27 + 1 = ?

Hoho. Today is the day. The same day like every year. Yeah yeah it's mine! MINE! Today is my birthday hooo! Well but then I don't celebrate it, like every year. But my sisters give birthday wish's smses so it's fine. Oh thanks to isman too. Yeah yours will always be 1 day quicker than mine. So happy birthday to you too.

What did I do fer my birthday today? Well, I work my arse's off. So busy today with doin the new car grant, busy installation schedules. I'll have the new road tax tomorrow. Phew I thought I'll never get that. So now everytime it's my bday, it'll be a reminder about my car's roadtax. What a way to remind meself. Gettin birthday wishes from my sisters and friends is enough celebration fer me. Though I'd love it if someone buy me an Ibanez Destroyer II. Haha.

So thanks to those who sent their regards. Really appreciate it. Now I'm at the end of my 'teenage' life. Now's the time to get serious with my life. Or maybe not. Blah. Who cares. Just need to enjoy it. Now where's my cake.. Anyone? Later.

How could it be???

Why?!! Wahhhh! How could they?! Boo hoo. I'm sad. Life is cruel. Not long after my last blog post, all (6 or 7) the Ibanez Destroyer basses I saw up fer bid is gone already. So there's a bunch of smilin people out there, who got the basses. And I'm not included. Waaa! How much more cruel can it get? Just when I notice that Malaysian can use paypal (but with limited features, heck who cares, as long as we can use paypal to buy stuff.) account. Just when all my dream got to do with a Destroyer, somehow. Cruel. So cruel. I need to find a buddy in the State. Ohhh.

Another accident... Gettin sick & new love.

I had yet another accident 2 days ago. This time, a car hit my bike. I have to admit that it's my fault. Let's just say that a slight misjudgement can lead to a disaster. I ended up payin a sum of RM50 fer the scratch of the Vios's front bonnet. Yeah it's a Toyota Vios against my Modenas. Heh. It's pretty clear who's the winner is. The ache on my left knee from the last accident I had is still there and this new one adds to the pain. It's really achin. I'm injured on the same knee again. A bit of bruises and no serious injury. *sigh*.

And today I'm not feelin too well. I'm gettin a flu and I guess it'll be soon till I catch a cold. My head ache and my body is shiverin. Ah it's nice to just lie down on my bed. With the headache. What else can go wrong?

It's a surprise sometime, to actually fell in love again. I never thought that I would feel that same excitement this soon. She caught my attention, with her look, with that body. Oh man. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a healthy man and it's supposed to be normal aye? I have her picture and recently I got her name. It's a 4 strings Ibanez Destroyer II.

Such a beauty huh? As you can see this one is a 1982 make. I found a black 1984 version with 2 humbuckers (AHHH! Humbucker fer bass guitar?! AHHH! They have not 1 but double humbuckers?! AHHH! Me drool..). So they have a look of an Explorer guitar. It's beautiful. The design is great. I wonder about the sound. Must be sexy.

Most of the Destroyer I saw up fer sale or bid is either in europe or USA. *sigh*. Too bad we Malaysian don't have Paypal. I really like the Destroyer. To tell you the truth, I might even sell my TR Series to buy the Destroyer. But this is between us, don't tell my TR huh. Heck I've done crazy things to get my current TR Series, so I might be out of my mind fer Destroyer too. Who knows. I love em Ibanez. It's too bad I don't have any friends in the State or I can ask them fer help bout gettin it. I know I'll be dreamin bout this bass guitar now. Ahhhhh.....

It's like when I fell in love with an Ibanez EDA. Even the near-exact blog post huh? If you're wonderin why men like me take our instruments as the opposite sex, well, my personal answer is that I'm not a gay. Later.

Am I to blame?

Here I am sittin in front of my laptop. Which despite the name, is sittin on the floor not on my lap. By the time I wrote the 2nd paragraph of this blog, I might have gone back from an installation which is scheduled fer another 50 minutes. Confusin? Don't be. Writin a blog might take a while and might take a long while. So that's why a blog is like a time machine. If the writer can tell somethin which is currently happenin, the readers (if any) will have a chance to imagine what's it like fer that specific time. Be it a minute after, or a month, or a year; this time machine will never fail. So now, I guess you, and honestly myself is wonderin what in hell I'm tryin to say. Wait, I'm still thinkin of a theme here. But all I can feel is frustration. Ok well. We got a theme now. It's about frustration.

Ok I'm wrong. It's the second chapter already and I still have another 15 minutes before I'll be off fer my next appointment. How's my work so far? It's fun most of the time. And sometime it's tickin my nerves. When that time comes, it really made me lose my appetite. Ah, preparin fer another of my 'whinin blog' eh? You better. Because this post is full of it. Or at least I hope it'll be. You see, I write what I thought on the specific moment and yeah, my mood changes in a brief so I'm not quite sure if I'll write what I originally intended to. Let's start with what had happen this past few days.

Work. Ah. Well. What is there to say? It sucks sometime to work. Infact it does show when you're workin with the customers. I'm not the 'customer relation' type of person. I'm the 'sit and do the work until it's done and get the hell out quickly' type of person. Not to say that I totally suck at communicatin with customer, heck no you can ask any of my past customers. But it's just that, I don't quite like it. And when the customer is the hyper-fussy type, the suckiness show. This past few days really showed me why I don't prefer dealin directly with customer or to make it clear, interruption from customers when I'm doin my work. Yeah we have a few hyper-fussy customers this week.

Earlier this month, I installed Streamyx fer a company. They have no IT staff (sign of bad luck) except fer 1 software eng dude. No, I'm not sayin soft-eng dudes are bad. We, the IT people whether in soft-eng, network, sys-admin or any others; most of us know our capabilities. We know what our field of expertise is. But this specific dude lack that specific instinct. So that's where it went wrong. Me, network/internet guy and him, software guy. Talkin bout network. Which quickly turned to minor debates. Inflictin messy mis-communications. Delayin my work. Boilin my blood.

