birthday

Happy 9th bloganivarsary sixthseal.com!

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It’s the sixthseal.com 9th anniversary today! 😀

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. 🙂

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 “possession”. I have come to think of it as a “son”, 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. 🙂

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! 🙂

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

uncle

4th May 2010
O HAI! I IZ AN UNCLE!
I am an uncle! 😀

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! 😉

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

14th November 2010
A warning about Amsterdam Coffeeshops
Ahh…Amsterdam! 😀

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. 🙂

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! 😀

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. 🙂

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

A bottle contains more philosophies than all the books in the world

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jerine acrylic painting

I got this acrylic painting from Jerine as a present. I managed to meet up with her just now at 1U and she drew me down to a T. Heh!

Guest writer taking over:

(coz she says I write too much like a copywriter)

Ahahahaha… WTF man! I don’t even have time to blog on my own blog now I have to write here? Oh well… That’s one of my recent masterpiece. The story goes back to when I wanted to paint one for my boss then he (HB) said “Eh, draw for me also lah”. Since he’s so nice, I can’t refuse his request. I’ve already done thousands…. oh no… I’m exaggerating… maybe a hundred of such paintings for friends. Normally, I just draw my friend with a hint of that person’s personality. But HB is like sooooooooooo random and he has sooooooo many interests, I had a hard time to draw this one. Should I draw him with casino chips? Or him with exotic foods? Or him with all the six seals sign of the end of the world? Like what they say, alcohol probably is the most inspiring thing in this world. There was a bottle of beer right in front of me. And the voila!!! You have that painting of HB with a bottle of beer in his hand!

I really like this one and it’s moving with me along with Jammie’s table. I’m going to hang it on the wall of my new place. I do wish that artistic liberty was taken to make me look better though.
smirk

One, 29 buns

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29 buns

One, 29 buns, all in good fun
Pink fluffy ones
And, after a bottle of rum
It’s good and done
It goes plus one,
Another year runs!

I got a box of 29 buns from a friend who managed to catch me before I flew off. She even heated them up – apparently it’s a Chinese tradition to eat these buns during birthdays but I must have been skipping class when they taught that in culture class.

Anyway, Lainey also dropped by as I was about to shower and head off to the airport to catch a flight to NZ. I haven’t seen her in ages…it’s good to catch up!

lains

Yes, I’m wearing the same shirt – haven’t showered for more than 24 hours. T_T

I’ll be in New Zealand for the rest of next week for my mom but I’ll still have net access so it’s business as usual. Okay, gotta rush to catch a plane now, my dad is already here.

My 29th birthday

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Unlike previous years, my birthday wasn’t half bad this time around.

Most interesting tradition

birthday cake

Taking out birthday candles from a cake…with your teeth. It’s a messy affair. Thanks for the people at work for the cake and the attempt to get a beer or alcohol flavored one for me!

Most effort via electronic means

birthday mail

Mel did this birthday sign and sent it via email to me. 🙂

Most delicious present

birthday crab dinner

Crabs in hot and sour sauce from Jerine. She bought me a dinner at King Crab (and also a bottle of Macallen single malt).

Most thoughtful gift

birthday wallet

A wallet from Michelle. I have been using my wallet for a while now and it’s a bit worse for wear (probably coz of the large amounts of cash I stuff inside before my Genting runs !hi) and she noticed it.

Thanks for all the well wishes via text, Twitter, Facebook, phone calls et al. You’ve all made my birthday a special one. Cheers! 🙂

Seven years of sixthseal.com

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Download: Director’s Cut (with proper music)

sixthseal.com celebrates its 7th blogniversary today and in remembrance of that, I have made a 10-minute video documenting the progress from Melbourne to KL to Kuching to Sibu and back to KL.

Notable posts of the year:
The Big Mac Chomp Challenge
Tongue Piercing Photos and Video
Hilton Batang Ai Longhouse Resort
Marina Bay Seafood Restaurant
JCI Seduan Wet & Wild Pool Party
sixthseal.com Guide to Eating Live Sago Worms
The evolution of Chinese names
Zuiho Daiko performance @ Sibu Gateway
My sister’s wedding @ Grand Jasmine Ballroom, RH Hotel
Wrist piercing – sub dermal piercings on my left wrist
CNY in Ipoh
Don’t Drift and Drive
Ride of the Valkyries
Hate the sin, love the sinner
Nuffnang Music Bash 2009

It’s been a long journey and I’ll like to thank everyone for reading the chronicles of my life…

…and to show my appreciation, I’m going to buy the first 50 people who comments on this post lunch.

