sixthseal.com

KL Sentral

I went to the MAS airlines office in KL Sentral to get my tickets changed. Unfortunately, I cannot say anything more about this since I seem to have made an enemy who would love to get me into trouble (see comments in veritas's last post). Meanwhile, enjoy the Kenny Roger's post below and I'm sorry that there's all this (one sided) animosity going around. Have a nice day everyone!

Posted in Interesting by Huai Bin at 02:05 AM Permalink | Comments (8)

Kenny Rogers Roasters - Kenny's Home-Baked Fillet (White Combo Delight)

I went to the Kenny Rogers at KL Sentral with my gf this afternoon (more about that later) and had the White Combo Delight meal, which features Kenny's 1/4 chicken, the home baked fillet, 3 side dishes of your choice and a muffin at RM 22.90.

Kenny's Home-Baked Fillet is the Chinese New Year promotion (figured it was since it had the "nian nian you yu" phrase on top) which is "a succulent, firm textured fish fillet, baked with special blend of herbs and spices, served with three choices of side dishes".

I chose the Garden Pasta Salad ("Spiral pasta, broccoli, capsicum, carrot & onion in cheese and special Italian dressing"), Savoury Rice ("Seasoned yellow rice enlivened with onion, carrot & capsicum") and Fresh Fruit Salad ("A medley of fresh mouth-watering fruits"). I had the black pepper version for the chicken:

This is the Real Life (TM) shot of the quarter black pepper chicken, garden pasta salad, savory rice and fresh fruit salad (counter clockwise from bottom).

Here's the photo of the main feature - Kenny's Home Baked Fillet:

To be honest, the fish was quite disappointing, certainly nothing to write home about. I found it rather bland, and my gf concurs. Perhaps the stronger black pepper chicken desensitized my palate and rendered me unable to discern the subtle nuances of the herbs and spices infused into the fillet. Or perhaps I should stop using pretentious quasi-gastronomic words. ;)

Here's the chocolate muffin, lest it feels ignored and decides to run away with the spoon.

Posted in Food by Huai Bin at 01:54 AM Permalink | Comments (5)

anonymous: Thank you for the US$ 50 gift certificate!

I received this US$ 50 Amazon gift certificate and an e-card in the mail today from an anonymous doner. The e-card did not provide any details about who sent me this gift certificate too. This is a very generous contribution and it's very much appreciated! Thanks anonymous! I'll really like to know who sent me this though, so I could thank you in person, but since you did not put any personal details at all, perhaps you'll like to remain anonymous and I can understand that. Do contact me via email if you don't mind though. Thanks again for the generous gift!

Anyway, about sixthseal.com moving to the VPS, that would have to wait a while due to a miscommunication between myself and the host, resulting in my custom nameservers (ns1.fengtau.com and ns2.fengtau.com) being delayed from being setup at the registrar level. In other words, it might take up to 48 hours from now for my custom nameservers to propogate fully, so I won't be pointing sixthseal.com to those records until two days from now. I will post before I change the DNS records for the site. :)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 10:46 PM Permalink | Comments (5)

Frisium 10 (clobazam) and a farewell to veritas

"Man shall not live by meth alone, but by every pill that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Frisium pack."
- Methew 4:4

veritas!

Greetings! veritas has finally decided to reveal himself in a candid self portrait photo for this occasion. Some of you might have read the previous post that mentions sixthseal.com would be moving hosts soon, so there would be an interruption in service which may last as long as 48 hours while the new name servers propagate. Please send all emails effective immediately to me@castitas.com until the server move is complete. This would be the last post from this server and the next one would be from the new VPS server. Thus, it was decided that we'll do one last veritas post before the migration for closure. We want to ensure that everyone remains entertained during the temporary transition. ;)

Today, we are going to talk about Frisium 10. I realize that this topic might not be of interest to everyone, so I also put up a photo depicting a messy and scattered looking veritas taken just a minute ago. Yes, that's the first full frame picture of veritas without any mosaic! The picture only took a second to take, so it wasn't the result of a hard afternoon's work. ;) My apologies, private joke there.

Frisium 10

Anyway, the three people at the back that's genuinely surprised would be interested to know that I have an identical twin, which, as the word suggests, looks exactly like me. In the grand tradition of epics, yes, he is not just my twin but my evil twin. :) However, he has quit the scene so there would be no more posts about illicits by veritas. This can be considered the official announcement.

Here at sixthseal.com, we always aim to entertain (or was that to please?) so it's fitting that the interim period while sixthseal.com moves is filled with a final post from veritas. Unfortunately, my wayward sibling (sibling and alter ego are synonyms right?) has really quit the illicits so on this bright Thursday morning, we shall talk about another favorite topic - benzodiazepines! We will be focusing on clobazam in this post.

Frisium, or Frisium 10 as some like to call it, is made in Germany and contains 10 mg of clobazam per tablet. It is also listed as clobazamum at the back of the blister packs, which is an alternate name which seems to be isolated to European countries. I have been prescribed (or was that my evil twin? nevermind, let's not deviate) Frisium and Hypnodorm [sixthseal.com] (that's flunitrazepam) in Melbourne.

100 tablets of 10 mg clobazam

I did not find anything noteworthy about Frisium and dismissed it as a weak benzo due to its complete lack of hypnotic effects and the fact that it requires doses in excess of 100 mg for effects to be felt. However, I enjoyed the flunitrazepam (better known as Rohypnol) very much, thank you doctor, I really felt much better. :) Flunitrazepam is not available through legal channels in Malaysia, but clobazam is a prescription drug here.

It's sold in a box containing 10 blister packs with 10 pills each for a total of 100 tablets or 1,000 mg (1 kilogram) of clobazam. The package insert states that "Clobazam, the active ingredient of Frisium 10 relieves anxiety and prevents or arrests convulsions. It is a substance belonging to a group of medicines called benzodiazepines." The insert also states that it's indicated for "Acute and chronic anxiety states, which may produce the following symptoms in particular: Anxiety, tension, restlessness, excitement, irritability, somatic disorders, and emotional instability." Sounds very familiar. ;)

Other choice quotes:
"Frisium 10 must not be taken by patients with any history of drug or alcohol dependence (increased risk of dependence)."
"Concomitant consumption of alcohol can increase by 50% the availability of clobazam in the body, and therefore increase the effects of clobazam."
"Tell your doctor if you have suffered or are still suffering from alcohol or drug dependence. If this is the case, you must not take benzodiazepines, except in rare situations determined only by the doctor."
"Never take benzodiazepine-containing medicines because "they have been a great help to someone else", and do not pass these preparations on to others."

Anyway, I was interested in giving this particular benzo another try, since it has properties that would be conducive to my taper (*cough*) plan. As stated in the previous post, clobazam is one of them newfangled benzodiazepines with a 1,5 ring structure instead of the older 1,4 benzodiazepines. Without going into things like "selectivity for omega 2 receptors" lets just put it in easier to parse statements.

Basically, 1,5 benzodiazepines have a high affinity...sorry, relapse, I meant it targets the receptors in your brain that is associated with anticonvulsive properties and doesn't go as much for the receptors that produces hypnotic/sedative effects (makes you sleepy and well, sedated). Benzodiazepines is a wonderfully interesting group of chemicals where each one has different affinities for the three main effects (detailed later).

This means that different benzos like clonazepam, alprazolam, nitrazepam is going to differ in their effects. Granted, all benzodiazepines have:
1. Hypnotic (Zzz...)
2. Anticonvulsive (that means it prevents seizures)
3. Anxiolytic (what makes them beautiful - anti anxiety properties)
effects, but to a different extent and thus, they're marketed as such. Examples of the common ones are Xanax (alprazolam) which is prescribed for its strong anti-anxiety effects, Mogadon (nitrazepam) which is prescribed for insomnia and Klonopin or Rivotril (clonazepam) for its anticonvulsant effects.

However, as stated before the three effects overlap, so clonazepam would provide relief from anxiety as well, in fact, it's my favorite benzodiazepine due to its long lasting effects and strong anxiolytic properties. As you can well imagine, medications with such wonderful offerings would be subject to what some might call "off label" use. ;) Xanax and Klonopin, for example, would provide a very nice "stoned" effect and it makes people feel (wait, here comes another cringe inducing word) "mellow" and that makes them "recreational" in addition to being a lifesaver for meth comedowns.

*gasp* Habit forming! Why didn't anyone tell me? ;)
Check out the red racun (poison) sticker. Jauhi dari kanak kanak, ya.

Combined with alcohol, and the effects are potentiated (intensified). Which reminds me, to avoid being accused of being irresponsible and not preaching harm minimization, let me add that alcohol and benzodiazepines, which are both CNS depressants, may and have led to deaths from respiratory depression (you stop breathing) in the past. Now that I've done my part, please look away while I type the next sentence. The dangers of mixing benzos and alcohol are greatly exaggerated. Jesus Christ, some people make it seem like a couple of benzos and several drinks mean a straight trip to the morgue. *rolls eyes*.

Nevertheless, exercise caution and my mom sends word that you shouldn't do it, because medications are supposed to make you healthy, and you're not supposed to derive (God forbid!) enjoyment from them. ;) I've always thought that mothers tend to give out good advice so I decided to give Frisium another try. It did have satisfactory anxiolytic effects at higher doses and the strong anticonvulsant effects is good for people who're dependant on high doses of benzodiazepines while tapering, because you may seize if you taper too fast.

