A bagful of Mausers

Well, well, well, after all the hoo-haa!

I've completely forgotten about this bag of Mausers. I bought them at that time because they look almost the same scale as the real thing. And this was quite some time ago before I realised their significance. This must be years old!

Lets, see..... one, two......

A Warning to Trooper Peter

TROOPER PETER!

DO YOU KNOW WHAT DAY TODAY IS?
IT IS A SATURDAY!
IT IS ALSO THE SECOND DAY OF HARI RAYA!
IT IS ALSO THE DAY I PLANNED TO FINISH UP A PROJECT FOR SOMEONE AS I DO NOT HAVE MUCH TIME!

DO YOU KNOW WHAT AN E-MAIL IS?
THIS IS THE BETTER ALTERNATIVE THAN PM-IMG ME OR WRITING ON MY WALL OR OTHER WHAT NOTS. AND IT HAS A BETTER CHANCE OF ME SEEING THEM!
I WAITED FOR YOUR E-MAIL REGARDING THE ITEM YOU NEEDED FOUR NIGHTS AGO AND YOU DID NOT DELIVER! I WASTED THE WHOLE NIGHT WAITING FOR YOU WHEN I COULD BE DOING SOMETHING ELSE!

YOU DO NOT DO THINGS AT YOUR CONVENIENCE, OK? I AM NOT YOU SLAVE! I AM NOT SOMEONE WHO WILL COME RUNNING TO ANSWER YOU AS SOON AS YOU CALL!
IF YOU WANT ME TO HELP YOU, YOU DO AS I SAY AND WHEN I SAY! WHEN I WANT INFORMATION TO HELP YOU IN YOUR PROJECT, YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME BEFORE THE DAY IS OVER AND NOT WHEN YOU THINK IT IS TIME! IF YOU RUSH ME OR GET IN TOUCH WITH ME MORE THAN ONCE A WEEK, I WILL DROP YOUR PROJECT! I WILL UPDATE YOU WHEN IT IS TIME AND NOT YOU CALLING ME. THIS PROJECT DOES NOT INVOLVE MONEY SO STOP TRYING TO ACT LIKE SOME HAS-BEEN BIG SHOT AND CORNERING ME AS IF I OWE YOU SOMETHING! WHY SHOULD I DO THIS WHEN YOU DO NOT EVEN WANT TO SEE ME AT ALL?

I WAS BEING EXTREMELY AND HUMANELY POLITE TO YOU THAT DAY ON THE PHONE EVEN THOUGH YOUR REPUTATION AT
MITF 2010 PRECEDES YOU. DO NOT EXPECT ME TO BE SO GRACIOUS THE NEXT TIME.

THANKS TO YOUR FACEBOOK MESSAGING ACTIVITIES, IT TOOK ME MORE THAN TWO HOURS TO RECOVER FROM A CRASH. I
KNOW ITS YOU BECAUSE THAT WAS THE ONLY ACTIVE WEBPAGE IN MY BROWSER. AND I LOST PRECIOUS TIME TRYING TO RECOVER THE HARD DISK!

FOR NOW, I AM EFFECTIVELY IGNORING YOU TILL 1ST JANUARY 2011. UNTIL THEN:

YOU DO NOT CALL ME OR SMS ME!
YOU DO TRY OTHER WAYS TO GET TO ME!
YOU DO NOT GET SOMEONE ELSE TO GET IN TOUCH WITH ME!
YOU DO NOT EMAIL ME!
YOU DO NOT PM ME!
YOU DO NOT EVEN PUT ANYTHING ON MY FACEBOOK AT ALL!
YOU DO NOT EVEN APPROACH ME OR TRY TO TALK TO ME IF WE MEET IN ANY EVENTS!

I AM NOT GOING TO HELP YOU UNTIL THE IGNORE PERIOD IS OVER. IN OTHER WORDS, THIS IS A VERY CLEAR INSTRUCTION TO YOU TO STOP BUGGING ME AT ALL TIMES!

IF YOU VIOLATE ANY OF THESE INSTRUCTIONS, I WILL BAN YOU FROM MY FACEBOOK AND MARK YOUR EMAILS AS SPAM!!!!!

[18:44 Update]
That's it! I am now banning you!
Can't even understand simple instructions!

NEVER EVER CALL ME WHEN I AM IN THE MIDDLE OF SOLDERING STUFF!

Testing the 6in1 Super Power Coffee

Ah, Saturday morning! What a wonderful feeling. Yes, its a wonderful feeling because I am home alone. There is no one else in the house except me. Which means, I can rush the projects in peace without anyone calling for me every few minutes or so. You won't understand how precious this moment is until after you are married, have children and fell that the World is passing you by. Oh, ok, if you really want to know, the feeling is like you watching your favourite movie with people moving about in your row trying to go to, and returning from the toilet every few minutes. Yeah, that's about almost right.

