sixthseal.com

XM Malaysia Foosball Finals 2003

L-R: May, Shirley, Anthony, Suzanne, TK, Loh, Azli

Here are the photos of the foosball championship finals at the office yesterday evening. XM Malaysia has a foosball table in the rec room and it was decided in the last TGIF meeting that there would be a competition with several events like foosball, pool etc. I'm in Geng 69 (the company is divided into six teams) but I wasn't going to play foosball - I volunteered for pool coz I think I'm pretty handy with a cue, unless my skillz has atrophied significantly, which could very well be true if the last time I played snooker with my friends is any indication.

Here's the score list. The finals yesterday was Team Tofu vs Screaming Chihuahuas in the winners bracket and Geng 69 vs Junkies in the losers bracket.

Final result:

Winners bracket

Team ToFu vs Screaming Chihuahuas (female doubles)

Tofu

May
Shirley

Chihuahuas

Catharine
Sherry

Chihuahuas win!

Win: Screaming Chihuahuas

Team ToFu vs Screaming Chihuahuas (male doubles)

Tofu

Azli
Tek Khoon

Chihuahuas

Jae Sern
Soffian

Azli with the ball.

Win: Tofu

Tofu #1

Losers bracket

Geng 69 (Ranggi Fellows) vs Junkies (female doubles)

Geng 69

Mandy
Joanne

Junkies

Felicia
Winnie

Mandy Chan and Joanne with team captain VJ.

Win: Junkies

Geng 69 (Ranggi Fellows) vs Junkies (male doubles)

Geng 69

Two own goals and some skewering going on.

Wai Hing
Huai Bin (me)

Junkies

Loh
Thee Heng

Win: Geng 69

I actually made two own goals. Heh! I was sitting in for Chia who was on annual leave and played offence with Loh on defence. This was the match that would decide who gets the last place and I thought all was lost due to those two own goals. However, my skillz (okay, luck :p) prevailed at the end when both teams were at 4/5 goals...one goal would mean the difference between winning and losing. I made my men dance and scored the winning goal by...ok, luck lar. :) Geng 69 didn't get the last spot. :p Yay!

#1 = Team Tofu
#6 = Junkies

Posted in XM Malaysia by Huai Bin at 01:45 PM Permalink | Comments (17)

Maxis MMS Road Show (girls)

Here are the photos of the Maxis MMS Road Show. Okay, the girls of the Maxis MMS Roadshow anyway. ;) We went to see Shetland ponies and found out that the event was over, but all is not lost coz I got some photos of the Maxis girls and also the Movado fashion show at Lot 10 instead. Here's the Maxis MMS roadshow, and to put up some semblance that I was taking photos of the roadshow instead of the girls, here's a shot of the booths ;):

There were four Maxis girls there, but I could only take photos of two of them before we had to go to the Movado fashion parade. This is Girl #1:

This is Girl #2, which we all agreed was the best looking of all 4.

My apologies if there is any perceived objectification of women, that is not intended and this is not the direction sixthseal.com is heading. Daniel was complaining about the lack of girls and you know how I like to please my readers, so here is the first batch. The Movado photo shoot has good looking guys and girls so if you want to see those, leave a comment (it would take a long time to post and I need motivation :p). BTW, I swear one of the models looked familiar, somehow I associate her as one of Stephanie's friends and she used to keep a blog too? Anyway, I'm sorry I can't reply the comments now, I have to rush off to Chilli's (BSC) soon because my paycheck just cleared so dinner's on me.

Posted in XX chromosomes by Huai Bin at 06:14 PM Permalink | Comments (19)

BB Hailam Chicken Rice @ Bukit Bintang

I went to BB Hailam Chicken Rice at Bukit Bintang for lunch after mass today. We were in the area coz I thought the KL Horse Fair and the Shetland ponies were still at Lot 10. Anyway, the chicken rice was good, this is what I had:

Here's a close up of the chicken:

It's a boneless drumstick...mmm, and the sauce is very delicious!

This is one of the side dishes - kerabu with chicken feet. I didn't order it, it tasted interesting to say the least. Too vinegary for my tastes but the chicken feet was okay, it's boneless as well.

The middle dish is the chicken rice var roasted. The one I had is steamed. Anyway, it's great if you like your chicken rice with the tender and boneless drumstick saturated with salty chicken essence. I loved it.

Posted in Food by Huai Bin at 06:10 PM Permalink | Comments (12)

Kempen Kerjaya PDRM @ Bukit Bintang

I've never seen so much police at the same place at the same time. There was road block at Jalan Bukit Bintang and I thought there was a major raid or something on a drug safe house at Jalan Alor or something (considering the armored vehicles and the major police presence) but it was a procession of some sort. I was there at around 3:30 pm and it was called Kempen Kerjaya PDRM which I would transalate as PDRM's (Polis Di-Raja Malaysia - Malaysian Royal Police) Campaign of Success. It was organized by MCA, I think. Here are the photos:

Armored police vehicles. If you find one of these outside your front gate, well...you must have done something very naughty.

This red troop carrier with a mounted battering ram is particularly puzzling. To the left are police armed with dangerous clarinets, trumpets and saxophones.

I was overwhelmed by the sonic assault.

K9 units - My apologies for the blurry photo from behind, I used my 8X optical zoom and stayed my distance coz I'm...uh, scared of dogs. Especially trained ones. *cough*

The big wigs sitting on the stage. I think the one in the middle is someone important in MCA.

They're looking at something...

This is it.

A bunch of police cadets milling about...

Group photo of the female police cadets...couldn't get everyone in the shot though. How's the forth one from the left? ;)

Okay, this one is for the guys - a closer look at Girl #4.

