taken at Ampang LRT station a few months ago.

My political view? what view?

remote control

SONY REMOTE CONTROL



NAIM REMOTE CONTROL




B&O REMOTE CONTROL


Hmm.. i always like to keep things simple. but it seems we have to pay more to get less in the case of number of buttons in a remote control.

Sony - 40-50 ? buttons RM2,200
Naim - 12 buttons RM 7,500
B&O - wht button? RM 60,000

Home Movie Theater System Junk

Look, home theater system is the last thing i will allow to enter my house. i am a hi-fi guy, a purist fan of sound. i just want my black box to reproduce some nice natural sound. full stop.home theater system is totally different. its a nightmare for me, with all the center speakers, side speakers, rear speakers, woofer,surround sound, 5.1,7.1,10.1, cables flying all over the wall and beneath the floor.. no, i dun want helicopter sound to surround my living room with its eerie pitch and ground shaking bass, fuck that. if i need some serious noise pollution, i can always stand in front of pudu bus station. i also have phobia to operate its remote control .it should be called remote uncontrollable. there are like at least 100 buttons on it, wtf, i think even a nuclear bomb launcher aint that complicated.

the thing is my humble dvd player broke down on christmas day. i bought it for 200+ 2 yrs ago and its been playing all the craps i throwed at it. maybe playing 2 yrs of pirated dvds poisoned it to death finally. so, me & my gf went to shop for a new dvd player. my gf was interested in a player with kara-oke function, since its ideal to sing song with my hd tele...hmm, and so this young sales person highly recommend the best item for our need, a.k.a a home theater system la. fuck me. anyway, this sales rep just kept convincing her how good the home theater system is blalalaala.. i am not saying a sony or pioneer system worth 2000+ is not good. its just not my kind of thing. since my gf quite like the system ( by judging the design of the led lights) and i love her very much, we get it all wrapped up, 5 big boxes of electronic junks in 3 shopping trolleys, yep.

On our way out, I saw a demo room for yamaha products. someone is playing a movie using an av receiver. hey! its sounds a lot better than all the bombastic sounds i just endured earlier. hey, this is not bad since it can play movie and only come with 2 book shelf speakers. no crazy cables, no surround sound, no 7 speakers, hoorah.. the display tag stated " natural piano sound". and most most importantly, the remote control has only 20 buttons. yey! and i can understand mostly of it. the only thing is it costed 3600+. fuck, after struggled for abt 30 seconds, i decided to return the 3 trolleys of junks and get this decent yamaha set instead.

haiya, what am i doing?actually i just want a dvd player. i already owned a decent hi fi system - audiolab preamp /mono-blocks with my b&w p5 speakers which i bought back from uk. it costed me 3 months of slavery life washing dishes in restaurant back then. i dun really pay attention to the sound quality while watching news or drama. but

gee.. i will not step into any hifi shop for a long time from now on. and my gf is still upset with me coz this yamaha thingie dun have kara-oke or fancy led lights.

***************

baby is in the house!!!

It's a boy. We're both fine. 3.6kg, good size. I'. so tired, going to rest now.

sis

Ground Zero, BA

I went to Bukit Antarabangsa landslide scene today. I have no business there but since its so near to my work place & monday blue overwhelmed me, me & my site stuffs decided to organise a "lawatan sambil belajar" to the place after having our lunch.

I havent go to that area since 2 yrs ago. so, i actually took the long way i.e. taking the mrr2 exit at taman ukay height. this area never fails to charm me. 5 minutes steady climb over the winding road, I could smell the sweet forest aroma, birds chirping all around & some dozens of monkeys having their siesta by the roadside.

Further up the hilly area, my heart started to sink. besides the old housing terraces on the flat terrain, there r at least 6 housing projects goin on along the taman melawati road, all sit on alarmingly steep slope. some slopes has developed partial erosion and minor landslides can be seen all over the place. maybe its due to recent continuous rainfalls. water can be seen gushing down thru these long narrow staggered u-drains from top of the hill.

we just kept goin on the narrow road till reaching the police temporary posts. yep, this is ground zero. the scene infront of me sent a violent shiver straight to my heart. i never seen anything like this, its like this place was struck by eart quake or hit by a bomb. the premix road is all rippled up & down like M. few houses r tilted so unrealistically , 30deg i think. things like this only appear in dali's paintings. I chatted with a few mpaj workers. they said it looks much better now as tons & tons of mud & trees had been exported out of the place for the past one week.