He have a workin Streamyx installed. His company upgraded to a Enterprise package consistin of 1 fixed IP Address usin another telephone number. So I checked the new line, activate it and put the new modem fer the line. I asked him to test the connection and it was fine. Good. No? Nu-uh. Not yet. He got confused. Well he didn't mention that he IS confused but I know. The problem (if it's safe to call it a 'problem') is that he want to transfer the new Streamyx, replacin the old line. Well actually the solution would be to put the new line to the old modem, minor reconfigurin the modem with the new Streamyx username / password. But he kept buggin me bout LAN address which is controlled by the internal DHCP server (it's either the server or the modem/router itself.) plus some other non-related issues which can be easily solved. There was a few intense moment. Everytime I explain a solution fer his 'problems', he kept spewin nonsensical questions which made me wonder what's the relativeness of his new questions with the solutions I provided earlier. To make it worst, he is lost in his own words too. It's like he's ignorin my answers and recyclin his questions with a new additional scenarios just to make it look like the situation is really bad and there is gazillion issues. I had another customer waitin with the distant about more than an hour ride and the appointment is suppose to be in another 15 minutes. Yeah I was delayed too long already.

Ok I just got back from my last appointment fer today. Phew. Yeah it took me 5 paragraph before I got the motivation to go. Heh. Where was I? Oh yeah the delayed thingy. So after my numerous explaination and tips, he finally see a bit of the light. The questions didn't stop though. From the long tortures of listenin to his questions, I noticed that he's concerned about what replacin the line into the old DSL modem would do to the existin LAN configuration which is near to none. So I gave the same answer, yet again, which is "just put the new line to the old modem and reconfigure the old modem with the new Streamyx's login username / password" until he said somethin like "ok why don't you put the line and configure it". That's when I think I knew what's goin on. He don't know how to configure the modem.

I'd gladly help him out if he asked fer it 50 minutes earlier. But he held me fer too long already and my next customer is waitin. Fer your information, we the Streamyx Installers, our duty is to check the DSL line/signal, activate the account and test the connectivity with the DSL modem that we provide. Other than that, it's solely depend on the customer. Even if I could tweak the old modem and all, the risk is too much. I can't afford to be held responsible if anythin happens to the current network. To keep it simple, it's the internal IT staff's duty to do that. Imagine the server goin down, and blamin it on me because I was the one who laid my hands on the modem. Even if the trouble don't have anythin to do with the modem itself. Get the picture? Hey it happened to other installer before and that's why it's risky. So I tell him that and then he said, "I'm just a software engineer and I don't know bout router/modem and stuff". The magic words. One of the few things I can totally agree. It's only that he realised it 50 minutes too late. So I asked him to give the company who installed the servers fer his company a call and sort that out. I gave him a copy of the "work order" which contains all the nescessary informations needed about the Streamyx package and I left.

Then I have this other customer who when I check his computer, lack of a network card. The DSL modem we provide require a network card installed. So he started to blame me fer not mentionin it earlier when he's fillin the registration form. "Bling!". It went through me like a wasp sting. I'm the installer, not a reseller. Reseller is the one who must provide the adequate information on the requirements and such. So I tell him just that. Ironically, to think about it, I am tellin him about the required bits ain't I? So he told me he need the Streamyx quickly. Well yeah I hate repeatin the same premise twice too because if the job ain't done, I can't claim the money. It's not like I love goin to the same house a few times because it'll waste my time and the bike's petrol. So I gave him an option, he can take his computer to his favourite PC shop and get a network card installed, or if he prefer it, I can sell, install and configure a network card to him fer just RM50. He opted fer the 1st choice so I asked him to call me back when the PC is ready.

A day later, he called and I came to his house again hopin to finally get the job done. Guess what? He have this smile on his face, with the computer's CPU open and a network card next to it. Yeah he just buy a network card and want me to install it. Great. Such consideration. I felt like a fool there. Quickly I get the job done and hope that it'll be the last time I'll be facin a customer like that.

A few days later, the man call me up. Sayin that he had to reformat his PC (heh..) and now he don't know how to log into Streamyx. For your information, if the default installation is changed, like reformattin the PC, deletin the dialer, changin the modem etc; it'll no longer be the installer's responsible. The regulation is stated in the "Acceptance Form" which the customer is required to sign and given a copy to keep. How naive I was to actually think that anyone would read it. So I tell him that I'll gladly give a phone support fer that. He agreed and he call up his son fer me to teach. New dialer is made and it's all singin and dancin (I'm quotin what a customer of mine would say fer things that's ok). Well, not exactly. 3 days later, the same guy gave me a voice message early in the mornin. He said "Are you comin or not?" and I don't like the tone. 1st, I don't remember settin up a date to come to his house, and another thing is why he waited fer another 3 days to call me back. Another successfull re-formation of the poor PC? I don't know and I don't like it. So I called him back and explain the situation to him. It took me more than RM6 worth of my mobile airtime and still he's not satisfied. When I told him that I have to charge him if I came to his house, he argued that I was supposed to state that 3 days earlier. Heck we never have a conversation about "goin to my house" before. Then he said that he'll pay but he want me to come on the same day. I told him that my schedule is packed that day and because it's already Saturday, I can only come on the next Monday. I can sense he can no longer contain his temper when he said that "I'll report this to TMNet and you don't have to come, I'll just cancel the Streamyx". He was blackmailin me? A threat? Nice one. I just give him an "ok" and until now, it's the last time he ever contacted me.

Recently I got a phone call from an IT company. Which later I was told that they provided a VPN router fer the company I installed earlier. Yeah the same company with the soft-eng guy. Now this dude have a problem with his VPN router. He have to set a gateway IP address in it and he don't have the specific information. Sadly, even I don't have that information. Now this dude is persistent. He kept sayin that I have it and don't want to tell it to him. What the... All the information I gave, the work order, that's all that I have. And furthermore, a buddy of mine says that gateway IPs is randomly given eventhough the WAN IP is fixed. *I'm not quite sure fer Corporate package though. But I've installed to much bigger companies like Sharp Roxy and such, and they never have any issues whatsoever.*. So I told him to call up the Customer Center and ask if the technical staff there can help. With a grudge, he followed my tips and that was not the last time I heard about him.

