Life's like that

Mark webber used to drive for Malaysian team

2010-05-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I was perusing the formula one results. Usually I'm not so interested, so I have no idea about the happenings of the F1 standings. So I look it up, and to my surprise Mark Webber is there leading the pack.

KL Minardi car in 2002

Well, just one of those things with hindsight and maybe a bit more money, KL Minardi could be where Redbull is now. Malaysia would have the glory. They had the driver in Mark Webber, and KL Minardi was bought over by Redbull a couple of years back. Same company except bought over by new owners, same driver. Too bad Malaysia decided to pull out.... now we have Lotus...lol,

Mark Webber

BMW 5 series F10 2010 launch in PJ/Shah Alam

2010-05-15T22:07:00.000-07:00

The new 5 series is here. Check out some of the photos.

Back view:

View from the back corner

View from the back

Side view:

Front view:

Interior:

Inside in the daylight.

Interior in the showroom

Overall, a pretty hot car. The exterior is sort of a cross between the 6 series front and the 7 series back. The bonnet has that shark like look, with the flat top and flat nose. The interior could be more luxurious. Any plastic knocking sounds is generally not very good but compared to the previous generation, the interior is an upgrade. I still like the interior of the E39 the best.

Whale Shark

In my opinion, the outside is original, classy, has the look of something quite interesting. The Mercedes' arcing lines of the S class has lost a bit of its novelty ever since everyone started copying them, namely VW and Honda. Lost in translation in the photos are the subtle curves which makes the five series bonnet similar to Jaguar's. The front is good looking, the sides are good looking, the back is hot as well.

I think its a home-run. It's competitor, new Mercedes E-Class, really messed up this generation. The E-Class looks like a cross between the S-Class (good) and a Toyota Camry (bad!).

So whats the price? about RM400k right now. Alright! BMW is getting more affordable (Better than 450k).

Gsix (g6), @ The Gardens, Midvalley

2010-04-15T07:44:00.000-07:00

Just checked out this club, Gsix at the gardens. After reading a caption from TimeOUT, a KL nightlife magazine, saying it was the best club in years, I was excited.

So I went early on wed night and checked it out. Now, let me start with the positives. There was no cover for guys on wed night, and there was a full crowd by 10 or so. That is a plus. Lots of places take too long to fill up to be happening. I much prefer to go early, leave early if the crowd gets there early. There are also some hot ladies walking around. Especially, coming from Penang, this is like a godsend.

Now, here is the negative, NO DANCE FLOOR. No dance floor so where are we guys supposed to go talk to ladies ...wtf. honestly. Second, the crowd is a bit lala, canto crowd. Third, the layout is horrendous, stemming from NO DANCE FLOOR, to the huge oversize donut booths which take up more space than they are worth, and the figure 8 layout which is kinda odd. There is this kind of a band stage doubling as a dance floor, but generally it is kinda dumb with a big tv screen behind the floor. It's way too bright.

Even a crap dance floor will do

There is a small makeshift gathering spot in front of the stage where there is a little space for people to dance and move around. But a lot of people cut through there to get to wherever they want to go, so the makeshift spot is kinda crappy with people constantly bumping into you. Although, it is not as bad as the Phuture dance floor. Then again, at least Phuture has a dance floor instead of a stupid stage.

Certified Pre owned ferrari? lol.....

2010-02-28T21:42:00.000-08:00

Saw this article from the star.

Awesome a certified pre-owned Ferrari is like a new one!...not quite. The thing is....anyone who owns a Ferrari won't be driving it to the store. They are gonna drive that into the ground :) So just don't get fooled by a certified, cheaper pre-owned ferrari. Just assume the previous owner abused the crap out of the car and be prepared for parts cost afterward.

Bought my blackberry!

2010-01-27T23:30:00.000-08:00

I bought the curve 8520 from Celcom.

Not bad for a thousand ringgit. By far, this is the best money I've spent for a phone in my life. It's one of those devices which will definitely improve your connectivity to everything.

On the surface, email, messaging, facebook doesn't seem much compared to the iphone. But the value is unquantifiable. The system blackberry has put together is far above anything out there, iphone included. It's messenger service is basically free messaging which everyone on Blackberry abuses. Basic economics tells us a good that is free will be abused by everyone. This is why sms is not as successful. People get charged for the service. Not only that, the people who use blackberry respond quite rapidly compared to other messaging services.

The BB community is very close knit. They are quick to include you if you have a blackberry. Consider it a club. This is another unquantifiable attribute that is one of the blackberry's biggest selling point. Iphone doesn't really have a community, and most of them are techies, rather than the common people such as you and me.

The blackberry is also wickedly fast. Sometimes the iphone gets bogged down in nonsense.

The qwerty keyboard is also much easier to write messages than a numeric keypad. This keyboard is also really instrumental in fast messaging.

For you guys that are interested in improving ur social life especially with girls, it's a simple choice, a lot of girls use Blackberry. My friend at maxis who sees thousands of customers verified this with me that a most of the BB owners are girls. I can easily give up youtube and browsing on the iphone for the blackberry.

Maxis, blackberry, iphone plans in depth analysis

2009-12-25T21:48:00.000-08:00

For this post, the purpose is not to review the tech specs between iphone and blackberry, but to compare the plans from a cost perspective. I'm a wannabe finance analyst :). I will be using maxis as an example, cuz i'm stuck with Maxis. Also I'm assuming, no matter what, that people who go for either a blackberry or iphone will always have a data plan and the costs do not decrease after time.

The blackberry and iphone plans differ in one major aspect. The web browsing. The BIS plans are confusing and on the surface 5mb for the bis lite at RM40 isn't too appealing. 1mb = 25 pages, and 125 html pages per month. That is ridiculous. If I'm at a bookstore and want to see book reviews, i will be browsing probably 10 webpages at one time easily. So already blackberry will be out of the picture where browsing is important unless u get RM120 for the unlimited data plan and only then is it worth it to get the blackberry. On the other hand, the iphone is 500mb of data for 50 a month. That is totally worth it from a web site surfing cost perspective. Forget about youtube with the blackberry.

Ivalue plan Iphone discounts

Ivalue plan specifications and monthly cost

So, we look at the iphone. Ok, we have numerous plans, some of them, when you combine two, will approximately equal another plan. Take the ivalue plan for RM100 per month. This plan combines both phone and data into one package. You get 333 minutes of talk time, 500mb of data, and 100 sms free to other maxis users, otherwise you pay 10 sen for sms to other operators. The major cons are inflexibility and for every sms to other operators, you will be paying an additional ten cents. Cost wise, the RM100 per month would be the minimum, but most likely you will be paying more than that, especially if you sms to other operators.

Idata plan monthly cost

Idata plan Iphone discounts

Next we have the value plus 50 plan and the Idata plan, both are RM50 each per month. So if you were to purchase both, you would have a plan that is similar to the ivalue plan. I think its interesting because we have some choice and flexibility. So, i'll explain the valueplus50 plan. Its call and sms rates are cheaper than the ivalue plan but only for maxis to maxis, but more for maxis to other operators. You would get RM50 worth of calls or sms at the rates in the following charts. If you spend more than that, you pay more. Most likely, the rates average out at the ivalue plan's rates of 15 sen per min talk time and 10 sen sms. So we'll just assume they are basically the same rate.

Value plus 50 plan charges

The Idata plan is RM50 a month which gets you 500mb worth of data. The data plan is identical to the Ivalue plan's data portion.

Now, this is where the situation gets interesting. For the first 12 months, the Ivalue plans lets you buy the iphone for about Rm100 less than the Idata plan. Between the money spent on extra sms from the ivalue plan and the RM100 saved on the purchase of the iphone; ends up probably around the same for the first year. You would have to sms A LOT(around 300-400 per month) to take the valueplus50/idata over the ivalue plan. So, it probably doesn't matter which one you take.

Either you could buy the value plus 50 and the idata, or just the ivalue plan. But after the first year, if you don't spend a lot on calls and SMS, it is more advantageous to get the valueplus50/idata instead of the ivalue plan. Your costs will likely be only around RM100, while the Ivalue costs would be always more than RM100 unless you don't sms at all.

The conclusion to get the valueplus50/idata plan, sounds obvious right? Yes, but Maxis actually offers a whopping additional RM400 discount to the Iphone for a 24 month period ivalue plan while compared to RM200 for the idata plan 24 month period. In this case, if you don't mind committing to a 24 month period, the BEST deal is to actually get the Iphone 24 month plan. The savings from the initial iphone discount is that good.

Of course there are cases where it might not be advantageous. Say you don't use 500mb, and could go for the 250mb idata plan which costs only RM30 a month for the second year, then we are talking RM240 in savings, but its not much different from the RM200 in additional savings, netting only RM40 in savings. Not much of a difference if you ask me.

Also, if you plan on changing your phone in the first two years, then yeah, it makes no sense to do the 24 month plan.

So, in summary:

1. valueplus50/idata50 approximately equals the Ivalue100 plan.
2. If you do light usage(less than RM50 in calls and sms, it is better to to get the Ivalue plan THEN switch after the first year.
3. If you can do the 24 month contract Ivalue plan, this is the best regardless of the usage. Then after the first two years maybe switch to the valueplus50/idata if they still have it.
4. If you consistently spend over RM50 in calls and sms, Ivalue is better as the discounts on the iphone are all that matters, for this kind of usage.

Well, after all this, i might still get the blackberry because so far i count 10 people telling me to get the blackberry. So this analysis might be for nought, but such a shame to let it go to waste, so i'll leave it for anyone who is interested :)

Malaysia Female magazine Gorgeous 50, 2009, who's hot.

2009-11-23T04:33:00.000-08:00

Out of sheer curiosity and boredom, and not to mention the off-chance that maybe there would actually be some hotties, I visited female magazine's 50 gorgeous people. For the girls, I see one winner, Patricia (no. 32). Sorry to say every other girl there doesn't stand a chance.

Patricia

Check out her video. She portrays herself as down to earth, fun, and not to mention getting a glimpse of her bangin' body is always good :)

For the guys, I saw some that were good looking, but after seeing their videos most of them struck me as mostly douche bags. A lot of the Caucasian men looked, and presented themselves as average at best. I got to mention Jannio (no. 42). In his video, he seems the most comfortable and natural. And he does have this Edison Chen thing going. I personally know of a few girls who would literally drop their pants for Edison Chen in a heart beat.

Jannio

Badminton rackets!!! G*#@$$@@ weight markings!

2009-11-08T07:28:00.000-08:00

I wanted a light badminton racket, but some guy came up with a douchie system of 1U,2U,3U, and so forth for weight; making it hard for me to figure out what is the proper weight. Intuitively, assuming U is a variable for a number, I thought the higher U, the heavier the badminton rackets. More simply, 5Us are definitely heavier than 1Us right? Unless U is negative, which is just retarded since weight is almost never a negative number.

I saw a 2U and a 3U racket. Assuming 2U was a lighter racket, I picked that. It even felt lighter than the 3U. That just goes to show you how bad I am as a human balance scale.

Anyhow I ended up googling after the purchase on how to determine weight with badminton rackets. Guess what I learnt? Higher number U is lighter than lower number U. W.T.F. Even the guy at the store mentioned to me that the higher U rackets were heavier. Thanks...whoever made this system. you owe me 150 bucks.

Yonex Muscle Power 3... a 2U racket

I just spent 150 bucks thinking 2U was lighter than 3U. Why can't the manufacturers just put the weight on the racket? in numbers! I'm talking to you Yonex, Carbonex, you douchebag companies!

Xbox 360, live service, trampling on consumer rights

2009-10-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

I've been checking out this issue on Xbox live banning modded Xbox systems. They seem to have overstepped their boundaries as a business for the following reasons:

Case 1: Their reasoning does not match up with their actions. They claim to ban modded xbox systems so they "do not have and unfair advantage" over un-modded systems. This is a fair enough reason to ban cheats, but they specifically ban the hardware mac id of the systems. If they were to un-mod their system, i.e. restore the system to its original state, they would still not have access to the xbox live service.

This is an open and shut example of where they claim reasoning yet blatantly overstep their boundaries by not letting restored/unmodded systems back on xbox live.

Case 2: Their methods of detecting modded systems on xbox live is flawed. A modded xbox can still get on xbox live with another system's mac id and thus the system is modded. So if the service can't reliably detect whether a system is flawed, they may wrongfully ban people. I argue that as long as the system is detected as unmodded it should be allowed on xbox live. This is the only solution. Banning of specific systems doesn't make sense and oversteps on the rights as a consumer unless they know for sure the system is modified. I just proved they cannot tell for sure.

In a more general sense, TOS really is a copout for most companies. They blatantly put whatever they want without regards for consumer rights. TOS should be about protecting the company from consumers who make frivolous court cases, i.e. suing for delivering a pizza with the wrong toppings. Nowadays, most companies abuse TOS so they can forcefully take care of problems with no regards to the customer. Ludicrous!

Twitter wins out, six packs

2009-10-11T03:16:00.000-07:00

This is one ghetto blog. I haven't updated in 5 months...lol. Anyhow. I am back on twitter. It just turns out that everyone is using that and there are some things about twitter that are good. It is simple and really easy to use. The only problem is that twitter is a bit spammy.

So, what else is new? Well, I have been getting educated on fitness. For a while i had the goal of trying to get a six pack. I had the diet all planned out and everything. I even was on it for a month... but alas, six packs will not happen. Why? Because, losing enough fat for the six pack abs to show will require a low body percentage of under 10%. Getting that kind of body percentage fat will make a person of my weight of 130 lbs look incredibly skinny at 120 lbs. I would get my six pack abs, but the rest of me would be almost twig like. Maybe i'll try again in 2-3 years after gaining some muscle.

Little known truth. the human body is only capable of gaining 5-10 lbs of muscle a year. There is no such thing as someone putting on 30 lbs of muscle. If someone says that, they actually put on 20 lbs of fat and 10 lbs of muscle if they are lucky. In order for someone to put on 50 lbs of muscle, they will need to have worked out consistently for a period of 5 years at minimum.

Just got plurk...beats twitter anytime

2009-05-28T00:04:00.001-07:00

I don't know what all the big hooohah about twitter is. It's really bad.

First of all, I can't change my display name. Yes whatever your username is, that's what you are stuck with. I don't mind the url being my username, but the display name should be changeable.

Second of all, its really bland on options. Any idiot can make a twitter site. It has no options. You can post messages and embed it on your website. Why is it so hot on the net? I got no idea.

So, I joined plurk.

Now this is really good. First of all, you can change your display name! Thats awesome.

In addition, if you really don't have any idea what to plurk about, it has verbs to help you get the gears in the head turning, thus producing more content, than twitter which has really no imagination.

Lastly, it also looks professional and has tons of options. Anyways if you like twitter, try plurk out, you won't regret it!

Adidas Predator Absolados review and football shoe buying advice and guide

2009-04-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, I mentioned that there were three versions of shoes in a previous post. There is the full blown top of the line expensive shoes that are used by Premier League Players. These shoes use the finest materials and technology by the manufacturers. Next is the middle tier shoes which use good quality materials and some of the up to date technology. Finally we have the economy versions which use cheaper materials and very limited amounts of shoe technology.

I've recently had the opportunity to examine each of the shoes in general and can now give a quick guide so i can pass on the information to interested buyers. This advice can apply to any type of shoe as most manufacturers follow the lower, middle, and upper tier version of shoes.

Here is a picture of the top of the line Predator power swerve series:

Predator Power Swerve

These are the shoes that David Beckham and Steven Gerrard wear when they play their games. It's easy to tell the difference. The shoe material kangaroo leather is extremely soft and top of the line. Almost like tissue paper. The plate underneath the shoe is very extravagant. The studs are also extravagant. Some will have metal tips like this one or will be transparent. The cheaper shoes are usually solid plastic and look generic.

Also the price will be insane, somewhere in the range of RM500-700 or 150 USD. Honestly, I think these are way too much for the average person. I for one know that soccer shoes will fall apart quite quickly compared to other sports. I played basketball and the shoe never fell apart, compared to my football ones.

