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Jemay, Prem and Rashidin's birthday @ XM Malaysia

Cheesecake from Hotel Equatorial.

Today is TGIF, the monthly meeting at XM Malaysia. I will not be talking about that though because its work related. However, I'll like to extend my apologies to Jarrod Chua for not remembering his name. We have this "name the person" thing and I know everyone's name from Technical, Creative, Project Management, Account Management and Jit, Bob and Yusnita but unfortunately not the Finance Administration people. Oops. Anyway, there was also a celebration for Jemay, Prem and Rashidin and here are the photos from that:

The candles on the cake being lighted.

Rashidin blowing out the candles. To his right is Jemay and Prem is on his left.

Prem cutting the cake.

Apparently, I'm the resident photographer of XM Malaysia now. ;)

Posted in XM Malaysia by Huai Bin at 09:30 PM Permalink | Comments (13)

Miscellaneous stuff

Goodbye October 2003. This is the 31st of October, the last day of October, Halloween and the day Dr. Mahathir steps down as the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

1. Dr. M is stepping down. I don't talk about politics much due to paranoia, but people who know me in real life know that I'm a staunch supporter of Dr. Mahathir. He's not afraid to speak his mind and he doesn't give in to Western influence. He's someone who has BALLS for the lack of a better term.

In contrast, I particularly dislike people like PM Goh Chok Tong of Singapore. To put things crudely, he kisses every Caucasian and Japanese ass that heads his way. I wonder if he wishes he was born Caucasian sometimes.

Now Dr. M on the other hand, he's not afraid of voicing his opinions about the many infringements of the US and Australia against Asia. I'm not going to go through everything because I don't want to be seen as a hardliner, but I'm sorry to see Mahathir go. Let's hope that Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will continue Dr. M's legacy.

We're a sovereign country and we're not going to take any shit from Bush, Howard or anyone other than our own people.

2. Google Dance. Yes, Google just did its thing recently. sixthseal.com is still a PR 5 due to "spammy" site design (namely, the persistent sidebar). I had hoped for a PR 6 this time. However, my SERPs are still holding strong and I've captured certain keywords I'm proud of. Heavy pimpage of castitas.com has also raised that site to a PR 4, as I expected. Did you know that there's a link to castitas.com on every page of this site? ;) I was expecting a PageRank of 1 less than sixthseal.com and yeah, I got it. :)

3. Boo. It's Halloween. I'll update again later.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 09:03 PM Permalink | Comments (3)

Mega Chicken Delice chicken sandwich @ RM 3.90

Ingredients: Fresh bread, fresh vegetables, spread, chicken slice, cheese, spices.

This is what I had for lunch...grabbed a sandwich from Gro-Shop, the grocery shop at Wisma Antarabangsa (it's interconnected to Kenanga International).

Gro-Shop

I felt like eating a sandwich instead of rice and this one is pretty good. It emphasizes fresh ingredients and I was not disappointed. The bread was nice and soft and there's a generous amount of egg and cheese and a slice of deli chicken, all topped with a slathering of mayonnaise. Here's a close up:

Posted in by Huai Bin at 01:45 PM Permalink | Comments (8)

Binge and Purge

I bought some dinner home because my gf went for dinner with her dad. I got Nasi Briyani (with extra drum) and Ramly Double Beef Burger Special. The nasi beriyani already had a chicken in it. I ate that plus the sweet sauce drumstick and that pickle and also finished the burger. I tried to throw up just now but failed. I threw up an impressive amount of puke last night too. I think I will tonight as well, I tried to, stuck my whole index finger down my throat but to no avail. I will try again now. Binge and purge. I will reply the comments tomorrow, sorry ya, need to throw up and probably lie down and pass out. Er...I mean go to sleep. :)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 09:40 PM Permalink | Comments (21)

Postcard from graceshu!

Front of the postcard.

I just got this in the mail. Grace [pixelphobia.net] is currently having a road trip and she's in Penang right now if I'm not mistaken. It's great to get a postcard from her. :) Have fun on your trip Grace and hope that everything goes well for you! Take care!

Back of the postcard.

This is what the writing on the back says:

This is where I'll be visiting
tomorrow!

There's this Malay palace
built entirely without a
single paku there.

It will be interesting. You take care &
have fun yourself. Bye!

Addresses and names has been obscured with mosaic for privacy.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 02:10 PM Permalink | Comments (9)

Sri Computers and Dragon Fruit Aloe Vera drink

Sri Computers

I went to Low Yat during my lunch break today to get a pair of headphones. I'm going through them at a rate of about once a month! It always breaks down on me...I miss my old Sony MDR V700 DJ monitor quality headphones. It broke down before I came to KL. Now that's a real set of headphones compared to these puny plastic thingies masquarading as "headphones". ;) I swear, if this new pair breaks, I'm going back to that one. It cost me A$ 330 (about RM 660+) when I bought it in Melbourne, but I can only afford lower end headphones with my current income. I had bought two headphones in the last two months (both of them quit on me) and the third one is the Creative HQ-1000.

Anyway, I saw this "health drink stall" outside Low Yat with interesting concoctions, so I went for the Dragon Fruit Aloe Vera drink, which looked good from the photo at the stall. It was RM 4.90 for each drink, all of them looked colorful and fruity.

This is a photo I took of the attendant making my drink. She's putting the aloe vera jelly into the plastic cup while the purple goop you see in the blender is the dragon fruit mix. The drink was also topped with real dragon fruit as you can see in this picture here:

The green stuff at the bottom is aloe vera jelly, with the main purple bulk being icy cold dragon fruit mix and a white scoop of real dragon fruit to top the drink off. The cup overfloweth and dripped on me too.

Okay, I promise I'll cut my fingernails when I get back today. :p

Anyway, after all that, I grabbed some lunch and was back in the office before 2 pm. I had to take the overpriced KL Monorail back though, but at least I walked there with my co-workers. I took the monorail back because:
1. It was raining.
2. Lunch break is nearly over, I can't walk back in time.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 05:16 PM Permalink | Comments (12)

KL Monorail

Raja Chulan Station

I took the monorail from Stesen Raja Chulan (it's practically outside the building where I work) to Stesen Bukit Bintang today. Yes, that's just a station apart. Yes, I could have walked instead. No, it wasn't raining. It was drizzing though...for a while at least... *cough* I just wanted to use the monorail.

Anyway, instead of the 10 am - 3 pm hours the KL Monorail was running before, it's now running from 7 am - 8 pm, a much more practical timetable. However, instead of the RM 1 to any station fare, it costs at least RM 1.20 now and stations further away costs more, like how the LRT system works.

