Merging PriceWatch

I had another blog, which I set up to track prices of stuff in Dubai. It was just for reference purposes, but I didn't use it that much. I'm not in Dubai right now, of course, but I think the idea behind PriceWatch might still be useful.

Anyway, I've merged that blog to here, and deleted that blog, since it won't be (just) Dubai prices I'll track.

Itching to game

It’s been ages since I played a game. Starting to feel the “itch”. I never got my fill of Dawn of War or even Supreme Commander (which I came to very late). Problem is, I’m running outdated hardware, so the latest games are out of reach anyway. Even some of the games on Jumboplay are not playable on my old laptop. I should probably just cancel that service.

The last game I gave any time to was TrackMania Nations, which didn’t quite scratch the same itch as (the original) Re-Volt. Incidently, Re-Volt was the game that finally prompted me to get a video card for my old Gateway PC. There’s really nothing else out there (racing game-wise) that I’ve encountered that captures the same sense of fun as Re-Volt. Still, TrackMania Nations is decent fun. Too bad I can’t play it on my current laptop.

Probably time to plug in the ol’ XBox, since I’m not getting a new laptop anytime soon. Or any new games either, for that matter.

Weekend in Dubai – Day 3

On our last day, we only had half a day. Our flight was in the early evening, so we took it pretty easy. Unlike Day 2, or even Day 1, we took part in the group outing. At least, A’isyah and I did, since there was a visit to Ski Dubai in the program. After breakfast in the room again, I sent Nany to our old place where she was meeting someone at the spa, and then A’isyah and I went to MoE. We were there early, since the group was late to breakfast and late to depart the hotel. While waiting, A’isyah and I walked around and took pictures at the x-mas display in the centre court.


Finally the group arrived and we got our tickets. Half were going for ski lessons, while the other half were just going to the Snow Park. I bought A’isyah a pair of mitts, and then we got suited up. A’isyah was excited about the visit, since the memory of her previous (and first) visit a few months earlier was still fresh in the mind. She was looking forward to gathering up snow and throwing it around again. We spent a good hour inside, and then came back out to meet up with Nany and have lunch.

The rest of the group had to rush for a visit to old Dubai (the Creek and the old souks), while we took our time with a nice lunch at Chilis. After lunch we walked around for a bit, and then took off for the airport. I returned the rental car, and then we waited for the rest of the group to arrive. After getting our tickets, we went ahead and checked-in, and then processed through immigration and went straight to our departure gate.

When we boarded the plane, we had to re-sort ourselves, since we had gotten three seats in separate locations during check-in. Two seats in the same row, and another a few rows back. So we had to switch around with the rest of the group, and there was quite a bit of confusion as we switched seats around so couples/families could sit together. We finally got three seats together in the middle aisle, and settled in for the return flight. Once again, we all rested all the way through, not even bothering with any in-flight entertainment.

We touched down on time around 6am, and took the ERL (KLIA Express) to KL Sentral. Headed home, got ready for work, and was in the office by 10am. Back to the grind.

Overall, for such a short trip (back) to Dubai, it was alright, though it could have been better. At least, A’isyah had a fun vacation.

Weekend in Dubai – Day 2

Day 1 was mostly about the Annual Dinner. Day 2 was free reign. At least, for me. The rest of the group had a sight-seeing tour around new Dubai, and a desert safari in the afternoon.

So the morning of Day 2, after breakfast in the room (mini-croissants and cupcakes bought the previous day), I sent Nany and A’isyah to the Umm Suquem Spinneys while I headed out to the site office. I had some files on a thumbdrive to pass to someone, but when I got there, there was no one around. The security guards told me that people would only start coming in after 1pm, since there was a dinner the night previous. Odd, I thought.

I went back to pick up Nany and A’isyah, then we headed over to the Dubai Mall. On the way there I received a call from the office. They needed someone to direct the tour group to the site office and give them a tour before lunch. After checking the timing, I agreed to meet up with the group at Souk Madinat Jumeirah around noon. That gave us an hour plus at Dubai Mall.

