DERRICK LOW | MUSINGS OF

UPDATE: What's Next After "Potong"

2010-10-17T14:46:00.005+08:00

Michael Lai, Chief Executive Officer of P1 W1MAX tweeted this on his official twitterfeed @MichaelLaiP1 a few minutes ago, confirming one of my guesses on the new stuff P1 will launch soon:Now, remember @scamboy aka. Kugan Kathegesen's blogpost a few years back about the WiMAX-WiFi device?
There you go. However, at this stage, the plans are still unknown along with the speeds and usage limits to accompany this device. But, it should be expected that it should compete well in the market, being DiGi the only other player (unless you tether your smartphone/dumbphone to your PC of course). So, new plans for their other devices are highly unlikely. So, is next week's event worth going (unless if they were to give me a free trial of course). =)

____________________________________

So now, logically there's 2 conflicting devices offered by P1 W1MAX. What's the point to get the WiMAX-inside devices now where you can't share the connection via Wi-Fi when you can do so with this new device? Furthermore you can share it with your iPhone/iPad and other Wi-Fi equipped devices too.

Think twice.

What's Next After "Potong"?

2010-10-15T21:36:00.004+08:00

Dear Blogojaya,

I know I have abandoned this blog for quite some time. It's due to a phenomena that affects everyone - busy, stressful life. Here's a short, brief blogpost (since I don't have access to fast internet right now).

----------------------------------
First and foremost, congratulations to me, for obtaining a domain name. If there's anything, feel free to contact me on iam@derricklow.net. Or you can just leave me a tweet @derrickveejay
----------------------------------

----------------------------------
Secondly, I have news, P1 will be launching a new marketing programme/plans/internet service (LTE?)/devices/tablet/blablabla.

What's next after "Potong"?

Well, in accordance to their recent achievement of winning the Gold trophy for their extremely successful "Potong Now" campaign in Effie Awards Malaysia (one of the most prestigious marketing awards worldwide, in P1's case, Malaysia), they are back for more.

Here's my guesses:

- New plans (Unifi's penetrating 80% of Klang Valley by Q1 2012 yo!) (YTL-e starting WiMAX services next month) - So, they have to start something with better speeds and cheaper plans to compete against these services.
-New devices (Do I smell smartphones, tablets anyone?) - Err, 4G phones collaborating with Maxis? Since a handful of their employees are using corporate plans? -Notebooks/netbooks out of the list, launched a few months back.
- New plans? W1GGY+WiMAX Inside+Home Plan under ONE plan with shared FUP?
- New Internet services? (IPTV?, content hosting?, video conferencing?) - highly unlikely, with their high average latency

It's time for something new, yes, I'd agree. Having the RM139 promotion for 2.4Mbps where existing customers aren't eligible to upgrade aren't logical enough in this competitive world. So, I think, it should be a win-win situation promotion for all existing and new customers. A new modem is highly unlikely (with their DX-230 modem launched also a few months back). But a Portable WiMAX-WiFi modem should be welcomed in this market, especially with DiGi MiFi being the market leader in this unexplored market in Malaysia. Well, if they can offer that with an iPad, that's a double kill - but not necessarily will be successful considering the WiMAX-inside devices not gaining enough attention.

But, here's what customers want:
- FASTER CONNECTION
- MORE STABLE CONNECTIONS
- BETTER COVERAGE.

'nuff said. Will cover the event if I'm going, or get info from their PR team.
-----------------------------------

-----------------------------------
Update 3: SPM's coming. Here's a reminder.
-----------------------------------

That's it, short and sweet.

REVIEW: MSI Wind U135 WiMAX Inside Netbook P1W1MAX Performance.

2010-08-14T16:33:00.007+08:00

Alright, here's the post I've promised to do about with the U135 netbook. Internet connections. How does it fair against 2 other P1W1MAX products (All actually). As far as I'm concerned, I do use 2 other P1 WiMAX's products, which is the Home Plus plan (coupled with the Outdoor CPE) and the W1GGY (Prepaid).

So, what are the equipment I've used?

- The WiMAX-inside MSI Wind U135 netbook.
- A HP Mini 110-1159tu netbook as a benchmark machine.

To ensure fairness, I did not use my quad-core desktop as it will be deemed unfair due to the MSI Wind being a netbook and the quad-core desktop being a desktop.

Plans?

- P1 W1MAX WiMAX-1NSiDE plan (up to 10Mbps, RM89 per month)
- P1 W1MAX Home Plus plan (up to 1.2Mbps, RM99 per month) - coupled with the Outdoor CPE
- P1 W1MAX W1GGY Prepaid (up to 800Kbps, RM20/500MB/2 weeks | RM50/2GB/month)

Well, at first I wanted to compare it with the other ISP I'm using, which is Celcom Broadband but hmmmm, it's unfair (due to the fact the maximum speed it can achieve is 512Kbps).

So, how did it fair?

Rigs:

For WiMAX inside vs. home plan.

For WiMAX inside vs W1GGY.

Speedtest performance:
To ensure fairness, I take only the highest speed tested. Seriously.
(WiMAX netbook first, Home Plus Plan second, W1GGY after that)

Kuala Lumpur (Optical Communication)

Singapore (NewMedia Express)
W1GGY:- TEST DID NOT FINISH(DNF) Modem disconnected.

Sydney ('Yes' Optus)
W1GGY: Download: 808Kbps Upload test DNF.

London (Namesco)
W1GGY: Both Upload and Download DNF. Disconnected again.

Comments: The WiMAX-inside laptop did seriously triumph over the Home Plus plan. HOWEVER, the promised speeds of up to 10Mbps is impossible to be achieved (but do note that even 2Mbps is considered super-fast in terms of Malaysian internet yeah!). In this test, the worst product here is definitely the W1GGY. Disconnected for 3 times during the test, siao. P1 should consider stop selling the product, seriously. And why would people take the W1GGY when there's the WiMAX-inside laptop? It really did achieve above-average speeds in Malaysia with less money paid to the ISP.

ignore this.

My five cents: Take the WiMAX inside plan. Forget about the W1GGY. Home plans will remain neutral to me, since I'm using it in the daily basis. Do consider the new RM139 (Up to 2.4Mbps/RM139/30GB FUP) plan if you want a great home connection.

P.s. P1, please give me a DX-230 for review (or allow me to upgrade to the 2.4Mbps plan on my outdoor CPE WITHOUT cancelling the contract [and getting the DX-230]). =P

Review: MSi Wind U135 WiMAX Inside Netbook First Look

2010-08-13T22:32:00.013+08:00

So, I've received the honour to be one of the reviewers for the new P1 W1MAX WiMAX-inside netbooks. In my humble opinion, this is an amazing innovative concept since you do not need any dongles or modems to connect to the internet. Not convinced? Look at this:-

Why bother carrying a W1GGY when you could have it all inside?
Oh, and it looks better than my HP Mini, unfortunately to say.

So, here are the specs:-

At RM1349, this is considered an excellent netbook. Seriously. If I were to compare the performance of the netbook with my existing HP Mini 110-1169tu, I think this netbook will triumph over it anytime. And with 'promised' speeds of up to 10Mbps over 15GB, this is also, well, a good deal. And so far, YouTube streaming is considerably good. No joke.

Why is it so special?

Did this picture answer all your doubts?

Inital test result

Design-wise, how is it?

Sleek LED lights.

Sleek Apple MacBook like keyboard (minus the backlight)

Sleek cover.

Sleek ports.

Sleek ports on the right. (Err, no HDMI unfortunately).

Oh? You're an audiophile?

You'll be disappointed. Am honest about it. The sound quality is extremely terrible (and soft). Even my HP Mini performs better than this. But well, you could always plug in your Bose headphones and roll.

What else?
Pros:
- Great design.
- Speedy startup.
- Innovative.
- Reasonably priced (compared to other netbooks, yeah.)
- WiMAX-enabled inside.
- Cheap plans (RM89 a month is not that bad what!)
- Great display (LED-backlit you know!)
- 802.11n Wi-Fi enabled (to booze off the DX-230 connection)

Cons:
- You can't run both WiMAX and Wi-Fi at the same time.
- Like other netbooks, no optical disc drives.
- Currently you're stuck with only one WiMAX operator here in Malaysia.
- Tremendously terrible speakers.
- Out of range? Uhrm, may I suggest the superiorly terrible Celcom Broadband?
- No openings to upgrade RAM. Seriously.

NEXT UP: Real world tests, battery, performance, WiMAX performance (comparison with Home Plus plan and W1GGY and MAYBE Celcom Broadband [although not in the same ballgame]) and et cetera.

Feel free to drop any comments/questions here or by tweeting me. I need more ideas on how to test the device too.

The Malaysian (con) Job

2010-07-24T13:06:00.003+08:00

[This is a very emotional post, be well prepared]

Life sucks, you've gotta admit it. You might debate it with me about it, but in my case, yeah it does. Why? Time after time, tragedy after tragedy, things happen. In contrast, something happened to me today. Not something happy, it's well sad for me. In my case, I would be more content to lose/drop/got stolen RM51 compared to getting cheated off RM51. Here's my account of the tragedy:-

Time: Around 0745 hours
Date: 24th July, 2010.
Location: The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, KL Sentral, Kuala Lumpur.

Account:
At around 0745 hours, while I was waiting for my breakfast to be ready, a guy named 'Ah Seng' (I think it's an aliased name) approached me out of nowhere and looked very sympathetic. Honestly, if he were to be a real actor, he would have won an Oscar or something equivalent. He pleaded for me to buy him a train ticket to Johor Bahru. Sounds weird? Indeed. Summary of his history- He told me that he was cheated by his friend by a few thousand bucks to start a new life in KL with a new job and so. Then he told me that all his belongings are in his hotel (not sure what hotel) and that he is in desperate need to return to Johor Bahru with the scheduled 8.30 train. Due to the damn fact that I am waiting for my scrumptious breakfast, he gave me options to either buy him a ticket (which I should've done) or give him the money to buy the ticket and return me the change within a few minutes (which I somehow, in my sub-conscious mind, chose). According to him, the price of the ticket is a well damn RM31, which he promised to wire down the money to me once he arrives in Johor Bahru. I've handed over RM51 without thinking of the consequences. After waiting for a well half an hour, he went missing (with the supposed RM20 change) and I had to leave by the time for my tuition in Pudu. The big problem here is- Not the money, I've gave my phone number to him.

Description of him:
He is a smooth talker, big in size (but not obese) but looks friendly. Speaks no other languages other than Mandarin.

Consequences now:
Fact:
- Lost RM51.

What could've happened?:
- Getting robbed off my devices (a netbook, a new mobile phone and a spoilt iPod touch 32GB)

Real consequences right now:
- He might have given my number to the loan sharks. (then risk getting spammed, harassed and harmed by the loan sharks).
- He might have changed the phone number in the hotel reservation to my phone number, (then risk getting sued by the hotel for dues etc.)
- What else? A million other possibilities

Moral of the story:
- I, at the first place, shouldn't drink coffee in a secluded cafe in KL Sentral (well, Coffee Bean in KL Sentral is superiorly secluded - next to the KLIA Ekspres Airlines check-in counters).
- I shouldn't have trusted anyone in first sight.
- I should have been more careful to these situations.
- I should have learnt the sense of denial.
- I should have informed the police right away.
- I should have asked the baristas to escort him out.
- I should have asked for his identity or whatever.
- I should have taken a picture of him.

The real moral of the story is:
DO NOT TRUST ANYONE RIGHT AWAY. BE CAREFUL IF YOU WERE TO ENCOUNTER THESE KIND OF PEOPLE EVER AGAIN! KL SENTRAL IS WELL, UNSAFE YO!

P1 W1MAX WiMAX-Inside Laptop Sales: Official Final Statistics and Conclusion.

2010-07-19T19:09:00.007+08:00

So, the two-day P1 W1MAX WiMAX-Inside Laptop Sales is already officially over with me being unable to cover the whole Saturday event with much apologies. So, due to my current busy schedules, I am going to fill you in with some official statistics of the whole two-day sales and judge the sales by yourself.

Here's the official statistics:
100 devices sold at promotional prices.
More than 1250 forms received from the general public.
20 Laptops sold at promotional price range (RM999-RM1599)
80 Netbooks sold at promotional price range (RM99-RM499)
7 netbooks sold at RM99
5 notebooks sold at RM999.

All units really do come with either 3 or 6 months of P1W1MAX connection.

What happened on 17th July 2010? A short gallery:

Perfect overview of crowd on Saturday!

Look at how enthusiastic they are!

They even came in a truck, with a hot babe emcee!

Following pictures sourced from @kennywong:

Balloting time

Enthusiastic crowd.

Payment time

Had to leave early for a quick trip to the airport, second time in a row in fact. Wasted RM140 on 2 return trips to the airport, don't wanna talk about it. =(

Oh, and I received this too! Thanks P1!

Based on my opinion, the sales had been tremendously successful in gaining free publicity to offer an alternative for urban people to enjoy seemless connectivity in the city. However, people are more interested in bundles and ongoing promotions, not just a one-off promotion. I think P1 shall consider making it a device-connection bundle making people pay a specified price every month to enjoy the devices, not making people pay for the device, then for the service. They could obtain a better revenue stream via this method too.

Missed the last P1W1MAX WiMAX-inside laptops sales?

2010-07-16T17:04:00.007+08:00

People, here's your one very last chance to score yourselves a P1W1MAX netbook in the price range of between RM99-RM499 for either an Acer Aspire One 533 or MSI Wind U135 netbook both powered by the amazing Intel Atom processor. 3 months of P1W1MAX-1NSiDE Need I say more?

How about laptops?

Well, based on my personal point of view, the Lenovo IdeaPad V360 is also an amazing piece of technological product. The laptop is very well-specced and is very capable in the current modern environment. Intel Core i3 powered, although not outstanding, but can definitely run well. It even has graphics switching between integrated and discrete graphics (note: not powered by nVidia Optimus technology). However, the graphics card could well help out to boost the processing power as it could run well with the support of nVidia CUDA technology. Don't understand? Wiki it. So well, score yourself a unit before it's just too late. Price range is between RM999-RM1599. Inclusive of 6 months of the WiMAX-1NSiDE plan which is claimed to be up to 10Mbps for 15GB of FUP.

So, tomorrow is your last chance to buy one of three laptops for the specified price. Don't believe the truth of the promotion? Here's my personal experience of the sales last week (which I didn't buy anything, actually).
A definitive guide on how to buy the laptops:-

Step 1: Obtain a form from their friendly sales representatives
(which well, includes their marketing team) and fill it in!

Step 2: Drop in your forms at the designated counters.

The counters would be closed by 1pm.

Step 3: Join in the crowd at 2pm.

Look at how enthusiastic the crowd are!

Step 4: A VIP (in this case, an emcee [who well, calls himself a very irritating person],
will pick out a form from inside the box:

Step 5: When your name is called, go up the stage along with your IC for identification purposes, then pick a price tag from the respective box:

Whichever price tag you've gotten, that's the price you shall pay for the respective device!

Step 6: Pay! Credit cards and cash accepted.

Still contemplating? Here's a pic from @Samanthachangss who've captured the joyous moment where one customer managed to score the RM99 MSI Wind U135 laptop last week. Definitely no P1W1MAX employee. =P

So, wake up early tomorrow, head to Low Yat Plaza to score your form. Go jalan-jalan, then head back at 2pm to the fourth floor to visit ICT Utopia to buy your device.

P1 W1MAX WiMAX-inside Laptops Introductory Sales at Berjaya Times Square today!

2010-07-10T19:21:00.014+08:00

Today, 10th of July marked the first P1 W1MAX WiMAX-enabled laptops sales in Berjaya Times Square. The event was deemed a happening event as I witnessed it all along with my own eyes. I'm sure if you were to follow up with the hashtag #wimaxinside on twitter, you'll find the majority of the tweets today were from me as I think I'm the only one doing live tweeting of the event as I took refuge at their booth (with no Wi-Fi, I'm sad to announce I'm using a 3G connection at their 4G booth as I forgot to bring out my W1GGY). I didn't buy anything though!

Their booth at the fair, main eye-opener of the event!

Place to drop in the forms!

My refuge space, as allocated by them, note the 3G modem! =P
(p.s. I still hate Starbucks. Forced to drink it because I was trying to get their Wi-Fi, which turned out to be extremely slow, remember my P2P complaint?)

Well, as promised in the earlier posts, the promised RM99-RM499 price for the netbooks are well, REAL as well as for the RM999-RM1599 price for the notebooks. HOWEVER, there's only 50 units (all combined) (psst, insider info, 10 notebooks, 40 netbooks at the respective price ranges) were available to be sold at the price range in the event.

And according to their man working in the marketing department, more than 600 forms were received in this ordeal! All laptops come with either 3 or 6 months worth of W1MAX connection. So, the probability of getting a unit at that price range is only 8.3333% (I've done my math!). And another fact, 5 people managed to buy the netbooks at RM99 (which is actually RM199 with registration fees) and 3 people managed to get the notebooks at RM999 (actual price they have to pay: RM1099). So, talk about karma!

A definitive guide on how to buy the laptops:-

Step 1: Obtain a form from their friendly sales representatives
(which well, includes their marketing team) and fill it in!

Step 2: Drop in your forms at the designated counters.

The counters would be closed by 1pm.

Step 3: Join in the crowd at 2pm.

Look at how enthusiastic the crowd are!

Step 4: A VIP (in this case, an emcee [who well, calls himself a very irritating person],
will pick out a form from inside the box:

Step 5: When your name is called, go up the stage along with your IC for identification purposes, then pick a price tag from the respective box:

Whichever price tag you've gotten, that's the price you shall pay for the respective device!

Step 6: Pay! Credit cards and cash accepted.

I'm sure the same will happen for the same sales next week in Low Yat Plaza, so this is just a definitive guide on what should you expect from it. Good luck then, because I'm sure most people present in Low Yat Plaza are computer buyers!

Details on the next introductory sales:

Oh, a contest to win yourself a WiMAX-inside net is running. Here's the details (kinda NSFW la):

Step 1: Spot these hot chicks!

Step 2: Details on what you should do to her!, no touchy-touchy though!

Step 3: Look inside!

Just do like this guy and I'm sure you're on your way to win! Just stay creative!
(p.s. Don't be jealous k, I didn't even peeked inside! =P)

Some assorted shenanigans from the events just now!This guy greeted me in Hang Tuah LRT station!

The event early in the morning! Like no support one!

This guy won a Puma watch with err, 20 dribbles? According to the emcee, someone won yesterday with 80+ dribbles!

Wanna add more forms? Shhhh, don't tell them I told you guys!, it's just sealed with a pink paper with tape! (and btw, no one was guarding it most of the time, trust me, seriously!)

A greater overview of the crowd!

These 3 guys were extremely enthusiastic. Didn't knew whether they managed to get a unit or not!

Err... some backstage corporate drama?

TIGER!!!!

And err, I saw this in Hang Tuah Station before I returned home. Will the train crash? What is happening, Rapid KL?

[NSFW] Strictly for Matured-minded readers only.

2010-07-10T00:29:00.001+08:00

The Penis Wants a Raise

I, the Penis, hereby request a raise in salary for the following reasons:

1——– I do physical labor.

2.——- I work at great depths.

3.——- I plunge head first into everything I do.

4.——- I do not get weekends or public holidays off.

5.——–I work in a damp environment.

6. ——-I work in a dark area that has poor ventilation.

7.——- I work in high temperatures.

8. ——-My work exposes me to diseases.

Reply: Dear Penis,

After assessing your request, and considering the arguments you have raised, the management denies your request for the following reasons:

1. ——You do not work 8 hours straight.

2. ——You WORK IN SHORT SPURTS AND fall asleep after EACH brief work period.

3. ——You do not always follow the orders of the management team.

4. ——You do not stay in your designated area, and are often seen visiting other locations.

5. ——You do not take initiative – you need to be pressured and stimulated in order to start working.

6. ——You leave the workplace rather messy at the end of your shift.

7. ——You don’t always observe necessary safety regulations, such as wearing the correct protective clothing.

8. ——You will retire LONG before you are 65.

9. ——You are unable to work double shifts.

10. —–You sometimes leave your designated work area before you have completed the assigned task.

11. —–And if that were not all, you have constantly been seen entering and exiting the workplace carrying two suspicious looking bags.

Sincerely, The Management

Five reasons not to be a penis:

1. ——You’re bald your whole life.

2. ——You have a hole in your head.

3. ——Your neighbors are nuts.

4. ——The guy behind you is an ass hole and…

5. ——Every time you get excited, you throw up and then faint.

Sex Ed Talk (err, is it?)

2010-07-09T22:14:00.008+08:00

In the Eastern countries, which is more conservative, for example, the glorious nation of Malaysia, sex is considered a taboo in the common society with a majority of Muslims living in this nation. Therefore, every expression of sex rather in a polite or rude manner is considered a taboo here. Therefore, you might have expected, a talk. A TALK (well, censored and made less ridiculed to suit the minds of a teenager) was held in the school. Will it do any good? In my opinion, NO. Well, it will just encourage teenagers to find more information on the topic, and becoming more interested towards this topic.

So, what was the talk about?

The three letter word, sex. With some hints of friendship and relationships. But, well, the main issue discussed in the talks are actually premarital sex and its consequences. Would you agree with me if I said that it's against the culture here for that? And by the way, only the non-Muslim students were given the chance to listen to this talk (which well, happened to me and my friends while we're in Form 1). Well this time, we've ridiculed it a bit by listening to facts that might be shocking, but might have some factual errors in the process. Why did I say so? Trust me mate.

Being an open-minded kid, here's a brief summary (with pictures supplied by Janice Low, my probate-cum-ed board photographer).

The emcee, Jarrett Wong.

Spot me? The front row seats are for the experts yo!

The organisation invited to give the talk

Friendship part:

Every choice leads to a consequence? You're sure?

Choose your friends wisely? Huh?

Who's more hardworking, GUYS of course. =P

Braver? Guys lah!

Girls might be book-smart, at least we guys are street-smart. And girls depend on guys. Remember that!

Everybody wants healthy relationships lah!

