Week 9. Weird week, I must say. Both on the weather and what has happened around campus.
So, lets start with the weather. Monday. I thought this Monday was a normal Monday, as always. Except that it wasn’t.
So I got up at about 8, opened the curtains, and went to the bathroom. And then I ran back out to the window. The first thing that crossed my mind when I looked out at the lake again was, “Am I drunk?” Then I thought, no I am not, because I didn’t drink anything else the previous night, besides chicken soup and orange, so I can’t be hung over over some chicken soup. I also asked a bunch of questions, like am I in need of a new pair of glasses, or that I am still dreaming, because, staring at the lake, I saw the ducks and birds STANDING ON the lake, not SWIMMING IN it. They were really like that magician, Chris Angel (or Angle, given the shape of his face), walking around on water like nothing’s happening. Then I looked closer and there it was; a sheet of ice on the surface of the lake. To the far right, the wooden platoon was all white, presumably covered with a sheet of ice, and to the far left, the pathway under the huge tree was white too.
So, of course, Google to the rescue, and a quick check on the weather forecast reveals the current temperature to be -2°C, and the highest it would go on that day would be 4°C. Out comes my wool coat and gloves, my Abercrombie back in the wardrobe, and as I walked around the uni alongside my squealing and shivering friends, I felt like I won the Noble Prize for Genius-sity. Soon, I found out that there was a frosting that night, and there’s even snow, I suppose. Don’t really trust my source though, because I deliberately turned off my heater that night as it was a bit warm. Either he’s wrong, or there’s something wrong with me.
Also, The Daily Telegraph and, new to this week, The Times were sold at below market prices, at 45p. This got me thinking, whether I should thank the publishers for being so understanding and selling us the papers at discounted prices, or the Londoners for happily subsidising us. I guess there’s a bit of price discrimination here (I know I sound very econ-sy, but can’t help it, I eat, sleep and read econs everyday). Okay, let me rephrase it; I guess there’s a bit of price differentiation among the regions (even worse!). But whatever, I’m sure you get what I mean, that the newspapers are priced differently at different places to appeal to different types of buyers.
Call me greedy, but I still can’t figure out why this doesn’t apply to other books and magazines. Yes, there’s subscriptions, but if you look at the leaflets, it’s for a minimum of around 20 weeks, in which within that period, the ‘subscriber’ wouldn’t be in town (or even the country) for 4 or more weeks, and the magazines would be mugged by the ducks and eaten for supper. The thing is, we students definitely wouldn’t be in the university throughout the subscription period. Our term is 10 weeks long, and then followed by a 4-week long vacation. Take a 52-week subscription, and it’ll get worse during summer breaks, as the accommodation assistants will have a hard time figuring out where to put the thousands of copies of Times and Newsweek and FHM and Vanity Fair and whatnot when the 700 occupants disappear for 3 months and their post boxes are filled with pizza delivery leaflets, should everyone choose to subscribe to it. My thought is, sell the mags in the newsstands at subscription-rate prices, so we could buy them whenever we have time to read them (or whenever we are in town). Besides, we students are always broke (thanks to £3/pint drinks and £15-train ride to London), so it gives publishers a lot more reason to re-price their mags. Probably with the adjusted pricing, reader volume would increase too. Reminds me much of home, where the (desperate) public like you and me pay full price for a copy of The Star, while the small kids in primary school who could hardly pronounce their father’s name can get the paper at 40 cents off list price. Why on earth some 8-year-old would want to subscribe to newspapers, I have no idea. I never said life was fair.
Moving along. This week, in campus, it was a normal occurrence to see people walking around with childish balloons tied around their necks and with a mattress on their head. Lecturers and students were to be found drinking beer and vodka in the lecture halls. And, the gnome-d guys would walk around with a handful of flour and baked beans (and a lot more on their head and face). Don’t get me wrong and call the cops, my university didn’t lose authority over the students, and there wasn’t a strike among the uni staff either. It was Rag week, where this Rag Society, in the name of charity, would, aside from delivering beer and mattresses and spill beans all over your face, send chocolates and flowers to your loved ones, and balloons and a singing Santa Claus to the other weirdos. I was honestly afraid my neighbour would send me my own chair, but thankfully it didn’t happen. Otherwise I would have drag raced the crazy cyclists along Library Road.
What they deliver didn’t stir my attention; it was how they made the delivery that was a bit interesting for me. There would be this team of about 5 guys, 4 decently dressed, and one in some costume. (In Macro class, a shark came. For World economy, it was this green thing, a fusion of Kermit and Bob The Builder or something). Really cool, and these guys do special deliveries too, like hugs. They should have more of these events, not just because it’s for charity, which is good, but it also takes away the routine-ness out of the uni. It gives us (or more like me) a chance to stop and ‘woo’ the mattress guy and wish him luck that he hasn’t got many hours afterwards, and subsequently snicker behind his back when he’s off to his next lecture. Yeah, it’s bad, but it makes people happy, and that’s more important.
Okay, I am writing too much in this post. Next posting will be an epic one to mark the end of the term. Haha, but whether it would be posted by chapters or a freaking long one, I have yet to decide.
Anyway, Week 10, HERE I COME!!!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Windy Coolness and Cheesy Business. Or is it Cheesy Coolness and Windy Business? You Decide
So, week 9 is coming to an end. And I am starting to make an effort to blog a little, which is good, I suppose, take a break to tell you what’s going on around here.
Which isn’t much, considering that I hadn’t been out often this week.
But, in the past few days, the weather has got a bit weirder. Monday morning turned out fine; sunny and breezy, the ducks happily shedding their feathers all over the place. But within an hour or two, it turned cloudy, then dark, then the weather system unleashed the mother of all winds; it was so strong that when you watch the rain, it’s as if the drops of water were hosed at 90° rather than falling from the sky. Tens of umbrellas were fatally destroyed, papers (presumably posters for climate change) flew everywhere, and everyone standing outside the library at that moment looked like Batman, jackets and scarves blown up like some epic superhero movie. I for once looked like George Clooney, when he’s got a bad hair day, that is....
24 hours later, and it seemed that my uni had been transported into a totally different weather dimension. The sun was even brighter, the wind was gone, more ducks and herons this time. Then, you step out of the accommodation and POW!! Your nose is frozen. Weather forecast forecasted (so corny) 4°C that day. THAT DAY!! Not night, but the day, and I wouldn’t doubt it, the first time in many years since I trusted those silly graphics of clouds and rains. I was properly insulated though, my Abercrombie and Fitch jacket doing a tidy job of keeping myself and my handphone nice and warm. But my nose and ears were, I dunno, frosting? So listen up, Nike and Adidas and Marks and Spencer and Cheetah and Kiki Lala, and whatever clothing line, here’s a tip to make some money (or at least my money). Try selling ski masks that reaches up to the nose, something like Zorro’s but inverted to cover the nose rather than risk not seeing any oncoming car.
That night, though, my uni was transported back to the initial horrific climate conditions once again, with a severe downpour and even stronger winds reaching 16mph, if my memory (or Google) didn’t fail me. Which is about 26kmh. Which is normally how fast some uncles drive in KL. Freaking slow, but latch yourself to his windscreen and you get what I mean. Imagine walking against it, just like what I’ve experienced, and everyone on the path looked like they had osteoporosis, slanting back and forth and side to side just to stay upright. Funny.
These days, the sky turns dark at 4.30pm, rather than the usual 5pm a few weeks ago. With this, I can tell you with certainty that jogging at 5pm with temperatures hovering around 6°C is not a right thing to do. Right after my last class on Thursday, I gave it a solid 5-minute run back to my ecological duck-friendly place. After getting into my room, I felt like pouring hot water down my nose. That was how piercing the cold was. And funnily, after jogging around my biologically diversified place many times, I still can’t get myself to sweat.
A bit of economics now, and the Dubai debt default thing seemed to be a new hype today. Dow Jones is down 154 points (at time of press), presumably being affected by this. That’s what economists do best: relate everything together. Pimco’s investment manager went like “relax, testing testing oni, very quick okay wan la” (@CNN). Experts say it isn’t a crisis at all. US stock markets were like “Sei Lo!!” and percentage points fell.
This is big news, but there’s something that is even more important than the crazy debt: the Krafts-Cadbury thing. Oh, its so big that it will determine whether we will eat chocolate or chocolate cheese for snacks. It will determine whether future Dairy milk will come with bacteria and microorganisms. And, it will determine whether the Cadbury packaging will remain purple, or become yellow. Scary.
I can’t imagine how Krafts is going to integrate the famous Cadbury Dairy Milk into their line of products. Imagine brown Oreos, Jacob Crunchie biscuits, and Toblerone Flakes and you are not far off. I also cannot imagine Cadbury stuff taking in a bit of Krafts: Cadbury Dairy Milk with Ali Coffee, Dairy Milk with Taco Bell, kinda scary. And then there’s the cheese- Dairy Tiramisu!! Can bake cake....
Then there’s the Cadbury factory in Birmingham. The chocolate figures were annoying enough, but if they’re sold, there might be Cheeseman and Chocolate Girl holding hands in the amusement park, production side that smells like cough mixture, and at the chocolate bar, they ask you, “green cheese or purple cheese to go with the chocolate?”
Maybe Krafts would just buy over Cadbury and keep them as an individual entity, like Oreo, you don’t get Oreos with the yellow stuff inside, do you? Or they might just use it to make better Toblerone. And Taco Bell.
Let’s just hope for the best, and eat as much Cadbury as possible, in case the brand disappears.
And hope for good weekend as well.
Which isn’t much, considering that I hadn’t been out often this week.
But, in the past few days, the weather has got a bit weirder. Monday morning turned out fine; sunny and breezy, the ducks happily shedding their feathers all over the place. But within an hour or two, it turned cloudy, then dark, then the weather system unleashed the mother of all winds; it was so strong that when you watch the rain, it’s as if the drops of water were hosed at 90° rather than falling from the sky. Tens of umbrellas were fatally destroyed, papers (presumably posters for climate change) flew everywhere, and everyone standing outside the library at that moment looked like Batman, jackets and scarves blown up like some epic superhero movie. I for once looked like George Clooney, when he’s got a bad hair day, that is....
24 hours later, and it seemed that my uni had been transported into a totally different weather dimension. The sun was even brighter, the wind was gone, more ducks and herons this time. Then, you step out of the accommodation and POW!! Your nose is frozen. Weather forecast forecasted (so corny) 4°C that day. THAT DAY!! Not night, but the day, and I wouldn’t doubt it, the first time in many years since I trusted those silly graphics of clouds and rains. I was properly insulated though, my Abercrombie and Fitch jacket doing a tidy job of keeping myself and my handphone nice and warm. But my nose and ears were, I dunno, frosting? So listen up, Nike and Adidas and Marks and Spencer and Cheetah and Kiki Lala, and whatever clothing line, here’s a tip to make some money (or at least my money). Try selling ski masks that reaches up to the nose, something like Zorro’s but inverted to cover the nose rather than risk not seeing any oncoming car.
That night, though, my uni was transported back to the initial horrific climate conditions once again, with a severe downpour and even stronger winds reaching 16mph, if my memory (or Google) didn’t fail me. Which is about 26kmh. Which is normally how fast some uncles drive in KL. Freaking slow, but latch yourself to his windscreen and you get what I mean. Imagine walking against it, just like what I’ve experienced, and everyone on the path looked like they had osteoporosis, slanting back and forth and side to side just to stay upright. Funny.
These days, the sky turns dark at 4.30pm, rather than the usual 5pm a few weeks ago. With this, I can tell you with certainty that jogging at 5pm with temperatures hovering around 6°C is not a right thing to do. Right after my last class on Thursday, I gave it a solid 5-minute run back to my ecological duck-friendly place. After getting into my room, I felt like pouring hot water down my nose. That was how piercing the cold was. And funnily, after jogging around my biologically diversified place many times, I still can’t get myself to sweat.
A bit of economics now, and the Dubai debt default thing seemed to be a new hype today. Dow Jones is down 154 points (at time of press), presumably being affected by this. That’s what economists do best: relate everything together. Pimco’s investment manager went like “relax, testing testing oni, very quick okay wan la” (@CNN). Experts say it isn’t a crisis at all. US stock markets were like “Sei Lo!!” and percentage points fell.
This is big news, but there’s something that is even more important than the crazy debt: the Krafts-Cadbury thing. Oh, its so big that it will determine whether we will eat chocolate or chocolate cheese for snacks. It will determine whether future Dairy milk will come with bacteria and microorganisms. And, it will determine whether the Cadbury packaging will remain purple, or become yellow. Scary.
