sixthseal.com

Sibu 96000

I'm in Sibu right now. I totally forgot about the long Labor Day weekend and just booked my tickets at 10:30 am today and the only available flight was at 2:20 pm so I decided to take a break and get some R&R back home...hook up with my gf, visit my family, and get some righteous pharmaceuticals...not necessarily in that order... ;)

I'm kidding!

Though the ampoules (the contents of which will remain unnamed for now, but will be reviewed soon - and don't comment about the significance of the word ampoule for those in the know, for Christ's sake :p) I just took was real good. Real good. :)

I'm going to nod now...

Posted in Sibu by Huai Bin at 11:10 PM Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBack

Water slide for shit

A lot of people understandably don't shit directly above the water receptacle due to the "splash factor". We usually aim upstream, so to speak, to avoid public use toilet water from splashing on our ass cheeks (or worse, into the actual hole itself).

This practice seems to be widespread, as this water slide show. We'll deliver your shit straight down, so it won't stain the bowl! The wonders of modern sanitation engineering! ;)

It seems that my logs are a bit too much for the water slide to manage though coz it just stuck there.

It should have followed the laws of physics and the dynamics of water and slid right down, but it didn't.

I guess that says a lot about my diet. ;)

Posted in Hmm... by Huai Bin at 01:58 PM Permalink | Comments (62) | TrackBack

Viagra (sildenafil tablets) vs. Cialis (tadalafil tablets)

Viagra (sildenafil) is very well known as a first line treatment for Erectile Dysfunction (ED). Cialis (tadalafil) debuted a couple of years after the release of Viagra and is considered the second generation of PDE5 inhibitors. I managed to get these sweet, sweet pharmaceutical sample packs in pristine packaging (and with the pharmaceuticals still valid for consumption to boot!) from as a gift from a good friend who prefers to remain anonymous. Thanks R! =D

Viagra (sildenafil citrate)

This is the promotional sample pack of Viagra from Pfizer. This is the product that gave Pfizer a long dominance on the lucrative ED market...and in pharmaceuticals, that is one hell of a long head start. ED used to be called "impotence" but that term had certain connotations that challenged the male ego, so medical professionals dubbed it Erectile Dysfunction (ED) instead, which sat better with XY chromosomes, as it doesn't have any negative implications and/or references regarding performance (or rather the lack thereof ;)) and pushes it into the realm of clinical legitimacy. ;)

Viagra (sildenafil tablets) debuted as the first clinical treatment approved by the FDA for ED and put the brand name Viagra into a household name and made Pfizer millions from "The Little Blue Pill". Viagra is the pharmaceutical blockbuster that every pharmaceutical company wishes they own the patent to. :) The promotional sample pack by Pfizer (it's meant for medical practitioners to prescribe to qualified patients for free trial use to see how the subject tolerates this particular medication) contains four (4) of the familiar diamond shaped blue Viagra pills in nice packaging and the Pfizer logo on it.

Here's a closer look at the Pfizer Viagra promotional packs - the four blister packs contains a diamond tablet of Viagra (sildenafil) 50 mg in each solid cocoon. It doesn't have the "Sample - Not for Sale" stamp, so experience tells me that it either came from the "diverted pharmaceuticals" (a catch-all euphemism) market, or the person who sourced it has really good pharmaceutical industry connections. I'm going for the latter since this generous friend of mine gets a lot of pharmaceutical products.

The back of the blister pack contains the highly acclaimed VIAGRA brand name in bold blue font. The lettering beneath states the dose and the generic name - "50 mg SILDENAFIL TABLETS", and the Pfizer logo dominates the rest of the real estate. There is also text that reads PM81401 on the foil. The batch number is located on the bottom and the expiry date (10/2005) is listed. It's still good. ;)

Each Viagra tablet has VGR 50 imprinted into the front of each diamond shaped pill.

The Viagra tablets are also adorned with the Pfizer pharmaceuticals company logo at the back of the blue pill.

Cialis (tadalafil)

Cialis came in late into the ED game but the Lilly marketing machine worked overtime to make this a bestseller. Cialis was promoted as better alternative to Viagra due to tadalafil being effective for 36 hours after the initial dose...which was a major issue Viagra users experienced - time dependant dosing. The 36-hour Cialis Difference was coined then, and it was publicized as a relatively safe ED medication which works up to36 hours and absorption is not significantly affected by food. It was a breakthrough! Middle aged men everywhere rejoiced as they realized that they could just innocently pop a Cialis tablet a day without having to carry a Viagra tablet around "just in case" they get some on a date. ;)

The Cialis pharmaceutical promotional pack contains 2 x 20 mg Cialis. I'm not sure what to call the blister pack sealed doses - are they pills? Tablets? Capsules? It looks like...a fruit of some sort. The tablet design is unique - there is a large rounded base tapering off to a tip. The front of the pack contains the lot number as well as the expiry date (DEC/2006) - it's still good. ;)

The back of the Cialis blister pack is nicely decorated - there's the Cialis brand name with the generic names listed below in different languages - tadalafil, tadalafilli and tadalafilo. The 20 mg per capsule dosage indication is visible and the Eli Lilly logo is watermarked at the bottom.

Here's a closer look at the Cialis pills - it's certainly different. The Lilly Cialis pills are orange in color and have no markings on the front.

The back of the strangely designed Cialis pill is imprinted with a stylized C 20.

I'm keeping the Viagra and Cialis packs for my collection. There is a common misconception that ED medications are aphrodisiacs (e.g. they can induce sexual activity). They're not, the pharmacological mechanism does not involve sexual arousal. It won't turn you on...and most of you already know that. It's just a pet peeve of mine when people says it does. Methamphetamine is an indirect aphrodisiac. Viagra and Cialis are not.

