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!<\/p>\n
But first, why such a late update? College projects! Three at a time! Fail and re-sit two<\/b> semesters!<\/p>\n
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<\/i>.<\/p>\n
He asked why I was rushing. I said I would fail if I didn’t hand in the project in time.<\/p>\n
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!<\/i>)<\/p>\n
He also had this weird calmness, singing and humming happily to the national anthem!<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
5:10 PM<\/b>. 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.)<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
I then sat in college to nod off at World Wide Web Fundamentals<\/b>. 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. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n
To heck with RMI, Java Beans, CORBA and other one-article-wonders. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n
Now here comes the exciting part!<\/b><\/p>\n
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!<\/p>\n
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. \ud83d\ude41 (Well, I collect them anyway…) He then directed me to the booth, still on the paying side of the station.<\/p>\n
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!<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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!<\/p>\n
I bumped into a friend on my way out. Is the world becoming smaller, or am I getting more popular? \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n
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!<\/p>\n
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!<\/p>\n
Oh yes, linkage comes in cute farts in my About Me!<\/a><\/b> page like Uneeq<\/a><\/b>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geek","category-travelling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}