Entertain yourself with a photo of a KL Monorail pulling into the station:

KL Monorail

The photos are much smaller and lower in quality (highly compressed) now due to bandwidth issues. Back on topic, I noticed that there is a TV channel called "Channel M" at the stations. I would assume the M stands for Monorail.

Channel M

The channel just shows advertisements, including a disturbing one involving a tiger and some sheep getting wet...it was a detergent commercial. Anyway, a monorail pulled up before long and I was aboard for less than a minute before arriving at Bukit Bintang station.

Stesen Bukit Bintang has an overpass to connect the two platforms and to get people to the right side of the street (since the platforms are on opposite sides of a highway). Stesen Raja Chulan has an underpass instead. Anyway, I went to Bukit Bintang just to go to Sungei Wang Plaza and get soft Famous Amos cookies.

Cost of trip:
Stesen Raja Chulan -> Stesen Bukit Bintang: RM 1.20
Double Chocolate Chip with Pecan Nut Soft Cookie: RM 3.50
Chocolate Chip with Macadamia Nut Soft Cookie: RM 3.50
Stesen Bukit Bintang -> Stesen Raja Chulan: RM 1.20

KL Monorail ticket

Anyway, after getting the cookies (yeah, I really just went to get cookies), I took the monorail back.

A funny thing happened while I was getting back...this old man strolled up to me and said in a very soft and conspirational whisper:

"asdas asdasdsa sadasda"

"What?" I asked him.

"sadsds asdadas asdasdd"

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you lah. What were you saying again?"

"Lei ga la len mou la ah."

I looked down. Yes, the old man was indeed right. My zipper was undone. Oops. Heh. That was funny though, how he walked up to me and whispered so softly to inform me of the state of undress I was in. Wait, lemme check what color my underwear is. Okay, done. It's blue. Now that's not very discreet. Very nice old man, to walk up and inform me like that. ;)

Interior of a monorail

I corrected my zipper orientation inside the monorail. Not too long after that, I was accosted again, this time by a monorail attendant. "Encik...", he went and gestured with the tip of his hand held walkie talkie at the "No Food/Drink" sign. I was still going at the soft cookie at that time. :)

KL Monorail map

Posted in Interesting by Huai Bin at 03:08 PM Permalink | Comments (29)

How I climbed the St John Cathedral bell tower and other short stories

Getting up close and personal with Mary Fatima.

There is a mysterious upper level at St John's Cathedral. I wasn't aware of it until a warden told us that there are more seats upstairs.

Sure enough, there it was - an outcropping overlooking the ground level.

I was attracted to this ladder on both sides of the level.

I peered up and it seemed to be the ladder for the bell towers. Curiosity impelled me to brave the bird poo stained ladders and climb to the top of the right one. The ladder goes up to a level overlooking the book store. One of the attendants heard my less than subtle ascent, peered up questioningly and frowned in my general direction.

However, I was not to be dissuaded from my quest to the bell platform, so I scaled the next ladder, and then the next.

Soon, I reached the last ladder leading up to the bell, which seems to be sitting on top of a wooden support. I climbed up the last ladder to present to you...

A view from the top. Wait ah, the bell photo is coming up. You can actually fall into the book store if you wanted too, just keep right while falling down and you'll drop right through the top of the book store. You might break a couple of bones and possibly injure something other than books.

Here is the ancient looking church bell. I suspect it's not used anymore due to the impressive layer of bird droppings on the stair steps and railings. There is an inscription on the bell itself:

The bell is called Mary Fatima.

Novo Millennio Ineunte

The wardens passed us this booklet today. It says:

Silver Jubilee of the Pontification of His Holiness Pope John Paul II
Eucharistic Celebration
10:30 am, Sunday 26th October, 2003
St. John's Catheral
Kuala Lumpur

There is a typo on the glossy cover, if you haven't noticed. It says 'Catheral' instead of 'Cathedral'. I kinda had my own private pursuits (the abovementioned journey to the bell) and also zoned out a bit so I wasn't sure what was going on but there was this scene at the end:

There were "light refreshments" served after the event at an ad hoc tent erected on the lawn after mass.

They were giving away cincau drink (without cin cau jelly)/lychee drink and curry puff/a slice of cake.

The volunteers with the tables of packet drinks and pre-wrapped food.

Anytime is Makan Time

Restoran Maju Curry House
I had Special Beriyani Majura. Today's special is Nasi Beriyani Ayam Kampong.

I like how they have these boiled quail eggs in the rice. Very nice indeed.

There was a Nasi Dalca selection beside it and I took another drumstick. It looked good in the gravy. This is my plate:

There was also a plate of sotong curry which we shared. It had large complete sotongs with everything intact.

Anytime is Makan Time.

The End.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 09:47 PM Permalink | Comments (15)

Happy 22nd birthday, Louisa! :)

Haagen-Dazs @ bsc (bangsar shopping center)

It was my girlfriend's birthday yesterday (24th October) and we headed out in the afternoon to get some ice creams at the nearest Haagen-Dazs outlet at bsc.

We got a three scoop sundae and a pint of Strawberry Cheesecake flavored ice creams. The Strawberry Cheesecake one is sure to please people with a sweet tooth - it was cloyingly sweet, in a nice way.

We hung around bsc for a while, basically just walking into every shop and browsing. I saw that they have these Barbie dolls that appeal to a different target audience now (or maybe the target market just matured). There were ones with Giorgio Armani attire, some limited edition ones which goes into the thousands and a more base level priced Barbie, but with a make over - she's now a consultant of some sort and her attire has changed...her image is one of a trendy inner city professional instead of the ones I've seen in my youth, which were more domesticated, for the lack for a better term.

Anyway, we headed back after a while and people starting arriving and the mini BBQ grill was set up:

Food - Chicken wings, Taiwanese sausages, hot dogs, fish balls and stuff...

Drinks - Six packs of beer (others in the ice bucket), a bottle of Bacardi, and some miscellaneous drinks.

The cake says "Dear Nie Nie/We (heart shape) U"

No more photos were taken after that, because I proceeded straight to the beers for the appetizer, did Bacardi double shots neat with the guys, drank more beer in a hasty manner (fortified with rum, naturally), downed some Coke + Bacardi, intercepted a Sprite + Bacardi and yeah, I stopped counting at that point. ;) There were around 13 people who came, about equal male to female ratio but only a few of us really drank so there was plenty of alcohol to go around.