Posted in XX chromosomes by Huai Bin at 07:49 PM Permalink | Comments (348)

No work today

I went into the office today and found all the lifts being upgraded, with the exception of one...it took ages to arrive too, coz Kenanga International has quite a number of floors. Anyway, I went up to find the office devoid of people...and I did not have the key today. I had the key the two weekeneds I came in but I figured I won't need it today coz I thought they'll be people in. Anyway, all is not lost, I went to Bukit Bintang and caught the Kempen Kerjaya PDRM thing, photos will be up soon!

Posted in by Huai Bin at 07:10 PM Permalink | Comments (4)

My first ever paycheck - RM 1,790.32

I was eating my lunch yesterday when Janet, Chang and Wang came over and told me the paychecks were ready and so down we went to the 12th floor to get them. Pictured above is my first every paycheck, for RM 1,790.32. =D

Mutiara Hotel

That's not what I earn per month though, my monthly salary is only RM 1,500 (yes, please feel sorry for me). The amount was pro-rated from last month. I went into XM Malaysia at the end of August. Anyway, I figured my first paycheck is cause for a mini celebration so I went to Hotel Mutiara.

I was wondering why a lot of my coworkers were going off at 5 pm and coming back with Mutiara Hotel bags until I was told about the 50% off all cakes at Tiffins.

Tiffins @ Mutiara

Anyway, after getting the cakes, I bought a celebratory cigar at this place in Hotel Mutiara (forgot the name). It was a walk in humidor and I was tempted by the Cohiba cigars on display but unfortunately could not afford one so I settled for a Montecristo Tubos (review later, probably at castitas.com).

Montecristo

I also got a bottle of sparkling wine ("California Champagne" - only wines from Champagne, France can be called champagne) from the wine shop at Isetan, KLCC. It's Cook's California Sparkling Wine, selected for its price tag. :p Oh ya, Isetan has a sale so if you want to go it's open from 10 am to 10 pm tonight.

Cook's California Sparkling Wine

Posted in by Huai Bin at 06:59 PM Permalink | Comments (17)

Jae Sern's birthday @ XM Malaysia (2003)

Here are the photos of the XM Malaysia office gathering just now to celebrate Jae Sern's (from Creative) birthday. I couldn't get shots of everyone coz of the distributed congregation, so the photos mostly feature the birthday boy. :)

Azli putting up the candles on the Secret Recipe chocolate cake.

Happy birthday song. L-R: Shen (Project Manager), Jit (General Manager aka the boss), May (Project Manager), Jae Sern (birthday boy).

Jae Sern blowing out the candles.

The cake cutting begins. I helped myself to a rather large slice too. ;)

Jae Sern smiling at the digicam. Jit is to the left and VJ is to the right.

I'm still at the office...I've got some stuff to do, sorry about not having time to reply the comments. I want to get my work done with and head home.

Posted in XM Malaysia by Huai Bin at 06:38 PM Permalink | Comments (24)

Yau from Singapore

My friend Yau came down to KL yesterday and I got to meet him at Lot 10 where he was with his gf. I didn't have time to talk much though, because of work but I'm glad to meet him finally. :) It's always good when people who have something in common talk. It was great. The shot was taken by the Lot 10 security guard and it's very blurry, sorry about that. It tends to happen when people press the shutter release instead of tap it (causing shake).

Anyway, I have much work to do today, I'll reply the comments during the next update. Thanks for all the well wishes, I'm fine now (bar a distinct lack of serotonin). :)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 12:57 PM Permalink | Comments (7)

Klinic Bangsar Baru damn expensive - RM 150!

Klinic Bangsar Baru @ Bangsar Telawi

I was feeling sick yesterday morning, feeling much better now though. I couldn’t make it to work coz I kept on throwing up (again), so I went to see a doctor. It was the Klinic Bangsar Baru at Bangsar Telawi and I noticed that they're panel doctors for companies like Telekom, TV3, KLCC, NSTP, Tenaga National etc etc but I also saw the word POLIKLINIC and where I come from (Sibu, Sarawak), policlinics are cheaper than either private practises or GH. I was about to be shown the errors of my ways by the policlinics in KL (second time this happened, the first was bearable though).

Nothing funny, unfortunately.

Anyway, I went to this doctor and the waiting room was empty since I went at noon...told him my symptoms - constant throwing up, can't get anything down - not even water, vertigo when not lying down, diarrhea, migranes (he didn't give me anything for this though, dammit ;)), etc etc. He asked me a few questions about this and told me to lie down on the bed so he could fondle me a bit. Oops, give me a checkup I mean. Well, after a bit of prodding here and there, he said that my body temperature is very warm and he'll like to give me some antibiotics for it.

Enclor Capsule 250 mg - Chloramphenicol
Antibiotik - Perlu Di Habiskan
Antibiotic - To complete course

Doctor: Hmm...how are you going to swallow the pills if keep on throwing up?
Me: That's a good question. I guess I'll just force it down and keep it down.
Doctor: Oh, I've got a better idea. I'll give you an injection in the buttocks, just pull your pants down a bit.
Me: Erm.....

I couldn't very well back down, and I figured an anti-emetic wouldn't do me much harm so "OK", I said.

"Vomit" - no it doesn't induce vomiting, it's just an anti-emetic pill. KL doctors like to name their packs this way too.