RM 10 each x 50, straight into your bank account via TT. Please ensure that a valid email is provided so I can email you for your account details.

As a bonus (and also to round up the figure to RM 600) I’m going to give the best comment RM 100.

Yes, I’m broke but I’m also feeling generous. :p

Thanks for all your support; I couldn’t have done it without you.

Long live sixthseal.com! =D

My belated 28th birthday

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penyet

I went for lunch with Eiling at The Curve this afternoon – it was supposed to be last week but we were both kinda busy so we postponed it to this week. Eiling told me about this place called Waroeng Penyet which serves authentic Indonesian food so we headed there for our midday sustenance.

penyet interior

You can tell it’s authentic by the teh botol (except this is teh peket) that they serve. My Indonesian friends in Melbourne had this thing about teh botol – literally “bottled tea” – it’s practically an institution in Indonesia.

penyet food

The ayam penyet (their flagship dish – translated as flattened chicken) was awesome as well.

penyet 32

The new answer to life, the universe and everything is not 42…but 32. Economic recession la…10 people retrenched. :p

penyet cig

Yiling passed me some cigarettes by proxy from her recent trip to Perth – these are premium Dunhill tobacco products which I swear I’m not gonna smoke and collect instead. Then again, I’ve said that about a lot of things as well and I always end up smoking/drinking/consuming them anyway. 🙁

penyet wallet

Eiling gave me the best present ever – a wallet! I have been (not so subtly) hinting about being relieved of my wallet in Bangsar when I was mugged and I’ve never gotten a wallet since then. Eiling kinda picked up the overt hints and got me…

penyet present

…a HIDESIGN natural leather wallet. Awesome! Thanks Eiling! You the best. 🙂

penyet us

I’m glad I’m fortunate enough to have friends like these. Cheers EZY (Ziling included or she’s gonna say you guys make her look bad again :p).

Thanks for making time for lunch with a commoner instead of the usual Tan Sri, Datuk and Datin company you keep Eiling.

Honored la, I. 😉

One year older, one year wiser?

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bday cutting

I turn 28 today. My birthday is on the 5th of April 1981 (it’s always Cheng Beng except for leap years) but I don’t make it a habit of celebrating my birthdays.

bday me

I remember less-than-optimal serotonin levels during my birthday, being in rehab during my birthday, and being so totally messed up that I forgot it was even my birthday! Birthdays are not exactly my favorite day of the year.

bday heli

Anyway, I had an office birthday this year, thanks to SH (less than 3 you, always). She was kind enough to go out of her way to get a cake and a miniature helicopter (to commemorate my helicopter ride) for me. Thanks SH! 🙂

bday cake

It’s a nice feeling to have people remember your birthday and the people at work set up a diversion and got the conference room ready for the cake cutting ceremony. Thanks to Mimi, Vei Teck and all the others for showing up (and the ones who were there in spirit – thanks Joyce). Cheers! I appreciate the gesture.

You the best SH. I know what you did and I’m touched. My eternal gratitude for the office birthday on Friday. 🙂

Cheers to Eiling and Yiling who were the first to wish me a happy birthday and the lunch invite next week.

Doris, thanks for the birthday wishes. I’m glad you remembered.

Cynthia, Zoe, Mel, Sze, appreciate the birthday wishes. 🙂

Cheers Teng Loo for the birthday wishes. You didn’t forget the article that Karen sent us. 😉

Abby, my real estate agent, I suspect you read this blog from your text and I’m surprised you let me rent the place despite all that you know. Thank you for your birthday wishes. 🙂

bday cherie

Thanks Cherie for the…erm, *cough* birthday gift, the single malt whiskey and the kolo mee all the way from Kuching.

The best birthday wish goes to Arthur, who sent me a text which goes “May you be as handsome as you think, as rich as your friends believe and may you have as many women as everyone suspects! Happy birthday!” LOL! I still can’t stop laughing. Cheers buddy.

To anyone I missed out, my apologies, here is a catchall – thank you everyone for wishing me a happy birthday!