Lame song taught by him.

Well, I've heard the whole talk before. This is like an encore, only more exciting.

Pressures that we face? Yeah. Sexy chicks *drools*.

Well, girls who think they're unsexy or whatever due to steamy images of Jessica Alba or my oh, dear Cheryl Cole, watch this video:

The sex part:

Uh huh? Yea, right!
Well, they've said that sex is valid between couples only. Not friends, well how about FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS? That guy rejected my ideology here.

The couple who hesitated about having sex at the first place, Sue and John
(real names will not be announced here)
The compilation of all the couples.

The STDs the couples have.

Road map of STDs. Uh huh.

Uh huh? No sexual contact with other couples meant you had sex with all of them? Yea right!

Statistics of HIV/AIDS. (the data is obsolete-lah!)

Is it?

If you've said YES to unprotected sex. What about NO? Well, the part is not taken by the photographer. The summary is (well, I couldn't remember everything):

If you've said NO to premarital sex:
-You'll be rejected over and over.
- You will have confidence? HUH?
- You will have self-esteem? (HUH?)
- You will be a proud person (HUH? HUH?)
THE CONCLUSION BASED ON THE SLIDES:
NO PREMARITAL SEX= DIE A VIRGIN. =P (ideology rejected again)

If you've said YES to premarital sex:
- You risk getting pregnant (well, the condom has a failure rate of 3%)
- You'll risk contacting STDs (condom, again).
- and other blah blah blahs. *yawn*

Free files at the end.

conclusion: This talk is informative, but not all facts are accurate. Well, I'm not encouraging premarital sex here. But you see, what's the point of giving a talk on sex in a school if the main purpose is to abstrain people from having sex? Some people (especially the girls), will develop a phobia towards sex, known as coitophobia. This will lead to the high amount of couples which are unreproductive. And in consequence, the country's population will drop. I think the most suitable message is to teach safe sex, not to scare students with facts of sex and etc. As far as I know, there's many married couples who hadn't have any sex at all or have very little sexual relationships. The ideal frequency is 3 times a week. Well, by average, some Malaysians do it 3-4 times a year? Some married couples might have not done it before.

The point is, sex is a mutual activity consented between two legal adults. Whatever the consequences are, it shall be delivered via the appropriate channels, e.g. via Science F3 and Biology F5 Chapter 4. Not via a talk, which will arouse guys (well, not me, I'm saying the juniors), who will eventually, encourage them to increase their urge of doing it. In the process, they'll find more information about it and it might be brutal. Just teach them about safe sex. At least it's still a method of preventing STDs and pregnancy. Abstinence is another factor, but must be delivered appropriately la. Not by making a whole mind map on who slept with who, and who got the disease from who. They're only kids from F1, F2 and F4 for god's sake.

The best channel to deliver the message should be well, the parents. If the parents can't deliver it well, bring the child to a childhood development counselor. Not by giving general talks in schools.

And worst of all, talks like these could generate reverse psychological thinking in teenagers, encouraging them indirectly to start the coital activity earlier. Sex is healthy, only if you do it the ethical manner and in a correct way. There's many methods of preventing STDs, I'm just saying. Well, out of so many points, there's only one thing I could agree of, the only contraceptive which is 100% effective is by practicing abstinence.

World Cup 2010 : Curse of the Nike "Write the Future" ad.

2010-07-05T23:09:00.005+08:00

Credits: Nike

2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. What is it all about? Vuvuzelas? The Adidas Jabulani ball? Nope, not really. Let's look at the reality now.

Remember this ad?

Well, it's actually, a curse.

Read out loud with me.

THE STARS:

Fabio Cannavaro (ITA) - Dismay performance in the world cup. Confirmed. Didn't even managed to block any balls with the style discribed in the video. Italian got screwed high and low in the last match of the group stage, even New Zealand managed to draw all 3 matches, making them one of the few teams who didn't lose at all in this year's World Cup.

Wayne Rooney (ENG) - A bigger joke. What happened to his 34 goals in the last Barclays Premier Leaque? In World Cup, he didn't even managed to score A SINGLE GOAL. What's his reason? "Nice to see your home fans boo you, that's loyal supporters.". Well, his real reason is, he got marked whenever he touches the ball, is that a reason? C'mon mate! England was subsequently trashed by Germany in a match where the goal was scored by Mathew Upson, a DEFENDER. Got it? So, shouldn't he be in the same scenario as shown in the video?

Next, Brazillian football team, more precisely, RONALDINHO , this dude who appeared in the video didn't even managed to get selected for the World Cup. Lost to Netherlands, full stop. Now it appears in a sequence right now. First off, ITA, then ENG, now, BRA. Wait til you see the next.

Now, DAD CRISTIANO RONALDO, didn't even performed well at all. I'd must say, his performance is considered worse compared to Rooney. Why, maybe he's too afraid that the media would find out that he is a dad to a baby boy whom he impregnated a girl from North America. See the relationship? Even the sole consolation goal he scored against North Korea is deemed a chance by luck, I'd must say. PORTUGAL lost subsequently.

So, now, convinced that the Nike ad is a curse?

Well, not quite so, KOBE BRYANT, the basketballer, did perform well in a completely seperate sport and league. Well, even NETHERLANDS, which appeared in the early part of the video against CANNAVARO, remains unbeaten throughout this World Cup. Now, talk about chain relations. See the combinations?

Next, the other curse could be well said, is the new shoe.

Credits : link

Everybody seems to be wearing this shoe, or a variant of it. Is that a curse too? Well, even the NORTH KOREANS are wearing it. When Wayne Rooney scored 34 goals in BPL, he was wearing the pair of this, not that. :-

Credits: Link

Done right here, ciao.

WiMAX-Inside 4G Laptops Promotional Complaints.

2010-07-02T23:31:00.006+08:00

It's been a few days off since #wimaxinside announced their promotion on their devices. Since then, they've already had a few changes to their promotion mechanisms ever since the announcement. Why? Simple answer. They've received a lot of interesting enquiries (or shall I say, complaints) about their mechanism?

First Promotional Mechanism (The initial one)

Alright, here's the interesting part. People are supposed to queue (or camp out) just to get a queue number by 12pm. Then they could purchase the device by 2pm. Sounds simple? Well, it's not.

Why?

Well, here's the interesting part. People are confused on whether they have to wait LONGER from 12pm to 2pm at the event (plus, their time wasted from queuing up earlier just to get their queue number). And let's say if one of them needs to go for a toilet break or something, they might have jeapordised their position in the queue.
And

During the 12pm-2pm window period, people are confused on whether do they have to wait there or they can go watch a movie/ have lunch/ waste time in Borders/ etc.

And

When they return by 2pm, do they get a special line or what to buy the laptop. Let's say Number 1 arrived by 2.14p.m. just because the guy in Gasoline screwed up his lunch. And Numbers 5,13,8,16,23, 42, ... are already in front of him. So, will he get the RM99 netbook or well, the RM999 laptop? Here's the confusion. Do you get me?

Well,

I do someway somewhat somehow understand P1's plan in doing this. They are planning to fill the event with people so that people will come rushing in to buy the devices. Which means, no matter what, whether does the fella have the queue numbers or not, they still do get their shot in buying the device.

However,

What's the rationale of giving out Queue Numbers?

Second Promotional Mechanism (The revised one)

Well, believe this, within 30 mins after I posted the tweet, 13 of my geeky friends directly SMS-ed me on why is this happening. Well, I did tell them i did not work with P1, yet. This is well, a bit more interesting. People don't need to queue up early in the morning to get queue numbers and et cetera. So, what are they gonna do between 12pm-2pm (the window period) now? Make the event area empty? Then by 2pm, everybody shall be back again?

Why?

Yes. Why? According to the new promotional mechanism, they'll give out registration forms to everyone who is interested in buying the device by 11pm.

So?

Alright, they're doing this for the convenience of their customers. No campings, waitings, queuings or whatever are needed to purchase the devices at the price.

What's the complaints about?

Before any P1 Marketing people comes and shoot me with DMs and whatever, here's the honest response from my friends. Basically, about 5 of us are already planning to camp out from 6 in the morning up to the event to buy it. So, when we hear about the new promotional mechanism, it seems that those who queue early or so, might not even stand a chance of getting one. Look at this condition from their page. " The right to purchase will be determined through balloting. Being the first in the queue or first to drop the form into the box will not warrant you a purchase"

Interested now?

Yeah, so what's worth now? Go early, might not stand a chance. Go late, it's luck. All by balloting. Well, this gives flexibility to those present to do some shopping and stuff within the window period of 2 hours. And read this: "Consumers must be present at all time during the balloting and sales period, absentees will be disqualified from the sales"

How?

From a 3 step method, to a 5 steps method, things are getting more complicated and frustrating. Well, I'd must say, the parking in Berjaya Times Square is certainly not cheap. By the time the event ends, one could expect a parking fee of about 10-15 bucks if he were to register at 11a.m. and wait til let's say 3p.m. before his name is called out (or even worse, 4p.m. when the balloting period ends) So, well, that's money and time wasted.

and

(i will sound apek abit in this) methinks, whoever who gets a sales tag from the box will guarantee buy one lorh. Cos you see ah, even if the price is RM1599 for the laptop ah, you'll still save RM1000 one worh... Or even if you get the price of RM499, also you save around RM800-RM1000 already one lorh. So, of course me see, me take lorh. And me buy also lorh. So how?

BUT

P1 could explain some details of the laptops to the general public or entertain them with performances in the window period (well, I do not know what's their main intention of having a 2 hour window period).

Dear P1,

I do sincerely think, here's the best solution. Companies around the world had done that, Apple had done it, Kinokuniya had done it with their Harry Potter book launches, etc. I don't think I need to elaborate on this. But the best way is, well, first come, first serve. Why complicate things to about 5 steps when you could have done it in ONE step. No ballot tickets, no registration forms, just bring yourself and your money. Don't make it into a game of chance. Don't waste people's valuable time waiting just for their name to be picked and to be called out. It's fair, but not really fair. At least, well, through first come, first serve, those who did not get the chance to buy it, could well, either leave or go away. And why make people wait for two hours between dropping it into the box and to wait after that? Time is gold, as the wise says it.

Thank you.

Last but not least,

What about old sincere customers? People who took up your service before the "Potong" campaign? People who bought your DS-300 modem for RM999 back then? Even those who are eligible under the "Potong" campaign should be given a chance of buying this device at a cheaper rate.

Why?

We are customers. Faithful ones. Period.

Well, I'm not gonna well, disclose any conversations between me and their marketing team, but here's the reality. Make a sale, make it a real sale. Not by chance. Here's my honest opinion, both towards the consumer side and towards the ISP, P1 W1MAX. I'm not teaching you guys on how to do marketing, but well, if you have one shot, do it well. Potong succeeded well, learn from that. Not creating new trial-and-error techniques that might leave people getting frustrated.

And

TM sudah ada RM99 plan for HP Mini 210+4Mbps screamyx combo lorh (add RM19 a month and get a HP Mini 5102 with touch-screen man) And Unifi gonna launch in whole KL lorh. So how? P1 will lose it's market share man. My recommendation: MAKE WiMAX INSIDE A COMBO, not a buy PC, get free internet, continue paying for internet package.

Oh,

And I gotta say, I've made a call to their careline a few hours back to enquire about their first promotional mechanism, and I think I've encountered their worst agent so far. Not only is she not knowledgeable, but she's kinda rude. She mumbles to herself and can't understand what the customer is conveying. She gave me some wrong information. Is there an event tomorrow (3/7) at Low Yat Plaza regarding the WiMAX laptops? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not think so. I've already checked other blogs and stuff, but no. She told me I could queue up and get the laptops tomorrow in ICT Utopia through the first method at the discounted rate. Well, at least @P1Cares quickly made up to it and apologized swiftly. And at least my second call (to another agent), at least he gave me some accurate details about the "queue number" issue. Like I've said about a year ago, your agents need seriously retraining. Except for your Online Social Media Team. Ahereen Lee, please seriously take note of this.

WiMAX-inside 4G Laptop Introductory Sales

2010-07-01T00:03:00.009+08:00

UPDATE: THEY'VE PULLED OUT THE "PROMOTIONS" PAGE. STAY TUNE FOR MORE.
UPDATE 2: THE PROMOTION MECHANISM HAS CHANGED. PLEASE CHECK PROMOTIONS.

Dear folks, I have some real interesting offer for all of you guys. If you've been running across my blog for the old post, "What is inside?' , you must have a little enticipation on getting one of those real useful devices right? Sorry for posting this post late, but I've just gotten clearance from P1 W1MAX's marketing team to release the info. Here's the details:

WiMAX-Inside 4G Laptop Introductory Sales
Grab a WiMAX-Inside 4G netbook from as low as RM99 or notebook from as low as RM999,
and it comes with FREE P1 W1MAX service! This incredible offer is brought to you by Intel &
P1 W1MAX, in collaboration with Acer, Lenovo and MSi.

Introductory Sales – 1
Date: July 10, 2010 (Saturday)
Time: 12noon – 2pm
Venue: Entrance of Berjaya Times Square

Promotional Mechanisms:

- Queue number will be issued from 12 – 2pm at the entrance of BTS, sales and payment
will take place @ the same place at 2pm. You must obtain your queue number before
being qualified to purchase the WiMAX-Inside 4G laptop @ 2pm.

- If demand exceeds supply, special draw will be used to determine the purchaser of the specific device under different price schemes.

- now it's gonna be this:

Introductory Sales – 2

Date: July 17, 2010 (Saturday)
Time: 12noon – 2pm
Venue: Entrance of Low Yat Plaza (Queue Number Distribution) / ICT Utopia @ Level 4 (Sales &
Payment)

Promotional Mechanisms:

- Queue number will be issued from 12 – 2pm at the entrance of LYP, sales and payment
will take place @ ICT Utopia (Level 4, LYP). You must obtain your queue number
before being qualified to purchase the WiMAX-Inside 4G laptop @ ICT Utopia

- If demand exceeds supply, special draw will be used to determine the purchaser

Other Terms and Conditions:

- Selling prices are final. Any return of the device sold will not be accepted.

- Limited to ONE device per person

- You can pay for your purchase with cash or credit card at the point of sales

- You are required to bring along a valid ID (IC, passport, etc.) to register for your complimentary P1 W1MAX
service

- The promotional mechanisms will be changed without prior notice. Call 1-300-800-888
for further information.

Participating PC brands and Promotional Price:

Model:Acer Aspire One 533/ MSi U135
Type:Netbook
Price Range: RM99 – RM499
Discounts of up to: 93%

Model: Lenovo V360
Type:Notebook
Price Range: RM999 –RM1,599
Discounts of up to: 62%

All units comes with free 3 months P1 W1MAX 1NSiDE plans for netbooks and 6 months for notebooks. Specifications of the laptop can be seen in the previous post. Only 100 laptops per event would be sold at the specified offer price range.

So, please gather all your money from the coin jar in order to get some excellent deals for the laptops. Arrive early to ensure availability of promotional-priced laptops. The offers are valid while stock last and only on the days of the promotions.

What is inside?

2010-06-29T17:19:00.010+08:00

So, right now, #whatisinside is already announced by P1 W1MAX, Intel Malaysia and 6 OEM suppliers. I've been given the opportunity to attend the pre-launch event for Bloggers, twitterers and etc. last week at Intel's office. I am truly delighted to be also invited for today's event, however I am unable to make it as the event time is well, clashing with my school time. So, here's the sneak peek photos from the pre-launch event. Here's a short photo-timeline of the event:

Oh, I am the earliest there among the invitees.

The meeting-cum-dinner chaired by @mikecampton

They're preparing their presentations and stuff.

Remember #whatisinside?

A short keynote from a representative from Intel Malaysia. Here's some short facts presented by her:
- Malaysia is the sixth country in the world to have WiMAX-enabled laptops. (after USA, Taiwan, Japan, Russia and Ukraine)
- It will be powered by a new platform under Intel Centrino, which will include this new chip, Intel® Centrino® Advanced–N + WiMAX 6250
-

A keynote from the man of the event, Kenny Wong, the CMO of P1 W1MAX.
Some short facts:
- 1 in 10 Malaysians have access to broadband.
- Average usage of a P1 W1MAX subscriber, 10GB.
- Peak hour usage of about 60-70% in urban areas.
- 60% of P1 W1MAX coverage will be achieved by the end of the year.

Some presentation using characters from a card game, if I'm not mistaken, it's Avatar.

Real deal of the event. laptops connected directly to the network.

Connected.

The technical analysis of the reception from inside the event in the building. Not that bad, actually!

Some of the laptops shown by them.

Speedtest. Not that great. =P

Q&A session. Sorry @kennywong for asking difficult questions!

Official pic.

Need I say more?

So how does it work?

Enlarge to view details.
Note: not up to scale, model drafted based on explanation only.

Today, they've officially announced the plans and the deals with the laptops. Here's the mystery solved:,
- The 6 OEMs announced are Dell, Acer, Lenovo, MSI, Asus and Toshiba.

- The plan will be priced at RM89 per month (with service from P1 W1MAX, d'oh). Here are
the details:
* Theoretical download speeds of up to 10Mbps
* Fair Usage Policy of 15GB a month.

- Free 6 months P1 1NSiDE plan for notebooks and 3 months for netbooks.

- I am actually quite confused of another fact, it seems that if you purchase your laptop before 30th September, 2010, you will be paying RM49 for the same details as above. Please contact P1 W1MAX for this (am not so sure).

- However, you do still have to bear the full price of the laptop. It's not a bundle or anything whatsoever. So, don't get confused by this.

About the laptops:
Currently, the only notebook available is from Lenovo.
Lenovo IdeaPad V360 Notebook

Pic from link.

Specifications:
Comments: Specs are not that bad. Reasonably priced too. Does not make much price difference between mainstream normal laptops and a WiMAX-enabled laptop . So it's worth the price.

Netbook

Acer Aspire One 533 Netbook

Picture from link

Specifications:

Comments: Not that bad also after all. Same price with my HP Mini 110 man! Only that without WiMAX.

MSI U135 Netbook

Pic from link

Specifications:

Comments: Cheaper than above. =P Almost same specifications anyways.

Notebooks/netbooks from Dell, Toshiba and Asus has not been released yet.

iPhone 4: Is it real in reality or in a fictitious world?

2010-06-24T20:01:00.004+08:00

Source: Engadget

So here it is- Launch Day of iPhone 4.

What is iPhone 4?
Is it a phone?
Is it a smartphone? or
Is it a dumbphone?

My opinion: It's a phone with features derived from other phones WAY before they "innovated" it. For example, multitasking. Windows Mobile and Android had that feature enabled for so bloody long ago. Even Symbian enables multitasking. And people tend to buy that superiorly overpriced phone because they think it's cool. It's from Apple. But hello, it's just another moneysucking company producing pieces of crap. Just look at their MacBooks, iPods and bla bla bla. Fine, I do admit that they're stylish and powerful and whatever. But so what? Come to think of it, it sucks. I admit I have a Mac Mini and 3 iPods before (including one iPod touch I'm using right now). However, WHY DON'T THEY SUPPORT MY FIRST GENERATION, 32GB iPod touch with the oh-so-blissfully-amazing-iOS4 crap? Thank you, Apple. Thank you for all the support I've given to you. In the process, screw you!

Features of iPhone 4:
a gyroscope, seriously?
Retina display= Oh Apple, did you realized that you're in deep controversy for this? Link
and basically, other features are ALMOST the same as the old iPhone 3GS. With addition to a GIANT *hint the sarcasm* 5MP camera which apparently shoots 720P HD video.
and also well, the apparently patented Apple-designed A4 chip which is apparently derived from another processor. YAYS to Apple. Link

Source: Engadget

Full glass front-and-back. Well, it's dumb. Look below.

Source: Engadget

FaceTime: Video calls via Wi-Fi? Seriously. Hey Mr. Steve, you can't even surf to the page of New York Times in your keynote and just a reminder, it takes way more bandwidth to call over Wi-Fi, let alone making a video call. So will it hog up the network? Perhaps.

Source: Engadget

What else? Oh, iOS4. Another plot to drain our wallets. So only the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 will receive the multitasking abilities huh? Hey Apple, do you know you've well dumbfoundedly underclocked the processor inside my iPod touch? If you were to allow the full potential of the processor in my iPod touch, I'm sure I'll have the ability to use the OS too.

Verdict for features: Hype. Boring. Old. Lame.

Well, Apple, you do have some good sides in the iPhone 4 too despite all the bad points. You're making money, that's obviously good. You're making people save up to buy your oh-so-stylish phone. That's good. You're creating hype and fanboynism, oh, that's good. But LOOK, if everybody is using the same phone everywhere, I don't think it's cool. Stand out from the others!

It's ridiculously overpriced too. I do expect it to be around the ballgame of about RM2000-RM3000 in Malaysia. Why don't you fanboys here get a HTC HD2 or so? I think it's better to settle for that.

Controversies surrounding Apple+iPhone 4:
Foxconn

Source: Engadget

You know what, this is seriously not cool. 12 suicides (more?) is seriously too much. And wages of about 800 Yuan (about RM350-RM400) per month? That's even more not cool. You're well selling the phone for about USD199 per unit. And the parts cost just in the ballgame of USD50-USD80. So the rest? All towards the giant white glowing Apple. So, when you buy an iPhone 4, think of the workers in China working in the massive Foxconn factory to assemble your well dearest iPhone 4. But not to be mistaken, I'm sure your laptops from Dell, HP, Acer, bla bla bla is made by Foxconn. And I do admit, the computer I'm using right now to blog, is assembled by Foxconn. Even the computer at home powered by the massive Intel Core 2 Quad is powered with help of a Foxconn motherboard. My iPod touch is assembled by Foxconn. What else you want to know? Link

Glass displays which can break super easily (yes, both front and back)
Stronger than sapphire? Bullshit.
30 times harder than plastic? Even more bullshit.
Let this picture do the justice.

Source: Engadget

Not convinced? Read these: Link 1 Link2

Still not convinved? Watch this video.

