Where do you see yourself in 5 years? (Part 1)

Hey guys~! It's me again.

I know it's been a while. A VERY long while in fact. But I thought I might as well write something here since my blog is still around. Something more casual and personal. Just for the record, like my own diary.

So, just to bring anyone who actually reads this up to speed with what's happened with my life.... Here's a summary of the past 5 years.

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Life has been not bad the past few years. In August 2014, I ran a 50km Ultra-trail Marathon across the brutal hills around Mt. Kinabalu. A challenge I took up thinking it would be a life experience. Indeed it was, but it also near damn killed me from exhaustion physically and mentally.

#TMBT2014 #50K #ultramarathon #trailrunning

A photo posted by birdiebert (@thenorthbug) on Aug 19, 2014 at 7:28pm PDT

No regrets about this though. The scenery along the trail; the physically demanding hike; the mentally torturous 14 hours; and of all, the feeling that you somehow, not knowing how, manage to endure to the very end of the madness you signed up for.... It's something money can't buy.

With my last training over... It's time to cool off and get ready for the final event 2 weeks from now. #tmbt2014 #ultramarathon #nature #running #hiking

A photo posted by birdiebert (@thenorthbug) on Aug 4, 2014 at 6:01pm PDT

Before I decided to physically torture myself for this marathon though, I spent the year before and also the year before that torturing myself mentally with what I would crown as my "Top game of ALL TIME"

December 2013 Dark Souls
and March 2014 Dark Souls II

Call me an asshole, but you can't just let the opportunity to golf someone off a bridge slip past you

Probably by far my fastest stealth invasion kill. #darksouls2 #darksoulsii #pvp #invasion #game #ps3

A video posted by birdiebert (@thenorthbug) on Jun 7, 2014 at 12:00pm PDT

And before my addiction for Dark Souls set in.... I was busy attempting to burn my house down with my flaming fiery creation (though it failed sadly and is currently put on hold till I have 1. Time, 2. Materials)

#Project: Pyromancy Gauntlet. Silicone tubing 3mm ID no nozzle test. #fire #flame

A video posted by birdiebert (@thenorthbug) on Jan 9, 2014 at 5:11am PST

Truth be told I'm quite surprised I'm still alive this day, after living such a dangerous life.

I even had quite a stable gymming routine back then, when I was a hard gainer gym freak. I didn't look like much, but I would squat a 110 kg (240 lb) which in my gym is a rare sight in itself. Maybe because in my gym every day was chest day.... But anyway I got to the point I would pack protein powders when I went on trips lasting more than 2 days.

My drug stash for my 1 week in #KL. #chickpeas #peanuts #protein

A photo posted by birdiebert (@thenorthbug) on Jul 14, 2013 at 7:34pm PDT

And that.... all that.... was before I left my job in November 2014.

Having worked for almost 4 years in the same company, I decided I'd sponged up everything I could and it was time I went to absorb more knowledge elsewhere. I searched far and wide and realized, I wouldn't find what I need in my hometown.

Thus I had to make a life changing decision. It was a bit of a dilemma, although after 2 minutes of thinking I already knew my answer. I didn't have money; I didn't have a place to stay; I had to think about my mum; I had to pay rent for my mum.

But alas my decision was made. I secured a job in Singapore via today's technological miracles (the internet and telephones), and bought my first ever one-way ticket to Singapore. It never occurred to me how terrifying it is, to fly on a one-way ticket, into a foreign country that you've never lived in before, starting a new life, meeting new people, starting all over..... until I set foot onto the plane and sat down at my seat. It was the most life changing thing I'd done in my life thus far.

That was in December 2015. So the fact that you're reading this means I've managed to survive somehow, and am still alive, breathing, and in Singapore. What I've went through for the past year, is for another post some other day, soon. It's past 12 am now and I have to sleep because sleep is very important for my current lifestyle. XP

Anyway. till next time.

Untitled: 10-07-2011

Ok. So I know it's been aeons since I last updated. There's various reasons for this and among them, Maple is to blame. Yes, that's correct, you read it right... I'm mapling again... MapleStory that is, though this time on a private server =)

Anyway, my post today isn't to talk about maple... The point is I just wanna give my blog a wake up call and remind myself that I still have a blog...

Life has been unpredictable lately... And that's also one reason why I been in the mood or haven't had the time to update.

Since I started working, I've been outstation at times unexpected and been thrown to places I never even knew existed before O.o; Sat in cars for more than 8 hours in a day...; Stalked people with binoculars from building rooftops 15 stories high; turned zombie like from staying back in office in response to some hacking threat; and even got a chance to visit to a whole new country!!!

All in all, although there's been some hard parts and complicated times we have to go through, it's been fine so far and I've been managing to pull through... Things might be tougher down the road but we still have to face it don't we??