Which is why my (not so evil now) twin chose this particular benzodiazepine. However, as I've mentioned before, the biggest benefit Frisium provides is that it's completely non sedating at all! Well, at least to people with a high tolerance. That is a Good Thing (TM) because it's always nice to have a clearer head while working. Research suggests that the 1,5 benzos (like Frisium) are associated with less sedation and psychomotor impairment (a fancy term that means you'll be less of a road hazard) than the older 1,4 benzos (like Valium), which will produce drowsiness and such in non tolerant people.

It is now my civic duty to tell you that all benzodiazepines are indicated for 2-4 weeks of use only. Prolonged, continuous and wanton consumption of large doses would result in physical dependence. It may seem that popping Xanax and Klonopins like candy in the day and Dormicum and Mogadon washed down with liberal amounts of alcohol translates to a stress less life, but it would not be fun 3 years down the line when you realize that you're taking 8 mg of clonazepam and 10 mg of alprazolam each day and 40 mg nitrazepam without alcohol does not make you sleep at all.

You'll definitely think it's not fun when you get the shakes and your legs twitches and your hands are trembling when you accidentally consumed your supply before getting more. Also, I would imagine that the extremely irritable and pissed off state you get when you take lower doses after dependence has formed would be a liability. It's a little inconvenient to have to carry benzos around so that you won't get charged with assault when you physically reprimand someone in an inappropriately violent manner just because he was looking at you the "wrong way" coz you're all cracked up from withdrawal (I don't like this term, but I can't find a better one) symptoms.

Frisium is Made in Germany

Also, it's not considered appropriate for men to have panic attacks, even if they're manly panic attacks. ;) I'm not out to demonize benzodiazepines, don't get me wrong. I firmly believe that if there's anyone to blame, it would be the person who chose to self medicate, not the drug. A drug is inanimate, and I do not have much respect at all for the people who sue the pharmaceutical companies or blames the medication for what they got themselves into, being fully aware of the risks. I will not go into a tangent about how it seems that there's a culture of pushing blame away instead of accepting responsibility for personal actions. Let us move on.

Anyway, on a cost effectiveness basis, Frisium, being a patented medication would cost more, so that might be something to consider. I get it at RM 100 for the 100 tablet box from my pharmacy contact. He's a big fan of selling prescriptions in sets of 100's. I get 100 x 10 mg brand name Valium (diazepam) in two 5 joined blister packs for RM 100 as well, so obviously this would be the most cost effective one. Xanax 1 mg blister packs go for a premium RM 200 for 10 blister packs (told you he's a big fan of 100s), so at least this is cheaper than that.

It is reasonable prices though, and some offerings are undercutting what a GP would charge. I can only think of one doctor who's happy to sell me as many 2 mg Rivotril (clonazepam) tablets as I want for RM 1.20 each or generic 2 mg Rivopam (clonazepam) ones for RM 0.80 so I usually go that route since it has the added security of actually possessing a prescription for the things. Enterprising pharmacies would not be able to offer that value added service, so caveat emptor!

It would be a non issue if you're not traveling, but if you are, my advice (which is common sense really) is to pack them in different places (working on the basis that it looks less than when it's chucked together) and never carry them as hand luggage. Always check in - Malaysian customs officers are not vigilant (er...at all) at exit points so checks are extremely rare, especially with the added hassle of opening up a locked checked in suitcase. Personal experience suggests that not many customs officials possess the sophistication to identify the items as restricted pharmaceuticals.

This batch was manufactured in 2003 and expires in 2007. Imagine this catching on in the streets:
"Eh, 2003 not nice lah, feel very sleepy, all fake one, made in Taiwan. If get must get 2007, that one sui sui makes me very song! Sure make in Japan, worth the 20 I paid."
The horror...

I imagine they don't really care anyway, since it's professionally packaged and thus does not tend to raise alarm bells, but please be ready to have a good excuse if you're carrying large quantities. It's not easy to explain why you have a big container of 1,000 x 2 mg Rivopam (generic clonazepam) tablets intended for dispensing in clinics. It would raise eyebrows even if it looks legit due to the amount. Tried methods of getting out of a sticky situation (but this doesn't mean that it'll work for you too) are:

"This medicine is cheaper in (insert your departure place) so I bought more back".

This one works in small airports where the personnel do not recognize that a prescription is required for the possession of the things you're carrying. It's important to act nonchalant but polite. Think about all the people who bring in those gigantic bottles with 2,000 tablets of solidified goat's milk or whatever homeopathic bullshit passes as medication nowadays. Tell them it's for your mom or something.

"I suffer from epileptic fits so I usually bring enough because I can't afford to have a seizure".

This is somewhat similar to #1 and is to be used if you think they know what you're carrying since saying that covers your ass. Works better on females if you're male and males if you're females so if you want to play the sympathy card, walk to the official of the opposite sex if you think you're going to be searched.

"I don't know what this is, it's for my dad, he requested I buy some back since it's cheaper at (insert departure place)".

This is another variant of the above. Act dumb, they probably don't know what it is anyway. Oh, and a branch here is to act shocked if it turns out that they do know what it is, and tell you you're not supposed to have it without a prescription. Small airports are fairly lenient, insert a few "sorry ya, encik, saya tidak tahu" and they'll probably not bother with you and let you through with the goods. They either have bigger fish to fry or they couldn't be fucked with the paperwork. ;) I'll say it's the latter.

"Oh, I have prescriptions for this, wait, call this doctor, he'll explain everything".

Risky unless it's true, but it's not is it? ;) This would be a last resort measure. Ensure that you have put on your extra large set of balls that day since you're telling a whopper here. You need to be calm and confident to pull this off. I don't recommend this, but it worked even though the officer said these are "psychotropic pills" (a term I really dislike) and asked why I had it. Basically, you try and act indignant at this unacceptable affront at a law abiding citizen (that's you), and cross your fingers - trust in the dictum that people work because they need the money, and that not many people love their job and pursues it with a burning passion. They will not call and check. This is Malaysia, goyang kaki, pass the day and go home ok liaw lah, no need to go out of the way, too troublesome.

The tablets look exactly like the ones in Australia, but the blister pack design differs

Generally the customs in Malaysia do not bother with such minor transgressions, so it's not that risky. Chances are, they won't even bother to search your luggage. However, if all else fails, use the tried and true "ah encik, tak apa lah, tolong sikit ya" while discreetly slipping a bank note of an appropriate denomination method. Do at your own risk. Yeah, everyone knows bribes are common to the point of society acceptance, but you could get the clean one. Also, the denomination would ideally reflect how much you're willing to pay to avoid hassles. Don't shortchange them, it's rude. I always hear about people boasting that they just slipped the police officer a RM 10 note and that was that. I've also heard of people bargaining. Come on guys, give them some respect, of course it depends on the nature of the transgression, but what's RM 100 to get off a DUI charge? It's a bargain, that's what.

I wouldn't worry too much though, airport security regarding these things are slack - I've hand carried on board my backpack and camera case and sent it through the X-Rays, with full knowledge that the backpack had my Marquis and Mandelin solutions, a meth pipe, a cannabis pipe and shredder that Frank got me from Amsterdam (thanks!), which were obviously drug paraphernalia as well as various different benzodiazepines, most of which does not have a doctor's prescription. There were different ones in my camera case as well, and no one even blinked. I have a friend who was stupid enough to forget the three straws of meth stashed in his wallet and boarded a domestic flight and walked out fine. From what I've seen, checks are so rare it's a non issue. However, I'll have to insert "caveat emptor" again, making me sound like some pretentious fuck, sorry. :) There are occasions when checks would be done which accounts for the situations above.

#1 Method: This one hasn't failed me yet. This works for pills of all kinds, but of course I mean pharmaceuticals tablets. It also works for bottles and boxes, if you're sensible and don't get the ridiculous 500/1000 tablet monsters. Basically, go and see a doctor before your flight, get the nurses to put the pills in those doctor's baggies, try and get more, ask nicely and say something like you want to divide the meds into two baggies so you can keep one at home and one at the office. Then, insert more pills (which would have to look similar) into the bag, or empty it and put whatever you want inside. For small bottles (100-200 pills) and boxes, just wrap the baggie around the circumference and tape it so both ends stick together vertically. You know how they always do that in clinics.
There you have it. The instant legitimate look. :) Also, get generics if you're going for pharmaceuticals and get less decorative pills if you're going for non pharms. That makes it difficult to identify the pills and it looks like everything is in order so there would be no hassles. Worse case scenario, they call the doctor and the busy GP would go yeah, yeah, gave him some meds that day. I've never had that happen though, like I said, customs don't care about these things that much here so they just let you though. I usually don't bother and just walk through, unless I'm feeling paranoid or it's an amount that could not be considered for personal use only.

Disclaimer: This is not a post that "promotes and glorifies" (seriously, one hosting company said that to me when he refused to host the drug related content) activities which may violate the law. It's just personal experiences with customs in Malaysia and while methods for circumventing detection is discussed, the site (sixthseal.com), my evil twin brother by day and alter ego by night (veritas) and myself does not condone any activity which violates the laws of Malaysia.

I'll catch you all in the new server! Bye, from veritas.

veritas was here.
Guest writer - sixthseal.com, castitas.com
2002 - 2004

Posted in Best of sixthseal.com by Huai Bin at 07:44 AM Permalink | Comments (42)

MyDoom (and yours)

MyDoom raped me a bit over the course of the day...I had to delete thousands of Mydoom/Novarg emails, but that wasn't that bad since the worm does have characteristic [mcafee.com] subject and body text so a string filter to dump those mails straight into the Deleted Items folder can clean things up easily.

