HB

A long, personal journey worth having.

Wardrobe woes

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shopping

The people who know me personally always give me a lot of grief about my wardrobe, or rather, the lack thereof. I keep turning up in the same outfits every single time. It’s not that I have a drought in the attire department, but rather I have a few favorite shirts that I keep on wearing.

This is compounded by the fact that I am an impulsive shopper. Worse still, I am an impulsive shopper who tends to get the urge to shop at totally random moments (usually twice a year) and comes back with a shitload of clothes, most of which I wouldn’t wear (see favorite shirts above).

sale

I don’t go during sales or the usual periods people shop – I go when I feel like it. This is generally detrimental to my financial wellbeing as I shop on credit so when the credit card statement comes at the end of the month, my reactions range from being slightly taken aback to downright horror.

I have several credit cards but no debit card so when I saw Alliance Bank’s Debit Mastercard I decided to take it for a spin. I had an urge to shop and decided that a debit card would be a better one to use during my retail forays.

Yes, contrary to popular belief, I do actually shop for clothes – else, where would all my shirts come from? smirk

I set RM 750 as my daily spending limit – no more RM 5,000+ credit card bills (happened to me a couple of times). I hit the shopping malls and got the stuff that I really need. I decided that this time I’m going to buy items that I will wear regularly instead of one off items like the RM 575 jacket I got two months ago which I’ve only worn once.

Quiksilver board shorts

board shorts

This is one item I don’t have in my wardrobe. I have Speedos and Bermuda shorts but nothing even resembling board shorts. Why would a 29 year old who doesn’t surf need board shorts? Well, it’s perfect as beach wear! I had a string of beach vacations planned and I thought this would be a good investment.

buy board shorts

Price: RM 269

DC skate shoes

dc

Yes, I know I’m not a 16 year old skater boi anymore but can’t a man revisit the prime of his life? :p

old shoes

Besides, I haven’t bought a pair of shoes in ages, I’m still wearing almost 2 year old adidas tennis shoes. I figure it’s time to change the tatty pair of smelly shoes for some new ones.

dc shoes

DC shoes is not a brand I would choose to buy but one of my ex-girlfriends really loved the brand and bought a pair of them back from Australia for me. I spotted the DC footwear line and decided to get a pair – it’s useful for weekends and it’s also a pair of sneakers so it’s quite comfortable to wear.

Mark and Spencer vests

mark and spencer

This is an essential item in all men’s wardrobes. I didn’t know that until a recent image consultancy that I went for. I’ve never had the habit of wearing singlets or anything like that under my shirts.

cotton vest

To be perfectly honest, I think that practice is incredibly old fashioned and slightly repulsive as only octogenarians (like my late granddad) do that so he can wear his shirts more often without the need to wash it.

vest

However, during my image consultancy, I was told that wearing a vest under your work shirt actually bulks you up and makes you look buff and more authoritative. I’m all for that so I grabbed a couple to wear when I go to work. smirk

It’s RM 79 for 3 x 100% cotton vests so it’s a pretty good investment.

I spent less than RM 750 that day which is really good. That’s the benefit debit cards give you – you don’t spend on credit, you only spend what you have. Even better, I set RM 750 as the daily spending limit and the transaction bounced during the Mark and Spencer purchase so I took a pack of vests out. Nifty, eh?

alliance debit card

I’m using the Alliance Bank Standard Debit Card under HYBRID savings and the best thing about this card is that you get instant 1% cash back on all your purchases. It goes up to 2% cash back for the Premium version. I also really liked the financial control the card affords you. You can set a daily spending limit like what I did so you won’t go over a pre-planned amount that you’re willing to spend.

With more than 1.4 million ATMs around Malaysia, you won’t have any trouble changing your spending limit too! Find out more at my.alliancedebitcard.com.

Autumn in Korea!

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autumn

I really like this photo – there’s another one where there’s a shower of leaves (artificially made by good ol’ elbow grease) in Mookie’s cam. I just got back to KL after partying in Seoul at this club called Noise Basement till 5 am last night. I had to rush and shower and quickly pack to catch the ride to the airport at 6 am. Heh!

