7-Eleven

I had this strong urge for a Slurpee after watching a marathon of Glee. So I went to my nearest 7-Eleven. I went to 3 of them actually. All for the search of a Slurpee.

Yes, that multicolor, sugar loaded, frozen blended drinks. I was desperate for it, which leads to 3 different 7-Eleven shops in Kajang. There are five 7-Eleven stores in Kajang, and more is appearing. Alas, my search failed. The first store shuts the Slurpee machine at 11pm, although the shut off time is at 12 am, the second store machine was broken, and the third store had no Slurpee machine at all.

A poor substitute is a Big gulp, but the machines are either out of ice, or broken. The second store cups were soiled with spilled strawberry soda.


So what happens?
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All hell breaks of loose of course. I wanted to burn down all three of the 7-Eleven stores. I was mad as hell for the poor service and quality of the stores. I decided to have a BF, a bitchy fit, and wrote a complain letter on the 7-Eleven website.

I thought it would takes weeks if they even read those letters, but surprisingly, the next day, I received a call from the Boss of all the 7-Eleven in Kajang. He apologised for his employees mistakes and the poor quality of his 7-Eleven branches. He promised to fix all the problem I stated in the letter. Now that is what I called quality customer service.

Service

This weekend I will service our 190e and Myvi. Oil change is the most common and frequent service that one will ever do to ones car. The oil or lubricant is the blood of the engine, and when the blood is dirty, we are just steps away of major repairs. So we must follow the service interval that our car recommend. Most people and workshops seemed to be following the cult of changing your oil at every 3000 miles or 5000km. This is the same oil interval when car was invented almost 100 years ago. I would think after all these years, the interval would be a lot longer. However it seems there is a conspiracy among all the workshop when they say, you should always change your oil at 5000km, because its the safest choice. However, I would recommend you check your car manual and see the real service interval. Most modern cars now, need only an oil change every 10,000km, or 6 months, which is double the lies that the workshop tell you (5000km, 3 months). One of the reason for this short oil change interval is the oil that they use. In the old days, mineral oil is used, now days, synthetic or synthetic blend is used. The synthetic oil last much longer than regular mineral oil and much more durable. Engine that uses 100% synthetic oil can run up to 20,000km per change or 2 years. All they need is a top up and oil filter change every 12 months. This depends on the car manual though.

Check their websites if they do show you how you have to pay for each service. Perodua shows a detailed price and parts that they replaced

Now days most car comes with an extended warranty. My Viva has a 6 years warranty, which brings a piece of mind for me because the installment for my car is 7 years. Its important to follow the service interval the manufacturer has set up upon your car in order to keep the warranty intact. Which means I have to line up or set up an almost incovinient appointment with the Service Centre to get my Viva serviced. This can be something of con/lie/extortion to an extent. For example, according to my dad's Accord manual, the car needs to have an oil change every 10,000km or 1 year, however the warranty that Honda Malaysia sets is that the car needs to have an oil change every 3 months or 5000km. Last time I sent the car for servicing I was somehow talked into choosing a fully synthetic oil change. This oil is expensive, it cost about RM 200 ++ per 4 litre bottle, and its going to be drained out after 3 months, 9 months early that it is supposed to be designed. For me its just one way Honda Malaysia to make more money by ensuring people come to their service centers. They have solex proof contract that you will have to service at their centre, using their oil, at their interval in order to keep your warranty void. Having a car is like gambling, sometime you will get a car that will give you no problem, sometimes it will give you hell, which is why we have to follow the interval.

Honda shows you the cost of each service they do. I find it unbelievable that they still performed oil change at every 5000km, they label it as preventive maintenance. I say its extortion, since we are forced to follow this service interval, you can lessen the blow to your wallet by using a semi synthetic oil.

So Hard?