What isn't so funny is the 22 kb payload...multiply that by thousands and there's wasted bandwidth for you. I just paid US$ 60 for excess bandwidth usage today. Which reminds me, sixthseal.com would have to be moved in the next few days. I have already aquired a US$ 34.94 per month VPS/VDS hosting package since this site has outgrown the current host. That's RM 132 each month, but I reckon it'll be cheaper in the long run.

I will be moving as soon as possible, the backups are ready, so let's hope this would be a smoother server move than my first host (HostNexus) to my current host (ICDSoft), where I'll still be keeping castitas.com. The last move was gnarly since the sql database dump somehow got fux0red and I had to use the import feature, which breaks the sequence. I moved last time because sixthseal.com started to outgrow the old host and it's for the same reason this time. I've had good experience with both of my hosts, this blog just needs a higher end package since the visitors increase each month.

RM 132 might seem like a lot to pay with my soon to be 2k salary, but yeah, I don't mind the expenditure. Oh, and I also picked up two domains today, which will be revealed in due time. That makes the sixthseal.com family 5, which is always a nice number. ;) I don't know what I'm going to do with the domains though...I might run a nameserver on one since I have two static IPs so yeah if anyone needs a secondary NS, feel free to approach me when that happens.

Right then, this post has been rather site-centric, sorry about that. Just a notice that sixthseal.com might be down for up to 48 hours in the next few days while the DNS records propogate. Sleep tight everyone and don't let the mass mailing worms bite!

Posted in by Huai Bin at 06:08 PM Permalink | Comments (11)

KLIA Unit Kawalan Vektor monitoring units in toilets

Greetings from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia! I arrived in KL this morning after excessive drinking last night. Hell, I was still intoxicated when I woke up! I can't remember the last time I threw up but I regurgitated last night, took off my clothes to soak it up and climbed into bed and passed out. :)

When conciousness was regained again, I saw that it was 8:15 am, my friends are picking me up and sending me to the airport at 8:30 am and I threw everything into a bag, wiped up the previous night's excess, showered and got into the airport and somehow arrived in KL. ;) You know one of those days when you've had a big night out (with alchohol) and you wake up still drunk? Yep, that's today. :)

I shall update again later, I have stuff to do. Meanwhile, amuse yourself with this photo I took this morning at the KLIA airport:

It reads:
PEJABAT KESIHATAN KLIA
Unit Kawalan Vektor
Kajian sedang dijalankan

which translates to:
KLIA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
Vector Control Unit
Monitoring is in progress

Posted in by Huai Bin at 11:56 PM Permalink | Comments (9)

Sibu flood!

There was a flood in Sibu in many areas of the town today. The water levels started rising last night, allegedly from the rains in Kapit (upstream from Sibu via Rejang River). The central roads were even flooded and unfortunately I did not take the Sibu town/Lanang Road route but the parallel one, passing through Jalan Alan (!!!) instead. Jalan Alan is a notoriously low level area where I was also caught unaware during the rainy season last year. I drove through anyway...

I have crossed swords with greater foes than you, puny pool of water!

I did not manage to take any photos of me navigating the Jalan Alan route though because I was too busy doing battle with the water. I felt like I was driving a boat instead of the car and had to rev the engine really hard to keep moving. I feared it would stall in the middle and it nearly did, I think water got into the exhaust and it wouldn't start properly. However, revving the engine (which I would imagine would clear the water out) helped and I was soon on my way again.

The above photo was taken today at Jalan Alan. Two cars stalled there - a Proton Perdana and a Proton Iswara. I managed to get through all right though (always rev the engines hard - amateur advice, but tried and true nevertheless). The Jalan Salim interchange was too much for me to brave though:

You may not pass!

I reckon if that trailer didn't dare to risk it, it would be common sense for me not to pass that way either. For what it's worth, it was really deep, much deeper than the Jalan Alan flood. Here's a final photo to cap it all up:

The police were getting out perahus/sampans (boats) to rescue trapped people.

I got out alright though, except my car had partial amnesia...the front licence plate was washed away by the force of the water pressure while driving through the flood lar. :p

On another note, I'll be flying to KL early tomorrow and I won't come back to Sibu again, I'll be flying straight to Kuching on the morning of the 31st.

Posted in Interesting by Huai Bin at 11:58 PM Permalink | Comments (18)

More Chinese New Year visitation photos

We went for another round of Chinese New Year visiting today. It's the 4th day of CNY ("chu shi") today so this would probably be the final Chinese New Year visitation photos since no one really goes visiting on the 5th day ("chu wu") unlike in the old days. I hear people visit up till Chap Goh Meh (15th day) in the past. Anyway, here's the three houses we visited today:

Hie Yieng's house
L-R: Ting Chuan, Ah Ping, Huai Bin (me), Hie Yieng, Siew Fua.
I'm the one in black attire.

Hie Yieng is a friend from my college days in Sibu. I used to study at MPI which was where I met Siew Fua too. I think we kept Hie Yieng waiting from 10 am till 1:15 pm...she was planning to head out when we wanted to visit. Oops. :)

Winnie Ha's house
Winnie is the one in blue.

I haven't seen Winnie since she went to LA six years ago. We were from the same primary school and went to the same high school as well. It was great to catch up with her after all these years - found out that she was in KL and also in Melbourne at the same time I was, albeit the interlap was just a couple of days. She's in Melbourne now. It's always good to catch up with old friends after a long time. :)

Ming Tze's house
Ming Tze is the one in the middle.

Ming Tze is also another old friend from primary school and we were in the same class in high school. I think the last time we met up and talked was two years ago. She's also based in Kuching and I'll be working there starting February so there's a good opportunity to catch up. :)

It's been a great Chinese New Year! I'm glad I came back. :)

Posted in Chinese New Year by Huai Bin at 09:17 PM Permalink | Comments (10)

Graduation in the papers and my Kuching plans (accomodation?)

Sin Chew Jit Poh and See Hua (local Chinese dailies) had graduation photos of me and my sister today. Anyway, about my future plans that I've meant to post about - I'll be based in Kuching starting February. I'll be pulling in a 2k salary, which was part of the reason behind the decision to move. There's also an EPF (KWSP) contribution and Kuching living expenses are much cheaper than KL which means I'll have more money to pay for the unholy excess bandwidth charges that sixthseal.com racks up. :p

My field is somewhat similar to what I was doing in KL, except I'll also spearhead their networking solution in addition to being a programmer. I'll be working a six day week (well, five and half days to be exact) - 8 am till 5 pm weekdays and 8 am till 12:30 pm Saturday. I'll be driving in Kuching so the earlier start time wouldn't be an issue. There you have it, I'll be flying back to KL on the 27th to pack up the remainder of my stuff and flying back to Sibu on the 30th and it's off to Kuching I go on the 31st of January.

Speaking of which, does anyone know of any rooms to rent in Kuching? I've heard of several, which are either too expensive or not suitable. I'll like a room in a house with a washing machine and air conditioning (optional), the ability to get a phone line installed and privacy (that means no barging into my room and I have the only set of keys to my room). I am not noisy (I always use headphones) and do not mind noisy environments (I have benzos ;)). Open minded and discreet fellow residents would be appreciated.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:16 PM Permalink | Comments (13)

Visiting during Chinese New Year

We went for another round of Chinese New Year visiting today. I didn't sleep till 4 pm as planned...woke up at 9 am (alarm) and zoned out till about 11 am. I was quite scattered from the previous night but it's all good, we headed out to visit a couple of people. The first house we went to is Siew Fua's.

Siew Fua's house
L-R: Huai Bin (me), Siew Fua, Ting Chuan
I'm the one in the Monash University T-shirt.

We sat around and talked for a while before heading (unannounced) to Datina's place. It's a good thing she was home and we spent more than an hour catching up. Here's a shot of us:

Datina's house
Datina is the one in white.

It was about noon at that time so we were invited to have lunch with their family. Great timing, we haven't had lunch yet. ;) I loved the tea - it's a fruit and herbal fusion that tastes great!

Next up is Vivien's house, have been meaning to visit her since it's been a while since I've talked to her. We also met her sister (Hello Jennifer!) at her house.

Vivien's house

I somehow inherited some chai lei firecrackers here.

It's made by the same company as the original Chai Lai but this one is called Happy Boom instead of the misleading Coloured Flowers. These firecrackers seem to sound slightly louder than Coloured Flowers and actually have a nice plume of sparks as the primer.

This is Vivien, who occasionally comments here as "vivi". We're all from the same high school.

Anyway, Vivien came along with us to visit Thien Na. Thien Na is one of my classmates who was in Melbourne with me. I've since graduated, but she's planning to settle there. Here's a shot of us:

Thien Na's house
Thien Na is the second one from left.

The final destination was Chiew Yieng's house...er, mansion. We spent the rest of the day there talking until about 7 pm. Here's a photo of us at her place.

Chiew Yieng's house
She's the one beside me, second from left.

Posted in Chinese New Year by Huai Bin at 11:23 PM Permalink | Comments (19)

Feng tau Chinese New Year (a police raid and the great escape)

This New Year is going to be very auspicious for me because we narrowly avoided being raided by the police. =D It started when we went to My Place for some good old feng tau action to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

1 1/2 Marquis dengan Mandelin biru, lima dan bir.

Here's another shot of us, didn't get everyone in, unfortunately, our convoy of 13 people were scattered at the venue.

sixthseal.com's My Place video clip [sixthseal.com]
(1.17 MB zip file, right click, save download as)
Extract from the zip file - it's a .mov file (Requires QuickTime Player)

Click the movie above for a small video clip of the place.

Anyway, much fun was had until exactly 3 am when everyone started leaving in a hurried pace in droves.

Rule #1 - When people start leaving en masse, get off your ass and fucking cabut with them.

