Wednesday, October 14, 2009

12 Hours, 7 rides, 2 “Geezers” and 1 Experience of a lifetime.

Taken from my journal::

8/8/2009



The morning after a late birthday party for Bell and Andriy, Drew woke me up at 1030am. "How does he sleep so late and get up so energetic!?" was all i could think as i muttered a response to the plans for the day and resumed my horizontal meditation for another 30minutes.

Having packed food for the both of us, we left around noon into the brilliant weather upon us today. As we got along the road heading to St Albans beyond the De Havilland Campus, I felt compelled to submit the fay into God's hands and prayed a silent prayer. Thanking Him for the great day and how circumstances had lead to this, trusting that He would take care of the rest of the day. I set my expectations at "We're not getting out of Hatfield" as Drew didn't get a ride out for 3 hours the day before what more with me tagging aong. Still I was confident that we would have a great day even if it meant staying in Hatfield.

As we walked along the road, annoyed by the existence of bus stops and the efficient coverage of the British public transportation network, we walked past a school field and noticed a car boot sale going on and decided to check it out, perhaps striking a conversation with the people there could get us a ride to St. Albans. Many were packing to go off and Drew tried to ask a couple of people driving off while I tried my very best not to look like an idiot in the background.

One guy pulled up as Drew asked him where he was headed. With a line of cars behind him, I wouldn’t be surprised if he just drove off but he pulled to the side and eventually agreed to give us a lift to St. Albans. Drew looked at me with the “See? What did I tell ya?” look as I stared blankly at him. I wonder how I must have looked to him then. Probably a cross between a donkey that’ve just realised that he’s a stallion all this while and a half-flat rabbit road kill. Or something like that. (Drew insists on the latter when I read it to him)

Tuan has the privilege of being the first ride of my hitchhiking career. (Well, that’s what she said as well...) He is of mix parentage being half Malaysian and from Sri-Lanka. Excited by that fact, we conversed in broken Malay. He managed a sell out as we could see in the empty folded cardboard boxes and the tone of satisfaction in his voice. Sure, I would buy all the T-shirts and polo-Ts off him too at a price of 1-2 pounds each. I felt bad for lyig to him when he asked why we were heading to oxford to which I replied “to see a friend.” Drew shared later as we were dropped off at St Albans railway station that being truthful eventually was better for him when hitching for a ride.

We walked to the edge of St Albans past the park and were welcomed with the sight of the plains and sheep in a distance. We proceeded down the road, stopping to eat some wild blackberries on the road side when another car pulled over. The couple on the way back to Hemel Hempstead from the Saturday markets took us to South of Hemel. Once there, we made our way to a intersection and asked a couple of drivers pulling up at the lights (well not me, I looked like donkey-stallion-rabbit road kill.) A guy in a van pulled up and Drew went over to ask him. Next thing you know we were leaping over the fence, rushing into the van before the lights turned green. Turns out the guy just got off work painting and called his mate shortly into the ride to announce that he was giving two “geezers” a lift to get along the A41 before he turned off.

Having enough of being a donkey-stallion-rabbit-roa
dkill, and the conditions felt right, I decided to push for the lead though I didn’t announce it. We were chatting when I turned to see a SUV coming around the round-a-about. I instinctively gestured without second thought and was surprised when it did pull over, getting onto the curb. Maybe they wanted to run me over but missed, who knows? Drew turned to me and told me to take the lead. “Erm, me and my buddy are heading to Oxford, is it possible for you to give us a lift along the way?” I was nervous, when they replied that they could take us to Aylesbury (to which it sounded like “ayekljfygkkjwej” when I nervous) I just said okay and hopped on without much thought as to where it was and if it was on route to Oxford, I was just glad they actually gave us a lift and that’s all it mattered to me at that moment.

The twins described themselves as limeys and gave a little background as to how the term came about as we chatted about names other different people would be called. Drew was labelled a redneck while there was not much to be said about the Asian dude. What can you say? I suppose we all look alike hence... As we talked about limeys, rednecks and country people they announced that although they were from the country land of the UK, they are in fact not married. We were dropped off at a parking lot in central Aylesbury where we stopped for lunch at the park around the corner. After more blackberries for dessert at the side of the road, we walked a good way out of down upon deciding to take the back roads over the motorway. An hour or two and a couple of fingers at us while we were debating over whether those that gave us the thumbs up were encouraging or mocking us until someone interrupted us with two fingers as to which we had to agree was mockery. We pondered about what went on the minds of those who choose to mock us and what compelled them to do what they did as we made our way further out along the road. I guess the fact they didn’t have to face us or deal with us played a significant factor. Sort of like how some if not many who would be bold enough to start flame wars on the internet knowing they won’t see the other person, so were the people flipping us off knowing that there is little likelihood of meeting us again after those 2 seconds. That is of course unless Drew decides to break their windshield with a rock and they have to stop and deal with us and Drew would simply stab them and rip out their hearts before decapitating them and finally punching them, of which only one is true.

