23/2/11 - A daily post.

I've just done packing my bag after... 15 minutes of work. lol I don't have a lot of stuff at all.

Woke up early again today to accompany my dad to the hospital for a little check up. Waited an hour outside the hospital, there was some lady coughing horribly and the sound of the mucus and whatever was in her grossed me out a bit, I moved away fearing a contagious disease.

After my dad was done we went to eat at the place that was closed yesterday. A bit disappointed, didn't taste as good as usual, wonder why. It was still alright, wad quite full when I finished.

Ngiu Chap : Noodles, beef, stomach, beef, all in a meaty broth.

I know the picture doesn't look like it has a lot of meet, but its all under the noodles, I forgot to take a picture before starting, way too hungry from waiting.

Returned home after that, got a message from a friend studying where I was going asking for a favour, he forgot his jacket and needed to return a CD to a friend. Say he'd treat me to pizza. I took the opportunity to ride around before leaving gratefully. Went to his house, got the jacket, sent the CD somewhere, and delivered the motorcycle to a shipping company so ship it over to where I'm studying, Miri, Sarawak. It rained before I got there, luckily I brought my raincoat with me in anticipation of that.

Then I got home again, checked some blogs out, slept a bit, woke up, had dinner, packed, and finally writing this post. I'm gonna take my PC apart, need to take it with me to Miri. Gonna wake up at 7AM tomorrow, not really looking forward to the long drive there.

From KK to Miri. An 8 hour drive.

That's it for now, sorry I can't respond to anyone or look at their blogs, will be back as soon as I get my connection up and running. 'til then, see ya.

Departure.

Just found out I was actually leaving tomorrow instead on on the 26th. Quite surprised by that. Need to get my things together and leave soon. I don't think my new accomodation has any internet connection yet. So I might not be posting tomorrow. There will be a short daily post tonight though. :] OH YEAH GOING OFF. after 8 months of idling the idea of studying somewhere is exciting indeed.

22/2/11 - A daily post.

The day has come to an end again. Did tons of things today, leaving for my studies soon. :D Finally!

I'll be starting by saying I slept at 5AM today, and woke up 3 hours later at 8 for a dentist appointment at 9. I've always felt uneasy when going to the dentist, today was no different. The dentist I'm going to this time set up shop in their home, first time seeing that, not the first time hearing of things like that though. Rode my motorcycle with shorts and t-shirt, big mistake, it was chilly. Arrived there 9AM sharp. Shivering. Went inside the house, and they seem to have the air-cond on full-blast. :[ brrr... So I waited a bit and finished 'repairing'(?) 4 teeth, doctor said I had 4-5 more to fix. My parents didn't give me enough money to do that much so..meh.. maybe when I come back next time.

The whole process was quite painless. phew. 

So I rode home, thankfully by this time the sun has came up and its slightly warmer. Didn't shiver this time. Now I was starving at this point but the dentist said I had to wait 20 minutes, invited my sister to have breakfast with me, they take ages to prepare, so by the time we left home 30 minutes has passed.

Drove fifteen minutes to eat some pork-chop noodles, yum. Our first choice was actually to eat 'Ngiu chap" which is 'mix beef' in chinese, but the shop wasn't open, forgot they close on tuesdays. ...but still pork-chop noodles was nice. My sister treated me to the drink, cause she wanted me to send me and her friend around. a longg drive.

The noodles with milk-tea. :3

After breakfast, went home for a bit for the sister to prepare some more. Sent sister and friend somewhere and head home. I rested for half an hour, then headed out on my motorcycle to replace the numbers that fell off the license plate and also to get a hair-cut. A long day, I worked out a bit when I reached home, then showered. Now I'm pooped, wanted to powernap before dinner, but my dad came in my room just before I was about to fall asleep and start up Civ 5. UGHHH even though the volume was off there's still the constant clicks, I moved to my parents room to try and sleep but there's an annoying mosquito there. frustrating.

ate dinner a bit late cause I was still trying to get some sleep in, it was cold by then. FK. really sucks. I wanted to head out with a friend to play some pool to calm myself but he was busy. sigh. only have that one friend to hang out with here. Thank god I'm leaving to study soon, new friends and all.

Able to see Mt.K in the distance

The skies were quite clear, it was clearer when I was heading back from breakfast but I missed the shot, this photo was taken while on the way back from my job as a driver. I was driving stick too. lol. It didn't rain today, but I was too tired to go for a jog. Really wanna go for a jog. Hope it doesn't rain tomorrow too.

