CNY @ Dallas

Chinese New Year (CNY) has always been quiet while in the US. My first year I had potluck with some Malaysian, but that was just it. My second year was worse, didn't do anything except struggling to finish up assignments. This year however, was awesome! The summer internship of bookselling gave me the opportunity to celebrate CNY in Dallas, Texas. The organization flew me in from Chicago. They even booked me into a hotel for the night in Chicago to catch the early flight the next day.

As I touched down in Dallas, I was picked up by Woei Hsian who then drove me to lunch where I met all my bookselling buddies! Then off to Double Tree hotel where we had a meeting about opportunities of returning to the bookselling field this year. Boring stuff *ahem*

Got ready for dinner and headed to Tokyo One Japanese Restaurant. I've actually been to that restaurant last year when I was in Dallas. It was a great restaurant. Food was good, atmosphere was good, and most importantly the company of friends and so many Malaysians together was good. In the spirit of muhibah, and the CNY spirits high, our stomachs filled and faces gleaming, we bode farewell to some of our pals who had to leave that night as they had to drive back and get their own share of school work done.

The next day we checked out from the hotel and headed to Kirin Dim Sum restaurant. Had to wait an hour just to get a place to sit as our group of about 15 people proved challenging for the staff to prepare. When we got in, it was gobble time all the way. It has been a long time since I had good dim sum (even in M'sia i forgot to savour it). But the best part was when Kenny reached for his pocket only to pull out a stack full of Ang-Paos for everyone! It was perfect timing at its best as Kenny just tied the knot just last November! Gosh, how long has it been since I got my last ang-pao... *gleam*

After that, had a short meeting with Woei Hsian about what my plans and feeling towards coming back for another bookselling summer. At this moment I'm like, not again... we've done this conversation before la... if wanna brainwash me, you are doing a good job at it but I have my own shield also okay...

Stayed at Woei Hsian's place. His sis cooked porridge and some simple dishes which was my favorite! I always loved simple home cooked food! But best of all, was porridge with BOVRIL!!!
Luv it!

Woke the next morning and headed to the airport for my flight to Chicago. As I touched down at Chicago, I faced a challenge of getting back to Purdue. There weren't any ground transport that goes to West Lafayette directly except taxis that will cost a bomb! A guy approached me and asked where I was going. I told him my situation and I ended up deciding to go to O'hare airport instead to try to catch the coach that goes to Purdue. On the way, I called a few friends back on campus to check for me the schedule of the coaches. They told me that the next servicve will be at 8:30pm!!! I was like, holy shit! But Su-Chuen and Darcy agreed to pick me up in Chicago with my car after 4pm. I agreed and stopped at the nearest train station to get a train to downtown Chicago. At Chicago, for the first time in my life, I GOT LOST! I am usually very map savvy but the map that I got and the street positions just seem to confuse me! Being city savvy that I am, I lugged my luggage, ask a police for directions and ended up at the City Info Center. Headed to Bennigan's across the Art Institute for a sumptious lunch, then headed to the library to catch up with my Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Off to Chinatown to meet Darcy and Su-Chuen and drove back to Purdue.

Dead tired but totally satisfied!

First Review

WARNING: If you think life's too short and there's so much to do, don't read on! Read on only if you think life is boring and time is not of essence, coz you know why? This is my first attempt to write an item review that probably has no significant relevance to the updates of my life except how boring it is while taking away 5 minutes (10 minutes if you don't know Engrish) of you life.



I recently bought a book light. What's a book light you may ask? Well, its a pretty innovative torchlight that actually clips onto a book and shines on the pages you are reading. It turns on automatically when you twist open (like an open clam) the light lever to a certain angle. To turn it off, you just need to twist/clamp it. This one I bought at Walmart for about $7.00 only to be returned a week later. Let me tell you why...




First of all it is bulky. It requires 4 AA batteries and that itself tells you that it is a power hogging contraption. The bulb is what I think a magnesium bulb (the type used in flash lights in your camera) as it is small and thin yet producing a pretty high power for a small guy. From the picture here, I used a hardcover book so it sits quite well. However, I would defer if it was a paperback book, even worse a small paperback book! The weight will probably rip the cover off!

Getting bored...? Good. There's more!


I mentioned that it might use a magnesium bulb. As powerful the bulb may be, it is not enough to luminate the pages of my book. Look how the lower part of my book is barely visible? It may still be readable, unless you want to spoil your eyes and get glasses like me when I took for granted that never in my life will I wear glasses because I thought I had super eye powers! I guess not.
What this product could have improved on is by adding two light bulbs that focuses on different parts of the page.



Finally, it costs too much. For such a cheapish contraption, I bet you could have got it from your local pasar malam for 5 Ringgit. The company is probably just cashing in on this innovation. No wonder it didn't sell well and I was foolish enough to buy it. What to do... last minute shopping for things to bring back Malaysia during winter break mah.

To sum it all, if you don't have a reading light and the room light switch is too far for you to get out of your already comfortable bed position, and that you always buy hard covered books, this might not be a bad item after all. But if you're an innovator like me *ahem*, you'd throw this item out of the window (or just return it) and design a lighter, brighter and cuter book light.