I can’t imagine how Krafts is going to integrate the famous Cadbury Dairy Milk into their line of products. Imagine brown Oreos, Jacob Crunchie biscuits, and Toblerone Flakes and you are not far off. I also cannot imagine Cadbury stuff taking in a bit of Krafts: Cadbury Dairy Milk with Ali Coffee, Dairy Milk with Taco Bell, kinda scary. And then there’s the cheese- Dairy Tiramisu!! Can bake cake....
Then there’s the Cadbury factory in Birmingham. The chocolate figures were annoying enough, but if they’re sold, there might be Cheeseman and Chocolate Girl holding hands in the amusement park, production side that smells like cough mixture, and at the chocolate bar, they ask you, “green cheese or purple cheese to go with the chocolate?”
Maybe Krafts would just buy over Cadbury and keep them as an individual entity, like Oreo, you don’t get Oreos with the yellow stuff inside, do you? Or they might just use it to make better Toblerone. And Taco Bell.
Let’s just hope for the best, and eat as much Cadbury as possible, in case the brand disappears.
And hope for good weekend as well.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Oh My Blog......
I have neglected my blog so badly that when friend had actually went “go update your blog la”, and I thought, “oh, ok, yeah, what blog?”
To make it up to my blog, I’ll just write a summary of the week, not like I have a lot of time to do so (gotta a lot of catching up to do i.e. catch up with some sleep, catch up on football etc etc).
So, let’s go.
Week 7 was a week of ups and downs, just like any other week here. There’s The Economist going on promotion, selling for a pound with free gifts and the Guardian newspaper going for 45 pence and giving out free chocolate and tea. The weather was not so good on aggregate, windy and rainy, and there was more duck poo on the walkway than last week.
But leave that alone. I‘ve gone out twice this week at night, on both occasions to the same place, Varsity. It’s a pub somewhere north of the campus, only 5 minutes from my scenic place, but 5 years from all the other ugly places. Which is far, for my friends. I hear you say “why the same place” but this is a campus university, not Campus@Euphoria or something, so choices will be limited. Unless, of course you want to go pub-crawling in Coventry and get drunk and get on a wrong bus. And end up in Pulau Tioman. And be late for next morning’s lecture.
But anyway, back to Varsity. (sounds just like another building block in uni. Hey guys, where’s your next class? Humanities building? Maths and Stats? VARSITY? ) The interior is very TGI-ish, with wood and soft lighting all over the place. There was no music on Tuesday, but it was a blast on Thursday, as it was a £1 night, where selected drinks went for a pound each.
Nothing much happened on Tuesday, as we only thought of coming here to check out the place. A pint of Kronenbourg and a bucket of chips later, and we were off at 11.15pm. But on Thursday, it was more crowded, and we had to sit outdoors as the bar and tables were full. This posed a new set of problems. Aside from my pro-photographer friend complaining about the hopeless lighting, a quick glance on the Internet showed temperature of about 10°C and winds of 10mph. So we had guys who shrieked ‘cold!’ after 3 Heineken, girl who shrieked ‘cold!’ all the time, and a guy who was bored of all the shrieking. Guess who.
Nightlife aside, I did spend my last weekend (Saturday) in the Cadbury Factory in Birmingham. It was a much-needed outing, considering the after effects of being conned in the Maths test (comparing the past year papers and the actual ones was like putting HSBC Bank and Tyra Bank side by side; both are banks but that’s about it). Anyway, the place was not very beautiful, but interesting. We began our excursion with a visit to the mini museum. There, there were displays and portraits of the pioneers of Cadbury, as well as a glass wall looking into the factory, where robotic arms were arranging the chocolates for packaging. The robot had actually made a mistake, as it arranged the boxes too close to the edge of the boxes below. The second row came, and, pow, all of the top row chocolates fell, and out came my laughter. Then the machine operator came and picked them up. Some robots just never learn.
Then, it was a short trip into the history of how the dairy milk chocolate was made. Before I go on, grab a Cadbury chocolate wrapper and observe the 2 glasses of milk being poured into the chocolate, and you’ll notice that one is full, while the other is half full. This is because, while the 2 pioneers of Cadbury was figuring out how to give the chocolate a better texture and taste, one had drank half the cup before deciding that fresh milk could be added, thus the milk-pouring symbol.
History lesson over, we were lead to a chocolate bar, where we choose our ingredient, and top it up with warm, liquid chocolate. I went for marshmallow, which the taste was an out of this world experience. We then got into the larger museum. There, they had displays of all sorts of Cadbury; the first few original Cadburys (all expired, I suppose); chocolate trumpets used in their TV advertisements, and media boxes explaining how each type of Cadbury was made (Caramel is good, Turkish, er...no comment). Past that, we ventured to the production side, where we caught glimpses of how the chocolates were manufactured. No doubt it was a fun job to work in a chocolate factory (Willy Wonka comes to mind, but not that hat) but watching those guys in white standing around the machineries, looking at us looking at them, I dunno. Like a zoo?? So bad....
Past the factory, and into the amusement park, where we get into the ‘car’ and it brought us along a track decorated with figures of chocolate houses and animals and, I can’t really describe it because it was really meant for kids and I can’t decipher what message it was sending out. At the end of it, the attendant unlocked the car and the first words my friend said to her were “WHAT WAS THAT?” That’s how bad it was.
Finally, gift shop time. Everyone went for the, wait for it, 1KG DAIRY MILK BAR!!! Other stuffs we bought were irrelevant compared to the mother of all chocolate bars. I was looking for 2kg, but, I suppose they don’t make it because if the robots drop them, the guys will break the robotic arm. I also took the assortment packs, that holds 25 mini pieces of caramel, crunchie, flake and dairy milk, as well as some Santa’s biscuit or something. The t-shirt was very tempting as well, but, oh well, maybe next time.
So, here’s it. 7 days of week 7. There’s more to come, I guess.
Birmingham city streets
holographics used to tell the stories
museum exhibits
chocolate trumpet
Chocolate Marshmallow
at Varsity
lousy drink
To make it up to my blog, I’ll just write a summary of the week, not like I have a lot of time to do so (gotta a lot of catching up to do i.e. catch up with some sleep, catch up on football etc etc).
So, let’s go.
Week 7 was a week of ups and downs, just like any other week here. There’s The Economist going on promotion, selling for a pound with free gifts and the Guardian newspaper going for 45 pence and giving out free chocolate and tea. The weather was not so good on aggregate, windy and rainy, and there was more duck poo on the walkway than last week.
But leave that alone. I‘ve gone out twice this week at night, on both occasions to the same place, Varsity. It’s a pub somewhere north of the campus, only 5 minutes from my scenic place, but 5 years from all the other ugly places. Which is far, for my friends. I hear you say “why the same place” but this is a campus university, not Campus@Euphoria or something, so choices will be limited. Unless, of course you want to go pub-crawling in Coventry and get drunk and get on a wrong bus. And end up in Pulau Tioman. And be late for next morning’s lecture.
But anyway, back to Varsity. (sounds just like another building block in uni. Hey guys, where’s your next class? Humanities building? Maths and Stats? VARSITY? ) The interior is very TGI-ish, with wood and soft lighting all over the place. There was no music on Tuesday, but it was a blast on Thursday, as it was a £1 night, where selected drinks went for a pound each.
Nothing much happened on Tuesday, as we only thought of coming here to check out the place. A pint of Kronenbourg and a bucket of chips later, and we were off at 11.15pm. But on Thursday, it was more crowded, and we had to sit outdoors as the bar and tables were full. This posed a new set of problems. Aside from my pro-photographer friend complaining about the hopeless lighting, a quick glance on the Internet showed temperature of about 10°C and winds of 10mph. So we had guys who shrieked ‘cold!’ after 3 Heineken, girl who shrieked ‘cold!’ all the time, and a guy who was bored of all the shrieking. Guess who.
Nightlife aside, I did spend my last weekend (Saturday) in the Cadbury Factory in Birmingham. It was a much-needed outing, considering the after effects of being conned in the Maths test (comparing the past year papers and the actual ones was like putting HSBC Bank and Tyra Bank side by side; both are banks but that’s about it). Anyway, the place was not very beautiful, but interesting. We began our excursion with a visit to the mini museum. There, there were displays and portraits of the pioneers of Cadbury, as well as a glass wall looking into the factory, where robotic arms were arranging the chocolates for packaging. The robot had actually made a mistake, as it arranged the boxes too close to the edge of the boxes below. The second row came, and, pow, all of the top row chocolates fell, and out came my laughter. Then the machine operator came and picked them up. Some robots just never learn.
Then, it was a short trip into the history of how the dairy milk chocolate was made. Before I go on, grab a Cadbury chocolate wrapper and observe the 2 glasses of milk being poured into the chocolate, and you’ll notice that one is full, while the other is half full. This is because, while the 2 pioneers of Cadbury was figuring out how to give the chocolate a better texture and taste, one had drank half the cup before deciding that fresh milk could be added, thus the milk-pouring symbol.
History lesson over, we were lead to a chocolate bar, where we choose our ingredient, and top it up with warm, liquid chocolate. I went for marshmallow, which the taste was an out of this world experience. We then got into the larger museum. There, they had displays of all sorts of Cadbury; the first few original Cadburys (all expired, I suppose); chocolate trumpets used in their TV advertisements, and media boxes explaining how each type of Cadbury was made (Caramel is good, Turkish, er...no comment). Past that, we ventured to the production side, where we caught glimpses of how the chocolates were manufactured. No doubt it was a fun job to work in a chocolate factory (Willy Wonka comes to mind, but not that hat) but watching those guys in white standing around the machineries, looking at us looking at them, I dunno. Like a zoo?? So bad....
Past the factory, and into the amusement park, where we get into the ‘car’ and it brought us along a track decorated with figures of chocolate houses and animals and, I can’t really describe it because it was really meant for kids and I can’t decipher what message it was sending out. At the end of it, the attendant unlocked the car and the first words my friend said to her were “WHAT WAS THAT?” That’s how bad it was.
Finally, gift shop time. Everyone went for the, wait for it, 1KG DAIRY MILK BAR!!! Other stuffs we bought were irrelevant compared to the mother of all chocolate bars. I was looking for 2kg, but, I suppose they don’t make it because if the robots drop them, the guys will break the robotic arm. I also took the assortment packs, that holds 25 mini pieces of caramel, crunchie, flake and dairy milk, as well as some Santa’s biscuit or something. The t-shirt was very tempting as well, but, oh well, maybe next time.
So, here’s it. 7 days of week 7. There’s more to come, I guess.
Birmingham city streets
holographics used to tell the stories
museum exhibits
chocolate trumpet
Chocolate Marshmallow
at Varsity
lousy drink
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Service Industry? KL Number 1!!!
88 cents. Thats how much in ringgit that I am paying for an egg here. Its only half the price (and twice the quality) back home.
That’s all that I have to say about this place.
OR NOT
Because, back home, things are a lot more accessible. A lot MORE.
I’ll start with the shops, and after being here for 2 weeks, and making countless trips to Coventry, I suppose one business etiquette that I can deduce is; all the shops I've been into is short-handed. Compared to KL, its actually quite severe over here, this problem, and this is something that I cannot comprehend, because the basis, the nature of doing business is to start with providing good customer service, be it advice and recommendations to concluding transactions smoothly and quickly. And it’s hard to find this here.
My direct comparisons may be harsh, but, as far as the title of this post is concerned, I'm not complaining, just, you know what I mean. In London, the medium sized sundry shop is run by only one dude and one counter, and I had to wait for him to stop talking on the bloody phone before asking him for a top-up; our most isolated 7-11 has 3 cashiers, and they don’t need to scan the newspapers, just give them the coins and run. Like how Malaysians put it, “collect money also got problem, how to do business?”
The McDonald’s next to the London eye, a large, really large tourist destination has only 6 counters, and was packed like sardine at lunch, and had little seats left in the 2 storey building; our unknown Sri Damansara branch has about 9 at peak hours, and short queues, and lots of space next to the kid’s playground.
The Burger King in Oxford is a work of genius. They take the order from around 5 customers (and their money), make them wait like monkeys for 15 minutes, then only start filling out the orders, asking you again what you ordered. Our Burger King? Most of the time its empty, so no queue, no waiting, excellent service
In Coventry, the SportsDirect shop has a missing Nike sales guy; our Royal Sporting House has around ten following you all the time, like you are there to steal something, and our Nike stores, wow, they let you try every shoes until you find the right one. That’s what I call service.
