Zee Avi

Zee Avi. Not many have heard of her. But she's a rising star in her own right and she's a Malaysian to boot. I first heard of her on youtube about 6 months back. Since then she has launched an album and I recently purchased it. The album version left me feeling short changed. Don't get me wrong. It's still good, but she should fire the sound engineer as I felt it wasn't recorder well and the arrangement could have been better.

The live version was livelier, had more punch and well....better. In the album versions, some of the instruments drowned Zee's voice and it was like as though she was the accompaniment. Songs like Bitter Heart and Kantoi....I think record sales would be better if it was the live version, with the different sets of instruments. An example would be Bitter Heart. Why is there a trumpet solo?

Live version

Album version

Anyway, it's not a reflection of Zee. She's talented, has a nice voice and can play a mean yuke! She must be very proud of herself. And I really think this is an example of where the Internet has been made good use of. Without it, people like Zee and Lily Allen might not have been discovered.

Raising 10

I sprained my back yesterday while bending over and pulling some love grass out of my kid's pants. Yea i know. Doesn't sound as macho as spraining my back doing sport of lifting heavy furniture. So yes....I'm getting old.


Anyway, while resting at home, I was watching Jon & Kate plus 8 on TV. It's a reality show of life family of twins and another set of sextuplets. As the series on TV are pretty old, I decided to google them. Man ...was I disappointed. They're getting divorced.





The Gosselin children have been under the limelight ever since they were young and with their parents splitting up, it's gonna be very tough on the kids. Most kids wouldn't be able to google about the parents and find all the smut and gossip news about their estranged parents. The impressions that they have of their parents will definetely be influenced.


Before finding out about the divorce, I had been talking about the missus about the type of attention or publicity that the kids will get. How their lives would change and their exposed to the media. Not many kids get to see themselves on the television. And having a series shot about your whole like is a totally different ball game. I'm really concerned about the repercussions of the divorce on the kids.


Imagine bringing 8 active, noisy and crying kids to the mall. I need to pee, I'm hungry, Mommy, he touched me, I wanna go home. Now multiply that by 8! As a parent of two, I have really been very impressed by how they raised their 8 children of 2 age groups. And regardless of age, there will be arguments and fights among the kids.


It's just to see such turn of events. And the media's having a field day taking advantage and publicising the incident.

I WANT MOMMY!!!

I WANT MOMMY!!!! I still remember vividly how my youngest daughter wailed and cried as her mommy went into the departure lounge at the airport. As I walked with the girls to the car, I was worried I would be stopped by the police officers on suspicion of kidnapping. We made it all the way to the car, and all the while, Daphne was crying her eyes out. My arms were slightly sore from carrying my struggling and wailing daughter. That was about a year ago.

Few weeks back, we went to the airport again. This time, since she is older, she is more understanding. We didn't go down of the car though as I didn't want to run the risk of exposing the kids to any of the travels who might have H1N1 at the airport, talk about being paranoid. We waited in the car instead as mommy checked in her luggage. As we sat in the car waiting for the time for mommy to board, we had some very good carrot cake from Coffee Bean. Pretty scrumptious I must say.

Fast forward a week, and it was time to pickup mommy from the airport. In the morning, the kids were already reminding me to make sure to bring them along to the airport. As we was early and mommy wasnt due to arrive for more than an hour, I decided to bring the kids to Toys 'R Us. While driving, my eldest turns to me and says, 'Papa. You don't have to buy anymore toys for me. I already have many (toys). You buy one for yourself.'

I really don't know where kids learn to say these things.....reverse psychology springs to mind.

Yummy gummy

So cute...the kids loved it too. :-)

Schools are safe? Think again.

It's been awhile since I last posted anything. But having read this article, I felt it was my obligation to spread the word as well.

A kid's classmate wanted to take his pencil but the kid didn't allow it. As a result, the classmate grabbed the pencil and poked the kids eye and threw the pencil on the floor!! Talk about being vengeful.

The arrow points to the tear in the poor kid's cornea

When did it become unsafe for kids to go to school? Fine. A kid will always be a kid and get into mischief. But the school did nothing to inform the parents. The school authorities just kept their hands in the pockets and hoped for the best?! The name of the school should be made public and black marked! Does the school think that by leaving the kid alone, the kid will automatically heal?? Let's even say that we give the benefit of doubt, that the school did not know what happened exactly. Open their bloody mouths and asked what happened!! Why would the kid be crying non-stop? How did the grandma, who went to pick up the kid realised that another child and use a pencil on her grandson when the school authorities acted dumb?!