Four-Eyed Poser

Being the vain pot that I am, I couldn't resist showing off my new set of glasses. Yes people, I am now wearing glasses because I'm getting blind! No kidding, I tested my eyes and I'm actually short-sighted, more on the left-eye. I measure (is that the correct word) 75 on my left eye and 25 on my right eye. To some this is actually very low power, but I'm actually finding it difficult to admire the lecturer's face not to mention appreciate the work of art on the chalk-board. Yeah, maybe it looks fashionable, but hey, I don't like wearing it as much as Harry Potter. But seriously, I get the headaches and dizzyness whenever I wear them, probably because I'm not used to it. Either way, I never knew that the world looked so sharp! Things that I couldn't see from afar I can now see clearly. Imagine that!

KLIA Comments

Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is touted to be one of the world's best airports. Globally, it is ranked 8th of world best airports. Having put through intense competition from Singapore's Changi and Hong Kong's International Airport, and soon Thailand's Suvarnabhumi, will KLIA raise to the challenge of maintaining ranks to these behemoths? Let's face it, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong has been for years established itself as a regional hubs, whilst KLIA is smack in the middle of these regional hubs. What do we (KLIA) have? AirAsia?

Realizing the situation, I wouldn't want KLIA to be lost out. So here are some comments and suggestions I emailed to KLIA authorities and hopefully it will not fall on deaf ears.

Not many people have all the multimedia plugins your website require. It is best that the buttons and airport maps be made easy by keeping it simple and effective for page loads. Even with a broadband connection, the page loads too slow because of all the user interactive features which are not neccesary on your website.
Concerning the airport itself, more computer kiosks would be helpful. I actually see a line of people lining up to use the computer kiosks. Not only that, the screens are positioned above the head which is extremely inconvenient for people who are not used to not looking at the keyboard to type. Privacy is also violated if the screens are above the head where people can look into your username or personal information when browsing email or the web.

Temperature in the airport is too warm, even at night! I understand the need for people who need to sleep, but maybe the temperature at sleeping areas can be increased, while busy or commercial areas be reduced. Shower fascilities could be provided too; if they are indeed provided, i don't see any signs that indicate it.

Chair arrangement is horrible! Attempting to arrange it in a square (departure level) reduces trolley movement. I was trapped as I can't even get my trolley through because there were people sitting on all four corners of this tight square arrangement.

Provide a built in alarm on sleep chairs so transit passengers can wake up in time for their flight. Instead of bright flurescent lights, use cool lights (i.e. yellow) that are dimmed at sleeping areas.

These small aspects matter most to a passenger. I hope these suggestions will not fall on deaf ears and actions will be taken on these simple yet effective steps to make the airport more service minded. What do you think? Tell me what you think of KLIA or any airport experience you have.

Fire!

So I'm back from the fire-drill (or probably some alarm prank), and it took 15 minutes. Checked the weather and it is actually -4 degrees celcius!

Club away the blues...

Let’s just say I lost my “clubbing virginity” in the summer of 2004. The first time was with Kenrick, Rachel and her cousins & co. at Atmosphere KL. It was… powerful! Never felt so much energy pounding my heart (probably because of the strong base from the speakers). This time round, I did not miss the opportunity to club again after being stranded in the forsaken land of West Lafayette! 3 nights straight… and RM300 poorer… But I guess it was worth it… somewhat. I knew I had to party and go nuts after being pretentiously civilized on campus. I also found out that I love the oldies! Well, not to say oldies as in the Golden oldies… but oldies as in old-school 80’s and 90’s with a touch of modern beats (remix).

Its ironic how many times I like to judge people when I was young, but now I’m being judged just because of keeping up with social trends. Then again, who are people to judge? What about being different? Why keep up with social trends? When did my rebellious attitude of diverting from social norms succumb to “trend”?

I guess I’ve come to a point where I’ve stepped to ponder and live with the complexities of society. Oh well, may as well club away the pain…

FYI, I’m still in bloody Narita Airport!

(P.S This message was written while in Narita Airport without internet connection. Therefore I wrote it in MS Word temporarily before posting it when I get the chance to get online)

Superficiality of Friendster

If you're still in living in the cave and just came out of it, Friendster is a social network service where each member fills out a profile and people form a network circle of friends. It is very useful to keep in touch with the happenings among friends or even to find old or new ones, either by randomness or by matching information in the profile that interests you. Clicking on a person's profile also allows you to see how that person is connected to other people.

However, sometimes this service can be misused. There is a group of people I know that are truly against joining friendster. Why? Because they say it is a superficial form of stating the popularity of a person. Yes, because of the ability to checkout other people, you can see how "popular" one is by noticing how many friends that person has. Ok, I admit it, I was once into this addiction of collecting as many friends as possible to make a statement that I'm not your lousy and annoying acquaintance and by you becoming my friend, you know someone popular and that makes you worth becoming my friend. Admit it you people! Tell me, didn't you ever wanted to be that way and not to lose out?!

