On a new adventure..

So I’m typing this on a plane en route to Taiwan. Air Asia’s Premium Economy class is fantastic by the way. I don’t think I can ever go back to bog-standard Economy ever again. I’ll write about how awesome it was in a separate post complete with pictures. It’s freaking ace!

I had mixed feelings about this trip and still do actually. For one, I’m not sure how well I’d be able to cope travelling and staying alone in a non-English primary speaking country. During the UK trip the last time, I went over with some friends and I knew of others who were studying there as well so it was a little easier to adapt away from home. This time, I’ll be heading there without knowing a single person in the entire bloody country. Fuck me..

However, I’ve talked myself into doing this as a character building exercise. I know it’s hardly Zimbabwe that I’m going to but I think it will be a very enriching experience if I focus on the positives. Besides, there’s some serious work to be done when I’m there so there should be ample distractions.

Socializing is going to be interesting. I’m very comfortable socializing in English but not so much in Mandarin, much less Taiwanese Mandarin. I have no idea how outgoing or friendly the people there will be like or if I’ll have much time for a social life. I promised myself I’ll make time during the weekends though but I can foresee some lonely meals for the first week at least.

Still, this research attachment should provide for plenty of interesting anecdotes later in life and really, staying in an Eastern country for an extended period of time is definitely a sort of stepping-into-the-unknown thing for me. I know of at least 2 people from work who genuinely would like to swap places with me and would do so without a moment’s hesitation so I think I should definitely extract the best out of the situation.

Besides, when I take a step back and look at it, how wimpy does it sound for a full grown adult (I am one, right?) to be all nervous and scared about a relatively short 4 month stay in a pretty developed country (not so sure about the place I’ll be at, though)

All the new customs, culture and culinary experience to be had. This should be a good one. To an enjoyable and fruitful stay ahead!! *clinks wine glass*


P/S: I’m not asking for much. Just give me a single room and my own bathroom and I’ll be bloody overjoyed!

Upon reading my past few posts..

… I realize that the this blog is getting too critical of things, like I’m all perfect and everyone’s rubbish. I am not, in fact I practise self-deprecation so much in real life it’s unhealthy. Anyway, here’s a cute picture to lighten the mood:

Ego-boosting via criticism

It may not be true at all but I’ve come to a conclusion lately that most people, I’d give it an arbitrary 95%, think they’re on a higher intellectual level than the average crowd, including myself. I’m not saying that they think they’re smarter than everyone else; that’s a different kind of delusion altogether; just that they think they’re smarter than most people, the average Joes.


It’s easy to come to this conclusion as it would explain a lot about why people criticize everything all the time; often about things that they don’t fully understand. I’m sure you hear people ranting about things everywhere: the fuel subsidies cut, the raise in taxes, the standard of education in Malaysia etc, football tactics, price of goods and the choices other people make.


The latter is particularly annoying for me because the tone in the criticism says they think they know better, that anybody doing anything contrary to what they perceive is right is an idiot. Now it’s perfectly fine if whatever the critic says makes sense or contributes towards a proper debate but if it doesn’t, then he/she comes off as a massive twat. I have to stress that this is directed towards people who use a self-righteous tone when talking. The “I don’t understand why…… Stupid or what?” tone.


There are many examples but I’ll give a mild one.

Critic: “I don’t understand why people queue up for hours to get an iPhone. Can’t you just wait a few days more and just stroll into a shop to get one.” /self-righteous

.. and then you have people agreeing and sneering away. I’ve witnessed this scene on more than a couple of occasions but there’s a personal satisfaction in refuting this one because I did queue for hours (4 to be exact) on the first day to obtain one (not for me). Probably why I took offence to this particular statement.The simple reasons are early-bird promotions and scarcity in stocks.

There was a free RM89 case and a RM100 rebate for anyone who got it on that particular day. If that wasn’t a good enough incentive, there are also massive shortages in stock throughout the country with Digi adopting a rationing system; selling only 20 units a day per store or something. There is also a scarcity in the total available stock. There are people reporting that the wait is 2 months at certain areas for the new batch to arrive.

