This post is dedicated to a certain someone that I know still visit this site ocassionally. I will not know when will you pop in to this site again. But hopefully it is not too late when you see this… For days I cannot sleep or study properly. When you gave up hope on me, I sort of shattered immediately. Only managing to keep it together to pass the coming exams. I have no idea how the future will hold after this, but I am very sure the changes that will happen are going to be big and drastic. My only hope is that it is a change that I hope for or else I will have to recover from this sickness alone again. The impact on me was really bigger than what I expected and I really cannot cope well with it anymore. I really hope I will not be so selfish again, if there ever will be a new encounter or if I will ever want it again…
Long updates
Well, I knew it from the first day that this blog would not be well maintained after my assignment ended. Some people still ping this site, so here are some updates:
- Formatted my phone in February, lost all my photos with it as well. Sony Ericsson phones that uses internal memory instead of a memory card has a built-in flaw. When the memory is close to full, the phone’s operating system isn’t able to start… because by design, the phone’s OS uses the internal memory as well! Lesson learnt: Don’t overfill your phone with files.
- Got an internship with a company which gives me RM1.8k. This is “rare” considering that most people get around 300-700 for theirs. Alternatively, still waiting for a reply from Infosys regarding their training program…
- Flew through my final year project (FYP) in less than two weeks… again. Never learnt my lesson and do things last minute. Still managed to winged it off with the major part of my program written in 30 minutes flat…
- Learnt that mah jong is a bad influence towards me since I simply can’t run away from it.
- From that, I watched one of my housemates got so drunk that he was injected with drip solution to help his hangover. Good thing I don’t drink at all!
- Found myself rewatching Charmed series. Made me want to go and live in San Francisco and wake up every morning facing the Golden Gate Bridge.
- Still considering on the masters problem, though I have pretty much decided.
- Last but not least, drop me some comments, so that I know this site is still active and worth updating.
Lonely CNY… again
Had some photos that I planned to upload from the CNY dinners that we had. Then again, I don’t feel like it anymore. Every time I cancel some plans to accomodate my housemate, I am always left alone. Meh… going to go sit in my lonely corner again. Never going to make my plans around housemates… Happy CNY to everyone else.
I was going through my usual blog visits when I saw this on my lecturer’s blog.
More details at http://www.malaysianartistesforunity.info/
I replayed this song over and over again (listening to it as I am writing this) as if it brings me closer to my home. The video was made last year which also included Datuk Tony Fernandes in it. This gave me thought to the recent squabble of KLIA East airport that Tun Dr. Mahathir was against here and here.
Undoubtedly he is one of better minds in Malaysia’s leaders. His quick wit and thinking had got him through the administration since he took up the office. However, has age caught up to him? I do not know. As to why he is opposing the project, one could only speculate. So far all the reasons that I had read in his blog is hardly anything solid. Yet, time and time again he pushes these facts and gained support from his blog readers (to put it in a racist manner, mainly Malays, no offense intended). The greater portion of these comments are hardly constructive which indicates that they did not comprehend the situation completely (or even one-sided towards his blog). Saying of which government money will be wasted in a direct manner as if the words “privately funded” was not there at all. Indeed, one could argue that no matter how much privatization is involved, the government will need to contribute from time to time (one situation would be the maintenance of the roads that will go to Labu). But the major costs involved will be absorbed by the company. Which from a general POV, it should be beneficial to all parties.
My stand on this issue is to support the building of this new airport. It was just last month when I last visited LCCT to take a flight and during the afternoon/evening session, you can see passengers crowding the terminal. People were having long queues to check-in their luggages while other family members crowded in a small corner that they can find to say their goodbyes to them. I had arrived about 2 hours before departure and was looking for a seat to idle my time away. To my amazement, I could not find a seat at all! You can see some of the people even sitting along the walkway just to get their legs rested from queuing up for checking in. Just from this stand point alone, it is well justified enough to build a new airport.
I won’t be going through the controversial as these can be easily read from the newspapers. People do not understand the need of moving AWAY from KLIA or from the grasp of MAHB. MAHB could not promise AirAsia an airport by 2010 when AirAsia has an even larger fleet of aircrafts delivered to them. It was clearly pointed out that the land that MAHB planned to build the new low cost terminal is over a swamp land. Yes, you can make the land stable and suited for building an airport. However these things takes time, and I believe time is against AirAsia this time (ironically since many people complain their flight delays). Dr. M has mentioned that not all airplanes will be parked in the LCCT. I beg to differ as there are no flights during the night (frequent fliers with AirAsia would know) apart from the longer international flights (not including close flights such as Singapore). This would mean the majority of the fleet will still be grounded. If they do not have enough parking bays, will MAHB allow AirAsia to park their planes on the tarmac?
Another point which should be emphasized is that the cost proposed by MAHB is almost double of what can be done at KLIA East. This is all done without a runway for AirAsia’s own use. Why would I want to pay more for a car if I don’t get the perks of having ABS, body kits and all the fancy accessories? The same reasoning could be applied to AirAsia’s airport. From AirAsia’s perspective, it is hardly economical if anything. For a no-frills airline, having their own runway would be a major improvement. Or will the government or MAHB subsidize the fuel needed to taxi the plane from the new terminal to the runway? These costs needs to be factored in especially in a long term situation. As far as I have heard, the new terminal proposed is “sort-of” faraway from the current runway. Having their own runway near to their own terminal could greatly reduce the costs and again, pass these benefits to the passengers.
