Who is Stella K?
What is Project PM?
While we’re at it, who is veritas?
Answers to all of the above (except one and three) will be revealed in six days! Stay tuned…
Sibu’s Parking System
Sibu’s Parking Coupon
It’s been a while but I still hate doing this…basically you have to
punch holes out of a parking coupon (scanned image above – good thing
my scanner is still available) and leave it on the dashboard so it’s
visible through the windshield. There are five sections to remove and
even though I usually like doing things like this (popping bubble wrap,
depressing that thingy on the cover of McDonald’s soft drinks etc.),
this isn’t fun for someone who answers “I don’t know” to “What date is
it today?”. 🙂 It’s a good thing I have a Palm for dates, the time is
alright though, there’s always the car clock and the cell phone one.
The other problem with this is the way it has changed the way people
park…while it used to be (usually) obvious whether a car is parking in
or moving out, it now isn’t. Malaysia is hot, so people leave the
engine running to have the air conditioning going while messing about
with these parking coupons. You’ll all be sitting there waiting and
thinking, hmm…has this guy just parked in and getting the coupons done
or is he arranging his groceries (or whatever) before driving out?
The worst thing with the coupon system in Sibu is the way you have
to put as many as you’re going to park for eg if you want to park for 3
hours, you need to perforate 6 coupons (each lasts half an hour) and
put them all in a row on your windshield. The problem is there is only
one denomination available – the 40 cents (42 cents with tax to be
concise) one, which lasts 30 minutes. The people who need to park for
the whole day needs to put rows upon rows of parking coupons to cover
the time, and making sure to arrange it properly so none is partially
obscured, or they’ll see The Red Ticket (parking fine) on their
windshield wiper. I mean wtf? Am I the only one who thinks there’s
something wrong with this? 6 hours of parking requires 12 coupons and
these things are not small – they’re the length of a standard DVD case
and about 4/6 the width of it. Come out with higher denomination
coupons for Christ’s sake.
Anyway, I got fined yesterday because I over parked for a measly 7
minutes. The parking fine (dubbed the “Overparking Compound Notice”) is
RM 1 per 30 minutes, more than twice the price of the coupon, which
isn’t much, so I don’t really care, I just feel that the system isn’t
practical for long term parking unless they come out with higher
denomination coupons like Kuching has. Oh, the back of the parking fine
has Fine Print that’s quite interesting – have a read:
Well, I’ll just give a quick update (personal stuff) about the things that happened yesterday and today:
I went to Wisma Sanyan early yesterday morning with my gf to buy
some stuff she needs before leaving for KL. The parking fine was from
then, I the parking inspectors usually aren’t that vigilant, so I
figured we could drop by Tops to get something to drink before heading
to the car. We saw the Parking Inspector’s Employee of the Month
walking right past as we headed back, curses. 🙂
Anyway, I also picked up a pirated (unlicensed) VCD of Finding Nemo
to watch in the afternoon with my gf. It was funny how the store
operates – since the raids, they have only legit things on display, but
there are plenty of posters of new movies ie Matrix Reloaded, Charlie’s
Angels 2, Hulk, Terminator 3 etc on display. Basically, they ARE
selling pirated VCDs and DVDs of the pirated movies displayed in the
posters, so just ask at the counter, and the girl will dig around the
back room and be back with the movie of your choice in a few seconds.
😉 Other prices are still selling it openly though, but unfortunately,
Sibu saw an increase in price from RM 5 to RM 8 per movie since the
raids. It should stabilize back soon though, seems that the operation
is over.
I saw heaps of people at the Sibu Town Square last night for the
Borneo Cultural Festival, it was PACKED. People were parking in that
road divider between two opposing roads (the ones that has the street
lights). Man, I wished my digicam was working. I didn’t go though, coz
I was going for dinner.
My gf went back to KL this morning. 🙁 Her semester started about a
week ago, so she’s already going over late. I drove her and her mom to
the airport this morning and we got some breakfast there before she
took the 10:05 am Air Asia flight out. I will be seeing her soon
though, will be heading over to KL in a while as well.