Earlier this afternoon, the same guy call and asked me the same thing. The information I don't have. And he even threatened to complaint about my secrecy about the gateway IP. Pffttt. Then later that evenin, TMNet called me and asked me to come to the same company tomorrow because there's an error with the 'docket'. Yeah. Great. We're to clean up everyone else's mess. But heck I want to see that IT company guy who supplied the VPN router. I can't wait fer that and I'm tired of ignorant people. I'm tired fer bein blame of everythin which is not my fault. Or is it really my fault?

I guess I'm the one who to be blame. Maybe it IS my fault. To think of it, it might be true. Say, it's my fault that you don't know anythin about networkin. I could've stayed fer a few month to teach you about it until you're competent enough. Well it's my fault that you don't know much about configurin a DSL modem right? It's my fault that your PC got reformatted too. I should've known better than assumin that you can possibly know that your PC won't get any malicious programs. I should've stayed with you and guide you when you're surfin the big bad internet. I should recite the content of the 1 page Acceptance Form every mornin to you. At least I should give you a 6 month basic computer course so that you can use windows XP and Internet Explorer. It's my fault if your modem got struck by lightnin. I should've went to your house to unplug the telephone wire everytime the weather gone bad because eventhough I say the tip everytime after every installation, I must realise that you might not remember that at all. It's my fault your VPN router is complicated. I should've written a more easy OS fer your VPN router instead. It's my fault for not recoverin the memory of your new password which was recently lost. I should've dig deep into your mind to recover it. At least I should give you a call to remind you of your new password everytime you're goin online. It's also my fault that you need a computer to use Streamyx. I should at least buy you a computer system so that you can join the internet and enjoy the wonder of bein online. I'm so sorry. I'm a bad person.

There. I'm relieved now. It's a good feelin to actually realise our weaknesses aye? It feels good to know our mistakes huh? I should be more considerate. Later.

So I have to make a new grant..

*sigh*. The grant is still nowhere to be found. Looks like I don't have any other choice than to make a new one. The long and borin process. The torment. If you're wonderin what's the torture of havin to make a new grant is, here's the list.

1) Make a police report.
2) If the car is still under hire-purchase, ask fer a letter of permission (not quite sure, I'll find out in a few days) to print a new grant.
3) Car inspection at PUSPAKOM.
4) Print a new grant at JPJ.

Dependin on the situation, you might or might not need to give the grant to the car's finance. I asked my buddy at BCF (Bumiputra-Commerce Finance) and he said the total cost is about RM100. Yeah it's kinda cheap but then the process will take forever! Bla bla birocracies bla bla. Ah well, take it or leave it.

My hands is itchin to start my DIY engine overhaul project. Very itchy. Itchy itchy itchy. So I have to yet postpone the project until I get a new grant and renew the roadtax.

Went back to Seremban last Saturday, practised Fractured's
new songs. Hoho another 2 new songs and we'll be ready to go recordin. I'm so excited I got my pants wet. Ok seriously now all that's left is to make sure the songs is tight and to find the best studio fer our recordin (and not burnin holes in our pockets too).

Still no word bout the oversea gigs so I guess it's just a rumour. *sigh*. A friend of mine got a slot fer a metal-core gig in either Bandung or Jakarta, Indonesia. I'm tryin to look like I'm not that jealous. Damn. Later.

Stop the media lies! Now!

Are you Malaysian? A metalhead? Bored with the damn lies the media is sellin? Detained in a recent gig? Locked up fer wearin black? Want to do somethin for the community? Now here's your chance. No, I'm not askin you fer a favor. Instead, you'll do yourself and your fav music/band a favor. It's payback time.

Nowadays, it's either you'll believe the media lies regardin the 'black metal' issue or you had to believe it. As crazy and (90% percent) rubbish as those media like Harian Metro, Mastika and many others have written in their publication(s), people can and will believe it. Heck, some people do believe the 'goat blood drinks' bull anyway. Because they are not afraid to tell more lies just to boost their much needed sale (what else..). And by doing that, they hope to make those lies regarded as the truest truth. So you have to do somethin about it. If you care. If you still want to listen to other great music other than sleezy poppy and the likes.

Now there's many metal camp out there is startin to do somethin about it. Some are preparin their lawyers to sue the media etc. This is where it gets interestin. It'll be more great if you guys can help them. Metalterus has already begun their quest fer justice. There's many others like hardcore community, indie, gig organisers and indiependant record labels who's doin the same thing. So you're tired of all the media bull and lies. So now's you chance to make things right. We won't want our children to get jailed fer wearin 'NZ All Black' t-shirt in the future would we?

So, if you or your band we're wrongly featured in either by text or picture in any media publication regardin the 'black metal' issue, or you or you band were wrongly labeled as 'black metal' in any media publication, or detained or locked up fer goin to any gig recently; you can help these guys to clear up the mess and clean you or your band's name. Help yourself by helpin them. A small help can make a big change.

This is not a war against the media or the police or the authorities. If, and only if the war is already started, it's not us (the metal/indie music community) who started the fire. We're defendin our freedom to listen to any music we want, to dress as decent as we want without any color restriction, to play any type of music we want and many more. The most important thing fer me, to teach the media the value of truth in publication which is sadly lackin in their writin ethic nowadays. The power will always be to the people. And now it's time to use it.

Here's one of the advertisement on the suein process. You can also visit Metalterus for other updated information. You can also contact your favourite distro/friend fer other infos. Rot on!


Help this people sueing the metro and the police

From: First Stance Records


At first stance records. We here are working on posiblity to sueing harian metro and what grounds they should be sue. And if we found any reason that hard enough to sue them. We will need your help. Any one that have their faces printed on Jan 1 2006 Harian Metro do keep on update with us. Please forward this to everyone and do email us at firstance@yahoo.com for our database. One more issue if you wanted to sue the malaysian police over breaching your rights do contact this person who are organising group of people to perform the sueing. It is neccesary you guys to go on groups sueing rather than individual. if you might have friend who are involved do tell them about this.

