It has indeed been a big learning curve for me so ultimately this has to be the highlight of my 2011. Ronald Cheng (BCS). And the big question right now is what's in store for 2012? At this point, I honestly have no idea. But God has been faithful throughout the entire of my degree journey so i will let Him decide.  Wishing everybody a safe New Year's eve celebration and may 2012 be a more fruitful, exciting and most importantly a healthy year for all of you!

Imagine if you’re a huge fan of Jason Mraz, attends his concert and holds up a banner that says “Please sing Lucky with me!” The next thing you know, he sees your and banner and calls you up on stage. That was what happened with one lucky fan that evening. An Asian girl by the name of Esther scored big time when Jason Mraz saw her sign and invited her on stage to an impromptu duet session to cover Colbie Caillat’s part for the song “Lucky”. As nervous as the whole audience in Civic Theatre was for Esther, she definitely surprised everyone including Mraz himself with her steady vocals. Of course, after the show i managed to find out that she was Korean. And we all know one fact for sure...Koreans can sing. Well, not all at least. I actually didn’t know that Jason Mraz was performing in Auckland until my flatmate (who is a harcore Mraz fan) told me about it. While I have to admit that i’m not a massive fan, i do enjoy his music and know that he’s a great entertainer when perf

Today, the world mourns as the genius behind Apple finally lost his battle to pancreatic cancer. As much as i want to blog about how much Jobs have revolutionize not just only Apple  but technology all around the world, i also think it's about time that there should be an increase awareness with pancreatic cancer. Truthfully, it's not only the fact that i own a couple of Apple products that makes me feel saddened by the passing of Jobs but also because my dad lost battle to the same cancer four years ago . I still cringe each time i hear people being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer because i know it's only a matter of time before their time is up. As of today, the  chances of survival is still very slim  despite how advanced medical technologies are. I remembered the days when my dad finally came to accept the fact that he was dying, he said "No matter how rich and famous you are, once you've got pancreatic cancer, it's like you're given the death sent

Keeping the memories of those who were lost on that fateful day alive. 

Rugby World Cup 2011 officially starts tomorrow!! Despite being here for a little more than two years now, i'm still not into the sports. But on the bright side, i did have my share of fun back in 2009 when i volunteered to help run a rugby workshop at Pat Lam Academy. These kids are just crazy about rugby! Anyway, to join in the hype of the RWC fever, i compiled a video of the kids doing the haka led by a few of the guys from the All Blacks team. Excuse the terrible video quality because i was still using my Sony Ericsson W980 then. Yes, i still remember the model. Lol! Go All Blacks!!

I think retail is by far one of the most ridiculous job out there. Then again, anything that involve dealing with customers directly is pretty ridiculous. It's been more than a year now that i've been working part time as a sales assistant in an overpriced shoe store. And to think that i have not served any  "interesting" customers since last year would be an understatement because on average, we get at least one or two "interesting" people coming in to our store every few weeks with either a complaint or some sort of negotiation. There's this funny thing about customers here. For some reason, they get the impression that whatever they purchase comes with a lifetime warranty. And worst of all, if something happens to it, they demand a full refund. And we're talking about shoes that's been bought and used for more than 6 months. For some - a year! I recently had a customer who came in and asked if she's able to get a refund or a compensa

After my last post, i've received a few encouraging messages from friends and even people i do not know who were victims of racism and discrimination. I thank you for sharing your stories and advices with me. Although what happened to me might not be "too big of a deal" for some, as a blogger, i still feel there is definitely a need to blog about this unfortunate experience. One of my friend also sent me a link to this short video that really shows the severity of such shameful acts in the world of European football. Definitely worth watching. "Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by color." ~Author Unknown

I've heard stories about it. I've read about them on the newspapers and seen it on the television before. But i've never encounter it personally. At least not till last night. Last night after a quick night out with a bunch of friends at a club, we decided to stop by a hot dog stall for a feed while we were on our way to the car. As I wasn't feeling too good after a long day at work, my head was screaming for me to go to bed. I decided to pass on grabbing a bite and stood next to the stall while waiting for my friends to get their feed. As i was waiting, I took out my iPhone and used the front camera to check if my face was looking any red from drinking and quickly put it back in my pocket before someone starts thinking i'm some vain freako. Just as i put my phone away, i noticed there were two girls sitting in front of me, facing towards me and eating their hot dogs. One of them saw what i was doing, leaned over to her friend and muttered something. All of a su