So by spending approximately 4 hours to wait on the first day; the bulk of which was spent at a Mcdonald’s reading after getting a queue number, I saved myself the time and hassle of running from store to store trying to locate a place that sells one and I got a nice little RM189 rebate. That’s the reason why people queue for hours on the first day. Because unless you’re lucky or have connections, you *cannot* stroll into a store a few days later to get one. Well, that and they have mad gadget lust.

This particular anecdote, besides getting it off my chest, highlights why when you don’t understand what you’re talking about, it’s better to ditch the self-righteous tone instead of being an empty vessel to seem intelligent. If the subject matter seemed laughably trivial to you, then another example would be the criticism of the government over the cutting of fuel subsidies, and criticizing is a mild way of putting it.


Now this subject matter is particularly tricky. Malaysia, after all, is a net exporter of oil. One side argues that the oil reserves will eventually run out and the subsidies are a huge drain on our resources, the other argues that new drilling sites will always be found and that as a net exporter, fuel should be made cheaper to the people who are already being taxed heavily on vehicles and sold a lower grade of fuel.



Now I don’t claim to be an expert of the matter and I personally feel that the subsidy cut should be done but gradually in small amounts so that an efficient public transport offering a suitable transportation alternative can be put in place. I may be wrong and may be missing out a few points worthy of consideration but the fact that there are so many sides to this argument means it warrants more than a simple “Stupid government, useless, always raise fuel prices, absolutely corrupt”.



This used to bother me when it came to football-related chatter but these days, I don’t care about it much anymore. As for other matters, I try not bother to correct the ignorantly loud nowadays. After all, a wise man once said don’t argue with fools, because people from a distance don’t know who is who.

Literary Cliche/Faux Pas

Now I have to admit that I’m no writing genius myself but it grates on me whenever I see any of the following being used; worse still if it’s used wrongly. Maybe, I am being a pedant and there are probably instances of literary cliche here that would annoy some other reader but it’s bothered me too many times for me to keep it in.

Off the top of my head (hmm is this a cliche? It probably is), the list of phrases that I’ve seen used/misused too many times:


1) "Just my 2 cents”. I’ve seen this phrase used to the point of tedium in local online forums and comment sections and it’s usually followed by a smiley doing a peace sign. Every time I see someone use it, it’s like having the phrase morph into a hand, extend itself from my laptop screen and slap me in the face.


Why does it annoy me? I’ve been trying to pin-point the reason and I’ll just put it down to the regularity with which it’s used. It’s the “it’s no rocket science” effect. It seems like people think it “smartens up” the post or as if the 4 words will magically quell any tension caused by his/her preceding post.


“Yeah, I think the Mac is a brilliant machine but the amount of software that is coded for Windows just makes it the more sensible choice especially with the introduction of Windows 7. Just my 2 cents” Why the fuck use it? To me, it’s like writing a sensible post and then scribbling all over it with a marker pen. I have and always will disregard any post which ends with Just. My. Fucking. 2. Cents. Yeah take your change and fuck off, yeah?


2) “Literally”. I think there really is no more going back on this one. It’s a lost cause. People on Facebook do it, I’ve seen blog posts with this mistake and the media does it. Heck, if even the media does it, what hope do these copy and paste fucktards have? I don’t mean you can’t use the word at all but please use it right. People seem to think that “literally” is a word-for-word replacement for “really”.


Here’s a hint for you:

lit·er·al·ly –adverb

1. in the literal or strict sense: What does the word meanliterally?

2. in a literal manner; word for word: to translate literally.

3. actually; without exaggeration or inaccuracy: The city wasliterally destroyed.

4. in effect; in substance; very nearly; virtually.

IT’S NOT!!


So you can’t literally die for someone (well, actually you can, but you weren’t going to), literally explode with happiness, go literally out of your mind or one that I hope to see actually, literally go head over heels.


Unfortunately, this is one abuse I don’t see going away anytime soon, which is literally annoying the shit out of me. Okay, not really.


3) “Random”. I’ll keep this one short. IF IT’S PRE-PLANNED AND DID NOT OCCUR PURELY BY CHANCE, THEN IT’S NOT FUCKING RANDOM! Moving on..


