Phone Insurance

I've finally met my match. I have always been accustomed to winning in almost any arguments... of course some of them are actually really forced arguments but no matter how, I almost always win. The only time that I would lose an argument is in technical matters which is almost impossible to turn and twist is the way I wanted.

However, I have finally met (or more accurately, talk with) someone who is able to turn my own reasoning onto me. I had to resort to some very unreasonable and downright crude methods to keep myself from being dragged into his reasoning.

Over the past two years, I have received numerous calls on congratulating me for being the lucky customer who is the 'specially' selected few to receive a bargain of the century in insurance. To tell the truth, initially, I did buy some of the policies. It sounded a real bargain and maybe it really is a bargain but I always ended up cancelling them after paying the policy for a few months. I don't know if it's a sickness of what, but no matter how they explained to me how the policy works, I still find myself in the clouds. Yes, I actually bought them even though I'm not 100% sure what it does.

My mind just went numb and I ran out of questions during these phone calls. However, I smarten up over time and managed to fend of these 'telemarketers' easily. I hope that I did not offend anyone with similar job nature but it really is quite annoying. Heck, I remembered reading an article somewhere that a woman sued the telemarketing company for calling during dinner and hence, disrupting her precious family get together time. Of course, they did ask if it is alright for them to continue and I always says yes. The reason is, I'm a nice guy :P. I can say that I'm busy, but they will phone back at another time... without fail. Thus, I'm being the good guy in letting them know that I don't want to buy anything from them and hence they can move on to other people, saving both our time.

Most of the time, they did not really push me to buy the various policies they have at their disposal. However, this phone call I got is really persuasive and determined. I don't know how their system works but I supposed they would have very low basic salary and will get incentives for every person they call who buy the policies from them. But this guy, whom I shall call John (I didn't pay attention when he said his name :P) sounded really sincere.

He said that since it is my birthday, (hello... that was like 20 days ago) his company decided to give me this out of the world (not his exact words) offer to me. He said something about normally that I would have to pay the policy for 25 years but for me, I need to pay for 10 years only... or was it 15? :P Anyway, this is the most expensive policy I ever encountered that is offered through the phone. I need to pay RM100++ every month for 10 / 15 years for the 25 year policy. Also, I only need to pay for 11 months only per year! As a result of that, I would be covered with each and every sickness that is and will be available on Earth, except AIDS. Again, I didn't remember how much they will pay me if I got critical illnesses but it's supposed to be really huge amount. Also, if I didn't claim any money at all, they will return back all the money I have given them at the end of the 25 year period with an interest rate of 5% per annum!

Frankly speaking, I was quite attracted to it. The strange thing with insurance policies is that it is usually more attractive to the lower income group than the high income group. And the irony is, the lower income group cannot afford the additional burden. Well, paying an extra RM100++ per month is still affordable for me but I prefer to save them and use them in whatever way I find fitting.

Thus, I started to refuse the offer. Another thing that really irks me is the way those 'telephone people' works. They would explain the thing they are selling and ask if you have any question and then go straight to asking your details to register you for the policy. They won't ask like "Do you want this policy?". They would just say "So, now I would register you to this policy. May I have your IC number please?"

Anyway, when this guy said something like that, I politely declined the offer. Sure enough, he asked for a reason. I know that they do need to write a report or something for failing to coax someone to buy the policy... which will in turn be used as a reference where they'll come up with great and solid counterattack if this reason is used again in the future. So, I go with the basic reason, "I'm not interested in this policy."

And he asked why and I said that I don't need it... which triggered him into a lengthy explanation furore. He talked about how different it is from the normal policies what they don't cover and what his policy covers, etc. etc. I did not pay even a single attention. Again, after the explanation, he immediately wanted to register me as a policy holder, which I again declined.

He asked for a reason again and I said I think that if I got a critical illness which is not covered by my current policy and I failed to cough up with some several hundred thousand of cash, I would be a really pathetic person... meaning that I don't think coughing up several hundred thousand is a problem to me. I know, I know, I sounded very haughty. Well, I thought this would be a closure and again, he went into this windy explanation, which again, I did not pay attention.

