Month: August 2008

Speak no evil

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bound

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about the direction this blog is going. The recent two controversial posts – the thinly disguised “human advertising” post and the profanity laced Dear Aries confession has received a lot of negative feedback from people I care about. I talked to one of my friends about this issue – he’s about the only one detached from the blogging scene to be able to give impartial comments and thought really hard about what I should do.

arrows

This is what I tend to doodle when I’m thinking about the direction I should be taking. I ponder the pros and cons while drawing opposite arrows.

house witch hat

I also found myself drawing this house/witch’s hat thing when I was particularly stressed out. I’m sure psychiatrists can make sense of my feelings from analyzing that, but I usually just draw this when I’m worried or stressed:

zipper doodle

It looks like a zipper, a friend of mine told me. I’ve never thought of it like that. I am always thinking of teeth when I sketch that. It’s supposed to be the upper and lower set of teeth.

Anyway, astute readers would notice that several posts have been discreetly unpublished during the last week and I’m going to do the same to the two “controversial” posts as well. It’s not an easy decision to make but one thing my friend shared with me really hit me hard.

How long are you going to be the bad boy? Beh sian meh? (Hokkien for “It’s getting old”).

I must admit that a lot of my early inspiration was CKY and Jackass and I noticed one particular thing while watching Jackass 2.5. Johnny Knoxville looks really old. It was revolutionary when it came out, but the Jackass franchise is a little like flogging a dead horse. It’s fun to watch once in a while, but only in small doses. I can’t keep on doing this stuff all my life, even with the self-destructive tendencies that gets out sometimes and I shouldn’t burden unwilling readers with them.

Thus, I’ve came to a decision:

sixthseal.com is going to branch off – there will be a new domain for personal and “controversial” posts, made available to friends only. This blog (sixthseal.com) will be maintained as the main(stream) site while the other domain will be limited to sporadic and occasional posts, much like the castitas.com arrangement back then.

No worries though, the main content will always still be at sixthseal.com since I don’t do much controversial posts anymore anyway. I *heart* sixthseal.com and I can never let it be anything less, so the other domain will always be on a lower priority and will only be updated very rarely.

It will be password protected and when updates are available, it will still be announced on sixthseal.com – it would be just like the good old days with castitas.com. 😉

forgot name

Haz Cafe and Restaurant

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haz cafe

Haz Cafe and Restaurant is an eating establishment with a lot of weird angled aquariums inside. I initially thought it was a seafood restaurant but upon further investigation it turned out to be a shabu-shabu restaurant. These places have been popping up like mushrooms over here ever since the success of Mitsu Shabu Shabu.

haz aquarium

The interior of Haz Cafe is dominated by 90 degree angled aquariums which I found rather odd. It does work well as a demarcation fitting though – the seating arrangements are clearly delineated by the design. I went there with Clare and Cheryl for dinner since Cheryl was in town.

haz interior

Haz Cafe has the standard fittings you’ll expect at a shabu shabu joint – there are receptacles for the pot of boiling broth and individual heating elements. The departure from orthodox shabu-shabu comes from the community BBQ grill in the middle. The place serves food that can either be dipped in broth or grilled with butter.

haz intro dish

There is a platter full of the standard trimmings for adding gustatory perception (a pretentious word meaning taste and texture) to the broth – vegetables, rice vermicelli, nori (seaweed), tofu, mushrooms and an egg.

haz beef mixture

This is the mixed beef platter – it contains various cuts of beef from tenderloin to sirloin. The variety just makes me tingle in my loins. =D

haz beef marbled

We also had another side order of a more marbled slice of beef. I can’t remember which part of the cow this came from.

haz pork

Oink Oink. This is the pork platter. Mmm…pork. 😉

haz grill

The meat can also be grilled on the central BBQ grill but the place is meant for shabu-shabu style eating.

It seems that the art of eating shabu-shabu is lost on most people so I have taken the liberty of showing how it’s supposed to done:

haz 1

Step 1: Take piece of the sliver of meat/fish/crustacean.

haz 2

Step 2: Dip it with your chopsticks into the pot of boiling broth and start swishing it around.

haz 3

Step 3: Take it out again and consume. I know mine looks raw, but I like raw! 🙂

haz 4

Step 4: Dump the remainder of your rice into the broth after the meal and consume the broth + rice mixture.

haz soup

You can also pour the broth into the rice if there’s not a lot left, but this is a departure from Tradition (TM).

haz cheryl

This is Cheryl Lim – an auditor who gets to travel around to places like Langkawi but works till late in the night, which takes much of the fun out of business travel.

