Fat Guy on a bike


I know there's a joke somether but I just couldn't find it

Iron Man and the House of M

Ok, after dodging the comic shop for months, I have no choice but to pick up my bag (of goodies) or else they will sell it off to some other unsuspecting customer (Ha ha). Years ago, I used to buy a lot of comics such as Spawn, Iron Man, Spider Man, X-Men, Mangas and especially, Appleseed (Or any Masamune Shirow works). But after getting married, I really had to choose to either drop it completely or just get one or two titles.

I just love Iron Man and a bit of Batman

So, I stuck with Iron Man. I have been a fan of Iron Man since the 80's, buying them whenever I could. Because he was drawn by various artists, each of his armour varies from one artist to another. And sometimes, it was so cool and sometimes, it really sucked.

Just a few months ago, Marvel Comics generated a lot of hype on "The House of M" where Magneto's daughter, Wanda (aka The Scarlet Witch) has lost her marbles and this resulted in a World where its reality would never be the same. In other words, its time for Marvel to sucker every comicboy into buying their titles. This was just like in the 80's where the "Secret Wars" "forced" a lot of poeple to buy a horrendous lot of titles. For example, you have the main limited series Secret Wars book, followed by the tie-ins (affected comic titles). At the end of the day, you would have bought also a few other issues such as Spider-man, Fantastic Four, Thor, etc.

This is the same with The House of M. So, being a fan of Iron Man and I got suckered into buying the 3-issue limited sereis because of this picture:

Yeah, nice art and I was expecting more techno-stuff from Greg Pak


And I can tell you, the art and story sucks. The normal Iron Man series was much better.


The art from Iron Man series (left) and the one from House of M (right)

Please! Have some respect!

You stupid Myanmar Bastard!

Your Boss buys a PABX which costs more than your can ever get paid even in ten years! There is a reason why they reserve a room just for the PABX!

It is not a room for your own Gardening Hobby


And its not even a Gym for your puny muscles

Courtesy and Respect

When you have done good things and people knows about you, they will treat you with respect and their tone/body language reflects that.

And when they do not know you but still want to be civil about it, they will be courteous. And that is the difference.

I experienced this when I was at one of the customer's place yesterday. Both of us were engaged by the same reseller. So, this guy lays the cables and I terminate and program the extensions. And he is getting on, to the age where he should be enjoying fishing some where or reading papers and drinking his kopi-o.

It was in this incident which embarassed me. You see, he called me "sifu".

However, this is not because I have Martial Art skills or whatever skills which he thinks I am master of. But he did this due to courtesy and nothing else. In a way, he wants to talk to me but does not know my name (and vice nersa) so, to save both our faces, he address me as such. And I am a bit unconfortable because I am years younger than him, which IMHO, I should be giving him the title instead.

Nowadays, in this industry, I think, the title "Sifu" is now used to courteously address a person of his trade/skills when a site. Its much better then the usual, "Hey", or ".. so you do this and that..", "Ey, SinSang (Chinese for Mister)", "Lou sai" (As in Yo! Boss!) and even "Tailo, ah (in a sarcastic/friendly tone, depending on situation)

And I kept calling him Mister. Haih.

This morning's dream

OK, I just woke up from a funny dream this morning. I hardly got any sleep last night because Kristine cried and cried for no reason. She always does this if she was in pain or just woke up from a bad dream, I think. So, this early morning, I guessed it was the latter.

It was late night when I pulled into a BP Petrol Station, as there was a long queue, I had to wait. The design of the station is similar to the ones I saw in other stations of different brands. So, in the middle of the petrol pump island, I have queued tp the front right but because my Dad's Volvo had the gas tank opening on the right, I decided to move out and reverse onto the left pump. Then I went in and paid for RM30 worth of petrol. Because the Petrol Station has a very high warehouse like roof, there were a lot of pigeon droppings which the invisible pump attendant kept applying polish to every car. On the way ot the office, two Indian ladies parkedin front of my car. While one of them was busy pumping petrol, the other was pushing some "Do not park" signs away. (How they got to pay for the petrol before me, I am not sure)

Once I was in the office, I saw both my friends (who have separated) working happily. She was photcopying documents while he was, as I used to remember him, calling customers up for debt collection. There were other ex-staff there but they're more of like extras in a movie. Then someone told me that one of my cousin was begging me to relocate him to another company of his choice because my Khai Mui's (pet sister, but we lost contact for a long time) company was not a nice place to work in.

