A little pressure is good

4 years ago on the stage with Vince , performing for the Prime Minister .

With Vince and Ash at a recent clubbing night .


I've been taking a hiatus for a little while . I know I'm not supposed to , but I needed a short break . Sorry for not picking up the calls during that time , phone was unconscious .

Obviously there's the horror story when I switched my phone back on .... Uuuuh . 127 text messages . I never thought it was possible ....

On another note , work has been absolutely great so far . I've so many new things to work on , and I'm actually typing this to take a break from writing a proposal . Need my creative juices to flow back in . Have been on the phone with calls from overseas since 2 am . It's 9am now !


Anyway , somebody said this to me recently ....

` David , a little pressure is good '




-D

Weird Updates

I was a guest speaker at an integrated learning center .... I know , what did I speak on right ?


I'm about to crash my bed right now , however will update a little due to the fact that my little blog has been neglected due work . Since , I'm sleepy , I shall write my post in points .

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*PETRONAS , believe you believe me , instead of asking me to work for them as an engineer , albeit a lousy one , have employed me for two of their events .

1)To speak at a Human Resource Management Stake holder's day , next year at KLCC . I'll be speaking for two hours on Human Resource to General Managers , CEOs and MDs . Once again , believe you , believe me , I have no idea why they employed me ( Yes , they are paying me to speak !! ) . It seems that I was recommended by a former Professor at university . When I got the details of what I was supposed to do , I was flabbergasted . WHAT ??? I replied back the e-mail they sent with the title ` Are YOU sure ? ' .

2)Petronas is flying me to a resort in Langkawi to perform for 800 Petrol Kiosk owners . In attendance will once again be Tun Dr.Mahathir . Due to the fact that Tun has seen my act a couple of times in the past , I will have to set out something new .... and Tun is a tough person to please , I was actually heckled by him on the stage in the past .........

The awkwardness of this , is that I was a former Petronas Scholar , and they sponsored my whole education to get an engineering degree ... and now , Petronas is using me for a purpose that does not relate to a single fragment of my academic qualification . Somebody explain to me why did I suffer so much throughout university again ??

If someone mentioned university , the only think I remember was the time I din't sleep for two days trying to finish an assignment for Reinforced Concrete ..... The only think I remember now is how to differentiate a one way and two way slab ....

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*I agreed to a 52 episode show on national television . The first local `English' magic segment on national television ( which you might not catch since rarely do people watch TV these days ) . Shooting starts the point I get back home . You're gonna see my smiley face weekly on Friday TV starting Jan 2010 ( which I doubt you'll tune in too ) However ......... I neglected the fact that it's 52 episodes when I agreed . I'm now having a headache listing down the materials I should be doing . What have I gotten myself into ....

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*I will not be in Malaysia much in 2010 ... that means I won't even get to see my own shows .

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All that being said . Things couldn't be better now . If you see past my dark humor , life for me now is going exceptionally well . I have a lot of things to look forward too , and am slowly crossing my `GOALs ' checklist as time goes by . That's a ` good' sign by the way .


In my life , I've miraculously written TWO books . 100 over pages , bad English , and very stupid substance . I completed the 1st one just after high school , and the 2nd one , a year back .
I kept both soft copies in an old e-mail account . I was reading them a few days ago just for the fun of it , and thought to myself

` Ok , both are really dumb , but at least the 2nd book is better than the 1st ... '

You gotta always move forward in life . Always improve on what you already have .

-D

So what do I DO ??

Doing an interview under the hot sweltering sun ...


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In my experience , after a conversation takes place with a stranger , it'll usually move towards this particular question :

So .....what do you do ?

For the benefit of people who don't know me personally , I never say that I'm a magician , NEVER . It's also extremely rare that if I met a stranger , I'll tell him/her that I'm a mentalist . No , it isn't because I'm not proud of my profession , it is however due to the fact that 9/10 times , when I state that I deal with magic , it always , somehow or another in mysterious ways... the conversation will end up to this ` oh so familiar question ' ...........

Show me a trick ?

and sometimes , it doesn't come out as a question , but as a statement ...


