*I canceled the entire entry, please scroll down to see why…*

This is not an advertisement – Apple didn’t pay me anything for it but I am writing about it because I am damn impressed!

The quality of Apple iPods is so good, so durable, that I in fact accidentally ‘washed’ it in my washing machine (with washing liquid), went through the ‘rinse’ mode and totally violent ’spin’ mode, and was hung outside under the sun for a few hours…

… and it still works!

Haha, this is really incredible!

I really, really thought that I’d have to buy a new one… and it would be really painful to my finances because I am currently REALLY not in the condition to spend freely.

Besides, I liked my iPod very much, it am totally satisfied with its great performance, and it has never, not even once, broken down since I bought it in Hong Kong two years ago!

I thought I was going to be totally broke. I had just bought a new camera, and I needed to buy a new phone urgently (now not functioning at all); and if a new iPod was to be added to the list – I don’t think I can even survive this month!

HAHAHAHAHA… Apple Inc. saved me!!!

… or maybe they wouldn’t be too happy since I’m won’t need to buy a new iPod anymore!

If you’ve read my previous post you’d know that I left the MP3 player in my pocket, somehow bypassed my ‘pockets-checking’ procedure before I put my laundry into the washing machine, and ended up in a dripping-wet khakis!

It totally didn’t work when I first brought it back from the laundry drying rack, there were visible water marks inside the screen, tried to turn it on but it had no response. Dead.

I knew it was a bad idea to charge an electronic device that had just come out of a washing machine, but I had to try it – I plugged in the USB cable and connected it to my computer.

The screen flickered, displayed the famous Apple logo, and the entire screen faded.

I thought this was it – the Apple logo was probably my iPod’s final ‘goodbye words’. (Now I think – If they really were, then my iPod is really, very ridiculously, loyal to its company! Almost dying and still thinking of Apple Inc.)

I left it beside my bed to dry. I knew that hope was shallow for it to ‘recover’, because unlike a thumbdrive or any other electronic device that draws power from the outside – an iPod has an internal battery!

Having an internal power source means that there is a MUCH higher chance of it being short-circuited when its circuit board receives water contact.

If you don’t understand – your Pendrive (device without a battery) can probably go for a swim in your swimming pool, come up, dry itself, and store pictures for you again; but your handphone (device with a battery) would probably not stand a chance!

HAHAHAHAHA I am still so happy that I can hug Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Inc., and kiss him on his cute bearded face!

YAY!

Somebody control me. I think I am going crazy…

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I wrote this entry a couple of days ago, but didn’t publish it because I wasn’t free but wanted to include a few pictures of my newly ’saved’ iPod before I published the entry; I didn’t have time to take photos at that time.

The “washing-machine-survivable-iPod” incident was supposed to be a refreshing good news in the midst of my chain of disasters which include a lost camera, a damaged handphone and others.

BUT CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! MY BAD LUCK IS STILL NOT OVER YET!!!

THERE IS NO NEED TO TAKE ANY PICTURE OF MY WATERPROOF IPOD ANYMORE – BECAUSE IT IS NOW F****** GONE!!!

NO, I AM NOT GOING TO CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY ANYMORE! I AM NO LONGER GOING TO BLAME MYSELF FOR NEGLIGENCE AND SHIT!

SOMEONE BASTARD STOLE IT FROM ME! I WASN’T CARELESS!

I’M SORRY FOR COMPLAINING LIKE THIS… BUT YES, I AM VERY FED-UP.

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…

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Sigh… You know what?

I am very scared now… Almost all the essential electronic devices around me have had terrible things happen to them… one by one… Erm, have you heard of the movie Final Destination before?

The horror movie is about a group of friends who ‘cheated death’ because they had avoided, by pure luck (usually warned by a premonition), the situation in which they should have died.

So, ‘Death’ himself comes to claim their lives, one by one, using disgusting, cruel, freak ‘accidents’ – because they should be dead but they aren’t.

Back to reality – Mysteriously, my electronic devices did ‘cheat death’ before… Haha…

First, it was my camera -

When I first bought my previous camera almost a year ago, I wasn’t used to carrying a fourth item – after my phone, wallet, and keys – in my pocket. And, the camera was considered quite thick for my jeans, so I frequently took it out, put it on the table, and sometimes almost left without it.