I managed to mobilize most of our group and we all headed out of the place. Not a second too soon, there was a fucking group of police walking determinedly towards the venue. Hell, the first wave was nearly at the doorstep and we nonchalantly (as close to nonchalant as we could manage anyway) took a sharp right. None of us could afford to get hauled in if you catch my drift. I got into my car with my friend and drove off, just in time. Close call...

Phone calls were made to ensure that everyone managed to get out safely and we set a rendezvous point outside a nearby hotel. Bad news, one person in our group didn't get out. Last we saw, he was behind the speakers. By that time, the place was swarming with police - there were patrol cars, sapu vehicles (those trucks used to load people in for drug tests) and personnel. I wanted to take a photo but that would be an extremely stupid thing to do, so unfortunately there's no raid photos. We waited a while and turned back to search for our missing friend.

Stroke of luck, he managed to get out as well. :)

Alls well that ends well, let me get some nitrazepam and alcohol into me and no one wake me till 4 pm. Party safe everyone.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 05:07 AM Permalink | Comments (8)

Chinese New Year visiting photos

The first round of Chinese New Year visitations kick started as I was awakened at about 1:15 pm by a phone call, and we arranged to meet at Johnny's house to start things off:

Johnny's house
L-R: Lee Ling, Daniel, Johnny, Huai Bin (me), Ting Chuan.

Next up is Frank, stopped by his house and played with his kitten. :)

Frank's house
L-R: Daniel, Ting Chuan, The kitten and I, Frank, Johnny.

Picked Frank up and we headed down to Diana's place. She's actually living in Kuching now, but comes back during Chinese New Year. This is the first shot (facing inwards):

Diana's house #1
Front row
L-R: Huai Bin (red Quiksilver T-shirt), Doreen (holding the baby, Diana's eldest sister), Diana, Daphne (Diana's elder sister).
Back row
L-R: Frank, Ting Chuan, Johnny, Daniel, Lee Ling.

We took another shot facing outwards:

Diana's house #2
Front row
L-R: Daphne, Doreen, Diana, me.
Back row
L-R: Lee Ling, Daniel, Johnny, Ting Chuan, Frank.

Next up is Lisa's house. Here's a shot of us:

Lisa's house
The one in the red shirt (not me, the female in the red shirt) is Lisa. The others can be recognizable from the previous photo captions.

We finally adjourned to Daniel's place here:

Daniel's house

I'll have to go out again in a while. I'll try to reply all the comments until I have to leave. Chinese New Year, quite busy, my apologies. :)

Posted in Chinese New Year by Huai Bin at 06:21 PM Permalink | Comments (8)

Chinese New Year in Sibu

A photo story

There's the stringing of firecrackers over the balcony to avoid using the unwieldy pole method.

The lesser form of firecrackers (Shun Lee Hung) doesn't sound as loud nor does it have a lucky banner (it has a cloth instead) but is a common replacement considering the dearth of the traditional "fuck you" loud ass Chinese firecrackers.

We wait for the clock to strike 12 am.

Everyone lets off their firecrackers at the stroke of midnight.

A red carpet lies in our wake.

Other shenanigans like lighting two (or three, or four) firecrackers at once can be attempted at this point.

It's not Sibu if there isn't a man made fog after midnight! :)

We won't have it any other way. Here in Sibu, Sarawak, we aim to scare away the nien ghost the only way we know how to - light the fuses comrades! ;)

Posted in Chinese New Year by Huai Bin at 12:46 AM Permalink | Comments (14)

Chinese New Year reunion dinner

This is the Poh Clan after the CNY reunion dinner. I think I got everyone, though not all relatives have arrived yet, but the core group is in, with the matriach.

[Edit: Snip. Snip. Sorry, ya, don't think many people would be happy at me posting about that. Chinese New Year, we try to make other people happy. :)]

Posted in Chinese New Year by Huai Bin at 09:34 PM Permalink | Comments (6)

Firecrackers in Malaysia - photos, videos and descriptions

A sixthseal.com Chinese New Year special

Coloured Flowers - Chai Lei

This is the classic Colored Flowers a.k.a. Chai Lei (translates to "coloured mine"). It costs RM 7 at your friendly local fireworks retailer - usually operating with a single shutter open and stacks of canned drinks obscuring the view. Please do not be mislead by the benign sounding name - Coloured Flowers is a not something you light and watch the pretty sparks fly. ;)

Red and green, intertwined

Well, actually it does sparkle for a bit before it explodes, but anyway. These are the classics for people getting into all sorts of mischief i.e. time delay fuse (mosquito coil lar) rigged up, stuck into toilet cistern and pity the poor guy who's taking a dump while it goes off. The time delay fuse is obviously to put a suitable amount of time between the act and the deed so an alibi can be established.

The fuse of the Coloured Flower burns...

This is the Jin Yue Brand ones - the choice of connoisseurs. It comes in a pack of 20 firecrackers - with 10 green tops and 10 red tops.

The green tops make a horrific shriek (and a green flare if you're lucky) as the fuse burns into the primer before exploding.

The red one actually produces a nice, short burst of colourful sparks before exploding. Otherwise, they are similar, the different color determines how the primer reacts.

The green one lights...

The red one lights...

I would say that these are louder and more powerful than the new Coloured Flowers (below). It costs RM 1 extra per box, but it's worth the premium.

Red and green Chai Lei's explode the same way.

Coloured Flowers - Chai Lei Wang

This is the new breed of Coloured Flowers and one which most people would be familiar with. It's made by another company and also comes in a pack of 20. It costs RM 6, one dollar less than the classic ones but it can hold it's own to the originals. The box is slightly smaller than the Chai Lei box and each firecracker is also slightly smaller.

However Chai Lei Wang (literally "colored mine king") differs physically from the first in its effects. It also has a primer but the primer produces normal flame coloured sparks before the firecracker explodes. It registers a little lower in the decibel meter but not by much. These are the common ones that we used to play as children; we'll wait for the primer to flame before chucking it.

We soon learnt that the time it takes after lighting the fuse and chucking it does not have a direct correlation with the size of one's balls and also another more important lesson - Chinese factories does not have the rigorous quality assurance process that we take for granted in other factories. Not all Chai Lei Wang has a primer, some just explode as soon as the fuse burns out, though these are rare.

Here's a short movie of how the Chai Lei Wang works:

sixthseal.com's Chai Lei Wang video [sixthseal.com]
(2.84 MB zip file, right click, save download as)
Extract from the zip file - it's a .mov file (Requires QuickTime Player)

My apologies for the bad take - we shot several times. It sounds much louder than it does in the video due to hardware limitations. The first two we messed up, and I forgot to wait till the primer ignites in the third shot (which is the one you see above) and I did remember in the forth one, but the cracker rolled into a longkang and it was a bad take. Also, I noticed I felt the need to protect the family jewels in the last minute in the video above. Heh. Anyway, the dog got a bit freaked by the loud noises after that, so we did not attempt any more shenanigans.

This is the primer of Chai Lei Wang burning (not to be confused with the fuse (forgive the pun), the fuse has already burnt out before the primer - it lights the primer).

It burns into the cracker...

which explodes.

Disclaimer: Waiting for the primer to ignite is the "correct" way for teenage boys to play Chai Lei Wang, but is not recommended due to the variable nature of the primer and fuse.

Dadi Single Voice

I love these things...I would pick this as my favourite firecracker. It's loud and it's destructive. Throw it too close to a window and...well, you'll have to call for the glass cutters. It costs RM 10 for a box of 20 and the premium price is worth it. These babies are larger than Chai Lei's (both variants) and leaves a nice red carpet after it ignites and explodes.

The aptly named Da Di Lei Gong (literally "big earth thunder king") used to be my favourite when I was young. I remembered a funny incident from many Chinese New Years back. I was lighting one of these and saw this rubbish collector trundling along with his basket. Mischief can be allowed for at that age, so I rigged up a short time delay with a sparkler. I sauntered back in, and watched from inside my compound as he reached it...I knew I had the timing right.

Just as he was picking up my garbage can, the DaDi cracker exploded and as I stand here today, I swear he jumped a meter up. Heh. These things are loud, no doubt about it. :) Anyway, the damage potential of these firecrackers is all blown (excuse the pun) out of proportion, IMHO. While its common sense not to hold onto the crackers while it explodes, anything else is pretty much okay for adults.

Lights...and,

I take the shots close and my digicam lens didn't crack or anything (though I have tinnitus in one ear)...even as kids we used to throw them around and yeah, I can attest that one of these going off right beside you would not cause any damage (except, as stated previously to your hearing ;)), did that several times just now while fooling around. While I won't make this into a call for the re-legalization of firecrackers, I feel that there's no reason to ban what is a fundamentally Chinese way of ushering in the New Year.

action! My favorite photo - Dadi Single Voice exploding.

I can't imagine a Chinese New Year without firecrackers. I do think that they should not be sold to people below a certain age, say 16, but I do not support an outright ban. It's always "for the kids", someone always has to say "Oh, won't someone think of the poor children" when someone gets hurt and just like that, it's banned. I call it lack of parental supervision. It's your fault, no one else's, stop pushing the blame around. It's the same with drugs. Come on, let your citizens think for themselves; don't do their thinking for them. I digress.

Anyway, obviously I haven't conducted ballistics testing on these things but qualitatively, DaDi Single Voice seems to be the loudest one and it seems to be the "stronger" one of the three. Let's put it this way - if I had to choose between Chai Lei and DaDi to hold onto in my hand while it explodes, I would choose the former. ;)

My apologies for not featuring the other classics like Chung Tien Pau ("rush sky cracker" - the double report bane of housing estates everywhere ;)) and Thunder Clap. They were not in stock this year.

