Finish It!

I had a dream that my co supervisor xerox a page of my thesis and then print it out in a A1 size, and he wrote on it "FINISH YOUR THESIS". I was confused whether it was really a dream or not, but since he did not wrote such thing on my 1st draft of chapter 1 and 2 nor have I seen any A1 poster with my name on it yet. I am concluding that its just a dream.. or is it.. maybe I am being emphatic with what he wants and suddenly my sub conscious picks it up and exaggerated it in my dream.

The Best

Last Sunday was the BEST Sunday ever :). Bus rides, motorcycle rides and new komuter rides, I should woken much earlier for the trip :D

Food = Arabic

Oooh Barbican.? Yes Barbican, its a non alcoholic beer. Its made as the same thing as beer which is malt and hops, but its not processes into beer. This is a raspberry flavoured one and taste nice, and not too sweet :).

Peppermint Tea for my friend

Grilled Lamb and Beriyani rice with Tomato sauce and sour cream on the side, with these incredibly insanely SPICY chillies. I know because I took a bite out of it.

Arabic salad and then grilled chicken with arabic bread and garlic sauce.

Everything was soo good, but I can't help thinking that this reminds me of how my parents cook :p. They know how to make everything on the menu except the bread. We even ate Basmati rice (which is used to make the Beriyani) each day. I am not exactly surprised that is taste like this because its something I am used to eat, but then to have something that taste exactly like home cooking, now that is a feat itself. Even the priced is reasonable, for the exotic dish that we ate, about RM 50 for two, almost the same price at William. Hmm.. not sure if my family would want to go here, but this is definitely a place to eat..Err.. where is it... hik.. sorry I forgotten the take a snap of the restaurant -_-" its one of those restaurants located in a up class housing area in Ampang. I will informed you all ASAP :D

Ramblings

Maturity, its not something that you get with age, but something you get with life experiences. Usually the ones that made you loose 5kg in a month (through fasting and meditating), ones that make you cry till we of the night or those that made you wake up in cold sweat. These experiences are so strong it forces us to really stop and think about the actions that we do.

Drama its part of life, but handling those with who likes to be dramatic is weary. I am dramatic from the way I talk, and the way I describe things, but I hate drama with people I am with. Perhaps the drama I produce are more than enough to satisfy my needs. Thank you for those who are closest to me who do not produce drama.

There comes to a point where you just don't care anymore about what your siblings do. Maybe I am less emphatic to someone who does not help himself or who always get backed up our mother. He should be lucky mother is still alive and well, since I would kick him out until he has some sense to come back and clean himself up.

Lab work is weary especially when I need to buy new reagents. Its weary because my "thrifty" advisor is extra "thrifty" when it comes to buying reagents. Its one of the things that stalls my progress, but probably just one of the life experience that will be valuable in the future.

It all falls down

Something is missing here..

Its the part of the exhaust system. It fell down on my way back from the gym. I found it amusing actually, since my motorcycle sounded like a lorry :D

Missing in Action

I really miss my Mercedes, its almost a month since it was admitted into the workshop. It is undergoing top overhaul and needs a new exhaust system since the former one is clogged with oil. I do miss this car, even though it guzzles petrol and the aircond is not working well during traffic jams or hot weather. Too many memories happened within this car, good and bad. I said to my self I wanted to a donut at the dirt parking lot next to the Graduate School Building once I am done with my Masters. I do hope that dream will come through.

Change

I am thinking of a change, some type of change, perhaps it will be a drastic change, a slight change, a dramatic change, or perhaps just a tweaked of my old self. Who knows, so many things are concetrating at the end of this journey. I need something to bump me to the next level. 2 level perhaps, and a different tone in life.

So very dramatic right this entry :p, nothing wrong right, its my blog :D

RON

If you read the news, the goverment will stop subsidizing RON 97 fuel and instead is introducing RON 95 fuel. I bet most of you have no idea what RON is, and most of you drivers out there, don't even read the driver's manual.

The most common type of octane rating worldwide is the Research Octane Number (RON). RON is determined by running the fuel in a test engine with a variable compression ratio under controlled conditions, and comparing the results with those for mixtures of iso-octane and n-heptane.The octane rating is a measure of the resistance of gasoline and other fuels to detonation (engine knocking) in spark-ignition internal combustion engines. High-performance engines typically have higher compression ratios and are therefore more prone to detonation, so they require higher octane fuel. A lower-performance engine will not generally perform better with high-octane fuel, since the compression ratio is fixed by the engine design. Okay these I stole from wiki.