My last pair of shoes had the sole come out from the shoe. A big piece of mud was stuck inbetween the bottom plate and my shoe. Soccer shoes can't be built to last and have fantastic feel, unlike other sports. So dispel any notion that more expensive shoes wil last longer in football. All people in this line care about feel and control, hardly anything about durability. Anyways, it's not that they don't care, but it's impossible to have it both ways.

Moving on, here is the Predator Absolutes, Absolion, or ABS, the middle tier versions:

Predator ABS/Absolutes

These shoes may be worth it. They cost generally about RM 100-150 more than the cheapest versions. I would have gotten these but they didn't have my size. Size is very important with football shoes. You can tell the middle tiers because they are more complexly built compared the lower tier versions. The material used is mid-tier calf skin leather or microfiber. Microfiber is a synthetic leather that was developed for better feel of the ball. It has pretty good feel, but not as good as the top tier shoes.

The base of this particular shoe has two plastic plates at the heel and forefoot and a carbon-fibre plate running underneath the arch of the foot connecting the two parts. The cheapest version has one full plate covering the entire foot. These shoes probably will last slightly longer than the lowest tier shoes due to the higher quality design of the shoe. The leather also feels quite strong, not like the tissue type leather of the high end shoes. You also get a decent feel for the ball compared to the lowest tier shoes.

Here are the Predator Absolados, the lowest tier shoe of the family:

Predator Absolados

These shoes are the cheapest versions of the predator series. They are simply constructed and look quite generic compared to the more extravagant designs of the ABS and powerswerves. They use synthetic or full grain leather. Actually the synthetic leathers these days provide quite decent feel. Also for weather in Malaysia, they are ideal as they absorb less water than real leathers.

I'm not too convinced that the shoes will last though. This particular synthetic leather they use seems quite a bit thinner than the nike's synthetic leather. The ball does slide off the shoe a bit when kicking, meaning you will have to kick the ball with little spin or the ball will fly off in a different direction. The top has very little grip. I took a look at the ABS versions of the shoe and concluded the grip on the top of the shoes were suffice to put spin on the ball. The top of the Absolados have almost no grip at all.

There you have it, I think the middle tier shoes may be absolutely worth it compared to the cheaper end of the shoes. Personally I love the predators, they fit my feet well and I can play decently with even the cheaper aboslados. I just have to adjust and try to kick straight on instead of putting any spin on the ball at all. My game doesn't really depend on technologies as I developed my skills from playing in cheap shoes. I'd recommend the second tier for the fact that quality looks much better than the absolados and is only a hundred more ringgit or so. The cheap ones cost around RM200 while the second tiers will be around RM300.

Earth hour - an april fools joke for some people

2009-04-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

During Earth Hour, everyone turns off their lights. Well, If I was one of those people who got robbed during earth hour as the crime rate quadrupled during this time, I'd be ticked off as hell. A little early for April fool's eh?

Even in my apartment, there was a robbery. It might not have happened during Earth Hour, but the other residents didn't find out til the following day, so the exact time is unknown. But the robbery could have happened during earth hour.

Imagine, how stupid people would feel if they knew that they helped made it easier for theives to rob their neighbor's house by switching off their lights.

Cat Burglar

Mercurial veloci FG follow up

2009-03-22T20:59:00.000-07:00

I've now had a chance to try them out on the field. In a lot of ways they are very good. The feel was much better compared to my last pair. The synthetic leather was quite decent especially compared to what I read about it. The only major problem was, the more I played in them, the more I felt uncomfortable. I had blisters! ouch! The shoe design doesn't leave much in mismatching foot sizes.

The blisters were on the right foot, which unfortunately is a little smaller than my left. The major problem is that the heel kept slipping up, causing my heel to blister. I truly think the shoe design isn't as forgiving as most boots if the feet aren't perfectly sized.

Well, I found out I wasn't the only one with blisters from the mercurial line of boots. I've read numerous postings on people having the exact same problem as me. Basically I had to wait till my heel callused over, then I wouldn't have any problems. Nah, no thanks.

I went back to adidas and bought the predators. I guess my feet are only meant for adidas! I wore them out for a couple of hours and didn't have much of a problem. The feel was almost similar to my old beat up pair. Possibly my old pair were based on the predators as well. so a lesson learnt. For football shoes, buy what you are familiar with. don't fix what ain't broke. If you are going to change boots, be careful that the feeling is not too different.

Nike Veloci Mercurial FG review

2009-02-25T00:42:00.000-08:00

Well, I just bought new football boots. The previous ones finally bit the dust. I had one big chunk of dirt stuck between the plate and the bottom of the boot. More disgustingly, the mud soaked through the sole.

So I went to Komtar today, and bought the works: New shin guards, proper football socks, and more importantly new boots. They have a really good selection. But the prices are most likely average when I look online. But in Penang, they are probably as good a deal as you will get anywhere.

If anyone would like to know, the ones I bought are sort of a dumbed down version of the super expensive nike mercurials IV vapor. They cost about double to triple. They don't have the carbon fibre plating at the bottom, its plastic. They also don't have the single line stitching. The leather upper isn't as good as the more expensive type. Mercurials are worn by Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba. Apparently, the last 6 top scorers in the Premier League wore Mercurials.

Nike Veloci Mercurial FG

If the shoe costs around 200, they are the dumbed down versions of the expensive ones. All the lines have them, mercurials, t90s, predator. That is all they sell here because Penang people can't usually afford to blow RM600 plus on the super expensive versions.

But, having said that, the shoe feels great. The synthetic leather they use, I believe is better for wet and humid type weather. The way the shoe is built really looks like a track shoe; which is great because I do a lot of running, dribbling, and shooting. I hope it will last a lot longer than my previous shoes. The leather on top was getting chaffed from all the kicking.

Check out my leg, full football gear! lol. Pro.

Look wise, yeah it looks pretty more flashy than anything. But these were the least flashy I could find, believe it or not. I'm more used to buying the typical shoes, but I liked the way these were built. Great for dribbling and sprinting. The front spikes are smaller, which is a major plus because it helps you get off the line quicker. Hopefully my passing and shooting will be ok when I try them out this weekend.

Clubbing isn't so bad....

2009-02-24T23:55:00.000-08:00

This is from Clubbing isn't so bad ;)

I've noticed less-social people have a general tendency to dislike bars and clubs. The attitude sometimes comes across as fairly intense and bitter as well, almost like they hold a grudge against the idea of clubbing. I don't hit the bars every weekend, but it's something I find fun when the chance comes up. I don't think going to them is as bad as some people make it out to be. I'll go into this idea below. I'll try to take a balanced approach of acknowledging clubbing isn't perfect, but also sticking up for it and pointing out where I think the appeal is. Like with some of my other articles, my general goal isn't really to convince you you must take part in a particular activity to do better socially, but rather to hopefully soften your view on it if it's overly negative.

True, True...lol all u clubbing haters are less sociable people :P

Clubbing definitely has its flaws

I'd be crazy to say there was nothing annoying about going to clubs. There are at least a dozen reasons to get put off by them. It's not hard to see how some people could decide it's not their thing.
They can be overcrowded.
They can be way too loud, often to the point where you can barely talk to anyone.
They can be cheesy.
They can be pretentious.
They can be overpriced (cover charge/drinks/coat check/VIP section, etc.).
The staff can be rude and arrogant.
They can be stiflingly hot.
They can be smelly and dirty.
They may have annoying dress codes.
They can sketchy and dangerous.
The music can be awful.
The atmosphere can be very superficial.
You may have to wait forever to get a drink.
The lights can be overly intense, annoying, and blinding.
They can be full of drunk idiots.
People may be stuck up, rude, obnoxious, or catty towards you.
If you're a guy, some jerk may try to pick a fight with you.
You may not directly get into a confrontation, but be near one when it happens and have your night ruined by the bad vibes it causes.
If you're a girl you'll probably get groped, harassed, and hit on by idiots.
If you go out a lot, and see the same people week after week, they can sometimes be a very vapid, unhealthy group of friends.
You may have to wait in line for a long time (even worse if it was all a trick, and the place is dead once you get inside).

Even among people who like clubbing, these things sometimes get on their nerves. Sometimes their night will be ruined because of something that goes wrong.

Yep, name me a perfect event for socializing? Probably doesn't exist.

People who don't mind clubbing don't have as bad a reaction to the annoying parts

I've noticed people who like clubbing acknowledge its flaws, but don't get as bent out of shape about them as some of us do.
They plain don't care about some things that other people find annoying (e.g., crowded conditions, how everyone is acting, cover charge, etc.)
They see some of the annoyances more as minor nuisances than deal breakers. Like I remember going to clubs and getting very irritated at things like people jostling me, or the music being too loud. The friends I was with didn't seem as affected by it.
They go in knowing what they can and can't do at clubs. They don't get ticked off because they can't have an in-depth conversation, because they never went in with the expectation that they could do that. I think one of the reasons I got annoyed at clubs in the past was that I almost believed there was the potential for me to, say, easily chat to someone, but I was being unfairly prevented from doing so. I lightened up and started to enjoy myself more when I realized that it just wasn't something you could do in that situation.
They see the annoyances as coming with the territory. They realize some of the flaws of clubbing are a natural side-effect of the things that can make them fun.

Yeah, tell me about it. I think the disadvantages are really blown out of proportion unless a person has a serious health problem, or these things really cause them mental instability. Maybe clubbing haters are manic depressive...lol.

Reasons people go out to bars and clubs

So I covered the down sides. In my experience bars and clubs offer people plenty of reasons to go to them as well. I find people who dislike them tend to be dismissive of these reasons though. I'll get more into that afterwards. Here are the usual reasons people go clubbing.
To dance.
To hear music they like, through a good, loud sound system.
To see a certain band or DJ play.
To drink.
To get out of the house and go somewhere.
To go out and hang out with a few friends.
To go out in a big group.
To go out and see the other regulars and staff you know will be there.
To go out and meet new people.
For a chance to hook up with someone.
To shoot some pool.
To watch a game.
Just to be in an interesting, stimulating environment (i.e., music, lights, decor, etc.)
To blow off steam after a rough week of working or classes.
To be out in a big group of people.
To do drugs.
To check a new place out and see what it's like.
To be out in your 'scene' with like-minded people.
To dress up and do something more glitzy than day-to-day life.
To be somewhere that's cool and happening.

Yeah, lots of reasons that I like :)

"The things people do in clubs are shallow"

When you read the list above, did you catch yourself turning up your nose at any of the points? "Ugh, dancing is so mindless. Why do people like it?" That's the first way people who dislike clubbing tend to dismiss it. They see everything that draws people to clubs as shallow and below them. My main response to that is you don't have to like everything, but things like dancing and listening to good music are fun for their own sake. What's wrong with that? You probably do fun, pointless things other people don't see the big deal about too.

The other thing to watch out for is saying you don't like something for reasons that don't really have to do with the activity itself. I've covered this ego-cushioning thinking before, but here it is again:
Thinking you don't like something because it makes you feel incompetent. e.g., "I suck at dancing, which makes me feel embarrassed. Whatever, dancing sucks."
Thinking you don't like something because it makes you feel uncomfortable. e.g., "This place is too crowded, and everyone's so well dressed it intimidates me. I feel kind of uneasy. Screw it, this place is crap."
Thinking you don't like something because you have a chip on your shoulder about the types of people who are typically seen to do it. e.g., "I hate those frat boys who think guys like me are losers. They like going to bars. Bars suck."
Thinking you don't like something because you resent the pressure to do it. e.g., "Everyone always wants to go clubbing, but I'm not that into it... Well now I really don't like."
Thinking you don't like something because it offers rewards, but you're bitter and frustrated because you haven't been able to get those rewards for yourself. e.g., "People supposedly go to clubs to meet people, but no one's ever been interested in meeting me. Who cares, anyone who goes to clubs probably sucks anyways."

Of course compared to reading philosophy, things like dancing and doing shots actually are shallow. But there's no law that says you have to be doing deep, thoughtful things 100% of the time. Everyone has things they do just for the fun of it.

Lol...yeah. Granted you will meet all types of people in clubs. Most people who think these things probably met others in clubs just like them. I've met fun people as well. Thank goodness.

"The only reason people really go to clubs is to..."

This is the second way people write off clubbing. Their reasoning is that while people supposedly go clubbing to dance or whatever, they really have a less flattering ulterior motive. The implication is that no one could really like what clubbing has to offer for its own sake, the only reason they're in it is for something else. The one's I've heard are:
People only really go clubbing to try and get laid.
Girls really only go clubbing for the attention they get from men.
Guys only really go to bars because they want to act macho and get into fights.
Girls really only go clubbing to get free drinks and to feed their egos.
People only really go clubbing to get wasted.
People only really go clubbing to feel superior and to judge other people.

Don't get me wrong, tons of people go clubbing with the sole purpose of trying to hook up. Many more people don't go out completely for one of the reasons above, but it does factor into their thinking. Also, certain bars are known for being places where you only go if you're looking for a one-night stand, or to do ecstasy, or whatever.

Not every last person who goes clubbing has these motivations though. It's negative and cynical to paint everyone with the same brush. A lot of times if someone wants to go to a club to dance with their friends they really do just want to dance. I have a girlfriend and going to bars still appeals to me. I didn't lose all interest in them as soon as I got into a relationship.
Clubs are mostly full of good, regular people

A common sentiment about bars and clubs is that they're full of annoying, superficial people. I can't deny some club goers fit this description, but I think most of them are just like anyone else. My logic is that most people are alright, and a good proportion of them go to bars and clubs, so if you go to a place full of people, they can't all be empty-headed and irritating. There's also the argument that you've probably been to clubs before, and you're not a moron, so it's reasonable to assume other people are in the same boat.
The environment tends to make everyone sure seem shallow though:
People usually dress up when they go out. That makes everyone look like the stereotypical shallow clubber, even if they're law students by day. Otherwise down-to-earth guys put on their shiny shoes and stripey shirts. Normal, level-headed girls put on their sparkly make-up and revealing tops.
People who are clubbing are admittedly there to have some mindless fun. So of course they won't be showing the more thoughtful sides of their personality. Even if they wanted to, the noise level and general craziness going on doesn't make it easy. They're joking around, being silly, letting off steam, etc.
Not everyone drinks, but most of the people are either drunk or at least a little buzzed. That tends to obviously make you act stupider.
If you're out, and you run into someone who's acting rude or obnoxious, that one person obviously stands out in your mind. But you don't notice that the other two hundred people there that are behaving, and who are probably just as annoyed with the douchebags as you are.
Girls who go out can get pretty hassled. As a result they can adopt a more stuck-up persona as a kind of armor against all the losers who bother them.
Plenty of people who go clubbing feel shy or out of their element, but they look around and everyone else seems to have it together, so they put on a brave face and look confident as well. Sometimes it's the least likely people who are feeling insecure.

Definitely cynical. I've met good people in clubs that are absolutely friendly and great. It's such a stereotype that even I believed until I started meeting more and more people in the club.

So take that all you clubbing haters. Clubbing is as good an event as any to meet people, not to mention some hotties :P

Things I love and hate about japan

2009-02-03T21:41:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I just got back from Japan. It's a love/hate thing with me and foreign countries.

Things I love about japan:

1. Girls wear skirts in sub-zero temperature.

I think girls in skirts look extremely hot for some reason. And guess what, in Japan, they love skirts too! So much, they'll wear it in any weather. I saw more skirts than pants walking around the city...lol.

2. Go anywhere, and they will have good sushi and japanese food.

The sushi in Japan is top notch and you could go anywhere to get excellent sushi and Japanese food. Almost everywhere I went had excellent Japanese food.

3. Best mountains for skiing in this side of the world.

Japan ski resorts are on par with the best in the world. I've been to some fantastic ski resorts and some un-fantastic ones and the really good ones first have to have the mountain (800m+ of vertical skiable terrain from the top chairlift to the base), the snow (3m+), and then the facilities. Japan ski resorts have all three plus it's relatively close to fly to compared to US or Europe. In the asia and australia, I've only seen Japan live up to the mark of world class ski resorts.

