I was at my favourite fruit stall near Pelita (Grand Palace area) looking for mangoes; theres this row of stalls selling fruits just after the traffic light. It is just shocking how bad the quality of fruits that we get here. I remember going to the supermarket in Sydney (woolworth's) just around the corner from the hotel and there in the basement, the freshest and most beautiful fruits and veges of all colours.... its so freaking amazing. Since the supermarket is so near I just take the lift down and like buy food all the time its so fresh and tasty. Even the eggs are freaking delicious. And tomatoes. And so on... and my parents; they were like high on fresh fruits and produce. The look on their faces when it was time to pay at the counter was priceless.
Anyway, was busy picking mangoes when the auntie keep talking to me in Chinese. She was pointing at something at one point, went to the back and came back with a mango cut in half covered with one of those food plastic cover and showed that to me. She was still talking to me in Chinese and I was not in a good mood at that time so I was just shaking my head. Was minding my own business picking mangoes, handed the fruits to her for weighing and she kept on pointing at some pulasan looking fruits and kept babbling in Chinese. I kept on shaking my head and with a sigh paid and left the stall. Sometimes it gets really annoying, especially if you face this situation every single day... and also especially when I have been buying fruits at that stall all the time... and seeing the auntie all the time!!..
When i was in Phuket people talk to me in Thai. I can be believable as a Thai but I think its the bushy eyebrow... (think Thai PM). Thai people are really "friendly" almost every thai person you see will try to sell you something or get you to go somewhere. I found out the most effective and polite way to get rid of them is to place my hand together (like the buddhist prayer), bow a bit and say kapkumkap. I have no idea but it worked for me.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sunday, November 08, 2009
The offshore visit aftermath
I have been feeling rather under the weather since the offshore trip couple days back. I just recovered from flu before the visit, and getting it again in just a few days is not normal to say the least. Not that I am getting the normal flu sindrome like runny nose, high temp and all that, its just dizzyness and feeling wanting to puke. I think I have figured it out... I might be having the 'land sickness'. Thats when supposedly the brain gets used to the rocking and movement at sea and finds being at land and keeping still disorienting. Its worst when one keeps still, and driving your car around helps. I think that explains everything, or maybe its just another case of me trying to self diagnose and thinking doctors dont know what they are doing.
Having said that, I went to a private hospital here in Miri and enquired about tamiflu before my Sydney trip, and got a blank look from the doctor. He said why would I want a diarrhoea medicine, and he said that with 100% confidence and authority, the look on his face was as if i was talking nonsense. Its just a case of clueless people who gets credibility and or noted just because they are confident. The drug does help with diarrhoea but with Sydney on the top of any swine flu list at that time, why would anybody going to Sydney ask about tamiflu?
Having said that, I went to a private hospital here in Miri and enquired about tamiflu before my Sydney trip, and got a blank look from the doctor. He said why would I want a diarrhoea medicine, and he said that with 100% confidence and authority, the look on his face was as if i was talking nonsense. Its just a case of clueless people who gets credibility and or noted just because they are confident. The drug does help with diarrhoea but with Sydney on the top of any swine flu list at that time, why would anybody going to Sydney ask about tamiflu?
Friday, October 30, 2009
The company man
During the days when I was still travelling back and forth to KL (then i took it for granted), I could always find the all out company man on the same flight. They would be wearing the company T-shirt, which they would have gotten a lot during good times at least. Sometimes the T-shirt comes together with a backpack with a huge company logo smacked on it. You could see the pride and arrogance sometimes, on their faces, mannerisms and body language, which was intended to be shown to everyone. They have this sense of entitlement that every confident, educated or worldly person seem to have, and sometimes that can be annoying. Usually my company t-shirt, regardless of from which industry, end up as the gym tshirt.