And that turns out to be more than enough time. Dubai Mall is open, but it’s not quite ready. The first thing you notice when entering from the parking lot (besides all the construction workers around) is the paint smell. Lots of spaces are still under construction, so all the sounds and smells are still there. There are some shops already operating, but I can’t imagine there’s much foot traffic yet.



We only came over to check out the big tank at the centre, to compare with the one at Atlantis that we had seen the previous day. I’m not certain which aquarium is larger, or which one has more fish. It doesn’t really matter. Both aquariums have something to offer the visitor. The one at Atlantis has a unique setting, while the one at Dubai Mall has a larger viewing area. I never went “inside” either area, so I can’t comment on the paid areas, except to note that the aquarium at Dubai Mall is cheaper than the aquarium at Atlantis.


The only other thing worthy of comment at the Dubai Mall is their touch screen navigational aids. After experiencing (read: playing around with) the touch screen map at the Gardens Mall in KL, I can’t help but to compare to the better implemented aid. The touch screen map at the Dubai Mall isn’t good for much more than listing the stores at the mall. Finding your way around on it, and finding the location of the stores is pretty much a hopeless task. Since there’s going to be a lot of stores at the Dubai Mall once it’s fully operational, I hope they improve on that. The other quibble I have is that they don’t have a static map displayed, unlike at the Gardens. So if someone is playing around with the map (which I’ve seen people do at the Gardens), anyone else wanting to find a shop will just have to stand around waiting their turn.

After Dubai Mall, we headed out to Souk Madinat Jumeirah. This ranks (a distant) third amongst the malls we like to visit, after Mall of the Emirates, and Mercato. While waiting for the group to arrive, we went to Seattle’s Best Coffee for a light lunch of sandwiches, cake, and coffee. After that, we collected our car from the parking lot and waited just outside, right before the junction. The group arrived late, and I heard later that they just rushed through the souk to take photos. We were an hour later than the schedule leaving the souk. The bus driver knew the way to the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse, so I only had to show the entrance to our site office from the construction entrance.

Once at the site office, I gave the group a tour of the two office buildings, and gave them a briefing on the project. At the second office, they went off to the canteen for their lunch (nasi lemak, I was told later), while we left. I sent Nany back to the Spinneys where she was going to be picked up by friends for a gathering. Then I headed back to the site office to hand over the files and check in with some old friends. After a while, I went to the HQ for some official business and to check in with yet more friends. And then I went to pick up Nany and A’isyah back from the Spinneys.

We headed back to the hotel, where we cleaned up, and then, together with a colleague, we took off for Global Village. It was my first time driving there, and thankfully we didn’t have too much trouble finding the place. Global Village has changed since last we visited, and it didn’t seem as crowded, although we didn’t go to the amusement park area. Still, the parking lots didn’t seem as full. Maybe it was still early in the season.

We ate (overpriced) briyani, and then walked around, visiting some of the pavilions. Eventually we got tired, so we went back to the car, and waited there for my colleague to finish her shopping. Driving back to the hotel my colleague showed the route their bus driver had taken earlier. It was shorter than my earlier attempts, but we had to go over some rough patches since we cut across on a back lane.

We arrived back at the hotel around midnight, and went straight to sleep.

Dateline vs deadline

I was working on minutes earlier today, and was just reminded of a pet peeve of mine.

I’ve created templates for minutes before, and once, someone used my template but went and changed one of the column headings. Said person thought they were correcting my spelling. Then when I came back to the KL office, I was passed a set of minutes that had the same error. When preparing the very next minutes, I corrected the error, but was queried on it. So I explained the difference, and below I’m sharing that critical explanation.

Dateline is mainly used in the newspaper business.  You’d see it at the top of stories, together with a byline.  The dateline identifies the time and place for a story; the byline identifies the reporter.
Click here for definitions.

Deadline, on the other hand, is the point in time when something is due.  Quite a few people erroneously write “dateline” to connote when something is due, when they actually mean “deadline”.
Click here for definitions.

I suspect I will continue to encounter this. At least next time I have the explanation all ready to be shared.

Dangers of kids' ball pit play areas

Ok, another myth. Received one in the mail this morning. Actually, two copies of the same email. Of course, me being me, I decided to investigate a little.

I'm just going to copy over my whole email response.

Hi All!