Again, he tried to register me and again, I declined. By now, I was already sweating... in an air-cond room! He went on saying that the policy would leave some money for my loved ones like my wife, children, parents, etc. and I went on to say that I have no wife, no children, no girlfriend and no close relatives! 

And he said I will have a wife in the future and I said I will get one when I do get a wife. He retorted that if I get a policy by then, I would have to pay much more than what I need to pay now. By now, I have already run out of answers and reasons... so I had to resort to saying that I don't want the policy and I don't want to tell him the reason. I acted like I have a very good but very dark secret reason for not wanting the policy.

Again, he pushed for the reason again and I stood firm on not wanting to tell him the reason. At last, after our 20 minute conversation, he gave up! Phew! However, I did not feel happy at all. I had to resort to such barbaric method to get rid of him! It is just a step above from slamming the phone on him and I will not use such uncivilized method.

I'm sure that most of you would have gotten a similar phone call at one time or another. So, if you have a very good, persuasive reason that I can use to fend off these people, please do tell me. I'm not sure if I can survive another encounter unscathed. 

Manicure - French vs Basic

It was Sunday, and I decided to get a manicure. Well, actually, it's Witch's birthday next week and since she's gonna to be back at home during the long Raya holiday, I decided to give her an early birthday present. Well, it was the cheapest thing that she had on her wish list and I didn't know what else to get her on her birthday so I chose to give her a French manicure.

And since she's have French manicure, you wouldn't expect me to just sit down beside her and watch her getting her nails done, would you? So, I get my nails manicured as well (is this the correct way to use this word?). A few months ago, I got pedicure and so, I wanted to see what's the difference between pedicure and manicure as well (besides the fact that one is for feet and another is for hands, I mean). Sure enough, while looking at the price list, glaring back at me is this extreme form of sexism. The price of manicure for female is RM35 and for male is RM45! Sure, a guy's hand is generally larger than women's but for manicure, women would get gloss on their fingernails while guys would not... doesn't  this sort of offset the extra work needed to be done on a guy's hand? And the price of French manicure is RM45 only. So, I get my nails trimmed for the same price as Witch's with the difference that she can get her nails painted nicely. 

The Witch having her servant polishing her long claws :P

This time, I was fully prepared. This is the picture of Witch's fingers before she get her French manicure.

Witch's French manicured nails.

I think they look quite nice. It looked fake, but in a nice way. A better version would be if the Witch's fingernails were longer. Then those French tips could be painted on the whites of her nails and that would look more elegant. However, thanks to Witch's finger biting :P habit, my nails were actually longer than hers!

My fingers... I know, I know, they are so perfect that it is a pure waste of money to get it manicured :P

Another close-ups at my fingers. Actually, I did need a manicure. Look closely at my pinky. It has two layers of nails. It's an imperfection... and being a Virgo, imperfection to us are a poison weed that need to be stamp out.

My fingernails after the manicure. Double layer nails gone! Although the attempt to remove the extra layer of nails had my pinky looking really weird, but at least now it should look better when the nails grow back. See that shine on my fingernails? It's not gloss. My nails were inherently shiny and healthy. It was just covered with impurities and the manicurist (is there such a word?) uncovered it for me. Just like a diamond that is embedded in the rock. It needs someone to take it out from the rock and shape it into a dazzling precious stone.

In conclusion, I was quite satisfied with the results... but if you ask me if it's worth it, I would have to say no. RM45 to get your fingernails cut? Are you insane? It wasn't really that pampering. Only it is the only way to get some things removed that one would never be able to do by his or her own self. However, although this shop is smaller and less advanced compared to the one I had my pedicure, I find their staff to be friendlier than the ones in mid-valley. Even though it was obviously cutthroat, I did walk out as a happy customer. So, who's better? The French or the basic?

Aaarrggghhhh...

OMG!!! For freaking four weeks straight and there's not even one interesting movie to fill my weekends. What happened with all the money hogging directors? Where are the fame driven actors and actresses? Why is the entertainment industry doing this to me? Here I am, a willing spender on some cheap flick and they won't even give me that!