I don't consider Viagra and Cialis to be recreational per se, but I'll probably try some and write a report on it. I have to say that my chemical of comparison would be methamphetamine though, so don't expect raving reviews from me. ;) I'll like to give it a go though, just for fun.

Except I can't bring myself to eat them, they're packaged so nicely by the pharmaceutical companies!

Posted in Pharmaceuticals by Huai Bin at 08:04 PM Permalink | Comments (34) | TrackBack

Cigarettes from Langkawi in the mail!

I received a Pos Malaysia Pos Ekspres (Next Day Delivery) package in the mail today from Mr. Lim in Langkawi. He was kind enough to send me cigarettes for review purposes. Thanks Mr. Lim! :)

I was puzzled regarding the initial content of the packaging at first (having been on the receiving end of several items of *cough* dubious nature in the past) but since it did not come with an entourage of police, I decided it was safe to open the package up. ;)

Peel - Menthol Orange and Fisher Lights are two of the cigarettes that Mr. Lim sent me. He's also the distributor of DJ Mix cigarettes in Malaysia and can be contacted at limmalaysia@gmail.com [gmail.com] for the people who're interested in obtaining the entire DJ Mix range of cigarettes. He has a real brick and mortar shop in Langkawi and has sold the DJ Mix line to people overseas and inside Malaysia from the sixthseal.com comment queries in the past.

...and no, Mr. Lim, there's no commission for this. sixthseal.com is a pure community oriented site. :)

P/S - Future new cigarettes for review purposes would be much appreciated though. ;)

Legal disclaimer: sixthseal.com cannot be held legally responsible for third party transactions.

Posted in Ethanol and tobacco by Huai Bin at 04:49 PM Permalink | Comments (17) | TrackBack

Cha soba (Green tea noodles)

Cha soba is a green tea noodle dish served cold (chilled). There is a side of noodles, a dish containing fresh spring onions and wasabi, as well as sauce.

Here's a close-up of the soba noodles. Soba is made from buckwheat flour and green tea powder is added to the mixture to make the noodles look green. It comes with nori (dried seaweed).

I like to eat cha soba by just mixing everything together to form a chilled noodle mix. :)

Just add a couple of side dishes...

...and you're set for the perfect meal. Zen...

Posted in Food by Huai Bin at 09:37 AM Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBack

Pomegranate Blueberry by The Coffee Bean

The Coffee Bean chain has come out with a new drink...a fusion of two different fruits – pomegranate and blueberry (color coded for your convenience too ;)).

Pomegranate Blueberry comes in two varieties - ice blended (cold) and tea latte (hot). The new ad campaigns has two nice tag lines too - "Pucker up for anti-oxidants" and "What good fruits become in their next life".

We both went for the Pomegranate Blueberry Ice Blended (RM 11.50) - here's a shot of the blended fruit fusion in The Coffee Bean's blender. I had pomegranate [sixthseal.com] and wrote about it before in a previous post.

Here is The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf's implementation of Ice Blended Pomegranate Blueberry in all its glory!

It tastes wonderful...the two flavors complement each other nicely for a refreshing ice blended drink - catch it while it lasts at your nearest Coffee Bean (and Tea Leaf)! ;)

Posted in Fast Food Inc. by Huai Bin at 09:58 AM Permalink | Comments (8)

420 at 4:20 on 4/20

Year: 2005
Date: 4/20 (20th of April)
Time: 4:20 pm

Total: 20 grams

Personal share: 10 grams

Packaging: Plasic baggie double wrap

Substance: Cannabis

Usage: Consumed (made into a joint to be smoked and inhaled)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 04:20 PM Permalink | Comments (50) | TrackBack

Malaysian canteen style BLT sandwich

Behold! I present to you Malaysia's very own BLT sandwich, available not only in most office and school canteens, but in lower end bakeries as well. It differs from the classic BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato) of other countries due to the premium nature of bacon over here, so the B is substituted by (more) BREAD. Our very own variant also has TUNA mix in lieu of TOMATO sometimes.

I've been eating canteen food for the past few days, and the only thing I enjoy is this caramel tasting kueh made with lots of Gula Melaka. It has a very chewy texture. Hey, at least it beats the canteen's "BLT" sandwich any day. ;)

Posted in Local food by Huai Bin at 09:02 AM Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBack

Panorama view of Kuching in the morning

Here's a panoramic view of Kuching taken this morning as I was driving to work. It's shot from the Petra Jaya overpass just before the toll station from across the river. I used Panorama Assist in scene mode and the Nikon Picture Perfect software to stitch the four individual images that I took. The nice thing about the Panorama Assist mode is the translucent overlay of the previous image that was taken to be used as a guide for the next panoramic shot.

This is Kuching in the morning...welcome to our city. :)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:32 AM Permalink | Comments (29) | TrackBack

Memories Grand Cafe

Memories Cafe (or Memories Grand Cafe, Grand Memories Cafe) is an old eating establishment located along the old part of town. The signboard looks weathered and faded, and this adds to the charm of this themed restaurant.

Memories Cafe has an interior designed to look like a blast to the past, back to the good old diners of the 60's. There are various decors and posters from the past to immerse the customer in the ambience of the good old days.

Diner style seating arrangements is also available on one side of the place - Memories Cafe seems to attract a wide range of clientele - the cafe was partially full when we were there for lunch and people from all walks of life (there's the cliche again ;)) comes in.

Check out the posters mounted on the walls - Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Sound of Music, a Beatles poster...man, this place is old skool...

I had The Memories Blended Ice (RM 8.50) for the drink. It was so good; I ordered another one as dessert. ;) It contains "espresso, mocha powder blended with ice & milk, topped with whipped cream". There are other themed drinks such as "The Elvis Blended Ice" and "The Marilyn Blended Ice", but they're just variants of ice blended coffee.