The Tesco here has got 20 counters max. Back home, even our small Tesco express in Desa has 5 express lanes PLUS some 30 odd counters. And small Atria's Giant has more than 20, if you have to compare. Mutiara Damansara? If my memory didn’t fail me, its 40 cashiers, and it opens a new one everytime there’s more than 3 trolleys in the queue. World class.
Here, in the handphone shops, you have to collect a number and wait for at least 30 minutes to get some assistance. COLLECT NUMBER!! At home, even a really small shop in Cameron Highlands can sell you a phone faster, and probably serve tea as well, and tell you the latest neighbourhood news.
Then there’s the issue of opening hours. In Malaysia, the public transport extends their service hours during the weekends to accommodate more passengers. This makes sense, as people naturally go for late-night movies and come home late. But in London, certain Tube lines are actually closed during the weekends to facilitate servicing. And the bus lines are less frequent. I just don’t get it. Why can't they just service it at night, like back home?
The Tescos (and Giants and Carrefours) actually extend their opening hours especially in the weekends, but here, they close at 4pm. I find this really strange because, people like me who stay far away from Tesco wouldn’t go there on the week days for obvious reasons e.g. too busy, too tired, things like that, although they are open 24 hours. The same happens in KL, where on weekdays they work their socks off to make ends meet. Thus, Tesco Malaysia is considerate enough that, taking in to account the people actually prefer to shop in the weekends and take their own time, they extend the opening hours to 11 or 12pm. That’s what I call doing business. Unlike here, when I could find the time to go out and buy my groceries, they choose to close at 4pm.
If all these happen in KL, all the Kopitiams and Papa Rich would explode at lunch time, they will need at least another 2 Mcdonald’s in Sri Damansara, and the LDP toll would be closed after 11pm in the weekends, so if you find yourself in Scarlett at 12pm, might as well spend a night there. Crazy.
I could go on and on about how the Tesco cashiers just wouldn't help you with stuffing the groceries into the plastic bags, or how I had to queue in the HSBC bank, where in KL, they make you wait in a bright lounge with weird sofas and free water, but that’s all the time I have for now. Gotta check my fridge and plan my next trip to Tesco, this time on a weekday. They might as well close for lunch, like back home......
That’s all that I have to say about this place.
OR NOT
Because, back home, things are a lot more accessible. A lot MORE.
I’ll start with the shops, and after being here for 2 weeks, and making countless trips to Coventry, I suppose one business etiquette that I can deduce is; all the shops I've been into is short-handed. Compared to KL, its actually quite severe over here, this problem, and this is something that I cannot comprehend, because the basis, the nature of doing business is to start with providing good customer service, be it advice and recommendations to concluding transactions smoothly and quickly. And it’s hard to find this here.
My direct comparisons may be harsh, but, as far as the title of this post is concerned, I'm not complaining, just, you know what I mean. In London, the medium sized sundry shop is run by only one dude and one counter, and I had to wait for him to stop talking on the bloody phone before asking him for a top-up; our most isolated 7-11 has 3 cashiers, and they don’t need to scan the newspapers, just give them the coins and run. Like how Malaysians put it, “collect money also got problem, how to do business?”
The McDonald’s next to the London eye, a large, really large tourist destination has only 6 counters, and was packed like sardine at lunch, and had little seats left in the 2 storey building; our unknown Sri Damansara branch has about 9 at peak hours, and short queues, and lots of space next to the kid’s playground.
The Burger King in Oxford is a work of genius. They take the order from around 5 customers (and their money), make them wait like monkeys for 15 minutes, then only start filling out the orders, asking you again what you ordered. Our Burger King? Most of the time its empty, so no queue, no waiting, excellent service
In Coventry, the SportsDirect shop has a missing Nike sales guy; our Royal Sporting House has around ten following you all the time, like you are there to steal something, and our Nike stores, wow, they let you try every shoes until you find the right one. That’s what I call service.
The Tesco here has got 20 counters max. Back home, even our small Tesco express in Desa has 5 express lanes PLUS some 30 odd counters. And small Atria's Giant has more than 20, if you have to compare. Mutiara Damansara? If my memory didn’t fail me, its 40 cashiers, and it opens a new one everytime there’s more than 3 trolleys in the queue. World class.
Here, in the handphone shops, you have to collect a number and wait for at least 30 minutes to get some assistance. COLLECT NUMBER!! At home, even a really small shop in Cameron Highlands can sell you a phone faster, and probably serve tea as well, and tell you the latest neighbourhood news.
Then there’s the issue of opening hours. In Malaysia, the public transport extends their service hours during the weekends to accommodate more passengers. This makes sense, as people naturally go for late-night movies and come home late. But in London, certain Tube lines are actually closed during the weekends to facilitate servicing. And the bus lines are less frequent. I just don’t get it. Why can't they just service it at night, like back home?
The Tescos (and Giants and Carrefours) actually extend their opening hours especially in the weekends, but here, they close at 4pm. I find this really strange because, people like me who stay far away from Tesco wouldn’t go there on the week days for obvious reasons e.g. too busy, too tired, things like that, although they are open 24 hours. The same happens in KL, where on weekdays they work their socks off to make ends meet. Thus, Tesco Malaysia is considerate enough that, taking in to account the people actually prefer to shop in the weekends and take their own time, they extend the opening hours to 11 or 12pm. That’s what I call doing business. Unlike here, when I could find the time to go out and buy my groceries, they choose to close at 4pm.
If all these happen in KL, all the Kopitiams and Papa Rich would explode at lunch time, they will need at least another 2 Mcdonald’s in Sri Damansara, and the LDP toll would be closed after 11pm in the weekends, so if you find yourself in Scarlett at 12pm, might as well spend a night there. Crazy.
I could go on and on about how the Tesco cashiers just wouldn't help you with stuffing the groceries into the plastic bags, or how I had to queue in the HSBC bank, where in KL, they make you wait in a bright lounge with weird sofas and free water, but that’s all the time I have for now. Gotta check my fridge and plan my next trip to Tesco, this time on a weekday. They might as well close for lunch, like back home......
Monday, October 12, 2009
The Old is Gone, I am Here
It’s my first post from abroad, and the first after nearly 2 months of abandoning my Under Where? Don’t know how many posts it will take to tell you what happened between the previous post and this, and won’t bother either.
So, I shall begin this epic post by answering the questions that I am sure you all are keen to ask for the past 2 months: yes, yes, I am fine, uh huh, yeah, I can see the lake from my room, uh huh, no it isn’t as cold as what you think, its England, not Siberia, yes, I get what you mean, must budget la, if not of course eat bread and drink water towards the end of every month, yeah, a lot of walking, yes I miss my car, no, I don’t miss rice, because I have 5kg of it sitting in my shelf, and I do my own cooking, and if I have to convert my currency everytime I buy something, I guess I’ll have to settle with bread and water, yeah, lectures are good, got some free time in between them, yeah, made some French and Russian and Korean friends, no haven’t been drinking and partying, yeah, it’s hard to find authentic Asian food here, and yes, things aren’t as straightforward as it used to be at home.
From my lengthy answer, you’ll notice a pattern going on here: I have to deal with everything on my own. And it isn’t just me, it’s all the dudes and dudess in the uni, be it undergrad, postgrad, exchange students or language centre students. And no amount of information and advice, whether it’s from the graduated cousin or the PhD uncle will prepare you for life on your own.
1 very simple illustration. It’s late at night, and the fridge at home ran out of milk. You feel lazy to drive out and get some Dutch Lady, and went to bed instead. The next morning, the milk is back in the fridge, probably bought by your mother. But, over here, you are lucky if your Dutch Lady don’t disappear with the carrots and the eggs. And you have to walk for at least 5 minutes just to get new Dutch Lady and carrots and eggs. That’s what’s interesting about living on your own.
And then you have to watch over your own health, making sure that you don’t fill your blood with MSG and melamine from the microwaved pizza and cuscus, and don’t drown yourself in Pepsi and Coke, and most importantly, Jack Daniel’s.
On top of that, you have to monitor your studies (on your own as well, lecturers won’t speak to your parents, not even a word), constantly check the uni email, your results, assignment dates, meet the tutor, attend seminar, make sure your timetable don’t clash (like my case), and be present at the stuff you need to be present in. Then you have to schedule appointments with the lecturer if you need assistance (unlike in college) and learn your way around the library to look for books (even more unlike in college)
Finally, and more significantly, you have to watch your finances. You have to chase up the bank if your card hasn’t arrive, constantly monitor your account to ensure that there’s no fraud, and crucially, watch your balances so that you don’t have to eat bread and drink water towards the end of the month. I am not complaining, but, welcome to England.
I’ve only been here for a week and the half, so I can’t comment on how hard the syllabus is (though maths seemed quite scary, but I will work on it more) or how complicated the assignments would be. But what I have discovered in the past week or so, is that uni life is not about pushing the limits of yourself. It’s more about knowing the limits, knowing how far you can go. So, it’s not “Yesterday, I took 15 shots of rum and was able to count to ten, today I’ll take 20”, but it’s more like “I took 15 shots and was puking my way back to my room, today I’ll have 8 shots and cheat with some cherry juice”. It’s also not “yesterday, I studied till 1am, today I’ll stay up till 3am.” It’s more like “If I want to last till the end of the week, I’ll call it a day and continue tomorrow morning.”
But what I can tell you is that the definition of fun in university life can vary in each person. My cousin’s definition of fun in university is having a friend with a car and thus go clubbing whenever they could, while my friend’s example is sitting in the quiet room in the library everynight. There’s also some who enjoy mixing with people from all over the world, and some who would stick to their group from the same country (so out!). All I can say is, its up to you to look for all the fun, and not let others dictate what you should and shouldn’t do. Its also about not doing things you’ll regret (like me bringing a bunch of friends to the pub, and paying through my nose)
Also, another thing I discovered is that here’s the only place where you have to be cautious when studying, because as you sit for a long time, your body temperature falls and the cold will slowly creep on you without you realising it. But that’s not the excuse to skip studying, of course.
I’ll end this post with some behind-the-scenes pictures of London, Oxford and Coventry. Until the next post arrives, I wish all uni students (and myself, nonetheless) Happy Studying and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and.............
Millenium Bridge at night
London Eye
Big Ben
Trafalgar Square
Coventry
Oxford
So, I shall begin this epic post by answering the questions that I am sure you all are keen to ask for the past 2 months: yes, yes, I am fine, uh huh, yeah, I can see the lake from my room, uh huh, no it isn’t as cold as what you think, its England, not Siberia, yes, I get what you mean, must budget la, if not of course eat bread and drink water towards the end of every month, yeah, a lot of walking, yes I miss my car, no, I don’t miss rice, because I have 5kg of it sitting in my shelf, and I do my own cooking, and if I have to convert my currency everytime I buy something, I guess I’ll have to settle with bread and water, yeah, lectures are good, got some free time in between them, yeah, made some French and Russian and Korean friends, no haven’t been drinking and partying, yeah, it’s hard to find authentic Asian food here, and yes, things aren’t as straightforward as it used to be at home.
From my lengthy answer, you’ll notice a pattern going on here: I have to deal with everything on my own. And it isn’t just me, it’s all the dudes and dudess in the uni, be it undergrad, postgrad, exchange students or language centre students. And no amount of information and advice, whether it’s from the graduated cousin or the PhD uncle will prepare you for life on your own.
1 very simple illustration. It’s late at night, and the fridge at home ran out of milk. You feel lazy to drive out and get some Dutch Lady, and went to bed instead. The next morning, the milk is back in the fridge, probably bought by your mother. But, over here, you are lucky if your Dutch Lady don’t disappear with the carrots and the eggs. And you have to walk for at least 5 minutes just to get new Dutch Lady and carrots and eggs. That’s what’s interesting about living on your own.
And then you have to watch over your own health, making sure that you don’t fill your blood with MSG and melamine from the microwaved pizza and cuscus, and don’t drown yourself in Pepsi and Coke, and most importantly, Jack Daniel’s.
On top of that, you have to monitor your studies (on your own as well, lecturers won’t speak to your parents, not even a word), constantly check the uni email, your results, assignment dates, meet the tutor, attend seminar, make sure your timetable don’t clash (like my case), and be present at the stuff you need to be present in. Then you have to schedule appointments with the lecturer if you need assistance (unlike in college) and learn your way around the library to look for books (even more unlike in college)
Finally, and more significantly, you have to watch your finances. You have to chase up the bank if your card hasn’t arrive, constantly monitor your account to ensure that there’s no fraud, and crucially, watch your balances so that you don’t have to eat bread and drink water towards the end of the month. I am not complaining, but, welcome to England.