Contact him for advice. He will compile the data.
En Rafil - 0123892260
or email him at rafil@disarseter.com

I forgot somethin important & Bike Accident: The Return of Lousy Biker.

Our brain is a complex thing. It's a gift that God gave us with such complexity, we barely know everythin about it. Our brain have many function, be it to compute, memorise and such. Not to forget, another gift to us human, the ability to forget.

God created everythin not without any use. Everythin has it's own purpose. Be it the smallest cell, or the big ol dinosaur. It's just with our limited capabilities, we failed to know why it's created. The same goes to our ability to forget. Imagine our live without it. We will forever be burdened by sorrows and grieves we had in life. Forever troubled by our past mistakes & errors. That's one of the reason we can forget. It's so that we can live, learn and go on with our lives. It's miraculously a usefull ability and sometime, can be the exact opposite.

Ok let's cut the story short huh. I misplaced my car's grant, and now I can't find it. I basically fergot where I put it before. To make it worst, the roadtax will expire next month. Great. Just great. Just in time fer my next roadtax renewal. I've been havin hard times tryin to recall the place where I put it. I've been searchin my home fer gazillion time, my bags, my files, even tryin to shred my pillows apart if that can help but still, the grant is nowhere to be found. And all I have in my mind is a simple clip of me holdin that grant somewhere in the house. *sigh*.

To replace it, is a major pain in the arse. The Police report, Puspakom's inspection, JPJ approval, Finance issues bla bla bla... Arghhh! It's just time and patience consumin. The tense is unbearable. If I still can't find it by the middle of this month, I have no other choice than to replace it and hope that I can live to tell you more about it.

Speakin bout life. I had an accident a few days ago. I was on my way to Klang and a bike rammed mine in Shah Alam. In the middle of a daily traffic jam. The bike hit my right side sendin us both to the ground. Lucky fer me my reflexes is good enough to stop me from slammin my body to the ground.

So what happens after that? Well, my bike have a scratch, the side mirror shattered and ironically, the bike's allignment was better than factory's default. And I have a few scratches on my left leg. That's all. The guy who hit my bike got no serious injury too. But his bike weren't sharin the same luck as he did. The fork's bent and to make it worst, he's asked me fer a compensation. Great.

So the next day, I took him and his bike to a place where a friend of mine is a regular. I got a discount and the guy buggered the 'taukeh' fer a receipt until the garage owner told him to bug off because he only give the receipt to the person who'll pay fer it, which is me.

Notice that I didn't put much details bout the accident here eh. Well, that's because I need to find my darn car's grant and that's more important! Later.

Shocked at my father's health state..

I got a call this mornin, from my kid sister. It seems that she was tryin to contact me since I lost my mobile. She said that my father went fer medical checkup and the test result is shockin. My father have a brain tumor.

That explains the current situation he's in. I'm still in shock. I just don't know what to think. But I do know that my father is strong. I wish I could say somethin that will make him comfortable. But, damn, I just don't know how to react with him. I guess all those time we're separated made me like what I am now. I do care. It's just that I don't know how to show it. So am I guilty fer that?

Enough with me whinin bout my past. I pray fer my father's safety. I'll try to be there when he need me. I'm bein honest and realistic. I'm his son.

Later.

What a week...

What a week. I lost my mobile, waited to replace it until my boss gave 1 to me 2 days ago. Can't use my old sim card because Celcom blocked it. I already paid the dues and still they need me to go to the nearest Center to reactivate the darn line. The good news is, there's none in Puchong. How bout that huh? So I have to choose between PJ and Klang. Because Klang is my work area, I don't have to think twice.

Got 2 appointment last Friday, 1 in Klang and 1 in Puchong. But then I have to follow a new guy to USJ because he's not that confident to install Streamyx. Ok fine as long as I can do my work later after that. I was thinkin bout replacin my missin sim card and reactivatin another before or after I'm done with the installation in Klang, which I've set at 4.00pm. Guess what, it was 5.15pm and I'm still stuck in USJ. It was rainin so I was soaked through the jacket I wore. Fine, I can still rush to Klang to catch up with the jobs. But no I was stuck in Shah Alam because it was rainin like crazy. After waitin fer a long while, I choose to cancel the plan and head back to Puchong. So I lost 2 plans just like that. Nice.

Tried to catch my other appointment in Puchong, but it's rained heavily there too. So I was drenched, water drippin on my pants. My shoe was like a lake. So I had that appointment canceled too. So I can't use the old sim card yet.

Called up the 2 people I supposed to do the installation fer today, tryin to set up another appointment. Got it, the earliest was at 6.00pm. So I waited, it's started to rain. Bad news. But it was still ok. So I head up to Klang, to Celcom Center. Great, it's closed already. My bad, it's Saturday and it's already 5 somethin. It rained in Shah Alam but I got my raincoat. It was ok. Called up the Klang customer then she said that she can't, need to change the appointment to Monday. Wow. Fine. Still can't use the damn sim card.

Went back to Puchong, got reappointed to do the installation at the Puchong's customer somewhere after Mahgrib. Waited in front of his house until Isyak. Called him but went to voicemail. 20cents gone just like that. Great. Went home and open up the work order, heck somebody installed Streamyx fer that Puchong's guy already. I wanted to call my boss to see if any of my teammate is appointed to do that. But hey, I can't use the sim card.

So here I am. Whinin my arse's off fer you stranger's readin pleasure. Yeah so it sucks to be alone. No one who I can spill my problems with, and seein her reaction at the same time. To hear her voice tellin me it's ok, those things I've been through, just to make me feel better. Sittin next to me when I've regained my senses, enjoyin dinner with me. And after I went home, she'll ring just to make sure I'm ok. *sigh*.. Ah wait, I can't use my damn sim card..

Later.

Another new song ready.

Satisfaction. It feels so good. Me and Fractured had a jam session 2 days ago and we filled the whole hour practicin one of our new song. I named the song 'Death Zone' and the session went great. The song changed from the last time I practice it and now the song is longer. Anyway, the song is still as intense as I wanted it to be.