A day trip to Mamutik Island.

A few weeks ago my friends who were studying in Australia came back to Kota Kinabalu (KK) for their summer break. One of them was visiting from Brunei, another from west Malaysia.

Since everyone who comes to Sabah MUST experience the islands, we decided to go even though it rained EVERY day and the skies were gloomy.

On the day of the trip we met up at the jetty, bought the ticket, got our packages and stuff. Water sports. Jet ski, banana boats, para sailing(?), and a new thing to us the fly fish. (cost me quite a bit these things)

From the jetty, the sky was quite gloomy.

We left the jetty on a speed boat headed for the islands, the sky was as gloomy as ever, we prayed that it wouldn't rain while we were in the island. The seas were calm enough, I always enjoy speed boat rides, salty air blowing in the face.

When we just arrived.

When we arrived, there was a little sunshine. Good for us, though we can still see heavy clouds in the distance. 

So we had our fun doing all the water sports, went snorkeling for a bit, and headed home about 4 hours later. Thankfully it did not rain the whole time we were there. Still got sunburned from the cloud covered sun, quite amazed by that honestly. Alas what is a day at the beach without getting sunburned.

In the afternoon, we went to a friend's house to play some boardgames, had dinner with pizza and stuff there. Played Cluedo, Scrabble, and Monopoly-which lasted about 5 hours for that one game. Good times.

Cluedo.

That was the most fun I had in a single day in my whole 9-months of idling before college. Maybe the Mt.K climb came close, but that was an achievement and self challenge thing. I'll continue the climbing post this week. Promise. :D

21/2/11 - A daily post.

its currently 11.50PM and I'm about to head off to take my shower and eventually sleep by 5AM. Today was like yesterday, did nothing, woke up, ate a 'pau'(steamed bun with pork filling) cause my dad decided I wasn't worth the trouble of buying food for. there was no cars at home and its raining so I can't go out and eat. sigh.

Sharing my comp with my dad has been a pain, he constantly wants to play and I can't refuse my dad, after all he did buy me the computer, well, most of it.

That's about it for today, another underwhelming post. I wonder if I should make another post. ...

I'm bored again today.

Trip up Mt. Kinabalu

Last year, after my A-levels exam, me and a few friends decided to conquer Mt.K before leaving for our studies. I did most of the planning and bookings, not a lot of work but a little bit of a hassle really. It was actually quite lucky we got spots, the climb is usually fully booked about 2 months ahead. Only got 6 spots though, so ditched a few of the girls wanting to join us, felt bad about that.

So on the 20th of July, 2010, the group of 4 people set out from Kota Kinabalu and another 2, brothers, set out from Sandakan. I was the one driving the 4 people all the way up to Kundasang/Ranau, the base of the mountain we're gonna climb. The group of 4 arrived first, checked-in to our lodgings, settled in and played cards waiting for the brothers. We went around the place, it was raining so can't really see much.

View from the dining area

At about 6PM the brothers arrived, we had dinner, talked a bit in the room and finally retired for the night, wanting to make sure we're not sleepy for the climb.

The next morning, we woke up at about 8AM if I remember correctly, had a big breakfast, packed our bags and head for the Kinabalu National Park, where the gate to the mountain climbing trail is.

We went ahead and got a guide, it was mandatory, hop on a bus to the starting point, just before starting the climb, we noticed we forgot to take the FOOD that they provided, it was supposed to be our lunch. That sucked, ate some chocolate while everyone else filled their stomach later on in the climb. sigh... moving on...

Finally we started our ascend to the peak, it was quite easy, there were stairs and the temperature was mild. That was the first 500 meters of the climb that is... the peak was about 8.5 KM away.

Views from the first KM

...andd that'll conclude part 1. =) I'll continue this...someday.

20/2/11 - A daily post.

Today was a reaally boring day for me. I woke up, ate then took a long afternoon nap, then ate dinner. yep, that's pretty much it.  ...also I'm sharing my computer with my dad recently cause his stopped working and he can't seem to live a single day without playing Civ5. The most addictive game ever.

I guess I'll be doing some random post later on since this once seems so underwhelming.

~Just thought of what I'll be posting. =)

19/2/11 - A daily post.

I'm gonna start posting about my day at the end of each day from now on. A daily post.

Went to sleep today at about 6AM, I think I was playing the sims and doing the blog. sigh... sims. couldn't build how I want to, so I shut it off and went to bed eventually.