I am sure nobody wants this unfortunate incident to happen at all. But the school should have informed the parents immediately. What if the situation could have been improved by informing the parents or if the school took immediate action, but yet, they did nothing?? Would the school be remorseful if this kid's vision is permanently damaged due to their......words fail me to describe their attitude. Incompetence, laziness, non-chalant, tidak apa, stupidity...you take your pick.

Mount Kinabalu

I've been meaning to write this for quite sometime. But been having connection problems at the office and uploading pictures was a total pain. Not to mention that TM was giving me a hell of a time to just get an account with them.

OK. Here's the plan. Fly to Kota Kinabalu. Make way from airport to Kota Kinabalu Park, 1500m above sea level (asl) and spend the night there. Next morning, hike 6km up to Laban Rata (3272m asl) and spend the night there. Then, wake up at 2am and hike another 2.5km all the way to Low's Peak (4095.2m asl), highest point on Mount Kinabalu. Take photos, take in the scenery and then hike down to Laban Rata for a quick breakfast before hiking back all the way to KK Park. Spend the night at KK town and fly home the next morning. Sounds easy, right?

View of Mt Kinabalu from the plane. Doesn't look that high, right?

No where near easy, my friend. It was a tough and tiring climb. But we made it, all the way to the top!! The view was awesome and it felt great. I would definitely suggest trying it at least once in a lifetime. I'd be tempted to go another time to take more photos and to enjoy the scenery. Of course, I am saying that now, after I have recovered from not being able to feel my legs while descending Mt Kinabalu.

This is where we spent the first night. Our bunks in KK Park were actually quite comfy and the bathroom has heater too. But what surprised me most was a bunch of hikers who had just came from the peak, asking the warden for a hair dryer....hmmmm

Day 2. Sneak peek of the peak. Too bad it was so cloudy. Not a good sign. We were worried if the weather would be good for the final leg of the climb. Was kind of disappointed to not be able to see the whole mountain.

The trail

And it all begins here.

Laban Rata. Our stop ever for the night before the final leg.

And...this is what it's all about. Awesome view. Just wish I had a better camera with me..hehehe At times you just feel like giving up while on the way to the peak. The air is so thin and you don't really know how far is it before you reach the top. But persevere you must, because the view at the top....absolutely breathtaking.

On our way back to Laban Rata

The 2 peaks on the right are called Donkey Ears. Cute, huh? :-)

If you think this looks familiar, take out a RM1 note and look at the back. Also known as South Peak.

Tainted milk. How did this happen?

How on earth can a substance, that is supposed to be used in the making of plastics find its way into milk powder? Who in their right minds would do that? How can anybody do such a thing so that the protein content in the milk powder appears higher than it actually is?

Being a Chinese myself, it is really a disgrace to read of such reports. The Chinese have been branded as unscrupulous and will stop at nothing to make a buck. And this just goes to add weight to that argument. We should never be prejudice and lump them all together. But just thinking of the number of sick babies out there.........Where is the humanity in all of this? Why are innocent children made to suffer???!!!!

Granted that life is tough and everything is very competitive, but knowingly tainting a product to appear as what it is not.....words really fail me. Time and time again, China has proved itself. Nothing changes. And at this point, there are still loads of finger pointing as to why this happened. That the authorities were not notified earlier. Consumers were already making complaints since December!! How much heads up do you need??!!! Want to know the main reason all of this happened? Only one. GREED!!!!

And the government is in full swing now, trying to clear up its mess by firing officials. I do wonder if these officials are fired because the did not do their job, or because these dismissed officers have information that could lead to the fall off people higher up in the food chain.

The Chinese Premier has said that he will mete out stiff penalties if such incidents were to happen again. Stiff? How stiff? Send them to prison? It's just prison time. Slap a hefty fine? They can pay their way out of it. Sending them to the firing squad is more like it.

Cultivating the reading habit

I know what we should cultivate the reading habit when still young. But what I saw on my way to work it utterly ridiculous.

A lady had her newspaper spread across her steering wheel while driving! And you can see her periodically looking down at her papers and then back at the road. I was driving beside her for quite sometime and she seem pretty engrossed. Wonder what juicy gossip she was reading. We are not in a jam where the car remains stationary for a long period of time. Her total disregard for her safety as well as other road users is really frustrating to say the least

Just a bunch of fakes!!!

What the hell's going on? First we had imitation handbags and watches. Then fake eggs. Now, China has done one better. They have fooled not only the thousands of people in the bird's nest, but also the millions of people watching the live telecast of the Olympic opening ceremony into thinking they were watching a little girl in red singing her very best. In actual fact what they were listening to was actually another girl, which they had deemed not pretty enough to appear on stage to sing. How demeaning is that?!