The picture above was taken about two weeks ago (my digicam still
broken – only scanner working), I had wanted to make it PoTD with a
crack about “San Pedro tastes so good, the Mexicans want it back” but
never got around to doing it. That’s okay, since I finally went to eat
KFC’s Bandito Pockett combo meal today (comes with a drink and potato
wedges) with Michelle, friend and pharmacy student. 😉 I was on my out
when she called me so we went for lunch and then visited our ex-high
school. Oh, the Bandito tastes okay…a bit bland (had to keep on adding
Thai chili sauce) and you get to buy a 325 ml can of Pepsi Twist for
just 10 cents if you buy it with the meal. I wasn’t really interested
at first, until I thought of something it would go well with.
Potentiator?
That’s it, the story of my personal life up to now. 🙂
Borneo Cultural Festival Sibu (2003)
Borneo Cultural Festival 2003, Sibu.
This has been going on at the Sibu town square for a while now, and
will continue for a few more days. I took the photos yesterday noon,
but I’ve been busy so I couldn’t post it yesterday. My apologies.
Anyway, the story behind the photos is worthy of a mention, but I will
put the photos up first – it cost me RM 16 so enjoy. 😉
A balloon flying high.
A blowpipe accuracy competition – a blowpipe is a long contraption used
by the Ibans (and other groups) that propels a dart (originally
poisoned and used for hunting) to a target by the user blowing through
the pipe.
Something going on here, I just didn’t say long enough to find out what it was…
Another shot of the unknown event above, gotta run, battery low.
A row of traditional Chinese stalls.
Thirsty?
Setting the stage for the final judging of the Borneo Cultural Festival
Sibu’s Miss Malaysian Chinese 2003 tonight. I took photos of the
candidates about a week ago.
Link: Miss Malaysian Chinese (Borneo Cultural Festival, Sibu) – Miss Photogenic photo shoot [sixthseal.com]
Tug of war.
This is a swing of sorts used by the Melanau at their harvest festival.
It’s a test of manhood, they swing and bungee from this contraption.
This is the main motif of Borneo Cultural Festival – a montage of a
Chinese lantern, a Malay ketupat, and several native symbols which I’m
not familiar enough with to comment about, but I like the tuak (rice
wine) that’s perpetually pouring from the top. 🙂
About the RM 16 photos, I went to the camera repair shop yesterday
morning but unfortunately, my digicam could not be repaired due to
mould (?) in the internal components. The repair guy asked if the
digicam has had water damage before and I told him it had, but that was
a long time ago – about a year back. I forgot to zip my pants pocket
while skiing and snowboarding at Mount Buller (Melbourne) and found my
digicam covered with snow at the end of the session. Anyway, he said
that was probably the cause – the mould slowly manifested itself and
damaged some of the stuff so it needs to be sent to Nikon Service in KL
to be repaired. 🙁 That means I will be without a digicam for about a
week, but I will check other repair shops tomorrow and see if they have
the necessary components.
Anyway, I passed by the town square yesterday noon and just HAD to
take photos, so I went to one of the camera shops and offered the owner
a deal – let me rent a digicam for 15 minutes and I’ll pay him RM 10.
Heh. Well, I had my (broken) digicam with me, and my CF card, so I’ll
just need one for a couple of minutes to take photos. I convinced him
to rent me a new Nikon Coolpix 3500 (it was the only one that could
hold my CF card, the shop is a Sony dealer, so all the other digicams
they stock use memory sticks) and I’ll give RM 100 + my digicam as a
deposit. Well, he was more than happy to do that, so I waited while he
opened the new digicam box and got out everything and charged the
battery.
