HB

A long, personal journey worth having.

My 29th birthday

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Unlike previous years, my birthday wasn’t half bad this time around.

Most interesting tradition

birthday cake

Taking out birthday candles from a cake…with your teeth. It’s a messy affair. Thanks for the people at work for the cake and the attempt to get a beer or alcohol flavored one for me!

Most effort via electronic means

birthday mail

Mel did this birthday sign and sent it via email to me. 🙂

Most delicious present

birthday crab dinner

Crabs in hot and sour sauce from Jerine. She bought me a dinner at King Crab (and also a bottle of Macallen single malt).

Most thoughtful gift

birthday wallet

A wallet from Michelle. I have been using my wallet for a while now and it’s a bit worse for wear (probably coz of the large amounts of cash I stuff inside before my Genting runs !hi) and she noticed it.

Thanks for all the well wishes via text, Twitter, Facebook, phone calls et al. You’ve all made my birthday a special one. Cheers! 🙂

RM 500 bribe for failing a breathalyser test

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fuck the police

I had four drinks. FOUR. I was sober as hell when I drove home. I was praying to the heavens above that there won’t be a road block coz I’m a cop magnet.

Guess what?

No don’t guess, you know from the title of the post.

I kena road block. Jalan Kuching while going back from Zouk.

The first car was stopped, the second car was let go, and I was hoping mine would be too since I was ferrying 2 girls and didn’t look too dodgy.

Alas.

That was not meant to be.

The police asked me if I had drank tonight. I wanted to be truthful so I said yes, a little.

Enter breathalyser.

I blew (cheated coz I held air in my mouth and exhaled halfway).

The cops asked me to do it again and I failed. There isn’t even any indication of how much I have exceeded the limit. It can’t be much since 1 drink per hour is the usual rule of thumb.

I was told to get out of the car and you know the drill. Go to police station, blood test if you want to contest the breathalyser and overnight in jail.

I said I’ll settle it for RM 300.

The police refused. They had the BALLS to ask me to go back to my car and ask my friends for money. They took another look at me and said I had to go for a urine test too. WTF????

I went back and rummaged further and discovered I had RM 400. Mich passed me RM 100 and I told her not to give me anymore, not going to pay the pigs so much.

The fucking porker came over and I said RM 500 is all I have and passed it to him.

He was pretty happy and let me go, even telling me that there is an (unopened) can of beer in my car. It’s been there forever!

I am giving the middle finger here as a big fuck you to the men in blue not coz of the DUI (wasn’t even drunk but I shall not comment further). I’m not saying they are assholes for probably messing with the breathalyser to fail everyone who has taken a single sip. I am not angry at them for doing their job, staying up late at night, manning road blocks so your tax money is hard at work GETTING THEM SIDE INCOME.

I am pissed off coz they had the audacity to get me to ask my friends for more money.

Hello PDRM? It is my fault, what’s it gotta do with them? BTW, you have corrupted cops (not that it’s breaking news – it’s stale as a 4 year old slice of bread) every weekend pocketing money from people driving home from clubs.

…and to all the sanctimonious fucks out there, get off your fucking high horse – it happens to everyone. Yes, I was over the limit but 4 drinks within 3 hours isn’t that much. Yes, it is technically wrong to bribe cops. I’ll like to see you stick to your untested rationale when you’re damn tired and just want to go home and is threatened with a night in jail and a urine test. We’ll see what you’ll do then. Judge not lest ye be judged yourself.

Oh, and of course I know certain opportunist parties out there will say “See, that’s why you shouldn’t sit in Huai Bin’s car” and trying to pass it of as a joke. YOU are the joke my friend. Everyone knows you slam others in front of everyone else, I don’t know about other people but I certainly don’t take you seriously. I think you’re a malicious little fuck.

Anyway, if you don’t like reading rants, please go watch Barney the cute purple dinosaur on TV. Yeah, switch on that idiot box.