The main course consisted of The Big Texas (RM 15.90), which the waiter recommended. It's the cafe's flagship burger and it's huge! It comes in either beef or pork options and I went for the pork. The description of it goes "BBQ burger served with beef bacon, cheese slice, tomato, cucumber, onion, tomato sauce and pork/chicken patty". It's served with crinkle fries on the side.

Here's a closer look at "The Big Texas" - check out the crispy bacon and the generous patty (steak cut would be a better description for the portion) of tender and juicy pork chunk topped with melted cheese. Mmm...

I went there for lunch with Karen over the weekend, who's a friend of a couple of my co-workers, to discuss about insurance with investment options. She just ordered drinks coz she had already eaten. We were there for nearly two hours and still felt welcome by the staff, despite our extended visit.

I never knew that Memories Cafe had such a vibrant group of customers - it always looks empty and dilapidated from the outside. .but I know better now. It's one of the best kept secrets in town. It has good food and attentive service at reasonable prices. Memories Grand Cafe will surprise you if you haven't been there before - check it out.

Posted in Food reviews by Huai Bin at 09:42 AM Permalink | Comments (20) | TrackBack

sixthseal.com 3rd Birthday!

sixthseal.com has been leading the wild into the ways of the man for three years and counting! :)

This blog has been around for nearly 1/3 of a decade. Oh, and doesn't switching the chronological measurement units make it sound all the more impressive? ;) I'm in this for the long run...tomorrow will be the premier of the fourth season of sixthseal.com - a big thank you goes out to everyone who has been with me for the past three years! Hola!

The words of encouragement and support despite my numerous shortcomings and constant relapses means a lot to me...it shows me that no matter how bad I fuck up, there will still be friends there to help me. People like you make me think that maybe the world is not that bad after all. I know I don't reply my emails as often as I should but I want everyone to know that I read every single one of them and it's nice to know that you care. I love you all.

I have been blogging for three years now, and it always brings me down a nostalgic memory lane to see what I've been doing for the past few years. I was a university student in Melbourne, Australia when I started sixthseal.com. I worked as a programmer with XM Malaysia in KL after I graduated, and I arrived in Kuching to be the system engineer for Huygens Asia after that. I'm still with Huygens Asia, and have been since I moved from KL to Kuching.

The past year of sixthseal.com has been interesting...the blog started receiving a lot of publicity, and that has resulted in many situations where people stopped me in town and asked if I'm the "sixthseal.com guy". It's nice to be able to meet new people from different walks of life through an online weblog...I'm glad I managed to bump into readers outside - it brings a more personal touch to blogging. :)

It seems to be a strange coincidence that sixthseal.com happens to change a different digicam each year - my trusty Nikon 5700 was replaced by the more compact 7.1 MP Nikon 7900 [sixthseal.com]. The mobile solutions for updating anytime and anywhere in the world have also been realized this year, with the purchase of a capable notebook equipped with Wi-Fi and CAT-5 network sockets. The connectivity has depended on mainly GSM cell phone GPRS/EDGE networks using IrDA or Bluetooth.

The purchase of an iPAQ hx4700 also allowed Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and IrDA connectivity modes, with ample dual memory slots (SD-Card and CF-Card). The Pocket PC running Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition ensures that sixthseal.com is just a fingertip away and allows the replying of comments without lugging around a notebook. The pocket able iPAQ has been very useful in comment management. The connectivity is provided by a SE K700i with Bluetooth and IrDA ports [sixthseal.com].

This year also witnessed several sixthseal.com expansion and diversification efforts. There was a supernova in the sixthseal.com universe which resulted in an aggressive push in domain name acquisition. LimTeh.com [limteh.com] was registered on the 1st of February 2005 to be used as the "official" sixthseal.com forum. It has been planned out to be a self sustaining operation and thanks to the help of the moderators team - BIG D, Vertigo, PatrickISU, Swedish-Chef, Lainie, kisps, deadbill, sweety, justine, Astrum, Dear Sergio, shanks, chemist_tip, simplicity, *Limo*, Skwermy and jadephoenix; the LimTeh.com forum has been running smoothly. Let's hear a big one for the LimTeh.com moderator team for helping out! Cheers!

The sixhseal.com conglomeration of sites also added two new domains to the family - tiuniama.com [tiuniama.com] and tiuniamachowhai.com [tiuniamachowhai.com] on the 29th of March 2005. The two mirror domains are meant as a sociological experimental catch-all for trolls. The other domain acquisitions made this year includes sixthseal.info and louisalee.info, which would not be used to avoid diluting the main blog's name. Another little known fact is that the LimTeh.com forum is also associated with limteh.net, limteh.org and limteh.biz domains, although it's not recommended for use or book marking as I only plan to maintain the .com domain.

The "Holy Trinity" of .com, .net and .org was also acquired for sixthseal.com - it all redirects to the main premium sixthseal.com blog. The .net and .org domains was registered on the 9th of April, 2005. The domain name MalaysianBlogs.com [malaysianblogs.com] was also registered on the same date - it's going to be a portal of Malaysian based or owned blogs, a directory of sorts. I haven't gotten that project up and running yet, but it's going to be fully automated - so bloggers can just add their own sites into the relevant categories. SarawakBlog.com and SarawakBlogs.com was also registered on the same date but those two are going to remain dormant till I find an application for it.

The sixthseal.com group of sites also witnessed a downsizing exercise, with castitas.com [castitas.com] shut down for good on the 17th of September, 2004. castitas.com will no longer be updated. However, the domain name is still going to be maintained and all the previous posts will be kept as a historical archive. The first drug blog in Malaysia has been forced to be discontinued due to various reasons. If veritas decides to post again, it will be at sixthseal.com, not at castitas.com - future castitas.com content will be absorbed into the main sixthseal.com blog from now on.