To put it simply, if the engine has a high compression ratio, which is common for high performance cars, it will need a high RON fuel so that it won't explode in pieces. If the car has low compression ratio, which means common for normal cars, it will only uses low RON fuel. However most modern high performance cars has sensors to detect the RON of fuel you can use, so it will adjust the engine so that it won't explode into pieces. However it all depends how the manufacturers design their engine. Most Japanese car in Japan run on RON 95, European cars are tuned to run on RON97/98 but most cars in the US happily run on RON 87.

In Malaysia, the petrol operator will ask "minyak baru or minyak lama" which is actually RON 92 or RON 97. Nothing wrong with the RON 92 except its much cheaper due to lower octane rating, its not old, its made as the same time as RON 97. The exception of Petronas who only sells RON 97. I guess they would change after this by offering a RON 95.

This is a list I stole at Motortrader. It shows almost all of the vehicles in Malaysia and the fuels that we can use. Surprisingly all of Honda Model's in Malaysia that is bought at Honda, can run on RON 92 fuel, even Mercedes Benz C,E, and S class are able to run on RON 92 too. Proton car's however needs to use at least RON 95 fuel, which includes all of its car's in its stable. All of Perodua cars with the exception of Nautica, since its not listed can use RON 92 fuel. I checked in my manual, my Viva can run as low as RON 90. Imagine the amount of money you saved by using RON 92 instead of RON 97. Caltex and BHP are the petrol station that claims all of its fuel is the same quality and the same amount of detergent or additives. Shell and Mobil/Esso however advertised their RON 97 as being higher quality, and more fuel saving than their RON 92. If you are not picky with the Brand of petrol you use, might as well use a fuel that matches the minimum of your engine requirements. Using higher octane fuel will not make a difference if your car requires only RON 92 0r RON 95. However older cars may need to use a higher RON to prevent the engine from knocking itself to pieces

In conclusion, open lah your car manual and look at the back or at the index to find out the minimum requirement of your car. Heck you might find things about your car that you did not it can do, like the decondensation button to clear up your front windshield or the heating element on the rear windows to clear the rear window from condensation.

Swollen

You know, whenever the air is really cold and dry, especially if I turn on the airconditioner, my throat will get really dry. This is because I sleep with my mouth open. It get worse if I have a cold and nose gets blocked. The sinus drip from my nose will cause my nose to be swollen even more. One time, my throat got so dried, the uvula (anak tekak) got so swollen, it touches my tongue and makes it hard to breath. Those breath right strips are damn expensive, and I am not sure if they work or not. I guess I need to sleep with someone in order to find that out >:). Perhaps another car trip where I fell asleep with my mouth open :p. This is why I prefer to sleep on my stomach or on my side, so that my mouth won't open as much.

I wonder

Ergh.. I wonder if I be able to finish masters. Getting the mood to write and meet lecturers get heavier and heavier. Even blogging is hard now. Sigh.. I haven't snap any pictures worth to put in the blog. Its so much easier to put a picture and then write a caption. Its simple and not annoying. I had surprised call from my friend saying he is dating my ex. Wait? My ex? When the hell did I declare to anyone the past 6 months. So I just had to call him, and asked what's up. He said my conversation from a friend at YM and into real life said that I was in relationship with the person. Hohoh, relationship yes, but not that it was declared or anything. The dates were okay, but there were no chemistry. My friend was like "are you okay with me dating you ex?" I was like "not my ex laaa, go la have fun".. hehe as I am typing this he is either enjoying or regretting his first date...

Food and Friends

Eating is good, going out with friends is good too, but combining them two together is the best.

Seafood dinner at Riverview restaurant at Sg Buloh. Heavenly.

Grilled lamb by my dad. These came all the way from Sudan. Finger licking good.

Baked chocolate chip almond bar.

Slightly different from the normal way of baking the cookie. This make it every cake like.

Although regulars ones are nice and crispy

Tepayaki beef, chicken and shrimps with mushrooms at the Legend Hotel.

Hmm Mix Grill at William. Yum, with pandan chicken, sausages, chicken scramble and 2 types of salami with a side of mashed potatoes.

Baked Lasangnia, suprising sour. Like really sour as is someone trying to kill me with vinegar, but the meatballs saved the day, as always.

Ricosta with seafood. I am not sure if I spelled that right, it has servings of baked salmon, shrimps, clams and bamboo clams. Yum!

A Japanese buffet dinner at the Legend Hotel. Yum! all you can eat raw seafood ;)

Don't fret, they also many other types of cooked food.

