Umbrella Rec

Aquarium Fan Review

2011-10-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

Jebo (small one) - very noisy since day one. Powerful? Well, I can accept it but as it becomes older, it's so noisy that I have to send it for retirement permanently after several attempts to clean & oil it.

Jebo (twin fans) - very quiet compare with the single fan one. I find it not powerful and getting worse as it gets old. I have 2 of these. After several years....1st set got a damaged fan (meaning only 1 of the twin fans is working). 2nd set is working but totally not powerful.
Ista (small one) - Very powerful - will beat Jebo anytime. Very noisy...it's very obvious at night.

Mr. Aqua Super Tornado Cooling Fan - In terms of noise level, this is the best option so far - very quiet indeed. It's so quiet that I thought it was not turned on. It's not as powerful as Ista's but in comparison with Jebo's, it's very good. It's rather bulky and heavy though.

Dymax fan - I was told by the LFS that the quality is uncertain. It may last only 3-4 months if you're unlucky. I did not bother to check it out after hearing such comment from the LFS.

I have tried another fans which I cannot remember the brand - it is white colour and the box has Japanese words. It is totally not powerful at all.

Useful Simple Techniques In Aquascaping

2011-10-25T16:27:00.000-07:00

Some simple useful techniques used in aquascaping and fish keeping:

1. Before pouring water, place a clean plastic bag or even the plastic bag of aquarium soil to cover your plants and soil. Pour the water onto the bag to avoid messing up the new plants and soil.

2. Create a slope that is higher at the back and lower at the foreground to create depth.

3. To prevent landslide, use rocks to block the soil.

4. Cheaper way of creating a higher slope at the back of the tank is by using lava rocks underneath - save the cost of aquarium soil.

5. Since most of us don't use any hood for the planted tanks to prevent heat being trapped in the tank leading to higher temperature (not good for the plants), if you have jumpy fish, place cards (old credit cards, points collection cards, etc), the green dishwasher pads, etc to cover up 4 corners of the tank to reduce suicidal cases of fishes. Not proven with Hatchet fish though.

6. Cannot find driftwood of the shape you want? Use aluminium wire tied to a driftwood to create fake branches. Cover the aluminium wire with black filter wool tied to the aluminium wire to cover up the wire. You may tied some moss over the fake branches after that. Don't over do it! Otherwise the tank will look very unnatural.

7. Algae growing on plants? Turn off your filter. You can try shooting Seachem Excel onto the affected areas with a shringe and leave it for about 30 minutes before turning on the filter again. Some sensitive plants will die as well. I have done that with Cryptocoryne wendtii, Anubias nana and Echinodorus tenellus. Don't try it on Vallisneria sp. Very useful to fight BBA.

Beware of Highway Con Men

2011-10-20T00:34:00.000-07:00

When driving at Federal Highway, beware of some Indian men offering to help if your car breaks down. One of them is around late 40s/early 50s and another one is late 30s/early 40s.

Here's my first hand encounter. 1 motorcyclist passing by pointing at my tyre. 2nd bike (Indian man) passing by also pointing at my tyre. I came down from my car and saw my tyre full of pink coloured oil with some smoke. 2 Indian men on a bike offered to help. When trying to drive the car, I realised the brake was not working. Thinking it's a minor issue, I let them help. They took the tyre out saying the brake disc needed to be sent to the workshop to be checked. The partially bald Indian guy stayed back with me. The younger one went to the workshop. I received a call via the handphone of the bald Indian man from a Chinese lady asking for my car model in order to get the right replacement part. The younger Indian guy came back with the parts and the bill was over RM1900. They asked me to pay on the spot with additional workmanship cost. I had not enough cash and no ATM card. I paid them RM100 after some argument. They left and left behind a handphone number for me to contact them if I wanted to pay up. The phone number is 016-9192917 (owner is VJ/Dewa/a complicated Indian name). I sent the car to my personal mechanic. My mechanic told me it was a con job and the car replacement part was not so costly - I was the second victim among his customers. The first victim encountered the same scenerio.

The bald man told me his name was Suresh. The younger one he said was Dewa but when I asked the younger guy for his name, he gave me a complicated Indian name. Then he shortened it to VJ. I believe no real names were revealed. The workshop's receipt was in Segambut but it took less than 30 minutes for the younger guy to reach back Federal Highway (near Mid Valley) - this is fishy. I think this is a con job collaborated among Indians and Chinese.

After sitting down to analyse the Indian men, I realised there are a lot of fishy matters about them. The bald guy told me they worked with Petronas but later in the conversation he switched to Shell. So I asked him whether it's Shell or Petronas. He said his Chinese boss owned Petronas and Shell gas/petrol station.

Fishy Issue # 1: Neither of them were wearing Petronas or Shell uniform.

Fishy item #2: If I were a big boss of Shell or Petronas, I would kick the hell out of their Chinese boss for collaborating with the competitor.

Fishy item #3: I don't think there's any Chinese owning Petronas gas station.

They don't dare to accept cheque and online banking transfer. They only dare to accept cash, so they cannot be traced.

The con men probably took my original brake disc for trade in and got the re-con one for me.

The men claimed they're originated from Penang island but working in Brickfields and stayed in Bangsar. Now I am looking out for any suspicious looking Indian men around me in case they come for revenge...

CO2 Cylinder Refill/Purchase - Syarikat City Corporation

2011-09-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

For those who are into aquascaping, the best location to refill CO2 and purchase CO2 cylinder is:

Syarikat City Corporation,
30, Jalan 13/108C,
Taman Sungai Besi,
57100 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-79836366 or 03-79833214
Fax: 03-79813344

The company opens at 9am daily (except Sunday). Please take note that they work half day on Saturday.

The price is lower than any of the local fish shops. The waiting period is also faster than any of the fish shops as you get the refill on the spot. No waiting period of a few hours or even days.

Recently I have found out that the cost of refilling CO2 has increased. It used to be RM10 for any sizes of CO2 cylinders but that's no longer the case now. Here's the CO2 refill price list:

5 lbs - RM12
10 lbs - RM22

The price of CO2 cylinder has gone up too. It used to be RM120 for 5 lbs CO2 cylinder and RM150 for 10 lbs CO2 cylinder if I am not mistaken. The current price list of CO2 cylinder with gas is:

5 lbs - RM140
10 lbs - RM160

Laos - Jewel Of The Mekong

2011-07-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

It's not so common for travelers to visit Laos comparing with the rest of South-East Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc. I personally only aware of two friends who have visited Laos - a Malaysian and a French. One of them gave me some good pointers about the country that was totally unknown to me. Yes, I had a sense of insecurity.

Kuang Si Waterfall:
A Very Friendly Hmong Lady Who Let Us Visited Her House:
Hmong Village:

The noodle I love:

Street of Luang Prabang:

It's good for me to find out by myself that Laos is in fact safer than my own country. I did not see any criminal activities there. Nobody will try to cheat you like the Vietnamese or Chinese. Yes, they may hike up the price knowing that you're a foreigner but you can bargain all the way down to the price you're happy - this is a pretty common practice in South-East Asia. The living standard has gone up in recent years due to the hike of petrol price. I could no longer get 50,000 kip taxi ride to the airport. Instead it cost me 70, 000 kip. T-shirts cost around 15,000 kip. Lao coffee powder was purchased at Luang Prabang for 50, 000 kip a bag but later found out they were available at 32,000 kip in Vientiane. Currency exchange to kip can only be done in Laos. Thai baht and US dollar are widely acceptable. 10,000 kip is about USD1 or RM4.

Tuk Tuk - The Main Transportation In Laos:

A Stupa At A Temple In Luang Prabang:

Bring along a torch light if you are afraid of the dark because their electricity availability is inconsistent. You may encounter sudden black out while walking half way on the street in total darkness, but it would last only a few seconds.

A Temple In Luang Prabang (Forgot The Name):

My trip basically covered the UNESCO site, Luang Prabang, and Vientiane. Luang Prabang is ideal for nature lovers especially if you fancy waterfalls (i.e. Kuang Si waterfall and Tad Sae waterfalls). Just bear in mind that there's no water at Tad Sae during dry season. I skipped Tad Sae waterfall. I decided to skip the cave because I did not know how to appreciate caves. I also skipped the cruise at the Mekong river because to me it's just another muddy river. There were plenty of temples to visit such as Wat Xieng Thong, Wat Visoune, etc. Try searching via Google and you will find plenty of temples in Laos. In Luang Prabang, you can climb Phousi Hill to have a good view of the city by following a stairway path. There's a temple on top of the hill.

Shophouses along Mekong riverside:

Hawker At Mekong Riverside:
The people are generally friendly and helpful. They speak better English than Vietnamese. It's comparable to Cambodians. It's always useful to learn some basic Lao as you travel in this country. If you know Thai you will obviously know how to count 1 to 10 already because they're the same. Their language has some similarities with Thai. Knowing simple Lao helped me to bargain and seek for help easier. The following are some of the list of words I find useful:

Hello - sa bai dee
Thank you - khawp jai
zero -soon
one - neung
two - song
three - saam
four - si
five - ha
six - hok
seven - jet
eight - paet
nine - kao
ten - sip
eleven - sip neung
twelve - sip song
thirteen - sip saam
twenty - song sip
twenty one - song sip neung
twenty two - song sip song
thirty - saam sip
1,000 - phan
10, 000 - sip phan
100,000 - loi phan
now - diow nee
later - la gon
afternoon - tiang
morning - dthawn sao
evening - ton lang
night - kaang keun
today - meuh nii
tomorrow - meuh euhn
black - sii dum
white - sii khao
blue - sii faa
green - sii khiao
red - sii daeng
gray - sii ke thao
brown - sii nam taan
chicken - gai
beef - neua
fish - pbaa
shrimp - goong
egg - khai
vegetables - phaak
fruit - maak mai
bread - khao jii
rice - khao
rice noodle - pho
coffee - khaafeh
water - naam
juice - nam mak mai
hot tea - saa hawn
soap - saabuu
shampoo - saapom
pen - bik
how much is this? - anee tor dai?
I don't want it - khoy bor yak ow
no - baw
yes - maen laeow
please -kalunaa
I don't understand - khawy baw khao jai

In Vientiane, forget about Kao Lao Restaurant if you're seeking for cultural show and local food. The food was made for Westerner's taste and they taste awful for South-East Asian's taste. The cultural show is just 3 musicians playing their local musical instruments accompanied by one or two dancers with limited space for them to move. One of the hotel staff mentioned to me, "That's not true Laotian". It's not worth the money you have to spend for it. Look for other better option to spend your money. If you want to taste the real local food, try their street food if you dare. It's not very hygienic based on the way they hold the food with bare hands and I had stomach upset once but I believe it's not as bad as India.

It's a very relaxing and slow pace journey comparing with Bangkok or Hanoi. No traffic congestion. No rat race. Don't expect any huge shopping complex in Laos either. However there are some luxury hotels if you have money to burn. Night market and morning market are the places for shopping. Most of the stuff sold are cloth related handcraft and t-shirts. It is one of the lowest cost trips I have come across.

Vietnam - The Land of Dishonesty?

2011-05-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

The trip to Vietnam is an eye-opener that everyone is trying to con you. The taxi drivers, the hotel owners and the hawkers are all trying to con foreigners that visit their country. I don't mind them hiking up the price but they way they try to cheat foreigners is so obvious and it clearly shows that they're not honest. Here are some personal experience:

1. Hotel Democracy's employee in Hanoi did not properly replace the bottles of mineral water and beer in my hotel room's fridge after the previous client left. The amount of the items listed on the door of the fridge was in Vietnamese that foreigners could not understand. On the last day, the hotel's management charged me for the mineral water that I did not consume. Luckily they did not charge me for the 3 missing cans of beer.

2. I bought some Vietnamese oranges that was supposed to be juicy and sweet as the one the hawker let me tasted. However, the ones I bought was different quality. They're juicy but not sweet at all. Even the colour of the flesh of the oranges looked different from the one I tasted.

3. A taxi driver in Hue tried to give all kinds of excuse to charge us extra even though the taxi fare had been agreed upon before we took his taxi. This proved that he was very dishonest and did not keep to his word.

4. The cheap Vietnamese t-shirts I purchased had all the colour faded and spreaded on all parts of the t-shirt. For the same price in Cambodia, I could get better quality ones. At least the Cambodians are more honest to tell me the difference between good quality and bad quality ones, even though the bad quality ones are not as bad as Vietnamese ones.

5. Roadside food vendors tried to sell large amount of food I did not need. It's an opportunity for them to make quick money by selling a lot to foreigners who could not speak Vietnamese. They would show you the unhappy face if you rejected the large amount of food and insisted on paying less for smaller quantity. I felt like walking away from such vendors a few times.

Generally, the Vietnamese are not honest. I am not saying all Vietnamese are not honest but the number of them that try to con you exceed the honest ones. I am not looking forward to visit this country again. I'd rather visit Cambodia.

There are also other elements that are not very positive about Vietnam:

1. Lack of public toilets. Men and women are very likely to end up doing their "business" in the bushes if you're traveling on a long distance public transport. Don't be surprise if you catch someone doing "business" in the middle of a field, even in Hanoi.

2. The beds on the train are filthy. I saw blood stain on the bed I was sleeping.

3. The toilet on the train is filthy but at least there's a toilet. There's no toilet if you travel by bus.

4. Drivers of public transport are reckless and drive very dangerously as well as speeding.

5. Public transport tend to be overloaded. You will notice passengers sleeping and sitting on the floor eventually as the driver try to make more profit.

6. The price of food is not cheap in Vietnam. They could be more costly than Malaysia sometimes especially when they try to rip you off. A restaurant tried to rip us off by charging us 100,000 Dong (~ RM15) per dish in a small town. Luckily, I decided to walk out of the restaurant.

7. All the food taste the same eventually. Malaysian food is still the best due to the influence from multi-culture.

MBPJ Strikes Again! FAS Tunnel Closure!

2011-04-20T07:32:00.000-07:00

I have no doubt that MBPJ is run by idiots and morons. I have been trying to give them some credit but so far I can't find anything that they deserve to be credited. They can't plan. They can't solve any problem. That's ok! Unfortunately, they create more problems in the name of solving problems.

In Ara Jaya, these idiots have decided to close FAS tunnel because of large amount of traffic passing by that area. In other countries, they don't close any roads to ease traffic congestion. They build more roads to solve the problem. I doubt these government organisation ever looks East or West. They just look into their pants.

First, these idiots turned the old tunnel to Ara Jaya into one way and re-routed the traffic from LDP heading for Ara Jaya into FAS tunnel. Now FAS is going to be closed and all the traffic has to go through a longer route via old Subang Airport road. Do you see their idiotic idea solves any problem? Absolutely not! They're going to create more traffic congestion in Subang and more petrol will be burnt.

Is Malaysian authority being environment friendly? Yes, they're friendly in generating more CO2 to kill Mother Earth.

I am very disappointed by the relevant authority in this country that wastes the tax payers' hard earned money with all their brainless projects such as building roads to be closed or building tunnels to be closed.

Somebody please fire these idiots from their jobs! I don't mind if they sleep on their jobs but please don't destroy our lives and country!

--------------

Latest Update:

Email is sent to MBPJ based on the email address posted on the notice board in Crimson but the result is:

"Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

mroslan@mbpj.gov.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 5.7.1 <mroslan@mbpj.gov.com>... Relaying denied. Proper authentication required. (state 14)."

There is a massive traffic congestion in Jalan PJU 1A/41 and the old tunnel because of the FAS tunnel closure now at 8.00am on 22nd Apr, 2011.

Fomema - Everyone Is Pregnant!

2011-04-16T20:21:00.001-07:00

My mother-in-law sent her maid for urine and blood test at a local clinic. Surprise! Surprise! The result returned from Fomema (www.fomema.com.my) showed that she's pregnant! Everyone was caught by surprised! How could the maid get pregnant when she's at home all day? Is Fomema trying to create a family crisis all over the country by accusing the male gender in the family rapes the maid? Or alien abduction causing the maid to be pregnant? I started checking with my best friend, Google, and found the following blog. Another poor guy was facing similar issue too.

http://kimyenw.blogspot.com/2008/06/app ... esult.html

How could all the maids going for urine and blood test in Fomema be pregnant??? I personally think Fomema is incompetency and has caused unnecessary problems to the people. If there's any individual responsible, the culprit should be fired! If the organisation itself is the problematic one, it should just close down.

Cryptocoryne From Aqua Fair 2010

2010-11-30T23:06:00.000-08:00

Bought some unidentified Cryptocoryne from Aqua Fair as follows.

Crypt 1:
It is believed to be Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia.

Crypt 2:
It is believed to be a variety of Cryptocoryne wendtii.

Plants I Have Tried

2010-11-30T22:07:00.000-08:00

Just to keep track of aquatic plants I have tried planting regardless I have successful or failed.

1. Egeria densa - grows like weed in the outdoor tank.

2. Hornwort - grows like weed in the outdoor tank.

3. Salvinia - grows like weed in the outdoor tank.

4. Water lettuce - grows like weed in the outdoor tank.

5. Rotala Green - rot at the bottom part in the indoor tank but growing well outdoor and partially immersed.

6. Cryptocoryne Wendtii - Growing but very slow.

7. Subwassertang - growing like weeds indoor.

8. Christmas moss - growing fine until hit by hair algae. So they went to the bin.

9. Taiwan moss - growing fine until hit by hair algae. So they went to the bin.

10. Spiky moss - growing fine until hit by hair algae. So they went to the bin.

11. Java moss - growing fine until hit by hair algae. So they went to the bin. Still have a bit of escapees in the tank.

12. Weeping moss - growing very slow and eventually hit by hair algae. So they went to the bin.

13. Java ferns - growing well in one tank but dying in another tank.

14. Narrow leaf ferns - growing well but in miniature form. However they slowly turn bald. Temperature may be too high.

15. Java fern windelov - growing well in one tank but dying in another tank.

16. Potamogeton gayi - growing like weeds.

17. Water wisteria (2 species) - growing well outdoor.

18. Marsilea (two species) - growing well but the short foreground one is slow. The tall one grows like weed.

19. Hairgrass - still testing. Successfully planted immersed.

20. Sagittaria subulata - growing like weeds and flowering.

21. Anubias Nana Petite - Alive but stunted.

22. Anubias Nana - eaten by Kribensis. Trying again in a different tank.

23. Philippines fern - growing well but covered by subwassertang and went missing.

24. Riccia fluitans - growing like weeds but end up in the bin.

25. Bolbitis - stunted. Water temperature is too high.

26. Duckweed - truly weeds. So, end up in the bin.

27. Cryptocoryne balansae - growing reasonably well.

28. Crytocoryne spiralis - growing slowly.

29. Cabomba - disintegrated and died.

30. Bacopa - alive but covered by BBA easily.

31. Hydrocotyle sp - growing slowly.

32. Limnophila aromatica - died in NPT.

33. Blyxa Japonica - eaten and destroyed by Kribensis. Otherwise growing well in NPT.

34. Echinodorus tenellus - growing well.

35. Eleocharis vivipara - growing well but have to trim too regularly. So, end up in the bin.

36. Hygrophila polysperma - overtook by BBA in NPT. So end up in the bin.

37. Corkscrew Vallisneria - growing well.

38. Vallisneria Nana - died.

39. Vallisneria americana - growing well.

40. Cyperus Helferi - growing well initially but slowly losing the leaves after 1 year.

Excellent DIY Aquarium Stuff

2010-11-13T06:48:00.000-08:00

Throughout the years, I have come across some amazing DIY aquarium stuff in forums. However, some of the threads in the forum was removed after several years. Sometimes the link to a website was no longer valid. So, there's no way I can locate them back. In order not to loss them, I have decided to collect some of the interesting DIY aquarium stuff that I have encountered recently in my own blog.