The pengsan.com [pengsan.com] assignment outsourcing service has also ceased to operate due to logistical and human resource issues and the associated pengsan.com twin blog [pengsan.com] about substance use problems is going be suspended indefinitely. The decision is aimed at streamlining the sixthseal.com universe to allow more time to be spent on the main blog. The past year has also been hard on a personal basis due to escalating substance dependency issues, in regards to excessive and dangerous methamphetamine binges. My struggle with methamphetamine use will hopefully be contained before the 5th anniversary of the blog comes by. :)

There were six main events during the third year of sixthseal.com that were directly responsible for creating greater awareness about this blog:

1. The MAC Red Ribbon Media Awards (RRMA '04) held at Mandarin Oriental, KL

I was honored when Ely Azyze from MAC informed me that my entry on Guide to HIV Testing in Malaysia [sixthseal.com] won the main award for creating HIV awareness in the new category of Non-Traditional Media (Blogs). It was an all expenses paid trip, including the stay at Mandarin Oriental, courtesy of DaimlerChrysler.

I was actually flabbergasted that I got the main award coz if you remember, the post has a link to another post regarding methamphetamine in castitas.com and the Red Ribbon Gala Dinner 2004 [sixthseal.com] had the Prime Minister of Malaysia YAB Dato Seri Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi, the ex-Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir and MAC president and daughter of Dr. Mahathir, Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir in attendance.

Thanks to Ely Azyze and the staff at MAC who made this happen! :)

2. sixthseal.com in The Sunday Times, Singapore

The biggest newspaper in Singapore, The Straits Times, came out with a front page blurb with another full page pull-out inner insert bearing the title "Drug dealers with stethoscopes?" on the Sunday issue of their publication - The Sunday Times, on the 20th of June, 2004.

This is the only newspaper in Singapore - the other one is considered a tabloid. Thus, I was surprised when one of my readers in Singapore emailed me to inform me that sixthseal.com has been mentioned in a drug related article of their national newspaper.

The full page printed paper and online article talks about doctor shopping and the moral and professional judgments GPs have to make on a patient-by-patient basis on whether benzodiazepine therapy can be justified in patients fitting the monograph indication and also goes into the exploits (I prefer the term "working the system" ;)) of doctor shoppers such as myself. It paints a picture of a Singapore that seems to portray doctors apparently forcing benzos on their patients and mentions that:

"But the practice continues, and not just in Singapore. There are Internet chatrooms - like weblog sixthseal.com - where addicts share their favourite drug recipes and experiences."

I think this is the first time the blog made it into a foreign paper.

I remember writing a long rebuttal letter to the author to let our side (doctor shoppers) explain and raised the issue of sensationalism by getting a stereotypical "junkie" like "Micheal" (if he even exists), instead of attempting to maintain journalistic integrity and interview a more realistic representation of the substance users of today - young, well-paid professionals with respected careers.

...and I'm not even going to go into the offensive and derogatory ending phrase "It would not only cut down on addiction, but also shoplifting and other crimes that go hand-in-hand with drug abuse."

I'm not even going to look up, it's only going to throw me into a righteous rage. The last statement is a logical fallacy and is just there to create anti-drug use sentiments and spread FUD. It's like making the statement "a couple of journalists make up characters for their articles to fit the story, therefore every single journalist uses fictional characters". Logical. Fallacy.

That said, I understand that the columnist had articles to write, deadlines to meet, and may not be aware of the more intelligent recreational drug users choosing to enter altered states of mind to seek more life experiences. I'm glad the columnist was kind enough to get Singapore Press Holdings Publications to mail a complimentary copy of The Sunday Times to me. Thank you!

P/S - Thank you, Salma, for mentioning my blog. ;)

It made traffic jump by an unpreceded 16 fold. The article helped me reach the average Singapore family unit by mentioning sixthseal.com as a place where "where addicts share their favorite drug recipes and experiences" to pique paper reader interest into the online world. Spoken like a marketing spin doctor, I only need to retain the interest of *pulls number out of ass* 3.5% of the original paper inspired visitors to sustain my readership for several years, with an estimated *again from the place where the sun don't shine* 0.1% of those telling acquaintances and co-workers about the blog, which in effect creates a grassroots viral marketing campaign.

Okay, I'll stop now. :)

I'm not pissed off at all about being mentioned in the paper. sixthseal.com is a firm believer of the truism that goes "any publicity is good publicity". ;)

3. City, state and nationwide newspaper coverage

The third catalyst that is responsible for either directly or indirectly leading dead tree media readers to the sixthseal.com blog is the coverage that's divided into three sections:

4. Personal

These include personal appearances on the papers e.g. like in the Jolin Tsai concert.

5. Work-related

These are the news releases that are work related and involve the company.

6. Site-related

This is the direct publicity and reference to site(s) in the sixthseal.com conglomerate. This one involves a magazine featuring castitas.com.

Here's a review of the more notable posts featured in sixthseal.com from 19/4/2004 - 19/4/2005:

Note: (V) denotes that the post contains a relevant downloadable video clip.

May 03, 2004
The Devil's Kiss
Home baked Devil's food cake with Hershey's Kisses write-up. The entire process, from mixing the batter to baking is documented. (V)

May 07, 2004
Kuching bloggers meet @ Hot Seat
This historical event marked the first time a large scale Kuching bloggers meet has been organized.