Back on the job. This one’s a tough one to handle, so I’ll be as careful as possible.

First off, we should all note that any environment, if not properly managed, is potentially dangerous.

The warning circulated below is an old one, dating from the late 1990’s. However, it’s been given a new lease on life several times over the years, doubtless when someone just encounters the tale, or digs it up to share it with someone after some conversation on safety. It happens. In this case, the Word document was last saved by Colleen & Trevor Bellman, using Microsoft Word 10.0 (that’s old software), on 16 May 2008. This suggests that the alert originates in North America (I know, judgement call there), and is most likely more applicable to that area. Nevertheless, some things apply everywhere, so this still bears investigating.

So here’s the deal on the warning: It’s false. At least, the warnings about the deaths. No verifiable incidents as those described in the warning have ever happened. Follow through to Snopes for more info:
http://www.snopes.com/critters/snakes/ballpit.asp

Another source of info is at BreakTheChain.org, and this one matches the text in the “Alert.doc” forwarded below more closely:
http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/ballpit.html

And finally, for an unraveling of the syringe aspect of the story, back to Snopes:
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/archer.asp

Synopsis: No evidence of any snake-related deaths or syringe-related deaths from children’s ball pits.

Now, here’s where it gets slightly tricky. All the sources above do concede that ball pits are not the cleanest of areas, with some questionable items occasionally found in them, of the kind mentioned in the “alert”. However, most businesses spot clean the play areas daily, with a more thorough cleaning at least once a week. At least, that should be the policy. So, the smart thing to do would be to check with the management of any place that has these kinds of play areas on their cleaning policy. If you want to be extra careful, ask to see the cleaning log to know when was the last time they cleaned the pit and the individual balls.

I say this to protect the franchise owners, because they also suffer from the spread of these rumours. So, if you are a franchise owner, or know one, maybe you should ensure that the cleaning policy suggested above is implemented, enforced, and transparently reviewable.

In the end though, what this “alert” is really trying to get everyone to do is to be more vigilant about the safety of our children.

Conclusion: Dismiss the reports of deaths; be alert for cleanliness.

Your Internet sleuth,

Already I’ve gotten a response saying, “why take the risk?” Which is a valid response. But it misses the point. The point is, any environment, if not properly managed, is potentially dangerous.

And, yes, I sign off these kinds of emails as the “Internet sleuth”, since I rely on the Internet as my source. That opens up a whole 'nother discussion on reliability of sources, which I'm not going to go into here.

Weekend in Dubai – Day 1

A continuation of my weekend in Dubai updates. Previous post was just the day of departure.

Arrived in Dubai at 3am on Friday. I slept throughout the flight. Didn’t even watch any movies. Luckily, so did A’isyah.

I rented a car since I didn’t want to be tied down to the “official” program. Most of the group hadn’t been to Dubai before, so they had arranged a full program for sight-seeing. Since I’ve already lived in Dubai for almost two years, I wanted to do my own thing.

I was supposed to bunk with some officemates at their apartment, which was a place I had stayed at before. But on the plane, I was informed that the company had re-assigned my living arrangements, so I was to go to the main hotel (Arabian Park Hotel). Of course, I had no idea where this hotel was.

Thankfully, the rental car was delivered to right where the chartered bus was waiting. So when I picked up the car, the rest of the group was boarding the bus. I followed behind the bus to the hotel, which is really out in the middle of nowhere.

Rested for a bit after checking in, and then went down for breakfast around 8am. There was only one other couple from our group down at the restaurant at the time, and they were well into their breakfast already. Now, we had been informed that breakfast was included, but all of a sudden, one of the waiters comes over to their table and asks for a credit card or something for the payment. Vincent’s wife sure was surprised! And since we were sitting one table away, so was I when I overheard this. Turns out that the booking was only for the rooms, and no breakfast included. We told the staff to check the booking again, since we had been informed it was included. They did, and came back with the same info.


I was already halfway through my breakfast, so there was no backing out. So at the end, I said to Vincent that we’ll cover it first and sort it out with Joanne, the admin staff who was supposed to be in charge. So when we were done with breakfast, I asked for the bills for both our tables and charged it to my credit card. It was AED 70.00 a head! Eeks! And not even the best of breakfasts!

