This is the new face of him.

So much difference from the Raynor i remember. 

He certainly grown quite a bit of hair over the pass few years. I bet it must be the Beijing Hair Growth spray that he used. Well, anyway, since my Starcraft installation have finished. It's time to grab my machine gun and head on to the action! Can't wait to check out Sarah Kerrigan back too since she's also become prettier.

Sarah Kerrigan, ops i mean Starcraft 2 here i come!

(P/s: I foresee a dip in my results with the release of this new game. I should really stay away from computer games. They're my brand of drugs)

If there was one thing that i learned from clubbing, or bash, for that matter, it's never to bring let your girlfriend go to clubbing unsupervised. By unsupervised i mean you can never let your girlfriend go to clubs, bars, pubs or anything of the like if you're not going. The same applies to boyfriends too. And it doesn't matter if they're going with trusted friends or going alone or going with an army of bodyguards, as long as you're not going, he/she cannot go.

It may sound a bit strict or illogical, but when there's alcohol around, there's a high chance that logic won't be hanging anywhere near. From what i've seen from the bash organized this year, it's better to play safe than sorry. I've seen girls that supposedly have boyfriends kissing around with more than 3 guys and having her whole body explored by complete strangers.

You can say that this is normal during clubbing, you can also call me conservative, but i believe that when i comes to protecting your girlfriend, it's alright to be strict sometimes. I mean, what kind of boyfriend would i be if i don't mind my girlfriend getting touched and kissing around with other guys when she's clubbing. Infact, the next time i kiss her, i wouldn't even know who's saliva was left over in her mouth.

So boyfriends and girlfriends, keep this in mind the next time your girl or boy wants to clubbing without you. You might not know who he/she might end up with.

I feel like shit now. Who doesn't especially if you found out that a person that you told a secret to, knowing that you can trust him/her, goes out blurting to everyone about the secret you said. I am at fault too i guess, for telling that person about that little secret. So much for being your "friend".

Someone just shoot me to put me out of this misery please. I hate keeping so many things inside and being unable to pour it out due to the lack of trustworthy people in Singapore. I hate this place. I miss Ipoh.

In a few moments time, i will be heading to Eusoff Hall's Freshmen Orientation Bash aka clubbing-with-a-valid reason-in-university-because-it's-for-the-university's-orientation. Seriously, i still find clubbing kind of pointless even though i've been to numerous Bash-es since coming to Singapore. We go in there, grab some drinks, dance ourselves crazy and then what? Puke later in the streets thanks to a stomach who cannot tolerate the amount of alcohol or wake up with a sore headache tomorrow?

The things we would do in the name of fun. It's kinda funny when we think of it. I guess why clubbing is so popular is because deep in our heart, we hope that there's this slim chance where a particular hot girl will walk up to us when in the club. And with some miracle, we might still end up waking up with a sore headache tomorrow, but not without that hot girl lying by our side. We have the Western media to thank for this influence. At least that's how guys think.

So yeah, rather than hoping for some miracle to happen that always don't happen even though you've been clubbing for years already, i plan to go there and just sit at some corner waiting for time to pass. Maybe check out the wonderful seaside next to the club and admire the scenery at the same time. Way better than getting a headache for lessons tomorrow.

I know. I'm never a clubbing material to begin with, except in the case of the hot girl walking towards me. And i've always prefer Coke to Carlsberg. So shoot me.

Note: My senior Joshua actually asked me to write this article, so oh well, since it would be a great avenue to brush up some of my writing skills before school starts, i decided to give it a try. Do pardon me if you think that this article is not good enough, as my English standard is nowhere near a grade A standard. At least that's what all my lecturers for the past two semesters thought when marking my papers. So yeah, please don't expect too much :p

August 6th, 2010 was a day of reckoning for many in the National University of Singapore (NUS). 

It was Rag Day. One of the biggest annual events in NUS that marks the beginning of a new academic year for some but for most it is an event in which halls of residences and faculties battle it out to produce the best float and performance in hopes of securing the title of Rag Champion.

I, luckily, had the honor of being among the people performing for rag. As i stood there on the field that day, as dancer for Eusoff Hall waiting for our turn to be on stage, i could not help but reflect on the past three months activities that led me to where am i that day.

Truth to be told, I was never a good dancer to start with. Prior to signing up as rag dancer, i failed the auditions for both Eusoff Dance Corps and also Eusoff's Dance Production. The reason why i did not gave up and joined rag dance was because i loved dancing and more importantly, we did not have to audition for rag dance. Little did i know at that time about how far this journey would take me as i wrote my name on the sign up sheet.


Dancing was never easy. In fact, nothing is easy if you want  to be good at it. We had our own share of problems as rag dancers in during our preparation. We never had any full dress rehearsals until the last week of the rag dance and our costumes never really got completed even on rag day itself. There were rumors about how bad is the preparation of the float is going and how this year we may not able to achieve anything at all.

We doubted alright. We even thought of giving up. But Wei Jie, one of the best choreographers Eusoff will ever come to know, made us go on. He said that even if people throw shit at us, we will still be able to take it because we are Eusoffians. And one of the most important messages he imparted on us is the the importance of not wanting to win but to have a good time instead. Winning, of course, is important but more importantly he wanted us to put up a good show and enjoy ourselves on stage that night. And that spirit that he left on us, was perhaps the best strength that we brought unto the stage that night.

