Dare to Hug a Stranger?

This was a free hugs campaign done by yours truly back in 2011 around September or October; I can't exactly remember which month though. It was filmed by a dear friend of mine and yes, it is overdue for publishing. It conveys all of the good that had happened but it is not all that I wish to unveil. Henceforth, lies the nitty-gritty details that are not in the video.

Why Did I Do It?
The first free hugs campaigns was started by Juan Mann. It was a one man's mission to reach out and hug strangers just so that he could brighten up their day a little. He seeded the world to follow in his footsteps and I was one of them.

Everyone is struggling with life. Everyone is just figuring things out as we go through life - be it your parents, your friends, your spouse, your boss. Everyone could use a hug or a smile. Maybe it could brighten up your day just that little bit and help you get through some tough time.

So How Was It?
Most of the hugs I gave and received in the 1 to 2 hour campaign were from foreigners. There was an incident where one of guards from the buildings nearby had asked me to clear the premises. He told me that I needed to stop what I was doing. A lady pulled me away after that. She told me that I needed to move to some other place to continue. She was trying to help me and I offered a free hug but she declined politely stating that she is a lady and that she can't just hug a man.

Will You Do a Campaign Like This Again?
I'm was a very shy guy. It took a lot of self-convincing to do it in the first place and it has taken a lot of that again to publish this video now. I have asked others to join me in this campaign but none have stepped forward.  Whenever I mentioned to my friends about doing this, there were a lot of silence, and some slight criticism, but I went and did it anyway.

Here is the short answer - maybe. Maybe if I'm not doing it alone. The concept of a friendly hug is still foreign to a lot of Malaysians. I have to discern which of my friends are okay with a friendly hug and which are not. Sometimes that line is not so clear cut, but if you're having a tough time and need a little hug, all you have to do is ask for it. I am still giving hugs. Overall, it was an interesting experience and I am happy that I did it.

What I am grateful for

Well, today, I'm going write the things that I am grateful for. Hey, we don't always have to write about the things we don't like or don't have right? It's time to stop complaining.

I am grateful that I am still a healthy person. I am grateful that I don't have to worry much about food. I am grateful that I have friends, that I have my parents, that I have siblings, that I have my own car with the plate number that I wanted, that I have a job, that I still have my mind, for my guitars (Jazzmin and Sync-dy). There's a lot that I could write but let's just sum it up for now. I am grateful for everything that I have and everything that I will have. The end.

Random Update

I like to play with photoshop but lately didn't play with it so much. Since I started working, I haven't really play with it. Mostly because when I get off work, I get really lazy.

Somehow, today I force myself into editing this picture that I wanted to edit for such a long time but didn't really get to it. The picture didn't really turn quite the way I wanted it to be. The right building is totally blocked by the trees and I can't go retake the picture now. Oh, well...

Now, let me share a little fact about the mahal. The left building is actually a building for prayers and the right building was a guest house. It never really house any guest. It was built solely because the maharaja wanted the mahal to be symmetrical. The mahal itself is symmetrical in every direction, inside and out except for the maharaja's own tomb. Why? It's a sad story so I won't tell it here. Go and find out yourself in wikipedia or something.

That's all for now. Bye bye.

Happy Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone!!!

Everyone still in Chinese New Year mood. I'm still in Chinese New Year mood also. Visit the relatives here and there. So many small children in the relatives house now that I can't remember them all. Since when so many wan???!!! You see also headache.

Sorry dun have their pictures to show you all cause I still haven buy a digital camera. Thinking maybe I should just buy a good camera phone and skip the digital camera. Anybody has a good suggestion or idea? will be much appreciated.

I'm gonna buy a motorcycle soon so maybe save a bit on the camera or handphone. Anyway, that's all for now. Bye.

Penang Hiking Trip

Really sorry about the last post. If you all didn't guess by now, actually, I didn't forget to post; I didn't have time to come up with something to write. XD

Anyhow, I went for a hiking trip last Saturday. I hiked to this place :-

Photo courtesy of crazee85
(Haven't buy a camera yet. Hoping for price drop)

I went hiking with two other friends. All of us never hike up Penang Hill before so we ended up getting a bit lost. We had to ask an auntie, that was hiking up too, for directions.

Luckily, we manage to find our way up. It took us about 3 hours to reach the top. When we reached the top, we had our breakfast(nasi lemak) at a stall there. We were quite tired from the hike up and we said to ourselves, "Actually, the train ride very cheap only". XD

We had to hike back down because our car is not at the train station but I was kinda glad we hike back down because I get to learn something new: If you hike down an asphalt road, hike down backwards. It's a little more controllable than hiking down the normal way. It's also good for the knees and I get to workout some target areas that I rarely workout, my calves.

Calves pain for about 3 days but I was a good kinda pain. I was glad I went for the hike and most probably gonna hike again when I come back from Chinese New Year.