Is it hard to return things that you borrow to where they belong? Is it hard to just ensure whatever you borrow is returned back in a condition where they were borrowed at the first time? Is it hard to return the items that you borrowed before the owners need to use it? Is it hard to ask first? I hate these kind of people. They should replace lab animals so that we can conduct all kind of experiment on them. I mean that would be the only good use to these kind of people. Monday mornings are bad enough, but to be frantically searching for the SMART TAG in the morning, is not a good sight. Stress level high, blood pressure rises, and the liberal usage of profanities is typical on a Monday morning to some but I don’t need extra frustration that is unplanned and easily prevented to be added to my Monday mornings.

SMART TAG is a device where we insert the Touch n Go card in, so that we can use in the SMART TAG lanes. Its those automatic toll paying device, where you don’t have to stop to pay for tolls, but merely slow down till a “beep” is heard to know that you have paid for your toll. Other countries have similar devices that is used for tolls in there highway’s or toll for driving in the city. I live outside of Kuala Lumpur (KL), so most roads that leads into KL is toll based, although there are some toll free roads, the congestion and time it takes, is not worth it. Even my trip to the University cost RM 1 at the toll, I could go into Kajang town and go through 3 traffic lights along with the traffic congestion.

We have 5 SMART TAG devices in our house, because we have 5 cars. This is to prevent from the devices from being transfer from one car to the other car. It’s very stressful to drive a car and then realize when you arrived at the toll booth, the SMART TAG is not in the car, so you had to queue up with the rest of the drivers who are paying cash (the only reason that you need to pay cash now days is because you want to collect the receipt).

It’s so frustrating that even though there is a SMART TAG for each car, sometimes one the car’s will be missing a SMART TAG or a Touch n Go card. Yes, it was missing. Its like WHAT THE F@#K is wrong with you people. WHY THE F#@$ING hell did you have to take it out from my F&#@ING car, when I F&#$ing need it. I don’t borrow your F%$#ing stuff, so don’t borrow my F#@$ing stuff you F##$ing S%$T head.

Mama oh Mama

Life is strange you know, and it gets stranger if you live with your parents. I mean I live with my parents and still live with my parents even though I am 25. The only time I am really "independent" was when I was doing my diploma in Arau and my degree in Shah Alam. Gosh, those were the days, when about 8 months of the year, my parents have no idea what I have been doing or where I have been. That was the life. For my master's, I decided to live at home, because it would be cheaper, and I will get all the comforts of home. Food, fresh laundry, astro, and internet. Life would be great, or would it?

It seems my parents and sister are nick picking at some things I do. For so long they think I am this homely person who has no friends who just stay at home all day. I mean I am, if I was in the semester break, I don't even want to give a care about who else other than my family. However now, I have classes, research and friends to attend to. They think its weird. Going out at night GASP! have friends over to play games HORROR!, got older friends SHOCKING!!, meeting bloggers and facebook friends WTF!!!

Sometime I am over my wits with telling them who, where and why I am going out. I try to tell the stories of my friends, their family, their death, where they come from, their education, the only thing I did not left out is my friends IC.

I mean come on, I am in my 4th semester of my MASTERS..its get so irritating when I have to be investigated on what I do. Its like I am 18 again.. sure I had no life when I was 18.. but now I am enjoying meeting new people with new ideas, different lives and unique life stories. Its so refreshing to mingle with new people, to actually explore KL and know where the roads are.

Sometimes I feel so insulted you know by how my family reacts. I hate the comment my sister said to me "I don't care what you are doing, but you better stop whatever it is you are doing" WTF!! Well at least now I got a good comeback "Well, I think you should follow your own advice too"

My mum? Oh gosh.. where should I start. Yes she is one the most loving person ever, but to the rest of the world she looks very angry. We have those really pointy eye brows that makes us seem to look like we are frowning, and as we age, it gets worse. So basically anyone who comes to our house (friends of mine or my siblings) will get a bit intimidated by my mother. But she is really nice... honest...