SHOW ME A TRICK !


When I was younger , I'd definitely show a trick . Hoohah , you got to remember that when I was 16 , I started off by carrying a deck of cards in my jeans pocket when I went to the mall ..... Now , before you think that I've morphed into some `sombong ' son a gun who doesn't want to entertain the general crowd these days ...You got me wrong here .............

To be a 100% honest , I'm tired la wei ...... after all these years of hearing that same question over and over again ... and over and over again .. it just took it's took somewhere along the line .

Step in my shoes.... every Chinese New Year ...what do you think relatives ask me to do ? Heck , everytime people visit my home , what do you think they'd ask ? ....Talking about that , this just happened recently :

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I went to a friend's party . This isn't your cocktail gala party , rather something like a college fraternity party ( something I rarely experienced in my college hey days ) . I saw a girl sitting on the couch with her friends . My friend saw me seeing the girl sitting on the couch . He ,went up to her , and told her that I was a `magician ' .... and she responded kinda positive , with

` I love magic , ask him to show me something ! '

Now , you got to understand my predicament . I've been performing for a long time here . I KNOW how this is going to end up if I start showing her tricks ....



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I got a dollar for every time someone asks me ` Can you show me something ? ' , I'd be a very rich man by now .

These days , it's always `can you bend me this ' and ` can you bend me that ' . Oh man , I can DO A LOT of other things than just bending this and that . To my close friends , sorry I don't show you anything new these days . I do have loads of new stuff . I'm just trying to stop the process of me performing every time I go out ... and somehow it's slowly working . When I start to do the same thing over , people say ` I've seen that ' .... and I can finally continue ` normal chit chat ' . Common , if you have a comedian friend , you don't ask him to tell you a joke every time he goes out with you right ?? ( I hope you don't )


.....................


So what do I say I do ? I mean , at the spur of the moment , I usually hammer my engineering degree to good use .

I'm an engineer ... ( with a straight face )

Which I might add , is `half' true by the way .

and this is where THAT answer got me into some trouble ....

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I'm in a nice 5 star hotel , the best hotel in town actually . Thank you , organizers , I love you guys . I was sitting down at the huge lobby having a nice cup of green tea . Somehow , 5 star hotels here don't have kettles in the room to avoid `fire ' trouble . Gotta go to the lobby , which has a nice counter to make hot drinks 24/7 .

Then out of the lift came a bunch of Caucasian guys who were wearing `offshore oil platform ' suits . Imagine a bunch of astronauts ..just without the head gear . They sat next to my sofa , and being the nice guys they were , greeted me with a `Good Morning ' !

Obviously , I replied ` Good Morning ! out for work , it's kinda early ain't it ? '

It was btw very early , about 4am plus . Yes , my biological clock is screwed up a little . I have no fixed time of sleeping anymore and drink green tea at 4am in the cold morning . Anyway , I discovered that all of them were British Petroleum engineers . Came in for an assignment .

Being the only Chinese guy in the whole hotel ( I asked the reception for the fun of it , they were like 3 Malaysians though ) , we all had a good chat , and then the conversation lead to :

So , what do you do ?

Out of the spur of the moment I said :

I'm an engineer too !

and then one of the group asked :
What field ?

I replied my specialization and he responded with :

Great ! we need an opinion on this problem . Fancy finding you here in the early morning !

and he started taking out a drawing pad and pen ..........


THAT was when I KNEW I was going to get screwed in my ass ....................


-D



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Work is something YOU GOT TO LOVE

Interview with PC World Magazine

I just did 3 interviews lately , it was really fun to do and met a lot of great people along the way . All the interviews were for different genres of publications . However , in all the interviews , 1 similar question was asked ` Do you enjoy what you're doing ? '


I answered in a short manner , however this is the geist of it :


Many years ago ...when I just started out , I would have never have thought that I'll be traveling the world doing something like this . Who would have imagined ? Magic ?

People told me it couldn't be done . I believed them . It's alright , I'm sure they said it with good intentions . I myself couldn't reason or give myself solid confidence that this would be a profession . I took up a degree , however I continued doing magic on the sidelines .

