Entries for October, 2003
October 7th, 2003
Long Time No Blog
Posted by vampire at 12:58 AM on October 7, 2003.
There are many things happening in my life right now, wasn't in the right frame of mind to blog well... Sommore seeing most ppl didn't update that often discourages me. But after bingbing updated his, it gives me inspiration.
I wanna announce to all that I will be going to Penang to work at my industrial training company, Siangtronics. I think the work will be more towards software development, but as a Test Engineer. Pay is good, one of the reasons I'm going there. The other reason being told that Penang is like a second MMU. Lotsa MMU ppl there... I won't feel left out.
In Kch, I miss the suppers and dinners and all the gatherings in Malacca. There are so many ppl to turn to for company there. In Kch, it's a very boring place without friends. Most of my friends are not here, making me wanna leave.
Lotsa things to settle before I leave for Penang, most probably after Raya holidays. Anyone can help me find a room there? Please contact me! Thanks.
October 8th, 2003
Car?
Posted by vampire at 03:26 AM on October 8, 2003.
So, I'm going Penang. I need a car. My first car. So what should I buy? Iswara? Kelisa? Kenari? I need your opinion. Please comment!
Kenari, it's nice because of it's more spacious. Kelisa, it's more powerful. Iswara? Cos it's not a compact car. Most people say I should get the Kelisa, cos it has power, is good looking too. Can you imagine a Kelisa in the movie like Italian Job? If I get a Kelisa, I'd be choosing either the Red or Blue 2-tone Limited Edition one.
Another thing, I just found out that 1st Class Degree Grads don need to pay back the PTPTN loan. Go
here, click Pekeliling, then choose "PERLAKSANAAN PELEPASAN BARAYAN BALIK PINJAMAN PENDIDIKAN BAGI PELAJAR-PELAJAR YANG MENDAPAT KEPUJIAN KELAS PERTAMA" to view the DOC file. That would save me Rm96k! Yay!!! That's a lot of money. Hehe... too bad I didnt extend my loan, or I'd have gotten another Rm16k more. But, I can't be greedy.
October 9th, 2003
Kuching Jazz Festival
Posted by vampire at 12:35 AM on October 9, 2003.
I'm a volunteer for the Kuching Jazz Festival, to be held on October 17-18. Details can be found on the
website. It's the first to be held here. They call us volunteers the Jazz Cats. I'm not a fan of Jazz, but I just volunteer for fun, nothing better to do in Kuching.
I just came back from a briefing, took so long, the guy so loso. Supposed to start at 7.30pm, but was half an hour late. Ended around 10.30pm. Had to cancel out my supper with Nelson and Howe Tian. After the briefing, I went to Petanak to eat porridge with my dad and Panda, at the old man's stall.
Since porridge is not filling, I also bought kuih for later tonite when I'm hungry. I love kuihs. In Penang, inudstrial training, I bought them almost every night for tea break in the company, or not I'd be starving. Today I bought ang ku kuih, chai kuih, hun kuih (the white round flour thing with crushed peanuts in it), and one piece of panggang. Sorry I lazy to take pics.
October 15th, 2003
Korean Lunch
Posted by vampire at 01:00 PM on October 15, 2003.
I just returned from lunch at a coffee shop somewhere in front of Upwell. I had Korean food. It was Pork Ribs, and the usual side dishes of Kimchi, beans, soup, etc. Costed Rm6, and is a big portion. I asked for another bowl of rice, and they gave it free, plus another serving of kimchi.
I found out recently that the normal Proton Iswara doesn't come with power steering. Only the special edition Bengwara has. Too bad. I don like that. Maybe I'll end up with a Wira, but it'll cost Rm10k more. Decisions Decisions...
Today, later, there'll be the Kuching Jazz Fest Parade from Wisma Ting Phek Khiing to Museum Grounds, at 7.30pm. I am still unsure of my task for the Fest, as the guy I'm supposed to report to wasn't present for the briefing yesterday. They'll be having this huge trumpet (at least 15 ft, I think) for decoration purposes.
Last nite, after the briefing at 10.30pm, Panda had a craving for sandwich. Sandwich at night? Was hard, I thought. But in the end, we managed to find Taka Bakery at BDC open till 11pm. So I went there to buy stuff to eat for my late night supper, but fell asleep the moment I hit the bed when I reached home.
Now, I'm starting to watch Malcolm In The Middle. Too bad I don have all the episodes. Some missing, some in Malacca with my sis. Need to complete my collection when I reach Penang. I'm also downloading Friends, Season 10, Episode 1. Scrubs also just started in the USA. Those with Streamyx, you know what to do.
October 21st, 2003
International Kuching Jazz Festival (I)
Posted by vampire at 01:42 AM on October 21, 2003.