Then you have the polar opposite of the all out company man, the guy who complains about pretty much everything. The first thing that they complain about is of course the salary, of how low the salary is compared to other places. They would complain that their job is of little value and do not improve their skills, and if so happen that they leave the company it would be impossible to find a job outside. Dinner conversation sometimes revolve around salary and claims that a person can get double or triple of the current salary working for another company. I thought that I was a realisitc/pessimistic person until I sat down with such a negative person that talked about things so negative that they end up not making any sense.
Now that we are in the new world and nothing is ever gonna be the same again. It is interesting and sometimes funny observing how these different people react to the changes that are going on.
Then you have the polar opposite of the all out company man, the guy who complains about pretty much everything. The first thing that they complain about is of course the salary, of how low the salary is compared to other places. They would complain that their job is of little value and do not improve their skills, and if so happen that they leave the company it would be impossible to find a job outside. Dinner conversation sometimes revolve around salary and claims that a person can get double or triple of the current salary working for another company. I thought that I was a realisitc/pessimistic person until I sat down with such a negative person that talked about things so negative that they end up not making any sense.
Now that we are in the new world and nothing is ever gonna be the same again. It is interesting and sometimes funny observing how these different people react to the changes that are going on.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Benitez and Lucas Leiva
By now I think every Liverpool fan has had enough of this Benitez and Lucas story, at least I have. Its either Lucas have been seriously underperforming since he joined Liverpool or he is Benitez's favourite.
Lucas won best player of the Brazilian League and thats no mean feat. But seriously whenever he played for Liverpool he sucked except for like one game.
One more problem is I am not quite sure what kind of player is he. Is he a Mascherano type? or Alonso or Gerrard type? The way Benitez is handling it now is as if he is replacing Alonso, but most of the passes he make are sideways.
Liverpool is struggling because nobody replaced Alonso. Liverpool's winning streak last season ended against one of the bottom teams, if not mistaken Stoke City, when Benitez rested Alonso and played Lucas with Mascherano and the performance was total rubbish. They lost couple more games after that. So I can blame that to Benitez.
My theory is Benitez has gone too far this time and it is all due to his infamous stubbornness to prove everyone wrong. I think no matter how professional a player is, if he is not good enough he is just not good enough.
Benitez and his stubborness is not something new as what happeneed to Robbie Keane last year when Keane was not in his plan and ruthlessly kicked out of the team (regardless of what he could have contributed). I am pretty sure if Keane was still around there would not have been 3 losses.
Lucas won best player of the Brazilian League and thats no mean feat. But seriously whenever he played for Liverpool he sucked except for like one game.
One more problem is I am not quite sure what kind of player is he. Is he a Mascherano type? or Alonso or Gerrard type? The way Benitez is handling it now is as if he is replacing Alonso, but most of the passes he make are sideways.
Liverpool is struggling because nobody replaced Alonso. Liverpool's winning streak last season ended against one of the bottom teams, if not mistaken Stoke City, when Benitez rested Alonso and played Lucas with Mascherano and the performance was total rubbish. They lost couple more games after that. So I can blame that to Benitez.
My theory is Benitez has gone too far this time and it is all due to his infamous stubbornness to prove everyone wrong. I think no matter how professional a player is, if he is not good enough he is just not good enough.
Benitez and his stubborness is not something new as what happeneed to Robbie Keane last year when Keane was not in his plan and ruthlessly kicked out of the team (regardless of what he could have contributed). I am pretty sure if Keane was still around there would not have been 3 losses.
Saturday, October 03, 2009
District 9
I finally got to see this movie and after all that hype and expectations this movie is a dissapointment for me. It is not bad, in fact its entertaining but tomatometer gave it 90% so huge expectaitons. This movie has been on my radar since I first saw the trailer. The main concept/storyline alone convinced me that this was gonne be a good one. But it flattered to deceive and it was almost like another Cloverfield. I watched Cloverfield and I was already bored after 20 minutes.