Food should always be enjoyed with people you love to be around :)

Normal

Well many things have returned to normal, my parents are back home and the blogspot posting editor has returned to normal too. Its good that I managed not to blow my top at my brother without my parents around. Its like, I can only tell him what to do and he refuse, I do it my self. If he wants to be an ass, I'll be an ass too, but a more dignified one. A simple no and smile will drive him crazy. During the first day of the so called "freedom" with out my parents and sister at home, was pretty bleaked, but after a surprised visits from 2 friends, it all seemed worth while. I guess I was in a such good mood, I don't even care the little problems my brother does. That is my parents job to scold him and force him to do something for his own benefit. I can only advise.

Hmm, my parents and sisters went to Indonesia for a shopping vacation, while leaving myself and my brother at home. I choose not to go, because I can't afford for my animals to die (as I am typing this, I am at IMR yet again asking for the parasites, but at least now its more like a two way deal, which means, if my parasites dies, I could come here, and if their parasites dies they could come to me), while my brother with his band thing. I thought these 4 days 3 nights of parents free time, would be the perfect opportunity to go all wild and crazy, sadly to said, it was not. I feel I have even more responsibility to do . I try to keep the house as it is before my parents left, which means the plants are alive, the cars are clean and the laundry is not piled up to the ceiling. As I am typing this, the only fun thing I get to do is to have a Japanese buffet dinner with close friends (I really appreciated guys, thanks  ) but then if my parents were
home, I still would have a good time. I also wanted to a night of baking you know, where I could make all these wonderful cakes and cookies, then experiment on the various types of frosting that I could make or decorate the cake with. Its Friday already, two days since they have been gone and yet not that much so called freedom that I was excited with, but more of a responsibility. I guess things did not turn out the way I want it to be. Heck, one of the things I really wanted to do is to take a joyride on my dad's Honda Accord and also meet up with a good of friend of mind from Pahang. Alas, these two things did not materialized .. Seriously, that Japanese Buffet dinner has to be the highlight of these so called "freedom" days.. Sigh..

Words of a stressed and tensed person, waiting at the Service centre.

These are actually the things I typed while waiting to for my Naza Ria brakes to be fixed, I was there for 3 hours, and alread bored out of my mine. So I decided to type and type and type, till it became this one long entry. Read it, if you dare and if you like automobiles.

Hmm, I was right, as I was typing this, I over heard, this workshop that I got to, is not a Naza approved work shop because for new Naza cars, they don’t have the stamp for new cars. You need this stamp on your service booklet so that you won’t void the warranty of your car. Some people do not like to go the service centre because they claim its to expensive, but if your warranty is void, the repairs and spare parts that could be covered by the warranty is no longer valid and you have to pay for it, just because your lazy ass, won’t go to the official service centers and pay the slightly more expensive fee.

From my point of view, get rid of your car, after 7 years. Yes after 7 years, because nearing 7 years, there will be so many things that needed to be repaired and changed, not because its faulty, but because of normal wear and tear. I don’t know why you want to “rent” a car fro 9-11 years. Yes, “rent” because if you have to pay for that long, you are “renting” the car and not owning it. The worse part, is that you have to pay for the servicing and maintanence, like you own the car. One thing I see people fail to know when buying a new car, is the resale value. If you are the person that changes car every 10 years, then you are safe to buy any brand that fancies your eyes, because by 10 years, hopefully the car loan is already finished and the resale value for most cars is almost the same (meaning you would get like 20-30% of the original price). However if you are the type that wants to change their cars every 3-5 years, well you better choose cars that have a good resale value. How does one know the resale value of a car? You check at the classified section of your favourite newspaper or pick up a copy of used car magazine such as Motor Trader to see the used car price of your model and brand. You can see how much people are selling their car according to the year of the car. It might not be the current model of the car you are driving but if you check the previous versions of the car or other cars in the brand line up, you can see how much the car can depreciate. A rule of thumb is, Japanese car has the best resale value, while continental (European brand) and Korean has one of the worst resale value. Perodua resale value is better than Proton while best selling cars has a better resale value that the rest of the cars.