Thanks for getting me the duty free cigarettes, Cheryl! 🙂

Dear Aries: Your friendly neighborhood agony aunt (or uncle) debut

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Problems stressing you out? You need an outlet for your anger? No cats to kick or other methods of venting frustration?

dear aries

Fear not, dear readers. I have introduced a new category in sixthseal.com called Dear Aries. It’s basically where you can write in about your personal problems and I will read and listen with a sympathetic ear and give you advice (which I hear is the worse kind of vice ;)). This is the first letter I have received from Confused in Miri, Sarawak.

Spend some time with me, say you’ll be mine

Dear Aries,

I am caught between a rock and a hard place. I met this girl at work and I’ve been attracted to her ever since I saw her. I’ve been secretly admiring (God, I hate this word) her for a while now, though I knew she was attached. Her boyfriend picks her up from work everyday and I’ve been wanting to ask her out ever since I saw her. I spoke to her a couple of times when we bumped into each other at the elevator and she seems like a nice person.

Anyway, fast forward to several months later and I started noticing that her boyfriend has stopped picking her up from work (God, I’m such a stalker). Curious about this sudden change of affairs (and seeing an opportunity), I inquired about the situation when I bumped into her again. Apparently, the boyfriend is Out of Town (TM) so I decided to ask her out.

Well, you know what love is right? It’s psychical attraction at first sight and then personality compatibility at the second stage. That’s where the problem comes in – we hit it off immediately. It’s like we’re kindred souls, and we started going out for lunch and at night. I’ve never met a girl like this before, one that I could easily talk to and open up with.

Anyway, pretty soon we had a rather intense relationship going. It’s pretty much all or nothing with me. I gave this relationship everything I had coz I thought this girl was Worth It (TM). Was she The One (TM)? I don’t know, but she’s been the closest “one” ever since this pharmacist I was going out with in Kuching broke up with me.

It was really, really good for a while. I literally worshiped the girl. She’s a little older than me and she’s very mature and that really appeals to me. She grounds my impulsive, self-destructive personality and she’s been really nice to me too, little gestures like bringing breakfast for me coz she knows I only drink coffee for breakfast.

Anyway, pretty soon The Boyfriend (TM) found out about the relationship and all hell broke loose. She stopped seeing me, although we still talk on the phone and arrange for secret, quick rendezvous sessions. Lately though, I have noticed that it’s just not good enough for me anymore. I don’t want a “girlfriend” that’s only available on the phone instead of being beside me. I hate the feeling of not being able to hug her and kiss her and just feel the comfort of being with her.

She was very honest and open with me that she’ll be leaving very soon and that we could never have an open relationship. It has to be covert due to the Unique Circumstances (TM) that she was in. I thought it would be good enough for me, but back then at least I got to go out with her. She can only stay at home now and just talk on the phone due to Restrictions (TM) placed on her since being found out. We can’t even go out now and it’s probably going to remain this way until she leaves.

What should I do? Should I just call it quits and pull out? Or do I torture myself by being a hermit for the remainder of the time and stay at home in the very rare occasion that she manages to sneak 10 minutes to be with me?

Do I pull the Band Aid off in one quick motion or do I pull it slowly off?

da confused

I used to say I never met a girl like you before,
Still ain’t got a fucking clue to who you truly are…

Please help,
Confused.

Dear Idiot,

I got bored reading your letter halfway. Your verbosity exceeds even that of Ayn Rand. Has anyone ever finished reading Atlas Shrugged? I didn’t think so.

Kindred souls, my ass. How long have you been going out with this girl? It’s probably still the honeymoon period right?

I’m not even interested to hear about your personal attributes, which you so generously sprinkled throughout your letter, you narcissistic fuck.

Get to the fucking point, you took up several paragraphs writing the background which could have been achieved with six words in bullet form.

Okay, let me get this right.

1. Girl = Unavailable.
2. You = Infatuated.
3. Girl = Leaving.

That’s the gist of what your long winded letter was saying right? Read your #3 again. Again. And again.

Which part about leaving do you not understand? Imbecile!

