Weird, weird and weird

So its a Saturday and I am sitting in my office typing this waiting for my friend who is a Japanese expatriot to finish his work. Thats what happens when you volunteer to help fetch him back to his hotel after work. Not that I am complaining, I am just sitting in my office enjoying the aircon for a bit. I have dinner plans in Subang at 7pm and I am just too lazy to drive all the way home and then come back out again. Thank God I have a change of clothes or else everyone will just stare at me in my light blue JVC uniform and go, "mum, is that papa smurf'?" or "Boy, the TV/aircon repairman is here already". According to Kee Huat, I stand out like a sore thumb in a crowd, and its not very difficult to spot me from afar.

I took a test just now and here are the results. Proves a lot doesn't it?

You Are 50% Weird

Normal enough to know that you're weird... But too damn weird to do anything about it!

How Weird Are You?

Funniest thing was that I was kutuking Grace about her score. Looks like she will definitely have the last laugh after all. In my previous post I was rather confused as to which PDA to get but after checking out Dell's latest offer, I am so going for Dell. Its way cheaper and I am supposed to get better specifications out of the Dell Axim X50v rather than the Ipaq hx4700. Oh well, another weekend gone and I can't wait for tomorrow! Of course, I can't wait for dinner as well.

Also I decided to take another test to see my personality. Talk about accurate!

You Are 22 Years Old

22 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Well I am 23 years old but I have a mind like a 22 year old. Now where did that extra year dissapear to? Oh yeah, I watch too much CNN and got involved in to too much politics.

Tired

Another minute passes by ever so quickly, the deafening silence ringing through my ears. Time flies but the work pile doesn’t seem to decrease. What more can I hope for? My stomach yearns for more food, lunch was skipped, tea break never existed and all I can hear right now is the low rumbling of my belly. Now I know what if feels to have a black hole in my tummy. I know I’m fat but still the hunger pains are getting unbearable. Oh how long more till my lips taste the sweet flavour of food. Temptation kicks in now, every restaurant or fast food outlets immediately become my haven.

Anyway enough about food, I am currently in a dilemma right now. Which to choose, the Ipaq RX4700 or the Dell Axim X50v? Both have almost the same features except that the Ipaq has a 4 inch LCD screen and the Dell a 3.7 inch. The Dell is cheap by a couple of hundred and the Ipaq is rather bulky thanks to the larger screen. Dell is having an offer right now which lasts until Friday where they are giving a free SDIO camera which is actually quite tempting but I feel I need to do more research first before I get it.

OR

I am so tempted to get the Ipaq as I have been an avid Ipaq supporter but still I am lost because of the cost. Hopefully I might find a good deal during the upcoming PC fair or maybe the local dealers at Lowyat plaza might just give me a good discount. Who knows until I find out myself. Looks like I may have a plan this Saturday after all.

Ok I am extremely tired now, I need to go eat something. Its past 8pm, 12 hours at work. At least I know how machines feel, well sort of.

Back again!

Another weekend spent in Malacca but this time nearer to town and directly next to the beach. This time I was there with my colleagues with the hope of having a good time together as well as pig out on the local food. With much more time on our hands, I managed to bring them to try out Sate Celup at the Capitol Satay, bring them for a walk along Jonker Street to see the night market as well as savour the delicious Baba Nonya Cendol and finally a last stop at Moon Luck coffeeshop to eat some fried oysters in egg. All this in one night, I bet you can definitely imagine the amount we ate. Yes, tonnes! Only the strong could survive or the smart because almost everyone practiced great self control which proved to be most useful.

The Sate Celup was great, I haven't eaten it in a long long while and I truly enjoyed every bit of it. On average people eat about maybe 12-15 sticks but the highest amount I heard consumed in a single night was about 40 sticks. I myself ate about 14 sticks, about 6 less than my usual 20. No one really did reach the 20 mark though. Malacca itself is quite small so after dinner we took a short 10 minute walk towards Jonker Street to try some mouth watering cendol. The cendol was nice but you can't really take too much of it because of the thick gula melaka and santan. Maybe I should have tried the "Eight Precious Cendol" or EPC for short. It really did look scrumptious.