I was a volunteer for this event. I volunteered to join Maylin, and because I had nothing better to do. Info can be found at
http://www.kuchingjazzfest.com
This is a pic of the banners / posters around, for the festival. After the event ended, most of us volunteers took at least one home for ourselves.
During the weekends before the event, there were roadshows at the Kuching Waterfront and Sarawak Plaza, where local bands played. Some played Malay rock, alternative, malay pop, etc. My job those two weeks were to distribute flyers.
The festival was held at the Sarawak Museum Garden, at the fountian area. Here's a view of the museum at night.
The symbolic item for this event is a 15-foot trumpet. It is placed on top of the arch at the end of the fountain.
My job for the fest is to help out with dealing with the media (reporters and all), with publicity, and also PR. I was initially handed the task to take photos of the ppl lifting the huge trumpet into place, for the press ppl, but it was a redundant and useless task.
I also had to go to the airport to pick up people from the press. I was at the airport, holding up paper with their names. I never imagined I'd be doing that. There's Deepak Gill from the Star, and two people (one gal, one guy) from PM magazine. Too bad I didn't take a pic of the chick from PM magazine, she's kinda hot. I didnt get to meet them after I dropped them off at Merdeka Palace (5 star hotel). All rooms for the artistes and reporters are sponsored by them.
Another of my task was to accompany the artistes (Steve Thornton, Alonso, and Azmi) to the RTM studio for some interview. Steve has this bow-like instrument, which sounds unique. Alonso is the handsome guy which the volunteers wanted to take photos with. To me, he looks something like Thierry Henry of Arsenal FC, but much better looking.
to be continued...
October 22nd, 2003
Jazz Fest (II)
Posted by vampire at 01:38 AM on October 22, 2003.
There's this Jazz parade held two days before the main event. I didn't join in this parade, but I waited at the Museum Grounds where the parade ends. There were Jaguh bikers, about 50 of them. SMK Green Road, my secondary school, had their brass band parading. There were also this group of models who came with the truck carrying the trumpet. Here's a photo of some of them. Notice anything special about them? Maybe Boyd knows... The answer is in the comments section.
There's also the Kuching City mascot, in the form of this huge yellow cat.
After the parade, there's this pre-festival performance by the local bands, not really jazz though.
Some of my other tasks were to send tickets to a radio station, send banners to a hotel, buy cigarettes & sweets for people, and even help someone change their flat tyre.
On the first day of the main event, it was drizzling, but still the crowd showed up, surprisingly. SONS Jazz Orchestra from Sarawak performed first. Normal jazz, to me (wasn't too interested).
I could access the area very near the stage, and also backstage, and could take pics up close, but my camera's zoom is only 2x. Sommore, my camera doesn't take sharp pics if there's no flash.
I was in charge of the Press/Production Room, and there's this whole bunch of equipment and a director/producer controlling the equipment. There were many TVs - big & small. Basically, this is how it works. There are three cameramen out there. One on stage, one just in front of the stage, and the other on a platform about 80 meters away from the stage. These video is fed to the production room. The director chooses which of the three to be recorded into the main reel, and shown on the projected screens. He communicates with the cameramen using a walkie talkie to tell them who's ON, and gives orders. Sometimes these cameramen donno who they should focus on.
After that, Alonso Jazz Latino performed. This group consists of very good musicians. Their music focus more on the saxophone and percussions. Lastly, Ruth Suhanaya (from Indonesia) and her troupe went on stage. She sang sorta the blues-type - Malay pop, and some English songs.
Each band played a few songs. It ended around 11.30pm. After the event, there's the Jam Session at Tribes, Holiday Inn. I went there for a while to use the toilet, then went home tired, and straight away slept after my shower.
On the second night, I was drafted to become a security personnel. Sux, cos I had to station at one place, and can't go around taking pics in front of the stage, or the press room. Oh yeah, I managed to get autographs from the artistes, in the Press Room.
Shafiee Obe & his group performed, followed by Bangkok Connection (from Thailand), and Steve Thornton (from USA) & his group, AfroAsia. Shafiee's music is sorta the same as SONS Jazz Orchestra's, cos the lead is the same person.
This night, MinYen joined us, and she liked the shirt on one of the Bangkok Connection's guitarists. The lead guitarist for Bangkok Connection owns a Chicken Rice Restaurant in Thailand. He does look like a food hawker. They sang nice songs. They have an instrument called the Thai vibraphone. Plays nice sounds.
Steve Thornton's group is mainly made of percussionists, nice blend. He looks like one of my lecturers, can you guess who? He's a very friendly fella, talkative too.
The festival ended around midnight. After that, we headed for Victoria Arms, but the people there weren't so inviting, so we left.
The End. Next year, a bigger Jazz Fest.
