"Awas, bonggol di hadapan."
'Nuff said!
PS: Ok, so this blog might not make sense to everyone but I swear, the moment this divine phrase was uttered, it was as if time stood still, the wind stopped blowing, the birds stopped chirping and the Niagara Falls stopped frothing. Then me and Anand laughed...hard...very very hard! =)
Do I really talk Malay like a foreigner? If I do, man...that's so sad...
I mean c'mon! My vocabulary in Malay language is excellent! Ok, so I don't have any Malay accent but whaddya expect from someone who's born in PJ and lived in KL/PJ area for pretty much his entire life? I can't really have a Kelantanese accent now, can I? ;)
On the other hand, when I speak English people think I'm a native English speaker. I get a lot of "Hey, you're English is pretty good!" statements from people.
Of course, the puffing up of my ego is tempered by the fact that I apparently speak Malay in a funny (as in weird, not haha) way. Sigh...
...about a joke I just HAD to share. ;)
We've all heard about people having guts or balls. But do you really know the difference between them? In an effort to keep you informed, the definition for each is listed below...
GUTS - Is arriving home late after a night out with the guys, being met by your wife with a broom, and having the guts to ask: "Are you still cleaning, or are you flying somewhere?"
BALLS - Is coming home late after a night out with the guys, smelling of perfume and beer, lipstick on your collar, slapping your wife on the butt and having the balls to say: "You're next."
I hope this clears up any confusion on the definitions.
Medically speaking, there is no difference in the outcome, since both ultimately result in premature death.
:D
Argh...there goes my weekend, all THREE days of it.
On Friday, I left work at exactly 5 pm. Heh, I was looking forward to the 3 day weekend and couldn't wait for it to start! I arrived at gym at about 7 pm and was happily jogging when I got a phone call from my manager.
"Amir, what are you doing tomorrow? We need you to attend a technical meeting with customer. It should be between 2 pm to 5 pm only. See if you can find out what's causing the problem."
2 pm to 5 pm? It didn't sound so bad. Even though it's a Saturday, the problem seems like an interesting challenge so why not? Did some preparation, played FM2007 to relax and had a good sleep. Next day afternoon, I went for the meeting. To keep a long story short (and also avoid giving confidential information!), meeting was from 2 pm all the way to 8.30 pm. So much for a short one. After all the discussion, we've arrived at an action-plan which involves me working from Monday night entering Tuesday morning. To make things more interesting, I then have a meeting (on a completely different issue) back in office at 10 am Tuesday. Heh, no rest for the wicked! Hmm...maybe I can claim emergency allowance...
So, Saturday technical meeting, Sunday emails and planning, Monday night work. Oh, and Tuesday morning meeting and Tueday afternoon more backbone fun! While I love my work (it's challenging and never boring!), it does get tiring. As soon as I'm done with my current project, I'm looking for a nice break next year. Maybe go to some beach or something and enjoy the seaside. Then again, if there's something interesting on, maybe I'll postpone my vacation and work some more. ;)
Hmm...looking back, I've been doing a lot of stuff this past year. I've done implementation and integration on SGSN, GGSN, Juniper routers, Extreme switches, Funk RADIUS servers, Bind DNS servers, Netscreen firewalls and SUN Solaris servers. I've also done backbone integration with VAS nodes such as SMS, MMS, WAP, Video Gateway and Video Mail. Beyond that I've done a large number of network trace analysis on Sigtran traffic for Video Gateway (H.323 and Megaco protocols mainly). All in all, I'd say it was a rather productive year. I'm looking forward to what next year will bring. :)
PS: Warning, bragging ahead! Did you know that I set up the first GGSN in the Ericsson world that handled HSDPA in a commercial network? I did that last year in Philippines. :D
This guy rocks! I'm definitely buying his album once its out.
Channel[V] had a party at Zouk on Thursday night, with the main attraction being Ryan Star's performance. I was so excited about it, I even took the next day off from work! :D
The performance was amazing. Ryan Star sings with intensity other musicians rarely exhibit. Ok, the performance was occasionally marred by technical issues. Not sure how that managed to happen though. I'd think professionals do sound tests for this sort of performance. Anyway, despite those setbacks, I'd say the performance was a success. Beautiful music, wonderful vocals and amazing intensity! Too bad it was only for about 40 minutes or so. But man, it was 40 minutes of pure musical inspiration!
If he comes to KL to promote his album, I'm gonna get him to sign my cd!
Oh damn...what a party! I got completely wasted! Can't do this too often though or I'd die of kidney failure. Heh!
