Dari Alam Anker - Puyuh

This is a local comic from the Artist, Puyuh (aka Leong Wan Kok). It deals mostly with horror tales and has bit of a twist towards the end. I think this is Puyuh's first book but I am not sure but this later book, "Dari Alam Angker, Twisted Mind of Puyuh" is much more refined and by then, his drawing styles are more or less established. For RM7.50, its a very nice book.

This is the front cover, I am not sure if they have
come out with the English version or not as they
sometimes do.

Some stories are in mono but its not the art which
kept me glued. Its the story.

Towards the last few pages were the colour sections.
Here, the comics have no voice bubble but you can
still follow the story.

One thing I am not happy was that they wrapped
the book in a weird sticky plastic which warps the
cover. You cannot peel it off either. I suspect this
happens when they packed the comics together
during delivery with those packing straps.

Elections

Elections. Like some Celebrations or events, it comes every four years without fail. And you can sense it is near by following a few symptomatic signs

1) just look outside and see any newly tarred roads that has not been tarred for years.
2) In the night, strangers would wear caps or T-shirts which have non commercial logos like rockets, scales and even an inverted green spot, hanging flags and banners on innocent street items like trees and bridges.
3) Find the source of all these and you will find very friendly people sitting under a makeshift tent. And their genuine assistance and smiles only come every four years.
4) All newspapers and TV would have short commercials or funny stories like how they helped the Rakyat, would be on all the time.

And that, folks, is Politics in a nutshell. To me, that is. I don't see the point in all this Elections thing. And not only that, if they're doing so well, why do they need to drum it to everybody, "Looook! I can plant a small tree! Look everybody! I can plant a small tree!" or, they will put a full page to "remind" their people to vote for the rigth party or they will pay the price. This is sickening. In the end, the usual will get their seats, go back to their castle in the clouds and start hammering the Rakyat for more money. As for the Opposition, they will bicker, break and then merge alliances and so on.

Sheesh. What a waste of time. Right now, things are what they are. There are no better political parties in Malaysia which anyone has confidence in voting for. Although some has good people in it, but the central core is bad. So, what else is new?

When I vote, I will follow my instinct. If a party is advertising too much or making too much "noice", this means, just like a bad product, is crap and they will use the ruse to cover the eyes of the prospect. In the end, the prospect will be confused and naturally, go for the competitor.

Some guy parked his 4x4 and tried to get votes.
Wanted to get his pic yesterday morning while
he was standing on a small lorry but I missed

How far can it go?

While I was about to pack my stuff after visiting the customer, the spot where I parked had a small rectangle "park". Since I had a bit of time, I decided to test the remote's distance myself. So, I set my D50 down on one end of the park and set it to receive the remote's signal. I just wanted to see how far it can go (assuming its using a fresh CR2025) battery. Some said it was about 16 feet (5.3 meters) on the Internet.

As I walked towards the end, I activated the remote at roughly every five meters.


Distance: 5 meters.
God, my backside is huge! Yes, I prefer loose jeans, OK?

Distance: 10meters
And my back looked weird

Distance: 15 meters

Distance: 20 meters

Distance: 25 meters or so
So, the remote is quite effective up to about less than 25 meters. But maybe, the distance could be more in an enclosed area since there will be no interference from the Sun (which is not only bright but a source of infra-red as well). Anyway, for it to be effective, the remote must be used straight since at any other angles, it will be blocked either by the lens or the handgrip. Moreover, I have yet to try reflecting the remote's infra-red signals back from a distance of more than five metres.

Lost control

I had a customer in Glenmarie today and since the Sun was not so hot, I decided to take normal route and not the Toll. After coming out of the old Airport road, I was faced with the roundabout there. As I went across it, I saw a lorry in a very weird position.

Judging from the skid marks, I don't think the driver was at fault but he was unable to control the heavy lorry. So, up the divider it went.

