28.12.06

Things to do in 2007

As close as I'll get to a New Year's Resolution. Not quite a resolution, merely things that I have/like to do throughout the new year.

And this is in no particular order, random list of whatever comes to mind.

1. Watch the Malaysian F1 GP live in Sepang
2. Watch a live music show/concert
3. Drink more coffee
4. Lift weights
5. Keep the blog alive
6. Learn to play barre chords well
7. And then, be able to strum & sing at the same time without fucking up terribly
8. Go to Singapore - my annual trip
9. Holiday and laze around on a beach in an island
10. Develop an accent (ok, this is starting to sound ridiculous)
11. Read more books - fiction & non-fiction
12. Work hard - no meng-ular
13. Run everyday
14. Buy a house/apartment/condo - a property
15. Keep my car running - no breakdowns, I hope
16. Get a girlfriend (for real, this time)
17. Burn ALL my mp3s on CDs
18. Listen to all of the CDs in (17)
19. Play more football
20. Buy a new camera
21. Be a good boy - really

That's enough kot.
I'll add more when I can think of them.


26.12.06

Now reading

To those who care; I'm now reading 2 books & 3 magazines simultaneously, and you know what, it's damn hard to this.

I've just finished reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. It's a really good book. And apparently, if you go to MPH, you'll find that this book is marked as "Essential Reading" by the lovely folks there. While I wouldn't exactly class it as an absolute must read book, I'd still recommend it to anyone who wants a good, sad read. Yes, its sad. It has an amazingly disturbing first chapter that I initially thought might just get even worse. But fortunately it didn't get any more psycho than that, and the story moved along nicely. It's about how the dead never really let go of their previous lives on Earth and about the suffering of a family who's lost a member. Again, it's sad. But not depressing. Which is good.

Now that I'm done with that, I'll try to juggle my time to read the following - Monster by Jonathan Kellerman, Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, Nov & Dec issues of F1 Racing magazines and the December issue of PC Authority. I'm more inclined to read the mags, to be honest.

I'm nearly giving up hope on Safran Foer because the book is almost impossible to understand without repeat readings of each chapter. It's confusing but I think I'll soldier on. I spent 50 bloody ringgit on it. I better soldier on, dammit.

24.12.06

Between MySpace Bands & Housekeeping

Let's say you have a band. And your band has a MySpace page. And on your MySpace page you put up a few of your songs. And after more than a year you hear from Rolling Stone that they've picked your band as one of their top 25 MySpace bands for 2006. How'd you feel? Fucking awesome, I'd think. This is exactly what happened to the band Couple. Click here. Their music is happy, nice, honest. And they're way better than those pretentious wankers Pop Shuvit. And the guitarist is way cuter too (it's a she by the way, before you get any ideas..)

So today I ended up doing a lot of housekeeping work. It all started off with me reminiscing about the good old days, more specifically, the time when I, for a short period of time, had golden blond hair. As soon as I thought about that, I wanted desperately to find some photos to remind me how ridiculously stupid I looked. But, unfortunately, seeking photos from the past, is a tiring task, at least at my house, since I have no idea where I've stashed all of my "student days" belongings. I had to go through every single box, container, cupboard, shelf in my house to find this precious piece of memorabilia.

And I'm glad to say that finally I did manage to find some photos during my "blond era". Gosh, I do look bloody dumb. Haha. I hope you got that.

Anyways, while I was busy punggah punggah all the stuff from all over the place, I found some other items that I've nearly forgotten existed. Or items that I thought were gone. And that made me feel happy. It's like discovering a long lost treasure, only that no one appreciates the value except for yourself. I was so engrossed in punggah memunggah barang barang, that I didn't realise I've spent close to 2 hours doing it.

But it's time well spent. I found my Form 1 Salasilah Keluarga project, my Form 3 (is it?) Geografi project, 1998 koleq mag, photos of exes (though I couldn't look at them for too long, feels weird as hell), a photo of Geoff Rowley that I took during a Volcom skate demo, my old video cam mini DV tapes, an old CD that I burned that had many many video clips, my MAS deck of cards, my thesis CD, my "missing CDs", photos of my KDU days, my old encyclopedia that I used to read everyday when I was a child, my old baju bundle. And the list goes on.

I'm so excited that I've found all these items. Glad I did my housekeeping...

22.12.06

Self Preservation

What does it mean?

20.12.06

Nasihat

Some things are not meant to be.
You take a risk on something, but don't regret if it backfires.

And don't be a prick, 'cause you'll pay the price eventually.

*Not a good day is today*

Indo

Rika. Siska. Alya. Bertha. Ferdi. Andre.

Does (do?) any of these sound familiar to you?

If you answered yes, then you're most probably an Indonesian soap drama fan, just like me.
Mind you, me being a fan was not by choice. Really.
Every afternoon during tea break the lads would switch the channel to Bawang Merah Bawang Putih, and I can't help but watch it. Honest. I was practically being forced to watch this show. Haha.

Anyone who's ever watched the series would no doubt agree that this Indonesian production is totally ridiculous, silly, memesongkan akidah, non-sensical, stupid, cheesy, over the top acting, un-intentionally funny, dumb and everything else you'd say to describe anything that can create the reaction of "What the fuck?". But amazingly, despite the very huge shortcomings, people get addicted to the show, though they won't readily admit that, and they try to "cover" their addiction by the occassional half hearted "kutuk-kutuk" session. Well, that's understandable, since it's not really something that you'd be proud of or brag about.

But to tell you the truth, the only reason I tolerate all this nonsense is because the series has unbelievably hot chicks in it!



17.12.06

Sunday is for CBT

It's Sunday, and its the only day of the week that I buy NST. Because it has a great pull-out section that is Cars, Bikes, Trucks (CBT). I love it.

Today's edition is a bit bizzare though. Bizzarely funny.

In the Q&A section with Paul David, there's this bloke (I presume), who wrote in asking the most ridiculuosly illogical, what-the-fuck, highly unlikely scenario I've ever read. And I'm sure this guy is taking the piss out of Mr. david because no one, and I mean no one, would EVER be in a situation that this bloke apparently was in.

In summary, this is what the bloke experienced:

1. Install a tachometer and solve transmission problems.
2. Wira revving up to 10,000 rpm. Followed by the straight faced question of "Is there anything I should be worried about when revving up so high?"
3. Is it illegal to remove the front number plate?

I liked what Mr. David wrote in reply. I'm sure he was dead serious, but it came off as funny to me. I like things that are un-intentionally funny.
And David's first sentence in reply to the bloke's problems was this:

Firstly, how do you get 10,000 rpm from a Wira?

I can just imagine the confused face of the poor old man, struggling to comprehend how a Proton Wira can rev up to 10,000 rpm. Hilarious!

On another note, I hate some of these NST reporters who write their car reviews in EXACTLY the same manner, tone, and use the same words as Clarkson does. I mean, it's funny, sarcastic, entertaining and all, but I just can't help feeling that I've read this before. Come on dude, have your own style.


16.12.06

Kunci Khazanah

Have you ever watched the TV show Kunci Khazanah? Surely you must have. It's the best damn TV show on Earth.

Its a weekly general knowledge game show where each of the three contestants is required to answer all 10 questions given to them within 2 minutes, while at the same time raking up cash with each correct answer. The loser with the least amount of money gets kicked out. Simple. And these three contestants can "buy" answers from a choice of three "agents" by offering them some money. These "agents" seem to be arbitrarily chosen, so you wouldn't really know if they're really smart or stupid at all.
Hmm.. why am I explaining all this? I'm sure you've seen the show and you know this already.

Anyways, I like the show because its un-intentionally funny.

Example:

Host : Baiklah, kita mulakan pusingan kedua sekarang. Mat, sila jawab semua soalan dalam masa 2 minit.

Mat : (Blank)

Host : Siapakah pemenang Miss World 2005?

Mat : (Without hesitation) Aishwarya Rai

Host : Betul! Soalan seterusnya, siapakah manusia pertama mendarat di bulan?

Mat : (Blank)

Now, this is funny because the bloke knew who won Miss bloody World but not the first man on the moon. This is as mystifying as it is disturbing to me. I would think the first man on the moon would probably be a bit more important than any beauty queen winner, any time.

But it doesn't stop there, my friends.

Host : Boleh minta bantuan agent jika perlu.

Mat : (Blank)

Host : Agent?

Mat : (Blank)

Agent 1 : Mat, 20 Mat. Confirm betul.

Agent 2 : Mat, 10 Mat. Confirm betul.

Agent 3 : Mat, 10 Mat. Confirm betul.

Host : Siapakah manusia pertama mendarat di bulan?

Mat : (Blank) Hmm... Ok Agent no 3.

Agent 3 : (Confidently) LANCE ARMSTRONG!!



13.12.06

When I was Young-er

Sometimes I think reflect on the things I did when I was younger. And most of the stuff I did back then were quite silly and stupid, even. Thinking about this brings up a smile to my face, every time.

I used to follow wrestling fanatically. I can name you every single wrestler on the WWF roster, and that's probably more than 50 names. Pretty impressive I must say, albeit in a pathetic loser kind of way.
I was so obsessed that I even surfed wrestling websites, reading upcoming storylines, "results" and most excitingly, heel & face turns.
Of course, if you're not familiar with wrestling at all, you wouldn't have a clue what a heel or face turn is. Google or Wiki it up. It's for your own knowledge.
I don't enjoy wrestling as much today. Maybe I've grown out of it, or maybe it became too bloody stupid, I don't know. But once in a while, my brother would switch the channel to Monday Night Raw, and I'll start watching too and this brings back all the fond memories of my wrestling fanatic days. It's good to reflect on old times, don't you think?

And on another note, I'm completely (and ridiculously) smitten over a girl, it's stupid. You know, the kind where you just can't wipe the huge fucking grin off your face. Sure, it's cute when you're twelve, but at 25, it's a bit pathetic, isn't it?


7.12.06

Random Questions

Hey, anyone know what's the name of the robot-voice song in the Nokia ad? You know, the one with people listening music through their phones? It's pretty catchy.

I think John Mayer's Continuum is an under rated album. It's good.

Why do guys do stupid pathetic things for girls? Like driving up 100 miles to meet up with a girl, and having a (seemingly) romantic conversation by the beach, only to find out a week later that the chick is getting engaged to another bloke. Sound familiar? *wink*

3.12.06

Snickets

Well, you might as well call me Lemony fucking Snicket already 'cause I've been in so many bullshit "unfortunate events" for the past week. All in the beautiful city of Perth, mind you. To describe the trip as "disappointing" would be an understatement. Yes, it was THAT tragic.

The trip started off well enough though. The 5 hour flight was a breeze, the movies & food on the plane were decent, and the plane wasn't anywhere near full, so I had a whole row to myself. But upon arriving at the airport, we (my colleague & I) had to stand in a horribly long line to get past immigration. This whole bullshit queue wasted a good hour of our lives. We then checked into the hotel and soon decided to tour Perth city. It was already 6 pm. Everything closes at 5.30. But what the heck, we still went out.

We were hungry but nothing much was open. We finally settled at a kebab stall where I ordered a doner kebab. I used to like this stuff a long time ago so I felt that it was the perfect time for doner kebabs and I get re-acquainted. And this, apparently, was where all the trouble started.

Later that night, I felt uncomfortable as fuck and had a massive, throbbing headache. I threw up twice that night and spewed out all of my kebab meat. It was a disgusting sight to behold. I felt sick looking at my sick that I felt like throwing up again. It was ugly.

I thought after the whole throwing up stuff, it was all over. And honestly, I did feel a bit better straight after. But waking up the next morning, I felt that my head still hurts, though not as much as the night before. So I thought, maybe I'll run this headache off by stuffing a lot of vitamins. Hence, I drank plenty of orange, pineapple & apple juice for breakfast. And ate a lot of toast too.

We were due to go to our "workplace" after lunch, so we decided to tour the city again. And as soon as we reached the city, my head starts to hurt badly, pening kepala like hell, and I felt like throwing up. I was sick, yet again. I immediately went back to the hotel, straight to bed. Took a couple of pills and tried to sleep it off. Didn't really work. But at least, no throwing up. I forced myself to sleep.

The colleague came by around lunch time. It was time to go. I had to decline. I was too fucking sick to do anything. Then I went back to sleep again. The colleague then came by, now its dinner time. I felt too weak to do anything so I still had to stay in bed. Reluctantly declined the dinner invitation.