4. Best subway system ever.

In Malaysia, KL, the LRT is only two train cars long and there is only like two or three lines. The monorail is also there, but it has even fewer cars and also only two train cars long. The wait time is ten to fifteen minutes long!

One train car in Tokyo equals two of the lrt cars here, and each train has like ten train cars, about 20x the length of the lrt here! They also stop by very frequently every 5 minutes. Then, they have 9 subway lines which go all around tokyo and cover almost every area around the city center and further out.

5. Super friendly people.

Everywhere shop I went to, people greeted me. And I must say the way they greet me is very non threatening, different from other places. I think the Japanese language sounds quite pleasing to the ear.

Things I don't like about Japan:

1. Not a lot of english speakers.

Yes. I would love it if I could communicate with them but in English =)

2. Food outside of sushi isn't that great.

Call me a bit critical, but food outside of sushi lacks some zest. The Japanese curry isn't as flavorful as other ones (malaysian, indian, thai). The cooked dishes lack some of the flavorful creativity of the southeast asian styles. Mostly everything is soy sauce or miso based. And, they are stingy with servings. People with bigger appetites have to stuff themselves with rice.

3. As polite as they are, most Japanese keep to themselves even if it overrides common sense.

In most countries, people don't mind getting on the chairlift with another person, even though he or she is a complete stranger. Chairlifts are built for more than one person after all and people behind get to wait less for their turn to come. In Japan it's different, people would rather not sit with another even if it means making everyone in behind wait longer for the lift. And even worse, they give you funny looks if you get on with them. -.-

Financial crisis hitting Penang

2008-12-13T21:43:00.000-08:00

The financial crisis seems to be getting worse. People are losing their jobs. Companies are laying off workers.

The economy

Around the world, we have lots of indicators to tell us how the economy is doing. Not only that, we have sub-indicators for the indicators, much like this pie chart represents sub-sectors for the power industry.

Sub sectors

In Penang, we have the clubbing indicator. They have been empty for much of the last few weeks, especially on Fridays. So it's not looking good.

Empty club

The clubbing sub-indicators help determine the overall direction of the clubbing indicator. Like how much booze have people been consuming. For this measure, I take a look at how flirty girls are. The amount of booze girls consume is directly proportionate to how flirty they are. The more booze they drink, the more flirty they are. These last few weeks, girls have not been as flirty so this contributes to the overall negative direction of the clubbing indicator.

Flirty indicator

Another sub-indicator is the girls to guys in the club ratio. In times of good economic progress, more guys come out as they have additional money to spend on girls. In times of bad economic progress, they stay home and all the money girls saved from guys buying them booze starts being spent. I have been seeing a higher ratio of girls to guy, so this has a negative influence on the clubbing indicator.

Girl guy ratio

Wow! it does seem like Penang is starting to suffer from the financial crisis. Lets hope the economy recovers.

1.7 million views in 3 days.

2008-12-09T04:04:00.000-08:00

One more!

2008-11-28T21:52:00.001-08:00

BBQ ....xD

More funny bud light commercials

2008-11-28T21:50:00.001-08:00

Even though I think the beer isn't that great, I love the commercials!!! ahahah

Real men of genius

2008-11-28T21:31:00.000-08:00

Heres to real men of genius! This buds for you!

Tribal Kings does it again

2008-09-04T04:33:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I found the French really knew how to make a booty video. Even better than most of the hip hop artists out there. And they basically invented it.

In this video, they demonstrate how to do an "Elevator" music video. Flo-Rida take note. one girl on each floor doesn't cut it these days.

Tribal King's version on how to make an Elevator video.

Flo-Rida's version on making an Elevator video.

I think it's a good time for me too......

2008-08-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

This is really funny......

Sales Sales Sales of the Mega type!

2008-07-21T06:33:00.000-07:00

I just got back from kl and I am quite satisfied with my shopping expedition. What treasures did I find from the jungles of the KL shopping malls?

KLCC Shopping Center: Concrete Jungle

With sales, one can expect to sift through a lot of trash to find their treasure. Sales are meant for shops to clear items. Quite often they don't have the correct sizes, color, etc on discount. In that regards, yes it's an expedition. I hoped to find bountiful booty, that can help me get booty of the other type.

Traditional Booty

The other type of Booty

Anyways, I needed to get myself more informal formal wear. Apparently my formal wear was too formal and the shirt tails looked a little long untucked. I was able to find buttoned up nice shirts that were meant to be untucked (shirt tails not too long). Though it was a major chore to find them. But luckily this year, Zara carried size "s" which is perfect for me. I like clothes which fit well, and "m" size shirts on me look like someone else dressed me.

So in the end, I found two of these informal formal shirts. One nice tuck-in formal shirt ( I couldn't resisit), and two normal casual shirts.

Major mega sales shopping tip: Go shopping at stores that are more outside the city. Midvalley and One Utama are more likely to have more sales item selection and sizes because 1) they have more floor space and items than the city 2) less people go there than the city shopping outlets.

Signing up for Malaysiakini

2008-06-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I've finally decided to subscribe to Malaysiakini.

Malaysiakini

I signed up for the standard subscription of RM80 for 6 months. That works out to RM13 a month or 44 sen per day. I would say the price is just ok after all it is all online. A normal newspaper would cost RM1.25 a day, but it certainly costs a lot more to publish.

I decided to check if my money was well spent by comparing similar stories to the star online.

On one hand the Malaysiakini article I looked at seemed more detailed for instance they mentioned that certain people were not at parliament when parliament voted for the fuel price increase. The star online didn't mention anything.

I haven't seen the newspaper, perhaps the detail is in there. Malaysiakini made a big deal that the few people (11 in total) weren't there. They sensationalize that fact when 11 reps hardly will make any difference at all, after all 129 votes to 78 against is such a smackdown, those 11 reps if voting the other way would have been insignificant to the outcome, altering the majority a few percent down from 63% to 59%.

Smackdown!

It's a decent publication. But like with every news source it needs to be read with a grain of salt. It is true the mainstream media sugarcoats a lot of information; their methods of reporting lack fire and passion. Malaysiakini on the other hand is all about fire. They are also very thorough in their news reporting, which is a function of their passion. I commend them on thorough news reporting, but the fire, emotion, pandering to the public can be left out. I bet a lot of the claims turn out to have nothing behind them. Conspiracy theorists? Maybe, but chances are most of it is just theory.

Petrol at RM2.70 per litre!

2008-06-05T04:29:00.000-07:00

As of now, gasoline prices in Malaysia is no longer subsidized. Energy prices have gone up. Sure there will be pain now, but this is just an opportunity for Malaysia to get with the program. Winners don't complain, they overcome adversity! Subsidies are a thing of the past, Take your lumps now, and begin planning for the future. We all knew this was bound to happen at some time.

Seeing as how Malaysians spend a lot of money on petrol:

Typical KL traffic jam

solutions:

Introduce the new hybrid cars which can get double the mileage!

Toyota Prius

Do a little car pooling!

car pooling?

As in share a car ride to work with a co worker.

Electricity prices gone up? No problem!

Solutions:

Try the inverter air conditioner which saves around 30% of the a/c bill.

Inverter Air Conditioner

Design homes and do renovations which have better insulation to keep out heat and insulate the room cooler.

Eco friendly house

Humans are one of the most adaptable species on the planet. Guess what.... those species that couldn't adapt to changing circumstances are in the extinct category now.

Shopping in penang

2008-05-27T00:15:00.000-07:00

I recently was looking to buy a new pair of sandals. A few weeks back my sandals lost their soles. I guess I could try and have their soles replaced, but I figured that I've had my previous sandals for about 5 years and it was time for a change. Where do sandals that lost their soles go? For me, I think they will most likely go into the garbage dump.

Sandals

But before I let them go, I need to find a replacement. I went to three shopping malls: Gurney, Queensbay, and Island Plaza. I first went to Gurney and Island. I found a lot of selection at these places, but none that suited my tastes. Also when I found some choices, they didn't have my sizes. Ah well, I thought to myself surely I will find some at Queensbay, after all with its sheer size, it will surely have more items.

Gurney Plaza

Island Plaza

Queensbay had different stores, but seemed to carry the same items as Gurney and Island Plaza. I think that carrying the same items defeats the purpose of having different stores. Why would I want to go all the way to Queensbay to buy shoes when they have the exact same selection than gurney? In fact, I think Gurney and Island together carry a better selection.

Queensbay Mall

As much potential that Queensbay mall has of being a really uber shopping center, I still don't see any reason I should go there over Gurney and Island. Gurney and Island don't really carry a lot of great items either, but their stuff is much better than Queensbay. Whats the point of an uber shopping center that has so many items, but much of it is junk? They don't use their mass to attract much better retailers. Ah ....the sad state of shopping in Penang.

I'm still looking for sandals :(

Moving and Down to business

2008-05-16T00:41:00.000-07:00

Well a lot has been happening so far. I've moved into the family's "vacation apartment" while the normal apartment is just about to embark on a facelift...aka renovation. So, this is home for the next few months.

Although it is quiet and smaller, the apartment does have its charms. For one, the view is quite amazing.

View from the balcony part 1

View from the balcony part 2

Second, the internet is fast. Yes, for some reason the streamyx here is oodles faster than at my previous apartment. I can go see youtube videos with no pause for the video to load. How amazing is that! The internet streams the video faster than the player plays. I think the fast speed has to do with not many users out here. Sweet! ahahah.

Third, my new bed. Even though the bed at my original apartment is quite soft, for some reason, this slightly hard bed at the "vacation apartment" really gives me a good night's rest. Maybe I'm too comfortable at my own bed that any little thing wakes me up. Well whatever, results so far indicate I get a really good night's rest at this new bed that i'm sleeping at. Even after exercising, I never could get a good nights rest, but for some reason I can here. Awesome! I might have to get a harder bed when I move back to the original apartment. Though I do think the other bed is more fun to be active on due to its more springy action. Whatever the particular activity that benefits from the upward reactive force may be...heheh.

my new bedroom

Other than that, I've been trying to study for the CFA level 1 exam in December. This course is for financial analyst or financial analyst wannabes, me being the latter. It really is no joke. They sent me six textbooks roughly 2000 pages of text to read. These pages are huge as well. If I took 24 weeks to finish the texts, I figure that 75 pages a week should put me in a good position for the exam. So it's been about 3 weeks and I am nowhere near the 200 or so pages studied. The lack of progress needs to be addressed by my super speed reading powers..... which will come to me hopefully very soon.... Still waiting xD

My course books

My books arranged prettily...

Ooohh... I bought this really nice tee shirt from NIKE at Island Plaza. It's like the NIKE boutique store not the normal sports store. The shirt had some felt glued on to the front. NEVER buy a shirt with stuff glued on. Once in the dryer, some of that glued felt came off. What the fFFF! Now my very nice tee shirt is kinda messed up. I know I was a bit dumb just to chuck all my stuff in the dryer and not pay attention to this shirt, but for goodness sakes, this is a tee shirt. It's not like a tuxedo. Pissed!

Life's like that Girl of the undisclosed time period*

2008-05-04T22:21:00.000-07:00

*I say undisclosed time period because, I don't know when the next girl post will be heh.

As we all know, a lot of asians seem to be infatuated with the opposite gender of the Caucasian type. Check Mr. Gin's post. Well, I think Caucasians do have a very strong look to them. They are bigger, built more, usually they have big eyes which is a desirable trait in the asian culture. Furthermore, its a different color. Blue is a nicer color to look at than black usually. Asians tend to look quite similar, whether they are Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc. So people are usually attracted to the exotic looking, in this case for asians, Caucasians.

On the other hand, I believe asians have their appeal as well. For any one who has ever heard of the fountain of youth story, where this European guy travels half way around the world to South America to find the fountain of youth; they will know that youth is a very desirable trait across the world. Why do guys like Hugh Hefner prefer to shag girls that are one-fifth his age? Oh don't think that women don't do the same thing. Affluent, older women certainly do their share of dating younger men. Youth is more or less equated with beauty universally around the world. Asians generally have a youthful look to them. Ever compare a 30 year old asian to a 30 year old caucasian? Chances are, the asian looks younger.

Hugh Hefner with his girls

So all this begs the question: "Is it better to have youth or desirable features? I say........ Is it too much to ask for both?" (I stole this line from Iron man....hehe)

I present to you, Misa Campo, Life's like that Girl of the "undisclosed time period".

Misa Campo is of both Filipino and Dutch decent, born in Montreal, Canada. A very stunning girl.... she has that mixed look with youth and nice features which well, sounds great in theory, but very few mixed children are able to pull it off. To put it bluntly, mixing usually produces nothing out of the ordinary, neither here nor there.

Ah well, I know her boobs have been implanted with stuff.

Pictures don't tell the full story, here she is on youtube. I think shes cute as well. Caution: the first video has quite a bit of skin.

Here she is getting hyphy =)

Iron Man at GSC, Gurney

2008-05-02T05:27:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to watch this since I saw the preview a couple of months back. I just had a feeling this movie was going to be good. With GSC showing 18 screenings a day, I definitely thought the theaters were going to be packed.

Packed like sardines

Two days before, I went online hoping to make some bookings. Guess what, ZERO tickets for Thursday till the 10pm show. What the hell? Furthermore, I wanted to buy online, and the servers were down. I really don't understand why for paying people, the servers are down?

Anyhow, I went a little early and was able to secure tickets in decent seats. Well the best I could get that day. Pretty decent except at the beginning with people still walking in and periodically blocking the view.

I must admit, I really liked a lot of the movie and wasn't at all disappointed. I just had this feeling it was going to be good. The danger is going in thinking that the movie is good, and leaving the person feeling shortchanged. By far the best scenes involved iron man whooping some Afghanistan insurgents, dogfighting with planes, and in the final stages of completing his armor. Iron Man, seems the weakest of superheros, but he can still lay the smackdown.

Flying Scenes!

I think Robert Downey Jr. did a fantastic job. I've never been impressed by Tony Starks the comic book character. He looked like an uptight royal out of one of the many countries with monarchies. By contrast, Bruce Wayne of Batman is a much more interesting comic book character. Robert did a fantastic job making the character likable, especially given the mundane Tony Starks. I'd compare this to something that Johnny Depp had done with Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Carribean.

Arrrr...matey!

I must mention, though that the Iron man body armor wasn't exactly an original concept. Blizzard's Starcraft 2 introduction movie has a similar set up where a marine's armor is put on a person with machines and bolted into place. Credit to the movie production company for making the graphics work with a human. The Starcraft 2 introduction is all CG.

Sappy song mood

2008-04-26T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hmm...i was browsing around youtube, then I stumbled on this song. Old song, bout two years, new to me. The main version is some sort of house version. This is more preferable imo. I'm a closeted sappy song guy once in a while heh. The title "every time we touch" is kinda gaudy, but nice tune. Dedicated to all the couples out there =)

Oh, the FFX thing came with the song. Sorry non fans of FFX.

Malaysian taxes and sometimes it pays to be dumb.

2008-04-22T06:56:00.000-07:00

Just yesterday I made a trip to the Penang LHDN office to verify a few meager dividend checks. For tax filing, the tax office will need to verify the dividends through mail in or in person verification. Verifying in person is advantageous to get quicker refunds and reduce paperwork.

Those who are in the lower tax bracket (namely me) can get some of the money back that was taxed at the dividend payout. For instance, A 100 RM dividend will be taxed 27%. For those in the lower tax brackets, they get money refunded back to them. The 10% tax bracket will get roughly the difference, which in this case 17%, refunded back to them.

Tax Returns

I had just a few dividends to declare, lucky me. Some others had 30 or 40 dividend vouchers. So, the officers had to go verify each dividend voucher one by one. But ah....things get even more complicated. Just last year, the tax changed a bit. Depending on when the check was issued, dividend tax for 2006 was 27% and in 2007 was 26%. The company secretaries must really be sleeping on the job because they messed up all of the few vouchers I had.