Ending on a more positive note, thanks Mich, you’re an angel. Cheers for agreeing to take over the wheel after that just in case there are more road blocks and for everything else. <3

Chuan Kee Bak Kut Teh

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chuan kee cook

Chuan Kee Bak Kut Teh is located somewhere along the Genting-Klang road. Please do not attempt to get there without a GPS. It’s impossible. Fresh lives around that area and it took me and Michelle quite a while to find her place a couple of days ago.

chuan kee bkt

We were headed out to dinner without a particular destination in place. I was about to go to a seafood restaurant when Fresh said that she was feeling like BKT. Hot damn! I felt like BKT too. Unfortunate for Mich who just had BKT for lunch. *pat pat*

chuan kee crowd

Anyway, it was surprising to find the place PACKED despite the obscurity and…er, sheer ulu-ness of the area. I wouldn’t be surprised to find a BKT place in Klang full of hungry customers, but in this area? Hmm…

chuan kee pork intestines

This is pig intestines/stomach soup with lots of pepper. I love this dish.

We also ordered a couple of other dishes:

chuan kee pork dish

I can’t read Chinese so Michelle would be the best person to ask about what we actually had.

chuan kee pork lean

I only know we ordered a lot of pork…

chuan kee pork fatty

…coz that’s what you do when you eat BKT.

chuan kee healthy

I have no idea who ordered this travesty though. Tofu! Veggies! WTF?

chuan kee line

Now to the main feature! Klang (kinda, it’s on the Genting-Klang road :p) BKT.

chuan kee us

Michelle‘s verdict: Not as good as Klang Bak Kut Teh

Fresh‘s verdict: Okay la. (and after some prompting) Alright since I’ve had Klang BKT, it won’t live up to that.

My verdict: Fucking good. Don’t use me as a gauge though, I was damn hungry at that time coz I haven’t eaten anything the entire day coz it was a Saturday. 🙂

chuan kee bak kut teh

Ear cartilage piercing – photos and videos

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Ear cartilage piercing syringe

I had a sudden and inexplicable urge to get a piercing while having supper the night before, after a long day discussing Family Matters (TM).

I can’t go for extreme piercings due to the nature of my work so I settled for a simple ear cartilage piercing.

Ear cartilage piercing

It cost RM 50 and it’s healing well so far (which is rare – I pierce a lot of places and the ear is the hardest to heal for me). Next up: Rook piercing! Heh!

Yoyo Cafe

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yoyo cafe

YoYo Cafe is a bubble tea establishment at Centerpoint, Kota Kinabalu. There is no particular reason for its popularity – you can ponder all you want and analyze till your brains hurt and still be hard pressed to figure out why people throng to this place like bees to honey. This is exceedingly puzzling because:

a) The bubble tea they serve isn’t the best nectar that ever crossed my lips
b) They have a very limited selection

yoyo bubble tea system

YoYo Cafe serves bubble tea and bubble tea only (except for the odd iced confections recently added to their menu). They have an intricate system of ordering where you choose the items you want, pay at the cashier, get a number and wait for your number to be called.

We were there on a weekday and the average wait is 15 minutes. I’ve waited longer the last time I was in KK.

yoyo bubble tea jerine

I ordered the Yoyo Ice Special (not realizing it comes in a bowl) while Jerine had the Chocolate Bubble Tea with pearls. Hers tasted pretty good actually.

Thus, as the Eighth Mystery of the World – here’s YoYo Cafe, no reason or rhyme, it’s just packed with people wanting a fix of bubble tea.

yoyo cafe ice special

A word to the wise: Carrying around a bowl in your left hand and a spoon with your right while walking isn’t as fun as it looks.

I’m going to the Gatsby Deodorant Street Fair

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carnival

I have very fond memories of carnivals and fun fairs. It just brings you right back to when you were a little kid with no worries at all. The good ol’ times when your father and mother is nothing less than deities in their own right. I remember my dad bringing me to a circus when I was a wee one – they were sold out but I sulked (it was in Kuching so I was younger than 7 then) and my dad managed to hustle a couple of tickets. It was the best night ever.

I’m 29 now but I like to think that I’m young at heart. I love carnival games and going to theme parks. It just evokes nostalgia through rose tinted glasses – a better time, a safe period, the sanctuary of youthful folly.

mimes

Walking through street fairs while taking in the scents of food is one of the best things in life.

However, sometimes the scents are more accurately described as odors. Human traffic, crowded conditions and our fine Malaysian weather is a recipe for BO.

