auyongtc’s blog

Earlier today, I received a yellow envelope that was sent from Ithaca, New York. Of course, it was sent by my darling, tsewei, doing her student exchange programme at Ithaca College there.

It was a pleasant surprise indeed, for she kept mum about her sending out this card last week. At the time of receiving this card, I was still on MSN chatting with her… so it was a bit weird, first with me chatting with her when my sister announced to me from the living room that I’ve a letter!

It was a nice card tsewei bought, nicely depicting our long distance relationship. Here, I scanned the card:

The yellow envelope

The card’s front

The card’s contents

Sweet, isn’t it? Thanks dear! Made my day

Ode to the Nice Guys
This rant was written for the Wharton Undergraduate Journal

This is a tribute to the nice guys. The nice guys that finish last, that never become more than friends, that endure hours of whining and bitching about what assholes guys are, while disproving the very point. This is dedicated to those guys who always provide a shoulder to lean on but restrain themselves to tentative hugs, those guys who hold open doors and give reassuring pats on the back and sit patiently outside the changing room at department stores. This is in honor of the guys that obligingly reiterate how cute/beautiful/smart/funny/sexy their female friends are at the appropriate moment, because they know most girls need that litany of support. This is in honor of the guys with open minds, with laid-back attitudes, with honest concern. This is in honor of the guys who respect a girl’s every facet, from her privacy to her theology to her clothing style.

This is for the guys who escort their drunk, bewildered female friends back from parties and never take advantage once they’re at her door, for the guys who accompany girls to bars as buffers against the rest of the creepy male population, for the guys who know a girl is fishing for compliments but give them out anyway, for the guys who always play by the rules in a game where the rules favor cheaters, for the guys who are accredited as boyfriend material but somehow don’t end up being boyfriends, for all the nice guys who are overlooked, underestimated, and unappreciated, for all the nice guys who are manipulated, misled, and unjustly abandoned, this is for you.

This is for that time she left 40 urgent messages on your cell phone, and when you called her back, she spent three hours painstakingly dissecting two sentences her boyfriend said to her over dinner. And even though you thought her boyfriend was a chump and a jerk, you assured her that it was all ok and she shouldn’t worry about it. This is for that time she interrupted the best killing spree you’d ever orchestrated in GTA3 to rant about a rumor that romantically linked her and the guy she thinks is the most repulsive person in the world. And even though you thought it was immature and you had nothing against the guy, you paused the game for two hours and helped her concoct a counter-rumor to spread around the floor. This is also for that time she didn’t have a date, so after numerous vows that there was nothing “serious†between the two of you, she dragged you to a party where you knew nobody, the beer was awful, and she flirted shamelessly with you, justifying each fit of reckless teasing by announcing to everyone: “oh, but we’re just friends!†And even though you were invited purely as a symbolic warm body for her ego, you went anyways. Because you’re nice like that.

The nice guys don’t often get credit where credit is due. And perhaps more disturbing, the nice guys don’t seem to get laid as often as they should. And I wish I could logically explain this trend, but I can’t. From what I have observed on campus and what I have learned from talking to friends at other schools and in the workplace, the only conclusion I can form is that many girls are just illogical, manipulative bitches. Many of them claim they just want to date a nice guy, but when presented with such a specimen, they say irrational, confusing things such as “oh, he’s too nice to date†or “he would be a good boyfriend but he’s not for me†or “he already puts up with so much from me, I couldn’t possibly ask him out!†or the most frustrating of all: “no, it would ruin our friendship.†Yet, they continue to lament the lack of datable men in the world, and they expect their too-nice-to-date male friends to sympathize and apologize for the men that are jerks. Sorry, guys, girls like that are beyond my ability to fathom. I can’t figure out why the connection breaks down between what they say (I want a nice guy!) and what they do (I’m going to sleep with this complete ass now!). But one thing I can do, is say that the nice-guy-finishes-last phenomenon doesn’t last forever. There are definitely many girls who grow out of that train of thought and realize they should be dating the nice guys, not taking them for granted. The tricky part is finding those girls, and even trickier, finding the ones that are single.

So, until those girls are found, I propose a toast to all the nice guys. You know who you are, and I know you’re sick of hearing yourself described as ubiquitously nice. But the truth of the matter is, the world needs your patience in the department store, your holding open of doors, your party escorting services, your propensity to be a sucker for a pretty smile. For all the crazy, inane, absurd things you tolerate, for all the situations where you are the faceless, nameless hero, my accolades, my acknowledgement, and my gratitude go out to you. You do have credibility in this society, and your well deserved vindication is coming.

Fu-zu Jen, SEAS/WH, 2003

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Dedicated to paultan, cheokyeen, andi wu, cheev, and the rest of the nice guys out there

After much persuasion, Dr. Liew has finally agreed to join forces and form the Trollbusters!

Now you know who you can call when there’s a troll (a.k.a flamer) on your blog!

Yeah, we’re here to save the world, one blog at a time

It’s been really hot in Kuala Lumpur of late. I think a daytime average of 34-35°C ops:
And coz of that, I’ve been having cold showers for 3 days running now. Cold showers at home are pretty much a thing of the past since I moved back home from Nilai. As usual, with the convenience of a water heater switch, hot water showers are easily within reach at home here. However, the recent hot weather here is just starting to annoy me.

According to weather forecasts, it doesn’t look like there’s gonna be any different in the weather for the coming 7 days as well! ARGHHH!

My poor darling, tsewei is facing the exact opposite weather - it’s snowing more and more everyday there at Ithaca, NY. *hugz*

Earlier this afternoon, most of KL and the southern peninsula of Malaysia experienced power blackout - supposedly due to a power trip at the Port Klang Power Station (according to The Star)

The outage lasted about a couple of hours at my residential area - the slow return of power could perhaps be due to TNB unable to deploy mobile generator units as our country is on a diesel shortage

I actually called my mom (she was out) earlier to ask her to buy some candles should the power outage continues into the night

Saw the following banner the other night when I was out for mamak with tsewei:

It said: Discover the newly-enhanced Proton Waja - Strength comes from within*

Hahahahhahah!
Strength comes from within! Definitely you’ll need some strength to drive a Proton car.

* due to the car body construction being made of milo can

Last night, to usher in the year 2005, I invited some friends over to my house for a simple steamboat dinner. There were abundance of food and booze to last the whole night (and leftovers for the next two days to come, for sure! ). Luckily I had planned this simple event earlier, as most of the celebrations out there were cancelled as a respect to the recent tsunami disaster.

Penton drove both Andi Wu and Cheok Yeen over to my place by 8pm and we promptly got dinner started. Had countless rounds over the course of the night, and we ate so much, it’ll make any buffet proprietor shriek in horror at the sight of us eating!

Not gonna blog much further, nice weather today to sleep in… so here’s the group photo taken last night:

L->R: Andi Wu, Cheok Yeen, Penton, tsewei, auyongtc, Gigi the Pug