Doctor: Right, I'm going to give you one shot in the left buttock...here it goes. Okay. Hold this (cotton swab) right here while I get another syringe.
Me: Another syringe?!?!?!
Doctor: Yeah, I'm giving you 4 medicines in two syringes. The one I gave you just now is to stop you from vomiting and to harden your stools. Now this one I'm giving you is an anti-biotic and (something else I forgot).
Me: Er...*cough*...an antibiotic...is that really necessary?
Doctor: Of course it is, I'm giving you a course of antibiotics, starting with this shot. This is a strong one, not one of the lesser ones, this would be more effective.
Me: Right.....
Doctor: Okay, I'm injecting this one into your right buttocks, hold still. OK, hold this right here.

.......

The interestingly labelled "Guts". No, I don't think it's Marinol. ;)

The doctor called me after the IM injections (I was still lying on the bed as per his instructions) and TALKED for at least 20 minutes about people from Sarawak he knew, even went through this guy who had a daughter who was also in Melbourne and now working here. I nodded and smiled politely and thought about how to raise the issue regarding my...ah, migranes. Unfortuantely, the doctor didn't let me get a word in sideways so I gave up on that.

"Diarrhea" pills.

Anyway, the doctor wrote me a sick cert/medical cert and off I went to wait at the dispensary. Here was where another interesting thing happened. The nurse called me over to the counter and on the dispensary table laid two small plastic containers - one with a mix of colorful pills (about 5) like the ones they give out at psychiatric wards and the other with some thick milky substance (milk of magnesia).

Nurse: Wait ya, I'll give you a drink of water.
Me: Am I supposed to eat all these?
Nurse: Yeah, here's a glass of water.
Me: Can't I eat these at home instead?
Nurse: No, you'll get some other meds to bring home, these are the ones you eat here.
Me: Erm...okay...

.......

Nurse: Okay, here's your bill sir. RM 150 please.
Me: I'm sorry? How much did you say it was?
Nurse: 150 dollars.
Me: Right...
/me looks into wallet
Me: I don't have RM 150. Is there an ATM nearby?
Nurse: Yeah, walk straight down and turn left.

Milk of Magnesia - certainly need it for my heartburn after the bill.

I went to withdraw some money, which left my bank balance at RM 2 (I shit you not - good thing we get our monthly paychecks tomorrow) and paid the clinic and left with a bunch of medications which I have no intention of consuming. No, not even the antibiotics. I'm protesting against the completely non-judicious use of stronger antibiotics when the lesser ones would do just fine. I should send veritas over since this doctor is so keen on giving out "strong" medications...he'll probably give veritas oxycodone (Oxycontin) for his headache. ;)

Anyway, I went home and noticed that either the cupful of medication or the things in the IM shots interacts with certain sedatives and KO'd me for the rest of the afternoon. I woke up at nearly 7 pm and felt fine again.

RM 150 "only".

RM 150 for a doctor's visit indeed. I didn't even get anything nice! Ouch my ass hurts.

I swear all those tablets, injections and liquid administered parenerally made me feel sicker.

Oh yeah, I passed by Taryn (one of my coworkers, except she's my superior) this morning:

Taryn: Hello, so have you recovered?
Me: Recovered from what?

Someone please give me a very hefty kick to the ass...

Good thing the situation was salvaged when I IM'd her later to explain that I thought she meant "recovered from the weekend" instead of "recovered from my sick leave".

I'm exhibiting all my medications (I brought them along) on my desk now for all to see and also so I won't forget again. ;)

My Sijil Cuti Sakit.
Sijil Cuti Sakit = Certificate Holiday Sick (direct translation). It's a medical leave cert.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 07:19 PM Permalink | Comments (25)

Streamyx

Streamyx by tmnet. I finally have broadband again. I'm on an ADSL connection now, the technician just came today after I applied for the Streamyx Basic 88 package (with the 384 kbps downstream and 128 kbps upstream) two weeks ago and it just got activated today. I was actually thinking about the Streamyx Basic 128 (with 512 kbps download and 128 kbps upload + free tmnet hotspot) coz I figured the hotspot (WLAN roaming) would do the blog good, but unfortunately my paycheck would rather I pay RM 40 less per month, coz that means more for other expenses. ;)

I will update again later and reply the comments, dinner awaits...

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:03 PM Permalink | Comments (65)

Karipap - 3 for RM 1

Curry puffs - This stall outside Wisma Antarabangsa and Kenanga International sells things like fried noodles, fried bee hoon, nasi lemak etc, but I was throwing up the whole of last nite (pictures would be up later ;)) so I got some currypuffs instead - RM 1 for 3!

Reply comments later okay? Work hours starting soon, better get started first.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:06 AM Permalink | Comments (4)

I am still at the office...

It's already 10:30 pm and I'm still at the office...can't complain though, the stuff I was working on just went live and dinner was provided. This is the first time I don't have to come back on Saturday or Sunday (since all the work was completed) so it's all good!

Posted in by Huai Bin at 10:31 PM Permalink | Comments (10)

sixthseal.com's Mailbag (18/09/2003) - First Edition!

Photo taken on the bus while going back tonight.

This is going to be a new regular feature on sixthseal.com now, so I urge people who mail me to put "Private" or something along the lines of that if you do not want your mail to be in the "sixthseal.com's Mailbag" Thursday posts. Of course, I will exercise discresion on my part, I would NOT be posting too personal emails or emails which I feel would violate or compromise any of us in any way, but just to be certain, make it clear if the lines are ambiguous.

Anyway, this will be up every week on Thursday night (so you can read it on Fridays) - featuring 4-6 of the not too personal and usually site related emails that either me or veritas get during the weekly period and do not have time to reply. Of course, it will not run if there's not enough emails, but there usually would be...God knows I've been Mr. Tardy in replying emails, I just don't have the time with my job, and I figured...my blog is rather public, so this would be in line with that and by doing this, I can reply the mails and make a post at the same time. ;)

P/S - Due to the volume, I cannot post every single mail. My apologies. It would usually be 4-6 mails with a new photo which is somehow related to mail or contacts.