When I came out, my Dad's car was not where it was. Instead, there was this old Malay lady pumping petrol on her Pale Blue Kancil. Then I turned to my left and I saw someone has pushed my Dad's car to that spot and parked there. I assume I deserved it because the Volvo was literally blocking the wholel path, and the space between island of pretrol pumps are quite narrow. And I guessed I spent quite a long time inside that office.

Then I woke up

And I am not sure what the dream meant to me but this was also, one of the hectic decision/experience when I was younger, and started work on doing Service Calls.

Sunday afternoon at the Curve

ME: Quick! I want to be in 1-Utama asap (as in Right now)
Wife: Baby's sleeping, Dear. So we have to wait for a while
ME: Grrrrr........

By the time we reached 1-Utama at about 1430, the queue was quite long. So we diverted to Ikano. And there was also another long line waiting to go into the car park. Being slightly upset already, I made an illegal turn and went into another entrance as shown by the earlier two cars. After us, more cars followed (Oops)

This is because I always like to be at these places before 1130 (Rule of Thumb for no-hassle parking). Anyway, we got what we wanted at Ikano and after four hours of non-stop walking, we got home. We had to rush because halfway, Kristine create half a kilo of biological waste with fumes so deadly that we could be persecuted for creating something worse than Sarin Gas.

And as usual, I forgot to bring my camera because at the food court, when I ordered some Ice Kacang & Mango ice, they have the "tadpole" jellies. This brought back bad memories in Mid-Valley years ago when they did serve the Mountain Snow or something. You see, on top of the shaved ice were these jellies which really looked like tadpoles. Unfortunately, the girl at the counter used red colouring. So, it looked more like me eating from a tampon. Ugh. That was the very first time my imagination killed my appetite. Luckily, my GF stood by me and we still got married. Phew. I am not sure if they have it there in Mid-Valley since it was so long ago. But if I ever did go there again, I will have to take my camera and also to make sure Kristine is behaving herself.

Yeah, throughout the whole afternoon, she was either begging to be carried or climbing out of her pram/feeding chair. Haiyo!


Kristine was sleeping on top of me who was sleeping on top of a sofa
in Niichi in front a counter (wo)manned by four male staff dressed as females.


Even the metal grills were stolen in the toilet


It just came out and I must have it at Rm15
I don't care if its not DVD9! Just give it to me!
(But I can't get over the ridiculous motocycle fighting scene I saw in Ipoh last week)

Malaysian Idol: Daniel

OK, Daniel won just a few minutes ago. Ho-hum

This particular season wasn't that exciting except for Faizull (Rock, Orang Kampung or is it, The Village Rocker? Ha ha ha ha). But Daniel's winning is a no brainer. He is the best of the worst.

Although I did not follow this season's MI, it was only after the Judge's lament that the good singers (but with bad looks) were voted out, that did I start to tune in. However, how I came to the conclusion how Daniel won was:

1) Based on last season's result, the Ah Bengs got quite high votes
2) Daniel can play some musical instruments
3) I guess 1.2Million voters angainst 500K can't be wrong
4) Last week, when Farrah was voted out, the stage was set because he was mentioned to have the highest vote
5) Ok, Nita looked horrible esp her splitting front teeth even though she can outsing Daniel

But whatever it is, this Season's theme song, "Mimpi" was quite good compared to last year's Gemilang, which was almost tailored to Jaclyn's vocals. Anyway, here are some photos which I took from the TV instead of being there. Yeah, I hate the crowds and I don't want to stand there while holding the baby as well.


The newly Crowned Malaysian Idols making their way to the Press Conference


Practising my photography skills at the "Press Conference"


Daniel the Schoolboy. King of Falsetto


Nita the singer. Her eyes was so beautiful


Thank God this piece of crap was going home

Lunching in Melacca

Before we head back to KL, we had our lunch in Melaka. Since my colleague's favourite Chicken Rice Ball shop was under renovation, I diverted him to the only one I know, (Best Chicken Rice Award by MixFM, I think), the corner shop just after the Bridge.