Two happy years. Here's to more. I love you. :)

I'm not really a tech person when it comes to computers but when it has something to do with money, the super asian side of me will try and find a way to minimize any unnecessary costs. I've been using this current MacBook Pro for about a year now and not long after i purchased this model (2.66ghz Intel Core 2 Duo) about a year ago, Apple announced the release of their MacBook Pros with the new Intel i5/i7 chips in it. If you're an Apple user, you'd probably have the same bittersweet relationship with their products just like me. Just when you thought you've got the latest and fastest product, lo and behold, Steve Jobs will suddenly announce the release of a better and faster product than what you've already have. Ever since the release of the new models, I've been eyeing to upgrade my 2.66gHz MacBook Pro to one of the models with the i5/i7 chip in it simply because I (insert whatever reasons i can think of) . But thankfully, the sensible side of me kn

Ladies and gentleman, this is what i have been keeping me busy for the past few months. After days of shooting and endless nights of editing, i am proud to present to you my very first corporate video  masterpiece! Although i'm so proud of what i've done, i gotta admit i'm already sick of watching this thanks to the endless hours of re-watching and analyzing clips over and over again. Lol! Added on 08/06/11: After giving a copy of this video to my client, i got a call from the manager of Kaipatiki Project asking me if i was a Christian. I told him yes. And then he asked if i'm okay with him swearing. Not going to lie but my heart skipped a bit thinking that i might be in for a scolding. He then said "I just watched the video not too long ago and i think it's f**cking awesome! ". Phew!!

My tuition fees for 2011. I'm not gonna lie but whenever i see the amount of fees i'm paying, i feel extremely guilty that my mom is spending so much on my education. I know i was the one that said i wanted to do a degree in the first place two years ago and knew it was going to be an expensive experience but it still makes me feel awful seeing the amount that's being 'invested' in me. I am enjoying my course and learning a lot of new skills which i hope will land me a career in the future but right now, with no one working in the family, i feel like spending this large amount of money on me is just so...wrong. Especially when that amount can sustain my family's expenses for the next three years or so. Dad, i hope i'm making you proud.

I just had a good read about this lady's experience of getting an iPad 2 back in Brunei . Needless to say, those who have stayed and shopped in Brunei can easily relate to her frustration especially when it comes to customer service. Having the experience of being trained in the hospitality industry ,  running a retail store back home few years back  and currently working part time as a retail assistant over here in New Zealand, i can honestly say the customer service back home is a little behind. And i'm not referring to only retail stores. This is for those involved in the service industry back in Brunei. Since i haven't been back for a little over a year, i am not entirely sure if the customer service in Brunei is still as bad as how it was when i left. But based from the experiences i've gone through and learned from being in the hospitality and retail industry and as a customer, i can easily share what i've learnt that might be useful for those back home who

It's 3am right now. I'm typing this entry while lying on bed praying that I can fall asleep anytime soon. It's been a long day for me today and I know I'm physically and mentally drained but the problem is...I just can't fall asleep. Same case happened to me last night. As a result, this morning while crewing for my friend's shoot, I roamed around the set like a zombie. I thought I had a restless night of sleep and assumed I had one of those sleep where you close your eyes for 8 hours but you're still awake the entire time. So after a restless night, I thought I would be able to fall asleep easily tonight but for some reason, I'm still wide awake. Then I started tracing back on what I've took in the past few hours that might possibly keep me awake at this time. In less than 5 minutes, I discovered the culprit. My cup of tea... When I'm sleepy, I can sleep through anything. As far as I knew, caffeine got nothing on me. I can normally drin

I'm not gonna lie but since young, i've always been thinking about death. Not that i'm suicidal or anything but the thoughts are usually filled with curiosity. Sometimes whenever i think too much about it, i tend to scare myself and end up getting sweaty palms and an increased heart rate. Plus, the topic about death itself is pretty depressing so it's not ideally a topic to talk about with your friends nor is it an ideal table talk discussion over dinner with family. Imagine if your dad comes home, sits down on the dining table and instead of asking you how your day was, he asks "So, what do you think about dying?" What about death do i normally think about? There are a few thoughts that i constantly think about and they are mostly linked to each other. Let's start of with the first one; the feeling of being dead. Not my question... We all can feel everything right now. But what happens when we're dead? Can we still use our senses like how we n

