Monthly Archives: August 2003

Yet another eventful day

I woke up to a fantastic Nasi Lemak lunch. I then took a cab to PWTC, where Xfresh had a booth at the astro festival. This was no ordinary cab. There was a kid sleeping in the backseat, and who I assume to be his mother!

Cool! That was the first lady cabbie I’ve ever met. I had only heard of lady cab drivers before that.

She asked if I was in a hurry. Nope, I said. She stopped over at one of those NGV (Natural Gas Vehicle) petrol stations. I asked how it worked, and if it was practical. She explained all the nitty gritty details, and how she didn’t like having to keep her RPM’s near 1000 and service her tuning every two weeks. Sure, she may be a lady taxi driver, but she was no car geek.

I just hung around the booth until when Akademi Fantasia was on stage. I rushed with Shaz to the backstage, as Xfresh was supposed to be on stage after them. Some technical problems arose and we were postponed. Ah well, back to the booth.

Of course, it was near impossible, with the crazy adoration of the fans! A glossy picture was passed to one of the AF-ers, who took it and looked for a pen to sign it with. He returned with his signature and passed it to the guards, who probably couldn’t remember which fanatic it belonged to! A girl in front started dribbling tears.

The AF-ers then walked out of the building, but the crowd didn’t disperse – they believed that the AF-ers were still in, hiding somewhere!

After the crowd was pushed back, we saw the damage. The Nokia booth had its display glass windows broken, and the phones stolen.

Makes me think of how much I take working at astro for granted. The AF-ers drop by the fishtank (Xfresh’s office is nicknamed so) to check emails when they’re at astro.

Oh yes, thanks uneeq for treating me to McDonald’s! 🙂 That took care of the post-crowd-trauma headache.

Due to the waning crowd, we packed up early. No sir, not 10pm… by 8 we started packing. Oh boy, what waste the crowds can lay to pretty posters!

After all the work was done, I got conned by my own sleepiness.

Shaz and Darrel were hanging out at The Mall’s Starbucks, drinking Auntie Anne‘s RM3.50 lemonade. (The table was between two counters so I wasn’t sure which shop it belonged to.) I then walked over to the counter, not Starbucks, but they didn’t serve lemonade, or anything at that price! I then bought Iced Lemon Tea for RM5.50. Yes, the D in Iced adds to the class and price.

I sat down and complained to Shaz. They then pointed out that I was holding a Delifrance cup!

I then got a cab home. Weirdly enough, there was a jam right around Segambut, and nothing after a certain point that we didn’t notice. Like how you can suddenly walk out of rain.

Yes, I realize that there is nothing introspective about this post; it’s just a what-happened-today post, but at least I make up in quantity… 😛 (In other words, eat it!)

Days Daze

Ever had one of those days where what you do earlier today feels like you did it yesterday?

Today was such a day.

In the morning, I slept in the PUTRA LRT train system. I got off at college, just to have the excellent nasi lemak, the local delicacy of my breakfast tongue. It was only 9 am, and I wanted to head to Low Yat Plaza to have my MP3 USB thumb drive player fixed, once again, but the shop would only be open at 11 am.

So I walked. I walked to KLCC (not a problem) and then headed on towards Jalan Sultan Ismail, a major road. I turned right and walked down the road, seeing more and more familiar territory. Had I struck jackpot? Had I stumbled upon Bintang Walk, somewhat adjacent to Low Yat Plaza?

No, I hit the other end. Sogo area. I went on to the legendary Campbell Complex, finding three music shops that didn’t have too mainstream tastes. I hit jackpot, somewhat! Of course, it was only 10 am, and my guess would be that I’d have to stay around for 2 hours to enter…

Day 2?

I then took the STAR LRT to the Hang Tuah stop, where I would walk to Low Yat Plaza. I handed my MP3 player, for them to finally send it for warranty instead of repeatedly formatting it. 🙂

I headed to Hang Tuah again, to switch at Masjid Jamek to reach KLCC. I was going for free sushi. (I’ve never eaten sushi before.) Yes, someone was going to pay for me, for reasons too evil to speak of here. 🙂 On my way up the escalator to meet her, I bumped into Ed and girlfriend.

At the top, I bumped into her and another friend, and financially challenged as he was, we flipped a coin to decide between KFC and sushi. KFC won.

It’s ironic how I always get a phone call when I’m in KFC eating. Nope, not a message. It has to be a call. Can’t I eat my oily fried chicken in peace?

Day 3?

I then headed over to Putra World Trade Center for the astro festival, where I was on duty from 4 pm to 10 pm to guard the Xfresh booth. There was also a Sony Playstation 2 to cure bouts of visitor-less boredom. 🙂 I also lost to a (about 10 year old) kid in Gran Turismo 3, racing simulator game. 🙁 What would you expect of a guy who doesn’t even use manual transmission in arcade Daytona?

Although Day 3 has the shortest paragraph, it is also the one that consumed most of my day. I sometimes have days segmented into two virtual days, but three? Not to my recollection.

Freedom!

Two days ago, I just handed in all my college projects. Hopefully I will pass and it will all be over. Freedom? Well, not completely. I still have exams on the 20th and 22nd of August 2003. 🙁

If you see me online on the nights before then, tell me to go back to the books or something. If you are an operator for a chatroom I am in, kick me!