…and my friends, that recipe can rival even Martha Stewart’s best cooking. 😉

I’m sure you’ve had unwelcome smells invading your olfactory senses while out and about. Heck, sometimes I can even smell the very same on myself. >.<

gatsby clear ocean

I use a lot of Gatsby products – look at the mousse, gel and wax that I have in my bathroom. I heard Gatsby came out with a new deodorant and I popped into the local friendly Guardian (against bad BO) to check it out.

There is a wide range of roll-on and spray deodorants and after the smell test I settled on the Clear Ocean Gatsby Deodorant Spray.

gatsby spray

Who doesn’t want to smell like the beach? A surfer boy scent which rates high on Fresh, Sweet and Sporty. It’s a clean and fresh fragrance that lasts throughout the day so you won’t have to worry about raising your arms to snap your fingers at the waiter during lunch. I know, damn CINA right?

gatsby range

The best thing about the Gatsby deodorant spray is that it smells fresh and it’s affordable to boot. You won’t even have to shell out RM 200+ for eau de toilette to smell nice.

Anyway, back to the Gatsby Deodorant Street Fair – it’s happening on the 17th of April from 10 am to 5 pm at Front Foyer, Ground Floor, Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur. *blocks calender*

ly

I’m excited coz there will be lots of fun fair games that day and lucky draws featuring prizes worth up to RM 15,000 up for grabs! There’s also Sumo wrestling (remember that?), gladiator battles (w00t!) and various other carnival games – something for everyone!

Unfortunately, this event is not an open invite…you have to earn your way in. Blog about the Gatsby Deodorant Street Fair with the title “I’m going to the Gatsby Deodorant Street Fair” and send your full name, IC number and permalink to gatsby@nuffnang.com to get your tickets!

You’ll also have to include in your blogpost:
1. The date, time and location of the event.
2. There are going to be lucky draws and we have various cool gadgets worth up to RM15,000 up for grabs!
3. Among the exciting fun-fair games on that day – Sumo Wrestling (in air bag suits!), gladiator battles and other amusing and addictive games you would expect at a fun-fair!
4. Lastly, share this link with your readers : www.gatsby.com.my/streetfair

(Gatsby Deodorant Clear Ocean Spray) surf on over to the Gatsby Deodorant Street Fair site to find out what’s going on that day. Don’t miss out – I’ll be there with the rest of the Nuffnangers and Nuffies and it’ll be a blast, so get your entries in now.

Not a blogger? No worries! Just log on to the site and play the games there. The top score of each week from any game will win a pair of invites to the Gatsby Deodorant Street Fair!

playing ping pong

I love the smell of napalm in the morning!

Fear of the dark

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overexposed fire

Fear of the dark, fear of the dark, I have a constant fear that something’s always near. You know that Iron Maiden classic? I always get reminded of the chorus whenever I have to take photos at night. It always comes out terrible – noisy if I set the ISO too high, overexposed if I use flash.

Case in point(s):

jestina

Birthday karaoke session gone wrong due to low lighting

overexposed

Flash fail

beach

This pristine beach in Kota Kinabalu looks like a sandbox in a playground

fire

Overexposed…and not in a good way

mystery meat

WTF is this? I can’t even tell if it’s chicken, beef or pork. I am forced to caption it as Mystery Meat.

Another beef (no pun intended) I have with my digicam is that it can’t record in High Definition. HD is the way of the future, even YouTube supports HD uploads now. I feel like I’m in the Stone Age (okay maybe not, Bronze Age can?) whenever I take videos with my digicam – the details are lost and with a lot of people connecting their computers to large screen LCDs now you really need to film in HD to keep up.

This is what my videos look like currently:

640×480 – VGA. It’s a marvel…back in 1994 when that was the resolution of most monitors. Now with large LCD monitors running on high resolutions it just looks like a postage stamp. 🙁

Enter Sandman! (another song reference)

Cyber-shot_DSC-TX7

The new Cyber-shot TX7 is loaded with the BIONZ IPE (Image Processing Engine) which I am really familiar with. I can vouch for the image quality. Combine it with the Carl Zeiss Vario Tessar lens and a respectable 10.2 MP “Exmor R” CMOS sensor that reduces noise and you have the perfect digicam for night photography!

blurry

Blur be gone!

The Cyber-shot TX-7 has features like sweep panorama and anti-motion blur in addition to the impressive Handheld Twilight mode. You won’t have to worry about shaky photos and with the AVCHD Full HD movie recording mode, you’ll be able to present your nights out in full glory!