DIY Acrylic Tube:

The first one is a DIY acrylic tube by Paul aka Jedishrimp from APC (Aquatic Plant Central) forum. With the right tool, it seems like a pretty simple DIY project. Here's some sample acrylic tubes he has made:

The most crucial part of this project is bending the tube. If not done carefully, the tube may break or simply looks ugly. You need some patience to heat up the acrylic and turn it around. Then bend it a little bit. Keep repeating the heating and bending process until it has turned into the shape you want. Have a look at the Paul's excellent video on the technique of bending the tube by clicking the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSj2c0lR-wc

DIY Aquarium Background:

In APC forum, I have also encountered another great DIY project by an Italian named Stefano aka Dabolox. Basically, the DIY aquarium background make use of some of the readily available material from your own backyard such as soil, dry branches and dry dead leaves. It looks very beautiful and natural too especially if you're keen in setting up a black water tank that imitates the nature.

The following are some of the items used by Stefano:

He also created a hidden compartment for filter and heater as follows:

From the ingredients above, he created the following aquarium background. The roots he used are grapevine roots. You may try other alternative roots as long as it's non-toxic to the fishes and plants.

After he moved the aquarium background into the tank, here's how it looks like at various stages:

To read about Stefano's original article with more detailed information, you can check out the following link:

http://www.acquarionline.it/acquari/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=1

Cleaning Impeller of Eheim Classic Filter

2010-11-08T18:21:00.000-08:00

Cleaning of canister filter's impeller is often a pain because the instruction is not mentioned in the filter's manual. I am not referring to made in China filters only. The same issue applies to German made Eheim filters. Basically the manual is a junk to me as it normally does not contain information you need but contains all the information you already know.

Thanks to some aquarium forums that I have managed to figure out how to clean it although the information is incomplete. Therefore I have decided to write the instruction myself. In my instruction I will use Eheim Classic as an example because it's the only canister filter I have.

Before you start removing the parts, please make sure that you remember how you remove them, so that you will know how to fix them back. You may shoot some photos in the process if you have a poor memory or poor observation.

1. After removal of the filter cover, you will notice the most important section of the filter as below. First, you have to unlock the lock that protects the impeller by turning it anti-clock wise. Then pull the lock upward. Be careful not to break the impeller when pulling up the lock.

2. After the lock has been removed, You will see the impeller partially in hole of the middle section.

3. The next step is to remove the cover of the impeller as follows:

4. After removing the cover of the impeller, you will notice the impeller. Pull the impeller upwards to remove it. Be careful not to break it. There is a magnet holding the impeller in case you're wondering why it's not loose. Once you have removed the impeller, you can brush the dirt on the impeller and the filter with tooth brush. There may be some holes you cannot reach with a tooth brush. You can use a cotton bud to clean the unreachable areas. Then rinse them with running tap water.

5. Don't forget to remove the hoses of the inlet and outlet for cleaning as well. The hose may clogged leading to poor water current in the tank. Just place the hose connected to a water tap and let the strong tap water current push all the dirt out if you're too lazy to brush the entire internal part of the hose. You will need a special brush to clean the internal part of the hose. Since it will be tedious without a proper brush, I will skip the brushing.

6. Don't forget to wash the media of the filter with your existing tank's water to avoid losing beneficial bacteria. I will not cover this aspect of the cleaning process as the information is widely available on the internet.

Testing Web Radio

2010-09-07T00:16:00.000-07:00

This is for testing web radio.

Music genre:
Alternative music genre such as punk, hardcore, indie, lo-fi, garage rock, metal, goth, industrial, electronica, danc-rock, grunge, classic rock, reggae, ska, surf rock, glam rock, new wave, no wave, progressive rock, psychedelic rock, dream pop, noise pop, folk rock, americana, alternative country, rap rock, electro-pop, trip hop, art rock, math rock, rockabilly, experimental rock, krautrock, Southern rock, space rock, stoner rock, grindcore, darkwave, riot grrrl, twee pop, etc.
&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Aquatics International Fish Farm Visit

2010-06-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

Visited Aquatics International during the weekend. I was having difficulties capturing the photos as most of the fishes I intended to shoot were fast swimmers and the lighting was poor. So, you are now looking at some crappy photos with very bad quality.

A view of the farm:

Some kind of a barb:

Madagascar Rainbow:

Lampeye Killie:

Golden Wonder Panchax:

Unknown species (labeled as "Pink Tea Charasin" - the label is suspicious to me. Combination of wrong spelling and poor handwriting do not help. Should be Pink Tailed Characin I believe):

Unknown species:

Another 15 Gallon Tank At Planning Stage 2

2010-06-26T21:32:00.000-07:00

So far I have purchased rocks and HOB (Hang On The Back) filter.

In terms of fish species, I have not fully decided. It could be any of these fishes in my list below:

1. Kuhli Loach - this is the species that never fails to attract visitors' attention.

2. Pristella Tetra - this is a hardy and cheap species to keep. I always love tetras with this kind of body shape.

3. Lemon Tetra - same reason as Pritella Tetra. The only disadvantage is Lemon Tetras love to jump out of the tank especially during breeding period. Yes, I managed to breed them.

4. Lampeye Killie - I love the blue "lamp eye" but the quality of the species I saw at the farm is doubtful due to a lot of dead fish in the tank. I am also very concern that this species has short life span comparing with all the 3 species above.

Another 15 Gallon Tank At Planning Stage

2010-06-25T17:42:00.000-07:00

My business partner wants me to set up a fish tank in our new office, knowing I am a "fish nut" as one of my ex-colleague used to call me.

It will be a low budget 15 US gallon (standard 2 feet) tank with nothing expensive and fancy. Initially, I thought I wanted a black water tank which could be quite simple and easy to set up but the "black water" freaked out my business partner. I don't blame him. Majority of the people cannot stand a dark looking fish tank with dried leaves, dark sand and driftwood in the water. To me this is an art by simulating the nature.

Then I thought of a cichlid tank but most of of the cichlids are too huge or too aggressive to fit into a 15 gallon tank. Shell dwellers are too costly (the last time I checked, it was RM50 per fish). I could not keep Apistogramma alive long enough based on my past experience. So, cichlid tank is now out of my consideration.

Planted tank is my favourite but it will be too costly to call it a low budget tank. The cost of a lighting set is the main killer, even if I go for NPT (natural planted tank) without canister filter, CO2, chiller/fan, using plants donated from my existing tanks, etc.

Now, my plan is to have a non-planted tank with a mixture of idea from cichlid tank and black water tank. Basically, I will use rocks, sand and driftwood. The driftwood will form a structure that looks like tree roots in the water. Rocks will be piling up to form a slope where the tree roots attach to the rocks. I guess only myself can imagine how the tank looks like as of now.

So far I have only purchased some second hand rocks. The rest of the items are still being hunted now.

16 Year-Old Girl Lost In The Indian Ocean

2010-06-10T22:16:00.000-07:00

Early this morning at 4am, I was awaken and failed to get back to sleep. So I got up to check my email online. I happened to notice the devastating news about Abby Sunderland, the 16 year-old girl who sails alone and currently lost at the Indian Ocean. It's really heartbroken to hear about the incident involving a young girl at such a tender age.

I personally think that a 16 year-old girl who dares to sail alone must be a very strong-will young lady. I sincerely admire her courage as I won't even dare to walk alone on land beyond 3 hours, let alone sailing in an ocean!

I hope she will return safe and really looking forward to hear some good news about her. You may check out her blog at the link below:

Abby's Blog

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update:

Glad to hear that Abby was found to be safe but the closest boat could only reach her in over 24 hours.

Boycott The Pet Family On School Holidays

2010-04-10T00:46:00.000-07:00

Today, I went to a local fish shop called Pet Family in Taman Megah that offered membership to their customers. Normally, members would get discount with their purchase.

I took everything I wanted to pay at the counter as usual. When paying, I was caught by surprise that there's no discount. I questioned the cashier thinking she forgot about it. I was told that during school holidays, there's no discount. There's no such notice at the counter. I was totally caught by surprise. I would have canceled my purchase if I had not handed the money to the cashier. I just had to wait for 2 more days for the school holidays to be over to get my discount. I don't remember this LFS practices this kind of stupid regulation in the past. I didn't even know this week was school holidays.

I think such practice of Pet Family is very unprofessional. They must at least put a notice at the counter. I will make sure that I boycott them every school holidays from today onwards. I also encourage everyone to ask for the price before paying at this shop.

Be very careful before you end up as another victim!

Conversion To Semi-NPT

2010-04-08T02:27:00.000-07:00

I have finally re-setup the tank I wanted to convert into semi-NPT (natural planted tank). The main reason for the conversion is I am tired of purchasing the expensive Seachem root tab for this tank. I got rid of almost 80% of the existing plants. I have removed the bad condition Java Ferns but I leave the mini Java Ferns. Besides, Marsilea and Potamogeton gayi, I introduced Anubias Nana (maybe one of them is Anubias Petite) and Cryptocoryne Wendtii into the tank.

I have removed the female Krib and Ember tetras and placed them in another 2 separate tanks. I only leave the Black phantom tetras and the sole otto in the tank.

The following are the stuff utilised in the tank:

1. Soil: Clay loam (Price: RM5)

2. Sand: Holland Sand

3. Filter: Eheim 2213

4. Lighting: 55 Watt Dymax PL

5. Plants: Marsilea, Potamogeton gayi, Cryptocoryne wendtii, Anubias nana (maybe one of them is Anubias Petite) & mini Java fern

6. Fauna: Black phantom tetras & otto

7. CO2

8. 15 US Gallon (Standard 2 Feet) Tank

This is how the tank looks like originally:

This is how it looks like after the conversion. The water is clear since day 1:

This is the clay loam I use for this planted tank after failing to find top soil I purchased from the same nursery. I have decided to give clay loam a try as recommended by the salesperson. Purchased from Kelana Jaya's plants nursery:

I have added Holland sand at 4 corners of the tank to prevent double layer of sand and soil from being viewed. After that the top part of the soil is covered by Holland sand:

This is how the tank looks like on the 11th of April 2010 after adding water lettuce to shade the Anubias Nana and adding Rotala at the background:

Open Up and Say... Ahh!

2010-03-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

I went for my first dental check up in almost a decade yesterday. I am very particular about selecting the right dentist and very concern about seeing a dentist I am unfamiliar with, due to a bad childhood experience with trainee dentist of my former school.

Here's my childhood bad experience leading to my phobia. I was 7 years old and I was required to go for my dental check up. Being afraid of being punished for not going for the dental check up, I had no choice but to go for the check up. A female Malay trainee dentist was stationed at my former school in a room partitioned from the clerical office. The horror started when the trainee told me that my tooth had to be extracted. In the process of extracting the tooth, I could be heard screaming and yelling out of pain and fear. Yeah, it was in fact very painful. Due to the lousy skill and lack of strength to pull my tooth, I was sent to the general hospital after the tooth broke half way. Thank goodness, the male Malay dentist of the general hospital was skillful and I didn't suffer from any pain. Unfortunately, the first encounter had permanently cultivated the fear in me.

The only dentist I dared to see was the uncle of my friend but I only saw him once in the 70s. The fear of dentist stopped me from going for dental check up until 1989 when I got a few teeth extracted and went through some fillings. I went for yearly dental check up at the same dental clinic for a number of years. I eventually stopped going several years before my late parents moved away to another state. I had thought of going back to my hometown just for dental check up for the last few years but the long journey prevented me from doing so.

I had problem looking for "Klinik Paul" introduced to me by my wife. I saw the signboard but as I went up the stairs, I could not find the clinic. I only saw a company called "Livingwell". Thinking it's another direct sales company, I walked off and made a phone call to the clinic. In fact "Livingwell" was the new name of the clinic. As I entered, I saw a number of people chit-chatting like nobody's business. The receptionist smiled as I was a weirdo who could not find the clinic even it was right in front of me. I registered as the first timer visiting the clinic. Upon putting down the form, the Indian man in the chit-chat session suddenly said "Come on!" and teased the lady who was chit-chatting with him for having too much things to talk about. I was glad that he was a homourous dentist unlike the one I encountered when I was 7 years old. I explained to him my tooth problem with the fear that I had to get it extracted. He showed me the tooth for confirmation on the screen and he confirmed that he could do the filling. He also put some medication on the ulcer on my tongue that I informed him to prevent him from accidentally hitting that area. He was quite friendly and somehow my fear disappeared - he was equally as good as my friend's uncle. So far I am happy with the filling and the medication for the ulcer works like a miracle.

My confidence level of going for dental check up is back to normal again. I hope I don't have to look for a new dentist for many years to come. What a relief!!

Diana Walstad Influenced Experimental Tank

2010-03-15T07:38:00.000-07:00

This is how my NPT (natural planted tank) looks like today. A lot of plants die in my experiment - it's done purposely to find out what can survive and what cannot survive. The survival rate of the fishes in this tank is surprisingly high, despite no filter is used. In fact the Kribs bred, so were the Platies and Endlers. There's always almost no survival for the livebearers' fry because they got eaten up. It's a different story for Kribs as the parents protected the young ones (I lost the mother Kribs which jumped out of the tank not too long ago). The water is always a bit murky because my fishes mess up the tank all the time including digging. Yeah, I know the tank is overloaded with too many fishes.

I do weekly water changes. I don't follow Diana Walstad's methods very strictly. I could not stop myself from changing the water because the water is very murky and the bottom of the tank is very dirty too as you can see from the photo. Please note that the photo was taken after I changed the water. It could be worse before changing the water. I lost a few fishes in the past when I skipped changing water for 2 weeks in a row. So I've decided not to skip changing water from then onwards. The situation may improve if I have a filter but I've decided not to have one because I have consumed too much electricity in this hobby.

Plants:
Only Sagittaria Subulata, an unknown plant, duckweeds, bits and pieces of Blyxa (I think they're dying off) and water wisteria (newly re-introduced. The old batch died) are in the tank. I have killed many plants in this tank i.e. narrow leaf ferns, marsilea, various species of rotala, hornwort, bacopa, ...and the list goes on.

Cambodia

2010-01-26T17:54:00.001-08:00

Random photos taken at Cambodia.

Royal Palace:

A nun at Udong:

Angkor:

Angkor:

Angkor:

Kids at Angkor:

Dining at Night Market:

Cambodian Village:

Orphans at Orphanage:

Angkor:

Hill View at Udong:

All Because Of A Word....

2010-01-08T16:51:00.000-08:00

Currently there's an on-going issue about the word "Allah" in a Catholic weekly magazine, Herald, in Malaysia. The Muslim majority opposes the usage of "Allah" for "God" in the Malay articles of the magazine, but the court allows it. 3-4 churches have faced arson attacks since yesterday morning - I am not even sure whether they're Catholic churches (They could be Protestant churches). So, there's an on-going tension in the country. I believe majority of the Muslims do not support the arson attacks though - those are the actions of some fanatics who do not even understand their own religion.

This part is my theory:
As an Atheist, I am basically neutral but I am worried that this issue may be escalated into a racial issue. The reason is the fanatics cannot differentiate Catholic and Protestant churches. I doubt they can differentiate Buddhists/Hindus/Atheists from Catholics too - they may end up targeting non-Malays. However, in this process of wrong identity, some Muslim Chinese/Indians could attacked by mistake too. It will be a havoc and absolutely not good for the nation. I am sure that if this kind of issue occurs in the U.S., the problem is the same.

From my point of view, both the Catholics that insist on using the word "Allah" knowing that it's so sensitive to the Muslims and the Muslim fanatics are equally wrong.

The Catholics should just use a different Malay word in the place of "Allah". In fact, they can use the actual Malay word "Tuhan" ("Allah" is in fact an Arabic word...not even a true Malay word). The situation is similar to provoking a group of dogs - the good dogs may do you no harm, the bad dogs may bark and chase you, the mad dog will bite you or even kill you.

The action of the Muslim fanatics are obviously wrong too. This is not the teaching of Islam or any religion. They're just a group of thugs.

The politicians have been using the word "religion tolerance" over and over for decades. Religion tolerance is just tolerating other religions without any respect. Religion tolerance is obviously not good enough - we need to respect other people's religions. Just like a Muslim friend suggested, we should visit the church/mosque/temple of another religion and help cleaning up the place or watering the plants. You'll gain respect when you learn to respect others.

WJN 81 Mercedes - Hit & Run

2009-12-23T04:48:00.000-08:00

Today when driving at Jalan Templer towards Assunta Hospital, a dark coloured Mercedes with the registration number WJN 81 suddenly tried to move towards the middle lane I was in when some lorry parked illegally blocking its way. I honked the car and it stopped. Somehow, when all the traffic stopped due to the traffic congestion, the damn stupid Mercedes banged me from the left side behind me. From the mirror, I noticed that the driver was an old Indian man in his 50s or 60s. Beside him was a younger Indian man.

I gave my signal and stopped my car at the left side after the accident but the bloody Mercedes just drove straight ignoring me.

If you ever see a Mercedes with registration number WJN 81 and you feel like banging someone with hit and run tactic. Feel free to do it for my revenge!

Stupid Authority With Idiotic Plan For Ara Jaya/Ara Damansara

2009-12-04T16:53:00.000-08:00

I think it's very stupid for the authority (you know who are the idiots! I don't have to name them) to turn the tunnel route in Ara Jaya into one way street. The residence of Ara Jaya and Ara Damansara especially those taking LDP route, are forced to take a detour to old Subang airport road in order to escape the horrible traffic jam at the new tunnel next to the football field, which is opposite Kelana Puteri apartment, just to go home. In the past 2 days, the traffic jam has been continuing till almost 9-10pm and beyond.

The route at the new tunnel was heavily congested when the same idiots closed the old tunnel due to some idiotic protest not so long ago as well as some repair work. From the lesson learnt, the authority should know by now that the traffic will be congested with the new tunnel functioning alone. The new tunnel itself cannot cope the amount of traffic if the old tunnel is closed. Unfortunately, they're doing it again.

Turning the old tunnel route into one way street will only make the traffic congestion worse because all the traffic heading towards NZX and D'aman Crimson has to go through the same road from Putra LRT Depot to Jalan PJU 1A/41, when those heading towards LDP from old Subang airport will use the same route too.

I think our town planners are a bunch of no brainers in Malaysia. They're not only making the traffic congestion worse, they creating inconvenience to the people, wasting the people's money and destroying the environment by encouraging more petroleum usage.

Buzzcocks' Gig On 8th of Nov 2009

2009-11-14T17:40:00.000-08:00

The day before Buzzcocks' gig in Kuala Lumpur, I realised One Cafe had shifted to the new venue. Thank goodness, I didn't head for the old venue!!

I took Putra LRT and Star LRT to reach Sogo/Pertama Complex area. Then walked for a few minutes to look for Tune Hotel knowing that One Cafe was not far from the hotel. Unfortunately, I didn't even know the location of Tune Hotel. So, it was a new adventure for me. With the help of google map, I managed to figure out the place eventually.

As I walked towards One Cafe, I saw a big group of kids and I knew for sure that I had arrived at the right place. Then I saw someone with a familiar hairstyle (I called the Alleycats' hairstyle) - the lead singer of The Fridays, Ashraf. I was so glad to see an old friend there thinking I would be alone before the arrival of another friend, Maya (former DJ of Traxx FM). It's ridiculous for me to worry about being alone actually because I eventually found many of my friends there. One of the organisers, Joe Kidd, is an old friend. Aiman from Civil Disorder was the crew. Farez of Maharajah Commission was the "bouncer" :). Jay of Free Love was another friend I had not seen for ages. Ben from Ben's Bitches/Panda Head Curry was there. Rafil from 360 Degree Head Rotation/Panda Head Curry came late. Unfortunately, old man like me could not recognise a few familiar faces. I had to admit I could not recognise Aidil from Couple and Farez the "bouncer" initially after years of not seeing them. I spent most of the time chatting away with Ashraf, Aidil, Azwad (another familiar face), Ben, etc while waiting for the tickets to be sold. As usual, the event was delayed.

The bands performed in the following order:
Dichi Michi
Gasoline Grenade
Free Love
Subculture
Carburetor Dung
then the headliner, Buzzcocks.

The first 2 bands were not my cup of tea honestly but the heat started when Free Love started playing. I think Jay of Free Love was playing really well because of his energetic performance. I think a lot of people enjoyed his performance that day. A friend even mentioned that he performed like a rock star.