Bruno Mars' last stop for his Doo Wops & Hooligans tour ended with a bang in Vector Arena, Auckland! This will definitely be classified under one of the best concert i've attended to. Aside from knowing the fact that this dude can REALLY sing and was recently caught for possessing cocaine , i didn't have much expectations. But after walking out of the arena tonight, i'm amazed. Well, partially cause he spent six minutes singing "Just The Way You Are" and kept repeating that i'm amazing just the way i am. Bruno Mars fans.. The crowd was filled with enthusiasm as well despite the cold weather tonight. Thankfully, we didn't have to queue as long as how we had to for Adam Lambert's concert . Once we got inside the arena, we were in for a treat. We saw Bruno Mars walking around freely. "Bruno  Mars  Jupiter" Lol! This guy had people turning their heads for a second cause he did have a bit of resemblance to Bruno Mars himsel

I just turned 24 years old. If you didn't know, i'm currently majoring in video production from my Bachelor of Communication Studies. I'm hoping with my major, i will put all that i have learnt into producing documentaries. Documentaries for a cause. Any good cause that the mainstream media does not have time for. And for my birthday wish this year,  i want all of you to spare me 45 minutes of your time  and watch this clip. After that, all you need to do is grab the link and share it on whatever social networking website accounts you are on. THE ROAD from Road of Resistance on Vimeo . Honestly, it's docos like these that inspires me so much. Hidden stories that the world really needs to know and be aware of. For those of you who breathe sighs of relief after hearing horror stories from the past (such as Hitler and the Nazis and the Japanese soldiers during the Japanese occupation era) and think to yourself saying "thank god that was in the past&q

If you own an iPhone 4, chances are you are either using a case of some sort to protect your precious phone or you're using a bumper. Me? I prefer mine naked...well, maybe not entirely naked but i'd say with an underwear on. Like Superman. Yes, i like to exaggerate. :) While it is a risk for me to go "commando" with the iPhone 4 , i felt with my last 3GS i actually spent so much time making sure it's well taken care of and it'll always be in a hard case so in the event of it being dropped, the phone will still look good as new. After a year of being careful with my phone, i eventually sold it off (for a pretty good price too, mind you!) and upgraded to this. And the cycle continues. After getting myself this, the first thing i did was to jump right into getting all sort of accessories to protect this phone. Although this time, i find most accessories for the iPhone 4 not too appealing as compared to accessories for the iPhone 3GS.  But barely afte

Recently, i had to come up with writing a non-fiction script for my TV writing class assignment. The topic we were given was to write up an interesting story of someone over 60 years old from my family or someone of that generation. So i decided to write up a story on my family specifically my mom's side as i realised now how unique her culture is. As much as i dreaded this TV writing assignment, during the process of doing this i got my sister back home to dig up old family pictures of both my mom and my dad and upon looking at the picture of my mom's family, it hit a soft spot inside of me seeing how she looked like when she was younger. The part that i love the most about my mom's family portrait was my grandparents. Within a glance of the picture itself, one can easily sense that there is a strong cultural history behind this image. My late grandparents with my mom and her siblings.  If you didn't know, my grandmother from my mom's side is a Dusun . Dusu

This is my dad back in 1980, seven years before i emerge victorious in securing the first place for my mother's egg. Dad, 1980. And this is me, last year being stupid at a youth camp. Me, 2010.  I think i know who's responsible for my sense in hairstyle. :)

Whenever i do my workout, be it gym or running, i NEED music. Without music, i feel like doing any form of workout or exercise is 10x harder. No wait, working out itself is already 10x harder for me so without music, maybe it should be 100000000000x harder. Having said that, i always set aside a playlist in my iTunes for my workout session. Even within that playlist itself, i realized that there are certain genres that gives me the extra boost when i'm running while when i'm doing a bit of weight lifting, i enjoy another different type of genre. Now allow me to share a few of my personal favorite tracks with you. Hopefully some of these selections might be the solution to give you that extra boost whenever you're doing your workout. Most of the recommendations are based on either the tempo of the track or the crazy beat the song has that gets my adrenaline pumping. The ones with a (*) are my current overplayed favorite. 1. Limp Bizkit - Take A Look Around 2. Marilyn