The highlight of Jonker Street that night was some guy named Ho who apparently appeared on the Malaysian Book of Records for being able to break 3 coconuts with his index finger. Talk about crazy but my curiousity got the better of me. A quick observation showed me that his right index finger has already been broken countless of times. I really wonder how many but the way it was bent off angle really gave me the bejeebers. Next time, I'll use a hammer to break my coconuts next time. The really irritating thing was that he kept on babbling about some herbal medicine which he is trying to sell and kept on delaying the coconut breaking. In true honesty, I didnt't mind the babbling bit, of course one has to make a living. Only problem was that he spoke in Mandarin which made me feel a little lost and confused (GG mandarin classes). Looks like I have to put in more effort studying my mandarin. There were a few english phrases as well as BM phrases he used to sort of not lose the foreigners and malay crowd. He even had the time to scold some youths for acting rude with a loud "Diam!" and "Tolong bekerjasama!". Heh.

The second day was fun because I managed to eat chicken rice balls again and I brought my colleagues around for a little sightseeing. We started off from the Red Buildings, moved onwards towards St Pauls church on the hill where the beautiful coast can be seen and ended it off with A-Famosa. Being back in Malacca really brings out the history lover in me. Its so good to be from a place so rich in history, so much has taken place on the very soil I walked on and so much more will be done in the future. But as urbanisation takes over, more and more historical landmarks are surrounded by the urban jungle, less and less people are aware of their own heritage.

Of course not every trip to Malacca has to end without a quick stop at Tan Kim Hock to buy some dodol and pineapple tarts. Feeling tired from all of the tourist-guide action, I finally made my way back home with a slight detour in to Seremban to purchase some siew-pau but alas, we were there too late and everyone had sold out of siew-paus and we were just too lazy to wait for the next batch. Hopefully tonight I might have the time to write up some reviews for Vincent's website adding in a little touch from outside the PJ area. Maybe an article about the famous chicken rice balls and sate celup.

Malacca oh Malacca

The weekend was a blast because I celebrated it with two of my best friends, rAck and Quest. We rented out a bungalow at the A'Famosa Resort which came with a swimming pool and the place was absolutely gorgeous. In my head I actually thought that the bungalow would be some run down place but it really did prove me wrong. One the first day, all seven of us arrived and checked in at about 5ish where rAck decided to jump into the pool the instant we arrived at our allocated bungalow. While the rest played some catch with a baseball, I went on to try out rAck's new X-box and started racing through the streets of NFSU 2.

By dinner time we got the steamboat pot all ready and set up the table. There was plenty of food and I am very sure everyone enjoyed every bit of tasty morsel. Even with 4 guys, there were plenty of leftovers. Imagine, its like those MPPJ trucks can't take anymore rubbish from a neighbourhood. After dinner, we sat around the tele and chit chatted while Quest and Dinghy decided to try out Quest's new Memoirs 49 board game which in my opinion, looked extremely complicated. After that we all played a few rounds of Bang! which was absolutely hillarious. As time went by everyone turned in one by one.

Early the next morning, we headed down to Malacca town to eat some scrumptious chicken rice balls. As usual the place was packed and there were hardly any parking space. Don't let the long queue fool you, most of them are trying to buy some "popiah" and take it home. You DON'T need to line for a place, just wait for someone to leave. This time I am sure everyone was hungry since nobody ate breakfast except for the occasional MAMEE snacks. We walloped 75 chicken rice balls and 2 full chickens. That should definitely go into my Guiness Book of Records. After lunch it was farewell for all, we went our separate ways and I drove back to KL.

On another note, I came about an article on CNN where Hilary Clinton seems to be fuming about GTA:San Andreas. Apparently there are websites about where you can download a patch which allows you to do "lewd" acts and that really got the former first lady smoking through her ears. Read the article here.

"We should all be deeply disturbed that a game which now permits the simulation of lewd sexual acts in an interactive format with highly realistic graphics has fallen into the hands of young people across the country," Clinton wrote in a letter to the head of the Federal Trade Commission. - source (CNN)

Although the game has a M rating for Mature, I think they are trying to push it to an AO rating which means Adults Only. I wonder if they will succeed. Good luck to you, PatrickW (creater of the Hot Coffee mod).

This is scary..

Thanks to my colleague who passed me this bit of news, darn its scary. Before you continue reading this post, its best that you check out your entire body for any signs of change, bad ones that is.

Anyway here goes, apparently in Myanmar, there is this lady who claimed she became a man overnight. if you don't believe me check it out here. Man thats scary!

Too much food!

Sigh, I am still in search of a blog template that actually offers two side bars but I just can't seem to find any at all. I wouldn't mind trying to design one but I just do not have the time to really sit down and totally create one from scratch. Maybe I might take some examples around and tweak it here and there. I need to search around for some free templates online. I am quite a perfectionist hence the template change over and over again. Something useful but simple looking and professional is what I desire but that seems out of my reach currently. Will I ever come to find one? Bear with me.