You pathetic fuck, stop feeling sorry for yourself and move on!

It seems like you listen to Eminem from the quote from Spend Some Time. It’s a very good break up song, I have taken the liberty of scouring YouTube for a video and embedding it here for you to listen to and start being a man again. Listen to that bit about “but when someone seems too good to be true, they usually are”.

Quit using “anyway” and “well” as paragraph leaders in your writing. It’s very irritating to read.

Oh, and over here in Malaysia, we call them “lifts” not “elevators”.

P/S – What’s with that (TM) shit anyway? Your dad patent the word one izzit?

Break in at my house

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break in

There was a break in at my place last night at about 2:04 am. This house still has the old skool glass shutters and metal grill which is rather easy to pry open. Apparently the intruder(s) carefully removed the glass shutters piece by piece and reached in to pry one side of the metal grill to gain access.

break in pry

They even had the consideration to stack up the glass shutters nicely and leave the screws on the floor outside that window too. Thank you, the gesture is much appreciated.

Anyway, it appears that nothing was taken so I presume they didn’t manage to gain access after all. How did I know it was 2:04 am? I heard the house phone ringing and woke up to take a piss and heard the sounds of someone(s) beating a hasty retreat so I went down to investigate and found the grill pried open.

Oh well, at least this seems to be the work of petty thieves. There was another break in earlier in the year in which they took – get this – a pair of my jeans and a tin of Milo (no kidding). Thus, my most prized possessions, which are the photographs contained in my notebook and various USB drives and DVD-Rs are safe.

They wouldn’t be interested in that, I presume. 😉

usb drives

Don’t touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn’t understand
alloys and compositions and things with…molecular structures.

The 7 year (old) itch

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old photo

I was browsing through my old photo albums just now in search of photos of my sister when she was younger for her wedding video when I came across this photo. This is (from left) my sister, me, Sing Ling and Wei Ling when I was 7 years old. I still remember the event – it was just after a 2.4 km jogathon that was held at Methodist High School when I was in Primary 1. My dad was the principal at that school then and we had this family sports day event where we ended up on this huge tandem walker thing with my mom taking a candid photo.

first love

Anyway, I had this HUGE crush on Sing Ling, who’s my classmate in Primary 1 at that time. It was my first love (at 7 years of age). I wrote her my very first love letter on a torn out piece of exercise book, and it went something like:

I love you Sing Ling
Please love me
I’ll give you a eraser or a ruler if you love me

I had a really crappy red broken ruler at that time and I have to admit that my budding Casanova skillz was very much at a n00bie stage at that point. 😉

It was funny recalling that incident though, and it made me laugh. Nostalgia, eh?

The sixthseal.com Guide to Human Advertising

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cutting intro

The words “self harm” and “self injury” has been bandied about a lot by psychologists and teenage cutters obsessed with their own angst. It has also been mistakenly labeled as “suicidal behavior” which is grossly inappropriate since most cases are not intended to hasten the kicking of the bucket.

I propose that this behavior be exploited, I mean, explored as a new avenue for advertising instead. We’ve all heard of tattoos as a form of advertising with human advertising billboards but there are problems associated with that (mainly the permanent nature of the process).

Cutting may be a more appropriate “human advertising” medium for events. This is the sixthseal.com Guide to Human Advertising.

razor blades

Step 1: Obtain a box of old skool razor blades. It doesn’t really matter what brand you use as long as it’s properly wrapped, clean and sharp.

steady hands

Step 2: You will require a pair of steady hands. This is necessary to avoid transcription errors due to shaky hands. 😉

cutting fresh

Step 3: Use the razor blade to carve the name of the event you want to be promoting. It should optimally be short – use initials when possible e.g. “RWMF” instead of “Rainforest World Music Festival” since skin real estate is at a premium.

cutting healing

Step 4: Please allow sufficient time for the blood to coagulate – it is the body’s natural healing system at work here and it prevents bacteria and other Nasty Stuff (TM) from entering an open wound.

Example:

I have included a video tutorial on skin advertising – this is for the “Sarawak Cultural Festival”, abbreviated to SCF due to skin real estate issues.