While we're on the subject of statistics:
Number of T-shirt requests:
One
Time last person left:
4:30 am
Alcoholic beverages left over:
1 lonely can of beer
Non-alcoholic beverages left over:
3-4 1.5 litre bottles are in the fridge

This is Louisa (my gf) blowing out the candles on the cake while Richard (her brother) looks on.

Happy Birthday, Louisa! I love you! :)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 05:53 PM Permalink | Comments (21)

The Taj @ Crown Princess - XM/Zenith Media Deepavali dinner

The Taj.

This is the write up of the annual XM Malaysia Deepavali dinner at The Taj @ Crown Princess. There are heaps of photos in this post, which would probably hurt me more than the US$ 60 I just paid for excess bandwidth, but hey, it's Deepavali tomorrow. :) Anyway, XM Malaysia and Zenith Media booked the entire restaurant for the annual get together.

This is one of the many fringe benefits we get at XM. Free beer anyone? ;) Anyway, the tables were half taken by Zenith and half by XM. Our table had mostly tech people, plus quite a few Project Managers and two from Creative, IIRC. Caveat: I don't remember all that well when I'm on this particular GABA agonist my doctor prescribed (Shh! People who know shouldn't comment about it. :p) and when there's free beer involved since the two potentiates each other, resulting in an early loss of inhibition. ;)

Anyway, about the food at The Taj, it was okay, but not great. Don't get me wrong, it's good...just not as good as their desserts! They have really great desserts and sweets. I like this particular brown chunky thing that I don't remember the name of, but readers from Melbourne, you can find it opposite the Clayton station exit (from the City). It's two shops down from that discount bottleshop where I usually buy my beer. The shop specializes in North Indian sweets.

Well back to the event, like I said, I don't remember much, but there was this speech where 3 new people from XM and 3 new people from Zenith Media gave a speech describing their first weeks and the best one gets RM 500 and the one which the judges deemed was the worst has to sing a song. Oh right, I just remembered something VERY EMBARRASSING...I blame the venue for not labeling the toilets properly. :p

Anyway, about halfway through the event, I felt the urge to answer the call of nature, as one tends to get after drinking beer - which not only is a liquid, but a diuretic as well. I walked to the toilets - there was one male and one female, both side by side. I went into the male one, saw a toilet for the disabled to my right and went straight in and relieved myself.

Well, the urination process took longer than usual, considering I had a full bladder and suddenly...there was this feeling that something wasn't right. I stood there, aiming my member and trying to think about what it was that felt unusual. It's...voices. Female voices. "Why are there female voices in a male toilet?", I wondered. I zipped my pants, forgot to flush and opened the door to...

A group of females standing right outside the door! I stared blankly at them. I think both parties said "What are you doing in the guys toilet?" and "What are you doing in the girls toilet?" at the same time. There was about 6-8 of them and I knew all of them. How embarrassing...that damned toilet sign, it looked like a male one! Chih Ning wanted to grab my digicam and take a photo of me in the girls toilet but good thing I made a quick exit, escaping the laughter behind me. ;)

I think I didn't even wash my hands in my hurry to get out...

I strongly suggest better signs to distinguish the male and female toilets to avoid situations like this. I've lived at on campus since 2000 while in uni and the toilets and bathrooms are co-ed so I wasn't too bothered about it, but this is Malaysia. It's a good thing that all the people in the female toilet at that time were from either XM or Zenith Media. If there were any strangers, I wouldn't know what the outcome would be from that mistake. :)

The Taj. Fine North Indian Cruisine.

Anyway, back to dinner, here are the photos of the annual XM Malaysia/Zenith Media Deepavali get together!

Zenith Media table. I only know Chih Ning (the one in white). She's the one that gives out paychecks. ;)

Candid shot of the people opposite me.

This is the other side.

This is my side.

This is Jemay. He put me in a very uncomfortable position once during a TGIF meeting when my blog was brought up by him. ;)

L-R: Jit, Janet, E-Ling

Miscellaneous shots

More miscellaneous shots

Yet more miscellaneous shots

Tamater Ka Shorba
Tomato Soup with Indian Herbs

Nan
Indian bread baked in clay oven


Matar Pulao

Dal Tarka
Yellow lentils tempered and seasoned with exotic spices


Palak Paneer
Spicy spinach with Indian cheese


Gobhi Kelandi
Cauliflower with yoghurt and spices


Goshi Kurma

Fish Tikka

Tandoori Murgh
Tender Chicken marinated with freshly ground Mint, Coriander & Spices

Kingfisher Beer! It tastes more like cider than beer...

Kingfisher beer is made in India!

My plate of food.

My dessert plate.

Us techies.

L-R: Chia (blue), Anthony (white), Mandy (grey), Felicia (black), Loh (light blue), Huai Bin (me) (black)

Happy Deepavali!

Posted in Food reviews , XM Malaysia by Huai Bin at 11:59 PM Permalink | Comments (29)

Personalized note from Grace in the mail!

Grace Chong [xanga.com] was snail mailing out personalized notes to send out and I emailed her my address. :) She is born in Sibu but is living in the states now. Anyway, I got her mail today when I got back from the annual Deepavali dinner (pics and post up tomorrow) , so it takes about 8 days to get from US -> Malaysia.

Thanks Grace! Not many people would take the effort to snail mail out personalized notes. :) I really liked it.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 11:55 PM Permalink | Comments (16)

1.5k - My second paycheck!

I received my second paycheck today, much earlier than usual due to the Deepavali holidays. I get RM 1,500 per month, the RM 1,790.32 from last month was pro-rated from the month before. BTW, while we're on this topic, I'll like to take this opportunity to say that I hate Mayling [blogspot.com] and I hate Wena [mum-mum.info] even more. ;)

Anyway, XM Malaysia is having our annual Deepavali get together tonight at 7 pm (which is about an hour from now). It's at The Taj at Crown Princess and Zenith Media would also be joining us. There will be free beer so I may or may not update later tonight, but photos would be up either tonite or tomorrow. :)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 05:46 PM Permalink | Comments (18)

Janet, Wai Hing, VJ, TK Birthday @ XM Malaysia

"Happy Birthday to Janet Lee Wai Hing VJ. TK." is the inscription on the cake.

The Secret Recipe cake pictured above was presented at 4:30 pm just now at the office to celebrate the birthdays of XM Malaysia family members Janet Lee, Wai Hing, Vijay and Tek Khoon. In true XM style, everyone gathered around the lounge.