I was so bored last week that I actually watch America's Next Top Model cycle 4! I know. It's ancient and the sun will have to rise in the west for me to watch anything older than a month! But the sun did rise in the west last week. As a guy, I thought I would have at least some fun while ogling at young pretty bitches. Unfortunately, I saw only bitches. Sometimes, I wonder if this so-called 'reality show' is premeditated. I mean you should know that if you take part in the show, you would have new hairstyles, wear new clothes and do some crazy stuff. Didn't they even watch the first three cycles before they register for this? They just have to pout and be angry at some extremely small stuff like not liking the hairdo that is ordered by someone who know better than them and eating to the extreme when they know that there is no such thing as a fat runway model.

I was however, amazed at the judges ability to remember the names of all the contestants. How they can ever match the names to the faces is a mystery that will take me a lifetime to solve. I think I start to remember the names of the girls only when there are 5 girls left in the competition... and if you ask me what is the name of the girl who won the competition now after one week, I will have to say "I have not the faintest idea."

Well, at least I got to see some pretty interesting cat fights. Girls rarely fight in front of guys... and I remembered watching and re watching the cat fight in front of Sunway Pyramid (I think) for at least four times on a video that someone send to me. It's a Chinese girl fighting an Indian girl... theirs is even more extreme than the 'models'. There's hair-pulling and grappling while the 'models' use only words and facial expression. The idiom "a pen is mightier than a sword" is not applicable in cat fights. If you wanna fight, use your hands, not your mouth... unless you're using your mouth to bite someone :P.

Already, I'm dreading this weekend and the long, long Hari Raya holidays. Damn those writers for having a strike, making all the tv series delaying their new season series. After watching so many English tv series for the past few months, I find myself losing interest in Cantonese tv series... Why God? Why???!!!!

I'm also on a writer's block on my novel... which I have been writing for the past year... and I'm still in chapter 2.

Of course, to say that I have nothing to do is wrong. I still haven't clean up my room for the past three weeks. I still have some series that I stopped halfway out of extreme boredom. I still have four unfinished pc games. I can also train for my marathon which is less than two months away. I can brush up my Mandarin, relearn my Japanese or even read all those reference books that I brought with me.

I just don't know why I am stuck at finding tv series to watch. Why can't I do anything else? Someone, help me please!!!

Lost and Found - First Encounter

I know it is clichéd, but there really are good people in this world… I mean apart from me, of course :P. I am an absent-minded person. Sometimes, I can be so engrossed in something that I totally ignore the surroundings. So, if you see me outside on the street and I did not greet you even though you smiled at me, chances are my conscious self is living in another world.

Sometimes, I would take my trash from my room to the outside when I’m leaving the house. I live in a double-storey terrace house and the front door is always locked. So, I would sometimes put down the trash, open the door and step right out without the trash in my hands. I would walk to my car and it would take a while for me to realize that the bag of trash is still lying in the living room. Luckily, so far, I still managed to remember about the trash (I think so) and I went back to take the trash out before my housemates see my trash stinking up the living room.

There are also times when I forgot to lock my car when I left it parked in a secluded area since the car park in front of my house is being used by my other housemates. I never use the expensive steering wheel lock that my parents forced me to buy. I’m also very careless with my wallet and it is always lying around in the house. Of course, I would rather say that I am inherently trusting of humans and is just not aware that there are actually bad people, even though they are someone close to you.

Anyway, enough blabbering… what I would like to share is my first ever wallet lost and found experience. I know it’s nothing new, but experiencing it from a first person perspective is very different from reading it. It was a windy Sunday and I was in my usual place having my breakfast and going online with my laptop. I don’t know why, but at some point, I decided to take my wallet out and have a look. What happened from this point onwards is a little bit fuzzy. I might have just placed my wallet on the sofa and left or I might have placed my wallet into my back pocket but it slipped right out again.

Without realizing that my wallet is gone from my pocket, I packed my laptop and went to a bookstore. I browsed through the magazines but did not find anything of interest. I’m glad I didn’t. It would be so embarrassing if I bought something and realized that I don’t have any money on me. Anyway, I was taking the escalators to the car park upstairs when I reached for my wallet to take out the car park ticket when I found it’s not in my back pocket. Starting to panic, I searched my laptop bag… and nothing!