Having two airports closed to each other isn’t much of a big problem either. Planes won’t go coliding each other as all planes needs to strictly follow a set of flight paths. Every single turn, ascend and descent is well planned and followed. Again, Dr. M assumes that the pilots might need to pull stunts to avoid each other similar to the stunt did in Pearl Harbor movie. This is airtravel that we’re talking about and not the streets of KL where people just swerve by on every other dark corner. That and the runways are build in parallel with each other. All planes needs to clear a certain height before making their first turn to adjust their flight paths. I think I can safely assume that the planes taking off will be way beyond the 7km or even near either airports when making their turns. You won’t be seeing movie stunts between these two airports.
The main reason of supporting this move is to get away from MAHB’s management. If AirAsia is growing as fast as what was reported, why didn’t MAHB lay out a plan beforehand to support that growth? According to Datuk Tony, MAHB never called AirAsia on this issue. I believe AirAsia is required to pay certain “rent” to use the KLIA space. If these costs can be removed, why not?
From a bias point of view, I would say Dr. M doesn’t want another of his projects to become another white elephant such as Putrajaya. Going against the project is probably the only thing that he could do at his position at the moment. But then again, these are all just opinions. Let us all see how things will unfold in the upcoming events…
Ant Nest
I had been wondering for quite some time as to why there are many ants crawling along my external hard disk. Finally, curiosity kills me and I opened it up after a good 2 months since this started happening.
Picture is taken after I cleaned out the most of it with some left intact
There were literally hundreds of ants crawling with a quarter of them carrying ant eggs scouring here and there.
Luggage packing
It is that time again where I simply grab a few clothes and stuff them into my bagpack. How I wish I do not have to travel so far and forget to bring an item or two. It is always the nervous feeling of forgetting something that I dislike a lot. Oh well… back to packing.
Offline people
I am getting very VERY VERY agitated by these people who goes “Appears Offline” yet messages me. I feel that it has very little decency, such in the way that you are trying to initiate a conversation with your back behind me. Normally I do not mind if it is once or twice, but these people make it a habit and that tends to annoy me. The reason “I don’t want people to know that I am online” isn’t good enough for me. Here is my list of people that I would never EVER reply if you appear offline regardless (names are mentioned in initials to protect their privacy):
1/ LTS – you top my charts among my address book
2/ OZY
3/ GHY
4/ GPP
Windows Live Messenger 9 has scrapped a few status such as Out to Lunch and In a Call. I wish they scrapped Appear Offline status as well.
Got this virus recently. Yea, I am “forced” into this for various reasons. Let’s hope this last longer than my Friendster account.
Remember the times in school when you used to procrastinate on your homework, and you needed to write the date when the homework was assigned? I shall now date this post back to mid-November.
Had been very busy during the exam season but I still managed to hang out.
My housemate who has always been out drinking with his friends often mention this place once in a while. So does a few others who would like to spend sometime with their partners. I thought I would give it a try and see for myself if this place was as unique as it seemed.
Upperstar is a bar and grill type of restaurant with a few branches. I went to the branch at Damai, with one of the reasons being to avoid the UMS crowd at the KK branch.
View of Upperstar from the main street
Initially, I expected the place to be somewhat romantic as many couples seemed to be always there. It didn’t turn out as I expected, however it isn’t what you would find a noisy family restaurant complete with a kid’s corner. It is similar to those steakhouse that you can find along Jalan Ampang.
Closer view of the restaurant
It has tables laid outside with fancy umbrellas covering them as if you would expect a rainfall during your meal. Despite having a fancy outlook, the bar inside is relatively small as I was expecting something larger.
The bar
We got ourselves seated near the window. However due to its design, you could not get a proper view outside. I guess there isn’t much of a point when the view is just the main road with cars whizzing by. :p
One thing that caught my eye (but not by my camera) was the Internet service that they provided. The side tables that were against the walls had a computer each which allowed their patrons to go online. I am not sure if they are charged any extra for using these services, but it seemed that people were using it to go on Friendster and such. I did not take a photo as it would seemed rude to capture people eating while surfing the Internet.
After contemplating a bit on the laminated-piece-of-paper menu, I decided to try out their Fish and Chips, something which I haven’t had for quite some time.
My order of Fish and Chips
The taste was average and expected. However, the portion served was a bit unsatisfactory as I normally have bigger portions of Fish and Chips at other places. Given that the price was just slightly above RM10, I would say it is OK since this is East Malaysia. Overall, I would give this place a passing mark of 4 out of 10 for dining out. I seriously expected more due to numerous recommendations.
PS: I wish I had a better camera phone now seeing that the pictures are blur and I do not have the time nor expertise to fix it.
disoriented
If you only have 5 minutes to be online a day, what would you do? For the past two days, I barely had any contact with the outside world. This showed how badly I depended on the Internet to contact other people (even though I have a mobile phone). How do you contact your friends?
Haven’t been updating recently because after the academic related stuff was done, I had lost all my interest in keeping the blog up as with my previous 4 dead blogs. Have a few draft posts that I might complete in the near future. To make up for the lack of updates, here is a random picture of something that I found funny:
