Saturday, April 30, 2005

"What is this crap on my TV?"

First off, @Pablo: I hope you get better soon. Don't forget to makan ubat. And rehat. Don't let me sic my Sugar Pie on you. Oops, sorry, already did. Have she called you yet?

Well, to answer Pab's question: Why Filter, not xPlay? The hard truth isn't just limited to that one crappy show, it's actually about the whole channel itself. It's a very angker story, so get ready to hide behind the popcorn box.

If you remember your astro, you'd remember channel 13 was called TechTV. The actual channel was very fun and informative, a good channel. As the name of the channel implies, it caters to technology. It shows programs that are about technology, gadgets, and of course, games. Even their website is very good and informative.

Looking at archive.org's dates, the horror probably started around July 2003 (whoa, didn't realise it was that far back). The real story was that, G4 was looking into acquring TechTV. But first, what the fuck is this G4?

TO BE CONTINUED....

Friday, April 29, 2005

After you're at the top...

...the only way left is down. Hard.

Well, it's not that bad la. It's as simple as my own phone goes kaput as soon as I "threaten" for a new phone and simcard.

Grr.. I called my sugar pie to weh-weh about it, and she laughed about it! Apparently, this is was considered as 'funny'.

At least it was a reason to call her... :p

Oh, the room is still a dragon's nest. No hope of survivors. The nation is mourning for the great loss.

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Mew Mew Mew~!

I'm so genki today... Well, not that genki, but it's almost there.

Why? I managed to fully repair my homie's PC, along with all the whistles intact. Also, my sweetie pie finally bought a Hotlink number, which means no more shitty shitty line. Oh, it's raining right now, so that means a cooler temperature. Oh heck, I'm playing P.Ramlee's Malam Bulan Dipagar Bintang..sedap. And I'm having my favorite drink (which is apparently, not booze.) My room is a total mess after all that repairing, It's a literal dragon's nest if you ever saw one.

Holy crap, I'm genki.

@Pablo: You want the Angelic Layer OST? I'll burn it for you. Yeah yeah, I also have genki songs, tho that doesn't mean I play those songs.

And no, the post title have nothing to do Tokyo Mew Mew. Burn it with FIRE!

p.s. : I'm karaoke-ing to my winamp.. Holy crap.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Rojak pack

First off, new blog on Pablo's. Funny stuff. I didn't realize she's a funny girl. Go make a mess at her place :p

Next off: crap, April's almost over. Had good times in April. For starters, got punk'd by Pablo off the crapper. Damn you~! Other than that, had good times going around town with my Sugar Pie. Oh, finally got back home after a gruelling semester in That Frickin' Town (Sin City it ain't), both psychologically and emotionally. Frickin' traumatic. The highpoint of my stay in TFT was when I got on the bus to leave town and head back home.

Oh, the closing of April also means the coming of May (for those of you who don't know your calendar, May comes after April and before June). May is also important for a few things, namely a few birthdays (Pablo's!), somebody's escalator down to workplace hell (Lase!) and a long-awaited return of a local hero to his homeland (G-Man!)

I'll just shortlist some of the events that's happening since the last entry. First, I got a pleasant surprise in my mailbox. Thanks for the bracelet, Cute. Other than that, my homie and I are planning to revive our old hobby of cycling. It's a good sweat-buster and we get good excersice on it. At least the plan is more tangible than the "Let's go jogging!" plan, which clearly is a politician's promise.

Heh, almost stopped posting at this point, just to post the blog, for Lase. :p No worries, girl, I'll try to finish it.

Actually, I can't. No topics surfacing up right now.

This always happen when I sit in front of the PC.

Oh yeah, there's this thing Lase wrote on her buddy's blog. It's about racism. I wanted to block-quote it, but naah. Here's the blog, and her subsequent comment.