From: Azmyl (**********@yahoo.com)
Date: 18 Sep 2003 03:26:18
subject: Hi!

Hi there Huai Bin!

My friend Alex('technolahgy' fella) referred me to your site(s)...very interesting stuff!
Very scholarly i must say (I hear you need donations?)...[Edit: Deleted sentence to protect sender's privacy.](I was in Perth and Melbourne but now back here in KL). Hunter S. Thompson THE man.

Anyways, I play music (Alex is in a band with me) and i dunno whether the samples on the site would complement these excursions but do check it out (http://yat.ch/mc) and my solo stuff(http://yat.ch/yunor) . Plus, there's a gig this weekend in Damanasara (i'm playing drums for a friend's band called Ben's Bitches, http://yat.ch/bb) so do drop if you're free. I believe you're acquainted with Grace? I'm not sure if she's going but do mail me back so i can mail ya the details.

cheers,

Azmyl Yunor

Huai Bin: Hello, thanks for your kind compliments. I might drop by if it's close to where I live, barring the statistically unlikely event where my gf and another two of my housemates win a contest which will take us all to Genting. Where is the venue?
Anyone who's in the area, go and check them out!

From: Mike (********@ptd.net)
Date: 16 Sep 2003 04:24:52
Subject: You're awesome.

I read your reports on doctor shopping. Funny shit. All the shrinks in my
area are complete benzophobes. If I'm lucky, I'll get five or ten .5 Ativan
once and once only, so I have to hit the GP's. I found an Angel in town that
whipped out the script pad and gave me 90 .5 Xanax with 2 refills. Holy
shit. I almost couldn't contain my composuer. On my way to the pharmacy I
had one of the fucking biggest fucking grins on my face, but I killed it
before heading in to get it filled. Problem is now both pharmacies in my
hamlet have my insurance info and catch me red handed if I refill too early,
so I have a script for 90 .5s with no refills and a empty bottle with one
refill of the same until I can get to an out-of-town pharmacy. I'm seeing a
new GP this week and I'm aiming for Klonopin. Hopefully, the pharms will
dish this out despite the Xanax since its used as an anti-convulsant. I'm
also on Lamictal for mood stablization, but it's really an anti-seizure drug,
so it might look good. Some tips I learned:

DO's have more education than MD's. They try to treat "the whole person" and
are genreally more approachable. Kiss their asses and let them know this in
a dumbed down way. "I've always preferred DOs (Hell pronounce it life the
verb "do") than MD's.

Feigned ignorance is always bliss. My favorite line when the doc mentions
Xanax is "Uhh, I don't have heartburn. Hurrrr." (Zantac, heh)

If the doctor mentions an antidepressant, tell him you've tried it already and
haven't had luck with it. Same goes for BuSpar or those horrid
anti-psychotics everyone seems to dish out these days.

Have you tried online pharmacies from Mexico? I've heard success stories from
a lot of people, but I always have this mental image of the DEA kicking in my
door and throwing my ass in the slammer.

Good luck in your future benzo quests.

veritas: I've had the same problem lately...doctors have been stingy with the benzodiazepines, but I've found one today that was quite happy to script me whatever I wanted. :) Regarding online pharmacies, I wouldn't dare risk it in Malaysia. IIANM, US citizens are allowed a 3 month supply from online pharmacies though so it's worth a try. Good luck!

P/S - Yeah, I can relate to that big ass fucking grin you get when you pull off a big one. ;)

From: S & P Lee (****@shaw.ca)
Date: 18 Sep 2003 12:45:21
Subject: Howdy

Nice website! Interesting to read your "story" about yourself. Sounds like you are on the right track to success in life. Keep it up!

Just for your information, I finished Form 5 in Methodist Secondary in 1974 – you can figure out how old I am. At the time, we could not do half of what you have done.

Best wishes,

Patrick Lee

Huai Bin: It's always good to hear from someone from Sibu and even better to hear from one from the same alma mater. :)

From: Olivia Tay (******@yahoo.com)
Date: 16 Sep 2003 03:59:14
Subject: Hi...

Dear Huai Bing,

Hey, i think this is really a surprise for u.... u still remember me, Olivia Tay from Sibu too? We were once Sunday School mate and i'm from SMB Methodist too... I dunno whether u remember me or not, but it was really a coincidence tat i found ur cool website from the net while i was surfing the net for my assignment.....hahaha.... funny eh?!

Well, it's really a nice website u got there and i din know u like to take photo :)

And i also saw Karen's birthday photos too....she's still the same if compare to the last time i saw her....haha.... plz send my regards to her if she's still there :) thanx.

Anyway, won't talk much... Jus hope u remember me....haha.... if can :P

Take care!

And all the best

Cheers,
Olivia Tay
(regards from Johor, Malaysia)

Huai Bin: Yeah! I remember you from Sunday School back at Wesley Church, what a coincidence. :) It's great to hear from someone back in the days, wanted to email you back but at the time I was working through this rather thick functional specifications document that was tying me up at work. I will reply properly this weekend.

Mail of the Week:

I found your site by accident while researching a narcotic that my primary care doctor gave me for pain. (Talwin).
Just had to send a note to express my admiration for your writing. I feel like I am reading a really neat novel as I read it.