The thing I find most irritating is, why does she want to know if my friends are married, engaged or dating?? FOR THE LOVE OF PARASITES!! WHY!!!! Is it really that important? who is married? FYI would married people get to hang out often with singles... come on laaaa.. It makes me cringe to answer that, I don't even ask that question to people.. ARGGH!!

Another personal insult I think my mother unintentionally did is when she asked me, don't you have any female friends?...... huh?... you have to be serious......... ever since I could remember, my best friend has always been a girl. I find hanging out with girls is not intimidating, I find it just normal. I engage in their relationship and such. I understand almost everything about them but something are better left not understood (shoes, bag, other people dirt) I admit I don't have that many guy friends, since I have a few selected one that I hang out frequently. With blog and facebook I get to hang out with really cool, nice and down to earth guys. And my mom got freaked out by it.. Its like who are they, where are they from, how old are they..

Owh yah don't forget marriage question.. I though I would at least get another 3 years before my mother pops up this question. Come on lah.. I don't have the urge to build a nest anytime soon. I was like.. okay.. right.. urmm sure mama.. ape ape jer lah..

Another thing that bugs me more, is when she asked, you are playing PS2 with your older friends, aren't they old to play games.. ARGGH!!! I kept calmed and replied.. "well mama, I guess they only got to buy it when they were older because their parents could not afford it just like we did before"..


Mak, mama, mom, ma, ibu....what to do what to do...I resist teenager urge to get angry and start throwing tantrums (that what my 18 year old brother is doing now because he decided to quit studying and got to vocational school to get a certificate so that he could work and then focus on his band, The Padangs). I decided to tackle the main problems, my mother and my sister head on.

I shall gather all my skills that I gathered from being around women and being around them and use it against then. It worked with my sister and it will work with my mother. This reminds me of a song.

Increase Ticket Price

As I was eating lunch today, I come across an article in a Malay newspaper. The articled stated that Malaysian filmmakers wants the government to raise the ticket price of foreign (namely Hollywood movies) to Rm 20 so that it would encourage locals to watch local movies. WTF!!! We have Suhaimi Baba, Afdlin Shauki and Ahmad Idham agreeing and proposing the idea on that article. May I repeat WTF!!!! Why are they Proton- nizing the local film industries. Proton-nizing is how the government "helped" Proton by taxing out all of it competitors. So people had NO CHOICE but to buy Proton because other cars were tax out to be really expensive. I remember my dads Yellow Mistubishi Lancer in the 80s when I was around 4 or 5. My mom told me he bought the car for RM 20k and sold it at RM 20k, he was able to sell it at RM 20k because Proton just stared to developed so other cars were tax out heavily. So basically the buyer got a bargain for getting the car at a much cheaper price.

Anyways back to the movie, I am very disappointed by these filmmakers and their peers for proposing this idea. I have great respect for Suhaimi Baba and Afdlin Shauki for their movies and I look forward to their movies. I love Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam and Los dan Faun. The directors have like a legion of loyal fans because they make good movies. Yasmin Ahmad movies are something that is worth waiting for, Khabir Batia's movie, Sepi is something I loved. I mean come on, it shows local talent can make great films if they think outside of the box a bit. I HATE Zombin Kampung Pisang, just reading the title irks me already (zombie with flour on their face and could be cure with a vaccine but strangely after being cured they still have flours on their face!!!) Scenario Lang Buana has the worst fighting scene ever!! I see kindergarten with more passion and expression when fighting (imagine using durian to catapult to enemies and praying to the heavens so that on coming arrows and spears wont hit them). Asking for leverage for the government is not good, look what happened to Proton, who once reign as the leader is car sales (mostly due to government intervention) but they lost to another car company with the same government intervention that only sells smalls hatchbacks with displacement under 1.5 litre. They are called Perodua. Only now Proton is slowly clawing back to number one with cars people need (Persona, Saga BLM) instead of cars the former head Tengku Mahaleel thinks we need (Gen2, Juara).