I have to say, the night was a blur to me. Let's see...what do I remember?
- Oh, my name was Sanjay since that's the only way for me to get the free Guinness stout.
- May Li makes a better Muslim than me. She drank Sprite and water only.
- Julie got high faster than me, though I'm pretty sure I got more wasted than her.
- Some of Anand's colleagues came by. The chicks were pretty hawt! :P
- Laundry Bar suddenly stopped serving. Not quite sure why but that was my cue to leave the place and head to the hotel Ee-Lyn was staying for the night. I was already a bit high but I wanted more booze...
- Had more booze and talked a lot of crap in the hotel room. Aaron and Ee-Lyn were perfect hosts. Ee-Lyn got wasted. Julie wanted to see guys kiss each other (there is no amount of booze that will *ever* make me do that, my dear). Me and the toilet bowl became intimately acquainted.
- Slept over at the hotel room. Reached home about 9.30 am I think. Massive hangover...
Man...what a night!
Oh yeah, when enjoying nights like this, remember:
1. Never drink and drive.
2. Friends don't let friends drive home drunk.
3. Getting drunk with friends is fostering bonds of friendship (a very important part of Islam!). Getting drunk alone is just sad and could turn you into an alcoholic so don't do that.
PS: Yes, I'm fully aware that booze is not a respectable beverage for a Muslim. In my defence, that's about my only vice and I do plan to stop in the future. On the other hand, I believe that religion is about the relationship between me and God. I make my own choices and let God judge me when I die. I do appreciate all the well-meaning people who care about my soul. Don't worry though, I'm doing fine. When I decide to stop, I will. Thanks for caring. :)
My cat died about 2 weeks ago. Ah...she was 17 years old and lived a long and happy life so I guess it was time. You will always be remembered, Puss.
My cat started getting all sick and weak about 5 days before she passed away. That's one thing about cats. It happened so fast. One moment we're bewildered and worried, next moment me and my family are mourning her. It's said that cats seem to know when their time is up. My cat spent her last few active days before getting sick visiting all the favorite haunts. Normally lethargic, she actually jumped up onto the cars parked under the house porch to laze about there. It was slightly odd but we felt happy she's feeling active again.
When she got sick, my family sent her to the vet. The diagnosis wasn't good. She's old and her body systems are slowly shutting down, one by one. She was so weak at that time. She passed away about 4 days later at the vet. At first, we wanted to take her back but during the journey back home, she was very agitated so we felt it was best to leave her at the vet again. She passed away later that night.
I remember hearing that when approaching death, cats like to be alone. That must've been what she wanted, instead of coming back home with us. She was part of my life for 17 years. She stayed around long enough to see my brother finish his degree and my sister come back from England.
That night when she passed away, I dreamt of her. She was healthy and active again. She was also walking normally instead of limping. Normally a bit snobbish, this time she was very affectionate, nuzzling against my hand and letting me pet her. I miss you, Puss. Until we meet again, take care my dearest cat...
Yup, it's been a while since I typed my blog. Various reasons for this really, but among other things, it's been a quite hectic life for me.
What can I say? At the start of October, I'm fully involved with a project to build up the entire backbone for a new mobile service provider. It's a rather massive job which I'm doing together with an expert from Australia. Now let me say again that it's been an absolute pleasure working in my present company. Ericsson has some of the finest engineers around and it's been an absolute privilege and honour to work with them. I think I can consider myself very lucky since I'm learning a lot of things that I can't get anywhere else by talking and discussing stuff with them. I'm sure you all already know. The best way to learn is not from books or classes, but from the people who has actually done it.
The first stage of the backbone was completed after 3 days, first circuit call (voice & video) after 7 days and first packet call (data transfer & web browsing) after 8 days. Imagine, all that accomplished in a total of 8 days! Until now, I'm still amazed at how we managed to accomplish all that. Keep in mind, we started the implementation with unconfigured hardwares and softwares and after 8 days, the core network was essentially completed. What was missing are external connectivities such as connections to other mobile networks (Celcom, etc) and to the international gateway. I love working with amazing people! :D
Right now I'm still involved with the project but now it's mainly integrating the core network with VAS (value added services) nodes such as SMS, MMS and WAP. I think I'd be quite busy all the way until the end of January. It can get tiring and there are plenty of challenges but on the bright side, at least I'm not bored. Besides, building up a network from scratch and integrating it with various components certainly looks good on my resume! :)
On non-work related matters, I'm now a proud owner of a 20" widescreen LCD monitor. The monitor is simply beautiful. I plan to do a marathon session of anime and tv-series one of these days. I've just got my hands on "Ghost In The Shell 2nd Gig" and "Lost" season 1. Ahh...perfect timing.
