I went to the PC Fair 2008 at Delta Mall yesterday. It’s not the PIKOM organized event, but a smaller scale expo by local IT organizations. There are still a lot of bargains to be had there though – I got an 8 GB USB drive for RM 73 (SanDisk Cruzer Micro) and am planning to get a Philips external HDD (3.5″ 320 MB) for RM 260.
I know the prices might be kinda steep compared to KL prices, but it’s the best deals we get over here. There isn’t even a booth selling 16 MB USB drives which I’ve been hankering for. Anyway, I bumped into a couple of people there since it was the last day of the fair.
This is the delectable Susie Ting, who for some reason or another is helping out at one of the booths over there.
It would be remiss of me if I didn’t do an XX Chromosome post on her since she is, by most standards, quite aesthetically pleasing. She’s a really friendly person too – the first thing she said when she saw me was that she can smell the liquor from my breath and inquired as to why I didn’t bring her along to drink. It was a Sunday afternoon. 🙂
There’s also this very nifty UV signboard that I really liked, manned (womenned?) by Fang Ling. It accepts an AC adapter and you can write on it and it can display various colors according to the settings. The ink is erasable and you can write whatever message you want on it and then erase it and put up a new message the next day, The power consumption is pretty low too, so it’s more practical than an LCD screen (which would probably get my car smashed and the electronics stolen).
I want it for the rear of my car – it’s going to display a quote of the day or a random post and it’ll have the sixthseal.com URL on it. This is much better than plastering your car with blog stickers, since it’ll be inside the car itself and powered by a battery array. However, at RM 488 it’s a little bit on the steep side, and a friend of mine who went with me told me it can be fabricated for much less and at a custom size to boot (no pun intended), so I’m going to go for that option – take the tinted glass off my rear window and install this thing – guerrilla advertising and all that. 😉
I also bumped into Siew Ling a.k.a. my little sister at the fair. She’s not actually related to me, she’s a model for my Oreo advertorial. She’s a really nice person and I always feel comfortable around her. She’s very soft too, and cute. Adorable! I don’t usually get attracted to younger girls, but she would be the exception. 😉
I was drinking at Bamboo House last night – it’s a very chilled out place with a live band that attracts a more subtle clientèle. This is the Airwaves band – they sing covers of popular English, Chinese and Malay songs. They hail from the Philippines and directly above and below this column of text is the obligatory XX Chromosome shots. 😉
Airwaves band in action
Anyway, at about 12 AM, there was a large entourage of people entering the lounge. These people didn’t look like the sort that tends to hang out around drinking establishments – it’s a mixed group of people ranging from probably their late 30’s to 60’s.
It seems like they’re from Selangor and they’re in the hotel for a function of some sort and the entire group adjourned to the lounge to have a couple of drinks. Most were dressed rather formally and I honestly didn’t expect this group to raise the rafters…
…but they did. 🙂
Blast from the past! The Twist is back. Old man dancing…vibrantly.
The dance floor was quite empty before they arrived and this posse of fun loving mature people took to the floor quite liberally, doing the Twist and Cha-Cha, which were probably all the rage during their time.
Susu Niang Niang – classic song for a classic crowd.
I love these people, most of them didn’t look like supermodels (understatement of the year) and yet they didn’t care and just lived life. I learned something from them.
Forever young!
They were chronologically advanced, and yet they still know how to kick off their shoes and just let their hair down.
Them dancing shoes…
I wanted to do a See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil pose but one of the singers apparently thought I enjoyed having my boobs grabbed from behind.
I was approached by a media company for permission to use my photos in an online ad campaign for KFC a few weeks back. It was meant to be non-monetary (e.g. free) but with an inbound link to the post in question about the KFC Toasted Twister entry I did a few weeks ago. It came out in The Star (pictured above), MSN Malaysia and MSN Live Messenger this week.
I’ve seen it also on the Today screen of MSN Live Messenger. There seem to be two (2) versions of the ads:
Skyscraper unit
Large rectangle unit
The two versions above does not have the inbound link but I’ve heard from a friend that there’s another splash page version that comes out occasionally with an inbound link if you click on the headline (other parts of the ad will direct you to the KFC website).