I hope this ruling would not happen, because increasing the ticket price to Rm 20 would only make the pirated DVD sellers happier because people are buying DVDs and our mediocre Broadband Internet connection even slower because people are downloading the movies from the Net and hogging up the connection.

Greener Grass..

I am feeling very pissed off today. I am really angry with just about everything in life right now. I am being very anal with everything now. So many thing to write, to bitch about, but I think I will just list down two.

• You are lucky, you are still a student. Student life is easy, everything is taken care off.

Oooh I absolutely love to dread this statement from those who are working. I am just wondering which level of education are they talking about? Secondary, diploma and degree have pretty much the same concept. Go to class, there is a person in front of you giving you lessons, you do homework and then you take a test. Simple life really and I do agree with that. When else can spend half of your day hanging out with your friends. Maybe these people are saying this type of student life. However, have they tasted post graduate school A.K.A MSc and PhD ? This is radically different from what we are used before. No more cramming 30 in a class, instead you have very small pupils in a class unless the class in combined with Phd, MSc students from many courses. I was the only student in my class in first semester. Can you imagine just you and the professor head on. Something that will permanently etched in my mind. What about homework, well there is none. Lucky? not really, what you do have is plenty of hemorrhaging causing journals to be read, presentations to be done and experiments to be performed. Speaking of experiments, usually they will fail at the first, second, third, fourth and fifth time. So you end up trying and trying it until you get it. Holiday? What holiday? there is no holiday during your post grad studies. There is sneaking out or lying to your advisor but there is no holiday per say. Yes I agree working life is stressful, all the stories I hear from my working friends about their problem with their bosses, clients and colleagues really scare me. Yup I hear all these stories while riding their nice cars, eating with them a really nice restaurants, fooling around with their PDAs and Ipods, and looking at the nice photos they took during their trip to Australia. I be happy if I get to go to another state other than my kampung.

Student life less stressful than working life? Only if you are doing secondary school, diploma or degree. Not MSc or PhD. I think many of those who graduated would resist beating the life out of a person who asked do you want to do your MSc or PhD again....

• You are lucky to be living with your parents. Free food, nice bed, free utilities, freshly wash clothes. That is the good life.

Yah sure everything is nice but you must remember you live with your parents. Unless your parents are hippies and let you roam around as you wish. Its not exactly something you want to do forever. I have strict parents. My mother would freak if we don't return by sundown. My dad says as long as we are his children, whether we are 2, 12, 22, or 42, he will always be right and we would always be wrong. My mother loves to ask about my friends. Who are they, their names, where are they from, what does their parents do for a living. The best question would probably comes after she ask how old they are. If they are 28 and above her next question would be "are they married" if I said no, she would ask "why are they not married yet?".......... I cringe at that question which I don't even asked to people, which I feel is very very personal. So tired of having to deal with all the cars at my house. 5 cars in total, for me to take care off. I can't get my brother to take care of it because my mother feels he is too young to take care of it but she lets him drive it everywhere. Yup the little shit head can get away with murder I bet once he shows his sad puppy face to my mother.

Well all type of torture has to end someday. My master will end soon and I do hope I get a job far far far far away from home. Heck I finally be able to throw a makan2 and invite my friends over for a chance. Just me and my own baggage to take care off..

RM RM RM

Hmm its been 4 days and tomorrow will be the 5th my car is in the shop. So many things need to be repaired.
Servicing the automatic gearbox and replacing the coupling is RM 300
Checking the radiator and replacing parts of it RM 200
Possible problem; fuel relay RM 3000..

Yes you heard me the last part cost RM 3000 if new. Its a fuel relay electronic device that brings fuel to the engine from the tank. I have a headache now thinking about it. I think its about time I stopped driving the Mercedes and just rempit like any normal student would. I even went and applied for the sticker for my motorcycle. This sucks... Its time to look for a car...

