Looking Back: 2007

2007 was really a great year for me. True, there were some regrets, but many joyful moments overshadowed them. Here's a gist of what happened last year:

ahbonk.net was born!

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As I threw away my previous blog Level UP!, I started life anew in Feb 2007. I opened a new blog, simply ahbonk.net. To live a simple life, the spirit of the blog continues on to 2008!

Thank you for your support, dear friends and readers! :)

I left (if )



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Probably the biggest surprise of my life, I let go of my life in (if ). Had a really fun-filled 4 years, but life had to go on. Thanks, (if ).

Singapore Trip



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A much-needed trip. Went there with my cousins, and met up with my best friends Hoshi-chan and Joanne. And we took a bunch of silly pictures! Had a really great time!

Failed to get into Less Rain Tokyo



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Almost got into Tokyo, with promising job interviews and all. But even now, I haven't given up. I shall find ways for me to live there!

Jamming



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Wanted to try something new. So Jason, Adrian (both great guitarists) and I (a noob drummer with the sole experience of playing Drummania :P) played L's theme song and Welcome to the Black Parade.

Posted the L one to YouTube, and now it's almost reaching 10,000 hits, favourited 29 times and has 50 comments! Cool! And Jason STILL hasn't given them the guitar tabs, haha.

I'm a TOA Lecturer!



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For the life of me, I can't believe that I became a lecturer again, and in a design college to boot. But I'm having a great time, with fun colleagues and students alike! It really feels great to be in academia again.

Easy Only! Games



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I can't imagine myself being in a 9-to-5 job anymore (actually, (if ) was more of a 9am-to-5am job!), so I created my own company. It was created to provide advergames for clients, but thanks to a certain win, the company has changed direction. Now EOG makes games for game's sake! Screw clients! Woohoo! XD

Ballistic Wars got Third Place!



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I'm still in a state of disbelief. Ballistic Wars, a game that I worked with Daim and Ah mui nyin, has won third place in an international competition! It was even featured in the NST. Now another competition is up at JayisGames, so stay tuned for the next EOG creation!


Ok, from hereon are stuff that I should have posted earlier, but didn't get to. I can already hear a few "FINALLY!" among my friends, but anyway here they are, my VERY belated BIRTHDAY RAYA post!

Hari Raya



As usual, I spent this year's Hari Raya with my mother's side in my auntie's Tropicana house. My father's side all balik kampung, and I'm not that fond of going back to Besut. Everyone speaks Malay French there!



Here's the OBLIGATORY picture of me and my mom. (I'm such a great son!)



As with any Hari Raya, my cousins and I are up to no good again. And that means posing like idiots in front of the camera!



Here's our semi-tak-jadi take of the Phoenix Wright fanbook cover. Aidi, where the heck is your crystal ball?!



As if the previous poses weren't sor hai enough! There's a reason why Aidi and I had to be behind while Daim goes in front. Can you guess what game is this from?



We have rotated the camera, so you know it's a 3D game. Dina dropped her sunglasses though.

Birthday

I'm always proud of my birthdate, 10/10. Yea I know it's already January, but that doesn't stop me from showing my gratitude for the various gifts and happy moments that I shared with my family and friends!

First off, to avoid saying thanks under every single picture below (this is a journalistic decision, that's all!), I would like to thank everyone below for giving me the great gifts and dinners and whatnot. Had a really great birthday last year.

Of course, being a good son, I start first with my dad's and mom's.



Seeing how much fatter I'm getting with every visit, Papa decided to get a towel that can fit me for the next 10 years!



I think Mama was sick of me wearing jeans and black pants my whole life, haha.

And now moving on to my friends...



Tiffany and Joyce, my two great friends from secondary school, gave me a surprise birthday dinner in Italliennes One Utama! I felt so bad for not seeing them on new year eve, so I'll see both of you on CNY, I promise!



Heh, it's like as if the Italliennes staff were my best buddies (I knew none of them!). So I'm really grateful for their sportiness.

And that free cake is actually bread layered with creamy pumpkin sauce, and it's SUPER DELICIOUS! :9 Come to Italliennes on your birthday (and please for the love of God, don't go to Friday's... it can get REALLY noisy for the other patrons!)