That’s why I’m brain dead now…post again tomorrow!

A warning about Amsterdam Coffeeshops

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coffeeshop amsterdam

I didn’t sleep much on the flight to Amsterdam from London so one of the first things I did was to pop into a coffeeshop and grab an old fashioned cup of coffee. I reckon a mug of Joe would warm me up and give me the caffeine hit to see all the sights Amsterdam has to offer.

smoking room

The first sense that something wasn’t quite right was the wonderful smell wafting tantalizingly out of the coffeeshops. It smelled herbal but it’s not cigarettes. I didn’t think much of it – if people wanted to smoke cigars or whatever it was they smoked over in the Netherlands, they’re free to do so.

coffeeshop menu

I entered the coffeeshop and looked at the menu in confusion. Super Lemon Haze? White Widow? Amnesia Haze? Afgani Polm?

cannabis strains

The coffee beans in Amsterdam sure has some weird ass names. I figured it was a direct Dutch to English translation so I just pointed to one that won some kind of award in 2009 and the nice person behind the counter showed me the product.

amnesia haze

It looked more like tea than coffee but perhaps that’s what coffee looks like over here. It’s my first time here so what the hell. There is another type of coffee which looks more like coffee though so I ordered that instead.

weighing hash

It came as a huge shock to me when it came to my table. It’s called Nepal First Cream and it came in a sticky goo that you’re supposed to crumble it into a smoking device (which I later learned is called a bong) and light it up.

nepal first cream hash

I was horrified! The proverbial light bulb came on and I realized what I was being offered. Cannabis! Hash! The travesty of it all! I couldn’t believe it and stormed out of the coffeeshop with righteous anger and my head held high with the THC laden hashish left untouched on the table.

Imagine that! Hmph! What has the world come to? action

We will, we will, rock you!

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bath

I bumped into a group celebrating their hen’s night out at Bath, London a couple of days back. It was a short visit to Bath but I learned a lot about the Roman Baths and the architecture behind Bath.

I had a piece of news flashed to me while I was there. Mind you, I’ve seen Proton cars in London and it never ceases to amaze me what they’ve done.

china raft

However, this is not about that. The Proton team went to the Asia Pacific Rally Championship in China and it brought me back to my vacation on the trip before last to Guilin, China.

harrods shopping

The Proton Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) win made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. It’s the feeling much like buying gifts for friends – you don’t get anything out of it but knowing that you’re thinking of your friends while on vacation and making them happy makes you happy. You know what I mean?

china rafts

Of course this is not the rally but it still has a lot of hallmarks of it. I went on one of the old skool rafts and we were navigating out of time (and space) to get back in time before the bus departs.

I can relate to how the Proton team at the China Rally feels like. The Satria Neo S2000 is one of the 24 out of 44 starters that finished the race.

Not only did they complete the course in Longyou city against much more established motorsports teams but they placed second in the race! w00t!

proton-s2000b

Alister McRae and Chris Atkinson were the drivers behind the China Rally manoeuvring the Satria Neo S2000. Proton has always been the underdog and I’m glad they have the same mentality as I do – to rise above all odds and challenge The Establishment (TM).

I’ve driven the consumer version of the Satria Neo and I’m not surprised that they managed to finish second. Proton also had 4 Gen2s that finished the gruelling 229.19 km rally.

china

I have to be honest. This is one of the things that makes me proud to say I’m a Malaysian when I’m on vacation. 🙂

How I WON 200 pounds and LOST 1,100 pounds

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This is a tragic tale of why you shouldn’t gamble on vacations. T_T

casino

I didn’t spend a lot – most of it was on meals, beer and stuff for people so I still had a lot of pound sterling left. It got to a point where I had to put my wallet in my coat instead of my pants pocket coz it was bulging so badly I couldn’t stuff it in.

The GBP 200 win

I was about to have lunch on Sunday when I noticed that everywhere was closed coz the eating establishments open from 12 pm onwards and I had an hour to kill.