Caution:

The right amount of pressure should be applied consistently. It is obviously unwise to apply too much pressure (razor blades are sharper than you think) but enough downwards pressure should be present to achieve the desired results. Please direct your attention to Exhibit A (Cleaned and Healing Scar) below.

cutting guide

The S character has too much pressure applied – this would result in a raised scar. The C character would probably result in a scar that is not visible unless at certain angles, while the F carving would be the optimal result for a scar that is not visible at all, unless under direct sunlight in certain angles.

cutting healed

What do you think? The advertising industry is constantly on the lookout for new opportunities and mediums. Could this be the next new wave of advertising? Or will it be relegated to the fringes of society?

Full House Cafe

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full house cafe

I went to Full House Cafe for lunch with one of my colleagues and her younger sister and brother in tow. I have seen this cafe before but it always looks to be anything but what the cafe’s name suggests. It has always come across as cold and empty.

full house interior

However, little did I know, the interior is actually rather nice, with silk privacy screens between the booths and a decor that exudes warmth. It’s private and conducive to conversation and my coworker told me the spaghetti here is rather good.

full house bar

The best thing about Full House Cafe is the dirt cheap cocktail prices. They serve alcohol (beer and cocktails) with the latter starting from RM 7.90 (!). At least that’s what I thought at first. I asked them for a stronger version of the cocktails and was told it would cost “RM 1 or RM 2 more” which I happily agreed to.

full house margarita

I had the Margarita (RM 7.90) which came in a tiny cup with a slice of lemon. I wouldn’t call it strong by my standards, and the cafe charged just RM 1 more for the souped up version of the drink. However, the meager liquid volume makes you think you’re getting more value for your money than you actually are. 😉

full house long island

I had another Long Island Iced Tea (RM 13.90) which came in a much more acceptable receptacle that holds a more reasonable amount of liquid. It still wasn’t strong enough for my tastes but Full House Cafe is not known for it’s cocktails so I shall not judge it based on that alone.

full house red elf

The non-ethanol based drinks are very reasonably priced – Diana (my coworker’s younger sister) had the Red Elf (RM 3.50) which is a mixture of Ribena and Sprite while her younger brother had a Coke (RM 3.50).

lazy people set

The younger brother had the interestingly named Lazy People’s Set (RM 4.50). I can’t read much of the menu since most of it is in Chinese but it consists of two slices of toasted (fried?) bread, a sausage, coleslaw, sweet corn, baked beans and a fried egg.

chicken chop thai style

Amy had the Chicken Chop with Thai Sauce (RM 8.90). It came with the standard trimmings of coleslaw, baked beans and sweet corn. She claimed that it tasted a little on the bland side though. The chicken chop is fried, not grilled which could be where the problem lies.

japanese style pork chop

Diana had the Japanese Style Pork Chop (RM 7.90), The pork chop is served teriyaki style (dipped in batter before being deep fried) with mayonnaise and tomato sauce on top. The pork is tough though, probably due to overenthusiastic deep frying. 😉

full house spaghetti prawn

I went for the pasta dish that Amy recommended – this is the Prawn Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce (RM 8.90). It came with two fully deshelled and large prawns which is rather generous for the price. It tasted good but I had eaten a late breakfast before this so I didn’t manage to finish the dish.

full house end

Full House Cafe has great service and reasonably priced food in a private air conditioned alcove. It’s like a little gem waiting to be discovered. The cocktails are cheap (albeit underpowered and volumetrically challenged) and the ambiance is relaxing, with soothing piped music and a laid back atmosphere that allows you to stay as long as you like. It’s good for hanging out with friends or your partner for a long, lazy lunch.

diana lau

This is Diana Lau (Amy, your finger is on the lens), who is currently doing her Form Five in my alma mater (and in the same class I used to be in to boot!). I have noticed that I have problems attracting the under 18 demographic to my blog, probably due to its content, so I have taken the liberty of passing Diana a stack of my blogger name cards to be distributed to her classmates when school starts again. 😉

Word of the Day:
Volumetrically challenged
(Adjective)
A politically correct term for a small amount of liquid that is better described as a drop, droplet, or moisture. 😉

Don’t drink and drive!

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drink drive

Please don’t drink and drive. There are very serious consequences and ramifications to driving under the influence…

drink drive consequences

…you might need to take a piss by the roadside. On long road trips. Under heavy rain. With a PINK umbrella awkwardly positioned at your neck.

It’s very serious. Accidents can happen should strong winds get the better of the umbrella and whip it into someone’s windscreen temporarily blinding the driver. It’s no joke. Keep a tight leash on your umbrella. This community message service has been brought to you by sixthseal.com. 😉

My very first Nuffnang cheque!

