It's been a while

Hi to those who are still reading this? I presume there is no one reading here already but out of the blue I realized that I had a blog and decided to write on it.
What is there to say? Hmmmmm, it's been a year since I first started my job. What do i think of it honestly? Erm, actually the company I'm working at now has a very laid back atmosphere and colleagues are very helpful (well, most of them). However, i don't know if it is a good place to work. I think I am getting complacent here. I think i really need a good kick in the butt. I also seem to be not taking any interest at all of my work here. I don't know if I'm in the right field as well.

It seems that my quarter life crisis is creeping back again. Actually I think it never really go away. My one over year in Malaysia has given me mixed feelings. I still don't want to stay here long term but I'm getting comfortable here. Whenever I get too comfortable, I feel guilty thus get agitated.

Maybe what someone told me was right. I shouldn't be always looking for excuses and exit options etc etc. Should just look down and bulldoze your way through and not always looking everywhere thinking where to go but not moving.

Recollections of Thoughts

As some would know, recently a schoolmate of mine suddenly passed away. Seeing how much he has achieved within that 23 years makes me shameful and small at the same time. I ponder upon whether I could even achieve what he has in my lifetime.

I'd never knew him personally. In secondary school there were 5 science classes. In a way the first three science classes was the smart ones while the last two weren't the so good classes. I was in the latter thus I guess I'd developed an inferiority complex. Well, predictably he was in the smarter class so I'd labeled him like the rest of the people in the first three science classes as snobbish smart people. Looking back I was being so judgmental. What's more unfortunate is that I still am a judgmental prick.

I remembered not too long ago I attended a seminar and that that person asked me what would the tombstone say about you? What legacy would you leave behind? What you would had contributed to society up till then? I look at that person half cursing him as my shallow mind thought he is cursing me that I would die young. In view of recent events, I guess it's time to seriously think of those questions posed onto me.

Cutting Steam

There was this instance I was talking to a girl who is shy and pretty at the same time. Anywayz, I manage to strike a conversation about general things like what school we went to bla bla bla.

Everything was going quite well as we stroll along. She even asked for my number exchanged numbers. Then we continued talking for a while and then came along a question from me.

"So what did you do during the holidays?" I asked.
"Oh, I went to Singapore and stayed there for two months" she replied.
"Wow! That's quite nice" I said
"Yea I was there with my boyfriend in Singapore yada yada yada bla bla bla"
*speechless*

Haih, so potong steam.

Man dies after being set ablaze by girlfriend

For those who thinks only men are the violent ones who abuse their girlfriend/wife, please read this. Hope this breaks the stereotype of domestic violence are caused by men.

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/12/22/nation/20081222154135&sec=nation

JOHOR BARU: A 32-year-old man died after he was set ablaze by an assailant, believed to be his girlfriend.

G. Ganipathy was set on fire at a house in Taman Ungku Tun Aminah at about 7.30am on Sunday.

It is learnt that the victim had been renting a room with his girlfriend at the house. The suspect had allegedly doused him with petrol and set him on fire before escaping.

Ganipathy was in the toilet when the incident occurred. His housemates, who heard his screams, rushed in and quickly put out the fire before sending him to Sultanah Aminah Hospital.

However Ganipathy, who was 90% burnt, succumbed to his injuries at about 10pm the same day.

Johor Baru (North) OCPD Asst Comm Ruslan Hassan said police had identified the suspect, who is a 45-year-old woman.

“We are currently tracking down the suspect and are confident of apprehending her soon,” he said when contacted here on Monday.

He said police have classified the case as murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

“We are exploring all angles in the investigation,” he said, adding that the body had been sent for post-mortem.

The Negative Effects of Low Gas Prices

I think most people now would be really relieved that gas prices are on a 3 year low, albeit to Malaysians it wouldn't really matter as they are ripping off RM16 million a day off us. Anyhow, across the sea to the US of A, gas prices are less than half of what I used to pump a few months ago. During that 'good old days', gas prices was so bad that demands for alternative fuels sprang up, where the most popular alternative was electric propulsion. For those who really can't figure out, it means electric cars.

Ever since the fall of gas prices, the sales and interest of electric cars fell as well. Heck, since gas is so cheap why bother with the electric cars which is generally more expensive and has limited distance. The answer is very simple, and that gas prices would go up again.

