http://ayusli.com

Yes, I now have a blog under my own domain name. While I still maintain this blog, my ramblings will now be posted on my new site. Thank you for visiting. I really appreciate your support.

http://ayusli.com

No motorcycles on highways

The Star, Tuesday, 02 October 2007: "The Works Ministry is considering banning motorcyclists from expressways if they continue to be a nuisance on the road."

That came from the minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, when he witnessed superbikes zooming along the highway at 170 kph.

If the reason for banning is only because of being a nuisance, then Datuk Seri, you might as well ban all vehicle from using the highways. While you're at it, you might as well ban ALL vehicle from using ALL roads. You'd be surprised at how much of a nuisance these vehicle really are. But then, you never get to drive your own car, do you? Being a minister, I'm sure you have your own driver to take you around. Maybe with police traffic escorts as well.

If motorcycles are banned from the highways, the only option left to them is the normal roads. Believe me Datuk Seri, those roads are even more dangerous than the highways. Small roads.. big vehicle.. low quality roads.. you get the drift. Banning them definitely won't save them.

The thing is.. I don't think driving fast is the root of the problems. It's a matter of whether you're driving smart or not. You can drive fast and still be safe. It's those people who drive foolishly and recklessly that's causing all the problems. If people drive smart, I'm sure a lot of catastrophes can be avoided.

It's hari raya soon

It's on everybody's mind. You can feel it in the air. You can practically see the excitement on everybody's face. Although on some, it's more to panic. People are rushing to get themselves ready for THE day.. or month. It seems that a lot of people have this silly idea that fasting for a month means celebrating 'hari raya' for a month. Where did they get the idea from, only God knows.

Here are some things that always happen before hari raya (aside from the list I drew up earlier on the fasting month - It's Ramadhan Again). Feel free to give ideas. I'm missing quite a lot here :)

1. Bus tickets, flight tickets, train tickets, you name it.. all sold out, even as early as one month before 'puasa'.


2. Sales sales sales everywhere..


3. Tailors are no longer taking orders to make new clothes. Some even closed shops a month before 'puasa' and went under quarantine to finish all the orders. If you're unlucky, you'll get your clothes after raya.


4. Vehicle owners all queueing up at the service centres to get their vehicle spruced up for the long 'balik kampung' drive.


5. People took long holidays (including myself).


6. Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Jalan Masjid India in Kuala Lumpur become the areas to avoid especially if you're driving. You're better off going there using public transport. Or if you're prepared to park some distance away.


7. Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Jalan Masjid India are also the area to go if you wanna go shopping. There are clothes, imitations, accessories, raya cookies, home decor, flower arrangements (some of them are actually quite ugly), never seen before stuffs like.. errr... I dunno. I have to see them first. Hehehehe.. It's actually quite hazardous for pedestrians. Just too many people. Really.


8. A week before raya, driving in Kuala Lumpur feels like heaven. This is one of the few times KL has no traffic jam during peak hours. The jams are now on the highways as the KLites are rushing to go 'balik kampung'.


9. Ops Sikap. It'd be number 13 this time. No matter how hard the authorities try to prevent it, accidents still happen. (There will be another topic about this later.)

During hari raya:

1. On the first day of raya, the mosques are filled to overflowing with people attending the hari raya prayers. I personally think the adults should just leave the kids at home rather than taking them to the mosques because they really are a nuisance.


2. People wear their new clothes while eyeing other people's new clothes. To praise them, of course. Hehehehe...


3. The only time people are in festive moods when visiting the graveyards.


4. All of a sudden you have relatives you didn't even know existed before.


5. There are kids everywhere. They will suddenly be nice to you, shake your hand and expect you to give them 'duit raya'. And nothing less than RM5. The more the better. Pirates!


6. Food food food and more food. Those who have lost weight during 'puasa' will regain their weight and more.

After hari raya:

1. A lot of broke people. A good thing this year's 'hari raya' falls in the middle of the month. So these guys don't have to wait a long time for pay day :)


2. Plenty of open houses. This is where the idea of celebrating 'hari raya' for a month seems a really good one. One can really save money every weekend by going to open houses day and night. Hahahaha...