However some cars seem to break this rule. Although Satria Gti and Putra is from Proton whose car has poor resale value, these cars can still command a 6 figure resale value. For example a 1998 Proton Wira can be bought at around RM 9k, but a 1998 Proton Putra can cost about RM 20k. A normal 2000 Satria can be bought at around 11k but a 2000 Satria Gti can cost you around RM 30k. On the reason for this, is these car are highly sought after by “boy racers” or those who like to modify their cars. Other cars that belong to this group of vehicles whose resale value is shockingly high includes the hunble Perodua Kelisa (it was hail to be the “real” modern day Mini with its handling), 1998 Honda Civic Sir (this the black car with green neo lights under it in the movie The Fast and Furious, the first move), and 1983 Toyota Corolla (this in the legendary drifting car that every drifters knows, that you can watch on Initial D). Best selling cars can have a high resale value or have a shockingly low resale value. The Wira used to be a best selling car but look at it now, the original Proton Saga, even after more than 20 years on the road, still command at least RM 3-4k on the road. The nation best selling car, the Perodua Myvi, even with its cramped bonnet, claimed to be not to be as fuel efficient, its huge rear bumper and flat rear seats, still command at least 50% of its original value after 4 years. Some Korean cars resale value dropped to 30% of the original value after 3 years!!!

These are just some of things one must thing when buying a car. I am not condemning Korean and European cars, in fact, right now they are sometimes much better that the Japanese marques, with the European cars being much more solid and put together, while the Korean could offer everything a Japanese marques can, but at a much lower price. Now the Korean car are even reaching European solidness and the fuel efficiency of Japanese.

Resale value is all about the public perception of the car. If you are the type who like to change cars around 3-5 years, stick to Perodua and Japanese cars, you might sell it off with out paying the bank the remaining balance, or you might sell it off with a profit. However if you feel a car is just a car or that you fell in love with that particular model, used it for up 10 years, and then sell it off, for a down payment of a new car.

Going to service centers is quite stressful for me, which is why I appreciate places where there is Wifi or at least a power point so that I could charge my laptop. I don’t have the luxury of just sending the car to the service centre and then picking it up later

Repairs and Bills

Okay, I am at a information overload right now. I had work planned at the lab, and I swear I was going to do it, but that got over ridden by the fact, that my family is going to Indonesia tomorrow morning at 5.30 am. The Naza Ria needs servicing which included replacing the timing belt. The brakes also needs checking since I have no confidence in emergency braking in that MPV. So to my shock the front disc pad is worn out, and the rear brake pump is bleeding. That is almost RM 400, this does not include the normal service interval that uses two 4 litres bottle of lubricant (the MPV needs to use only 6 litre, but apparently the so called Naza workshop does not have the 1 litre bottle). I am beginning to doubt that this service centre is actually a Naza approved service center. If this was a Naza service centre, they would have almost all the parts in stock, or the very least they would know how much each part cost, instead of having to make calls every time I ask how much each would cost. Could I blame them, this workshop is fairly new, because I think this used to a tires and wheels centre instead of a full service centre. I am not sure if I am being to hard on the clerk, since I believe she has no idea what type of engine oil she is selling. I don’t think she knows the difference between 10w-30 and 20w-50, but only on the quantity of engine oil a car needs. (when I said the 10w-30 is for a Myvi, she replied “oh no, there is another engine oil for that.. *tries hard not to choke the clerk).

Arghh now the front disc brake is warped, and that is another RM 300 flying off. Did I forgot to mention the Mercedes is still in the workshop with a 4 figure cost of repairs…. Yes boys and girls, owning a car is very expensive, and most modern cars are bloody expensive to repairs with all the gizmo and glitz built in them. Owning a car that was built to last, is also very expensive to repair later in the future, because they used high quality (expensive) materials to built them, which why the Mercedes rarely needs repairs but after 18 years, its going to cost you.

Weddings

There seem to be no shortage of weddings last weekend. I attended 4, with 3 of them being on the same day and on the same side of the family, with 2 of the three weddings is the second wedding of the groom. Talk about overload of nasi minyak, beef curry (Negri Style) and cow stomach, yum2.

This my neighbour lab, lab mate on her wedding. Looking very pretty with a very well sharpen nose (due to make up I hope).

First dish of the first 3 weddings I had to attend at my mother's hometown. The curry beef bone is delicious, I was nibbling the meat off the bone.

The dish from the third wedding that we attended. Similar taste, well..they do live in neighboring hometown. I forgot to take pictures of the second wedding. One must rush and get off the seat since other people are finding places to sit and eat too.


As always, we must have something to eat at my Wan's house. This is Serawa Bachang (I think it is), made from Bachang, a type of mango but very stronger and has a rougher flesh, with coconut milk and gula melaka. Taste great with bread dipped into the gravy. First time I had this dish, but I already love it.