By this time, I was already sweating. I was overwhelmed by the possibility of losing my wallet. I don’t really have a lot of cash in my wallet, but the loss of my credit cards, ATM cards, discount cards and my Identification Card would greatly inconvenience me. I would have to call to cancel my credit cards, ATM cards and maybe my discount cards. Then, I would need to go to the police station (which I have no idea where), and then go to the National Registration Department to get a new IC and then go to the JPJ to get a new license. I would need to take several days of leaves to settle these things and I’m in the middle of a crisis in my project which would look really bad… not to mention that technically I do not have paid leaves yet. I’m supposed to have work in my new company for six months before being able to utilize my annual leaves… hello… anyone heard of advance leave?

I retraced my steps by going to the toilet and to the bookstore. Not unexpectedly, I did not find it. If my wallet is lying on the ground in the shopping mall, I’m sure it would have disappeared faster than I can say ‘Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis’ (coined to be the longest word). Finally, I reached my starting point, which is where I had my breakfast. Being a regular customer there, I was hoping the waitress would have noticed my wallet and kept it in the counter. First, I was looking around the place where I sat, where luckily, no one is sitting. I was muttering all forms of prayers and blessings so that I can see that black wallet of mine. To my dismay, I found none. I was going to walk to the counter when an aunty holding a baby boy called out to me.

My heart was thumping out of my chest as I approach this woman in her mid-40s. She asked “Are you looking for your wallet?” “Yes!” I could barely contain my excitement. Apparently, her husband had gone to the Jusco service counter to make an announcement about my missing wallet. Well, they should have just given it to the shop owner, but hey, I’m thankful for such honest people. So, she called her husband and he came back and handed my wallet back to me. He should have check for identification before giving me back my wallet lah… but then again, only the one who lost their wallet would be coming to look for the wallet… sigh… I’m such an ungrateful bastard. His wife kept on asking me to check the money inside to see if any is missing. The problem is, I don’t really know how much I have inside my wallet. :P Also, I don’t want to offend them by being mistrustful of them so I said it’s correct without checking.

Even if my wallet doesn’t have any cash in it, I would be just glad to get back all my cards. Anyway, I thanked them profusely and walked away knowing that there is still a speck of light in this black, dark world. And I came up with this poem on the spot… am I a genius or what? :P

Sword of justice, burn with holy might,
Smite thy evil foe with blinding light,
Burn away darkness that plagues the world,
Prove to us, bleakness bow to your might.

Woe to my Laptop

Once upon a time, I was a desktop user. I preferred desktop because it was cheaper and much more powerful (mostly for gaming) compared to laptop. Then, we entered the world of wireless connectivity.

People started to go online in cafes, coffee shops and even food courts where the owners provide free wireless LAN to their customers. The trend picked up and the price of laptops went down drastically and it is the era of laptops. Of course, in terms of gaming power and flexibility, desktops still came out the top.

Me, being a pc game addict resisted laptops for a very long time. I rented houses that don’t have any phone lines and thus I was ‘disconnected’ to the World Wide Web for quite some time. Then, my desktop crashed… the famed ‘Blue Screen of Death’ appeared for innumerable times. Of course I took it to be fixed, but at the same time, my very first desktop which is located at my hometown crashed beyond fixing. So, I offered my desktop while I purchase a new laptop for myself.

One of the main factors that I chose a laptop then was because I was sick and tired of moving my desktop around. I have been changing places to stay quite frequently these few years and with a laptop, now it takes only one trip to move all my stuff to a new place. I know… the reason is not really a very concrete one… but I really hate moving houses. Another reason is of course, the connectivity. With a laptop, I can go around cafes and utilize the services that we have actually paid for. It was quite worth it. Now, I can watch Naruto and Bleach every Saturday online!

Everything is well… I was quite satisfied with my Dell notebook albeit the gaming power has been reduced. At the beginning, it frequently jumped out of a game for no particular reason. I suspect it’s a bug from Vista. After a few months and several patches later, it doesn’t happen anymore. I am also unable to do any major upgrades to my laptop’s gaming power since it can use only a limited range of hardware. However, overall, I was content.