I wrote the lyrics the 1st time I practice it and because it's been a long while since the song was completed, I kinda get the lyrics on and off. Haha. Well can't blame me fer that. Fer me, it's easier to memorise a lyrics when I play it with the band. Play it with my TR Series. In that situation, I can see which part is hard fer me to play and sing and focus more on practicin that specific part harder.

Fer me, this is my favourite song. Why? Because it has the tempo I wanted in a song. Fast but not rushin, catchy but technical and most of all, it's a challenge to sing and play bass with this song. Not to say that this song is very hard or I'm a great bassplayer. I'm just sayin that it's challengin because I need to improve more.

Now it's just 2 more songs until we're ready fer recordin. The original planned date fer recordin has slipped to early of June. Can't help it. Hey, we're not a full-time musician and we all have a day job to live with! And I can't wait to release the new album too damnit!

I'm still waitin fer Udin's version of Langsuyr's My Oath For Thee cover. I have the permission to change the lyrics so I need to hear the new version before I can write it. Fahmi has completed the next new song and there's a few tweak here and there. I personally hope we can practice all the songs soon because I can't wait to get in a studio.

Darn, I still have this song echoin in my head. So it must be good. Eh? Later.

JPJ: The power to arrest(?) & puppy gone.

It was a nice slumber. My mind was blank, thinkin bout nothin. Just sleeps. Oh it's so great so sleep. Until I heard a news on the TV. Yeah I sleep with the TV on. The story? The Department of Road & Transport (JPJ) wants the power to arrest people like the police. All of the sudden, I lost appetite of sleepin. What the bull are they thinkin?

It's not the 1st time JPJ has make nonsensical demands before. Remember when they say they need firearms? What the.. They lost their minds already? What in hell do they need the firearms fer anyway? Shoot a granpa on C70 fer wearin 'kopiah' instead of safety helmet? JPJ's reason: they're always in constant danger when on duty. Pfft. And now it's a bit of the same. Some people smack a JPJ officer but the officer don't have any power to arrest the brats. Am I missin somethin here? Do you? That's why we have *hint* POLICE *hint* you morons!

To me, it's more like the lust for more unnescessary power. And we all know that 'from the great power, comes a great responsibility'. Eh, the reality is 'from the great power, comes more corruptable people'. Instead of demandin nonsenses, why don't they cooperate with police or somethin. Or perhaps, they can learn how to use the 999 number when in trouble.

Seriously, I sense disaster in this excess of power if given. You don't have to think hard to imagine what's to expect from this. JPJ with firearm, with the power to arrest and detain people. Insane. Purely insane. I can imagine a brat pointin a gun to my head, askin fer my drivin license.

Imagine that. Remember the MyKad case? Where the poor fella received a summon just because he showed his MyKad when asked fer a drivin license. The guy have all his drivin licenses and God knows what else conveniently stored in the most advance Identification Card made available to the public and yet, he was punished because JPJ don't have the tool to read the data, or perhaps they just want to see the plain ol drivin license instead. It made me laugh, but it didn't last long enough to sway my mind off the ironies. We're troubled by the conveniences provided to us. Different departments of the government sector have different views on policies/technologies/laws our government has ruled.

What about the 'tinted window' issue? Can or can't we tint our window? Yeah sure there's a 'JPJ specification' for tintin window but seriously, do you think they even follow that? How many people with 'JPJ approved' window tint happily got their window's tintin ripped off and/or tickets here and there to come with the humiliation? Ok maybe Proton cars aren't allowed to have any window tintin. Not like those Japanese or European cars. 1 points fer foreign cars, 0 fer local made.

How bout the 'car modification' issue? I heard the specification was published before but now the infos is a rare sight. The reality is the same, we don't exactly know what we can or can't do to our car. Some people lives happily with their turbo-charged-2Fast2Furious-makeover car with nothin to worry about but many get a lousy ticket fer puttin a Mitsubishi logo as a decal. Funny huh? Wait until you get a ticket. Last time I heard, it's ok to modify a foreign car to our heart's content but it's a no no to Proton or Perodua's. Great. One of the great thing of ownin a car is to make it a pleasure sight and drivin experience. And so it seems that our laws are the one killin our local car industries. Stop puttin all the blames to foreign's make because if you look closer, it's our own people killin our local industries. Why the heck I want to 'own' a Proton if I can get a Hyundai and modify it to look gorgeous instead of lookin like the gazillions of other same model, not because I can't afford it, but because the law says so. I know it's like I'm swayin off topic but my man point is, the details of the law/policy and the enforcements.

The same goes with motorbike. I guess JPJ somehow think that when we buy a motorbike, after all the years ridin the bike through all the terrains and weather conditions we have here in Malaysia, the motorbike will stay in tune, performs and sounds the same like the first time we rode it. I'm in no mood to even giggle here. My friend got a summon because JPJ said that his bike was modified and the 'exhaust didn't sound like the factory default'. Go and find the funny bits there yourself. Trust me, you will lose the funny mood too. How do you expect an engine or exhaust or any machinery to sound the same after all those years? Ok, my bad, you actually can. Buy a motorbike and don't ride it ever again. Do you know that puttin a sticker on your precious bike is also illegal? Just because you didn't get a ticket fer it doesn't mean that it's legal. Some day, maybe havin a rust on your bike will make you eligible fer a ticket or two. Why? Because it's not a 'factory default'.

My words. Clear up the blurry details of the current laws/policies we have first, before makin more unnescessary and nonsensical demand. Where's the REAL specification for window tintin, car modification and many other? I know there's many other issues and those things are the main things that needed a clear and effective solution. Not a Glock or Baretta pistols. Not the power to arrest, handcuff and detain people. JPJ is goin to make an army or what? Leave the dangerous jobs to the more effective enforcement agencies like the police. Stop makin more dumb demands. I can't stand losin my precious sleeps anymore.

Ah, the puppies is gone. I called Syah and he said that the cute brats is nowhere to be found. I hope a responsible person has adopt it. Maybe the mother has come to the rescue. Gonna miss that barkin brats. Woof Woof! Later.