May 18, 2004
Kapak (axe) brandi (brandy)
The Kapak brandy local distilled liquor is sampled and reviewed in this post. (V)

June 05, 2004
Download my nosebleed video while it's still fresh! ;)
This post is another one that contains potentially disturbing material. (V)

June 12, 2004
Jolin Tsai Promo Tour Malaysia - Kuching Concert
Jolin Tsai is the young Taiwanese actress/artist that starred in a few TV series and has a string of albums to her name. She came to Kuching, Sarawak to perform for the first time. (V)

July 12, 2004
Mild Seven PITPARTY 2004
It has F1 racing cars, girls, beer, and more girls. What more can a guy want? ;) (V)

July 19, 2004
The Definitive 7th Mile Teh C Peng
The Teh C Peng at 7th Mile (Kota Sentosa) is a local favorite - families drive up from Kuching just to drink the three layered teh c peng. This post features the original outlet.

July 31, 2004
Meth Dragon Video Download
The controversial video which features me smoking crystal meth. (V)

August 02, 2004
Kuching Festival 2004
This is the annual August Kuching festival which marks off a month of celebration with fireworks, boat processions and a converted gigantic outdoor food court. It's a popular event with the locals and a must-see for tourists. (V)

August 07, 2004
Ice Sculpture Exhibition
The famed ice sculptures from Harbin, China comes to Kuching to show their legendary ice carving skills by creating various monoliths, including a complete palace made out of ice with an ice slide. The ice sculpture exhibition was held in Kuching for a month in a -8 Celsius temperature controlled enclosure. (V)

September 21, 2004
Red Ribbon Gala 2004
The Malaysia AIDS Council biannual gala dinner and Red Ribbon Media Awards ceremony that was attended by the Prime Minister of Malaysia. I managed to win the Main Award for Non-Traditional Media (Blogs) which was recognized with a large engraved pewter bowl and RM 2,500. The Red Ribbon Gala 2004 is the crowning glory of my blogging career to date. (V)

October 06, 2004
"I don't want to feel" - Videos of me cutting myself
Self-inflicted wounds made with a balisong (butterfly knife) during a period of depression. This is not a suicide attempt or a plea for help, but just one of the things you do just coz you haven't done it before. I want to experience the feeling of holding a knife, knowing exactly when and where you're going to start slicing yourself. The feeling of having full control towards the pain mechanism provides a totally different scenario in an uncontrolled environment e.g. a fight. It's novel. (V)

October 12, 2004
Magenta, Kuching
Magenta is an excellent art deco concept restaurant in Kuching with great service and excellent food.

October 26, 2004
Louisa's 23rd @ TGI FRIDAY'S, 1 UTAMA
TGI Friday's at 1U in PJ is where we celebrated Louisa's 23rd birthday. Happy birthday! :)

January 14, 2005
Carvery Restaurant Review
The best restaurant for meat lovers in Kuching.

April 02, 2005
Guide to rolling a concealable cigarette joint
How to make smoking cannabis look legitimate. ;) (V)

April 05, 2005
It's my birthday today, but don't wish me a Happy Birthday
Methamphetamine IV use videos...on my birthday. (V)

April 11, 2005
Slash and Burn - The compulsion to self-inflict pain and leave scars
We have our ups and we have our downs. :) (V)

There will be constant changes and improvements to enhance the sixthseal.com universe and feedback from readers is always welcome. This year saw the introduction of heavy bandwidth utilization content such as video files and movie clips. There are no plans to cease this practice as video clips have managed to complement text and photos to provide a more satisfying and media rich experience. There will be a server migration planned in the third quarter of 2005 to manage the increasing demands on the current server.

The visitor stats have also shown tangible growth in readership numbers over the years, and I thank each and every one of you for taking the time to drop by and share. :)

The first anniversary of sixthseal.com can be viewed here [sixthseal.com].

The second anniversary of sixthseal.com can be viewed here [sixthseal.com].

Much love to all the readers out there!

Long live sixthseal.com! :)

Posted in Best of sixthseal.com by Huai Bin at 12:35 PM Permalink | Comments (41) | TrackBack

Susu Kambing (Goat's Milk) quaint cottage industry

Susu kambing or fresh goat's milk is available at a cottage industry located about 100 meters away from the Petra Jaya toll station. I've seen the small "Susu Kambing" sign with a goat image and an arrow asking customers to drive down the gravel driveway at the stall, but never did drop in until this morning.

I'm glad I did - the place has the charm of a small cottage industry...there's an enclosure where the goats are kept, I would estimate that there's a total of 20 or so goats in total. Look at the second goat burying its head into the feed container. :)

I went early in the morning so I had to call into the open house that's in front of the enclosure where the goats are kept. One woman peeked out and I asked her if goat milk is available. She replied in the affirmative and asked me how many bottles I want.

I went for one bottle - it's a 300 ml bottle with indicator lines running along the side, like it was some kind of medicine bottle. She poured it into this bottle from a huge jug of fresh goat milk. It's RM 13 per bottle (!). That's very expensive milk...

It's good though, the goat milk tastes nice and fresh, though I felt like a cough medicine addict chugging down my codeine from that unfortunately designed bottle. ;) Nevertheless, I like the quaint feel of the operation and the goat milk really tastes different from the bovine equivalent - it's good.

Drink my milk, puny humans! ;)

Posted in Local food by Huai Bin at 01:16 PM Permalink | Comments (19) | TrackBack

Vanjacking

Look at this Zuellig Pharma van...it's just parked there with all sorts of goodies in the back...

Who's up for some vanjacking? ;)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 01:46 PM Permalink | Comments (23) | TrackBack

KFC Curry Crunch

The new KFC Curry Crunch is the latest promotion to hit the menu and it looks like it's a winner. I went to KFC last night to sample the Curry Crunch chicken, which comes with the tagline "You won't believe it's KFC!". It also mentioned "Try it now!", so, hypnotized by those three words, I walked into the KFC franchise...

There was a KFC Curry Crunch promotional girl opening the door and inviting passersby to try the new KFC Curry Crunch. She's dressed in a garish costume, but check out...

