Tanggal tiga puluh satu!

It's Merdeka (Independence Day) eve! Tomorrow Malaysia will officially be 49 years old. And to think that I was around for more than half the ride (yes I'm 27 this year if you must know).

How far we have come. How far more can we go? It's up to us.

HAPPY NATIONAL DAY!

P.S: There will be no updates over the weekend as I will be at Singapore attending ComEx 2006. Pics when I get back. I promise.

Paiseh! Paiseh!

Paiseh ah! Actually it means embarrassed in Hokkien (dialect).

So yesterday me and Wei Siong decided to chow down on bak kut teh (after a gruelling RPM session, followed by sauna/steam bath). After meeting up with Peter, we proceeded to a bak kut teh shop at SS14 which incidentally was highly recommended by Peter's buddy.

First impression, whoa, spanking new shop. Clean, brightly lit, airy. Well laid out menu with pictures on the wall. Impressive menu too, with various claypot dishes and noodles. As we got ready to sit down (and the waitress started approaching us with the menu) we noticed that...there was no bak kut teh on the menu.

Yes. We had walked into the wrong restaurant. We quickly said our apologies and left. The waitress certainly looked amused.

The actual restaurant turned out to be further down the road. For the record the bak kut teh was good, plenty of meat.

On the way back to our car, we bumped into the same group of waitresses from the earlier restaurant (which we entered wrongly). They were still laughing about the incident and I heard "Oh itu budak salah rumah" which roughly translates into "Oh look it's that group of blur kids who went into the wrong restaurant".

PAISEH SEH!

RM1 to use a public toilet?

Came across this interesting piece of news in the Star Metro today (23/8).

State-of-the-art toilets for KL

By FOONG PEK YEE

PAYING RM1 to use an air-conditioned fully-automated street toilet (AST) for 15 minutes is set to be a new experience for Malaysians and tourists soon.

Twenty of the hi-tech toilets made by GBH Bhd will be placed at various parts of Kuala Lumpur soon, two of them in the Jalan Bukit Bintang area by the end of this month.

The automatic street toilet measures 2.25m x 6.2m and is 2.6m high and weighs about 3.5 tonnes.

Users will need to slot in coins, amounting to RM1, to use the toilet.

Ok. Now the grand prize winning question is...how many would pay RM1 for the experience? Yeah it's air-conditioned and self cleaning and is probably going to be one of the cleanest public toilets outside of any swanky malls. But seriously RM1? The fun continues...

However, users should take note that the automatic door will open by itself once the 15 minutes are up.

GBH group general manager Tan Ah Cheun said a pre-recorded verbal warning would be given at the 14th minute.

“Any user who needs to stay longer than 15 minutes will have to come out of the cubicle and pay another RM1, provided there are no users waiting to get in.

“Otherwise, common courtesy will need to prevail and it might be a matter of who needs it more urgently,” said Tan.

Ok, so I'm having an emergency case of diarrhea and I rush into the brand new AST (Automated Street Toilet...WHOA). So I'm enjoying the cool air and the refreshing scent of a clean well maintained toilet when suddenly:

Toilet AI: Warning! Warning! Toilet door will open in another minute!

Me: WTF! 14 minutes already? Diarrhea really makes time fly! HOLD UP!

Toilet AI: Please deposit another RM1 for another 15 minutes of usage.

Me: WTF! I'm not done yet! OI!

Toilet AI: SUCK IT UP HUMAN! PAY ANOTHER RM1 OR GET LOST!

Me: *obscenities unprintable in blog*

Yeah I can see that situation happening already. Luckily there's hope.

Tan said GBH has recommended to the authorities that every AST be manned by a janitor.

“Each cubicle is equipped with an emergency button and the user will be able to communicate with the janitor upon activating the button.

“Every assistance, including opening the door from the outside, will then be provided,” explained Tan.

Mebbe a user who needs to remain in the toilet pass the 15 minutes can shout to the janitor that he/she is still busy shitting/masturbating/doing make up and the janitor might give the user a grace period of 5 minutes. Or not.

Enjoy your AST experience!

The first AST! Pic courtesy of Star Metro (Online 23/8).

Bodystep. Part II.

After last week's Bodystep session, I was all pumped up and raring to go. Unfortunately...

1. No hot babes. Especially that fair smooth skinned girl from last week.

2. The instructor changed the routine again, causing me to go all out of sync.

3. The girl behind me was a newbie (first time). The girl in front of me was a newbie. So there was really no one I could use as a reference point besides the trainer. And the wheels on the bus go round and round...round and round...

But it was all good. And as usual my legs hurt after the session.

Back to badminton next week!

Shogun!

Izzit? Yes it is! It's a quick food review! WHOA!

So I was at Shogun for dinner on Saturday (19/8). Yeah, that's Shogun, the Japanese buffet restaurant at 1-Utama (new wing). If you walked in and felt "WHOA DEJA VU?" it's because Shogun is operated by the same company that manages Saisaki at Wisma UOA at KL. The only thing that differs is the price, 43++ per adult at Saisaki, 48++ per adult at Shogun (dinner rates). Must be that 1-U rental!