As we chatted at the round-a-bout near a railway station outside Aylesbury, a car went around and did not exit the round-a-about leaving two choices, a U-turn back the way they came from or for us. “a glimmer of hope, come on!!” I yelled as we waited in anticipation. Tim and Michelle didn’t plan on going to Oxford but were willing to take us north of it. They told us about their daughter who is also travelling hence their empathy towards us. The journey was filled with stories of travel and descriptions of our favourite places that we have visited thus far. Tim and Michelle were also kind enough to point us to a few places of interest in Oxford, and they eventually went out of their way to drop us right in front of a pub called “Eagle and Child” in Oxford where Tolkien (Author of Lord of the Rings) used to drink at.

We got around oxford and soaked in the sights and sound, but I can’t help but feel that I’ve enjoyed the journey more than the destination and Oxford just provided an end for the means. (Cambridge we agreed, is a better place- Lukas would be delighted to hear that) It was rumoured that Hitler loved Oxford so much he didn’t bomb it and if he had conquered England, he would have made Oxford the capital city. Well, perhaps there was not as much of an intellectual threat as say Cambridge? (I’m going to stop before I start a war here.) Drew and I made some video recordings and talked about how we could travel on a boat around (very likely induced by the song by The Lonely Island). We walked for quite a bit more after walking in circles towards the edge of town heading east as we were quite far in town to hitch back. Having no luck so far, we headed to the gas station where the second person Drew asked had a smirk on his faced and asked if we were hitchhikers. I decided that telling him we were wanted serial killers on the loose posing as hitchhikers would be an ill-timed joke.

Eric from Slovakia was kind enough to drop us at London where he was headed to meet some friends for BBQ. He lived in Oxford for 8 years and has quite a cool, important but unfortunately underpaid job as a systems technician responsible for regulating the environment in the labs. There was a sense of pride in his worked as he described his role in the significant research in the labs for vaccines and cures for diseases. We really lucked out on this one ride all the way to London.

Coming off at Hendon railway Station, we walked a fair bit to the first gas station and walked on when we couldn’t get a ride. Upon arriving to another gas station, we asked one guy who declined and was pulling away only to stop and reversed to honk as us while Drew was asking another person. I went over and he motioned us to get in. James “Spike” Milligan is a police officer and wanted to take us downtown because an American and an Asian guy hitchhiking were just too dodgy. Fortunately for us he was off duty and I just made that all up anyway. He was planning to go the States with his mate and travel around in a caravan and looks to trade police hats with the local police forces. He had told us not to walk further down from the gas station when he declined us earlier as we were about to enter the dodgy areas he often patrols. Turns out Drew’s accent were one of the factors that changed his mind. It was really cool to hitch as ride with a police officer and not have to go to a lockup. He even sent us right to the doorsteps of the house, which was really awesome. Spike, thanks very much dude and I hope you have a blast in the States next April with your mate.
This has been an amazing experience for me and I thank God for the circumstances that had lead to this. I hope I will always remember this feeling of boldness, that conquering the world wouldn’t seem impossible now.

12 Hours, 7 rides, 2 “Geezers” and 1 Experience of a lifetime.

Jonathan’s Journal- 11/8/09

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

conversations with the wall

Well it seems like the end of the road for university/college/school life, and now we step into the great unknown called...



adulthood 0__0;;






.....





I'd try to make the post a little more dramatic, more intellectual, more thought inspiring, but i reckon i'd fail miserably..






i don't know what to say,






then again, what do you have to say, to the wall.





I guess the purpose of my post is a shout into the world that i'm still here, still alive, still kickin (okay, mayb not kicking so well) I don't think i'm the type that posts what i feel, what i think here (but saying that had just proves otherwise didn't it ? =/ )





I'd rather share my thoughts in person.







So why not take a walk with me ? =)






one shudders at the thought of dragging the wall around with you for a walk...

Sunday, May 3, 2009

For my sis who wants to see my nerd-sih *cough* you mean intelligent glasses look.



You can't say "nerd" at the 3 intelligent and good looking young men at Cambridge. Of the 3 only 2 is really intelligent tho, 1 merely "looks" intelligent >__<

but like this wise man said.