Choices

Sometimes I am not sure whether its gut feeling, following the herd, over analysing, or not using your head. Arghh.. I can seem to separate them apart enough, and what happened is I stalled, just like a beginner driver's trying to work the manual shift. A sudden shift in plan, made me stalled again today. Hmm I don't blame anyone nor I am mad, but it does causes ripples in my plan for today. I was also invited for the "akad nikah" of a friend, but I really don't fancy going to those thing, which includes the engagement ceremony. Its just really incredibly boring, full of waiting, and keeping quiet. The wedding is something I am okay to attend, but only if the wedding is festive, full with people, music, noise and laughter. The last wedding I attended was kinda quite, even the kompang was not very happening.

This was at my cousin's wedding in 2006. It was our first "blood" cousin from my dad side that got married.

I even forgotten that I wore Baju Melayu during that time. 3 years has passed. I believed more things had happened in the past 3 years, that the past 13 years. Let's just say I had a crash course in life.

Do?

I don't know what to do any more? What to choose? What to say?

if you have trouble ordering lunch.. I believe that is a serious problem...

Bloated

Eno, Eno, Eno...

I feel bloated....

The promotion at Burger King which is buy a large Whopper Jr set and get another Whopper Jr burger for free. I ate both burgers during lunch

Then I went home at 6 and had brown rice with curry. Brown rice tasted very good actually because it has more texture. Also it fills up you very easily..

So yeah.. I feel incredibly big right now.....

Samseng Jalanan

Modenas Kristar. Its 110cc with a disc brake up front, it has a small compartment under the seat, that does not fit a helmet but practical to store your sandals and raincoat. To bad the motorcycle is quite heavy and tall, which blunts the acceleration.

Samseng jalanan, is the word we are supposed to use to replace mat rempit. Well I think I may return to my motorcycle roots. I find out that many of those I currently know, does not know I have a motorcycle license and a motorcycle, since it is parked behind my house, and I rarely ride it anymore. Leaving it to my younger brother, is not wise, since he seem to have it busted up and stuff. I forgotten how cheap is it to ride a motorcycle. No toll, usually no parking fee and cheap on petrol. However I do remember it can be really hot on a motorcycle (I can never get to cold on a motorcycle, unless you told me to ride up Genting, I love riding through the rain, if it was not so dangerous and I did not care that my clothes are getting wet.) I feel that I might use it even more now, since I plan to save up my cash a bit. I try to use to go to gym for now, or even to The Mines or Alamanda. I literally freaked out today, because I thought I used up RM 1k in a week!. After calming down and literally backtracking all the things I used to money for, it turns out I still have around RM 400 in hand. That was a big relief to me. I do not want to be in debt again like the time I overswiped my credit card, that was big and stupid mistake I made upon myself.

A Trip

I really want to blog on the road, or at least have something electronic for me to type my thoughts and feeling during that particular time. Sometimes I want to be spontaneous with my thoughts, its just not the same having to type it at the end of the day or another day. Maybe I should recharge my old PDA, which has Word in it, so I can fill it in anytime I please. These are just a few thing I managed to write during my trip.

29/5/2009 9.00 AM

I went to Penang this weekend. Yey!, I attended an AIDS conference there. I like to gain new knowledge and new discover about the disease.

Yes I did not fall asleep this time around when we drive on the Penang bridge.

29/5/2009 2.19 PM

We have arrived in Penang. The hotel initial service sucked. There is no aircond nor fan in the lobby. They also kept up waiting more than one hour, because our rooms are not ready. They did nothing to say to they were sorry. REJECT Hotel.

At least the beaches is nice, since the Hotel is connected to the beach.

Hydro Hotel, it has it faults (okay a lot of them), but I did enjoy my stayed there (probably because of my company there)

29/5/2009 9.43 PM

I love going to other people’s kampung. Its really nice to see them in their comfort zone. On my trip to Penang, I get to visit Shah’s kampung. A teres in the island, which cost like 10 times the original amount now. I love it when Shah speaks his Penang dialect, its sooo adorable. Its one of the things I love to see my friends in their own dialects.. His family is very accommodating and very very tall.

Long Weekend

I feel nauseous. I get carsick easily, which is why I sleep whenever I am in the car and not driving. I "gatal" because I wanted to read the news paper, and end up feeling nauseous and car sick now...

I had a long weekend at Penang. I went there because I want to go to a mini vacation, because I want to be awake when we cross the Penang bridge, because I want to meet a diploma friend and a blogger friend, because I want to go around Penang with someone born and bred in Penang because I want to know more about the current trends and statistics in AIDS in Malaysia.

I need to lie down now...