...her hat. It has onions, chillis, garlics and all sorts of adornments on it.

The KFC Curry Crunch is being heavily promoted by the KFC staff, as can be seen by the large buttons they wear with the Curry Crunch chicken motif on it.

The KFC Curry Crunch display at the counter looks fine too, so I ordered a three-piece Curry Chicken set.

This is what the KFC Curry Crunch looks like - there's three pieces of chicken that's sprinkled with some kind of herb. I went for a drumstick and two thighs.

Here's a closer look at the KFC Curry Crunch...the green herbs that's sprinkled on the chicken definitely adds texture and taste to it.

The KFC Curry Crunch tastes delicious! I wrote "The KFC Curry Crunch is the best addition to the KFC menu to date!" in the comments slip the KFC Curry Crunch promotional girl passed to me...it's just that good!

Posted in Fast Food Inc. by Huai Bin at 11:09 AM Permalink | Comments (44) | TrackBack

XX chromosomes at the clinic

I haven't had the opportunity to do a XX chromosome entry for a while and I'm glad I met some at the clinic just now. I have a couple of regular GPs that I go for every week for my various benzodiazepine needs and I've never seen good XX chromosomes there, despite being a "regular patient" (the nurses all know me). It's always older ladies, not to sound offensive. ;)

I saw two girls walking in to the clinic today, and the red shirt girl smiled at me. She's accompanying her friend to the clinic. I told them I'm going to take a photo and here's it - the mosaic has been applied on a wall pharmaceuticals poster to avoid revealing who my doctors are. :p

I did not manage to capture her real life persona on the photo - the red shirted girl has a bubbly personality, with nice eyes and a great smile. She's real friendly too...just a little young. ;)

Posted in XX chromosomes by Huai Bin at 08:16 PM Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBack

Slash and burn - the compulsion to self-inflict pain and leave scars

It's strange, I was just thinking about that tattoo I've wanted to get and suddenly got the urge to test the resilience of my flesh against a balisong...

I even took a lit cigarette and...er, cauterized the wound, just to see if my tactile senses are still in order.

Download: Slice and burn [sixthseal.com]

It's not unfamiliar to me...I'm not a cutter, but I use syringes so much I'm used to taking instruments to myself.

I just find it a little hard to keep my head on straight sometimes...ever get that feeling?

Posted in Hmm... by Huai Bin at 01:44 PM Permalink | Comments (44) | TrackBack

Ainsley and Michelle's housewarming party

I went to Ainsley and his wife Michelle's housewarming party at their new place in CountryVale last night. It's a residential area located about 4 1/2 miles away from Kuching and the place is so pristine, it's amazing. They just moved into a large corner semi-detached house and I received an invite to the housewarming (which came with a much needed map ;)) with most of the Huygens Asia family at their place, starting 7 pm.

Ainsley (we work together) and Michelle managed to get a good plot of land too - the view is full of dense foliage since there's a jungle located right beside their place. I went early with Kenny (another one of my co-workers) and managed to see the view just before sunset. There's a shallow valley and miniature hills too - the place is serene. Lots of fresh air, good neighborhood, nice location - it's a great place, Ainsley! :)

There were tables laid out on the front lawn for the guests - I think we were the first to arrive, coz what we thought would be a 30 minute drive turned out to be much quicker, due to what I can only attribute to Kenny's excellent speed on the highway. I was impressed...he drives with the same abandon that I do, except he doesn't get into...er, road mishaps, shall we say, as often as I do....which is pretty often. Cars, trucks, defenseless old ladies, you name it; I've accidentally mowed it down while driving. :p

The food was prepared on another table and I managed to get a couple of blurry shots of the fare...my apologies for the less than pristine photos. Please forgive my Nikon 7900 - it indulged in various benzodiazepines and had more than a couple of tokes from the peace pipe before arriving, so several photos didn't focus well. Myself, I went to the housewarming party sober, I would never think to insult the hosts by attending a family friendly event without all my faculties intact. ;)

There was a wide variety of food at the housewarming...I remember eating a lot of chicken drumsticks and helping myself to the fried kolo mee/kampua mee...

...it was enough to feed about 30 adults and children. I was starved and I ate my fill, and so did most of the Huygens Asia family, and there were still leftovers. It totally ruined my fantasy of eating everything in sight during the munchies. ;)

Lest we forget, there's also a cooler filled with beer and soda at the lawn. I did not know alcohol would be served, two thumbs up to Ainsley for arranging that.

The front porch is lined with shrubs and huge cacti pots, which leads to the front door. Everything is so clean and new, and I was impressed that the place remained pristine despite the guests going around. I don't know how they do it...

Ainsley was kind enough to give us a tour of his house - this is a piano in a nook just off the first living room. There are two living rooms...so I think this would be the guest living with the one at the back designated as the family living room. I don't know though, I only have one living room and I'm sleeping in it. ;)

There is also a very realistic looking dog beside the futon (very soft, the futon, not the dog). I thought it was real at first, that's the detail it had. It's realistic enough to give home intruders reason for pause, and if that doesn't, the countless surveillance cameras (some hidden) hooked up to DVR's and video servers for remote monitoring would. We are, after all, in the IP remote video surveillance industry. ;)

The back patio with transparent skylights would be an ideal place for breakfast with the breeze and fresh air. It overlooks the backyard, which is going to be installed with a fish pond.

The family relaxation room was populated with children and their guardians digging into the food, which gave me a new wave of the munchies. There will be a projector screen TV installed here in the future too.

The upstairs rooms have all been fully furnished and include a dedicated home office for Ainsley (shown above). There's also a fully equipped air conditioned entertainment room with a large TV and A/V equipment in front of a sofa for his kids as well. Hey mom, how come we never had one of them "entertainment rooms" when I was little? ;)

I passed by some of Ainsley and Michelle's wedding (or was that engagement?) photos in the hallway...