The crowd went crazy the moment Subculture went on the stage. The band was an old veteran influenced greatly by The Ramones. Slam dancing, stage diving, body surfing, etc started. Everyone seemed so happy and enjoyed themselves. Obviously Subculture performed well - as usual I preferred their live performance than their recording.

The crowd remained crazy when Carburetor Dung started playing. I lost a bit of concentration here as I moved away from the crowd. My headache started due to the cigarette smoke and heat. I just stood at the back taking photos. I felt regret for moving away from the front stage as I could not get any proper photos of the bands there.

There was a short break after Carburetor Dung finished playing. People were rushing for drinks & toilets. I just wanted to get away from the smoke.

The moment Buzzcocks stepped on the stage, I realised I ran out of camera battery. My built-in flash was not functioning as I expected. I was digging for my spare battery but I realised that it was not with me. I should have checked to make sure I had the battery before leaving the house. So, I failed badly in capturing any good photos. Furthermore, I was at the far end away from the stage. Nevertheless, Buzzcocks played really well. The band was very tight and professional. They even played extra sets as the crowd demanded for more songs. Outside their performance, the band members seemed very friendly too.

I didn't stay back much longer after the gig as my headache got really bad that I just wanted to rush home. I felt like puking!!! I met 2 fellows who attended the gig at the LRT and we had a brief chat in the train.

It was what I called a fun day on a Sunday!!!

Stars

2009-11-06T17:50:00.000-08:00

The sound of this band called Stars with their song "Elevator Love Letter" reminds me a lot of My Bloody Valentine with less noise and listenable vocal.

Stars with "Elevator Love Letter":

They sound different in the song "Bitches In Tokyo":

Again, they remind me of My Bloody Valentine in "Ageless Beauty":

My Discovery of Lissy Trullie

2009-11-06T17:10:00.000-08:00

I came across an American singer-songwriter named Lissy Trullie with her band that named is after her at NME Radio with the song "Boy Boy" that caught my attention. It eventually led me to explore the rest of her songs from the EP, "Self-Taught Learner". I fell in love instantly with the simplicity of the lyric and the song also titled "Self-Taught Learner".

I see Lissy as a very high potential singer-songwriter in the alternative music scene. In "Boy Boy" I could distinguish that it's a female singer singing it but for "Self-Taught Learner", I thought another male singer was singing it. Unfortunately, I was wrong - Lissy was the singer.

Check out this singer-songwriter!

Lissy Trullie with "Self-Taught Learner":

Lyric of "Self-Taught Learner":
You were my first kiss
You were my first miss
What we made was our own
I went home and I told no one

Are you watching me
Am I different
Or am I the same

You don't have to say "I love you too"
That's not what I want to hear from you

Thought I saw you the other day
You changed your hair but you looked the same
Well I make wishes late in the day
You're six feet under and you're safe

Are you watching me
Am I different
Or am I the same

You don't have to say "I love you too"
That's not what I want to hear from you

Oh I want to die with you
Oh Oh Oh Oh I
Oh I want to die with you
Oh Oh Oh Oh
And are you lonely
Oh Oh Oh Oh

Oh I want to die with you
Oh Oh Oh Oh I
Oh I want to die with you
Oh Oh Oh Oh
And can I join you
Oh Oh Oh Oh

Oh I want to die with you
Oh Oh Oh Oh I
Oh I want to die with you
Oh Oh Oh Oh
And shall we meet
Once again

Are you watching me
Am I different
Or am I the same

Lissy Trullie with "Boy Boy":

Mail Thief

2009-10-21T08:22:00.000-07:00

Although I am not a celebrity, spy, high ranking military man or even Chua Soi Lek, I found my mailbox being broken into 2 days ago. The asshole just pulled open my mailbox with bull strength force. Now, I can't even lock my mailbox properly and have to arrange for repair. I wonder what he got from my mailbox. Usually I only receive bills, bills and bills. Perhaps, he stole the Astro magazine??? What a jerk!!! Yeah, I am cursing the asshole, hoping that his "sarong jatuh, nampak burung, burung terbang" and got his "burung" chopped off.

Note:
"burung" = bird = dick

By the way, I also found a "sarong" at my balcony. I wonder whose "sarong jatuh"!!!

The Orgasm Addict, Buzzcocks, Is Heading For Kuala Lumpur

2009-10-17T22:06:00.001-07:00

This is an unbelievable amazing news for 2009 - BUZZCOCKS IS COMING TO KUALA LUMPUR!!! This is more excited than Santa's coming to town.

With most of the 70s punk bands dead/half dead/inactive/disbanded, I will be absolutely overjoyed to be able to see a legendary 70s punk band all the way from England performing in my own country.

I am also amazed that they are selling the tickets with a very punk attitude - RM50 per ticket for a legendary international band. This is absolutely a good deal that you may never come across again. The last one was the gig by Fugazi in the 90s.

This is a rare opportunity that any true rock music lovers should not miss!!! You may regret for the rest of your life if you miss it. Please remember that this band is old, in a few more years you may not be able to see them performing anymore.

What Do I Get:

I Don't Mind:

Ever Fallen In Love:

Current Status of My Aquarium Tanks

2009-10-11T17:07:00.000-07:00

My NPT (natural planted tank with garden soil & Holland sand). It has been badly messed up by the breeding Kribs after they dig a big hole leading to fungus growth, murky water & floating plants:

15 gallon tank with Lemon Tetras breeding occasionally:

Newly rescaped 15 gallon tank - added driftwood and mini Java Ferns:

3 feet jungle tank:

When We Were Young, Wild, Restless And Dangerous

2009-10-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

Thinking back when we were young, we had great ambition and really pushed ourselves to the limit in achieving our dreams. Most of us small town boys and girls tend to dream about living in big cities. We wanted great jobs, city girlfriends/boyfriends, excitement, entertainment, challenges, risks and willing to face all kind of dangers in the cities to achieve our goals. Regardless whether we achieved the goal or not, as we grow older, we tend to get sick of the hectic stressful expensive lifestyle in the cities and longed to return to our small towns. We learn to appreciate simplicity of life, friendliness of small town folks and easy-going nature of life in small towns.

I remember a friend told me to returned to my hometown, Kangar, to work after graduation. He told my parents, "Wouldn't it be good to have your son living with you?". I dismissed his opinion as instantly as junks picking up from the dustbin. Telling myself that it was so easy for him to suggest a ridiculous idea just because he had a family business to run and he could remained in my hometown so easily. I would probably be jobless for the industry I was in as IT industry was almost non-existence in my hometown. Today I think if I took his advice and started my own business in IT industry, I could be doing better and happier as a pioneer in my hometown. Furthermore, my parents would not have to shift to Penang against their wish.

There are a lot of things mentioned by someone less educated but they make sense to me now.

1. One night, as I returned from work almost midnight. I probably looked tired, frustrated, angry and stressful. A security guard I met at the car park told me in Malay, "Come and join me working as a security guard. Life is much simpler. Look at yourself! Working so hard and make your life so difficult. Look at me, I am just sitting around". I know that his suggestion may seem ridiculous because the salary of a security won't allow me to feed my family, but don't you think his opinion makes sense too? Why do we work our asses off till we fall sick and grumpy just to make a living? Is it worth it?

2. I also remember having a conversation with an elderly Malay lady. We started a conversation our of boredom while I was waiting for someone. Somehow our conversation led to her asking whether I was married. I answered, "No" (I was still single at that point of time). She asked, "Why not?". I answered, "No money". I expected the topic to end but she gave me a lecture that career could come later and marriage should come first. She told me something I remember till today, "You will push yourself harder as you have a family. The career will grow automatically eventually". I dismissed her opinion as outdated village people's idea at that point of time. Today, I think it makes sense because if you start a family only when your career is successful, you may not have sufficient time to generate offspring. Just look at the situation of most of the Chinese community in Malaysia/Singapore. How many of us are childless?

When we were young, wild, restless and dangerous, we dismissed a lot of opinion from elderly folks and less educated folks. I guess we were more arrogant but time will prove us wrong.

Dear Mom & Dad

2009-09-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

I know why I couldn't sleep last night and had to seek the help of alcohol to get myself into deep sleep. The answer is simple: I miss my mom and dad who passed away in May and September respectively. A friend who lost his father once told me that it may take a long time to get over it. I wonder how long! Probably years!

I used to write to my parents ever since the day I left for college. They would start to get worried when they didn't receive any letter. Over two decades of writing home, the number of letters gradually dropped due to the busy schedule of my job or ...should I say the laziness of writing. I even missed out mother's day, father's day along with their birthdays sometimes. Now I realise how much I miss simple things like writing a letter to my parents as follows:

"Dear mom & dad,

How are you? I hope both of you are fine.........

All the best and take care.

Your son, ........"

The letters writing eventually evolved into phone calls as my dad had problem writing. I noticed his writing was getting worse each time he replied - spelling issues, canceling of words all over the letter, missing words, etc. Knowing that my dad was an English teacher, he would not do this kind of mistakes. Eventually I was told that his brain was shrinking. During the days of our phone calls, I was usually the one calling back home. My dad would call me only if there was a long period of silence from me and my parents started to get worried. Eventually, our conversation grew very simple and short as my mom didn't have much to talk about once my parents moved to Penang - no more gossiping with the neighbours...so, I had very little news about the neighbours, my parents' friends and their children. I remember that in one of our conversation, my dad told me, "Even if we have nothing much to talk, give us a call..hearing your voice is good enough". I wish I can hear their voice the way they longed to hear mine. I even miss simple phone conversation translated from Hokkien to English as follows:

"Daddy/Mommy, how are you? Have you taken your lunch/dinner? What are you doing? How's the weather?.......Take care. Bye."

My good bye would eventually became the last good bye to them.....

2009 The Year of Death Continues

2009-09-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

The year of death, 2009, continues to claim more lives of people I have known.

Up to May:
I lost 3 friends and my mother.

In Sept:
The number of friends that passed away increased to 4.
Then I lost my father.
When trying to contact a former teacher/neighbour, I also found out she passed away already.

Total lost so far:
4 friends
2 family members
1 teacher/neighbour

What a fucked up year, don't you think so???

I have never lost more than 3 people I have known per year in the past decades. 2009 is absolutely fucking amazing! It's a fucked up year!!! I won't be surprised if the world ends tomorrow!!

No Fishing! Can't You Read, Idiots?

2009-09-05T21:19:00.000-07:00

This morning as I walked to the park near Ara Damansara, I came across 5 "blind" Malaysians adults fishing in the lake when the the signboards had been placed around the lake indicating "No fishing" or "Dilarang memancing" in Malay. The signboards even came with pictures that a 5 year-old kid could understand.

Normally I saw kids below 12 years old trying to fish in the lake. Most probably they caught nothing. Today, I was so surprised to see adults in their 20s-50s fishing at the lake. I was pretty sure they're Malaysians and not foreigners. At the inner part of thye lake, I saw two Chinese men probably in their 30s and 50s, fishing with a big bucket. At the outer part of the lake on a wooden bridge, I saw a Malay man and two Indian men doing the criminal acts.

What a coincidence! They comprised of 3 main races of Malaysia. I am ashamed!! In my heart I was sinking and asking them, "Can't you read the signboards, idiots?".

Not many people were at the lake because it was approaching noon. I only met a man doing his morning walk like myself. He probably was asking the same question to those "criminals". We walked pass and greeted each other with a simple "good morning". He just gave me the look and smile indicating there were idiots in the park.

There was a man cleaning the park but he seemed to be ignorant although the crime was carried out right in front of him. Probably, it was not his responsibility to catch the "criminals". There was a police station nearby but I think it was not their responsibilities to take care of the park too. There's no such thing as any park ranger in a small park like this I suppose.

No wonder a lot of parks in Malaysia look worse than cemetery!!!!

Tribute to Hungry Ghost Festival

2009-08-31T18:24:00.000-07:00

Being a "kampung" (village) boy originated from Perlis, I have been exposed to a lot of supernatural stories since I was a little boy. Most of the events occurred in Perlis.

I remember being told that a lot of Malays/Siamese in that area used to keep some kind of spirits for their protection in the olden days. As they passed away, their offspring do not carry on with the traditional practice anymore. So the spirits roamed freely.

The hill in Kangar town near the old Mahkota cinema is known to have a lot of spirits (keramat). Several people got lost on the hill in the past including some of my schoolmates in 1980s. My dad told me "bomoh" had to be called to assist when a skeptic got lost decades ago.

My family members had been exposed to supernatural elements as well especially my late mother who was exceptionally "sensitive".

I remember my sister telling me that she saw a lady ghost hanging around at the hall of a "kampung" house we used to live. She could not enter the room because there was a Buddha statue inside the room. Eventually, my family found out that the wife of a teacher who used to live there passed away.

When I was a little toddler, I used to fall sick every Thursday. Any other days, I was fine. Even the doctor was puzzled and joked that Thursday did not suit me. With the consultation of a medium, my family found out that an ancestor from Indonesia was seeking my family's attention. After praying, everything is back to normal ever since. My ancestor actually migrated from Indonesia.

When I was a boy I used to live in an area called Kampung Bakau which is next to Sekolah Menengah Perlis. That entire housing area was infamous as being haunted. There were several occasions that my parents saw weird things when staying there such as:

1. A hairy hand trying to grab my dad when he was watering the plants

2. My late mother saw someone that looked like my dad but "he" was not my dad.

3. My late mother saw someone that kept rushing into the toilet thinking "she" was my sister but "she" was not my sister.

The neighbours also encountered weird things around that area:

1. My neighbour's children saw kids with green face and red face playing with water at the sink.

2. Neighbours complained about hearing baby crying at night (Note: there were a lots of stray cats in that area too. So, it could be cats)

3. An old man was seen by the son of a neighbour when there's no old man in the house

4. A lightning stroke my sister's friend's room directly at the chair he used to sit. Eventually, a medium informed that the house was haunted and he had been living with a female ghost in the room.

I remember the late Pak Dollah who used to live in a nearby "kampung" told my parents that the area had a lot of suicidal/rape cases during the Japanese occupation. He even pointed out that the trees in front of our house and the back of our house used to be the suicide spots of 2 women.

I used to work in Cyberjaya for about 2 years plus and I used to pass by the infamous Lim Kok Wing Institute where there were a lot of accidents. All of the time I drove alone even after midnight. I had never encountered anything supernatural there but I knew it was a dangerous part of the road. I felt half asleep there once and almost had an accident when making a u-turn. Another dangerous part of the road is in front of NTT. I remember very well that someone died in an early morning accident there years ago. I only heard about security guards complaining about the lift in my former company going up and down by itself when nobody was around, as well as mysterious window tapping sound.

In my current company in PJ, I often have to work alone in the office. Sometimes, I can hear weird sound like someone typing using the keyboard when nobody was around. I even walked towards that section to check but found nobody. I believe the noise is caused by the temperature changes leading the windows frame to generate the noise. Strong wind often causes the gap of the windows to "whistle". I have got used to it.

In my apartment, I often hear the sound of marbles or something dropping after midnight too. I don't think it's something supernatural or rather I try to dismiss it. I believe there's a Malay family with a kid staying upstairs.

I am actually an in-between believer and non-believer. I believe because I have no doubt about what my family members encountered. Even my cousin who is a doctor and my uncle who is a former army have encountered supernatural stuff. I don't believe because certain encounters can actually be explained but our brains play trick on us sometimes.

Natural Planted Tank Update

2009-08-26T16:32:00.001-07:00

This is how my NPT (Natural Planted Tank) as of today. The faunas remain as Platies and Endlers but I have also added a pair of Kribs lately after they're bullied by another breeding pair of Kribs from another tank. Therefore you may have noticed the additional pot.

I threw out a lot of plants from this tank because they were either hit by BBA, stunted or dead. I only keep those doing well in the tank currently. The water of this tank is often full of debris because the tank is overcrowded with fishes. Furthermore there's no filter.

I am quite happy with this tank that I use common garden soil (Topsoil) and Holland sand although it looks messy. It cannot beat a tank with ADA soil which is likely to look very neat but what the heck in terms of $$$$ ????

Breeding Kribs

2009-08-22T21:15:00.000-07:00

Babies of Kribs:

Male Krib Guarding The Fry:

Female Krib Guarding The Fry:

I found my newly bought Kribs digging a cave underneath a rock one day. The next thing I spotted was dozens of eggs sticking on the rock. In a few days, I found something moving inside the cave. Due to poor visibility inside the dark cave, I thought it was caused by the heat generated from the light. Eventually, I found out they were fry of the Kribs.

After 2 days, my wife told me all the fry had disappeared. To my disappointment when I checked them out, I found majority of them missing too although I could see a few of them still moving inside the cave - I thought there were less than 5 of them. I thought the parents had eaten them. Days later, I found the cave collapsed (poor engineering skill of the adult Kribs). I thought "There goes all my Krib babies!". After careful inspection, I found a big group of fry swimming along with the parents. The parents were indeed taking turns to take care of their babies. All the intruders were chased away. They even stared at me when I photographed them thinking I was an intruder too. They attacked the other pair of Kribs sharing the tank till they ended up with broken tails and fins.

Now it makes me wonder how I am going to keep the fry when they grow up if they're so aggressive.

The Kribs are indeed very good parents. I have never seen any fish taking care of their fry in my tanks prior to this. Who says fish has no feeling? They care for their young ones the same way human and other mammals do.

New 3 X 1.5 X 1.5 Feet Tank

2009-08-08T02:03:00.000-07:00

After going through 3 broken/crack tanks, this is the result of a new tank with 10mm glass thickness. The old crack tank is left at the balcony with a lonely Black Molly with water level of only 3 inches. I can't think of what to do with the tank and the Black Molly. Maybe I should breed some Mollies :)

How She Felt?

2009-07-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning and suddenly I felt how my mom felt when she was alive - the pain she went through.

Losing her mom at the age of 11. His father got himself a second wife. I bet my mom felt abandoned by him because he must have spent most of the time with the second wife's family. I still remember very well what she told me when I made her angry when I was a boy - "If I die, then you'll know how suffer it is to live with a stepmother". Those days, I could only imagine the stepmother on TV especially the one from Snow White. Although not all stepmothers are cruel, I am sure that there are still some that cause havoc to the first wife's family members.

She was raised up mainly by her grandparents. Her only close family members are her grandparents, a brother and cousins. I can imagine how sad she was when her grandparents passed away. I still remember very well that she treated her cousins like brothers and sisters as she lost her own brother eventually.

Her relationship with her only brother broke down due to a misunderstanding. Throughout her life, I realise that she was always very sad when I had an argument with my sister. The fear inside her that our relationship would ended up like her brother and hers was very strong. She would break down and cry, begging us to stop fighting. I still remember the day she explained to me about her fear. I promised not to repeat the mistake. She only attended his funeral in 1980s. If they are both alive today, I would have brought them together to mend their relationship.

I'm sure all her suffering is over now. I hope she understands how much we love her. Even though she almost lost everything, she still has a family.

Great Distortion of Sonic Youth

2009-07-18T19:40:00.000-07:00

I love the song from Sonic Youth's album, Dirty, called 100%. I think this is the greatest distorted sound ever produced that I have been in love for more than a decade. I was listening to NME Radio online, when 100% was played, it triggered me to search for the video clips. I came across the following video clip that I find very interesting and cool!!

Death Counter

2009-07-03T18:35:00.001-07:00

I have been counting the number of death involving people I know this year. I still think this is the year of death, no matter how my friends deny it.

I lost 3 friends - Deh Koon (Jan), Soo Aun (April/May) and Makhzani (May).
I lost my own mother in May.
The mother of my close friend, Wen Shyang also passed away in June, 2009.

The counter has reached 5, excluding Michael Jackson, of course.

The number has never reached so high in my life before this year. Something must have gone wrong this year!! I really hope the death counter will stop increasing for the rest of the year 2009. At least, don't involve people I know!!