People said that the good thing about Dell is their services. The servicing people would come to your place to fix your pc if there is anything wrong with it… provided it is under warranty, of course. However, personally, I preferred that they set up some service centers where I can go and visit them during the weekends. Their warranty service is for weekdays only and if you want them to come over during weekends, you will have to pay extra money for the warranty when purchasing the pc. Well, duh, a large percentage of those who own Dell’s pc would be working during weekdays and it would just not look nice if your boss saw you asking Dell’s service team to come to your office to fix your personal computer

Anyway, recently, just after one year I purchased Dell’s notebook, my battery started to deteriorate in performance. A message would also appear every time I turned on my laptop saying that my battery is nearing the end of its life and I should change the battery. I was feeling smug because I purchased a three year warranty from Dell and was thinking how to ask Dell’s people to come over to give me a new battery. Anyway, I went online and mailed them my problem. As an extra, I asked them why my laptop had such short life span.

Imagine my horror when they mentioned that my battery is not under warranty anymore! They said that no matter how many years of warranty I bought, the battery is for one year only! Also, they told me that the battery is supposed to last for one year before it starts to deteriorate!!! OMG!!! I checked the price of a new battery and it is RM400++!!!

So, I’ll need to fork out RM400++ every year to change my battery!!! Not to mention the price will increase in the future too. I was fuming mad. If I buy a warranty for three years, I expect all parts to be covered for three years, right down to the last screw. Of course I can do nothing about it. I’m sure all those ‘battery not included in extended warranty’ are buried somewhere in the T&C I got from them which I did not bother to read.

Well, being a hardcore Malaysian I did not purchase the new battery. The battery is still usable only it will run out of power very fast. This is not a big problem for me since I almost never use the battery for my laptop. I always use the power supply from my house or from the cafes. One thing that I can’t stop blaming myself is that I should have taken out the battery when I’m using the local power supply. If I did that, then it would have lasted longer. So, now I’m using my laptop without the battery, but I’m in danger of losing my data in case of interrupted power supply. Sigh…

Dexter

Nope, this is not Dexter’s Laboratory available in Cartoon Network. I’m talking about the tv series named Dexter. It is a relatively new tv series which is going to start its first episode in third season soon.

Initially, I did not pay much attention to this series. This is because there are only 12 episodes (I think) in each season. I just felt that with so little episodes per season, maybe they are not really doing that well. Besides, one of the main purposes that I watch tv series is that they can fill up my long lonely nights… it won’t do for me to watch a boxset that would finish in less than a week. However, since I have watched almost every tv series that is available on Earth, I decided to give it a try.

Dexter (Michael C. Hall) is a very disturbed person. I don’t really know the exact term I should use to describe him. He witnessed the gruesome murder of his parents when he was little and was left sitting in mass amount of blood for two days before a police found him. The police took him in as a foster child. Dexter had no memories about the murder but he has grown a fascination for blood. Soon, he found himself killing animals just to satisfy his ‘urges’.

His foster father found out about it and surprisingly, instead of chucking him to a therapist or mental hospital, he taught Dexter to direct his urges to kill to those who deserve it. You might think that he would become a crime fighter or some dark hero who kills the wicked. However, Dexter did not kill for justice; he kills to satisfy the monster that resides in him. He chooses his victims from the wicked just because his foster father, Harry told him to do so. Apart from the ‘blood problem’, Dexter also find himself void of all emotions. As such, Harry taught him to fake his emotions so as to blend in with the society. In one episode, Dexter told a boy that if one does not feel emotions, one should act as if they can feel it.

I have just finished watching season 1 but I expect Dexter to be questioning Harry’s teaching since he discovered Harry lying to him. What that piqued my interest is to find out how the writers would continue the story. Basically, the style used in the first season is the three-pointed attack. There would be one long plot about another serial killer that is sort of the main plot. Then there’re sub-plots where Dexter made his normal killings and also the plot with his girlfriend. And his girlfriend has the uncanny ability to be in deep trouble whenever Dexter is too.

However, there are some points that I did not understand. For example, Dexter;s fascination is with blood, however when he saw a bloodless corpse, he said that the killer is even better than him. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? However, I don’t think this series will gain much acceptance. Most would not be able to accept such brutality and it will not be accepted in most households.