I finally took the time to head down to Saisaki at Wisma UOA II in KL to try out the Japanese buffet which Chuen always describes. In true honesty I am not much of a fan of Japanese cuisine especially the raw stuff but evidently it is the raw stuff that actually makes your money worthwhile. I took one large helping of raw salmon, some fish roe sushi and unagi and I couldn’t eat anymore. The more I looked at it, the more it made me feel sick. So the next best thing was to wallop the other items such as grilled salmon, cheese baked oysters, various fishes, crabs and prawns and of course, Maggi mashed potatoes. Actually I took that because I was rather curious as to how they actually serve those mashed potatoes from a vending machine.

I was glad as I finally tried some okonomiyaki but there was only 1 type, the beef was pretty nice and the other fried stuff such as fried prawns, crabsticks and even hash browns were quite nice. They even served shark fin’s soup but it was the chawan mushi that cleaned my taste buds from the other weird things I tried. Too much of a sweet thing is bad and since the unagi was covered in sweet sauce, I could only manage a plate full. So much for my planned 3 plates of unagi to cover the cost haha.

Quick Update

Changed the looks of this site again because I was getting irritated with the huge gap.

Picking up the baton

The baton has been picked up from my friend's blog (Amazing-Gracey). Lets see who shall be the next person to get it from me.


Total volume of music files on my computer: Relatively unknown because I am not at home right now and the last I can remember is some 40Gb

The last CD I bought: United Live: Look To You

Song playing right now: Not listening to anything at the moment

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:
Steven Curtis Chapman: All things new
Tommy Emmanuel: Drivetime
Tommy Emmanuel: Greensleaves
Switchfoot: Dare you to move
Steven Curtis Chapman: We Will Dance

A good break

The last three days for me was like heaven, except that it was here on Earth. I watched 3 movies over the weekend and I do have plenty to say about each and everyone of them but I won't go too much into detail. All three of them are based on either a book or a comic book but I would have to give Batman Begins the ultimate thumbs up! Seriously, it was a great and amazing movie to watch because not only does it touch on the superhero but how he became Batman and how he chose his path. What intrigued me the most was how Bruce Wayne obtained his gadgetry for Batman, I always thought that he was the mastermind behind all his high-tech weapons. Now at least we know who provided all those stuff to him.

Of course I have a bone to pick with them in regard to the Batmobile. Batman is supposed to be subtle, attack from the shadows, be invisible kind of guy and here you have a monstrous truck that makes noise even louder than a Boeing-747. Not so sneaky or subtle after all eh? But what amazed me was that that vehicle is actually real and they previewed it over one of the latest episodes of TopGear. A British company made it after no other American companies wanted to build one like it.

Speaking of TopGear, check out this section of their site which offers a good read as well as a few laughs. I do like their new layout, pretty awesome and cool. Damon Hill has topped the rest in the Celebrity Lap time but of course its rather unfair because Damon Hill used to be a F1 driver and not some preppy old chap singing for his supper in a cold London alleyway.

Now for the next super hero flick, I shall wait for the Fantastic Four. July is a month of movies for me. It was the first time for me entering in to GSC 1Utama and I can only say that the experience was great! Why? Because my knees are not touching the chair in front and every time I decide to cross my leg, it does not hit the person's head in front of me.

Believe

Have you ever wondered if the things that happen to you were meant or part of something bigger than that you would ever know? Ever wonder that every action or decision that we make would have consequences so huge that we could not even comprehend? Have you ever wondered if the people around you really meant what they say? I learned that politics is everywhere, we just can't avoid it but the main important point is our agenda. Sometimes I just wished that I knew everyone's agenda so decisions can be made much easier, I really do. But that is how the world goes, everyone is out there to gain something for themselves. Long gone are the sincere, even honour and integrity seem to be a word of past. Why is that? And I thought human civilization is supposedly advancing but I guess not. Technology may be going the right way but not our morals and stands. It’s very sad to see this.

Important standards are fading, human rights abused, laws twisted to suit the "advancement" of humankind and yet you see more and more of us succumbing to what the world sees fit. In the midst of this huge dark cloud, I am searching passionately for that silver lining because I know that there is one there. We just can't see the bigger overall picture! But I do trust that God knows best. If we can never find that silver lining, be the silver lining and shine out bright through the darkest regions. The light will shine through, penetrating through the mist of uncertainty and shrouds of evil. Its always easy to say, but action takes a lot more than mere words.

I believe in you, I believe Your word has set me free!

Personality tests

Did some online tests today and this is how I turned out..

