Month: August 2008

Transit Point

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transit point night

Transit Point is a budget accommodation facility located in the heart of Kuching. It has just been recently completed and features WiFi in every room. The rates start at RM 35 nett which is slightly more expensive than the RM 30 nett charged by it’s main competitor – Singgahsana Lodge. However, the two places are different in many ways.

transit point reception

Transit Point provides a more private environment with a room consisting of a double bed and air conditioning (and television and WiFi to boot) while Singgahsana provides dormitory style accommodations sleeping 10 in a room (without WiFi). Transit Point provides towels for free too, which is chargeable (RM 2) in Singgahsana Lodge.

transit point shower

Transit Point also features shared toilets and shower units but the place is very clean and there’s a soap/shampoo dispenser in the cubicles. Smoking is not allowed in both places (except outdoors).

transit point room

I would recommend Transit Point if  you want the privacy of your own room and a larger bed with an air conditioned room. Singgahsana Lodge would be more suitable for people who wants interaction (and doesn’t mind leaving their notebook filled with incriminating photos and videos in a room with 9 other strangers). 😉

transit point irene

Transit Point just costs RM 35 nett per night. I stayed there during my recent trip to Kuching (the 12 hour grueling trip where I nearly missed my express boat back) and was happy with the place. I’ll definitely do a return visit when I’m on a shoestring budget.

The Mysterious Slurpee

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mystery

7Eleven has come out with two new Mystery flavors for their Slurpee machine. Intrigued by this enigmatic campaign, the detective in me (who has read one too many mystery novels in my youth) decided that a quick trip down to 7Eleven was warranted to solve this mystery.

mystery poster

The trip involved planes, trains and automobiles (technically, since I was in KL at that time) and I arrived at 7Eleven to find out more about the two new Mystery flavors. ??? were abounding and they needed answering.

sleuth

I decided to look into Mystery Flavor 2 while my dear Watson, I mean, Irene went for Mystery Flavor 1.

mystery slurpee

Elementary, my dear Irene!

mystery 1

Mystery Flavor 1 tastes like a grape based Slurpee, which Irene preferred. It has an almost blackcurrant aftertaste and although I can’t identify the exact flavor of this mystery Slurpee, my taste buds tells me it has a hint of citrus as well.

mystery 2

Mystery Flavor 2 tastes like a mango based Slurpee. I liked this one better. It reminds me of the Slurpee I had in the very same 7Eleven outlet that saved me from a moribund state after a particularly dehydrating episode of partying. 😉

poison

One man’s meat is another man’s (or woman’s) poison.

vote

Vote for the flavor you like best. I’m going for Mystery Flavor 2.

mysteries

The two new Mystery flavors is a very interesting marketing campaign by 7Eleven. I don’t even know what the flavors really are! However, the thirst quenching qualities of the 7Eleven Slurpee is still present in abundance. You should check it out if you haven’t had a Slurpee before and if you’re a regular imbiber, the new flavors are definitely worth looking into.

ending

The 7Eleven Mystery Flavor 1 and 2 Slurpee is out now in all outlets and there will be a contest running during the promotional period up till the 5th of October, 2008. Slurpee users are encouraged participate and vote for their favorite mystery flavor amongst the two varieties.

voting alt

The contest forms are available at all participating 7Eleven outlets and the winners will be selected from the winning pool with the highest purchase and correct answers (there are two very easy questions). You have to mail in the contest form with the Slurpee receipt.

Find out more about the contest here.

Guess what the prizes are? 1,000 mystery prizes.

Yup, you read that right. Even the prizes are a Mystery. 😉

Unexpected Windfall: Google AdSense cheque

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google adsense

I woke up this morning, grabbed my morning coffee and was sitting down to let the caffeine wake up my sleeping brain neurons when my dad told me he had accidentally opened an envelope meant for me and passed me the mail. I thought it was just another bank statement when I noticed the distinctive green cheque like printing on the back.

google adsense 1

My sleepy brain neurons started to reactivate gradually without the aid of the hot steaming cup of java. I looked at the figure and was immediately jolted awake. Jesus Christ, Buddha and (cannot say the other deity in Malaysia)!

google adsense 2

Yahweh eh, er…I mean wahlau eh, I didn’t know I had Google AdSense running!