First drop, no problems.
Second drop, dead.
Third drop? Gone.
Fourth drop? Cracked.
So you'd better not drop it more than once. Twice, it's off to the Apple Store (Epicentre or Machines in Malaysia), Four times, kiss your iPhone 4 goodbye.
I've seen way more phones that are way less fragile than this, man!

Now your question about the bumper "jacket" they're selling is answered. It will break just like that.

Oh, scratch-free? Bullshit. Link

Left Antenna issue.
If you were to touch the left down corner, you'll not be connected to a network.
Let this post do the justice. Link1 Link2
No wonder they're selling the bumper again.

iPhone 3GS 8GB.
Wait, HOLD ON. Did dumb Apple just announced a 8GB version of the iPhone 3GS? That's dumb. It means they have to completely build new models of an old iPhone just to not compete it with the iPhone 4. Dumb. Pure dumbness. So what happens to the old 16GB and 32GB variants of the iPhone 3GS? Burnt away? I think buying the old model is better than wasting your money on the new dumb iPhone 4. It has almost all the same functions, by the way, minus the A4 chip, gyroscope, retina display and other shit.

Final verdict: It's up to you. But I think it's not worth your hard earned cash. Go for the BlackBerry Bold 9700. Even the Nokia N8 is better. Or just wait for the GSM version of the HTC Evo 4G. For a fragile phone, nah, except if you are an extremely careful person. Leave your comments (even hatred ones) if you'd wish. You can also tweet me.

UPDATE: iPhone 4 has problems with the retina display. Look at this. Link

Re-opening ceremony of my blog.

2010-06-23T22:44:00.006+08:00

Alright, I do have to admit. I've neglected the blog for a very very very long time already since I've last blogged. This is due to the frustration I had from modifying the themes and got confused with the CSS and HTML codes. So, this is the new soft-launch of my blog and I am proud to announce that I will try to update my blog with goodies and etc. So far, I have to wait until June 29th to expose a huge event which will change the lives of Malaysians wishing to have be mobile everywhere. Basically it is an event which I've just visited a few hours ago. Here's some spoilers:

That's all I could say for now. However, you can win yourself a mystery prize worth RM2599 just by guessing for 3 times and provide a slogan. Then fill in your particulars and you're well to go.
Link

However, I am currently not allowed to expose what is it about or give you any hints. (but you can well, just get the hints from the box on the left and guess it by yourself. I am unable to disclose anymore details. But this is it. It's big, dangerous and mysterious.

Oh, thanks Intel Malaysia and P1 W1MAX for this S sized sweater I've just won just now. Thank you guys. I did have a blast just now. And you guys did really made a wonderful event and best of all, answered all my questions correctly.

Advice to all bloggers.

2010-01-22T22:43:00.002+08:00

Here's my official advice to all amateur bloggers. My definition of amateur bloggers are those bloggers which have no specialized knowledge in computer, especially the HTML s**t. Siao. Wasted about 2 hours designing that damn thing. 1 hour almost completed, than blogger siao-ed me after i ter-click a link on the toolbar. Then really siao. Everything's gone. Restarted from scratch, siao! After an hour, this is the product. Comments? The layout I created didn't have any comments area, Cbox is the only option. If you have no experience in any computer languages like C++, Java or whatever, my advice is, DON'T HIT THE DAMN "REVERT TO CLASSIC FORMATTING" button. Everything that you've once had provided by Blogger is gone. And furthermore, don't expect to use the arrange layout in template thing! (Maybe some could, but I just couldn't). It's all HTML s**t after that. Including the links. ALL HTML. it's so damn confusing that my advice is, use notepad to do. Then, copy+paste it. Ciao. I'm tired with the drama.

Btw, my blog is now officially rebranded. It's now http://www.derricklow.co.cc/

Four letter words, SIAO!

2010-01-21T17:24:00.012+08:00

Among the Chinese dialects, there's many words rather directly or indirectly that could be used to express an expression. In this case, the four letter word SIAO represents surprise over a shocking issue or an event, which most probably creates a negative feeling. Here's why should I use the word on everything that happened today:

Chronology of a student's life in Siao mode:
- Woke up 4 in the morning. Slept for only 4 hours after recovering from slight sicknesses. Siao!
- Forgot to turn off the TV before leaving for school. Siao!
- Jam in the school ITSELF, as in there's an ice lorry blocking teachers' cars and causing a slight traffic jam inside the school. Siao!
- Almost got late for Morning Briefing, lagi Siao!
- Morning Briefing ended late with Sin Zhao announcing his "bad" and "good" news. Siao!
- Silent reading was incredibly looooooooooooooooooooooooong today. Siao!
- It's the fourth consecutive day where our first period teachers didn't pick us up, leaving our class being the last to enter class, Pn Angela described this as unwanted children. Siao! we have a very stupid method of entering class where the first period teacher had to pick us up in order for us to enter the class. T*LAN SIAO!
- The described person on twitter yesterday continued his silent attack on me although I didn't do anything physically or verbally towards him. No wonder he's only popular to girls with his feminine attitude. Siao!
- Should have studied for Physics. Siao. That paper is a joke, 8 full questions, in one hour, hardness rating= 9/10, TUKAOLAT SIAO!
- Went to recess. Forgot to bring a pen along. nothing siao.
- Ajit came to class helping Pn J to use her brand new E63. DAMN TUKAOLAT SIAO MAN THIS GUY. DAHLAH END YEAR EXAM HAMPIR FAIL SEMUA SUBJECT, STILL GOT TIME TO HELP TEACHER AND NOT STUDY. SIAO SIAO SIAO SIAO.
- Bio exam. Tien Soong left about 3 or 4 questions EMPTY (showing off summore), another Nazrin in making. WASEH SIAO! That paper is not that hard after all.
- 15 minutes in between Bio and Add Maths, omgwtfbbqdvdvcd (Weixing's quote) SIAO!
- Add Maths. Fuhhhhhhhh! Guaranteed Fail [maybe even zero (0)], don't tell my mom). I think the paper is set by a professor in Siao Fail University for PhSiao levels. FULAMAKWASEHTENGKAOLAT SIAO!
- Post-Add Maths exam trauma. Siao.
- Ran to 7-Eleven after that to photostat the pamphlet without preliminary checks of mistakes. KAO-KAO SIAO!
- Ran back. Siao.
- Reached back to the library, didn't eat lunch at all, SIAO!
- Showed the teachers about the pamphlet, SIAO SIAO SIAO. Kena correct like hell, someone pls remind me to tell someone named Shakthy Thewi a/p Muthusamy to send me a copy of anything she does to me first before going straight and be a joke. SIAO SIAO SIAO SIAO!
- Corrected her mistakes by asking her to literally fly home to her house across the street and send the pamphlet file straight. No Siao.
- Corrected and corrected and corrected and corrected the mistakes countless times with the printer printing out opposite directions until Cik Sri Devi got quite fed-up with me running in and out of the room. Siao!
- Finally a presentable copy with Program NILAM is done. Siao.
- Went to find and trying to see Pn Rohana. Siao.
- Finally found her. Siao!
- Discussed with her about the pamphlet. No siao.
- Went back to library. The BIG BOOK, SIAO! (tomorrow librarians will know why)
- After that. THUNDER. FIRE ALARM RANG! SUPER-DUPER-MEGA-TROOPER- SIAO!
- Aftermath of fire alarm, a librarian and a koop member lost their bags outside the library. Siao. Who took their bags/hide it/throw it/whatever u ppl do with it deserve a stern lecture from me (no fightings, I promise). Siao. Advice, exercise extra caution while putting bags outside the library. Neither the Library Board nor the Librarian Board takes any responsibility on lost bags.
- Balik rumah. Siao.
- Sampai rumah. Baca SMS Miss Nina. Incredibly shocked and siao-ed. Sounds like a farewell SMS or something. Received about 12 SMS-es after that. Concerned librarians and Tabitha, she's fine. Don't worry.
- UPDATE: P1 also Siao-ed me today. Because of my high ping issues and other related issues, they gonna give me 1 month waived off the bill until my ping problem is completely solved. Dunno how many waivers did I get from P1 already. Officially I'm the most unprofitable customer for P1. But that's excellent service quadrupled with customer satisfaction. An example of a perfect company who cares more about the Malaysian broadband landscape whether than for profit. Siao.

That's all 'til now. Malas wanna crack my head for more siao-ing incidents today. End of story.

twitter is down.

2010-01-20T19:52:00.011+08:00

Update 1: Even the news reports didn't come out on Google News, Internet prime news reporting service.

Update 2: Twitter is still down, as of 1200 Hrs GMT, 2002 Hrs Malaysian Time GMT+8

Update 3: If you didn't noticed what happened, my twitter feed on the right of the page is not working.

Update 4: Twitter is back.

Update 5: TweetDeck released a new update, 0.32.6 Please update. Link

Update 6: Apparently twitter didn't got stuck because of Haiti. It's because they wanted to switch to their backup system, and got stuck in between. Thank you twitter for ruining our lives. Link
Haiti was hit with a second earthquake measuring 6.0 Richter Scale (USGS said it's 6.1, but 0.1 difference doesn't mean much right?) about 15 minutes ago, and now, Twitter is down. Look how important twitter is in order to deliver up-to second news?

I'm wondering now.
- There's so many nations helping out in Haiti due to the first earthquake, what happened to those helping?
- Will it finally destroy the airport runway to inhibit the US Air Force control over the airport?
- Haiti already kena kau-kau due to the first earthquake, i think the second one will be like adding pepper to a wound (not salt).

Internet.

2010-01-17T22:16:00.002+08:00

Here's a report published by Akamai on the state of internet. If you have lots of time, it's a great read. Improves your internet knowledge and gives you an impression on other countries super-fast internet connection.

Summary:
- South Korea have the fastest internet in the world. 14.6Mbps average FTW.
- United States have the highest number of IPs (115,323,620 IPs)
- China is the main ground zero for attack traffic. (31.35% attack traffic came from China)
- Malaysia and Taiwan have the highest WiMAX penetration (thanks to P1, Kudos!)
- DSL (ADSL or VDSL) still remains the main mode of broadband connectivity worldwide.
- Norway have the highest broadband penetration with 0.46 IPs per capita.
- Walls and Futana has the highest narrowband connectivity in the world with 99.6% of residents there with speeds below 256Kbps.

Now let's talk about Malaysia (one of the countries researched in this research)
- 0.2% attack traffic (considerably low, China is highest)
- 1,006,697 Unique IP addresses, 100 million less than United States.
- 0.04 Unique IPs per capita.
- Average speed of 803Kbps, No comments on this. TM is the main cause of this slowness.
- 0.8% of Malaysians have access to speeds above 5Mbps.
- There's less than 0.01 High-speed broadband IPs per capita.
- 3.0% have access to speeds above 2Mbps.
- 15% are still using speeds below 256Kbps (narrowband, but still considered broadband in Malaysia as the threshold thanks to MCMC, who says that speeds above 56Kbps is considered as broadband) Link

Therefore, what Malaysian ISPs should do:
- Increase bandwidth capacity.
- Reduce the price of internet services in Malaysia while increasing quality.
- Stop offering "unlimited" services. More to the negative side (such as piracy, reduction of speeds to non-power users, unfairness and more) than to the positive side. However, set a high Fair Usage Policy to suit all users, like what P1 did.
- Expand broadband infrastructure aggressively to expand broadband penetration.
- Subsidise low-cost PCs to help the poor community whilst expanding broadband penetration.
- Speed up the launch of HSBB or equivalent technologies.
- Revoke licenses of low-performing ISPs and take action against those providing services not up to par.
- Create incentives to ISPs to encourage them to launch broadband more aggressively.

The conclusion is:
Everybody have their own part in realising the broadband dream. Users should not misuse the availability of broadband connection whilst the government should do it's best in order to increase penetration through awareness campaigns and et cetera. Most importantly, the Internet Service Providers should put quality as their top priority and not profit. This is the most integral part to accommodate broadband advancement.

Pillow Shit.

2010-01-17T21:13:00.011+08:00

Hating this?and this?

Well, it seems there's nothing we can do. Even if you completely block the application from posting on your wall, it will still appear. And according to some quarters, the main issue here might be the application automatically sends the stupid idiotic pillows but i don't think so.

This stupid app actually started with SuperPoke, which had lost it charm through the years. Then spams like this are practically unheard. Soon, it started again with this stupid pillow shit, then came along chocolates etc. Now practically everything imaginable had started since this.

My wish for facebook:
Calm walls. Then, calm notifications.
Calmness. No pillow shit. LivingSocial is still acceptable. And when there's too much spamming, my mailbox will become like THIS:
Therefore, necessary steps needed to be taken before facebook becomes like Friendster or MySpace, which had lost its charm to me long time ago (so long for Mol huh?). Btw, Facebook's becoming less glam and professional day by day. If that continues, Twitter will be my new best friend. (wait, i think twitter is already my best friend)
See, why twitter appeals to me,
- Short 140-characters tweets makes mindless people express their feelings (it's the opposite, to the person who quoted this and now even him/herself have her own twitter account and is officially, my enemy)
- It's a great way of branding. Now all sorts of business have their twitter account. For example:

- Can be even used as a customer service platform:- For celebrities, singers, artistes etc. to be closer to their fans:
- To deliver up-to-second news. Remember #iranelection? or #churcharson?

Twitter have plenty of other functions too (but i'm too tired to mention it all), which appeals to a normal user or a celebrity etc. Most of all, it's FREE. Furthermore, in the twitterverse, there's many applications available. Most notably, TweetDeck for PC/Mac/iPhone/iPod touch/etc. It does mean there's flavour for everyone too. In any single available device in the market, twitter is considered a must-have application now.

So long people. I'm very tired.

p.s. I've issued out warnings. The next person who throws me a pillow will be reported for spam. Second person onwards, unfriended (which means I'll click the remove-from-friends button). Won't be blogging for a long time. Twitter please.

Expenditure of a student.

2010-01-15T00:18:00.003+08:00

The government promised there won't be any fees starting last 2 years I think. Of course, like always, it's all empty promises. Here's how much I need to pay this year for fees (school and other societies, clubs etc.):-

School Fees:
Co-curricular activities - 6 bucks, 6 BUCKS. if we were to pay 6 bucks for co-curricular activities, we shouldn't be paying the fees for other clubs/societies/et cetera.
School exam papers - 22 bucks. Tell me what printing costs 22 bucks? Photostating materials for exam papers cost about 5 cents per copy. 22 bucks divided by 5 cents means every student should get 440 pages worth of exam papers.
Sports Day Charges - ANOTHER 6 BUCKS. WHY? WE NEED TO PAY ANOTHER SEPERATE SPORTS HOUSES FEES (to be explained later). Therefore, should be waived.
School Magazine - 12 bucks. No comments.
Moral/Islamic Activities - 6 bucks. Ok, won't touch on sensitive issues here.
MSSKL - 4 bucks. For co-curricular activities, we're already spending about 16 bucks so far.
Insurance - 1.5 bucks. According to Mr Ng Tien Soong who hurt his leg for compassion from girls last year, he said that in order to claim from this thing, you have to make a police report etc.

PTA(PIBG in Malaysia), 55 BUCKS A YEAR???????? Can be waived if a family have more than one child studying in the school, means if Mr. Ng has 4 children, he needs to pay 55 bucks only once a year. BUT WHY 55 BUCKS? 55 bucks for let's say, 1000 students, means 55,000 bucks. What's the school gonna do with 55k? Invest in shares? Nothing much have been done since last year.
SPM/PMR INTENSIVE STUDIES- 50 BUCKS? Kill me lord. I'd rather spend that money on Raj's tuition.
Sanitex (the bin where the girls throw those stuff) - 5 BUCKS. Waived for guys who doesn't use that kind of stuff. =p Therefore, we don't have a bin beside the toilet bowl.

Total so far: RM 162.50.
Comments: C'mon. The government said free school fees about 2 years ago. What is this? Free = RM162.50 doesn't add up.

Other activities:
Class Fund - 20 bucks. Fine, this is fine since we have a treasurer who is jealous of the P1 Calendar I have and placed on the class table.
Magazine Layout- 43 bucks per person! THIS IS QUITE A JOKE. THERE'S EVEN CERTAIN QUARTERS OF PEOPLE IN THE CLASS WHO WANTED MORE THAN 3 PAGES OF THE LAYOUT IN THE SCHOOL MAGAZINE. and btw, why is the editorial board charging us for layouts (500 bucks per page)? Shouldn't it be free? You guys find external sponsors, and you expect us poor students to pay too? We are also paying for the magazine for goodness sake.
Librarian Fund - 20 bucks per person. Eh, editorial board, I'm also paying both sides for goodness sake. RM500 per page is really too much now. And dateline by February 22? Joker. Not to mention that I've discovered something about this too, if I were to reveal it, I'm in great trouble.
St. John Ambulance- more than or equal to 100 bucks a year. BIG QUESTION HERE. YOU GUYS GET DONATIONS FROM EVENTS WHERE ST JOHN AMBULANCE MEMBERS ARE SENT TO DO DUTIES. AND WHY DOES THE MEMBERS NEED TO "INVEST" IN YOUR SO CALLED MEDICAL EQUIPMENTS. THE HONEST TRUTH, THIS YEAR, I'M NOT PAYING, I REPEAT AGAIN, I'M NOT PAYING. IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE A NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION BY THE WAY. THIS IS WAY TOO MUCH. KEAN LOONG AND CHENG KEN, TAKE MY WORD. AND BY THE WAY, ST JOHN'S AMBULANCE IS NOW OFFICIALLY CONSIDERED AS THE RICH KIDS' SOCIETY. WITH ALL THE SPENDINGS AND FUNDING FROM THEIR "RICH" MEMBERS, EXCEPT ME.
Help Desk Technicians- 5 bucks. Miniscule. Doesn't make much difference.
Cooke House- 10 bucks. For sports activities, it's already 26 bucks. See the irony? Cooke better give good food this year. with 26 bucks, I could well spend the money on a few cups of Starbucks.
Badminton - 5 bucks. Not much difference.

Total so far- MORE THAN RM 391.50
Comments- Really too much. Thank you government.

See the irony now? We used to pay less than 50 bucks a year when the government imposed the school fees but without, it's WAY MORE. This is a burden to Malaysian students, well, at least in my school, except for the few people who comes from the rich society but refused to study in private schools or to be sent overseas. Thank you.

I'm sick of life.

2010-01-14T19:33:00.003+08:00

I feel tired of life. 'nuff said. Everything seems wrong with everything happening in this past 2 days. It's full of a chronology of events that is tiring, sickening, scandalous and ridiculous. I'm not going to reveal the details here but this is the hint on why I suffer an emotional breakdown yesterday afternoon until this afternoon. Come to think of it, why should I be sad and unhappy over certain quarters of i***tic people and be stressed up as a result out of it? Life is meant to be enjoyed, as said by certain quarters of people enjoying life, but what for those who don't? Just because of that, a few "religions" are born out of it. Because of that, we have goths. Because of that, we have people tired and sick of life. Think positive on everything you do. If you have a will, there is a way. Furthermore, there's no point making enemies or creating havoc. If the person has certain strands of being a pure idiot telling you unnecessary information or making you do something you shouldn't, avoid communication on all grounds towards this group of people. The big conclusion out of this issue is, take necessary steps to solve every single problem in life. Don't avoid problems, solve it. By the way, I won't have much time to blog, therefore I'm keeping blogging as a little part of my life.

Move on to a happier side, the BlackBerry Bold 2 is launching tonight in Malaysia..Tomorrow (14th January, 2010) with a super-duper-ridiculous 50% off for the phone (with a contract and phone of course). If you hate Celcom (like I do), don't take it. Line up in La Bodega at Pavilion starting 4.30pm tomorrow if you wish to get it. According to my sources, you must sign up for the Celcom Exec 250 commitment plan (correct me if i'm wrong). Here's a short breakthrough:

Why is this phone worth the amount?
- It's slim
- It's light
- It's powerful.
- It's sexy.
- It's input interface. is now upgraded. No more trackball (did i mention that i really HATE the Bold 9000 trackball).
- It's multimedia functions is extraordinary.
- It's email and sms functions are legendary (even Tan Sri Musa uses it, errr, the 9000 model)

Why you should hate it?
- If you're not a businessman, get the Curve 8520. (more for teens and not so serious)
- Celcom's 3G/ HSDPA-joke network. yeah!
- Celcom's expensive plans.
- The queue to get that phone. (JUST IMAGINE ALL CHEAPO BUSINESSMEN LINE UP JUST TO GET THE PHONE 50% OFF)
- If it feels plasticky like the Bold 9000, then better off not.
- If you already have a better phone, stick with it, like mine! =DDD
Seriously, this is my current phone. Hoped to change it for Nexus One, however with it's incredible string of problems, I don't think I want that now. FYI, Nexus One is over-hyped prior to the release of the device. After the release, the hype went down substantially.

What is my dream phone?
- Has multiple bands and is incredibly fast on the net,(for example, contains all GSM bands, CDMA bands, EV-DO bands, LTE, WiMAX, HSPA, 3G, etc etc.) Therefore, I'll be able to connect to the internet everywhere I am.
- Fast enough, the current standards? Qualcomm's Snapdragon? 1GHz is a killer.
- Has a screen bigger than the iPhone but smaller than the HTC HD2.
- Able to play full 720p videos at least in the mini screen.
- A browser fast enough that it can beat the computer standards.
- An operating system created based on the plus-points of every single mobile operating system out there, except Windows Mobile, that's for sure.
- Light and thin enough, if possible, shock-proof, dust-proof, snow-proof, waterproof, toddler-proof, toilet-proof and everything.
- Contains a slide out Qwerty keyboard.
- Able to start up in less than a minute, my iPod touch takes about 5 minutes MINIMUM.
- Easy synchronrization with the computers.

This is my dream phone. Not created yet. And the phone shouldn't be made by Apple, HTC or whatever crappy phone makers out there. If any phone makers are able to design and create a phone with all these characteristics, I'm in for one.