After spending a lot of my time on Neverwinter Nights online play, I'm now taking a break from it and am now enjoying "X3 - Reunion". The game is simply beautiful and space has never looked so pretty! I love the feeling of vastness that is present in "X3 - Reunion" and it's wonderful to go exploring the various space sectors in the game. Sure, it's a single player game but it rocks! Check it out at http://www.egosoft.com/games/x3/info_en.php
A coupla days back I sent out an SOS, asking anyone if they've come across a stable router that performs well under heavy network load. The response were not very encouraging. The most stable connections are apparently when a PC directly connects to the modem. Sadly, that defeats the entire purpose of Internet sharing using a home network!
After some more research, I've discovered this:
1. All home routers suck monkey balls. Doesn't matter if they're D-Link, Aztech, Belkin, Linksys or Netgear.
2. The best home routers are PCs which have been re-configured to work as a router. Grab some old PC, dump in Linux and some software (IPCop seems to be decent) and you're now a proud owner of a DIY router. Problem is, this kind of routers use up helluva lot more electricity than the normal box routers.
3. For good stability and performance, get a business level router. Doesn't matter if they're D-Link, Aztech, Belkin or Netgear. I removed Linksys from the 'cos I'm pissed off at the stupid router. Division of Cisco my arse...I'm NEVER buying any gadgets based on brand name again and I'm NEVER touching another Linksys product.
Based on my findings, I've decided to get the Netgear FVS318. It's a VPN capable firewall/router with an 8-port switch and 1 WAN port, 200MHz processor with 2 MB flash and 16 MB RAM. It should have plenty juice! On the bright side, with this router I can actually VPN to my home network from anywhere in the world, as long as I've access to the Internet. Way cool!
In summary, if you're an avid downloader who opens up thousands of simultaneus connections (read: BitTorrent), please expect your tiny, pathetic home router to die. Grab a router targetted to SOHO instead.
You can check it out the router I'm buying at the Netgear website: http://www.netgear.com/Products/VPNandSSL/WiredVPNFirewallRouters/FVS318.aspx
For those who feel that looks matter when buying a router, here a picture of the router.
Where Is The Love?
What's wrong with the world mama?
People living like aint got no mamas
I think the whole worlds addicted to the drama
Only attracted to the things that bring you trauma
Overseas yeah we tryin to stop terrorism
But we still got terrorists here livin
In the USA the big CIA the Bloodz and the Crips and the KKK
But if you only have love for your own race
Then you only leave space to discriminate
And to discriminate only generates hate
And if you hatin you're bound to get irate
Yeah madness is what you demonstrate
And that's exactly how anger works and operates
You gotta have love just to set it straight
Take control of your mind and meditate
Let your soul gravitate to the love y'all
People killing people dying
Children hurtin you hear them crying
Can you practice what you preach
Would you turn the other cheek?
Father Father Father help us
Send some guidance from above
Cause people got me got me questioning
Where is the love?(where is the lovex3)(the love2x)
It just ain't the same all ways have changed
New days are strange is the world the insane?
If love and peace so strong
Why are there pieces of love that don't belong
Nations dropping bombs
Chemical gases filling lungs of little ones
With ongoing suffering
As the youth die young
So ask yourself is the loving really strong?
So I can ask myself really what is going wrong
With this world that we living in
People keep on giving in
Makin wrong decisions
Only visions of them livin and
Not respecting each other
Deny thy brother
The wars' going on but the reasons' undercover
The truth is kept secret
Swept under the rug
If you never know truth
Then you never know love
Where's the love y'all?(I don't know)
Where's the truth y'all?(I don't know)
Where's the love y'all?
People killing people dying
Children hurtin you hear them crying
Can practice what you preach
Would you turn the other cheek?
Father father father help us
Send some guidance from above
Cause people got me got me questioning
Where is the love?(where is the lovex3)(the lovex2)
I feel the weight of the world on my shoulder
As I'm getting older y'all people get colder
Most of us only care about money makin
Selfishness got us followin the wrong direction
Wrong information always shown by the media
Negative images is the main criteria
Infecting their young minds faster than bacteria
Kids wanna act like what the see in the cinema
Whatever happened to the values of humanity
Whatever happened to the fairness and equality
Instead of spreading love, we're spreading anomosity
Lack of understanding, leading us away from unity
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feeling under
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feeling down
It's no wonder why sometimes I'm feeling under
I gotta keep my faith alive, until love is found
People killing people dying
Children hurtin you hear them crying
Can you practice what you preach
Would you turn the other cheek?
