The Mechanical Monster

I was bored. Waiting for five hours is torture. I cannot get a taxi just to go back to town to buy whatever stuff that I do not need and I am not even sure if the Cinema is open in the afternoon (because I forgot to check the schedule). So, there I was, sitting on the chair, listening to the wonderful sounds of mechanical induced stress concrete. OK, I forgot to pack my headphones for my iPaq.

Anyway, I wherever I went, there was this tremour on the ground which (after two hours or so) made me curious. I traced the source to a machine which is slowly breaking the concrete stairs leading to the carpark.........

This was the shot I took earlier and I did not notice it.


Grrarrr!!!! Me hungry! Me monster eat!


Stop disturbing me, puny human!


Grrrrraaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!


See my powerful jaw!


Yam! Yam! Yam! Steel wires!


Now see me eat bricks!


Roooarrrrrrhhhhh!!!!

On the way home ...

My flight was 1525 in the afternoon and after one last visit to the customer to make sure everything was A-OK, I headed for the Airport. Suffice to say, the flight was delayed until 1815 due to some "technical problems". Luckily, this was my only destination, unlike last time when I need to go from KL to Kuching to Bintulu to Sibu to Miri and then to KL again. One delay too often can jeopardise my whole schedule.

So, when the plane did arrive, one would know if the Captain is in a hurry. Yeah, the quick exit to the runway while the Air Stewardess was doing her thing and the suddent thrust to reach airborne. When we landed, there was another problem, this was with the AirAsia coach. The guys at the luggage claim was taking too long and by the time we got our stuff and reached the bus, it was already full. So, we had to wait for the next one which was due in 30 minutes. Luckily, it was ahead of schedule by 22 minutes. Ha ha ha ha

There was another incident because someone apparently had forgotten to load the luggage belonging to another passenger in the earlier bus. So, throughout the whole journey, I can hear them arguing over the walkie-talkie about the mistake. The poor family had to sit through one and quarter hours at Sentral. By the time I reached home, I was already past eleven, five unecessary hours wasted. And Kristine was up to her usual tricks of not going to sleep until two in the morning again.
Sigh

The screen suffered and error and had to reboot.
Yeah, it was running Windows XP


Once it was clear, the dreaded "DELAY" word came up
I hade to wait for five hours at the Airport


Oh look, our plane was drawn by Lat!


Its so beautiful


Heh heh heh


This is how it looked inside the plane


And this is how it looked when landing
I wonder why they need to switch off the lights


"What do you mean, you forgot to load the bags?"

Trip to Labuan Part IV

After my breakfast, I decided to go around the town for some shopping at the Duty-Free. I needed to get those miniature bottles again for my colleague which is takeila and some ciggies. All the shops I went did not have the bottle I needed. In the end, since it was almost time, I quickly bought the box of cigarettes and a pack of sweets for the Office.

This temple looks nice


Most of the Duty-Free shops are located in this stretch of road


The don't have that takela here.........


Nor here.......


Nor here.......


Nor even here.......


So, I gave up


There is Kentucky (Fried Chicken) and then,
there is Chantucky Restaurant

Star Trek Alternative Commbadge

I wonder if its possible to make a Commbadge prop like
the one I designed here? Tap on it and the blue line will
light up briefly. Maybe for Section31. Ha ha ha ha ha ha

The Tamiya clone that copied Auldey

So, I was minding my own business (still in Labuan) and I was on my way back to the Hotel when I stopped by one Super(mini)market. I found that there is another manufacturer that has almost the same concept as Tamiya's original Dangun Racer.

It followed Auldey's concept of using shiny chrome bodies which will definitely attract. And what's more, they even put in a set of batteries and some gears which is ready to play once you tear open the box.