3. Traffic jams on the highway again. This time inbound to Kuala Lumpur.


4. Ops Sikap again. I wonder what the toll is like this year.

What else have I missed?

No visa for World Cyber Games 2007

I read with interest the article written by Chong Jinn Xiung in The Star, Saturday 30 September 2007.

To say that they were disappointed would be a gross understatement. They qualified for the grand final of the World Cyber Games 2007 competition in Seattle this October 3rd and the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur denied them visas. That was what happened to these 4 Malaysian cybergamers, despite all the official documents by the local WCG organisers and the fact that they were invited to participate in the competition.

The reasons? Well, one of them was a student and he was denied a visa because he studies medicine in Indonesia. Another one was because his income is too low to be granted a visa and that he does not hold sufficient property here in Malaysia. God knows what the other two were told when their applications were rejected.

I agree that the decision whether to grant visas or not to the applicants rests solely with the US embassy, but looking at the reasons given to these guys.. I mean, really.. can't you be more realistic? Besides, these guys were going there for a competition. Not for sightseeing or studying or whatever. Surely some considerations could be made. Give them short-term visas, for example, valid only during the duration of the competition.

I'm sure that this competition meant a lot to these guys. It's the grand final and to be able to qualify.. it's any gamer's dream come true. To be denied at the last minute though, it's really a nightmare.

I'm extremely sorry for these guys.

Yet another netball topic

I had a chance to meet and chat with a male netball player from South Africa last night when my friends and I went to Sekolah Sukan Bukit Jalil (SSBJ) to watch a friendly match between those SSBJ girls and this team from South Africa. His name is Brian and according to kak Mazlah (she was the referee that night and often joins us in our training), he’s the coach for the South African team. Cool! :)

At my urging (hehehehehe..) kak Mazlah introduced us and we had a little chat together with the team manager, I think. He informed us that there are quite a number of men’s netball teams in South Africa. They even have national tournaments soon. Isn’t that great? Quite unlike here in Malaysia. But then, men’s netball is still considered new here. Not to mention there’s that old crone in the Malaysia’s Netball Association who adamantly refuses to acknowledge men's netball. Hmmm… I wonder when will somebody replaces her. About time, I think.

Incidentally, if there is a national tournament for men, which state am I to play for if I was chosen to play with a state team? I’m from Sabah but I now reside in KL. So do I play for Sabah or KL? But then, I’ve probably retired from playing by the time they have national tournaments for men. Hahahaha…

Hey, you guys.. what do you think? Should there be a national tournament for us? Comments please…

It’s Ramadhan again

Have you noticed that, when Ramadhan starts, a few things started to happen which do not happen in any other month of the year? Some of them are good, some odd, and some quite funny as well.

Here’s a list. If you have something I missed, feel free to inform me (use the Comment link) and I’ll add it to the list.

1. Ramadhan bazaars cropped up everywhere like mushrooms.


2. People started to have cravings for ikan bakar.


3. Prices of food skyrocketed like crazy.


4. Mosques were filled up to overflowing during Friday prayers. You don’t see this during normal months.


5. The air quality improved tremendously since the number of smokers reduced by 90% (I think). Made me feel healthy again.


6. Traffic got worse, especially after office hours. Everybody rushed home to prepare or buy food for buka puasa.


7. Everybody was extra sleepy in the office.


8. Non-Muslims who looked like Malays started to have hard times. They practically had to have their ICs in hand to prove to the enforcement officers that they are non-Muslims.


9. Tickets for hari raya holidays were sold out in record time.


10. Impromptu entrepreneurs emerged everywhere.. selling cookies, rendang, clothes etc.


11. Time has become an integral part of everybody’s life.


12. People eat more than they normally would.


13. [From Ijan] Prices of Ramadhan buffet at hotels were so ridiculous that no sane man or woman would want to eat there. It goes without saying that if you do eat at the hotels, you're not sane. Hehehehe..


14. [From Ijan] Chicken went into hiding. All of a sudden, the number of chicken in the marketplace dwindled, which caused the prices to increase.

What else have I missed?