"Judge every book not by the cover, but by the sypnosis/summary/description written AT THE BACK of the book. " - Jonathan Ong Chin Yue, 2009



If you think this looks somewhat familiar, maybe you'll have to refer to below: (scroll down)




























































Remember, behind every great man there is a lazy useless almost lifeless but yet you still love him anyway dog as their best friend.

Maybe Mason was busy pondering about Life, the Universe and Everything... the cosmos in it's entirety, while mocking humankind's inability to comprehend him and mocks them by barking at them at every opportunity, rolling around and spinning on his butt. Or perhaps it could be an elaborate food dance as a ritual to thank the Gods for the providence of his daily meal.

We finite humanbeings can only speculate...

Thursday, April 30, 2009

An update of sorts

Heya folks, just taking some time off (actually took alot of time off to play more like it =P ) for a little update.

exams around the corner, finally i'm able to click into gear (1st gear tho but hey it's a start! ^^; )

during the course of the Easter break i have not cooked at all until couple of days back...




Black pepper chicken with chips and stir fried vege and rice and ...*breathes* .... thats it.



Since i have nothing other than the ingredients for what i've cooked the day before, i made virtually the same thing again the next day. Maybe thats the reason i fell ill.. (perhaps i was a bit too overzealous with the extra black pepper i poured into it on top of the black pepper sauce)

Ps: Arsenal lost 0-1 to Man Utd =( , but thats NOT the reason why i fell sick okayyy =P or could it ?

then the Lord provideth, when all hope since lost when i have no medication (i can't remember where all the paracetamol went =/ ) was already in bed when Zil rang me up on the phone because i msged him on msn before i went to bed. Thankfully he had some medication. God had thought of me, even for the little things.. (well mayb not so little if it was swine flu =P )

Today i woke up knackered and missed all my classes, but i was well by midday , alive and kicking! until evening-ish when i felt dizzy and crashed into bed for another short nap. But still managed to make a gym session later =D

Am much better now, but it's the little things in life we take so much for granted that makes me thank God for. Until this:



I never thought i'd see this day.

cut me some slack, i'm no genius =P (this is directed to the very intelligent, very smart ppl, very disicplined ppl. one of which residing in Cambridge and another in Nottingham XD ) So to get something like this is very very surprising and by the looks of it, in very good timing as well as i look to prepare for the exams.

So from the dark lonely sick night God assured me of His presence and provided me what i needed and took me through the night into the dawn of hope and to be able to enjoy His goodness and grace.

To God be the Glory indeed. =)

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Spring...








I apologise for the long gap devoid of jon jon news. Spring is here and finally i've awoken from my slumber. It was a cold harsh winter, and food was scarce, the rabbits had to dig deep into their burrows and engage in other productive, productive activity.


My milo rations were running low, I had no choice but to go into deep slumber to conserve energy.



anyways,



My phone rang.




It was the police.


They found my bag!




Great.




So i went to pick it up only to find:







The bugger bleached it!




Actually... thats not a bad colour... whatever that is...


In other news, in quick summary (i have to dive back into work)


1) I'm getting short-sighted, and getting an eye test tomorrow... Doctor says i should stop starring things such as blank space, the sun, jupiter, pluto, planet X, the bird perched on the top of petronas twin towers, bacteria, atoms, ions, and so on.. Gee that explains alot now.


2) ...



uh...


mayb the fact im forgetting things as i forgot what i was supposed to write for no.2...


mayb next time then...

Friday, February 13, 2009

*Gasp*

....


i need a moment to catch my breath.



What a week, assignments, meetings, work, practice, football .. I was trying to juggle it all walking towards the banana peel of deatttthhhhhhhh.

Then I slipped,




then there was chaos.




Then everything fell into place.




Nice.





Football was great on wednesday. We were up against the team we played last season which we after fighting hard to get back at 2-1, managed to throw away the game at 3-7. This time, we knew better.


So we threw away the game 1st.


End of 1st half, 2-0 down, could have been more, could have been embaressing if the header back to the keeper (which ended up lobbing him) went in for own goal. (would have been funny tho) As usual we were all over the place squabbling during the halftime break.

I came in at 2nd half, playing DM sitting in front of the back four. I wonder what you guys would have reckoned about me in DM lol. Well, what they say about the english game.. well.. it's intense all right, i've never played 35mins of football and felt like it was 90mins plus extra time.

Then the other team figured that they'll return the favour from last season and let in 2 easy goals... like EASY... like... freekick.. keeper got to the grounder... fumbled, ball bobbled into the net... 2nd goal... repeat steps 1 and 2 from open play. Then we went for it... a good cross into the box right into the striker's fore head.. headed in down through the midde just under the crossbar. It was like Arsenal v Man Utd 2-1 at Emirates couple of seasons back with henry scoring the header from an eboue cross. What a moment.