4) “.. however, your argument has a fatal/serious flaw in it//your argument is fatally flawed”


Not quite a cliche yet, but this one’s beginning to piss me off too; yes, I’m a very angry person. So why does this phrase vex me? Well, it’s because the use of this just smacks of smug pompousness. It’s like the person using this thinks he’s fucking Sherlock Holmes or something. It usually starts off with the person agreeing with the post.

”Yes, I agree that the Mac is free of viruses and is generally very user-friendly. iLife which comes free with OSX is a great productivity suite as well and on the whole, the build quality of Macs are indeed impressive.”

Oh cool, so we’re all agreed then. Cheerio. But oh wait, hang on, there’s a mother fucking reveal.

“However, there’s a fatal flaw in your argument.”

Look at him, like he’s from Scooby Doo revealing the masked criminal’s plot to the police officers.

”Macs are only free of viruses because of their incredibly small user base. Cyber criminals will always prefer to spend time and effort coding for something that 90% (pulled-out-of-ass-stat) of the world is using. This coupled with the brilliance that is Windows 7 and the number of programs that are compatible with Microsoft’s OS and suddenly, the Mac becomes a lot less appealing.”

There, who’s the smart one now? He can almost hear the original poster going “..and I would have got away with that one if it wasn’t for you meddling kids!” Just argue your point for fuck’s sake, what’s with The Pledge, The Turn and The Prestige? It’s unnecessary and you come across as a bit of a twat.


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I’m sure there are more but I can’t think of any right now. I’ll be back with more once they decide to show up again in my head. If I sound like a very angry person in the post, I have to stress that yes, I do indeed feel that strongly against the above.

Also, checking the number of blog posts/year at the sidebar, I noticed that I usually do most of my postings towards the end of the year. Interesting stat. Shall investigate further.

Schadenfreude..

.. for me is exclusively reserved for people that I dislike. I know it’s a pretty obvious statement but trust me, not everyone shares the same sentiment. There may be some slight envy at times towards friends or acquaintances but I’d never derive pleasure from watching them fail. I have however on many occassions enjoyed very much observing the misery suffered by people or public figures that I have no love for.

Which is strange why recently, I actually felt true sympathy when I heard some bad news involving someone who had always annoyed the fuck out of me. What exactly is the point of this post? Oh nothing, I guess I’m just reflecting on the goodness of my heart.

Yeah, not much else to add. Move along now.

My Moleskine notebook review..

The popularity of Moleskine notebooks has always been peculiar to me. Who on earth would pay so much for a notebook you can more or less purchase for a tenth of its price? Chee Weng said you have to write on it to understand its greatness so seeing as bookdespository.co.uk had a 10% discount off all its items, I decided to take a plunge and buy the small ruled notebook.


A week later, I think I can recommend it as a good purchase for those in a habit of taking notes. It’s still a big ask to persuade someone who’s value-conscious about its merits but I think I’ll take a stab. First off, opening the wrapping and holding it, you’ll realize that it’s a really well-made notebook. I love how unassuming and understated it is, almost a beauty in simplicity kind of thing. It looks really professional as well.

The binding, the materials used and the build quality feels really solid and durable. The binding is such that you can open it flat. Every notebook, regardless of size or layout, comes standard with a ribbon bookmark, an expandable pocket and an elastic band to keep the notebook closed.

Chee Weng was raving about the paper and after writing on it, to be honest, I don’t really feel a significant difference. I definitely feel that writing on it is much smoother and it absorbs ink really well but this may be down to the placebo effect of dropping US$9 on a fucking notebook.

As purchases go, however, I’d give it a solid 8/10. I use it as a log book and everyday, I look forward to filling its pages; recording my thoughts and results in it. It’s great to read back on it when I need to and find everything there. Could I have done it on a regular notebook? Of course; but there’s something intangible about the Moleskine notebook that makes you just want to write in it. Like Chee Weng deduced, it’s probably down to its build and paper quality.

Of course, there’s also the supposed legacy of the notebook; it’s marketed as the book that Hemingway, van Gogh and Chatwin used to write in. A quick wiki search has found it to be nothing more than a marketing angle: they used the same type of book but it’s not the same brand. Nevertheless, I never bought the book for the glamour anyway; I mean, the book design hardly screams “look at me!”

