sixthseal.com 2nd Birthday!

2nd birthday

On this day, the 19th of April 2004, sixthseal.com celebrates its
second anniversary! It coincides with the day this site was moved to
its own VPS (Virtual Private Server) to accommodate the huge bandwidth
demands that it generates. There will be the traditional wrap up of the
previous year as well in the post below.

I have been blogging for two years now, starting from a humble HTML
blog without comments to the blog you see now. I have watched the site
grow from single digit daily unique visitors to the thousands of unique
visitors that it now receives every day. For that, I thank everyone,
from the vast silent majority to the vocal minority, for reading my
daily posts. Thank you!

This year was particularly noteworthy, due to the fact that the
timeframe covers my final days in university at Melbourne, Australia
through to my first job at XM Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and up
to my second job in Kuching, Sarawak. The site also expanded and
acquired multiple domain names under the sixthseal.com umbrella – castitas.com (9th September 2003), pengsan.com (18th November 2003), louisalee.com (27th January 2004) and fengtau.com (30th January 2004).

It also stands witness to “veritas” finally coming clean and
admitting what everyone already knew or guessed – there was never a
guest author…every single “veritas” post was written by the “main
author” (which would be me, there is only one author on sixthseal.com).
It was necessary to use a pseudonym to distance myself from the drug
related content, thus “veritas” was born. I realize that it’s an ironic
name since “veritas” is Latin for “truth”.

However, it was originally meant to provide readers with an insight
to my recreational drug use – the Latin word for “truth” was meant to
dispel the junkie drug user stereotype and to provide true
harm-minimization oriented drug education, without any government or
anti-drug propaganda. It was also meant to help existing users to be
safer and more responsible in their drug consumption and to be aware of
what they’re actually consuming and the risks involved.

I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not all altruistic…I love
drugs and writing about them. I enjoy receiving the “fan mail” that
veritas gets. I wanted to be the first drug blogger in the world. I’m
not sure if I really am the pioneer in this sense (experience reports
have been around forever), but I’ll like to think that I’m the first
one to take photos of the various drugs that I consume and write posts
about them in a weblog format, at least in Malaysia.

Here is a re-cap of the more noteworthy posts during the blog year from 19th April 2003 till 19th April 2004:

Huai Bin

Project Petaling Street announcement
June 12, 2003 – Melbourne, Australia
The birth of the monumental PPS documented.

Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol, Hypnodorm, “date rape drug”)
June 12, 2003 – Melbourne, Australia
My doctor shopping skillz shall be disputed by none! πŸ˜‰

Tribedadelic rave
July 5, 2003 – Melbourne, Australia
My last (indoor) rave before leaving Melbourne.

Miss Malaysian Chinese photographic shoot
July 6, 2003 – Sibu, Sarawak
Photos of girls in Sibu.

McDonald’s Sega handheld video games
August 1, 2003 – Sibu, Sarawak
The promotional Sega – McDonald’s collaboration handheld games.

Okonomiyaki
August 22, 2003 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Full photographic documentation of the okonomiyaki making process.

Deviant Species doof
December 22, 2003 – Melbourne, Australia
The outdoor rave (doof) I squeezed into my itinerary when I went back for my convocation.

McDonald’s Salads Plus
December 28, 2003 – Melbourne, Australia
I ate most of the Salads Plus menu – an attempt by McDonald’s to shred (no pun intended) it’s unhealthy image.

Last day at XM, Malaysia
January 15, 2004 – KL, Malaysia
My last day at the first company I worked in, before moving to Kuching for a better paycheck.

Firecrackers in Malaysia
January 21, 2004 – Sibu, Sarawak
A sixthseal.com Chinese New Year special!

HIV testing in Malaysia
March 22, 2004 – Kuching, Malaysia
My community service message to balance out my karma for all the drug posts I make. πŸ˜‰
*Updated with Western Blot Gribbles test results.

Come out and play
April 4, 2004 – Kuching, Sarawak
Nightlife in Kuching.