...which leads to their children's bedroom. The starfish light decor is very trippy - it flashes and pulses with different light intensities, looks like a perfect trip toy. ;)

Here we have the master bedroom...it will be a one phrase description since I feel like I'm violating their privacy already. :p However, there's a very interesting contraption beside the bed...

...a Lorenzo chair! I felt totally at home chilling out in this Lorenzo chair...I need to get myself one of these - it's perfect for reclining in, with its contoured curves and padded sides. I mean, just look at me! I'm totally chilling out here...in fact, I'm so relaxed, I've let Cali surfer dude speak invade my language syntax! ;)

The rest of the invited guests decided to grace us with their presence at this point, so we adjourned downstairs to get something to eat...

I think I had three or four rounds of food...

Props to Ainsley and Michelle for being gracious hosts! Thanks for having us! :)

Posted in Huygens Asia by Huai Bin at 08:40 AM Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBack

Mee Jawa Kuah Unta (Mee Jawa with Camel Gravy)

This is Bahgia 9 Cafe, one of the food stalls at the Civic Center which offers a rather unique dish...

...Mee Jawa with Camel Gravy. Camel meat and ostrich meat for that matter, is not rare over here - there are a couple of industries offering meat products from these animals as an alternative to...well, chicken.

The nice ladies at the stall were kind enough to show me the camel gravy (kuah unta) from which they make their Mee Jawa Kuah Unta with. It comes in a steaming pot with camel meat. The gravy is made by simmering the camel meat with various spices (they didn't reveal which ones exactly) overnight.

We all ordered a dish of the Mee Jawa (noodles cooked Indonesian style with a distinctive spicy gravy) - this is what it looks like.

The Mee Jawa with Camel is good...I can't say that my palate is sophisticated enough to detect camel meat in the gravy, but I can tell you that it's good Mee Jawa. The place has some righteous satay too.

Posted in Local food by Huai Bin at 03:53 PM Permalink | Comments (19)

Nikon Coolpix 7900 review - my latest digicam

I just bought a Nikon Coolpix 7900 (the March 2005 newly released model) two days ago for RM 1,888. My primary digicam, the trusty Nikon 5700 has been out of commission for a while due to a CCD malfunction. I love that camera, it has a nice solid weight and the features are great. It also looks good - I've always preferred black magnesium alloy SLR type bodies to the silver ones for practical and aesthetic reasons.

Alas, it had to be sent to Nikon in PJ to be fixed coz every picture that I took had chroma distortion at the top, so I figured it's probably the CCD sensor. I've been looking around for another digicam while I wait for the 4 week turnaround time and decided upon the 7.1 MP Nikon 7900. I've been waiting for it for a week, and no one in Kuching had any, until I went to Hock Lee Center on Sunday and saw one on display. It just got in that very morning.

Unfortunately, I had also seen the Sony Cyber-shot DSC V3 7.2 MP digicam which looks a lot like my trusty Nikon 5700, except the Sony is slightly smaller. It retails for RM 2,588, and did I mention that I love black SLR-type magnesium alloy digicams? I'll put on my flame retardant suit and share the reason behind this - the silver digicams looks cheap and unprofessional. I'm sorry; it just had to be said. ;)

Thus, I was caught in a predicament - should I retain brand loyalty and go for the Nikon 7900 or should I get the Sony V3 which looks fucking great and is only a RM 600 difference? Did I mention the Sony can take CF Cards too? I don't know if I mentioned this before but the Sony V3 also has the SLR-type magnesium alloy body like the Nikon 5700 that I have and I love these d-SLR type digicams. It's like a digital SLR...except you don't need to lug expensive specialty lenses around and worry about breaking that RM 10,000 lens.

I've always gone for Nikon digicams (the 7900 is my third) due to the stellar macro performance (people always ask me how I manage to get such detailed pill shots) and also coz I have three CF Cards, two EN-EL1 Nikon batteries and two chargers. Plus, I like Nikon. That was before I handled the Sony DSC V3 though...and I just couldn't decide which one I should get. Actually, I had already decided to go for the Sony, but I had to consult my gf, coz apparently, my finances are audited by her. :p

She had very sound advice - go for the Nikon 7900. It's technically an upgrade since its 7.1 MP compared to the Nikon 5700's 5.1 MP. The other reason was because (and we've discussed this before) I already have a d-SLR type (she calls it "bulky and unwieldy") digicam (the Nikon 5700), which is due to come back from repairs soon. Thus, common sense dictates that one should own a "main" digicam (that would be my Nikon 5700) and get a new "portable" one instead (which would be the Nikon 7900).

It does make sense...there's no point having two d-SLR type cameras to lug around when you can have one to carry around and a portable one to...well, pocket. Thus, I got the Nikon 7900. It's a new release, it just came out this month and it has a lot of new features, most of which I find annoying, like the blurred shot warning (be damned if a digicam starts to nag me). It's pretty much useless except for newbies coz experienced photographers would know a good shot from a bad one right away. There is also no "burst photography" (rapid fire continuous shots for a limited amount of time to increase the probability of getting that hard to shoot scene) mode unlike my Nikon 5700 (which photographers like for various reasons ;)) since it can only manage a paltry 1.7 fps continuous.

The Nikon 7900 has some amazing features though - like the 2.0 inch amorphous silicon TFT LCD screen. Fuck, that screen is HUGE. It's also clear, detailed and bright as fuck. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it. The size is awe inspiring as well - it's 120 x 57 x 69 mm. That's the exact size of a pack of cigarettes. The Nikon 7900 is portable, alright. If you can carry a pack of Marlboros, you can slip a Nikon 7900 in and you won't even notice the difference.

