Leading the wild into the ways of the man…
I am going to miss the Coffee with Nuffies – Veen Dee session at the Nuffnang office this Friday, so a couple of us got together at Linda‘s place and made pizza! I had something stronger than coffee though. 
Full post coming up! 🙂
Photo of me and Veen Dee taken with the Sony Cyber-shot TX-5.
Lemme just share my favorite joke about the banking industry:
A little old lady goes into a bank and says she wants to open a savings account. The account person asks her how much she would like to deposit to open the account, and the little old lady says, “Three million dollars.”
The account person is startled, and says, “In what form?” and the little old lady says, “Cash. I’ve got it here in this bag.” The account person looks and, sure enough, the lady has a big grocery bag chock full of green bills with big denominations.
This is a highly unusual event, and the account person excuses herself to get the president of the bank to handle this one. He arrives, and escorts the little old lady to his office to handle it personally.
Once in his office, he asks the little old lady where she got so much money.
She says, “Gambling.”
“Gambling?” he says. “What sort of gambling?”
“Oh, I make bets with people on all sorts of things, and I usually win. For example, I’ve got one hundred thousand dollars right here that says by noon tomorrow, your balls will be square, and I’ll even give you four to one odds. You got twenty five thousand dollars you’d be willing to wager on that?” she asks.
The bank president is shocked at this sort of thing coming from a sweet little old lady, but he didn’t get to be the president of the bank without knowing something about money. “I suppose I could come up with enough to cover that sort of wager, but I wouldn’t feel right taking it from you. There’s no way you can win a bet like that!”
The little old lady just shakes the bag, and says, “I know what I’m doing. I can afford to lose, though I’m not going to. Is it a bet?”
“Okay, have it your way,” says the president, and they shook hands on it.
“See you at eleven-fifty-five tomorrow morning,” says the little old lady, and with that she leaves.
The next morning at 11:55, the little old lady arrives with a younger man in a three-piece suit, and is escorted to the bank president’s office. The president is a nervous wreck, though a happy one. He’s gotten almost no sleep last night, waking every few minutes to feel his balls to check for impending squareness, but nothing happened all night. He has checked hundreds of times that morning, but still nothing.
When the little old lady arrives, he starts to relax, knowing he has won.
“Come in, please have a seat! Who might this gentleman be?” says the president.
“He’s my lawyer. For a bet of this size I want to have a witness. Any objections?”
“No, perfectly understandable,” says the president. “Well, it’s now noon, and I’m still unchanged, so I guess I win!”
“Not so fast!” says the little old lady. “For a hundred grand I want to verify things personally! Please drop your pants.”
The bank president is a bit flustered, but agrees that in her position he’d want proof as well, so he drops his pants. The little old lady goes over to him and reaches out to feel the organs in question.
“Okay, you win, here’s your hundred grand,” says the little old lady, handing over a bag of bills. As she does so, her lawyer starts banging his head against the wall and moaning.
“What’s wrong with him?” asks the bank president.
“Oh, he’s just upset. Poor loser if you ask me. You see, we had a million dollar bet that I would have the President of the bank by the balls by noon today.”
You just gotta love them. They practically put you in debt for life from credit cards, and in addition to that there are mysterious fees for anything and everything which no one but people in the banking industry would understand, at the end all that’s left for you to do is to find professional debt help.
I, for one, cannot comprehend the fees that are charged to me, and I have three bank accounts, which makes it worse. I usually don’t care much about that but a recent experience left me with more than a bad taste in my mouth.
Keep in mind that I used the SAME bank on the SAME day for this:
1. I withdrew RM 5,000 from an ATM (my max limit)
2. I used a credit card to withdraw ANOTHER RM 5,000 from my credit card inside the Genting casino (max)
3. Within 30 minutes, I withdrew RM 21,000 from my savings account from their branch in Genting (ALL the money in my account)
Hello? I know it’s not your responsibility to be your customer’s brother’s keeper but how on Earth can I make that last RM 21,000 withdrawal, emptying my account, when I was visibly intoxicated, at a casino, and you know very well that I have done RM 31,000 in withdrawals in a day.