Well, I did for a while back in the good old days of sixthseal.com before a group of “concerned bloggers” launched a concerted campaign of hell raising in Mountain View, CA for allegedly “endorsing” a drug site. I think they were just jealous coz my traffic back then was very high and I got a cheque just after 14 days of putting AdSense on. 😉

Anyway, I took the ads down from sixthseal.com and…put it elsewhere. Little did that group of bloggers know that the sixthseal.com empire was like The Roman Empire back then. All roads leads to sixthseal.com and all that. 😉 Okay, let limpeh tell you a story from the good old days of blogging:

Well, back in early 2003, when most of you weren’t born yet, if you think of a Malaysian blog, you think sixthseal.com. It’s the brand recognition factor (like Nescafe, Panadol etc) – it was really popular back then and sixthseal.com was on a very aggressive conquest, er…I mean expansion program. I had a forum, a website for helping people write assignments, a dedicated drug blog (the now defunct castitas.com) and many other development projects.

I didn’t even know how many sites I had! Honestly, I had so many domains that I couldn’t keep track of the various development projects I was involved in. I helped a couple of bloggers start up their careers and was one of the PPS core founding members. I had other sites which were “cleaner” than sixthseal.com and thus more acceptable for AdSense. sixthseal.com was always meant to be my outlet of expression.

Thus, I put the AdSense code into my other websites and it did what it does best (making money). However, just like the Roman Empire, the rise and fall of civilizations is a constant in every single endeavor. My readership declined in direct correlation with my escalating drug use and my posts were getting more and more erratic (not in frequency, I always post at least once a day, but in content – it was more and more about drugs).

Thus, the Persians invaded, the Mongols took over, etc etc and fast forward to a year later, I was sent to drug rehab and sixthseal.com was completely taken down (since I can’t renew my hosting from rehab, with them not having Internet access and all). However, the other sites remained online and was actually making money for me while I was in rehab.

My mom told me that there were several other cheques like this that came in during my time in rehab but they threw it away coz it was only about USD 100 or USD 200. WTF! Their justification is that our bank charges for foreign cheques makes it quite useless anyway, but oi, RM 300 or 600 is still quite a lot of money okay?

This cheque had much more and I am still trying to identify which one of my sites is generating this kind of income. Back to the Roman Empire analogy, I will only offer this quote from The Sopranos:

Jewish guy: You ever heard of the Masada? For two years, 900 Jews held their own against 15,000 Roman soldiers. They chose death before enslavement. The Romans? Where are they now? (spits)
Tony Soprano: You’re looking at them, asshole.

google trainers 

I was so excited by this unexpected windfall that I accidentally wore my trainers to work instead of my dress shoes. 😉

RedCarrot by SugarBun

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red carrot

RedCarrot is designed as a “higher end” dining experience by SugarBun (the fast food franchise). Naturally, the concept of fine dining for a fast food establishment is rather different from boutique restaurants and such, and I wouldn’t use that adjective to describe RedCarrot at all (despite owning stock in SugarBun). 😉

red carrot interior

The ambiance is really quite warm and inviting and the place is air-conditioned. It tends to attract a different set of clientèle despite being located just above the SugarBun in Pedada. There’s no screaming hyperactive children running about with minimal parental control on the upper tier. 😉

red carrot bar

The place is quite conducive to conversation but the food isn’t anything to write home about, so I hardly ever go there despite it being just a two minute drive from my place. Autumn lives near me too, and the only reason we went there tonight was coz we’ve both already eaten dinner and wanted to get out of the oppressive heat without ADHD inflicted rug rats stressing us out.

red carrot drinks

We get more than our RSA (Recommended Stress Allowance) from our office already, so that’s enough stress vitamins and nutrients for healthy daily intake without adding to it at night. 🙂 RedCarrot serves a lot of carrot based drinks – this is Autumn peering at the Red Carrot + Beetroot (RM 5.80) and Red Carrot + Lemon (RM 5.80) that we ordered, trying to figure out which is which.

redcarrot fish

We shared one of their flagship dishes – the Fish Fillet “RedCarrot” Style (RM 13.90). “RedCarrot style” apparently means dousing the fish fillet with Thai chilli sauce and having a lot of red carrots (what else) on the side. It’s served with French Fries which tastes suspiciously like SugarBun French Fries (and in all probability is SugarBun French Fries since it’s under the same banner). It’s pretty good though.

redcarrot fruits

This is the Fruit Platter (RM 5) which comes with sliced green apples, starfruit, and honeydew. Autumn eats a lot of fruit, but I don’t. I have been getting excessive RSA intake lately and that, combined with the less than optimal fiber intake in the guidelines of the US RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) has resulted in a prolonged bout of constipation. You don’t even want to know about my hemorrhoids. 😉

redcarrot us

RedCarrot is a pretty nice place to chill out and relax. The crowd it draws tends to be couples so it’s a more subdued and quiet place to have supper at. The food is nothing to write home about but the ambiance more than makes up for it.

redcarrot cf

…and I noticed that Autumn has a very interesting skill (?) of being able to eat fruits with seeds and then inconspicuously spitting it out onto a fork (!) of all places.

