Evening News

I've been meaning to post these pictures(from The Star Newspaper) a while back. As you can see it isn't hot news. Nonetheless, I feel that if I'm going to write about anything, I have to write about these things that happen in our beloved country.

3 men decided to rob a jewellary store, and 2 other men ended up dead. Just like that - without warning. Life is so fragile, isn't it? One moment you're thinking about going home and watch the World Cup; then the next thing you know death is near. 2 families are left behind.

This family had been facing financial problems. Husband lost his job a few months back. Don't really know what triggered the mom to want to commit suicide, along with the 4 children. 2 managed to escape. I wonder if the other 2 even knew what's coming. I wonder if anyone offered to help them get back on their feet. I wonder if I would give to this family if they came to me. I know something needs to be done, but I don't know what.



Anyone thinks that cutting out suicide scenes would help? If this would help, then we shouldn't publish news that talks of people jumping down from a tall building. Then CSI shows would have to be banned, because they give details on a murderer's ways. They even mention what mistakes a murderer made that led to his arrest - so would that help other murderers from avoiding the same mistakes? Not forgetting the local shows that depicts how the husband beats up his wife.

Are tv shows the main problem? I don't think so.

Yup, in spite of the increasing crime rate, we still want more nightlife - for the tourists. I believe that the majority of tourists that come to Malaysia wants to enjoy the Malaysian life - how it is like to live in a Malaysia... Isn't that why people go to different countries? To experience the culture and way of life over there?

As far as I'm concerned, there can be only 2 activities that Malaysians do after midnight - Sleep/Eat. Hot Nasi Lemak at 2am in the morning, baby!! Syokness!!

A Quote

The World Cup 2006 - Semi Finals (2)

France 1 vs Portugal 0

 

Wow!! What an exciting match!! I saw the replay, and knowing the results beforehand did nothing to put off the excitement the game brought (maybe my Winning 11 did).

 

I have nothing much to say about this match lah. Zidane's penalty was superb lah. It was always curling away from the goalkeeper. Had it not been for Thuram, though, Portugal would have had won the game easily. I'm very happy that France is in the final and I'm really hoping for a high scoring match.

 

Ok now I have somethings to say. Don't judge me. Judging from this match, I have a few suggestions for the French team manager that would make their game against Italy a great one.

 

_ Replace Abidal with Silvestre. Abidal conceded possession in dangerous areas and defended poorly.

_ Replace Barthez with Coupet - or you'll be staring calamity in the face!!

_ 4-5-1 has served you well throughout this competition. Now Henry would need Trezeguet as his stricking partner to break the Italian defense.

_ If you insist on going 4-5-1, then you'll have to make Cristiano Ronaldo french and replace Malouda.

 

 

Public Transport - Day and Night

Last night I took a taxi from Jalan Ipoh back to Segambut. Told the taxi dude not to take Jalan Segambut - everyday there's a jam from 7pm - 10.30pm, I have no idea why. It's just is. It would make a lot of sense to widen Jalan Segambut, considering the number of people using it. But don't think anyone intends to do it - you'll know why when you go there.

So the alternative route I chose is Jalan Ipoh batu 3 - Jalan Duta round-about - Jalan Kuching - Taman SPPK - Taman Sri Sinar. Anyone familiar with this route? This particular taxi driver wasn't. Can't blame him lah. We were suppose to stick left to be able to turn into SPPK from Jalan Kuching, but we missed the turn. He stopped on the emergency lane, slowly go backwards, and managed to take the left turn.

I was too busy looking at the back to make sure we don't collide with any oncoming vehicle, I didn't pay attention to the fare metre to know how long and how much we wasted for his mistake. I was wondering if he would admit his mistake and give me a 50 cents discount. Wouldn't that be nice? I wasn't very hopeful though. Most probably we would not be mentioning that particular mistake of his and I'll just pay whatever is on the fare metre. Guess what happened?

I was half right. I arrived home and the fare was RM8.80. And then the shock of my life... Not only did he not give me a discount, he looked me in the eye and....

Taxi Driver: Bang, kasi RM10 boleh? Sebab tadi ada jam...
Me: (shocked, mouth wide open) masa jam pun ada charge 'kat metre kan?
Taxi Driver: (pissed and unhappy) ok lah... 9 ringgit lah.

I was too shocked, I tell you. Looking back at that incident, maybe I should have shouted "Nei mm hou gi gi kat kat ar!!"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

This morning I walked out of the house at 8.50am. Once I arrived at the bus stop, 219 bus (Rapid KL) came along and took me to the Segambut KTM station. Again the train immediately came and I reached the office at 9.30am.