Vincent (or his wife, dunno who) managed to get a hold of Joanna in her room after this, and then Joanne calls our room saying that she just found out that morning that when the Dubai office made the bookings, somehow breakfast did not get included. So she said that we were on our own for the first day, and that she would try to sort it out afterwards. Of course, I gave her a piece of my mind about misinformation, and said that I would claim back the charge. She told me to give it a try.

Found out later that the rest of the group encountered the same problem later that morning, but they found out before going in. This put some people off breakfast. (Of course! Who wants to pay AED 70 for breakfast?) But Teik Lee or Chor Wah or someone made some kind of arrangement and most of them ate with the hotel charging the breakfasts to the room. Too late for us though.

After breakfast, Nany, A’isyah, Vincent and his wife, and myself went off to drive around. I decided to go to the Atlantis on the Palm Jumeirah, since that had opened already. So we went there, took a look around and took some pics.

Then we headed to Mall of the Emirates. I left the rest of them there while I went to the mosque nearby (close to the Jumeirah resort), then met up for lunch. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to rest.

When the rest of the group had come back from their outing for that day, Vincent, Khairina, and myself went to the Jumeirah Beach Resort to check out the venue for the dinner. We wanted to recce the stage and see what we had to work with for our performance.

Coming back to the hotel we got lost. As a matter of fact, it took me several tries before finding a decent route to the hotel. Hehe. I kept taking a long way around. One route had me crossing Garhoud bridge and then re-crossing the Creek at the Business Bay Crossing. Another had me crossing Business Bay, making a u-turn at Festival City, and crossing back.

Terrible, I know. Apparently, the best route is on Oud Metha Road, passing Al Wasl Hospital, and turning at the Emarat gas station, which takes you on a back-road to the hotel.

So, we ended up arriving back at the hotel just before 6pm, and the bus was supposed to leave at 6pm. Not a problem for me, but it would be for the other two. Got ready in half an hour, then went back down. Luckily for the other two, the bus was late and it was still there, or they would have had to squeeze into the car with me.


I must say, the venue was done up nicely, with banners outside. The bagful of door gifts was pretty nice too.

We went back to a buffet dinner, after last year’s (almost unanimously voted) disastrous sit-down ala carte dinner. The food, what little of it I sampled, was alright. Nothing really to shout about, but at least decent.

For entertainment, besides our “Idol” performances (five in total), we had a Malaysian Idol in the house. Jaclyn Victor performed in between our own performances, in what was meant to be the highlight of the evening I’ll bet. I didn’t get to see most of her show, since my group was getting ready for our performance.

And speaking of our performance, we were a little “off”. I mixed up the placement for one of the lines in our haka, and there were a few coordination issues. The worse was the face makeup. Our stage makeup went missing, so we had to get last minute replacements, consisting of liquid foundation and eyeliner pencils. It didn’t really have as big of an impact, and together with the lighting problems, it wasn’t as good as our taped video performance we handed in as part of the audition stage. In the end, we were one of two teams that won consolation prizes. I’m not surprised about the winning team though, after having watched their audition video.

Of course, the lucky draw was something most looked forward to, but this year they only had 30 draws, unlike previous years where everyone won something (if only the smallest gift). The other change was that there were no trips in the prize list this time around.

The official program ended shortly after 11pm, and we headed straight back to the hotel afterwards.

Weekend in Dubai – Day 0

That title sounds a lot more glamorous than it really is. Our company sponsored the KL branch to fly out to Dubai for the Annual Dinner. And this year’s Annual Dinner was also the occasion for the 15th Year Anniversary of the company, so it was to be a grand to-do.

I’m splitting up my entries for the weekend, just to keep each entry short.

Day 0 was the day we left. We flew off on Thursday. By 6pm, practically everyone had left the office, since we had to be at the airport before 9pm. There were still a couple of stragglers, printing off and arranging some drawings on linen to lug over to Dubai for signing.

By 10pm we were checked in, but our seats were scattered throughout, splitting up families. It was a mess we had to sort out on the plane.

We boarded before midnight, and off we went.

The rest of the updates coming up.