I am suitably impressed.

Hash run – Babysitting

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ksp hhh

I went for the Hash Run organized by the Sibu chapter yesterday afternoon, this time in the capacity of a babysitter. In an effort to boost attendance rates, I rallied two of my friends to the event. This is the first hash run for the both of them, so I played the role of the trip sitter.

ksp me cf

Due to the unavailability of alcohol in the Sibu HHH chapter, I decided to preload myself with some of the amber fluid before going for the run. I’m actually not a very patient person and can be prone to irritability at acts of perceived tardiness and I figured the combined GABA agonists (old readers would catch this reference ;)) would make me more amiable.

ksp route

This route was more difficult than the previous hash run, and that makes things a little more challenging since I had to carry a backpack (not mine) and the hilly terrain and longer distance makes things a little more exerting.

ksp main road

The interesting bit about this weekend’s run is that it went through the main road a couple of times…

ksp rest hut

…and features a rest hut!

ksp moses

This is our resident Moses reincarnate to guide the trekkers through a particularly grueling bog. I declined the assistance of the biblical figure and ended up in the bog, completely soaking my trainers and socks.

ksp sprain

Halfway through the trek, one of my friends took the liberty of spraining her ankle. Kudos to her for slogging it through anyway despite the pain.

ksp exit

There were several exit points at the path and we chose not to take it and slugged on, despite the sprained ankle of Jolin and my friend being thoroughly exhausted despite her yoga training.

ksp pitcher

I’m glad we didn’t take the exit coz I found this pristine pitcher plant along the route. I thought these things only exists in Mt. Kinabalu!

ksp trailblazer

Nevertheless, Jolin’s sprained ankle was bothering her towards the end of the run and it was decided that we’re going to beat a new path through virgin rain forest since we had missed the final exit.

ksp kampung
 

The trailblazer managed to find a path through a kampung (Malay dwelling community) and we took a longer, but less challenging (without the gradient factor) route.

ksp end

I have leaned something during this trek – to be more tolerant, patient and caring towards others. I have a tendency to be over competitive and want to be the leader of the pack but this time I brought up the rear to accommodate for the two friends that I had brought along…

…and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. 🙂

The Great Sarawak Blackout

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blackout

The entire state of Sarawak experienced a total blackout last night with confirmed areas being affected including Sibu and Kuching. The traffic lights were not working and I’m sure quite a few fender benders occurred when two unyielding parties collide (pun intended). 🙂

blackout dinner

It felt like going back to the Dark Ages (haha) with all the shops closing down (probably to prevent theft and also due to the non-functioning electricity-dependent POS machines) but most restaurants remained open. We made the most of the ambiance…romantic candlelight dinner konon. 😉

The Making of the Nike Advertorial

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nike script

I received the Nike advertorial pretty late in the game (pun intended) and scripted out two major scenes that I wanted to be in the writeup. The first was to be shot at an athletic wear/sports gear shop/active lifestyle outlet (I don’t even know what these places are called nowadays anymore ;)) to do the visualization (Read: camwhoring) aspects of the design contest.

script

Due to the limited number of such outlets in Sibu carrying Nike products, I decided to go to Lea Sports Center at Wisma Sanyan since I distinctively remember them having a Nike showcase while I was…er, getting adidas trainers earlier this year. 😉

cast crew

Thus, I geared up in my Nike ACG (All Climate Gear) windbreaker that I got in KK back in 2004 before climbing up Mt. Kinabalu (the highest mountain in South East Asia) for a bit of product placement pimpage and went out with Clare to do the photo shoot after work.

script 1

It should be noted that my tracksuit trousers were actually adidas and so were my trainers. It doesn’t look very obvious though so I thought it would pass The All Seeing Eye of Nike. 😉 I do have Nike apparel in my current wardrobe – I remember getting a limited edition Nike tennis shoe during the Melbourne Open 2003 and have several other pairs of Nike trainers.

nike sweatshirt

There’s also a Nike sweatshirt with a hoodie that I got for chilly spring weather in Melbourne which has found a new role as a tattoo concealer for Casual Saturdays in the office. The dress code in my office does not allow for visible tattoos so I wear long sleeves every single workday – even on Saturdays. Yes, we do work half day on Saturday over here in Sarawak.