P.s. don't buy the Nexus One. Got bad reviews from almost every single aspect of the phone. Bad touchscreen (as always, this is HTC's tradition.), Spotty Android, bad repo. No Multi-touch, mixture of both a good and bad thing. No physical customer service? Only web based, Uh-oh, big bummer. And the only way is to buy the phone from http://google.com/phone ? even worse. And only available in HK, Singapore, UK and US? For other early adopters from other countries, be warned, no warranties whatsoever if your phone breaks or spoils.

how to survive age seventeen.

2010-01-07T23:21:00.002+08:00

Seventeen is a pretty big number. It's a number after sixteen and as you grow older, you tend to realise the actions done are pretty stupid. Seventeen is also another number which represents the age of most students dying in Malaysia due to unfortunate stress in schools. Here's a simple guide on how to survive age seventeen:

1. Don't drink too much coffee.
For Malaysian students, SPM is only a few electrifying moments away. It'll come sooner than expected. Caffeine is not a good investment to get excellent results for the gargantuan exams about to come. For example, it's pretty crappy that we have to sit through so many examinations prior to taking the biggest one, the super-crappy SPM. SPM is over-rated. Therefore, it's not worth risking your life for an examination. Drink plenty of liquids to refresh your mind frequently. Maybe the school shall start a Caffeine Addicts Anonymous club. I seriously need a cure for my current caffeine addiction.

2. The first week of schooling will be stressful.
4th of January, what an amazing day. I've been enjoying my holidays so far and when I am in holidays, I wished that schools will start soon. However, once I've stepped into the school compound, I wished that I had another month of holidays. The first week is seriously a killer. Ridiculous amount of homeworks, lots of commitment in co-curricular activities and when these two blend together, it's really harmful for your well-being. Therefore, as a student myself, my biggest advice is manage your time properly and allocate some time towards every single activity you're commited to. Don't over-commit yourself or the consequences are pretty bad. Just do what you're told to do and that's all. Finish it efficiently and you'll survive. Don't try to be an hero, doing more than what you're supposed to do and create more problems. A simple tip, study hard, work hard, sleep hard, play hard.

3, Don't try to be a wholesale-hero.
What this term means is don't grab every single post available in whatever activity you're in. I know students these days need to go rushing to get ridiculous c0-curricular marks. However, as you get more responsibilities by participating in so many activities, your grades will go down substantially. You might be hardworking, however without the proper time management, one will find it difficult to survive through the year if you continue to be so particularly active.

4. Set your goals. Don't expect it'll be achieved.
In another words, it means, don't be over- confident. For example, if your target is to get straight-As in the 3 letter word exam. Don't be confident that it's guaranteed you'll be getting it and be boastful about it. In reality, determination and faith is needed in order to achieve a certain target. Therefore, pray hard to god that you'll survive through this year and get excellent grades if possible. Work hard to get it. Like the quote frequently used in the movie "Fired Up!", "you gotta risk it to get the biscuit". Nothing in life comes easily. That's my only advice.

5. Don't spend your time reading the damn books.
Alright, the three letter word again. Some people are so determined that they really go all out in order to achieve the best results possible. However, have you realised, what's the point? For me, if I were to read any of the books, it's impossible for me to absorb any single fact into my brain. The keyword is, study smart, not study smart. The term study smart means target on what topics or questions that are absent in previous examinations and focus more on it. However, the other topics musn't be forgotten too. Just glance through it and get the basic impression of the fact. In the exam, there's a 80% chance or higher that you'll be able to regain that part you've glanced through. Furthermore, there's no point memorising the whole damn book into your brain. FYI, your brain does not have a 2 Terabyte storage capacity. The more you memorise, the more you'll forget. I've experienced that before. In previous exams.

Here's my final advice, although I might not be the perfect person to deliver the advice, if you're seventeen and sitting for the three letter word examination, prepare yourself since the early part of the year. Don't study last minute. I'll be sitting for the same examination later this year, and therefore, like others, I'm also targeting the best possible result. However, I'm not applying pressure to myself that if I fail to get the best possible result, my life would be meaningless. This will only create unnecessary stress and in the end, you'll feel sad, tired and depressed. Good luck to all fellow seventeen-year-old-ians. Enjoy your last year in high school (unless you're taking the three-letter-exam-with-an-added-T-in-between-the-first-and-second-letter). Good luck and target for the best.

P.s. I won't be blogging for quite some time from now on as I have quite a lot of commitments in school or outside. However, I'll still remain active on twitter and facebook. For more updates, catch up from these two alternative social networks. Ciao.

2010, a new decade.

2009-12-31T20:00:00.000+08:00

Twenty ten.
We were ten years younger a decade ago.
Even the technology evolved through all those years.
Neither wise, a lot of things happened through all the years.
Time to look forward, forget about the past.
Yup, it's gonna be a new decade soon.

Tomorrow will be a new decade, a new revolution.
Excel in everything you do.
Nobody can stop you from achieving your targets.

Therefore, enjoy a New Year as well as a new decade to everyone around the world. Mass-tweets like what I did for Christmas will start soon. It's 4 more hours to a new decade. Look forward to it and stay positive.

P1 Speedtest vs. Speedtest.net

2009-12-28T12:29:00.005+08:00

I've came across numerous tweet and blog complaints about the "controversial" P1 Speedtest. For example: HERE , HERE (this guy is using screamyx btw...). Get my point? Even i did my own research and by thinking logically, is it possible to achieve 79ms ping with the P1 Speedtest and not in reality? For example, compare with your own eyes!

The differences:
Download speed = 1274kbps vs. 1.26Mbps = almost the same, but sometimes it's not, believe me.
Upload speed = 507kbpsvs. 0.41Mbps = 100+kbps is a lot of difference! Almost life-changing.
Ping = 205ms vs. 79ms = THAT'S SCANDALOUS. if 79ms is achievable, P1, please host a server for games (such as Call of Duty, Counter-Strike and etc. for your subscribers). In real life, I can't connect to IWnet (the mandatory server for the damn Modern Warfare 2), got kicked out by most servers in Modern Warfare due to high ping, Skype is smooth (but most of the time, I can hear voice cracking) and others. 79ms might be achievable by connecting to the server, but in reality, it's almost impossible with your service, sorry to say. Even ping-ing with your own homepage takes about 100+ms, here's the proof!
And here's the explanation given (posted early this morning on their Facebook page):
Q: Why is the results of speed test on speed.p1.com.my’s results is different from the speedtest.net’s results?
A: In a speed test, data is transmitted to measure the speed between your computer and the test server. The results may vary due to a few factors, such as your computer’s loading (e.g. busy running another background application), the test server loading, and the network distance between your computer to the test server. For speed.p1.com.my, the test server is located and managed by P1.com network. For speedtest.net, the test servers are located on the Internet and used by many Internet users globally. Speed.p1.com.my provides the shortest network distance whereas other test servers from speedtest.net might be located elsewhere. Hence, the results might vary based on these factors.

Q: What is “network distance”?
A: Network distance is different from the physical distance. A server might be located physically closed to you, but in actual fact, there might be several gateways / switches behind. Gateways and switches are the network servers that route your data. Hence, network distance is determined by the number of gateways and the transmission speed between your computer and the server.

Q: OK. Then why do I get good speed test results, but my websites are loading very slowly or my software gets Internet data slowly?
A: The Internet user experience is greatly dependent on the server (a.k.a the machine that receives your request and sends you the data). The web servers might be due to (1) too far away (network distance); (2) too busy to send you data (server overloaded by many other user requests); (3) your computer performance (fancy websites require strong graphic and animation supports).

Q: Great! I want to know more. Where can I find more information on these speedtest?
A: More details can be found at http://www.speedtest.net/qna.php or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedtest.net (external websites)

The explanation given is quite informative. However, please read my comments:
and this guy who agreed with me...
The thing is, there's no point getting really good results with the speedtest provided by your servers and not in reality. You might have done some tweaking in order to make customers believe that the speed is that good however, if certain technical-minded people were to do your speedtest, they will notice that something is wrong. However, I'm not condemning the speedtest availability in your website, however please provide a clear note stating that the speeds are for references only and might not be achievable in real situations. And therefore, more customers would complain about your service. Thank you.

Review: Celcom Broadband

2009-12-25T23:38:00.004+08:00

I've been using Celcom Broadband for about a week now. Here's my verdict:

Pros:-
- Mobility is there.
- Compared to Maxis Broadband, there's less disconnections.
- 7 Days Money-back Guarantee (you might want to take it right away. However, I'm not eligible.)

Cons:-
- Celcom Broadband's 3G/HSDPA coverage is not up to par. Mainly only in city areas or locations near to the city. That's all. Even if there's HSDPA, the speed is still slow.
- Only good for light surfing, twitter updating and light chatting (no video-chatting or even voice chat)
- Cannot connect at all yesterday. Remember Hari Raya?
- Quite expensive (compared to others).
- The Vodafone modem is tied to Celcom Broadband. Not even with my old Xpax SIM card (let alone Maxis). =(
- North-South Expressway, definitely not Celcom territory!

Conclusion: I don't recommend Celcom Broadband. Only for people who use the internet lightly or so, then it's ok. However, I'm stuck to it so I've gotta use it.

2009-12-24T22:59:00.003+08:00

this message is dedicated to anybody who might have failed to receive my sms, to those who is my friend but with me not having his/her number, to anyone whom I don't know, to my enemies, to my foes, to my friends, to my soulmates, to my lethal enemies, to the prime ministers, to the billionaires, to basically anybody!

Christmas Gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.

To an opponent, tolerance.

To a friend, everything.

To the unfortunate, charity.

To the gods, worship.

To the government, support.

To companies, business.

To the rich, donations.

To all, Merry Christmas!

Notice to all Cafe/Bar/Mamak Stalls/Restaurant/Lounge/Airport/Rail Station/Etc. owners!

2009-12-24T17:47:00.005+08:00

picture from http://thestar.com.my/

As a consumer, a customer at heart, I came across a few cafes around the Cheras area personally today. I went across about 12 restaurants/mamak stalls/cafes around the Cheras Business Centre and around the Taman Segar area totting around with my HP Mini and out of 12, only 4 offered Wi-Fi services. Out of the 12, 4 offered both Wi-Fi services and power ports, 3 offered ONLY Wi-Fi services WITHOUT power ports, the remaining offered NO Wi-Fi services but there's power ports. This is part of my own research and out of the 7 offered Wi-Fi services, all of them are connected to the same ISP (not mentioned, guess it yourself).

The suggestion here is, if ALL owners of cafes/bars/mamak stalls/restaurants/etc. in Malaysia utilizes the same ISP, along with companies, personal users, foreigners, angmohs etc. Can reasonable speeds be achieved? Furthermore, to the 3 restaurants/cafes/bars/etc. which offered Wi-Fi WITHOUT power supply, how do you expect customers to utilize your service. It might be a good tactic though, customer orders, drink arrives, uses internet until battery drips empty, then leave automatically and not suffer losses. However, if a customer stays too long with power supply, it's not profitable. Imagine me, bringing a laptop along, order only ONE drink, sits there for hours, thinking that the ONE drink is sufficient to use the provided Wi-Fi, it's also bad as the losses exceeds the profits.

Therefore, the conclusion is, to encourage broadband penetration, the government of Malaysia should provide subsidy to those below a certain income range in order for them to purchase low-cost laptops. Furthermore, they should provide tax reliefs to F&B owners to provide internet services in their premises. Then, make a mandate in the parliament to make it mandatory for F&B owners to offer both Wi-Fi and power supply (maybe to only those which profits exceed RM3mil (as they charge government and service tax above that amount)). In this case, broadband penetration can be increased deeply with the help of the ISPs itself. ISPs must offer attractive Wi-Fi packages for SMEs (especially in the F&B sector) to encourage growth and offer high speeds to be shared. To the owners, with the help of the ISP, you can limit customer's usage of internet to maybe, around 2 hours to make it profitable for this to happen or perhaps, impose a charge (NOT THE STUPID STREAMYX ZONE, I'M REALLY ANNOYED WHEN I SEE THE SSID "streamyx zone"). Thank you.

happy birthday! and merry christmas (eve)!

2009-12-24T00:00:00.003+08:00

Gelukkige verjaardag Gëzuar Ditëlindjen عيد ميلاد سعي З Днём Нараджэння Честит рожден ден Feliç aniversari 生日快乐生日快樂 Sretan rođendan Všechno nejlepší k narozeninám Tillykke med fødselsdagen Hartelijk gefeliciteerd Palju õnne sünnipäevaks Joyeux anniversaire Feliz aniversario Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag Χρόνια πολλά יום הולדת שמח जन्मदिन मुबारक हो Boldog születésnapot Til hamingju með afmælið Selamat Ulang Tahun Go maire tú do lá breithe Buon compleanno 誕生日おめでとう 생일 축하합니다 Daudz laimes dzimšanas dienā Su gimimo diena Среќен роденден Selamat Hari Jadi Xewqat sbieħ f'Għeluq Sninek Gratulerer med dagen Wszystkiego najlepszego z okazji urodzin Feliz aniversário La mulţi ani С Днем Рождения Срећан рођендан Všetko najlepšie k narodeninám Vse najboljše Feliz cumpleaños Siku ya kuzaliwa yenye furaha Grattis på födelsedagen สุขสันต์ วัน เกิด Doğum Günün Kutlu Olsun Chúc mừng Sinh nhật

ALL THESE WORDS IN MULTIPLE LANGUAGES CAN BE TRANSLATED TO ONLY TWO WORDS:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TWO PEOPLE, TWO DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES, TWO EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE WHOM I KNOW, TWO (about-to-be) VERY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE AND (MOST IMPORTANTLY) THEY ARE BORN ON THE VERY SAME DAY, A DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS (which is the Christmas Eve) AND MOST-EST IMPORTANTLY ,THEIR NAMES ARE:
- DIANE DOMINIQUE YAP FOONG LAN and
- HONG KAH WAI

To DIANE, you're the smartest, craziest, most dangerous, causing yourself the most self-harm I've ever met. Although you're from the same old school (the school before my old school), SK Taman Segar, I didn't know you at all back then. Thank you for being such an amazing friend whom I can discuss my problems with almost all the time!

To KAH WAI, you're undoubtedly, also the smartest, most KIASU, KIASEE (yea, you're the only person I know that takes annual jabs for flu, hepatitis etc.) and MOST IMPORTANTLY, THE ONLY PERSON WHO THINKS A RM300 SHIRT/APPAREL/PANTS/DRESS IS CHEAP. You're logically the closest opposite-sex friend I have so far. Thank you for listening to all my grouses and everything. Bon voyage for your trip to Taiwan on your birthday (hope you don't get nauseated while being on the trip to the whole island)

To BOTH, thank you for being friends with me through all these years and may both of you enjoy your life as always, excel in everything, lead a healthy lifestyle and et cetera for the years to come. And here I am, apologizing early, your gifts are delayed (maybe for a few weeks) because I haven't gotten my salary yet. So, please wait patiently. =D

To EVERYONE (including the both of you), have an amazing Yuletide season (although there's no snow in Malaysia, my recommendations are to visit Snow World in Genting), an amazing Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. (for all students of Malaysia, please be notified that school starts on the fourth of January, so don't get over-drunk or something). An important remark is BE SAFE during the holiday season! Thank you. Ciao.

How to get optimum connection for P1 WiMAX?

2009-12-22T23:30:00.015+08:00

As two modems, DS-300 and DV-230 remains P1's main product for consumer usage, most consumers are misguided by their aggressive promoting through promoters which is basically, everywhere now. For those with the portable modem (not so sure about WiGGY), you may actually get better internet speed and reception by adjusting the position of your DS-300 or DV-230 modems (For those with Outdoor CPEs like me, there's no choice of tweaking, most probably during installation, it's already configured with a heading towards the towers to gain optimum reception). Here's a simple guide,

Step One:
Put your modem near a window (facing the tower, of course) To check which direction you should be facing, please refer HERE.

Step Two:
To check for optimum stats, type http://10.1.1.254/ into your web browser. Upon reaching, you'll see a login page:
For this page, the username you should put in is admin and the password is admin123.
(well, that's the only username and password end-users should use although I know there are other usernames and passwords for on-site technicians and for firmware updates)

Step Three:
Once you've entered this page, keep note of some vital stats:
Most importantly, do keep note of THIS part (very important)
Based on my consultations with the technicians, your RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication) must be between -30 and -50. In this case, the higher the negative value, the better it is. The RSSI is also useful to determine the distance between the base station and your modem. In this case, -30 is better than -50. Count it that way.

Next, here comes the TX Power, it is not so important, but it is the transmission power between your modem and the base station.

Here's the utmost important part, the CINR (Carrier to Interference-plus-Noise Ratio). This is another case of the higher the reading, the better your internet connection will be. However, this ratio reading must be a high positive value (not negative). As you can see, it's stated there that the maximum value is 27.50dBm, but logically, a higher value is achievable, especially if you have an Outdoor CPE installed. which means 27.50 is better than 0.

For people who don't understand the vital stats as stated above, there's always this, they've introduced this very useful meter for non-tech savvy people.

Step Four:
How to place your modem for a better coverage?
Easy, if you have a mobile device (like a laptop or an iPhone or whatever, you can access the site above and move your modem to get a better coverage if you have a DV-230. If DS-300 with a wireless router) Just make sure that you're on the configuration site to see the results as you move your modem. Just make sure the readings are within the acceptable limit or maybe, excellent.

Step Five:
Voila. Your connections now might be more stable and faster.

About the Outdoor CPE:
For the first few months of my P1 experience, my speeds have been excellent (even exceeded 2Mbps). Upon reaching the month of September onwards, my speed have deteriorated steadily (especially after 8pm til late) and thus, I've contacted their customer service through @P1Cares. They've sent a technician to my house to access the severity of my case and thus, recommended for the installation of an Outdoor CPE. A team of senior technicians came and access my connection again then only I gained approval for an Outdoor CPE. The outdoor CPE looks like this:
Nuts and bolts will be drilled into your wall to install the bracket and the Outdoor CPE. However, I am pretty sure that they won't simply give approval to all its subscribers for an outdoor CPE as I know it's pretty expensive for a unit of it. So, go through the right channel (call their customer careline or get consultation via @P1Cares) then your connection might be really bad and therefore, they might approve an Outdoor CPE unit. And by far, I think there's only two companies that offer excellent customer service. One being Dell Inc. and the other being Packet One Networks. At least they do not charge for equipment change and on-site technician visits (unlike certain ISPs which are biased to certain users and only certain users). Therefore, my advice is, go through the right channel!

Here's more information for the outdoor CPE, please click HERE.
For DS-300/DV-230, please click HERE.
(links via http://greepacket.com/ (parent company of P1 WiMAX))

Disclaimer: This post is only a guide on how to get better coverage. I am not actually sanctioned by Packet One Networks Sdn. Bhd. to provide this guide for the general public to read. However, no legal action shall be taken against me as I'm trying to improve the experience of the customers using the P1 WiMAX service (and thus, saving cost). If there's any problems, please contact their customer careline on 1300-800-888 or tweet them at @P1Cares. I'm not a representative of their company nor do I have the ability to solve the problems you're facing in regards of your connection. This is only a guide.

Here's a suggestion to Packet One Networks Sdn. Bhd. :
Please provide guides like this for easy access for your consumers in your website or maybe, inside the modem box. You'll save thousands (maybe millions) on costs to visit customers homes who complained having slow speeds. But please do correct me if you do have such guides in your boxes or in the website. But as far as I know, there's none.

HP Mini 110-1169TU+Celcom Broaband Review.

2009-12-18T13:32:00.007+08:00

Alright, I've signed up for the Netbook+Celcom Broadband deal for 88 bucks a month (inclusive of modem although there's a SIM card slot in the HP Mini behind the battery!). The speed for the package provided is 384kbps downlink and unknown uplink speed. The Broadband Basic package itself costs RM68 bucks (without modem), RM78 (with Modem, by ZTE or Huawei), RM88 with 1 year free, HP Mini and Huawei or ZTE modem with a SIM slot in the HP Mini itself. So, make your choice.

First up, speed comparison.
For fairness, I used my Dell Studio rig to test this. I connected to P1 WiMAX through the ethernet cable and Celcom Broadband through the provided USB modem. Here's the speed comparison:
(for P1 WiMAX, since I've used all 20GB of data, my speed is now limited to 400kbps, so don't tell me it's not fair...)

VERDICT: Celcom= High ping, slow downlink, slow uplink, only meant for mobile broadband, not meant to replace your current stable ISP. 587ms? Good luck. Oh, and did I tell you that the fair usage limit is only 5GB? And by the way, with this plan, the broadband package is provided only for ONE yea.r,

Secondly, the device, HP, over-rated and expensive products. Good design. Specs? 1.6GHz Intel Atom N280. 1GB RAM, upgradeable to maximum 2GB. 160GB hard drive. 1.2kg weight? very light. 10.1 inches screen? Windows XP, my second favourite-est operating system (no.1 being Mac OS X and worst is Windows Vista) Best of it's class. It's not a bad choice to purchase it. Actually, I wanted only the netbook, not the broadband service, not desperate for it. Here's some pics.
unopened box with the modem

inside the box

the unit itself

the amazing screen
The SIM card slot
Overall, the laptop is good. And the Instant Web Mini OS is not bad. It's worth to buy it logically. However, with the convenience of Celcom mass 3G network, it might be good after all, provided you can be patient with the speed. For me, I'll only use the provided Celcom Broadband only when I'm out in places without Wi-Fi. Or else, it's Wi-Fi for me. Signing off. Ciao.

what they didn't teach in dentistry school.

2009-12-17T14:28:00.004+08:00

how to whiten your teeth.

Aim: To get whiter teeth.
Problem Statement: How to get whiter teeth?
Hypothesis: If I follow the steps correctly, I will get whiter teeth
Apparatus and Materials:
YEAH, two things only.
- Hydrogen Peroxide (for nerds, it's H2O2) (for safe usage, read the labels and make sure it's concentration or molarity is between 3 to 6%) can be purchased in pharmacies (gotta find for it though in Malaysia)
- Baking Soda (you know, those powder you'd use for baking) can get it anywhere (supermarkets/hypermarkets/sundry shops/anywhere)
- Toothbrush (don't mix with the toothbrush you'd use to brush your teeth with TOOTHPASTE)
- Toothpaste, only a small hint of it (Vanilla syrup can also be used)
- A bowl, or the small little bowl to put kicap or whatever.