L-R: Wai Hing, TK, VJ, Janet.

This is Janet blowing the candles out.

Secret Recipe chocolate cake (with some kind of nut that I couldn't identify) plus ice cream. Mmm...

Anyway, if anyone doesn't know yet, all the photos I take in XM is in Simon -> Drop -> (event name) in full resolution, non-watermarked and without a text overlay.

Posted in XM Malaysia by Huai Bin at 05:19 PM Permalink | Comments (3)

BOMBA REDenergy drink

BOMBA RED energy.

I found this interesting looking drink at 7 Eleven. It's in a glass bottle shaped like a hand granade, complete with the pull off cap looking like the priming pin in a grenade. The bottle costs RM 3.50 for 250 ml and it's marketed as an "energy drink".

Open your mind.

Unless my math is screwed up (and I've always stated that this is very possible), the bomb shaped glass bottle contains a paltry 37.5 mg of caffeine. The label states that the total caffeine content is 150 mg/l and the bottle is 250 ml. The product is made in Austria.

Bomba RED label.

The speel on the label also says that it's a "Carbonated energy drink with taurine, caffeine and guarana." and has a warning stating "Pasteurized. Not recommended for children, diabetics and persons sensitive to caffeine.". I'm interested to know why a non-dairy based drink need to be pasteurized.

Photo of BOMBA RED energy - different angle.

Anyway, back to the taste of Bomba Energy Red, it tasted like raspberries. It's quite sweet, refreshing and tastes better than other energy drinks. I can't really vouch for the "energy" behind these "energy drinks" though...I don't mean to sound like a "chemical snob", but I'm just used to stimulants that are stronger than what caffeine offers.

However, the eye catching packaging and the novel hand grenade design glass bottle would make this an interesting purchase. The attention to detail is attractive, it even has those squarish tiles covering the surface of the bottle. I would say it's worth the RM 3.50 price just for the nice presentation.

The empty Bomba bomb shaped glass botle.

Posted in Snacks by Huai Bin at 11:37 AM Permalink | Comments (19)

Lyn's birthday

The birthday cake

Lyn is one of my housemates, she lives upstairs at the master bedroom with 3 other girls. Here's a bit of a background about the place I live in. Basically the configuration of our house is:
I live at the only room downstairs.
There is a girl from China studying at HELP Institute living on the first bedroom upstairs. Her bf comes and stays over some days, but both of them are away every weekend.
The second bedroom is taken by a couple who keeps to themselves and is seldom seen outside their bedroom, but is friendly enough.
The master bedroom is taken by 4 girls who're all from Sibu and I know them from MPI, the college I went to for some odd months before going to Melbourne.

Shim Lyn

Anyway, Lyn is having her birthday today (again, it's technically yesterday, I can't sleep even after taking my prescription from my taper doctor like a good boy) and the others decided to have dinner together. I was recuperating *cough* and only woke up at 4 pm and went to Pusat Bandar Damansara to pick up some fried chicken while someone got a cake and the others cooked.

Blowing out the candles...

Cake cutting

There is this tradition where the person having the birthday has to eat "chang shou mien" - basically "long life noodles" or just a really long and sticky version of rice vermicelli. It's usually eaten with chicken soup and boiled eggs. There you have it, another one of my more personal entries. Happy birthday Lyn!

Posted in by Huai Bin at 04:34 AM Permalink | Comments (12)

My MC

MC (20th October 2003)

This is my Medical Certificate. I was not able to make it to work today. Yeah, I'm aware that this is the not first time it happened. :p I was not faking it, I was not feeling well. I wouldn't spend half my daily salary just to get an MC anyway, would rather go to work. Anyway, I woke up feeling nauseous and throwing up (I seem to have a generosity that compels me to make offerings to the porcelain god) and with a migraine.

I went to see the same doctor I saw last time - Poliklinik & Surgeri Dr A. Hadi Abdullah & Rakan Rakan [sixthseal.com] at Pusat Bandar Damansara this afternoon. I mean yesterday afternoon, it's past 12 am so technically this happened yesterday. It's the closest clinic. The doctor was not in - I was told he went off to have a drink. I waited for a while and then got to see the doctor and told him about my symptoms.

Ya, saya tahu saya sakit.

I also mentioned that I usually take DF118 (30 mg dihydrocodeine only tablets) for migraines and he said that he doesn't carry that because it's a restricted drug. Funny, I get it over the counter in Sibu. ;) Anyway, the doctor said he'll give me something stronger and my ears perked up, hoping to hear Oxycontin or something like that.

When you said stronger, I was expecting something else...

He said he'll give me.....Voltaren. That's diclofenac, a NSAID (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug). I don't know how his logic goes...stronger than dihydrocodeine indeed. This is not "something stronger". NSAIDs does nothing for me, real migraine medications has to have opiate agonists in it. ;) I'm kidding, btw, let us move on, this was supposed to be a short post coz I'll have to sleep early tonight.

I did not take the photo through the plastic bag last time, I just noticed that, there was a revelationary moment for a moment, but it's gone now, I forgot what it was.

Anyway, this time the doctor filled in the MC himself at least, gave him my IC and he asked "Any pen kah?" to his wife cum receptionist and out I went with an MC, a pack of diclofenac, a bill for only RM 20 as opposed to RM 25 last time, and my IC (he took it to write the MC remember?) inside a plastic bag.

My apologies for not being able to reply the comments today, I have to sleep now to go to work tomorrow and I'll reply every single one tomorrow. Hmm...I think I'll have a mug of milo with biscuits and then sleep. Night people, see ya tomorrow.

I'm perfectly sober, why do you ask?

Posted in by Huai Bin at 12:39 AM Permalink | Comments (26)

Thosai Rawa (Rava Thosai)

Rava Thosai

This was what I had for supper just now at Restoran Ali Maju at Pusat Bandar Damansara. I saw this sign advertising the availability of Thosai Rawa (also known as Rava Thosai) when we walked in, so I ordered that one since I haven't had it before. The people there were kind, and welcomed me into the kitchen to take photos.

This is how Rava Thosai is made. The flour mix was poured over the hot plate and then some onions and other stuff I can't identify was sprinkled on top.

The cook with the finished Rava Thosai.

This is what it looks like on the plate. The size of the thing is quite impressive! It needed a larger rectangle shaped plate to accommodate it.

The contents of the Rava Thosai - there are two types of onions and other stuff. It also has a hint of egg when eaten, even though I didn't see the cook crack an egg into the thosai at any point. The dish came with three dips.