However, I think that this tv series is refreshing since it is sort of an anti-hero and it doesn’t have blazing guns and all those pyromaniacs. Just plain drugs and needle and carefully laid out plans. I would not say that it is brilliant, but undoubtedly it managed to grab a place to be amongst my favourite tv series.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, I just celebrated my 26th birthday… sigh… birthdays… I don’t know who invented them. Why would one want to celebrate the number of years that one has been brought into this cruel, cold and barbaric world? Why would one want to be constantly reminded every year on the number of years that is left before they leave their loved ones? Why would one want to look back and realized that they have done nothing that the world would remember them by in the past? Why would one want to be shown the number of opportunities lost and missed due to their advancing age. Why would one want to be made to remember it is the time when people call you uncle instead of sir, mister or ‘goh goh’ (brother)? Just the other day in the cinema an AUNTY told her son to sit next to the UNCLE... and she was refering to me! ME! ME! I would have strangled her there and then but I gave her the benefit of doubt... maybe she's blind :P.

Sigh… birthdays… they are just so depressing. I supposed I have reached that kind of age, huh? A child would be screaming with joy during birthdays and an old person would be beaming with pride when he is surrounded by children and grandchildren in his 80th birthday party. I really don’t know why, but I just feel indifferent towards birthdays… maybe it would bring up the flavour if I celebrate with my wife… hmmm… okay, birthday wish… get a wife :P.

Well, enough of the really depressing thoughts… just like Dexter (will write a post on this one later), even if we felt nothing, we need to pretend that we feel something. Hey, it’s not called happy birthday if one is not happy!

Working in my third company since my graduation, this is the second time I receive a gift from my company. In my first company, I got a waist pouch for my birthday. It’s just some mass produced stuff by the HR in their attempt to show that they care… which I think failed miserably. I have no idea where the waist pouch is now. So, I’m pleasantly surprised when my current company presented me with vouchers for my birthday. It is a KFC voucher! Also, it is divided into two vouchers… one RM5 and one RM10! So, I can visit KFC twice loh… though I’m having difficulty in trying to get the perfect combination that would fully utilize the RM10 voucher. Also, I got a handwritten birthday card from my boss’s boss! Of course he just copied from a pre-written message and just wrote my name according to the list… but it beats those computer printed ones loh. Besides, it has been ages since I received a birthday card. I’m so touched :P.

Birthday card... handwritten by my boss's boss (BB)

KFC vouchers!!!

Apart from that, I had birthday dinner with friends! Well, it’s more like normal dinner lah but I haven’t have birthday dinner with friends since college… I still remembered I got a tie and a shirt from my college friends on my birthday because I was complaining I did not have suitable clothes to wear to the prom night.

Anyway, the restaurant is called Tao's. It is sort of a buffet dinner with the difference that the food is served to you instead of self-service. Our dinner started at 5.30pm. If one were to reach the restaurant and ordered before 6.30pm, there’ll be 10% discount (for weekdays only)! Also, during weekdays, one can sit there until they close shop which I think is around 10.30pm… although it would be quite a challenge to remain there for that long. During the weekends, the dinner is divided into two groups. The first group have to leave before 8.30pm to make way for the second group. We had lots and lots and lots of food… especially the sashimi… I think we had 3 to four plates of them. Following are the pictures during the dinner. I apologize first if I didn’t recall all the names of the food!

The Witch... camwhoring

The great sashimi moriawase... meaning mixed sashimi. We had 3 to 4 plates of these... personally, I prefer the salmon loh... but the most expensive fish on the plate is the sardin like fish with grey colour skin... doesn't taste very nice.

Erm... I think this is duck breast kua... no recollection... so you can guess how it tasted hor?

Some spicy sotong with sour sauce...

Tempura Moriawase... nothing can go wrong with frying!

I think this is called butter fish or something like that... anyway, with tender, juicy meat and lightly simmered in teriyaki sause, it's a favourite amongst all patrons!!!

Spicy Mantis Prawns... it's spicy duh, what do you expect?... taste is okay loh... will make you more hungry with the spices!

Erm... i think this is squid kua... the purplish thing looked like a squid... or is it mini octopus? Are they the same thing? No idea... I know how to eat only... not my favourite dish, but hey, it's a buffet... so we just order everything whether we like or not :P

Abalone... who doesn't like abalone? Sure, it doesn't have any flavour, but we are Malaysians... and that means we will definitely eat our money's worth in buffets.

This is called scallops, right? Tell me I'm right... sigh... my confidence has dropped considerably after this.. because I seem to have no knowledge in food at all! Anyway, this one is very, very good... well, at least the cheesy sauce is nice...