Anyhow, so one guy next to me was smart enough to do the alterations, probably figuring out ok, I can save the hassle of the dividend verifier correcting all the mistakes. But when the tax rate was reduced, the actual gross dividend being taxed was changed as well. I believe this was a corporate tax change. So from the example before, 100 would probably be reduced to RM98.5 (though it's not exactly 1.5%, it differs from dividend to dividend), and then the income tax rate would also be changed, 28% would be changed to 27%. I just filled out what was on the dividend voucher and put it on the form. It was all wrong of course, but no different than a lot of others who did the same thing.

The dividend verifier went and did all the corrections for me. The guy next to me changed the income tax rate, but didn't change the gross dividend being taxed. So he messed up his thirty or forty dividend vouchers and furthermore, the dividend verifier wouldn't offer to correct it!

I would have at least tried the sad puppy dog face, works a lot of times for me :)

He said this was all wrong and asked him to come tomorrow and redo it. Others who did it like me were fine i guess because I saw others who were in the same situation as me and some of them had a lot of vouchers, and the dividend verifier did all the corrections. It wasn't the amount of checks, but I suppose the verifier required at least a standard base to work from.

Moral of the story: Sometimes it pays to be dumb, and don't try to make work easier for the LHDN, because if you mess up the work you do for them, they'll screw u good!

Cigarette warning pictures

2008-04-15T21:28:00.000-07:00

Warning: Some images in this post might be disturbing. Proceed at your own risk.

The trend these days for countries to deter their citizens from smoking by putting disgusting pictures of people affected by the nasty habit. Here are a few examples of our neighboring countries' brilliant ideas to curb people from smoking.

Singapore

Thailand

Unfortunately, we more than likely will see these type of cigarette packs in Malaysia. After all if our neighbors to the north and south are doing it, we might as well join the party. For the most part, I think people will just initially get disgusted but continue buying cigarettes. Well, where there's government regulation, there is opportunity. Louis Vuitton carries these bad boys and I bet they are hot sellers due to the governments around the world deciding to make cigarette manufacturers post disgusting pictures on their cigarette packs. What exactly are they? Cigarette holders!

Put the cigarette packs into these bad boys, and tada....no need to see disgusting images! Throw the disgusting box away! Governments really outsmarted themselves out on this one. This reminds me of a special cd technology that apparently made it impossible for people to make copies. It was very sound technologically and cd burners couldn't burn the cd at first. But people being people, found a way. The way around this was to take a marker and draw around the outside of the cd. The cd technology turned out to be a big waste of money.

p/s: I don't particularly like cigarettes or smoking. I in fact don't like them at all. The world could do without ciggies.

Justin and Madonna's 4 minute song

2008-04-10T21:01:00.000-07:00

I was searching for new R&B songs to download, and recently, Justin Timberlake and Madonna came out with a new song called 4 minutes. I think the song overall is decent. Justin T is as good as ever in the video, but I feel Madonna pales in comparison. Maybe her voice isn't current any more. Furthermore, When I see the timeless Mariah Carey still rip out decent songs, I feel Madonna's voice is more of the past and not so current any more.

madonna and JT

I think other female singers could have done a better job in 4 Minutes. Actually, Britney Spears is a much better fit for the song. The song Gimme More sounds similar. Britney Spears can still blow catchy tunes. If I imagined Britney Spears doing 4 Minutes, she would do much better. They really should collaborate. I think there's some bad blood still from their previous relationship, they've not worked together in like forever. But I think they should just bury the hatchet and just make good music. Britney and Justin's 4 minutes just would plaster Madonna and Justin's version.

Britney Spears

I hope the below link to 4 minutes video doesn't get removed due to copyright:

Biting Mangoes

2008-04-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning kind of early, 10:30 am...yeah thats early for a Saturday. I switched on the TV to watch MTV. A show called Popparazi was being played. I guess I don't regularly watch this show, but for some reason, that particular segment, Marion Counter was making some really interesting comments. I got to say it takes a lot of guts to make these kind of jokes on TV. Luckily a lot of people don't really get the jokes in Malaysia.

Marion Caunter

There was this promo of the show Top Model with Tyson Beckford, I believe. He's a black male model/actor. He did this scene of biting a mango to demonstrate how to sell an item in front of a camera, which was the episode's theme.

So Marion says after, "Tyson, you can take a bite of my mango any time." And Dom, the co-host, I think didn't know what to say.

I would have said "I think mango-eating is a great past time" "Mangoes are good because the fruit is usually sweet" "The tongue is really sensitive to sweet fruit" XD

"I also like apples. how do u like them apples?" or "i think mangoes go well with apples"

oh if u haven't seen it....

Mois, MTV night, Key Ng fashion show, Malaysia Dreamgirl

2008-03-31T06:48:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the event. I loathe bringing in my camera to a club, because I think it'll become infested with smoke. I did make it in time to see some of the pseudo-famous people/personalities in Malaysia, Amber Chia and Hannah Tan. I even had a close encounter of the Amber Chia kind. Didn't even recognize her in all her make up and clothes. She was standing right in front of me. When I did realize that it was her, she was already leaving the area.

Amber Chia

Hannah Tan

As we all know, Malaysia has pseudo-famous celebrities, aka bloggers, politicians, VJs, radio DJs. I say pseudo because I don't get the wow factor when I see them. If a Tom cruise, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, or even a Paris Hilton showed up at MOIS, Penang, I think I would get wowed. It was slightly surreal seeing the local media come to life, but they definitely lack the wow factor.

So, I was kind of impressed with some of the models for the Key Ng fashion show. I counted at least four of the women models were tall, statuesque, and close to world class, giving me the impression of a really decent event. Although, I'm not a really great judge of models, at least in the dark they looked the part of world class. Seeing this and the Malaysia Dream Girls web TV show, man I got to say, the quality of people are worlds apart.

Malaysia Dreamgirls

I started watching today, and now I'm going to stop. I'm not sure how over a hundred thousand Ringgit in prizes could not attract really talent such as the ones I've seen Saturday night. The talent exists, because I saw quite a few of them. Maybe, instead of a Nissan car as the top prize, a Mercedes Benz. Now that'll attract quite a few of them, I think! The show should really be called "put a bunch of cute girls in a house and let them try some modeling gigs."

This should attract some really nice models :)

Truthfully, I don't even like Key Ng stuff, I've browsed the outlet in one Utama before, and their items don't impress me that much. But if they can get pretty decent models for their show, I think it exposes Malaysia Dream Girls pretty badly.

Not all this blog is commentary, After the event Mois got closed on account of police shut down. The club was starting up after the MTV event, then after a while, the lights came on. I thought to myself, this seems an awful lot like closing time. About 20 minutes later, they closed the place down. It was a big surprise, no IC checks or anything. I heard a pretty serious event happened the night before, probably the reason why it was shut down. They should have just shut it down earlier. At least we wouldn't have to spend on booze and then cut short the night.

So a pretty early end to a night at MOIS. I went to a place called Hungry Duck just down the road to chill and relax a bit.

Dinner at Spicy Chicken BBQ and Movie night: Be Kind Rewind

2008-03-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

Last night my friend Matt, his girlfriend Ching Fern, and I went for dinner and a movie. I suppose I was the third wheel on this date. But as they have been together so long, I guess they didn't mind a little extra company. At least that it was I told myself heheh. Anyhow, we were supposed to eat at pasta mania, but decided to try a place called Spicy BBQ Chicken at the ground floor of Gurney Plaza.

Apparently this place is a Korean fast food chain of sorts. I've walked past the restaurant several times and have had no desire to go in. I had the impression the place was a KFC wannabe. All I saw was fried chicken from the outside. Furthermore, the name Spicy BBQ Chicken doesn't really make sense to a western mentality mind such as the one that I have. Just sounds weird. But I was in a sporting mood, and my friend seemed quite upbeat about trying it out. So I was game as well.

The restaurant is nice enough, but the impression from the outside is just kinda weird. Anyhow, I'll be glad to report that the menu displays quite a variety of chicken. But be prepared for pretty much chicken when eating there. I didn't see any other types of meat. There's a lot of choices other than fried. There is Jerk chicken, BBQ Korean chicken, spicy bbq chicken, grilled, fried, etc. I feel an alternative to fried chicken is something missing from fast food places here. The restaurant fills that void pretty well. Although, I would say it's a step above places like KFC. I would consider the restaurant quite similar to kfc. The chicken dishes come with mashed potatoes and coleslaw as a side dish. In the end, I quite liked the place. A meal will probably end up costing 15 to 20 RM per person.

Well anyways, we took some pictures at the place.

Here's me.

Matt with Ching Fern. Matt showing some pearly whites :)

Matt with Ching Fern in a relaxed pose.

Here's me with my arm around a real imaginary girl. She's imaginary, because she isn't there; but at the same time she does exist in real life somewhere in Germany. I didn't randomly choose her and this is me with my arm around her.

.....I think half of you would slap me, and the other half would just look at me funny. Oh..also we shared a bottle of water. XD

Anyhow, the movie, Be Kind Rewind is kinda nice, but gets a bit boring in the end. "Be Kind Rewind" is the name of the video store, it's a cute name because people always forget to rewind their video tapes before returning it to the video rental store. The movie is about these guys who make home movies and pose them as real movies for rental. This was because the movies were blanked out when Jack was magnetized and they had to fix the situation. Jack Black is what really makes the movie work. He's really funny. I think without him, the movie would definitely fail. His impromptu comedy acting is just so hilarious. Movies like this, really bring the actor's skills to the forefront. Anyhow, watch it if you are a Jack Black fan, for his excellent comedy skills.

Easiest way to the mile high club

2008-03-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

Here in Asia, people are more familiar with the term kilometer. The metric system is in effect. But when one refers to the term "mile high", "kilometer high" doesn't quite cut it. A mile has approximately 1,609 meters. A mile has exactly 5,280 feet. An airplane generally quotes their altitude in feet during the flight. So the "mile high" refers to being at a mile high in the sky or 5,280 feet at least.

The only way to join the "mile high" club is to be at least a mile high in the sky, generally in an airplane, doing the dirty deed. I suppose it is possible with other modes of flying such as a helicopter, hang glider, or hot air balloon. Imagine joining the "mile high" club in a hot air balloon.

Anyways, there are some famous people who have joined the mile high club. Richard Branson, founder and owner of Virgin company, has claimed to join the club at the age of 19. Pretty quick I think. Probably a mile high milestone: youngest person to join. The play on words were intended =D He also now has his own fleet of planes to do the dirty deed in if he chooses. Can't do that? Why not? he owns them.

There are businesses which offer the opportunity to do so, although i'm sure part of joining the club is the thrill. The thrill isn't quite the same in a small propeller plane as in the cabin of a jet plane with hundreds of people around.

So after the dirty deed is done, usually the couple will walk down the aisle of shame, better known as the aisle of the airplane cabin. It's quite difficult to conceal such an act. People have eyes and a brain. They'll notice if two people are in the lavatory.

But that could be a thing of the past. The new A380 has individual private cabins with beds. So those wanting to go to the mile high club without the usual walk down the aisle of shame could do so with privacy.

First class cabin of the Singapore airlines A380

Congratulations to Singapore Air for making the A380 a pleasurable flight in more ways than one. Apparently, Singapore Air has explicit instructions to ask those who engage in such activities to desist. They claim the cabins aren't sound proof, but the easy way to get around such a thing is to just be quiet =D

American Football, Malaysian style

2008-03-13T22:13:00.000-07:00

In the US, American Football is extremely popular. To the rest of the world, football is known as the sport which people play with a round ball. This is what the American football looks like:

Quite different eh? But those who play rugby might understand as there are some similarities. So, the objective of the game is for one team to move the ball to the other end of the field, thus scoring points. The catch is they only have a limited amount of opportunities to do so. Anyhow, the game is usually played wearing a lot of protective gear such as the one this guy is wearing:

Yes, that is David Beckham in American Football gear, only thing missing is the helmet...heheh. Anyhow, the two ways to advance the football, is to throw it or to run it down. When a team decides to run it down, the runner, known as a running back stays in the back and is given the ball and tries to advance while the other team tries to stop him.

The chances of the other team successfully doing that is quite high as the opposing team has eleven defenders all gunning for the running back. So, how does the running back overcome such odds? One of the most common ways is to follow behind some of his teamates who are in front of him . This is called follow the blocker. The running back's teammates are helping to clear a path for him.

A lot of people here seem to have this concept down pretty well but most have never heard of the game. Where have we seen this follow the blocker concept in Malaysia?

I bet almost everyone has seen this at least once in the last month, unless they never go out. Who is the blocker in this case?

And the running back?

For some reason, quite a few people here, especially drivers, like to play the follow the blocker game with the ambulances a lot. That concept is one of the most basic in American Football. I have a feeling the sport will take off here if there were some marketing muscle behind it. I see a lot of people having fun following the blocker on the road very often.

Fear rules Malaysia: Election night

2008-03-09T07:11:00.000-07:00

Election night.....the night after polls have closed. Rumors of unrest spreads throughout the nation. I have decided that for my readers I will attempt to brave the streets of Penang and bring them an account straight from experience.

I initially was set to leave my place at 11.15 pm, but was delayed because my friend's cellphone could not be reached. Stupid Digi. I kept getting a "cannot get the number". Digi should get better transmission towers at the Garage area, after all that is a rather popular area that people frequent to. So at 12.00 am, I finally get through.

"Yo, are you at MOIS?"

"Yeah man...go DAP!"

"Alright I'll be there in a short while."

He's the guy I know for the VIP section. I'm not about to go to club at MOIS outside of the VIP section. I'm spoilt...hehe.

I drove the streets, empty like a ghost town. When I arrived at MOIS, I found it pretty empty. In fact our group had the entire VIP section for ourselves the whole night. The main area had a small crowd.

The ride back home from the club brought no suprises either. I hardly saw anything happening. The lone police road block I ran into looked even less serious. Half of them were sleeping! LOL. A lot of excitement there! Even the Mat rempit weren't out causing their usual havoc.

There you have it...I think election night is THE SAFEST night to go out. No mat rempit, no traffic, no crazy drivers that certainly roam around on almost every normal weekend. Even the polling stations I passed were empty.

Nights like these where everyone is afraid to go out makes me think of a phrase "airplanes are so dangerous". When in fact airplanes are the safest mode of transportation in the world. A person is more likely to die in a car, bus, walking, etc than in an airplane.

So anyways, election night was pretty uneventful. And pretty safe I think. Not even the police bothered to show strength and for what also...everywhere was empty!

A great business idea!

2008-03-02T04:26:00.000-08:00

Lately, I've been at the local airport looking at a potential business opportunity. I'll just have this to say, the parking is really expensive. Half an hour is 1 RM. 5 hours makes it 10 RM. And get this, it is full almost all the time. What if you wanna park at the airport and get daily rates. Like park, pay 5 RM per day. I think it would be popular here because Penang has a lot of rip off cabbies. Why pay a cab 50 RM for a short business trip when you can park your car there for a few days and pay 20 RM.

What a great moneymaker! Buy some of the land around the airport (usually cheap because the land is usually in a remote area), provide free shuttle service to the airport from the lot and watch the money roll in! Undercut the airport parking spots. That is definitely the way to go hehheh.

Maybe it would be better in klia airport as Penang is way too far.

Also, prices in the airport are marked up like crazy. I went for a meal there with my friend at Nandos. It ended up costing RM 45. We ordered salad, sandwich, and two drinks....omg. Insane. A similar meal at the shopping mall would have cost around RM30.

AI 7 looks to be good this year, talent wise.

2008-02-17T06:29:00.000-08:00

First....I take what I say back about this season of AI 7 being talentless. The talent is indeed strong this year, but I believe they have relaxed quite a few rules. Some of the talent this season has had recording contracts before. I've been reading about people criticizing that this season as no longer about undiscovered talent. I think for the most part the statement is true. I remember last season was really horrid in the talent section and this season noticeably allowed people with failed recording contracts to compete. At the same time, there is only one winner and will probably harder than their first try in the music business. I doubt the exposure will help them because they have to share it with so many others. People forget easy. If they don't really stand out, AI will call them on it.