The problem with us human beings are that we fail to see things long term. It takes a very wise man to envision the future. For the rest of us, we're just rejoicing over cheap gas, like I myself. My immense interest and research towards electric cars suddenly comes to a screeching halt and it has been months since I read up an article about those companies like Aptera and Tesla. I can safely assume that the average person would had all but forgotten about those electric cars as well.

So there you go, our addiction to oil is here to stay and hopefully those electric car companies are able to withstand the economy downturn as well. While typical companies benefit from low gas prices, it means less interest on electric cars which are typically more expensive than the gasoline car.

Are You Stupid?

Please read this article here http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/11/19/autos.ceo.jets/index.html . You know I can't imagine how fucking stupid this people can be. These guys are paid millions a year to run a company that is losing billions a month! It is no wonder the Detroit 3 are going down. They really should just go down.

A Scent From The Past

Just this evening, my dad came back from Kota Kinabalu, the land of the blow-pipers. Nevermind about them, the thing was that my sister's in-laws stay in KK and that they just came back from the US, where they were staying with my sister and her husband. Before they came back, I ask my sister to help me get two bottles of body shampoo that is not available in Malaysia. I got it alright, plus a Calvin Klein working shirt and a Nike long sleeve sports attire with the price tags still attached to it. As I look at the price tag while sniffing the body shampoo (I know it's wierd...whatever!), I closed my eyes and for a while imagined I was in the good 'ol US with even cheaper gas prices than Malaysia, blazing internet speeds and 'o so cold weather with fairy-tale snow.

Seriously though, time really flew by this time. It has been almost three months since I got back to Malaysia. Furthermore, the past three weeks was spent in acclimating myself to my new job, which like everything new and unfamiliar is quite a challenge. So when I came back home and got hold of these items, I was feeling all nostalgic again.


The body shampoo!!!



The two clothings that I have.


The view from my room of the car covered with fluffy white snow.

As annoying as it is, I really miss snow now......

Something very logical

I want you all to read this article. In my humble opinion, the person quoted in the article makes alot of sense, very noble and very forward thinking. I think he deserves to be given a good praise for spending his precious time coming up with this kind of things. It would be very beneficial to everybody.

For those who wants to know what I'm commenting about, go to this website http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/11/22/nation/20081122111842&sec=nation . Please tell me what you think.

My first official work week

A week has passed by where I had officially started work. Honestly speaking, I feel very lost cause I dunno what to do and stuff like that. The company also had a scholarship award where I was merely an observer. My boss however told me that I would be organizing the next event which is in December.

Starting work makes me realize that I still have a lot of learning to do and experiences to go through. It is one of major points in life I guess. It is no wonder my parents was so tergila-gila over it. I guess the next big thing is, a big fat paycheck *slurp*. Actually in reality it is just a skinny skimmed no fat paycheck. Ahahaha!

To put yourself in one others' shoes

It is not a big secret that I don’t get along with most people. But don’t get me wrong here as I’m not a social outcast whom couldn’t socialize with anyone. What I mean not getting along is that my views as compared to the society is often to the contrary and at most times vulnerable to misunderstanding. This is why more often than not I have to suppress my freedom of speech and to just go along with the crowd. Even on my blog I have to make sure that what is said out here does not create a misconception let alone offend people. However, exceptions once in a while on my own blog wouldn’t hurt so much I guess.

One of the better things in Malaysia as compared to the US would be that it has Hitz fm. There was a radio station back in Kalamazoo which was similar to Hitz fm; that it repeats the songs that are deemed as ‘hits’. The problem with the radio station in Kalamazoo is that they would have a severely limited amount of songs that would be put on repeat. It is as though the whole radio station is running of an ipod with just only 10 songs in it. I can still remember when I was working in the cafeteria and the Umbrella song was included in the 10 song list that in an hour you could hear ela ela ela ela eh eh eh eh under my ela ela ela eh eh eh eh a few fucking times much to my desire to shoot myself in the head.

Excuse me while I get sidetracked here. Back to Hitz fm, instead of ela ela ela ela eh eh eh you hear a lot of advertisement which are far less annoying. One of the advertisements that really got my attention was about getting people to report about women abuse. It got me thinking about how the society would react towards women abuse. Shall we live in a less civilized country I am sure that the abuser (which of course would be the men, typically the husband) would be detained and be beaten to death by a bunch of bra-burning-unshaven-armpit-hair-men-hating feminists. In a civilized country we would take pity of the abused and often or not report to the feminist agencies or whatever they call themselves. As I think about this scenario here comes my unorthodox thinking which often is controversial. Feminists can stop reading here now.