Grilled teriyaki salmon... anything that is grilled with teriyaki sauce can't be bad...

A very hungry Witch who is eating AND looking for her next victim...

Some cheesy crab filled crackers... not nice... too salty... but if you are there, order it too :P

The Witch... giving a disarming smile as she stealthily eat everything in front of her :P

Unagi... means eel you idiot... I prefer the grilled version without the soup...

This one, you must avoid at all costs... okay, I'm exaggerating... but the middle of the sushi is papaya! Papaya is nice lah, but when mixed with uncooked fish meat, it just it disaster... at least I think so... still you can try it if you don't believe me...

Another one of my favourite... Grilled lamb shoulder... very nice and tender... must try...

My boss cutting the lamb...

Some egg filled fried fish called Shishamo... sort of tasteless after fried... try the grilled one next time...

Chicken ban-ban... chicken fried with eggs... okay only, but you will fill up very fast if you eat this one... or maybe it's because we are already full when we eat this one :P

The Witch showing off a set of hand made beads... nice meh? :P

Apart from all those above, those that I did not take picture of is the ice-cream. Anyway, we ate and ate and ate until almost 9pm before we retire for the night. The best of all, The Witch paid for the bill! Of course I wouldn't mind paying the bill, but who am I to deprive her of giving me a treat? :P

Also, during dinner we had some very interesting conversations that give me a better understanding of the Witch and my boss. Altogether, it was a fine night... though I will need to suffer after this... the amount of calories, fat, sugar and sodium... shudder... I'd rather not think about that yet :P.

Ramadhan Food Galore

It was a boring Sunday when I suddenly realized it's the month of Ramadhan. And what does that mean?... FOOD!!! The one time in whole year where we'll have stalls that sells food only in one place! Of course, these food are available in the night market as well, but you'll have to shift through all other non-food stuff too. Besides, I prefered to shop under the broad daylight rather than the dim and gloomy night.

So, I asked my friend where it the nearest Ramadhan bazaar near my place (I had no idea where) and it turns out that there is one located extremely near to where I stay. I is almost within walking distance! Of course I did not walk over there... with the blazing sun and all, are you nuts?

So, I went there at 4pm... I figured that 4pm is a nice time becuase the stalls should have mostly opened by then and the Malays would still be staying in their houses since they break fast at around 7pm... so they should come out only around 5pm. Unfortunately, such was not the case. The four lane road was massively jammed. There were lots of car park spaces all around the bazaar but some people just don't know how to park their cars. There are several cars with their head jutting out from the car park. Well, it isn't really a legal car park. Since the road has two lanes per side, as usual, we Malaysians would convert one lane into a parking lane when they need it. Well, four minus two should leave two right? Wrong! Even though the cars used only one lane at each side for parking, at certain places, only one car can pass through at one time. Apart from the idiots who used two lanes to park their cars, there are also some inconsiderate animals who actually waited in their cars at the second lane!

In the end, I have to park my car quite far away and I have to walk for 5 minutes to reach the bazaar. It wasn't a very big bazaar, but hey, it got all the essential food, so it's good enough for me! I took only pictures of the food that I bought... besides, those food that I did not buy meant that it's not priority loh... maybe I'll buy them next weekend :P

First stop is of course the "kuih-muih" section. Curry puffs, coconut filled delicacies, sugar coated doughnuts, spicy rice, fried bananas, fried cempedak, mini burgers... just to name a few of the great food that mortals created. RM1 for three pieces of any mixture!

Well, kuih-muih are just a side dish... for the main course, I bought the chicken-filled kebab where I caught a whiff of it's REALLY attracting aroma miles away. A little bit expensive at RM2.50 per piece, but worth every penny!

Then, I passed by the glorious store of fried stuff. Well, they sell only fried popiah, non-fried popiah, fried curry puffs and fried sambal filled triangle shaped thingy. And the price was RM2 for 5 pieces! It's more expensive than other stalls that sells "kuihs", but those stalls don't have fried popiuahs mah and they are fried at the stall itself... fresh from the cooking oil... how can one resist such oily temption? Hence, I folded.

Another view of the fried popiah stall...