Dip #1
This is my favorite one. I'm not sure what it's called but the taste reminded me of yoghurt.

Dip#2
This is the second dip - dhal with veggies.

Dip #3
The third one is curry.

Here's a photo of Restoran Ali Maju:

Posted in by Huai Bin at 12:26 AM Permalink | Comments (9)

The two Chinese girl scam

Zhao Shu Juen and Zhang Jie.

I don't actually know if this is a scam, but I have a strong suspicion it is. Anyway, I was walking to Suria KLCC after work when I was approached by two females (photo above). I was taking photos of the Deepavali decorations with my digicam strapped around me and I heard them hailing me from across the street. I did not heed them as I was trying to get a steady shot and I was standing in traffic, which is enough multitasking for me.

Well, they came over to my side of the road and accosted me. One of them asked if I was Malaysian, and I said yes, but I'm not from KL, I just work here. The other one then asked if she could use my cell phone because they just arrived in KL from China today and they somehow didn't bring any cash and their ATM card doesn't work, so they're stuck here. They needed to use my cell phone to call their dad, who is coming tomorrow and tell him to bring cash instead coz they said China's ATM cards doesn't work here.

Anyway, I was happy to help (even though my cell phone credit is rather low) so I let them call Beijing on the condition that they pose for a photograph. I take a lot of street shots for my personal stock photo collection, plus I thought this would make a good post so I wanted to get pictures to go with it. They agreed and I let them use my cell phone. They called a number which went 00865525xxxx (last four digits crossed out for their privacy).

Zhang Jie phones home.

That really is a phone number from the People's Republic of China, I checked the country code. Anyway, after talking on the phone for a while, she passed the phone to me and said her mom wanted to talk to me. Her mom's Beijing accent was really strong, I couldn't catch half of the words she said, but I get the gist of it - she was thanking me for allowing her daughter to use the phone, so I said no problem. My Digi credit went from RM 25.35 to RM 2.69 though...

Anyway, they told me that they're medical school students from Beijing and just arrived today without any cash. "Where are you going to sleep then?", I asked altruistically. "I was about to get to that...", one of the girls replied. "I'm sorry, but could you do us a favor? Can you please lend us some money for a hotel tonight?"

The two Beijing girls, photo taken without flash.

So there I was...considering if they're scamming me or they really are stuck in KL without money. Now, I wouldn't mind helping out if the situation was really what they said it was...but I only have about RM 20 in my wallet and I told them so. "Oh, we'll just take whatever you have...give me your number and I'll call you tomorrow once my dad gets here and I'll pay you back okay? I'll buy you lunch too.", said one of the girls.

"How are you going to get a hotel room for just RM 20???", I asked. The girls mumbled something which I couldn't catch and then asked if I could withdraw some money from an ATM. The audacity....I said no, because the situation is starting to sound rather dodgy. I told them to go to the police station nearby and they would direct them to the Chinese embassy for help. "Oh, then it's alright, we'll just take the RM 20.", they said.

Here is where the story gets slightly more interesting. They kept on repeating the story about coming to KL and having no money and there were slight discrepancies in every iteration. It all sounded rather scam like to me, but I gave them the benefit of doubt, just in case the poor girls were telling the truth. I am quite unconvinced though due to the lack of luggage on their behalf and the topic of how they got to Suria KLCC from KLIA was quickly changed. One of the girls produced a notebook (complete with a "Terima Kasih - RM 3.60" sticker on the front) and asked me for my number so they could pay me back tomorrow.

I don't read Chinese (but I speak it fluently, thank you very much) so here's the translation from a friend:
Zhao Shu Juen
shu means elegant , related to a woman, also means 'woman',
juen = something like 'good woman'
Zhang Jie
jie means clean
Zhao and Zhang are family names.

Terima Kasih indeed...I did write down my cell phone number to humor them, plus I wanted them to write their names in it too. However, I did not give them any money, because even if the price tag accidentally left a 'B' out and it was actually RMB (The People's Currency), I doubt that goods in China would have a "Terima Kasih" in red above. I did not point this out to them though, since I was still waiting for them to write their names. Heh.

You'll never guess what they asked next.

"Can we borrow your camera for a day and return it to you tomorrow?"

Right...

No.

"Can we call you tomorrow and you borrow us the camera for the day then?"

I didn't even find the need to continue the conversation. I told them to go to the police if they really need help, they would direct them to the embassy and left.

They did not call me today. :)

Posted in Best of sixthseal.com , XX chromosomes by Huai Bin at 12:55 AM Permalink | Comments (67)

Spam in Movable Type

There seems to be spam bots crawling indexed pages and leaving comments with heavy keyword density and offsite links in an attempt to drive PageRank and SERPs to their spam site. I've seen several these few days in sixthseal.com, which is running MT 2.63. castitas.com is running MT 2.64 and doesn't seem to have that problem. However, castitas.com isn't ranked by Google yet, though it is indexed, as can be seen by the high SERPs with certain keywords related to drugs. I'm not sure if upgrading to Movable Type 2.64 would foil the spambots but in the mean time, I'm manually deleting the spam (and the URL, leaving just the email intact) so there's no PR leak. ;) I even came up with a haiku to insert in all deleted spams:

Spam is bad mmmkay?
Your kind is not welcome here.
Go back home spambot.

Inspired by the various racist comments directed towards ethnic minorities in Caucasian countries. ;)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 11:32 AM Permalink | Comments (14)

Crafty Motherfucker

Some say he's afflicted with schadenfreude
Others say he's just kiasu to the extreme
but whatever he has
we'll never know
why he feels the urge to inform your friends
"There's something I feel responsible to tell you"
"Our mutual friend takes drugs"
(or whatever it is)

It doesn't matter what the accusation is...
the 'sin' would expand to fit the lie
for the active schadenfreude does not let truth get in the way of his pleasure
The aim is just to character assassinate, to discredit, to elavate himself beside the accused
Primal behavior.
But always, a disclaimer at the end
"I'm just telling you this coz I feel sorry for you"
"Please don't tell our friend and ruin our 10 year relationship"

Ah, the crafty motherfucker...
for he knows that discussing it with the accused would expose his lies
Counting on the receiver's kindness to get away with it...
and every crafty motherfucker knows it works most of the time.
But not all the time
coz the smart ones would think "Why are you saying this about YOUR friend?"
and wonder...

Everyone has a crafty motherfucker in their lives
Don't you think otherwise...
I have one
Do you have one too?