Foodwise it's all good with a mixture of Japanese, Korean and even Chinese cuisine. Being a Japanese buffet however, you get everything Japanese from sashimi (salmon, tuna, cuttlefish, etc.), California rolls of all types, sushi, tempura, teppanyaki and all other things Japanese (gyoza, those grilled stuff). Korean cuisine consists of more sedate stuff like kimchi while for the Chinese portion it's dishes like sweet sour fish and other pretty run-of-the-mill stuff.

A couple of things I noticed, this being the third time I ate there:

1. The place is packed. No fragging joke. Even when I was there at 5.15 to collect the walk in queue number there were already 3 groups waiting?!! They give out tickets at 5.30 by the way.

2. Sashimi and prawn tempura seem to fly off the trays. Malaysians sure know what is 'value for money'.

3. If you order teppanyaki (it's customised by YOU), make sure you stay around the counter and collect it when it's done. If not, someone might steal your food. Happened to me once, I walked off for a couple of minutes and when I approached the counter an uncle made off with my teppanyaki platter. Ok...so it might have been an honest mistake...

Another thing I love about Shogun is...no time limit! Relaxing I tell you...and I even managed to take some pics!

Yes check out the amount of roe on my California roll!

Cheesy cheese baked oyster. You get one free per person!

Shogun gets 4/5 from me!

Step it up!

Late late updates! Coz I was away for two days attending a seminar (Group Effectiveness if you must know).

Anyway since there ain't no badminton for two weeks (yes I do play badminton on Tuesdays at KBU), I decided to go for BODYSTEP at my usual workout place (FF Wisma Consplant). I'm a RPM guy myself actually so I decided to go for Bodystep for a nice change of pace. How wrong I was...

First up there were quite a number of terms that left me scratching my head. Ever heard of Round the World or perhaps Straddle? It was only by looking at the (fair and smooth skinned) girl in front that I managed to keep up. "Why not look at the trainer?" you ask? The trainer was not located smack in front of me and I couldn't spare the time to turn my head to look at him. Yes the pace is that hectic. My legs hurt after that.

Next session on this coming Tuesday. I must say I'm looking forward to it.

BRING IT ON!

Deja vu? Deja vu!

I was down with food poisoning last Tuesday, and down with fever (due to a throat infection) yesterday? DEJA VU?

And in today's Star Online (9th August 2006):

Bids for seized cars open to all

KUALA LUMPUR: Politicians and senior civil servants will no longer be allowed to buy cars confiscated by the Customs Department.

With immediate effect, the Government has scrapped this practice used by the Customs since 2000, to make the process of disposing of such seized vehicles more transparent.

Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity chairman Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said the move was also to curb power abuse and restore the integrity of the department.

This came about after the controversy over the discretionary powers the Customs used to make such offers to politicians and senior civil servants.

Dompok said the committee met with Finance Minister II Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop who agreed to the proposal to stop the special privileges.

“He agreed to the proposal and the measure was introduced immediately. The Customs had been informed,” said Dompok.

So when will the next auction be held? Time for the rakyat to say "CHEAP CONTINENTAL CARS HERE WE COME!" WOOHOO!

Celebration time come on!

I promised karaoke pics. Now here are the karaoke pics. Indeed. The event was held at Songbird SS2 (huge projection TV in our room) on the 29th of July btw.

Edit: Pics are up!

Amongst the highlights of the karoake session:

Great balls (or bird nest) of fire!

Laser light show!

The happening duet!

Bo liao! Sudah habis! End of show!

DIARRHEA!

I have food poisoning. And my stomach still hurts. And I came across this piece of news in the Star Online today.

PM: Those who spread untruths on the Net will be detained.

KUALA TERENGGANU: The Prime Minister has issued a warning – those who spread untruths and slander on the Internet will face the law.

If information in blogs, websites and online portals were incorrect, bordered on slander, caused disturbance or compelled the public to lose faith in the nation’s economic policies, their authors would be detained for investigation, said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

“We cannot allow such matters to flow through uncontrolled,” he told newsmen after attending a briefing on the proposed Islamic Civilisation Park in Pulau Wan Man here.

“They say all kinds of things, make all kinds of dubious claims. We cannot allow them to abuse the freedom earned under the media. If left alone, they can say or pass on all kinds of things.”

Abdullah also said that those who sent out such information via short message system (SMS) would also be held accountable.

“If they abuse the freedom – more than the present freedom given without any restriction – we cannot allow it,” he declared.

“Where in the world is there such a freedom, where one can freely spread incorrect information and slander without having to own up to it?”

Asked if he was calling for a control mechanism, Abdullah said he would leave it to the police to investigate first.

It was reported recently that the Internal Security Ministry was investigating several online sites following a string of misreporting that caused tension and confusion amongst Internet users.

Who has the authority to state what is the truth, and what is untruth? Different views for different people.

"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."