So, if you’re asking if it’s a worthwhile purchase, my conclusion would be: if you have something you feel you’ll record on a daily basis or if you want to use it as a journal or organizer for work, then why not? There’s a premium to pay, sure, but I don’t think you’ll regret the purchase too much. It’s hard to justify the price to curious minds but screw what they think. Moleskine notebooks. Awesome.

Testing..

 

edit to add: Picture upload’s good. Windows Live Writer 2011’s awesome! Brb kthx..

Good Purchases

I have had to face this fact over the years. I never make good purchases. I make okay purchases every now and then but most of the time, I almost always over-pay for something or make the wrong purchase.

There have been notable exceptions however. Here is my shortlist of bang for buck, 100% satisfied purchases that I’ve made over the years:

1) My HP Pavillion Dv3. I paid for this through a 12 month instalment scheme and I just absolutely adore this laptop. I have terrible luck with computers and they have a wonderful way of fucking with me at the wrong moments.

I got this beauty for a great price, however (well, back then anyway). RM2849 for a 2.0ghz Core 2 Duo with 4GB RAM and a dedicated graphics card. Oh, and 3 years warranty! Let’s see you try to break down now. The 3 years warranty’s crucial to its resale value but right now I don’t plan to let this go any time soon.

Has a Lightscribe cd burner for you to burn images directly onto CD’s and has all the bells and whistles that a Macbook doesn’t: card reader etc.

Single-handedly destroyed my chronic desire to get a Macbook. Top, top purchase.


2) My Casio F-91W digital watch. Google it for the image; I really can’t be arsed to post a picture. I love this watch: no-frills, gives the time, backlight for dark conditions, light, water-proof and I don’t have to take care of it like a baby. There’s also the retro factor involved.

Keeps the Tissot and Seiko gathering dust on the shelf. Excellent purchase.


3) Nintendo DS. I don’t play it as often as I would like but it’s excellent for those times when I’m away on a long, boring trip and I don’t have the internet. Great for killing time and has some excellent games.

For RM550. Awesome purchase.


4) iPhone. Let’s put it this way. Since its purchase in early 2008, I haven’t had the undying desire to change phones like I did before this.

For RM1400. Wank-tastic purchase.


And that’s it. Yes, I’m horrible when it comes to looking for value.


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”When you’re closer to graduating, if you’re interested, you can send me your resume and I’ll see what I can do.”

That coupled with a snippet about BCG looking to expand in healthcare (sort of related to my field of research) and my motivation levels have soared through the roof. It’s not much, it’s no job guarantee, heck it, it’s not even an interview guarantee, but I’ll take that sliver of hope and run with it.

When you’re pursuing a doctorate, you’ll cling onto any source of motivation like a sex-starved dog humping a bitch.

Okay, that’s a pretty disturbing simile. Till next time then.

You know that sinking feeling..

.. when you realize just how far off your objectives you really are?

No? Well yeah, I’m kinda in that zone right now. Want to get the experiments up and running again asap but there are shit loads of papers to mark this term. Add to the fact that the experimental results haven’t been encouraging and the long term goal of the project seems so distant from the current work and yeah, things are looking pretty messy at the moment..


Then, there’s the small matter of not knowing how the feedback on the progress report is going to be and a looming conference paper submission deadline for which I don’t have a suitable title for.


Mid-doctorate traumatic stress. Bollocks…

Testing to see if..

.. I am now able to upload pictures in my post straight off Windows Live Writer..

Edit to add: It appears I can! Awesome..

So I’ll check the weather wherever you are..

… cause I wanna know if you can see the stars tonight =)

The Best Laid Plans..

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What an awesome Saturday.


Gavin's staying over in KL for the weekend instead of going back to Melaka like he usually does so I joined him and Edwin for dim sum breakfast at this new place I haven't tried. Food's pretty good but I still think Damansara Jaya's a tad better.


Futsal was cancelled unfortunately, but Nick texted asking about poker with some new friends at some unknown place. Semi-serious apparently, RM20 buy-in with RM1/RM2 blinds, an order of magnitude higher than what we usually play with. It would be fun to play with some serious players for a change, I thought, so I agreed to go.