Woken up by my parents at 12.30PM asking me to go eat with them. I was reaally hungry. Wanted to go have pan-mien( chinese for 'board-noodles")...

Pan-mien : thick board-like noodles with 'ikan bilis', shredded fungus, vege, and minced pork.

... when we reached the shop. sigh...it was packed and there were people standing around waiting for seats. SO we decided to go to a nearby place that sells noodles with fish. It was nice too. :) Before going home we went and buy some jackpot tickets cause I dream that I did. I think its a chinese thing or something, when you dream about buying these things you wake up and do it. Sadly didn't win anything. hmm..

Lazed around at home until 10PM then rode my motorcycle out to meet up with friends and have a chit-chat over some food and drinks. Reached home at about 12 and worked out a bit. lol weird time to work out but I always do it at night.

...and that's pretty much my whole day. I'll blog about some random things randomly between these daily posts. :) Stay tuned!

Sipadan

First off, I'll have to admit I've never actually been diving before, too expensive to get the license for me, I'll do it one day. Looking up pictures for this motivates me to go there soon.

About Sipadan:
The only oceanic island in Malaysia which rises 600 meters from the seabed, Sipadan Island is a world wonder in its own right. It is formed by living corals engulfing an extinct volcano cone which took centuries to develop. Located at the centre of the Indo-Pacific basin, Sipadan Island has one of the world’s richest marine biodiversity in its ecosystem.

Sipadan Island is actually located on the other side of borneo from where I live(Kota Kinabalu).

 General map of Sabah

Now, some pictures I've lifted somewhere else, google 'Sipadan' for more. :)

Next will be... hmm...

Need feedback.

I think most of my followers are from the west. So I must ask...

Is there anything anyone would like to know about the place where I live? There are quite a lot of touristy destinations in my state. Mostly eco-tourism things like diving in Sipadan and climbing Mt. Kinabalu... lots of small islands to visit. Also, food that westerners never heard of(?)  maybe..

Anything in particular anyone is interested in? Let me know, I may write a small entry describing/explaining. =)

Last day of Chinese new Year.

Well yesterday was the last day of Chinese New Year. For those that don't know of it its the new year according to the lunar calender. Lots of fireworks, lots of food, gambling, and most of all, people who are not married yet get red packets, with money inside. Oh joy!

Over the past few weeks I went to a few open-house organized by relatives and friends of my parents, been drinking a lot of soda and eating tons of junk food. Its really unhealthy but its only once a year and everyone go all out and have fun.

Every morning I would wake up to the sound of drums and ...erm...crashes(?) well the lion dance music. Well they don't really start until about 9 in the morning so can't blame them for the noise.

Last night, a few hours ago actually, went to my dads child hood friend's house for a huge open-house, guy is rich and has hundreds of guests. Lots of good food and a free flow of beers. Pretty awesome, it happens every year too and there's tons of lion dance crew he hires for the occasion. Its really too bad I don't have any pictures, not used to the whole recording everything I do yet. Also, had to leave early cause my mum saw someone with the same blouse and sister was a bit sick.

A few minutes after reaching home, received a message from a friend inviting me to play some pool with him. Of course I went, and luckily I did, I met a friend from a nearby town who was about to leave to another state for further studies. Played games in the cyber cafe until 2.30AM. Fun day.

Its really sad that most of my friends are away for studies though, would be so much more awesome.


~Really, really.. need to take picture, only have a 5megapixels phone. Should be good enough.~

Overclocking my CPU.

Since purchasing and installing my new CPU cooler, I've been trying to justify using up all my spare cash. It is quite a bit more noisy and a lot brighter with the damn LED casing fans(they're the cheapest). All I can think of was overclocking my CPU, making best use of the stuff I bought. sigh. Let the headaches begin.

Comp Specs: 

Intel i5 760 @ 2.8GHz

2x Kingston DDR3 1060Mhz/2G

Radeon HD6870

GIGABYTE H55M-USB3/mini-itx board

WD GREEN 1.0TB HDD

Cooler Master GX 550watt PSU

Cooler Master V6GT CPU-cooler

First thing first, I googled 'overclocking i5 760', found a helpful forum with more links to guides and member comments of course. I picked a guide and just followed it, setting my goal at 4.0GHz. As I  needed to reset my computer multiple times and will be unable to view the guise in the BIOS menu I wrote all the numbers I need down on a piece of paper, this proved quite useful.