I feel like AI is sort like an NBA draft. Some seasons you get really good players, some you get really horrid players. This season is good. The best is probably being at the age of 16, David Archuleta. He's probably like the Lebron James, Michael Jordan, or Kobe Bryant in the NBA draft but for American Idol. This kind of talent only happen once in a multiple drafts. I'm not sure what David's plans are. He's way too good for the amateur AI contestants, but I do believe the exposure is worth it hence his thinking. I wonder if he'll sign with Simon's company as the winner usually does. Or possibly he might throw the no. 1 spot and try to go with another company and get more money. When you are that good, you've got these kind of options in a free market.

Check him out at Youtube.

Halfway through CNY i think it dawned on me I really shouldn't be collecting ang pows. I'm way too old hahah....damnit. But I think rejecting ang pows sort of says you are too good for their money. At least that is what I tell myself and just accept it lol. Should I say no next time?

AI: season 7 and making a stop and one stop

2008-01-25T10:50:00.000-08:00

As my life feels uneventful as of late, hence my later blog entries...heh. Well the last two or so days i've felt quite pooped for some reason. American Idol started showing on Star TV. Now it's season 7. I think most of the talent has been wrung out of the first few seasons. The talent is less, but the talentless are as strong as ever. Most of the really good singers seem to be those who are coming of age. At least a steady supply comes of age every year. So I suppose American Idol can fill in the ranks for a decent season. At some point I did think that the contestants would eventually get poorer until people couldn't take it anymore, but I guess I was wrong.

Besides that, I've recently gone to one stop and ordered a laser printer cartridge from one of the stores. One stop looks really dead. This used to be quite the happening complex, but now few crawl the deserted stores looking to do shopping. Even the rock of the shopping center, aka the computer shops which have been there for ages have started to relocate elsewhere. Some have gone to the lower floor for better visibility and some have just closed up shop. Will someone go and do something with the shopping complex or will it become another komtar? Probably the latter eventually, but at least it's still better than komtar.

Just chilling...well not really

2008-01-19T03:09:00.000-08:00

After sat night partying, Sunday is always a chill day. Not really. I hit the gym yet again. Currently, I am in the habit of hitting the gym when I have free time, which I have a lot of at the moment.

Well Mois was quite a happening place on Saturday night. I don't remember seeing the place so packed before. A lot has changed in the last three weeks. QE 2 seems to have lost it's spark for the most part. The Penang crowd is really fickle and seemed to have moved to Mois. Mois also has a VIP section which they should have opened up sooner. It's quite cool to be in the vip section. They decored the section with beds and couches. Very nice. I have always thought the posh bedroom curtain decor is quite the trend now a days as Babylon has it across the street.

So with the VIP section, Mois now has something other clubs don't have in Penang. While common in clubs in other countries, it isn't so in Malaysia. Mois catches on quickly.

Back to Penang

2008-01-16T23:37:00.000-08:00

I just arrived back in Penang a few days ago. The flight back seemed shorter than towards the US. I don't know why, but this time around it seemed more bearable. Flying back, the stop in Germany was quicker and the flight time maybe an hour less. The time to Singapore probably was slightly quicker as well.

For those who don't know, Singapore airlines is well known for their top notch service. Well, part of it is probably because they hire younger flight attendants compared to some of their western counterparts. As superficial as it may seem, I do believe it's the way of the world. And as customers compare services, they'll remember the environment of Singapore airlines to be much more pleasing compared to others.

I was thinking at the same time, that the way Singaporean airlines have their flight attendants done up is quite interesting. The make up and hair make them look quite nice like they are going to a ball and their uniforms emphasize all the right places, while covering up the attendant from head to toe. I had a couple of conflicting thoughts going on, these women were quite hot looking yet I generally don't perceive Singapore women to be any prettier than any of the other asian races. And did flying on Singapore airlines change my mind? nope. Make up, hair, and clothes can really make a difference thats for sure.

I started to hit the gym and picked up from where I left off three weeks ago. I think I'm just going to add cardio as a part of my workout from now on. Sure it'll take longer, but I don't think I'll be feeling a lot more tired. Thank goodness for low impact elliptical machines. If I had the money and the space, I'd consider getting one of these for myself.

Field's Museum and the CBOT

2008-01-06T15:17:00.000-08:00

Over the last few days I did a little shopping and sightseeing. I visited the CBOT and Field's museum. The Field's Museum displays some one of a kind exhibits including the biggest Tyrannosaurus Rex ever discovered.

Not only this, they also had other large dinosaur skeletons such as triceratops and stegosaurus. While the dinosaur were impressive, I thought they should be much larger for some reason. I guess I've been brainwashed by the years of television dinosaurs. Those buggers looked huge in the movies.

Visiting the CBOT, where money is made much like a stock exchange wasn't as good as I thought. The building is quite picturesque given the interesting art deco building design. But they closed the observation area, so visitors were unable to see the exchange in action. It's just interesting to me to see all the pit traders in action live.

Scurrying about Chicago

2008-01-02T21:52:00.000-08:00

Well seeing how I'm spending time running about on my own with my bro at work, I decided to go see some of what Chicago has to offer, namely Lincoln Park Zoo. I jumped on a bus to travel from downtown Michigan Avenue towards Lincoln Park. Today was an especially cold day, I call it...nut freezing temperature.

The bus system really has its own interest at heart. During the bus ride, the company advertised that they would be reducing routes and raising fares because of budget cuts. Contact your legislator if you want it changed. Well, that will certainly get your attention. It's a sure fire way to reach your target audience. That will really push you to get off your butt and do something. I saw another commercial on tv saying "if you lost money in the stock market from stock advice or mutual fund, call this number you may be entitled to settlement." Commercials like that don't happen in Malaysia, commercials that encourage people to act up and inform them what they can do about it.

So, finallly I got off at the Lincoln Park Zoo. As I walked through the zoo, I thought man... I heard that this was one of the most expensive place to live in Chicago and now I know why. Basically, the zoo is in this huge recreational park and it's free. Where else in the world can you go out and say hmmm...lets go for a walk in a park and go see the siberian tiger or the polar bear? To boot, it's five minutes away from down town Chicago, US' third largest city. Comparatively, the famous Central Park in NYC is not exactly appealing as there is just this huge park where you could get mugged (home alone 2). I guess I should give Central Park a chance as I've not yet seen it, but barring any huge surprises, Lincoln Park is probably the coolest park in the US and world.

Traveling to the ole US of A

2007-12-31T22:20:00.000-08:00

I'm in the US for the last week and the next two weeks. I would have blogged if not for the lack of internet. That happens in very remote places and especially where I was, in Catskills Mountains, upper New York.

I like to snowboard and hitting the slopes during the day certainly felt refreshing. Also from the top of the mountain, I could see some of the fantastic New York scenery. Probably one of the nicer places to stay in the US after the west coast. The terrain varied interestingly with forests, rivers, lakes, and mountains.

After a week in the US, I've inevitably interacted with the people here. Definitely a world of difference with people back in Malaysia. I've always known it since I've spent a good amount of time at university here, but never felt the shift of worlds till this holiday, the feeling a product of spending so much time in Malaysia. It's a sort of Deja Vu feeling. I sense subtle characteristics that changed while I was in Malaysia that I am starting to remember after coming back to the US.

For instance, the way conversation is carried out in Malaysia feels totally different and it's not just the accent. I never quite got it in Malaysia but when I'm here, people talk differently and I do feel it's more natural and comfortable. They say a person doesn't change, that's not entirely true. The environment does change a person somewhat and it's not only me but psychology say so as well...so I got science on my side haha.

I also got some neat christmas gifts, a nintendo DS and Ipod nano, from my cousins, aunt, and cousin's boyfriend. The biggest fear for me receiving gifts is that I'll never use them. I'll be using these items for sure hehe. So that makes these gifts really awesome.

Hittin the fat loss machines

2007-12-20T20:44:00.000-08:00

Four days straight busting out the cardio, I guess it's just a matter of getting used to it. I'd probably go again today, but I'm flying off for holiday. It's not as bad as I thought, all that cardio exercise. My legs didn't fall out from under me. My left knee felt a little weak after running, probably attributed to those days of playing basketball that I've more or less retired from.

I much prefer the cross trainer machine. I see why it's so popular. Less stress on the joints, a more total body workout, and you can go longer. Unless I'm training for a marathon or sport, the cross trainer fulfills the fat burning need much better than running. I'm no dummy though, it's not the same. 15 min on the treadmill feels like 30 min on the cross trainer. But hey, I'm not training for any particular sport, just wanna get rid of the fat.

I also started to do interval training. Constant running I've learned isn't the best way to fat loss. Interval training is what it sounds like. Go faster, then go slower and faster again, switching to and from throughout the whole workout is much more effective at burning fat.

Back to the cross trainer as good as it is, not all machines are created equal. The best and most durable from what I've seen is Precor cross trainers. Unfortunately my gym only has one, so if I want a spot on the machine, I've got to go early or wait. I'm seriously considering another gym if their cross trainers are really robust. But from what I've seen as places such as fitness first, their cross trainers and treadmills aren't that great. Perhaps Swimming Club should expand its gym with all their cash lying around.

I am legend....a well thought out disaster

2007-12-18T03:30:00.000-08:00

I watched I am legend for the first time on monday night. It is a unique movie, but just horrible. It 's akin to a singer that sounds really unique, likeable but is a one trick pony. Once people get used to the singer's voice, they get bored and move on to the really talented ones. Much the same, I noticed the scenes got old really fast. The movie had a lot of suspense, but I believe the story wasn't strong enough and overall was a real let down when I found myself getting worked up over a crappy storyline.

Monday night, mall was super packed. Holidays must be starting already, or maybe most Mondays are like this. Well the sales definitely are in full effect. For myself, I want to pick a couple more pieces of gym clothes for the extra training I'm doing. Not exactly hygienic to go in unwashed gym clothes. I doubt the people next to me will appreciate it, although I don't stink up that bad compared to some others. For real! haha..

Sunday aftermath

2007-12-16T02:08:00.000-08:00

Sunday, supposed to be a chill day. Catching up on some Zs. But I went out. Mall packed like no tomorrow, no parking, had a good time chillin with a friend of mine.

Now that I stopped WOW, I'm a bit at a loss on what to do during my free time. When I quit WOW, I was determined not to trade one unproductive hobby with another such as watching dvds or playing another game. I guess if it isn't socializing, it'll be exercising. I'll be hitting the gym just whenever i have free time.

Man getting that six pack....it's so elusive. Well right now I'm hitting about 200 reps of ab exercises in my every other/third day gym session. I see more definition, but the pack of flab on the lower abs still is there. I'm just going to have to start doing cardio till the cows come home....zzz. I haven't really done any at all. I usually don't run more than 7 minutes at the workout. But definitely I'll need to bust out the cardio like 30 to 45 min each session for the only part of my body that I would like change. Just need that six packer. Well why not shoot for eight eh? heheh.

QE2 baby yeah

2007-12-14T12:33:00.000-08:00

Electro house all night long. New mix too. My goodness, well I can't say no to that. I heard songs that I never heard b4 and suprisingly, they were f'ing good. Finally they stopped repeating the same cd over and over again. But I think electro house is off the chain, so if u have different tastes, you wont' agree. Your loss lol.

Handing in resumes at the job fair

2007-12-14T01:10:00.000-08:00

I went to the job fair today at PISA. As low as the unemployment rate is in Malaysia, there were an awful lot of people there for just a Friday. Maybe most of them took MCs just for today lol. The job fair seemed reasonably popular enough. I think over the course of the weekend, a couple of thousand will have walked through in search of opportunities. While the Job fair was billed as a job and entrepreneurial fair, I saw very little in terms of franchises and entrepreneurial opportunities. I for one would be interested in those as well....pity.

Most of the job fair is in the concourse located around the stadium, so someone can start walking in one direction and come back to the same position. About half of the fair seemed to be on job hunting, the other half seemed to be some sort of medical fair.

When I first walked into a section, a pretty cute girl stopped me and asked for me to sign up my resume as she was with a job hunting firm. I was thinking.... ok sure...I can't say no to a cute girl requesting anything of me. I have her card...hmmmm....stop thinking...hahaha. I moved on and just continued scoping the whole area.

I stopped by halfway and listened to a speaker talking about how this fair is a good idea and gave encouragement for them to do this again. I was thinking that this guy probably did nothing to help except give the speech. He goes on to say we should make it bigger...and grander and blah blah blah. Well...all these things take resources and support which if you can't help, don't bother talking. I would say the proper backing wasn't quite there or else I'm sure the fair would be in the main floor instead of the concourse around it.

After I walked through the medical section and saw quite a lot of people, I realized that the majority of people came for some of the free blood testing that was going on there. The queue was out the door, literally. I also saw some girls in nurses' outfits recruiting for nursing. While I doubt it would encourage a lot of girls to become nurses, I bet it would help guys think about becoming doctors...lol.

I walked back a second round and properly handed out my resumes to relevant companies. For engineers, the place seems to have a lot of opportunity. Most of the hi tech firms are there. Some other companies like banks and even Astro were there looking for hirings.

I left and had lunch at QB mall. Don't ever have lunch there when it's raining and on a Friday. It's insane to try and get into the parking lot. As I walked through the mall past Paddington's House of Pancakes, I noticed most of the people eating there were girls. Thats right, girls who usually worry about getting fat and generally obsess over weight more over than guys. This is why groups of girls are dangerous, they all get together and eat unhealthy stuff....lol.

Gettin off my lazy ass

2007-12-12T03:19:00.000-08:00

The time has come for me to get off my lazy ass and go work or something...hah! yeah. I do feel kind of lost not working in a traditional environment at times. Going to the gym and playing golf does relieve some of that lostness, but i think not enough. On the other hand, I'm not sure if working in a factory is for me. I've always wanted something more interactive, more down to earth.

In the factory people just make stuff and ship it out. Sounds simple? Sounds easy right? It probably is, but it's a real chore, unless you are really making money. Any chore becomes fun when getting paid well for it =). Who knows, I might put in extra effort because i'm getting paid so well....*might*...hahah.

Speaking of which, whomever works in factories, I think 90% of those take it easy, which there are a lot of, have kids. When life is easy, job is secure, life is stress free, there is nothing else to do but go make babies. I think this is such a funny quirk of factory life. With so many people giving out full moon baby stuff, I find myself losing track of who's the one having the baby.

Anyways, I'll be going to the job fair on Friday to see whats going on. Get a dream job? hopefully, or a high paying one :)

New club opening and drama

2007-12-09T22:14:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, a new club called Mois opened up to much fanfare. Truth is, I never heard of it till that night, so I'm not the most happening person in Penang...sobs. But when I heard the name, I was almost doubling over in laughter. The name, Mois sounds more like a seedy place than a high profile club. I'll open a club next time called dri (get it...dri and mois? The yin to mois' yang?) . Jokes on the name aside, the place turned out quite nice. The club's interior newly renovated could give glo a run for its money.

The club is located opposite SS, in the boon siew building. There used to be a club there, but that place was horrible, which is unfortunate because the interior has something great that is lacking in penang, a large wide open space. With the right potential, a club owner with great ideas could open up a successful club there. I'm not sure if Mois is the greatest idea, only time will tell, but it's a definite improvement over the previous one.

They did the dance floor a bit like the old fever with flashing lights. I'm gonna say thats interesting, but fever is a failed club haha. They really ought to put some kind of railings aorund the dance floor because it provides some separation between the dance floor and tables around the area.

Mois' music system really brings it. I'm pretty sure the system is high quality. The DJ is also quite good, apparently from KL. What remains to be seen if the club will keep quality DJs, as that definitely is key to a good club.