Anyway, this the time I can test out the coffee in peace too. I don't have to think about excuses or how to reply when people walk in and asks what I am doing/drinking/ etc.

The very first moment I got the packet open,
there is a very strong waft of coffee coming
from inside. It smells very coffee-ish and also
butterishly creamy. Compared to Chek Hup,
which just smells sweet and creamy.

Then I noticed those small little brown 'rocks'
which more or less resembled mini cat dung.
And things went downhill from there............

Maybe its a premonition or signs of things to come
because when I was boiling some water for the
coffee, all I could find was a small pot.

And when the water was ready, it refused to go into
the cup until I forced it to. I mean, it was going beserk
at the rim, sputtering furiously and throwing hot
water all time. I have never seen water being so
violent before.

And so, when it is ready, the waft has grown into a strong stench. So, after drinking a few sips, I must say this drink is ...... crap.

It has no body, tastes bitter and worse of all, the only coffee part was in the smell. In fact, if I added Nescafe into the drain water, it would come very close. So, in terms of ranking, here it is:

1) Cadbury's Hot Chocolate w/ Chek Hup Creamy Coffee
2) Hot water with fresh ground coffee powder and sugar
3) Milo w/ Chek Hup Creamy Coffee
4) Hot boiled Starbucks Ice caramel Blended
5) Hot Ginseng Teh Tarik
6) Check Hup Creamy Coffee with Amarula
7) Ice Cold water with Nescafe 3 in 1 (and a good mood)
8) Ice Cold water
9) Tap water at room temperature
.
.
.
.
.
.
100) The crap coffee I am posting now


The sad thing is, I have about 15 over bags left......... man, I can't even feed it to the squirrel or marinate chickens with them without being charged for cruelty to animals (dead or alive).

The shy guest

We know that the cat which I loved/hated is now never with us anymore. It has been proven and sad to say, we would not be able to have a proper closure. Its not easy to say goodbye to them and you never see their final resting places unless they got unlucky to become roadkill.

Just a few days ago, we spotted the squirrels coming and running about outside the house. It has been this way for years but somehow, they are more tolerable. That is, until today. You see, someone saw them and decided to leave an apple for them outside the window.

Unfortunately, the squirrel saw this and thought that this is an equivalent sign of a welcome mat. And unfortunately, they too thought there must be better choices inside the house........

And so they raided the apple bowl but stayed
clear of my brother's APPLE. how weird.

This was the original apple left outside which was
eaten bit by bit. Squirrels are shy and when they
sensed someone walking past, they will disappear.
It will be a long time before we can come near and
pat them (or make squirrel pi...er, pets)

Fibre-optics by the dozen Pt.II

Today, I am going to test the fibre-optics again, this time with a more 'common' lightsource. In the first test, the lights were normal three LEDs and because of that, the effect was well, a bit different. Each LED has their own 'place' in the container and so, because of the characteristics of a LED's angle of viewing, there are three sweet spots shining on the bunched-up end of the fibre-optic bundle. So, in the end, you have red, green and blue lights on the fibre-optic tree.

Anyway, the two light sources for today comes from torch lights; one being the traditional yello bulb and the other, a 3watt pure white LED. Before we begin, you must realise that this experiment is just brief test on how they perform. I was hoping for near 100% efficiency but then again, this is cheap 'fibre-optic'. Note how I used the word 'cheap' and quoted the fibre-optic words? I am preparing you for the disappointing moments that is to come.....

I am using a bulb filament torchlight here and
for the effect, it looks good despite my not
masking all the light leaks and also create a
proper connection between the lens and the
fibre-optic ends. Looks prmosing, right?
Also, this was shot in the morning light.

Note that in most of the strands, there are about
3cm lighted strands which is, on closer look, were
scored ti give that effect. A normal virgin fibre-
optic would just have a bright dot instead.

Here, I am using a 3watt LED torch light. Maybe
its the light spectrum but somehow, it does not
look that bright to me. Maybe I should have set
up a MR16 warm-white LED spotlight.

So, the verdict is, that these so-called fibre-optics should be able to do the job for any plastic models considering how difficult it is to get the actual ones locally. Then you might also have to face the problem of incorrect diameter, and most importantly, pricing. So, sad to say, these are as good as it can get.

This is because to get a better effect, you would need a brighter light source and when it comes to a brighter light source, be it light bulbs or LEDs, the heat generated could be worrying when there is no ventilation or other means of heat dissipation. In the long run, not only would it melt the plastic, it would also damaged these fibre-optics. Yes, even if you had the real firbre-optics, they are now mostly made from plastic as they're easier to work with and also have a better bending angle unlike glass.

So, the next step is to get the MR16 LED spotllight before I start making 'holes' in a model or plastic.