Well, by this time, the chicken kebab looked very small and coincidentally, I passed by a honey chicken shop. So, I decided that THIS is my main dish. It's pretty expensive too... RM3.50 for the box of honey chicken rice and RM4.50 for the honey chicken only. But I must tell you, the honey chicken was heavenly! It is the first time that I actually tasted honey in honey chicken... should have bought the RM4.50 chicken instead. After consuming that tiny bits of chicken in the box of rice, I was craving for more... well, I'll have to wait until next week!

A Ramadhan bazaar is NEVER complete with these chopstick chicken. I don't know what's the official name for this type of food, but since the chicken is grilled with a pair of chopstick-like bamboos, I called it chopstick chicken loh. And the prices have increase a lot since last year. For RM2.00, you'll get only a small, tiny piece of chicken... and the prices ranged from a minimum of RM2.00 to RM5.00 depending on size! However, again, it is worth it... well, at least the RM2.00 is worth it. I think that the RM5.00 piece is too big and the meat would be rough. Also, they give you an extra dallop of pre-prepared gravy... and the gravy is amazing!!!

I was turning around to go home when I spotted these delicacies available during Raya. Ketupat and lemang! Well, I had lemang before and it's not really nice because it's a tasteless roll of rice... it's what type of meat you decide to eat with that matters. However, I forgot what ketupat tasted like and thus I bought it loh... RM2 for 5 pieces! This is the only one food that disappointed me. It was quite tasteless too... I think I'm supposed to serve it with curry chicken that is sold in the stall as well.

Before I went home, I stopped by at the chendol stall. Well, with that much food, we must drink lots of water don't you think? I bought a packet of chendol for RM1.50 and another packet of soy milk for RM1.00. Still, I think that Baba Chendol in Melaka is the best chendol in the whole of Malaysia.

However, it was a good day and the food were good. For my friends staying overseas, hope that these pictures would cure some of your longing for the wondrous food in Malaysia!!!

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten my vow to be on diet. Take this as the last dinner :P. Besides, I did not have lunch that day. I combined lunch and dinner into one meal and I did go hiking in the morning that day...

Photogenic... not

Ugh... I can't believe it. I was happily snapping photos away during the MCPD Team Building when someone caught me taking photos of others and took a photo of me!

Well, truth to be told, I'm flattered. The fact that I actually get noticed by someone in the Team Building never occured to me. If you look carefully, the picture taken showed me in the most natural position. A slight peaceful smile, innocent eyes and childish looking face... ahhh... perfection!

Okay, it would have been perfect if my face is not so damn bloated... but hey, looking on the bright side, I could say that it's baby fat and thus, I have a baby face... which to me, is a compliment though I once mentioned someone else that he had baby face and he snapped my head off... humans, they would rather you say that they are a baddass rather than a good person... kind of like westerners where it is an insult to say that they are a virgin.

But back to me :P... I realised only now that I look better on photos that are taken without my knowledge. I have tried lots of poses when I have my passport photos taken and it all turned out to be images of a monster. I have uneven eyes so I tried to force my smaller eye to open wider to match the larger eye and it resulted in the smaller eye becoming the larger eye... sigh...

Not to mention the stupid, stupid zits covering all over my face. I have eruptions every two months... without fail... no matter how I scrubbed, clean or use extremely expensive products on my face. To make matters worse, I have such itchy fingers which automatically seek out my face's alien bumps while I watch tv series in front of my laptop. The results? Dark, permanent scars on my otherwise perfect face.

Also, the one thing that continuously happened to me while taking photos is that my head ALWAYS tilted to one side. The photographer who took my passport photos took a really long time to set my head straight. Unfortunately, there is no one to remind me of that when I take photos with other people. So, I always ended up looking wierd in photos and that's why if you noticed, I rarely take pictures of myself. I analyzed photos of a lot of people and all of them looked nice when they tilt their head... heck, some models purposely tilt their head to make them look nicer. I supposed that I'm just special since I am able to make something to have an opposite effect easily.

No, I don't plan to show you the photos of me being in those ugly positions I told you earlier. However, this photo might serve as a good sample to show the difference between now and after I finished my perfect training, diet plan in November... stay tuned to a new Bamboo!!!

I don't know what came over me to blab about such things with just one tiny photo... I guess I'm just mental...