I had always wonder why would a woman choose to stay in a relationship if it was an abusive one? Given the social advancements of gender equality a women walking out of a relationship would not cause a social uproar unlike the medieval times where they would be stoned to death. By saying that walking out of the relationship is as easy as walking out. As for those who stayed on believing that their partner would change for the better and that she loves him very much, that is being abused by choice therefore the ball is in her court now. So as for those claiming to be abused and what not, I always have the feeling that they’re nothing more of attention loving people seeking to get attention by saying they were abused. Most of the time real abuse cases are rarely reported and that reported abuses are often nothing more as a way to either seek attention or to get back at their male counterparts. Believe me, I experienced this before with me claiming to be the abuser and stuff. Most of the stuff that I was accused of is absurd to say the least.

In conclusion, if you heard rumors about how this woman was abused and is the talk of the town, think again. Refrain from getting emotional and be rational for a moment. There are always two sides to a story and obviously people would twist & turn facts to their advantage and one of the lethal ammunition that women have would be to be claimed a rape/abuse victim. I’m not saying that all of them are liars; just that one should be smart enough to think twice before starting a witch hunt on the opposing sex.

Overpaying in Malaysia

To be honest with you, I'd already gotten used to Malaysia. However, there are some things that I long to have like my own car, cheap stuff and a host of other things. I've come to realize that living in Malaysia is really expensive. One may argue that food is cheaper and stuff but I beg to differ so. Yes, eating at restaurants are cheap compared to US but buying food from the supermarket are really expensive. Case in point is a pint of Haagen Daz costs RM30.90. In US the price is 3.50 (this price is incredibly marked up. Typically it costs around 3 dollars). You don't need to be good in maths to realize how much we're over paying for stuff. Granted this is luxury items, there are many other stuff like sphagetti and stuff which I do not consider as luxury food items and yet they're really expensive.

Let's get to transportation. There's no need to go through the fact that we're overpaying for a car. The government loves to tell us that they're subsidizing our petrol. Lately they had reduced it to a mere RM0.30/litre which is peanuts as 30 cents can do jack in RM currency. Nevermind about that, lets take the current price of oil per barrel. From oil-price.net, the price per barrel is at USD64.60. Let's overprice our USD and set it at 1USD = RM3.60, which at USD64.60 = RM232.56. A barrel of oil equals to 117.35 litres. So RM232.56 divided by the 117.35 litres would come out to about RM1.98 per litre. Minus another 30 cents subsidy that is supposedly given to us would amount to RM1.68 per litre. Right now for those who are living in Malaysia we all know that we're paying RM2.30 per litre. So aren't we like overpaying our petrol by over 30 cents?

Parking at IKEA for only 85 cents. How?

You know if you go to IKEA in Damansara Perdana, you can get free parking at the IKEANO power center with any purchase from IKEA. This means you can buy anything and still be able to get the free parking.

I guess you all would know where this is heading to. Just go buy the cheapest stuff that you can ever buy from IKEA and then get the free parking. The cheapest thing I found so far was a mug that is priced at 85 cents. So just go buy that mug and then get the free parking. This deal is even sweeter during the weekends as it is 2 dollars for the first 3 hours as opposed to a dollar for the first 3 hours.

So even if you wanna go to The Curve, I suggest parking there not only because of the free parking but also it is more expensive and their parking system is confusing. Just remember don't do it too often as they might find out we're abusing the system. Wahahaha kiasuness......

British Movies

Recently I watched a show titled Flashbacks of a Fool starring Daniel Craig, you know the guy who is playing the latest James Bond. This movie along with other British makes are quite pleasing to watch as those movies give you a sense of nostalgia, which is very rare in a testosterone charged full of violence and sex scenes hollywood movies. Not that Flashbacks of a Fool doesn't have those, its just that somehow the British does it in a classy style, not skanky.

Anywayz, while watching this movie, there this hot chick which as usual I would go crazy over her. Her name is Felicity Jones and she's one year older than me. Unlike my usual liking of blonde hair blue eyes, she is a brunette.