See the skid marks? There must be another vehicle coming out
from the left of the roundabout and maybe he is trying to avoid

So, this is the end result of trying to control a heavy vehicle

And if I am not mistaken, those are concrete he's carrying

About an hour later, I came back to see if the lorry is still there.
Its also a good time to try out the D50's 2.5fps capabilities

A day at The Curve

So, today is Sunday and it is a good day to continue with my sleep since I was "working" in the office the day before up to nearly eleven at night. Well, it was my fault as after preparing my tech for his first trip to Lahad Datu, Sabah, I was tired and fell asleep. Ha ha ha

Anyway, Wife wanted to go to a Popular Bookshop store and she suggested the one in Section 14, PJ. Knowing that the place will be vacated, I suggested other branches until we agreed on going to The Curve. Almost four hours later, we finally reached The Curve. It was a nice suprise for me as there was negligible traffic even at two in the afternoon. But our first parking choice at Tesco came up nothing as it was full. I decided to try parking at The Curve instead just to try my luck.

After getting our stuff done, I had to take all of them into the car since moving about in a crowded area with your hands full of shopping bags and holding the two girls are just asking for trouble. And while I as there, I spotted a Toyota Celica modified into a Transformers Decepticon Barricade. However, there are no lights on the top which makes it a bit discreet. Only a Transformer Fan would know what the owner was trying to do, even at first glance. And because our local Police do not have this kind of colour scheme on their cars, there is no trouble here.

After a very trying time at Tesco, we settled down at Madam Lim's for dinner but because the cooking gas ran out, we had to go to another place, namely Kenny Rogers, which was a bad move. Comments from Wife can be summarised to a few choice words; namely "fit for 'pigs' in a kenduri", "slow" and "bad service" or something to that effect.

Firstly, the rear section has been closed off and because there was no sign to say so, I went in there by mistake only to be countered with a rude stare.

Secondly, although the place was small and there were more customers on the outside, the waiters were not concerned that we have been to order. Everytime we put our hands up to get their attention, we were shown the palm,telling us to wait. And sometimes, I think they're not very alert.

Thirdly, the waitress takng our order seemed to be very impatient and tried to rush things. When Wife ordered the Fish Fillet promo, she just quickly said (in a slightly louder tone), "Wait, let me check" and quickly rushed into the service section. Its as if she couldn't be bothered with us.

Fourth, when the food arrived, it did not look like anything from the menu. The side dishes were mashed together with the "main food", and all in one plate. I had no problems with that but it did not go down well with Wife.

In the end, the bill was a shocking RM80 something. Which pissed me off as my budget was less than RM50. I have mixed feelings about Kenny Rogers. In other places, they had excellent food and service but the one in The Curve really makes me think twice about going there again. When Kenny Rogers (The Restaurant) started out, you could select your own three side dishes and scoop them up by yourself. Then they added the plastic TV Trays and the only thing you can do is to select your three side dishes over the counter, which makes you feel as if you're either in a prison or in a school. Now, (maybe just to save cost) everything has been dumped into one plate. So, imagine all types of gravy being mixed together.

Both Kristine's and Kaelynn's treasures were being washed

Everyone got mad when Kristine played with a pair of scissors

I got mad when she played with her new set of stamps

After the small break, we went shopping!

As the things we bought were heavy, I returned to our car and
off loaded them. Then I saw this being done to a Toyota. So sad

Then again, a Saleen is not so common in Malaysia
(Image taken from www.saleen.com)

This is mine: The Kenny Rogers Cesar Salad minus the croutons

This is a Kenny Rogers half chicken complete with shitty rice and some corn

This is the Kenny Rogers RM18.90 fish thingy, and it looked so delicious and big
Oh, since I am in a joking mood, the mashed potatoes are worth killing for as well

The stuff i got at Photo Shangri-La: Two packs of silica gel and 2 1GB SD card
I could not believe the price was RM33 for a Class4 SD card. Normally, I think
it would be three times more, but that was last year.