Speaking of seedy, the seediest club seems to be momos. That place just oozes seediness...blech. Definitely my least favorite club. Way too many gays and the crowd lacks some quality. I think the place will fail eventually. Gays in straight clubs won't mix, one group will leave.Judging by the lackluster crowd, I doubt Momo's can survive.

Anyways, yes drama ensued after the night ended. Friday night Fights and police right outside Mois and SS. It's only Friday night and people still want to fight. Geez, whats up with that? I saw this one plain clothes officer who i remembered was with a guy trying to cause a fight a few months ago just outside Tiger arms. A thug can become a police officer? My goodness.

Top clubs for me as of this moment:

1. QE2 (excellent crowd, by the sea, music repetitive but the songs are good, kind of small)
2. Mois (great space, nice sound system, nicely done.)
3. Glo (old rnb favorite, getting old, too many kids and ah bengs)

Places I probably would never go to if it were up to me:

SS (NO)
Momos (NO)

Discovering Electro-house

2007-12-02T03:58:00.000-08:00

I've been a major RnB person, always preferable over house. Now, all thats changed....well not exactly, lol...i won't turn back on my RnB brothers and sisters. But one genre of house, eletronica, aka...electro, aka electronic dance, aka electro-house caught my attention like a naked person streaking through the roads. I can't get enough of it now. But only good songs please as with any genre.

I like this type of genre of house more than others because it feels very rnb ish. It's danceable with slower tempos than typical house. So, yeah catching the beat isn't a problem. Also, the way it plays is very soothing to the ears. And well, I think it has the best chance of all the house genres to go mainstream. I've been listening to DJ antoine, Fedde Le Grande, and a mish mash of different music. I'll definitely consider good electronica dance clubs wherever I go in addition to RnB :)

I've only been seriously searching for electronica music today, and I have enough for a whole cd already! And it's filled with songs that are on par in quality with my rnb cd mixes. I'm seriously impressed! How? Thank goodness for youtube....I just searched around and looked at related videos.

going on my mix tape:
alex gaudino - destination unknown
david vendetta- we play house
olivier giacmotto- volta (robot needs oil)
dj antoinne - work,
always and forever,
arabian adventure 2
fedde le grande -
put your hands up in the air,
the creeps,
let me think about it
vinylshakerz - one night in bangkok
eric prydz - call on me

Rivalries

2007-11-06T19:16:00.000-08:00

Whats with all the rivalries these days? I know, such as?

Bush Vs. Iran
Fiddy(Fifty) Cent vs. Kanye West
Scott Storch vs. Timbaland

Out of all these three, the last two only interest me.

Bush vs. Iran

Someone surely is telling me a joke. It isn't even a contest. Put a 220 pound heavyweight versus a 120 pound lightweight boxer, barring a nut punch, tell me who is going to come out on top? Not worth more than a couple of sentences.

Fiddy v. Kanye

This is definitely one of the slickest rivalries out there today. Who cares if the whole thing is a PR stunt, which it probably is. Kanye produces some really sick records. Almost every song he touches turns out to be a hit. Fiddy, on the other hand, stomps Kanye into the ground based on the all important $ metric. I believe he made something like three times the cash that Kanye made. Who wins? Right now Kanye has better songs, but Fiddy will translate his effort to cash better. And Fiddy creates hot club songs! Fiddy wins!

Scott Storch v. Timbaland

Scott Storch is this geeky white Jewish boy who came from nowhere to create hits like "Candy Shop" and "Just a Lil' Bit" by 50 Cent, "Turn It Up" by Paris Hilton, "Poppin' Them Thangs" by G-Unit, "Let Me Love You" by Mario, "Playa's Only" by R. Kelly (featuring The Game), "Lock U Down" by Mýa, as well as "Naughty Girl"and "Baby Boy", both by Beyoncé .

K, thats a really hot resume.

So what has Timbaland done? "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "All Good Things (Come to an End)" and "Say It Right" by Nelly Furtado, and Justin Timberlake’s "SexyBack", "My Love" and "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around Interlude", The way I are - Keri hilson, DOE.

Timbaland has thrown a couple of punches, uppercuts, even a knockdown. I'd say it's a draw, but Timbaland has the edge due to the sheer hotness of all his recent songs.

Turn it up by paris hilton

2007-10-17T04:05:00.000-07:00

Ooooh....i'm kinda like this song by Paris Hitlon, Turn IT up

It's probably missing something to make it really good, but i dunno. Good enough for me :) The actual cd quality song sounds even better.

Paris Hilton, God forbid I like any more of her songs, but her cd has 3 decent songs. Better than a lot out out there hah........

looking for divine intervention

2007-10-07T05:25:00.001-07:00

Two things:

Looking for a break and no rain tonight. I need a freaking break more though.

Sometimes you'll never know unless you dig further

2007-09-26T23:31:00.000-07:00

I had to admit, when I saw the video "I fell in love with the DJ" by Che'nelle, I thought cool song, definitely a hit. Also I thought she was definitely puerto rican or latino that grew up in Jamaica. Reasonable assumption eh? After all, the whole video looks jamaican, she sings with a reggae accent.

It's a catchy song, further more, its reggae. I think I can count all the current famous reggae singers on one hand, sean paul, Shaggy, Wyclef Jean, Sean Kingston, and now Che'nelle. Some of them have died off in the music world. When I talk about famous, it's that they have really done well world wide.

Guess what....this girl is from Australia, but migrated from Sabah, Malaysia. WTF! It's true check it out:

She's as latino as i am black, and about as reggae as vanilla ice is a rapper. Her real name is Cheryline Lim.....so malaysian!!!! hahah.... But I suppose I don't really care, I still think she's awesome.

Why Avril Lavigne should come to asia (malaysia)

2007-09-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

One word, Avril Lavigne rocks. Well, exclude her name and it's one word...smile. Anyways, recently all I've been seeing on MTVasia is Avril Lavigne and her totally infectious personality despite the artist of the month being James blah (i mean blunt). She's very untypical of most Americans, well even Canadians. She's looks the total opposite of hot for westerners. She's smaller in height and weight. She's more cute than the typical stereotype of a caucasian beauty (tall, blond, big boobs, long legs, etc). Definitely I doubt a lot of Caucasians would even think twice about her if she couldn't sing.

I'll tell you where she'd rock and be fully accepted and have no inklings of insecurity. In Asia! or better yet, Malaysia (ROFL). Girls like her are considered waaaaaay hot in the looks department over here. And she can sing fantastic. Generally I don't consider the typical hot Caucasians to be too attractive, but I would totally dig Avril. Nuff said, visit Malaysia Avril! Gwen Stefani came, and she's also totally the asian-hottie trapped in a caucasian's skin. Everyone loved her and they'll love Avril more i bet.

Life is good if you are a good looking presidential candidate

2007-09-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

Senator Obama currently is running for the democratic candidate spot, and probably one of the better looking candidates. If not that, definitely photogenic. Last week I dropped by the borders at QB mall and Obama was flashing his pearly whites on the cover of GQ magazine.

But with all this publicity, Obama still hasn't done well lately. It seems like Hilary has locked up the majority by a large margin in the polls. In fact intrade is predicting that Hilary clinton will beat obama. Hilary's bet is worth 68, while obama's bet is worth 16.

The way the bets work is that the numbers range from 0-100 and whoever wins gets 100. In the mean time, people pay 68 for the trade and if Clinton gets the nominee, the people can cash their bets in for 100. If Clinton loses, it's worth zero. With Obama at just 16, people obviously think he won't win the nominee. I don't actually bet on who would win, but if you would want to, intrade is the place to place your bets. Intrade seems very accurate with an impressive track history of predicting winners.

So Obama would probably lose, but losers can still be winners.

Hot girls will still want him! Oh yeah, I like the next one better...heh. Obama! gotta represent!

I don't think I'll taste anything better than American Chocolate

2007-09-07T01:58:00.000-07:00

Recently I had some fantastic Ghirardelli Chocolate from the US. I can't remember when the last time I missed something from the US so much. For those that don't know, this is an excellent premium small brand from San Francisco California. Probably the most famous is Hershies, but Ghirardelli has always been my favorite.

US may not do a lot of things well, such as world stuff like Iraq (get a few jabs in), but they do chocolate the best and I've not yet tried anything remotely as good. How good? Well I rarely ever miss anything from the US, except well chocolate. Even the more common el cheapo brands (hershies, snickers, m&m) can't screw up chocolate over there. Why is it then that chocolate brands in Malaysia can't get it as good as the US? Well, probably the simple answer is, most of the chocolates here are from Australia. No, I'm not saying their chocolate is horrible, chocolate from Australia comes in a close second. I'm perfectly happy eating chocolate from Australia. But I wonder all the same, what are they feeding their cows in the US?

Use of the word NOT

2007-08-15T00:04:00.000-07:00

Well we've all heard it before....the word of the use "NOT". For example an employee might disagree, "This is NOT the way." or your boss might yell and berate you "This is NOT a solution".

I can't say it's not a popular way to use the word not in this context (there I go again, using the word NOT). People use it all the time. It's a powerful way to get your point across. Such a popular word, it tends to get overused a lot. To a point where, some people wonder.....what the hell is he saying?

Here's a famous example of abusing the word "NOT". I wonder if anyone who came out of the press interview had any idea of what Woody Austin said after tying Tiger Woods the third day of the PGA championship other than he's unsatisfied.....or NOT satisfied.

Q. Going back to your comment about liking to look players in the eye, would you have liked to have been paired with Tiger today?

WOODY AUSTIN: I said it yesterday. I was upset -- I was disappointed with my bogey and Steve's birdie. I wanted to be in that arena. Like I said, I maybe looked at it as a little bit strange, but I think I have the almost identical personality in a way that he does, in that I want to be right there.

He always says -- what does he always say? He always says, "I want to be in the last group on Sunday." If he wants to be there, and I want to be -- why do I not want to be there? Why would I want to be somewhere else? I want to be there just as much as he does. I don't get why you would want to not be there or be, as you say -- as you always say, are you intimidated by him? I don't get that either. What, are we going to fight? Are we going to get into a fight? Why should I be intimidated?

[I think I just about stared in disbelief when Woody said that line. Absolute butchering. I couldn't make sense of that line at all]

The most annoying small thing around

2007-07-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

Wait I know, you are probably thinking what.....we're living in malaysia. Of course we are gonna have these things around. Definitely I can find more annoying things than these.

Well, usually i'm only mildly annoyed, but lately these things have been buzzing in my ear about 5 am in the morning. That makes it one of the most annoying things around. -.-

When it's NOT ok to kiss trophies.

2007-07-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

If you are a talented and competitive person, you've maybe won a few awards like these:

Or perhaps you are really good, and you might have a whole wall of trophies like these:

Meet Christie Kerr. She just won the latest women's US open. For those who don't know, that is one of the sports' four major tournaments a year, similar to the Tennis grand slam events.

If I won an awesome event like the FIFA world cup, I might actually give the trophy a kiss just like this guy:

Here is Christie giving her trophy a kiss at a lesser golf tournament in 2005. She teaches us when NOT to kiss the trophy.

Do you think she kissed the trophy she won at the US open? Or perhaps more importantly, do you think she knows how to give a good _______?

Two kinds of bosses, Two kinds of employees

2007-06-26T03:04:00.000-07:00

At some point in everyone's life, they've worked for a boss. I have come across many different types of bosses, but there are basically two types I feel. I will call two bosses: Boss A and Boss B.

Also at some point, every boss has different kinds of employees. But they also come in two types, basically Employee A and Employee B.

Think of A and B as opposite ends of the spectrum.

Boss A: This boss genuinely cares about his people. People working under Boss A tend to respect this Boss and do things for him out of respect. Boss A tends to take personal responsibility when things go wrong and either try to solve it himself or try to prevent it from happening again. Problem is Boss A can be seen as weak sometimes.

Boss B: This boss may care about his people, but is never too nice. The only time he really cares if it serves him well. His loyalties lie to people who have shown him loyalty to him over the years and to his bosses. But anyone under him is more or less expendable. Usually thinks highly of himself and his equal ranking peers.

Employee A: This kind of employee is usually loyal to the Boss and looks out for him or her. Employee A usually gets along with Boss A but can be known to get along with Boss B for a limited time. Eventually Boss B and employee A will end up splitting, though time varies from months to much much longer. While it is true Employee A and Boss A may split as well, working for Boss A would not be one of the reasons why they are splitting.

Employee B: This employee is usually loyal to himself. He'll look for better pay, better opportunities, etc. Usually a go getter. Employee B may produce good work, but will neither be loyal to Boss A or Boss B. He won't go out of his way to help out either of the bosses because he doesn't really care.

Now that I've described what kind of bosses and employees are out there. What is the point? Which one is better? Well, one may not be necessarily better than the other, but it helps to be aware of the types out there. Also one day work might get hairy and it might be nothing or it may be time to try something different. Hopefully this information will help put things in perspective.

NBA finals just went from bad to worse

2007-06-15T01:18:00.000-07:00

I just watched the last game of the NBA finals and all I can say is that after 4 games, it was like watching the same thing over again 4 times. How boring is that? Very.

Incredulously, the cavs did nothing to change their gameplay the whole series. But credit the Spurs who's initial gameplan was very good. The cavs needed some major changes. The blame likes in the coach for not doing anything. I can't say Mike Brown was a moron the whole season, but he was for the majority of the playoffs.

If things aren't working, you don't have to know the solution right now, but better work on it and come up with it fast. Sometimes the solution will just pop up in a sort of fortuitous luck. But you need to be observant as things go on around you. I saw two things which I think the cavs could have capitalized on and won at least a few games:

1. Tim Duncan doesn't need to be double teamed if he can be singly defended well. Every time the cavs double team him (which was every game), TD will just pass out to the open man on the outside for an easy three pointer. TD won't win the game on his own. Let him get his shots and make sure the rest don't. The players that were winning the games were Tony Parker and Manu Ginnobli.

2. Lebron James to post up Bowen. Bowen can defend perimeter, but is horrible at post up defense. Lebron is bigger and can easily post him up. If they double team him, then pass it out much like what the spurs were doing.

Filing a missing football report

2007-06-05T00:59:00.000-07:00

Has anyone seen my soccer ball?

It's grey with a black stripe across the middle and two red stripes at the outer ends. It also has two Nike swoosh symbols at both ends of the ball. If you have found him please leave a message at my chatbox or email me. It was last seen at Penang padang polo field rolling around.

There is a RM30 reward for the lost football.

Thank you.

The party night that wasn't

2007-06-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

Yep, this weekend...supposed to be major partying...but alas....it just wasn't happening for our group. Another weekend in the future hopefully. I did go, but went with another group. The group had people from my old school....kinda wierd as they were quite a few years my junior. But ah hell....it's just partying and knows no age boundaries...or is that totally untrue?

This song is nice:

Keyshia cole and pdiddy -- last night

Songs I'm listening to now

2007-05-30T22:54:00.000-07:00

Not that my taste is so great or anything, but here are the latest songs i'm listening to. Give them a try if you haven't heard:

1. Ne-Yo -- Because of you

2. Hilary Duff -- With Love

3. Timberland, Justin T., Nelly F -- Give It To Me

4. Lumidee -- She's like the Wind

Most of them are quite famous except for 4. Most of the songs I listen to are RnB, all kinds: fast, dancy, and sappy. Enjoy!

From out of nowhere .....

2007-05-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

It's been about 5 months into the year. I've been impressed with a lot of movies. Pirates was decent, although not great, better than the second. They did a decent job of closing the trilogy.

But for me, the best movies weren't those big sequel blockbusters such as Pirates or Spiderman. Among the best so far was 300 because it was somewhat novel. The same old can get sometimes boring. That's why I found myself liking it despite some drab parts in the movie.

Every few years an incredibly funny movie comes around that has me rolling around in laughter. Think....Jim Carey movies. Now the most totally unexpected hilarious movie comes in the form of Blades of Glory. Oh I couldn't stop laughing the whole movie. Besides the poor story and some boring parts, the funny moments had me tearing up from laughing. I didn't know what to expect. In the end, I thought it was best movie for my ten bucks so far this year. I went in expecting decent laughs and got way more than I ever thought. I'd just like to add, totally off topic, that the girl in the movie is major cute... :)

When good food can really suck......