How did the parents of Yang Peiyi convinced her into doing it? What does it mean when the organizing committee said they wanted to portray the correct image? Is this the correct image that China wants to portray to the whole world, a country that will do anything at all cost to paint a false picture? What about the emotional impact you little Peiyi? Aren't her feelings equally as important?

Imagine being told by the whole country that you're just no pretty enough to appear on stage. Imagine how little Peiyi would feel when she watched the live telecast and hear herself singing but it was somebody else on stage.

The fact that the Chinese government is standing behind this decision is even more disgusting. But of course, one might say, what else is there for them to do? What is done is done. There have been many cases of lip sync, but the reason that this was done is totally unacceptable. She's never going to be good enough just because of the way she looks?? One of their own has been ostracised just because she had crooked teeth.

There's reports that Peiyi might be part of the closing ceremony. But what does that mean? Are the organizing committee doing this to be pardoned? To gain sympathy that what they did was in the nation's interest? And, should Peiyi even step on stage during closing? She has already been insulted once and this is just adding salt to the wound.

There were many hopefuls who went to audition for this particular role. And I am just curious, weren't they able to find somebody that they deemed pretty enough and could sing well enough? Rather than get somebody to lip sync. Why was the change last minute? Was there money involved? Somebody got his/her arm twisted?

My heart really goes out to this little girl.

House

Here's some random pictures I took.

Not so furious

JJ & Rudy's version of Hitz.fm. A tribute to the infamous Mat Rempit

Mr. Brown's version. ERP Drift

Original version

High School Musical

My girls, have taken a liking to High School Musical. They like it so much that they wouldn't even let me touch the remote while they're watching it. I wanted to watch a live telecast on another channel. Wifey told me to just give up. :-P Nicole even tried to hide the remote from me. It's kinda amusing to see her be so captivated by this show, as she hums and tries to sing along to the songs. Daphne on the other had was happy to move and dance along with the tunes. :-)

I was very surprised when I saw my cousins children, who are older than my girls be so engrossed and captivated by this show. They had watched it over and over again, able to read out the actors/actresses line on cue. This was when part 2 had just been released. I had given them my copy of part 1 cause I didn't like it. Well, guess I'll have to buy part 1 & 2 for my kids now.

Fast enough?

It might not be safe or even legal to drive like this on public roads. And with the ever increasing fuel costs, it's gonna be bloody expensive to even drive these monsters with there huge engines. But, who cares??

Watching the road up front through the side windows, the smell of burning rubber, the wailing of the tyres and the screaming of the engine all the way to the rev limiter.

One's a proper sports coupe. The other's a souped up door door saloon.

Although it doesn't have the visual muscle of its predecessor (in my opinion), the looks of the new M3 begins to grown on you. The E92 M3 doesn't really look that much different from compared to a normal coupe. Yeah, it does have the obligatory power dome,the funky looking side mirrors and quad exhausts. But a well kitted E92 coupe doesn't loose out much in the looks department. It's what's under the hood that's most interesting. Proper unadulterated V8 muscle. Couple that with a 6 speed 'box. Need I say more. None of that nonsensical SMG, as seen on the M5 & M6, the only M cars so far to not have a manual as an option (there's a 'US only' M5 available now)

The merc on the other hand really does make it self standout from its more prosaic cousins. With scoops and vents all over the place. With a big engine shoehorned in, the 4 door saloon beats the bimmer in the first round. But all round performance is not just about top speed. With it's F1 inspired flappy paddles, gear shifts should be lightning quick. But, definitely less fun than a proper stick shift. The merc does have enough space to carry your whole family as you trundle down the highway at speeds that would land you in prison or cause you to get slapped with a hefty fine.

Just popping in

It's been a hectic few weeks with toilets being blocked, water pipes not working, leaks and all the coordinating work to get everything sorted out in time. It's been a real nightmare at times. But, we've finally moved it. Albeit, still will some minor carpentry that needs to be settled.

All I can say, it's been worth it. :-) There are of course minor minor things, like placement of wall sockets and the like that are not perfect, but, what can I say...Pretty proud to say when people ask if I had employed an interior designer..heheheh... ok ok..I shall stop blowing my own trumpet. Will take some shots once I have unpacked everything.

Hurray for Pocoyo!

There are 265 (and counting) sites talking about the recent fuel hike. So I believe there's a fair share of resources on how to get the your rebates or how much extra money the country has to spend on other more important stuff, like building multi million dollar buildings for municipal councils and alike. So...here's something to divert all the attention.