I did a test with my normal ex-HP PDA SD. Not really cared about
the speed until the D50 starts to show each shot in the "Playback"
mode. The refresh was so slow.

Me : Darling, did you see my pair of jeans?
Wife: Yeah, I just threw them into the washing machine

**Quickly rushed to the washine machine and opened the door**

Wife: Don't worry. I have checked the pockets and there was nothing in there

**Ignoring her, I searched the front pocket where I left the SD card in there**
**Sure enough, the card was still there and if I did not realise it seconds ago **
**this SD card (that came with the D50) would have been compromised by **
**the water. Luckily, although the jeans was already wet, because it was so **
**thick, the pockets were still dry. Phew! **

Lonely

We were doing another job at one of the prominent buildings in the Golden Triangle. Since my techs are busy pulling cables. I wandered to find the MDF room as this will be the place all Telekom cables would originate from. And someone has accidentally left the door unlocked. I peeped in and lo and behold, the scene presented me was awesome. Its like you opening a door and for the first time, get to see a something amazing.

After standing there fore a few seconds, the scene begs to be recorded. And on the very first shot, I managed (I think) to capture the mood in that room.

This is an MDF room. In its heyday, its a very important
and expensive room. No one could ever get in unless they
are meant to be there, which is very rare. Now, its just
empty, and dark. Very old but still doing its job

Broken UV Lens filter

I did not notice it until when I decided to look for any
smears on the lens. That's when I saw it. Apparently,
the glass had chipped inside the lens and is now in the
kit lens outer assembly. Must be from the knock I did
when I was moving too fast. But then, I remembered
its a very soft knock. Haih. Must get some sticky tapes
to pick up the minute glass pieces. Thank goodness its
on the edges and not in the middle or else it'll cost me

I saw my future self!!!

So, I got the D50, I got the camera bag. I have an infra-red remote shutter release. What else do I need? I already have a tri-pod which I always forget to bring long with me. What else do I need?

Why am I always thinking about my D50? Is it a sin not to take at least a few pictures a day?

And then, I saw it. I was driving the along Jalan Bkt Bintang, stuck in the traffic jam just in front ot the Pavillion. With no cars moving, and my nose's clean of booger, I had to amuse myself.

I looked out of the window.

And I saw my future self, or rather, whom I will be in a few years time. It was a shock

There I was, in my sling bag, holding a DSLR with some fancy lens hood and all looking serious. I have some other serious friends with me as well and we're all shooting around the Pavillion. Each of us took some shots and then grouped together to view the results. And continued shooting. We even tried with low angles and weird stances.

Oh my God. Will this be me in the future?

Da speling in tat buk bai mi tech

No, no. Crimp the cable. C-R-I-M-P

Not cream. I don't want you to kill it

@#&*! Nightshots

Note to myself: Bring the fucking Tripod! (No, no the one in front of your legs!)

I have to be ready at all times when I go out now, especially when it involves going out of town where I could be coming back at night or staying in a Hotel there. Just like yesterday, when I was in the East Coast. And there was a nice full moon. The timing was right too; I was passing through Terengganu at night and more specifically, in Kertih. And later on, at the coastal roads and also Gebeng Industrial area. Which was a great opportunity for me to try taking photos in the dark!And herein lies the problem.

Everything is dark.

How can I take these low-light photos properly? I can turn the D50's EV levels all the way up and to compensate my nervous hands, I had to use the maximum ISO of 1600. Then I settled for a few seconds exposure and so on. Trial and error. But in the end, all I get would be very grainy and slightly blurred pictures. I mean, you can only stay still for so long. Yeah, its all my fault for not getting the tripod. Putting the camera on the van is a good idea but its not easy when you need to use the eyepiece to manual focus. It does not even help when the vehicles passing by rocks the van. And in places, you can't even drive the van there. So, a tripod definitely/really/should be/always helps.