Back in KL and the office is empty

Well, we’re back in KL after a weekend in Dubai. We were celebrating the company’s Annual Dinner, and 15th Anniversary. More on that later.

Touched down just after six this morning, and everyone headed home. Some of us didn’t opt to take leave today; we already had to take leave on Friday just to attend the dinner (can you believe the gall of that?) and some of us have run out of leave days. That includes me. Hehe.

So here I am at the office. And it’s mostly empty. No admin staff even. Courier came by at 9.50 this morning, and there was no one to answer the door. So they left the notice hanging on the front door. When I came in about 10 mins later, I found it hanging there.

Slow day in the office then. :-)

Going (semi-) private

I’m taking my blog semi-private. That only means that I’m not going to ping PPS. But I’m not unlisting this blog, or making it private access only. So people can still find me, and those who already visit this blog anonymously (I’m talking to you, person who lives in Klang and works in KL) or not, can continue to do so.

But I’m rediscovering the reason why I started this in the first place. It’s just a place for me to record my musings. Not quite a journal or diary, but some sort of record.

Because someday I will want to share this with someone. And it’ll all be here.

Could we get a fact check please?

Sigh. Another one. Fact check, please!

I received a forwarded email today. One of those that tries to be helpful, by informing you about the latest threat facing single ladies/unwary movie-theatre-goers/what-have-you. Seriously, doesn't anyone check the claims in these emails before forwarding them onwards? I suppose it's too much trouble.

I mean, first you have to employ a little critical thinking to extract key words from the email. Then you have to Google a combination of those key words. After which, you should be able to find a discussion on that topic as one of the top 10 results, leading you to something like this: Coke+Ajinomoto

Go on, try it out! Try searching for "Coke and Ajinomoto". You'll find the text of the email I got (and no, I'm not going to reproduce it here).

Only one difference in the email that I received earlier today. Someone added in a sender:
Hishamuddin Alias (ASP) Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah Berat IPK Kuala Lumpur

Now, I don't know if this is someone's idea to lend some weight to the email, or there really was an ASP Hishamuddin who forwarded this email onwards, and people kept his sign-off in subsequent forwards. I sure hope it was someone's idea of adding authenticity to the email, and not really a member of the Malaysian police force who forwarded the email onwards. If it was a member of the Serious Crimes Investigative Department, then I bemoan the (lack of) inquisitive and thorough minds employed there, and fervently hope I never have the misfortune of having to rely on them.

Report on NaNoWriMo 2008

Well, it’s over. And I am (slightly) ashamed to report that, once again, I did not reach the 50,000 word target. Hehe. At least I did better than last year, where I barely scraped past the 10% mark. I know where the problem lies. I still have to “free” myself; I'm too concerned about “getting it right”. Plus, I keep putting it off. I have my days, where the words come flowing, and then I have days where nothing comes to me. I just have to keep pushing myself, I know.

So, I’m setting myself a target before next year’s NaNoWriMo. I’ll at least finish up my two NaNoWriMo projects, before the next one rolls around.

Tired of being me

There are times when I just get tired of being me. Tired of being the way that I am. With the way that I think and feel. It just gets to be too much. Sometimes. I guess this is one of those “sometimes”.

Actually, we can enter “hate” territory now. I hate knowing that I have caused someone-I-used-to-care-for to turn into a hateful person. And there's no doubting that. Either that there's hate in this person's heart. Or that it was my doing.

What's worse is that I feel this. I can actually understand what is going on. I get it. But that doesn't mean that I will make it “right”. Unlike how I have been exhorted to, by countless many. They say it's easy; just make a conscious decision to change your mind, and you will. You just have to want it.

And that's the crux of the matter, isn't it? You have to want it. So what happens if you don't?

This part I get too. I have been branded heartless. Selfish. Short-sighted. Any number of names, none of which are quite what one would consider encouraging. Now, apparently, I'm also defying God. Eternal damnation awaits me, because I'm not afraid enough.

Oh, to be ignorant! Woe is me, to have a mind that ponders these things, instead of just sweeping it all under the proverbial rug.

Can't I truly be heartless? Wouldn't it be easier not to care?

Why must this hurt me?