I am a grown -up which gives me the excuse to say to you,
please be very careful with your remarkable self. Your thinking, your perspective, your mind-blowing wisdom and insight make you a really valuable person. (Sorry, but the truth is that some people do seem to have more value than others. Nonetheless, I feel guilty about the way I always value those with high intellect over those who have been given other gifts.) There is so much you can do with your life given your obvious intellect and talents.
Enough! Keep on truckin' (an expression from the 60's when I was young)
Sincerely,
Nancy

veritas: It is mails like this that makes me put up with all the shit that I get for being veritas. Thanks, Nancy!

So what do you think of this "sixthseal.com's Mailbag" feature? Good? Bad? Gross violation of an unwritten rule of privacy? Comments would be appreciated.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 10:59 PM Permalink | Comments (14)

KL air pollution

The atmospheric conditions today made everything smoggy this evening. The photo was taken at around 6 pm today in front of Suria KLCC, I've never seen KL this polluted before...the traffic made things worse with the vehicular exhaust output, it was surprisingly smoky this evening. Personally, it's the first time I've seen it this smoke filled, perhaps it was coz of the humidity today. Interesting, but not enjoyable for a pedestrian...

Posted in by Huai Bin at 10:34 PM Permalink | Comments (3)

Big banana

Yes, a photo of a huge, thick, and long yellow (with black spots to boot) banana. I just learnt today that these bananas are edible (without cooking). I've always thought that these bananas needs to be cooked (in goreng pisang) before it's edible, but apparently not. The banana is courtesy of Janet, who got it during the TGIF meeting last time and gave it to me because I have to eat dinner leftovers as lunch everyday because sixthseal.com is running over bandwidth every month (I'm already over this month). Sorry for not updating, I'm working on a ColdFusion and SQL Server thing that I've just sent to QC, it's been a long week...

Posted in Hmm... by Huai Bin at 06:32 PM Permalink | Comments (12)

Telekom Malaysia - very efficient one!

You know hor...I applied for a phone line some time ago and a scant week later, some char bo called me and said my line is ready. Wah piang eh, so fast, I thought needs months to apply for a phone line, but apparently ah, here in KL it only takes one week! Yes, I don't kid you lah, it's really that short. And hor, and hor...I had to call them using my Digi Prepaid line to some 07 number to check my registration status a couple of days ago.

Anyway, that girl ah, she's like "tunggu ah, sebentar lagi"..."tunggu ah" for so long. Na beh, she runs on a different time scale than mine, her "sebentar lagi" equals RM 15+ in credit talk time. I tell her...you call me back lar, but she "sebentar lagi, sebentar lagi" onli. This Telekom service - best in Malaysia, I tell you!

NEwayz, I only got into a Kedai Telekom at that Raja Tulan road this afternoon and they said "system down, cannot process order, banyak soli"...wah lau, why like this one ah? But me also not gong one, I said, I WILL WAIT TILL THE SYSTEM IS UP and I took one of their black Hacks sweets from the courtesy jar and sat there for like 5 minute and then they told me, oh can process order now. See...

So...after paying RM 135 to Telekom Malaysia Sendirian Berhad, I'm waiting for the subcontractor to come and install a phone line to my room (extra charge coz subcontracted out mah). Like this hor...once my home line and ADSL is up, I can use the Apache httpd.conf file to er...disallow (not ban hor, ban very pai tiah, it's "disallow") my company firewall's IP address to access sixthseal.com and castitas.com so that PEOPLE WON'T SAY LIM PEH IS BLOGGING DURING WORK HOURS since i can't even access it myself when the IP is on the disallow list.

(shh...i tell you a secret ah, actually hor, no body said that lah, it's coz i want to keep my work life and private life seperate...dun want people going through my site and think me and veritas is the same person. aiyoh, how can people can think that, i also dunno lah...you look at veritas, seem to have good ENGLEESH, talk like what, so CHEEM while lim peh (lim peh = me in hokkien) doesn't write like that. i can barely write proper sentences, reli struggling already lah, much less things like wat banzai banzo or bensoh that that veritas keeps on saying...i dunno lar, we write so different, dunno how you guys can make that mistake lar...really lah)

also, lim peh coming in to work tomorrow. yes, tomorrow sunday, i know, but me got work to do and here got free coffee. (actually i just want to escape from mass...sien lah, sit there for one hour and half)..hehe! oh ya, if my gf is reading this, i'm kidding hor, i have a monday deadline to meet so i have to work ya. i want to go church, very fun, but got work lah, so sorry cannot...my mom tell me guys must concentrate on career. i dun want to be si kin nah, so i listen to her lor...

Posted in by Huai Bin at 05:45 PM Permalink | Comments (33)

Dragon fruit photos

Here are my photos of this fruit which has been previously been mentioned by many other bloggers. I got a couple of this at the Bangsar pasar malam (only open on Sundays) - AFAIK it goes for RM 1 each to RM 8 for 10. The interior looks like this:

The skin is peeled from above, it's like a banana in that sense, no need for knives or peelers. Here's what dragon fruit looks like after a couple of bites:

The inside of a "dragon fruit".

Anyway, I have much work to do, will have to come in tomorrow as well...my apologies, castitas.com is not launching anytime soon, there are some legal issues I will have to check out before giving veritas the green light to mass post his considerable backposts (all with photos). Malaysia is not very friendly to recreational drug users, and I heard during mid autumn's eve dinner last night that I may be liable for posts made on my site so until further notice, veritas would not be posting...sorry about that, I have an ass to cover too.

Posted in Snacks by Huai Bin at 06:31 PM Permalink | Comments (15)

Grace is God!

[Edit: Post deleted upon request.]

graceshu > You Is Stupid [pixelphobia.net].