2007-05-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

I recently ate at a place with very excellent food, a little place called Lemon Grass. The food is excellent and they have very unique dishes. Could easily be one of the best Thai places I've eaten at in Penang.

Wow the food was really good, but the next day I was suffering from dry throat. Simply put, MSG....Yep they use a lot of it. I would say lose the MSG because very few restaurants use it now a days, especially good ones. They don't need it. Two days later, I'm still still thirsting for more water. Next time I'll order without MSG and see how it goes.

When an aching body feels good

2007-05-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

After a few months of relative sports dormacy, it feels good to kick the football again. Yep, my body aches as expected. I lasted I think 10 min before i started to get winded. And that is without constant running, so I am totally out of shape. heh....Futsal rocks big time. Only problem is finding a group, but i'll be kicking it next weekend as well hopefully...

I guess one would prefer the original football(or soccer). But with Penang's lack of space, fields, logistics of assembling 20 people, futsal definitely has appeal. Also, a smaller field and less people means more people has a chance to get involved in the game. Traditional football or futsal?

Take a guess.....

2007-05-14T23:30:00.000-07:00

Yep this is what I got for mother's day. What did u guys do?

Humanetric's test.

2007-05-06T21:17:00.001-07:00

Today, I took the humantric's test. Awesome way to waste time! heh.

Here's my score:

Your Type is
ESFJ

Extraverted	Sensing	Feeling	Judging
Strength of the preferences %
1	1	25	11

ESFJ type description by D.Keirsey
ESFJ type description by J. Butt

Career Choices for Your Type

Qualitative analysis of your type formula
You are:

slightly expressed extravert
slightly expressed sensing personality
moderately expressed feeling personality
slightly expressed judging personality

Accurately describes me no? haha. dunno if i'm an extravert, but I only got 1% so it's sort of borderline. I guess it is pretty accurate, but most of the scores are sort of just like slightly. So like no opinion. i go either way heh. Hmm...I'm not sure if my personality is very judgmental. But maybe I just keep my judgements inside. so beware =P.

More information about "my type". Not really accurate when applied to me imo. Well for me to be more social, it's more a function of my obligations that I would be more outgoing. Otherwise i'm unsociable....Isn't that just dandy hahah.

Stuff stuff and more stuff

2007-04-29T22:30:00.000-07:00

Today, just random ramblings.

First off, It's raining a lot lately. Even though I couldn't be dryer, I've got this damp and soggy feeling. Haha....Rain does this eh? Such a mood-swinger and kill joy. Well besides that, a friend from my university came all the way from Bangladesh to visit. Well 3 hours isn't that far i guess, but it was good to reminisce. We all kicked it and just goofed around like old times. Ah, a flash back to the good old university days, but only the good haha.

Next, the second movie this year for me to be excited about:

The first was 300. Yep, Spider man 3 coming out real soon. Theaters are gonna be packed!

DSLR is easy mode for photo newbies: battle of the chefs

2007-04-21T12:54:00.000-07:00

Recently, I visited the Penang Battle of the Chefs convention. Excellent opportunity to get some practice shots on food. Truthfully, most of the items the cooks whipped up seemed like crap. Partly, this was because the day I went was the day the "apprentices" competed. I look at the photos today....OMG...they are freaking good. The dishes look so godamn good, a lot beter than I first thought. All I did was autofocus shoot with flash on. DSLR is easy mode for photo dummies......lol wtf?

This is supposed to be the twin towers....Not bad I think...

The photos really make the dishes look good although I didn't think highly of them....for instance, I was thinking what the heck do I do with that prawn... and the last photo, what do I do with that? There isn't much on the plate.

This is the roti making contest...this guy was doing a dance while making roti...OMG hahaha. It was freaking awesome the way this guy making roti...

I thought these lamb chops looked good...in the frying pan....

I thought these dishes were interesting, though if they were served at a restaurant, I'd seriously consider asking for my money back as I would think they are freaking cheap for putting so little on the plate.

Winners from the day before

Then came the light.......

2007-04-03T05:06:00.000-07:00

For a hundred years ( almost 130 i think....) we've been depending on the invention above to light up life around us. Only recently though we've figured out using too many of these little things help cause our electricity bill to run sky high.

The EU recently wants to ban incandescent lightbulbs. Not to mention other countries such as australia are going to do the same.

Sounds great, but what of the other alternatives, namely the flourescent lamp and compact flourescent lamps. The problem these had were that the aesthetic (looks) that were not very appealing. Especially, those large lamps are cumbersome to change and hard to keep.

Even the smaller compact flourescent lamps, aren't all that good to look at. One might say it sticks out like a sore thumb. Imagine putting one of these things in your bed-side lamp.

I've seen the above model two models for a while, but recently light bulb manufacturers have gotten smart and came in with a new generation of compact light bulbs.

Holy cow! A good looking flourescent lamp. Who would have guessed. Looks almost good enough to eat..stick one of these on a sunday cone for april fools. These come in a similar lighting color as the inandescent ones. Furthermore they can fit in the housing of normal light bulbs as they are about the same size.

Also, they are available in Malaysia....

Our family's first good looking flourescent lightbulb :) These 8 watt thingys pump out as much light as 40 watt bulb. who would have thought? Furthermore they last 3 times as long. And the cost to power is 1/4. Only downside is that they are more expensive, but only 1 or 2 times more. The color is a bit different, but still quite nice. It's arguably warmer...

The World Wide Waiiiiiiit

2007-03-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

The broadband over the last week is so damn SLOW makes me want to instantly switch to a new broadband service just to spite tmnet...wimax...other viable alternatives.....when?????

How to be unpopular in any country

2007-03-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

If you ever wanted to get in a fight or insult anybody in any country......ethnic slurs

My perfect apartment....

2007-03-15T00:29:00.000-07:00

NOT! It's impossible to have one. Not when there is renovation going on a few floors above you. Quick I need to borrow those things that airplane ground crew need.....

Reading the Reader's Digest

2007-03-06T16:43:00.000-08:00

Last night I was reading some pretty interesting stuff in the Reader's Digest. Surprising as I usually find things in Reader's Digest pretty boring. I can't put my finger on the exact reason, but when you've got to put in gimmicks in the book like "laughter is the best medicine" so people will get some funnies while reading, something is kind of wrong with the content. I'll just share some excerpts from this months edition that I found interesting.

Antioxidants in pill form don't work or actually may be harmful!

Apparently all those vitamin tablets that ring in billions of dollars in sales such as vitamin C, E and what not don't do anything to help the body and may even be harmful. Antioxidants are meant to neutralize something called free radicals which are produced in a body's chemical reaction. These radicals are linked to a lot of diseases like Alzheimer's, stroke, cancer, etc.

The funny thing is that the pills work fine in the test tube, but not in the human body. There is good news though! The good news is that natural antioxidants such as vegetables and fruits still work as advertised and effectively neutralize free radicals.

Mainly for the guys and girls who are trying to get pregnant and think guys are the problems.

Exercising regularly helps with sperm quality ....big surprise right? Although, apparently wearing tight pants when going to gym lowers testosterone count. I knew it!!! I mean it's just wrong for guys to wear tight pants to any sports....including speedos. There is a reasoning for that now.

Next...spending hours on a bicycle seat may cause impotence. That's it. I'm never gonna ride a bicycle again.

Of course, take all this information with a grain of salt.

Voices from the sounds of sirens? I think not....

2007-03-01T18:57:00.000-08:00

Just finished watching the girls competition for american idol. The girls are really good , but the front runners aren't the sweet kind of sound that leave you thinking of sirens. Old fashioned belters seems to be in vogue this year. Unfortunately they aren't a whitney houston look-a-like, though they do sound just as nice as her. How shallow do I sound? hahah... this isn't american radio idol.

One major hottie is on american idol this year, Antonella Barba. She probably won't get cut even though her singing is sort of bad. After all tv viewers have eyes and surely would like to see more of her in the coming weeks. I guess she would have to sing just average to get far.

Alaina sort of looks like a hotter,younger mariah carey. What do you think? But like Antonella, the buck pretty much stops in the looks department.

Anyways, these days don't get much time to watch american idol. But maybe I would if I had the TV in my room......perish the thought.

From the smoldering ashes.....

2007-02-25T18:43:00.000-08:00

The blog recovers just like a rising fiery phoenix.....ok a little over dramatic. I found something that I wasn't sure was funny or serious....so.....judge it for yourself....=P

ladder theory

Donald Trump = Teddy bear

2006-12-20T01:06:00.000-08:00

The Miss USA ruckus reached an interesting development just today with the boss, Mr. Donald Trump giving the current winner a second chance after firing her. The second chance requires her to go into rehabilitation program.

To recap, Tara Conner or Miss

USA

has been a very naughty girl during the contest and her duties as the winner. The press reported her doing things such as drugs, sleeping around, and underage drinking (drinking age is 21 and over in US).

While I’m not an apprentice fan, I do know that Mr. Donald Trump is infamous for his “You are fired” clause. I also know that he has smacked potential “apprentices” upside the head for years on his popular TV show.

Has Donald gone soft? He’s had no trouble firing some previous Miss USA winners. What makes this one different? Well most of the problems with the current winner seems like behavioral problems “on the job” while the previous firings were for things such as nude photos for magazines and being married with two kids. The previous two firings were for things like lying on your resume. Those winners probably deserved to be fired. It’s like applying for a degree job without a degree.

Perhaps in light of this, the problems are fixable; the problems being drinking and partying like an animal. But sorry, if you do drugs, you are screwed in any job. In Malaysia, you get the death penalty. So, yes I think Donald has gone the way of the big soft teddy bear.

Return of the booty video: Façon Sex

2006-12-11T08:39:00.000-08:00

Every now and then I come across something interesting. If you ever watch Channel V or MTV, sometimes they will play some RnB or Hip Hop videos. And on rarer occasions, some of the videos will show gratuitous “booty.” Americans, more specifically hip hop artists basically invented the “booty video” quite a few years back.

What I mean by booty video is one of those music videos where the rapper looks like he’s partying and surrounded by lots of skimpily clad women. More recently though, these videos have sort of taken a back seat as the hip hop videos have evolved to a more sophisticated genre. For instance, usually now a days, the videos will have the singer hanging with their famous posse, some cameos of famous artists, collaborations, awesome locations, etc.

I can hardly remember the last time I watched a “booty video” done by an artist. R Kelly and Puff daddy did some back a few years ago. I can’t remember their songs. One I do remember is the Thong Song by Sisqo. But that is from the year 2000, really old. It’s a bit rare nowadays.

Ah, but today, I chanced upon this throwback to the old days of booty video done none other than the French! I woulda never guessed the French would be all about the “booty,” they are so sophisticated!

The song is basically saying “move your body... shake your ass... in a matter of sex!!”

It’s kinda catchy!

Woohoo! Most bloggers are women

2006-11-30T23:56:00.000-08:00

Woohoo!….most bloggers are women says the Star newspaper. Well, I added in the “Woohoo” part in. Studies like these go a long way in explaining the blogging world. Besides that, some 74% of bloggers are under the age of 25.

The report also mentioned that politicians’ blogs were somewhat more interesting in Malaysia compared to other asian countries. What makes our politicians so blogolicious? Never mind, I won’t answer that question. I’ll be the first to admit “politely” that we’ve got some …….colorful politicians in Malaysia.

Back to the main point….Woohoo! most bloggers are women. And most of them are of younger age! Not your grandmas and aunties! Ah….but I have to admit if the majority of bloggers were men, I don’t think I’d read their blogs too much. The only exception being that their blogs are really entertaining or if they were really close friends.

Okies…so check out hottest blogger. Go there and get your thrills =D

South African Prison Break!

2006-11-23T16:32:00.000-08:00

Just a few days ago, an inmate by the name of Ananias Mathe broke out of the maximum security prison, “C-Max.” Apparently, he greased himself up with petroleum jelly and slid between the bars and out the window.

He then tied some clothes and bed sheets to serve as a rope and climbed down the prison wall.

A year ago, I probably would have never cared. One guy breaks out in South Africa, so what? I’m in Malaysia. Big …..deal. When I read it, I got intrigued into how he did it. Why? You might have guessed, I faithfully watch prison break. It’s freaking addictive.

People have different opinions on shows they like, but for me prison break takes the cake. Well, to be honest, I initially thought I wouldn’t enjoy watching a show with a bunch of prison inmates trying to get out. Seriously, does that sound really entertaining? Furthermore, no hot girls, except for one and she only appears for a few episodes.

Despite first initial thoughts, the show turned out great. From the intriguing storyline to the colorful characters, I liked almost everything about Prison Break.

I love a good TV series as much as anyone. It’s fantastic producers and tv networks bring shows like these to the public because between watching TV and meeting friends, there isn’t much to do in Penang. Thank goodness for TV shows….

Does Kevin really lose out for divorcing Britney?

2006-11-16T01:34:00.001-08:00

Sometimes things pay off and sometimes they don’t. Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, I think it’s fair to say the divorcing of Britney spears and Kevin Federline is common knowledge.

Kevin seemingly didn’t do a lot to help the marriage. The press reported Kevin partying with strippers and drug usage. Now why the heck would this guy want to put himself in a position to divorce Britney Spears? The wife is pretty hot, she’s rich, and she’s a superstar. Besides that, it seemed pretty clear she was into him. She took a break in her career to have kids with him.

Most guys want girls like her.

Ah, but it’s easy to talk from the outside looking in. How about from the inside looking out? When the wife is the main breadwinner in the family, the husband might feel like he’s under a lot of pressure. That would explain a lot of the divorces out there. For example, take the case of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey or Ryan Phillipe and Reese Witherspoon. Between Kevin and Britney, Britney is the ONLY breadwinner. So, imagine the pressure.

Rationalizing aside, Britney divorced Kevin, and because of the prenuptial agreement Kevin signed, he doesn’t get much of her money in a divorce. Kudos to Britney, she was smart enough to realize things may go downhill and she had much to lose if they did. But apparently when you are famous, prenups only go so far.

Any moron divorcing Britney Spears will walk away with a huge sum of money in some form or another regardless of a prenuptial agreement. If the guy is too stupid to figure out how, surely someone smarter will advise him. All he has to do is ask this question to any person willing to help him: “I just signed a prenuptial agreement. In case of a divorce, how do I get paid???”

So obviously Kevin thought about or at least asked this question. He’s already gotten at least 2 million USD from the MTV series on his marriage to Britney Spears.

Currently I know he revealed two more ways to get paid: custody of the kids and a sex tape of him and Britney. Who knows how many more he’ll reveal?

You can’t lose when marrying Britney Spears.

The Covenant?

2006-11-09T05:05:00.000-08:00

Let me start by saying you might not want to read this if you haven’t watched the covenant. Don’t worry though, I won’t be giving away any spoilers.

Recently I watched The Covenant, a movie about these kids with super powers. It’s a somewhat fun show. Though the movie most likely won’t win any awards, for RM9, at least I thought it was entertaining.

While watching, I had this strange flashback to my younger days of watching Dragon Ball Z. I used to lurve Dragon Ball Z with the powerful characters and the unpredictable storyline. Then it got somewhat boring somewhere at the 200^th or so episode. What show doesn't? It has something like 300+ episodes !! While the Covenant doesn’t have any of the actors with glowing blonde hair, the eyes do change colors and some of the stunts and powers are rather Dragon Ball Z-like.

For me, if the story is mediocre, the action better entertain me for the hour and a half (I know my standards are pretty poor). Thank goodness the movie did that right. Some movies are really horrible at both action and story such as Stormbreaker.

I don’t think I’ll ever take a UK-produced movie seriously again. Stormbreaker had an eye-catching preview, which is why I watched it. It has got to be the most horrible show I've ever seen. The only other UK based movie I’ve seen in the cinemas is DOA. At least that had some pretty fly girls.