Off-hand comment: I don't know why I like piano-based music. Pablo took a shot of my selection, and she said it was "too slow". I got this OST, full of piano stuff. Also, Final Fantasy piano lah, and also orchestra stuff lah. I could say that these pieces makes me relax and cool down. I really don't understand why the 'youngsters' like those heavy sht, Or worse, Linkin Park (for those in the dark, LP is associated with emo-kids. The kids really realted to their lyrics. Frankly, I don't understand any of this shit, let alone their lyrics.)

Okay dah, I'm really off the deep end lah. Later la will add more. [/politician's promise]

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Adware/spyware/malware crap

I still haven't registered for tagboard account, which is why Lase is rolling her eyes now. Yadda yadda yadda...Editus: Tagboard down again, huh? I really wish there's another service available. There's this one DIY tagboard I saw, the only problem was that you need to have your own php-enabled webserver. And my webserver ain't that...

Oh, if you don't already noticed it, I've updated my links (now calls it "crack houses") and one of them is Pablo's blog. Why don'tcha visit there and mess it up a litte? She won't mind.

hmm, i guess exam's over for MMU people. G'luck to Lase on surviving the cuti. Us UiTM people got it worse than you. 3 months. But hey, can't make brain pudding without killing a few grey matter, eh?

Oh yeah, been looking into hello.com and the ability to put pictures into blogger. My question is, it's not picture-dump site like others? Huh?

I've been thinking lately (an amazing feat nowadays, even for me) about an issue that's supposedly unrelated, but is very much intertwined.

It began when I was repairing my homie's PC. It was his second PC's turn for my consultation. This time it's worse: adware and spyware infestation. The PC was so bloated with malware we had to soft-reset twice to be able to launch scandisk.

I asked him, "did you go surf porn sites? Did you install weird programs? Did you open up weird attachments?" Of course, all no. I believe him. Even if he does do it, I'm not gonna sell out my homie. Nevermind about that la. Oh, he uses dial-up.

I'm not questioning my buddy's internet skills. Granted, He's luckier than any other horny bloke who's cluesless about PC protection. But what I do question in a general way is about Malaysian's awareness about PC security.

I'm not gonna go preaching on do's and dont's of PC security. All I can say are two things: Adaware and Spybot. It comes to the point that I think adware/spyware/malware crap are a more of a threat than virus threats. Yeah yeah, I don't have a proof to support opinions.

The bottom line is, Malaysians surf. And they don't pay attention to security. Fine. Maybe they need people to teach them how to surf safely. Maybe they need to experience it firsthand. Hell, I don't know shit.

Which brings me to another unrelated item. Malaysia has the lowest rate of broadband penetration in Asia. The government wants to push broadband usage and closing the digital divide and all. We want the nation to be knowledge-based yadda yadda yadda.

I'm cool with it. Heck, I even try to promote people to broadband. But one thought hits me as I repair my homie's PC: ain't being on broadband makes you more vulnerable to attacks? Viruses of course, but what about the damned malware? I could imagine broadband-enabled PCs getting hijacked by the icky gooey crap that is adware like, all the time.

Of course, our tech-savvy minds jumps straight to the solution. "But of course, there's routers and firewalls. We could just install them and everything will be alright, luv." [/snotty upper class accent]. I want to say, even if there's firewalls and waterwalls and stone brick walls, if you don't know how to scan for adware, you're screwed. If you don't know to differentiate between "install now and get this crap!" and not installing, you're screwed. If you have a metal grill over your 24-hour open window and don't know how to use the grill (as well as the window), then you're screwed.

Yes, yes. It's up to us tech-savvy people to help them, to teach them. We should tell them to use this firewall. We should tell them to scan for viruses as well as spyware periodically. We should teach them not to click malicious links/sites/programs/buttons. We should teach them to watch out for this or that. We should teach them this, we should tell them that. Yadda yadda yadda.The beef here is that, do they listen? Do they learn?

Yeah, from what I've talked about, you could surmise that I'm getting sick and tired of being tech support. Actually, that is farther from the truth. I love being tech support. Only the closest family and friends seek me for tech support. I love dealing with PC crap (and laughing at what they did wrong). It's no matter about the tech support. It's about the people.