At 1920 x 1080 @ 50i movie mode, you’ll be hard pressed to find another digicam with similar qualities. It’s a touch screen digicam too, and having had 3 Sony digital cameras in the past, I have to say that it’s very nifty. The best part about it is that you only have to touch the LCD screen to focus on the subject.

uncover-the-night

Alright party people! You’ve had nights out where you think you captured awesome photos but when you go back home and upload it to your computer, you find out that it’s crappier than a lavatory full of excretion. Right? Right?

Don’t be ashamed of them photos – play “Uncover the night” or submit the pics to the “Night gone wrong” contest and stand a chance to win your very own Cyber-shot TX7!

fire eating

Enjoy your nights out without worrying about taking horrible photos!

The Beautiful People

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jerine beach

I’m an Aries and have strong attributes related to that horoscope. It describes me down to a T. We like beautiful things. Now, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that and there are many beautiful things in the world.

jerine bubble bath

Yes, this is what comes into mind for most guys but there are beauty in other things too.

nature

Nature

friendship

Friendship

Heck, there is even beauty to be found in random notes on a toilet door in a 10 room shared home. 😉

toilet

However, the thing I admire the most is the design skillz that people have. I just don’t have the necessary creativity with art as I do with the written word. I’m constantly amazed by the stuff that people can come up with.

old style

This is the Best Entry in the Dell Design Studio contest. Titled “Old Style” by Amirul Hasrie it features an abstract pattern which reminds me of the concrete jungle juxtaposed with hues of green in an attempt to re-conciliate nature with the big city. He walks away with vouchers and a Dell Design Studio laptop with his design on it. How cool is that?

dell

The other winner is the design by Sin Ong Toh called simply “Dell“. It has a very Zen feel to it with the budding lotus flowers. He won the Most Popular Design by Votes and I can certainly see why. It’s a photograph with post production elements that garnered him 333 votes.

Dell has a new range of laptops to cater to every person and the current one features a partnership with OPI, producing a series that matches your notebook to your nail color. I’m particularly intrigued by the “I’m Not Really a Waitress” design:

studio-1555-Waitress

This design called 100 Years in NY by Deanne Cheuk is awesome too!

studio-1555-100NewYork

The Dell Studio 15 laptop is not just a pretty face but has plenty of horse power under the facade, with up to Intel Core i7 Quad-Core processors with a nifty 15.6″ 16:9 aspect ratio LED screen and other features like Blu-ray, mobile broadband and surround sound complete with sub woofer built in.

dell-studio

I’m quite tempted by the laptops coz it has both beauty and brains and comes at a reasonable price tag to boot! It’s very convenient to buy Dell coz they have been offering online purchases since Time Immemorial (TM).

I remember buying a Dell tower PC back when I was 14. This was in the heydays of e-commerce and understandably, my dad had reservations about using a credit card to make purchases online. How the times have changed, you’ll think of purchases online first before buying from a brick and mortar shop nowadays.

Interested in the Dell Studio series? Get it here!

Pulau Sapi, KK

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pulau sapi

Pulau Sapi is one of the islands off the coast of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. I’ve been to Pulau Manukan so this time I wanted to check out Pulau Sapi.

pulau sapi sutera harbour marina

We were staying at Magellan Sutera Harbor so just a short stroll leads us to the marina where we can catch a boat to the island.

pulau sapi boat

The trip took only 10 minutes due to the high speeds at which the boat was travelling – it costs RM 50 per person and you don’t even need to travel all the way to town…

pulau sapi view

…one of the perks of staying at Sutera Harbour. This is the view of the resort from the sea.

pulau sapi welcome

The boat takes you right to the jetty at Pulau Sapi – there are schools of fishes that you can literally see swimming beneath the crystal clear green waters!

pulau sapi fishes

Mmm…tasty! Er, I mean what a beautiful sight!

pulau sapi food

We slept in so by the time we got to Pulau Sapi, we were FAMISHED. We each ordered two portions of lunch. Heh!

pulau sapi beach

Things we did:

Parasailing

Snorkeling

Contemplated whether to cook this monitor lizard in BKT

pulau sapi couple

Watched lovers oblivious to everyone else on the beach – including his exposed intergluteal cleft (known as butt crack in human anatomy terminology)

pulau sapi buds

Laughed at some of the Engrish signs

pulau sapi after snorkling

Chilled by the beach

pulau sapi tourists

Pulau Sapi is not as commercialized as Pulau Manukan and although the island is smaller, it is a lot more tranquil – after a huge group of tourists on a conference left anyway. 🙂

How I met my girlfriend through football

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football

I remember the 2006 World Cup like the back of my hand. I was single and earning quite a bit so I had a little something riding on each of the matches. I was on a total winning streak, raking it in like nothing else. I supported the underdog in every match and stayed up late to watch the matches.