For The Memory of My Mom

2009-06-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

My mom, Khaw Seok Eng, was born on the 11th Dec 1931 in a well-to-do Hokkien family in Penang. Her grandfather was a business man running some kind of a grocery shop if I am not mistaken. She was so unfortunate that her mother passed away due to stroke/high blood pressure when she was only 11 years old. She was mostly raised up by her grandparents. Those days, she stayed with one big family consisting of grandparents, uncles, aunties and cousins. She had a younger brother but they didn't get along at later part of their lives but my mom still attended his funeral which took place when I was a teenager in the late 80s. Due to her poor relationship with her brother, she broke down and cry whenever I had wars with my sister - my mom didn't want us to repeat the same mistake of herself and her brother. The second world war came when she was just a young girl. Her family escaped into the country side/hill to get away from the war. In 1950s, when my mom was in her 20s, she loved movies, singing and often visited her uncle (her mother's brother) that I had never met (he passed away before I was born). From my mother's 2 years diary written in 1954 to 1955, I have the impression that her uncle loved her very much - he often gave her money to spend. Before my mom passed away, she told me she could have been rich if she kept the money given to her but she spent them all on watching movies. My mother was engaged to a rich man before my father. Unfortunately the rich man was a playboy who made the servant's sister pregnant. So the engagement was called off.

My mother also had a step-mother, a step-brother and I think 2 step-sisters. I was told about a story that my mother banged the door of the bathroom without knowing that her step-mother was inside. Her father wanted to beat her up but her grandparents threatened her father to stop him beating up my mother. When I was a small boy, she often warned me about having a step-mother. It gave me the impression that she didn't have a good experience with the step-mother.

My mother was a very strict no-nonsense person. I was beaten severely by her whenever I did something wrong or when I was naughty. She would beat me with anything she can get hold of. It could be a cane, a broom, newspaper, lidi (Malay term for vein of coconut leaf) but she had never use a belt. Sometimes, it freaked out my dad, so he took me out of the house with him to prevent me from being beaten up. To be frank, I hated my mom when I was a little boy. Anyway, she often showed me her love by buying me toys whenever I ask for it. She would buy me presents whenever I behave nicely. She often worried about my studies and the people I mixed with. I eventually found out that she had a very good reason to worry - she didn't want anybody to look down on me, she also wanted me to have a good future and she also didn't want me to mix with the wrong company like her brother. I believe my rebellious behaviour reminded her of her own brother.

During my teenage years, my relationship with my dad turned sour because I was rebellious and didn't like to stick to his rules. I guess 2 stubborn people could not live under one roof. I deeply missed my dad in his younger days when we were very close. My mother was always on my side whenever there was a "war". Being a very fair person, sometimes she would criticise and tried to correct me as well. I spent a lot of time chatting with her in the room. I could always discussed with her whenever I was in trouble. Whenever I fell sick, she would be taking very good care of me - I could never pay her back on what she did when I had chest injury, jaundice, measles, high fever and food poisoning. She really took care of me 24 hours.

Years before she passed away, I always asked what she wanted me to buy for her. Most of the time she would answer that she didn't know what she wanted. Weeks before she passed away, knowing that she loved "kacang putih", I bought her a packet. She asked for dried minced meat..not just for herself but for my dad as well, so I bought her a packet. The value of everything costs me less than RM30. The value of her love is something I cannot pay back. I even asked her to think carefully on what she wanted from me the night before she was gone but she didn't ask for anything. If I can bring her back to beat me like she used to do when I was a little boy, I definitely want my mother back. I miss her deeply!

My mother passed away on 27 May 2009 at around 8.30am.

This photo was taken on 1 June 1951 when my mom was just 20 years old:

My mom's wedding photo:

This photo was taken around 6th of May 2009:

2009 = The Year of Death?

2009-05-30T00:53:00.000-07:00

I think I have been surrounded by death in 2009. Just a few weeks ago, I counted that I lost 2 friends. On the 27th of May, I received another bad news that my own mother passed away. After several days of getting myself busy and a couple of sleepless nights without any internet access, I found out that another of my ex-colleague also passed away on the same day as my mom.

What a year!!! Is 2009 the year of death of the year of ox?????

Malaysians Behave Badly In Lifts

2009-05-24T06:53:00.000-07:00

I wish all lifts in the country should have sensors at the doors and they should come and go like LRT (light rail transit), monorail or MRT. So that I don't have to be pissed of with anyone.

I have been noticing some bad attitudes of Malaysians in lifts. The main ones I have seen very often are two of the following:

1. Rushing into the lift but went to the end of the lift without bothering to hold the door opened. Such assholes should be thrown out of the lift!!

2. Rushing into the lift even before anyone else inside the lift has the chance to get out. These kind of assholes deserved to be smashed into pieces by the lift!!

Tonight, I was pissed off that I had to pick up something my wife left in the car. I had to wait for the lift for a mighty long time at level LG (lower ground floor) despite we had 3 lifts in the building. As usually, one of the fucked up lifts broke down during weekend. I saw it stuck at level G (ground floor) forever. Then another one kept going up and never came down. The third one came down from level 12, 11, 10, 9....2, 1, G, but went up to level 1, 2, 3.....the rest was history.

By the time one of the lifts reached me, I saw a Weirdos family. I held the lift for them but none of them entered the lift. There were at least 8-10 persons. One of the kids asked me whether I was going up or down. I answered "up" but in my brain I was answering "This is the lowest floor. Can I go down further.... to hell?". None of the adults bother to tell me whether they're coming in or not after letting me held the door like their door boy. I felt like a serial rapist that could rape everyone of them if they entered the lift with me. By the time I heard one of the adult's conversation in Mandarin, "Let them go first....", I immediately hit the close the door button. Then I heard one kids shouted "Oi! Oi!". In my brain I was thinking, "Such a little bastard with no manners dares to call me 'oi'. Fuck off and enjoy waiting for the lift!".

When I am in a bad mood, even kids are not spared by me....let alone adults. If you happened to misbehave and meet me in the lift when I am in a bad mood, beware!!! I may just ask you to fuck off...

My Metal Days

2009-05-23T22:28:00.000-07:00

It has been ages since I last listened to something really noisy. I am not talking about punk rock or indie stuff here as they do not match the noise of the music I listen during my metal days back in the late 80s-90s. To experience the true noise of music, you have to listen to Heavy Metal. Check out Death Metal, Speed Metal and various Metal stuff....not just the lovey dovey Bon Jovi crap.

I remember a punk rock friend questioned me about Death Metal, "You call that music?". I just kept quiet because I listened to indie, punk rock as well as heavy metal during that era.

In times of trouble when I am really pissed off, heavy metal is the music that calms me down by letting me letting go of all the tension. You got to be joking if you tell me that the music of Britney Spears, Mozart, lovey dovey Bon Jovi or even Morrissey helps. I will need something noisy and really heavy like these:

Sepultura with Roots Bloody Roots:

Soulfly with Prophecy:

Air Asia's Crappy GoInsure Interface

2009-05-16T06:40:00.000-07:00

After lodging a complaint against Air Asia's crappy GoInsure (insurance) interface directly to the CEO in January 2009, I still don't see any action being taken by them to improve it.

Since there is no action from them, I will continue to warn people about their crappy interface. This time I have captured the screens.

When booking for your flight ticket with Air Asia, you need to be extra careful about GoInsure if you do not intend to purchase it. The web based booking system's interface is very confusing and you can be easily tricked into purchasing it.

When booking the flight, in Payment page, you need to be very alert. Look out for the right section of the page where I circle in the following screen. You need to click the word "[Cancel]" in order to cancel avoid paying for GoInsure. Note: Please click on the image to get a better view.

After clicking on the word "[Cancel]", a pop-up window as follows will appear. Note: Please click on the image to get a better view.

By default, majority of the users will click on "OK" thinking that OK is to agree to cancel the GoInsure but not for this crappy interface. For this pop-up window, the users are expected to click "Cancel" button in order to cancel GoInsure. Do you see what I mean by confusing? If the users are in a hurry or careless, very likely that the poor users will end up purchasing GoInsure. As a software developer, I personally think that this system is not professionally developed at all. It has the intention to cause confusion to the users. Do we call this cheating?

I wonder which idiot created/designed/tested this user interface and which idiot agreed to accept this lousy user interface on behalf of Air Asia!!!

Death

2009-05-08T06:29:00.000-07:00

It has always been a painful process to loss a friend for me especially when you won't be seeing the person on planet Earth again - DEATH! This year seems like a horrible year because I have lost two friends to lung cancer. Both of them were non-smokers and I doubt they're regular drinkers.

Early this year, I lost an ex-colleague. She was my volunteer photographer on my wedding day and also my ex-colleagues in 3 different companies. I wish I had the opportunity to see her before she's gone. Unfortunately, she refused to let any of us visited her when she was hospitalised - I was not even aware that she was in Malaysia.

Last Sunday, I received a SMS from a friend. Initially I thought it was just another annoying advertisement SMS from Digi. It turned out that another of my friend was diagnosed with lung cancer. I was in Penang visiting my sick father and my friend was hospitalised in Klang. So, I could only plan for a visit after I returned to Petaling Jaya. During that period, I also sent out a couple of SMS to other friends and made some phone calls regarding the bad news. I told my sister about it and she printed out an article about consuming asparagus to fight cancer for my friend. The moment she passed me the article, I received another SMS that my friend had passed away. I could hardly believe it because I was hoping that he was wrongly diagnosed. The bad news hit me really hard. Barely 4 months, two of my friends were no longer with us.

I really hope that there is a cure for cancer. For prevention, I would encourage everyone to consume a lot of asparagus and green tea. At the same time, reduce the amount of meat consumption. I cannot say what is the possibility of success but let's hope that it works.

Let's hope that both of my friends are resting in peace now.....

Planted Tank For Beginners - NPT Method

2009-04-26T00:31:00.001-07:00

I have decided to write this article to encourage a fellow online friend, Constance, to re-setup her tank after all her fish went to the Heaven. :) Hopefully, your kids will get the opportunity to learn a thing or two out of this hobby as well. I am pretty sure they will learn about science (biology and chemistry to be specific).

Since Constance mentioned to me that her fish died when she was on vacation. She suspected that starvation could be the cause. Yeah, this is possible for a non-planted tank. Her Platies might have died because there's no algae or any critters acting substitute food. The risk is even higher for fry. Usually a fish can survive without food for about 5 days. The risk goes up as the number of days increases. If you decide to use an auto feeder, make sure you test it first before going for vacation. Honestly, I have never used it. In a planted tank, normally you will find some critters that you can hardly see with your naked eyes. These critters could be the fish food when you're away from home. Furthermore, planted tank is more stable in terms of water chemistry - the plants can absorb some of the chemistry that is harmful to the fishes such as ammonia. In other words, the plants act as natural filters. At the same time, the plants also make the tank feel more secure for the fishes. So stress is reduce.

Some people say that NPT (Natural Planted Tank) or Diana Walstad's method may not be suitable for beginners. I am doubt so. I would say that anybody can do it as long as the person is willing to try. This is the cheapest way to have a proper planted tank without using expensive ADA or other manufactured soil made specifically for aquarium tank. If you're willing to spend money on the expensive soil, you may go ahead though. It's like driving a Myvi or BMW to get to your destination.

Before going into very detail with soil, let focus on light first. Light is one of the important elements to keep plants alive. However, getting the wrong type of light does not help much in a planted tank. For a planted tank, you'll need lighting tube of 5,000 - 10,000 Kelvin. A lot of lighting tube companies do not supply you this information. Therefore, sometimes people go for 2 watt per U.S. gallon theory which is not very accurate. If you do not intend to go into too technical, consider "copying" from your friends - basically find out what lighting set works in their tanks and try to buy the same lighting set for your tank. I use 2 sets of ADA 15 watt florescent tubes for one of my 15 gallon (2 feet) tank. As usual, all ADA products are expensive. You can consider PL (compact florescent) tubes from Dymax and Aqua Zonic as they work fine in my tanks. You can also use Phillips 36 watt PL. Bear in mind that majority of the lighting set supplied along with the tank you purchase are not suitable for plants unless you asked about it. Meanwhile, don't trust the salesperson too much as well.

Here's a sample information about the lighting set I use. Like I mentioned earlier, no information about Kelvin:

The other element that ensure the survival of plants is the substrate. Here I would like to suggest a mixture of Holland Sand and Top Soil. Holland sand is a common cheap aquarium sand you can find in most of the LFS (local fish shop). The sand may consists of different colour but I highly recommend the colour of the sand in my photo below. The main reason is, you won't spot the dirt. White colour sand is the worst - everyone with a common sense will know the reason:

Top Soil is a common garden soil sold very cheaply at the nursery. No, you don't buy this at the LFS.

Before using the soil, may consider doing some test on the soil. The method to test is basically use a bottle, fill it up with some of the soil. Measure the level of the soil and mark it. Fill it up with water and shake it. After 30 seconds, measure the soil and mark the level. After 2 minutes, measure the soil and mark it again. Check out how murky is the water. You may want to leave it over night to see whether it clears up. This method helps identifying whether the soil is suitable or not. Check out the following link about my Diana Walstad's Experiment for more details and also check out how to fill up the tank with the soil & Holland sand:

My Diana Walstad's Experimental Tank

As for the filter, the following are some of the cheaper options. You may go for canister filter which is more expensive and looks neat in the tank.

Internal Foam Filter:
It takes up space inside the tank but it works great especially in a livebearer tank with frequent production of fry. You have to hook it up to an air pump.

HOB(Hang On The Back) Filter:
For my case, it's hang on the side filter because I hang it on the side instead of at the back. It occupies space at the top of your tank making placing lighting set a bit of headache. You may tie a piece of foam to prevent fry from being sucked into the inlet. Eheim is my favourite brand in terms of filter but it is more expensive. It comes with quality though.

Plants selection:
For beginners, I suggest the following plants. Try to google to find out how they look like. It's better to do some research before purchasing. Otherwise, you may end up getting non-aquatic plants such as Mondo Grass that is often sold at LFS.
1. Hornwort or CeratoPhyllym Demersum - you can even leave it floating if you don't have any strong current. Good as hiding space for fry especially livebearer.

2. Elodea or Egeria Densa - you can even leave it floating if you don't have any strong current. Good as hiding space for fry. Good as hiding space for fry especially livebearer.

3. Java Fern - There are a few varieties or sub-species including Philippines Fern, Windelov, etc. You don't need substrate to keep this plant. Just tie it to a driftwood.

4. Hygrophila Polysperma - You can see this plant in my previous post or just google. It's a fast growing plant.

5. Duckweed - Most of us will eventually grow to hate it because it grows like weeds blocking the light from other plants.

6. Anubias - There are several varieties such as Anubias Nana, Anubias Nana var Petite, Anubias Nana var Marble, etc. You don't need substrate to keep this plant. Just tie it to a driftwood. Best to keep them sheltered by other plants.

7. Cryptocoryne Wendtii - the easiest Crypt to keep

8. Cryptocoryne Retrospiralis - this is an easy Crypt suitable as background plant.

9. Potamogeton Gayi - This is an easy background stem plant.

10. Riccia - Most of us will eventually grow to hate it because it grows like weeds and it's hard to keep it tied to the driftwood or rock because it's naturally a floating plant.

11. Marsilea Quadrifolia - The easiest carpet plants to keep. Will grow taller if the light is insufficient.

12. Corkscrew Vallisneria - As long as the substrate is rich in nutrients..even fish poo will do, it will grow and produce runners very fast. Suitable as background plant.

13. Subwassertang - Just tie it on a driftwood/rock. Subwassertang

Fish selection:
Livebearers are generally not well taken care of by the farms because they are cheap fishes. Therefore, it's very common for you to get sick ones home and they die within days. You may consider livebearers such as Guppies, Mollies (need brackish water), Swordtails (need at least 20 gallon tank) or Platies if you can find good quality ones. These are some of my favourite hardy fishes:

1. Ember Tetra - Small sized and the colour will brighten up in a planted tank. So, don't overlook them.

2. Lemon Tetra - Medium size tetra. Best to keep them in a group. Just beware that they're jumpers.

3. Cherry Barb - Very hardy colourful barbs.

4. Yellow Phantom Tetra - Very hardy medium sized tetra. Not aggressive as the cousin, Black Phantom Tetra.

5. Kuhlii Loach - Interesting because it looks like a worm/snake. Very fun to look at but require some hiding space.

Here's a list of things I will do to re- setup a tank:

1. Bleach the tank to make sure it's free of disease. Use non-perfumed bleach. Rinse the tank over and over with tap water.

2. Fill up the tank with Holland sand at all four corners. Then add the soil inside the tank. Then cover the soil with more Holland sand.

3. Add the plants you want into the tank and make sure they're well planted into the substrate. Make sure you moisture the plants to make sure they don't dry up (you may spray some water onto the plants). Tall plants should be planted at the back and short ones in front (make sure you know the plants you're having)

4. Place a clean plastic bag to cover the substrate and plants to prevent water from stirring them up. Then, fill up the tank with water.

5. Add some anti-chlorine into the tank.

6. The water may appear a bit murky. Just leave the tank alone for at least 24 hours.

7. When the murky water is gone, you should look into cycling the tank with hardy fish. Try with 3-4 fish first and keep it that way for at least 1 month. You may consider fishless cycling too - this method utilises ammonia to cycle the tank. Cycling process is introducing beneficial bacteria into your tank to ensure the survival of fish.

8. Theoretically water change should be 10-50% on weekly basis. I prefer 50%. Sometimes I go beyond 50%. At the initial stage, I believe 50% water change is the minimum when the tank is going through cycling process.

Additional Notes:
It's very important to find out the exact size of your tank, so that you can plan to set it up properly. Example: The amount of lighting, fishes and fertiliser depend on the size of your tank. Here's a useful link to find out the actual measurement of your tank along with various aquarium related calculators:

Aquarium Stuff Calculators

Activated charcoal is unsuitable for planted tanks. The main purpose of activated charcoal to get rid of chemical in the water that are harmful to the fishes. In a planted tank, it also get rid of fertiliser of chemical needed by the plants.

In a planted tank, normally we don't vacuum the substrate like we used to do in non-planted tank. The fish poo and debris act as fertiliser to the plants. You will uproot the plants or even kill the plants if you do so regularly.

In order to control the duration of light or even CO2 (if you decide to use it), it's best to get yourself a timer. IKEA offers the best price for timers in my opinion - you'll get two timers for the price of one. Even though the timers are made in China, it's hassle free to get them replaced in IKEA if they're found to be faulty within the first week. Usually, you will discover faulty one within one week. So make sure you test them 24 hours for 7 days during the first week :) Using a timer, you don't turn on the light 24 hours a day. So, it's very safe even if you're away from home.

Normally, it's very safe to run the air pump, filter and powerhead even though you're away from home as long as the water in the tank does not dry up. I heard of powerhead caught fire - it happened because some stupid people decided to place powerhead outside the water when powerhead was meant to be inside the water. Anyway, I don't fancy powerhead because it generates heat inside the water. I have never heard of air pump or filter catching fire before. The highest quality filters are made in Germany. To be specific, the brand is Eheim as I have mentioned before. If you use air pump, it's best to look out for one that does not produce too much noise. Otherwise, the noise will be very irritating in the long run.

In a tropical country, sometimes we use a fan (similar to a PC fan) to cool down the temperature of the tank to optimise the growth of some plants. The only drawback is the water evaporates causing the water level to go down. Usually I switch off the fan if I am away from home - I don't want to damage my filter.

Spot The krib

2009-04-25T17:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some random photos from my multiple tanks. The original intention is just to let the original owner of the Krib that I adopt to see his former "baby". The Krib started hiding again after one night of not acting shy - I noticed that it came out to greed my hand. Unfortunately, it's camera shy again the next day (perhaps I scared it when I was changing the water). It's peeping in one of the photos. So, try to spot the Krib.

Aquatic Plants Experiment

2009-04-09T08:45:00.000-07:00

Currently I have started another experiment using my Diana Walstad experimental tank. Basically I go around LFS (local fish shops) searching for various cheap plants. Buy a bunch back. Take some photos. Post them online in forums to get them identified. Make sure they're true aquatic plants. Otherwise, I will publish the blacklisted plants to the public. Yeah, I am acting as an unauthorised inspector now knowing that many LFS sell non-aquatic plants to their customers. I don't blame this completely on the LFS because some of them lack the knowledge as well. Anyway, what is the excuse of selling something you don't know? The blame is to be shared by the farms, suppliers and the customers themselves for not doing any research.

Here's my number one targeted plant. I have been setting my eyes on this plant for years but I often thought it's non-aquatic. It turned out to be a true aquatic plant known as Hygrophila Polysperma. Possibly Hygrophila polysperma var. 'Rosa Nervis'. It's a fast growing plants that is suitable for beginners.

Here's another plant that I have yet to identify. It looks like a type of Vallisneria but the leaves are unlike Vallisneria - they're harder. The leaves remind me of the non-aquatic "lalang" (wild grass). I found out from the forum that it's actually Cyperus Helferi that can be planted submerged or emersed. It is a native plant from Thailand. I believe I have seen it in the wild in Malaysia as well.

The root of Cyperus Helferi:

The leaves of Cyperus Helferi:

My Earliest Days of Alternative Music Exposure

2009-04-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

My earliest alternative music exposure are due to a few top 10 hits in the 80s by British bands such as The Cure, The Smiths, The Housemartins, Depeche Mode, OMD and Jesus & The Mary Chain. Those days they were not even called alternative music. Here are some music videos as a tribute to them.

"Panic" by The Smiths:
I first heard this song on the radio. I think it was BBC World Service.

"Ask" by The Smiths:
The first time I heard this song was on the local English radio station, Traxx FM. Those days, I think it was known as Blue Network.

"Lullaby" by The Cure:
I cannot recall from where I heard this song but I remember watching this music video on the TV and I thought it was the coolest music video. I love the gothic looks of Robert Smith.

"Happy Hour" by The Housemartins:
I think I first heard this on the old Blue Network radio station. I loved this song instantly. Paul Heaton remains one of my all time favourite song writer/lyricist along with Morrissey of The Smiths over the decades. I heard The Beautiful South formed by Paul Heaton has split up as well and he has gone solo.

"Five Get Over Excited" by The Housemartins:
I could have heard this song from Blue Network radio station or BBC. I loved this song instantly as well. I fell in love with almost all of the hit songs of The Housemartins instantly anyway.

"Me and The Farmer" by The Housemartins:
Another funny video clip of one of my all time favourite songs.

"Shake The Disease" by Depeche Mode:
This is one of the earliest electronic music exposure. I didn't love them initially until I heard "People Are People".

Diana Walstad's Experimental Tank Part 5

2009-03-28T23:57:00.001-07:00

I have added the following plants and make sure some of the stem plants such as Limnophila Aromatica & Rotala Indica are planted at the background. The first four new plants are supplied by my friend, Thomas.

- Rotala Rotundifolia
- Rotala Sp. "Green"
- Eleocharis Vivipara
- Sagitaria Subulata
- Bacopa (not sure of the exact species)

A Full View of the Tank:

Unknown Bacopa:

Rotala Sp. "Green":

Blyxa Japonica:

Sagitaria Subulata:

Platies:

Diana Walstad's Experimental Tank Part 4

2009-03-21T21:31:00.000-07:00

I decided to remove Hornwort and put them in the bin because it looked messy and it melted when my lighting set blew up forcing me to leave the tank without any light for one day. Trust me, next time if you want to send your existing light for modification, don't do it. It's a waste of time and money, unless you do it yourself and willing to take risk. It's wiser and easier to replace the entire lighting set. I am currently using Aqua Zonic lighting set with 55 watt PLL. Another product from China!!! It's damn difficult to find non-made-in-China product these days and Japanese products are too expensive (referring to ADA).

I am having difficulties keeping the Glosso planted because the Platies keep pulling them out. The water looks a bit brownish comparing with the rest of my non-garden soil tanks. I suppose it does not look that bad as it stands out among the tanks. Maybe I have been replanting the Glosso almost everyday causing the soil to be stirred up a bit. No outbreak of algae so far. The fry are still able to hide among the plants although I saw some fry being chased around by the adults a few times. It's no longer as safe as when Hornwort was around. I also have difficulties keeping the stem plants planted. Somehow, they keep floating up. So I decide to let them be. I know I am not being patience.

My last Black Molly fry died in this tank days ago for unknown reason. The rest of the fishes are fine.

This is how the tank looks like currently:

Diana Walstad's Experimental Tank Part 3

2009-03-15T02:02:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of my Diana Walstad's experimental tank. Thanks to fellow members of MAC (Malaysian Aquascaping Club) forum such as Ngiam (90% of the plants and all the Platies), Alfred (Endlers and Water Wisteria) and Edmund (Crypt) for sponsoring majority of the fauna and flora. There are more unknown plants supplied by Ngiam which I have not identified.

The list of fauna:
1. Platies
2. Endlers
3. 1 lonely Black Molly fry

The list of flora:
1.Glosso
2. Limnophila aromatica
3. Hornwort
4. Marsilea
5. Narrow Leaf Fern
6. Tiny Bolbitis
7. Philippines Fern
8. Cryptocoryne Affinis
9. Vallisneria Nana
10. Didiplis diandra?
11. Lobelia cardinalis?
12. Blyxa
13. Duckweed (not purposely added)
14. Rotala Indica
15. Bits of Water Wisteria
16. Unknown Moss (looks like Christmas or Java Moss)

Overview of the Tank:

Foreground plant is Glosso:

The purple plant that has slowly turning green is believed to be Limnophila aromatica:

The background has a plant that I have not identified:

Right side of the tank:

The identity of the plant on top of this photo is still unconfirmed:

Vallisneria Nana - supposed to be a fast growing plant that I could not grow previously:

Diana Walstad's Experiment Part 2

2009-02-24T06:21:00.000-08:00

This is a continuation of my Diana Walstad's experimental fish tank. I really set up the tank this time. The items used are:

1. Holland Sand - RM20+ (RM3 per kg)
2. A packet of garden soil called Top Soil - RM5 (I don't use the whole packet)
3. About 15 U.S. gallon of water (figure out the price yourself)
4. A clean plastic bag (free of charge) - you will find out the purpose later
5. Five teenage Endlers (supplied to me free of charge by my friend, Alfred)
6. A 36 watt PLL with bracket (Too heartache to list down the price)
7. Cryptocoryne Affinis (supplied to me free of charge by a new found friend, Edmund)
8. Standard 2 feet 15 U.S. gallon tank (used to cost RM18 about 5-6 years ago I think)
9. Water wisteria I believe (supplied to me free of charge by my friend, Alfred)

The plan is to fill up the grey area of the tank from top view with Holland sand to hide the mud (aka Top Soil). Then fill up the white section with mud (Top Soil).

After that, fill up the entire top section of the mud and sand with more Holland sand (the entire grey area of the diagram). The main purpose is to prevent the mud from causing murky water.

Add some plants by planting the roots of Cryptocoryne Affinis into the mud/sand. Also plant some Water Wisteria into the mud/sand.

Now fill up the tank with some water. Put the clean plastic bag covering the sand/gravel/plants, so that the water from the hose won't stir up mud and mess up the tank.

After several days of running the tank, you may add some hardy fish. In my case, I use Endlers. Yes, I have decided to avoid using Black Mollies that I initially plan because most of them have ended up in heaven. Thanks to the bad quality livebearers from LFS.

Now, sit back and wait for several weeks for the progress of the tank. Don't forget to keep the light on for about 6-8 hours per day. Ideally, you may use a timer.
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Updated on 1 March 2009: This is how the tank looks like as of 1 March 2009 after adding some Hornwort I took from my outdoor tank and some Narrow Leaf Fern as well as tiny Philippines Fern tied to a rock. I am still undecided whether to leave the rock of plants there. I may remove them if I change my mind.

Kuala Lumpur Walkabout

2009-02-21T17:33:00.000-08:00

I organised a walkabout photography session with some new found friends in an Olympus photography forum, My Chiaroscuro, which we often nicknamed as Screw Screw. 7 participants turned up at the event. After meeting up at 8am at Masjid Jamek Star LRT station, we proceeded to Dataran Merdeka, followed by Central Market. Of course, we took some street shots along the way as well. The session ended with a meal as usual.

Here are some photos. They're not necessary shot using my lens. I think I have fall in love with Zuiko 12-60mm lens but it costs over RM3000 #@*^%. By the way, the group photo was not shot by me but I like it very much.

Diana Walstad's Experiment

2009-02-15T04:43:00.000-08:00

To those who does not know Diana Walstad, she is one of the famous people in aquascaping hobby utilising simple, cheap and natural way.

After several years of reading about her articles as well as various people who utilise her method to setup their aquarium. I have decided to try it myself with the help of a fellow American friend from FishGeeks forum who happened to be someone named Diana as well. This is a useful diagram I got from Diana of FishGeeks forum. So the credit goes to Diana of FishGeeks and FishGeeks Forum

I did the experiment 1 - 2 weeks ago but I lost my mood to update my blog because an ex-colleague passed away. Also along the way, I got pissed off with my job and the whole damn corporate world.

I started by selecting 2 types of soil in my experiment. The main reason is to identify which soil is suitable and which soil may cause murky water as well as the PH. I don't really have anything to measure the PH. So my experiment is based on my own eyes.

In the experiment, I fill up some soil in a bottle. Take the measurement of the soil's level in the bottle and mark it. Add some water into the bottle with soil and shake it. At 30 seconds, mark the level of the soil. At 2 minutes, mark the level of the soil again. See how murky is the water and look out for floating organic stuff as well. The amount of clay is the difference between the original level before the bottle shaking and the level at 2 minutes.

The red garden soil I got from my mother-in-law:
Not much organic stuff in the soil. The water is consider very clear. The issue is it may not have sufficient fertiliser.

The black soil I got from an abandoned pot at my mother-in-law's garden:
Full or organic stuff floating on the water. The water is too murky to suit the fish. Probably too acidic too.

The result of the red soil and black soil:

Top Soil:
I was not satisfied with both of the soil, so I bought the third one called Top Soil. It is also a garden soil. An ex-colleague recommended to me because he had tried it in his aquarium tank as well. The water is more murky than the red garden soil but not as bad as the black soil. Not much organic material floating. I conclude that I will use this soil for my Diana Walstad's aquarium setup.

As of 22 Feb 2009, this is the bucket of Top Soil I have been rinsing 10 times for the usage of my upcoming Diana Walstad's influenced tank. Currently waiting for the murky water to go away.

Even before the tank is set up, I have lost a number of Black Mollies I intend to use in this experiment. Even the fry died by more than 50% of them. It's a disaster! I believe it is a wrong decision to use Black Mollies because:

1. They prefer some salt in the water but the plants do not like salt.

2. I cannot have black background that I want. Otherwise, I cannot see the fish.

3. Livebearers from the shops/farms are generally full of disease. I could not find any home breeder.

If they all die, I will consider switching to Endlers that my friend offers me.

There Goes My Island Setup Tank

2009-02-01T07:35:00.000-08:00

I have finally destroyed by island setup 3 feet tank by turning it into a jungle after accepting some plants from two of my friends. I still remember a friend kept asking me, "are you sure you want an island setup?", when I first started setting up this tank. Based on his experience a lot of people destroy the "island" eventually (this is exactly what has happened to me now). It takes a lot of discipline to stick to the "island" concept. For a regular rules breaker like myself, the "island" will not last.

These are the photos of the tank after destroying the "island".

Fish Hotel

2009-01-29T22:23:00.000-08:00

My colleague who would be traveling to overseas decided to leave 5 of his beloved goldfish with me when he would be away. Knowing that the poor fish might suffer in the absence of their owner, the way I lost some of my fishes when I was in overseas, I agreed to house his goldfish in my empty tank that I called the "fish hotel". Perhaps, it's a good idea for me to start a fish hotel business one day :)

I had to ask for my colleague to bring along his filter because I didn't have any spare filter and my air pump was already damaged. I also asked him to bring along the favourite fish food because I wanted the goldfish to be comfortable with the food they're used to. I had also tried my best to set up the same water parameter as my colleague's tank to reduce the stress of the goldfish in a new environment.

Although I am not a fan of goldfish, I hope my experience with my father's goldfish and my in-law's goldfish will come in handy. Let's hope all the 5 goldfish will remain alive under my care till the owner is back at the end of February 2009.

I left the bags of goldfish floating in the tank when I enjoyed my shower:

The goldfish were released into the tank after I finished my shower:

Old Cemetery Visit In Penang

2009-01-29T04:35:00.000-08:00

My friends and I were talking about visiting an old cemetery in Stafford, England (near Stafford Castle) one crazy winter night but we decided against the idea due to potential danger. However, the idea was stuck to my brain till today. When I told my sister about it, we decided to visit an old cemetery of the early British settlers in Penang during Chinese New Year. I had always been curious about the tomb of Francis Light - the British founder of Penang. I didn't even know his tomb was in Penang till our visit to the cemetery.

The look of the Protestant Cemetery which was located near the Jetty looked eerie from the outside. Upon entering the cemetery, we were surprised to see a sleeping caretaker. We were the only visitors and eventually we were joined by a tourist. Three of us walked almost blindly around the cemetery. With a map near the entrance, I kept looking out for the tomb of Francis Light which was located almost in the centre of the cemetery. It was not that difficult for me to find it because I found it by chance when I happened to stand right in front of it. Maybe something invisible was guiding me, knowing that I was keen to pay the late Francis Light a visit.

Honestly, the condition of the cemetery is very poor for a historical site. Perhaps Malaysians are generally not interested in any cemetery. I personally feel ashamed that the government did not do enough to maintain the historical site. It could definitely be a very educational site to learn about the early settlers in Penang. From the various tombs, we can learn about the hardship of the early settlers. Majority of the people in the 19th century did not live beyond 50 years old. Many perish due to disease such as Malaria. Francis Light passed away due to Malaria and he was only in his 40s. There's even a tomb with children ages just a few days old from the same family. Life was very fragile those days.

My advice to those adventurous enough to visit cemetery is:

1. Wear proper shoes. No sandals.
2. Long Pants is encouraged.
3. Beware of snakes
4. Beware of insect bites

I didn't see anything paranormal on that day. Neither my camera nor my eyes captured anything suspicious unless you can help me to spot from the photos....do let me know...

Pre-Chinese New Year Tanks Cleaned Up

2009-01-24T07:34:00.000-08:00

I got frustrated with moss finally after going crazy about various types of moss in the last few years. I have tried Java Moss, Christmas Moss, Taiwan Moss, Spiky Moss and Weeping Moss. The problem with moss is not keeping it alive but keeping it well maintained. Meaning keeping it clean (debris free) and algae free. Trust me, moss is a algae magnet. You can keep it nice and clean for months but the moment you're away from home, the moss will be screwed up. Hair algae is likely to grow along with the moss and by the time you return home, you can say farewell to the moss because getting rid of the hair algae is almost impossible without killing the moss. If you use Seachem Excel, you're likely to kill the moss along with it. The same applies for bleach. Yeah, I'm not kidding that I have dipped my moss into some bleach mixed with water. Even bleaching the moss does not get rid of the hair algae. The annoying algae will return in a matter of time.

I threw away a tank full of moss. I had also dumped another tank full of moss into a breeding tank that I didn't care if they live or die. The tanks were in a big mess and had to be rescaped and a cleaned up after getting rid of the moss.

Here are some photos taken after getting of the moss in two of my tanks:

This is the 50 gallon tank that I didn't mess around but it has some "accidental" unknown moss growing inside. I guarantee that I will get rid of the moss if I happened to see any hair algae.

Credit Card Problem At Petrol Station - What's Going On?

2009-01-19T19:32:00.000-08:00

This morning I tried to use my wife's credit card to pump petrol because she wanted to collect some points. I tried slotting in the credit card to the card reader a few times but it kept displaying a message indicating the chip could not be read or timeout error message. I proceeded to another card reader thinking that the initial one was faulty. Again I got the same error message. I thought the credit card was faulty. Upon reaching the office, I called my wife complaining that she gave me a faulty credit card. She told me she was facing the same problem yesterday using another of her credit card to pump petrol in outstation.

Anybody knows what's going on? The whole nation's petrol stations' credit card system is down? Petrol stations do not accept credit cards again? I could not find any news on the news media or even google.

Perhaps, I am the first one to complain online. Am I??

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As of 21 Jan 2009 morning, I managed to pump petrol at the same BHP petrol station using the same credit card without any issue. It's not a faulty credit card and it's not a faulty machine but I guess the system was down yesterday morning.

Air Asia's GoInsure Issue

2009-01-18T07:49:00.000-08:00

I booked Air Asia's flight for my in-law's maid last month and for myself this month. I felt cheated being forced to check the GoInsure check box after entering all the credit card information. Without checking the GoInsure check box, there's no way to book the ticket. It also stated that customers can choose to unselect the GoInsure later but I could not find any way to unselect GoInsure after booking. Fuck!! My booking had been confirmed by then!!! So, both of the times, I ended up purchasing the insurance that I didn't need. I wrote to Air Asia to complain but I received no response from them. I wrote to the CEO and he denied that the company was trying to cheat.

Since it's not the intention for the company to cheat, I would like to think that the website is designed very unprofessionally causing confusion to the customers. I dare to bet that a lot of customers would end up purchasing the insurance unnecessarily. For an IT literate person like myself being fooled to purchase GoInsure, I have no doubt that countless number of their customers will be victimised.

Yes, I have toned down what I wrote initially after thinking of myself being in the shoes of the CEO. I pity him that he has to deal with customer care matter when his employees did not do the job. It's kind of him to respond to my complaint. At least he has shown me that he is a responsible CEO. He should be a good example of his employees that did not do the job well. Let's wait and see whether he would do something about it just to be fair. I hope it's not another NATO (no action talk only).

Readers, if you know the way to avoid purchasing GoInsure, please post it here. If you can capture some screens and send to me, it would be even better. I would like to share it with everyone.

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Thanks to a fellow blogger, Jacky, for sharing some tips on how to overcome the GoInsure issue. Check out the steps as follows:

"You have to read carefully on how to "unselect" it. On the page where you enter your credit card information, the right side of the page shows booking summary. Click "CANCEL" which is beside the word GoInsure, and when the reminder box comes out, remember to click "CANCEL" again instead of "OK". Anyway, the best thing is to check the total fees added up in the sum paid before completing your payment."

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If I happened to book another ticket in the future, I will make sure I capture every single screen and post it here.

New Year Gift From Syabas? No, Thanks!

2009-01-01T08:13:00.000-08:00

It is reported in the media that water tariff for condominiums and apartments in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor will be increased by 30% again in March, 2009. What a great New Year gift from Syabas!

I think the government's decision to privatise water and electricity is completely a wrong decision. The burden goes to the people especially the poor ones. If you see the sentence above carefully that I have highighted in bold, you'll know what I mean. I think both the minister who approves the increase of water tariff and Syabas should be thoroughly investigated. I suspect something fishy. Syabas may not be the right organisation that could manage their expenses if they claim about losing money - this is just a lame excuse by all privatised companies backed by the government to pass the burden to the general public. I am sure if the minister cares about the people he/she would not burden the people further when the economy is in a bad shape. I personally think that the minister that approves such a move is very inconsiderate to the general public and he/she does not qualify to be a minister. Instead of protecting the people, he/she is protecting a private organisation. I sense corruption and irresponsibility!

It's absolutely unfair to target at apartments and condominiums only for water tariff increase. The poor families will be hit badly. In the cities, only the poor and middle class live in apartments. Why does Syabas has to increase the burden to these working class people but the rich ones living in bungalows are spared?? Currently, the water tariff of apartments and condominiums is already higher than houses. Is that what you call fairness?? Please use your brain and justify it, Syabas!!

To the federal government, please study the roots of Communism carefully. Communism often arises in a country due to corruption, greed of a leader and unfair treatment to the poor and working class. If the country is not well managed, the threat of Communism may return. Do you want this country to return to the days when Chin Peng threatened the country? Please do not let the common people suffer because of your poor management on country's resources.

LET'S SAY NO TO WATER TARIFF INCREASE!!

Real Angels

2008-12-15T08:33:00.000-08:00

Do you believe in angels? I do.

I am not talking about angels with wings that fly from Heaven. There is nothing superstitious about the angels I am referring. You may see or meet them personally without realising them.

I am talking about angels in the form of human being that you may have met in your everyday lives. They could strangers that you do not even know their names or you could not even recall their names but you will remember their good deeds forever. Normally, they appear in times of trouble.

I still remember two British old folks that came to our rescue when my friends are I were lost in one of the city in England. We carried a map but completely had no idea whether to go straight, turn left, turn right or turn back. We didn't even know where we were!

I also remember an art student that came to look for a room when I was in the midst of shifting out because of a "civil war" in the house. I was in trouble because of the "civil war" causing me to loss concentration on my exam. I almost lost hope in my exam. The guy and myself became an instant friend after I revealed the actual situation of the house and he encouraged to move away too. His words of encouragement indirectly helped me to focus on my exam. At the same time, another angel appears - a friend who were in the midst of looking for a house for rent helped me to look for a new place to stay. It's ashamed that I have lost contact with both of them.

Recently, my colleague and I were in Paris searching for the location of a hostel. We were pretty lost upon arriving at the train station because we could not find the road sign. I asked for direction but nobody seemed to know the place although it was not that far away. A French lady who was on her way into the train station saw our situation and volunteered to help. She could not even speak English well and we had trouble communicating. Eventually she decided to bring us to the location. Without her we might never find the hostel because it's hidden from the main road.

When my colleague and I were departing from Paris at the airport, we could not even find the counter to check in because it was not even opened yet. A helpful French Cambodian guy who was in charge of the luggage volunteered to set up the queuing lane even though it was not his job. By the way, the guy was a Chinese descendant from Cambodia escaping the war that could speak fluent Mandarin. It's very rare to find someone that could speak Asian language in an European airport. It was our lucky day!

I sincerely would like to thank these people that appear out of nowhere to help me. They are the true angels!

Narrow Minded Political Party

2008-12-08T01:05:00.000-08:00

I have no idea why we have such a narrow minded ruling political party in Malaysia. Why there are still so many narrow minded people still supporting them after they have shown their true colours with their stupidity? Have they been brain washed the way Hitler did to the Germans? It is very dangerous to the country and does not benefit anyone in the long run. Look at how Hitler destroyed Germany!

It's ashamed that Datuk Zaid Ibrahim has been sacked from the ruling party for voicing out his opinion against the party's ethics and attending functions organised by opposition party. The sacking shows that the ruling party is very narrow minded, cannot accept new ideas and cannot tolerate any criticism. It gives me the impression that it is a "katak di bawah tempurung" (frog in a coconut shell) political party. The "shut up and get out" policy of UMNO reminds me of dictatorship by basically getting rid of anyone in the party that has a different new opinion. In other words, the members have no say and have to obey everything decided by the party. Is that what you call democratic? The party will never change because of their own stupidity. They will create their own downfall. We will live to see.

I am glad that Datuk Zaid Ibrahim is now out of UMNO. The political party does not deserve to have a good leader like him who is rational and has a long term view of the future of our country. He does not deserve to be a part of the downfall of UMNO when it happens one day.

I agree with Datuk Zaid Ibrahim's opinion:
"In life you do things based on what you think is right, or at least not wrong. But you have to face the consequences"

Sometimes a person that is right may not be the winner but at least he/she deserves a better respect. I think Datuk Zaid Ibrahim has been doing very well in whatever he has done so far. I hope his sacrifice will open up the minds of some UMNO members to leave the party instead of remaining there as puppets.

Trip To France and the Netherlands

2008-12-07T05:12:00.000-08:00

Eiffel Tower in Paris:

Recently I was sent to Paris for training by my company. The trip was announced to me on the same day they booked the flight ticket. It was a surprised and very rush for me indeed as I was unprepared. Anyway, I hopped on the opportunity as Europe was my all time favourite continent and I had been looking forward to get out of Malaysia.

I had only 3 days for sight seeing in France - 1 day upon arrival and 2 days during weekend. In Paris, places visited were Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Sacre-Coeur, Place de la Concorde, etc. We visited the world heritage, Le Mont St Mitchel, which was a few hours by train outside Paris as well.

The second weekend, my colleague and I took a train to the Netherlands for our personal vacation. In Netherlands, I managed to meet my old friend that I have known for 22 years in Eindhoven and we met for the second time. We also stopped by at Rotterdam which is a very friendly modern city on the way to Eindhoven. We spent most of the time in Amsterdam. Besides of the availability of soft drugs in all the coffee shops (please bear in mind that they are not Malaysian version of coffee shops that sell food and drinks), it's a wonderful city. Even the Red Light District is very safe, good transportation, friendly people and Dutch generally speaks better English than other Europeans. Personally, I love Netherlands better than France.

I told many of my friends that I would not return to Malaysia if I had a chance especially after reading the bad news about the landslide in Ulu Klang that was a repetition of Highland Tower incident in 1993. I am very ashamed of the Malaysian authorities and the government for causing the death of innocent people due to greed, ignorance, carelessness and failure to learn from previous mistakes. I am very sick of them!

A View from Red Light District:
Please take note that there is a photography restriction here but I guess it's ok if you aim the camera out of the Red Light District the way I did. I did it the second time - the first time was in 1996.

Voldenpark in Amsterdam:

Windmill in Rotterdam:

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

2008-11-14T17:24:00.000-08:00

I have come across a band with a rather long name called The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. Despite of the name, I guarantee that the band won't cause you any pain. Most of the songs I come across from this band are very melodic. I can sense some shoegazer influenced with a bit of The Smiths' & The Pastels' kind of melody. With proper marketing and distribution, this band has a great potential.

They sound like British but no, they are not British. They are a bunch of New Yorkers that love British music I believe. You can guess their taste of music based on the songs they write.

For samples, please check out the following site. Trust me you won't regret. What to regret when you're not paying anything to listen to their music?

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

- "Everything With You" was the song that I first listened and it caught my interest instantly.

- "Come Saturday" - Very Ride-liked song.

- "Young Adult Friction" is another melodic song with a good combination of backup vocal. The female back vocalist, Peggy, did a good job here. It will be less interesting without her vocal. An outstanding song!

- "Stay Alive" is a slower tempo song - it won't caused any instant addiction but it will grow on you gradually. It reminds me of Morrissey.

No, they don't pay me any penny for advertisement. In fact they're not even aware that I am posting it here. Perhaps I should let them know to collect some cash that I am lack of :) Seriously, I think any music lovers should check them out.

Here's a video clip of the band with the song, Gothenberg Handshake. The video clips are poor quality but who cares when the music is great!!

Another video clip shot at Stockholm, Sweden .......What's this song????

What Fucking Law Is This?

2008-11-09T02:34:00.000-08:00

Recently, I was attending a joint management meeting of my apartment. I was informed that joint purchasers were not allowed to vote based on the law of Malaysia.

In order to vote, the joint purchasers must appoint a proxy to vote. The proxy should not be one of the purchasers! I wonder who is the idiot that sets this kind of annoying Malaysian law? Some laws in Malaysia are made by morons thinking every Malaysian is a moron like them that will obey blindly.

I find this particular law very idiotic because:

1. Aren't the purchasers that stay in the apartment entitle to vote? Does it make sense for joint purchasers to pick a third party that does not know a damn shit about the apartment area to vote? Can we use a puppet to represent us instead? Can we appoint a 1 year old child to vote? What about a chimpanzee?

2. Aren't joint purchasers human too? Why we are not entitle to vote? Give be a solid acceptable reason and I will remove this subject from this blog. Any lawyer can explain this? What's the story behind it?

3. Why the double standard for joint purchasers? I can understand if more than one of the owners are not allowed to vote but preventing ALL the joint purchasers of a shared property is unacceptable.

4. Is this what we call democratic?

5. Can we stop paying for service charge, sinking fund and even income tax since joint purchasers are not treated equally as Malaysians? We can't even use our right to vote? What else do we have, Mr. Smart Ass Authorities???

6. Which proxy is stupid enough to get involved to vote in joint management meeting that he/she is not related to? You can argue that I can appoint a neighbour as a proxy but all my neighbours have their representatives, don't they (unless they're joint purchasers that are being victimised too)? Oh, by the way, the meeting was held at 2.30pm on a week day. How can joint purchasers expect their proxy to attend such meeting at working hour by sacrificing a one day annual leave? Joint purchasers may sacrifice in order to exercise their right but a proxy????? Unless the proxy is a pensioner, housewife, beggar, bribe sucker or dick shaker with nothing better to do, then there is a higher possibility.

I send my sincere fucked up thank you to the authorities that set up this kind of law in Malaysia to damage the image of this country.

Rotten Formal Clothes

2008-11-06T07:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I received a sudden news that I would be sent to Paris for training. Today, I received another news that we were supposed to wear formally in Paris. Being a typical t-shirt and jeans guy working in a company that allows casual wear. I was a bit panic upon hearing the news. The reasons are:

1. My formal pants are all too tight now
2. My formal clothes are all yellowish
3. Very likely I have to spend a fortune on clothings

All the 3 worrying matters listed above came true when I reached home to inspect my formal clothings. To make the matter worse, the jacket that I wore only once during my graduation and I had high hope that it was in perfect condition turned out to be another disappointment - all the plastic buttons have disintegrated and falling apart. I hope the tailor can help to fix the problem. I am not sure how they are going to do it. I definitely have no idea because the buttons are all sewed inside a layer of cloth covering the sewing. I really hope that I don't have to spend a fortune buying a new jacket that I hardly use in a tropical country.

Revive of Podcasting

2008-11-05T16:11:00.000-08:00

I have the itch to share the music I discover for the last couple of months. A friend suggested that we start doing podcast recently really gave me the push to start one as soon as I can. I know it will fail if I do it alone - I will lose interest, get bored, run out of idea and become lazy in the end. The same fade happened when I was doing Boleh Rojak Pod years ago. I will be doing this with a few friends this time ...hopefully with better equipments.

So, look out for an alternative/indie/rock n roll podcast in the next few weeks or months if things work out!

Craft Work

2008-11-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

The German band Kraftwerk has been very innovative since the 70s. They have created a very unique sound in the world of music using computers, before the invention of electro-pop, techno, electronica and other kinds of computer generated music.

I heard they will be performing in Singapore. I bet no bands love to come to Malaysia due to the Malaysian authorities' fussy requirements. I would not come to Malaysia too if I have to comply to all the stupid requirements and restriction. To see international bands performing, I guess Malaysians have to travel to Singapore or Thailand.

Check out the following video clips of Kraftwerk.

This is from a documentary:

Autobahn:

Die Roboter (The Robot):

Tour De France:

Das Model (The Model):

Trans Europe Express:

Seize The Day

2008-11-01T19:51:00.000-07:00

Last night when chit chatting with a friend, Rafil. He made me realise something very important in our lives. It all started with the topic of the concert of The Cure. He advised me that music lovers like us should seize the day to attend our favourite bands' concerts. As hardcore music lover, something is obviously missing if we have never attended any concert of our favourite bands. Honestly, I consider myself in this category of music lover as well. The biggest gig I attended was the gig in Kuala Lumpur by Fugazi in the 90s. For a person beyond 30 years old, a lot of our all time favourite bands are no longer young. Many of them have reached their 50s or even 60s. If you don't attend their concerts, you may not get the chance to see those bands in a few years. The band members may be too old, you may be too old, health issue, etc may prevent us from any future concerts.

Honestly, I am just repeating what Rafil told me. Rafil, I hope you don't mind me being a parrot. :) I think he's absolutely correct. Based on the situation of my parents, they were thinking of going here and there but they're unable to walk (they could have done that earlier). Rafil told me he used to walk pass CBGB but didn't take the opportunity to walk in and it is now closed down...he regrets. I have always been impressed with the punk band, Ramones, but now more them half of the band members are dead - I will never see them perform again.

I have no regret for getting myself involved in the local underground music scene although it screwed up and I declared retirement for myself. I have no regret for getting involved in a radio show of the former Traxx FM DJ, Maya. I was just doing what I enjoyed. I may not return to the local music scene but if given the opportunity, I would still love to get involved in alternative rock show either in the form of podcasting or broadcasting.

We should all seize the day as the saying from the movie, Dead Poet Society!!

The Cure: 4:13 Dream

2008-11-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

One of my all time favourite bands is The Cure. A new album called "4:13 Dream" has been released lately but I have yet to check it out. Anyway, it's just a matter of time. How could any music fan misses out on The Cure?

During my university days back in England, I was close to attending a concert by The Cure at Sheffield University. The Goth Society I joined in my university was organising a bus trip to Sheffield and everyone were excited about it, including some non-members of Goth Society willing to join us. Unfortunately, Robert Smith fell ill and had to postpone it. The new date of the concert was the day I had already departed England. I still feel bitter about it today.

Yesterday, I was talking to a friend at Paul's Place (yeah, it was the infamous Paul's birthday party). We happened to bring up the topic of The Cure. This guy attended 2 concerts of The Cure one after another with his entire family by flying from one country to another. Yeah, the entire family including his young daughter who is also a fan of The Cure!! Looks like the addiction of The Cure can spread in different generations in a family. Amazing, right? It's proven how great is The Cure. Sometimes, I even come across cheesy pop music fans who love The Cure. I should have attended the concert of The Cure in Singapore! Now I feel regret! I heard The Jesus and Mary Chain is going to Singapore soon and I've already felt the itch!!!

Meanwhile, here's a video clip of The Cure with the new song, The Only One. This is a live version:

Jeans Lover

2008-10-31T20:42:00.000-07:00

I discovered a band from Dundee, Scotland, called The View by chance when listening to XFM London. Their song, Same Jeans, caught my attention because I thought one of the band members was from another old band called The La's hailed from Liverpool and I actually loved the melody & the lyric. Yeah, the song sounds like an upbeat version of a song by The La's.

The song titled "Same Jeans" is meaningful to me because I am a jeans lover. I think most of my friends who know me well are aware that I hate formal wear. Thank goodness, I work in a company that allows me to wear jeans to work daily. Any function that jeans is not allowed and if I can be excused for not attending, you won't see me there for sure. For a person that wanted to wear jeans on his wedding day, what do you expect?

I treat my jeans like a life vest because it saved me from being bitten badly by a dog when I was a teenager. It also saved me a couple of times without seriously injuring myself, when I fell from bicycles during my teenage years. When I was in the computer lab, sometimes accidental scratched against the machines could caused bloody marks on the skin without the protection of jeans (I often have to squeeze myself in between machines to pull/plug wires...yeah, I have to be avoid becoming too fat to fit in between the machines too). Unlike formal clothing, jeans can still be worn after it is torn and old. Usually a good pair of jeans can last me about 10 years or more. My favourite jeans is from Levi's. Most of them I bought in U.S. about 6-8 years ago. I still keep one or two in new condition in case I am allowed to attend any function that permit jeans but not old and torn ones. I guess I may need a new pair of jeans pretty soon as most of them are close to 10 years now. I wonder how much is a pair of Levi's jeans in Malaysia!!!

Here's a link to the video clip by The View called "Same Jeans" dedicated to all the jeans lovers around the world:

Same Jeans by The View

Lyric:

I've had the same jeans on for four days now
I'm gonna go to a disco in the middle of the town
Everybody's dressing up
I'm dressing down

Life's one big circle
And it doesn't end
When it ends
Will you still be my friend?

I'm not making a fool of myself
Oh tell me
I'm not making a fool of myself

So
When you look in the mirror
Reflecting back at you someone that you don't know
Oh That's just made your head spin around
So get yourself together
Get your feet back on the ground

I've had the same jeans on for four days now
I'm gonna go to a disco in the middle of the town
Everybody's dressing up
I'm dressing down

I take my hats off to the busker man
When they drown all the sorrows singing songs
Now everything has worked out to plan
But believe me it started as long as it can

So
When you look in the mirror
Reflecting back at you someone that you don't know
Life's just made your head spin around
So get yourself together
Now put your feet back on the ground

I've had the same jeans on for four days now
I'm gonna go to a disco in the middle of the town
Everybody's dressing up
I'm dressing down

My minds not perfect but it's sincere
You'd be amazed at what you can achieve in a year
And you try so hard
But your hearts on a switch
And I know you try so hard
But your hearts on a switch

So
When you look in the mirror
Reflecting back at you someone that you don't know
Life's just made your head spin around
So get yourself together
Get your feet back on the ground

So
When you look in the mirror
Reflecting back at you someone that you don't know
Life's just made your head spin around
So get yourself together
Get your feet back on the ground

Same Jeans on for four days now
Everybody's dressing up I'm dressing down
I'm not making a fool of myself
Now believe me lady I can't tell

Same Jeans on for four days now
Everybody's dressing up I'm dressing down
Im not making a fool of myself
Now believe me lady I can't tell

Sound of the 80s in Today's Music

2008-10-30T07:07:00.000-07:00

I realise the music in recent years has moved backward to the sound of the 80s. It's applicable for both mainstream and underground music scene. In the mainstream music scene, we have Kylie Minogue and Madonna as examples. In the underground scene, we have Metric, Cansei De Ser Sexy, Mgmt, The Music, Ladytron, The Charlatans, Peter Bjorn and John, etc. New wave & electro-pop have become a trend again in 21st century. Just like fashion, music often look back at the history and revive the old sound. I guess in the world of art, old stuff does not die like technology. Old art could revive in a different form whether you like it or not.

Here are some samples of the sound of 80s still living in today's music:

Metric: Poster of A Girl (Live)

MGMT: Kids

The Music: Drugs

Cansei De Set Sexy (CSS): Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above

Ladytron: Seventeen

What the F.....??

2008-10-30T01:14:00.000-07:00

First of all, I would like to apologise for using obscene language in this topic. I really cannot help myself.

Today (30 Oct 2008), I woke up at around 5.30am to get ready to work. No, my boss did not force me to do so. I volunteered! In fact I should thank my boss for allowing me to work on a very flexible odd hour. The reason was I wanted to attend the Joint Management Committee first meeting of my apartment area.

I left my office at 2pm. Upon reaching home, I had a stomachache. Despite of the bad stomach, I attended the meeting. During registration, I was told to proceed to Gate B of the hall where the meeting was held. Being slightly puzzled because other people had to sign up but I didn't have too. I happily walked to Gate B. The area of Gate B was separated from the rest of the hall with "Awas" (Danger) plastic "ribbons" - yeah I was a dangerous man...as you can see I am blogging about it and about to start cursing everyone now.

I sat and waited for more than an hour. The building management and the residents were there but the "VIP" never turned up. By the time, they announced "let's wait for another 5 minutes", I just walked off knowing that the stupid fucked up "VIP" would never arrive in 5 minutes. Who was this "VIP"? It's not an individual. It's a government organisation. I won't name "it" but you can guess! My message to them is "Fuck off if you want to waste everyone's time. You good for nothing shitheads! Even an asshole can function better!".

Upon reaching home, I received an SMS from the committee being very pissed that JLC Management Services Sdn. Bhd. does not allow any of the owners for apartment with joint ownerships to vote. Only then I was clear about the reason I was requested to go to Gate B without registering. This is absolutely unfair. Can joint owners stop paying service charge and sinking fund too? Don't we have the rights? We don't live in the apartments, do we? My message to JLC Management Services Sdn. Bhd. is "Fuck off and rot in hell!".

This is how pissed off I am today! Don't mess with me today. I will not hesitate to punch any Tom, Dick or Harry who offends me now.

Peter Bjorn and John

2008-10-18T05:44:00.000-07:00

Scandinavian countries often produce talented musicians. The music scene that has been very interesting for decades. Thanks to the Scandinavian governments for encouraging music exports. I am pretty sure everyone knows ABBA that hailed from Sweden. Those who were teenagers in the 80s know A-Ha from Norway and those turned on the radios in the 90s probably know Ace of Base. In my opinion, there are even more Scandinavian talents which may be overlooked by majority of us, Malaysians.

The Metal music scene from Scandinavia has been very strong with bands such as Entombed from Sweden, Children of Bodom from Finland, Nightwish from Finland, etc. Yeah, there were a lot of hoo-has created by various narrow-minded Malaysian authorities about Metal music for decades. If I keep writing about them, I will end up cursing them for their stupidity. Well, those stupid idiots even categorised indie music as Black Metal. My goodness, where are their brains? The government should send them for music lessons before making all the noise!! Ok, I am almost going out of the intended topic now.

