Happy 9th bloganivarsary sixthseal.com!

It’s the sixthseal.com 9th anniversary today! πŸ˜€

9-anniversary

Yup, that’s 9 solid years of blogging – something of an achievement, I’ll like to think.

It has become somewhat of a tradition to do a recap of sorts, followed by the best posts of the previous year (from the 19th of April 2010 to the 19th of April 2011) – the blog year – something like the fiscal year – instead of the Gregorian year. πŸ™‚

I started blogging back in April 2002 – I was still in university in Melbourne then and decided it was a good way to let my friends see what I’m up to instead of emailing each of them individually. I was studying computer science so the first incarnation of sixthseal.com does not have a CMS per se but is updated via HTML (no CSS back then) code written manually.

I changed to Movable Type a few months after and only switched to WordPress recently. I started blogging about basically everything and anything I find fun. I think it was the first blog at the time which had daily updates with photos. I even had a webcam turned on 24/7 so that anyone who logs in can see a snapshot of my room or me every 5 minutes – yes, even when I sleep.

I wanted to experience all that Australia has to offer so I went travelling a lot and I attended a lot of events. I covered everything from the Melbourne Open tennis match to concerts. However, it was during one exhibition – SEXPO 2002 – a sex lifestyle exhibition that I realized the potential of my blog. I got an email from the organizers after I posted the coverage asking for my permission to link my post from their official sexpo.com.au website.

They also wanted to give me a media pass for next year so I could gain access to the backstage and get many other privileges.

Unfortunately, there was a server incident where sixthseal.com went down and I didn’t have the backups so you’ll notice that the posts are all missing comments. T_T It’s one of my biggest regrets but hey, at least the posts are (mostly) intact.

sixthseal.com is one of the longest running blogs in Malaysia – it has just reached it’s 9th anniversary on the 19th of April 2011. That’s 9 years of blogging almost every day! It has become a way of life to me and more than that – it has become an extension of myself, my most prized β€œpossession”. I have come to think of it as a β€œson”, a legacy that would carry on, hopefully forever.

It’s like a diary – a life journal where I can look back and see what I was doing at what year. I want to be able to show my children that too. In fact, I’ve already found myself doing that – if I can’t remember what date I did something or when something happened – the first thing I’ll do is to search my blog. πŸ™‚

It’s kinda ironic – the blogger behind sixthseal.com is 30 and taking hair treatment sessions at Svenson while the actual blog has only turned 9 years old. Oh, and Svenson just told me that everyone reading sixthseal.com can drop in for a free consultation at any of the Svenson centres nationwide – call ahead at 1-800-22-8333 to make an appointment – do it before it’s too late! Thanks for the blogiversary gift to the readers! πŸ™‚

The best of 19th April 2010 – 19th April 2011

uncle

4th May 2010
O HAI! I IZ AN UNCLE!
I am an uncle! πŸ˜€

17th June 2010
The entire process of eating rat in China
Gastronomic adventures in the land of possibilities!

1st August 2010
Fraser’s Hill travel report
Travel closer to home.

22nd August 2010
Cliff diving in Ton Sai
Adventure in Thailand!

2nd September 2010
Love The Way You Lie
The best video I’ve ever done – thanks to Cindy for co-starring in this!

dog head

15th September 2010
Eating dog meat in Hanoi, Vietnam
More unusual culinary delights! πŸ˜‰

24th October 2010
Microdermal implants – my third nipple
More body piercing fun!

14th November 2010
A warning about Amsterdam Coffeeshops
Ahh…Amsterdam! πŸ˜€

24th November 2010
South Korea and North Korea DMZ
My second trip to Korea!

28th November 2010
Pub food in London, England
My first trip to Europe within 6 months. Heh!

dark side of georgia

13th January 2011
Where the wild things are
Part of my trip to Tbilisi, Georgia! This is my second sojourn to Europe.

25th January 2011
Broodje haring, Hollandse Nieuwe and herring in Amsterdam
A more wholesome Amsterdam experience.

16th February 2011
The most romantic Valentine’s Day ever!
Getting in a relationship with Jeanie. πŸ™‚

19th February 2011
2011 fireworks and firecrackers review
The annual firecracker and fireworks roundup!

niece

24th February 2011
My niece’s 1st birthday!
I am an uncle! πŸ˜€

27th February 2011
Polly’s wedding in Tangkak, Johor
Going to Johor for a wedding. Good times…

It was a year of travel for me – I’ve been to a lot of places inside Malaysia, went to Europe TWICE (first trip was a more traditional experience while the second involved the lesser travelled Latvia and Georgia, Korea, Vietnam, heck, there were so many I can’t remember all of it!

However, you’ll notice that there are periods which mean more to me – it’s usually the times when I travel or during the CNY period when I’m home with my family. This really makes me miss Sibu. I started and (nearly) ended with posts on my niece – those were the highlights of my year. Here’s to my niece – Kara. Your uncle loves you. πŸ™‚

Happy 9th birthday sixthseal.com – you have become something like a son to me. πŸ™‚

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39 thoughts on “Happy 9th bloganivarsary sixthseal.com!”

  1. Crap! This was supposed to go live at 00:09 on the 19th of April – last night just 9 minutes after the stroke of midnight. I don’t know what happened to my scheduler and I didn’t notice it until 3:12 pm on the 20th of April. 😑

    Reply
  2. That’s an achievement! 9 years wei… my kid would be in primary 3 by now (if I had a kid la..).

    Continue blogging and keep up the great work bro! Been reading your blog for years and I admire your perseverance.

    You’re one of my motivation to keep me writing.

    Cheers,
    Daniel
    ahbing.com

    Reply
    • Thanks Daniel!

      It’s encouraging to hear stuff like that. Keep at it bro! πŸ™‚

      Yeah, 9 years is quite a stretch and I’ve never though of quitting.

      Thanks for reading bro! πŸ™‚

      Reply
    • Yeah bro, I can still remember when I first started. Time really flies, it doesn’t SEEM like a long time, although a lot has happened. πŸ™‚

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    • Thanks Fiona! πŸ˜€

      Yeah, it’s been a while! I throughoughly enjoyed every second of it, it has been a lot of fun…now to the next milestone – the big 10. πŸ™‚

      Reply
    • Thanks Anna! Yup, there will be many more years to come that’s for sure. I’ll continue blogging until the day I die.

      Heck, I might even make one final post on my deathbed. πŸ˜‰

      Reply
    • Thanks Arthur! It’s been a good many years and I enjoyed every bit of it. Thanks for reading and sharing! πŸ˜€

      Cheers bro!

      Reply
    • Thanks Mary! <3

      Yup, it's been quite a journey. Still remember the call from you from Kokoberry. Haha! That was how we met remember?

      Reply
  3. Hey Huai Bin, in commemoration for your 9th bloganivasary i’d think its a suitable time to share my first encounter on sixthseal and how i ended up on being a loyal reader so to speak. I first got to know sixthseal back in 2003 strangely enough through a class project about drug awareness when i was paired up with a friend who was already reading your blog much earlier on. Since search engines and websites like google and wikipedia in those days had yet to truly establish its full potential your blog was most probably the closest thing to an accurate source of information. After the project i pretty much forgotten about it till around 2 years later when i somehow recalled the blog on what i use to call “the crazy guy that does drugs on the net” so decided to travel back here and probably have a good read since i was bored and curious as a 15 year old i guess…then when i realised that you were actually in Kuching at that time it sorta opened my eyes on an interesting perspective on the happenings on my own hometown and probably some of your misadventures it gave a strange sense of connection.

    Fast foward 8 years on im writing this as i just recently started off my own blog recently this month as well. So from your drug ridden days and later on your own reincarnation it was definitely a journey. Cheers to many more years of sixthseal!

    Ps i hope i have not offended you in any way about your previous drug usage. (apologetic for the 15 year old stereotype)

    Reply
    • Heh! Thanks for sharing the anecdote BY! πŸ™‚

      Yeah, those were the days, and history has been made. I’m pretty sure I’m the first non-anonymous recreational drug user posting up trip reports and writing about harm reduction (er…that’s what I like to think anyway) but there’s a price to pay for that.

      A few trips to the ER and a prolonged stay in the ICU for an emergency dialysis through my neck and several rehabs later – I’m finally clean so I can close that chapter of my life. πŸ™‚

      No offence taken, my friend! It was good to be posting all that when the net was still in its infancy. Breaking new ground and all that. Just saying it all comes at a price, and I’m glad I went through it, coz now that I’m clean I think those experiences (including the rehab stints) made me a better person. πŸ˜€

      Thank you for reading through all these years!

      sixthseal.com will continue for many years to come! I’ll be posting from my deathbed. πŸ˜‰

      Reply
      • yeap it sure does shed some light on an issue which most asian communities shunt away and we only would hear ever so often many misconceptions about it. Do read my blog too. =)

        regards~

        Reply
        • Yeah, it’s like ignoring the elephant in the room! I always talk about it to people who are willing to listen. I’ll tell people who just started using that it’s not a road that they want to travel down (although the decision is always theirs and most don’t listen) – and NO ONE goes down that path and comes back out unscathed. 😑

          Hey, I do read your blog bro, I really like your command of the English language…however for the life of me I can’t figure out how to comment on your blog.

          Keep up the good writing bro! πŸ™‚

          Reply
          • Oh my bad my bad! hehe now its enabled already, pretty much forgot about it, thanks for pointing out! Haha HB i try my best but i think your command is far more superior than mine and i do enjoy reading well written blogs myself probably thats why.

            Thanks for the encouragement! means alot to me =)

    • Keep at it Ken! I’m sure you’ll reach 9 years in no time bro. πŸ™‚

      Thanks! I’ll be sure to keep on blogging. πŸ˜€

      Reply
    • Heh! Yeah, we’re the old skool bloggers bro – the first wave of Malaysian bloggers (although I started in Australia). πŸ™‚

      Reply
        • Yeah, back in those days there wasn’t much in the way of CMSes – WordPress didn’t even exist yet!

          There was b2 and Movable Type, that’s about it, WP came in pretty late in the game.

          Heh!

          Cheers bro! πŸ™‚

          Reply
  4. 9 years!! Has it really been that long?

    Man do I remember some of your classic posts, all those controversial ones too.. πŸ˜‰

    When it comes to Malaysian blogs, you are LEGEND, dude.

    Happy 9th Blogiversary! Blog on!

    Reply
    • Yeah, time really flies eh? πŸ™‚

      Technically, it’s 8 years since I went for rehab for a year and there’s a time when I posted on another domain (where all the posts are lost forever now – no backups again). 😑

      Thanks bro, appreciate you reading all these while and cheers for the compliment. πŸ™‚

      I will – won’t ever stop blogging for anything!

      Cheers Sashi! πŸ™‚

      Reply
  5. hi mate was gonna catch up with you last year when i was in KL can we hook up for a coffee im here for a week and would love to chat thanks K

    Reply
  6. naturally like your web-site but you need to check the spelling on several of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling issues and I find it very bothersome to tell the truth nevertheless I will definitely come back again.

    Reply

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