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nuffnang envelope

This is the obligatory “first cheque” posting that seems to be all the rage amongst Nuffnang bloggers (or at least a portion of them). 😉 The concept of monetizing blogs have been around for ages but none has seen the success of Nuffnang in our part of the world.

nuffnang letter

I started out with Nuffnang a couple of months ago and found them to be a great and visionary team, and nice guys to boot. I was familiar with the concept of ads but advertorials was a new word to add to my vocabulary (hey, it didn’t exist before I went to rehab okay? :p).

nuffnang cheque

Cheers to the team at Nuffnang! 🙂

P/S – I shall post again and reply the comments tomorrow. It’s 9:44 PM and I already have a massive hangover. Jesus Christ. I’m tired and I’m cranky to boot coz of relationship issues – It’s Complicated (TM). I wonder sometimes if the problem lies with me or with my partner(s). If so many of them say similar things about me, the law of averages says it’s probably gotta be true right? Food for a headachey thought. I can feel my brain cells dying. I shouldn’t have started drinking this much this early.

Koreana review

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koreana

Koreana restaurant is quite an established institution serving authentic Korean food in Kuching. It has recently moved its premises to 101, complete with brand new décor and fittings.

koreana interior

I went there with Irene and Emeric during my last trip to Kuching. The new Koreana looks much better than the previous restaurant and features an upper level for more dining space.

koreana utensils

I like the eating implements (and also using unconventional words instead of just “utensils”) in Koreana. The chopsticks at Koreana are Korean chopsticks – it’s angular and oblique which makes it difficult to handle the first time you come across it.

koreana green tea

We all had a mug of steaming green tea (RM 2) since we had just consumed an excessive amount of Slurpees previously, which made us a little on the cold side. The weather was chilly too, for some reason – rainy season, probably.

koreana entrees

Koreana serves a select range of complimentary entrees for all diners. There’s kimchi (the staple of Korean food), clams in some sort of hot sauce, seaweed, anchovies, a salad and vegetables of some sort.

koreana slizzling

Irene had the Dolsot Bibim Bub (RM 20) which is described as “slizzling rice with assorted vegetables in stone bowl”. I’m sure they meant sizzling. 😉

koreana egg

The bibim bub (stone bowl mixed rice) comes with a raw egg which was cracked in by the waitress…

koreana mix

…and mixed thoroughly. Check out the look of concentration on her face. The raw egg is actually cooked by the excess heat from the stone bowl.

koreana kimchi

The obligatory kimchi is then added to the stone bowl mixed rice…

koreana bibimbup

…before it is served. Koreana serves a pretty mean bibim bup and a testament to the authenticity of the place is the Korean expatriates at a table beside us.

koreana kimchi rice

Emeric opted for the Kimchi Fried Rice (RM 12). It tastes a lot like the Dolsot Bibim Bub minus the theatricals. 😉

koreana cold noodles

I went for the Mulnaengmyun (RM 22) which is cold noodles in soup. It came with bamboo shoots and other vegetables and half a boiled egg. The dish was served in a metal bowl full of ice cubes. It’s not just cold, it’s freezing! I like! 🙂

koreana scissors

Koreana also provides you with scissors for the cold noodle dish to cut the noodles into more manageable lengths for slurping. I really liked the taste of this dish – the freezing cold soup tastes delicious and although the concept of having ice cold noodles may be foreign for some people, it actually tastes really good.

koreana chicken soup

We also ordered a bowl of Samgaetang (RM 35) to share. It is chicken soup cooked with ginseng Korean style and Irene insists that it is a very healthy substitute for ED meds. I’m not sure why she thinks me and Emeric has that kind of problem, but the chicken soup does taste good. 😉

koreana ginseng

The chicken soup with ginseng is served with half a whole chicken and lots of Korean ginseng. There’s also some rice at the bottom of the soup bowl and the rice expands and absorbs all the goodness of the soup and is meant to be eaten after everything else is consumed. It’s delicious!

koreana us

Koreana is a nice place to have dinner if you’re hankering for authentic Korean food. The bill came up to about RM 95 so it’s pretty reasonable for three people. Thanks to Irene for driving me around Kuching in search of the elusive Slurpee! 😉

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