Saturday Morning

Yes a Saturday morning, finally. I was looking forward for this particular Saturday, but alas, planned changes and I got to bite the dust. However no matter, what is done is done, I cannot do anything about it when I have no control of it, so I am looking forward for a relaxing Saturday. As luck would have it, a relaxing Saturday was not possible. I had a rude awakening by my psychotic sister because she wanted her DVD game (she was a damn fool thinking CD and DVD is the same thing). My room was a mess so I could not get it for her and she end up getting pissed off. You want to get piss of at me on a Saturday morning when I am supposed to sleep longer, I could just swear at her till she broke down and crying but I rather not. Blah sama dia..

Anyways, what to do, what to do. Today I had to visit the lab to check on my mice, my infected mice are still alive and kicking so cannot mess with that. However the cages were filthy and there have been so many mice dying (at least the mice buried their kind) also some the mice got into fights, some of them are mutilated. Also some gave birth, or got pregnant already. So its time to group them according to sex, age, and health.

Tomorrow I will have to come again and conduct a wedding ceremony for the mice because I am running low on mice so I need to conduct a wedding ceremony for the mice. If I am just lazy I will just conduct a sex orgy for them, so they can have blast with orgies (group sex). This is important because I swear I saw some male mice humping each other with the male mice below (I am guessing this one is the "wife") were screaming. It was such a weird sight, I saw my two hamster fighting with the female hamster beating the crap out of the male hamster and now gay rodents.

What does this all mean? I means I have been spending way to much time with rodents that I could witness this human like characteristic.

Family Matters

Quote given from my sister over a plate of leftover char kuey tow that my dad made.

"I know you are doing something you are not supposed to do, so please stop doing whatever it is you are not supposed to do, I have a hunch that you are doing something you are not supposed to do, so please stop it"

Huh?

What did I do?

Is becoming a normal human being for a change wrong?

Is it wrong to hang out with friends outside of my circle?

Is it wrong to meet new people and exchange new views in life?

Is it wrong to stay out late a couple of days a week, lets say, 1am for a 24 year old male?

My sister gave me this weird speech, while my mom gave me that deep piercing look as if they are trying to dig something out of me. I mean why can't just they tell me I am doing something wrong instead of making me confess something I did not do. Are they working part time for the FBI? I thought this phase of them being worried is over and done since I followed a general guideline which is

1. Stay out late as you want, but always return home

2. Don't go out every day of the week.

I followed both rules and still they gave me that look and question as if I am doing something wrong. If I do tell them everything, they say I am a chatterbox, if I don't it will be as if I am hiding something. This is just one of the problems when living with family. I really have to get to the bottom of this sudden suspicious and paranoia of them.

Not so Smart.

Toll and my life could not be separated, if I need to go anywhere farther than Balakong or The Mines or Putrajaya I would have to pay toll. The car I am using now was brought back from the US when my dad did his degree there about 11 years ago. So the car is left hand drive, which means parking and paying at the toll booth is very bothersome. I had to shift to P, unbuckle my seat belt, roll down the right window all the way, almost crawl to the right passenger seat and strecthed to pay toll or parking. Luckly there is this device called the Smart Tag, which really is a Touch and Go holder with built in sensors so that when you pass the Smart Tag lane, you just have to slow down instead of stopping and paying. This proved to be a lifesaver for my car because no longer I have to reach out to the grinning toll attendant. However this pass week the Toll plaza that I regularly pass each day has problems with the Smart Tag lane, so for the pass few days I have been doing regular strecthes in the car. Not fun okay...

Why? Why? Why? must you be out of service :(

Huhuhu... I wanted to take pictures of me doing my daily morning yoga in the car but there was many people behind me. Hate paying cash and having to wait my turn, with Smart Tag, its just a drive away...

Sick again

NOOO!!!!!