Safety Precautions:
WARNING: IF YOU HAVE ANY GUM DISEASE (gingivitis, open sores, bleeding gums or whatever), PLEASE STOP RIGHT HERE. DON'T CONTINUE READING.
- DO THIS IN YOUR BATHROOM.
- DO NOT SWALLOW THE PASTE, the taste sucks, believe me (and could be harmful as baking soda will expand with acid in your stomach)
- STERILISE ALL EQUIPMENT USED.
- DO THIS ONLY ONCE A WEEK. IT'S HARMFUL FOR YOUR HEALTH. (i meant, teeth) SINCE IT WILL REDUCE THE THICKNESS OF YOUR ENAMEL. AND BTW, IT WILL WHITEN YOUR GUMS TOO. OF COURSE YOU DON'T WANT YOUR GUMS TO LOOK LIKE MICHAEL JACKSON'S SKIN COLOUR.
- THIS PASTE IS BASICALLY A TYPE OF SOFT "BLEACH". HOWEVER, DON'T USE BLEACH FOR YOUR MOUTH.
- I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING IF ANYTHING GOES WRONG.

Variables: Manipulated: None.
Responding: Whiter teeth
Constant: Materials used.

Method:
1. Prepare the apparatus and materials in your bathroom. The proportions are 1 tablespoon of baking soda to a few drops of Hydrogen Peroxide solution.

2. Add the Hydrogen Peroxide solution into the baking soda drop by drop. In my case, use Jamie Oliver's trademark method, simply pour. But make sure it's proportionate as you don't want it to be too liquidy. (Optional: Add a hint of vanilla syrup or toothpaste)

3. Stir the solution. Keep on stirring until a paste is formed, not until it became a liquid and make sure the baking soda is fully mixed with the hydrogen peroxide solution.

4. Scoop the paste with the tablespoon. Then, use the toothbrush to scoop it up.

5. Brush your teeth in the way you brush your teeth with normal toothbrush. Leave it in your mouth for about 2-3 minutes.
6. Rinse your mouth with water.
7. Brush your teeth with another toothbrush with toothpaste. (or you can use cranberry juice to remove the taste of the paste and it kills bacteria too)
8. Voila, your teeth should be white by now.

Observations:
- Whiter teeth.
- Pinker gums.
- When you rinse, you might notice that the paste might turn pinkish, it's basically discolouration of gums, it's alright, don't worry (AS LONG AS YOU DON'T DO THIS OFTEN)

Conclusion:
Hypothesis accepted. Teeth is now white. Err, except for mine (i can't stand the taste!)

That's all! Did they teach this in dentistry school? Correct me if they did. I guess what they teach there is how to use expensive equipment and medication to whiten teeth. And please don't invest in teeth whitening kits in pharmacies as it contains more carcinogens (cancer-causing agents) then THIS PASTE (fully chemistry-organic and cheap, too).

chronicles of screwation.

2009-12-17T12:43:00.004+08:00

I'm getting older day by day, but I'm still 16. and BTW, I'm forgetting things more frequently now. (and making silly mistakes)

Incident No.1
I mis-booked my flight again. The third time, I think. Did I did this while I'm drunk?

Incident No.2 this event is by invitation only, by the way.

Why didn't my iPod remind me that tonight's my cousin's birthday? and she invited me almost a month ago and I almost went for P1 WiMAX's Social Media Night tonight. Sorry, P1 WiMAX. and by the way, I think I'm under-aged for the party. =(

Incident No.3
I told the courier service to deliver my HP Mini tomorrow. (it's a public holiday tomorrow) ((i doubt that they will send it tomorrow)) (((if they did, i'll do a review about it, I promise)))

Incident No. 4.
I nearly paid RM50 to the taxi driver yesterday and I know it's dangerous. How dumb can I be?

Incident No. 5
I left my iPod at Starbucks yesterday. Luckily, when I went back, it's still there. And by the way, it's 9 more minutes to 1pm. for free tall brewed coffee. I didn't make it today for the "free" coffee.

Incident No. 6
Dropped my precious Susan Boyle's CD on the floor. =(

Incident No. 7
WORST OF ALL, I MISPLACED MY HOUSE KEY

THE VERDICT IS, I'M GETTING OLD!

Malaysian Broadband.

2009-12-14T23:37:00.004+08:00

Just finished watching the debate show about the quality of Malaysian Broadband on RTM 1 (a Malaysian television channel) while being in paradise. Here's a summary and my personal comments. The introduction, 3 representatives from 3 different companies (2 were owned by the same company), Telekom Malaysia Berhad, Celcom and Packet One Networks (which is more commonly known as P1 WiMAX. Celcom is owned by Telekom Malaysia under it's fully-owned subsidary, Axiata Berhad. In that show, about 30 minutes ago, various discussions had been made with participation of the "rakyat" or the community.

In that particular debate, various issue had been discussed accordingly. The most interesting discussion is about the Fair Usage Policy, which is, in contrast, the comments made by the representative of Telekom Malaysia is basically, a joke. In reality, most of the customers using TM's monopoly product, TMnet Streamyx, a small portion of it's users are known to be inconsiderate. They take advantage of what they call, an "unlimited" packages by consuming most of its bandwidth by downloading torrents or mainly, piracy. This has caused a major problem, mainly bandwidth, which means other users can gain stable connection to the internet, which means, frequent disconnection and slow internet. So, the main thing is, to improve internet, please block rapidshare and bittorrent ports (this will stop piracy too). There's a caller who claimed that he has 2 Streamyx and 1 DiGi broadband account, I think most probably he's lying. This is because since he complained about slow connections using Streamyx, then he shall diversify and boycott the particular product, Streamyx. There's other various ISPs in Malaysia that are not owned by TM. He should have taken advantage of it. And, since he's living in Puchong, it's a vast developed area with huge broadband implementation, so, he should scout around and maybe retain only a Streamyx account for comparison. Give P1 a try.

In this particular debate too, Celcom had taken a huge hit by mainly consumers, where one particular viewer complained that he could cook and serve fried rice while waiting for a webpage to learn in some "kampung" or village in Malaysia. Come on, logically, it does not make economical sense to develop in the rural areas and not concentrate in cities. First, can the users in rural areas guarantee that they would subscribe to the particular ISP once they've developed in the area? To gain revenue, they must and they did implement the particular network in the cities first, of course. And most people complained that Celcom delivered slow speeds on the show. The reason given by the Vice President of Internet Broadband in Celcom, some towers are experiencing congestion and upgrading base stations to deliver 4x speed. Wow! (this sentence is picked from @P1Media, which gave live commentary on the debate, credits to them). I'm getting a bit worried on getting the HP Mini package with free 1 year Celcom Broadband. The reviews on their product had not been good. However, of course the main purpose of me getting the package is not the broadband la, of course, it's the netbook i'm more interested in since I already have a stable connection with P1 WiMAX with the installation of the Outdoor CPE a few weeks (not even a few weeks actually) ago. Therefore, to those who complained about P1 WiMAX's slow speed, kindly call for technical support for next course of action, they'll make sure that the customer will be satisfied and problem is solved (if that fails, kindly get a twitter account and tweet to @P1Cares or use their new online chat support).
The conclusion is, I have no surprises that the country Malaysia is ranked no.47 in a recent Cisco-sponsored Oxford study about Broadband quality and penetration in developed and developing countries. South Korea came first, a country which I went there before, completely supported by fiber-optic networks with legendary wireless solutions. Their internet connection is marvellous with no lags whatsoever. The best advice to Malaysian ISP, stop focusing on the technologies, focus more on developing bandwidth penetration. There's no point having HSBB (high-speed broadband) based on fiber-optic cables without the necessary bandwidth. Current HSPA (Both HSDPA and HSUPA), WiMAX and ADSL (now it's ADSL2+ in most developing and developed countries) networks are sufficient in handling high bandwidth. Therefore, provide stable and real high-speed internet experiences before concentrating on technology. And another important thing, Regulate usage by blocking unnecessary ports (such as rapidshare and torrent ports). Kudos to P1 WiMAX, however, there's much more to be done. My current experience with you have been excellent. Keep up the good work.

list of all-things best 2009.

2009-12-12T22:25:00.005+08:00

Alright, 2009 is coming to an end. My blog is about to die due to a long term loneliness after being abandoned by me for quite some time. So, here's my list of all things best for this fiscal year, ending 31st December, 2009. Please do not give harsh comments on this post because it's supposed to be about what I think it will be the best for this year.

1st Category - Best songs (will be based on my iTunes Most Played List)
1. The Show - Lenka - Played 864 times on my computer and my iPod. (The main reason why I find this song annoying is maybe because of me playing it too many times).
2. Happy - Leona Lewis - Played 766 times on both devices (Yup, I still love this song)
3. Lost+ (Feat. Jay-Z) - Coldplay - Played 742 times (a little less than Happy)
4. J*zz In My Pants - The Lonely Island - Played 683 times. (Find it out ourself)
5. Vanilla Twilight - Owl City - 589 times. (As opposed to Fireflies, I prefer this song more) (and I'm one of the first batch of people who've heard of Owl City first in Malaysia and one of the first to listen to it prior of this particular person who became famous).
6. Up/Down - Jessica Mauboy - 532 times. (Quite shocked that this girl is not famous in Malaysia but Lenka is.)
7. You Found Me - The Fray - 488 times. (huh, quite coincidently huh.)
8. Poker Face - Lady GaGa - 424 times (I hate her. She's annoying).
9. 99 Times - Kate Voegele (another shocking discovery that she's practically unheard in Malaysia)
10. Comme des enfants - Cœur de pirate (French. 'nuff said)

Best song of the year- Orianthi - According To You. (Known her songs before she's famous. Had overnight fame due to MJ's about-to-happen concert. Yea, she's the supposedly guitarist for the concert.)

2nd Category - Best Artistes of 2009.
1. The Veronicas.
2. Coldplay
3. Lily Allen
4. Pixie Lott
5. Natalie Bassingthwaighte. (wiki it)
6. 3OH!3
7. Evermore
8. Owl City
9. SUSAN BOYLE.
10. Bluejuice.

Worst Artiste of the year, Gaybert. yea, you should know who he is by now. Thank god he didn't win the damn competition, but honestly, it ruined all other winners reputation (and also the show).

3rd Category - Best Movies of 2009.
1. Fired Up!
2. Knowing
3. Inglorious Basterds.
4. (500) Days of Summer (then goes Autumn.)
5. Slumdog Millionaire.
6. Star Trek.
7. Hannah Montana : The Movie (yeah, I watched it)
8. Julie and Julia (Cooking, cooking and cooking)
9. Up.
10. Miss March.

Note: 2012 is not worth mentioning. It's a stupid movie.
X-Men is also another stupid movie, by the way.

4th Category - Best TV Shows of 2009.
1. The Amazing Race (Season 15)
2. Britain's Got Talent
3. V
4. Mythbusters
5. Top Gear
6. The Simpsons. 'nuff said.
7. X-Factor
8. The Biggest Loser Asia (not the original US version, I think for the first time, the asian version of a US show is better than the original version. It's way more realistic this time)
9. MTV World Stage- Japan (Just because Coldplay was on) (They should've came to Malaysia, not AAR.)
10. Phineas and Ferb (I do watch it, when I have free time) (at least it's better than Ben 10)

Worst show of 2009 - Guess what? American Idol. It's a plainly stupid show that people watch. And it's pretty much a scam.

5th Category - Best Scandals of 2009.
1. Tiger Woods. ('nuff said)
2. Taylor Swift/Kanye West incident at the Video Music Awards (Go Kanye!)
3. Edison Chen? (Yea, videos and pictures, you know what I mean)
4. David Letterman and his secret room above the studio.
5. Port Klang Free Trade Zone. Google it.
6. MCA. Ong Tee Keat vs. Liow Tiong Lai vs. Chua Soi Lek.
7. I don't know.
8. Still don't know.
9. Nominate me a scandal.
10. Chris Brown/Rihanna (ah, this is pretty BORING.)

6th Category- Best Companies of 2009.
1. P1 WiMAX. (new ISP in Malaysia, excellent service, improving customer service, high stability, good speeds)
2. AIG. Just because they manaaged to siphon off about 80 billion dollars from the US government funds.
3. Apple Inc. Nothing much, but just great.
4. Brawn GP? - For surprisingly, winning the already-pretty-boring Formula One 2009 season. I'd wonder what will happen next year.
5. Singapore Airlines? For getting 10 Airbus A380s which aren't really fully utilized?
6. Facebook Inc. - Zuckerberg, you rock. (oh, your last name is Mark.)
7. Twitter. (I'm getting pretty much addicted to it.)
8. MOL ? for buying friendster, the pretty much DEAD social network? Quite shockingly, certain (I mean CERTAIN) people do use it. Mainly you know those people, from those new villages and stuff?
9. Starbucks... (makes good coffee, and supports ethically traded beans)
10. Belkin. Because pretty much of the equipments of my house is either powered by or is networked by this company.

7th Category - Best things I have this year (bought or got)
1. Sony EX-300SL (Excellent pair of earphones, bought)
2. Nokia 1202. (B&W, bought)
3. Bose QuietComfort 3 (Got)
4. Hugo Element 90ml EDT (bought, endorsed by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, ask Diane who he is because basically even I have no idea who this guy is)
5. Susan Boyle's album
6 P1 WiMAX Outdoor CPE. (got, significant boost of speed and stability of my internet connection)
7. Starbucks Coffee 2010 Planner (logically the stupidest thing I got this year. Due to the amount of Coffee or Tazo tea consumed in order to get this thing)
8. Pelikan Multi 4x1. This pen/pencil/highlighter is wonderful. Writes with a bliss.
9. Philips Arcitec shaver. This thing is definitely worth the investment.
10. Dell Studio Slim 540s. (With Core 2 Quad) (The specifications for this particular desktop is spectacular. The only major drawback is because I'm tied to Windows Vista.) (Time to move to Mac, perhaps?

please highlight to view this post.

2009-11-18T16:06:00.007+08:00

dormir. That's french for "sleep". Since last month, sleeping is considered a luxury for me, not even a necessity. that's what i call "c'est la vie". Exams are killing me, P1 WiMAX is giving me minor stresses, Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare is giving me anticipation for Modern Warfare 2, ODST is game on. So, someone tell me, how can I sleep? I'm suffering major insomnia. Someone please put a bullet between my head by poking a hole with high velocity. In the bright side, I'm not going anywhere for holidays this year (you know, the economy is bad) (and i'm not rich =.=). So, people, if there's any outings or whatever, if you wish to invite me, please do so. Thank you.

P1 WiMAX Technician Visit

2009-11-07T08:57:00.004+08:00

In about 15 minutes ago, an official technician from P1 WiMAX came to check on my internet status. According to him, as my system is quite high-end, the modem has no problems, thus, the problem lies on the company itself for the bad connection I'm facing especially after 9 at night. And do you believe that my ping went up to 2000+ms yesterday? So long, counter-strike and call of duty. High latency with unreasonable bandwidth does not mix. Even the bandwidth I'm receiving around that time is also quite a joke as it's about 200kbps for the 1.2mbps plan (and as an IT "professional", 1.2mbps means 150+MBps). Yeah, don't get mistaken between mbps and MBps. mbps means megabits per second, while MBps means megabytes per second. 8 bits equals to 1 byte, count it yourself. The overall rating for his efficiency and service is 10/10. The twitter team shall receive a high mark of 9/10. The customer service however shall receive only an extremely low 1/10. Please buck up, P1 WiMAX! Thank you for your efficient service, however, it's still better than the already a joke Streamyx. I would recommend people around my area to stop subscribing P1 WiMAX so I could get a faster speed, HAHAH! Signing off, exams is still on. Ciao!

2012 crap.

2009-10-30T23:30:00.003+08:00

If you've been following my twitter, you'll know the reasons why a normal person (like me) will not watch the damn over-hyped new movie called twenty-twelve. Here are the reasons:

Number One- 21st December 2012, the world will end? Based on the Mayan calendar? Anybody got any proof? So, be prepared for plot holes and factual errors along the movie. Think out of the box while you're watching the movie.

Number Two- Be prepared to be sexually confused. I won't use the three-letter word, but I guess any normal human beings who has a proficiency in the language, English will know it. The actor has the three-letter word characteristics, the singer of the main song is three-letter word, the plot sounds three-letter word. Enough clues, anybody? By the way, the singer's new song is also three-letter word.

Number Three- This movie might be banned in China. Why did they use a disputed area named Tibet as part of the plot in the movie? As an avid supporter of the Chinese government, don't watch this movie. And this movie might be rated 18 and above as it involves religious matters (you know, the damn censorship board we have in Malaysia will become the main reason)

Number Four- Do we actually need a duplicate version of the movie The Day After Tomorrow? Most movies that have a disaster-based plot are generally sucky or boring. The Day After Tomorrow is already epic enough to corrupt the minds of people in order to become environmentalists. So, 2012 is not necessary. Ask people to kill cows, they contribute to about 20% of greenhouse gases.

Number Five- This movie will be deemed as a complete waste of money (and time). 158 minutes (2 hours and 38 minutes), Eff. Emm. Ell. I demand Australia to be played alongside the movie using the picture-in-picture technology as per televisions at home. This is to reduce boredom.

Enough explanation? The verdict is, avoid the movie. Be prepared for massive factual errors and plot loopholes. Sorry for not blogging for such a long period of time. Ciao. Will be back approximately after 20th of November, 2009.

ISPs of Malaysia.

2009-10-21T22:22:00.004+08:00

.
It's been long since I've last updated my blog. Today, here I am, being a smart consumer, would like to encourage other people to diversify your options and not making a direct choice. Do some research or whatever. Everyone knows that my computer is turned on 24/7. So does my internet. My life depends on the internet. So, of course I need a reliable and fast internet connection. Here's some reviews of the previous and present internet connections that I'm using:-

P1 WiMAX
Known as the most innovative new Internet Service Provider in the country. This company is among the 4 companies who won the license bid from the government to launch the 2.4GhZ WiMAX spectrum in the country. However, from what the general public can see, only this company had successfully launched and promoted their service to the public, thus, breaking down the Telekom Malaysia monopoly on the nation's internet connection (well, there are other countries, but in wide perspective, the general public only knows that TM exists at one point before P1 appears). This company did make the country proud too, as they became one of the WiMAX Forum members and making Malaysia one of the first few countries to roll out the WiMAX sprectrum (Yes, in this case, Malaysia Boleh!).

I've became one of the earliest adopters of this service. Yes, I've been using it since April. I've signed up for this service during the bi-annual PIKOM PC Fair (correct me if I'm wrong). So, it can be said that I'm one of the best people to refer to regarding the performance of the service provided. For the first 2 months, the service provided can be said as ultimately excellent. The speeds were really up to par and at most times, you get higher speeds than what you paid for. However, once the service became more popular, the quality of the network deteriorated slowly. This service is area dependent and my house can be said to be located at the end of the coverage range of the antenna. After the first 2 months, my connection has been choppy and can be predicted to have decelerated speeds from approximately 8p.m.-12a.m. almost everyday. The connection is still tolerable (Yes, at least it's better than Screwmyx) until yesterday, where my speeds had been incredibly slow. If you've been following my twitter, you'd realised numerous complaints had been made from me. However, they did call my mom regarding this issue (as she's not tech-savvy at all, she had no idea what the representative was saying). I'm expecting a call from them tomorrow and I'll post an update most likely through twitter. Ah, their customer service can be deemed as a real serious joke. If you'd face any problems with the service, you could call like a hundred times, you still won't be able to get them. That's why I chose to complain through twitter, at least it's way more responsive. Imagine an ISP being more customer-friendly through a microblogging site and not through phone calls, presenting P1 WiMAX. Would recommend, but wait until improvements are made towards the service.

TMNet Screamyx/Scrapmyx/Screamyx/Stripmyx
Well, obviously the real name of this service is TMNet Streamyx. The name is already a joke. An honest joke. They had been monopolizing the internet industry in the country for more than 10 years? Prior to choosing P1 WiMAX, I've been using this. (and also izzi, wait for that). This service is deemed a real joke because only TMNet Streamyx offers unlimited bandwidth. Unlimited=bullshit. So, do expect BitTorrent and Rapidshare-totting irresponsible users to clog up the bandwidth and being selfish, disallowing other users of using the Internet. This service is also extremely susceptible to breakdowns or what they call it as "service upgrades". There's just way too many people using this service. Their bandwidth capacity had exceeded the user limit, resulting in extremely slow speed. Added with those selfish people using this service, it could only be worse. I wouldn't recommend this service to anyone. Period. Not in a million light years.

Izzi iBurst.
iBurst is an amazing technology. However, the connection is fast, but choppy. Period. Nothing else. Furthermore, you're required to pay the whole contractual bill amount upon signing up. That means if you choose to sign up for a year, you have to pay the amount of whole year's bill. If the company goes bankrupt or something (which is extremely superiorly likely, without customers like me), your money would be gone just like that. Not a good option.

Maxis Broadband.
Extreme joke. Never-ending network cuts. Returned after just 2 days. Full stop.

Celcom Broadband.
Ultimate joke. Extremely slow connection. Too crowded. 5GB on my returned BlackBerry? You would never finish using it. Nothing else.

Digi Broadband.
Bandwidth cap of 50GB? Not worth it. Wait til the cellular services merge into the Broadband network, then you'll get your extremely crawling internet (just like Maxis and Celcom Broadband). Expensive, too. However, currently, the speed is quite fast.

Best choice:- Buy your own bandwidth. Bid for it through the government. Then you'll get fiber optic cables directly to your home and your internet will be blazing fast. It will be better this way, honestly. Or wait til some Korean company takes over, and launches a fiber-optic network equivalent similar to their own country. Then you'll be promised an minimum of 12mbps and maximum of 50mbps connection. Done. In the current situation, to survive with internet, get P1 WiMAX at least, or move to Korea.