Other firecrackers:

Chinese firecrackers

This is the traditional Chinese New Year staple to be let off at the stroke of midnight. It's a long string of firecrackers with a big boxy cardboard thing on top that explodes to reveal a banner with Chinese writing for good luck.

Shun Lee Hung firecrackers

This is the other type of Chinese firecrackers. Shun Lee Hung firecrackers are much like the one above and is common nowadays as a replacement for the traditional rolled up ones. It doesn't have the lucky banner though.

Display shell

This looks like the great balls of colourful fire in the sky, you know the ones. They let similar ones off during special events too so most people have seen these.

The fuse on top

It's a long and largish tube that needs to be tied down (or have someone holding it in place).

I am still searching the dictionary for an entry on "repotr".

It does stand properly when it's not lighted like now, but when it's lighted, the force of the first ball will topple the construction without support.

Magical shots

The favourite of children during Chinese New Year - each tube propels several small, different coloured balls over a short distance. The balls are multicoloured and it's sold in a pack of 12 for RM 20. It's fun for the kids, basically, you hold it in your hand and let the balls of fire shoot out. :)

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

Gong Xi Fa Chai!

Posted in Best of sixthseal.com , Chinese New Year by Huai Bin at 06:53 PM Permalink | Comments (28)

Waxed duck - the fake looking meat

Waxed duck at a store display

Waxed duck, otherwise known as lup ngap (Cantonese) or lak yak (Mandarin) is an oily, waxed meat. Lup and lak both mean "wax" in the respective dialects although the romanization is different. I had always thought it looked like plastic meat when I was younger and never really had a chance to eat it. It's a salty, preserved meat that needs to be cooked (i.e. steamed) before serving. The seller mentioned that it needed to be cooked before eating, but I was adamant at trying to eat it raw and didn't have much success:

It was simply too tough to bite off that way. The skin of the duck went through some unholy preservative measures that made it look waxy and rendered it all but impossible to tear off with the canines without softening it first. It retails for RM 4.50 per drumstick (including thigh area) and the price increases as the size of the fowl increases, up to RM 25.00 for a full bird (it's duck).

Anyway, the above is a photo I took at home while I prepared it for steaming. There isn't any fancy ingredients added - this is the unadulterated experience, just the duck and nothing else, thank you very much. ;) I covered the plate with another plate as instructed and then put it over some boiling water (no direct contact, steaming it) and after about 20 minutes, it turned into this:

It looks much more edible now, though the waxy looking exterior remains. It also seems quite oily as the photo shows. I ate most of it with kueh tiaw, though eating it with steamed rice would be a better choice to offset the salty taste. It's very salty, no doubt. It's also very tough but it was edible, if not palatable (at least to me) after the first few bites. The choking oiliness and "waxy" feeling of the duck makes the skin very hard to consume but nevertheless, I liked it for the novelty value and hey, these things only come around once a year. Happy Chinese New Year! :)

Posted in Food by Huai Bin at 09:26 AM Permalink | Comments (11)

Kingway beer is free from formaldehyde

Kingway beer from China is "FREE" FROM FORMALDEHYDE - or so the back label claims. Now, this is quite a disturbing label to put on a beer and the wording of the sentence leaves much to be desired, but keep in mind that this is a product from a Chinese (ShenZhen Kingway Brewery Company) brewery so translation errors might be an issue here. Back to the "free" from formaldehyde claim, it disconcerts me that they put inverted commas around the word free, which seems to suggest that it is not exactly, completely free from formaldehyde.

It's like: You take a drink, put it down, see a label at the back and read "drink moderately" and think yeah, standard disclaimer and then read ""free" from formeldehyde" and think wtf man?? I was just enjoying my drink and now you've given me pause...

However, a search leads to an article that says that this disturbing label stems from a commercial in Taiwan where Kingway beer claims to be the first beer brewery from China to not use formaldehyde as a preservative. Formaldehyde, if you did not know, is a potentially carcinogenic agent and generally is not a good idea to ingest.

Anyway, fear not, drinkers of Kingway beer. The product seems to be free from formaldehyde, not "free" from formaldehyde as the unfortunate translation came out. It prompted indignant replies from other Chinese beer manufacturers like TsingTao whom also claims they have not been using formaldehyde in their brewing process for decades and that the ads are misleading as they suggest Kingway is the only brewery to discard the practise.

Bottles up, friends, it seems that Kingway beer is safe to drink. :) It retails at a decidedly affordable price point at RM 5 per bottle (640 ml) of full strength (5.0 % Alc) beer.

Posted in Ethanol and tobacco by Huai Bin at 11:37 PM Permalink | Comments (13)

Sambal Pocket of Persia

This is the new sambal variant of the Pocket of Persia. I saw the commercial advertising a new sambal flavoured Pocket of Persia on Discovery's Travel and Adventure channel, of all things. Anyway, I went to the KFC at Wisma Sanyan after getting a haircut today and sure enough - they have a sambal version of the Pocket of Persia.

The new tagline is The sambal's in the Pita instead of The secret's in the Pita [sixthseal.com] in the normal version. It also states that the new Pocket of Persia comes with sambal sauce and crispy cucumbers:

However it does taste quite different - the sambal goes surprisingly well with the other ingredients, much better than chilli IMHO, so this makes for a delicious change.

There is no difference to the new sambal Pocket of Persia besides the replacement of the chilli sauce for sambal and some cucumbers, but that seems to make a world of difference in taste. I liked it.

Posted in Fast Food Inc. by Huai Bin at 11:29 PM Permalink | Comments (14)

SugarBun's Prosperity Fish Meal (RM 8.88)

The Prosperity Fish Meal in Sugarbun sounded very attractive from the banner they had in front of the store. SugarBun is a fast food outlet like McDonalds, Burger King and the like, except that it has recently diversified its menu to provide a wider range of items. The banner shows a whole fish and I thought that sounded interesting, so me and my gf went to check it out.

The ads strung across the cashiers also promote this particular meal - Prosperity in every bite! The "Wishing you nien nien yu yee" bit is a common Chinese saying during Chinese (Lunar) New Year, it literally translates to "Wishing you every year got fish" but it's taken to mean that you will have enough food to eat every year, kinda like "Good luck" except this goes "May Famine not rear His black horse behind you". ;)

Here's how it looks like - there really is a whole fish and it's quite large. It's about the size of...well, the plate is a standard dinner plate so you can infer the size of the fish from there. It costs RM 8.88 (8 is considered a good number due to the pronunciation) and comes with steamed rice and Sugarbun's pickled vegetables on the side. The sauce they poured over the fish goes well with the fried fish, though I would add chilli for taste. The fish is fried well, crispy but soft on the inside and there aren't many bones to get in your way.

This is what the inside of the fish looks like. I even had both sets of eyes, they fried it well on the outside, but the inside is still nice and gooey. The fish I got and the one my gf had was slightly differing in size, but not to a great degree. I don't expect whole fish to be exactly the same size, but it's not that different so they must have some sort of quality control on the sizes. It's good, I liked the Prosperity Fish Meal and with a whole fish to go with it, I don't think the RM 8.88 price tag is unreasonable.

Besides, with all the bites I got out of it, I feel much more prosperous already.

Posted in Fast Food Inc. by Huai Bin at 06:29 PM Permalink | Comments (17)

The new Taman Selera

Taman Selera is dead. Long live Taman Selera.

It's actually Taman Harmoni now...there was a popular place for supper called Taman Selera in Sibu (we just call it "kampung tau" though). However, sometime between the last time I was back and now, the place has moved, as can be seen in the picture above. I was like wtf? We had arranged to meet at kampung tau and the place seems to have disappeared.

New Taman Selera (Taman Harmoni)

I was informed that there was a new one now, just right behind the old place. This one is much larger (at least it seems that way) than the old one, though the old Taman Selera retains a certain charm this new sanitized and homogenous one does not radiate. It's a semi circle of stalls, with er...a decidedly hemogenous layout. Can't say much more than that really, even the store signboards are standardized.

Interesting Nasi Goreng Pataya

Anyway, I had nasi goreng pattaya, and instead of the flat egg wrapped rice I was expecting, this one came in the standard rice bowl sized package! I was wondering how they managed to wrap the omelette around this unorthodox rice dump. It came with chicken, salted fish, cucumbers and sambal. It tasted pretty good.

This is us at Taman Harmoni. Clockwise from left is me, Adrian, Hie Ing (Adrian's gf), er...sorry I forgot your name, Pheobe or Phoebe (phew, remembered this one, if only for the easy to remember name), and Christopher. I thought I had dropped the "two drinks each meal" routine, but apparently not. Anyway, here's a look at the washbasins of Taman Harmoni (also standardized):

There's one for every size and shape. Harmonious wash basins. I liked this design.

Posted in People by Huai Bin at 11:56 PM Permalink | Comments (9)

Air Asia's Snack Attack - Chicken Congee

I managed to sample Air Asia's onboard cuisine (which is an opt in menu that you pay for) when I took the AK 0340 flight from KLIA to Sibu yesterday. I had been staring blankly at the seat in front of me for the past 40 minutes or so and one of the cabin crew went "Sir, would you like anything to eat or drink?" I was rather scattered so I went "What was that?" and she repeated her first statement and I thought yeah, some food would do me good so I asked what they have on their menu. I couldn't make out anything from the food choices she spieled out but I heard "(something) chicken" so I said "Yeah, I'll have that chicken thing."