The neutral point of the Nikon 7900 is that it doesn't get a second glance from passer-bys. Everyone and their grandma (and her pet cat) own a digicam nowadays, and this looks just like the miniature ones that are flooding the market nowadays. I don't feel like I'm covering an event when I use it, unlike the large Nikon 5700. It's good for a compact digicam in a sense...it attracts less attention. It also attracts less respect. It can be argued that only true d-SLRs command the respect they deserve, but we're not going there due to budget and practicality issues.

The downside to the few days I've been using the Nikon 7900 is the weight of the digicam...or rather, the lack of it. I'm used to the comfortable weight (more than 1/2 kg) of the Nikon 5700 (bought it at RM 3,100 and have been using it for two years, daily) and the featherweight Nikon 7900 (about 180 g) requires delicacy during operation, a trait I do not possess. I also didn't like the shallow "grip outcrop" to the right of the digicam after using the solid grip of the Nikon 5700 for so long.

The best feature of the Nikon 7900 is the new "Face-priority AF" function which does facial recognition and focuses on faces and people. Nifty. The movie mode can record 640 x 480 @ 30 fps (unlimited) which is great - it's an upgrade from the Nikon 5700. It also has "Electronic Vibration Reduction" which seems to work. I can see myself using the two different digicams for different situations.

The other good thing is that there's no learning curve to speak of - once you're familiar with a Nikon digicam, you can operate any Nikon digicam without problems. I still have to practice being gentle with the Nikon 7900 to avoid blurring the shots due to the light weight, but that would come in time...and I definitely need to turn off that damned Blur Shot Warning indicator.

Plus, the Nikon 7900 TTL is fucking amazing too - I strap it to my belt using the original leather pouch (which looks pretty good actually) and the opening mechanism is magnetic in nature. That, combined with the dangling strap I keep allows me to tug on the strap to snag the 7900 clear of the magnetic clasp while hitting the appropriately placed power button and the Nikon 7900 boots up and is ready to go by the time the digicam is leveraged into the right hand (I'm right handed) via the strap rebound.

TTL (Time to Live) is a speedy 2 seconds, faster if it's in standby mode (so it doesn't have to go through the Nikon intro which takes a second).

How fast is that? Well, I'm not going to post a photo, but there was an incident at a certain escalator at The Curve which is of an ephemeral nature, and I managed to whip out the Nikon 7900 and caught the scene in time. I'll leave you to think about the nature of the scene, but I'm telling you, the TTL is fast. ;)

I also liked the new D-lighting feature which adds detail to dark areas of the scene composition. *cough* This feature alone justifies the upgrade. The huge 7.1 MP photos that comes out at 3072 x 2304 gets a big thumbs up from me too. I got a 256 MB SD Card with the purchase of the camera, and I have another SD Card around but the other great thing is the Nikon 7900 also has internal memory so you can take shots even when the SD Card is not in.

Imagine this scenario - you've just filled the SD Card and you're swapping it out when this shot of a lifetime comes along and there you are, stuck in between reloads! Well, I can say without any shame that the recurring nightmares that I have regarding this scenario is a thing of the past. ;)

The nightmares that I've been having has now morphed into dream like sequences where I just drop the SD Card, fuck reloading, point the digicam at that shot-of-a-lifetime and press the shutter button and I get the shot, all due to the internal memory of the Nikon 7900. I can sleep easy now. Thanks Nikon! ;)

It's definitely a great buy, but I'll wait till the price drops if you don't need one right now. RM 1,888 is a little steep for a consumer grade digicam. I still love it though, it's pocket able so I won't have to strap my sling bag, which I'm told is a fashion faux pax when I'm wearing a coat. ;)

I like the leather belt strap though...that's how I'm carrying it now.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 02:15 PM Permalink | Comments (24)

McD Chicken Porridge (Bubur Ayam McD)

McDonald's has a range of porridge in their menu in Malaysia and has for quite some time. It's our "healthy" alternative to the burgers and fried chicken that is a staple of McDonald's. Bubur Ayam McD (McD Chicken Porridge) is billed as "hot and tasty" and while I can attest that it's definitely hot (eating it before it cools down will definitely give your tongue a good scalding), I'm not so sure about the tasty part.

This is a large serving of Bubur Ayam McD. It literally translates to McD Chicken Porridge and costs RM 5.20 for a large Styrofoam container full of chicken porridge. It's about as big as one of the premium Ramen bowls out there and comes with a plastic spoon (Western spoon as opposed to the Chinese "soup" spoon usually used to eat porridge) and four packets of pepper (which you'll need).

Here's what McD Chicken Porridge looks like when it's opened - it's steaming hot chicken porridge with spring onions, fried onions, chilli and various other condiments. It doesn't taste so good out of the bowl, so I recommend...

...using all four pepper sachets to spice the McD Chicken Porridge up a bit...

McD Chicken Porridge isn't so bad when liberal amounts of pepper is used to flavor the otherwise bland porridge. It's good for the times you're not really hungry at lunch and want something light.

Bubur Ayam McD has nice, large and tender chicken chunks too...

Posted in Fast Food Inc. by Huai Bin at 02:18 PM Permalink | Comments (13)

NEXT cigarettes review

Philip Morris International has recently launched a new brand of cigarettes called Next to fill the void left when the Malaysian cigarette tax hike priced their flagship Marlboro brand out of the reach of lower income bracket smokers at RM 6.50. Next is the new wave of cigarette brands that retails at RM 4.50 - close to the "old" (pre-tax hike) prices of mid-range cigarettes.

Next cigarettes comes in the standard two established tobacco industry standard types - full flavored and lights (mild). The full flavored packs comes in a darker shade of blue than the lights. The design of Next cigarettes is minimalist, with just a characteristic "streak" down the box aligned with t