I especially liked her. ^^

The action in DOA was a little better than Stormbreaker. In the story department, DOA struck out. No offense to UK citizens or fans, but UK produced movies are out of luck with me in the future.

So back to The Covenant, the movie has something for everyone. It has action for the guys. Also, girls will probably like the male actors in the movie. Unfortunately, there are only few girls in the movie for the guys to see. Overall though, I kinda liked it. I'm easy to please.

Ever thought about buying a medical insurance investment plan?

2006-11-01T07:26:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, I considered buying insurance to cover any medical procedures should anything happen. I do believe basic medical insurance is necessary should anything go wrong. For example if I didn’t have insurance, should I require some minor surgery and hospitalization; a huge chunk of my savings would be gone. Why? I would have requested the best of everything.

The best hospitals…..

The best doctors……….

The best nurses……….

Need I say again that I want the best! I’m going under the knife here. Especially the best nurses…..

With insurance, the hospital cost is minimal, perhaps even nothing at all. This is how I justify the yearly insurance premiums.

So recently I realized that I wanted to buy insurance as I’m on my own now. Thus I contacted my local insurance agent, my mum’s friend. Well actually she contacted me. It’s amazing how quickly top insurance agents can track a potential new customer.

She worked out a “ insurance/investment plan” for me. Note that this is different from buying insurance and renewing it yearly. To sum it up, starting at age of 26,I would be paying RM1950 per year for about 20 years. After that 20 years, I wouldn’t need to pay any more (in theory) and I would be insured until 70. The total cost would be RM39000 over my lifetime. I also enquired about the normal type of insurance which would be close to around RM80000. The coverage would start from age 26 until age 70 and the features were almost exactly the same. Hmm…well, I feel any “plan” warrants a bit of investigation. Should I pay for the plan or the normal insurance? Heck, this is a big amount.

On the surface, it seems like the plan was the best way to go since it seemed half the price of the normal insurance. But to check I ran some computations in excel with the GH350 health one premium rates at the Pan Global Insurance. First I added the total premiums I would be paying until I was 70. Second I calculated how much I would earn after saving RM1950 per year for 20 years with an interest rate of 3% (hypothetical rate. FD is 4% right now) until the age of 70. Finally, I compared the total premiums (RM79000) versus the amount of money I would have in FD (RM117,000).

As you can see, subtract RM79,000 from RM117,000 and RM38,000 is what you get left in the account allocated for insurance. Seems like not a bad return doing things yourself, but wait. Now, using the previous as a model, let's look at a more thorough analysis. I only save the balance left after paying premiums (RM1950-premium costs) yearly and varied the interest rate between 2% and 4.5%. There is a large discrepancy. At 2%, I would be under funded by RM29000 and at 4.5% I’d be over funded by RM12000 by the age of 70. When I say underfunded, it means that I've got to top up the account. For over funded, it means I've got an extra amount in there. Let me point out, although this is a better analysis than the original model; there is only so much one can do. In real life, a lot of things can happen differently.

The one thing I don’t like about these “investment/insurance plans”, is that the insurance companies have a way out. Say a policy is under funded. Then I’ve got to pay the insurance company to make up the difference or I’m off the plan. Also by the time I hit age 70, a big chunk of the extra money will be used to pay other “fees” such as administration, commissions, etc.

On the other hand, paid professionals do manage the insurance and take care of all the hassle. And most probably will do a good job – keeping my fingers crossed. Putting money in others’ hands always involves a certain degree of risk as you trust this person not to screw it up.

One more thing to mention, paying normal medical insurance versus the “investment/insurance” plans seem a lot more expensive, but over time and depending on the annual return rate it’s different. For my "investment/insurance" plan, a poor rate of 2% will under fund my insurance policy by RM29,000, while an excellent return rate of 8% will still under fund my policy RM9449. To reiterate, using my detailed model (basically a do it yourself plan), at 2% I get a RM29000 underfunding, but at 4.5%, I over fund my policy by RM12000. Using this comparison, the do it yourself method and buy the normal yearly insurance sounds a lot better than going for the "investment/insurance" plan. Of course this is theory, and doing the money management is harder than it looks.

Looking at how insurance is such an expensive purchase; I hope someone finds my post useful. In ending, I’ve got to put a disclaimer. These are my own findings and others might have different conclusions. Use this information at your own risk. If there are any questions, email me at leonsllt@yahoo.com or feel free to post comments on this article.

Obese Malaysians

2006-10-27T05:45:00.000-07:00

Today, I remembered something in the newspaper I read last week. Sometimes, I have to recall from the recesses of my memory new topics to blog about. Anyhow, the big subject was Malaysians were getting too obese.

Now, I’m thinking, wait a minute. Compared to other societies, especially Americans, are we really that bad off? Certainly we don’t see a lot of Malaysians as fat as this guy.

Still, generalizing based on personal observations, isn’t a great idea. So let’s look at the food Malaysians typically eat compared to food that Americans eat. I’ll list down a few fat related facts from the Men’s Health Magazine August 2004. In this edition, Men’s Health did a study on the nutrition of local food.

I'll compare the local food to the famous McDonald's burger: the Big Mac

For the above, the Big Mac comes in the lowest in calories, among the lowest in fat, and tied for the lowest in cholesterol. In one oustanding case, Char Koay Teow has 4x the amount of cholesterol than in a single Big Mac.

Looking at these facts, one has to conclude we are in a “Stealth” obese society. Heck, Malaysian food doesn’t look fat, I'd probably never guess in my wildest dreams that the Big Mac is healthier than all of the above 5 foods. At least when US people get fat, they know as they hock down steaks, burgers, and what not. These are pretty massive pieces of food they consume.

Here in Malaysia, a couple of plates of Char Koay Teow or Mee Goreng per week, and before you know it; you’ll hit the obese category.

The New Yahoo! Mail Beta

2006-10-22T21:19:00.000-07:00

Last week, I started to use the New Yahoo! Mail Beta. But previously I used something like this:

I know. Why am I sticking with Yahoo, while I could go use Gmail? It definitely puts yahoo mail to shame. Something about Yahoo, I just can’t simply change to Gmail or another base. Or maybe I’m too lazy to shift my main email address.

Anyhow, for those who haven’t tried the New Yahoo! Mail Beta, it’s a sexy looking site.

Well, not exactly sexy in that way, nevertheless, pretty attractive for a web based email. Overall, it’s rather intuitive, especially for outlook users, and for the first time deleting emails doesn’t require checking off and deleting. Just highlight the mail and press the delete key on the keyboard. I don’t know if web mail companies realize this, the old style of checking the box requires a lot of tedious hand to eye coordination.

From what I know, the New Yahoo Beta mail has been in beta for a few months. Initially, some of the reviews said that it was very slow. In the current version, the speed is acceptable, although this depends on the individual’s tolerance. That said, Yahoo Beta mail has good features. And it’s nice enough to overshadow the loading speed for me. Those with slower internet connections, I have no idea how slow it is and thus might have a different opinion of the web-mail.

Richard Branson

2006-10-16T04:12:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting conversation with Timothy this past weekend. This involves Mr. Richard Branson, the founder of all that is Virgin. Mr. Branson is Stewie’s most inspirational business hero. The ultimate poster boy of entrepreneurs, this man has been through all depths of hell in the business world and has lived to tell about it. In fact he’s thriving like a plant on “super-gro” fertilizer.

Before I read about Sir Richard Branson, I thought that he was a rather normal businessman. Stereotypically thinking, I presumed that his character was similar to other rich people such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, etc. Of course he never did fit that mold. When I finished reading about him, the book destroyed any preconceptions I had.

Let me digress and point out the motivation for entrepreneurship. People sometimes say “I’m doing business for entrepreneurial glory and because I love doing it.” Don’t pay too much attention to that. People do it for the money. It’s the same anywhere, sports, music, etc. In the end, it’s all about the Benjamin’s – the faces on the US dollar. Or in the case of Malaysia, the Zetis – the faces on the RM note. Anyone who says otherwise is lying through his or her teeth. No offense. So anytime someone appears on MTV or Channel V saying “I’m doing singing for the love of music,” just replace music with money; and you’ll have an accurate statement.

As interesting as Branson’s story is, the average person will have trouble following in his footsteps to entrepreneur riches. This man is like an athlete who has some insane talent. Think of the Wayne Rooneys, the Michael Jordans, etc. The truth is most people will never have that kind of talent, so most people can never expect to become fantastic entrepreneurs in the mold of Richard Branson. So what is Richard Branson’s entrepreneurship style? It took me a while to come up with this term, I’ll call it “Run and Gun” entrepreneurism.

So, “Run and Gun” entrepreneurism, exactly why do I say it like that? After reading Branson’s book, How I lost my Virginity, I had this feeling of the wild wild west shoot-em-up movies. A few survive, but most end up dead. People will disagree, but I feel Branson is a bit like this in his book. It’s one of those too good to be true stories. So, Branson is insanely good, lucky, or he told a damn good story. Speculation aside on the accuracy of his autobiography, I believe he’s insanely good. I can’t really argue with his results.

Sometimes, I believe people read this story and immediately say “holy shit, I wanna be just like that guy.” Hopefully, they’ll calm down and realize that jumping into the fighting ring with a guy 5 times your size without a well-planned strategy doesn’t sound like a good idea. I lost count how many times Branson has almost went bust. Surprisingly, he always managed to come back. Most people fall down and never get back up.

Hazy Days

2006-10-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

These days newspapers have been calling out

Indonesia

for the haze. Unfortunately, it seems like

Indonesia

is doing very little. Without a doubt, everyone would like this problem solved. We long for haze-free days.

So thinking positively, I’m offering some solutions. If you can't beat it, make the best of it!

1) Lower the alcohol tax. By lowering this tax, people get will consume more alcohol and forget about the haze. When people are drinking, they tend to forget what kind of air they are breathing.

2) Scream at Indonesia more. Yes, nagging at someone to fix the problem would definitely help, though unfortunately that person might start to resent you. But hey, it gets results. It’s not like they haven’t heard the protests before, or have they?

3) Give a RM15 subsidy for cover charge at clubs. When people are partying, they tend to forget all their problems. In ancient Rome, having big sporting events such as gladiators was a common strategy to keep the masses appeased. So it’s a no brainer that people would take their minds off the haze if their attention was elsewhere.

4) Add the playboy channel to Astro. By adding Playboy to TV channels, people will be less reminded of the haze problem. They will be watching girls skimp around with no clothes on. Usually, people can think only one thought at a time. Certainly they won’t be thinking haze and girls skimping around at the same time.

5) Declare hazy days a national holiday. People happily look forward to hazy days now that they get an off day. What better way to soothe the anger of the public than to have more holidays?

True thse are not real solutions, but what can the common citizen do? So, in ending, I would like to share with you some words from the famous Bob Marley.

“In every life we have some trouble,
when you worry you make it double
don't worry, be happy”

It’s the rainy season

2006-10-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

Yes folks, it’s that time of year. I remember it being not so bad the last few years. These days, it seems like the rain just won’t go away. It dampens my spirits. That’s why my blogging has slowed down. Alright, no excuses, I’ve just been plain lazy. Sorry! Heh.

This being the rainy season, it looks to be continuing for quite some time. Thus I have to come up with things to do. Or else, I’ll just be downright depressed. And if anyone else is bored, yeah you can borrow mine! Don’t need to think, just read.

Read past issues of my blog. I’ve got some pretty girls and nice cars. Why not? I admit, though that its a wee bit of a narcasisstic suggestion. smile.

Look at other people’s blog. timothytiah.blogspot.com. www.smashpop.net.

Web – www.friendster.com. This is the most popular Malaysian website as rated by www.alexa.com. Isn’t a rainy day the perfect time to go and be kaypo on what everyone else is doing? With up notifications of any alterations to the friendster profile, no change goes unnoticed.

Web – www.youtube.com. If you ever wanted to watch random videos that people put up.

Web – ahmoi.bluehyppo.com. This is a site which I just found out about. It’s pretty nifty. If you haven’t done so, check it out. Tip: Use the search, then it’s smooth sailing.

Sleep. No comment here. I’m thinking this is for rain or shine.

Complete things that have been procrastinating for a long, long time.

Read.

For the girls, since I’m not one, I pulled these ideas off some girls’ suggestions in a forum:

Handicraft: Fingerpaint, Knit,
Bake cakes
Write a journal.
Clean out stuff.
Organize closets and cabinets.
Watch a DVD series (sex in the city, etc.)

Ok, there you have it. Now may your rainy days hopefully be a bit less boring!

The super cars

2006-09-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

I was thinking today, wouldn’t it be nice to drive a Ferrari just for a day.

Then the next weekend switch to a Lamborghini?

And why not a Bentley the following week?

Yes, I’m dreaming, but I came across this club/company which brings a dream like this to reality. www.clubsportiva.com. For a year’s membership of $12,495 USD, you get 21 weekend days of drive time. You could be driving a Ferrari almost every other weekend for one day a week. How sweet would that be?

Unfortunately it is not available in Malaysia, so looks like buying is the only way. So, imagine pulling up to the local hawker stall in a Ferrari. Or driving around town with the top down and cruising…the coastal highway. I guess driving in Penang isn't all that cool, but all the same, I'd still lurve the opportunity.

Now, dreams aside, is it worth buying in the first place, assuming of course, you had the money? I think it would. Although it would depreciate like mad, and in that sense wouldn't be worth it; it’s the concept of owning one that is priceless.

How often to people get to own one of these super cars? Even in the “richer” western countries, the answer is not so often. The average person will never get to own, let alone drive one.

And then, there is what I call, “the drool factor”. People see these cars and drool. The car could be 10, even 15 years old, and they would still have trouble finding the strength to pull up their lower lip. And as much as I hate to admit, I think I would get a kick out of all the attention, assuming I owned one. I'm not going to kid myself. I would defnitely prefer “OMG that’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen” or “OMG a Mother #@#$ Ferrari in Mother #@#$# Penang” to something like "oh that’s a really nice looking civic/bmw/benz you’ve got.”

And finally, 10-15 years after the car has been sold off, repossessed, or scrapped; would I have any regrets? Heaven forbid if it is scrapped because I think I would cry. So, back to the initial thought, I seriously doubt it unless my finances are wrecked. I just would lurve one of these babies.

Excuse me Ms. Angelina Jolie

2006-09-20T15:42:00.000-07:00

Every now and then, I like to read up on latest gossip and news in the entertainment news. And for those that are a familiar with recent events in Hollywood, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are a juicy topic. So, I read up on the latest gossip on them both.

I about fell off my chair while reading the entry. Angelina Jolie recently confessed that she requested a “female server only” at a restaurant recently. Her reasoning behind this? She’s tired of being gawked at by men.

I know, I know… it’s so tiresome to be beautiful. I often find myself complaining, “Why can’t men just get over my amazingly svelte body? Why do my lips have to be perfectly pouty? And these perky breasts, they’re such a curse! A curse, I tell you!”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not laughing at that she seems full of herself. She’s very hot. In fact, to no end, I’m sure she gets stared at. At the same time, it’s nothing out of the ordinary that guys look at hot girls all the time. That’s life for a hot chick. It’s both curse and a blessing.

Who am I kidding? The benefits definitely outweigh the costs. What girl wouldn’t want to be as hot as Angelina Jolie or other hot babes such as Jessica Alba or Kate Beckinsdale? I just had to add those two in. Grin.

So what if a few people stare? It sure beats being ugly, correct? Beautiful people get all the advantages in life. They get the favorable first impressions, they get the fantastic social life, and they get the benefit of the doubt. Sure they might get stalker or two and might feel a tad weird when people gawk, but what’s that compared to having life easy and all the things that come with being a hot girl?

Girls if you are beautiful and you know it, stand out and be checked out proudly. Don’t cover up and hide yourself. Be seen out and about. Wear the hottest and skimpiest clothing; make it easy for the world to know. Not everyone gets to be as beautiful as you. If nothing else, do it to convince Angelina Jolie to eat her words and see that beauty is a blessing and not a curse.

I’m totally serioussssss.