It turned out to be chicken congee. "Congee", of course, is just a word people use instead of "porridge" to be pretentious. ;) Anyway, this was called Snack Attack Chicken Congee and cost RM 5. Upon further inspection I noticed that:

It was made exclusively for Air Asia.

The chicken porridge was in a polyester (?) tub which was quite big and deep. It looks like one of those premium ramen containers, one of the larger ones, but not the super premium huge ones. It didn't look like much, but add some salt and pepper:

and it tasted pretty good actually. That is saying something, considering I wasn't hungry at that time, but it could be the salt and pepper that made me think it was better than it actually was. Nevertheless, the portions are generous and the ingredients are satisfactory.

The chicken congee contains relatively large chicken chunks, mushrooms, and some other things I couldn't readily identify.

I arrived in Sibu and breezed through the typically lax (practically non existent) customs. Excuse the guy that got into the shot.

There was a booth before the exit with several doctors checking people without Malaysian identification papers for SARS before the exit though. Oops...this shouldn't have been in a post about food should it? My apologies. Heh.

Posted in Food by Huai Bin at 08:24 PM Permalink | Comments (10)

The Last Supper

Restoran Mubeen

I went for supper last night with Danny and Prem. I think it was supper anyway, although it could have been breakfast or lunch or even dinner from the night before since I haven't had anything to eat for a while. We were at Restoran Mubeen and I managed to choke down a plate of maggie mee goreng. No fault of the place, mind. It's just that my appetite hasn't been exactly rampaging for a while.

This is us at Mubeen. L-R: Prem, me, Danny. I actually tried to cancel at the last minute, because I...er, overextended myself *cough* and I had a flight the next day (which is today) so I needed to go to the airport at 5:30 am. Danny won't hear any of it though and I'm glad I went.

Which reminds me, the following three pictures was taken by him while we were eating at Mubeen:

Danny does Prem.

This is me. I hear I've been slurring my words, so I may not have been the most sober person in the world at that time.

This is a random shot of the area around where we were.

Anyway, Restoran Mubeen's opening hours expired, so we moved over to the next place - Restoran/Kafe Chinonee.

Restoran.Kafe (they couldn't decide which one they wanted to be) Chinonee.

Prem and Danny are really nice people to talk to and it's great to hang out in a non-workplace context, it allows for much more interesting conversation. ;) Here's a shot of us at Chinonee:

L-R: Me, Danny, Prem. Chinonee closed up after a while so we headed back. It was good catching up with them. I didn't know where the next couple of hours went though coz the next time I looked at the clock it was nearly 5 am and I realized that not everything was packed so I threw the rest into a big suitcase and obviously got to the airport in time, coz I'm blogging from Sibu now. :)

Excuse me, I shall reply all comments and post again tomorrow. I've gone without sleep for a while and Newton is insisting that I observe his law ever since yesterday so I'm afraid I'll have to comply with his unfortunately irrefutable law. I shall attempt to drive now to pick up my completely legitimate 2 x 2 mg clonazepam daily script. Remind me to cabut if I get into an accident because I'm sleep deprived and probably won't pass any thorough investigation should a formal inquisition be made. ;)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 03:35 PM Permalink | Comments (4)

XM Malaysia: My last day

14th of January, 2004 was my last day at XM Malaysia. I have had a great time here, met lots of interesting people and most importantly learnt a lot about the working world here. This is my first job (well, first job that's related to my degree and legit) and it has indeed provided me with valuable experience and lessons that would be very helpful in my career. I highly recommend anyone who's just entering the workforce to join the wonderful people at XM - the corporate culture is great, the people are great and you will gain an appreciation for deadlines and timelines here. ;)

Unfortunately, due to personal reasons, I decided to move to another city and thus submitted my resignation letter with a heavy heart. I'm not just saying that, XM is really a great place to work in, and the high workload teaches discipline. There is also frequent dinners, parties, events and even an annual company trip. I hear the destination is somewhere in Phuket this year...I would have loved to go had I been able to, but the trip is slated in late February/March.

One of the shortlisted destinations was Koh Samui and I would have kicked myself had that been the final destination. But then I wouldn't be able to go anyway, even if I were still at XM. My gf placed a restraining order in regards to that particular island (and Koh Phangan) after I used the name of this popular tourist destination and certain psychoactive fungi in the same sentence...places like Amsterdam (obviously) and Japan (research chems) is also on the "Entry only under her supervision" list for related reasons. Strangely, I am free to wander crystal clear Jalan Alor, but I digress...

I'm going to miss the frequent company wide events and all the people I've come to know in my time at XM Malaysia. Congratulations for the recent pitch win, and all the best in everything! The photos for the pitch was one of the things I did that I will remember fondly - it was great to see the storylines turned into photo scenes and then compiled and made into a cohesive strip. It was an enjoyable experience to work in Creative for a change. Every single person at XM has left an impact in my time here and I enjoyed getting to know every single one of you. Take care everyone and thanks for everything!

Management

Ng Jit Hoong - General Manager a.k.a. The Boss. I was surprised when I first knew that he was the GM since he appeared younger than most people holding a similar position. I like the way he manages the company - it promotes employee loyalty. Unlike most managers, he knows how to have fun and that makes XM a great place to work in.

Yusnita - She was the one that called me for an interview when I was in Sibu and I kept caling her Nita coz that was what I heard on the phone, but it turns out to be Yusnita and everyone calls her Yus, so I had to switch. :) It was my first interview and I found her very friendly and approachable, which made me felt more comfortable. Ever since I lost my Palm stylus with an integrated pen, I either go to Yus or Rozana for something which produces ink.

Account Management

Taryn - I remember working on a project till late once and she kindly offered me a ride home. We were talking about all sorts of things when clubbing came up and she presented her views about drugs, which wasn't exactly similar to mine. :) She's one of the few people I feel comfortable talking to though. Thanks for having the faith to select me as the pitch photographer, I really appreciate that!

Project Management

Prem! Great guy who manages some of the projects I work on and he's one of the most patient people I know (though I would let him have his morning coffee before talking to him). I met him at Chili's in Bangsar Shopping Center (bsc) [sixthseal.com] early on and was surprised that he recognized me and stopped me. He was drinking with his friends while I was having dinner with my friends to celebrate my first paycheck. I didn't even recognize him at first due to pre-loading at home before the dinner and thus the Intoxication Factor was fairly high and Prem noticed that. Friendly and easy to talk to, you just gotta love him (in a completely heterosexual way of course). Which reminds me, IMHO "brb" is much safer than "gimme a sec" to type in Yahoo! Messenger due to the proximity of the 'c' and 'x' key, especially with the high key density of notebooks. It may save considerable consternation on the recipient's part. ;)

Technical

This is my department.

Rozana - She's one of the people in tech that I'm closer with. She sits beside me (right) but unfortunately has to use the BUZZ!!! function despite the physical proximity due to the admittedly excessively loud headphones volume setting I like, which renders me all but oblivious to ambient sound, unless I take it off. It does not help that the music I listen to help me concentrate is feng tau music (the cheesy Ah Beng kind). Rozana likes shopping and I like to say "Just put "QC OK" enough laa..." - a phrase said in jest which I picked up from the other tech guys. I imagine hanging out with her bf would be a lot of fun, never got that chance. ;) I'll love to be your wedding photographer if I'm in KL at that time.

Wai Hing - Senior programmer who interviewed me when I came in. He probably knows more about me than anyone else in XM and is a good friend from the beginning. I had thought that my dismal attempts at tackling the ASP problem in the interview meant I had blown it, but thankfully it didn't. I remember him saying that if he had known about my blog during the interview, I would probably not have been hired due to veritas's all too controversial content. :) I used HuaiBin.Poh@sixthseal.com as my resume address, I reckon if I had put me@sixthseal.com I would not have had the chance to work in this great company. He's the only person to have ever stepped into my place, though several people have fetched me home before. This is a level headed and great guy who manages to be a friend and a superior at the same time. I would consider him a good friend though I must state that there are more tactful ways of saying "There must be something wrong with your code". ;)
It was funny though, the first time went:
Me: Hmm...there's something wrong with qForms.
WH: There's nothing wrong with qForms. There must be something wrong with your code.
Still makes me laugh up to today. Heh.
Thanks for all the advice and heads-up mate!

Loh - An email from him means you've got work to do. I found him unapproachable when I first came in, but he's a really nice guy after I got to know him. The only person I know who can stay awake for days on just Marlboros. Patient (most of the time ;)) and doesn't mind explaining a procedure several times, something which would personally drive me crazy if I had to do that. Easy to talk to and I've learnt a lot about career decisions from him. Trustworthy and discreet, I'm sure he's seen me drink coffee in an unorthodox way (to use a euphemism) especially during late nights when mental clarity and concentration is required, but never mentioned it although I'm sure his position regarding the use of certain cognitive enhancing substances is very different from mine. He has a good attitude towards work too, doesn't mind doing grunt work or staying back late. He has covered for me a number of times, thanks for that! He reminds me of a "brother" (hia ti in Hokkien, no blood relation) I know from way back in NZ and then Kuching who you can trust to cover your back (literally, not in the workplace context). Someone you can trust to get things done and always willing to help out.

