Chinese New Year is coming and my work is piling up like mad. By the time I finished my work, it was after seven in the evening and we're required to be at Victoria Station (PJ) for a farewell dinner hosted by one of our BIG customers. What I hate about inconsiderate people is that they take your seat while you're not there. Our "room" was on the big train and it was just a long row of tables in a dimply lit caboose (they took out the second bulb for each light)

I am not sure about you all but my take on this is very simple. [CHOPE]
Yeah, just like in school, if we see a seat and nobody took it, we just say, "chope!" and its mine. Others around would acknowledge it and then would not take that seat. In the adult world, its almost the same but now, instead of saying "chope", they would put their stuff there. So, since we're early, I took the seat and ordered a drink. And since the dinner was a good 15 minutes away, I decided to walk to the shops next door. Casually, I put my drink on the table and just stepped out. By the time I came back, everyone was there and my seat has been snatched by another person. Naturally, I was quite pissed off but since this dinner was not about me, I just glared icily at him and ordered him to pass me my drink. He did pass it but in an embarassing way. Later, I found out that his Dad (The contractor who caused a lot of wiring problems for us) was in IJN suffering from a Heart Attack and that explains his "sotong-ness". Luckily, for me, I did not do anything stupid that night.

So, all the seats were taken up. Except for the empty seat in front of the Big Big Boss and the Bigger Big Big Boss. Sitting in front of them is like eating in front of a den of lions. Well, that is my feeling anyway. Or you can imagine dining with your parents in law/Headmaster/Dean/Manager/CEO, etc. but their size is 10 times bigger. (Ha ha ha ha). If I was faced with this scenario more than ten years ago, I would be very nervous. But now, lets face it, they're human too and the worst thing they can do is to scold you in front of everybody, bang tables, etc. followed by a "no more business statement" the next day. I mean, what could be worst than that? Throughout the dinner, once I got to know them, they're quite nice.

The topics discussed ranged from Golf to Chua Soi Lek to Hindraf to Black Magic to personal Ghostly experiences. They were so interesting that I had a hard time eating my food, which was a very delicious Oxtail soup and Roast Rack of Lamb. And this is one of the stories: (Which is true, according to the Datuk)

When he was young, datuk would go to the Felda forest, park his car there and go into the jungle for hunting. He would wait until the pig farmers and their dogs would arrive at the path, screaming and shouting to chase the pigs. From there, Datuk would take aim at with his shotgun and kill as many pigs as he can. On the way to the path, he and his friends would use a parang to chop down some vegetation so that they would be able to track back to their cars when the hunt is over. Sometimes, they they're lazy, they would just use their hands instead. After crossing three streams, he would arrive at the spot. From there, he sat down and waited.

And waited

After more than an hour, there were no sound or any people using that path. And while he waited, he noticed that there were smells. It smelled like cooked curry and other stuff but he was not perturbed as he knows there are some leaves that gives out these kinds of smell. Finally, he could wait no more and decided walk back to his car. He crossed one stream. And then another. And another.

And he crossed another stream.

Wait a minute. Datuk realised he has crossed four streams! Just to go to the spot from his car, he only had to cross three streams to get there. But now, this is the fourth stream. He did not want to walk further as he knows he would get lost very soon. So, he fired a shot into the air to signal to his friends. After waiting some more, he fired again. And waited and fired. Until most of the bullets in his belt was used up and he did not dare to use anymore. It is already late and still no sound from anyone. At this time, Datuk's stomach was getting restless. And there are no toilet in the jungle.

So, he stripped and bent down. The moment he did that, all of a sudden, he could hear the dogs barking, people talking and more. After scolding his friends, they also replied that they fires shots to summon him but did not hear Datuk's gun. So, he knew something happened in the jungle. Some "Orang Bunian" came and covered/hid him from everyone else. But these "Orang Bunian" would run away if you start to stip naked. So, the next time you experience this, you know la. And make sure you bring a very beautiful leng lui with you too, the one that does not dress in white, have long hair and floats.........

Local Comics II

Dalam Alam Angker, Twisted Minds of Puyuh by Leong Wan Kok [RM7.50]

So, here I go again, with another copy of a local comic. And I can tell you this: This is the best book I have ever bought! The pages have black background so this forces your attention to focus on the comic pane themselves. The artwork reminds me of Simon Bisley (famous for 2000Ad's Slaine and the Batman/Judge Dredd's Judgement on Gotham) and a bit of a milder Bill Sienkiewicz

The Twisted Minds are mostly a collection of horror and Science Fiction stories, which one of them, I think, could be from an actual horror story. And all the stories have either a twisted ending or a weird one. Which suits me. However, this time, even if it was published in the Malay language, that small blight was saved with the beautiful artwork which was so detailed. Its a shame that this Graphic novel was not published in a larger format.

And if I see the other two titles I would very much like to get them too.

This is a sample of the artwork. But becareful as the copy
I bought had very weak glue and so, after turning a few
pages, they came off one by one.

This is the cover of the Graphic Novel
and inside, the art is the same, if not
better.

GSM Fixed Cellular Terminal

This is a GSM Fixed Terminal. It accepts any GSM SIM card
and plugs into your PABX as an incoming line. But it cannot do
SMS, just calls. It was so lousy that the sound to the calling party
was soft and there was intermittent problems. So, we returned it
and got the customer another model from another supplier which
was much better. just like the mobile phone, you have to enter the
"03" prefix if you need to dial a local number