Get a RED Flashlight!

Yeah, I should have made one too. RED is ok and won't blind you unlike White/Yellowish lights. I suppose that's why Astronomers and/or stargazers use them. The eyes can recover faster in the dark after exposed to red The D50 does not have any lights at all on its LCD status screen. And on that night, I needed to use other light source to read the white balance settings on the screen. Well, I could try taking photos, review it on the LCD screen and then set it from there. But the LCD screen blinded me most of the time. And while I'm at it, I should consider getting those fancy wancy eye-pieces for the D50. Or a magnifying glass. Try focusing manually in the dark and you'll understand the frustrations. I don't want to waste too much time in case a Guard comes out from nowhere and starts running towards you!

This is in Kertih, Petronas Area.and its a bit funny looking for the correct WB
setting in the dark. This is even weird when I had to stop the van every few
feet to get the good position. And I had to wait for the clouds to pass by so
that it can partially mask the Moon's brightness

Still the same area but on the opposite side. I wanted to capture the long
steam trails and also the bright structure on the right. I do not want to
cross the road to take a better picture in case I do get chased.

Here are more steam trails....... And I wished I got the
right WB setting. Haih

Then I noticed what I missed in my old FujiFilm s5500
There is no zoom lens in the D50 so now, I cannot get
to the flames as close as I can.

This is not a lightning bolt but I does reminds me of Frank Miller's
Graphic Novel cover of Batman Returns. In the dark, I think I set
the exposure to 'bulb' and I had to tilt the camera upwards to see
the LCD wondering what was wrong when the shutter mirror did
not return to its poistion. This was taken at the Beach rest stop in
Kemasik, I think

This is my favourite shot for the night. I wanted to capture the Moon
and also the calm sea with the two islands. Took me quite a bit and I
had to compromise a lot of settings such as the EZV and ISO. In the
end, the picture is very grany but at least I got the shot. More or less

Gebeng Industrial Area. The steam coming out was niiiiiiiiice.......!

The next morning.....

With so much of those stuff in my body, I am high!

I am excited, I am lustful, my body feels like shite
but my brain is whooohaaa, baby! C'mon! Yeeaah!

Sleep properly. Sleep! Sleeeeeeeep!

Now, I am like a zombie. I don't/can't/why not/how even have the strength to go to 7-11 and so, I have
to live with it the whole night long while she sleeps




Man, I can't even wear out my hand. Should have called ahead.

The trip I was not supposed to go.........

This trip to the East Coast, was meant for someone else. However, we had to wait for most of the orders to come in so that we could save a bit of cash and go there one shot. Then, the customer's Big Boss demanded we go at once and not wait any longer.

In the end, I had to go instead. We were actually waiting for the Kota Bahru order but it did not come in time. So, now, my quest is to go to Temerloh, two Kuantan sites and Kuala Terengganu, all in one day. Yeah, you got it. ONE day. So, there was a lot of planning and this time, I would be going alone instead since passengers would only slow me down.

Its not easy, you know. So, I had to start my journey early in the morning so that I can reach Temerloh by 0830. Remember, the van's speed limit is 90Kmh and not 110 or Speed of Light. So, by 0600 or thereabouts, I was off. Unfortunately, this time, the weather was a bit hot and therefore, the Karak Highway was devoid of those wonderful mists and I had to contend with the normal morning dew. By the time I have solved the problem in Temerloh, it was time to go to Kuantan as I need to start my journey to K. Terengganu before two in the afternoon. It is the last stop and there is a reason why I need to go there before Friday as this state considers Friday as rest day. Not only that, I am planning to use the Coastal route which has a lot of traffic (and more petrol stations).