I’ve only been here for a week and the half, so I can’t comment on how hard the syllabus is (though maths seemed quite scary, but I will work on it more) or how complicated the assignments would be. But what I have discovered in the past week or so, is that uni life is not about pushing the limits of yourself. It’s more about knowing the limits, knowing how far you can go. So, it’s not “Yesterday, I took 15 shots of rum and was able to count to ten, today I’ll take 20”, but it’s more like “I took 15 shots and was puking my way back to my room, today I’ll have 8 shots and cheat with some cherry juice”. It’s also not “yesterday, I studied till 1am, today I’ll stay up till 3am.” It’s more like “If I want to last till the end of the week, I’ll call it a day and continue tomorrow morning.”
But what I can tell you is that the definition of fun in university life can vary in each person. My cousin’s definition of fun in university is having a friend with a car and thus go clubbing whenever they could, while my friend’s example is sitting in the quiet room in the library everynight. There’s also some who enjoy mixing with people from all over the world, and some who would stick to their group from the same country (so out!). All I can say is, its up to you to look for all the fun, and not let others dictate what you should and shouldn’t do. Its also about not doing things you’ll regret (like me bringing a bunch of friends to the pub, and paying through my nose)
Also, another thing I discovered is that here’s the only place where you have to be cautious when studying, because as you sit for a long time, your body temperature falls and the cold will slowly creep on you without you realising it. But that’s not the excuse to skip studying, of course.
I’ll end this post with some behind-the-scenes pictures of London, Oxford and Coventry. Until the next post arrives, I wish all uni students (and myself, nonetheless) Happy Studying and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and.............
Millenium Bridge at night
London Eye
Big Ben
Trafalgar Square
Coventry
Oxford
Friday, August 14, 2009
SonicGear Spark Plug Unox Plug-in Headsets: Full Product Test
It’s been 2 weeks since I laid my hands on the Spark Plug Unox headset by SonicGear. They were in-ear plugs, something that I’ve been looking into for a very long time, since I’ve never been able to find a pair round-heads that would fit my ears properly.
Let’s start with the purchase. I primarily plan to use the plugs together with my MP3 player. I found the OEM round-heads awful; it lacked bass, while the treble course and lacked clarity. And before I knew it, the left side stopped working.
Personally, I prefer headsets with high clarity, thus my criticism on the OEM headsets. Because the player didn’t come with a screen and equalizer, I was left with no choice, but to test the headsets on the spot during the PC Fair. I’ve pitted the Unox with 5 other headset, and it was the Unox which sounded the most balanced and detailed. I’ve gone for glossy black, so that it wouldn’t stain easily. The other colour available was glossy white.
I’d split my test results to 2 sections and their subsections. One main section is the real life test, which delves into its build quality, usability and practicality. The other main section involves putting the sound quality to the test. This said, I had put the most listening time with the plugs paired to the MP3 player, but tests using the hi-fi and the PC had been conducted as well. The listening test involves 3 genres to test the individual sound qualities of the earplugs: accapella music, to expose clarity issues; unplugged, acoustic songs to test out the bass and lower frequencies; live stage music to determine the richness and wideness of the sound produced; and finally, a run-through over some pop songs that I’m really familiar with to spot any minute flaws. Most of the songs tested in digital format are MP3s playing between 256 and 320kbps bit rate, while HDCDs of the same songs were played in the Panasonic hi-fi for comparison. On the PC, its both digital format and HDCDs, played through Creative SoundBlaster 5.1 soundcard. I did a simplified version of this test at the PC Fair with the MP3 player and the headsets blew me away, even with the noisy surrounding.
The Unox box contained the headsets themselves, 2 extra pairs of silicon ear gel for the plugs (Yes, the silicon plugs are replaceable), and a “high quality soft leather pouch”. Construction-wise, the head set seems sturdy, and the wires connected into the headset feel solid. Overall, I must say it’s built to last, as my 2-week test proves. As for the jack, it’s gold-plated to reduce signal loss, and the wires are 1.2 metres long. In addition to that, the earplugs come with a one-year warranty.
In the real world test, there’s little to fault the headsets. The sturdy build meant I can pull the wires out of my pocket without worrying that the plugs will be disconnected and be left in my pocket. The length is typical of any 3rd party headsets, and is long enough for me to listen to songs while leaving the player in my bag pack. The silicon gel is a bit soft, and since it isn’t made for noise cancellation, I must say it’s pretty impressive in filtering out the noise from outside, but lets a bit of sound in, allowing me to hear incoming cars or someone calling out for me. The silicon attracts a lot of dust though, but that’s because I leave them everywhere, so with careful treatment, it wouldn’t be a problem at all.
As for the sound test, it works well with the MP3 player. The absence of the equalizer meant that a bit of detail will be lost while playing accapella, because I can’t tune the higher frequencies. But the Unox tried hard, squeezing every last bit of detail out of the tiny player. With acoustic music, the Unox performed well, the bass feeling solid as ever, but not intrusive at all to hurt my ears over long listening hours. It didn’t do too badly with concerts either, as I managed to hear the background screaming clearly while the band plays. The pop songs sounded reasonable, with little to fault, except with higher frequency sounds and possible bit-rate issues on the player.
It was a different story in the hi-fi test, the bass being much louder that treble, causing unevenness in the music played. Don’t get me wrong, the hi-fi output was good, and the sound produced had much clarity, but the disproportionate volume of the bass gave me great difficulty to listen out for the treble. It barely managed the accapella, the deep voices sounded excellent at high pitch, but ear numbing bass kicked in at lower frequencies. It excelled with concerts, producing an even wider sound and volume, and it performed great with solo sections of the guitar. Disappointingly, it flunked the acoustic and pop song tests; the bass was heavy and treble was on the soft side. Clearly, the hi-fi wasn’t made for earplugs output.
On the other hand, the Unox felt right at home when connected to the PC. Bass and treble were well balanced in all genres; it did particular well with acoustic songs, clearly differentiating the wooden bass guitar from the electric ones, as well as the different drum beats. With the volume pumped up, it sounded even more detailed, but only with high bit rate songs and the CDs, as 256kbps ones had lost some treble quality and eventually sounded coarse. Also, the concert songs didn’t sound as voluminous as the hi-fi. It could have been the soundcard pushing the sound quality to the next level, and confusing its 5.1 engine in the process, but I will run the test on a laptop with built in soundcards and keep you informed on that soon.
To end this report, the Unox cost me RM25 during PC Fair, and I’m pretty sure it’ll go even lower over time. Yes, it wont sound as good as the Sennheiser and Bose ones, but if you are looking for a pair of headsets that wont break the bank and costs more than your player, while producing reasonable sound quality, the SonicGear Spark Plug Unox gets my thumbs up.
Let’s start with the purchase. I primarily plan to use the plugs together with my MP3 player. I found the OEM round-heads awful; it lacked bass, while the treble course and lacked clarity. And before I knew it, the left side stopped working.
Personally, I prefer headsets with high clarity, thus my criticism on the OEM headsets. Because the player didn’t come with a screen and equalizer, I was left with no choice, but to test the headsets on the spot during the PC Fair. I’ve pitted the Unox with 5 other headset, and it was the Unox which sounded the most balanced and detailed. I’ve gone for glossy black, so that it wouldn’t stain easily. The other colour available was glossy white.
I’d split my test results to 2 sections and their subsections. One main section is the real life test, which delves into its build quality, usability and practicality. The other main section involves putting the sound quality to the test. This said, I had put the most listening time with the plugs paired to the MP3 player, but tests using the hi-fi and the PC had been conducted as well. The listening test involves 3 genres to test the individual sound qualities of the earplugs: accapella music, to expose clarity issues; unplugged, acoustic songs to test out the bass and lower frequencies; live stage music to determine the richness and wideness of the sound produced; and finally, a run-through over some pop songs that I’m really familiar with to spot any minute flaws. Most of the songs tested in digital format are MP3s playing between 256 and 320kbps bit rate, while HDCDs of the same songs were played in the Panasonic hi-fi for comparison. On the PC, its both digital format and HDCDs, played through Creative SoundBlaster 5.1 soundcard. I did a simplified version of this test at the PC Fair with the MP3 player and the headsets blew me away, even with the noisy surrounding.
The Unox box contained the headsets themselves, 2 extra pairs of silicon ear gel for the plugs (Yes, the silicon plugs are replaceable), and a “high quality soft leather pouch”. Construction-wise, the head set seems sturdy, and the wires connected into the headset feel solid. Overall, I must say it’s built to last, as my 2-week test proves. As for the jack, it’s gold-plated to reduce signal loss, and the wires are 1.2 metres long. In addition to that, the earplugs come with a one-year warranty.
In the real world test, there’s little to fault the headsets. The sturdy build meant I can pull the wires out of my pocket without worrying that the plugs will be disconnected and be left in my pocket. The length is typical of any 3rd party headsets, and is long enough for me to listen to songs while leaving the player in my bag pack. The silicon gel is a bit soft, and since it isn’t made for noise cancellation, I must say it’s pretty impressive in filtering out the noise from outside, but lets a bit of sound in, allowing me to hear incoming cars or someone calling out for me. The silicon attracts a lot of dust though, but that’s because I leave them everywhere, so with careful treatment, it wouldn’t be a problem at all.
As for the sound test, it works well with the MP3 player. The absence of the equalizer meant that a bit of detail will be lost while playing accapella, because I can’t tune the higher frequencies. But the Unox tried hard, squeezing every last bit of detail out of the tiny player. With acoustic music, the Unox performed well, the bass feeling solid as ever, but not intrusive at all to hurt my ears over long listening hours. It didn’t do too badly with concerts either, as I managed to hear the background screaming clearly while the band plays. The pop songs sounded reasonable, with little to fault, except with higher frequency sounds and possible bit-rate issues on the player.
It was a different story in the hi-fi test, the bass being much louder that treble, causing unevenness in the music played. Don’t get me wrong, the hi-fi output was good, and the sound produced had much clarity, but the disproportionate volume of the bass gave me great difficulty to listen out for the treble. It barely managed the accapella, the deep voices sounded excellent at high pitch, but ear numbing bass kicked in at lower frequencies. It excelled with concerts, producing an even wider sound and volume, and it performed great with solo sections of the guitar. Disappointingly, it flunked the acoustic and pop song tests; the bass was heavy and treble was on the soft side. Clearly, the hi-fi wasn’t made for earplugs output.
On the other hand, the Unox felt right at home when connected to the PC. Bass and treble were well balanced in all genres; it did particular well with acoustic songs, clearly differentiating the wooden bass guitar from the electric ones, as well as the different drum beats. With the volume pumped up, it sounded even more detailed, but only with high bit rate songs and the CDs, as 256kbps ones had lost some treble quality and eventually sounded coarse. Also, the concert songs didn’t sound as voluminous as the hi-fi. It could have been the soundcard pushing the sound quality to the next level, and confusing its 5.1 engine in the process, but I will run the test on a laptop with built in soundcards and keep you informed on that soon.
To end this report, the Unox cost me RM25 during PC Fair, and I’m pretty sure it’ll go even lower over time. Yes, it wont sound as good as the Sennheiser and Bose ones, but if you are looking for a pair of headsets that wont break the bank and costs more than your player, while producing reasonable sound quality, the SonicGear Spark Plug Unox gets my thumbs up.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
MPH Book Fair
I went to the MPH book fair this morning. It was a very last minute decision, so turned out to be a lonely outing, because none of my friends I called could make it in such short notice. If you know me well, you’ll know that I adore seeing Mr. Bean naked as much as I adore making last minute decisions, so, as always, it’s my fault.
Anyway, back to the book fair. The fair is typical of any MPH book fairs in the past; its like looking for a needle in a cow farm. Cheap gems were hard to come by, unless you dig deep and look at every shelf. The fair was split into various sections offering different discounts to no discounts at all. Avid readers will enjoy the 30% discount offered on almost all the latest books found in their bookstore, which for me isn’t high enough, considering that most of the books cost as least RM50. If you want to know, the Twilights and LOTRs and Outliers were on 30% discount.
The older publications were on 50% to 70% discounts, and by saying old, they were really old. I did manage to unearth some good marketing books, but didn’t have the heart to fork out RM20 for a 2001 publication. Almost all the children and cookbooks were in this section, as well as some books written by the Olsen twins.