Posted in by Huai Bin at 07:36 PM Permalink | Comments (3)

Vertigo

I took this shot just now from an outcropping of less than one foot (I do not like heights). The cleaners were over and they opened up the sealed door that leads to the ledge and a drop down from the 16th floor. Very disturbing for someone with acrophobia. ;)

Anyway, I noticed the open door when I was re-heating last night's dinner in the microwave in the kitchen (rec room? it also has a recently installed foosball table inside). Why am I eating yesterday's leftovers? It's coz my financial outlook [castitas.com] isn't all that bright. ;)

Well, just a word of warning - castitas.com is not ready for launch yet, that would be tomorrow night. There may be missing links and the CSS if lifted right off sixthseal.com and there isn't much content yet, so it's not ready for viewing. Also, if you can't resolve the site, the DNS propogation hasn't reached you yet, so try again tomorrow.

I've started hosting my photos there since yesterday so images are being pulled from castitas.com. Thus, if you can't see the pictures, well, that's the reason - DNS propogation issues. I have to host images there since it's only the 11th of September and I've already used 4.5 GB of my 5 GB bandwidth allocation. I'll have to resort to eating stale bread for lunch and dinner if I have to pay for bandwith again. :p

Posted in by Huai Bin at 01:24 PM Permalink | Comments (5)

Biometrics - fingerprint scanners

Do we teach the scanners to recognize our fingerprints or is it the other way around? I used to have to make at least 10 tries to log in and out of my work place, but now I've learnt how to put my finger just right so it always works on the first try...

Anyway, I don't know what I'm talking about, I'm feeling sleepy and tired and I need to sleep coz I'll be working late tomorrow. I'll reply the comments tomorrow okay? My apologies...didn't get much sleep last night.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 04:33 PM Permalink | Comments (6)

The fish at Komplex Antarabangsa

This is a photo of the fish pond at the entrance of Komplex Antarabangsa (next to where I work). I have been meaning to take a photo of it ever since I realized that Kenanga International and Komplex Antarabangsa is interconnected internally, but never got around to doing it. I passed by today while going to the bank (and realizing that my account balance is very low - I will not turn down any voluntary donations ;)) to pay for my new domain registration and hosting fees and took a photo, but unfortunately, the fishes do not congregate the way they do in the mornings...there's a lot more fishes than the photo suggests.

Anyway, I have some Coldfusion + Fusebox stuff to do, so I'll post again tomorrow. I am pleased to announce that sixthseal.com is going to have a sister site, where veritas would post and I would host some of my images (for load balancing - bandwidth bills are killing me). I won't reveal the domain yet, to allow it the 48 hours to propogate to all the DNS servers, but the new site will go live on Friday! veritas says he's already got a good first post, so stay tuned! :)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 01:42 PM Permalink | Comments (30)

How I update my blog

This is the view from the break room window of my workplace. I cannot take photos of the interior to avoid violating the non disclosure agreement I signed.

We had a TGIF monthly meeting at my company last Friday and someone raised the question about how I have the time to update my blog. Just to make things clear, I DO NOT use company time to write. Since I don't have net access at home right now (going to Telekom now to sort that out), I write the posts BEFORE going to work (usually at night) and do post production on the photos then, so I just need to cut and paste and click Publish on MT and I do that during lunch hour or in the mornings. I have made short posts in real time though (like the cereal giveaway one) and that just takes minutes, plus it was before working hours (I came early). For the readers, this is only a temporary measure due to my lack of net access, all posts will be real time (or as close to real time as a blog can be) once I get my net connection up (probably a couple of days, depending on how efficient Telekom Malaysia is).

I'm sorry I have been kinda neglecting the comments and daily visits lately, my apologies, I have a lot of work to do and by the time I get home it's time to sleep. Anyway, that would get better once I have a net connection, I will reply every comment and mail soon. Thanks for your patience!

P/S - sixthseal.com is expanding. New domain up within the week. :)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 12:09 PM Permalink | Comments (13)

Bangsar Pasar Malam (Night Market) @ Jalan Telawi

A couple of us headed down to Bangsar pasar malam last night to get some fresh produce. It's only open on Sundays from what I heard from Richard, unlike Sibu pasar malams which are open every day of the week. Anyway, we had dinner at the place right in front of the pasar malam before heading in. I saw this perfect roti tissue while walking in, so I ordered that but unfortunately, there seems to be two roti canai stalls because my roti tisu was quite dismal:

One of the less aesthetically pleasing roti tisu's around.

Anyway, I didn't finish that one, don't really see the appeal in roti tisu since it's just a roti canai. Shaped like a hat. I got another roti pisang to eat, that was great, I like eating roti pisang without the curries, coz it's sweet by itself.

Roti pisang (with bananas inside).

Well, after that we walked around the pasar malam to get some vegetables and other stuff for cooking. Here are the photos of the Bangsar pasar malam at Jalan Telawi photo shoot:

Fresh vegetables!

Posted in Interesting by Huai Bin at 12:08 PM Permalink | Comments (8)

Shin Kee Beef Noodles Specialist @ Petaling Street

We went to this place after mass on Sunday for their beef noodles. It's called Shin Kee and it's supposed to be famous for their beef noodles. The location is somewhere around Jalan Petaling, it's within walking distance of Kota Raya. Anyway, I had the dried beef noodles and I thought it was alright, but I've had better in Sibu. Remember the old Chopsticks in town (not the new one in Pedada)? Yeah, those beef noodles were the best I've ever had. :)

Anyway, back to Shin Kee, you can ask for a mix instead of pure noodles eg noodles and hor fun or noodles and rice vermicelli and so on. I just had the pure noodles one. It came with some concentrated beef sauce (with beef meat) on top of the noodles and a bowl of soup with beef pieces (cooked just right, slightly on the rare side), beef stomach (there's another word for this, but the term escapes me right now), and fish balls. The soup was bland compared to the beef noodles in soup.