My gf called me at this point and I told her what I was up to, and
she said it’s already raining at her place (the photos won’t turn out
well if it rains). I went out and sure enough, dark skies abound. I
went back and told the camera guy that I needed it now, so forget about
charging the battery. He said that it wouldn’t last all that long,
since it has only had been charging for about 3 minutes, but I said
it’s okay, since I’m in a hurry. Well, off I ran and upon startup, it
was already showing the low battery indicator so I ran around, hoping
to get a shot of everything before the battery ran out – and I did. 🙂
Anyway, I’m sorry about the quality of the photos, I noticed that
the quality setting was at the default (Low) but the battery was so
drained I didn’t want to risk changing the settings instead of taking
more shots and having it die on me halfway. Anyway, the Nikon Coolpix
3500 seems okay, I like the way the lens fold out. I ran all over the
town square, taking photos until the “Battery Exhausted!” warning came
out. After that, I went back to the dealer, paid him RM 10, got my RM
100 and digicam back and he packaged the digicam back into the box,
probably to sell to another person. *shrug*
Well, I got home later and then thought of something – how was I
going to get the photos out of the CF Card? Windows won’t detect the CF
Card unless the digicam is on, and my digicam is broken (couldn’t even
turn it on). So off I went to the Fujifilm Imagng Center near my place
to get the photos burnt to a CD-R, which cost RM 6. I should have
bought a CF Card reader instead, since it was only RM 45, but I reckon
I don’t need one since it’s just a one time thing. So there you go,
photos from yesterday. 🙂
Project Doctor Shopping Malaysia (Part Dua) in progress…
Project Doctor Shopping Malaysia II is well on its way. I’ve
currently gotten alprazolam (off another doctor), diazepam, and
clonazepam since Project Doctor Shopping: Malaysian Edition (Part I). I
will write the full report when I’ve acquired a suitable amount of
different stuff. 😉 I’m hoping to get Phentermine, Ritalin (wish me
luck) and several other different benzos before I write it.
No photos!
My digicam died on me this afternoon. I went for dinner with my gf
just now at Premier Hotel (their buffet dinner is pretty good on
Saturday nights) but unfortunately, there aren’t any photos today
because my digicam is out of service. Anyway, I’ve passed it on to a
camera repair shop just now, and I’m expecting to have it back by noon
tomorrow, so all is good. It does feel weird not to have a digicam
handy – all ready to take photos should the opportunity arise, but oh
well, it’s only for a day. 🙂
Teochew Roasted Meat Flat Mee
Teochew Kampua Mee @ Central Market, Sibu
This is said to be the best kampua mee in Sibu. I went last night
with a couple of my buddies but I’ve been busy so I only posted it
today. This stall is on the second floor of Central Market and I’ve
been told it’s only open from 8 pm – 11 pm at night, except for
Sundays. 3 hours per day, and they have heaps of customers due to its
reputation so be prepared for a long wait. I think we had to wait more
than 30 minutes, which is a long time for kampua mee!
Teochew Kampua Mee (Plain)
Anyway, I thought it was okay, it’s good, but I’ve had better. :p I
had two bowls – one plain and one with soy sauce + chili sauce. The soy
sauce + chili sauce one is better, IMHO. The soup is great, I don’t
know what they put inside, but it’s different from the usual kam pua
soup. The meat is roasted (smoked?) pork, tastes slightly better than
the normal ones, but the noodles is helluva oily. The reason for the
long wait is not only coz of the many customers, but because they cook
each bowl separately, unlike other stalls who just chuck everything in.
Teochew Kampua Mee (Soy Sauce and Chili Sauce)
Methodist High School @ Country Cafe
L-R: Johnny, Huai Bin (me), Daniel
L-R: Christopher, Huai Bin (me), Michelle
I went out for dinner today with Daniel, Johnny, Michelle, and
Christopher just now. I haven’t seen some of them for 5 years! They’re
all my ex high school classmates and we all happened to be in Sibu at
this time. We had dinner at Country Cafe – I had the Teppanyaki Chicken
dish and a Mai Tai. Here’s some shots from the night, it was great to
catch up with all of them. 🙂
Mai Tai. Mmm…
Teppanyaki Chicken
Malaysia: 30 mg codeine and 10 mg dihydrocodeine in MALAYSIA for 60 cents each!