Father Father Father help us
Send some guidance from above
Cause people got me got me questioning
Where is the love?(fade)
Song by Black Eyed Peas
They are not terrorist. They are soldiers, fighting for their lives, their livelihood, their culture and their freedom. Every day, Palestinians are being violated mentally, physically and spiritually. Every day the oppression continues and every day another spirit is broken.
A Palestinian mother once said, "I saw my husband die. I saw my children die. There is nothing left for me in this world. When I die, let me take a few with me."
I am Israel
By Hashem Said
The Daily - Washington State University, Feb. 25, 2002
I am Israel - I came to a land without a people for a people without a land. Those people who happened to be here, had no right to be here, and my people showed them they had to leave or die, razing 480 Palestinian villages to the ground, erasing their history.
I am Israel - some of my people committed massacres and later became Prime Ministers to represent me. In 1948, Menachem Begin was in charge of the unit that slaughtered the inhabitants of Deir Yassin, including 100 men, women, and children. In 1953, Ariel Sharon led the slaughter of the inhabitants of Qibya, and in 1982 arranged for our allies to butcher around 2,000 in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla.
I am Israel - carved in 1948 out of 78% of the land of Palestine, dispossessing its inhabitants and replacing them with Jews from Europe and other parts of the
world. While the natives whose families lived on this land for thousands of years are not allowed to return, Jews from all over the world are welcome to instant
citizenship.
I am Israel - in 1967, I swallowed the remaining lands of Palestine - the West Bank and Gaza - and placed their inhabitants under an oppressive military rule,
controlling and humiliating every aspect of their daily lives. Eventually, they should get the message that they are not welcome to stay, and join the
millions of Palestinian refugees in the shanty camps of Lebanon and Jordan.
I am Israel - I have the power to control American policy. My American Israel Public Affairs Committee can make or break any politician of its choosing, and
as you see, they all compete to please me. All the forces of the world are powerless against me, including the UN as I have the American veto to block
any condemnation of my war crimes. As Sharon so eloquently phrased it, "We control America".
I am Israel - I influence American mainstream media too, and you will always find the news tailored to my favor. I have invested millions of dollars into PR
representation, and CNN, New York Times, and others have been doing an excellent job of promoting my propaganda. Look at other international news sources and you will see the difference.
I am Israel - and you Palestinians want to negotiate "peace!?" But you are not as smart as me; I will negotiate, but will only let you have your municipalities while I control your borders, your water, your airspace, and anything else of importance.
While we "negotiate," I will swallow your hilltops and fill them with settlements, populated by the most extremist of my extremists, armed to the teeth. These
settlements will be connected with roads you cannot use, and you will be imprisoned in your little Bantustans between them, surrounded by checkpoints in
every direction.
I am Israel - with the fourth strongest army in the world, possessing nuclear weapons. How dare your children confront my oppression with stones, don't you
know my soldiers won't hesitate to blow their heads off? In 17 months, I have killed 900 of you and injured 17,000, mostly civilians, and have the mandate
to continue since the international community remains silent. Ignore, as I do, the hundreds of Israeli soldiers who are now refusing to carry out my control
over your lands and people; their voices of conscience will not protect you.
I am Israel - and you want freedom? I have bullets, tanks, missiles, Apaches, and F-16's, to obliterate you. I have placed your towns under siege, confiscated
your lands, uprooted your trees, demolished your homes, and you still demand freedom? Don't you get the message? You will never have peace or freedom, because...
I am Israel.
Note 1: The original author of this poem was later forced to apologize due to pressure from 'certain parties'. Freedom of speech and rational discussion does not exist in US when it comes to Israel.
Note 2: This post is partially inspired by a fellow blogger. http://anasnajmie.blogs.friendster.com/salam_bicara/
I've finally included pictures in my blog, as you may have noticed with my previous post. Words are boring and since blogs can also include pictures, I figured I might as well bore people with pictures. It's economical, y'see? After all a picture's worth a thousand words. :D
Anyway, since I figured some of you are interested in pictures of this tiny new hut I'm staying in SS3, here are 2 pictures. What can I say? I'm a lazy photographer! I don't even have a proper camera. All pictures are taken by the 1.3 megapixel camera of a Z800i Sony Ericsson phone. This is not an endorsement for you to BUY a SONY ERICSSON phone. In fact, do not BUY SONY ERICSSON. Ahem!