To my surprise, there is actually no new development in that section. the entire slope was actually covered with primary trees before it gave way and hammered into the bungalows below it. on top of slope, the 5 storey low density condo is hanging on. gosh! if the slide extends 20m or so during the incident, the entire condo will be tumbling down the hill before it hits the bungalows!!!

but one thing does provide a sign this ground is dangerous. stream water can been seen gushing thru the temporary drain just meters away from the bungalow. it wasnt even raining yesterday. maybe there is some truth on rumour that cascades used to run thru this area before the bungalows r built.

i have some mix feelings for the affected residents. they knew they sit on danger ground but cant resist the temptation nature can provides here. each bungalow here is so tastefully built and must have costed >3 mil.

i dunno who to blame. at least the state government is offering some help both mentally & finincially tho i dun think the millionaire residents need the later. rm10k for the damaged house is a joke but a good gesture. federal government is doin absolutely nothing positive til now, except the usual ban & review procedure. if all the projects r freezed, i can bet my entire fucking savings, my house plus my dog the unprotected fresh slopes will topple one by one in 6 months time. good job again, najib & ong ka chuan.

on the way back, we stopped by the original highland tower site. is this what gonna to happen to the scene we just went just a few valley away?rc frames covered by thick bushes, heaven for drug addicts, perfect filming scene for horror movies while the owners still paying their monthly home mortgage til today?

1st aid

I had a small accident today. Was driving to the airport to pick 5th and 6th aunts up. didn't realise the road was very slippery due to ice. My car skidded, hit the curb hard, lost the steering and the front passenger side wheel came off (but still half attached/hanging from its metal bar). I got out of the car to check things out, slipped and fell on my elbows and knees! My tummy seems ok, though. Thankfully, a colleague drove by and offered to send me all the way to Newcastle and fetch aunts back with me. Not a good day, but I guess God sent someone to the rescue.

The amount of luggage they brought was quite impressive. Lots of goodies for baby and me. Luckily, my colleague drives a 4-wheel-drive/ truck. Their luggage couldn't have fit into my car, actually. So, maybe the accident happened for a reason? And also to remind myself to be more careful next time. Of course, the repair cost will hurt a bit.

My poor car is in the garage now. A courtesy car may be delivered to me tomorrow.

Weather is forecasted to be bad and snowy this weekend.

5th and 6th aunt are resting now, exhausted after the long flight journey. They were quite impressed by the pond view from my backyard. I hope I can be a good host to them during their stay here.

Dear aunts, thank you very much for the things you passed to me through Aunt Siok Ching- honey, baby clothes etc. I really appreciate it.

Hope all is well back home. I will keep all of you posted.

Love,

Sis

ok, hope everything goes just according to plan. 2 more days to delivery. baby is in tha house!!

the day the earth stood still

i went to see the movie yesterday. i seldom go to cinema nowadays even though i am an evict movie fan. maybe i think the current american movies aint as good as they used to be. but keanu reeve is on top of my list for sure. i like his weird characters in matrix trilogy & constantine, and most importantly his movies usually touch on subjects i have profound interest in, i.e. human society,human civilisation or humanity, viewed from a third party's eye aka alien la.

this movie follows the same pattern. but i would say it isn't as good as the other keanu movies. the director could have added more depth, maybe some hidden metaphors into this movie. instead i think they just use big names like keanu, jenifer connelly or son of will smith to sell the movie.. anyway its worth to spend the rm10 la and a lot better than the average sci-fi movies where human always win the battle against evil aliens..zzz. and i will keep a hd dvd version for sure.

one thing that keep me thinking is it debates on whether human will change at the brink of extinction. its kinda funny as i thought of an essay i wrote back in secondary school. its regarding some environmental issues and how we can save the earth shit.. i wrote something like human race is a disgrace to mother earth, because it just keep multiplying and consuming everything including itself and then die off eventually, just like the bacteria colony in the petri dish. the only way to stop the destructive cycles of these scums is kill them like injecting some penicilin or poisons .

i can still remember the expression on the face of Nancy Cheong, my english teacher, when she handed back my assignment..:)))

bukit antarabangsa

I have to mention this landslide incident at bukit antarabangsa. It happened at last saturday morning. i heard a lot of bomba & ambulance sirens that morning coz my site is beside the MRR2 ampang junction. I didn't know the news until 5pm when i saw it on tele. Bukit antarabangsa is juz 2km away from my site. I didn't have time to write on this til now coz theres simply too many things to mention.