Next day, my sisters and I went to Sushi Zanmai to celebrate my birthday. Yean has been so busy the past year, so this is a really treasured moment! And Nyin had a new haircut too. Kawaii~



And look what they got for me! A second controller for my Wii! There was a Hari Raya do in my house 3 days after that, so the party had a lot of multiplayer fun! This present came just in time! Sorry yean yean, I blocked your face...



And finally we had some nice chocolate birthday cake. Oh look, the cameraman finally joined us! That's Alex, Yean's boyfriend. 2007 was a really great year for them, am I right? ;)



I went to Singapore to talk to a potential sponsor, but I'll never pass up the chance to meet my best friend in college, Joanne. She's working in Johor now, so we rarely meet :( She belanja-ed me makan in this really nice down-to-earth Thai restaurant, and we had a really great talk, just like old times.

Anne anne, when are you coming back to KL? The position in EOG is always open :)



Another close sister of mine, hoshi-chan, went off to work in Singapore last year. Her birthday is 2 days after mine, so we always celebrate our birthday together, regardless of distance! Ain't I a good onii-chan!

We had dinner in Genki Sushi, which is SO SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH BETTER than its Malaysian counterpart! For most of you who are disappointed by the quality of Genki Sushi here, please give them another chance... in Singapore!



Hoshi-chan got me Revoltech Yotsuba, with really convincing movable parts! She's the main star in the Yotsubato manga, by the same guy that did Azumanga Daioh. Easily one of my favourites.

By the way, guess what I got for myself back in September...



Yup, ANOTHER Revoltech Yotsuba! Sorry hoshi-chan... at least my Yotsuba has found her twin sister :P



My cousin Dzaid (who's only five days younger than me, so we celebrate our birthday together as well) got me Bunny Mikuru-chan! She has, uh soft boob parts, for some extra win :)



Man, she promoting beef seems so... appropriate >:D

She has exchangable parts, like her face and arms. The box even has 3 different signboards other than the one above, including the famous Yamatsuchi Model Shop, which would remind you of the following picture:



"Please don't fire at people! Consider shooting cans or something like that!"



Another cousin of mine, Gongrea... I mean, Aidi got me volume 2 and 3 of Azumanga Daioh the manga! It wasn't really a surprise, coz he bought for me volume 4 in 2006!

There are only 4 volumes, and I already bought volume 1. So how this year, Aidi?

Oh yea, to show my gratitude, I placed your name above in a nice location :3



Yay, now I have a matching back cover for my Osaka figurine!



Auntie Sam got me a CD full of nice celtic remixes of famous songs. When I drive in the morning, I would listen to them to get myself motivated for the day. I tried to listen to them at night, but that would prove fatal for me and the other drivers on the road :P

Oh crap! I forgot to fill the petrol... (picture taken just now)



Turn this over, and you can hear a bleating sound. A nifty and unique gift from Auntie Nyonya!

Btw, she went for a trip overseas before my birthday. Wonder where she went...



I heard that almost everyone must have at least one Hidamari figure sitting on the table once in their lifetime. Thanks to Lee Ling, I'm now part of that group! She told me that the above figure reminded her of me TT_TT, so she bought it immediately. I hope she saw the cute thin white guy...



Realising my sudden craze for anime psychological thrillers like Higurashi and Perfect Blue, Daim ordered two horrorific dvd movies for me: The Blair Witch Project, the super camera-shaking extravaganza, and Session Nine, a story of three men cleaning up an abandoned asylum (oooooohh *shiver*).

Daim and Dzaid, we're gonna watch these next week! Aidi, you're welcomed to join too... if you dare~ ohohohohohoho



Live from Japan, Sze got me the Lucky Star Okiraku Box, Konata version! Somehow Sze had sixth sense and knew I would select Konata to be my third fave character of 2007!

The box contains some cool stuff, such as the Konata guide book (contains her illustrations and what not), her school pocket book, a CD of lucky star windows goodies, and most important of all...



...a nice Konata figurine! This is exactly what I highlighted in my post about upcoming anime figures. This figure really captures Konata's personality well, and don't you just love that expression 0_<


Phew, what a year! With all the happy moments, achievements, gifts and wonderful animes we had in 2007, it would be great if 2008 had all of them, if not better! Cheers to all of you in 2008!

Kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu!~ (Please take care of me this year as well)