40 minutes journey + RM2 = excellent transport system / lucky day??

I really don't mind the bus not coming around as frequent as every 20 minutes. 1 hour a bus is fine with me (non-rush hour)- as long as they come on time. At least we can manage our time better that way, don't ya think? I believe it will save Rapid KL a hell lot of operational cost too. Selah (meaning reflect, meditate, consider, ponder)....

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Ok this segment has nothing to do with public transport.

Our company gives fruits to us every Friday. Our admin staff came by just now as i was blogging to pass me 2 oranges. She said that these are "mandarin oranges - from Africa". Chinese people are everywhere it seems.

This Morning

It was a lovely morning indeed. The air was cool and refreshing. The flowers on the tree were blooming and again I wished I brough the camera. Sure a friend chose his sleep over breakfast with me, but breakfast was good even on my own. Waking up in Kolam Air... It's just a different feeling altogether.

Heard a rumour that Metrobus won't be allowed in KL town from July onwards... but thank goodness it wasn't true. I got a lovely seat and the journey was smooth. As I walked towards my office, I experienced something I have not seen in a long while. A van actually stopped at the Zebra crossing to let me walk across first. Wow. There are still courteous and law-abiding Malaysians around. That put a smile on my face. If I had a camera with me, I would have taken a picture of the driver and sing of his praises.

So I was in a good mood walking into the office today. I had it all figured out. I was going to spend the whole day in the comfort of the office, working on a 115-page document. I would make myself a cup of joe and write a few blogs before fully focusing on my work... And then I met my colleague. He was the one that gave me that unnecessary task of changing the format of a 115-page document and now he wants to go and perform some testing. Basically what i need to do is create transactions and transmit them to our partners. If an error was found, I would have to wait for them to debug before sending another transaction over. I don't understand why they need another man to do such an insignificant task. Couldn't they do it on their own?

Sigh... what a day spoiler. Potong steam... i wonder if you're (yes the non-existent-reader you) having a bad start to your day. The following pictures were taken a month ago. It's the sunset view at Kolam Air. Hope it will contribute something good to your day. I'm out.

The World Cup 2006 - Semi Finals (1)

Germany 0 vs Italy 2

 

I managed to wake up just before the end of the first half... I chose to do that, because I know if there were any goals, it will be shown during the half time show. That way I don't miss a thing, or waste my time watching nothing. Anyway, after the first half of extra time I turned off the tv. Somehow sleep became my main priority. I had a feeling that Del Piero would score the winning in the final minutes. But didn't expect it to be 2-0 though. The following are a summary of my thoughts of the match.

 

_ Ballack and Pirlo were the engines for their respective teams in midfield. Pirlo had more of the ball and a tougher job to do, in my opinion.

_ Both keepers played extremely well.

_ Saw flashes of brilliance by Totti - ineffective ones.

_ Bastian Schweinsteiger didn't even try to take on Zambrotta. Phillip Lahm looked more like an attacking player than he did.

_ David Odonkor - the commentator introduced him as the fastest player in the German league. He went on to say that "he looks like an olympic runner who found his way into the national football squad... by accident". I have no clue...

_ Did you see how Ballack intentionally stuck Iaquinta when they both went in for a high ball? He then pretended as if he collided head on. And it seemed like the commentor didn't notice that after 2 replays.

_ Alberto Gilardino was unlucky to hit the post with Lehmann beaten. Italy finally looked like winning the game.

 

Will have more motivation to watch tonight's match - Portugal vs France - because I'll be able to play Winning 11 at the same time. HAHA.

The World Cup 2006 - Quarter Finals

The Good:

 

_ Zidane's diplay and Henry's goal.

_ England with a new manager and captain.

_ Aaron Lennon.

_ Germany's equaliser - superb build-up.

_ Germany's and Portugal's goalkeeper during penalty shoot out.

_ Germany's subtitutions.

_ Italy's 3-0 win.

 

 

The Bad:

 

_ England's 4-5-1.

_ England players treating Rooney like Crouch.

_ Frank Lampard's clear misses.

_ Argentina players slow to shoot. 

_ Cafu. Should have used Cicinho.

_ World Player of The Year Ronaldinho not making an impact at all!!

_ Cristiano Ronaldo making a fuss out of a foul he didn't see from 40 metres away. Go figure.

 

The Studipity:

 

_ Argentina not starting the game with Saviola.

_ Argentina not bringing Messi into the match when they needed magic.

_ Sending Rooney off.

_ Starting Ronaldo - remember how bad he was against France in 98?

 

This is Joash Chan reporting - without watching any of these matches. Woo!!