This time, the largest section of the fair would be Value Buy i.e. no discount. There weren’t any discounts, but the books were relatively newer than the ones in the 50% and 70% discount section. But, I must say again, they weren’t cheap too. The hardcover book entitled Shift, a book on Nissan’s turnaround costs RM44++, and so as some Donald Trump books, all but a few ringgit cheaper that market price.
I wouldn’t say that it isn’t worth going if you’re into the latest books, but if you are looking for cheap, older publications, such as storybooks and textbooks, you ought to look somewhere else.
And then there’s the parking. The place was in an industrial area, so as expected, there weren’t any proper parking. I parked at the road side, feeling less suspicious because it was 11am, and there were many other cars parked along the road too. I went back to my car, and fair enough, there was a ticket stuck on my windshield. So I walked around the place, and almost every car had a ticket too. The bikes parked behind me were gone, presumably towed away. Then I drove around the area, and THERE’S NOT A SINGLE LEGAL PARKING SPOT. The roadsides were not painted, so no white or yellow line.
So, if I want to be nice to you, I’ll ask you to drive there with a companion waiting in the car while you do your shopping. If I’m the devil, I’ll ask you to walk there from home, cos no matter how tired you are, it’s still better than getting a ticket stuck on your wiper.
At the end, I did buy a RM30 book, with a 30% discount. So my total expenses would be the book for RM30, and 2-hour parking for about RM150. What a deal.
Here’s a map of the place, if you want to get there.
The fair ends this Sunday, and opens from 10am to 8pm.
Anyway, back to the book fair. The fair is typical of any MPH book fairs in the past; its like looking for a needle in a cow farm. Cheap gems were hard to come by, unless you dig deep and look at every shelf. The fair was split into various sections offering different discounts to no discounts at all. Avid readers will enjoy the 30% discount offered on almost all the latest books found in their bookstore, which for me isn’t high enough, considering that most of the books cost as least RM50. If you want to know, the Twilights and LOTRs and Outliers were on 30% discount.
The older publications were on 50% to 70% discounts, and by saying old, they were really old. I did manage to unearth some good marketing books, but didn’t have the heart to fork out RM20 for a 2001 publication. Almost all the children and cookbooks were in this section, as well as some books written by the Olsen twins.
This time, the largest section of the fair would be Value Buy i.e. no discount. There weren’t any discounts, but the books were relatively newer than the ones in the 50% and 70% discount section. But, I must say again, they weren’t cheap too. The hardcover book entitled Shift, a book on Nissan’s turnaround costs RM44++, and so as some Donald Trump books, all but a few ringgit cheaper that market price.
I wouldn’t say that it isn’t worth going if you’re into the latest books, but if you are looking for cheap, older publications, such as storybooks and textbooks, you ought to look somewhere else.
And then there’s the parking. The place was in an industrial area, so as expected, there weren’t any proper parking. I parked at the road side, feeling less suspicious because it was 11am, and there were many other cars parked along the road too. I went back to my car, and fair enough, there was a ticket stuck on my windshield. So I walked around the place, and almost every car had a ticket too. The bikes parked behind me were gone, presumably towed away. Then I drove around the area, and THERE’S NOT A SINGLE LEGAL PARKING SPOT. The roadsides were not painted, so no white or yellow line.
So, if I want to be nice to you, I’ll ask you to drive there with a companion waiting in the car while you do your shopping. If I’m the devil, I’ll ask you to walk there from home, cos no matter how tired you are, it’s still better than getting a ticket stuck on your wiper.
At the end, I did buy a RM30 book, with a 30% discount. So my total expenses would be the book for RM30, and 2-hour parking for about RM150. What a deal.
Here’s a map of the place, if you want to get there.
The fair ends this Sunday, and opens from 10am to 8pm.
Friday, July 31, 2009
PC Fair 2009
I went to PC Fair today with good old friend Zhee Chuan. I bought what I wanted, and had kinda great time, but I cant say if I had a good day.
It started with the train. I got into it at bout 12, and expecting myself to be meeting up with ZC at the promised 12.40, latest. However, it felt like Mr. Driver was having his nasi lemak at the wheel, as the train occasionally cruised at walking pace (okay, I’m lying. I could walk faster than the train) and at other times, sped at full speed, and it felt like it couldn’t brake on time at the next stop. Never mind, I could be easily spotted at KLCC as the idiot who ran all the way from the train station to the Kinokuniya bookstore at the top floor.
And so I met up with ZC, albeit being bout 10 minutes late, and we proceeded to the food court. Once again, out of luck. The place was packed like Genting on the first day of Chinese New Year, and we spent a good 10mins searching for a seat. Still no luck, so we had to head to Burger King for lunch.
There, because ZC bought the meals, I thought I’d get him the self-serving drinks. but at the drink dispenser, sits probably the stupidest ice dispenser in the universe. The dumb machine is precisely built in a way that as you press the dispenser with the cup to fill it up with ice, none of the ice would flow into the cup. Instead, all the large chunks would narrowly escape the lip of the cup and fall onto the floor, and only the small, miserable pieces would fall in. So, I used my hand to push the dispenser with my hands, only to DISPENSE some purple F&N onto my hands. My mistake, of course, but guess what? When it dried up, it left a stain on my hand. Its almost 8 hours later, and I still cant get the stain off. The bigger problem? I drank a cup of it. Stupid.
After lunch, we headed to the Convention Centre, and got up the escalator. Suddenly the bloody escalator stopped. (Probably due to overloading) I lost my balance, and although I managed to skillfully avoid the butt in front of me, the escalator still drew blood, and I had a small cut on my leg. My luck, I guess.
Things went for the better as we headed into the exhibition halls. I managed to get myself a headset, a SonicGear noise isolation earphones, while ZC had all the info he’s looking for. I also managed to convince the salesgirl that I didn’t need another SonicGear earphones (I only have one me, one MP3 player, and 2 ears, not 4, so, sorry….). But it didn’t go as well as I wanted too, for my battery went low when a bunch of Avira models were available for photographs, so nothing for you guys to feast your eyes upon. And then there’s the weirdest advertisement I’ve ever came across.
It started with the train. I got into it at bout 12, and expecting myself to be meeting up with ZC at the promised 12.40, latest. However, it felt like Mr. Driver was having his nasi lemak at the wheel, as the train occasionally cruised at walking pace (okay, I’m lying. I could walk faster than the train) and at other times, sped at full speed, and it felt like it couldn’t brake on time at the next stop. Never mind, I could be easily spotted at KLCC as the idiot who ran all the way from the train station to the Kinokuniya bookstore at the top floor.
And so I met up with ZC, albeit being bout 10 minutes late, and we proceeded to the food court. Once again, out of luck. The place was packed like Genting on the first day of Chinese New Year, and we spent a good 10mins searching for a seat. Still no luck, so we had to head to Burger King for lunch.
There, because ZC bought the meals, I thought I’d get him the self-serving drinks. but at the drink dispenser, sits probably the stupidest ice dispenser in the universe. The dumb machine is precisely built in a way that as you press the dispenser with the cup to fill it up with ice, none of the ice would flow into the cup. Instead, all the large chunks would narrowly escape the lip of the cup and fall onto the floor, and only the small, miserable pieces would fall in. So, I used my hand to push the dispenser with my hands, only to DISPENSE some purple F&N onto my hands. My mistake, of course, but guess what? When it dried up, it left a stain on my hand. Its almost 8 hours later, and I still cant get the stain off. The bigger problem? I drank a cup of it. Stupid.
After lunch, we headed to the Convention Centre, and got up the escalator. Suddenly the bloody escalator stopped. (Probably due to overloading) I lost my balance, and although I managed to skillfully avoid the butt in front of me, the escalator still drew blood, and I had a small cut on my leg. My luck, I guess.
Things went for the better as we headed into the exhibition halls. I managed to get myself a headset, a SonicGear noise isolation earphones, while ZC had all the info he’s looking for. I also managed to convince the salesgirl that I didn’t need another SonicGear earphones (I only have one me, one MP3 player, and 2 ears, not 4, so, sorry….). But it didn’t go as well as I wanted too, for my battery went low when a bunch of Avira models were available for photographs, so nothing for you guys to feast your eyes upon. And then there’s the weirdest advertisement I’ve ever came across.
What have they done to the biggest action star from Hong Kong? Of course, it looks kinda cool, but what has martial arts has gotta do with antivirus?
Anyway, it was good outing, but the drawn blood was really unnecessary, Mr. Convention Centre.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Look Upon the Stars……
It was in December 2008 that I gone through one of the most enjoyable day in my life thus far. No, it wasn’t speeding up and down the windy roads of Cameron Highlands the whole afternoon, nor eating ice-cream on that particular freezing-cold day. It was my trip up to the tea farm in the middle of the night, which I’ve done a million times, but this time with a totally different perspective to what I see.
It was about 10pm, when my cousins and I left Tanah Rata for the tea farm located midway to Gunung Brinchang. By the time we got to Kampung Raja (the foot of Gunung Brinchang, and the entrance to the tea farm), it was already half past ten. We made a left turn up a small hill, and a couple of twists and turns later, we stopped at the side of the road. The road, in the middle of the tea farm, was dark and serves as an access road to those living in the farm, and Gunung Brinchang, so traffic was extremely light at night, let alone this late. So we turned off the engine and lights, and got out, only to be hit in the nose by the chilling breeze that ought to pierce my throat. As it was pitch black, there wasn’t a view at all, although the road overlooks half of the farm, and the moon wasn’t in sight too, presumably looking for somewhere warmer. A little gossiping the next day told of temperatures in the region of 16s in Tanah Rata that night, and a few degrees lower in the farms. I wouldn’t doubt that.
Then we looked up, and the sky was lit up with stars. There were many stars, presumably hundreds of them. Some were blinking (I hear you say satellites, but lets not spoil this, okay? :P) while others were brightly lit, and as always, I stare in awe.
This place never fails to surprise me. The previous time I came here, my cousins held a birthday party for me (two cars, a piece of Secret Recipe cheese cake, a candle and multiple torchlights at 12am), and about a year ago, my cousin broke up with her dude at this very spot.
Having completed my AS at that time, it was a real time-out for me, to catch a breath before returning to KL. Just like taking off my glasses (Post 2), but this time, it’s all real and a lot more comforting. Being in a peaceful place with no phone signal is one thing, but being in a peaceful place accompanied by the sounds of insects and leaves feathering each other, you have to be present to feel the serenity.
I laid on the bonnet, staring straight at the sky, while trying to reflect on life and what I’ve been through the past 12 months, but all that comes to mind is that the next 6 months of A Levels will (fingers crossed) be much better. Indeed, life at TCSH was much better over the months, but its only when my results are out that I could tell you life was indeed better there. Until then, I’m just gonna lie atop this cold metal bonnet and try not to fall asleep.
It was about 10pm, when my cousins and I left Tanah Rata for the tea farm located midway to Gunung Brinchang. By the time we got to Kampung Raja (the foot of Gunung Brinchang, and the entrance to the tea farm), it was already half past ten. We made a left turn up a small hill, and a couple of twists and turns later, we stopped at the side of the road. The road, in the middle of the tea farm, was dark and serves as an access road to those living in the farm, and Gunung Brinchang, so traffic was extremely light at night, let alone this late. So we turned off the engine and lights, and got out, only to be hit in the nose by the chilling breeze that ought to pierce my throat. As it was pitch black, there wasn’t a view at all, although the road overlooks half of the farm, and the moon wasn’t in sight too, presumably looking for somewhere warmer. A little gossiping the next day told of temperatures in the region of 16s in Tanah Rata that night, and a few degrees lower in the farms. I wouldn’t doubt that.
Then we looked up, and the sky was lit up with stars. There were many stars, presumably hundreds of them. Some were blinking (I hear you say satellites, but lets not spoil this, okay? :P) while others were brightly lit, and as always, I stare in awe.
This place never fails to surprise me. The previous time I came here, my cousins held a birthday party for me (two cars, a piece of Secret Recipe cheese cake, a candle and multiple torchlights at 12am), and about a year ago, my cousin broke up with her dude at this very spot.
Having completed my AS at that time, it was a real time-out for me, to catch a breath before returning to KL. Just like taking off my glasses (Post 2), but this time, it’s all real and a lot more comforting. Being in a peaceful place with no phone signal is one thing, but being in a peaceful place accompanied by the sounds of insects and leaves feathering each other, you have to be present to feel the serenity.
I laid on the bonnet, staring straight at the sky, while trying to reflect on life and what I’ve been through the past 12 months, but all that comes to mind is that the next 6 months of A Levels will (fingers crossed) be much better. Indeed, life at TCSH was much better over the months, but its only when my results are out that I could tell you life was indeed better there. Until then, I’m just gonna lie atop this cold metal bonnet and try not to fall asleep.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Market Crimes- Just a Joke, A Bad One
About a week ago, I met up with a couple of friends who took Economics during their A-Levels stint. A few drinks later, we ran out of topics to discuss, having already talked about our target universities, the courses and other ‘general’ matters (girlfriend-boyfriend things), so we accidentally came up with a nonsensical joke about economics in the market. If there was someone to blame, it has to be me, having started the topic which ended as a really crappy gauge of our economic knowledge. Anyway, here’s how the joke went.
It started out as a kind of news statement; I asked them if they heard of the incident in the Damansara market, where this fishmonger was arrested by the AH MA (Anti-hedging of Morning-Market Associations) for illegally hedging his supply of tuna. Since oil prices were high, people were getting hungrier, and global warming has caused many tunas to be medium-rare when fished, prices of tunas have shot up three-fold, so this good fellow decided to hedge these tunas in advance to his loyal customers. Indeed, they paid a higher price for the meat, but they didn’t mind, as long as the tunas kept coming.
Our crapping frenzy started, and soon, ‘news’ of short selling of pork in a market in Desa has been being banned has emerged. Prices of pork had risen to hundreds lately, and farmers are desperate to short sell them to maintain a high demand for it. The local ARSE (Association for Regulating Short-selling Entity) received complains from local customers who missed out of the fun of short selling, and pork selling short when they got to know of it.
In as separate case, a swindler, known as Tan Mad-Off of Puchong market, had cheated thousands of their life savings for buying chickens that never existed. Local authorities, AH PA (Anti Haggling Ponzi Association) called it a “highly-organised Ponzi scheme of chicken feet and salted eggs”, but declined to comment further.
A spin-off of beef also occurred in Subang, where increase in prices of beef forced its derivatives to rise as well. Beef has got so expensive that bull riding is a rarity nowadays, donkey is the new cow, and Disney replaced Connie the Cow with Donald as cost-cutting measures. Local municipal councils are closely monitoring beef prices to prevent foreclosure of less competitive farmers, as well as to ensure the NCR (National Cow Reserves) remain at an optimum level in case of any spike in demand i.e. dinnertime.
Finally, courtesy of a friend who never fail to fail Econs (just kidding!!), he gladly informed us that the Fish and Chips Index reaching all time high. The FTSE (Fish and Tuna Stock Exchange) remains stable, but the KLCI (Kuala Lumpur Chicken Index) fell by a few points, and a whole lot of feathers.
It was a joke, a lousy one. And this was my afternoon gone. I couldn’t think of a worse afternoon.
It started out as a kind of news statement; I asked them if they heard of the incident in the Damansara market, where this fishmonger was arrested by the AH MA (Anti-hedging of Morning-Market Associations) for illegally hedging his supply of tuna. Since oil prices were high, people were getting hungrier, and global warming has caused many tunas to be medium-rare when fished, prices of tunas have shot up three-fold, so this good fellow decided to hedge these tunas in advance to his loyal customers. Indeed, they paid a higher price for the meat, but they didn’t mind, as long as the tunas kept coming.
Our crapping frenzy started, and soon, ‘news’ of short selling of pork in a market in Desa has been being banned has emerged. Prices of pork had risen to hundreds lately, and farmers are desperate to short sell them to maintain a high demand for it. The local ARSE (Association for Regulating Short-selling Entity) received complains from local customers who missed out of the fun of short selling, and pork selling short when they got to know of it.
In as separate case, a swindler, known as Tan Mad-Off of Puchong market, had cheated thousands of their life savings for buying chickens that never existed. Local authorities, AH PA (Anti Haggling Ponzi Association) called it a “highly-organised Ponzi scheme of chicken feet and salted eggs”, but declined to comment further.
A spin-off of beef also occurred in Subang, where increase in prices of beef forced its derivatives to rise as well. Beef has got so expensive that bull riding is a rarity nowadays, donkey is the new cow, and Disney replaced Connie the Cow with Donald as cost-cutting measures. Local municipal councils are closely monitoring beef prices to prevent foreclosure of less competitive farmers, as well as to ensure the NCR (National Cow Reserves) remain at an optimum level in case of any spike in demand i.e. dinnertime.
Finally, courtesy of a friend who never fail to fail Econs (just kidding!!), he gladly informed us that the Fish and Chips Index reaching all time high. The FTSE (Fish and Tuna Stock Exchange) remains stable, but the KLCI (Kuala Lumpur Chicken Index) fell by a few points, and a whole lot of feathers.
It was a joke, a lousy one. And this was my afternoon gone. I couldn’t think of a worse afternoon.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Luxury Cars: Outlook of the Future
Funny as it may seem, the car segment which is radically changing and undergoing a revolution right now isn’t the performance sector, nor the superminis. The GT-Rs and GT2s and Veyrons have pushed the envelope of racing technology, and as far as it goes, twin-clutched gearboxes and trick 4-wheel-drive is the best and the most radical it could muster. The Focus RS returns to its roots; 300bhp and FWD (which makes it less likely for you to kill yourself), as well as the Abarth (lightweight body with torquey engines). The only segment undergoing a revolution is clearly the luxury car segment.
The likes of the A8, 7-Series, and S-Class have, in a way, enjoyed monopolistic position and advantages in the relatively small but important segment over the years. It is these cars that represent the flagship of the company; these cars are fitted with crème-de-la-crème gadgets before slowly being mainstreamed to the rest of the range. The revolutionary ABS and Drive-by-Wire coming from the S-Class, the love-it-or-hate-it I-Drive, and the similar but simpler MMI all found their way to the lesser models over time.
Then there are the smaller players, such as the Phaeton, Phantom, Maybach, LS460, and Quattroporte which command a smaller share of the market overall, but somewhat a tour-de-force in their respective country; the Lexus in the US, the Volkswagen (tied with Audi) in China, and the Rolls-Royce in, well, Dubai?
What is there to revolutionize in this car segment, I hear you ask. Just get a car with the wheelbase of a truck, stuff the interior with exotic wood and dead animals, put in the largest engine available and there you have it; a luxury car. But think again. If the current crop of luxury cars and all its techno stuff is as far as it can go, then these two cars, to be launched soon, will have no purpose to exist: the Porsche Panamera and Lamborghini Estoque. And it ain’t the techno part that these two cars is pushing; it’s the design envelope.
These two cars could be the ugliest metal sheets you’ve ever seen, or the prettiest to your eyes. And this is where these two cars differ from mainstream. Is the A8 or the LS460 ugly? You wouldn’t call it hideous, nor you’ll call it pretty; their design is ‘safe’ as a luxury car, appealing to the young, but not offensive to the elderly (which can’t be said of the 7-Series, but that’s a different matter altogether.)
However, this where their similarities stop, for the reasons of existence are as different as myself to an otter. The Estoque, to begin with, was born to continue a historical path; to succeed the 4-seater Espada, but this time giving it 2 extra doors and a larger boot. The radically-designed Reventon-wannabe ought to be Lambo’s first four-door, four-seater (apart from the LM) and expect it to fill up the rear mirrors of the Gallardo on the autobahn, given its monstrous engine and performance. It targets Russians and Asians who had struck rich with their oil fields, though sales isn’t the main reason of its slow birth.
Which cant be said of the Panamera. Designed by Pininfarina, it serves to please the eye (though as I said, not all will think so). However, the design of the interior that is relatively similar to the mainstream Porsches and the use of engines shared with other models, makes it, in my opinion, less exclusive compared to the Estoque, and has more to do with chasing sales figures in the Middle East, which is exactly what’s done to the Cayenne, now the best selling model of the car maker. It seems to me that it’s the numbers that Porsche is after, and not the essence of building cars that lives up to its heritage, that Porsche is doing, given the financial setback its undergoing.
I hope I’m wrong about it, and although I’m not a Porsche fan, I have to admit they have been producing really fine cars over the years and its indeed sad to watch the once-exclusive brand being commercialized.
The likes of the A8, 7-Series, and S-Class have, in a way, enjoyed monopolistic position and advantages in the relatively small but important segment over the years. It is these cars that represent the flagship of the company; these cars are fitted with crème-de-la-crème gadgets before slowly being mainstreamed to the rest of the range. The revolutionary ABS and Drive-by-Wire coming from the S-Class, the love-it-or-hate-it I-Drive, and the similar but simpler MMI all found their way to the lesser models over time.
Then there are the smaller players, such as the Phaeton, Phantom, Maybach, LS460, and Quattroporte which command a smaller share of the market overall, but somewhat a tour-de-force in their respective country; the Lexus in the US, the Volkswagen (tied with Audi) in China, and the Rolls-Royce in, well, Dubai?
What is there to revolutionize in this car segment, I hear you ask. Just get a car with the wheelbase of a truck, stuff the interior with exotic wood and dead animals, put in the largest engine available and there you have it; a luxury car. But think again. If the current crop of luxury cars and all its techno stuff is as far as it can go, then these two cars, to be launched soon, will have no purpose to exist: the Porsche Panamera and Lamborghini Estoque. And it ain’t the techno part that these two cars is pushing; it’s the design envelope.
These two cars could be the ugliest metal sheets you’ve ever seen, or the prettiest to your eyes. And this is where these two cars differ from mainstream. Is the A8 or the LS460 ugly? You wouldn’t call it hideous, nor you’ll call it pretty; their design is ‘safe’ as a luxury car, appealing to the young, but not offensive to the elderly (which can’t be said of the 7-Series, but that’s a different matter altogether.)
However, this where their similarities stop, for the reasons of existence are as different as myself to an otter. The Estoque, to begin with, was born to continue a historical path; to succeed the 4-seater Espada, but this time giving it 2 extra doors and a larger boot. The radically-designed Reventon-wannabe ought to be Lambo’s first four-door, four-seater (apart from the LM) and expect it to fill up the rear mirrors of the Gallardo on the autobahn, given its monstrous engine and performance. It targets Russians and Asians who had struck rich with their oil fields, though sales isn’t the main reason of its slow birth.
Which cant be said of the Panamera. Designed by Pininfarina, it serves to please the eye (though as I said, not all will think so). However, the design of the interior that is relatively similar to the mainstream Porsches and the use of engines shared with other models, makes it, in my opinion, less exclusive compared to the Estoque, and has more to do with chasing sales figures in the Middle East, which is exactly what’s done to the Cayenne, now the best selling model of the car maker. It seems to me that it’s the numbers that Porsche is after, and not the essence of building cars that lives up to its heritage, that Porsche is doing, given the financial setback its undergoing.
I hope I’m wrong about it, and although I’m not a Porsche fan, I have to admit they have been producing really fine cars over the years and its indeed sad to watch the once-exclusive brand being commercialized.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Kuantan Trip (Final)
I got home yesterday evening. Had to leave due to (UN)foreseen circumstances. Or maybe I was just plain tempted to leave anyway, not that I really mean it.
I took the 1.30pm bus, so it was quite a hurry to leave (I had to pack my clothes, eat durians, and play Midnight Racing once more in less than 45 minutes). Anyway, I got to the station on time, and looking forward to reaching KL.
The bus however was slightly depressing. To begin with, the air conditioner at the rear wasn’t working (yaya, sudah buka AUTO, belum start lagi, Mr. Driver said). Then, it was driven slowly on the highway (to my relief), but at Karak Highway, it picked up speed (not to my relief), and it was overtaking everything in its path. It even raced an empty dumptruck and a one-tonne lorry.
Soon the brakes were starting to smoke, and the whole cabin is filled with scents of freshly charred brake pads. What happens next is something I’ll never forget. Smelling the scent, the other (uninformed) passengers started to panic. But instead of trying to find out what’s that smell, they all started to shut their air con vents, so it ended up being hot AND smoky at the same time. Only after a while that a dude went to ask the driver about the scent, and being informed that it was the brakes, only they started opening up the vents again.
I got back to KL at about 7pm, and really had no mood to go out that night, except for a short meet up with my primary school friends in 1U. So, if you are reading this, Kelvin, I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to your party. In simpler terms, I didn’t want to spoil it.
So much for a holiday, and it turns to be otherwise.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Kuantan Trip (Part 2)
Or maybe not.
Its day two. And I have all the time in the world to blog.
I’ve been nowhere today, nobody wanted to bring, or ask me out. I’ve got no newspaper to read, all’s sold out. Sad case.
Or not. Cos I made a new friend. My new best friend for the day is the PS2 darling. She’s from Japan, real slim, slender and stands tall and proud. She’s warm too (I think it’s got to do with the cooling fan). And she’s really good at what she does too, playing the MIDNIGHT RACING: DUB EDITION DVD smoothly. I’ve got so much time today I toured the whole Tokyo city in the game. It’s quite real, the scenarios and maps quite similar to the real thing. I spent time chasing trains, running over pedestrians, crashing the cars until they burst in flames.
Then, I moved on to knowing the wrestling dudes better. Its Kelly Kelly vs Victoria in WWE WRESTLEMANIA. And the top time-burner I’ll recommend to any gamers whose girlfriends dump them for the GUCCI store: the 30-dude ROYAL RUMBLE. It took me more than 40 minutes of intense finger-breaking actions on the controller to complete it. The 4-man TLC is also quite a time burner, with 30 minutes of table-crashing, ladder-smashing, hammer-lashing and bamboo-caning to win the bloody campaign. Others like the TRIPLE THREAT and HELL IN A CELL, takes about 25 minutes to complete. Great for boring, lonely afternoons.
Another game, the NSF: CARBON, my cousin completed it before this, so I’m just playing to earn some cash to spray all his precious cars pink and brown. Pink ZONDA F, what blasphemy. Pink SKYLINE though, it looks kinda cute. Or the intense boredom is has got into my brains.
It’s raining now, so I guess there won’t be any drinking-out sessions until the rain stops. And the beach is closed, so no outing either.
Looks like there’s more ranting to come over the days.
Its day two. And I have all the time in the world to blog.
I’ve been nowhere today, nobody wanted to bring, or ask me out. I’ve got no newspaper to read, all’s sold out. Sad case.
Or not. Cos I made a new friend. My new best friend for the day is the PS2 darling. She’s from Japan, real slim, slender and stands tall and proud. She’s warm too (I think it’s got to do with the cooling fan). And she’s really good at what she does too, playing the MIDNIGHT RACING: DUB EDITION DVD smoothly. I’ve got so much time today I toured the whole Tokyo city in the game. It’s quite real, the scenarios and maps quite similar to the real thing. I spent time chasing trains, running over pedestrians, crashing the cars until they burst in flames.
Then, I moved on to knowing the wrestling dudes better. Its Kelly Kelly vs Victoria in WWE WRESTLEMANIA. And the top time-burner I’ll recommend to any gamers whose girlfriends dump them for the GUCCI store: the 30-dude ROYAL RUMBLE. It took me more than 40 minutes of intense finger-breaking actions on the controller to complete it. The 4-man TLC is also quite a time burner, with 30 minutes of table-crashing, ladder-smashing, hammer-lashing and bamboo-caning to win the bloody campaign. Others like the TRIPLE THREAT and HELL IN A CELL, takes about 25 minutes to complete. Great for boring, lonely afternoons.
Another game, the NSF: CARBON, my cousin completed it before this, so I’m just playing to earn some cash to spray all his precious cars pink and brown. Pink ZONDA F, what blasphemy. Pink SKYLINE though, it looks kinda cute. Or the intense boredom is has got into my brains.
It’s raining now, so I guess there won’t be any drinking-out sessions until the rain stops. And the beach is closed, so no outing either.
Looks like there’s more ranting to come over the days.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Kuantan Trip (Part I)
It’s the first day that I arrived, and I just came back from East Coast Mall. It didn’t take long for me to start missing KL. Though I’ve been here a million times already, this is the first time I found out how lousy some shopping centers can get. Mind you, this is not the first time I’ve gone shopping here, but nevertheless this is a real eye-opener.
Getting to the mall is perhaps the most comforting thing to do in this outing so far. There’s no traffic at all, the basement parking is abundant and easy to find and, surprisingly well lit. So up we go, and I first headed to a bookshop (so that I don’t have to stare at dresses and high heels and stuff like that). I’m not going to name it, otherwise I’ll go into another fit of rage, but never mind, the interior décor is kinda nice, and that's where the complements stop. I started reading TOPGEAR to burn some time, and I could sense the ever presence of the sales girl, keeping a lookout at me relentlessly like I’m going to run out of the store with the July issue of FHM. Never mind, I thought, this isn’t KL. Then I went on to read a paperback, FREAKONOMICS, if my mind, and rage didn’t fail me. As I reached the 10th page or so, this same dudess came to me and said, “Tak Boleh Baca”. I went, ‘OK, where’s it stated?’ and I looked around for a sign or note. She just said “Kalau u sudah baca, mesti beli buku ini.” This is my holiday, and I didn’t want to ruin it so quickly, so a quick “idiot” whisper (and another ton of maternal expletive later) and I stood up and left.
Only two things that came to mind when hearing her ‘statement’, one by far is what distinguishes KL shopping malls from the ones here; bookstores in KL leave chairs around the place for customers to sit down and read whatever they like. The stores here not only expect you to stand while BROWSING, they also expect you to but something without knowing the content. Ok, some might think that you can read the rear leaf on paperbacks to understand what’s going on, but the leaves don’t tell you the author’s writing style, or the size of the fonts (this for me is important, because paying more than RM30 to squint doesn’t make any sense) .
The other funny thing is, and this is for you, Ms. Stalker, WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT I’LL BUY A BOOK IF I’VE READ IT?? Sudah baca, mesti beli…..go back to kindi, goodness. How am I supposed to baca the 200+pages in less than a day? Heck, even if my eyes can take it, my legs would have given in long before, ‘cos you didn’t provide any bloody chairs.
So now, here I am, constantly reminding myself that this is not KL, and it’s not a BORDERS that I walked into. Bookstores here don’t have chairs for you to sit (they have chairs to stand and reach up the cupboards) and everyone in the store is a stalker. I could have gone on with the stalkers in the DVD shop, but never mind, I'm letting you off with a warning. Hopefully its only in Part I that I’m ranting.
Getting to the mall is perhaps the most comforting thing to do in this outing so far. There’s no traffic at all, the basement parking is abundant and easy to find and, surprisingly well lit. So up we go, and I first headed to a bookshop (so that I don’t have to stare at dresses and high heels and stuff like that). I’m not going to name it, otherwise I’ll go into another fit of rage, but never mind, the interior décor is kinda nice, and that's where the complements stop. I started reading TOPGEAR to burn some time, and I could sense the ever presence of the sales girl, keeping a lookout at me relentlessly like I’m going to run out of the store with the July issue of FHM. Never mind, I thought, this isn’t KL. Then I went on to read a paperback, FREAKONOMICS, if my mind, and rage didn’t fail me. As I reached the 10th page or so, this same dudess came to me and said, “Tak Boleh Baca”. I went, ‘OK, where’s it stated?’ and I looked around for a sign or note. She just said “Kalau u sudah baca, mesti beli buku ini.” This is my holiday, and I didn’t want to ruin it so quickly, so a quick “idiot” whisper (and another ton of maternal expletive later) and I stood up and left.
Only two things that came to mind when hearing her ‘statement’, one by far is what distinguishes KL shopping malls from the ones here; bookstores in KL leave chairs around the place for customers to sit down and read whatever they like. The stores here not only expect you to stand while BROWSING, they also expect you to but something without knowing the content. Ok, some might think that you can read the rear leaf on paperbacks to understand what’s going on, but the leaves don’t tell you the author’s writing style, or the size of the fonts (this for me is important, because paying more than RM30 to squint doesn’t make any sense) .
The other funny thing is, and this is for you, Ms. Stalker, WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT I’LL BUY A BOOK IF I’VE READ IT?? Sudah baca, mesti beli…..go back to kindi, goodness. How am I supposed to baca the 200+pages in less than a day? Heck, even if my eyes can take it, my legs would have given in long before, ‘cos you didn’t provide any bloody chairs.
So now, here I am, constantly reminding myself that this is not KL, and it’s not a BORDERS that I walked into. Bookstores here don’t have chairs for you to sit (they have chairs to stand and reach up the cupboards) and everyone in the store is a stalker. I could have gone on with the stalkers in the DVD shop, but never mind, I'm letting you off with a warning. Hopefully its only in Part I that I’m ranting.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Carpark Nonsense
Rewind the clock back to the month of March of 2009. It was just like any other normal college day. Come to college, attend lessons, go for lunch, then attend more lessons, and before I knew it, its time to leave already. So as usual, I walk up to the car park, insert the parking ticket to the ticketing machine. As usual, the machine would be yapping all the nonsense. “Please insert your ticket”, “please insert the amount of money shown on the display”. As usual, the screen displays “RM3.50”, and AS USUAL, the machine won’t accept paper currency, only coins! I’ve bloody encountered this a million times since I got to TCSH, and it has been a real spoiler to the otherwise very calm and serene atmosphere here.
I mean, collecting money is the very basics of doing business. If you can’t even collect money effectively, then YOU’VE FAILLED!! GO BACK TO KINDER!! What’s more, it's not like I'm not willing to pay, and this is sad. And don’t get me started with big headed guards who thinks (or pretends) to understand English, or the hopelessly-positioned exit ticketing machine. Its already absurd to charge such high rates on weekdays (2 bucks for first two hours, 50c for subsequent hour) and really obvious price discrimination (1 dollar per entry for weekends!!), and they still make us climb extra flight of stairs and drive further just to pay the fees, then make our exit a test of skills (or my patience, at least). This is rubbish.
I mean, collecting money is the very basics of doing business. If you can’t even collect money effectively, then YOU’VE FAILLED!! GO BACK TO KINDER!! What’s more, it's not like I'm not willing to pay, and this is sad. And don’t get me started with big headed guards who thinks (or pretends) to understand English, or the hopelessly-positioned exit ticketing machine. Its already absurd to charge such high rates on weekdays (2 bucks for first two hours, 50c for subsequent hour) and really obvious price discrimination (1 dollar per entry for weekends!!), and they still make us climb extra flight of stairs and drive further just to pay the fees, then make our exit a test of skills (or my patience, at least). This is rubbish.
Monday, June 15, 2009
GT-R: Best Car in the World? Definitely Much More Than That.
And so everyone (myself included) thinks the Nissan GT-R is the best car in the world right now. EVO® magazine makes it as the ‘Car of the Year’, having beaten the 911, and trashed the R8 on the hills; AUTOCAR voted it as the ‘Best Driver’s Car’; WhatCar has it as the ‘Best Value-For-Money Performance Buy’; Car And Driver pitted it against the American Legend (the Corvette), in the American Game (a drag race), on American soil, and the GT-R won. (Sadly, C&D had to make you read between the lines to understand that the GT-R won, but only by the smallest or margins, for very obvious reasons.)
Not to be forgotten are the world-beating figures that the GT-R churns out that would oust any other performance car without having to participate in a group comparison. 0-60 in 3.8 seconds, tops out at 193mph. And who can ignore the price: £56,795 for the basic model, which is mind-boggling price for mind-boggling.
Now, the question is whether is this all this Nissan could do? And my answer is a downright NO. Notice that I left out the horsepower figures above? 473bhp? Its not a world-beating figure, if you ask me. Even the EVO XI now leaves the factory in FQ-400 forms, producing in excess of 400bhp (with a 2-litre motor!), and a lightly tuned one (like running on free-flow air filters and exhaust, and higher boost) can easily match 473, if not top it. However, in a power comparison, the Audi R8 needs 3.9secs to reach the century, and it takes a 5.2 litre V10 with 518 horsepower on the tap. That got me thinking, how on Earth did the Nissan do it?
I’ve got a theory to this. It’s not Nissan lying about the horsepower figures, nor are the marketing people playing down the hype the car has created. I would think that the problem lies in the engineering of the car itself, where it does not (and will never) reveal the actual power it produces, thanks to some clever trickery by the engineers. To all car nuts out there, I think its time you realize that no magazine reviews have successfully publish the GT-R’s wheel dynamometer figures. They will always say that the ‘dyno test is confusing the AWD traction system, and the slip differential is busy shuffling power between the 4 wheels, occasionally producing less than 200bhp’. It would also add that ‘if we run the engine dyno, yeah, its close to matching the manufacturer’s horsepower and torque figures’. For your information, the engine dyno is rubbish, if you ask me, because it’s the same method that the mileage guys use to calculate the highest fuel economy possible. The engine dyno measures the air-fuel ratio at a particular RPM, then uses a software to work out the fuel used over a particular range. The thing is that, this can be done while the car is stationary, which makes little sense, when the real mileage figures involve a lot of other stuff i.e. aerodynamics, wheel resistance, power loss (at places such as the gearbox and torque converters), and driving style. The same happens when measuring power, the engine is revved to a certain RPM, and A/F mixture is used to estimate the power produced, and just like measuring mileage, the power loss is not taken into account.