Warning:- If any ISPs in Malaysia chooses to use the Aussie method of charging users based on capacity usage, it might be better off this way as your connection will be of blazing speed, up to 30mbps (average 17mbps). However, internet connection will be extremely expensive. Don't believe me? Go look through Optus or Telstra Broadband plans (prices in Aussie dollars, x3 Malaysian Ringgit (AUS$1=RM3). Then compare it for yourself. So, be grateful for now.

Update: I'm joining the Celcom broadband bandwagon. with a free 12 months subscription basically. For 88 bucks a month. and a HP Mini in tow.

reply to someone's blog post.

2009-10-15T20:31:00.008+08:00

Fine, I retract my acceptance of your apologies. Just remember, my whole damn world does not revolve around your damn group. You know who you are. I really had enough issues. If you didn't realise it, think again. Who created the damn issues? Who got me involved in these damn SMALLEST bits? Who retracted his/her statements after I've passed your statement to someone else? Who got me into so many damn troubles? Honestly, I'm damn sick of this. And please, for the love of god, don't ask me for any favours in the damn future. You can ask someone else, for example, Mr. Great. wait 'til he unleashes his true self and you'd be sorry, real sorry.

Thank you. I really had enough. Chemicals do collide. In this case, it's creating a massive explosion involving splitting of atoms. The atoms might as well represent our friendship.

NOBEL PISS PRIZE.

2009-10-09T19:28:00.004+08:00

SOMEONE PLEASE SHOOT ME POINT BLANK AT MY HEAD NOW. THIS WORLD IS REALLY A JOKE.

BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA WON A DAMN NOBEL PEACE PRIZE?
"for extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."
DOES THAT DESERVE A NOBEL PEACE PRIZE?

HE BECAME THE PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA SINCE JANUARY 20, 2009. THAT'S MERELY 262 DAYS, or 37 WEEKS and 3 DAYS! WHICH IS EQUIVALENT TO 8 MONTHS AND 19 DAYS BEING THE PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

DID HE DESERVE TO WIN THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE? IN EVERYONE'S LOGIC MIND, IT'S A BIG NO. WHAT DID HE DO? SENDING MORE TROOPS TO AFGHANISTAN? HIM, BEING THE COMMANDER OF THE ARMY OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA? AMERICA HAS THE STRONGEST DEFENSE FORCE IN THE WORLD. AND, THE LEADER IS VOTED BY A 5-MAN COUNCIL IN NORWAY TO WIN THAT AWARD, IN THAT CASE, THE AWARD SHOULD BE RENAMED AS THE NOBEL PISS PRIZE.

THE OTHER REASON OF HIM WINNING THAT AWARD IS BECAUSE HE BROUGHT DOWN AN AGREEMENT OVER A MEETING OF WORLD LEADERS OVER TO SCRAP THE USE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY FOR MILITARY PURPOSES. AMERICA HAS THE MOST NUCLEAR MISSILES IN THE WORLD (if I'm not mistaken). EVEN THE USS RONALD REAGAN IS POWERED BY NUCLEAR ENERGY. YOU CALL THAT WORTHY TO WIN THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.

EVEN HIS NAME CAN BE DEFINED AS AN EQUATION.
BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA= PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
LET BARRACKS BE DEFINED AS BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA.
BARRACKS= HOUSING FOR TROOPS.
TROOPS= WAR.
THEREFORE, IT SHOULD BE DEFINED AS BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA=WAR.

THINK AGAIN. ACTIONS SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS. HE MADE EMPTY PROMISES, THEREFORE, IT SHOULD BE OTHERWISE.

Chronology of an Unfortunate Event.

2009-10-09T15:00:00.004+08:00

A very interesting event happened today. And i didn't realize it at all.

Here it goes :-

1. Stepped on cat poo. Fine.

2. Went to the office. Fine.

3. Went to Jaya Jusco with Cheng Ken and Zun Zen. Fine.

4. Went to the gym by taxi. Fine.

5. Mom fetched me home. Fine.

6. Reached home. Mom told me the office stinked just now. Over me stepping on cat poo. SHE TOLD ME AFTER I WENT TO SO MANY DAMN PLACES!

7. Washed my shoes. Damn, the unfortunate thing about this is that I WASHED MY DAMNED PAIR OF TRAINERS WITH MY NIKE+ CHIP IN IT. (However, I don't have an iPod nano or the new iPod touch, so it's not important anyways.)

Damn. FML.

kindle. rekindle. kindle.

2009-10-07T23:04:00.002+08:00

GOOD NEWS (something to keep me off the issues i'm facing in my daily life)

PEOPLE LIVING IN LOCATIONS OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, GUESS WHAT? THE KINDLE IS HERE! AMONG THE ATTRACTIONS THAT CAUGHT MY EYES ARE:

- FREE 3G USAGE (HOWEVER, ONLY TO DOWNLOAD BOOKS AND NEWSPAPERS AS WELL AS BLOG SUBSCRIPTIONS ONLY, PURCHASES NEED TO BE MADE WHEN YOU PURCHASE THOSE STUFF)

- ABILITY TO DOWNLOAD A FULL BOOK IN 60 SECONDS!

- PAPER-LIKE DISPLAY WITH E-INK TECHNOLOGY. NO GLARE TO YOUR EYES.

- 1500 BOOKS STORAGE CAPACITY! W00T!

- LOWER THAN BOOKSHOP PRICES FOR BOOKS? (USD9.99 FOR A BOOK= ABOUT 35 BUCKS?, UM... ALMOST THE SAME). THINK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, THAT MEANS NO TRAVELLING TO THE BOOKSTORE IS REQUIRED!

- A HUGE, HUGE, HUGE BOOK LIBRARY!

- NEWSPAPER READING? WOOT! I WANT THAT. AT LEAST I DON'T HAVE TO SUFFER WITH MALAYSIAN NEWSPAPERS AS I COULD GET THE NEW YORK TIMES AT CHEAPER THAN BOOKSTORE RATES.

- MAGAZINES? PLAYBOY, ANYONE? (however, without colour.)

- HOLD ON... FREE ACCESS TO WIKIPEDIA? I'M.... SO.... GETTING.... IT....!

- WAIT... WAIT... WAIT... EXPERIMENTAL WEB BROWSER? GOOD LORD! THIS IS IT, FREE INTERNET ON 3G NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE? YES! ROCK ON!

- WHO NEEDS AN IPOD WHEN YOU CAN GET PODCASTS PLAYED ON MY BELOVED KINDLE! (um... however, no video podcasts and apps). So, my iPod touch will still be my beloved.

ALL FOR USD279? (um... that's about the price of a 32GB iPod touch). Time to reconsider. IS it worth it? Please comment in my CBOX.

this is my life, not yours.

2009-10-05T20:16:00.005+08:00

I've been wondering these few days. Why do people seem to care about my life more than I do? A very important question. They say I've changed. What did I changed into? A monster? An alien? A better person? Well, what I could mention out is that I've changed for the good of me, myself and I. I've really noticed that I should not care more about other people than towards myself. If you notice it, some people treat me as a friend when they target/need something from me. If I have nothing to offer or refuse to offer, *poof*, we're not friends anymore. So far, I've chose to stop being Mr. Nice to certain people who don't appreciate me for who I am. They really do take advantage of me. What am I? Santa Claus? This ain't Christmas, and I'm not a Saint. So, stop thinking that I'm wealthy or whatever. It's just basically I might be generous. But, I think I'm WAY too generous 'til I don't care about myself.

Here are some updates since the last update of my blog.
- The power supply unit of my computer had exploded. Dell promised to send a technician to repair it tomorrow. There is a huge risk plied with this situation. If my hard drive is burnt, all I could do is kiss my data goodbye and jump from 14th floor of the nearest skyscraper from my current location. 1.5TB of data (If lost, I'd rather die).

- My short-lived passion for poker ended officially today. Attention to someone named ARYAN MIRZA, please return 50k worth of poker chips to me or else be prepared for the consequences. You are supposed to receive only 5k of chips based on my compassion on the amount of chips i won from you during the round.

- Sorry for those affected with my recent outbreak of anger. There is nothing I can do to contain my anger. To Diane and Kah Wai, thanks for listening. Niroshini too. I hope you really understand my current situation.

- I wouldn't advise anyone to drink the new Starbucks Vanilla Cappuccino drink. With the ethical coffee beans growing campaign thing. I decided to try drinking it that day. I really wished I hadn't drank it yet. It did taste like some sort of cheap coffee for an expensive price. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Stick with your favorites.

- I've discounted a hatred towards Indonesians. Why must they be such an ass? Who they think they are? Innovators? They claimed we copied their tradition. So what if we copied their tradition? Malaysians, please boycott Indonesian stuff and avoid going to Indonesia for the time being. I'm really annoyed by the annoying-ness of Indonesians yesterday while I'm playing poker. They kept typing crap such as "GANYANG MALAYSIA". Can someone tell me what the f**k is that? We should be united as one. The excerpt from the song United States of Eurasia plainly explains this situation. Nothing will change, our cause has gone insane. What do they claim that we copied from them? The language? Blame someone named Parameswara. He brought over the language. The dance? Blame Puteri Gunung Ledang, a princess of whatever state from Indonesia. The culture? Blame Indonesians who brought it over ages ago. So, why don't we just forget the issue and be united as humans on Earth? Stop being accountable on this stupid small little issues! Indonesians, please remember! WE HIRE BLARDY MAIDS FROM YOUR COUNTRY! YOU SWEEP US OFF YOUR STREET, WE FIRE YOUR MAIDS! This part of the post does not affect Indonesians who are my friends or those who don't care about this issue. It's time to be patriotic, people! Fight for our own rights. There's no copyright issues on these claims (or even trademarks). Or do they say out something like "this song is composed in Indonesia and brought to Malaysia" after every single performance of Rasa Sayang? Even Tanggal 31 is composed by an Indonesian!

There's nothing else I can say in this post. So long, readers of my blog.

musings of music.

2009-09-27T17:16:00.003+08:00

Music. Some people live with it. Some people die with it. Some people hate it. Some people love it. Some people enjoys it. I do enjoy music. Music is a revolution. From the early 20s til now, music has changed a lot. Some people agrees with the term, Music evolves around. The evolution of music has changed that much where once too long ago, we could only enjoy music through radios or live performances. Then, the vinyl is invented to store music. Taping of music begins soon after that. CDs revolutionizes after tapes. Now, the most popular form of music content delivery is the digital download (although I still prefer CDs). The digital download form is the most widely condemned form of music content delivery because it's a major form of piracy too. Artistes lose millions (or even, billions) of dollars every year due to the inhumane acts of certain people. They have to make a living too, like you and me.

However, I still prefer the physical form of music, which would be the CD form now. Digital downloads can never beat the clarity and quality of physical music forms (provided you have the necessary equipment to make it real). Music is considered an investment. Most audiophiles tend to invest thousands of dollars to own the best equipment around capable of delivering even the tiniest musical details. However, for me, I don't really care that much as I prefer portability. I do purchase CDs, but I keep them only as a collection. Now, I have almost 300 CDs collected over the years, each having sentimental value to me. I do prefer music from less known artistes rather than those from known artistes. Their music tend to be higher quality and more meaningful as they are not so commercialised. I do have an iPod touch, of 32GB of storage (I have drained out the whole storage capacity, Apple, please release a 128GB version soon). I use it only when I'm outside or something. However, I do use it in my home too, as I have a Bose SoundDock and a Bose QuietComfort 3 pair of headphones. It depends on whether I need it or not. I do not look forward in investing in a good pair of earphones as they tend to break off easily. However, the beats by Dr. Dre earphones seem to get rave reviews. I look forward to get a pair of those.
The conclusion is, treat music correctly. I certainly do not support piracy whatsoever. Artistes need to make a living, like you and me. So, please stop illegal downloading now.

untitled.

2009-09-24T21:56:00.008+08:00

notice to SOMEONE (no NAMES mentioned)

you wanna add fuel to the fire?
Fine. Just don't add fuel to my fire. it's capable of melting down all the polar ice caps on earth.

you wanna play with my emotions?
Fine. Play with mine. See what can I do. Your life will be ruined. I'm lethal.

you wanna start a fight?
Fine. Am ready 24/7. To add pain to a wound, bring salt. In this case, bring weapons. Your mouth is enough. It's explicit enough to cause the world to turn upside down. I will still be standing up, though.

you wanna avoid me?
Fine. I'll avoid you too. It's better for you not to mutter a single word. Refer to the first question and answer. It will start a war between you and me. I'm a very observant person.

you wanna screw my life?
Fine, I'll screw yours too. You haven't know what I can do to your life.

you wanna be rude?
See who is rude-r in terms of explicit words? Me or you?

you wanna take revenge?
Listen to this song, Revenge Is Sweeter (Than You Ever Were). Go find it in YouTube or something, I don't give a damn.

you think I'm scared?
Fine. Screw you. You will know the repercussions.

you wanna bully me?
I'm not scared.

you have no respect for me?
do you think I have respect for you too? My respect level towards you is below the respect level of me towards street hookers.

This post is dedicated to someone. If you think it's you, fine. But it's dedicated to only one single person on Earth. Seriously, I don't give a damn. If you go on this way, I'm better off this way. Your mouth is more explicit than a gangster or any rappers on Earth, your behaviour is worse than a diva, your actions speak way louder than words (which I don't give a f**king damn), you think your money can topple the world (Fine. I still don't give a damn) and you think you make the world spin (no effing way). I'm just speaking my heart out. Nobody's gonna understand the damage done by you.

Continued below.

and here's some confessions:
- I did block you off twitter. If you notice it, I ain't following you anymore. and it's not some sort of techical glitch or whatever. I did it on purpose. I don't care about your tweets anymore.
- The differences in my blog is that I de-linked you and I've deleted the posts of you and regarding you.
- I did delete your contact off my phone. No point keeping it there anyways.
- I don't think there's any more future between us. So, don't hope for any.
- I seriously think you're the worst person on Earth. No offense to your friends.
- I wanted to avoid coming for today's outing. Someone practically forced me.
- I did avoid you. Here's the answer to your question.
- I don't give a damn about you anymore. Just get out off my life.
- The main reason of my recent escapade is you.
- We may still be friends, but we're better off as enemies.
- I would really wonder who could actually stand you.
- I might have a crush on you before, it's off, forever. It will add misery to my life.
- Please take care of your mouth. Use more toothpaste. Make it less dirty.
- I wish you plenty of luck of not dying at a young age as your mouth can provoke outbursts and political tensions.
- The Earth would be a more peaceful place without you.
- Who cares if I like Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus? She's a teenage sensation. If you dare to comment on her again, prepare to have sleepless nights. Just mind your own business and STFU, as you like to say it.

And remember, there's no names mentioned in this post. So, no class-actions lawsuits can be taken for defaming anyone on Earth. It could be dedicated to just anyone. But seriously, no offense towards anyone. This post is created based on my feelings now.

Half-Day Food Tour.

2009-09-23T18:20:00.002+08:00

Today marks the day where everybody anticipated for, the return of Dhiran Makadia Pillay. However, our moods turned upside down when I received a SMS early this morning stating that he had to attend a funeral because someone passed away. However, it's too late to suspend or cancel the event. So, the thing must go on. Instead of getting to meet Mr. Makadia Pillay himself, we celebrated Nex's birthday and Tharmelinggem Pillai instead.

The first stop of the tour for me was Pappa Rich. All I can say is that the food there sucks big time. It's darn expensive and un-delicious. Believe it or not, it's more expensive than the food and drinks of Old Town. Waited for Tharmellinggem to arrive. He became the first person to know about Dhiran's situation. Then, both of us left for Times Square as we thought we have a lot of time to spare. Went to the arcade. Spent over 20 bucks there. And believe me, RMC didn't train General Tharmelinggem Pillai how to drive race cars (although he knows how to shoot guns, he scored very well in shooting games). Sheng Rei became the first person to call at about 11.20am. Then, Nex made a call to me too. Sprinted over to Pavilion directly after that. Managed to buy him a small Cappuccino Cheesecake from SFO coffee. Met with them shortly after that.

Originally, we planned to have the first stop of the food tour at the food court as we thought we could make noise there. So, we waited and waited for everyone to arrive. Sally arrived at the food court. She wanted to have her lunch in Nando's. So we succumbed to pressure, and decided to have our lunch at Nando's. Soon, one by one started to arrive. Everyone arrived soon after that. Everyone basically ordered a Quarter Chicken meal except for Renny, who made the wise choice not to eat. Guess what, everybody ordered all the spicy chicken meals except for me, the "Not So Brave" fella (as quoted on the flags la). After meal, we started to waste time walking around. Some people (namely Cheng Ken, Renny, Gaik Xuang and me) decided to head to Qistina's open house earlier as we felt bored walking around in Pavilion doing nothing and wasting time. We had to leave early as well actually. The other guys decided to stay back at Pavilion. It seemed that they went to bowling after that as they couldn't get the tickets for movies.

So, Us (CK, RC, GX and me) departed early for Qistina's. We arrived at the Ampang station around 2pm. We actually lied to Qistina as we thought of getting her a gift (actually we're supposed to call her when we passed by the Pandan Jaya station). So, four of us decided to buy her a box of Ferrero Rocher as it's the most presentable gift we can find and we shouldn't go to her house empty handed. We split four sides for that gift. Then we called her.

Here comes the second stop of the food tour. She arrived at the station and brought us to her house. It's really BIG as in really BIG. Her house was filled with people as she have lots of cousins and relatives. It was really lively. Then comes the meal part. Her mom presented the way to eat the food. We were basically confused after that. She told us to mix this with that and not that with this. It was kinda funny la. We didn't eat much as our tummy's really full. But it was really a gastronomical heaven. Renny Chan delighted everything I think. He really made the wise choice. We continued chatting and chatting and chatting until Qistina's aunt came down and said something. She said "Please eat your food properly" or something equivalent. We were shell shocked and started analyzing her sentence word by word. We became very confused after that. Every sentence we said or someone else said was analyzed by us since we couldn't make out what other people's trying to say. We continued chatting. Then people started karaoke-ing. We enjoyed and serenade along basically. Renny started playing the piano and he was playing some Grade 1 song or something. Me and Cheng Ken was like WTF. and oh yea, Emira was also there. She arrived a little earlier than us. Then, after hours of talking, we decided to head home as Gaik Xuang's going home too. We had to wait for her basically. Her parents arrived shortly after that. Qistina's mom invited them in. Then the three guys (me, ck and rc) headed home. Here's some pictures.The early birds. (taken by Sally, not in the picture)
Cheng Ken texting his girlfriend, Cecilia Leong.

Me and the host.
The early birds who made it to Qistina's open house.
A final group photo (Gaik Xuang and Sally not in the photo)

Lessons to be Learned.

2009-09-22T15:37:00.002+08:00

- Don't forego bringing wireless electronic devices (in my case, iPod touch.) they are vital in getting latest information over the Internet as most airports are equipped with free wi-fi. I really regretted by now bringing mine as I faced multiple problems in the airport. Furthermore, I brought only my mobile phone where I used it to text Ajit to get the latest flight status and et cetera (thank you, Ajit). No matter your trip is a full no-electronics-trip, don't forget to bring wireless-Internet capable devices.

- Don't try to save money by flying low-cost airlines. In my case, the local low-cost airline which I used (no names of companies mentioned) almost cost me a connection flight. The flight was delayed for a few hours and I anxiously waited for the flight to depart or else I would miss the connection. (thank you Ajit, again). It was a real pain in the ass. And they are quite bad in managing this situation.

- If you are getting a connection to other destinations via certain airports, make sure your flight is spaced about 2-5 hours apart. This is done as preventive measures to ensure that you'll get to the destination. Make sure, it's not less than 2 hours, as you can face problems and not more than 5 hours, or you will feel darn bored in the airport. This is a true story. I have experienced both durations and find the time in between quite stressful.

- And Diane, I regretted bringing so little clothes. The place I went to (which is, somewhere over the rainbow) has basically little or none apparel shops. Another thing, does anybody agree with me that Diane looks like the Russian pole vaulter, Yelena Isinbaveya.

- Don't text while roaming. I spent almost 60 bucks texting people. I realised it when I found out I have insufficient credit to text. Quite a waste of money. From that country, it costs 2 bucks per SMS. If you have the urge to text, reply only to important smses. Try to ignore smses from friends, which I failed miserably. But I decided to text back as I think friends are important in knowing my current situation in a foreign country. And thanks for taking the time to reply.

Historical Day. 18th September 2009.

2009-09-18T20:25:00.003+08:00

Today marked a historical day.
My PC was turned off for the first time since I purchased the computer.
Screw Tenaga Nasional Berhad.
My electrical current meter went on fire.
Before that, problems prevailed.
Do you know my electrical bill was over 400 bucks before that? For a household of 3 inhabitants.
Then they changed the meter.
Then this happened.
It was practically burning
No pictures since I wasn't at home at that time.
Signing Off.
Mood= Damn Sad.

Dhiran's outing

2009-09-17T21:35:00.007+08:00

Do you guys remember this guy named Dhiran Makadia Pillay? He used to be our old friend in the old times. On next Wednesday, he wants an outing with the old SBU people. Basically it will be a lunch event to rekindle the old moments and get the updates from our old mate. After the lunch, everybody's free to do their own stuff (although i guess there won't be enough time). Really hope you guys can make it.

The details are as follows :-
Date: 23rd September 2009.
Venue: Food Court (Food Junction or something like that), Pavilion KL.
Time: Arrive by 12. It will be til around 1 or 2. Maybe 3 or 4. Then you peeps are free to wander around Pavilion doing shopping or whatever. *recommends people to watch G-Force* And people, important annoucement, 4 Science Alpha people who are going for Qistina's open house, please do inform me too. Transport is by LRT. Qistina will guide us to her house from the Ampang station.
Attire: Casual attire.

If you wish to go or to enquire more, please call/sms/IM/post a post on FB/e-mail/Tweet @derrickveejay/DM/meet/whatever me. Please RSVP as soon as possible. Hope you guys can make it. There are so many methods to contact me. If there's anything, just contact me-lah! Thanks.

p.s. We will also celebrate Nex's birthday on that event (Yes, Nex is going). So, the more the merrier.