I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about the direction this blog is going. The recent two controversial posts – the thinly disguised “human advertising” post and the profanity laced Dear Aries confession has received a lot of negative feedback from people I care about. I talked to one of my friends about this issue – he’s about the only one detached from the blogging scene to be able to give impartial comments and thought really hard about what I should do.
This is what I tend to doodle when I’m thinking about the direction I should be taking. I ponder the pros and cons while drawing opposite arrows.
I also found myself drawing this house/witch’s hat thing when I was particularly stressed out. I’m sure psychiatrists can make sense of my feelings from analyzing that, but I usually just draw this when I’m worried or stressed:
It looks like a zipper, a friend of mine told me. I’ve never thought of it like that. I am always thinking of teeth when I sketch that. It’s supposed to be the upper and lower set of teeth.
Anyway, astute readers would notice that several posts have been discreetly unpublished during the last week and I’m going to do the same to the two “controversial” posts as well. It’s not an easy decision to make but one thing my friend shared with me really hit me hard.
How long are you going to be the bad boy? Beh sian meh? (Hokkien for “It’s getting old”).
I must admit that a lot of my early inspiration was CKY and Jackass and I noticed one particular thing while watching Jackass 2.5. Johnny Knoxville looks really old. It was revolutionary when it came out, but the Jackass franchise is a little like flogging a dead horse. It’s fun to watch once in a while, but only in small doses. I can’t keep on doing this stuff all my life, even with the self-destructive tendencies that gets out sometimes and I shouldn’t burden unwilling readers with them.
Thus, I’ve came to a decision:
sixthseal.com is going to branch off – there will be a new domain for personal and “controversial” posts, made available to friends only. This blog (sixthseal.com) will be maintained as the main(stream) site while the other domain will be limited to sporadic and occasional posts, much like the castitas.com arrangement back then.
No worries though, the main content will always still be at sixthseal.com since I don’t do much controversial posts anymore anyway. I *heart* sixthseal.com and I can never let it be anything less, so the other domain will always be on a lower priority and will only be updated very rarely.
It will be password protected and when updates are available, it will still be announced on sixthseal.com – it would be just like the good old days with castitas.com. 😉
Haz Cafe and Restaurant is an eating establishment with a lot of weird angled aquariums inside. I initially thought it was a seafood restaurant but upon further investigation it turned out to be a shabu-shabu restaurant. These places have been popping up like mushrooms over here ever since the success of Mitsu Shabu Shabu.
The interior of Haz Cafe is dominated by 90 degree angled aquariums which I found rather odd. It does work well as a demarcation fitting though – the seating arrangements are clearly delineated by the design. I went there with Clare and Cheryl for dinner since Cheryl was in town.
Haz Cafe has the standard fittings you’ll expect at a shabu shabu joint – there are receptacles for the pot of boiling broth and individual heating elements. The departure from orthodox shabu-shabu comes from the community BBQ grill in the middle. The place serves food that can either be dipped in broth or grilled with butter.
There is a platter full of the standard trimmings for adding gustatory perception (a pretentious word meaning taste and texture) to the broth – vegetables, rice vermicelli, nori (seaweed), tofu, mushrooms and an egg.
This is the mixed beef platter – it contains various cuts of beef from tenderloin to sirloin. The variety just makes me tingle in my loins. =D
We also had another side order of a more marbled slice of beef. I can’t remember which part of the cow this came from.
Oink Oink. This is the pork platter. Mmm…pork. 😉
The meat can also be grilled on the central BBQ grill but the place is meant for shabu-shabu style eating.
It seems that the art of eating shabu-shabu is lost on most people so I have taken the liberty of showing how it’s supposed to done:
Step 1: Take piece of the sliver of meat/fish/crustacean.
Step 2: Dip it with your chopsticks into the pot of boiling broth and start swishing it around.
Step 3: Take it out again and consume. I know mine looks raw, but I like raw! 🙂
Step 4: Dump the remainder of your rice into the broth after the meal and consume the broth + rice mixture.
You can also pour the broth into the rice if there’s not a lot left, but this is a departure from Tradition (TM).
This is Cheryl Lim – an auditor who gets to travel around to places like Langkawi but works till late in the night, which takes much of the fun out of business travel.
Thanks for getting me the duty free cigarettes, Cheryl! 🙂
Problems stressing you out? You need an outlet for your anger? No cats to kick or other methods of venting frustration?
Fear not, dear readers. I have introduced a new category in sixthseal.com called Dear Aries. It’s basically where you can write in about your personal problems and I will read and listen with a sympathetic ear and give you advice (which I hear is the worse kind of vice ;)). This is the first letter I have received from Confused in Miri, Sarawak.
Spend some time with me, say you’ll be mine
Dear Aries,
I am caught between a rock and a hard place. I met this girl at work and I’ve been attracted to her ever since I saw her. I’ve been secretly admiring (God, I hate this word) her for a while now, though I knew she was attached. Her boyfriend picks her up from work everyday and I’ve been wanting to ask her out ever since I saw her. I spoke to her a couple of times when we bumped into each other at the elevator and she seems like a nice person.
Anyway, fast forward to several months later and I started noticing that her boyfriend has stopped picking her up from work (God, I’m such a stalker). Curious about this sudden change of affairs (and seeing an opportunity), I inquired about the situation when I bumped into her again. Apparently, the boyfriend is Out of Town (TM) so I decided to ask her out.
Well, you know what love is right? It’s psychical attraction at first sight and then personality compatibility at the second stage. That’s where the problem comes in – we hit it off immediately. It’s like we’re kindred souls, and we started going out for lunch and at night. I’ve never met a girl like this before, one that I could easily talk to and open up with.
Anyway, pretty soon we had a rather intense relationship going. It’s pretty much all or nothing with me. I gave this relationship everything I had coz I thought this girl was Worth It (TM). Was she The One (TM)? I don’t know, but she’s been the closest “one” ever since this pharmacist I was going out with in Kuching broke up with me.
It was really, really good for a while. I literally worshiped the girl. She’s a little older than me and she’s very mature and that really appeals to me. She grounds my impulsive, self-destructive personality and she’s been really nice to me too, little gestures like bringing breakfast for me coz she knows I only drink coffee for breakfast.
Anyway, pretty soon The Boyfriend (TM) found out about the relationship and all hell broke loose. She stopped seeing me, although we still talk on the phone and arrange for secret, quick rendezvous sessions. Lately though, I have noticed that it’s just not good enough for me anymore. I don’t want a “girlfriend” that’s only available on the phone instead of being beside me. I hate the feeling of not being able to hug her and kiss her and just feel the comfort of being with her.
She was very honest and open with me that she’ll be leaving very soon and that we could never have an open relationship. It has to be covert due to the Unique Circumstances (TM) that she was in. I thought it would be good enough for me, but back then at least I got to go out with her. She can only stay at home now and just talk on the phone due to Restrictions (TM) placed on her since being found out. We can’t even go out now and it’s probably going to remain this way until she leaves.
What should I do? Should I just call it quits and pull out? Or do I torture myself by being a hermit for the remainder of the time and stay at home in the very rare occasion that she manages to sneak 10 minutes to be with me?
Do I pull the Band Aid off in one quick motion or do I pull it slowly off?
I used to say I never met a girl like you before, Still ain’t got a fucking clue to who you truly are…
Please help, Confused.
Dear Idiot,
I got bored reading your letter halfway. Your verbosity exceeds even that of Ayn Rand. Has anyone ever finished reading Atlas Shrugged? I didn’t think so.
Kindred souls, my ass. How long have you been going out with this girl? It’s probably still the honeymoon period right?
I’m not even interested to hear about your personal attributes, which you so generously sprinkled throughout your letter, you narcissistic fuck.
Get to the fucking point, you took up several paragraphs writing the background which could have been achieved with six words in bullet form.
That’s the gist of what your long winded letter was saying right? Read your #3 again. Again. And again.
Which part about leaving do you not understand? Imbecile!
You pathetic fuck, stop feeling sorry for yourself and move on!
It seems like you listen to Eminem from the quote from Spend Some Time. It’s a very good break up song, I have taken the liberty of scouring YouTube for a video and embedding it here for you to listen to and start being a man again. Listen to that bit about “but when someone seems too good to be true, they usually are”.
Quit using “anyway” and “well” as paragraph leaders in your writing. It’s very irritating to read.
Oh, and over here in Malaysia, we call them “lifts” not “elevators”.
P/S – What’s with that (TM) shit anyway? Your dad patent the word one izzit?
There was a break in at my place last night at about 2:04 am. This house still has the old skool glass shutters and metal grill which is rather easy to pry open. Apparently the intruder(s) carefully removed the glass shutters piece by piece and reached in to pry one side of the metal grill to gain access.
They even had the consideration to stack up the glass shutters nicely and leave the screws on the floor outside that window too. Thank you, the gesture is much appreciated.
Anyway, it appears that nothing was taken so I presume they didn’t manage to gain access after all. How did I know it was 2:04 am? I heard the house phone ringing and woke up to take a piss and heard the sounds of someone(s) beating a hasty retreat so I went down to investigate and found the grill pried open.
Oh well, at least this seems to be the work of petty thieves. There was another break in earlier in the year in which they took – get this – a pair of my jeans and a tin of Milo (no kidding). Thus, my most prized possessions, which are the photographs contained in my notebook and various USB drives and DVD-Rs are safe.
They wouldn’t be interested in that, I presume. 😉
Don’t touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn’t understand
alloys and compositions and things with…molecular structures.
I was browsing through my old photo albums just now in search of photos of my sister when she was younger for her wedding video when I came across this photo. This is (from left) my sister, me, Sing Ling and Wei Ling when I was 7 years old. I still remember the event – it was just after a 2.4 km jogathon that was held at Methodist High School when I was in Primary 1. My dad was the principal at that school then and we had this family sports day event where we ended up on this huge tandem walker thing with my mom taking a candid photo.
Anyway, I had this HUGE crush on Sing Ling, who’s my classmate in Primary 1 at that time. It was my first love (at 7 years of age). I wrote her my very first love letter on a torn out piece of exercise book, and it went something like:
I love you Sing Ling Please love me I’ll give you a eraser or a ruler if you love me
I had a really crappy red broken ruler at that time and I have to admit that my budding Casanova skillz was very much at a n00bie stage at that point. 😉
It was funny recalling that incident though, and it made me laugh. Nostalgia, eh?
The words “self harm” and “self injury” has been bandied about a lot by psychologists and teenage cutters obsessed with their own angst. It has also been mistakenly labeled as “suicidal behavior” which is grossly inappropriate since most cases are not intended to hasten the kicking of the bucket.
I propose that this behavior be exploited, I mean, explored as a new avenue for advertising instead. We’ve all heard of tattoos as a form of advertising with human advertising billboards but there are problems associated with that (mainly the permanent nature of the process).
Cutting may be a more appropriate “human advertising” medium for events. This is the sixthseal.com Guide to Human Advertising.
Step 1: Obtain a box of old skool razor blades. It doesn’t really matter what brand you use as long as it’s properly wrapped, clean and sharp.
Step 2: You will require a pair of steady hands. This is necessary to avoid transcription errors due to shaky hands. 😉
Step 3: Use the razor blade to carve the name of the event you want to be promoting. It should optimally be short – use initials when possible e.g. “RWMF” instead of “Rainforest World Music Festival” since skin real estate is at a premium.
Step 4: Please allow sufficient time for the blood to coagulate – it is the body’s natural healing system at work here and it prevents bacteria and other Nasty Stuff (TM) from entering an open wound.