This is my room. The bed's probably the best feature in this photo. As you can see from the box, I haven't really unpacked yet. Yes, that's a 'sejadah' that you see at the bottom left corner of the picture. I may be a bloody sinner but hey, I do pray...sometimes! Anyway, it's the heart that counts. By the way, that's my official line when I'm to be judged in the after-life. I'll keep you all posted if it works. Heh!
My favorite section of the room. That's my gaming rig!! 'Nuff said. :B
Oh yeah, I do plan to get a new chair. I kinda threw away my old chair when I moved so right now that chair is about all I could find when all the stuff arrived. It probably belonged to someone else...
The rooms do look a bit big compared to the outside photo that I posted previously. While the house is rather tiny, it's not so bad when you come inside. Y'know what they say about objects in the rear view mirror look closer than they are? Well...think of it this way. Photos of housing interiors look larger than they are...or something! ;)
Travelling time to work now is less than 30 minutes. Yes yes yes!!!
The house a little run-down but every little minute saved on travelling time makes it really worth it. :D
My mental thoughts have been behaving rather abnormally for the past 1 week or so. Of course, I'm still mentally alert and capable of being productive at work, performing analysis of network traces, etc. No worries, I haven't suddenly gotten forgetful or scatterbrained. Yes, yes. I know. Debateble. *rolls eyes*
No, as far as that aspect is concerned, I'm functioning normally. The weird part is that out of the blue, the song "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt has begun making regular appearences in my head. Perhaps a bit of background info will help.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far away...oh wait. Wrong story.
About a month or two ago, a girl started working in the same area as my department is located. She's definitely not an enginner, or else I'd already have her name, address, phone number and we'd probably have watched a coupla movies together already. Well...maybe just her name and phone number, but those other stuff are strong possibilities! Heh! Anyway, she's kinda cute I guess. My first impression is that she had damn nice legs! She was wearing some sort of power-suit kinda thing and after seeing lotsa girls wearing jeans these days, the medium skirt was a very nice change of scenery and I gotta admit that her ankles are rather shapely! But I digress. Besides, my thoughts were all pure!
Anyway, getting back to the story, at that time her hair was tied in a bun. Let me put it this way. She was the model image of a professional woman executive. As the weeks pass, while the image is still maintained, the dressing became less severe and more on the gentle and feminine side. Me? I'm enjoying the view while cracking my head trying to solve some issue or another.
I think James Blunt started singing in my head about a week ago or so. As I recall, she dropped the bun and let her hair loose. Ahh...such transformation! It's like seeing the blossoming of flowers right after the rain. Now each time I catch a glimpse of her, the song resonantes in my head.
"You're beautiful. You're beautiful. You're beautiful, it's true."
I hate bird shit. Each time I go to Jasima (a mamak nearby my place) at night, the only parkings are all under the trees and those stupid birds sleeping in the trees shit all over my car. I mean, I don't shit when I sleep. Why the hell can't those birds extend the same courtesy?? Sigh...
Woohoo! My packet core network is now connected to Internet! I'll be bringing up HSDPA feature by end of this week. Ahh...surfing at 2 mbps... I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I anticipate my project to finish by June, just in time for World Cup! :D
Man...after this project's over, I'm definitely looking for some time off. Hmm...maybe I'll go do my SCUBA license...
Ahh...I'm finally back to the gym. Was insanely busy during April, was insanely sick 2 weeks ago and was insanely busy again last week. Hopefully now I'm back to my normal routine. I still plan to get my baywatch body before I go for my island holiday! Heh heh!
Y'know, going to gym is good. You sweat like hell and get tired like hell but at the end of it, you really do feel refreshed. With my current work schedule, I'm thinking of going to the gym in the morning rather than the evening. Of course, know my usual laziness, this plan will remain in the drawing board for a long time...
I also did something else that haven't done for a long time. I took my bro's amp (I know, I keep planning to buy my own but keep on postponing that), dusted of my extremely nice ESP custom guitar and played it for a bit. Ahh...the pleasure. Reminds me why I learned guitar in the first place (well...besides trying to impress some chick, I mean!). I jammed a bit with some bluesy pentatonic scales. Tried some major scale too but sadly I'm way rusty. I think I need to re-read my bloody scales book! Pentatonic is easy. 2 notes per string! The other scales is a little bit more complicated. Heh!