Bukit antarabangsa is a very nice place to stay, sitting atop the hilly area in northern kl. nearby is taman sri ukay, ampang hilir,etc. where many rich ppl buy empty lands to build their dream homes. The area is actually developed back in early 80's but only small scale housing schemes scattered along the foot of the hill. but then condos r constructed on top the hills nearby. its magnificiant actually, half the time cloud and mist surrounds the condo area, genting is visible just a few mountains away.

Then the highland tower condo incident happened in early 90's. ppl started to point finger at developers, engineers and local authorities. the developer declared bancruptcy, local towm council immuned from any responsibility, and the poor clerk of work who signed on the building checklist become the scapegoat. wtf!

in my opinion, i dun think it is the design or construction failure. I am sure the consultant would have put in enough safety factors especially in this sort of terrain. I am also sure no matter how negligent the supervising stuffs were during the construction, the building wouldn't have stood for 10 good yrs before it toppled. cracks and ground settlement would appeared within 3-6 months if something is wrong with the building design.wht is wrong then?

i think in the early stage when the hill is covered with trees, the ground is safe. it's ok to clear just the hill top and construct condo there. the piling drilled into limestone bedrock will hold the building. then other developers come along and started clearing the area below the hill and altered the geological strength along the slope. worst, these developers only in charge of the small pockets of land within their boundary, i.e. they do their own drainage system, lay their own sewege pipe and water supply pipe. so on paper, nothing is wrong if we just focus their individual project. they miss the big picture, their drains r NOT inter-connected. worst, some developer will just cut the old drain to do their own system.

after few yrs, the hill is fully developed, rain water cannot permeate the soil, water run-off is strong and without big monsoon drains to divert the water, it acumulates below the soil. during rainny season, the water slowly erodes the sand and limestone slowly, underground canals r formed. few yrs down, nature will select one fine day,......kaboom. it's hydrology 101 and yet special investigation committee bullshit will be set up to check the cause.. check my hairy ass, man.


by right, government town planning should have a grand blue-print for the entire area. all developers should plan their projects according to this blue-print, ensuring all drainage, water,electric supply, sewage lines are linked together.which area is green belt, which area is allowed for development, which slope stability method should be adopted, where is the toeing area for the slope & strictly prohibited for any earthwork. its call zoning, lesson no. 1 in any town planning course.

development on slope is nothing new. wht is bkt antarabangsa compared to monaco, italian alps, turkey's monastries, china's suspended temples on cliffs, or those ancient buildings on greek islands?

the sad thing is state government curi-curi approve the development to private players which mostly sits on state land. so, mana ada blue print? and town council only check on individual development, they dun have power to ask developer to do infra works outside the boundary.and when disaster strikes, our dear work minister will come out and declared it's an act of god ! mcb, now god is blamed pula and everyone shut up coz u wont blame god right??. let's find a weak scapegoat like supervisor or engineer to blame and case closed.

now, the government declared ban on all hill side projects. things will quiet down for some time, then back to good old time. my client bought a piece of 10,000sq ft empty land for rm2 mil in the area few yrs back. imagine how many billions & trillions worth of land is there . stop the development?! in my sweet fucking day dream..

now, i fear next one to come is bukit cheras, the area is very steep and packed with condos and bungalows. hopefully the limestone there is stronger than the ones in bukit antarabangsa.hope God have mercy on ppl staying there.

penang

just come back from penang yesterday. my gf family rushed back on saturday bcoz her uncle is in ICU, some complications after heart bypass op. so, after work and having a nap for 1 hr, we took off at 11pm. i always like to hit the highway at night, especially after midnight. i dun know, maybe when i was small, dad used to wake us up at 4am to start our looong journey to east coast for holiday. that is one the best childhood moments.anyway, halfway in tapah i felt too tired d and wanna rest in ipoh. hai.. think i am old now coz i used to drive to penang and back in the same day just 5 yrs ago. to my surprise all hotels i know r fully booked. so basically i just drag myself to penang in a record 6 hr journey, stopping 6 times in between.

i havent go to penang for some times d and things sure change. dun now wheteher they continue the 2nd bridge thingie to batu maung or not. but good to see they expand the bridge to 3 lane carriageway. i have to stay in bukit jambul coz the gf family is there. surprised to see so many big developments going on in this part of the island. the abandoned jusco is completed and this queensbay mall is good, its more shoppable than gurney for sure! the thing that caught my attention is this jerajak thingie with their own marine jetty. guess they built some resort on the other side of the island. got to go next time.

bayan lepas is also picking upo fast. so many developments. i think the quality and planning is very good, maybe its a good place for investment. heard the price will drop a bit next yr due to econ crisis.. but definately an area to good potential in long run.