And then, soon after, I started throwing up again. 3 times. It was just as bad as the previous day.
I finally felt that I've actually vomited everything in my belly as I just couldn't force anything out anymore.

Woke up the next morning, feeling genuinely a bit better. Managed to go out to work that day. I felt it was a rather productive and successful day, which ended up with a "celebration" of sorts by having a nice seafood dinner by the river. Today no throwing up. Good.

The following day was the last day of our trip so we decided to go shopping for souvenirs, since all the work part of the trip was done. My colleague was a bit of a "tourist" who likes to get photos taken everywhere. I have no such interest in these things, but had to tag along nonetheless, since the dude had to put up with my constant sick bullshit for the past three days. So I took out my camera and began snapping away, lots and lots of photos were taken, and Perth is such a beautiful city. By mid day, I reckon we had close to 100 photos already.

But then I lost the bloody camera!

I was stupid enough to leave it at a souvenir shop and only realised that it was gone about half an hour later. Itu pun sebab my colleague asked where my camera was. Upon realising that we left the thing at the souvenir shop, we rushed back immediately to try and look for it. I found the leather casing holder thingy of my camera there, but the bloody camera was GONE.

I was so fucking frustrated and disappointed. And angry at myself for being so stupid to leave it there. It's just my bad luck.

To make things worse, that night I started to feel sakit perut. I went to the toilet no less than 8 times that night.

We had to catch our flight at 1 am but we still had enough time for a movie at 8.15 pm. So we went and watched "The Wrong Man" which is actually the movie "Lucky Number Slevin" which is a movie that I've watched previously. But since that was the only movie that suited our tight schedule, we watched it anyways. Cost us 10 dollars. By the time the movie ended, it was 10.10 pm. We had to rush to the airport by 11 to check in. And since the Aussie airports are quite strict in terms of check in time, we did not want to be late.

But we had to return the rental car first. Which we did. We managed to get ourselves slightly lost on the way returning the car. Fortunately it wasn't too bad and we got to the car rental drop off place by 10.30. Strangely enough, the area was unbelievably crowded for that time of the day. We then found out that there were so many people there because they were just coming out from a Robbie Williams concert held in the stadium nearby. Fucking hell. Now we're in trouble since a) we have to compete with a million other people for a cab b) there's a bloody massive jam in that area c) we won't make it to the airport before 11.

We did eventually get a cab and literally had to ask the driver to speed and drive macam syaitan in order for us to get to the airport as quick as possible. But there was no way that we'd reach there by 11 since it was already quarter to when we got on the cab. The cab driver was good though, he did drive macam syaitan, and drove fast. When we finally got to the airport it was 11.40. I thought that it wasn't that bad and reckoned that we could smooth talk our ways into checking in.

And as soon as we got into the check in place, we saw a long line. That was the queue for our flight. Which I thought was weird considering the counter was open more than an hour ago. I looked around to see what's happening and finally found out that our flight has been delayed to 3.30 am. What the fuck. All that stress and syaitan driving only to find out it's not even check in time yet? Shit. Definitely not my day.

Thankfully, that was the last "unfortunate event" that I experienced for the trip. Certainly was something that was both interesting and sad at the same time. I think it's more sad than interesting. Sad sad sad.

I lost my camera.

That is sad.





2.12.06

Wirelessly

After nearly 6 hours playing around with the new wireless router, I finally have some free time. It felt very satisfying, finishing the job but it also made me super sleepy.
I'd like to go to bed now, Zzzz.

1.12.06

Tourist

I’m not a tourist. I don’t find taking photos in front of historical buildings and/or nice looking, fancily designed architecture exciting at all. And, I’m not keen on “nature” stuff either, you know the gorgeous waterfalls, trees, parks, whatever. I reckon standing in front of a museum or by the beach while someone else takes their sweet time to set the camera up, followed by making cheesy poses is a bit dumb. Embarrassing even.

I prefer experiencing things. Like being at a football match, attending a concert, having a picnic at the park or going downhill on a snowboard. Experience has more meaning.

That’s why I don’t have many photos. I don’t want to take photos just for the sake of it. It feels empty.

And hey, this is what I saw on the back of a beat up ’92 Hyundai Accent the other day:
Zero to Bitch in 1.5 Seconds!

It seemed funny to me.