I am... FANNY AND MAY by JON BULLER. Always looking for something fun, I disobey and end up eating my house. Kind of like I am in life - I always learn the hard way. Find out what Children's Book You Are!

Oh my, oh my news..

I read a bit of news at TheStar about this website called Ohmynews from Korea (you would need your web browser to support Korean language to fully see it). Apparently this news website features a new approach to journalism whereby the public becomes to provider of news. Anyone can submit news and stories and the three top best news stories get USD$20. So far they have about 38,000 news contributers. But this is coming from a website who gets about USD$400,000 annually from advertisements. Multiply 365 with 20 you get only $7300 given out to the news writers. Honestly the business of this website is mind boggling to me. Now why couldn’t I have thought of that? Maybe Malaysians should have something like this as well, a more public approach to what has been going on rather than just listen to what is filtered through the various ranks. Who knows, someone might just start it but there are plenty of doubts in terms of our right to free speech? Maybe someone needs to fully clarify and give our Malaysian meaning for “free speech”.

Last night I managed to drop by in to Lowyat plaza to pick up my wi-fi card from Sri Computers. I had sent it there in April thinking that it was broken but after arriving back at Chuen’s place and trying it on my laptop, I found out that my laptop seem to be the one that is slightly broken. Well the PCMCIA slots are damaged and the wi-fi card can seem to draw any power from the laptop. Now I am at a dilemma whether I should repair the laptop, which I know will cost me a bundle, or just leave it be. Maybe I should just reformat it first and then see whether it was a software conflict between the card and my laptop.

Last night I managed to drop by in to Lowyat plaza to pick up my wi-fi card from Sri Computers. I had sent it there in April thinking that it was broken but after arriving back at Chuen’s place and trying it on my laptop, I found out that my laptop seem to be the one that is slightly broken. Well the PCMCIA slots are damaged and the wi-fi card can seem to draw any power from the laptop. Now I am at a dilemma whether I should repair the laptop, which I know will cost me a bundle, or just leave it be. Maybe I should just reformat it first and then see whether it was a software conflict between the card and my laptop.

Argh, I ran out of coffee here at my workplace. I need to get a refill! How can I start my day without my normal cup of Nescafe! Traffic this morning was rather slow, the SmartTag lane was closed at the Subang exit and there was a minor accident involving two cars right in front of the SmartTag lane. Honestly I didn’t even see the problem, it was just a little nudge, so much for making mountains out of molehills. By the time I reached near my company, a friendly policeman decided to stop the flow of traffic and allow other people to make illegal U-turns. Talk about the irony. Another 5 minutes wasted.

My latest assignment, organize a bowling tournament for the company. Now to head over to those shopping complexes and get a quotation and booking as well.

Also if you have the time, check out this site. Great read and great laughs!

Ticket to Ride?

The weekend was a bliss, I managed to spend time with Chuen on both Saturday and Sunday as well as attend a church friend's wedding. The ceremony was great, the decorations were superb and I have to say that the photographer they hired was top notch. You can check out their website over here or click on the image below. The pictures taken during the wedding really enhances the true emotional side of a person. Each picture they took was unique and it just goes right to your heart. Truely an art to behold. If you are getting married soon, hire them, You will not regret it. After watching the photo presentation during the wedding dinner, I knew that they were really good.

The only drawback from the wedding wasn't during the ceremony but after it. There was a massive traffic jam in the heart of KL thanks to God-knows-who who decided to close one of the roads to PJ at the Pahang Roundabout.

Sunday was rather fun as well as I managed to learn how to play the Best Board game of 2004, 'Ticket to Ride' at Toys in Motion in 1 Utama. In case you want to find out where Toys in Motion is, its located in the new wing on the very top floor right outside Parkson. At the top floor there are two entrances to Parkson, one next to MPH and the other on the other side of the building. It is very easy to locate, just walk and you will come across it. Its a big orange shop.



Description:
October 2, 1900 -- it's 28 years to the day that noted London eccentric, Phileas Fogg accepted and then won a 20,000 pound bet that he could travel Around the World in 80 Days. Now at the dawn of the century some old friends have gathered to celebrate Fogg's impetuous and lucrative gamble -- and to propose a new wager of their own. The stakes: $1 million in a winner-takes-all competition. The objective: to see the most cities in North America -- in just 7 days.

Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure game. Players collect train cards that enable them to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout North America. The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Additional points come to those who can fulfill their Destination Tickets by connecting two distant cities, and to the player who builds the longest continuous railway. So climb aboard for some railroading fun and adventure. You've got a Ticket to Ride!

- description taken from BoardGameRatings.com