I got meself 2 puppies. ;) . Read on!

I unofficially adopted 2 puppies. Wait wait, before you starts thinkin bout negative things, lemme explain. It's unofficial. The poor puppies was abandoned by their mother. Me and Syah was movin his things from his old house to his new place when we saw the puppies sleepin in his parkin lot. We tried to get the puppies out of the place but as we can't touch it, it's hard. Most of the time it's us who was runnin out of the parkin lot. So, I wrapped my hand with a plastic bag and I lift the puppies, one by one and put them on the parkin lot next door which is empty.

It's my 1st time ever, holdin a puppy and I was a bit nervous. After I transfered em all, the poor creatures can't stop barkin. Sure they are hungry or somethin, but we don't have any dog food around. Might as well try givin em cat food. And so they enjoyed Whiskers. As they're eatin, I rubs their heads, tryin to make em comfortable. Although shielded with a plastic bag, I can feel their skins. It's like holdin a cat but you know it's a puppy.

To make sure them puppies don't tresspass into my friend's parkin lot again, we made a barricade out of boxes on the main gate. So the main gate was invulnerable. We know those puppies can't get through it. Except that they don't use the main gate to enter. They're small enough to squeeze through the fences. So the next mornin the puppies sleeps just outside Syah's cat cage. So I had to pick em up again and put em next door. They look happy after I gave em more Whiskers. Damn cute while they're wigglin their tails. I know the puppies is happy.

So Syah bought additional fence with smaller hole to cover up every fence we think the puppies can get through. We still give food to the puppies. And I regularly went next door to pat em and see their tails wiggle. Somehow they think of me as their guardian or master or somethin. They even rush towards me as I'm startin my bike to get back home. Cute, but it was a heck of a time to get the puppies behave and stay inside the neighbour's lot.

1 of the puppies has been taken, by an unknown person. I wonder why the person didn't take em all. The puppies is still very young, and they're clean. If nobody wants em, maybe in a few more days we have to take em to a pet shop or somethin. Or we might as well be the unofficial adopter, until they can live by themselves or until someone moved next door.

Although we muslim aren't allowed to touch dog, we don't have the rights to abuse em. Dogs are still God's creation. Animal knows about pain, so don't hurt em. I don't like dogs, but I don't hate em. And honestly I enjoyed pattin em heads, watchin em wigglin their tails and walkin towards me when they see me. I wish someone would adopt those puppies. And until that time comes, I'll be back to feed em and play with those cute puppies. Later.

I lost my mobile... DAMNIT!

*Sigh*. What a day. It's amazin how a good mood can change in a day. What happened? My mobile phone got stolen. I was enjoyin a bowl of 'cendol' in Klang and I have a feelin that my phone somehow slipped there unnoticed. After the cendol, I went to the place I want to install the Streamyx, which is more than 10km from that place. The time I arrived is the time I notice my phone is gone. So I quickly went to the cendol stall thinkin that maybe I can safely get my phone back before someone else do. Or maybe someone would be honest enough to return the phone to the cendol's stall owner.

Such a wishfull thinkin. I was hopin fer too much. Honest people are a rarity nowadays. Hey but I'd return someone else's belongin if I found it in a public place. It's not that hard if you can make someone in charge of a popular place nearby like food stall, shop or etc cooperate to make sure the real owner of the lost good can have his/her belongin back. But heck, those kind of people can only be found in movies. They don't care if the things is important or what.

So I know it's supposed to be my day anyway, the phone is nowhere to be found. I asked the stall owner if he had seen the mobile but luck is not on my side. Without my mobile, I feel like I've lost contact with the rest of the world. All the important numbers are gone. Kapuf!. Just like that. Not to mention I added another RM10 worth of airtime fer the phone while I was enjoyin the cendol. Yeah that was the last time I saw my mobile. Great. Just great. This is not how I want my day to start. I was frustrated then, and I still am now.

I went to the nearest public phone, hopin that someone would answer my mobile and givin me direction on how to get it back. Yeah, dream on. It ringed fer a few times until it went to voicemail. Great. The lucky brat turned off my phone. So be it. If he can crack my pin code when he turn on the mobile next time, he'll have a 10 bucks worth of airtime to waste. Bastard.

I went to the customer's place again, with a down feelin. Great, a customer with Windows ME, stone age CPU and no network card. What a day. After more than an hour to make the WinME behave properly after I've installed a new NIC, it rained cats and dogs. I just feel numbed. Thinkin bout my newly lost mobile. All the others just don't matter much.

So I went to the stall fer the 3rd time but the place is already closed. I stop thinkin bout anythin. So I went back home, shiftin all the other appointments to tomorrow. Damn it I'm in no mood to work. So now I'm actually out of reach. I have a few plans made and now I don't know how the hell my buddies can contact me. It's too late to train a pigeon.

This made me think 'Hell if ever I found someone else's mobile, I'll do the same like what I've experienced'. No, that's not the right thing to do. Hell no. Yeah the temptation to do bad things is somewhat hard to resist, but then, the proud feelin after you know that you done a honest deed beats em all in the end.

So, the next time you found someone else's belongin, do what you can to contact the real owner. At least pass the good to a trustworthy person who you think would be the 1st person the real owner would ask about the missin thing. Because, that person, in this case like me, would have many important numbers in the phone, saved bank account numbers etc, important reminders that can never be replace in a brief. This is far worst than havin your ex to delete some important phone number without your permission.

I'm still hopin that someone would return my mobile to that cendol stall. I know I'll go to the place again tomorrow. I know I should just forget bout it but there's too much important data inside. Fuck it, some people just sucks at honesty. Later.

DIY car project gettin better! & my dad.

Woohoo! Somethin I never expected. Well, I got a very great bargain from the owner of a food stall near my place. No I didn't get discount fer Nasi Lemak but I got a Fully Synthetic oil and 4 new NGK +3 spark plugs (equivalent of Bosch +3, yeah the thing with 3 pins or whatever the name is.) fer RM 100! I mean, well, a Full Synthetic oil alone will be more than RM200 dude! Weird huh? Bought those from a food stall. Well, not quite. His wife runs the stall and he works, uhm, I'm not sure where he works but he knows Karamjit Singh (The Malaysian rally driver.) and he's well versed in engine etc. He'll introduce me to his fav workshop where I can get genuine services / parts fer much much less. Great. He can even renew my insurance and road tax (Wow, to think that I used to do those things as a career.. Well it's not Seremban now and I don't know where's where here in Puchong.)