Anyway, that's it for this post. I'll try to find time to continue updating like I used to ^_^ and keep a slice of my life as memories for myself in this blog...

Hope I'll update soon. Peace out~~

Twenty-One

I know its a bit late, and I know I haven't been updating. Its just that the last few weeks haven't been generous enough to give me some time to update my blog.

Though this post is a bit late, I still wanna post it up, just for my own memories keepsake =)

Being 21 last year had been a fun and enjoyable year to me. There's so many new things to learn, new things to experience, and it is... to me, the ending of an old chapter, and a starting of a new chapter in life.

Without further ado, here are 21 pieces of my life when I was 21

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1. Attempted to learn how to draw 0_0

And found out that drawing was actually quite fun~! But it ain't no simple feat. Seriously.



2. Got 3rd for a Photography competition.

Thanks to Tuang, and many others for being my test models for the competition ^_^ Here's the winning photo.

3. Confessed my love to someone.

It's one of the stupid-est and most nerve wracking things to do that doesn't involve loads of cash and risking your life~!!



4. And got rejected =(

And one of the times when you feel like just curling up in bed and sleeping your life away.



5. Watched a Caterpillar turn into a Butterfly (Twice!)

It's not often you get to witness the full metamorphic cycle of butterflies. I'm just glad I had the chance to.



5. Tried Cornflakes with Strawberry Milk.

It wasn't because I liked strawberry milk or anything like that. But apparently all other sorts of milk was sold out and I it left me no choice ~.~"



6. Took my first Animal Portrait.

Of some random dog I spotted on the street 0_0



7. Played with the Rubik's Cube

In ways not meant for it to be played.

Screw Rubik's

8. Saw kites that I never knew existed before.

9. Set foot in Brunei for the first time~!!

And raided tonnes of Sushi! (Eating Japanese Food when in Brunei is a Must Try experience~)






10. Learned to Stitch my first Panorama Shot =)

11. Got drunk at some John Curtin Weekend Longhouse visit.

"Yam-Seng!!!"

Even though that ain't vodka he's holding, but you could still get pretty f*cked up if you had 10 rounds of it in a row.

Sitting in a circle with native elders, chatting cock and buffalo, half-conscious and having no aim of what to do. The feeling ain't that bad =)




12. Played and Test-ran a Wi-Fi controlled Drone made by Sir Andrew.

In case you're wondering, that black thingy behind is a turbo-charged booster to provide it with an extra boost in acceleration. Seriously.



13. Did my Final Year Project.

And gave a presentation about it in a high tension atmosphere filled with a room of lecturers waiting to see what's so good about your project.



14. Watched 8 movies in 2 days!


I can't recall the titles of the movies I watched right now, but they were all good movies. Namely, among them:

• Changeling
• Shawshank Redemption
• Memento
• Into the Wild
• Shutter Island
• IP Man
• Iron Man
• Pirates of the Caribbean 1, 2, 3

Trust me, by the time you finish 8 hours of movies in 2 days... you feel like you just took a flight from London to Brisbane (although I've never experienced Jetlag before)

15. Reached level 148 in MapleSEA~ ???

The character sitting in the boss-like chair in the middle is me. Unfortunately I don't have a more up-to-date screenshot =) but I'm proud of my character so far.

16. Wrote a Love Letter, and actually handed it to the person.

Gosh... I still can't bring myself to believe that I actually did this sometimes. Whenever I think back of it, my mind just explodes and I ask myself.... How the hell did I bring myself to pull that off??



17. Attempted Lucid Dreaming

After spending countless hours of effort and wasting days and weeks having overturning my sleeping pattern. I decided it wasn't all that worth trying T_T It's still only a dream after all.



18. Visited the Tip of Borneo~!!

For the first time ever~



19. Got a Job

Though I'm the one who dreaded starting work all my life as a student; it seems I was among the first of my friends to get started with working life. Sigh.



20. Attended KK City Run

First time attending such an event @.@ but watching a mass of people doing morning stretches surely was interesting, hehe.



21. Wrote a list of 101 things to do before I die~ ^_^ 


Next up is to fulfill the list!

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Well, that's it for the 21 things I did when I was 21.

As of nearly a Month ago, I had officially turned 22.

15th March 2011

So, I haven't updated in a while. Reason? Because I'm now a working man and no longer have the luxury to sit back and think about all the trivia in life to share with you guys.

Many things have happened within the past few weeks, but I haven't had the time to sit down and write them all down just yet, since I now only have 24 hours a day - 9 hours at work, - 1 hour in traffic jams, - 8 hours sleep, that leaves me with 6 hours a day for my own stuff, including showering, food, and what else?