Posted in by Huai Bin at 04:16 PM Permalink | Comments (12)

Aero (Jalan Sultan Ismail)

Aero Restaurant

This is Aero Restaurant & Lounge at the corner of Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Raja Chulan. The place has a strong emphasis on windows and transparency and I've always been intriuged by the design of the place whenever I happen to pass by.

The distinctive orange stripes of Aero.

Aero's bar area.

This is a shot of Aero's interior.

Aero opens at 12 pm for lunch and the crowd doesn't seem to be particularly big...in fact there wasn't even a crowd in the true sense of the word. There was an expariate type dining alone at a table in front of a TV and a couple in their late 30s in the table beside us. There seems to be some construction work going on though - perhaps for a revamp of the interior. The menu was rather limited, it spans a meagre 3 pages and did not offer the wide range of choices expected. Their food has been refered to as "Modern European" or "Fusion". I did not have the chance to sample their main dishes though due to time constraints.

Chicken salad. The peppers were grinded on the spot into the dish.

Chocolate cake.

What is lunch without a martini?

This is drink with bits of apple floating on it.

I don't know what this is...

Dessert - some cocktail with a heavy Cognac presence.

The food @ Aero.

Aero has good service (which isn't unexpected as the waiter to table ratio was 2:1 by the end of lunch) and a nice ambience - it overlooks a busy intersection in the heart of KL through large glass windows. I didn't find their food especially delicious though, but it was okay. The drinks were better. ;)

Posted in Food reviews by Huai Bin at 01:25 PM Permalink | Comments (21)

Cat fish (Ikan Keli)

This is catfish from Giants. We were walking around shopping for groceries when I stumbled upon this. Two largish fish for just RM 2.20, what a great deal for a starving programmer, I thought. It kinda reminded me about the lamb brains [sixthseal.com] I got while grocery shopping a while ago. This is what the label looked like:

The cat fish was a little odd though, it was hard to slice and there was this innards I cleaned from inside but still left a yellow stain on the fish itself. It leads to concerns about heavy metals and other things that this bottom feeder could have accumulated, but hey it's just RM 1.10 per fish. :p

The other side of the catfish. These catfish leaves browny residue when touched.

Posted in Local food by Huai Bin at 08:52 PM Permalink | Comments (14)

Midnight at the office

XM Malaysia midnight club (bound by a common project) - Ivan, Wai Hing, Shirley, Suzanne, Huai Bin (me). Kelvin and Ganesh were also around but not working on the same project.

It's past 12 am in the morning and I'm still at the office...together with about 6 other people, working on the Sony Malaysia's 30th Anniversary project. I just realized that I am an utter hack today, I took ages to finish the main page and that's not even going into coding for dynamic responses on certain triggers. The main page was just HTML and tables (I fucking hate tables...) and CSS and yet I was slaving over it for most of the day. Granted, I was having a borderline paracetamol (APAP) poisoning (don't ask) and was throwing up, having abdominal cramps etc but that's no excuse...

Dinner was provided though...

The point is...I took ages to do something simple, and that is really depressing...the images from creative were like jigsaw puzzles, I can't write a good table to save my life and I even had to send Yahoo! messages to Grace [pixelphobia.net] (who claims to eat HTML tables and CSS for breakfast) to ask her how to float text on top of static images...

I am still at the office and if there's a single word that could sum up today it's omgwtfbbq.

I really need to update my skill sets but that will have to wait, forgive me for not replying the comments today, work awaits...

Posted in by Huai Bin at 12:37 AM Permalink | Comments (11)

OIC (10th Organization of Islamic Conference)

This Islamic summit is going on from the 11th to the 18th of October. It can lead to interesting conversations, such as this:

Boss: Why you late?
Me: OIC...
Boss: OIC.

Okay, so that conversation didn't happen, I woke up nice and early and got into the office 30 minutes before official work hours coz I thought there would be road blocks and traffic jams so I used the LRT/bus.

I've been wanting to use that snippet of conversation the past week...what a lame sense of humor I have. ;)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:29 AM Permalink | Comments (14)

Kimarie Hair Academy

Kimarie @ Sungai Wang

Meet my hairstylist - MC (initials of her name) of Kimarie Hair Academy at Sungei Wang (she has Tuesdays off).

I finally got a haircut yesterday after putting it off for weeks. I went to Sungei Wang and looked around and found that RM 25 seems to be the base price for haircuts around there. I went into Kimarie and asked how much it costs and was told it's RM 25 by a hairstylist and RM 48 by a professional. I said I'll go for the hair stylist, seeing as to how my bank balance is dismally low and how I have to pay excess bandwidth fees every month, and I was not disappointed. ;)

Getting my hair cut.

This is a closeup of MC. It's taken from the mirror reflection (obviously - haircuts limits your mobility) so the quality isn't optimal.

What my non selekeh hair looks like now.

Posted in XX chromosomes by Huai Bin at 04:31 PM Permalink | Comments (27)

Infusion (My FM) @ Sungai Wang

There was a My FM event called Infusion going on at Sungai Wang at 3 pm this afternoon. I don't listen to radio (or watch TV) but my housemates were going so I went along since I was going to get a haircut anyway. I don't know any of the DJs here so I was just there to take photos and I stayed about 5 odd minutes before leaving. Here's the photos:

Fun Pin and Vivien Tok.

Another photo of them.

Here's the last one. I heard from my housemates that another guy called HS Lee was there too, but I had already gone home then. I think the event was for Fun Pin who released an album and book or something.

Posted in Events by Huai Bin at 05:30 PM Permalink | Comments (7)

Rasa Ayamas

Rasa Ayamas @ Pusat Bandar Damansara photo

I've never eaten at one of the Rasa Ayamas outlets before. The only previous contact I've had with the Ayamas brand is their cold storage mini drumsticks and of course, the chilli sauce. There is no Rasa Ayamas outlets in Sibu or Sarawak to the best of my knowledge.

We had Rasa Ayamas Saver Meal B - which came with two thighs of your choice, a plate of stir fried vegies, spring rolls, rice, soup, dessert and drinks for two.

This is a picture of the meat area.

The place seems to be popular during lunch time.

The workers were suitably, er...industrious and the turn around for food is the same as you'll expect in a fast food outlet. The spring rolls came out later though, probably a 5 minute wait.

Here's a photo of the Rasa Ayamas interior.

This is "Saver Meal B" for RM 17.90 (minus spring rolls).

We had Golden Roaster and Pepper Roaster for the chicken. My apologies for the out of focus picture, I didn't realize I did not have macro mode on until I got home.