Pesta Bola Jaring USM ke-17, Pulau Pinang

An open letter to the tournament organisers.

---

Dear Sir/Madam,

I wish to express my personal opinions and also highlighted to you the comments I have heard from the participants of the netball tournament you organised on 8-9 September 2007.

There are a couple of things I would like to comment during the briefing.

First, the remark from En. Muhamad saying that netball is a sport unique for women. Dear sir, 5 years ago I would agree with you 100% but now, I just found your ignorance in this matter particularly insulting. Men’s netball has been around for years, especially overseas (Australia is a good example) and it is just picking up popularity here in Malaysia for the past 3 or 4 years. The 37 men’s netball teams participating in your tournament this year should have been a good indicator, unless you are too dense to pick that up.

I also found your other remark on the role of men’s netball in the tournament quite condescending. Yes, we participated because we support netball. But we also participated because we want to win. We have trained hard and learned all the rules. We want to show that, like every other sport which used to be gender-specific, netball is also for men. And that we are at par with our female counterpart. Netball, nowadays, is not for women only.

I do hope that you will be more tactful in the future with your statements. People might find them offensive, even though they are well meant. I also hope that you, considering your particular position in this tournament’s organisation, would be more aware of and up-to-date with what is currently happening with the sport.

Second, the head of referees made a statement that, for group matches, the referees will judge accordingly and that for semi-final onwards, they will be more strict and will follow the international rules of netball.

What does that show? To me, it shows that the referees do not have a standard. And since all of them are under the Penang Netball Association, it implies that the association itself is lacking in standard. Isn’t it better if the referees follow the rules to the letter right from the beginning? At the very least, it will save them face. Being called “a stupid referee” repeatedly in front of everybody is definitely something you want to avoid.

I would assume that, after 17 times organising the same tournament, the organisers would already know and understand the weaknesses and take the proper actions to fix them. I guess they did learn something from the way the tournament was run. A big hand for the organisers for a job well done.

But.. the one weakness you did not bother to correct is the referees.

You might say that the referees are beyond your jurisdiction since they are under the Penang Netball Association. And also that there were several netball tournaments running at the same time, so there was a shortage of quality referees. Fine.. but the very least you could have done was ensure that the referees engaged for the tournament are of a certain minimum grade (if they do have grades), or with lots of experience. I’m sure that with high quality referees, you will get high quality games, with no complaints whatsoever.

A couple of times during the tournaments I saw the insensitivity of the referees. Each time, a player was injured and required medical attention but instead of giving injury time-off, the referees just continued the game without any regard to the players. Technically, injury time-off will be given when the players request for it, but when one of them was cradling her wrist in obvious pain (probably broken) and the other one was writhing in the mud, surely you can forego the technicality and just call off the time. Have you no sympathy at all?

We do not begrudge our loss in the semi-final. It is the nature of tournaments.. some win, some lose. No big deal. But when a major contributor to the loss was the low quality of the referees, it did leave a bitter taste in our mouths. One is tempted to say that the referees were deliberately biased to the other team.

We did not turn up for the prize-giving ceremony. In a way, it was our message to the organisers that the tournament sucks. Or to be more precise, the referees suck. Funnily enough, our team was given the Fair Play Award. Personally, I don’t know whether I should be pleased or insulted. The whole team had a good laugh at that. I think I will dedicate the award to the referees, insult intended.

It’s really sad when these things happened in a big tournament like this. When you had participants from countries like Sri Lanka and Australia, one would assume that the quality of the whole tournament is put at number 1. Not just for the sake of getting as many teams participating as possible. If I’m not mistaken, you managed to get into the Malaysia’s Book of Records for the highest number of teams participating in any netball tournament. Good on ya!

Have you considered, though, that you might also be recorded in the same book as the tournament with the WORST referees ever? Definitely something not to be proud of, don’t you agree?

In conclusion, there are two things that I would like to request from the tournament organisers:

1. Please do not look down on men’s netball. We are as good as or even better than most women’s players.



2. Please do something about the quality of the referees for future tournaments. It is insulting that the men’s matches were judged by substandard referees.