Lidocaine experiment
April 12, 2004 – Kuching, Sarawak
I inject myself with Xylocaine, “veritas” has already been admitted to be me all along.

“veritas”

LSD (acid) blotters
April 23, 2003 – Melbourne, Australia
Never underestimate hallucinogens.

Dextroamphetamine scripting success!
April 30, 2003 – Melbourne, Australia
This is legal speed (not available in Malaysia) – amphetamines from your friendly neighborhood doctor. πŸ˜‰

Magic mushrooms
May 9, 2003 – Melbourne, Australia
Successful mushroom hunting for psilocybe subaeruginosa and amanita muscaria.

Methamphetamine IV (intravenous injection)
June 17, 2003 – Melbourne, Australia
I join the (dubious) ranks of injecting drug users.

Video of veritas smoking methamphetamine
February 7, 2004 – KL, Malaysia
The first video release on sixthseal.com – we embrace all forms of journalism. πŸ˜‰

The first anniversary of sixthseal.com can be viewed here.

Thank you, dear readers of sixthseal.com. It has been another good year, and here’s to many more good years to come! Cheers! πŸ™‚

23

bday04 huai bin

Today, the 5th of April, 2004, is the day I turn 23. I don’t feel
older (that’s what people always say, pardon my use of this cliche),
and I’m still battling the same old demons. I will not turn this into a
depressing post though, even though my serotonin levels are dismally
low. It’s not chemically induced, mind, I just get depressed every 3
months or so, for no particular reason, and I have the misfortune of
having my quarterly depression fall on my birthday this year. However,
I shall turn this into a more upbeat post!

bday04 package

I received a package in the mail from my girlfriend, who is studying
in KL. I always tell people my birthday is on Ching Ming, but I have
neglected to account for the leap year factor. There’s 29 days in
February this year instead of the usual 28 days, which pushes my
birthday to one day after Ching Ming. This just happens once every four
years, on leap years, my birthday is always on Ching Ming otherwise. πŸ™‚

bday04 body shop
The package contains a gift-wrapped box from Body Shop.

bday04 soap
This is what the inside of the box has – a variety of soaps.

bday04 card
She also sent me a birthday card, and I was surprised when I opened it,
due to the (relatively) large portion of text. My girlfriend usually
writes “Dear xxx” on top and “Love xxx” at the end, and then does the
“” thing on the pre-printed birthday wishes. Heh.

Thanks Louisa! I won’t have to factor soap into my budget for a while. πŸ˜‰

bday04 parents
My parents also sent me this nifty birthday card that plays a birthday song, complete with flashing lights.

I had planned to go out and celebrate my birthday tonight with
friends, but I had to cancel it because I’m a little too depressed to
feel like going out. I’ll probably sleep at 5:30 pm or something. It’s
just another day anyway. *shrugs*

P/S – Excuse me for not replying the comments today. I will reply
all comments after my quarterly serotonin depletion passes. This one
should probably last one or two days max, you can “feel” (ie gauge) how
long the depression will last after you’ve been though several. The two
main factors in determining this for me is the intensity of depression
and the time needed for partial recovery (which can be measured by how
long it takes for you to feel slightly better). I’ve had monsters –
debilitating depressive episodes lasting for many weeks, but
thankfully, this is not one of them.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! πŸ™‚

Jit and Suzanne’s birthday (XM Malaysia) 2003

jit_suzanne_1.jpg
Jit is the one in the white shirt. Prem is puzzling over the candles. πŸ˜‰

Here are the photos from Jit and Suzanne’s birthday at the office on Monday.

jit_suzanne_2.jpg
Jit and Suzanne blowing out the candles.

jit_suzanne_3.jpg
Suzanne cutting the cake.

Well, it’s Thursday night now, and there has been a distinct lack of
updates, as you may or may not have noticed. πŸ™‚ Anyway, I’m not dead,
killed or in jail so that means I’m either depressed (my quarterly
serotonin depletion) or something has happened. A little bit of both,
I’ll say. Monday night was crazy, my gf went back to Sibu on Tuesday
morning for more than a month and my “Warning! Serotonin levels low!”
indicators went off last Sunday and was beeping all through the Hari
Raya holidays.