Again.. I thought I felt something bad is coming up, when I started coughing again. and it came through in the form of a very stuffy nose and infective mucus. Sigh... I guess my dad who just got back from Sudan also contributed to this latest sickness. That old timer smokes like two a packs a day. The house reeks of cigarette smoke. I want out of the house, I want fresh air......
Even after a clogged nicotine filled artery, damn old fool still smokes. The house smells like an ashtray..

Sure I could just say to him to stop smoking and all the ill health benefits, but that is like asking for an early grave. Whether I am 5, 25, or 55 he will always be right and his children will always be wrong..l

Bummer...

The cat video cheered me up just a little. I still went to bed feeling like crap and woke up feeling like shit. Although smelling very nice with the perfume my sister bought me at her small french boutique. I hate people who break their promises, maybe its life's way to teach me how my professors feel when I did not deliver the literature review and the genomic DNA profile after they asked me repeatedly. Maybe its stings a little bit more, coming from someone you care you much. I think its my fault because I took their words to seriously, its like each word that comes out of that person's mouth is a promise for me......

HOW NAIVE!!!!!!!!

I just make like the easiest target to get played with you know, so easy to trust people, so eager to like people, that I have forgotten about my self. Its true I do not have much experienced with people and relationships. I mean before only people I met in school I would considered as friends, but after school is over or there is a break, automatically they disappear. At 25 only, I could meet people outside my working or comfort zone. Only now I get to learn to read people. My sister was stabbed in the back so many times at school by her so called female friends, she has like this ultra sensitive bitch sense. She will take like 2 hours to just observed my female companion and she will conclude "I don't like her, she is a bitch". Which is true by the way, because that particular companion was a total bitch to my classmate.

Oh crap... do I have to learn the hard way... getting lied, cheated, hurt... again and again... is there any thing in a bottle I could take to learn faster about this. I could finish my PhD and still don't have a clue in reading people....

Wait.. now that makes a good thesis.. a research on making a drug that allows us to be more alert and determined other people's behaviour.....

Hmmmmmmmm.....

Bored

This room gets boring now.. seriously.. so mundane.

Every three days must collect these mice and kill the ones I have infected with T. gondii. These mice are going to die any moment any way. Yes any moment due to the amount of parasites already in them. Killing them used to be exciting, now its just a job. I think I am the second person who is maitaining the parasite in live mice, while other labs either don't have it or kept it frozen in liquid nitrogen.

She is not relaxing, she is sleeping forever, in this large beaker with ether.


These are the utinized mice that will be stored in the freezer.

And then there were 3...

I like my profile, profile as in the side view of your face. What? you guys don't watch American Next Top Model religiously???

How dare you....

How dare you..

Telling me how to be a man, by observing how other men act. Last time I checked, you have binti in your IC and your IC ends in even numbers. I am pretty sure you don't have a penis and testicle and those breast do look authentic. What gives you the right to show me what a man is supposed to act? Are you saying "do as I say, not as I do" or "ketam mengajar anaknya berjalan lurus"

How dare you..

To say that only women are entitled to exaggerated and lose control. Sorry but I know more about your menstrual cycle than you do, just because your hormones is not balanced, and you have PMS, that you are entitled to a free card to get angry whenever you want. However when its my turn to get exaggerate and lose control for a while you called me being a woman. So much for equality among gender.

You know what.... I am the wrong guy for you to pick a fight, I know your gender so well, I know your advantages and disadvantages. I know where is your soft spot so that I can concentrate on that area. No needs for fist and weapons, all the weapon I need is my brain and my toungue. I am a Sagittarius and like my zodiac, my bow and arrows are just my words and we can hit you at your most vulnerable spot without hardly trying.



You are messing with the wrong guy my dear........

Rear view mirror

Rear view mirror aku patahlah. Dah dekat 17 thn keta tu, bits and pieced of the car dah mula tercabut. ni nak gi kedai sparepart nak tgk ade ke tidak.. nanti aku letak bagi korang tgk bertapa sedihnya cermin pandang belakang tu