Example:
I have included a video tutorial on skin advertising – this is for the “Sarawak Cultural Festival”, abbreviated to SCF due to skin real estate issues.
Caution:
The right amount of pressure should be applied consistently. It is obviously unwise to apply too much pressure (razor blades are sharper than you think) but enough downwards pressure should be present to achieve the desired results. Please direct your attention to Exhibit A (Cleaned and Healing Scar) below.
The S character has too much pressure applied – this would result in a raised scar. The C character would probably result in a scar that is not visible unless at certain angles, while the F carving would be the optimal result for a scar that is not visible at all, unless under direct sunlight in certain angles.
What do you think? The advertising industry is constantly on the lookout for new opportunities and mediums. Could this be the next new wave of advertising? Or will it be relegated to the fringes of society?
I went to Full House Cafe for lunch with one of my colleagues and her younger sister and brother in tow. I have seen this cafe before but it always looks to be anything but what the cafe’s name suggests. It has always come across as cold and empty.
However, little did I know, the interior is actually rather nice, with silk privacy screens between the booths and a decor that exudes warmth. It’s private and conducive to conversation and my coworker told me the spaghetti here is rather good.
The best thing about Full House Cafe is the dirt cheap cocktail prices. They serve alcohol (beer and cocktails) with the latter starting from RM 7.90 (!). At least that’s what I thought at first. I asked them for a stronger version of the cocktails and was told it would cost “RM 1 or RM 2 more” which I happily agreed to.
I had the Margarita (RM 7.90) which came in a tiny cup with a slice of lemon. I wouldn’t call it strong by my standards, and the cafe charged just RM 1 more for the souped up version of the drink. However, the meager liquid volume makes you think you’re getting more value for your money than you actually are. 😉
I had another Long Island Iced Tea (RM 13.90) which came in a much more acceptable receptacle that holds a more reasonable amount of liquid. It still wasn’t strong enough for my tastes but Full House Cafe is not known for it’s cocktails so I shall not judge it based on that alone.
The non-ethanol based drinks are very reasonably priced – Diana (my coworker’s younger sister) had the Red Elf (RM 3.50) which is a mixture of Ribena and Sprite while her younger brother had a Coke (RM 3.50).
The younger brother had the interestingly named Lazy People’s Set (RM 4.50). I can’t read much of the menu since most of it is in Chinese but it consists of two slices of toasted (fried?) bread, a sausage, coleslaw, sweet corn, baked beans and a fried egg.
Amy had the Chicken Chop with Thai Sauce (RM 8.90). It came with the standard trimmings of coleslaw, baked beans and sweet corn. She claimed that it tasted a little on the bland side though. The chicken chop is fried, not grilled which could be where the problem lies.
Diana had the Japanese Style Pork Chop (RM 7.90), The pork chop is served teriyaki style (dipped in batter before being deep fried) with mayonnaise and tomato sauce on top. The pork is tough though, probably due to overenthusiastic deep frying. 😉
I went for the pasta dish that Amy recommended – this is the Prawn Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce (RM 8.90). It came with two fully deshelled and large prawns which is rather generous for the price. It tasted good but I had eaten a late breakfast before this so I didn’t manage to finish the dish.
Full House Cafe has great service and reasonably priced food in a private air conditioned alcove. It’s like a little gem waiting to be discovered. The cocktails are cheap (albeit underpowered and volumetrically challenged) and the ambiance is relaxing, with soothing piped music and a laid back atmosphere that allows you to stay as long as you like. It’s good for hanging out with friends or your partner for a long, lazy lunch.
This is Diana Lau (Amy, your finger is on the lens), who is currently doing her Form Five in my alma mater (and in the same class I used to be in to boot!). I have noticed that I have problems attracting the under 18 demographic to my blog, probably due to its content, so I have taken the liberty of passing Diana a stack of my blogger name cards to be distributed to her classmates when school starts again. 😉 Word of the Day: Volumetrically challenged (Adjective) A politically correct term for a small amount of liquid that is better described as a drop, droplet, or moisture. 😉