The first Kuantan site was actually away from the town and therefore, I had to exit at Gambang toll and travel a bit from there. Since the General Elections are coming up, there are a lot of Political flags and posters. And with emotions running high, I have to be very very careful when I am driving up there. By the time I have finished the second Kuantan site at two in the afternoon, I only had enough time to grab some tidbits before starting out. Luckily, this customer has a lot of coffee and Milo which helped me a lot.

By a rough calculation based on the distance of K. Terengganu from Kuantan, I should be able to reach it by 1730. Unfortunately, there were some factors I completely forgottten; mainly heavy traffic (read: slow drivers or lorries), people going home and lastly, getting lost (since the original map was not mine). By the time I reached K. Terengganu, it was 1845 and everyone was about to go home. Luckily, I managed to convince them to stay this time. Its very easy to get lost here because of my reliance on the road maps, which is not really accurate at all. At one junction, it showed a roundabout but in reality, it gave way to a 4-way junction. Then, the road signs are very small. And they're not printed in contrasting colours.

Once I finished my job at about eight in the evening, it was time to go home. And so, starts the long eight hour lonely drive back to KL. By the time I reached home, it was almost four in the morning and high on caffeine and whatnots, I could not sleep until about 6 or seven. So, I SMSed my Boss that I won't be coming in until after 11 in the morning. I was down for the count, man.

What can I say about this trip? Not that I hated it because I could not stop and go visiting shops or have a proper meal or stay one night in a Hotel. A job is a job and that is what I am there for. But the highlight is that it was a full moon and I did managed to get some decent night shots despite the absense of a tripod. Actually, in my heart, I think I wanted to go to Kota Bahru, especially the Rantau Panjang market.......... hee hee hee hee.

Its quite early and Mr. Sun did not rise in a normal way but hid
behind the clouds before jumping out and heating everyone

This is a scene in Kuantan where they tell you whom not
to vote for. Its parodied from the "Tak Nak" ciggie ads

I drove all the way here for this. The autodialer is not
working properly and I can verify this with my patch
(left). So, I bypassed the autiodialer (right) so that the
customers can still make calls.

The remnants of a Lion Dance. After everyone has gone,
and all the confetti. mandarin oranges cleaned up, its
business as usual. Not sure if they're going to cook it

This is the last exit ever on the Highway. Last year this does
not even exist. Depending on the General Election, work might
or might not continue. So, if I still want to head towards places
like Terrengganu or Kota Bahru, I would have to detour here

My Lunch. Some crisps and LongJack! Ha ha ha ha.
I am not sure about the joke but it was funny then.
Yes, it contains Tongkat Ali! But it sure tasted like
shite. Very bitter to the taste. I am tired, that's all

Somewhere on the way to Terengganu is this marvelous bridge. All
the flags are blowing in the wind but once you reach the other end,
its full of Opposition Flags

"Don't go, OK? I just arrived. Please give me some time to do these batteries"

My dinner. More Tongkat Ali, leftover lunch crisps, potato bread and
sugar in the form of F&N softdrink and Mentos sweets. No, I am not
going to dunk the sweets into the softdrink. Its now about 9PM

Four in the morning! I am so tempted rush out there and do
a dance in the hopes of the traffic cameras catching me in the
act before I reach my house.

They have a rat!

bangkokboi SMSed me in the afternoon but I was too busy driving. So, later in the night, he called to say they have a 3Kg baby girl. No name yet, though.

And he conplained he had to drive all the way to Penang at three in the morning. Too bad he did not take photos/movies while he was in the room.


Congratulations!

Flash Light

I got this flashlight for RM1.50 from one of those cheep cheep DIY shops near the office. Its means mainly for cyclists or people whole love to jog/walk on the road.

Or you can just fit it to your bum and call it the
Third Brake Light, or you can put as many as
you want on your whole body while you jog.
Do not be surprised when you read
tomorrow's papers about a red UFO....

Taking it apart, you have the reflector, the red lens/cover
and the electronics itself. It uses two AAA batteries.

There are about eight flashing sequences which you
can select by pushing the button at the back.