Luckily, in every occasion, my friends would remind me when I left it behind. If this counts, my camera had ‘cheated death’ many times.

Second, my phone – I had once accidentally left my phone and my wallet in a pool room in Cyberjaya – almost five months ago.

It was quite bulky in my jeans pocket so I took it out and left it on the table. Yup, this time I really left the place without them. It was until I was back in my house before I realized that I had left them there, and when we drove back to the place to find them – they were gone!

After a few horrible minutes, a kind Indian guy came and said that he had seen my phone and wallet and had taken them – waiting for us to come back and retrieve them!

I was very thankful, he could have just taken them, left, and sold my phone for a cheap price in some second-hand shop. My phone had definitely ‘cheated death’.

Third, my iPod – last week, I accidentally washed it in the washing machine and by some unbelievable miracle, it survived. Electronic stuff are not supposed to survive washing machines, but mine did. My iPod, also, cheated death!

My camera, followed by my phone, then my iPod… Erm, notice something – the chronology… the order? It is the very same order in which they were recently lost/damaged…! Scary, huh?

Now I really fear for my last and most critically important electronic equipment of all…

… My laptop.

I really want to think that my laptop had not cheated death before – but… read this.

Note: Don’t care about politics? Then don’t read on, you’d probably not be interested. Instead, take a look at my Photo Album! I’ve updated and added a couple of new folders!

Before I start…

I would NEVER do this to my car. No matter how much I support BN – if I ever do – I still wouldn’t do it.

First, it is ugly.

Second, when I remove it later the tape will stick and leave marks on my car.

Third, like… I wouldn’t even be able to see behind while driving! When I look into the rear mirror I’ll see nothing but two enormous, ghostly blue-faced leng chai, not even smiling – but staring at me!

I’d probably crash the car if I was driving at night alone on a deserted road.

Fourth, it is still very ugly.

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Last night, we stayed up until after 5am to check out the erection… I mean election results. (The ‘erection’ joke is not mine, it is one of our Minister’s. I dare not take the credit.)

Just a little recap – In the previous general election, BN had no problem securing their 2/3rd majority in parliament. In fact, they had a 90.4% majority in parliament in 2004.

The vote-counting started at 7pm. It was like a roller coaster ride!

At approximately 8pm – We read that Kelantan had fallen to PAS. (Expected!)

At approximately 9pm – Everyone was stunned when confirmation came that Penang had also fallen to the Opposition.

At approximately 10pm – We couldn’t believe our eyes when we found that Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu had actually lost his seat in parliament after more than 30 years being the Sungai Siput MP!

At approximately 11pm – None of us had actually expected to see Kedah being handed to the Opposition, but IT DID!

At approximately 12.30am – Good God, even Selangor went to the Opposition!

At approximately 2am – My own state – Perak – said goodbye to the BN goverment, and went, for the first time, again into the Opposition’s arms!

Five states – Ladies and Gentlemen – the Opposition officially claimed five states from BN… This is truly, truly unprecedented in Malaysian history!

Everyone in our house was really excited throughout the night, shouting updates from rooms and bustling around with laptops… This election was going to make history – we knew.

At approximately 3am – It was confirmed that BN had lost their long-standing 2/3rd majority in Parliament.

Some couldn’t stand the sleepiness and went to sleep, but a couple of us stayed awake. I was interested in finding out exactly how many seats the Opposition could get in Parliament – they got a mere, pathetic 9.6% in the last election!

It was like watching a super unstable company share’s price in the stock market – the percentage was rising and dropping every 15 minutes or so!

At approximately 4am – the drama of the night ended dramatically with 37% of parliamentary seats and 39% of state seats held by the Opposition!

If you have no idea what all these mean, let me tell you in simple words – Politics in Malaysia are going to be very different from now on!

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With such a staggering and never-before-happened loss to the Barisan goverment – we weren’t expecting it, but at the same time we wouldn’t be too surprised if some ‘incidents’ were to happen the next day.

Rumors and cautions of riots and other unpleasant incidents were everywhere (It happened in the 1969 election). People were urged to stay calm by political leaders and stay home – not to take to the streets. No parades, no nothing.

However, everyone was still talking about avoiding KL and other urban areas the next day – just in case.