The main problem is that I just dont buy it. Fantastic concept but the details are all over the place its almost absurd. I didnt like the documentary style that acts also as the narrative, not convincing and seem to be intended to be some kind of a joke or parody, but I do think the intention was to make a serious scifi thriller. The hero is stupid/eccentric/hilarious.... whatever the intention it was just confusing and evoke mixed emotions. Perhaps this is a serious movie but because the acting, screenplay and other details are so bad it was totally not convincing and could be mistaken for a joke.
Other details that bothered me when i was supposed to be entertained:
1. Alien fuel can turn human being into a prawn..what??
2. Why is prawn so secretive about the fuel? (Humans want them gone right...)
3. What is the big deal with alien weapons? It doesnt look superior to human weapons on the movie does it?
2. Stupid/psychopath/crazy hero guy....
3. Why are the prawns not doing anything? Dont they have alien weapons? I tried to convince myself that they are too stupid to do anything.... but failed.
4. Just have a genius baby prawn who can fly a spaceship and what not... thats just lazy
5. Aliens and cat food obsession...???(it makes the whole thing seem to be intended as a joke)
It is just getting harder to be entertained
The main problem is that I just dont buy it. Fantastic concept but the details are all over the place its almost absurd. I didnt like the documentary style that acts also as the narrative, not convincing and seem to be intended to be some kind of a joke or parody, but I do think the intention was to make a serious scifi thriller. The hero is stupid/eccentric/hilarious.... whatever the intention it was just confusing and evoke mixed emotions. Perhaps this is a serious movie but because the acting, screenplay and other details are so bad it was totally not convincing and could be mistaken for a joke.
Other details that bothered me when i was supposed to be entertained:
1. Alien fuel can turn human being into a prawn..what??
2. Why is prawn so secretive about the fuel? (Humans want them gone right...)
3. What is the big deal with alien weapons? It doesnt look superior to human weapons on the movie does it?
2. Stupid/psychopath/crazy hero guy....
3. Why are the prawns not doing anything? Dont they have alien weapons? I tried to convince myself that they are too stupid to do anything.... but failed.
4. Just have a genius baby prawn who can fly a spaceship and what not... thats just lazy
5. Aliens and cat food obsession...???(it makes the whole thing seem to be intended as a joke)
It is just getting harder to be entertained
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The last grand slam of the year
I have been getting on average about 5 hours sleep a night for the past week or so and I think my body just cannot handle it anymore. I was driving back home and stopped at a red light and almost fell asleep while waiting for it to turn green.
The US Open which is reaching its climax now is not helping with my sleeping pattern. Just as I thought that I would go to bed early and have a good night sleep, all of a sudden one Melanie Oudin dug really deep and out of nowhere produce shot after shot en route to an amazing comeback. Or sometimes just finding out grandmaster Federer was playing would keep me awake.
Melanie Oudin is out now, i just saw a rerun of her quarterfinals against Wozniacki in which she lost in straight sets. It is so refreshing to see these two women players. It is not their playing skills that impress me most, rather its their mental toughness. There was one game in the second set where Oudin was on breakpoint, and Wozniacki managed to keep her composure and hold her serve. I am pretty sure Oudin would have won that game if it was, say Safina that she was playing against. I am rooting for Wozniacki, she does not have the killer shots; at least she did not show that agianst Oudin; but I was really impressed by her composure and tenacity.
I think all these stories of women tennis players with their emotional meltdown, crazy nerve, 40 unforced errors and what not are getting old. The mother of all emotional breakdown-prone women tennis players, Elena Dementieva, just cant seem to deal with this problem despite all those years on the circuit and being one of the top players in the world. She was also the one who was infamously quoted saying " I dont know how to serve". To her credit her serve has improved tremendously, but despite possessing one of the best groundstrokes in the women's games she hasnt won a slam and I attribute that mainly to her nerves (now that she can serve better and get her double faults under control).
Dinara Safina is another tragic story. She is, thank god, a milder version of Safin but clearly it runs in the family. She seems to be on the verge of breaking down and cry in every game, and its is not fun to watch to say the least. And is it just me or does Safina alwasy look like shes 4 months pregnant?