Thus, this is where wheel dyno comes in, where you place a car on frictionless rollers, and accelerate the car over a range of gears and speed and use softwares to work out the power at particular RPM and speed, in WHP figures, or Wheel Horsepower. It works best for either front- or rear-wheel drive cars (with traction control turned off, and without a limited-slip), where power is only distributed between the 2 wheels, and takes into account all the power losses, like gearbox and differentials. However, the Nissan is 4WD, and has one of the best 4WD power distributing system in the world, making it trip and stumble on the frictionless rollers, when the software is programmed to send most power to the wheel with the most grip, and it cant tell which wheel has the most of it. So if you place one on a dyno, it might think its snowing (given that the rollers have low friction), traction control and differentials intervene, and all you get is a GT-R producing 200bhp. And if you have to know, a Mazda 3 has more power than that.
All these makes measuring the GT-R’s power accurately impossible. I strongly believe that that beast is producing well in excess of 500bhp, and its Nissan’s intention to make the GT-R a played-down supercar slayer, capable doing it with minimum effort. They’d probably gave the lowest possible estimate to the horsepower figures.
Not to be forgotten are the world-beating figures that the GT-R churns out that would oust any other performance car without having to participate in a group comparison. 0-60 in 3.8 seconds, tops out at 193mph. And who can ignore the price: £56,795 for the basic model, which is mind-boggling price for mind-boggling.
Now, the question is whether is this all this Nissan could do? And my answer is a downright NO. Notice that I left out the horsepower figures above? 473bhp? Its not a world-beating figure, if you ask me. Even the EVO XI now leaves the factory in FQ-400 forms, producing in excess of 400bhp (with a 2-litre motor!), and a lightly tuned one (like running on free-flow air filters and exhaust, and higher boost) can easily match 473, if not top it. However, in a power comparison, the Audi R8 needs 3.9secs to reach the century, and it takes a 5.2 litre V10 with 518 horsepower on the tap. That got me thinking, how on Earth did the Nissan do it?
I’ve got a theory to this. It’s not Nissan lying about the horsepower figures, nor are the marketing people playing down the hype the car has created. I would think that the problem lies in the engineering of the car itself, where it does not (and will never) reveal the actual power it produces, thanks to some clever trickery by the engineers. To all car nuts out there, I think its time you realize that no magazine reviews have successfully publish the GT-R’s wheel dynamometer figures. They will always say that the ‘dyno test is confusing the AWD traction system, and the slip differential is busy shuffling power between the 4 wheels, occasionally producing less than 200bhp’. It would also add that ‘if we run the engine dyno, yeah, its close to matching the manufacturer’s horsepower and torque figures’. For your information, the engine dyno is rubbish, if you ask me, because it’s the same method that the mileage guys use to calculate the highest fuel economy possible. The engine dyno measures the air-fuel ratio at a particular RPM, then uses a software to work out the fuel used over a particular range. The thing is that, this can be done while the car is stationary, which makes little sense, when the real mileage figures involve a lot of other stuff i.e. aerodynamics, wheel resistance, power loss (at places such as the gearbox and torque converters), and driving style. The same happens when measuring power, the engine is revved to a certain RPM, and A/F mixture is used to estimate the power produced, and just like measuring mileage, the power loss is not taken into account.
Thus, this is where wheel dyno comes in, where you place a car on frictionless rollers, and accelerate the car over a range of gears and speed and use softwares to work out the power at particular RPM and speed, in WHP figures, or Wheel Horsepower. It works best for either front- or rear-wheel drive cars (with traction control turned off, and without a limited-slip), where power is only distributed between the 2 wheels, and takes into account all the power losses, like gearbox and differentials. However, the Nissan is 4WD, and has one of the best 4WD power distributing system in the world, making it trip and stumble on the frictionless rollers, when the software is programmed to send most power to the wheel with the most grip, and it cant tell which wheel has the most of it. So if you place one on a dyno, it might think its snowing (given that the rollers have low friction), traction control and differentials intervene, and all you get is a GT-R producing 200bhp. And if you have to know, a Mazda 3 has more power than that.
All these makes measuring the GT-R’s power accurately impossible. I strongly believe that that beast is producing well in excess of 500bhp, and its Nissan’s intention to make the GT-R a played-down supercar slayer, capable doing it with minimum effort. They’d probably gave the lowest possible estimate to the horsepower figures.
I’m a big fan of the GT-R, knowing that there’s much potential lies in the car, and I’m eager to see what can Nissan do more to the car, hopefully in the form of a V-Spec (like the great job Nissan has done to the R34 V-spec). What do you think?
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Clarity: A Need or Want?
As a person who has been wearing glasses for eternity, its safe to say that seeing the world through a pair of lenses gave me a clearer picture of how the world looks like. Like how magnificent the Petronas Twin Towers are when seen from far, or how majestic the Great Wall of China stand as I view it from the foot of the wall, and how weird and scary the SsangYong Stavic really is. Of course, there were also practical, reasons to put on those UV and infrared-cutting lenses, as it allows me to carry out my day-to-day activities (drive to college, copy notes from the white board, read my Word documents on-screen without blinding myself).
However, it is when I put my glasses away that I see the real world that I’ve always thought of: the grainy, blur, unclear world, full of uncertainties and certainly requiring a lot of patience and imagination to process. I have to admit that I’m quite particular when it comes to my glasses, I always want the clearest possible view though them. But, growing up(finally!), I began to question myself; What’s the point of seeing the world so clearly, when you don’t know what are you seeing? Thus, whenever I feel tensed or confused, be it with studies or life, I choose to sit down and remove the lenses, only to stare blindly at something. For instance, at home, I could be staring at the ceiling fan, its rotation blurs out as my retina can’t focus onto it well enough. But, from a different point of view, I could also see it as a fan moving very, very slowly, for my focus only catches glimpses of a stationary blade, and that’s a totally different perspective if the fan that I’ve been living with for years (if my memory didn’t fail me). The same goes with the car poster in my room. In perfect clarity, the Volvo C70 exudes all the characteristics their designers aimed to create: macho-ness, the muscular shoulders emphasizing on the waist and width of the convertible. But off goes the lenses, and all of a sudden, it’s a Volvo displaying fluidity and organic shapes, with almost a monotonous silver colour, something you’ll never find on a Volvo. The wheels seem to integrate into the vehicle, and at times, it can look better than the real car. Whenever I’m outside, my lens tend to exaggerate people passing by, the brightness of the lights, the hustle and bustle of everything, which can be stressful when your mind is as messed up as mine. But once the lenses are removed, I felt the sound, the glare and all the unnecessary stimuli removed as well, living behind a blur, quiet and lonely world. I could look at anyone, anything and suddenly everything slows down. My mind goes blank and relaxes, and as I began to focus on my breathing, I could literally feel my body loosen, the muscles not as tense as before. I stare at my work, and all I see are blur lines after more blur lines. I look out of the window, and it’s a mixture of green, blue and black light, save for the occasional speckle white light coming from what I would deem a passing car. At this point, I would close my eyes and rub my temples, which amplify the pain in my head, but it also feels rather comfortable, surprisingly. It felt like I had let go a really heavy baggage for a short while, to take a short breath, loosen my shoulders a bit before carrying it again, when I open my eyes. Reluctance (to carry the bag) is hard to fight, but the blur, spectacle-less world is always only an ideal, theoretical world. It is powered my thoughts and imagination, and is indeed unreal.
However, it is when I put my glasses away that I see the real world that I’ve always thought of: the grainy, blur, unclear world, full of uncertainties and certainly requiring a lot of patience and imagination to process. I have to admit that I’m quite particular when it comes to my glasses, I always want the clearest possible view though them. But, growing up(finally!), I began to question myself; What’s the point of seeing the world so clearly, when you don’t know what are you seeing? Thus, whenever I feel tensed or confused, be it with studies or life, I choose to sit down and remove the lenses, only to stare blindly at something. For instance, at home, I could be staring at the ceiling fan, its rotation blurs out as my retina can’t focus onto it well enough. But, from a different point of view, I could also see it as a fan moving very, very slowly, for my focus only catches glimpses of a stationary blade, and that’s a totally different perspective if the fan that I’ve been living with for years (if my memory didn’t fail me). The same goes with the car poster in my room. In perfect clarity, the Volvo C70 exudes all the characteristics their designers aimed to create: macho-ness, the muscular shoulders emphasizing on the waist and width of the convertible. But off goes the lenses, and all of a sudden, it’s a Volvo displaying fluidity and organic shapes, with almost a monotonous silver colour, something you’ll never find on a Volvo. The wheels seem to integrate into the vehicle, and at times, it can look better than the real car. Whenever I’m outside, my lens tend to exaggerate people passing by, the brightness of the lights, the hustle and bustle of everything, which can be stressful when your mind is as messed up as mine. But once the lenses are removed, I felt the sound, the glare and all the unnecessary stimuli removed as well, living behind a blur, quiet and lonely world. I could look at anyone, anything and suddenly everything slows down. My mind goes blank and relaxes, and as I began to focus on my breathing, I could literally feel my body loosen, the muscles not as tense as before. I stare at my work, and all I see are blur lines after more blur lines. I look out of the window, and it’s a mixture of green, blue and black light, save for the occasional speckle white light coming from what I would deem a passing car. At this point, I would close my eyes and rub my temples, which amplify the pain in my head, but it also feels rather comfortable, surprisingly. It felt like I had let go a really heavy baggage for a short while, to take a short breath, loosen my shoulders a bit before carrying it again, when I open my eyes. Reluctance (to carry the bag) is hard to fight, but the blur, spectacle-less world is always only an ideal, theoretical world. It is powered my thoughts and imagination, and is indeed unreal.
Whether I like it or not, the REAL world is always, relentlessly waiting for my return. So, on goes the glasses, accompanied by my work, the noise, the glare and the headache, but thinking back about the feeling of not lugging the baggage for a while merely encourages me to keep it on my back till the end, and would always be a reminder to the real world I belong to.
Friday, June 12, 2009
My Very First Post!!
So this is my very first post, and without doubt my first dive into the deep, tranquil waters of blogging. I thought that while Facebook has that “What’s On Your Mind” column, I didn’t see it as being suitable for long articles, and as for Twitter, oh well, 140 characters are a little too few for my liking, thus my move to start blogging.
So, I thought I’ll fill up my first post by describing what will this blog probably be about. To begin with, I probably WON’T be writing anything football (the charming Mr. Shebby will do that for me on ESPN every week, thank you), as well as politics (there are other bloggers out there who can do better than me, I’m sure). And all the things that we Malaysians normally abstain from mentioning (religion and sex, although I’m pretty flexible about the latter).
What I’ll be writing about are probably issues that affect our life, be it directly or indirectly, as well as stuffs that guys normally talk about, like cars and music. And occasionally, I might do some revisit of the old times, be it a holiday or my time in school and college. However, I am keen to spice it up a bit, by having user generated content, where you guys tell me what you want to read on, and I’ll try to come up with something. But that will only happen when traffic on my page is higher, but until then, do leave any comments, be it constructive or not.
I highly value feedback and comments, as I have to admit that I do occasionally go overboard where technicalities are concerned. So, once again, feel free to enquire and leave an opinion.
Finally, a toast to the birth of Under Where?, and the dawn of modern user generated blogging!!
So, I thought I’ll fill up my first post by describing what will this blog probably be about. To begin with, I probably WON’T be writing anything football (the charming Mr. Shebby will do that for me on ESPN every week, thank you), as well as politics (there are other bloggers out there who can do better than me, I’m sure). And all the things that we Malaysians normally abstain from mentioning (religion and sex, although I’m pretty flexible about the latter).
What I’ll be writing about are probably issues that affect our life, be it directly or indirectly, as well as stuffs that guys normally talk about, like cars and music. And occasionally, I might do some revisit of the old times, be it a holiday or my time in school and college. However, I am keen to spice it up a bit, by having user generated content, where you guys tell me what you want to read on, and I’ll try to come up with something. But that will only happen when traffic on my page is higher, but until then, do leave any comments, be it constructive or not.
I highly value feedback and comments, as I have to admit that I do occasionally go overboard where technicalities are concerned. So, once again, feel free to enquire and leave an opinion.
Finally, a toast to the birth of Under Where?, and the dawn of modern user generated blogging!!
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