Thank you.

RM2 for unlimited talk and SMS

Actually, I’m not sure whether that’s “unlimited talk AND sms” or “unlimited talk OR sms”. Whatever it is, I guess it’s an improvement to their previous offer. There’s a catch, naturally: the validity period is cut short from 17 hours to 12 hours (12 midnight to 12 noon of the day of purchase). And it’s still Maxis to Maxis.

Personally, I still don’t see much value to the offer. I’m using Maxis postpaid, so call me biased if you want to. The thing is.. if you want value, why not make the validity period from 6 am to 6 pm? That’s solid waking hours for almost everybody. Now that’s value for you.

Also why not make it available between other mobile operators? That’s definitely more value for money, don’t you agree?

Keep on improving, Maxis. Maybe you’ll hit it right one day.

RM2 for 400 sms

That’s ½ sen per sms! Wow, a great bargain!

Then next line says “Maxis to Maxis only. Sms valid from 1am to 7pm of day purchased”.

Huh?

Okay.. I can understand the Maxis to Maxis only. It’s really a great bonus for Maxis subscribers. But only valid from 1am to 7pm on the day of purchase? That’s highway robbery! I mean, how many people send 400 sms in 17 hours? How many sms can YOU send in 17 hours? Oh, you’d probably say more than 400. I have no doubt you can do that, but how many people do you think will reply? And, if they do reply, how many till they stop?

Let’s say, on average, each of your friend replies 10 sms. That means, to fully utilise your 400 sms, you need to send them to 40 people. Question is.. do you really have that many people you really want to get in touch with? Via sms? I don’t. Oh, I have more than 40 friends. But sms-ing 40 of them in a day? Hah! I even ignored some sms I received from them.

I honestly admit that I sms a lot. Every month my sms charges are higher than my call charges. Sometimes by half. Sometimes by two third. But then, that’s over a month. Totally acceptable from my point of view.

My flatmate actually bought the package, and he said that, by the end of the validity period, he couldn’t finish all the 400 sms he had. And the balance was gone just like that. No carry forward or anything.

Okay.. to be fair, I agree that the offer is not for everybody. If one is an avid sms-er, then this is definitely a good package for him/her. It would’ve been much better if the validity period is extended to, let’s say, 3 days or more. That would definitely add more value to the package. My suggestion is.. think of something that will benefit the users more. I’m sure your profit would increase.

Merdeka

31 August 2007 marked the 50th year of Malaysia's independence. Year after year the country has celebrated this momentous occasion with events of which the pinnacle has always been the Merdeka parade. This year, the parade will be at Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square).

I remember the first time I participated in a Merdeka parade. It was 1986 and I was 14, a member of my school's (Sekolah Alam Shah) marching band. Dataran Merdeka then was not the Dataran Merdeka today. The tall flagpole with the huge Malaysia flag flying proudly was not there. The stage, the garden, even the shops and parking lots under the field were not there. It was just a plain field, flanked by the Bangunan Kelab Selangor and Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad.

The parade started at 8 am but all the contingents were required to be there at 5 am. I think the events leading to the parade on that day were not as elaborate as they are nowadays since almost all of us stood on the field itself, rather than along the roads nearby. Quite tiring, really.. standing there for 3 hours or so doing nothing. Then the parade was on.

We marched in front of the Prime Minister and all the Menteris and guests. I must say I can't really remember what I felt that day. I was 14 and the meaning of Merdeka was not really something a 14-year old would think about. But I did feel proud that I was part of my school's marching band, representing my school (one of the top boarding schools in Malaysia) in the Merdeka parade that year. I participated again in 1987, 1988 and 1989.

After I finished school, I went overseas to further my study. Stayed 5 years there and only got back to Malaysia in 1996. I honestly admit that I have always had this couldn't-care-less attitude towards what is Merdeka to our country, our people. I had always taken for granted what Malaysia has to offer to her people. The years I was overseas, I mixed freely with people from different countries, mostly students. Most of them had the same attitude as myself.. being young and only had to worry about studies and exam results.