Azli - The quality manager that can spot errors that won't register to mere mortals. I fear his extensive bug tracker returns. I once made a mistake that involved mass mailing out a HTML email from an important client several weeks before it was due - with a wrong table tag! It was a big client so the email went out to tens of thousands of people. Nelson, Ivan, Wai Hing and Azli had to stay back and help me do damage control by living the site promoted in the email. Azli was due to balik kampung that night, but he stayed back without a single complaint. I've always felt guilty about that incident since he had to call back home and tell his family he'll be late. Thanks Azli!
Strangely, I've never been asked to do the email blast again. ;)

Soffian - Our IT Manager, he's the network administrator and troubleshooter. The first time I asked if I could install my own copy of software, he promptly admonished me and said (I love this phrase) he'll have to "Balik kampung, goyang perahu". :) XM has a strict policy of using only licensed software and every copy is tracked so I was stuck with Dreamweaver 2 and switched to EditPlus (the multipurpose editor I use at home and when I was in uni) instead. I once asked him if there are any extra licenses for Photoshop and he asked me why I wanted graphics manipulation software. I couldn't very well say I was planning to use my lunch hour to update my blog so I mumbled something incoherent and he was kind enough to find a copy of Photoshop 5 that no one was using and thanks to him, there was a period when sixthseal.com was updated during lunch hour, until word came down that I shouldn't be updating in office hours.

Thee Heng - The leng chai of tech department. He knows a lot, not only about programming, but about entertainment as well. The person to ask if you want to know what a song that's playing is called. He has an unorthodox desktop layout that seems confusing, but surprisingly he works fast from it. Thee Heng is also prone to sudden outbursts of song, a trait I like because...er, I'm susceptible to this as well. ;) He's another member of the "Weekend Club" together with Wai Hing, Azli and sometimes Loh.

Janet - This photo was taken last Friday (all the others were taken today - notice the different color shirt) because she's on her annual leave for Chinese New Year. Friday was when the people in my department knew about me leaving because it's a bit strange to be taking photos when she'll only be gone for a couple of weeks, so I said I won't be here when she comes back. I believe she's the only one who's seen me take photos and eat two Trebor 24-7 mints before heading to Warp to meet my friends. It was a Friday night and I just finished my outstanding work at around 11 pm and I figured I might as well take photos since there was no one else before heading down, since at least lighting conditions is somewhat controllable here.

Chang - A fellow LRT commuter, though her line is the opposite of mine. She taught me basic math...I didn't think the monthly tickets were necessary until she pointed out that I had not included the return trip into the equation. I've bought monthly tickets ever since. She will be leaving XM soon too - on Friday, two days later than me. I believe there are still valid openings for positions in XM Malaysia though, since the interviews are still ongoing, so sign up if you're interested. It's a great place to work in.

Wang - My compatriot. He came in at the same time as I did (technically one day later, but anyway) and is usually one of the early arrivals in tech after Loh. I actually saw him during my first interview, and remembered him when he came in for work. :) He sits beside me and we were both stuck reading a ColdFusion 5 book on the first day because the workstations were still being set up. My eyes glazed over that first day from holding a thick book and slogging through it. I should have read the other one on the table called Code Security - I read that during the blackout yesterday and it was much more interesting. He probably suspects coffee is not my performance booster of choice as well since he sits besides me.

Huai Bin - er...this is me. That's my digicam bag in the foreground which only contains the Nikon 5700, a spare battery, a USB cord and 2 extra CF cards. I seem to be holding something in my hand, shall we zoom in a little?

It seems to be a blister pack of something.

Xanax - 1 mg alprazolam tablets! =D Some people keep Panadol beside their desks, I keep Xanax.
Fast relief is just an arms reach away! ;)
Thou shall not use profanity when something goes wrong.
Thou shall not get into heated discussions with either your coworkers or project managers.
Thou shall definitely not resort to violence or react in any way deemed unnecessarily aggressive or appear agitated in any way.
Take one (or two, or three, or four, or five) for rapid relief from stress, frustration and violent ideations.
Xanax - the choice of working professionals when your personal bullshit threshold is reached.
Alprazolam has been used successfully in uncooperative, agitated and angry people, turning them into docile, contented and agreeable human resources within minutes.
Accept no substitutes! ;)

Creative

Mandy Chan - She's probably the person I talk to the most in Creative.

Kelvin Gan - My gf says he looks like a paikia. I told her he lives in Setapak, the Springvale of KL (for Melbourne visitors) or the Foochow Road of KL (for Sibu visitors). ;)

Yunus - He told me it was the first time XM had a blackout and to take a photo yesterday but I didn't because I thought it was isolated to XM and didn't want to create any negative publicity.

L-R: Suzanne, Jae Sern, Huai Bin, Sherry. This is the best decorated corner of the Creative department. It's amazing. Suzanne is the web designer. Jae Sern is the popular guy who everyone knows from what I see in the previous postings on the blog (my favorite comment from him is "erm..which ex girlfriend might u be refering to, booboo?:D"). Classic. :) Sherry has the job I want. :p

L-R: Rashidin, Huai Bin, Felicia, Vijay. Rashidin is the Art Director. Felicia spent most of her time in the states and was one of the first few people who knew about castitas.com when it was launched. VJ is a great guy and leader of Geng69 (the XM sports team I'm in) with the unfortunate tendency to call me soya bean. ;)

This post only has the people I managed to take photos of yesterday. I wanted to take photos of everyone but there wasn't enough time. My apologies for not covering everyone that has worked alongside me for the last few months. I would like to extend my thanks to:

Nelson
Our Technical Director with visionary plans. He puts the tech department first and he defends his team. I respect him for that.

Chia = A really friendly and nice guy
We'll keep in touch, I'll be coming over to KL once in a while, and we can meet up then. [Edit: My apologies, didn't know the circumstances. Hope everything goes well!]

Hon Kit
Thanks for the fast and hassle free processing of the paperwork!

E-Ling
I enjoyed working with you on the pitch.

Winnie
I heard you were the one that found my blog. :)

Becky
Thanks for your help in the mass mailing error.

Catharine
I thoroughly enjoyed working on the well scripted pitch...especially The Silent Uploader. ;)

Shen
You look like someone I would enjoy hanging out with, too bad we never got the chance.

May
Micracles do happen, eh? I like how you always manage to smile even under crushing deadlines and pressure.

Ganesh
You've been very patient with me on the IP-VPN project. Thanks for that!

Ivan
I appreciate your concern and I will definitely stick to my guns. I will get in touch in six months.

Mounty
My apologies, I didn't have time to get to know you better.

TK
Thanks for your help in the pitch, I couldn't have thought up good scenes by myself.

Shirley
I didn't see you yesterday, would have loved to take a photo with you.

Zammil
Sorry! I totally forgot to take a photo with you, I thought I had covered Creative already.

Goodbye everyone and take care. I have enjoyed my time here and learned much.

Other XM Malaysia posts:

The offer from XM Malaysia

My first day at XM

Prelude to XM Bowling Competition

XM Annual Bowling 2003

Jae Sern's birthday

First paycheck!

The Foosball finals

Janet, Wai Hing, VJ, TK birthday

The Taj Deepavali Dinner

Jemay, Prem and Rashidin's birthday

Jit and Suzanne's birthday

XM blackout and resignation announcement

Posted in XM Malaysia by Huai Bin at 07:35 AM Permalink | Comments (20)

Blackout in Bukit Bintang area

There was a blackout along the Jalan Sultan Ismail road and the surrounding areas (around Bukit Bintang) this afternoon. I heard the power substation tripped and the affected areas included our workplace up to the Bukit Bintang strip but not extending to the Kotaraya section. Anyway, I was about go for a #2 when that happened and it's good that I didn't or else I'll be stuck in a rather dim toilet with only the backup light...

I would imagine process flow would suffer a hit in these conditions...

Anyway, word says it'll take several hours for Tenaga National to fix the problem so we had an early day off. I left at slightly past 4:30 pm so it was an early day for me. A spoiler here...tomorrow would be my last day at XM Malaysia. Don't get me wrong, it's a great place to work in and the people are really nice but circumstances (a whole plethora) resulted in my decision to resign. I've been keeping this under wraps for a while, though I've been hinting at it, so no one knows except several workmates.

It was not an easy decision to make, and I have definitely enjoyed my time here. In reply to the questions about whether I would bum around after that, the answer is no, but I can't give more information that that right now, hope you understand. I will be flying back on the 16th for my Chinese New Year break as planned and I would be based in a different city starting February. It's not KL and it's not Sibu, can't say much more than that right now.

Anyway, for the C base that lurks around here, put your hearts at ease, let your thoughts be free, I won't cut any of you loose without a lifeline, so SMS me at my usual number (no calls PLEASE, don't jeopardize me in my last few days in KL) and I'll arrange alternate...er, arrangements for you. Remember, SMS only and expect a price freeze (*cough* actually expect a price drop, people don't work for free, ya know), the offer is valid so long as I could be fucked to reply your messages even though I'm not in the scene now. ;)

Well, I'll be going back to drinking this wonderful soju called Jinro, blurry photo here:

You know you may have a problem with drinking when your consumption is daily and er...you actually drink alone (well, not technically alone, my gf is here, but she's not drinking, I digress), but hey, at least it's legal.

while I watch Working Girl (yeah, I know I'm late, but I don't watch series that much). Great Taiwan series with Jolin as the protagonist...for some reason some people can't get into it, but I enjoyed it, nearing the end now. Yup, I know my drinking is slightly above what most people would consider "average", so please feel free to admonish me and I would promptly send all said admonishments to /dev/null. Thank you for the feedback.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 07:26 PM Permalink | Comments (17)

Nasi lemak with quail eggs

Nasi lemak with quail eggs. Makes for a good dinner, especially with ayam goreng panas:

Must be a drumstick though...gotta be that.