I think I have a set a limit to my daily withdrawals but all I had to do was to waltz in, sign for a RM 21,000 withdrawal, pass it to the bank personnel and ABRACADABRA:
RM 21,000 in RM 100 notes appeared in front of me.
No checks at all! I just had to fill in my account number, name and pass them my MyKad and in 5 minutes, I was out of the bank with more than 20k in cash.
…and the best part was, I just scribbled my signature coz I was too intoxicated to sign.
What if someone else got hold of my account number? I would have lost RM 21,000 just like that. Besides, I’m pretty sure I have set a limit to my daily withdrawals (gotta check on this) from one of my ex-girlfriend’s advice due to my impulsive nature.
I would love to explore the option of contesting that 21k withdrawal and approval in just 5 minutes when I was less-than-sober but I don’t have enough money now to hire a lawyer to look into it. 🙁
Also, I believe in personal responsibility, and I take all the blame for that. However, things could have been done better. A RM 21,000 account emptying withdrawal after my ATM and credit card limit has been maxed out should have raised a red flag no?
I also remember the time when I had to wait in queue for ages to get my ATM card replaced when I lost it. There was one perfectly good counter with the person doing nothing but taking PERSONAL phone calls, but noooo that counter was deemed CLOSED (with the appropriate signage to show that it was indeed, CLOSED for all and sunder to see). My primary bank is also extremely slow in getting my credit card approved for overseas use as I travel quite a lot. Waiting on the phone for 30 minutes (!!!) is not uncommon. 🙁
I know people who are saddled with debt from credit cards, fast personal loan approvals (WTF did you actually check my credit before you did that?) and other dubious things that the banking institution do (and get away with).
It makes me wonder though…am I with the wrong banks? Can Banking Be Better?
The slithery one who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden is served in a course of sorts in China. It’s like Peking duck, the entire snake is prepared and consumed. Your epicurean journey starts with picking the snake you want (snakes are generally quite expensive even by Malaysian standards).
The live snake is killed before your eyes (making it dead – call me King of Stating the Obvious) and the expert chef stems the flow of blood from the decapitation of the reptilian by some kung fu application to certain veins and arteries.
The snake blood is the first course of the meal.
Next comes the snake gall served in a glass of high proof alcohol.
The snake is de-scaled and the snake skin is served as a tasty appetizer.
You can also opt to have a snake head wine at this point.
However, I’m going to get into the meat of the post (pun intended) by describing the main course – snake meat. It’s cooked to perfection, Guilin style. I chose the cooking method that is recommended by the chef, a Guilin resident.
How does snake meat taste like? Well, I’ve had python before – that was tough and rather dry. However, this tiny little snake makes for a delicious main meal. There are bones but a surprising amount of meat attached to it as well.
I found snake meat to be juicy and while I’ll like to say that it tastes like chicken, it does not. 
Snake meat has a very distinctive taste. Words will not do justice to it (you have to try it for yourself, just like the Matrix). It’s tender and juicy, adjectives I would never expect to describe snake meat with, based on past experience.
It’s a little bit on the sweet side too. If I was forced at gunpoint to describe how it tastes like, I’ll say it tastes like the breast meat of chicken crossed with veal. The texture is a little like eel (but not really) – it’s hard to describe, it’s kinda like that but has more of a meat mouthfeel.
I thoroughly enjoyed the meal and finished the entire Snake Experience (TM). It is really good stuff. Do not miss the chance to taste snake meat if you come across a live one. It’s just that good!
Aquaphobia
(noun)
An abnormal fear of water
I like to bring around a compact camera that I can slip into my pocket for capturing moments – it’s like an auxiliary brain for me. I bring a digicam everywhere and if you’re clumsy person like me, you’ve no doubt dropped your digicam countless of times.
I have even dropped it in a waterfall, much to my chagrin. The digicam was a complete write off but luckily the memory card was still intact. Sigh. The quote which goes “Fire, water and government know nothing of mercy” is true indeed…until now! (at least the water part)
I have recently acquired a Sony Cyber-shot TX5 camera which meets all my requirements – it’s water-proof, shock-proof, dust-proof and even temperature-proof!