nike swoosh

We then proceeded to eat dinner at Sushi Tie and got the waitress to camwhore with me. I liked the deer-caught-in-headlights expression on her face. I’m going to caption this “Fear the Nike Swoosh“. 🙂

script 2

I proceeded to Delta Mall to meet up with Mary who was going to do the second major scene for the advertorial. I got a a lot of stares from people due to my athletic gear – I looked like I just finished a particularly grueling training session, but I kinda liked the attention. Heh! You’ve got to be able to take the double takes and stares if you’re a blogger going all out.

clare mary

Anyway, the second bit called for a video shoot in which I was getting heckled by two people while running laps around the mall. I initially planned for Mary to be doing the heckling but she introduced me to this guy who was PERFECT for the role. This is the take with only Mary doing the heckling:

I preferred the one with both of them doing the heckling so that’s the one I submitted for the advertorial. Mary is great as usual with her excellent repertoire of expressions and I loved the guy coz he pulled off the correct intonation and derisive-yet-humorous gesture in a single take. The video calls for me to be doing slow laps (basically a simulated slow run) while two people calls out:
“You run like a girl” and
“My grandmother runs faster than you”

script 3

The duo had great localization which was not in the script with Mary going “You run like a girl lah” and the guy going “Hey, my grandmother runs faster than you, okay?” which I really liked.

However, the best scene in the advertorial is, IMHO, one that I did not anticipate or script out. I was having my nicotine fix after finishing the photo shoot when I saw a security guard outside the mall doing the same. I remember the shoplifting scene for the Oreo advertorial and decided it would be fun to include the same theme into this one.

guard

I got the security guard to grab me while I was attempting to run and he was kind enough to comply. This was the best ending for the writeup since I figured I could put in a quirky caption before the contest regulations. It ended up being “…and design a lightweight pair of trainers so I can outrun mall security next time“. 🙂

Deleted Scenes:

ready alt

Ready…

set

Set…

go

Go…

I had also planned a Ready, Set, Go series of photos (this is the original trio) with me doing all three poses but decided to include just one (the Ready pose) due to fears of an unintentional overdose of camwhorage. 😉

The exclusion was a really good decision in hindsight coz it seems so cheesy now. Heh!

Bonus Features:

jay chou

The girls convinced me to do a Jay Chou pose. I’m not even sure why I did that, since I don’t even listen to his music!

This was one of the fastest advertorials that I’ve ever done with all the shoots completed in a day from script to editing. It was fun to go with the flow and see what scenes came out that wasn’t planned out. Cheers to Mary and Clare for helping out on this one!

McDonald’s Gold Medal Meal Beijing 2008

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gold medal meal

McDonald’s is having a promotional meal for the Beijing 2008 Olympics which is due to commence today on 08/08/08. It’s called the Gold Medal Meal and consists of a Spicy Chicken McDeluxe, Onion Rings (or French Fries), Carbonated Drink and a Sundae for RM 14.80.

gold medal meal meal

I went to check out the promotion just now during lunch break. It’s to get into the Olympics fever and all, since the opening ceremony will be held tonight at 8 pm. The excessive amounts of eights are due to the number 8 being an auspicious figure for the Chinese.

coca cola contour glass

The Gold Medal Meal also comes with a limited edition free Coca-Cola Contour Glass. This Beijing 2008 glass features five (5) different designs – Swimming, Athletics, Basketball, Volleyball, and Archery.

gold medal us

I’m having the worst pimple outbreak in the history of my life. I’ve never had problems with pimples or acne and I’m not sure why my face looks like a pizza right now. My friend tells me I’m just having my adolescence late…at the ripe old age of 27. I think I’m going to have to get some pimple cream before the Olympics opening ceremony tonight…which means a guide to managing pimples is coming up. 🙂

gold medal meal coma

The sheer amount of food in the Gold Medal Meal is certainly a combination guaranteed to induce a post-lunch coma.
Oh well, “One World, One Dream“, right? 😉

Tasting Room wine bistro review

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tasting room

Tasting Room wine bistro is located at Bangsar above Wine Cellar. It’s a wine bistro operated by the same people who runs Wine Cellar. The interior is very tastefully decorated and there is an al fresco balcony with seating arrangements for the nicotine brigade.