My guitar is simply amazing when it comes to rock sounds. Wonderful, wonderful pickups! Fat and chunky when doing power chords yet with a flick of a switch, pure clean sounds for those bluesy bits. I really need to buy some new equipment for my guitar. It deserves better! Hmm...a new 50 watt amp and a Zoom multi-effects board should do the trick! Oh wait, I need new cables too. I probably need to cut down on my spending for clubbing (hell, probably skip clubbing for a month or two!) but it's for a worthy cause. Next, I need to get the band back together. Mus, Ahmed, expect a call soon! Eh you guys, do we even have a bassist yet?
Lately, I've been playing Neverwinter Nights a lot. Heh, it's about the only way I can get my fix for D&D. Even after 4 years, that game is still amazing. Once you're done with all the official campaign (3 in total, including all the expansions), there are literaly THOUSANDS of user-created adventures available for free online. Some of the user-created adventures rival the official campaigns in terms of quality! I generally play as a sorcerer in the game but lately I've been playing as a weapon master. Heh, I simply love the blademaster concept by Robert Jordan in his Wheel of Time series. My current character now is this kickass greatsword specialist, a direct inspiration from the character Lan Mandragoran, the uncrowned King of Malkier, warder to Moiraine Damodred. Yes, I know. I'm a Wheel of Time fanboy. Heh!
Recently, a close friend of mind got married. I think he's both braver than me and stupider! Haha! Seriously though, it was a cool wedding. The food was delicious and the wedding costumes beautiful and exotic. The ceremony was insanely boring though. It was freaking long! I was already a bit sleepy since I had to wake up early to go for the wedding. I have to admit my parents were shocked.
Y'see, I happen to belong this this religion where it's sacrilege to wake up before noon on public holidays. If I'm awake before 12 pm on holidays, I go to hell. For this wedding, I actually woke up at 8 am. Man, you won't believe what elaborate rituals I had to perform to cleanse myself of this grievious sin!
Anyway, there was I, one sleepy sucker in a rather long and tedious wedding ceremony, in another Malaysia state at 10 am. The wedding finished at around 2 pm. Apparently, Indian weddings are like this, very formal and very ceremonial for the next 4 hours. Man...if I had to go through an Indian wedding, I'd probably elope!
Anyway Jeremy, congratz on the wedding! You're a braver man than most of us, and I think luckier too. Not many wives I know tolerates a bunch of suckers hanging out at your place, getting drunk, eating pizza and watching a stupid action movie! Cheers, mate! Tell me when you guys are expecting a baby. I really hope to the kid takes after the mother rather than you. God knows you're such an ugly bastard! Heh!
This past 2 weeks, I've been busy with an update that is to be done on a network. I've now failed to update the node twice. Life sux...
PS: Don't bother trying to guess which network. Service is completely up so no one will notice anything.
I just had a fairly interesting night at Q-Bar in Sunway Pyramid yesterday. Me and a friend, feeling extremely bored, decided to grab dinner and catch a flick on that day. Both of us haven't had good fish and chips for a long time so we decided to have dinner at Fish Market. Ahh...the food there continues to be as delightful as I remember. Besides, seafood is probably the best food around to have with all the reports concerning bird flu and mad cow...
V for Vendetta was a pretty decent movie, though people who are looking for action-packed movies might find the dialog a bit lengthy. Anyway, after the movie, we both decided to just grab a few drinks and enjoy some scenic (ahem!) views at Q-Bar. Who knows, both fo us might even get a few new phone numbers! =)
Here I was, enjoying my drink when I saw this girl enter the bar. She seems to be alone and wasn't talking much to anyone around her. That was what intrigued me. Such solemn expression does not belong in a club. She was certainly beautiful, yet she wasn't smiling or laughing. Ahh...what can I say? She seemed like a damsel in distress and my knight in shining armour instincts kicked in. I vowed that before this night was over, I'd see her smile!
Of course, approaching the most beautiful girl in the club requires a bit of strategizing. I don't approach women just for the sake of approaching them. I approach women with the intention of getting a positive response! As I thought about it, 3 guys approached her. The first one got a polite shake of the head, the other had a very short conversation but the third guy was slightly better. He managed to get his arms around her but from the posture, it seems like he's unsure whether the arm is welcome or not. Besides, no real man would hold another girl around the NECK! Sheesh! No serious competition here. =P
I make my move. She seemed wary at first but after a while she was friendlier. Somehow or other, I managed to get her to smile and laugh. Ahh...a beautiful smile and a musical laugh! I was getting high and it wasn't from the booze. I asked whether she was alone. She said she was with some friends. Hmm...no mention of boyfriend! That's a good sign.