Eh, fergot to mention that I paid fer the oil only. So it's just 50 bucks. I told him to hold the spark plugs first until my next pay but he insisted that I use it first and pay him when I have the money. Only if my workmate pay up his debt.. I'm puttin a change of the car's timing belt as my main priority now. The car's nearly 1 years old since I bought it and I don't know if the previous owner changed the timing belt before I got it. It's better to be safe than sorry. Faulty timing belt is a disaster. So I was told.

My friend Syah has already moved to his new house. So I'll most probably be busy this weekend fer my DIY car project. Top overhaul will be the motto this week and I can't wait to get my hands dirty. I flushed the radiator today and the leftover is sure messy. Heh. Been a long time since I done that. Eh, wait, I never clean my radiator before. So that's why it's so dirty. Hmmm. Wonder what'll happens when I done the top overhaul, put in the new oil and the spark plugs. Ahhhh! It'll be good. No. It'll be superb! I'm rebuildin my car tools so I don't have much yet. I still need to buy oil filter's opener. Call me a cheapskate but I just love to do those easy things meself. Hope I don't have much appointments this weekend.

Enough with my engine fetish. This is the longest holiday I had since I first work here. Well, there's no appointment until today. But then Bobby is usin my helmet because his was stolen so I can ride my bike. I had to shift the appointments fer tomorrow, err, today (It's already Thursday today).

I went to my dad's house last weekend and he didn't remember who I am until my big sister told him. Then he slowly regains his memories bout me. He got a problem with his right eyes so now he covers it with cloth. We talked.

I'm off to sleep now. Ah, just fer the info, actually this place me and Bobby rented, is a bit haunted. More on that later.

My dad is not well & when is the pay up?

Got a phone call from my sis, sayin that I'm needed in Seremban as soon as possible. My dad is not well. He got thinner, and he doesn't even remember why my kid sister went to Penang. So I'm goin back this weekend. It's been a while though.

A colleague of mine borrowed 110 bucks and said he'll pay up on the next thursday. Well 8 thursdays has passed and still nothin. Is he hopin fer me to forget bout it? I don't know but I can't afford to forget that amount of money. I even have to delay my Carcass CD just so that he can use the money. Now my buddy who's sellin the CD is askin me if I really want the CD. *sigh*. Oh yeah the guy who borrowed my money is the same guy who borrowed my car too. Nice eh? Such a headache. I'll probably understand it if he can tell some reason fer delayin the return money, but then he just keep a close lips. Later.

Aircond and electrical problem solved.

Oh about the problem I had with the aircond, interior lightin etc. It's solved after I changed the main fuse. So the old fuse was roasted. Probably after the wrong battery installation previously. So now (almost) everythin is ok. Cool. Later.

My car is jerkin on low RPM! Sounds of trouble? Hey since when I'm a mechanic?

I think I need to change the spark plugs of my car. Or probably it's time to clean the carburator. Yeah definitely the time to clean the radiator. Hmm can't forget bout the engine oil too. ARGHHH! My friend borrowed the car fer a day then now the engine is jerkin on low rpm, on every damn gear. ARGHHH!!!!! Not to mention he nailed the 15 bucks worth of petrol without even refuelin a single cent. Great. Just great. Now I have to do all the above because the jerkin is tickin my senses off. Oh I nearly forgot somethin. My tools is lost too. So I have to buy a new one. And plus the new battery I bought before. Hooray! I should make a book bout "How to empty your pocket in 2 weeks".

Yeah well it's time to do the checkups fer the car. I know. But then I can't stand it bout the new jerkin problem after my friend borrowed the car. Sheesh. At least refuel the darn car la woi! Ok enough with my angst. As long as he didn't scratch the car. I hope he didn't scratch the pistons. Called up my friends and suggestions I get is, clean/change the spark plugs and if it's still jerkin, clean the carburator. I can do the former meself (theorically, hey it's not rocket science is it? is it?) but I will have to let the workshop to do the latter. So I bought a tool to screw/unscrew spark plugs. Bought somethin to clean the radiator too. Oh yeah I'm tryin to do the minor work by meself as long as it doesn't involve complicated things. What is complicated things you might ask. Well, it is, hmm.. I dunno yet. Maybe somethin like tearin the engine apart and not knowin how to assemble it back. Hah!.

Seriously, I helped my friend Alon when he changed the engine oil, check my spark plugs before and (I think) I can manage that. Maybe I'll post somethin bout it here later. Some sort of simple howto. I'll start off with cleanin or changin the spark plugs, then with cleanin the radiator.

Guess what, I found the original manual fer the car. And I just knew that I have a jack in a compartment inside the boot. So I actually have 2 jack, 1 is missin after my car was repo-ed. Yeah cool. So I only have to buy the tool to use the jack with.

One of the issue regardin the DIY car-care project I'm tryin to do is *drum rolls*.. space! I live in an apartment now. I fergot I'm not in my sister's house anymore. Back then it's quite easy to do car works. Got a few friends cum mechanic nearby and a spacey parkin lot in front of the house to do all the dirty works. Now all I have is a dynamic parkin lot. Yeah you know the drills, nobody own a parkin spot and if you came back late and the parkin lots is full, say hi to the roadside parkin outside.

Another thing is the accessibilities of water. I live on the 4th floor and I'm not goin to transfer buckets after buckets of water am I? Not when there's not even any elevator here. But then, minor works like cleanin / changin the spark plugs, changin the engine oil will go smoothly. So I might have to wait fer the 'cleanin the radiator' project a bit. My 'kampung' (hometown) friend Shah (you'll know him if you read my Bio in my homepage)
who's also an experienced mechanic will be movin in to Puncak Jalil somewhere in February so his terrace house's parkin lot will be suitable fer medium car works *evil laughs plus some coughin*.