Anyway, I was bored, as my brother was at the computer all night. This was sparked by Malaysia’s national anthem having its name changed from Negaraku to Malaysiaku. Patriotic, am I not?

Negaraku/Malaysiaku by Albert Ng
5th August 2003

Standard EADGBe tuning, maybe put a capo because I’m not sure if it’s at the right notes, it’s just easy to play at its location.

——-|—————–|——–|————|——–|——–|——–|————-|
——-|—————–|——–|0——-0—|——–|——–|——–|0————|
——0|-0-0-0———–|——–|0—2p0-0—|–0—0~|—-0-2~|–2-2p0~|0-0———-|
—-2-2|-2-2—2——-0~|——0~|2h3—–3p2~|–2-2—|2b2b—-|0-3—–|2—-43—–|
——3|-3-3—-b3r2b3—|–2h3—|————|–3—–|——–|——–|———2/3~|
3-3—-|—————–|3——-|————|3——-|——–|——–|————-|

Note: 0~ uses the Tony IommiTM behind-the-nut bend

Improvements/improvisations anyone?

Oh yes, it’s a small world when you know the bigshot hot hoochie mamma who won’t let you touch her much less bump her knees Rocket Queen.

Oh yes. Right after the last project was handed in, I celebrated by spending lavishly. Dang those upper and downers, those misguiding bomb droppers! Uh yes, the fruit better taste good.

Trained Escapade

I use a monthly pass to get on the PUTRA LRT, Malaysia’s urban subway train system. The following is a recollection of how I single-handedly managed to avoid, uh, paying a fine. But first, a how-I-got-there appetizer!

But first, why such a late update? College projects! Three at a time! Fail and re-sit two semesters!

So yeah, I had to hand in a demo CD by 5 PM yesterday. I finished burning the CD at 4:40 PM and tried to flag many cabs. I got my lucky break with an old Chinese guy. I told him I’d give him 5 Ringgit extra if he’d go faster a bit.

He asked why I was rushing. I said I would fail if I didn’t hand in the project in time.

I don’t know if RM 5 was a lot in terms of going faster, but he was going fast (and aggressive) as well! He cursed at motorcyclists in a British slang (Bloody motorcyclists want to die!)

He also had this weird calmness, singing and humming happily to the national anthem!

The fare came to RM 8, and I paid him RM 13. I don’t know if I would have the same treatment if I didn’t offer to pay more, or if I didn’t say I was going to fail.

5:10 PM. I ran to college, and fortunately my lecturer was at the coffeeshop below. I handed him the CD and asked when was my mandatory present-my-crappy-demo time. Tomorrow afternoon, he said. (4 hours from time of writing this.)

I then headed over to the cheapest place in that expensive area (Ampang Park), McDonalds. Forbidden luxury comes in McShaker Fries. Just above RM 7 for that meal.

I then sat in college to nod off at World Wide Web Fundamentals. I also got my progress test results. 19 out of 60. This is what you get for giving a real-life answer and not something out of the textbook. Of course, the textbook is sad too – it writes about cutting edge killer applications back in 1998. 2003? Failed and forgotten. Not that those were bad ideas… those just never got round to being introduced. I forgot which Internet bigshot said that the browser didn’t have any real enhancements. Quite true that was – new releases have just more support for fancy layouts. 🙁

To heck with RMI, Java Beans, CORBA and other one-article-wonders. 😛

Now here comes the exciting part!

I went back through the Ampang Park PUTRA LRT station. There was nobody to check my monthly pass. Yes, that’s right – all I need to do is flash the pass at the guard. No touching or magnetic strip involved!

I took it to Masjid Jamek, flood central (and also where I take my bus home), where on my way out I was stopped by the guard. He confiscated my July 2003 collector’s item. 🙁 (Well, I collect them anyway…) He then directed me to the booth, still on the paying side of the station.

I told my friend, who used the Touch-and-Go magnetic card system, that I was going to the toilet first. I snuck off, and upon coming out of the toilet, I went back down to wait for another train!

I came out at Dang Wangi, one station away. Darn. There was a guard there. Ah well, I walked in and out of the toilet, and then got on the train to Kg. Baru.

That one had no guard, so I walked past, going up and down the escalator. God knows why I need to act so much. I then went to the booth and bought my August 2003 monthly pass.

I took the train to Pasar Seni, walking distance from my bus stop. On the way there I couldn’t help notice them Swedish-looking summer-wear female tourists. Yes, summer wear, with the whole abdominal part showing, not just a strip of midriff!

I bumped into a friend on my way out. Is the world becoming smaller, or am I getting more popular? 😛

You drive a car? Big deal. What are the chances of you bumping into someone on the road? I’ve bumped into many old friends on the train. You car-using people can only bump into people at places where you have to pay parking. Haha!

Plus, the PUTRA LRT is an easy exercise in voyeurism. Why must she get offended at my transfixed gaze? Hmmph. A beautiful tree doesn’t get offended!

Oh yes, linkage comes in cute farts in my About Me! page like Uneeq.