Alright, this “Thank You” post has gone way too long so let’s go through what I did during my birthday. I went to the Nuffnang Music Bash on Saturday, dropped by Cherie’s condo after that to chill, and went to the F1 race in Sepang on Sunday. I just got home and I’m coloring my hair back to black now before heading to bed. My apologies for the disjointed post – I’m sleep deprived and I need to catch up on zzz.

…and finally, thank you all for peppering my Facebook wall with birthday wishes. You made my day. 🙂

Oh, and if you want to give me a birthday present, I really need a wallet. I suggest Mudah.my – get it delivered to my office. 😉

Happy Birthday Teng Loo, Cup-bearer to the Gods!

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ttl birthday

I hardly ever get close to people at work, due to a personal necessity to separate the two identities (work Huai Bin and play Huai Bin), but one of the people I got close to was Teng Loo.

ttl cake

I think of her as my older sister in a way, she’s the same age as my biological sister, and she’s my mentor of sorts. Thus, it is only befitting that I got her a cake for her birthday. 🙂

tll knife

The cake reads “Happy Birthday Teng Loo, Cup-bearer to the Gods!” coz she’s Aquarius. We share the same affinity for horoscopes. It’s like Lucifer’s sauna at our workplace coz the A/C broke down so we moved to the conference room for the cake cutting ceremony.

ttl blow

I hope you get your birthday wish TTL. You deserve it more than anyone else. You have been a friend, and more importantly, a confidant. You know more about me than anyone else save my parents, and perhaps not even them. 🙂

ttl cut

Teng Loo’s birthday falls on Valentine’s Day – the 14th of February but Secret Recipe doesn’t do deliveries anywhere close that date so I’m doing an early one for her.

Live long and prosper, TTL. May the best of last year be the worst of this year. 🙂

Eddy Puah’s birthday @ Workshop

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workshop

Workshop is one of the more private drinking establishments in town
with a regular crowd of patrons. Eddy had his birthday last Saturday night
there with a group of close friends.

condom collection

I had quite a lot of events going on
Saturday so it was a little hectic for me. I went with Faye to Condom Collection late evening to get Eddy a birthday present. It’s the only adult
entertainment shop in Sibu and I wanted to get Eddy something other than
the usual de facto necktie gift.

eddy present

I settled for a pair of edible undies (RM 24.90) and a stress ball made in the shape of a nude female torso (RM 19.90).

edible undies

The Edible Undies is…well, edible and contains the following disclaimer:

edible undies back

Edible Undies is sold as a novelty item only, and has no nutritional value. Garment will dissolve in water or excessive moisture.

stress keychain

The
Stress Reliever Key Chain is perfect for work related stress. I’m a big fan of stress
balls as well, but I figured popping Xanax would look less conspicuous.
Better living through chemistry…for every problem, a chemical solution!
😉

stress back

It has the tagline: Let go of all your anger, tension and frustration with the STRESS RELIEVER K.C.

eddy gift

Faye told me that wrapping presents
has fallen out of vogue and suggested we put the items in a store
purchased but handmade self sealing paper bag. I agreed since I’m not a
big fan of wrapping stuff myself, so I wrote a birthday message on the
paper bag and we passed it to Eddy.

workshop hub

Workshop is designed to look like a
car workshop. There are neon illuminated wheel hubs on the walls and even
the tables are propped up with hubcaps from discarded tyres.

workshop interior

The
wine was on free flow courtesy of Eddy and I consumed quite a lot of the
red stuff. I remember belting out a particularly heartfelt rendition of
Creep (Radiohead) after a couple of hours there.

workshop pool

I also
played pool with Faye and as usual, she kicked my ass, not because she’s
better at it (or so I’ll like to think) but because I’m usually more
inebriated than her every time we play.

eddy bday group

Happy birthday Eddy! =D

Alex's birthday at the office

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alex birthday 2

This is Alex, our head honcho. It’s his birthday today, so we pitched in and got a blueberry cheesecake for him with a single candle (see last year’s post).

alex birthday 2 blowing

In the spirit of Huygens Asia Sdn Bhd humor, he blew out the candle with our weather monitoring station. 🙂

alex birthday 2 cutting

The cake goes “Happy Birthday Alex” and is adorned with fruits. It’s a chilled and layered cheesecake and it tasted great!

Happy Birthday Alex!

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