After trying a couple of times, I seem to hit a block at about 3.4 GHz. back to the internets. Reopened my last used pages on chrome and google'd why it crashes or doesn't start at all. Turns out my CPU just isn't getting enough voltage, and while I was still googling I found some numbers I can follow of someone getting 4.2GHz stable overclock. Restarted, put in the settings and started stress testing as soon as Windows loaded. The temperature shot up to 85C and seem to be still going up, at which point I tried to stop it but the computer just froze, frantically tried shutting down with the reset and power buttons, to no avail. I had no choice I flipped the switch to my PSU although I fear as soon as the CPU cooler fan stopped my CPU would fry.

4.2GHz @100% load - 85C

 Luckily when I started it again it still ran, so I went into the BIOS menu again and lowered the overclock down to my previously set goals. It didn't run at a very low temperature but it ran. about 78C which I consider still acceptable considering the stress test was 100% load which is not realistic in normal use. 

The BCLK frequency was set to 190 with a multiplier of 21. Making the core clock 3.99 GHz. just a bit shy of 4. However I was still in the process of refining it, after everything was done I raised the BCLK frequency to 192, and all was well. 4.03GHz. I was ecstatic.

4.03GHz@100% load - 71C

There was still one problem though. Noise. Since the idle temp was about 40C my CPU cooler was really loud. Sigh.

Since I never had a problem running any games I play at max setting at my normal settings and my computer is never shut down, I decided to put everything back to stock. Saved the BIOS I used for the overclock of course, might need it someday when my computer gets left behind by newer games.

Now I'm right where I started with about 5 hours down the drain.

Hey, at least it wasn't boring. Another day without boredom.

Awesome.

P.S. Sorry if the image are too small. can't be bothered to change it now.

Busy busy.

Woke up today, hungry. Called a friend out for lunch, says he wants to continue sleeping..boo. Went and get my  passport on an empty stomach. Weather was perfect for riding, just a little sunshine, no rain, all was well.

So, got my passport, actually was just picking it up, went to make it the day before. Went to my next agenda of the day, handed in some photos for my student registration and to make a student ID, also, went to look around a near by mall for computer stuff and a HDMI cable but I didn't do any measurements on my PC for fans and such, so left empty handed. Called friend again, all he said was no. Had no choice went and buy some food to eat alone at home, asked my dad to check if he wants some, said no, mom was cooking but just enough for the 2 of them, went ahead and bought my food.

Reached home, saw enough fried rice for 5 people, raged a bit, though my dad was oblivious, must be getting senile. shit. Soon after finishing my food, friend called, said he'll pick me up, didn't say why, I had nothing to do, so what the hell right? Turns out he just wants me to accompany him to get a haircut, luckily was in the same mall I went earlier and I already did the measurements. After his hair cut, I went ahead and bought a CPU cooler and  2 casing fan. There goes my saving... =( Didn't get a HDMI though, gonna be using it for a week only anyways.

blah.. blah... blah...

Went out for dinner with a group of friends, friends couldn't finish their pizza so I packed it up and tagged it dinner. Mmm. Moved on to our next destination, friends wanted to shisha. Everything tasted of soap, even the water they server. Ugh. Ah, well.

Then I got home and spent about 3 hours installing everything I bought for my computer, tested it out, some buyer's remorse, not that the thing was bad, but...hmm.. well maybe it was just the wallet hurting.

Gonna sleep soon. It's 3.30AM. The blog has turned into my diary. haaa... the ways I think up of boring the masses. Not that boring of a day though. woo =)

~> I do have something interesting I've been thinking of but its kinda hard to type it out. Maybe when I'm really bored. Ah, and I plan to include some pictures in these posts as well. Maybe on my 4th post, not too sure yet.

Life of a bored person.

So... this'll be a boring blog written by a bored person trying to bore everyone else.

The 'Life' of a boring person is pretty simple really, we wake up, we eat, we do mostly nothing until dinner, then do mostly nothing until we get too tired of doing mostly nothing and fall asleep. The days go by quite fast for bored people. I'll be honest though, it's not like I have nothing I can do at all, I COULD read up on things I'll probably be studying in the near future. If only I weren't so damn lazy.

The weather... oh...  the weather is shit. Raining every single day. Don't really like going out when its raining out, wet shoes, wet roads, and humidity feels reaallly uncomfortable.

I guess for now this bored person will continue being bored.

Ugh.. I'm bored.