I went into a sbobet mobile – it’s a very small operation with 3 roulette tables and 2 blackjack tables plus a couple of slot machines. I went in and got 400 pounds worth of chips as my buy in. The interesting thing about their roulette tables is that it’s yellow and black instead of red and black.

casino 100 pound chips

I thought that was interesting and put down 200 pounds (the maximum bet limit) on yellow. Lo and behold, around and round the ball it goes and what number it drops on I do not know but it’s a yellow number. =D

I snapped a picture of the GBP 200 pound win and cashed out 600 pounds (400 pounds was my original buy in). w00t! *pops champagne bottle and pours a bubbly for everyone and all that

I thought this 200 pound (RM 1,000) would be nice to pay for my excess baggage home.

The GBP 1,100 loss

Anyway, just a couple of hours ago I got off a bus at Victoria Coach Station and said goodbye to a friend. I had two options – go back and pack (it was dark and I was really tired) and head to the airport for Amsterdam…

OR

Go to the lucky William Hill betting place where I won my GBP 100 for the lousy exchange rate I got the first day.

This was a losing streak so bad I embarrass myself recounting it. The roulette machine’s maximum bet limit was GBP 100 – I went in with a decision that I’ll bet 100 pounds on Black on the first spin and then 100 pounds on Odd on the second spin.

I figured this extra 200 pounds will help offset the exchange rate deficit since I’m going to be exchanging at least 1,300 pounds when I get back.

Well, I had to wait behind this dude who was playing 20 pence roulette so it took a while for him to finish. After he’s done I went and put 200 pound into the machine. I wanted to go for red since there was a bit of a red dragon going on but I remembered the Black-Odd routine and did that instead.

I lost. I went for Odd and lost again. T_T

I fed in another GBP 400 into the machine (for a 600 pound total now) and lost 4 times in a row.

Un-fucking-belivable.

It would be damn hard to get up from a 600 pound loss so I had a choice of walking away or hoping for a very unlikely last minute rally. I chose the latter and put in another 300 pounds into the machine.

The cashier at William Hill had to stop me coz the notes compartment was full and he took out the cash and rebooted the machine. Sigh. That was my money.

Anyway, with 300 pounds I had to go for numbers. I went for 10 numbers with 10 pounds each round (max bet limit) so the odds are slightly better than ¼ for a 36 times return. I swear Lady Luck was against me coz I thought I pressed 33 but apparently I didn’t. It came out 29, which I also didn’t put despite it being one of my favorite numbers (my age).

The next round was a savior round, if I had taken it. I didn’t pick 29 this time but 10 other random numbers coz I figured it won’t come out twice in a row. That was my lifeline, given by The Lord but I didn’t take it. T_T

29 came out TWICE in a row. Arrrghhhhh!

I’m down to my last 100 pounds and again I did not listen to the voice of God, resigning myself to fate and pressing random numbers. The result was a 6. A fucking 6 which I always get but didn’t in the last round coz I expected to lose.

I walked out with the tail between my legs having lost 900 pounds. That’s more than RM 4,500.

william hill dog races

Anyway, I was walking home, dejected when I saw another William Hill and though hmm…why not? I’ve already lost so much anyway.

I went in, asked what the quickest race was (it was a dog race) and quickly bet 100 pounds on some random canine. He didn’t even place. T_T

william hill betting slips

I decided to split my bets for the second round since this is not an even payout – the odds can be as high as 16 times so I can easily recoup my losses from a 50 pound bet.

I bet 50 on one horse and 50 on another – one a favorite to win and one a long shot with a high payout.

william hill dog races

Both of my dogs didn’t even get into the top 3. T_T

Total loss: GBP 1,100 in about 20 minutes. That’s over a RM 5,000 loss (more if you factor in the loss in currency conversion).

What you can do with RM 5,000:
Buy a nice d-SLR
Go on an exotic holiday to Egypt
Buy a new notebook

I could have used that RM 5,000 to squeeze in another trip to Iran before the end of the year. 🙁

Third time is not the charm. I should have just gone home instead of trying to win a measly 200 pounds and losing 1,100 pounds in the process. It was a mistake to head in when I still had one leg of my vacation to go. Oh well.

I stopped betting coz I only had 1,000 pounds left and I needed to change that to Euros to go to Amsterdam. Now I’m here at the airport. I just paid 20 pounds to store my excess luggage for two days while I fly to Amsterdam and I’m starving but I don’t want to eat until I’m in Amsterdam coz the things here are so expensive.

I’m even too cheap to pay GBP 9.95 for 24 hour Internet access at the airport so I’m going to post this when I’m in Amsterdam.

I go die now. Kthxbai.

Written: 4:35 am London time (GMT 0)

Posted: 11:42 am Amsterdam time (GMT +1)

Greetings from London!

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london

Hello! This is the obligatory “I iz here” post. I am where GMT is exactly that – zero! I’ve been up for quite a while, my body thinks it’s 8 pm when it’s actually only 12 pm. T_T

alex sharon

I didn’t manage to get much sleep last night too but you know the oft repeated phrase “Small world, huh?” Yup, I bumped into Alex and Sharon in London! I asked them about a bus route and later we bumped into each other while waiting for the coach and he asked if I was sixthseal.com coz my face looks familiar. See you both in Amsterdam!

Anyway, back to London, it looks old…er, I mean it has character at first glance. The skies are a little bit gloomy and it drizzled almost non-stop. >.<

kind local

I have a very good first impression of this city though. I got a little lost on my way to the hostel where I’m backpacking and asked a hurried looking woman on the street the way. I expected her to walk on saying she didn’t know but she stopped, rummaged around in her handbag for a book and patiently consulted it and told me where to go. She said that book/map is the only way she manages to find the way around the city. Good first encounter with the locals – willing to help despite being in a hurry.

I’m waiting to check into my hostel right now, having a pint of their fine local draft beers. Let me just give you a brief run through of what happened after I got here:

breakfast

Grabbed a full traditional English breakfast with two pints of the local ale. Where else can you have a pint at 9 am in the morning without having weird looks, nay, with other people doing the same thing! =D

milk

Went to the local and bought some essentials and this creamy milk – it’s unhomogenized fresh milk from Jersey cows and it tastes awesome!

I made a huge mistake by exchanging the bulk of my currency at the airport. I got a 5.8 exchange rate instead of a 5.1 exchange rate in KL, resulting in a loss of GBP 80 (around RM 400). I saw that the exchange rates are more favorable in town so it’s still okay to change your money here, just not at airports.

roulette

Anyway, I decided to take matters into my own hands and get back the GBP 80 by stepping into one of the many betting places over here. They operate kinda like the Aussie betting spots – horses etc with a couple of pokies machines thrown in. However this one offers Bacarrat!

roulette win

I inserted GBP 100 and bet GBP 40 on Red – and won! I bet another GBP 40 and lost, and the losing streak continued till I finished my GBP 100. I put in another GBP 200 (swearing that if I lost this, I’m going to go) and started betting consistantly GBP 100 (about RM 500) per spin. I kept on losing and winning and lost the GBP 200.

winning slip

I damn won’t give up lor and put in another GBP 200 (for total buy in of GBP 500). I bet GBP 100 each round again and kept on losing and winning and was about to give up and just write off the GBP 500 (RM 2,500) loss until I went on a winning streak.

It was a tough battle but in the end I managed to get GBP 600. w00t!

pound winnins

That’s a GBP 100 (RM 500) net profit after my GBP 500 buy in. I managed to cover the GBP 80 loss in exchange rate and have a nice breakfast and a couple of pints courtesy of the machine to boot. 😉

600 pounds me

God Bless the Queen! =D

pints

I’m heading down to Stonehenge and the Roman Baths tomorrow. Catch you on the flipside!

Posted: 1:11 pm London time

Hail to the King, baby!

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Okay, I’m back and I’ve survived the migration from MT to WP.

It’s a lot harder than it seems at first coz I have 8 fucking years of blog entries so I’m going to have to double check on whether it all came out fine.

london

Anyway, in other news, I’ll be heading off to London this Thursday. =D

w00t!

Happy Deepavali everyone! I’ve got an early meeting tomorrow so I’ll post tomorrow night. Thanks for reading and yes, I will fix the fugly site layout soon. 😉

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