400 mg paracetamol + 30 mg codeine
500 mg paracetamol + 10 mg dihydrocodeine
I woke up with a migraine yesterday morning, so I decided to call a
couple of pharmacies and see what they have. Pharmacy #1 only has
Panadeine, an obscene preparation containing 500 mg of
paracetamol/acetaminophen/APAP (they all refer to the same thing) plus
a decidedly meager 8 mg of codeine. Pharmacy #2 doesn’t sell any
restricted drugs, apparently codeine is “restricted drug” to them.
Pharmacy #3 sounds too good to be true – I called them and they said
they have two codeine preparations. The first one is Paralgin Forte and
when I asked about the exact concentrations, the answer nearly made me
drop the phone in surprise – 200 mg of paracetamol + 30 mg of codeine.
That sounds very nice indeed! =D Excuse me, I meant to say that it
sounds like that would do help with my migraine very well indeed. The
other one they have is an unknown tablet that contains 500 mg of liver
destroying paracetamol + 10 mg of dihydrocodeine. I told them I will be
down in an hours time. 🙂
My last option was the internet and found a 30 mg tablet of Dihydrocodeine at https://www.ukmeds.co.uk/dihydrocodeine which is used as an alternative to Codeine in the treatment of severe pain.
I had to write what that myself…
Same here…
Well, I went there with my gf and Anna later and yes, it was too
good to be true. The Paralgin Forte contains 400 mg of paracetamol
instead of the 200 mg they told me over the phone. Nevertheless, 400 mg
is better than 500 mg, so I bought a couple of them. They go for 60
cents each, which about 30 cents Australian. Anyway, just so I won’t
have to convert all the time:
RM 1 = A$ 0.50
A$1 = RM 2
Basically, half the RM (Ringgit Malaysia) prices for the Australian equivalent.
Dihydrocodeine tablets with RM 0.50 and A$ 0.50.
I bought 10 of the Paralgin Forte tablets for a nice 300 mg of
codeine. They cost 60 cents each, which I think is pretty cheap for a
tablet that has 30 mg of codeine. It is interesting to note that the
bottle says Codeine Phosphate 1 1/2 H20 – 30 mg. What’s with the 1 1/2
H20? Does it mean that codeine is soluble in 1 1/2 amounts of water or
does it mean something else? Pharmaceutical aficionados, I would appreciate it if you could shed some light here.
Codeine tablets with RM 0.50 and A$ 0.50.
Dihydrocodeine – front
Dihydrocodeine – back
Anyway, the other one they have contains 500 mg of paracetamol and
the inferior dihydrocodeine tartrate, which I haven’t tried before.
There’s only 10 mg of dihydrocodeine to the whopping 500 mg of
paracetamol, so ah…I think I might need to get some coffee filters next
time I have a migraine and have some cold water handy. 😉
Well, the photographs of the photos are actually quite funny. I walked in, and this conversation ensued:
Me: Hello, I called just now regarding the migraine tablets?
Pharmacist: Oh yeah, I remember, let me just get the bottles.
She comes out with two large bottles, each containing 1000 tablets – nice…
I examined the bottles for a while and asked for 10 Paralgin Forte
tablets (60 cents each so that makes it RM 6) and 16 dihydrocodeine
tablets (RM 1 for 4 pills, so that makes it 16 pills to round the total
up to RM 10).
Me: This is going to sound like a strange request, but do you mind if I take a photo of the bottles before you put them away?
Pharmacist: That is indeed the strangest thing I’ve ever heard!
I’ve never had a customer make that request before. Why do you want
photos of the bottles?
Me: Well, I have a personal interest in these things.
This is the truth, but it’s the “wrong answer” when doing pharmacy
runs/doctor shopping. Sometimes, being economical with the truth is the
better policy as you can see below.
Pharmacist: *looks doubtful* Okay, I guess that wouldn’t do any harm, so go ahead.
I take photos of both the bottles.
Me: Hey thanks, I really appreciate you going out of your way to help me out.
Pharmacist: No problems…can I ask you a question? Are you taking them yourself?
Me: I am aware of the abuse potential of these things, I would only take them if I have a really bad migraine.
Pharmacist: That’s good to hear. You know, this is actually a
prescription item, so I’m not actually supposed to sell it to you
without one.
Me: I see. I appreciate that you would go out of your way to help me, I hope this doesn’t get you into any trouble.
Pharmacist: Nah, it’ll be alright, but it’ll be better if you
have a prescription before coming in next time. You can have these
today though.
Me: Thanks again, I appreciate your help. You have a nice day okay? Take care.
Pharmacist: Have a nice day.
I reckon it was that interest in taking photos of the bottle that
made that “SCRIPTER!!! SCRIPTER!!!” flashing light go off on my head. I
wasn’t scripting, I really did have a migraine, but yeah, add this bit
to the Tome of Doctor Shopping – don’t appear too interested in the
medications you’re trying to acquire. It’s normal to ask about side
effects etc but it’s not to start breaking out with the digicams and
asking permission to take photos of bottles inside a pharmacy, all the
while focusing on the 30 mg codeine part. Take care everyone.
Paralgin Forte – front.
Remember, pharmaceuticals are fun! 🙂
Paralgin Forte – back.
P/S – SWIM consumed 4 tablets for a total of 120 mg codeine and
1,600 mg paracetamol (yuck), with benzodiazepines and had a very
positive experience, although the most common side effect (not itching,
the other one) was very strong. That person says that he only truly
appreciated codeine this time, and actually nodded off (he does not
have opiate tolerance at all) for a very pleasant experience, except
for the side effects. He might be writing a trip report in the near
future. Please do not mix benzodiazepines and codeine, that person had
a very responsible trip sitter.
McDonald’s & Sega promotion – Sega mini handheld games – Tails Sky Patrol
McDonald’s and Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog mini game #3 – Tails Sky Patrol
I did not wake up early because I was still sleeping, so I didn’t
queue up at 9 am. I only got up at around 10:45 am after a call woke me
up. I rushed down to the local McDonald’s and I’m happy to report that
I have managed to acquire two of Tails Sky Patrol (the Sega mini
handheld game this week – a new one every week). I’m planning to
collect one (unopened, in shrink wrap) and play with one.
Sonic’s Tails Sky Patrol game.
Well, the construction of these Sega mini games seems to be pretty
solid – the only one I have (Tails Sky Patrol) feels light, but sturdy.
There’s a bit of a rattling sound when it’s agitated though. The back
of the game has a simple On/Off toggle switch and the front is molded
to the Tails character from Sonic the Hedgehog. The LCD is about the
size of a postage stamp and has a pre-rendered background. By that I
mean the background is “painted on” and shows up even if the game is
not on. You know what I mean if you’ve been messing around with
handheld games before.
Front of the handheld game.
Back of the handheld game.
The background has scenery of a blue sky, with nicely rendered
cumulonimbus clouds. The two red buttons to move Tails up and down
seems to be able to handle a bit of rough play, but I haven’t put that
to the test. This game also has sound – it emits beeps, boops, and
squeaks, depending on whether you made Tails eat a ring, you missed
one, or the game is over. 🙂
The game in action!
The game is pretty compulsive, a lot of fast reflexes are needed to
get through the levels, but I suspect that this isn’t a device that
would take a lot of punishment, so personally, I don’t think it’ll last
for all that long. It’s great value for RM 5 (A$ 2.50) so I would be
getting the other two in the series. Please email me
if you have the first two in the series, I’m interested in getting two
of each (but one would do if that’s all you’re willing to part with),
just offer a price in the email. Thanks!