It was only when I started working as an engineer in a consultancy firm that it hit me . Oh man , this is NOT for me . It was an epiphany . I'll always remember this scene when I was at a meeting with GAMUDA Sdn.Bhd . I was the youngest person there pulling a cool front , and everybody there were senior engineers . Why was I sent ? because the head engineer from my company had `other' work . I was supposed to re-present my company , and all I was told to do was to sign in the attendance sheet .....

During the meeting , I got a shocker when I was being called out ....

Lead Engineer : So Mr.Lai , what do you think about the drainage layout of the whole structure ?

he was referring to a track layout somewhere in Kedah . My company was in charged of the drainage plans .

Me : I think it's ok ....

Lead Engineer : Could you explain on the discrepencies at R1 d5 ?...........

Me: Hmm.........



To cut the whole trauma short , I never felt stupider in my whole life even with the combination of all past embarassing moments . I must have uttered some of the stupidest solutions in engineering history . You see , in a meeting like that , no matter how creative you are , you can't lie your way out if you do not know technicalities . Period .

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Somewhere along the lines of waking up at 6am in the morning and reaching home after 7pm everyday repeating the same routine , I solidly made my decision that I was going to lead an interesting life .

I told to myself that , screw the money , it's not worth it . Hey , I always thought that I'd be rich if I was an engineer . Believe it or not , at one time of my life , due to hearing a testimonial at a oil and gas symposium , I thought of spending the next 10 years of my life on a oil rig , earning some big bucks , save up and enjoying life after I turned 30 ..... weird goal huh ?

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Do I enjoy what I do now ?

In comparison of what I was previously doing , incomparable .

Do I eat bread and water everyday ?
Somehow , I don't . Believe it or not ,I'm doing pretty well in that department and I believe that if you insert some intelligence into a passion of yours , the moolah will come ...by huge numbers . Have some faith .

Was the decision easy ?
Made my knees shake in terms of thinking about how am I going to put food on the table in the future .

My future plans ?
I have a small little company that brings me enough to survive even without my magic so I think I'm doing pretty well in terms of security . I have other plans in the development stages that do not involve magic , and am happy with the progress so far .


.....

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

Is this a freaking joke ???

I hesitated a little before sharing this , but I think it's worth a read .....

This is so weird , after receiving this , I think I just stared at the computer screen for a few minutes not knowing what to reply . What on earth is going ON man ? * Slaps my hand on my forehead *

I initially thought that it was a prank , but that's explained later on ....

Received this in my hotmail e-mail :

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From:*********************

Sent:	Thursday, 15 Oct, 2009 9: 52 PM
To:	David Lai (davidlai308@hotmail.com)

Mr.David ,

I heard about you from a mutual friend , we have many in fact . I would like to ask for your help or rather employ you for a unique purpose . Let me get straight to the point .

I am college student studying in Subang . I was recently involved with a girl . I did everything for her and not once did I treat her badly . She was the most important thing in my life . I even paid the down payment for her car as she was supporting herself and needed transportation to her part time jobs . I also rented an apartment for her and we both moved in together . I was always there for her and supported her in whatever she did . I took care of her with all my heart and she was my everything . I loved her .

After a year of being together, I found out she was cheating on me with a senior . I caught her by surprise in the apartment which I rented for her . It hurt so much and I almost commited suicide . I also found out that she was cheating on me for almost half a year with other guys . She is now living together with that guy whom I found her cheating with . She has made a complete fool out of me and my good intentions .

I've heard stories about you from my friends . What I require you to do is to get her , and then dump her heartlessly for no reason and when you dump her , you tell her all the shit she has done to make my life as it is right now . I do not sleep anymore . I do not trust anymore . My whole life is in complete turmoil because of her . Nothing is right anymore . I am sure you would also feel that a girl like her must be given a harsh lesson . I am now in the midst of seeing a counselor on a weekly basis to get my life intact .

I do not have a time line , however I would appreciate that it could be done as soon as possible . I feel that she deserves this . As for payment , I'd be willing to pay anything necessary within my limit . Can we set it at RM****.00 for now ? As a man to a man , please help me to avenge my dignity . My whole life is ruined because of this bitch . I need this .