I'm not sure if you peeps reading this realize it, but my tone may sound different from before, reason is because I'm in the office right now and using my company's laptop, I can't seem to wrap my head around stuff like I used to when I'm alone.... somehow there's this ... "formality" in the air that makes everything so serious =.=" oh well~

Among the many things that happened, some things are more worth mentioning at the 'spur of the moment' or at least as soon as it's over. But now that stuff like the KK City Run has been a little more than 1 week ago, I kinda lost the momentum to blog about what it was like.

Anyway, for a slight re-cap, here's a few photos for you guys to see what it's like.

Mass Warming-up in the early morning isn't something you get to experience everyday.

And because the podium is so far away.... the Lead Instructor for our warm up only looked like a SPECK from that distance. Yet one way or another, people still manage to mimic the actions of the person in front of them, and so you get this "Waaave~~" formation that radiates from the front of the crowd.

Although it was called 'City "RUN"'..... but looking at the photo above tells me that I wouldn't be able to run that day.

Well, that was a week ago, on the 06th of March.

Now, I'm sitting in the office with my boss on leave for a whole week, leaving me lost and unsure of what to do with my time =) Maybe I'll just blog more, hehe... ~.~" just a thought. If my boss sees that I'm blogging during work hours, I'm done for my probation period.

Spread your Wings

Somehow and Someway, the poor kit-zai (that's lime in 'hakka') plant that's suffering from 'infertility' outside my balcony haven't been bearing any fruits since we planted it. But for some peculiar reason, there's always been some butterfly mom who thinks of it as the best place to leave her kids and let them grow.

For the second time, I've once again watched a larvae grow from Tiny, to Fat, into a Cocoon and lastly into it's final form of a Butterfly.

Mr. Fat Caterpie getting ready for his Chinese New Year Celebration

I assume that butterflies aren't very fond of watching fireworks. Because the night of Chinese New Year itself.... it decided to spin itself into....

Mr. Fat Caterpie decides to spend Chinese New Year in a sleeping bag so that he won't have to give out Ang-pau

A Pupa.......

So something like 2 weeks after that Fatty declared himself M.I.A, while everybody was busy celebrating Chap Goh Mei, he finally decides it's time to change into some new clothes and present himself at the oddest time possible.

6:30am in the morning!

Say Hello to Butterflee~

Butterflies are cool. But what's cooler is their attitude.

They're never in a rush. They're never early. Yet they're never late either.

I waited since 5:30 that morning expecting it to crawl out anytime soon. But being too sleepy, I assumed that Butterflee needed 1 more day of beauty sleep before he would be ready for the grand show. So I went back to sleep in a *poof*, and 2 hours later, awoke at the calling of my mom saying "Hey~ Your friend is out!"

So I sat there, taking pictures as I watched it dry its wings. I was waiting for it to spread its wings.... to show its beautiful cape of colors on the other side. I didn't know how long it would take.... so I sat there.... waiting ~.~"

Butterflee ain't don't care about you you know. He takes his own time.... drying its wings, basking in the morning sunlight, flicking its proboscis once in a while. 1 hour went past.... It was in that same mortified position. It just has all its sweet time in the whole wide world.

Until nearly 2 hours later.... I played cheat =)

I found out that.... if you wave your hand above the butterfly to frighten it, it will automatically open its wings to its largest pose to scare any threat away ^_^

So, instead of waiting for hours next time.... imma use this trick, hehe.

It's sad though, that butterflies don't live long. I don't know how long this would live, but either way, it's a cycle of life.

The last time I time I remember a butterfly with its wings spread out so wide.... .... .... was in the Museum

Maybe we should learn to live like a butterfly. Timeless, and Carefree.

~

3 Days into Work Life

Sometimes, things don't always go the way you expect them to go. Nor do stuff turn out the way you planned it would.

I majored in Computer Systems and Networking in a 3 year Bachelor's degree course. And here's a list of my work tasks I've done for my job so far:

Day 1:

• Cutting cello-tape
• Carrying boxes
• Unscrew shelves
• Disposing of cables and equipments

Day 2:

• Learn to use a paper shredder
• Seal boxes
• Play with bubble wrap
• "Book-keeping"

Not things I'd so much as fantasized I'd be doing as so-called 'Network Engineer' =.="


There was though, of course, a good reason behind all this.

Apparently I'd came in at the wrong timing and the whole office is busy packing and clearing in preparation to move to a new office. So instead of doing what my said job position was supposed to be doing, all I can do right now is help out packing and exploring at the same time =)


Although today, I had the chance to do something I remember swearing upon my own grave, that I'd never ever want to dare touch again.

 Configuring Switches~!!

(Sorry for crappy image quality, camera phone)

For non 'techies'.... Switches in networks are like... .... well... it's something like cheese on a pizza.... whatever could that mean...

Which actually reminds me of the good old days back in the labs...

But these aren't switches btw....

Never thought I'd be seeing these things again so soon after studies.... sigh~


Well... in the meatime... Happy Belated Chap Goh Mei to everyone out there~ (I'm always late for greetings it seems)