Only after I came back to Malaysia that, given choices, I realised I would rather live in this country.. where my family is.. where my root is. I love Malaysia. She will always be my home.

Tomorrow is the Merdeka Day and the country is celebrating. There are flags and posters everywhere.. on the buildings, on the cars, trees, lamp posts.. The radios are continually playing patriotic songs, the TVs are showing patriotic advertisements.. everywhere is about Merdeka and the spirits of patriotism are at their highest.

So.. what does it mean to be Merdeka? How truly Merdeka are we, anyway? Physically we may be free from colonialism.. but what about our minds? Our spirits? We can see so many of our traditions lost to the so called modernisation. We can see so many of our cultures forgotten as the years went by. And so many others which makes me sad just by thinking of them.

Everybody has their own interpretation of Merdeka, from the pretty straight forward answers all the way to the convoluted ones. For me, it's freedom.. not just physical, but also mental and spiritual. Freedom from all those negative influence that stole away my Malaysian identity. Freedom to achieve as high as I can but within the law and with my roots firmly placed in this beloved country.

I look at the younger generation and without fail, I can only feel extreme disappointment. Are these the future of Malaysia then? Makes me shudder just thinking about it. What happened, actually? It's like all the parents are no longer bothered about the upbringing of their children. Everytime I see these kids I can only iterate in my mind, "There goes our future.. there goes Malaysia's future." It's sad, really.

Now, let us all ask ourselves this question: "What are our contribution to our country?"

Happy Merdeka Day, Malaysia. I'm truly proud to be Malaysian.

My weekend

To start off, the much anticipated Friday night was really a terrible let down. I’m not gonna dwell on that as it will only give me a heartache. Maybe I’ll write something about it. Or maybe not.

Saturday.. my team entered the UIA Open volleyball tournament. The first game was at 12 noon and somehow one of the players managed to get there late. Could you believe that? I felt like slapping the guy till he sees Pluto. The emergency replacement also got there late. Why? Because he got lost inside the university. This one, I wholly put the blame on the person who gave him the directions.



So we forfeited the first match. Everybody was disappointed. Especially the setter, Ami. To rub salt on the wound, we could’ve beaten that team easily, and proceeded to the semi since the we won the next two matches and the team we would’ve met in the quarter was not strong.

The disappointment was enough to make me think of quitting volleyball tournaments right then and there. But I think I’ll do that next year and concentrate more in netball. At least the chances of winning are higher. Hehehe.. Oh, lots of thanks to the referees for helping us in the first match, even though in the end it made no difference. And no thanks to that woman in pink for being such a bitch about the whole thing. Yes.. you are.

Saturday night.. my friend from netball got married. Fid said, “Finally, after ten years.” Makes me wonder what took them so long. Hehehehe.. But then, it’s not cheap to get married nowadays. You’d probably need around RM15-20K just to have a medium-size wedding. And no, that’s not the reason why I’m still single. That’s for me to know and for you not to know. Hahahaha...

The wedding went well, if delayed a bit. Frankly speaking, I have no idea why they did the “bersanding” (I don’t think there’s an English equivalent for that word) twice.. the first one that night and the second one the next day. Part of the wedding package, perhaps. So that was the first part and not very many people turned up. Intentionally done, I think. But I have to say that the make-up of the bride was rather dull and totally not suitable for a wedding. I personally think that the make-up should lit up the bride’s face, not darken it.



The second part of the wedding was done the next day. The concept was orange and I went along with it and wore an orange t-shirt. Hehehe.. I’m not much into wedding, but once in a while ok laa.. 90% of the Legend team was there.. plus the coach and her kids. And three from team Cobra. True to form, we were the rowdiest people there, with a markedly lack of decorum compared to the other guests. I think it’s part of the nature of team Legend, creating havoc wherever we go. Hehehe..

Pompuan² lorong.. hehehe..

All in all, it was a rather tiring weekend. I was half asleep most of the time. But the cap of the weekend has to be the massage I got on Sunday night. It was good. I slept like a baby that night. And woke up still tired on Monday morning. Damn! Hahahahaha...

Books, books, books...