In the indie scene, we have The Cardigans from Sweden, Ida Maria from Norway, Popsicle from Sweden, The Wannadies from Sweden, Bjork from Iceland, The Raveonettes from Denmark.... This morning, while listening to XFM from London via internet. I came across another interesting Swedish band called Peter Björn and John. The band is named after the first name of each band members. Very simple name for a band! It consists of Peter Morén (vocals, guitar and harmonica), Björn Yttling (bass, keyboards and vocals) and John Eriksson (drums, percussion and vocals). They had a hit in the U.K. with the song, Young Folks, in 2006. Yes, I discovered this band late but it's better late than never. The song also features Victoria Bergsman who is a former member of The Concretes. The Concretes is another Swedish band well known in the indie scene. The vocal of Victoria reminds me of a guest vocalist of a song by a British trip-hop band, Tricky.

Here's an animated video clip of Young Folk by Peter Björn and John:

Lyric:

If i told you things i did before
told you how i used to be
would you go along with someone like me
if you knew my story word for word
had all of my history
would you go along with someone like me

i did before and had my share
it didn't lead nowhere
i would go along with someone like you
it doesn't matter what you did
who you were hanging with
we could stick around and see this night through

and we don't care about the young folks
talkin' 'bout the young style
and we don't care about the old folks
talkin' 'bout the old style too
and we don't care about their own faults
talkin' 'bout our own style
all we care 'bout is talking
talking only me and you

usually when things has gone this far
people tend to disappear
no one will surprise me unless you do

i can tell there's something goin' on
hours seems to disappear
everyone is leaving i'm still with you

it doesn't matter what we do
where we are going too
we can stick around and see this night through

and we don't care about the young folks
talkin' 'bout the young style
and we don't care about the old folks
talkin' 'bout the old style too
and we don't care about their own faults
talkin' 'bout our own style
all we care 'bout is talking
talking only me and you

and we don't care about the young folks
talkin' 'bout the young style
and we don't care about the old folks
talkin' 'bout the old style too
and we don't care about their own faults
talkin' 'bout our own style
all we care 'bout is talking
talking only me and you
talking only me and you

talking only me and you
talking only me and you

Telok Bahang

2008-10-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

Most of my trips to Penang are usually quite boring - visiting shopping complexes, coffee shops and staying at home. It was my first trip to Telok Bahang last weekend. I like the view of Telok Bahang because it is more remote and looks like a smalltown that I am originated from.

Based on recommendation of some experts, I decided to convert the photos to black and white. Simplicity is beautiful sometimes. I am not sure whether these photos are beautiful or not as I am struggling with the camera. I still damage 90% of the photos. This time I spoiled them because I was still crap at taking nightscene & the raindrops on the camera lens screwed them up.

Why The Fuck Some Malaysians Could Be So Rude?

2008-10-10T20:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder why the fuck some Malaysians could be so rude especially the younger generation from teenagers to adults in their 30s. Yeah, I am writing rudely here too because I am pissed off.

I was at JLC Management Services Sdn. Bhd. (the management of my apartment) at between 10.30am - 11.00am on 11 October 2008 to pay my water bill. There was an extra-ordinary large crowd (maybe 10 people excluding the clerks). I stood there at the glass door waiting for 1 minute or so but clecks did not even bother to open the door for me. Yeah, they locked the glass door all the time. Maybe I looked like a beggar or salesman in a Converse t-shirt, cargo pants and sandals. So they refused to open the door for me. Both were Malay ladies in their 20s. I am very sure that the one sitting on the right facing the door saw me. A kind lady outside the office asked me to knock the glass door. After knocking the glass door, surprisingly the 2 clerks were not the ones unlocking the door for me - a client in the queue had to do it for them.

If they wore name tags, I would not hesitate to publish their names here to shame them. Unfortunately, I could not get their names. I was thinking of taking a photo initially but I thought it could be too obvious of me for doing so.

My dear, do Malaysian schools teach moral studies these days?? Is there something wrong with our education system? Are we turning ourselves into rude Malaysians? It seems like nobody respect one another these days in the city. I am not surprised that we will start slapping, punching and kicking people like animals one day if this kind of rudeness remains.

September Gurls

2008-10-03T18:12:00.000-07:00

September has just passed by a few days ago but I decided to check out a 70s band greatly praised by my friend, Joe Kidd, many years ago. The first song that caught my attention was "September Gurls". To those familiar with the band, Teenage Fanclub, it's very obvious that they are influenced by Big Star. Many artistes today still claim that they're influenced by Big Star. I love the melody of "September Gurls" which is simply amazing and beautiful. It is a very well written song.

Big Star was formed in 1971 when I was still a toodler sucking my thumb. They were not really big stars then. The band splitted up in 1974 when I didn't even know ABC. A new line-up of Big Star featuring original members Chilton and Jody Stephens was formed in 1993, and released a new album in 2005 called "In Space". I have yet to check out their new album but I will surely do so in a matter of time.

Here's a video clip of Big Star's "September Gurls" and the lyric:

September gurls do so much
I was your butch and you were touched
I loved you well never mind
I've been crying all the time
December boys got it bad.

September gurls I don't know why
how can I deny what's inside
even thought I keep away
maybe we'll love all our days.
When I get to bed
late at night
that's the time
she makes things right
ooh when she makes luv to me

Crappy External Portable DVD Writer

2008-10-02T08:13:00.000-07:00

My entire Raya holidays were spoiled because of the purchase of a stupid external slim portable DVD writer. My wife was the purchaser but I was the one who had to struggle troubleshooting it. I was disappointed and didn't have a good feeling that she came home with Panasonic DVD writer instead of LG or Samsung one.

The exact model of the portable DVD writer was Panasonic SD-100A. Initially, the drive could not be detected, so I blamed it on the USB2 hub. After connecting directly to the laptop, I managed to install some software but when Nero CD supplied by Panasonic was used, it failed to read. The Samsung DVD writer of my PC had no problem reading the Nero CD though. When I tried accessing the CD with the portable Panasonic DVD writer, it failed again and again. However, after several attempts, it managed to read. When I was trying to install Nero happily, it hit I/O (input/output) error. Being dissatisfied, I tried with another software CD. When installing half way, it hit the same I/O error. It was very obvious that the CDs used were ok but not the portable DVD writer.

As a conclusion, Panasonic SD-100A is a crappy product. I discourage anyone from purchasing it. My wife sent the DVD writer back for exchange but the same problem occurred for the second DVD writer too. She will be sending it back to the shop again tomorrow. Since the shop only has Sony and Panasonic products, I hope she will come home with Sony one, although I am not a Sony fan either.

Latest Update As of 4th October 2008:
The shop exchanged for the same model of DVD player. Surprisingly, it worked this time. The differences we noticed with the previous 2 players were the torn boxes and even the Nero CDs provided were different. Probably someone had rejected them before. The current one has a new box in good condition coming straight from their store. I am not sure whether the product has bad quality control or the shop was trying to get rid of rejected players. I am a bit doubtful that it's due to bad quality control because it's a Japanese product and the Japanese are generally very strict about it. To be safe, I would still encourage people to stay away from this product. It's a lesson for Panasonic to be careful of selecting their vendors if it's not the fault of their product. Even though the shop had no problem exchanging the goods but exchanging it three times is unacceptable. Please bear in mind that our grandfathers do not sponsor petrol and parking fees!!

The Star That Doesn't Fade

2008-09-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

Mazzy Star - This is an American dream-pop band that didn't suit my music taste in the 90s. They were too mellow and too "country" for me (Yeah, I hated country music before). I only discovered the beauty of the mellowness and the great voice of the beautiful Mexican-American singer, Hope Sandoval, in the last 3-4 years through the song "Fade Into You" & "Happy". Their music is dark and sad usually, just like the songs of Portishead, although Portishead is from a different genre - trip hop. Mazzy Star was active in the late 80s to 90s but I stopped hearing from them from year 2000 onwards. The band does not officially split-up and I hope they will continue to release more album in the near future to add up in their list of the current 3 albums: She Hangs Brightly, So Tonight That I Might See & Among My Swan.

Here are some video clips from the star that never fades...

"Halah":

"Happy":

"Fade Into You":

"Flowers In December:"

Musical Adventure

2008-09-30T17:48:00.000-07:00

A number of friends often ask how I managed to find out about so many unknown bands. The answer is simple: Explore Music With An Opened Mind. Without internet, we explore the bands at the friendly record stores that are willing to let us try the CDs. Trust me, it is a time consuming activity and requires a dedicated passion. If you come across any CDs you dislike, just skip them. The main problem is when there are too many CDs you like - more cash flow going outwards. Sometimes, you need to be a regular at the stores and be friendly to the salespersons. If you're lucky, you may come across a salesperson who "clicks" with your taste of music and they could be very helpful in your exploration by supplying hints and suggestion. I know it is very rare for alternative music in Malaysia. I only come across 2 salespersons who are really helpful for the past 20+ years. Honestly, I also rarely come across people who are as adventurous as my friends Joe Kidd, Wei Chuet and myself. Anyway, that's why it's called "alternative music" - we are the rare alternative species! With the availability of internet, music exploration is HEAVEN!!

This morning while checking out an old music video of Chapterhouse, I discovered a noise-pop band named Thrushes. The band is originated from Baltimore, MD, U.S. Yes, it's very common to find dream-pop, shoegazer, noise-pop bands from the U.S. these days being influenced by the 90s British bands. I find this new band interesting although relatively unknown. I could hardly find any information about them online except for a few video clips and their website. They remind me of all the shoegazers of the 90s. I am very impressed with the music of Thrushes. I am now thinking of ordering their album online. If you're adventurous and willing to explore alternative music, this could be your starting point:

A Link to the website of Thrush

Thrushes with "Trees":

Thrushes with "Heartbeats":

Thrushes with "Aidan Quinn":

As a true music fan, the exploration does not start and end at only new bands. You should also stray beyond the border to old bands. It's like a box of chocolates, you'll never know what you're gonna get...like the saying of Forrest Gump. Here are some video clips I have been exploring.

1. The Charlottes with "Liar" - a shoegazer band that was unknown to me until this morning. I could not find any information about this band at all. By the way, to those wondering why these bands are called "shoegazer", check out this video. It's a shame that the video is half way through when it is cut off. #@*%

2. Chapterhouse with "Pearl" - this is another old 90s British shoegazer band that I have almost forgotten.

3. Fleeting Joys with "The Breakup" - this is another unknown band that sounds like My Bloody Valentine to me. Still unknown to me. They sound so similar to My Bloody Valentine that I do not hesitate to call them as My Bloody Valentine's copycat.

Good Old Rock N' Roll

2008-09-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

Ever since I re-discovered my childhood song, Walk The Line, by Johnny Cash, I realised that the roots of my music taste was based early Rock N’ Roll, Rockabilly and Country. Therefore I started to dig for the roots and re-discover them.

I remember growing up watching the tv sitcom, Happy Days, in the 70s. I always thought the character of Fonzie played by Henry Winkler was cool. When watching the sitcom, I was indirectly exposed to Rock N’ Roll especially “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley & His Comets. The Rock N’ Roll genre eventually grew on me slowly as I discovered Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Wanda Jackson, Buddy Holly, The Beatles, etc, over the period of about 20 years in my life.

At the same time, I heard Country, Rockabilly and Rock N’ Roll stuff from my dad’s or sister’s vinyl records and cassettes when I was a kid. The genre of Country, Rock N’ Roll and Rockabilly often overlap one another and a lot of singers hopped around those genres. The singers I remember listening from my family’s music collection was Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Connie Francis, Wanda Jackson, The Beatles, The Shadows, etc. Some time in the 80s, I discovered Patsy Cline and Brenda Lee on my own. “Crazy” by Patsy Cline and “Rock Around The Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee caught my attention. I believe I heard them in movies initially. What makes these 2 singers and these 2 songs special were the melody and their excellent female vocal.

I believe Wanda Jackson is almost forgotten in today’s music industry. I remember asking my sister about Wanda Jackson when I was about 10 years old about Wanda’s voice. I thought those songs were sung by a kid. Yes, I do agree that Wanda Jackson has a very unique voice that makes her sounds wild and rebellious. Honestly, I had never seen any photo of Wanda Jackson before yesterday. I used to imagine her as a black lady that dressed up in black leather jacket like Joan Jett. Yesterday, I was shock to find out that she was beyond my imagination based on the following photo and she was not wild at all:

Buddy Holly has been an inspiration to a lot of artiste today especially alternative music. He was another rocker that did not look like a rocker. He looked like a nerd with the big old fashion spectacles. I believe a lot of nerd punks today have been greatly influenced by him – making rockers look cool in nerdy spectacles. His hiccup style of vocal is distinctively unique. Today, any singer who sings using this method will automatically be associated to the great Buddy Holly by default. Unlike Wanda Jackson, Buddy did not live very long. It’s a pity that he passed away in a plane crash at such an early age together with the other 2 legends, Richie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.

The Forgotten One

2008-09-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

There are some 90s shoegazing bands that I have almost forgotten although they're some of the early indie bands that I used to be crazy about. They just sank and faded somewhere in my memory over the years. Lately they happened to re-emerge from my memory and I started to check them out in YouTube. Surprisingly I could not even remember their songs these days. Sign of old age I guess. One of the bands is Pale Saints.

Pale Saints with Half-Life:

Pale Saints with Blue Flower:

Pale Saints with Throwing Back The Apple:

Pale Saint with Sight of You:

I love this song. I think it's very beautifully written.

Sight Of You
the sight of you
the sight of you
makes me feel blue
makes me feel blue
the things you said
the things you said
make me feel bad
my heart is sad

i think of him
i think of him
soaked all in red
i wish him dead
you say that he
you say that he's
nothing like me
but how can that be?

what can i do?
what can i say?
the world was large
and i felt very small
what's gonna happen?
how will i know
when things are back
the way they used to be before?

the sight of you
the sight of you
makes me feel blue
i feel so blue
the things you said
the things you said
make me feel bad
my heart is sad

Pale Saints with Kinky Love:

Cansei de Ser Sexy Is Not Tired of Being Sexy

2008-09-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

I was introduced to a Brazilian indie electro new wave revival post-punk band by chance when I was on a radio show with a former Traxx FM DJ, Maya, about more than 1 year ago. Maya bought the CD all the way from the U.K. when she visited the land of punk. The band was Cansei de Ser Sexy with the abbreviation C.S.S. for those who could not pronounce the band's name. The album was a self-titled album. It was love at first hearing for me regarding Cansei de Ser Sexy. Most of the songs were very upbeat. I was a little bit surprised that the traditional grunge label, Sub Pop, was the label of this indie new wave band. It was not a complete surprise for me because Sup Pop also signed up some indie shoegazer bands that could be categorised as very close to dream-pop such as Velocity Girl and The Spinanes. Since the era of grunge had cool down over the years, it's pretty normal for an indie label like Sub Pop to explore beyond the territory of grunge.

The year is now 2008. Getting any album by Sub Pop or any indie record label is obviously not an easy task in Malaysia but I managed to get it by crook or by hook. Yes, I managed to get the new album of Cansei de Ser Sexy called Donkey. It's not love at first hearing for this album but don't get me wrong, it's not a bad album after all. As usual, most of the songs of Cansei de Ser Sexy are very upbeat. There is no such word as boring in the dictionary of Cansei de Ser Sexy. The songs do not hook you up like the first album but they will grow on you. I love one of their weird songs called "I Wanna Be Your J Lo". It's a strange song with very strange new wave beat...not a cup of tea for everyone but it suits weirdo like me. The other songs I enjoy are "Left Behind" (their first single from this album), "Let's Reggae All Night" & "Beautiful Song". Some of the short songs from this album such as "Hollywood" and "Sô Lora, Sô Burra (Disk Putas)" clearly show their punk roots. They remind me of the early Huggy Bear, Bikini Kill and other riot grrl bands from the early 90s.

Here are the video clips from the old album (Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above) and new one (Rat Is Dead (Rage)):

Race & Religion

2008-09-23T09:13:00.000-07:00

It's very sad indeed that in modern days, the world is still generally divided by race, religion and politic. The races and religions are not to be blamed but we may blame power greed irresponsible politicians and the evil of human’s brains. The situation is very obvious throughout the world regardless whether you're in Malaysia, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, China, etc. There is no denying that racists and religion fanatics are still walking among us. The world thought that when the greatest racist in the world, Adolf Hitler, was dead and when Apartheid was crushed, the world would be free of racism. Unfortunately, it was just a dream of mankind.

When we were kids, we didn't bother about race, religion and politic. We played and befriended anyone. As we started schooling, we were slowly being brainwashed by friends and the segregation started. The segregation could be based on race, religion or even informal "gang". The "gang" I am referring may not necessary related to gangsterism – it can be just a group of kids with common idea/opinion/interest that other groups may not share. I hated this when I was in school because I wanted to remain friends with other races and I wanted to learn more from other races, instead of isolating myself and stick to one particular group of friends. In fact those days, at Standard One/Primary One, one of my closest friends was someone outside my own race that was sitting next to me. Maybe my exposure to someone outside my own race at such a tender age has led me trust them. I am thankful to have this particular friend who has unknowingly shaped my perception towards other races in my life.

Sometimes I question our education system. Has it failed in educating us to unite as one human race? Does it deserve to be called education in the first place if such a basic goal is not achieved? Education is not just meant for generating income in a capitalist world. The more important element is humanity. It is supposed to teach us not to act like a bunch of wolves or wild boars. We do not deserve to be called human if we act like animals. If our education system fails, there is a danger of having another Adolf Hitler on this planet and there is a possibility of World War 3. Do we want that?

I was so surprised about what I heard from a Muslim friend lately. My friend’s 6 year-old niece overheard his children speaking in English. She asked why they spoke in English and English was meant for non-Muslims. Obviously my friend was shock to hear that and asked her who told her so. She gave him a greater surprise when she said that her kindergarten teacher told her that. I wonder whether her kindergarten teacher should be fired or should remain in the kindergarten …. as a STUDENT. It was fortunately that someone in the family could teach the 6 year-old child the right thing from the wrong. I am now very curious about the fate of other children in the same kindergarten that were given wrong advice.

I am also aware of some families that cultivate racism in their children directly and indirectly. Sometimes a scare tactic used could give children wrong impression that other races cannot be trusted.

For example:
A Chinese family member tries to scare a child to prevent him/her from loitering outside the gate by saying “Indians will catch you if you go outside”.

A simple scare tactic like this may lead the child not to trust all Indians. What will happen if one day the kid needs help and the person offers to help him/her happened to be an Indian? This kind of small issue may lead to a major issue because the children may grow up to be the leaders of the country one day. The way we shape our children is the way we shape our country.

Ideally in a multi-racial country like Malaysia, we should be known as Malaysians rather than Chinese, Malay, Indian, Kadazan, Eurasian, Dayak, etc. Race should be removed from the identity card, forms and even our CVs. Race based political parties should not exist. You may accuse me for trying to get rid of race but what's the point of having a race if we're dead because of racial riot? Sometimes I question the necessity of struggling for race and religion because if everyone fight and struggle for his/her own race and religion contradicting with another person's race and religion, aren't we creating a conflict? Don't you think it's more proper to struggle for your country as Malaysians? I know some narrow minded Malaysians may not agree and accuse me lack of knowledge about race and religion. Those people are dangerous and considered extremists in my opinion because they're more likely to be the ones that sparkle racial/religion disharmony in a country, comparing with a non-religious person who mixes with anyone regardless of skin colour and religion.

Hard To Be Polite In The City

2008-09-21T09:23:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, I find myself hard to be polite in the city. Sometimes you get an odd stare for being polite and sometimes some pretty young things will mistaken you as a pervert. Once I greeted a security guard "good morning" inside a lift. I got a blank stare in return. Those days, I had just returned from a smalltown in England and I was used to the culture of greeting people I saw in the morning including strangers. It was a norm to thank the bus drivers as well. I miss those kind of politeness in Malaysia, especially in the city like Kuala Lumpur or Petaling Jaya. Certain people say that the Westerners are not sincere in their politeness. In my opinion, who cares? It's better than being rude.