Oh well, the point I'm trying to make here is that you all should try British make movies once in a while. Come to think of it, I seem to have more preference towards non-hollywood movies as they have some originality in it. Hollywood movies has become very generic as of lately. Go and watch them and tell me what you think.

The New BMW 7-series

Has anyone seen the new BMW 7-series? And I thought the the previous generation 7-series was an absolute disaster. A picture is worth a thousand words. So let me show you two-thousand words worth of pictures.

'I'm a little piggy here's my snout, oink oink oink, oink oink oink."

The back is likened to a tumor that has been festering on the tail lamp. If they had made the tail lamp a sleek line across then it would be much nicer. Even the 3 series tail-lamp look like a down syndrome kid with cock eyes. Its a wonder if the BMW is still a desirable automobile.

Speechless.....

I'm sure you Malaysians out there would know about the Ahmad Ismail's remarks upon the Chinese Malaysians. In this day of age, I'm appalled and shocked to find that this kind of remarks can still be shouted out in Malaysia. Shall he does this in western countries he would be F'ed in the A so hard that even Saiful would pity him.

Ok lets get to the facts shall we. Fine, Ismail wanna bring out as us Chinese Malaysians being 'squatters' to Malaysia, how about you Malays? Lest not forget that your Parameswara was a damn immigrant that went to Temasik (Singapore) and killed the leader there. So it is safe to assume that not only the Malays are squatters in line with the Chinese but also a senseless cruel murderer.

Still talking about facts; Malays might be the majority in terms of population numbers, but lets get real. In this day of age a country is pretty much defined by its financial status. The Chinese, being the squatters are contributing over 80% of tax revenues to the government, which most of it falls into their cronies and 'Malay development'. So you tell me, do you really think that us Chinese Malaysians, given the choice would want to continue staying in Malaysia? Why would you think scores of people are running away from this country? Even the educated Malays who are not blinded by the political screen?

An apocalypse

It is wierd. After spending almost 20 years of his life in his home country, he suddenly feels alienated. Systems that are unfathomable, life that is questionable, he plows through the day. While last time he sleeps late into the night after a nice outing with friends, now he is withdrawn. He now goes to bed early in hope of a better day tomorrow, which often enough turns out worse than before.
Frustration mounts inside him, he doesn't even know why. Soon depression creeps in, again he doesn't know why. While skies are blue as ever, his eyes sees gloomy depressing skies. Living in denial, he tries to sleep it off only to find his life getting darker and darker. He even wonders if the sun ever shines.
'I need to get out of this hole' he says. He feels as thought he's trapped. Don't ask him why he just feels so. He thought things would be better when he comes home but then he soon realized all of his friends has left their home. One by one, slowly all went away, leaving him here all alone.
Perhaps there would be better days. He should be positive and hope for the better. He should look for alternatives if his home is less desirable as he thought it would be. Above it all, he should try and get over it.

Clémence Poésy

To those very few whom I've been talking to lately, you would know who is this girl. Right now this lady is the only reason why I feel like jumping on a plane and fly off to France to look for her. But anyways, as with most French words, her name is pronounced as clema pozei, if this actually gives a more accurate pronounciation.

It was in one of the random movies that I had when I first got to know about her. The name of the movie is In Bruges, which talks about two murderers and she plays as a drug dealer. Damn if all drug dealers are this hot I would become a drug dealer myself as well haha! After cyber-stalking her i get to know that she plays as Fleur Delacour in the 4th installment of the Harry Potter movie. She is also a model and currently one of the spokesmodel of a fragrance called Chloe, which incidently the name of her character in In Bruges.

I recommend you all to go watch In Bruges although I must warn you it has an artsy wierdy kind of theme going on. It's not your typical hollywood jock chick flick that you ever so often find on movies. It can get quite boring as it doesn't really have a solid storyline behind it, which revolves around a vague romance between one of the murderers and Chloe.


One of the scenes in In Bruges


This is Clemence in the Harry Potter as Fleur Delacour


And this is one of my favorite pictures of her. *slurp! haha

Till then.........