The Chicken Rice Balls the size of ping-pong balls at Rm0.30 sen each
But the chicken was so delicious


The infamous Orang Utan house which I bought one of their T-Shirts years ago
But if I can find it again, I'll take a photo of it.
Its subtle but sexually explicit to many people

Shower Gel

So, what's the main difference between a shower gel and a bar of soap?

For one, a bar of soap does not flow through your fingers and into the sinkhole with the rest of the water. Instead, it stays in your hand and makes sure you know how Gravity works when you step on it. And the moment you pour some on your hand, you'll have to work fast. And it’s not easy because you have to remember not to let it go under the shower while you're touching yourself all over.

Pube Gel
So, like Jimeoin said, the best method is to splash it onto your pubes (groin area), lather it up and then spread all over your body. And it’s called Pube Gel for nothing. Heh

For those who does not have a shlong, better make sure you have long hair.

Shower Gel Pros:
1) Comes in small bottles which you can easily carry in your travelling bag
2) You do not have to waste a lot of time drying it and wrapping it in a plastic bag
3) When its finished, you would not be left with an oily, non-scented, slippery piece of %$@#&**!!!
4) You can re-use the bottle for other things, especially on a long highway trip......
5) You will definitely not find any pubic hair (other than yours) inside the shower gel



Shower Gels Cons:
1) It flows all over the place except on your body
2) When the bottle does leak, you wished your bag was waterproof,
3) So you can fill it with water, and then shake it about like a washing machine.
4) When your forget to replenish the shower gel, you have to use the bar of soap which you just remembered throwing it away in your last trip...........



Shokubutsu's Orange Peel Essence Shampoo
Kinda nice orangy smell too


Accident in Melacca

While seaching for our customer in Taman Teknologi Cheng (which was behind Cheng Industrial, which we completely ignored), we came across a very serious accident just outside Tesco Melaka and Sentral Melaka.


The Kelisa was in a bad shape


And the Ambulance arrived, which is not a good thing


You can't see it but its rear wheels were bent


I hope the driver survives


Then in a corner somewhere, a grim reminder to all motorists


Visit to the South Part III

After completing our rounds in Johor, we drove to Melaka and spent the night there at Orkid Hotel. This time, I relented with the room rates after what happened the night before. So, this will be RM125 per night. We had to pay Rm150 cash as the Credit Card machine "rejected" my colleague's card (Which we founf out later, their machine was not working properly). But this time, the location of the Hotel was quite good. And the hot water is really hot, unlike the previous Hotel which was had to wait for minute before luke-warm water came out.


Its a double bed but all the light controls were at the console in the middle
My colleague spent a lot of time figuring out how to activate the lights at the slot near the door because in normal hotels where you use those swipe cards, once you slot the card in, the whoel room lights up. This one did not. Ha ha ha ha


I did not like what the two pillows were doing to each other while hiding in the cupboard


This is the Bayview Hotel across from us, which we could have stayed in but did not


And next to it was a fairly good place for eating out at night
And inside it was also a 24 Hour mini market


Workers painting the side of the Hotel


Its one of the straight streets in Melaka and 7-11 is just in the middle

Dinner in Johor

After completing our rounds in Johor, and before heading off to Melaka, we met with a friend and he treated us to Dinner. The place, I think, is right smack in the middle of the City, just a bit behind the Menara MAA. Its called the Centrepoint (Not KL's Bandar Utama Centrepoint)


This is what we had for dinner, at Johor's Centrepoint, near the town
From left, it was Ikan Bakar, some shellfish and Curry Fish Head


I am still not sure what this was but it tasted like Lobster
But I pity it because it died being split into two


And its pepper flavoured. Yum-yum


Beware if you eat too much.....

Visit to the South Part II

After making sure our stomachs were purged (which we found out later in the day, it was not) we made our visits around the Batu Pahat and Johor area. It was raining the whole day and a bit of a disappointment. Why? Because I realised how close we were to reaching Singapore and I did not have my Passport and Credit Card. Yeah, I could have hung out the whole day at Sim Lim Tower and Square. Anyway, Johor is like one long stretch of road unlike KL where you have all these bends and one way streets. Still, there is a problem in their driving. Its either too slow (As if they have all the time in the World) or too reckless.