I'm a bookworm. I love books. I read everyday, whenever I can. In the LRT to work, from work, during breakfast, before sleeping, while doing nothing.. In short, I can't live without books. Reading is no longer a hobby. It has become a habit.



I have around 300 books in my collection, the majority of them of fantasy genre and a few science fiction. My favourite authors include Raymond E Feist, R A Salvatore, Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind, Margaret Weiss, Tracy Hickman, Melanie Rawn, David Eddings, Trudy Canavan and some others I can't remember. Great authors, and great stories too. I highly recommend reading their books, if you haven't read one.

The thing about fantasy and science fiction is.. it's not very popular in Malaysia. I started reading fantasy books when I was 15. I can't remember the title of the first book I read, but it was by a Malay author and the main character was named Artakus. When I was 17, I managed to get my hands on my very first English fantasy book by David Eddings, titled Enchanter's End Game, book 5 of The Belgariad series. Whose book it was, I can't remember anymore. My cousin, probably.

After SPM, I continued my study in Sydney, Australia. Unsurprisingly, some of the first shops I entered were the bookstores, where I found the first book of The Belgariad. And the second, and the third, and the fourth. And the series after The Belgariad. And I never looked back since. I was totally hooked with fantasy and science fiction, resulting in a huge portion of my monthly scholarship allowance going into buying books. By the time I finished my study, I have collected a respectable number of books, which I brought home with me in several boxes.

Note: I only read fantasy and science fiction books. I don't read other genre, except when I don't have anything else to read. And fantasy and science fiction is getting to be a mouthful. I'll call it FSF, in short.

I still continue buying books after I started working in 1997. One thing I noticed at that time was that the bookstores in KL (MPH, Times and a small Kinokuniya inside Isetan KLCC) did not have large collections of FSF books. So it was quite hard for me to get reading materials. After I got my first credit card, I started buying books online via Amazon.com where I usually ordered 2 to 4 books a month. The price was slightly more expensive but well worth it, all things considered. Now that there are several big bookstores in the Klang valley which have good collections of FSF books, I don't have to order online anymore.

After the release of The Lord of The Rings movie trilogy, it seems that the number of FSF readers has increased. There are more people at the FSF section now. But of course, I'm referring to Kinokuniya since I mostly buy my books there. I'm not sure about MPH or Borders, though. I did not see very many people browsing around in the FSF section the last time I was there.

Anyway, whenever I see these people, I suddenly felt very knowledgeable about FSF and it was my duty to guide them on which books they should read. Talk about show-off eh.. hehehehe.. I used to carry around a list of all the books in my collection and referred to it everytime I wanted to buy new books. No, I was not showing off my great FSF books collection :Þ It was to avoid buying the same book twice :) Well, I don't have that list anymore. Too lazy to update it. Besides, there aren't very many exciting new books on the shelves anymore. Mostly I'm waiting for my favourite authors to come out with their latest books.

Now that's one thing I'd like to comment. I understand that it takes time for the authors to come out with a new book. And the publishers would produce the hard cover version first. Ok.. that's acceptable.. But what I don't understand is why does it take one year for the paperback version to be published? Don't you guys know that one year is a very long time to wait and it's torture for us mere mortals who could not afford to buy hardcover??!! Kindly do something, please.

Another thing I noticed is that, over the years, the prices of books have gone up considerably. Most paperbacks were priced below RM30 then but now, on average, they cost around RM35. Some are even selling at over RM40. I'm not going to dwell on the reasons for this price increase but it's definitely not getting any easier on my wallet. Oh, I will continue buying books but I don't think it will be as many as before.

Sucks, isn't it?

Proton Persona

"It's just a Gen2.. with a sedan body."

Honestly, if I was the designer, I would be very offended. I spent hours trying to come out with a design for the new Proton model (I'm putting myself in the designer's shoes here) and the comment I got was "It's just a Gen2". Like, hello?! Can't you appreciate the efforts that went into that car?

Ok.. stepping out of the designer's shoes..

I got my first good look at the Proton Persona today. Glimpsed one last night and I thought it was a Waja. So.. Hello!?!? Can't you come out with a better design? Something different? It's supposed to be a new model, not just an amended version of the Gen2! Something original, please?