I'm quite a big fan of Pocoyo. Their cartoons are good for both the young and old alike. Check out the blog too. There's talks of an upcoming movie as well. That would be cool.

I bet if you looked at yourself while driving to work, especially on a Monday morning, you wouldn't look that much different compared to Sleepy Bird below. :-)

A poll for the most favourite character was carried out. No prizes for those who guessed Pocoyo won. Pato's the Donald Duck equivalent for the 21st century, albeit much more quiet.

Gender gander

Now I've seen it all. This is a screen capture from the registration page of a government website. I guess it speaks for itself.

Why I want to strangle somebody - Part 2

Bring it on!!! I'm facing problems left and right now. I'm moving into a new house soon (hopefully). And when I purchased the house, I was supposed to get upgraded tiles. But during the construction, I noticed that the tiles that they fitted were the lower grade ones. Damn. When I asked the contractor, they realised they made a slip up and will rectify the problem for me. When I asked one of them, when this will take place, he sarcastically replied 'Are you gonna move in now?'

So I was thinking, 'Fine. don't want to piss these people off as they are building my house.' So now, after getting the keys to my house, they promised me they will get it done soon. But after weeks of follow up, they have now called me and told me they will not be upgrading my tiles, but instead will reimburse me a portion of the costs to upgrade the tiles. I'm like 'OVER MY DEAD BODY!!!'

I told the developer to go back to the main con-man/tractor and tell him what I feel. I'm not going to pay an extra cent to get this done. They have even given me the option to get my own contractor to do it and they will pay for it. I asked 'When will I get the money to pay my contractor? Before the tiles are laid or after? What kind of reassurance do I get that the main con will pay me? '

It's good that I have all these terms and conditions in black and white on my contract, still have some leverage on them.

p/s: Sorry there's so much angst in my last 2 posts.

Why I want to strangle somebody - Part 1

HR. Human resource. The thought of them really makes me wanna puke. All they do is give you lousy excuses of why they are late in getting things done and asking you to sit tight as they twirl their pens and type some words on their keyboard and say that they've tried their best. Until I'm proven other wise, I don't really see what good that this so called department, that's full of directors, can do to improve or secure the well being of employees.

When the over pay you, it takes just a blink of an eye for them to deduct it from your next pay check. BUT....if they need to reimburse you, it takes ages and ages. There's so much procedure to follow, so much red tape, SO many people to blame for the mistake. Even when it was highlighted to them that there would be an issue if they proceeded as per their initial plan. Do they listen? NO!

Either I'm just unlucky or they're just out to get me. :-) They can even mix up my I/C number with my bank account number. Imagine that! Banking in my pay to a bank account with my I/C number! You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realise that the sequence of bank account number are WAY different from the I/C numbers.

Then when you change roles and your pay isn't reflected correctly, they say it's due to the system not being able to accommodate changes in between cycles...blah blah blah. And when it reaches the cut off date, AND it's not reflected correctly again, oppss...somebody missed it out!! And because the back end somehow is managed by somebody else in a different country, it will take 2 weeks to get it all sorted out. After 2 weeks, what happens??? NOTHING CHANGES!!!! What a bunch of incompetent bungling idiots!

And they even have the cheek to tell you to sit tight and wait as there's a lot of backlog to clear as I am not the only person effected by all this. SO?! Should I take comfort that I am not the only person that is being subjected to all this? Or should I be extremely worried that this multimillion dollar company cant get their books straight? For the record, I've been waiting since January to get this sorted but....sigh...

What happens to the money that's supposed to be deducted as part of my pay to go into EPF? What happens to the compounded interest as a result of that? Of course, I wont be a millionaire because of this, but it's still my entitlement, right? And don't get me started on lost opportunity cost. The management always wants the employee to feel secure/happy/part of the family/well take care of (you take your pick). But when such things happen time and time again, you begin to wonder, 'Do they really mean it?'.

I'll get some sleep if it kills me

That's what Donald Duck said at one point. While searching for some cartoons for my kids, I came across this oldie that's as good today as it was many many years back when I was a kid.

I'm sure some or most of us have gone through it. You need to wake up early the next day, so you decide to sleep early. But, the clock's incessant ticking becomes deafening, the dripping faucets and crickets cause a cacophony. You toss and turn the whole night as the hours go by. You will yourself to sleep, but....sigh.

Anyway, they don't make cartoons like they used to. I find that the older cartoons have more character and more expressive facial expressions. I guess Donald has toned down from being the grumpy old duck he's famous for.

Earth Hour

Want to do your part to save the environment, check out Earth Hour. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't realise there's such a big movement to conserve energy.

Check out earth-hour.blogspot too.