And last, why am I even sharing this? It's not like I'm going to win converts to my “cause”. Am I seeking understanding? Sympathy?

I'm not sure. I just have this need to share. Because, maybe... maybe someday this will be necessary. Maybe someday this will be worth something.

For now, maybe it's time to scream.

Gordon Freeman to be put in charge of security at LHC

Life imitates art, or, how games have made a huge impact on popular culture/the modern psyche.

Anyone daring to call themselves a gamer knows about Half-Life, arguably one of the most influential games of the modern era. Even if you've never played it (putting you in the minority of gamers), you've heard of it. Even if you're not a gamer, I'd hazard a guess that you've heard of it.

Heck, even the scientists at theLarge Hadron Collider, which is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, have heard of it. Of course, being geeks, it's really no surprise that they have. (Seriously, people: Scientists -> Geeks -> Gamers. We're talking almost totally inclusive sets, although the reciprocal isn't true.)

For evidence of the above phenomenon, take the jump (below) to see the new security training regimen at the LHC, which has scientists practicing with a crowbar. Serious stuff people. Could save the world, and what-not.

Video calls come to GMail

Google has introduced video calling to their chat application - but only in the GMail client. They haven't rolled this out to their GTalk app yet. One wonders if that's in the pipeline.

This lets them join the ranks of the other IM apps that offer video calls. The ones that I've used are YM, MSN, and Skype. For some time now though, YM hasn't offered good connections, although they're still the only option for group vid-chat, afaik. MSN quality is on and off, and Skype is mostly spot on for quality.

If the GMail vid-chat app doesn't support Opera, I'm not going to bother even trying it. If it makes it to the GTalk app, I'll probably give it a try, though the quality on GTalk's voice-chat isn't the best.

Browser share stats

Well, it seems there's controversies over how to properly count browser stats. My earlier post still stands; Chrome is making inroads in the browser market. For more detailed stats, tho, have a search. A good jumping-off point is at Wikipedia's entry for usage share of web browsers. And that's where I'm leaving it.

Chrome makes an appearance

I was just browsing my site stats, and have noticed my first visit from a Chrome user. Said user came over for a short visit just before midnight on 31 Oct 2008, attracted by my mention of NaNoWriMo.

The Chrome browser was just recently released, but already it's made quite an impact on the browser market. Says something about the influence of Google, doesn't it?

BTW, I use StatCounter for site stats, and Opera as my browser. StatCounter is free, and quite detailed. Opera is just cool.

So, anyway, welcome to the game, Chrome! :-)

Election 2008 – and The Age of Holograms!

My sis called me up this morning at around quarter past eight, and told me to switch on the TV and turn it to CNN. I was wondering whether it was a surprise election result. Maybe a swing state went to the Republicans, or maybe a traditional red state went over to the Democrats. But no, she wanted me to check out the hologram they were using! They had one of their correspondents ‘beamed’ over to the studio as a 3-dimensional hologram. I’m not talking get-out-your-3D-glasses kind; I’m talking Princess-Leia’s-message-to-Obi-wan-via-R2D2 kind! Definitely cool.

They used 35 cameras to capture views of the correspondent so they get an all-around view. But I’m more intrigued about the projection system. Still pondering…

Incidently, we’re getting close to an official win for the Democrats.

NaNoWriMo 2008!

So I've decided to participate in this year's NaNoWriMo. Short version: it's a group writing exercise, where every participant attempts to write a 50,000 word "novel" within a 1 month timeframe. I found out about it last year through a friend, and gave it a shot. I barely managed to get to 10% of the target word count. Hehe. Quite miserable, I know. But I've decided to give it another go, to try to write freely, and not be so hung up on constructing everything so "perfectly". Wish me luck! :-)

Service with a smile – in Singapore

We – meaning Malaysians – have a long way to go.

I just came back from a week-long trip down to Singapore, and I have to say, I’m impressed. It’s been absolute ages since I’ve been down there, and I can’t really remember much of my previous visit, so I don’t have much to compare to. With nothing to compare progress to, it still bears noting the level of development they have achieved. The bizarre road-markings aside, downtown Singapore looks like any other developed city should. But it’s not the physical development that I’m most impressed with; it’s the human development.