If you're offended, I'm disappointed. Surely you could come out with a design that's unique, beautiful, has a lot of appeal to the public and at par with the new car models in the market? I was expecting something grand, with all the hype given prior to the launch.. but what can I say.. I'm so disappointed.

Hey, what's this I heard about the international model for Persona is much better than the local one? Do I see a double-standard here? How unfair! But then, this is nothing new. As with the Wira model, it's international version is not quite the same as it's local counterpart. Perdana as well, if I'm not mistaken. I don't quite understand the reasons behind this. Are we, the locals, getting sub-international standards for our model? Why can't we have the same model, be it for import or for local use? If a foreigner approached me and said, "I really like the new Proton car model, Persona.", should I asked him, "Oh, which one is that? Local one or international?"

I don't deny that Persona is a rather nice-looking car and it's another good effort by Proton. I just wish they came out with something more original. I'm not going to comment on the engine or power or performance etc. coz I'm not really into those things. I'm more of a what-I-can-see type of person. If a car looks nice, the chances of my buying it is certainly high. I'm sure there are a lot of people like me out there.

So, the one thing I want to know is.. what's holding those people in Proton from investing in a better car (in the overall sense)? Mold too expensive? Afraid the people will not be interested to buy? Well.. let me put it this way. If you manufacture a car which is value for money, has all the safety features installed, and really really great to look at, people would definitely want to have one.

I'm sure it's nothing new.

Men's Netball

Huh?!

Yeah, that would be the first reaction from most of you, especially the men. (In certain things, I found that women are more adaptable and more accepting than men.) Can't really blame them, I suppose. We have been educated since we were small that netball is a sport exclusively for women. If you're a man, you play soccer. Naturally, it follows that if you play netball, you're not a "pure" man. It's bullshit but when it comes to stereotyping, men are stronger at it than women.

Well, face it guys. Netball is no longer a sport only for women. Much like soccer is no longer a sport exclusively for men. (Say, do they have rugby for women?) Not just in Malaysia, even countries such as Australia, New Zealand, England, Jamaica, Namibia, Kenya and so on have men's netball teams. And they compete internationally just like every other sport too. You can google "men's netball" and see the results for yourself.

My venture into netball started on Tuesday last week, 17/04/2007, when I joined my housemate's team's training. I have never been interested in netball before. My first sport have always been volleyball (and still is). My first impression was that netball is just too tedious, with so many rules that need to be observed during play. But as my friend keeps telling me, it’s not that much different from volleyball. As you get along, you will realise that there are only a few basic rules that you need to know. And he’s right. So I’m now officially a member of team Legend :)

After my first training, I have to admit that I’m not as fit as I thought I was. Volleyball training was hard.. but with netball, you need a lot of stamina since a lot of running is involved. Damn! I was practically panting and gulping for air. My chest hurt and I just couldn’t seem to get air fast enough into my lungs. Sweat? More like a water pipe has opened over my head and water was running all over me. I created a puddle wherever I stood. Hahahahaha..

Netball is actually fun. Hard work, but fun, nonetheless. As a start, my friend/housemate, who incidentally is the captain for team Legend, assigned me the position of defender. Wing Defend to be exact. On the bib it says WD. It’s apparently quite an important position since it’s the job of a WD to stop the attacks of the opposing team. Specifically the WD’s counterpart WA - Wing Attack. It’s hard work. There are a lot of things I need to learn like positioning, dodging, footwork, intercepting etc etc. It’s a good thing I’m playing with the best men’s team in Malaysia :)

Sidetracking a bit.. team Legend IS the current best team in Malaysia. Closest challenger is team Royal. In just about every tournament, these two teams will meet in the finals. Who won the most, well.. I don’t have the statistics with me right now. There aren’t very many men’s netball teams currently in the country but recently, more and more companies or groups are forming their own teams, with proper coaching and all. It’s quite heartening, actually. There’s team MBSA from Shah Alam, Malaysia Airlines, Jentayu from Langkawi, Cobra, Gorgeous Boys, Sonic, this one team from Johor and some others I can’t quite recall. The tournaments are getting very competitive as well. Some even offered cash prize of RM1,000 for the winner. Good, eh?