The thought of it

I'm gonna be back in Malaysia in 2 days time. Knowing myself I can say I won't be back in US for quite sometime although I might leave some remnants of my existance in the US.
Been talking to my friends about life in Malaysia in general. In most it is of negative perceptions and one of my friends told me to forget about the air ticket and just stay back as it could well be the best 900USD spent. I have a friend who told me that Malaysia is changing because Anwar won the election. My opinion that if you think Malaysia is changing for the better you're disillusional as it takes a least a generation (20-30 years) to have some noticeable changes as a whole. Being partially Americanized & impatient I want things instantaneously, which is of a rare occurance in Malaysia. To buy a car in Malaysia is a week long affair. When I sold my car about a week ago, it took just 4-5 hours to take a look at the car, apply the loan, driving up and down to cash in the check, buy insurance and register the car. Even a bloody loan can be approved within seconds. Just to show that Malaysia has serious efficiency problems.
Another thing would be that I'm so used to the US system. I know how to register my car, renew the license plates, buy insurance, open a bank account, apply for social security etc etc. I remember back in the good old days when my mom was still driving the Kancil paying just a freaking bill would take an hour. Paying everything would be a day long affair. As nothing could be done online, it is a serious chore running here and there wasting precious time, petrol and money just to get things around in Malaysia.
But before you all think this is another rant of me stepping back to third world country, you are wrong. As much as I try to stay away from Malaysia, I cannot hide the fact that I'm excited to go back. Maybe it is because I'm bored out of my wits waiting to go back, but I cannot deny the fact that after being in Malaysia for over 20 years, I can't help but feel at home with my parents and having a sense of familiarity around. And after staying in different countries of different cultures, I come to realize that each society has its postives and their drawbacks. I can't change the fact that I'm going back, so I might as well stay positive and look forward to things that will come. Life is too short to dwell on the negativity, and so I shall stay positive no matter what.
..............who the hell am I kidding? OMFG, I'M GOING BACK TO MALAYSIA! FUCK ME!!!!!!!

Everything's Gone!

I was awaken by a call this morning. The night before there's this girl who e-mailed me about my car. I told she could see the car tomorrow and therefore the call. At first I was not expecting a sale of the car as I had so many close encounters of selling the car. Actually it was two person one which was too picky about the fact that a 9 year old car doesn't look brand new and costs only 5000USD. The other one was some Indonesian student who told me to hold on to the car till he finish his finals only to delay it by saying he wants his friend to check the car. He or the friend never showed up and calling him a couple of times he refused to pick up his phone and never called back after leaving him a voicemail asking him whether he wants the car or not. You see this is why sometimes I hate Asians, no offence really.
But this time was different. Not only that it was the only girl who was interested in the car but this sweet looking girl with sky blue eyes showed up with her whole family. As I was only awake for about 5 minutes I was dazed and just stoned while letting the family have a look at the car. She told me then that she'll be applying for a loan to get the car and then left. I thought an application of the loan would take a few days but I was surprised that at the end of the day the title was handed over and the check cashed in.
Sigh, so now I'm left with no car which is a big thing for me as taking away my car is akin to throwing me in jail. As though it couldn't get any worse, my phone line is officially dead as I disconnected it a tad bit too early before heading back to Malaysia. So I've lost my communication and my transportation, although i'm like 5k richer.
Oh and that brings me to the fact that I'm going back to Malaysia. The time has finally come. Me and my friend booked our ticket a few days earlier and we were staring at each other coming to the realization that we would have to go back to the oppressed, surpressed, racialistic, analistic, chaotic and smelly little country. We fought for like eternity on asking who should go buy the ticket first. In the end we both took our laptops and book it together with sombre silence.
Ok I know I'm like over reacting to this and stuff, but I can so imagine being helpless in Malaysia. For one I used to do everything online; banking, information, finding stuff and so on. Another thing would be that I couldn't just key in an address and let the wonders of the GPS do the work for me. I know there is a Malaysian map but it's pretty inaccurate and stuff. Sigh, I guess coming back to third world country from a develop country takes some getting used to.

Mistaken Identity

I know I might be a few days late watching the Olympics opening but I'm wondering if anyone actually watched the opening on BBC (British Broadcast Channel). You know when they had the parade of the athletes, and it was Malaysia's turn to parade.
Now the funny thing was that the commentator said that there is about 6 million ethnic chinese in Malaysia and then proceeds to talk about Lee Kuan Yew, one of the most influential leaders in the country and also implementing controversial governmental policies. Wait a minute, isn't Lee Kuan Yew the leader of Singapore?
It then makes me wonder, what if Lee Kuan Yew really was the leader of Malaysia? I really feel that things would be much more different in a positive way.