Thank you all for reading.
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!! GONG XI FA CHAI!!! HONG PAU NA LAI!!!

Band Competition from sometime ago

Sometime ago, this band called 50 Bucks went on stage and tried to rock it but didn't really manage to do so. Anyway, here are the videos:

Back Fresh - 50 Bucks(Reptilia Cover)


Back Fresh - 50 Bucks(+44 Cover)


Actually, I didn't really wanted to blog about this because I think I sounded bad. But it was fun nonetheless so if any of you peeps want to comment, details please. Don't just say, "You SUCK". Let us know how we suck. Thanks

For more information, please visit BandBandBand

New Year Resolution

Happy New Year 2009 to everyone.

Since it's the beginning of a new year, everyone gonna make up a new year resolution. Well, most people make up their new year resolution at the beginning of the year and then just forgets about it later on. But for me, I try to take it seriously.

Last year, my new year resolution was to graduate. Well, it wasn't that hard of a resolution to achieve and I've done it half way through the year. So this year, I'm gonna level up the standard a bit and not only that, I'm gonna make it a 3 tier resolution. The first tier is a basic resolution - a resolution that must be achieve. The second tier would be an extended resolution - a resolution to do if I achieve the first tier before the year end. Lastly, the third tier would be a resolution for the sake of dreaming - fantasy resolution.

So, what are the resolutions? Here it is:

Basic Resolution - get in shape
Extended Resolution - stay in shape
Fantasy Resolution - get featured in a men's magazine

You can start laughing now.

Christmas

Since it's the holiday season, I won't post much on anything because I'm in a very lazy mood. Therefore, I'm just gonna wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May all your wishes come true, your body stay healthy, your face stay cheerful, and anything good bestow upon you.

P/S : If anyone of you wonder how many applications I get from the previous post, the answer to that question would be zero.

Relationship Application

Application for relationship with mikewongaa is now open. For those who are interested to apply, please acquire the application form here.

The application is open until mikewongaa gets married or mikewongaa dies, whichever comes first. Eligibility: -

• Women only (Transsexuals are not eligible)
• Have reached the age of reason

Fill in the form, rename the file to your name.doc (e.g. Cyndi.doc) and email it to mikewongaa@yahoo.com. Please attach together with the email a photo of yourself. All information of applicants are strictly confidential but in the event that your information "somehow" leaked out, I will not be held accountable.

For those that are shortlisted, you will be contacted for an interview session. If prior to an interview session, you wish to have a mutual application, please attach the application form for a relationship with you together with the email.

*Note: The application form was created all in good fun and does not reflect any actual application of any kind but feel free to send the filled form back to me for fun. My apologies if you are offended by the contents of the blog or form.

**If you have any bad comments, feel free to keep it to yourself.

Blog Reopens

After a long period of absence from the scene of blogging, I would to announce that I have finally gotten an internet connection at home here in Pulau Pinang. This blog updates would commence back as normal.

So I thought I'd start out talking about how life is now. Firstly, I'm staying at an apartment now; its about 15 to 20 minutes away from my work place. Food is within 5 minutes walking distance so I won't starve I think.

Its been a month now and I'm still trying to settle down with the living culture here. The hard things to cope with are the hokkien speaking hawkers, the traffic jams, and the complicated town roads. Have to learn hokkien I guess. But there's one thing I love more than anything else is the internet connection I have right now; 2Mbps all just for me and I'm only paying Rm60 per month.

Wondering why? If you are from Pinang then you would know but in case you are not from Pinang, I've subscribed my internet connection from PenangFON. I won't talk much more about it cause I don't wanna sound like I'm advertising for them so if you wanna find out more about it then just google the name.

There's a long story behind acquiring this internet connection. If you have the time then read on. It all started after about a week since I came here. I couldn't wait to get an internet connection so on the first second Friday that I was here, I went straight to a TM Point and subscribe myself a phone line and a streamyx combo package. There was some problem with the computer and teller told me to come collect the phone the next day, which was a Saturday. Fine. I went and collect it the next day.

The following Monday, the technician came and installed the phone line, which was already there. All I saw him did was come in, take the phone that TM Point gave me and plug it in the outlet, which was already there. Paid him RM30.

The next day came and I found out about PenangFON from my friend. When I heard about it, I was drowning in disbelief and felt so cheated by TM. And so I thought, fine, I already subscribe to Streamyx and I'll just have to live with it. But since there wasn't any call from TM about the streamyx connection, the next day I went to TM Point and inquired about it. What I found out was that the port in my area was full and they told me to wait a week.

A week came and no streamyx. Guess what I did? Yup, I went to cancel my phone line and streamyx. After that, I subscribe PenangFON and here we are now. I've gotten a bill from TM for the phone line subscription. Its amounted to RM118.37. Still thinking if I should pay it.

Anyway, I think I'm gonna stop here for now. Thanks for reading.

Next: mikewongaa blogs about relationships