Saw Wei Jie, the awesomest of the awesomest choreographers

Eusoff's rag performance was never intended to be a show of complicated dance moves, people being tossed in the air or complicated machinery on the float. Instead, we settled on a dance and a float that would ensure the essence of the plot flows freely. When we went up on the stage that day, as raggers and as dancers, all we had on our mind was to give the audience a wonderful time. We all wanted the audience to feel and understand the story that we wanted to portray. And alive did our story became.


The smiles on the pinatas faces when they came alive, the funky looking cacti dance and also the grace portrayed by the dancers complimented each other to bring out the best from our performance. Though there were mistakes made here and there such as the music coming on too early, the poster going missing and Nicole having a bad fall, the mistakes got turned into one of our strengths as it bore witness to some of the best impromptu performances ever shown. Scenes like the crowd and car traveling scene helped to let the audience understand our performance better. Our choreographer's emphasis on keeping the story flowing through all our actions never left our head during the whole time we were on the stage.

When the stunt girls went up, when the all of us gave the final pose to the end of the music, we knew deep down that Eusoff gave its best that night. It was without question that hearing the cheers from the crowd. All that was left now was up to the judges to decide.


The Olympic Torch was brought in after that, marking the start of YOG. The president made his leave and finally, it was results time. As all of us stood together, hand in hand that night, our heart thumped nervously as we waited for the results. The first award, the Most Environmentally Friendly Float, was an award we had not anticipated. But we celebrated nonetheless. One award was better than none, after all.

Then came the turn for the second award, the Best Float Design. We managed to bag the award last year thanks to the intricate detailing we used on our submarine and this year was no different. Each and every layer on the train were decorated with hundreds of detailing that consists of a few items pasted together. The Eagle for example, consisted of thousands of half burned matchsticks glued together with the feathers. It was without doubt that when the emcee called out the name of the winner, we have managed to retain the title.


Winning one or two awards might have been normal. Three was phenomenal. We had absolute trust in Saira and the rest of the static display dancers to bring out the message to the judges for the static display section. And deliver they did. As the emcee announced the winner for the third award, all of us jumped for joy and shouted ourselves hoarse. We knew that all our hard work during the last three months have not gone unrewarded. Tears of joy were shed and hugs were exchanged. But there was still one award left that was important to us, the Best Rag Performance.

KE VII managed to won the award last year and this year they have the same high chance of winning again. We knew that it will be a tough competition. But we also knew that we have a fighting chance. As the name of the award was announced, we held our breath and crossed our fingers.

"Eusoff Hall!". It was unmistakable, it was certain. We won the award! We actually won the Best Rag Performance! All of the hard work we have put in, the countless sleepless nights, the four hour rag dance practice everyday, the missed outings with friends, all paid off during that moment. Even Wei Jie and Jie Lin, our two dance choreographers, couldn't hold it in much longer. They went through a lot more than the rest of us dancers and it is understandable that this award would have meant a lot for them. I'm so glad that we did not disappoint them.


As the award was passed to us, many of us jumped for joy. We jumped like there's no tomorrow. We shouted. We cried. We thumped our fists to the air. We celebrated. We let all our feelings out. No words could describe how it felt that night. It was like having all your dreams come true in one shot. Rag could not have been sweeter than that moment. It was during then when each and every one of us felt that we were one as part of the bigger Eusoff family. We're there not as dancers, not as raggers, not as freshies but we were all Eusoffians. We were there as a family.

We all trusted and believed that we could make it. We persevered. As we look at each other, our fellow raggers, fellow dancers and fellow Eusoffians, tears turned into smiles. Three months our hard work have not gone wasted. In the end, everything was worth it. Four out of five awards was our testimony.
We can, in fact, achieve anything if we aimed for the sky.


Some from the other halls may question the decision of the judges themselves, as evident from what is seen on the internet. Like how one particular hall put it, "a particularly Dazzling Float might have so pained the eyes of the judges that they didn’t notice the following performances". I personally think that every hall deserve to win in their very own right judging from all the performances and floats shown. KE VII for their splendid performance, Sheares for their colorful costumes, KR for their spirited cheer at the end of their dance and Temasek for their special float design. I bet the judges must have had a hard time choosing a winner from all these wonderful performances put up by all the halls. Why the judges chose Eusoff, we'll never know for sure. I'm certain that they have their own reasons and i'm also pretty certain that they must have experiences of judging before, and it is very likely that many of them were judges for the last year's Rag too. So why can't we trust their decision? If you were to doubt them now, why did you not doubt them the year before? Why only now when your hall did not win?

No matter what others might think, we knew that we put on one of our best performances that night. To top it all off, the recognition we got came from not one, not two but four awards. Four out five awards, that is. And the icing on the cake is definitely the Chingay performance offer. In the end, we achieved all that we set out to achieve. On top of all that, the journey that we all went through together when the first design was drawn, the first wood was cut and the first warm up we had was one of the best journey we have ever taken. The friends we made, the memories we shared, could only be found in Eusoff Rag. Undeniably, Eusoff Rag 2010/11 will be one of the most awesome experience that we all might ever have. And it will not be the last.