About around 2.30pm though, I got a surprise phone call from Grace, who was back from the US but was going to leave on Wednesday. She said she was meeting Kenneth at Uptown Pappa Rich and asked if I wanted to join. I haven't seen her in ages and there was so much to catch up on so even though it was such short notice, I texted Nick saying I would be late for poker and headed over to Uptown for a bit.


After the catch-up session, I went over for poker, won (or lost, I dunno) a bit and all in all, had a pretty decent Saturday afternoon....

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Except I DIDN'T do any of the above! Had to say no because I had to go back to the campus to finish up on some lab work and when Grace called, I was already 5 minutes away from the campus so yeah, that was that.


What an awesome Saturday. Pffft...

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Clamshell Packaging..

I hate these things with a passion. Sure, they help the retailers from having their small, expensive items shoplifted but they’re a bitch to open! A pair of scissors is a must as you can’t rip them open with your bare hands. (huge props if you can, though)

Reason for the sudden outburst: I just cut my finger from the sharp edges while opening one. It’s no big deal at all but it’s the tipping point from all the frustration borne from opening these little bastards over the years. Why can’t they just put it in a nice little cardboard box for you to open up elegantly?

Pffft..


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The biggest time-waster in research has to be looking for all the experiment apparatus needed. Take today for instance: wasted a whole day looking for a buchner flask, cork and tube; delaying the filtering process by a day, which in turn, delayed the titration process. I envy the pharmacy lab a lot. They have all the equipment they need and never have to go around scrounging for a lousy beaker or spatula.

Oh right, and one of the stoppers for the flask mysteriously disappeared so I decided to just nick one from the cabinet where the technician took it from earlier to pass to me. So I was rummaging through the cabinet when Yi Jing, one of my colleagues crept up (well, either she crept up or she has a really silent walk) and jokingly asked: “Oi, stealing stuff ar?” There really isn’t a more sinking feeling than being caught in the act but of course, I played it off as cool as I can with a “Haha, no la, yeahh…” before switching topics. Smooth..

Speaking of buchner flasks, the one that was usually connected to the vacuum pump was missing the other day. Ee Von who was there at the time, offered to borrow me one of hers after seeing how lost I was (presumably).

So anyway, there’s this sort of stopper that I needed to seal the flask with and she wanted to ask what size it was. She asked, very elegantly, thus:

EV: “How big is your cork?”

CM: “Well, it’s… *pause* You know what, that sounded really wrong..”

EV: “ *pause* *laughs* Yeah, it does! "


Apparently, only “dirty-minded” people will think of that. Hmm..

A couple of days later, I was guilty of another accidental sexual euphemism. I wanted to ask Seow Yen, the bane of my existence when it comes to iPhone gaming (Clue: She always has a higher score. Always.), if she’s tried this game that was similar to Bejeweled. I asked, quite unassumingly, thus:


CM: “So have you played Trism before?”

Yen: “…….”

CM: (/facepalm)


Yeah, reaal classy…

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I wanted to end this post with a cryptic rant initially but strangely, I don’t feel like it anymore. Hmm, wonder what happened during the 5 minutes I took to cobble this toge… oh wait, nope, it’s still there.

I wish people would stop insulting my intelligence sometimes. It’s very annoying. There, how’s that for cryptic?

Perception of new-ness..

So I got this John Mayer album yesterday which I was convinced just came out as I haven't seen it in stores prior to this. There’s this certain excitement of knowing you’re listening to something new, possibly ahead of everyone else.

Well, a quick check in Wikipedia put a damper to that. Release date: November 2009.

Still wasn’t the worst case I’ve experienced, though. A conversation with Sarah a couple of weeks back:


CM: hey mun
Sarah: heys meng
CM: I have in my hands the new killers’ album! =D
Sarah: day and age?
CM: day & age, yeah
CM: I like it better than hot fuss somehow
Sarah: ah, i see haha, made me so excited for nothing
CM: well, it’s new to me!
Sarah: hehe


Well, I knew the album wasn’t as new as I thought but I had no idea. A quick check in Wikipedia revealed:

Release date: November 2008

Finger. On. The. Pulse.


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I also signed up for the UNICEF monthly contribution thing. Ooh, look at me, I do charity work. Nah, this isn’t about that. What I want to talk about is the fundraiser manning the booth who was a ridiculously enthusiastic hard-sell.