There! Now that's out of the way, I can now defend that friendster is not all what it seems. When I found out the real benefits of friendster, I was grateful. I've found a bunch of long lost friends to the days of kindergarten! Found new ones (actually, people found me) and that gave me a chance to practice my social skills at least.

I just logged onto friendster and on the buletin boards caught my eye a post:

Subject: fake friends
Message:
Isn't this just the same as what you had say in your later bulletin that people die in 6 days or have a bad relationship for 5 years if they don't post a bulletin? So you want your friends to pay attention to you only than you would consider them friends? what if they are just nosy? anyways, y am i writing this? when can i play soccer again with this mr. scholl?Have to agree with all of you who say people are getting fake on here. So I gave in and let's see who really reposts this.Why do people who are friends on people friendster's list never write back and why do some people have a million friends??This is a test to see who's paying attention.It serves to eliminate people who are desperately trying to add "friends" like it's a popularity contest in high school.This is a test to see how many people in my friends list actually pay attention to me. Copy and repost in your own bulletin. Let's see who the true friends are.Repost this if you are a friend... and actually pay attention Don't reply... just copy and paste this in a new bulletin as "fake friends" .

Honestly speaking, I don't give a damn about this and don't even bother reposting. To me its just one of those chain letters that superstitious people send or responds to. By not responding, it also does not mean that I'm not a true friend. Well, actually, there is some untrue points to that statement. Let's face it, you can't be goody-good-boy/girl with everyone. You can't please everyone and that's a fact. Not everyone on my friendster list are the "best of friends". Many are, but many I barely know too. A best friend knows if he is the best or not, a good friend knows if they are good or not, and a true friend knows when he is true. But lets not leave out those enemies or rivals too! Hey, we're enemies/rivals, but aren't we mature enough to know not to play childish games? Besides, its a good way to keep a tab on them. Like they say, "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer".

Back to the subject, those group of people that think is just a superficial sociatal trend have to think again. Their approach is different in the sense that it is not fair to portray friendster in such manner. There are so many benefits that really touched me because I know how to not misuse it. If you think friendster is like what I said a superficial sociatal trend, then you are mixing with the wrong crowd. Those who really do seek popularity probably have their own inferiority complex of their own. But as you grow, you will learn how to grow out of it too.

Until then, if you have friendster, go ahead browse around looking at other people's profiles. Drop a testimony or two. Update yourself on the buletin board and be happy. That's what the creators intended it for (besides reaping royalties from the abundance of ads in there!). In the mean time, leave comments!

Transit Stint

So I’m currently stuck at Narita Airport and still have 3 hours before my flight to Chicago. As I wait here tasting exorbitantly priced Japanese rice ball and bottled green tea, I reflect back to the day when winter break just started. It started out great as I got an upgrade to business class for the long haul flight from Chicago to Narita. Being the travel freak, I braved myself to take the bus into Tokyo city. Actually, I reserved a cheap hotel in the sub-city of Ikebukuro prior to my journey. I thought I could take a glimpse of fast paced city life once more. But fast paced really surprised me as I did not expect human traffic to be potentially dangerous! The Japanese mass zip away in hordes making it impossible for me to cross a pedestrian path! However, transportation is pretty good, even though it takes awhile to figure out what I think more than 30 different rail lines! Then again, isn't it exciting to get lost?!

I reached my hotel at about 8pm after searching for about an hour. Who’d expect that the hotel be labeled in Japanese! Luckily I remembered how the façade of the hotel looks like; if not who would guess where the bloody hotel is! The hotel was pretty cheap and good. When I say cheap, it is with reference to Tokyo standards of course…

I later called Chiaki, my ex-classmate when I was still majoring in Aeronautical Engineering, who guided me to one of the biggest cities in Tokyo, Shibuya. The youth and entertainment (not to mention red-light) district reminiscent to New York’s Times Square except that it is so much cleaner and high tech. Chiaki took me to dinner with her twin sister and her friend. They were such wonderful hosts as they introduced me to quaint Japanese dining which I thought was very nice.







From left: Shibuya City; Japanese wine - Sake (it has a specific name which i forgot); from right, Chiaki, Me, Chiaki's friend, Chiaki's twin sister; I think Chiaki is on my left and her sis on my right @ Shibuya.

The next morning I took off to the airport by the Airport Express train. Couldn’t get tickets so I had to buy first class which was 200 yen more I think. At the airport, I remember Juliet recommending me to go to Narita station to try some good Tokoyaki (fried squid balls). So after checking in, I took the Keisei Line to Narita station. Narita town was in fact a very small town. After exiting the station, I immediately saw the Takoyaki stall Juliet was mentioning. It smelled good, and it tasted better! I bought 2 boxes of different things. Walked around town for awhile and headed back to the airport.

The flight back was pretty pleasant as I had front row seats in Economy, so I didn’t have problems with cramped legs. However, I fear my next flight as the one from Singapore to Narita was what you call packed like sardines! I swore I couldn’t feel my legs for a moment!

So that’s the beginning, written at the end of winter break.