I’m not sure where they picked it up. Maybe it’s part of their school curriculum, or part of their military service training, or their regular government announcements/indoctrination (seriously, look at all the signs, and even the announcements in the MRT!), but wherever they get it from, they’ve mastered the “service with a smile” attitude. At least, they manage a very decent job of projecting it to all tourists.

From the cab drivers, to the MRT staff, to store clerks, to the guys at the foreign exchange counters, to the hotel staff, everyone seems to put on a welcoming face and provide good, friendly service.

One anecdote I’d like to share was an experience at the lobby restaurant at the Hotel Re! (brand new chic hotel, opened just 6-months ago). We knew the hotel was new, cos even the (very friendly!) cab driver didn’t know about it, and we were curious how new it was. So we asked the wait staff, but he didn’t know. So he went to his supervisor, who then came over to our table, and then shared with us the brief history of the hotel (converted from an old school). That’s what I call friendly and helpful service! (Interesting aside: the wait staff was this young Chinese guy, young enough to be a student, and the supervisor was a not-as-young Malay guy, both speaking good English – no surprise – and interacting like normal in a work environment, which, frankly, you don’t see enough of in similarly multicultural Malaysia.)

Even Dubai can’t match this level of service, which seems to permeate every level of society. I don’t have to be some white-guy staying in 5+ star accommodations to get good, friendly service. Imagine that!

Friends...?

A random thought came to me, and it made me pause.

All of a sudden, I’m wondering about friendship. Specifically, about when the last time I could actually – comfortably – say that I had friends. Not someone else’s friends. Not acquaintances. Not co-workers. My own genuine friends. People who wanted to spend time with me, for me, and actually did. People I could talk to about shared interests.

I’m not ungrateful enough to think I’ve never had friends. Of course I have. I remember the times. But I was much younger then. The “world” was smaller.

And maybe I do now. Yet… I’m hard-pressed to think so. I mean, truly believe that I do.

This random thought reminded me of that quote:

”No man is an island.”

Which led me to think of the movie ”About a Boy” (no, it wasn’t Jon Bon Jovi who said that; it was John Donne). And that made me smile.

So not a pointless random thought after all. At least it didn’t leave me completely depressed.

Sneaky cybersquatting (of sorts)

In my earlier post on Azafia's art, I had mistakenly identified the website of the organizer. I had gotten this, instead of the real Expat website. Kinda sneaky.

Azafia's art

I just got back from Expat Expo 2008, an expo organized by Expat, where Azafia and a few of her friends from GIS were doing some paintings. They worked on it all day, from around 10am til around 6pm, and the artwork is supposed to be auctioned off with the proceeds going to charity.

Not bad. There were 4 collaborative pieces from the GIS students.

Convene the Council so I can get you kicked off the island

In some alternate universe...

DSAI: You have to get the group together. Call a special council.

AAB: Why?

DSAI: Well, I want to call for a vote to kick you off the island, and since you're the only one who can call a Tribal Council, I need you to get the group together.

AAB: Oh.

DSAI: And do it soon.

AAB: Uh... no?

DSAI: This just proves that you're scared to get kicked off the island.

AAB: Sure. Whatever you say. Why don't you just wait for the Tribal Council scheduled in a couple of weeks?

DSAI: No no. It has to happen on my terms. I've already got all the votes I need to get you kicked off the island anyway. It'll just be a formality. So, are you going to call the Tribal Council or not?

I wanna scream!

This is going to be cryptic...

I wanna scream. Scream, scream, scream!

I hate myself for hating my life. Because I know, I have nothing to hate about my life. Not really. Not if I were to be 'rational' about things. I mean, what more can I ask for? What more do I have the right to ask for? What more do I deserve?

Why is it that I'm so selfish? That's what it comes down to, isn't it? That I'm selfish, because I only think about what I want. About what makes me feel good.

Why is it that I can't make sacrifices, for others' sakes?

Why is it that I don't want to change myself?

Why is it that I don't want to adjust to my 'responsibilities'?

Even now, I have to use quotes around that word. I'm trying to distance myself from that word.

Why is it that I can't 'grow up'?

And even that phrase, I put in quotes.

Can I just go and scream now?