RIP Patrick Swayze (1952-2009)

2009-09-15T21:33:00.002+08:00

A legend. 57 years of age. His birthday is a day before me. Although 51 years older than me. Died approximately a few hours ago. An inspiration to everyone. Dirty Dancing is his famous flick. May you rest in peace.

This blog is over 1000-visitors-old.

2009-09-12T21:00:00.004+08:00

20 posts (2 deleted).
More than 100000 words.
1 month and 4 days.
1012 visitors (at the time of posting).
An achievement for a normal blog.
1012 visitors means an average 29 visitors a day.
4 Continents. Europe. Asia. North America. Pacific.
A feat.
For a normal teenager from Malaysia.
that could take months. even years for seasoned bloggers.
Thanks for the support.
Kah Wai, Princess Syara, Teh Kean Loong, Tien Soong, Valerie, Pui Yi and a few others... I know you are the seasoned and loyal readers of this blog.
Thanks again for the support.
There's no final frontier for this.
No Limits.
No Boundaries.
The next target... Infinity.

p.s. I still dislike blogging. Although I idolise Kenny Sia and others for making being an impressive blogger.

Olympus PEN E-P1

2009-09-12T09:13:00.003+08:00

As of yesterday, I found a new love. This little wonder shoots 12.3 megapixels stills with amazingly stunning capabilities in low dark conditions. For example, I took this picture with extremely low light condition under ISO 2400 f/3.2 with focal length of 7mm. This camera is extremely amazing as it combines the functionality of a DSLR while being a small, compact camera with it's innovative Micro Four-Thirds System. Although there's no viewfinder, I wouldn't expect the images to be this clear. It has a capability to shoot 720p HD videos. It weights a mighty puny 335 grams. This is my new love, although I can't afford one. *drooling at this*. Oh yeah, this camera does not come with flash. It's just too good (even without light). But you can certainly purchase a flash adapter if you really need the flash. The lenses are also interchangeable. A little bit about the Micro Four-Thirds System. It's just a compact solution of not having a Digital SLR. Basically, you'll get the same functions of a normal Four-Thirds system with this which usually comes in a DSLR. I would recommend anyone to buy this. I'm giving it a 6 out of 5 stars. Signing off.

p.s. the camera is not mine. i shot the picture using my cousin's camera. But, the feel of it is just simply amazing.

some review about something musings.

2009-09-07T21:24:00.004+08:00

Malaysian students tend to go for tuition to gain "extra knowledge". Most tuition centres offer excellent teachers with magnificent facilities for the students and a conducive environment to study or to gain knowledge. Well, in my case, I've encountered something quite brutal as my days of a tuition student past by. Here I am, presenting a story entitled "Memoirs of A Tuition Student".

First, well, if you know me, you'll definitely know which tuition centre i go to now *nothing mentioned*. Seriously, I wouldn't recommend anybody between ages of 13-17 to go for the tuition centre. Except for certain subjects, of course. In fact, if you're lucky enough to get this particular teacher *no names mentioned*, your life will suffer as if you're studying in hell. Don't expect excellent results after you "graduate" from the tuition centre. All I can say is that he/she is a pain in the a** (trying to keep this blog rated for general audiences). And seriously, I'd wonder how a certain number of people are able to stand his/her attitude, temper, behavior etc.

Secondly, have you ever been to a tuition centre where out in the blue moon, the teacher will change suddenly without any reason. I was recommended to join this tuition centre based on rave reviews from one of my friend. But seriously, I'm truly disappointed. Even he quitted certain classes as he is involved in a feud with the teacher. I will explain my part (another feud) later. In his case, when he asks a question, the teacher would ask another student to answer/teach/murder/kill him. And in this case, the message transmitted of course will not be the original one. It will be some genetically/point mutated answers spreading around. In the end, the student will get the wrong information and well, be confused.

Thirdly, have you ever been to a tuition centre that requires the parents of the student to pay a non-refundable (yes, non-refundable) deposit of a month's fees to tie the student to the tuition centre. What it means is that if the student wants to leave the tuition centre, you won't get back the deposit. And certainly, you won't be able to substitute the month's worth of deposit with a month of tuition prior of ending the class. So, the only thing you can do is to avoid going after the 3rd week. Yes, because there's this guy/gurl *no names mentioned* who will run around collecting debts. And you'll end up suffering.

Fourthly, the teacher's talking/teaching/walking speed is faster than a SR-71 Blackbird. If you don't know what is a SR-71 Blackbird, it's the fastest aircraft in the world. Yeah, seriously. In fact, after all the mumblings and stuff, you'll end up getting more confused. And quite a number of facts he/she teaches are against the school syllabus/format taught by the teacher in the school. So, with conflicting information, you'll end up crashing like what happened during September 11, 2001. Crashing means failing FYI. Furthermore, IF and only IF you succeed to get excellent results in your results, I wouldn't recommend giving any credit to the teacher. Most probably it's your own effort.

Fifthly, here comes the feud. Ok. Imagine yourself being in the class. Where almost all the students are noisy. Then suddenly a student *no names mentioned* or maybe students *no names mentioned too* asked me to shut up. Of course I will obey to the orders of the other party in the class right. After that, after being unable to read a certain chemical formula pasted on the whiteboard, of course anyone with a right mind would ask the teacher to murmur out the un-readable things. He/She decided to just say out two effing words. Yeah, two effing words, which is "Shut up". The term described can be offending sometimes. And, as a teacher, he/she should post an excellent example for the students to follow. And he/she could ask the class to be quiet, but of course it must be in the right way. Not some harsh way described above. Then well, my mood changed into a 2500 degrees celcius burning furnace used to melt gold as I am so pissed off. Not only I didn't understand a certain concept, I got scolded as well. Then, out of nowhere, she decided to ask me a question. At the same time, the song "Revenge Is Sweeter (Than You Ever Were)" was playing on my iPod. So I decided to rebel against him/her. Then an argument broke up. And you know what is the funniest part, he/she could laugh while arguing at the same time. Furthermore, I really do not know what is his/her problem to avoid me for a private one-on-one conversation to solve this issue. I was so freaking pissed off. And you know what, he/she even said "If you are not happy with my class, please just leave". FOR GOD'S SAKE, WE'RE PAYING CUSTOMERS. SO IT'S UP TO OUR EFFING CHOICE WHETHER TO STAY OR TO LEAVE!

Well, that's about it about the tuition centre. Now comes to the interesting part. There's this beach in the class. Well , remember, I have to keep it safe for general audiences. She generally disgraced my name after the class. If you don't believe. Check out my facebook or twitter and you'll understand why. He/she thinks he/she is so freaking perfect with no effing comments. I really wonder what's her problem. And guess what, THANK YOU SOMEONE FOR GIVING ME THE TITLE OF BEING THE DRAMA KING. I REALLY "APPRECIATE" IT. WELL, AT THE SAME TIME, SCREW YOU.

Now, it comes to the bright side. I decided to get a retreat from this tuition centre for a while so I decided to skip only one class today. I decided to go somewhere as an escapade and enjoy myself fully. Oysters are delicious. Really delicious. And it's even more delicious as you're free from any pressure. And the freshness of oysters at that point of time tasted like it's fresh from the ocean. Really a wonderful delicacy. But, well, it's not cheap. Signing off. Bye. Hope you get what I'm trying to mean.

P.s. This note has no names mentioned so it could just refer to just about anybody. So, pls don't feel *terasa* and claim yourself to be part of this note. To the tuition centre, no company names are mentioned, therefore no actions shall be taken. And if you *terasa* that the tuition centre is described above, then please do something about it. Remember, no names are mentioned at all.

rêveries Spiderman français

2009-09-02T22:40:00.002+08:00

Mr. Alain Robert, I truly respect you. 85 buildings. 5 continents. 66% disability. After an accident in 1982. Vertigo. But you still made it. Petronas Twin Towers. The second final frontier. You conquered it. 88 floors. 452 metres. Third attempt. First 2 attempts arrested at floor 60. 3rd attempt went up undetected. Security guards caught red-faced. Defied death. No equipments. Just a small bag of chalk. 1 hours and 42 minutes. That's pretty fast. 452/102=4.43 meters every minute. 88/102=0.8627 floors every minute. Arrested around the world. But that doesn't stop you. 2000 ringgit fine, equivalent to 567 dollars. No jail time. Other buildings conquered: Eiffel Tower, Taipei 101, Jin Mao Tower, Empire State Building, Sears Tower etc. Golden Gate Bridge. Conquered. Want to know more? Add him on facebook. He'll accept your invitation. http://alainrobert.com/

(source of pictured: his facebook)
p.s. thank you for making malaysian police look like fools!

farcebook ramblings+musings.

2009-09-02T21:17:00.004+08:00

some interesting note on facebook. so, decided to post it in my blog.

A N G E R

1. Are you currently mad at someone?
YES.

2. Which family member has the worst temper?
Depends. Whether who's mad and who's not.

3. Have you ever thrown something at anyone's face?
Yes, of course.

4. Does your face turn red when you're angry?
someway somehow it doesn't.

5. When you're mad do you prefer to keep to it yourself?
It depends.

E X C I T E M E N T

1. Has anyone ever thrown a surprise party for you?
Yes.

2. If you won a million $$$'s what would be your first thoughts be?
Migrate overseas.

3. If you could have anything right now, what would it be?
Um.... to migrate overseas?

Y O U

1. Name:
LOWPINHON/DERRICKMR (As shown in airline tickets)

2. Where were you born?
Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, Planet Earth.

3. What's your main goal in life?
To migrate overseas, marry someone and die.

4. Do you want to have children?
Maybe. Most probably yes.

5. How do you want to die?
Um... I cannot predict the future.

O P I N I O N S

1. Sex before marriage?
Um... This is a sensitive topic. But I think it's ok what. People need some fun sometimes.

2. Lower the drinking age?
YES. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, DO NOT IMPOSE ANY MOVIE RATINGS! SAY NO TO 18+ MOVIES. ALLOW EVERYBODY IN!

3. Abortion?
Um... depends on the situation la. Let's say the mother will die, then can abort la. Let's say the girl got pregnant from unprotected sex, then i against it la!

4. Recycling?
Yes.

L A S T

1. Person you saw not in your family?
Last person.... Let me see.... In school, Charles Yeo, Eugene Chan, Fun Kit Yung?

2. Person you hugged?
No remembrance.

3. Movie watched?
Um.... Um..... Up.

4. Song you listened to?
Te Amo- Alexander Acha.

P L A N S

1. What are you doing now?
Um... This note of course!

2. What are you doing tonight?
Sleep?

3. What are you going to eat for dinner?
Just ate dinner. Char Kuey Teow.

C U R R E N T L Y

1. Currently love someone
Um... No comments.

2. Like someone
Yes.

3. Does he/she know it?
Um... No idea?

4. Does someone like you?
There's more than 10 billion inhabitants on Earth. 25 million in Malaysia. Of course sure got la.

I N T H E L A S T M O N T H H A V E Y O U

1. Bought something?
D'oh!

2. Gotten sick?
Yes.

3. Been hugged?
Yes.

4. Felt stupid?
Yes.

5. Missed someone?
Yes.

6. Failed a test?
Yes.

7. Danced?
Yes

F U T U R E

1. What kind of house do you want?
anything. As long as it's located overseas.

2. Shaved your head bald?
Yes.

3. Taken over an hour to get ready?
Never will.

4. Gone to jail?
No.

A R E Y O U G O I N G T O

1. Continue using the computer?
Yes.

2. Hang out with someone today?
No.

4. Go to school?
Tomorrow.

WHICH IS BE T T E R

1. Rain or snow?
Snow.

2. Summer or Winter?
Winter.

3. Text messaging or MSN?
Both.

4. McDonalds or A&W?
This is tough. Both has its own pros and cons. McD has cheap meals. From RM5.95 from 6-9pm everyday. McD has better selection of food. McD has a better environment. McD have delicious Sausage McMuffins. McD have Apple Pies. McD have better service. McD is more delicious. McD is fattening. McD is bad for health (look at how salty the Sausage McMuffin is). McD can kill you. A&W have delicious fries. A&W have addictive floats. A&W have crispy curly fries. A&W has free wi-fi. A&W dispenses root beer in real glass cups. A&W have OHMYGAWD delicioussssss-nessssssss Coney Dogs. A&W is located a stone's throw away from the gym. A&W is the first fast food restaurant you'll see by turning right towards the corridor from the gym. A&W will kill you also, but slower. A&W is healthier, provided you don't order the fried chicken which sucks and fattening. A&W is expensive (yea, 10 bucks per meal minimum per person). And the list goes on and on.

5. Movies or shows?
Movies. Shows can get boring sometimes. And I'm not a fan of the television. But online television, Hell YES! The Amazing Race could well be the only show I watch. Wait, uI do watch Top Gear and Baseball also!

H A V E Y O U E V E R

1. Said "I Love you"?
YES! I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER!

2. Given money to a homeless person?
D'OH!

3. Waited all night for a phone call?
YES!

4. Snuck out
/YES/

5. Sat and looked at the stars?
Yes.

6. Sleep in a bed of the same sex?
Yes.

7. Drank a bottle of alcohol by yourself?
Yes.

9. Seen someone die?
Yes. in movies.

10. Been on an airplane?
HELL YEAH! FREAKING MANY TIMES!

11. Slept all day?
Yes.

12. Missed someone so much it hurts?
Yes.

13. Fallen asleep during school?
Yes. especially in Pn Jeyanthi's or Cik Rahayu's class. Sometimes Pn. Maziah's class.

14. Been lonely?
Yes.

15. Cheated in a game?
D'OH! To get 50,000 simoleons in SIMS 3, use the cheat code "Motherlode". But first, you gotta initiate the "cheat" screen. Press CTRL+SHIFT+C simultaneously.

16. Been in a car accident?
Yes.

17. Had detention?
No.

18. Sung in a shower?
Yes.

21. Been SUPER happy?
D'OH!

patriotism musings.

2009-08-30T21:54:00.007+08:00

within a few hours, Malaysia will celebrate its 52nd independence anniversary. This is considered quite a hallmark especially with its achievements achieved so far since gaining the independence from the British government. The developments we've seen so far has been proven to be quite an achievement despite the economic setbacks suffered in between the timeline. It can be considered quite a feat as the racial unity and bond has been really great so far unlike some other countries in war.
we, as Malaysians can be considered as lucky as we have sustained a strong economy and an enviable rate of development so far. So, we must be grateful to the leaders that have led us so far to this point as of, where we stand today. Without them, there will be no such country named Malaysia and we'll still be under the British rule. As we live in this peaceful country, we must continue to be patriotic and hard-working along with unity with other people in order to achieve our goals, which is the Wawasan 2020 and along with other plans for the development of the future.
so, we must define patriotism as one of the most important parts of our lives despite our racial and cultural differences. Here, in Malaysia, we shall stand as one and help develop the pathway for the future. Patriotism can be shown in many ways, it depends on whether one would like to show it physically or mentally. And I'm sure that all of us must be patriotic at heart. So, it doesn't matter if you show it or not. The most important thing is that rather you have it secured in your heart and soul.
although Malaysia is defined as an Islamic country, it should be defined as a country where many colours and cultures come alive. The racial bond between the population in Malaysia is strong enough to evade any cold wars from happening. And Malaysia is also a country rich in flora and fauna along with other minerals located deep in our soil. So, we shall be grateful by living in a country rich with diversified assets rather than just a single asset like in the Middle East, where only and mostly oil is considered their assets.

so, here I am, along with the other approximately 25 million Malaysians, would like to wish Malaysia a welcoming 52nd Merdeka and we hope that the future will be great. Selamat Hari Merdeka, Happy Independence Day, Malaysia. Together we stand in one, and one shall stand together. To the world, we will be stronger than ever with the unity among us. Signing off.

SELAMAT HARI MERDEKA
HAPPY 52nd INDEPENDENCE DAY

2009-08-27T18:21:00.001+08:00

Dear Mr. Teh Kean Loong,

You wanted this. Happy Birthday Mr. Teh Kean Loong, have a happy and healthy future. May you do your best for whatever and everything you do. Happy Birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. TEH KEAN LOONG!
although it's 4 months, 13 days, 5 hours and 30 minutes more to go.

P.s. make sure when you get your driving license belanja us makan ah!

remember this?

2009-08-27T13:07:00.003+08:00

I've rummaged through my hard disk in my computer and I found this, I guess it's not a problem to share with the world. (although the pictures are not uploaded).

Recounting Experience

You wish to write a recount in your diary about your experience visiting Brisbane.

25^th November, 2006

At around 2p.m., my mother an I arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport to catch a flight to Singapore. We completed the check-in process in around 10 minutes. The we buzzed through Immigration where they checked our respective passports and then boarded an aerotrain to the satellite terminal to board a Malaysia Airlines flight. We didn't waited long to board the flight. As we are frequent flyers on Malaysia Airlines, the cabin crew recognised us when we board the aircraft as they have a record on the people who have the frequent flyer card. The flight departed soon and we reached Singapore Changi International Airport in around 55 minutes. Once we touched down, we headed straight to the transit transfer counter in Terminal 1 as our flight landed in Terminal 2. My first impression of the airport is magnificent as it's fully carpeted. Thus, this creates a harmonious atmosphere for the comfort of the passengers. There are plenty of food, apparel, fragrance, cosmetics, liquor and other outlets in the airport. In my count, there are more than 10 Starbucks Coffee booths in the airport. I'm also amazed with the efficiency and politeness of the officers behind the counter while we are getting our new boarding passes. In the surrounding, there are plenty LCD screens showing flight information, satellite television channels and even a corner where passengers can indulge in games. The technology advancement in the airport is also great as they offer free wireless Internet throughout the airport. The food in the airport is great although it's quite expensive. For example, a plate of chicken rice costs a hefty SGD9.50. However, the personnel is very polite and have good manners. Then, we shopped around in the airport compound and did some window shopping as we still have another leg of flight to catch. Albeit we had to wait for almost 5 hours in the airport, we could never get boring as there are many sights of people to look at. Furthermore, there are many massage chairs throughout the floorspace and this gives the chance for the passengers to relax and unwind before they board their next flight. Five hours soon pass by, we have to enter the transit lounge to board the flight. In my first sight, the security guard looks tough and strict, but when he scanned our hand luggage, he was polite in asking us to open the bags as he found a pack of chewing gums inside my backpack. We boarded the flight soon. As we passed through the jetway to enter the aircraft, a medium-sized, twin-aisle Airbus A330, we were warmly chaperoned by an Australian stewardess to my window seat in the right aisle. Their inflight magazine is fantastic compared to the Malaysia Airlines version. We watched the inflight safety precaution video soon as we taxied through the tarmac to the runway. We took off. We were served refreshments soon. Their seat-back inflight entertainment called On:Q. They feature about 60 movies, 200 television programs, 20 radio channels, 150 full-length CDs, Airshow and some games. The inflight entertainment is so great that I can't fall asleep throughout the flight. However, Malaysia Airlines' inflight entertainment system is still better than Qantas' version of it. We were served meals soon. We have a choice of either chicken of fish. My mother chose chicken while I chose fish so we can share the food. The vast choices of beverages distracts me. As I couldn't sleep, I remembered watching 4 back-to-back episodes of Mythbusters, my favourite reality program. The flight was quite although by midnight, a baby suddenly cried because of turbulence and everybody seemed to woke up.

26^th November, 2006

Seven hours and fifty-five minutes go past, our flight is approaching Brisbane International Airport. Although it's a tiring journey for me, It's still a wonderful experience travelling on Qantas Airways. The landing was gracefully performed by the Captain of the aircraft. It's so smooth that you don't notice that we've reached Brisbane.

We landed at Brisbane International Airport by around 6a.m. local time in Brisbane. We whizzed through the terminal and approached a duty-free shop just before Immigration. I exercised my power to purchase duty-free goods by buying a few packs of chocolates for me to enjoy throughout the trip. It cost me around 16 dollars and I got a free koala bear as a free gift. Before we pass Immigration, we filled in our arrival and Items to declare card. We queued up in line to be inspected by the Immigration Officers and was scared as the looked tough and strict. However, my impression changed as he gave me a warm welcome by greeting me, “Good Day, Mate!” He is very polite after all and we complete the process very soon. We collected our respective luggages at the baggage claim area, and I noticed that the airport is quite small. Then we approached customs but there was a long queue. I believe that this is because of the strict procedures that every visitor have to endure before stepping into the Australian soil. The officer is so strict that they even asked his superior to check the ingredients of a cup of instant noodle brought from our homeland. They scanned the luggage using a x-ray scanner then for extra precaution, opened the bag to check the items brought in. It took a whopping 30 minutes for the procedure and it seemed, based on my father's experience, every entry point in Australia have the same strict procedure. By 7a.m., we entered the arrival lounge and our tour guide, Ms. Lisa is eagerly waiting for our arrival. My mother and I are among the first to emerge. It seemed that a few of our group mates suffered problems in the customs. We boarded a bus attached with a trailer soon to Chinatown, where we had our breakfast. There is an interesting fact, our bus driver knows how to communicate in hokkien and mandarin but he is an Australian. In Chinatown, we had breakfast in McDonalds. As it's still early, we bought a McMuffin breakfast meal. The portion of the burger is humongous compared to the portion served in Malaysia.

I bought a newspaper from the vendor nearby and it only cost me around AUD0.50. The news were very informative and packed with facts. After breakfast, we visited the Botanical Gardens overlooking the Brisbane River. The sight is out of the world. The plants were, in my opinion, well taken care of by the gardeners.

I took many pictures at the botanical gardens and the variety of flowers in the gardens are awesome. The tour guide then gave us a tour in the city area in Brisbane while we are on the bus. She explained a lot on the buildings in the main road particularly and also a casino. As we go past the famous Captain Cook Bridge, she explained to us the adventures of Captain Cook particularly and we stopped at the Kangaroo Point to snap some photos of the bridge.

We continued our journey to Mount Nathan, about two hours drive from Brisbane to visit a winery. Along the way, we saw many flood meters to measure the height of water when it's flooding. In the Mount Nathan Winery, a polite man welcomed us and explained about the process of making wine from honey.