Thus, I slept. I figured that was the best way to counter depression
(damned sea dwelling mammal…*shakes fist*) – always works for me. I
can count the hours I was awake during Raya holidays on the digits of
one finger. With a little chemical assistance (legally prescribed,
thank you very much), my waking hours were greatly reduced to ride the
depression wave and I’m pretty much okay now, and I project serotonin
levels will be back to normal by tomorrow. πŸ™‚ sixthseal.com will be
updated as usual from now on. My apologies about the Quarterly
Serotonin Induced Hiatus (QSIH).

Me and my abysmal acronyms…;)

Jemay, Prem and Rashidin’s birthday @ XM Malaysia

birthday_cake_equatorial.jpg
Cheesecake from Hotel Equatorial.

Today is TGIF, the monthly meeting at XM Malaysia. I will not be
talking about that though because its work related. However, I’ll like
to extend my apologies to Jarrod Chua for not remembering his name. We
have this “name the person” thing and I know everyone’s name from
Technical, Creative, Project Management, Account Management and Jit,
Bob and Yusnita but unfortunately not the Finance Administration
people. Oops. Anyway, there was also a celebration for Jemay, Prem and
Rashidin and here are the photos from that:

birthday_candles.jpg
The candles on the cake being lighted.

rashidin_blowing_candles.jpg
Rashidin blowing out the candles. To his right is Jemay and Prem is on his left.

prem_cutting_cake.jpg
Prem cutting the cake.

Apparently, I’m the resident photographer of XM Malaysia now. πŸ˜‰

Happy 22nd birthday, Louisa! :)

haagen-dazs_bsc.jpg
Haagen-Dazs @ bsc (bangsar shopping center)

It was my girlfriend’s birthday yesterday (24th October) and we
headed out in the afternoon to get some ice creams at the nearest
Haagen-Dazs outlet at bsc.

strawberry_cheesecake_sundae.jpg

We got a three scoop sundae and a pint of Strawberry Cheesecake
flavored ice creams. The Strawberry Cheesecake one is sure to please
people with a sweet tooth – it was cloyingly sweet, in a nice way.

haagen-dazs_msia.jpg

We hung around bsc for a while, basically just walking into every
shop and browsing. I saw that they have these Barbie dolls that appeal
to a different target audience now (or maybe the target market just
matured). There were ones with Giorgio Armani attire, some limited
edition ones which goes into the thousands and a more base level priced
Barbie, but with a make over – she’s now a consultant of some sort and
her attire has changed…her image is one of a trendy inner city
professional instead of the ones I’ve seen in my youth, which were more
domesticated, for the lack for a better term.

Anyway, we headed back after a while and people starting arriving and the mini BBQ grill was set up:

bbq.jpg

food_table.jpg
Food – Chicken wings, Taiwanese sausages, hot dogs, fish balls and stuff…

drinks_table.jpg
Drinks – Six packs of beer (others in the ice bucket), a bottle of Bacardi, and some miscellaneous drinks.

louisa_cake.jpg
The cake says “Dear Nie Nie/We (heart shape) U”

No more photos were taken after that, because I proceeded straight
to the beers for the appetizer, did Bacardi double shots neat with the
guys, drank more beer in a hasty manner (fortified with rum,
naturally), downed some Coke + Bacardi, intercepted a Sprite + Bacardi
and yeah, I stopped counting at that point. πŸ˜‰ There were around 13
people who came, about equal male to female ratio but only a few of us
really drank so there was plenty of alcohol to go around.

While we’re on the subject of statistics:
Number of T-shirt requests:
One
Time last person left:
4:30 am
Alcoholic beverages left over:
1 lonely can of beer
Non-alcoholic beverages left over:
3-4 1.5 litre bottles are in the fridge

louisa_candle.jpg

This is Louisa (my gf) blowing out the candles on the cake while Richard (her brother) looks on.