The manual
P/S – Has anyone taken photos of the back of Tails Sky Patrol? I
noticed this very interesting visual distortion where the blue bits
swirled and blinked and moved around. It’s not an isolated incident so
I wouldn’t call it a flashback. Try taking a close-up photo of the back
of this mini game and see if you experience the same visual distortion
when viewed through the LCD viewfinder. The front and other parts did
not produce the same effects, only the blue back of Tails Sky Patrol
did. I had to think very hard to remember whether I consumed any
mushrooms or blotters during the night! I’m pretty sure this phenomena
occurs because of the silvery finish at the back of the game – it just
messes with the digicam’s autofocus and that translated to bizarre
visual distortions in the LSD viewfinder.
My bag of puke
Pictured above is a plastic bag containing a portion of the things I
regurgitated today. There is another fat, dark plastic bag inside (at
the final bag below)…that’s also full of vomit. If you look hard enough
you can see a half eaten Fish Filet from McDonald’s (ate there again
for the Sega mini handheld game promo – got two, whee!). I could not
eat anything the whole day and drinking water only made me regurgitate
seconds later. It’s quite tiring really, all that throwing up business.
Especially when you vomited everything from your stomach – I was
basically making uncontrolled dry heaves.
A closer view to make more details visible.
Another close up of the bag of puke.
The final big bag of puke. Note the yellow transparent color at the
bottom – I didn’t have anything else to throw up so up came the stomach
acids…
Anyway, I went to see a doctor just now and specifically asked for
an anti-emetic injection – which usually prompts “Oh, so you’re a med
school student”. It seems that a lot of the doctors here assume that
only med students know those words. I use medical terminology not to
sound pretentious – just to be concise. Anyway, out came the nurse and
told me to lie down. I declined and asked for it in the arm because I
wanted to take a photo of it. Unfortunately, that nurse is faster than
a speeding bullet – my digicam barely went through its start up
procedures before she was done. In and out in a second. Bummer. Anyway
it was an IM (intramuscular) injection that only left a tiny red mark:
But this nurse is truly fucking clueless and the doctor was looking
the whole time and didn’t make any comments so he’s fucking clueless by
proxy too. The nurse didn’t swab me! This is such a basic
hygiene method employed even by IV drug users that one would expect a
GP to know, but apparently not. Hmm…are there any lawyers out there? If
I get septicemia, endocarditis or something like that, am I eligible to
file a lawsuit? Of course, if (a very big if) something happens
and the courts decide in my favor, I will keep half of the profit, some
will be used to run a contest on sixthseal.com, and I’ll donate the
rest to a good harm reduction organization. Hehe! Seriously though,
some HR organizations are tax deductible, so it would be good to do it,
if you support the idea behind it that is.
“Gastric” pills
“Vomiting/Giddy” pills
Well, here are photos of the medication I received – one is supposed
to be an anti-emetic, while the other is for gastric. True to the
practice of most of the doctors here, the actual name of the drug is
not written, only what it’s for (the symptoms). It’s coz we patients
are stupid you see, we’ll never understand and know what it is, if they
wrote the name of the drug instead. Anyway, now I have to search RxList
and see what it is, which would be pretty damn difficult as one of them
has no detail, just a single score.
“Gastric” pills
YS imprint on the front, single score on the back, beveled edges on
both sides. 1/4 of the pill is pink while 3/4 is white. It smells like
candy.
“Vomiting/Giddy” pills
Single score on back, no detail on the front. Plain white tablet without beveled edges.
Well, I’m sure that they don’t have any recreational value (unless
stopping you from vomiting counts, heh) but it would be interesting to
know what they contain anyway, just in case it’s contraindicated
against something I’m taking in tandem. Oh, you want to know something
interesting? The pills labeled “gastric” looks a like like this (except
for the color):
Picture taken from this pill report [pillreports.com]. It’s an MDMA pill called F1 11, F1-11, F1 or Foneeleven.
Very interesting, huh? 🙂
I just got back from dinner, I’ll make a couple of posts and reply all the comments in a while.