We have the chance to taste some honey wine and I got to taste some Champagne and Chardonnay. The price tag on the wines are cheap but we didn't manage to buy any as we are only allowed to bring a bottle to Malaysia. We had lunch there. They served some wholesome roast beef and some tomato soup. The tomato soup is quite scary as I didn't dare to taste it. However, after much persuading by my mother, I tried it and It's delicious. Then, we head towards Gold Coast for accommodation at Vibe Hotel. As our flight arrived early in the morning, our tour guide allowed us to sleep for a few hours to reduce jet lag and stress. By evening, we walked in a group towards Surfers Paradise where we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The food is basically the same like what we have in Malaysia. After meal, we went for a walk around the commercial district for some shopping and sightseeing. There are plenty of shops opened by Malaysians who migrated to Australia. Surfers Paradise is famous for plenty tall buildings. Before we went back to the hotel, I purchased a frappuccino from a Starbucks Coffee Cafe. The selections are basically the same and it's far more cheaper and tastier than the ones we have in Malaysia. We went back to our rooms and slept awaiting the next morning to arrive.

27^th November 2006

The next morning came quick, and we woke up as a wake up call rang. We cleaned our selves up and prepared for the day. We went down for a buffet breakfast at the restaurant. There are plenty of selection of food but I chose only cereals as the others looked fattening. We waited at the hotel lobby for the bus to arrive to pick us up for the next destination. I have awaited for this day for a long time. It's time to visit Dreamworld, a renowned team park in Gold Coast famous for it's jaw dropping rides.

We got our tickets and entered the park. There are plenty of rides in this theme park. I got excited and wanted to try all of the rides. First stop, Tower of Terror. Tower of Terror is basically a car speeding at a very high speed to climb a tower and vice-versa. This ride is frightening and is an experience unforgettable.

This ride lasted for under a minute and achieve speeds as high as 160km/h. The only ride that can be compared with this ride is the Superman Escape, in Movieworld which I also went on it. Next, I went to ride the famous Giant Claw, basically is a gyro swing which can achieve heights as high as 9 stories tall.

After this ride, I lost contact with my mother and other tour members. My newly-found friend, Raymond, from Sabah followed me around looking for other tour members. We walked around the whole Dreamworld to search for them and, finally, found them in the kiddies area. We went for a train ride to the Australian Wildlife section of the park. In this section, my mother, I and the tour guide got to hold a koala and I have a picture of it:-

After holding a koala, we got to explore other animals such as the kangaroo, which we got to touch it:-

After the awesome experience of holding a koala and posing with a kangaroo, we went for a famous attraction in the park, a sheep-shearing show.

The presenters explained the process well and combined laughter along the show. It's very entertaining and fun as well. After the show, we had lunch at a halal restaurant in the theme park and in my opinion, it's managed by a Malaysian. This is because most of the food available in the counter is all Orient and little Western selection of food. The quality of the food is out of the world without any doubt. After the meal, we went for a not-so-exciting ride, AVIS Vintage Cars. The only thing you have to do in the car is to step on the pedal to move and pull the brakes. It's that simple, but not as interesting as others.

After this ride, I went for something very exciting and is higher than the one in Genting Highlands. It's called The Giant Drop and is currently the tallest in the world with 120 metres. Besides that, It's also the fastest in the world with a maximum speed of 84 miles per hour. This ride combines the adrenaline of free-falling with speed. This ride is the only thing I do not regret riding on.

The next ride I went is called Cyclone, It's basically a roller-coaster and it's currently the highest gravity rating roller-coaster in Austrailia. This ride lasted for only approximately 1 minute. This is part of the “Big 5” campaign rides in the park. The other being The Claw, Tower Of Terror, Giant Drop and Wipeout.

For some fatigue reasons, I didn't go for the Wipeout ride as it's almost the same as the one in Malaysia. There are other rides which I went but these are among the best in the park. After spending a whole day at the park, we left the park and went to Q1, the highest residential building in the world. This building overlooks the beach and we only managed to enter the observation deck to snap some pictures of Gold Coast and the surroundings. Based on the information available in the Observation Deck, we can overlook Brisbane from here and this building's height is a massive 322.5 metres tall. The observation floor is on the 77^th and the 78^th floor and it's the highest floors of the building. In this observation deck, there's a cafe, where I had the most expensive cup of coffee in my life, a small cup of cappuccino costs me AUD16.

After an hour at the top of Gold Coast, we decided to leave this building for some rest back in the hotel. By around 6pm, we went out for dinner, again at a Chinese restaurant, but different Malaysian operating it. After meal, we went for an optional tour covering luxury yachts and a typical Australian home. We got to board the yacht for a tour around the harbour and it's an amazing experience. Here are some photos covering the yacht:-

After the yacht tour, we advanced to the typical Australians home in a 45 minutes journey. There, we got to experience the lifestyle of an Australian.

This optional tour also includes a supper meal where for the first time in my life, I got to enjoy kangaroo meat. The meat is supple and high in proteins, the native said. We went back for some rest in the hotel awaiting for the next new day.

28^th November 2006

A new day came by. A new adventure is about to be experienced. Today, our tour group will be visiting Movieworld. Movieworld is also a famous theme park in Gold Coast, but it's mostly cartoon based. Once we entered the park, we got to experience the Scooby-Doo Spooky coaster. This ride is not suitable for the tame-hearted people like my mother. In this ride, We had to endure darkness in a zig-zag railed coaster. As it's dark inside, we can only expect the unexpectable to happen. For example, suddenly a ghost can appear in the middle of the ride and a few minutes later, the carriage will suddenly reverse very quickly. Then, a quick zig-zag track is not only frightening, but also gives an extreme adrenaline to the riders. After this ride, we rushed to watch the Police Academy Stunt Show. This attraction combines explosive and comedy actions in making this attraction a success. The plot is as follows, The show begins with the elusive silk stocking gang, a criminal duo, escaping from prison and stealing a police motorcycle and side car. Following that, the Proctor (a role that can be performed by a male or female, as with some of the characters in the show) emerges and gives a short monologue about the stunts in the performance, as well as a safety warning.

The strict Captain Harris (typically male) appears to recruit audience members as part of the show, typically recruiting one middle-aged male (usually a father, to facilitate the jokes), one pre-teen boy (to which the Captain sneers "you remind me of my little brother! I hate my little brother..."), a female (jokingly introduced as "six foot six, muscle-bound...") and one company stuntman, a character named "Rodney", typically dressed in a garish ocean-print shirt and hat. Following the recruitment, four green cadets and the commissioner emerge for the morning ceremony and flag raising. This is preceded by a series of car stunts, with the cadets driving a police car, souped-up hot rod and a golf buggy. A few slapstick stunts (falling on the floor etc.) follow.

Rodney seemingly catapulted into the air

Cadet Verbinski wishes to pass an urgent letter to the commissioner, but he/she is accidentally pulled up the flag pole wrapped in the flag, then falls on top of the commissioner. The commissioner reads the letter, informing him about the silk stocking gang's intentions. The "recruits" from the audience are then called upon and are positioned around the set. The silk stocking gang then suddenly appears on top of the roof, and a wild gunfight sequence ensues. Rodney is accidentally "shot", and falls from his second floor post onto a disguised cushion. The cadet responsible is then reprimanded for the action. Two other cadets then climb up the scaffolding to reach the silk stocking gang who have successfully robbed the nearby payroll building.

A slapstick confrontation follows, ending in one cadet being kicked off the top of the second floor. He/she lands in a disguised cushioned dumping container, and emerges unscathed later. In the meantime, the commissioner uses a portable toilet, but it is accidentally lifted into the air by a crane and the door falls out, nearly dropping him out with it. The two culprits return to the motorcycle and a wild car chase follows, with Rodney being roughed up quite a bit. The sidecar detaches, but the remaining criminal wields explosives that scare the cadets. He first puts a bomb into an armoured vehicle, which explodes and flips over. He then passes a bomb to one cadet, who almost throws it into the audience but puts the bomb into a trash can in the end.

The working helicopter model before its "destruction"

The commissioner orders the cadets to transport Rodney to a safe place, and they choose the tool shed. The last bomb goes into there, and the explosion blasts open the side panels of the shed and seemingly catapults Rodney (most likely a safety dummy) up onto the roof. One member of the duo will shout to the other to "get the chopper!" setting the scene for the climatic finale. A helicopter with rotors spinning and machine guns firing (though with nobody in the cockpit) emerges from the roof. The cadets, as well as an "injured" Rodney, rush to man the cannons. The first shot is unsuccessful, but the second "hits" the helicopter which spews smoke and descends into the roof slowly.

The climatic ending explosion

The aftermath is the shows biggest explosion, a huge rooftop blaze where the audience is actually able to feel the radiating heat. The "pilot" then rushes out of the door, vest blazing. He is extinguished and apprehended by the policemen, and the show ends. After the show, I went for a terror ride, called Lethal Weapon. It's basically an inverted roller coaster ride around a track and this is utmost frightening as blood rushes to my brain. At first, the backdrop of this ride is the theme a typical “Chinatown”. There are plenty of fictional establishments in this “Chinatown”.

For reference, ask Valerie Hen as she experienced this ride as well. It's extremely scary. Once this ride reaches the top, blood will rush into your brains like mad. For faint-hearted people, this ride is not suggested. After this ride, I resumed my tour in Movieworld by getting on the Superman Escape. The speed is almost the same like what I experienced yesterday, but this ride is far more fearson as it involves huge loops and swift corners around the track. In this ride, I felt like no other as i felt that my heart jumped out of my body. Movieworld is also a brilliant place to meet and greet my favourite cartoon characters such as Batman, Scooby-Doo and Shrek.

Between hours there are also parades where a convoy of cars featuring favourite cartoon characters will parade along with the cast. This is a major attraction of the theme park that managed to attract tourists into Australia. Besides that, I got to experience a live recording of the famous kids show, Hi-5 as I was bored that day. I did participate in the activities and this is how childish I am. The Warner Brothers Movie World is also an excellent place to purchase official merchandise of your favourite cartoon characters. Besides that, by the time when I went to Movieworld, I got to experience a 4-dimensional movie featuring Shrek and other characters. This movie is worth the time that we queued up for. This movie is different from the normal 3-dimensional movies as the seat in the hall tilts and moves as the storyline of the movie continues. After visiting Movieworld, we went back to Gold Coast for some shopping. We visited Harbour City, a major shopping centre with amazing factory outlets of famous brands such as David Jones, Portmans, Nike, a huge Woolworths supermarket where I bought some cherries to share with my mother. The cherries are so juicy and it's something unexperienced in Malaysia. I bought a lot of apparel from Nike as it's on sale further the already value buy price tag. My mother bought some clothes from Esprit and Fila. It's much cheaper than in Malaysia and certain designs is unavailable in Malaysia. Harbour City Shopping Center is a must-go for tourists visiting Gold Coast. In the night we went for dinner is Surfers Paradise with a few Malaysians. We had a meal in Subway. If compared to the Subway restaurants in Malaysia, the thickness of the sandwich is very thick and normally, cannot be finished if you're eating alone. Because Australia is a free country, it's not an unusual occurrence of bikini-clad females walking around the streets of Surfers Paradise. Furthermore, in my opinion, the dates we chose to visit Gold Coast is wrong because of the clash with a so-called festival, “Schoolies Week” where students leaving high school becomes hooligans on the five-foot way. Surfers Paradise is considered a favourite place for high-school graduates to celebrate this festival. They can cause losses towards businesses and cause terror in the streets. It's such a sad sight where teenagers like us can do such a thing on streets. The schoolies week also lead to multiple arrests of teenagers underage drinking booze and drugs. But according to the tour guide, the police can't do anything to stop the violence caused by the teenagers. From my own eyes, I saw a group of schoolies almost being rammed by a trailer in the Surfers Paradise Boulevard. After the meal, we went for some grocery shopping to buy some biscuits to bring back to Malaysia. We bought a whole dozen of cookies, dry snacks, and chocolates to enjoy back in Malaysia. Besides that, we bought a selection of Coca-Cola because I'm an avid collector of Coca-Cola cans around the world. Furthermore, I bought back a pack of Uncle Toby's energy bars back to Malaysia and became a fan of it. But, sadly the bars are not available in the Malaysia market.

29^th November 2006

A new day came by, being today the second last day of the ever-interesting trip in Australia. Today, we visited Tweed Heads for a Catch-A-Crab cruise. This is my first experience doing this. Tweed Heads is located in the border of New South Wales, a state next to Queensland. Tweed Heads is accessible in 2 hours from Gold Coast. In the coach, the tour guide made jokes on famous companies, such as DHL, Bata, and et cetera. For example, DHL meant “Dokumen Hilang Lagi” in a joke form and Bata is “Buy and throw away”. When we arrived at the port, we boarded the cruise in the river. In the cruise, everyone got the chance to drive the cruise guided by the captain once it's in the river. Next, we got to feed the pigeons in the river bank as well as going for yabby pumping. Yabby is an aquatic animal, where once pump, it will expand like a balloon. We got to experience the way to throw the cage to catch crabs in the river as well as retrieving it. Once the crab is retrieved, it will be cooked to be consumed by the passengers. They do also sell soft drinks on board, but of course at a high premium of price. The fresh crabs were delicious and believe it, there's no fishy smell in the flesh. We got the chance to do some fishing too. I didn't manage to capture any fishes because I'm a beginner.

Today, nothing interesting happened at night where I have the chance to watch Australian television. The shows are mostly mature-rated being The Simpsons is for 15+. Their regulating officials are strict on this matter. They have plenty of interesting shows, such as South Park, Big Brother, and coincidently, the Australian Idol Final is on the same day today. Today, I got the chance to use the ever-expensive Internet which cost 2 Australian Dollars for 15 minutes. I have no choice as I didn't bring my laptop with me to this trip. I managed to communicate with some of my friends back in Malaysia.

30^th November 2006

Today marks the last day in Australia. It's time to depart home. We woke up early in the morning to pack up the luggage. We decided to dump some unimportant things to allow more space for items bought in Australia. By 8a.m., we had to gather in the lobby to wait for the bus to arrive to bring us back to Brisbane International Airport. While waiting, I manage to run across the road to purchase some extra snacks at Coles Supermarket opposite the street. We boarded the bus and in almost an hour, we reached the airport. In the airport, as we have extra time, we walked around the terminal and I decided to purchase a computer magazine as a souvenir from Australia. Then, we entered the transit lounge early to claim the goods and service tax refund. As the airport is quite small, we need not rush to the gate to board the plane. We had the time to purchase some fragrance from the duty-free shop before boarding the plane. Once in the plane, we prayed for a save journey back home. I glanced through the inflight shopping catalogue and decided to purchase a Boeing 747 model plane as I'm a vast collector of planes. We arrived Singapore Changi Airport for transit almost seven hours later. Once we landed in Singapore, we had to rush as our flight delayed for 25 minutes. To make up the lost time, we had to run across to Terminal 2 to print the boarding passes for the connecting flight. By the time the boarding passes are issued, the gate is closing. So, we had to run again to enter the lounge for boarding. What a hectic day! We arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport is a fatigue manner. But we safely arrived home! This trip to Brisbane is an unforgettable experience.

(4602 words)

birthday outing musings

2009-08-25T22:09:00.018+08:00

On the glorious and respectable day of 25th August, 2009, an outing has been made with a joint effort of both the celebrated one, which is me and Hong Kah Wai, or better known as Mrs. Ho. Well, she did a good job because she is paid a wholesome 20 bucks The chronology of events:
>10:something: Kah Wai arrives at Times Square.
>10:50something: I arrived.
>11:00: Starbucks for a Venti Java Chip frappucinno with no whipped cream.
>11:02: Met the first couple, Siew Jin and Valerie. Well, there's one exciting and spicy story
regarding Siew Jin and someone as you continue to read.
>11:06: Niro and Tharine arrived. The second couple.
>11:16: Getting anxious. Thank god I requested to my event manager to set an earlier time.
>11:17: Sheng Rei called. Claimed to be still in pyjamas and haven't left the house.
>11:18: He appeared suddenly.
>11:20: Charles Yeo and Teh Kean Loong arrived.
>11:23: Jasmine Cheng and Tabitha arrived. This seemed to be Tabitha's first outing.
>11:25: The threesome arrived. Tharmelinggem, Luqman and Arjun. Thamby gatecrashed
because he told me he had something to do and wasn't able to come.
>11.28: Decided to go up. Sms-ed both Qistina and Syara to head up straight.
>11.30: Headed up. Sheng Rei was missing. I went to look for him. Thought this will happen
again. Like last year.
>11.35: Found him. He was wandering around the shopping area. He took a walk, it seems.
>11.40: Gathered everybody. Paid for bowling. There's this ridiculous Buy 1 Free 1 game
promotion that was quite surprising.
>11.50: Started playing after getting the shoes.
>12:00: A lot of problems happened with Lane 20. It's either one pin won't be placed correctly
or the alley will lag.
>12:30: The end of the first game for the first two lanes. The last frame for the players of Lane
19 was epic. Almost everybody ended with strikes. Here's the proof. Thamby went away.
>12.50: Lane 20 reached the last frame of the first game. We cheated a lot of times because it
takes time to reset the pins. So we didn't care.
>13.30: Lane 18 finished the second game. There's one person who scored only 2 points. She will
not be named. It's a she.
>13:50: Everybody finished playing. Lane 20 finished last. Mostly caused by me. The muscles
around my body was aching like hell. Thanks to the gym classes the days before.
>14:00: Went down to Subway. A few people sesat-ed. Only a few arrived in one piece.
>14.02: Started ordering. Charles Yeo and Me started first. I ordered a 1.5foot long sandwich
which I can't finish it by myself.
>14:07: Bill time. The bill amount is ironic. RM166.60. For everyone. Mostly ordered foot-long
sandwiches.
>14:10: The sesat-ed people begin to arrive. Most of them took our "leftover" half-foot long
sandwiches that haven't been consumed yet. This is due to the heroic actions of people
ordering earlier who thought they can actually finish it.
>14.15: I had to buy my own tickets for Up because nobody wanted to watch I Love You, Beth
Cooper and Valerie didn't buy my ticket. I purchased 3 tickets for me, Tabitha and
Cheng Ken.
>14:20: Headed to cinema.
>14:25: Went into cinema.
>14:30: Movie started. A stupid short story about some stupid birds etc. appeared before the
movie. Feeling pissed as the short story is unrelated.
>14:40: Up started. Discovered something. The wife of that old man looks like Woon Ee Laine.
Here's the proof:
>16:30: The movie ended. Gathered and met Mrs. Ho.
>16:40: Went home. Scared that Mrs. Ho will get missing or something. Or else Mr. Ho and
Mrs. Hong will be damn mad at me.

And thanks to the peeps who made this outing possible. The whole list of people are Charles, me, Cheng Ken, Mrs. Teh (Siew Jin), Mr Teh, Kah Wai (my event manager who charged me 20 bucks), Qistina, Syara, Sheng Rei, Luqman, Tharmelinggem, Arjun, Valerie (Mrs. DBSK), Jasmine, Tabitha and Niroshini. Here's the group photo. (with my face blurred, WTF)

THANK YOU PEEPS VERY MUCH! REALLY APPRECIATE IT!
- SHENG REI AND GANG, THANKS FOR THE ADIDAS SHIRT.
- DIANE AND KAH WAI, THANKS FOR THE PHOTO FRAME.
- MR. AND MRS. TEH AND GANG, THANKS FOR THE T-SHIRT.
- LUQMAN, ARJUN AND THARMELINGGEM, THANKS FOR THE DICES.

AND TO ALL, THANKS FOR MAKING THIS OUTING FUN AND ENJOYABLE AND HAPPENING.

joyeux anniversaire à moi

2009-08-19T00:15:00.004+08:00

19th August 1993. A historic day on Earth. A baby named Derrick Low Pin Hon is born. Born through Caesarian section. Likes Airplanes. Shares the same birthday as Orville Wright from the famed Wright Brothers. No wonder why. Hates democrats. But why Bill Clinton and Former Second Lady, Tipper Gore were born on the same day as me? A big puzzle. Sammi Cheng, the famous singer, also on the same day. Marco Materazzi, the footballer that got head-butted by Zinedine Zidane, also today. Missy Higgins, one of my favorite singers, also today. The world is just awesome. Am looking forward to the outing. Refer to Kah Wai's blog for details.

Here's the list of people who wished me birthday. (They were practically racing against each other).

List of first 5 people who wished before 12am.
1. Laila Mahmudah, Indonesian exchange student I think.
2. Simmarjit Singh.
3. Colin Choo, tour leader of the trip to Taiwan.
4. Charles Yeo, seatmate.
5. Sum Pui Yi, who thought it's already 12a.m.

List of 5 people who wished after 12am.
1. Hong Kah Wai, who remain awake just for this.
2. Sum Pui Yi, who wished so many times.
3. Chan Wei Jie, Professor who knows the time well. But still a little bit off.
4. Wendy Tan, ex-librarian I guess.
5. Nur Syahira Ronaidi, 3 days younger but 2 times smaller.

Thanks for all your wishes folks. Really grateful for all your wishes for my birthday although i posted this approximately 30 minutes late. Really sorry for that. Really signing off. Bye,

milestone musings.

2009-08-16T10:24:00.004+08:00

Just broke a milestone today. Officially, as of 10.25A.M., i have 8,888 unread messages in my inbox. As you can imagine, most of it came from Facebook as they send just about anything to your mail. If someone tags you in a photo, they send. If someone commented on a photo of you, they send. If someone commented on your status, they send. If someone does this, does that, they send. And guess what? I have a total of 9,786 emails. When it reaches 10,000 emails, that is another milestone. Therefore, I'm making a public announcement here. If you have any important emails, kindly mail to low.p.h.derrick@gmail.com . My Hotmail email is more for spams etc. My hotmail account would be for chatting on live messenger and facebook only. Nothing much that is important, because I don't check that much unless it's something someone somewhat important. Signing off. Thanks.

p.s. Important emails includes interesting mails such as the real funny ones.
p.s.s. My birthday is in 3 days. Real excited although not much celebrations this year (unlike last year)