I have a feeling I'm starting to move away from my happy happy joy joy blog posts to appeal to the masses with the obligatory "Thank you please come again" polite reply for every comment into a somewhat sarcastic and generally less palatable online personality. This may be a permanent transfiguration or just a temporary phase, in the case of the former, I shall join the ranks of jaded and old skool bloggers, in the case of the latter, just bear with me. ;) I could manage that emoticon so fear not, I think it's the latter, so yeah, I shall be less than my usual cheery (to you anyway) self for a while and sixthseal.com would be back in force (or something to that effect) in due time! Regardless, nasi lemak with quail eggs and steamy hot fried chicken still makes good dinner.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:40 PM Permalink | Comments (11)

China YongJin Acrobatic Show

China Yong Jin Acrobatic Show at the Center Court

I was in MidValley Megamall for most of the day and caught the Yong Jin acrobatic troupe. The first act has a girl with a steel support on her head holding up a boy who's progressively putting on more and more chairs:

Pile 'em high.
A remarkable balancing act - the girl just had to move around to counter balance the action above.

The second one was of a contortionist who's pretty good at balancing things as well - besides the lit lamps, she's holding one unwieldy set with a rod in her mouth. Did that sound a little off?

Moving on, the third act is a little girl on a makeshift trapeze type setup involving a long bamboo pole, a ladder and the actual trapeze.

The forth one had a girl juggling a table with her feet.

The last act had all of the members out, jumping about and generally doing acrobatic type stuff before forming a human pyramid...

and a teeming mass of humanity on a pole.

Thus ends the show.

My apologies, I'm depressed - apathy has rained on me and all that. It's funny how nothing seems much fun anymore to me now that I've quit. Blah blah blah. By the way, the lyrics go "that I've quit the drink" i.e. alcohol so no one thinking along other lines. Thank God it's Monday. Heh. Right. Bye and take care.

Posted in Events by Huai Bin at 07:13 PM Permalink | Comments (16)

Ferrero Prestige

Ferrero Prestige is the combination box with Ferrero Rocher, Mon Cheri and Ferrero Manderly. This is the smallest box, with three of each. I had an urge to buy it even though I didn't really feel like eating it. I woke up a little past noon, went out to get something to eat and we went to Giants coz one of my housemates wanted to get something and we were in the area. I saw this and the evil, evil configuration and packaging thought up by the marketing folks down at Ferrero made me buy it. Have a chocolate while I sit on my ass and watch a movie or something:

Ferrero Manderly, Mon Cheri, Ferrero Rocher or the other Roche product?

I can never spell Rocher properly coz of the mental association with Roche.

Posted in Snacks by Huai Bin at 04:13 PM Permalink | Comments (18)

Murder! She wrote...

There were drips of blood in the room...no body was found, but the blood wasn't voluminous enough to suggest that someone died from it. It was a mystery though. Who did the blood belong to? What happened in this god forsaken room? Why am I posting about it? Burning questions that only an intoxicated mind could think up. Burning like...like something combustible. Worthy of an Agatha Christy novel, but I couldn't be bothered.

Scene: A few dismal drops of blood in a room. What happened and why and who and what and but and lah and di and dah.

Answer: Fucking veritas broke his meth pipe in my room, resulting in me stepping on the glass and embedding a small piece into me. Dickhead. ;)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 11:08 PM Permalink | Comments (21)

Do not disturb, chilling out...

Today is my chill out day so excuse me while I relax and I'll post again and reply the comments tomorrow. I realize that I've been a bit slack in that department but I'll just say that there's changes about, which I can't yet reveal due to the sensitive nature of the said changes, but I'll definately post about it on the 1st of February. Who's already looking forward to the new year? Me! I'll be flying back 16th of January. :)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:45 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Oooh quick!

Oooh quick quick let's cover up the stupid previous post with blurry out of focus pics of a slug crawling up the kitchen sink. Quick before someone sees it!!! Quick, they're coming and reading , quick add pics cover up cover up coz ppl dun read anything but the first one on top anyway. Cepat!!!~~ quick lar

A snail crawled up my sink just now. He didn't have a shell, so that makes him a slug.

He looks around, puzzled. He spots my digicam!

He ignores it and moves along.

Thanks for visiting, don't read the post below, have a nice day and come back again (later).

No, actually, I kinda squashed the slug to make him pose for the final photo just now.

I slug, you slug, we all slug for ice slug!

Posted in by Huai Bin at 09:00 PM Permalink | Comments (10)

Shall we dance?

I did it. Like all big decisions it has left me thinking about whether it was the right thing to do. I'm not so sure really, but I like to think that "No remorse, no regrets" and "Hard to port, steady as she goes" are good phrases to live by. Contrary to the image I like to portray, I'm really an emotional sucker at heart and I do have "feelings", strange at it may sound. I do "miss" people and places, even though the feelings may or may not be reciprocated. Plus, the bottle of hand shampoo hardly even got used.

I am not exactly sober right now though (not anything illegal, mind you, just my script and good old neurotoxic but legal ethanol) so everything I say is just me talking out of my ass. Forget I said anything. Big boys don't cry and all that.

Hey ho, let's go! :)

Oh yeah, the photo above was taken earlier today, at Suria KLCC center court. I'll be celebrating Chinese New Year this year for a change, it's been a while and we only live that long so every new year is a good chance to get all (emotionally) touchy feely with the extended family and friends back home.

Now what the fuck did you just say young man? Put that bottle of vodka down and keep in mind that Xanax is not candy.

Excuse me.

Let's dance...

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:45 PM Permalink | Comments (3)

Tandoori Chicken @ Ali Maju

Tandoori Chicken at Ali Maju, Pusat Bandar Damansara. It goes well with garlic naan and I always ask for the drumstick - it comes with the upper part of the thigh too at Ali Maju. A tasty and filling dinner would be one tandoori chicken (shared between two people), garlic naan (a must have, one serving each) and maggi mee goreng (one serve each). I don't know why but that combination tastes really good. The best way to enjoy it is to alternate between naan + tandoori and maggi + tandoori i.e. one bite of the first, then one of the second, repeat till plate==empty or person==full. One ABC special with ice cream (they make huge ones here) after that and you'll be sorted. :)

On a more serious (well, perhaps personal would be a better word) note, I'm about to decide on a very, very big issue which may have long lasting and severe consequences that will affect me on a personal level. Of course, I can't talk about it here due to my readership, and if you know about it (yeah, both of you), you shouldn't comment here coz it'll jeopardize me. I'll think it through, discuss it with several people and then we'll see how it goes okay? I'll post about that when it's set.

Oh yeah, would someone please come over and run a needle and thread through my lips? I just did a very stupid thing today. I'm famous for that, you know...

Posted in Food by Huai Bin at 11:58 PM Permalink | Comments (22)

Famous Amos Premium Chocolate Chip with Pecan Nut cookies

Famous Amos

I love Famous Amos cookies...have a fondness for them ever since I was a kid. There wasn't any in Sibu at that time, and my dad travels to KL very frequently so I always get him to buy some back. Much later, a franchise opened in Kuching, which makes things easier. Anyway, this 200 gram bag of Premium Chocolate Chip w/ Pecan Nut is one of my favorites. I usually go for this or the Double Chocolate Chip w/ Pecan Nut. I proudly present to you, the return of the HandCam [sixthseal.com] after more than a year:

*lights* *camera* *action*

Thanks for all your concern everyone, I appreciate all the emails, SMS, IM's and phone calls for support. I'm glad the blogger community is looks out for each other. I'm okay though, and I'm still in a relationship. :) I'll post again tomorrow, too sleepy right now. Take care everyone!

Posted in Snacks by Huai Bin at 08:15 PM Permalink | Comments (22)

I did the right thing

[Deleted upon request: Will explain later.]

Posted in by Huai Bin at 01:10 AM Permalink | Comments (1)

Hartamas Square @ Sri Hartamas

Hartamas Square

I just came back from supper at Hartamas Square at Sri Hartamas. I was there for supper with Richard, Alice and my gf. I was already inebriated before coming due to liberal amounts of vodka and the consumption of a certain number. *cough*

I thought about what to eat (besides beer) and decided on this Taiwan Pizza outlet, since the concept sounded intriguing to me. Seriously man, I was that blur...I looked at the "Taiwan Pizza" menu long and hard and was wondering why the menu doesn't seem all that Taiwanese to me. I finally saw something that looks good - Dragon Pizza:

It looked good in real life too, nice shape. It also looked a bit large for me to finish, until I poked it with a fork:

It deflated to a reasonable size then. It had egg, mushrooms (the non magical kind, the soft mushrooms that's flat and semi transparent and gooey and tastes nice, can't remember the name now), ham and probably some other stuff.

Several large TV (plasma? LCD?) screens there.

Anyway, I only realized that it wasn't Taiwan Pizza but Italian Pizza when I was asked what I ate and I said "Taiwan Pizza" and they were like "huh?" and I siad "Taiwan Pizza, over there" and Alice said "That's Italian Pizza" and I was sure it said Taiwan and I asked my gf to look and she said it was Italian Pizza and then I looked harder and it still registered as Taiwan and then I looked even harder and well...it was Italian Pizza after all. Duh. :) I can't believe I kept on seeing Taiwan instead of Italian.

Harmatas Square is popular - packed with people.

I'm sleepy now, did more ah...numerical work when I got back, so here's another shot of Hartamas Square:

Okay, I'm going into work tomorrow (willingly) so I'll just finish that bottle of vodka that's been sitting in the fridge for...er, several days and put another one in. Good night everyoine and have a nice supper!

Posted in People by Huai Bin at 03:04 AM Permalink | Comments (9)

Melbourne: Day 4 - Melbourne Changes (Part I)

Day 4 of the
Convocation: Melbourne, Australia (December 2003)
s