I decided to take it for a spin up in Genting under different conditions to see how well this camera performs. I intended to go to Fraser’s Hill but decided that Genting gives me a more exhaustive repertoire of lighting conditions and shooting opportunities.
This is my favorite photo. The Cyber-shot TX5 has excellent low light performance. I used the Handheld Twilight mode and it captured all the psychedic details in this rave-meets-bowling center perfectly.
I haven’t bowled in years and Naomi beat me by 3 points. >.< It was luck more than anything, I got a strike once and a spare in another but most of my attempts went down the drain (pun intended).
The next day was spent at the theme park where I covertly recorded several of the rides. *feels like James Bond* 
This video illustrates just how good the recording frame rate of the Sony Cyber-shot TX5 is. It’s that ride in Genting called Space Shot where you drop so fast the seat of your pants actually lifts off the ride for a second.
The best thing about the video recording function in the TX5 is that it records in Full HD at 1280 x 720! I wish I had this when I went to KK coz my other digicam only records at a paltry 640 x 480 – which was awesome…in the 90’s. >.<
I also like the easy mode switching in the TX5 – there’s Scene Selection, Anti Motion Blur, Inteligent Auto Adjustment and…iSweep Panorama!
A very angry Whopper
Okay, now here’s some proper shots in Gourmet Mode:
I went to Manhattan Fish Market to check out their new offerings – it’s a new menu based on American Idol:
Manhattan Idol.
Flamin’ Tuna Pie. They really mean flaming when they say it, the cheese is heated until it’s warm.
Awesome presentation and a great dish but my favorite, hands down goes to:
Shrimp on the Rocks. Fresh and juicy shrimps served on a bed of ice with Cajun Honey Mustard as the dip. Delicious!
Well, if you’re been using digicams for a long time you’ll know how difficult it is to get panoramic shots in the past. It used to be all manual – take a photo and part of that will show up for you to align with your next shot. It’s just painful to have to do that and most of the time it doesn’t come out right.
However, with the iSweep Panorama mode, you just need to literally sweep your Cyber-shot TX5 to capture a panoramic scene! The wonders of modern technology!
Underwater video is a breeze to use too. You might get a couple of weird looks since water-proof digicams aren’t that common (underwater casings alone sometimes costs more than the actual digicam). I’ve actually gotten stares and even a shouted warning – “Hey, careful, your camera is touching the water!“. Haha!
Unlike the bulky monsters in the small water-proof digicam segment, the Sony Cyber-shot TX5 manages to come up with a tough water-proof, shock-proof, dust-proof and temperature-proof digicam that is sleek and slim. You’ll be proud of slipping this baby out when you need to take photos and it’s sturdy enough to go anywhere with you.
Even underwater so you can take photos like this:
Trust me, a water-proof digicam is a sound investment – hey, water damage is pretty common, someone might even spill their cocktail on your camera on a weekend night out. 😉
You have the option of taking photos is 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio too!
Nuffnang is running a contest called My Water Moments – just take a photo and explain how it connects to the theme of The World’s Slimmest Water-proof camera. Hint: Write about how the photo would be improved if you have a water-proof digicam like the Cyber-shot TX5. It’s water-proof up to 3 meters! You also need to mention the features of the cam before submitting the URL here.
The best 3 entries will be given a free Sony Cyber-shot TX5 digicam! =D
The Sony Cyber-shot TX5 retails for only RM 1,499 and comes with the ExmorR sensor for low light performance. It has a burst mode capable of 10 frames per second at 10.2 MP which makes it ideal for me for those of you who’ve endured my constant requests of taking several shots in a row coz the perfectionist in me demands the best shot. Heh!
Now, I’ll only need to ask you to take one photo…in burst mode.
It is very popular to drink a concoction of high proof rice wine with the gall from a freshly killed snake in China. I’m not sure about the folklore behind it, but as with most Chinese “tonics” it’s supposed to boost your virility/gives you courage/(insert superlative).
The gall is prepared separately from the snake blood – it’s supposed to be done in two courses. The snake was gutted and the gall extracted before being plonked into the high alcohol content rice wine. The more poisonous the snake, the more sought after the gall is. I’m not sure how toxic it is to eat snake gall, I didn’t Google it before I actually ate it (and not even after that).