I will provide you with all the information necessary , her name , address and also places she hangs out at . I would prefer a meet up to explain the finer details . I will give you everything you need .

Waiting for your positive response .

*********


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IS THIS FOR REAL ???????

He even gave me his name , and contact number ( which for obviously reasons I won't reveal ) . I almost thought that I was going to be on Hitz.fm Gotcha Call or something .... So I searched him on facebook , got to know the mutual friends we have , asked around a little , and found out that `the girl ' incident did actually happen ....

If in some weird Martian way that this is a legitimate job request :

1)By posting it here , I think you already know what's my reply to whether or not I'll accept it . Man , it's crazyyyy la ?? It really is man .... ayoooo

2)I've received weird request in the past , talk to dead souls , heal backbone problems and use my energy to enhance bowel movements , but this has got to be one of the most ` Logical ' , yet weird request I've received so far .

3)What have my so called `friends' been talking about Meeee ???????????????????

4)What on earth makes you think that I'll actually get the girl ??? Walau , after wards I kena cheated pulak .


On a serious note :

I guess the guy just got too frustrated and didn't know what to do . There is no magic pill to forget . The best way to forget someone is to find someone new you care more about . Easier said than done sometimes .

People cheat , people lie , and if you can't get over that fact , you're not living in the real world . Believe me , I hate saying that line . Reality is harsh .


I promise you , a few years from now , you'll laugh at yourself for sending me this .Be strong and Good luck =)


-D

What is FUN to me ?

Up , up and away ! Life can only get better !

2009 , especially the 2nd quarter has been a crazy fun filled year . I can't begin to describe how much of a good time I've had . To be honest , I had a rough start to the year . I'm glad everything turned out well over the duration of time . My schedule for the whole year is booked , I'm preparing for two huge theater shows and will be back in Malaysia in mid December . I'm currently in the beautiful continent of Africa before I head for Europe in November .

Recently , I've been taking a break from partying . My mind can only take so much , guess I'm not a super human after all . Imagine partying non-stop back home , and when you get to another country , you hit the party circuit hard again .... I think two to three weeks would be sufficient time to refill my energy barrel . I can't believe that I partied till my muscles got sore .

It does feel good to know when to take a back seat ride . I have been spending my time on the other hand at the gym , reading , and concentrating on my business . Don't get me wrong , while partying , I do not neglect my health , and neither do I forget about my career , it's just that now I have my `own sweet time ' doing these things .

Cay and Yvonne making hot stuff on the dance floor

So what's FUN to me ?

People say that I'm crazy ,but just because your ideologies aren't the same with mine , it doesn't make me crazy ... does it now ? I have on the other hand found people who can handle me . My `crazy adventurous ' friends . So what is fun to me ?

**Fun to me is making a weird video on Youtube of no particular reason for someone just for the fun of it . Some might say it's wasting time , but I think it's cultivating inner creativity .

**Fun is changing all the time of the clocks in the room of your roommate who has a final exam the next morning . It's also crossing the line of being a bad roommate . ( Don't do that , I learned my lesson many years ago ) .

**Fun is going up to the hottest girl in the club and ask her ` Do you like elephants ? ' .

**Fun is taking the next flight out of the country going to anywhere you like , for example Prague ! ( Make sure you have everything settled back home , or else you're gonna lose a lot of things , including your job when you get home . I may be crazy but not dumb ) .

**Fun is going to a karaoke center with your mid twenties friends , just to be greeted by a mamasan and 20 over Republic of China GROs . Everybody else in the center are uncles who are staring the hell out of you , praying hard that you don't recognize them .

**Fun is going on a date in the South , and end up in the North of the country ...and wondering to yourself , what just happened ?

**Fun is feeling the thrill in the drop of skydiving and bungee jumping .

**Fun is accidentally going out on Valentines with 3 girls when you're 17 . Not having enough money to pay for yourself , you excuse yourself to an important phone call only never to show up at the dinner table again .