This is the chicken rice and the soup (which has bits of fish (meat?) balls in it).

The vegetables were stirfried with a suitably low heat - resulting in a nicely fresh taste being imparted to the dish. Er...what I mean to say is, they didn't "murder the vegies" as a common saying goes back home.

Here's the mini spring rolls...it was okay, nothing to write home about.

Dessert - nata de coco and lychees served chilled.

Rasa Ayamas has chicken that tastes surprisingly good and the price is cheap for a meal for 2 in KL, considering what they're offering. It's also salty and full of MSG and hey, that's good enough for me. :)

Posted in Food reviews by Huai Bin at 10:23 AM Permalink | Comments (28)

Crazy Taxi (KL Edition)

Never be late again! Pictured above is KL's finest taxi driver, the best of the best - he'll get you where you want, when you want. This is the second time he's actually saved me from being late...I knew it was him from the way he was still accelerating while pulling up to me and from the tyres screeching to a halt just in front of me. You want fast? You've got fast.

I need to wake up at 6:30 am in order to take the LRT/bus combo (plus a 25 minute walk), so anytime after that requires me to enlist the services of a taxi to arrive on time. I woke up at nearly 8 am today (curses) and the taxi arrived at 8:07 am and got to Jalan Sultan Ismail at 8:21 am. I shit you not, it's a time lap that's worth of entry into the Guinness Book of World Records. Well, maybe not that, the Malaysian Book of Records then.

He sure needs to be commended anyway. The way he weaves through the tightest spots and liberally applies his horn and glares at cars who even dares to inch a little bit closer to the lane that he wants to change into. The way he bores down on errant pedestrians who did not know better and got into his way, even going so far as to make one girl go "Arrggghhh" and jump out of the way. The way he ignores the traffic police directing traffic and rushes through anyway.

I got to the office and punched in. 8:26 am. I didn't think it was possible. Thanks, crazy taxi!

Posted in by Huai Bin at 09:02 AM Permalink | Comments (14)

Dodgy Tim Tams

I saw these Tim Tam (one of my favorite things to eat when I have the munchies in Melbourne) biscuits on the shelves of a Giant supermarket and was very puzzled at the visible difference in packaging. The wrapper is different and the size of the pack is different from the ones I'm used to seeing.

Upon closer inspection, I found out that these ones are made in Indonesia instead of Australia. It was going for RM 2.69 at Giant (the supermarket). I don't know how much imported Tim Tams are, I've never bought them myself here but in Coles it was A$ 2.55 (or A$ 1.98 on sale).

Product of Indonesia
Developed especially for South East Asia market.
Not for sale in Australia or New Zealand.

I don't think it would taste the same though, so I didn't get any. The outsourced ones always seem to taste mediocre from experience. That's not to say Indonesia doesn't come out with good, quality stuff though. The legendary "X scores" were from Jakarta. Not that I would know anything about that first hand of course.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 01:34 PM Permalink | Comments (38)

Poliklinik & Surgeri Dr A. Hadi Abdullah & Rakan Rakan

The exterior of the clinic.

I did not go to work today on the account of food poisoning. Diarrhea, throwing up, the works - so I went to the nearest reasonably priced doctor (no more RM 150 bills) at Pusat Bandar Damansara. This was also a polyclinic but judging by the interesting way they run things here, I figured it wouldn't be that expensive. Oh, that and the previous guy before me just paid RM 20.

Anyway, there was no waiting room to speak of - the doctor's consultation room was in the same room was the waiting room, and just partially cordoned off. You could listen to the interesting afflictions of other patients if you're so inclined. Definitely not a place to say "Eh doctor, yesterday I have a go at this char bo hor, and today ah, very painful when I piss lar...". The acoustics of the room does not allow this kind of indiscretion to go unheard.

Lopex 2 mg
"Not more than 3 times a day...later your stools get very hard and you get constipation"

Anti-emetic
One when required.

There was a large toy basket and a child running around with heaps of toys strewn around the room too. Very interesting, to say the least. Anyway, it was my turn soon and I told the doctor about my symptoms and he pulled out his stethoscope for some reason and listened to my heart for a good 3 minutes and ushered me out of the partially cordoned off area. That was fast.

RM 25 instead of RM 150 this time.

Anyway, the doctor passed the nurse (whom I think is his wife and the little girl running around his daughter) the MC (medical cert) with everything written on it except my name and my company's name. The nurse gave me the two pack of pills and filled my name and company into the sick leave certificate and charged me RM 25 and ushered me out.

Not very professionally done - looks mass photocopied and the doctor wrote on half of it while the nurse wrote the other half.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 10:35 PM Permalink | Comments (16)

castitas.com is live!

The domain of veritas - castitas.com is now ready for public viewing after nearly a month since it's inception. It is with great pride that I announce sixthseal.com's sister site - the award winning weblog about drugs in Malaysia where it was voted "Blogger most likely to get raided by the police", "Blogger most likely to get roughed up by gangsters" and "Best Malaysian blogger in the Drugs category" (no one else was in contention) AT THE SAME TIME. Not to mention snagging the "You is stupid to try this in Malaysia" and the "I give you 3 months before the site gets shut down" special awards - I proudly present to you castitas.com - Better living through chemistry...for every problem, a chemical solution. [castitas.com]

Okay, so I made the awards up, just wanted to generate interest in the site...

Warning: The content of castitas.com is not for everyone. If you're offended by recreational drug use and the use of pharmaceuticals off the prescription label, you would not enjoy what castitas.com has to offer. If you hate drugs, you're going to hate castitas.com. Please exercise discretion and avoid clicking on the link if you fit the criteria above. castitas.com is not meant for minors.

Disclaimer: I am not veritas (the author at castitas.com). The site DOES NOT condone or "promote" drug use. It is merely a personal journal by veritas to document his experiences with drugs. Please remember that drug use is associated with very severe penalties in Malaysia. sixthseal.com strongly discourages any activities which breaks the laws in your country.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 09:20 AM Permalink | Comments (10)

Movado fashion show @ Lot 10

Movado female models lineup.

I went to Lot 10 exactly one week ago and caught the Movado fashion parade in the afternoon. Here are the photos from the show last Sunday (28/09/2003), I haven't had time to post them up before today.

The models walking out with dry ice hissing. The show begins...

The first dry run.

A female and male modelling the watch.

Two of the models - apparently the general consensus of the group (minus me) found that these two were the most aesthetically pleasing in the lineup.