Here's what the beef noodles with soup looks like:

The soup is much tastier than the dry beef noodle's soup.

This is a photo of the cooking area - the place is clean and looks new, a nice place to eat and the beef noodles are good too.

Posted in Food by Huai Bin at 12:07 PM Permalink | Comments (13)

(KL, Malaysia) "Ecstasy" (feng tau) pill report: Pink Penguin

This is a veritas [sixthseal.com] post.

Heavily sharpened photo of the Pink Penguin imprint.

"Ecstasy" Pill Name: Pink Penguin
Circa: September 2003
Pill Color: Pink
Pill Description: Pink pill with beveled edges on both sides and no score. The pink seems to be a coating, the insides of the pill is white. The imprint is shallow, not impressive.
Tested: No. Don't have reagents here.
Suspected Contents: Ketamine and other stuff (see below).

Original photo of the pill.

I will not go into details regarding the aquisition of this pill - it doesn't seem to be a good idea, so let's just skim over the details and get on with the review. I paid RM 50 for this "Ecstasy" pill - I asked for a feng tau pill and the guy didn't have it, he only has Erimin 5 pills for RM 20 (horrible price) but he will call someone who has pills to come over, and it's RM 50. It's not the price I'm used to paying. This is expensive, due to the location of the transaction, but I thought wtf, I haven't done a pill review in ages, so why not?

What is it about dealers here putting stuff in cigarettes? It's so bleeding obvious...

Anyway, I passed him RM 50 and he said come back in 5 minutes. I was wary of being ripped off, but I have er...surveyed the area for a while and he seems to be a permanant fixture of the place and he wasn't going anywhere (runner gets the pill) so I decided to give it a go, haven't been ripped off here before anyway. Well, I went to the toilets and came back in three minutes...I made eye contact and he pointed to an empty cigarette pack conveniently located an arms length away from where he was sitting, so I picked it up and checked - yes, there is a pill inside.

Pill inside the cigarette pack.

Well, I went to a public toilet to study the pill (I like imprints) and the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw the (shabby) pill imprint was that it's a cockroach or some other bug. I looked at it from all possible sides and the best I could think of is Pink Penguin. A pink penguin smoking a pipe (or using a walking stick). Runner ups are Pink Golf Bag (not very catchy), Pink Archer, Pink Ninja (well if you look at it real hard and squint) and Pink Singer (the long pipe beig the mike and the main shape the person).

Pink Penguin front view.

I did not ask about the pill name, does anyone know what these are called in KL? It was obviously made by a chemist with an interest in abstract art because it isn't a word (eg 'CU', 'Tp', 'AK47') nor a readily identifiable image (eg dove, nike swoosh, clogs). Anyway, I crunched up the pill on an empty stomach and recognized the taste - that salty, tangy ketamine taste that makes people retch. ;) Ah, wasted lah, if I knew it was ketamine I would have crushed and insufflated it.

Pink Penguin back view.

Anyway, the pill hit me SURPRISINGLY fast! Within the minute, I was feeling an acute sense of vertigo and there were visual characteristics consistant with ketamine (world moving faster than you etc). Now this is the most disturbing part...within 3 minutes my whole tongue burned, started tingling and turned numb. Next thing I knew, my throat was closing up on me and I had to struggle to breathe! Wtf? I was worried about this for 30 seconds, until the throat constriction passed and I could breath again (albeit through a swollen tongue and throat - or so it seems). Very smart ar, want to make your pills Very kick hor!

Outlined the imprint for better visibility.

I wonder what did the chemist cut it with...possibly novacaine or another similar compound coz the tingling and numbness was really intense with a rapid onset. It could be anything for all I know, just watch out for this effect and stay away if you don't want any unknown tangibles in your pills. Anyway, the tingling, burning sensation and throat constriction lasted about 30 minutes. From my experiences with ketamine, methamphetamine and MDMA, this seems to be a ketamine pill, possibly with a bit of caffeine inside as well, but no (meth)amphetamine that's for sure. It is definately not an MDMA pill. :)

Well this was what I wrote while under the influence (transcribed with errors intact):

Numbness in extmemities
k space
very blur
ketamine - dnno wats going on
lost the plot
fucking bizzare
people are strange
i stepped into alice in wonderland
eat me
k
not a k hole dose obvously since i,m out in public and can scribble this

The effects were consistant with ketamine - rapid onset and fast peak with effects tapering off at the 1 hour point. I don't know how much Special K (not the cereal) this pill has, but it's fairly ok, would have been good to insufflate this. I was able to maintain a level of sobriety (or at least I think I did :)) in public and respond to stimuli. Conversation is very possible, though not complex ones. Peak felt great, visual distortions - the tunnel vision that I get on ketamine. Perhaps I didn't behave properly as I remember laughing out loud at the peak. ;)

Sealed - for your convenience. ;)

Don't expect to get K-holed by one of these, but snort a couple in quick succession and you might get near the line dose. It's a fairly good pill but I wouldn't pay RM 50 for a ketamine pill. I experienced a full return to baseline after T+ 2.

Next up: veritas's guide to taking photos in public - Chapter 1: Managing unsanitary conditions (eg public toilets) while maintaining a reasonable level of sterility. ;)

BTW, I used a card as the base and then a white receipt as the background. Both were flushed after the session. Needless to say if you drop the pill on the floor, forget about it, consider it gone.

Hmm...I might try one of those Erimin's he's selling, could be something interesting.

This is the last post I make on sixthseal.com. I will be moving to another domain soon to provide a clear distinction between the different posts.