I liked this place because it has trees on both sides and due to the rain, its cooling too.
Just like KL in the 70's or rather, like Singapore now.


At first, this looked OK, but a bit messy, though


This was a shopping centre that was 99.9% completed with CF and all, but some drug addicts came and ransacked the place. All the expensive tiles and fittings were taken out, so now its more like a big empty place.


Some bastard stepped on the Phone system trying to use it as a ladder
The system was pulled off its hinges and they used a plank to prop it
I think they were here a few minutes ago as the CCTV cables they were pulling as still "fresh".
Unfortunately, we did not have time to wait for them to show up and kill them


I gave up taking photos of these idiots because there were close to 100 within a period of 5 minutes

Dinner in Batu Pahat

After arriving in Batu Pahat, we took about 45 minutes to look for a "nice" hotel. After some searching, we decided to stay at Novo Hotel, which charged us RM88 per night (RM78 was for a slightly smaller windowless room), Since it was getting late, we took it.

One thing about the Hotels here is that there a re a lot, ranging from 3-storey shoplots to buildings stories high. As we're only concerned about spending a night, I insisted the price must not be too high. And looking at how many cars were parked in each Hotel, indirectly tells you how popular/cheap their rooms are. Then again, the Hotel might be offering something else.

Anyway, I forgot the reason we chose Novo Hotel since there were very little cars parked there. Anyway, in short:

1) The TV does some Singapore channels
2) The bloody electric kettle has a very corroded heating element
3) And its base is stuck to the TV's cabinet
4) The next morning's free breakfast was not nice and we ended up using the toilet in turns on every customer site

The Dinner
He had dinner in a street called Jln Mohd Akil where the shop, is number 4. Its called Restaurant 1988 (One Nine Eight Eight, serious). Since they're using Mandarin, I was like a fish out of water and therefore, my colleague did the rest. So, I am not sure what we ordered, but in essence, its Porridge, Pork and Fish. As food is food, I am not the best person to review them. Perhaps one day I might kidnap babekl and drive her all the way there to do it (I am confident she can swear in Mandarin too)

Remember the time when you needed to have some instant Porridge? I am not sure if they have it now, but a company called Cerebos did manufacture instant porridge. All you need to do is to plonk the whole dried stuff (like powder) into a hot pot and after some time, voila! Porridge. And it felt like cream. So, tonight's Porridge was almost like it but much much better. Its not lumpy nor watery like the normal one you get from the shop. I guess its more that the rice has been pounded beforehand so its easier to cook, I guess and that's what makes it creamy and thick too.


The cook making our porridge


And here it is, with lots of stuff like fish, someone's stomach, Thim kai (some kind of frog) and other biological parts which I can't seem to place


Erm, deep fried pork. Quite crispy and tasted a bit like chinese sausage too


Deep fried fish.
I forgot what fish it was called but I can certainly tell you that it looked like an Egyptian Mummy Fish when it arrived.
Did it taste flat? Nope, it was delicious and so was the deep fried crispy ginger strips.


Something about the shop telling when its moving
You see, the night we were there, it was their last night


This Kid's running in and out, holding a RM1 bill and crying, then laughing then crying


Visit to the South Part I

[This entry was for 21.09.2005]
So, after coming back from Ipoh, today we're going down South instead. We will be visiting Seremban, Melaka, Batu Pahat and Johor Bahru. This is because we need to be there to visit our customers to make sure their systems are running well and also to help in clearing any problems (that might burn their place down). The first destination was Seremban, followed by lunch.


On the way, there was an accident.
The Sentra's right side was badly scraped


After our visit, we had lunch here in Seremban and I whacked a bowl of chopped garlic


Taking night shots of the Highway from a shaking 4x4, on the way to Batu Pahat


This one nearly killed me as I had to be very still and exhaled for a long time


Cheking in to Novo Hotel, where the ceiling makes you feel claustrophobic


The room's not bad either


But we can't use the kettle (with bad heating element) as its base was glued to the TV's base because the 3-pin plug adaptor was burnt and there is not way to make hot drinks unless you unplug the TV. So, we made do without the drinks.


The Hotel was a bt old and you can count on the number of staff during night shift
In the morning, the number of staff was almost the same

We got suckered by the Hotel's Lobby