Happy Birthday, Louisa! I love you! πŸ™‚

Janet, Wai Hing, VJ, TK Birthday @ XM Malaysia

jwvt_cake.jpg
“Happy Birthday to Janet Lee Wai Hing VJ. TK.” is the inscription on the cake.

The Secret Recipe cake pictured above was presented at 4:30 pm just
now at the office to celebrate the birthdays of XM Malaysia family
members Janet Lee, Wai Hing, Vijay and Tek Khoon. In true XM style,
everyone gathered around the lounge.

jwvt_birthday.jpg
L-R: Wai Hing, TK, VJ, Janet.

jwvt_blowing_candles.jpg
This is Janet blowing the candles out.

jwvt_food.jpg

Secret Recipe chocolate cake (with some kind of nut that I couldn’t identify) plus ice cream. Mmm…

Anyway, if anyone doesn’t know yet, all the photos I take in XM is
in Simon -> Drop -> (event name) in full resolution,
non-watermarked and without a text overlay.

Lyn’s birthday

ahlyn_cake.jpg
The birthday cake

Lyn is one of my housemates, she lives upstairs at the master
bedroom with 3 other girls. Here’s a bit of a background about the
place I live in. Basically the configuration of our house is:
I live at the only room downstairs.
There is a girl from China studying at HELP Institute living on the
first bedroom upstairs. Her bf comes and stays over some days, but both
of them are away every weekend.
The second bedroom is taken by a couple who keeps to themselves and is
seldom seen outside their bedroom, but is friendly enough.
The master bedroom is taken by 4 girls who’re all from Sibu and I know
them from MPI, the college I went to for some odd months before going
to Melbourne.

lyn_table.jpg
Shim Lyn

Anyway, Lyn is having her birthday today (again, it’s technically
yesterday, I can’t sleep even after taking my prescription from my
taper doctor like a good boy) and the others decided to have dinner
together. I was recuperating *cough* and only woke up at 4 pm and went
to Pusat Bandar Damansara to pick up some fried chicken while someone
got a cake and the others cooked.

lyn_candle.jpg
Blowing out the candles…

lyn_cutting.jpg
Cake cutting

There is this tradition where the person having the birthday has to
eat “chang shou mien” – basically “long life noodles” or just a really
long and sticky version of rice vermicelli. It’s usually eaten with
chicken soup and boiled eggs. There you have it, another one of my more
personal entries. Happy birthday Lyn!

lyn_group.jpg

Straight from Penang…

likki1.jpg

I just got Likki’s [blogspot.com] birthday present. Thanks Lik Chuen! I really appreciate that you took the time to make the card yourself. πŸ™‚

likki2.jpg

There’s also a letter and a LoTR ring inscribed with the elfin
script in the package. Looking at the handwritten letter, it strangely
reminds me of a pen-pal I used to have when I was in early secondary
school.

likki3.jpg

The package is actually dated 11/4 but I just got it today, even
though there’s no mail on Sunday. (?) Thanks again Lik Chuen, for your
present. πŸ™‚

Well, today was very rainy and cold so I spent most of the day
sleeping. I couldn’t help myself, when it’s dark outside at 3 pm I felt
so sleepy I crawled into bed and slept with the heater on. Heh. Dark +
rainy + cold = sleep. Well, I’ve got to finish up my tute exercises now
since I spent most of the day sleeping. It’s the weather I tell
you…making me all sleepy and lazy, but I love this kind of weather
anyway. Mmm…melancholic.

5th April 1981

I was born 22 years ago, so I guess that makes today my birthday. πŸ™‚
I’ll probably just go out for a buffet BBQ and maybe a movie with a
couple of my ex-classmates from Clayton. I had planned to head down to
QBH later where some of my uni mates are, but that has been scrapped
due to my unfinished assignments that’s due next week.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about resurrecting my 24/7 webcam now
that I’ve found a fast way to tunnel through the uni’s proxy, but
that’s still on the back of the to-do list of items. There’s bandwidth
issues to consider as well as the possibility of the webcam showing me
doing something compromising, like smoking a bong or something. Haha!
I’m kidding. That’s it for now. Catch you all later.

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