Disclaimer: I am a guest author on sixthseal.com and I'm not related to the main author in any way. I am NOT the owner of this domain or the main author. The owner of sixthseal.com is not legally responsible for the posts made by any guest authors but retains full distribution and ownership rights regarding posts made by its guest author(s) as intellectual property.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 06:53 PM Permalink | Comments (132)

Photos of Jalan Sultan Ismail ->Jalan P. Ramlee -> Suria KLCC -> Bangsar

Here are photos of my trip back from work. I took these set of photos yesterday coz I left the office at 7 pm which is early (I left at 9 pm the day before) and still bright so I decided to take photos of the route I use to get home:

This is what it looks like when I step out of the building I work in. The KL Monorail currently only runs limited hours.

Walking down the street - it's Fitness First. There's always some sort of program going on.

This is Warp Disco, I hear it's the place to be if you don't like pretentious "trance" clubs. ;) It's just a 3 minute walk from my work place. Kananga International is just beside and interconnected to Komplex Antarabangsa if that helps.

Walking into the intersection, there's this mysterious metallic structure.

This is the intersection of Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan P.Ramlee, where there's a string of entertainment venues.

The metallic structure is Nouvo - it's the sister club of Salt (Melbourne) if you're wondering what kind of club it is.

Next up is Chakri White House.

Modestos and Bar Ibiza is opposite it.

After that, it's Suria KLCC - the shopping mall beside the Petronas Twin Towers (tallest building in the world as of now). You can catch a glimpse of the girth of the twin towers beside it.

Walking through Suria KLCC to the KLCC Putra LRT station.

Still walking...

It's straight down the left of the main entrance. Head right into the station.

Here's the ticket vending machines.

This is the train pulling into the KLCC station. It runs once every 7 minutes.

I get down at Bangsar LRT station.

and take the Ecstasy bus home. Triton 02. It's a yellow tablet with a smiley face imprint. Didn't test out as anything with Marquis or Simons. Suspect bunk, but when I take it, it brings me where I want to go. Home, that is. Enough stupid jokes, I'm going back to work, I have to stay back tonight to finish up a project that's going live on Monday. By the way, I don't have time to apply for a phone line and an ADSL connection at home yet due to my work hours, so I won't be posting until Monday. Please don't refresh during the weekends ok? :)

Posted in Interesting by Huai Bin at 01:22 PM Permalink | Comments (13)

Nestle Fitness Promotional Giveaway @ Kenanga International, KL

I saw this Nestle Fitness cereal promotion going on at the ground floor of Kenanga International (office building where I work) when I came in this morning. There were two girls giving away cereal - got them to pose for a photo, my apologies for the quality - I used force flash to avoid motion blur.

The cereal they were giving out for free - Nestle Fitness and a "Save RM 1.00 with a purchase of Nestle Fitness, Nestle Almond Clusters or Nestle Banana-Nut Clusters" coupon.

Here's a close up of the Nestle Fitness cereal.

I ate it with Horlicks, couldn't find milk in the office kitchen. What does it taste like? Cornflakes, but then everything tastes like cornflakes to me.

Thanks for the comments on my piece of art in the previous post. ;) I have to start work now, will reply later ya.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:28 AM Permalink | Comments (8)

Best photo for lunch hour viewing!

It just makes your lunch all the more tastier doesn't it? I'm feeling so hungry right now after taking this photo, I really have to run down to the food court and get something to eat. I'll reply the comments when I get back, this photo from the Ground Floor male toilets of Kenanga International is really whetting my appetite!

Posted in Hmm... by Huai Bin at 12:44 PM Permalink | Comments (14)

Digi MMS Roadshow Performance 2003 @ KL Plaza

There was a Digi MMS Roadshow event going on at KL Plaza last week. I happened to be there because I wanted to get a new SIM card. I managed to catch the 7:10 pm dance performance on the outdoor stage at 7:10 pm. It was a roadshow to promote Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) capabilities, organized by Digi. Here's the photos of the performance on the 29th of August 2003:

The event has a Hitz FM DJ (didn't catch his name, don't listen to radio) and an assistant giving out free showbags. I still remember the starting phrase he made "I hope you enjoyed that performance...it seems like one of the girls had a little too much to eat for dinner though." Even though it was made in jest, that girl looked plenty pissed when she walked off stage, too bad I was taking a photos of the crowd so I didn't get that.

He said I probably only wanted a photo of his assistant. Heh.

Anyway, the DJ asked the crowd who wanted a showbag and no one said anything or moved so I said I'll have one since I was just in front of the stage taking photos while the others were standing a respectful distance behind. ;) I got the DJ and his assistant to pose for me while I was at it too. Anyway, they just gave it to me but the other people who came up after me had to answer questions or do stuff.

I didn't stay on to see what happened after that, but here's the contents of the show bag:

1 x Digi travelling bag
1 x Digi metal coin container (piggy bank?)
1 x Digi pen with neck strap
1 x Digi MMS promotional brochure

Here's a photo for reading till the end:

Posted in XX chromosomes by Huai Bin at 01:13 PM Permalink | Comments (22)

A place of my own in KL

I've moved into my new room today - it's the first of the month and the previous guy moved out this morning while I was getting a mattress, a chair and other very bulky stuff at Carrefour in Mid Valley Megamall. I'm heading over to Richard's (whom I've been living in for the past week) with my gf for dinner. I would be bringing a 2000 Corbieres (I don't earn that much a month you know :p) and then I'll be hitting the sack when I get back. I will update again tomorrow and reply all the comments. My apologies, moving is always a hassle and tiring.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 09:33 PM Permalink | Comments (11)