My 17th Valentine's ... how time flies . I still hate you ! =)


**Fun is taking topless pictures with 3 of your close friends and showing the world of what we just did causing an uproar in the cyber world ..




**Fun is going on a play date with a middle eastern girl in the middle east . Believe me , all eyes will be staring at you .... I'm still alive , but I don't recommend doing it ...

I always looked away ...

**Fun is being chased in KL by a mad jealous ex boyfriend in his car and finding the nearest police station for safe haven .... It's also bloody stressful to a point .

**Fun is finding out the girl you just went out with has a kid that's the same age with your 5 year old niece ..... You shake your head and laugh about it .



FUN is also ...........

**Bringing my family to a new spot and spending them for a luxurious dinner . I've to hide the bill every time or else my mom will scream ...

**Sitting down and talking away at Starbucks until the whole mall closes down , and were left alone with the cleaners ...still chatting away , not caring about whatever and just chatting away . That's just so much fun . Fuuuh .

**Watching continuous movies at the cinema . 1 after the other , 1 after the other , from morning till dawn .

**Having a 6 hour dinner at my favorite spot with a crazy girl .

**Lying in bed , dreaming about what a great night that just happened . Replaying that moment time after time again thinking of how to make it better .

**Having a spontaneous make up adventure in the middle of the street . Imagination can take you anywhere .

**Taking care of your sick girlfriend and telling her weird bedtime stories


** Writing down your weekly , monthly and yearly goals and achieving them one by one ...


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I believe that you only live once . Right or wrong in a certain action is very subjective . If you keep on thinking on the pros and cons every single time , you're going to miss A LOT of opportunities in life .

I just lost a friend whom I've known for almost 10 years down the road . I was her classmate , I also attended her wedding and even lent my coat to the best men during the ceremony . She passed away a week back due to heart failure , leaving behind two kids and her husband .

If you think about it , and if you think about it well . Life is really short . Most of you reading this would be at your prime .

At your prime , shouldn't you be living life to the fullest ? Taking risks , doing things out of spontaneity , and doing something in your life worth waking up in the early morning for . I am not saying leave behind everything and live carefree , I am however advocating the idea of living a life that excites you , one that will make you grin when you think about it years from now .

Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion

Okay , not so much of an inspirational post , nevertheless , this will tell you a little more about my life in general these days . Besides the Gargantua amount of workload piling up , I also sometimes take time to make my life a little more interesting .

Next up :

I like this photo because it shows an image that I don't usually see .



That's Stephinie by the way , the spelling of her name isn't a typo , there's an I in between the `h' and the `n' . This is an image I don't usually see because she ain't no bride in Snowhitety gown . That image just doesn't go with me .

I brought Steph to an awesome costume party , and before the party ended , we went off ....with our masks still intact . Drove around KL with my mask on , and in some coincidental or courageous way , drove next to a police car with the masks on . Laughed our ass off and walked around Changkat Bukit Bintang with masks on and even entered a restaurant together . Every single diner was looking at us thinking where did this two sakai couple came from . We even slowed down traffic . Oh well , it was fun .... and weird .


Ok , you might be thinking ...`Sure , that was mild David , what about that time when you drove blindfolded in front of Asia Cafe ? '. I'll keep the saucy ones to myself aite . You never know who reads this blog .


Driving blindfolded and scaring pedestrians at Asia Cafe

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People say that I'm out of the conventional sometimes . I mean , take a look at my profession , it's definitely not something in society's norm . When I 1st started off , people advised me against it ( and I actually listened and got myself a hardcore scholarship based degree which I do not use one bit ) . -_-

My believe is that , 20 years from now , you'll look back . At the prime of your life , what did you actually do ? How did you spend your time ? Was it in an office climbing the corporate ladder everyday 9 to 5 . Or did you actually do something worth living in between work and routine .

I speak about this to people and this next picture sums it up nicely . Live your life passionately . Do something that drives you out of bed everyday .



Whether it's carrying granite stones to arrange the name of someone ( you have no idea how heavy the stones were )




Or posing weird pictures in public


Or even making weird pointless hand symbols


because life is only so short .