My vote went to this girl.

Here's a photo of the only two male models in the lineup.

Here's another shot of the two female models. It looks similar to the one above, but it's not. The pose is the same, but the attire is different. Look closer, I was amazed by the commendable full posture recall and reconstruction they had. Very versatile. ;)

And here's another one of the guys.

The finale of the show - the final model lineup.

Posted in XX chromosomes by Huai Bin at 08:22 AM Permalink | Comments (16)

Chili's @ bsc (Bangsar Shopping Center)

Chili's @ bsc

This is the Chili's (the Tex-Mex chain) at Bangsar Shopping Center. This post is exactly one week late, went there last Sunday to celebrate my first paycheck and was rather busy until now, though the Project Manager did say to give me a break this week. ;) We went there at had to wait a while before a table was available. It was quite full even at early dinner time.

Parking Chili's Customers Only - Other cars will be crushed and melted. Sign at the waiting area.

Anyway, we were seated within 15 minutes and ordered.

Triple Play. A combo of our three favorite starters. Generous portions of our Chicken Crispers(r), Wings Over Buffalo(r) and Southwestern Eggrolls with sauces for dipping.

Presidente Margarita. Chili's distinctive hand-shaken Margarita made w/Sauza(r) Conmemorativo Tequila, Cointreau(r) & Presidente(r) Brandy.

What is a visit to Chili's without their flagship drink? ;) I also had some cocktail which name eludes me right now.

Big Mouth Burgers - Old Timer. This one put us on the map ... Our original ... mustard, shredded lettuce, tomato, pickle & onion. I had it with chili and extra cheese.

This is some fajita which I can't remember.

This is some soup of the day - forgot what.

This is something from the grill which eludes me.

This is some steak but the exact name escapes me.

There you have it. Margaritas and drinks on an empty stomach could interact with other medications you may be taking which will result in a poor ability to retain and recall certain events that transpired during the night. I know I met Prem, one of the Project Managers at XM at the bar area when I went to the toilet though.

Posted in Food reviews by Huai Bin at 02:27 AM Permalink | Comments (16)

Stanby haiku, Malaysian style

Eh, u all standby
Me making lots of posts now
Check in a while k?

Posted in by Huai Bin at 11:51 PM Permalink | Comments (11)

Read error

I have not been getting enough sleep lately so let me point you one of two ways while I sleep until I feel less like a diskette put through the spin cycle.

1. graceshu [pixelphobia.net] has returned from the dead to start blogging again after a really long break.

2. castitas.com [castitas.com] is still not live (and will probably never be as googlism [googlism.com] says) but feel free to poke around the site dispite the unfinished state and the CSS that's largely unmodified from sixthseal.com.

I promise there will be a lot of back posts this weekend.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 11:04 PM Permalink | Comments (3)

Minishorts grills sixthseal.com

I actually replied the interview questions some days ago but didn't even have time to post it up until now. My apologies for the sporadic updates, it's like work come back sleep repeat. Thank God it's Friday tomorrow.

1. Alright, tell us how the hell you got to know someone like Veritas?

I've known him for ages...I don't choose certain types of people to hang out with, but I do tend to gravitate towards recreational drug users and what people would call Ah Bengs because I don't enjoy the company of pretentious people. I've mentioned this before, I don't like to dress up and sit down at some yuppie bar and try and look cool and pick up chicks. That is not my scene. I noticed that even though society brands these subcultures as "bad", on a personal level, the company is much more enjoyable than the pretentious people, these are the people who go all out and have fun. =D

The above paragraph is full of assumptions and sweeping statements though, so take it as you will. The main reason is because we share key interests - pharmacology, photography and traveling. I feel like I've know him all my life.

2. How do you separate yourself from Veritas, as in, don't you get urges to become like him?

This is a somewhat strange question to answer. I can honestly say that I don't have any urges to become like him, because I don't need to. I'm not living voraciously by proxy, if that's what the question is about. I don't think we have any identity crisis issues, we know who we are and what we are, so no one gets any urges to be anyone else. :) There is no need to. Unless there's some Dr. Huai Bin and Mr. Veritas thing going on that I'm not aware of. ;) I kid.

3. Does your girlfriend approve of your friendship with Veritas and the fact that you are hosting Veritas?

No. My parents are against it too, they all insist that the drug posts would get me into trouble one day because veritas is essentially a Keyser Soze, there's no information about him anywhere on both the sites and my friends have expressed concern that I might be held legally liable for the posts which he makes, since I own the copyrights to all of his writings and photos.

I have been under a lot of pressure to drop veritas, but this is where I put my foot down - veritas can post all he wants as long as he wants. I defend him because he's my content provider. All veritas posts are copyrighted by sixthseal.com, he relinquishes all intellectual property rights to me. That is why I protect him and that is why he is here to stay. Well, not here as in sixthseal.com, here as in castitas.com. People have constantly asked why I bend over backwards for him. This is the reason.

4. KL, Melbourne, Sarawak--- what do these three places mean to you?

Kuala Lumpur
There's always something going on somewhere. It's easy to lose yourself in the crowd. Choo Ki has kindly warned me about how KL is different from other places and she's right. I like KL because of the anonymity it provides. Back in Sibu, you can hardly do something without word getting back to people who you wouldn't want to know the next day. However KL is in Malaysia and that is a big minus due to the nature of my interests. Malaysia is home though, and it's where I want to be despite the draconian drug laws.

Melbourne
Lovely Melbourne...ah, what sweet memories I have in the three years I was there. The laws are reasonable and there are a lot of checks and balances in place to provide a sense of security. The rave scene is great and the availability of things is greater than Malaysia despite the fact that Australia is essentially a big island. There's also something happening somewhere every day, so you won't be bored. A place where you can do the 4:20 in peace, unlike Malaysia.

Sibu
This is really home. It would likely be the place where I'll be when I retire. Rx meds without a prescription anyone? ;)

5. Where do you see yourself in five years?

I'll be working in an administrative position, and I'm aiming for a monthly paycheck which has the same number of digits and first number of what Wena is earning now. :p I will most likely still be in KL. I would have finished my Masters degree by this time (or I will kick my own ass) and would probably go for a doctorate just so I can go "That's DR Poh, not Mr Poh." ;)

Thanks to minishorts for the difficult to answer questions. Remind me to go for confession this Sunday. I have to sleep now or I'll be late for work tomorrow so I'll reply all comments tommorrow. Sleep beckons me...

Posted in by Huai Bin at 11:18 PM Permalink | Comments (10)