Today, Alvin and a few friends went to Lowyat, and then around the Bukit Bintang area in downtown KL. Meanwhile, me, Jon and a couple of others went to the Curve, and around the Petaling Jaya area.

It was perfectly peaceful.

Perhaps I’ll say this – Malaysia is on its way to true Democracy and success. - On its way - but in my opinion, not quite there yet. This is a time of change for the country – for the better or for the worse, we’ll have to see.

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We went to Ikano Damansara today to witness the launching of the new Petster magazine!

There was also a pets exhibition! Jon wouldn’t have cared if there were racial riots in KL or Al-Qaeda bombing 1Utama – wherever there is stuff about pets, Jon wouldn’t miss it – not even his mid-term test on Tuesday could stop him!

The dogs were really cute and obedient! Have I mentioned before? Jon’s house has six dogs! A true doglover! I bet he was wetting his pants while watching the show! Haha….

Although mostly cats and dogs, there were some other pets as well!

Me and a ferret!

Yay! This was the first time I held a ferret!

Have you held one before?

[WARNING: This entry contains images that some people might find offensive (pixelated nudity).]

New nude media scandal again! (This time from Hong Kong!) Haha, this post is quite outdated…

First, it was cute Vanessa Hudgens, the star from High School Musical, posing in a series of provocative photos (see news article) and even a nude one, allegedly for her boyfriend – Zac Efron. (Who else?)

Obviously, this is not the nude photo, but one of the ‘milder’ ones. Don’t ask me where to get the ‘extreme’ ones!

She’s evidently not very aware that being a celebrity, taking private digital photos coupled with an internet connection is a very dangerous combination indeed. Apparently some irresponsible dude got the photos from her PC or E-mail and posted them to the public.

OK, to be fair – at least she’s cute, 19 years old, and she’s like, just posing nude in private… Nothing more than that.

Then, came Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek, high profiled ex-Minister of Health, Vice President of MCA, being caught on-tape cheating on his wife, having sex with a ‘personal friend’ in a hotel room. (See news article.)

I think there is no doubt in the sharp decline of ‘attractiveness’ between the two… err… ‘casts‘ of these two scandals. Gentlemen, Dr. Chua is 61 this year!

The weird thing is, the DVD sex tapes were selling like hot cakes! People were actually buying them!

Unless the ‘personal friend’ of Dr. Chua was exceptionally pretty, I can only conclude that these people probably bought the DVDs out of curiosity, not for… enjoyment. Because if it were for the latter, I quite believe that there is an awfully huge warehouse of ‘better choices’ out there.

61-year-old Dr. Chua making out with an unknown woman – not really interesting, is it?

Therefore, to top the nude media scandal list, it appears that Hong Kong superstars Edison Chen 陈冠希 + Gillian Chung 锺欣桐 (from ‘Twins’) + Cecilia Cheung 张柏芝 moved in to give everyone’s new year a blast!

Ladies and gentlemen, behold your favorite stars in action! (See news article.)

It is still controversial as to whether the pictures were doctored, but the artistes and their representatives are reacting big.

Apparently, (again) some moron hacked the photos from Edison’s PC or HP, and decided to let the world see them.

As far as I know, the artistes have yet to officially and explicitly confirm, or deny, the allegation that the subjects in the photos are actually them in person.

Truly, censored photos revealed some faces that look like one or more of the artistes… err… ‘in pleasure’. Just repeating what many people are saying out there – can you really, so simply, find ‘pleasured’ faces like that of the artistes, on the internet or in magazines, to be photoshopped into some pornstar’s body?

*This, allegedly, is Cecilia Cheung 张柏芝 with Edison Chen (not in view).*

Some people also claimed that the backgrounds of some of the photos are identical to that of Edison’s room!

I heard that there are many photos being released, each in different, err… positions.

If you are that interested, you can find censored photos of this anywhere online. And NO, I have no idea where to find the uncensored ones. I have not taken the liberty to find out.

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Despite allegations and inconclusive evidences to the contrary, I still choose to believe that the pictures are not genuine, and were indeed digitally doctored. I mean, it just can’t be! They can’t be so careless!

Moral of the story: Never store sex photos/videos of yourself, especially digital ones, because they can be easily stolen/hacked. Especially if you’re not completely aware of how telecommunications and multimedia devices work as well as how they can be exploited.