tasting room interior

I went there for dinner with Nicole and Grace. I was supposed to meet up with Nicole earlier at The Curve for a late lunch after finalizing the details for my sister’s wedding in KL but she couldn’t make it so we decided on an early dinner at Tasting Room instead.

into the future

Tasting Room has a themed wine tasting menu called Wine Flights. I went for the Into The Future 3-glass experience. It’s described as “A unique opportunity to time travel” and comes with the tag “Please ask for more information or be really adventurous; take the flight and see where you end up!”

future making

Into The Future is priced at RM 35 and includes a 2006 Alkoomi Shiraz-Viognier, a 2016 Alkoomi Shiraz-Viognier and a 2026 Alkoomi Shiraz-Viognier (!). You’re supposed to compare the taste between the original 2006 Alkoomi Shiraz-Viognier (the control glass) and see how well the wine ages with time.
 
into the future paper

The three glasses of wine (all originally the 2006 Alkoomi Shiraz-Viognier) are arranged on a paper liner and the sommelier starts the process of aging the wine 10 years into the future for a taste test comparison and then 20 years into the future.

chef du vin

I’ve read about this in Nicole’s blog and it gives you the opportunity to sample wines many years into the future by using a contraption that ages wine automagically at a rate of one year per second.

future 66

I also asked to age the wine 60 years into the future to beat Nicole’s 50 year old futuristic wine and ended up tasting a 66 year old wine from the future. It did lose much of it’s taste and was rather flat in nature but hey, I drank a wine from the year 2066! =D

nicole wine

Anyway, we started off with a bottle of wine that Nicole recommended. It’s a sweet white wine with a really long and foreign name which I couldn’t for the life of me commit to memory.

spaghetti raw egg

I opted for the Spaghetti Carbonara (RM 26.90) which is served with a half cracked raw egg in the middle of the dish. I was impressed by the presentation. You’re supposed to stir in the raw egg into the pasta.

fois gras

Nicole had the customized version of the Pan Seared Fois Gras (RM 29.90) which is described as “lightly fried with enoki mushrooms and expertly paired with delicate salmon roe quiche”.

pasta duo

Grace went for the Pasta Duo (RM 29.90) which is “an unusual combination of squid-ink angel hair and green tea soba pasta served with moist and juicy pan-seared scallop”.

second bottle

We ordered another bottle of wine and ended up staying for more than two hours. The total came up to about RM 400+ which is pretty reasonable, considering the two bottles of wine that we ordered. I think this is the second most expensive dinner I’ve ever had, the first was for a bill of RM 500+ for two. 😉

tasting room us

Tasting Room is a great place for gourmet food cooked with passion and fine wine and the ambiance is perfect for conversation. The proprietor is friendly and the sommelier is very helpful. It gets two thumbs up from me.

Wine Cellar – Ambassadors of Fine Wine

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wine cellar

Wine Cellar is a dubbed as the Ambassadors of Fine Wine and they rightly deserve the title. The place has a vast selection of wines and runs regular seminars and wine tasting sessions. These people are very passionate about wine, and it shows. 

wine cellar seminar

I spent an evening there with Nicole having dinner at Tasting Room (review upcoming) and attended a wine tasting seminar entitled “How to bluff your way through Bordeaux” conducted by Ron. I love the unpretentious presentation and they seem eager to share their knowledge about wine. 

wine cellar nicole

The wine tasting seminar showcases the two types of Bordeaux wines and how to differentiate them. My palate is less than sensitive so I’m probably the worst person to be attending a wine appreciation session but I do like wine, being the tipple of choice after distilled spirits. 😉 

wine cellar afterparty

The Wine Cellar people are very down to earth and I spent an enjoyable night talking to them and drinking wine after the Chelsea match. It was at some point during the night that someone suggested Nasi Lemak Ganja (so called due to the spicy sambal, not the addition of cannabis, much to my disappointment ;)) for supper. 

nasi lemak famous

Regina drove down to the stall, which is actually called Nasi Lemak FAMOUS… 

regina chicken

…and choose several pieces of chicken for our nasi lemak. 

nasi lemak prepare

The proprietor ended up making 12 packs of nasi lemak for take away. Heh! 

nasi lemak ganja

We adjourned back to Wine Cellar and had the Nasi Lemak Ganja together with some wine and port. It actually goes quite well with the more flavorful port. 

lindsay

This is Lindsay… 

me lindsay

…and the obligatory XX Chromosome pose. 😉 

wine cellar group

Thanks for a great night people! I was quite inebriated when I ended up at Grace’s apartment and passed out, rather than slept. 😉

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