Then outta the blue I got grabbed from behind and pushed back. As I looked, it was the previous guy who had his arms around her neck! I mean, wtf? Is he her boyfriend or something? The way they were interacting that night, no way in hell would anyone think they're together! I love female companionship but I'm not such a bastard as to try for women who are already in a serious relationship. Besides, if both of them are happy, I have no chance anyway!
As I look at that guy, he pushed me again. He seems to be gearing up to fight. Me? Heck, I didn't feel anything. I'm a very non-violent person. If I don't feel that I or anyone I care for are in danger, I don't fight. Besides, it won't be an even contest. He's about 165 cm and a bit thinner than me. I'm 173 cm, 75 kg and I do go to the gym. I wasn't in the mood to put anyone in any hopsital but I was a bit annoyed. Why am I suddenly pushed by this guy outta the blue?
1- She said she was with friends. There was no mention of any boyfriend.
2- Based on previous observation, he doesn't know how to or is unsure of himself when he holds her. He has short conversations with her, she lights up his cigarette and he wonders around the club with her sitting alone at the bar. They don't dance together, they don't drink together and all physical contact seems awkward. Any guy watching this would think she's out with a bunch of friends and that she's single.
3- She was smiling, laughing and did not tell me to go away when I was talking to her.
As I took a step towards him, another fella blocked me and told me to let it go. Hmm...should I make a scene? Let's see, 5 guys against 1 and the girls was looking a bit scared. Sure the odds are not so good but who cares? I'd probably go down, but I can guarantee all of us would be sporting bruises the next day. I'm not that small nor am I that weak. Still, my non-violent personality and the girl's scared look made my decision to let it go.
I have to admit that after all that has happened, the main thing on my mind is puzzlement. I have my own ethics too and I don't entertain girls who are already in a relationship. That guy's probably the boyfriend but the odd thing is that he sure doesn't seem to behave like one, at least the way him and the girl was interacting. On whole though, it was a pretty interesting night. I got the most beautiful girl in the club to smile and laugh (too bad no phone number, though to be fair, my conversation was cut short!) and I'm apparently such a threat that the other guy, instead of pulling me aside and telling me politely she's his girlfriend, began to push me and asking me what the fuck am I doing.
Man...I didn't think I was THAT good! =P
One of the hardest thing about writing a blog for me is choosing an appropriate title. How exactly do you condense an entire thought that covers a wide-ranging subject and come up with a one liner. I took Comp Science, not Journalism! Perhaps there's a secret to this blog thing that I haven't figured out yet. Hmm...damned if I know...
Anyway, I've been a bit busy lately. Hence, the lack of blog postings! =)
I just finished a migration project. Man...that was tiring. All the work was at night and the next morning I'd get phone calls asking for a short report on how's the migration going. To make matters more interesting, it was a multi-vendor migration so there were *ahem* special interests to take care off. Sad to say, I kept being handed the short end of the stick. Due to some difficulties, most of the blame were sent to my direction. Certain parties claims that due to problems in the IP Core network, the migration results were not too impressive. Let me set things straight. There's NOTHING wrong with the IP Core network. It's been working fine for the past 2 years. It'll continue to work fine. Of course, convincing the parties involved takes some work. I had to show network traces, discuss RFC documents, highlight 3GPP implementation methods and debate how GTP protocols are being implemented on a router. Still, it's an interesting experience and will be an invaluable part of my professional growth.
Next up will be an update of a network application backbone. 4 Solaris node patching in a 4 hour maintenance window and it's all on a live network. Fun! And that's only the first phase of the update! Should be ok though. Initial testing indicates that patching should take around 2 hours and I'll be patching them all at the same time and monitoring it via a terminal server. Next phase is a bit easier. I'll be transferring update packages to each node of the application backbone and it'll be using some sort of GUI. It's all about clicking the mouse button.
There's one upcoming project that I'm a bit excited though. A trial network is being planned and I'll be handling every aspect of the IP Core network. Now THAT should be fun. Every single node in the IP Core will be set up by me. Switches. Routers. Firewalls. GSNs. All of it. Me. Yeah!
Of course, with all this stuff happening, I haven't really had much time to go out to party. I'm actually amazed at how much extra money I have by NOT going out to party! I kinda miss partying though. The drinks....the chicks....well....mainly the chicks!
Things should settle down by first week of March though so I'm sure my partying will start again!