Ok, back to my story..

First training on Tuesday night.. second training on Thursday night.. third training on Saturday afternoon.. then my first friendly game on Sunday morning. It was a good learning experience, albeit the heat and sun. Man, it was hot! I’m getting dark all over again. Anyway, our opponent was team Cobra.. still green, with potential but still a lot to learn.. Wah! Macam bagus jer aku ni. Hahahahaha.. I played WD; quite challenging for a first-timer.. but all in all, I think I did good. It certainly boosted my morale when the team captain and the coach said I improved a lot in such a short time and has a lot of potential to be a good player. Hehehehe..

So there you go. Another sport in my pocket. That makes it what.. six? Hehehe.. Number one will always be volleyball. Second, bowling. Third, I suppose, is netball. Fourth, tennis. Fifth, pingpong. Sixth, badminton (started again yesterday, after 20 years of retirement.. hahahaha..) Talk about crazy, huh. Hahahaha.. Well, what can I say.. I totally love sports. It’s in the blood, I think. Dad was a soccer player. My three brothers played volleyball, soccer, futsal etc. Unfortunately, my sister and another brother, are not that keen in sports. Oh, that includes my mom as well. Hmm.. I wonder what they would say if they know I now play netball. Must be quite a shock, I think. Hehehehe..

So.. netball, anyone?

I've been conned !

I think I've been conned. And it was so straight-forward I never realised it until the next day when I really thought about it.

I had dinner with a friend last night at Chilli's KLCC. The food, as usual, was good. When we're done, I asked for the bill. Dinner costed RM83 plus, so I put two RM50 notes on the tray. A male waiter took them. After a few minutes, he came back and told me that I've mistakenly given him one RM50 note and one RM1 note. Oh ok, my mistake, so I exchanged the RM1 note with another RM50 note.

This afternoon, as I was paying for lunch, it suddenly occurred to me that I only have one RM50 note left in my wallet. I remember checking my wallet before I went out for dinner last night. There were FOUR RM50 notes inside. Now there was only one. So where did one go?

I could be mistaken, you say, but seriously, it's highly unlikely that I made a mistake about the amount of money I had in my wallet last night. I strongly suspect I was conned at Chilli's (bastard!). Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about it since I have no proof whatsoever. Damn!

It was such a simple trick and I suspect a lot of Chilli's customers were already victims. So lesson learnt. The next time I eat there, I'll pay by credit card.

ICE.. In Case of Emergency

Somebody forwarded this to me. I'm not sure whether it's true or not, but I personally think it's a perfectly logical and practical thing to do. So why don't spread the words around? You never know..

And thank you to whoever came up with this concept :)

---

Isn't it true that we all carry our mobile phones with hundreds of names/numbers stored in its memory but yet nobody, other than ourselves, know which of these numbers belong to our near and dear ones?

Let us for a moment create a scenario wherein (God forbid) we are involved in an accident or had a heart attack and the people attending to us get hold of our mobile phone but don't know which number to call to inform our family members. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency?

For this reason, we must have one or more telephone numbers stored under the name ICE (In Case of Emergency) in our mobile phones.

"ICE" Campaign

Recently, the concept of "ICE" is catching up quickly. It is simple, an important method of contact during emergency situations.

As cell phones are carried by majority of the population, all you need to do is store the number of a contact person or person who should be contacted at during emergency as "ICE" (meaning In Case of Emergency).

The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when they went to the scenes of accidents, there were always mobile phones with patients, but they didn't know which number to call. He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognized name for this purpose.

Following a disaster in London, the East Anglican Ambulance Service has launched a national "In Case of Emergency (ICE)" campaign.

In an emergency situation, Emergency Service personnel and hospital staff would then be able to quickly contact your next of kin, by simply dialing the number stored as "ICE". It really could save your life, or put a loved one's mind at rest. For more than one contact name simply enter ICE1, ICE2 and ICE3 etc.

Let's spread the concept of ICE by storing an ICE number in our mobile phones today!