Among the things he said that pissed me off a little was when he used the break down to daily cost thing.

“RM 1.26 per day only. I bet that *points to my boost juice drink <which is awesome btw>* costs more than RM 1.26, right?*

Of course I realize he’s trying to put the costs in perspective but the problem I had with it was that he was putting you in a spot. It’s rude. If he compared the costs to a general glass of teh tarik, he would be saying: “The daily cost is RM1.26 which is about the cost of a teh tarik; not a lot as you can see”

When he makes a reference to something I’ve bought however, it gets a bit more personal. It’s saying “What, you can spend so much on that particular drink but you can’t contribute to our charity?”

He hardly ever touched on what is it UNICEF actually does with my money or how much of the RM38/month I’m paying is going to trickle down to the children, just about how easy it was to contribute and how little the amount was. When you strip it down, he’s getting people to sign up more through guilt than the understanding that they’re doing something meaningful.

Maybe that’s the whole idea but I just found it very off-putting. I’ve been wanting to sign up for this for a while now even before he approached me however, so I was going for it regardless of what he did or didn’t say which was kind of bad because I was validating his cheese-ball fishing tactics.

Things I dislike during a haircut..

1) Awkward conversations with the shampoo girls. With this, it really doesn’t matter how hot they are. I realized the conversations were pointless after the first 3 visits. Well, not to say there had to be a “point” (ie getting her number and getting laid), just that it annoys me to have to answer the same set of questions every time I visit the salon.

For some quirky reason, the hairstylist remembers what I said the previous visit but not the shampoo girls. So, every time it’s the same thing:

a) So, are you still studying?

b) Oh, where do you study/work?

c) Is this your first time here?

d) Do you live around here?

So these days, I just dive straight for the magazine, be engrossed in whatever I’m reading and meet any questions with one-worded replies.



2) Weak neck/scalp massages. I remember very distinctly 2 years ago when this shampoo girl gave me a neck massage that felt like it would never end. It wasn’t really a massage, more like a half-hearted caress or something. I mean, I don’t hate it but it just felt weird, plus if you’re gonna get shampoo lather on my neck, please make it count.


3) Weak neck/scalp massages from shampoo guys. Yeah, what I just said but add a very significant amount of awkward. It happened last month, lasted about 10 minutes and I actually got up when he was dispensing the extra shampoo lather in the sink (he still wasn’t done yet?! what?!) and pretended I thought it was over.

Awkward.


4) The styling that they do for you after the haircut. Usually after a haircut, the stylist will do your hair up for you with wax or whatever but they usually do it in a particularly funky manner that they think looks good but you find weird: the Dragonball hair tousle. And because they don’t put enough wax on it or whatever, it remains standing for about 5 seconds after you leave the salon and you’re left with a flat hair and about 5-10 strands standing, which if you can imagine, looks very stupid.

These days, I’d just say it’s alright because I’d wash it off when I get home anyway. And they happily oblige because they save on time and hair products.




Other than these occasional peeves though, Thomas & Guys SS2: awesome place.




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I remember doing a post a few months back about sending 6 year old me a letter to warn him of future happenings, and wondering how cool it would be. Well, a reverse of it actually happened, sort of, if I stretch it a bit.

In my Windows Live Writer, there’s a draft folder and there are posts in there which I never published either because a) I lost interest in the topic halfway through or b) I didn’t want someone I didn’t want reading the post to be, well, reading the post, and though I tried to make it cryptic for the sake of ranting, it felt pointless in the end so I stopped.

Anyway, in a convoluted and probably inaccurate way of looking at it, in that drafts folder, January CM did send March CM a letter with a very specific set of instructions and the consequences if they were ignored. I guess it can be deduced by the very fact that this post is here that March CM ignored them.

Well, sorry January CM, turns out you were right after all (wrong about the 10 other things you said in the past though) and I really should have known better. I do now. Yes, I realize the post is cryptic, contradicting what I said 2 paragraphs ago but I wanna vent and it feels kinda relieving. Hmm, maybe I should consider publishing all the posts sitting in the drafts folder. *takes a look at posts in there* Okay, maybe not..