the next day, i stayed in batu ferranghi. so many big timer developers have move in to the reclaimed land along the coastal area. E&O, capitaland,etc. but i guess the developements will be affected as most foreign investers have pulled out from these sort of overly high-end project. maybe its still good to invest in nearby condos rm 500k-800k by local developers. they will be desperate to let go their units next yr when econ hits the worst horizon.

hmm, the food is good as always, gulped down 5 x asam laksas, 4 x kari mee, 6 x kuitiew, 4x prawn mee, many many loh baks, and many many cups of 8-po peng, ahhh.. my favourite.

but the traffic is as confusing as always, the road signs r negligible and the drivers... speechless. lets see, almost bumped by 2 formula 1 racers disguised as malay ladies in tudung in, shown mid fingers 2 x , showed mid finger 1x. really hope mr lim guan eng can do somethin abt this.. too bad the government turned down the LRT proposal ,again..sigh

and we didn't see the uncle in hospital bcoz the family apparently have this pantang that anyone younger than him cannot visit him. hmm.. so why am i goin in penang ?

One Night Stand with OL

( hahaha.. i love this metaphor...)

One day, a plain-looking man came with a pretty-looking OL
to the LV store. He chose an LV bag worth RM6,000 for the OL.

When it came time to pay, the man took out a checkbook and wrote out a check. The salesperson was hesitant because the couple hadn't shopped there before.

The man discerned what the salesperson was thinking and he said calmly:

"I sense that you are concerned that this check may bounce, right?
Today is Saturday and the banks are closed. Let me suggest that I leave
the check and the handbag here. When the check clears on Monday,
you can deliver the handbag to this lady. How about that? "

The salesperson was reassured and gladly accepted the suggestion. In
addition, he waived the delivery charges. He promised that he would
personally make sure that this gets done.

On Monday, the salesperson took the check to the bank.
The check bounced!
The irate salesperson called up the client hesitantly.

The client told him:

"What is the big deal? Neither you nor I have suffered any loss.
Last Saturday night, I went to bed with that girl already!
Oh, by the way, I thank you for your cooperation."

*********************************************************
This story reveals the nature of the sub-prime mortgage crisis.
When people have high hopes for huge future returns, they lower
their guard about the potential risks. This pretty girl thought that
LV bag was going to come home on Monday, and so she lowered
her guard.

Therefore, she believed that her investment in the ONS
(=one night stand) was worth it even though it was based upon huge and
highly uncertain risks.

Investment companies are great with packaging high return
(but high risk) deals.

The stock market speculators are like this pretty woman.
As such, they deserve to lose money. Without people like these, how are those filthy corporates going to make money from the stock market? and why would they public listed their companies or offered mcb unit trust funds thus share their profit with others in god sake!

As for the media and the stock analysts, they often play the role of the LV salesperson.

o.k.u.

A disabled resident in my condo project called me up on saturday regarding the public facilities issue. i went to his unit to understand wht was going on. hmm this young man looks familiar, wait a minute, he is that guy appearing on the astro program titled ' living in malaysia' ! he is wheelchair bound since birth due to polio if i remembered correctly. anyway, it's his charisma caught my attention coz this guy is oozing with confidence and one with most optimistic view i have ever seen.

he basically gave me a lecture on how to improve the o.k.u facilities in the building. I am humbled coz frankly i never imagine how much trouble it takes for an o.k.u to access the ramps, stairs, lift,etc. he has to folk out extra money to modify his condo door entrance, toilet and all the electrical switches.pity him.

i reviewed my construction drawing again even tho i have flipped it at least 1000times,but this is the very first time from an o.k.u. perspective. i have to admit the building will be a nightmare if u r on wheelchair, the swimming pool and beautiful garden is not accesible coz of the fancy landscape design, the road entrance ramp is too steep, the grab bar in o.k.u toilet too high, the toilet door too narrow,etc. gee.. i submitted a report and this guy's complaint letter to the developer and architect, but deep down, i know the hope of any change is slim coz it gonna cost extra 50k for the developer and there is no enforcement in the majlis requirement.

this morning, when i passed by the toll on my way to work, this malay lady in the air-cond counter is busy applying vinyl on her finger nails, humming to the song played on radio. it took her full 30 sec of frantic finger disco dancing to let the nail dry before collecting my bills. i wonder why not the toll company employs o.k.u. as toll cashiers instead? its perfect right? can earn a living with a simple job. and for that very talented lady, i am sure she can find a better job as a singer and manicurist.