DIY car works is fun eventhough I don't know much bout engine, transmition bla bla. It's just fun to learn a bit bout how to take care of the engine and so on. I have to confess though, most of the time I'll be leavin the dirty work to my buddies because engine (and other mechanical things car have) to me is not like a computer to me. It's way different. So it's best to leave the hard works to the more experienced. Fer now *grins*. Later!

Got my car back hah!

My car was scheduled fer auction today. Yeah so I got it back. I took it yesterday and the condition is, well, not so healthy. No rust whatsoever. But then there's a few scratches here and there. Better do some checklist thing.

1) Visual condition: Ok. But there's a bit of a dent and scratch on the rear left of the car's body (I don't know if 8cm++ is "a bit". That's quite long. *sigh*.). Shit. I can ignore it if the door is scratched but the body! Arghhh. There's also a a long scratch on the right door. *raise middle fingers on the air*.

2) Battery: Basically dead. Dried to the bone. So I had to buy a new battery. Roasted 90 bucks fer that new batt. Damn. Then because I accidently connected the wrong wiring fer the new battery (is there any standard fer the battery?) it made the fuses burnt too. Got the light workin but the stereo, interior light is all kaput. I hope it's just the fuse(s).

3) Air-condition: No fan now. Nice. The gas has run out too I guess. It was full before they took the car. Just fucken great. I have to send the car to air-cond shop.

4) Engine: It's ok. But the sound is pretty much harsher than before. Might be the engine oil. So I have to change it too. It was a new oil.

3) Misc: They took the gear lock out and didn't bother to even place it back properly. Nice job. Oh my boots is missin too. When I got the car, the back panel (where some car woofer is installed. I don't know the proper name in car terminology.) was disassembled so I had to install it myself. Somebody opened the panel behind the rear light (in the car's boot) and didn't bother to assemble it back.

Fer now, there's all I can think of. Well, can't expect these guy to take a good care of the cars aye? Thankfully all of the most important documents is still there. My cassettes too is still safe. Next time, if I don't have the money to pay the car, I'll make sure it'll not get repossessed easily. The car might not be as drivable as it was the next time it's park in that place. Anger aside, it's good to drive that bugger again. *smile*. Later.

p/s: oopsie. I accidently posted this on my FreeBSD & Me's blog. My bad.

Ridin in the flood, car auctionin & no "balik kampung" this weekend.. again..

Phew. I was stuck in Klang this evenin, after doin some installation. The it rained heavily before I get the chance to leave Klang. So I have to take shelter at a nasi lemak shop at Jalan Meru. Sat there fer more than 1 hour before I decided to ride in the rain. So I rode my bike and after I finally reached Shah Alam, there was this major traffic jam. You know what? The section after the flyover is flooded! Ouch. So I waited until I had to make a choice. I have to ride in the flood. So I wait fer any motorbike to be the pacemaker but none on my side did. But then there was a guy who shove his bike (he doesn't want to have the engine runnin in the flood? Weird.) from the opposite. I watched his trail carefully and then I quickly went to the next side of the road facing the incomin guy. After he made it across, I hold my breath and hope that the engine won't go dead in the center of the flood. Liftin my legs a bit, I tried to balance the bike as I rode in the flood, makin a wave in the flood, controllin the acceleration; makin sure that it's not too fast (or I'll lose balance) and not too slow (the cool engine will go dead quickly and that's a no no.). At the same time rammin the engine once in a while to make sure the water won't get into the exhaust. A few seconds after that, I made it! I made it across without possibly damagin the bike! But then there was people who cheered like I made a show or somethin. Damn.

If I waited fer the flood to clear, it'll take ages as it's still rainin now. I'm glad I made it back home safely without harm to me and my bike. Be carefull when you're ridin in the rain.

I called the finance today. Guess what? My car has been listed fer auction this comin 15th January. Yeow! So the personnel said that I must pay the overdue before 12:00pm on the 14th January. Yikes. And she said that if I don't have enough money to pay all overdue at once, I have to negotiate with the auction department fer that. Ouch. I'm not puttin much hope about that. So I'm left with the option of borrowin some money from my boss and payin him later. This is gettin harder and harder. Come on Karl, you must get the car back!

Hangah is not goin back to Seremban this weekend so that'll make the two of us. *sigh*. It's been a while since Fractured's last jammin session and I miss the feelin of playin bass and singin with the guys. Still no update on the proposed Indonesian gigs though. I even have to delay the new strings of my bass because of my car's situation now. Later.

Homepage saved, pressure & new year.

Ah. I finally saved all the current files of my homepage into my hard disk. Yeah I lost all the page in progress, new designs and minor tweaks of the webby after a disastrous XP corruption I had a few weeks ago. I think I told you bout the XP re-installation huh? No need fer me to rewrite the tragedy again.

I'm still thinkin bout what other important file(s) that I've lost after the wacko XP incidents. Sheesh. Can't really recall all the files but slowly it's recoverin. That's why I saved all my web pages in my hard disk, because I just remembered that my local backup of the files is lost. What can I recall later..

The thoughts of my car parked in the garage, lonely without me, sunburned, soaked in rain, is puttin a pressure on my head. Sheesh. I can't wait to bail it out soon. I hope nothin got stolen because heck, there's no tellin what happened between the pickup and parkin of that poor car. Hope it doesn't have any rust because I will surely feel sad about it. 2 month is long enough.

Hey, what did you do fer new year? Me, just sittin in my room readin some FreeBSD stuff, watchin some online biddin, readin game news. It's 2006 now huh. Yeah. The year Fractured will hopefully go fer recordin. Still haven't had the chance to practice the new songs and I still haven't change the strings of my TR. One by one Karl, be patient. You can't have all the things at once. Slowly dude. Okay. Yessir.

Hah. I wrote somethin about my Ibanez TR Series which I still haven't got the chance to finish fer my homepage. When will I start writin it again? Ideas.. Ideas.. Enjoy the new year. Make it a better year huh! Later.