And best of all, its much much cheaper:
Tamiya (RM45.00)
Auldey (RM19.90)
Xin??? (RM8.90)

Will it get the market it deserved?
I am not sure but I got suckered into it, though. Then again, this is the best of the lot

The box is the same for all of its different models
And I threw it away to reduce space in my bag


Free batteries, a gear and extra tires


From here, it looked quite nice. That is, until you
look closely and see that they have put on the
stickers in a rush. Everything is either peeling
off of badly aligned


Here is one near the Batman-type fin (on the right) which
is already peeling off.


Then the battery contacts are starting to rust


Now I know why they closed up the rear in the box.
So you would not see this lousy design at the rear.
Using plastic nut to secure the two body halves are
so, so 90's. And the wheels looked so anorexic too

Overall, the design of the chassis follows Tamiya's
original Dangun Racer and while the body shell is
of their own design, its quite ok.
But the wheels......... sigh
Still, one day, when I have the time, I am going to
modify it with better wheels and peel of those shiny
chrome bits.

Trip to Labuan Part III

Coming out of the Airport, it was under renovation. So, I decided to walk to my customer since (OK, I was told, and also, from the Google Earth) it was just a short distance away (Hardy ha ha)

This is a very nice sculpture of a swordfish at the Airport's Roundabout


On the left of the main road, there is a nice little Waterfall


I can only imagine that it would be beautiful come nightfall


The water then flows all the way


Through these little cute bridges and rocks


And on until it reaches the main entrance


And on the right side of the main Airport road,
its the same as well but a little bit drier since
there is no waterfall


So, what you have instead is a 100metre long reflexology path
Ouchie-wa-wa

After completing my tasks in the evening, I checked in at the Pulau Labuan Hotel where they only have one room left. The customer was kind enough to drive me there and also, took me to a Duty-Free shop. Since I could not find those Tequila miniature bottles for my friends, I bought two bottles of what I thought was some orange/mandarin flavoured wine coolers.

This is the first time I see a car radio in the room


And luckily, I am alone as there are no shower curtains


Went for dinner nearby called Chicken King
Here, they're trying make my Honeydew drink


The Fragrant Rice n' Roast (RM4.50) and
the Honeydew juice (RM5.80)which is not even full


They even have a Cineplex


And the shows are Poseidon, X-Men III & Da Vinci Code
I went back to the Hotel and watched HBO instead as I
was dead tired


Not before I bought some Pineapple juice & some
Japanese White chocolate


Not bad at all. Unfortunately, the Pineapple juice
gave me sore throat for the rest of the night


I am so stupid. Those were not wine coolers
at all and even if they exist, the do not come
in these bottles. What I got was some stupid
43% vodka which I can't even drink without
getting stone. Let me see whom I can give it
to. I think FireAngel will most probably stone
me with it since it is so little.

Trip to Labuan Part II

OK, so this time, no more airplane shots. After a few trips, it tends to get pretty boring. While we listened to the compulsory but boring airplane safety lecture by those Air Stewardesses, I began to interpret these stuff differently to pass the time.

If the Immigration Officer comes, you can hide in
the comparment above you and stuff your bags
under the seat


I lost the idea for this one. Move on, please


If there are no more space, you may open the Emergency
Door and jump out from there. But make sure you have
purchased the RM399.99 parachute well beforehand.


In our efforts to provide the best in-flight entertainment,
we have installed the AAC 2000 air slide for our passengers
who likes outdoor activities. Recovery bungee cords are
optional at RM799.95 each


Although this is a no-frills flight, we do have some standards
to maintain. Old fashioned Mobile Phones with antennas or
with bent pointy parts sticking out are not allowed into the plane.


If, in any case our air-conditioning is not working, please
assume the necessary positions in case your neighnours
have bad underarm odour.


And in extreme cases where the Air Stewardess has turned your
lunch into cinders, you may assume crawling position if you need
to go to the loo. Please bear in mind, the Nasi Kunyit special do
emit toxic fumes when it is burnt.


When you are in the plane, please pull only the cord on your left
If you pull both together, the vest will squeeze and pop your hear off


Our vest have special compartments where you may store
those alcohol you have bought earlier.


Never ever play Ping Pong with Superman