Then it was real hard work, the 10 minutes left felt like forever as they threw everything and the kitchen sink at us. Finally the final whistle after a days hard work, my legs were still trembling.

Wow victory never felt sweeter after all the effort. What a comeback, still it shows the amount of work that needs to be done for the team. Despite the win, we were still generally a mess as a unit, lack threat going forward and then get hit by a simple counter attack from a ball over the top. I think most of the time, individual attributes got us points more than anything last season. This season's 1st game would have had us losing the game again but something was different, more people were prepared to work hard and get stuck in, and there was more team effort, sure we're still some way off, but at least it's a good sign of whatever little progress we can find. I'd take it!

Next up... the team that finished 2nd place last season only missing out at the final league game of the season. We lost to them 5-1, lets see what we can do for that game now.. Come on Diamonds!

Oh btw, my team is Rough Diamonds (*cough* don't ask =P). You can check our league table, fixtures etc on fixtureslive.com

click on leagues/cups under football and then click on "University of Hertfordshire Intra Mural Football" under the student section, then click on "2009" then you'll see the table and the last match day results.

Official kits, merchandise out soon!





well not really.




Feels good to have football again. And i'm glad you talked me out of quitting zil, cheers.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Hon Chien the SnowBringer of Deathhhhh

As soon as i saw him, i saw dark clouds looming over the sky. Thunder and lightning followed before he spoke:


"Bow to me and Hatfield will be spared of this great plague!"



Trembling, i contemplated the consequences of my following actions.





The Great Equation (From a Marketeers Perspective):
Great plague = Tons of snow + snow fight + snow man + fun + no classes + more fun


So i said:



"No , but i will take your luggage for you instead and you get to bunk in with me for the next couple of days."

He roared , shaking the earth around us raised his arms and said:




"Ok fair enough, take that bag. Make sure you have hot chocolates and broadband internet. I'm still bringing the great plague upon Hatfield though."


*shrugs* "Ok, whatever you say boss."




So despite my best efforts to stop the great evil, my valiant efforts were in vain as immediately snow began to fall, and it came throughout all the day and the night and the day after...


and there was screams of terror, gnashing of teeth, heads were rolling...







... due to snow fights of course! =D



Pictures and videos to be found HERE (As im too laz-*cough* busy to put them all up on the blog, I had to attend to the great SnowBringer of death)

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

while you were gone...

So i went out the last couple of days, indulged in alot of good food... so nothing really prepare me for this when i came back...






Seems Mr Snow man was quite busy himself... at this rate, we'll see them breed faster than the rabbits of Hatfield...

<>

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Eye of the Storm with a snowman in the middle.

After a semester.. im pretty fortunate to have a little gap of a little under 2 weeks of no classes before the new semester starts.




And now.. i've finally spring cleaned the room... and did the laundry only to have my maths fail me... laundry closes at 2200 hours.. at a glance i thought it was 11pm.. so now ..all my laundry esp my bed and pillowsheets will be stuck there for the night..





I should be doing certain things too but im just not getting round to it: like reading up more, getting my CV done up, group assignments, gahh..



Instead of doing those... i did this instead:













My fingers almost fell off in the process... and halfway through my friend and i threw ice shavings over ourselves and made snow ball then went to the other room and knocked on the door...

"It's Snowing!! Look!!! " *shows "snow" on hair and shirt and the snowball*

...that didn't work...


Must be pretty sad to end up doing that and all...

maybe it's because suddenly i realise that... for the first time.... like ever... i'm going to miss reunion dinner...


=(



even all "reunion" dinners/lunch here is not going to make up for it... i mean... whats the point of it without the actual "reunion" ?? hmmm... ahh well more excuse to fei-low ship ... gluttony madness tomorrow...

Monday, January 12, 2009

Hello... Goodbye

This just to say i'm alive and.. not so well..

i've put some things behind me in 2008... some of which literally... they say u lose some and gain some... i've lost 100pounds worth of stuff, gained a virus.. hardly fair trade ... =/

I've been bumming most of my holidays, and now am going to face the oncoming storm of deadlines, books, notes, and... that it i think...

i'll get back once i get to the other side of the storm.


or if i find something amusing to say...


Like how i look like mason each day i don't get a hair cut... actually thats pretty cool... Mason how do you style your hair ?


.. and you know you're crazy when you're talking to your dog... which is thousands of miles away and worse when your hair is starting to look like his...