The other day Sharapove had like 20 double faults (also lost to Oudin) but in all fairness she just came back from an injury. But still if not for the double faults she definitely would have won. Against the Italian player Zvonareva was really winning but in the second set she somehow had a meltdown and end up losing the match. At one point she looked like she was talking to her bandaged knee, as if blaming it for the shot caught in the net or a backhand down the line that went wide.
The US Open which is reaching its climax now is not helping with my sleeping pattern. Just as I thought that I would go to bed early and have a good night sleep, all of a sudden one Melanie Oudin dug really deep and out of nowhere produce shot after shot en route to an amazing comeback. Or sometimes just finding out grandmaster Federer was playing would keep me awake.
Melanie Oudin is out now, i just saw a rerun of her quarterfinals against Wozniacki in which she lost in straight sets. It is so refreshing to see these two women players. It is not their playing skills that impress me most, rather its their mental toughness. There was one game in the second set where Oudin was on breakpoint, and Wozniacki managed to keep her composure and hold her serve. I am pretty sure Oudin would have won that game if it was, say Safina that she was playing against. I am rooting for Wozniacki, she does not have the killer shots; at least she did not show that agianst Oudin; but I was really impressed by her composure and tenacity.
I think all these stories of women tennis players with their emotional meltdown, crazy nerve, 40 unforced errors and what not are getting old. The mother of all emotional breakdown-prone women tennis players, Elena Dementieva, just cant seem to deal with this problem despite all those years on the circuit and being one of the top players in the world. She was also the one who was infamously quoted saying " I dont know how to serve". To her credit her serve has improved tremendously, but despite possessing one of the best groundstrokes in the women's games she hasnt won a slam and I attribute that mainly to her nerves (now that she can serve better and get her double faults under control).
Dinara Safina is another tragic story. She is, thank god, a milder version of Safin but clearly it runs in the family. She seems to be on the verge of breaking down and cry in every game, and its is not fun to watch to say the least. And is it just me or does Safina alwasy look like shes 4 months pregnant?
The other day Sharapove had like 20 double faults (also lost to Oudin) but in all fairness she just came back from an injury. But still if not for the double faults she definitely would have won. Against the Italian player Zvonareva was really winning but in the second set she somehow had a meltdown and end up losing the match. At one point she looked like she was talking to her bandaged knee, as if blaming it for the shot caught in the net or a backhand down the line that went wide.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Change is here
Slowly but surely these changes that has been talked about so much is finally taking place right here, right now. Sooner rather than later these changes, which started at the global level and logically travels top down, will finally reach my level the macai's. We will have to wait until then to see whats the impact like.
My guess is that the Mckinsey guys have got to have something to do will all these restucturing and cloud nine big ideas. Looking at how regularly things Mckinsey got featured in our intranet, it is easy for me to come to that assumption.
Having said that, having previously coming from an advisory outfit and a super lean cigarette organisation before that, it is quite obvious that a lot of things are done differently here, not necessarily in a good way. On the first day, I was quite suprised that I was served coffee by a tea lady, having getting used to bringing my own cup and make my own coffee, or in better times go to the coffee machine and choose one of them delightful coffee concoction on offer. It most probably is high time for major changes, and naturally that is discomforting.
My guess is that the Mckinsey guys have got to have something to do will all these restucturing and cloud nine big ideas. Looking at how regularly things Mckinsey got featured in our intranet, it is easy for me to come to that assumption.
Having said that, having previously coming from an advisory outfit and a super lean cigarette organisation before that, it is quite obvious that a lot of things are done differently here, not necessarily in a good way. On the first day, I was quite suprised that I was served coffee by a tea lady, having getting used to bringing my own cup and make my own coffee, or in better times go to the coffee machine and choose one of them delightful coffee concoction on offer. It most probably is high time for major changes, and naturally that is discomforting.
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