Today, I was coming out from a junction at a petrol station/gas station. I noticed a car purposely increased the speed to prevent me from coming out. When I was driving behind it, I saw a brown skinned hand coming out of the car with a middle finger. Since it's a muslim fasting month and the driver was a muslim, I had to prevent him from destroying his purpose of fasting. So I returned him the international hand signal. I was just doing him a favour.

Once a friend told me about a Canadian using his car horn less than 3 times in his life. In Malaysia, I guess an average driver may have to use at least 30 times per year. Are we the impatient rude Malaysians? Obviously, we cannot beat drivers of certain countries but bear in mind that in some countries, they do not honk at anyone of of anger the way Malaysians do. Sometimes, we are forced to use the horns because there are simply too many psychotic drivers on the road who think the road belongs to them.

Freedom Writers

2008-09-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

I was watching a movie at HBO channel in Astro today that I came across by luck - in other words, I was just browsing the channels when I found the movie. The title of the movie was called Freedom Writers based on a true story. The movie was about a dedicated teacher that went against all odds to teach her students something beyond the text books could teach - day to day life! It's rare to have a dedicated teacher like Erin Gruwell. I would say I have personally come across very few teachers like her.

Somehow she reminded me of my former Biology teacher, the late Mrs. Cheah Chin Beng (we called Puan Cheah). I was one of the weakest student in my class those days. Although it was a top class, my motivation to continue studying was very low because I could not compete in the class. I felt like an alien in the class because of my examination results and I hated almost all the subjects besides English, Geography and Malay. My request to be transferred to another class (both the second class and art stream) was rejected by the headmaster. Although Mrs. Cheah was not the form teacher, she noticed it the way other teachers failed to do so. One teacher even insulted me by asking me not to attend her class for failing Chemistry all the time. Mrs. Cheah called me up one day after school to discussed about it and she asked the top student in my class (now a doctor) to teach me. Due to her effort, indirectly she gave me the encouragement to struggle and passed my SPM (government exam) with grade one unexpectedly. She was a unique teacher graduated from Australia. She was a very opened minded person that could joke about it when the Biology lesson touched the topic of sex (other teachers might skip the subject). I still remember that she warned us that the topic was not meant for practical at our teenage years and it drew laughter in the class. I am also aware that she helped a student who didn't have sufficient to buy books. She was the most caring and helpful teacher that I came across. Unfortunately, she didn't live long enough to see most of us graduated. She passed away falling from the stairs when I was in the college. Good people does not live long sometimes.....

The movie also indirectly touched the topic of freedom in writing the way bloggers like us do. In the movie they used diary but we use internet. Sometimes the authority would find ways to block us from writing something straight from our hearts. It's not fair to prevent people from being sincere even if it's a criticism. That's the reason I loath Internal Security Act being used against bloggers in Malaysia. It's undemocratic and against freedom of speech. If the people are well educated and have the appropriate brains, they should be able to think whether the stuff written by bloogers make sense or not. It's unnecessary to lock the bloggers up in jail.

The following is the link to Freedom Writers Foundation:

Frredom Writers Foundation

Because You Said So?

2008-09-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

I was watching a movie at Astro, Because I Said So, just a few minutes ago. The comedy was about an over-protective mother (Diane Keaton) that was trying very hard to be a matchmaker of her own daughter (Mandy Moore) but ended up with bad consequence. It's neither the best movie nor a bad one, but it has a special meaning to me and it sends a very powerful message to the viewers.

I can easily relate this movie to any over-protective parents. Generally, I find Malaysian parents being over-protective. Every parents want their children to be doctors, engineers, lawyers and all the boring occupations. They may be shock with anger if their children say that they want to be an artist, singer, barber, firefighter, etc. I have personally gone through similar experience when I told my grandmother that I wanted to be a soldier - I was beaten up by my mother. From a soldier, my ambition eventually proceeded to scientist (a mad scientist), pilot (actually a military pilot), singer (actually a punk rocker), linguist, astronomer, inventor, etc. None of them came true. I ended up with a boring occupation eventually for the sake of making money to pay for loan. Crap, isn't it? I believe parents should let their children do what they wish. Even if they screw up doing silly things, they will find out and learn eventually. If the parents do not give them the freedom, they will never grow up. Call me Western minded if you wish, but don't you think Westerners are more creative, innovative and more willing to open up their minds, comparing to Asians?

From the movie, I can also relate it to the current Malaysian leaders. Malaysian leaders are generally over-protective. Look at the way they over-protect some of the Malaysian companies (every Malaysian should know what I mean). They also over-protect themselves - they cannot stand any criticism and threaten the people with Internal Security Act. In my opinion, being over-protective absolutely does not grant any benefit to the general Malaysian population. We will never grow this way. I hope some of the politicians will grow up or step down some day.

The Rave On Ronettes

2008-09-18T17:30:00.000-07:00

Here's another Danish indie band I have admired for the last few years, The Raveonettes. The duo consisting of Sune Rose Wagner (on guitar, instruments, vocals) and Sharin Foo (on bass, guitar and vocals). The name of the band is originated from Buddy Holly's song, "Rave On" and The Ronettes. You may notice some Buddy Holly and The Ronettes influences in some of their songs. The other more obvious influence that I notice in this band comes from the famous British noise-pop duo, The Jesus & Mary Chain.

Honestly, I came across this band by accident years ago on the internet when I was surfing for noise-pop & dream-pop material. Yeah, I am a sucker for noise-pop and dream-pop. I used to confuse them with The Ronettes due to the name similarity and furthermore some of their songs have 50s and 60s influences. The only difference is they incorporate more noise.

Here's a video clip from the great Raveonettes with the song, Heartbreak Stroll.

Lyric:

Take A Little Time To Get To Know Me
The Night Is Open Don't You Feel The Same As I
Cause I Can Do Everything
A Heartbreak Stroll With Someone Special
The L.a. Lights Will Never Be The Same
Tonight I Kill Those Memories

Get It All Now Cause I'm On The Prowl
Come On Baby Right Now
Get It All Straight Cause You're Whistle Bait
Come On Baby Right Now
Come On Baby Right Now

Feel The Earth Move When You're Shaking That Thing
Hard To Be Around When You Got Nothing To Gain
I Gotta Go Home And Sleep It Off

Be The One

2008-09-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

Due to lack of good radio show in Malaysia, I have started listening to online radio shows of the U.K. I am returning to my roots. Yes, British radio station was my roots. Malaysian radio shows did not suit my taste in the late 80s and 90s, so I tuned in to BBC, Voice of America and Singapore's Perfect 10 at short wave frequency. Those were the radio stations that got me exposed to The Cure, Jesus & Mary Chain, New Order, The Smiths, Nirvana, etc. In the mid 90s, I was studying in the U.K., so obviously I listened to BBC's Radio One daily - my favourite radio shows were hosted by the late John Peel (alternative music)& Andy Kershaw (world music). Unfortunately, both of my favourite British DJs are no longer on air - John Peel has passed away years ago & Andy Kershaw has some personal problem with his relationship.

Last night, I came across the song, Be The One, by the British duo, The Ting Tings, at Zane Lowe's radio show at BBC's Radio One online. The Ting Tings are Jules De Martino (drums, guitar, vocals) and Katie White (vocals, guitar, bass drum). They are basically unknown in Malaysia but they are considered the hot new band in the U.K. The genre of their music is basically a mixture of indie-pop, dance and tiny bits of punk. Their album is generally too cheesy and poppish for my taste but Be The One caught my attention. It's something that could cheer me up after having a depressing week due to the political situation in Malaysia. The guitar of this song reminds me of New Order. The female vocal is sweet but not cheesy here. This is also a more matured/serious song from their album in my personal opinion. I hope The Ting Tings will generate more songs like Be The One in the future.

Here's the video clip:

Here's the lyric in case you wish to sing along:

You say it's not what you do,
It's what you're thinking of
Well I think it's just an excuse
It's what you put across
And I don't wanna be the one
Only overjoyed
Yeah I don't wanna be the one
Making all the noise
Yeah I don't wanna be the one

So make sure you're thinking it through
You've let me down again
Offer me something
I know you really meant
Cuz I don't wanna the one
Only overjoyed
Yeah I don't wanna be the one
Making all the noise
Yeah I don't wanna be the one
Hey!

What you gonna offer now?

I don't wanna be the one
Only overjoyed
Yeah I don't wanna be the one
Making all the noise
Yeah I don't wanna be the one
Hey!

What you gonna offer now?
What you gonna offer now?
What you gonna offer now?

This was not my idea
Don't you keep me waiting
This was not my idea
Don't you keep me waiting
This was not my idea
Don't you keep me waiting

Internal Security Act

2008-09-14T02:59:00.000-07:00

It's sad that the government has decided to use ISA (Internal Security Act) against fellow Malaysians again.

ISA is an outdated "tool" used by our former colonial master to overcome the attack of the communists in Malaya decades ago. When Malaysia got the independence from the British, ISA was carried forward to the new born country because it was still threatened by communists. However, when the communists put down their arm struggle, the relevant authority decided to keep ISA. The reason was obvious - it was a great "tool" to crush the enemies. What other better "tool" was available better than arrest without trial?

In my opinion, ISA is very undemocratic and it is against the principle of human right. It has no difference from dictatorship. It is an extremely dangerous "tool" used against the innocents. In the post-communist threat era, ISA had been misused very frequently to crush political opponents. This is very unprofessional from political point of view. It's a dirty tactic!!

The call for the abolishment of ISA by opposition parties, various NGOs, the government of U.S. and even some members of the ruling party has been ignored for decades. In the modern era, the tool used to suppress the communists has turned even more dangerous than Communism.

I salute the minister, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, from the ruling party that threatens to resign if the government continues to use the ISA against political dissidents. His action proves that he is a responsible leader that cares for the well being of the nation. He is a good example that more Barisan Nasional leaders should learn from. I hope his sacrifice will not go to waste. The ruling party often loses good responsible leaders. It's ashamed that Datuk Zaid Ibrahim is also undergoing suspension for criticising the UMNO Disciplinary Board which was considered as insulting the party. When will the party learn to accept criticism? No wonder the popularity of UMNO is fading!

Free Teresa, Abolish ISA Online Petition

Download MP3 of Carburetor Dung dedicated to ISA: Hanturaya Putrajaya

Lyric (Courtesy of Carburetor Dung):

Suara mu yang lantang melawan, siapa punya?!
Rumah mu yang indah tersergam, siapa punya??!
Hidup mu yang kenyang senang-lenang, siapa punya???!
Kebebasan mu yang ada, siapa punya?!

Cuba-cuba naikkan suara,
Aku heret, aku ikat, aku tangkap, aku sumbat!
Cuba-cuba naikkan kepala,
Aku ketuk, aku lepuk, aku luku, aku cantas!
Cuba-cuba celikkan mata,
Aku cucuk, aku sembur, aku genyeh, aku jolok!

Jangan lupa!
Aku yang berkuasa!

Pagi hari kan ku terkam!
Pintu rumah kan ku terjang!
Kan ku berkas, kan ku bungkus!
Kan ku heret mu kedalam!

Jangan kau lupa!
Jangan kau alpa!
Ingat lah semua!
AKU YANG BERKUASA!

Traitor

2008-09-12T10:27:00.000-07:00

Based on the legend of Hang Tuah, I remember my History teacher taught us a very good lesson about who was the actual traitor. It's sad that the younger generation may not get to learn this due to the fact that it has been removed from the text book. The reason for the removal is full of speculation and I do not intend to elaborate here.

Being the more fortunate one that had the opportunity to be taught about the legend, I would like to share my personal thought. I believe Hang Tuah was the actual traitor - the traitor of friendship. When the Sultan ordered Hang Tuah to be killed for messing around with the Sultan's concubine, the Bendahara betrayed the Sultan by hiding Hang Tuah instead. I admire the courage of the Bendahara. When Hang Jebat heard about the fake news that Hang Tuah was killed, he ran amok and went against the Sultan. He did it for the sake of friendship. Unfortunately when the Sultan found out that Hang Tuah was alive, he ordered Hang Tuah to kill Hang Jebat. The "blind" Hang Tuah obeyed the Sultan and killed his friend. The act of Hang Tuah truly showed he had no compassion towards his friend. He could have done what the Bendahara did to him by hiding Hang Jebat. In this event, I consider the Bendahara and Hang Jebat as the true heroes - they cherished their friendship. As for Hang Tuah, he was just a puppet of the cruel Sultan. The biggest villain was the Sultan who misused his power.

I hope someday the young generation will somehow managed to learn from this legend from somewhere. History and legend are not for us to read and sit for an exam. We have to learn from the mistakes and prevent them from happening to ourselves. Sometimes I still see people repeating the same mistakes in the real world today - people that behaves like Hang Tuah and the Sultan. This is very sad indeed!!

I dedicate this article to my favourite History teacher in secondary school, Cikgu Zainol. I will always remember the lesson he gave us.

Tasteless!

2008-09-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

Some people find the latest movie of Adam Sandler, Don't Mess With Zohan, tasteless due to the sex scene and making fun of Isrealis and Arabs being offending. In my opinion, a lot of movies by Jim Carrey and Stephan Chow are equally tasteless. However, there is something about this movie that is very meaningful. If you observe the movie and use your brain a bit, the movie is not just about making fun of the Jews and Arabs. At one part of the movie which the Jews and Arabs started talking politics, it showed that they are so similar and they have something in common. The movie also shows us that Jews and Arabs can live together peacefully if they try hard enough - there is hope for peace! This is something that Malaysians should learn from this movie that many Malaysians find disgusting and angry with the censorship board for not banning it. I am not praising the Malaysian censorship board though because they did a major mistake for rating the movie as suitable for all ages of audiences.

Related to the topic of tasteless, I find the agenda of the politic and social issues in Malaysia very tasteless these days. We have too many stupid leaders and politicians running the country. There are so many leaders from the ruling party saying things they should not have said and do things they should not have done - their behaviour show that they are childish and stupid.

Example Number 1: When non-Malays asked about the special right of the Malays, a "smart guy" said non-Malays had no right to question it. Are we living in a country run by a dictator? Is this a Malaysian Apartheid? You call this equal right? As a good leader, this kind of question should be tackled smartly and not just sweeping it under the carpet. I dare to bet that a few years down the road, someone will ask the same question again. The question may not come from a non-Malay, it may come from a Malay. I have come across some Malays who are actually smart enough to worry and think something is not right about it. I am not trying to cause any racial tension - I would not want that. I personally have many good Malay friends and I don't want to lose our friendship and trust....all because of race. It's not worth it!

Example Number 2: A "Mr. Smart Guy" called non-Malays as immigrants. However, it's only true for the ancestors of non-Malays. Why bring up this issue when it has nothing to do with the current generation in the first place? Isn't he stupid enough to create trouble for himself? If we trace back the roots of Malaysians, I wonder how many Malaysians are not immigrants based on history. Chinese came from China. Indians came from India. Malays came from various parts of the world (i.e. Arab, Indonesia, China, etc). Even some of the natives were immigrants. Why dig for the roots of our ancestors? If "Mr. Smart Guy" is smart enough, he should focus on the current issues and solve them. We don't need any leader that talk rubbish.

I am pretty sure that these kind of nonsense coming from Malaysian leaders and politicians will never end unless we kick them out of their power to keep their mouth shut permanently. We don't need these leaders/politicians, do we?

Traffic Congestion - Thanks to MBPJ

2008-09-02T06:07:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder what does MBPJ stands for. Majlis Bodoh Petaling Jaya??

Recently, MBPJ opened a new new tunnel linking PJU 1A/4F to Jalan 1, Taman Emas into LDP. Great! However, the existing tunnel linking PJU 1A/4 to Taman Emas has been closed. Today is the first working day since the the closure of the existing tunnel. Since I often go to the office late, the traffic is usually smooth in the morning for me. I am not sure about traffic situation before 10am though. Unfortunately, it's a nightmare returning from the office, the traffic congestion was so long. It started from LDP all the way to Jalan PJU 1A/4.

Thanks to Majlis Bodoh Petaling Jaya for listening to some minority of residents living in Taman Emas who complained about too many traffic going into their housing area leading to the closure of existing tunnel and some lame excuses. Having two tunnels are supposed to reduce the traffic congestion but our Mr. Smart Ass decides to close the existing one. The formula of 1 + 1 = 1 of MBPJ is simply great! Now the poor residence D'aman Crimson, and workers of NZX has to take a longer route and caught in a longer traffic congestion. With the petrol price of today, the ordinary people have to suffer from the burden. Let's not talk about environment friendly in Malaysia because it is non-existence.

Now I wonder where are the politicians that are supposed to fight for the right of the people living around NZX!!!

Here's a link to an article from The Star:

Protest Against The Closure of Tunnel!

The Death of Alternative Music On Malaysian Airwave

2008-08-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

29 August 2008 Midnight was the day alternative music died on Malaysian airwave. 28 August 9pm - 12am was the last Alternation radio show hosted by the DJ, Maya, at Traxx FM. I could not think of anyone from Traxx FM qualifies to replace her. I am pretty sure that the show is considered dead since Maya is no longer with Traxx FM. I was almost heart broken when Maya sent me an SMS telling me about the bad news days before the last show was taken place. Of course, I listened to the last Maya's radio show for the last final 3 hours. The last 30 minutes was a mixed feeling of sadness, anger, frustration and happiness - happy because Maya would be leaving the "evil" radio station.

I consider all Malaysian radio stations "evil" because they often make my favourite genre of music a scapegoat all the time - they get rid of the DJ and the show to prove their power. Before the 90s, there was completely no radio show in Malaysia that was catering for alternative music. I don't consider playing one or two Green Day or Oasis songs in one radio show being good enough because it obviously won't satisfy the thirst of any alternative music fan.

Here are a list of scapegoats:

Scapegoat Number 1:
When Time Highway Radio was established, we had Fly Guy playing some interesting alternative music (something out of the norm those days) in his program mixing with other commercial stuff. As I mentioned previously, this was not good enough. At the same radio station, there was a DJ named Kamil Othman hosting a once a week evening show catering for rock music in general. Every now and then you would hear alternative music. I even sent him an email telling him about my taste of music and he wanted me to be in his show but I "chickened" out by giving various excuses - I still feel bad about it. One fine day, I found his radio show disappeared from the airwave.

Scapegoat Number 2:
Several years down the road, ever since Kamil's radio show was terminated, I stopped listening to Malaysian radio stations. No, I didn't hate radio. I was one of the members of Radio Society back in university days trying to set up a radio station, how could I hate radio? I just hated Malaysian radio stations. I happened to come across on the media that a rather new radio station, Red FM, had an alternative radio show name Clash (It could be named after the legendary band The Clash). The show was hosted by Zack Yusof and Daryl Goh. At one point, I found the show being moved from one time slot to another. This gave me an idea that the show was in trouble. Eventually, I was right!! Red FM got rid of the show!!

Scapegoat Number 3:
I have already mentioned above. This is of course Traxx FM's Alternation radio show hosted by Maya.

I wonder why alternative music has been made a scapegoat all the time in Malaysia. The authority gives the bands headache and radio stations hate them in a funny way. Being the most creative and opened minded music genre, does it instigate fear to the management of radio stations and the authority? Why the British, the American and other foreign countries could even have radio stations fully playing alternative music but Malaysian cannot even keep a radio show for alternative music for more than 5 years?? The Malaysian radio stations often accuse that alternative music radio show generates no money but have they tried their best to get any sponsor or advertiser? I doubt so!!

I don't see any hope for serious music fans to keep listening to Malaysian radio stations. Not just alternative music! Jazz, classical, blues, classic rock, etc suffer the same fate. The never growing up Malaysian radio stations are only suitable for teenagers listening to Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears and all the crappy nonsense!!!

Micro Fish In Macro Mode

2008-08-15T23:10:00.000-07:00

Here's my experimental photography shot using Olympus E-520 with Zuiko 35mm macro lens. I am very satisfied taking photo in macro mode for the first time.

Below are a group of tiny beautiful Ember Tetras which are very hard to capture with a compact camera in macro mode - I have never successfully taken any good quality photo of Ember Tetra in the past.

There's no regret for heading for DSLR!!!