Anyway, after a long winning streak (and a couple of losses) I decided to bet higher during the semis. I lost in both of the matches as well as the 3rd place ranking game so I was forced to try and cover my losses by putting RM 20,000 in the finals on France.

I went to a sports bar with a couple of my friends (who were all betting on Italy) to watch the kick off of the final match of The Beautiful Game (TM). I thought it would be wiser to put it on Zidane, despite having to concede 1 goal. I was right.

Zidane scored at the 7th minute! SEVENTH! It was a penalty kick and I downed my beer in celebration while my friends complained about the controversial goal. I just needed ONE MORE GOAL to seal the deal. Unfortunately, Italy equalized within the first half and I kept on waiting for another goal for the rest of the match. By the 80th minute, I was practically praying for France to score just so I wouldn’t lose any money. I just needed 1 goal to keep my 20k – I’ve already given up on winning so I wasn’t gunning for 2. Alas, it was not meant to be. It tied 1-1 at the 90 minute point.

fortune reversal

It was fortune reversal most foul.

I had to be extremely frugal after that and stopped seeing my expensive psychiatrist and went to another one at a private hospital. I remember seeing a cute pharmacist there and it so happens that my bookie takes bets from the hospital as well. I still remember the conversation when I passed him the 20,000 smackeroos:

Me: Hey, I saw this really cute girl at the pharmacist today.
Him: Oh, that’s Stephanie.
Me: Really? You sure? I thought her name starts with an A from her tag.
Him: Yeah man, her name is Stephanie – hottest girl in the pharmacy.
Me: Hmm…alright I’ll call her.

I did just that and went out on a date with her the next day. She asked me what car I was driving and the licence plate and the next thing I knew, I saw this girl smiling while walking towards my car.

I was aghast…

It wasn’t the person I had my eye on.

She was hot but it was not the cute girl that I was interested in.

sri_shan_meal

I couldn’t very well bail (gentleman here k?) so I opened the door for her and we went out for lunch. That was a very memorable lunch coz halfway through it, she told me she knows me and reads my blog. Next thing I knew, a bottle full of DF-118 slid across the table.

“It’s for you. A gift. I know you like this so I got it for you“

I was delighted and abashed at the same time. I didn’t even bring her flowers!

We started going out after that and went to Thailand together during a pharmacist’s convention there. It was a whirlwind romance and she was the person I loved the most – I was 24 and she was 29 and oh so worldly and wise.

fansign_hc

She even did a tattoo of a stylized “6” for sixthseal.com on her chakra.

iberry_sorbet

She dumped me about six months into the relationship though.

You know what they say, with one hand He giveth and with the other taketh away. 😉

tuk_tuk_me_driver

BTW, I never did tell her I was originally interested in her friend, who I later found out was called Amanda. Heh!

What is your football story? Living in a football crazed nation where “World Cup Fever” (Symptoms: Unexplained medical leave, fatigue in the office, et al) I’m sure you have a lot of interesting stories to tell! It’s every football fan’s dream to watch a football match live. Sony Ericsson is running a contest where you just have to email your football story in to stand a chance to win a trip to South Africa to watch not just any football match but a FIFA World Cup 2010 match live!

Zakumi

Yes, the prize is an all expenses paid trip to watch a FIFA World Cup 2010 match live! Fulfill your dreams and get bragging rights by writing your football story, posting it on your blog and sending the permalink to extratime@waggeneredstrom.com. Your entry can be in the form of pure text, a photo story, video, slide show or just about anything, so go crazy with your creativity!

The Sony Ericsson Extra Time contest is only open to bloggers in Asia. Please submit your entries before 31st March 2010. The blogger with the most public votes from 1-15 April 2010 will win the contest! You can also email extratime@waggeneredstrom.com for more information.

More details about this once in a lifetime chance here.

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