October 23rd, 2003
Angelfire & Picture-Storing
Posted by vampire at 01:33 PM on October 23, 2003.
My angelfire account got suspended cos I use it as a file server to store my pics. Now that I don have a place to store it, I've to use tabulas, which is more difficult, since they rename my files after I upload them, and their filenames are hard to remember. So harder to link up from my blog. What a pity. Angelfire provides a big space.
Well, anyone know any photo-sharing site online, where I can put lotsa pics, and can delete them if i want to? And the file size does not change much. Plus the filename is easily used for linking.
October 25th, 2003
Blank Thoughts
Posted by vampire at 03:36 AM on October 25, 2003.
Nothing much to blog. Tomorrow, I'm going on a trip to Matang National Park with my ex-schoolmates and their bf/gfs, and their form 6 classmates. I'll be overnighting there for one nite. I will hike up the mountain again. This is at least 4 times harder and higher than Bkt Beruang.
Sunday, there'll be a walk-in interview for 1st Silicon at Holiday Inn. Might follow MinYen there if I can come back in time for it from Matang.
This is a pic of my dog, a terrier mixed with donno wat. It's the largest dog my family owned. Her name is Trixie, named from the Hi & Lois comic strip's baby gal.
There was a post-Jazz Fest dinner at Top Spot Seafood place at Taman Kereta on Wednesday. They served Butter Prawns, Crab, Mixed Vege Soup, Midin, and Steamed Fish. There were 9 tables of 10 seats each. Not all seats were occupied.
October 28th, 2003
UTM Holidays
Posted by vampire at 05:12 AM on October 28, 2003.
I just found out that UTM ppl and some other local uni ppl are having holidays since 2 weeks ago. Some of my friends from UTM are back, either they've finished their course on a break.
One of them is Darren (primary school classmate), whom I went out with just now at 2.30am, and I just got back at 4.30am. Went to Central Park Siang Siang for supper, and met another primary school ex-classmate, Cornelius.
Nice seeing them again after so long, since UTM and MMU rarely have holidays at the same time. Gonna have a few pool/snooker sessions with Darren in the comnig days before I go W. M'sia.
I've booked an AirAsia ticket to KL for Nov 15th, Saturday, so that I can meet up with Jaycylenne, David, Bing, and other frens in KL area within those two or three days. Hopefully my flight won't be delayed. Weekend hours are so precious, as my friends are either working or doing their training during weekdays.
After that, I will be heading to either Malacca or Penang, depending on how far I've gone in dealing with the car-buying. I've booked for a Proton Iswara 1.3 LMST, which is the new version, which will be out around Raya time.
I've got many pics taken in Matang/Kubah National Park, but have not edited them to be posted up here. Instead, here are some pics of Maylin's 'toys', which she made, following instructions from the packet of stuff she bought in Malacca. Have to cut out the fabric using the stensil, put cotton in between, and sew both sides together...
October 30th, 2003
Matang Trip
Posted by vampire at 01:33 AM on October 30, 2003.
The trip was on Saturday & Sunday. It was sort of a gathering for their Form 6/Unimas friends. Me & Marv were invited. We were going to Kubah National Park in Matang.
We started off by meeting for brunch at Ing Wah Yuen (not sure if correctly spelled), a coffee shop near Thompson's Corner at Nanas Road. Lau picked me and Kang up.
We had 6 cars going up altogether - CCW, Kiat, Lau, Peng How, Marv, and another guy's. There were 16 of us. After some small problems settling ticket fees at the entrance to Kubah National Park, we went to the office to get the keys to our cabin/rooms. Marv came late as he had to work.
The cabin is one storey of the two-storey building - The top one being another cabin. This cabin of ours was the same one that I stayed in the last trip there with AWT, CCW, Kiat, Justin, and Marv. It consists of 3 rooms - the first room having 3 double decker beds (6 ppl), the second having 2, and the last having one. So this cabin is meant for 12 people. It has quite a large living room, a bathroom, a toilet, and a kitchen. It comes with plates, utencils, and even a BBQ Pit.
It was raining when we sort of unpacked out stuff. So we played cards, while waiting for the rain to stop. When it stopped, us guys went to the waterfall area. It was a trek about 10 minutes away. Here are some pics:
I did not went into the water, as I wanted to take pics, and donno how to swim anyway. I just waded around the area, in the cool water. I saw something interesting. The flow of water in different directions made an air funnel in the water, and it was spinning around like a tornado. I have a video of it, but too big to upload.
After the swim/playing in the cold water, Lau & Kang had to go back home. The rest took their shower and waited for dinner.
to be continued...
Good vs Evil
Posted by vampire at 08:58 PM on October 30, 2003.
These are the ratings for my blog from
Gematriculator
I'm too good... hehe...