Oh, I've finally succumbed to temptation. I'm now a member of the MPH Reader's Circle. Since I've started working, I no longer rely on my parents to buy me books. After spending a total of a few hundred bucks on books, I figured it's only wise for me to join the MPH Reader's Circle. At least I get to accumulate points!
I've also recently bought 3 new books. Heh, I know. I could go to gym, I could party all night long, I could play guitar and I could go to rock concerts but deep down I'd always be a geek. I can just imagine myself. I'd be 50 years old, white hair and all that and I'd still head to the bookstore and pick out a few books, with at least one of them being either a science fiction or a fantasy book. Hell, hopefully by that time the 7th book for Dune would be out!
I've currently a fan of this author by the name Alastair Reynolds. He's British (spells armour instead of armor) and he writes DAMN good science fiction! The book I just bought is called "Century Rain" and next on my list would be "Pushing Ice". I already have all his previous books before that. =)
As I get older, I also realized that my reading habits have...for lack of better word...matured. I'm no longer exclusively reading science fiction and fantasy novels. These days I'm exploring different authors, some which I've never heard before but which the synopsis at the back cover of the book looks interesting. I'm also more into non-native English speaking authors. My recent favorite book was by a Spanish author by the name Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Check out his book called "The Shadow of the Wind". It's REALLY good!
My latest book by a non-native English speaker is called "Out" by a Japanese author by the name Natsuo Kirino. As an added bonus, the author is a she! In one book, I get a different cultural AND gender perspective compared to the one I'm used to. I haven't started on the book yet but the premise looks interesting. It's about a woman who killed her husband, the 3 friends who helped her conceal the body and the inevitable consequences. Sounds fun and it's the type of book I'd never picked up 5 years ago.
Finally, looking for a good drama, I picked up a book by Wally Lamb which is called "I Know This Much Is True". According to the book's synopsis, its a story about a pair of twins, one who is schizophrenic and the experiences they both go through as they go about their daily life. Yeah, yet another type of book I'd never touch 5 years ago. Heh!
Ok, so I'm about 2 weeks late. I guess I spent more time living life rather than writing about it, these days!
New years eve was rather excellent. Celebrated the countdown at Heritage Road, next to Sheraton Imperial. Can't remember the name of the bar though. Me, Seng Leong, Anand and Anand's relatives from Singapore were all there, getting drunk and celebrating the new year with gutso. I was a bit tipsy that night, I think. The vodka lime wasn't so bad but the graveyard was a killer. I'm definately ordering the graveyard again! Heh heh! Hmm...need to look for an excuse to party again though. I need to remember to check the events calender for this year and plan my partying!
Oh yeah, always party responsibly. Do not drink and drive. =)
The year's been starting rather slow for me. Not much work yet. Companies everywhere are still in the planning stage I guess. Unfortunately, that means I spend most of my time at work feeling utterly bored. I fill that time by reading up design documents on mobile networks. I'm almost embarrased to say that I find them rather interesting. I know...despite my best efforts, I think I'll forever stay a geek! Still, I find it fascinating to discover how all the network nodes inter-operate with each other and provide the service that we all take for granted. Next time you use your mobile phone, spare a thought to all the people who worked hard to make all of it work. It ain't easy! =)
My new years resolution this year consists of 3 simple improvements that I feel I should undertake in my life.
1. Arrive to office earlier (and leave earlier, hopefully to avoid LDP jams)
2. Save more money in the bank (rainy season and all that)
3. Engage in more cultural events (my pathetic attempt to stop being such a geek and an excuse to tear myself away from the computer)
Resolution 1 is currently an abject and utter failure. On average, I'm now in the office 5 minutes earlier compared to last year. Heh, so much for leaving earlier and avoiding the LDP jam...
Resolution 2 is also currently a complete failure. After gym, I no longer go to mamak. These days I go for steak at TGIF or something. Well...my personal trainer did say something about the importance of protein!
Resolution 3 has a slightly brighter outlook than the rest. I'm currently going through the list of events in MPO to see whether there's anything interesting. Anand has also introduced me to Actor's Studio so I guess I'm going to support the local performing arts scene soon enough! Oh yeah, I was watching the play Pune Highway earlier tonight. It's a pretty good play actually! Good story and good acting. The only thing that wasn't so good was that they had some dialogs in Hindi or something like that. While I can insult like a native, understanding civilized conversations is beyond me. Heh! All in all though, it was quite a good play. I definitely plan to add Actor's Studio in my list of places to go regularly. =)