I didn’t swallow the gall wholesale, I wanted to taste it so I bit down on it and it burst in my mouth, filling it with juicy and possibly poisonous goo. I can’t say I could taste anything though coz the alcohol numbed my taste buds and it tastes like raw offal anyway.
Well, like I said in the video, I’m still alive and I still highly recommend it for the full snake experience!
Nest egg
Which came first? The chicken or the egg? I think that question is best left for philosophers to ponder upon. More importantly, what do you think of the pun in my caption? 
Alright, the pun wouldn’t make sense until later in the post. I attended the SaFegg Healthy Living Talkshow last week where the concept of pasteurized eggs was introduced to us. It wasn’t a drab and dull event where you struggle to stay awake and wish you had a toothpick to prop your eyelids up, but a rather educational one. The lavish spread in Hilton’s ballroom prepared using the very same eggs is icing on top of the cake.
The glistening silverware almost had me shielding my eyes. :p
I have seen these eggs in Cold Storage before and I even use it to cook. The first thing that came into mind when I first saw these eggs is that it’s very atas eggs. I love the packaging and each individual egg has a use-by date printed on it. I was amazed. I didn’t know much about it though until a couple of weeks later when I went to this event.
SaFeggs is the first and only pasteurized egg in Malaysia and the technology behind it is from Korea. These eggs are carefully selected, checked for hairline cracks and coated with a protective layer of mineral oil before pasteurization to keep it fresh for longer.
As Professor Gulam Rasul from USM puts it, the pasteurization process kills bacteria, which is the main cause of salmonella and e-coli poisoning. Pasteurization is not a new process – it has been used for ages in milk, but not eggs. The term is derived from a certain man who discovered that he could kill most bacteria by heating liquids in 1862.
You have this bearded fellow (heard it’s all the rage back then) to thank for it. Mr. Louis Pasteur. Or Monsieur Pasteur since he’s French. Heh!
Anyway, back to the SaFegg Healthy Living Talkshow, I found out that a normal egg has a transparent egg white while a bacteria-free egg looks opaque! The special packaging it comes in also increases the shelf life of Safegg for up to 60 days.
It is safe enough to even consume raw for all of you body building enthusiasts out there who cracks 20 eggs into a protein shake and chugs it before hitting the gym and bench pressing 200 kgs.
The Korean representative also cracked a joke (pardon the pun) about his next egg project. I was the only one who chuckled though, which makes me wonder if I was the only who got it. It certainly won’t pass FDA regulations if anyone thought he was serious.
The eggs in the green packaging also contains DHA which helps your brain (very useful for me, considering the devastation I have done to my cerebral cortex in my hedonistic lifestyle ;)), heart and eyes.
It’s a little bit more expensive than regular eggs but consider it as an investment towards your health. That’s where the pun in the caption comes in. Geddit? 😉
After the talk, we were ushered into the grand ballroom. I think I can speak for everyone when I say I didn’t expect such a fine dining experience when the agenda lists “Refreshments”. This is a far cry from what I would call refreshments – there are dedicated stations where you can order eggs in any style you want – poached, sunny side up, scrambled, soft boiled, and the list goes on.
You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
The buffet lineup was also rather impressive, with lamb and fresh salmon on the menu.
However, the thing that really resonates with me is their desserts – creme brulee being my favorite. They also have a lot of cakes on offer (this is why Malaysians consume an respectable 305 eggs per person per year – a lot of food contains eggs) but I was content with attempting to finish all their eggnog.
This may be the best eggnog I’ve ever had. In case you didn’t know, eggnog is usually a Christmas drink so I was pleasantly surprised to see it here. It’s made with Safeggs like all the food and drinks during lunch. Oh, and it also contains brandy and rum. I had quite a few of these.
I think it was at that point that I decided I could never have the patience to eat a soft boiled egg properly and decided to throw decorum out of the window and just slurp it from the egg holder.
We got a goodie bag with cartons of SaFeggs, an egg holder and an automatic soft boiled egg maker. Nifty. I love soft boiled eggs and have at one point in my life consumed 32 eggs (no joke) in a single sitting mixed with lots of pepper and soy sauce.
Egg-cellent!
Not an ordinary egg? Yup, egg-actly. 🙂
You know this cliched phrase right? Our time on Earth is full of ups and downs. However, it seems that my life as of late has been nothing but a series of downs.
I lost nearly RM 50,000 in a month on the tables when I should have used that that to pay for my condo down payment. I have to move out in October so it would take a very long time for me to get this back again.
My mother was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and had to go for a operation to remove part of her lung.
Hell, if I was a lesser man, I might have just thrown in the towel and stepped of the edge of a very tall building. 😉
However, I am a firm believer in family. My dad has always preached and practised agape. It’s a Greek word meaning unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful love. That is what family means to me. We care for each other – we support each other in times of need, we remain strong for each other, and we celebrate our milestones in life.
Family is about being there for each other – I flew down to New Zealand to be with my mom during her operation and I don’t know how many times my dad and mom has been there for me during my darkest times.
Sure, we have our disagreements just like any other family but I think we’ll have a fighting chance in the Exora My Unbeatable Family that’s going to be airing soon on 8TV. 
Exora My Unbeatable Family is a reality TV series about families competing with each other using a Proton Exora.
The Proton Exora is an MPV that can easily seat 7 people and starts at a very affordable RM 57,548. Families don’t come as large as they used to so I imagine most of the challenges and obstacles in Exora My Unbeatable Family would have something to do with the flexible seating configuration that allows you to rearrange the seats into space.
The teams will complete challenges every week and there will be an elimination process every week until the grand final!
It looks rather promising so don’t forget to tune in to 8TV at 7 pm every Sunday. You can also catch it on Astro Channel 708. Go to 8tv.com.my for more information!
There is also a weekly contest where you can win a RM 500 cash prize. Surf over to www.protonexora.tv for details!
P/S – You can even view the episodes online!
I went to the launch of World Milk Day 2010 in Pavilion, KL two days ago to witness and participate in the Malaysian Book of Records attempt for the Largest Milk Drinking Event ever.
There were throngs of people there and Dutch Lady was handing out packs of their limited edition UHT milk to the 3,200 (!!!) people in this record breaking feat. The initial target was 2,500 people but they managed to get way more than that.
Oh, and I bumped into Amber Chia! (must put two photos
)
I also spotted the TV3 crew – they were there to document the event and I tried to spot the videographers but I reckon it’s a bit of a challenge to get yourself into the lens with the massive crowd that was there. 😉
The day started with a welcoming address by Bas van den Berg and the usual speeches before we were briefed on the record breaking attempt.
There was a countdown by the drummer before the live crossover to TV3 (gotta check if I managed to get in the shot) before the 20 minute attempt was done smack dab in the packed area outside the mall.
Thinner. Remember that Stephen King book written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman?
My fellow participants.
Malaysian Book of Records!
Rita Rudner is famous for saying that “In Hollywood, a marriage is a success if it outlasts milk“. Well, I’m not one to argue with that but we managed to achieve, nay, surpass the record! This is the Malaysian Book of Records adjudicator presenting the certificate to Dutch Lady.
The event wasn’t over though – activities galore was held throughout the day.
I particularly liked the one by the cheer leading team.
Don’t get me wrong, the reason I enjoyed it was purely out of…er, scientific interest. Milk provides energy and I wanted to see and behold with my own very eyes just how much energy it can provide for a 1 hour cheer leading routine. 😉
There were free milk giveaways and performances. There was also a flag off of the Dutch Lady World Milk Day Convoy out to distribute milk packs nationwide.
1st June (today!) is designated as World Milk Day where the virtues of consuming this dairy product is celebrated around the world as well as the act of consuming milk. Dutch Lady will also be giving out free milk packs at toll plazas at all major highways today. This is not just limited to Peninsula Malaysia but Kuching too, so go grab one!
Dutch Lady is also running a contest called Spread the Goodness of Milk where you get a chance to win prizes worth RM 1,000,000 from just guessing the number of milk packets by type and answering two easy questions. You can even win a HOUSE! Get more details here!