We tell them this, we teach them that. But it happens over and over again. They won't listen. And imagine that fiasco when we go broadband-enabled.

Jeez, I guess I'm going nowhere with this, am I? Maybe I am getting tired of listening to malware crap. If it's an honest problem, I can deal with it. Botched OS? Hardware on the fritz? Cat shat on the motherboard? Rogue virus? I can deal with all that. But adware/spyware? That's the user's problem. You surfed there. You didn't take precaution. Yes, there's also drive-by downloads. You didn't scan your PC.

Here's one (of many) articles on how to prevent adware crap. Just google the rest.

Well, I bet I got on so many people's hate list after this. I talked about crap, and I don't have substantial proof to back up my bullshit. Just great.

But hey, I've laid down my beef with the world. What's said is said.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Challengers and challenges

Holy crap, it's almost 4am and I have't slept yet (d'oh). I'm supposed to be out cold, ignoring any movement or sound. I should be blissfully ignoring that bright annoying thing they call the sun come morning. Heck, the typos are even coming in droves now, and i'm getting bored hitting backspace every couple of words.

But I'm wide awake. Why the hell? I could guess this is because of the excess adrenalin caused by challenges.

As always, I don't remember what happened in the morning. But the main challenge came after lunch.

My homie asked me to take a look at his PC. I'm not saying that I'm really good at this, it's just that I learned a lot from hands-on experience during my younger years and that it's just another hobby of mine.

It was late in the afternoon that disaster struck. A routine installation gone awry. I just toughened myself, ready to grab the challenge by the balls. Just as I'm knee deep and enjoying beating the crap out of the chibi-SNAFU, the big mama of SNAFUs came down and handed a swift kick to my preciouss..ouch.

It just so happens that my own PC ain't waking up. I got agitated. Now why the hell is my PC went FUBAR? I dropped everything going on in my homie's PC and diverted my attention to this atrocity. 2-in-1 challenge. Oh great.

And to top it off, I didn't went for the afternoon nap. My energy's dwindling down like some kid at a waterslide in a damned waterpark. i was defeated in both challenges. I got beaten up by two scrawny kids whom I could easily pick up and throw. It was goddamn painful. I was aching all over my body. Lack of energy + energy-taxing challenges = a dead Syaoran.

Thankfully Pheonix Down came-a-calling in the form of food. Home-cooked food. And my favorite beverage. I crawled up to the table and ate my fill. Plus, it was under the insistence of you-know-who. She pushed me up, remotely. She told me to get back my energy and to get some rest.

After my pit-stop, off to the showers to.."ponder". Thankfully, a fresh viewpoint came down on me like a biological/chemical bomb by a stray bird.

I tried it again after Maghrib. Hm, still stuck. The remote-lady cheered me on, believing in me. Thanks, I say.

Another healing salve came from the owner of the PC. We went out for some F&B. For me, it's a breath of fresh air, and a chance to tackle the problem in a theoretical situation. That means formulating and creating scenarios and possible solutions in my head.

Got back from the F&B and proceeded to try tackle the problem again. Amazingly, I solved both the problem almost concurrently. Problem #2 solved which lead the way for problem #1 to be solved. Whoa.

After that, it's off for celebrations. Yeah, if you consider iced skyjuice a reward.

I should be sleeping by midnight, eh? Wrong. I stayed up to tackle yet another challenge. Unfortunately, this one is top-secret. Suffice to say that I had an even worse time untangling all that crap and tying up the loose ends.

When I looked up, it was almost 4am.

Holy crap. Enough la. Although it was fun tackling those challenges head-on, there's gotta be a time to rest. And to be frank, my body's already screaming murder. Hmph.

Oh, before I forgot, Thank You for the remote-lady for cheering me on and believing I could crack that sonuvabitch. I really appreciate your SMSes and your faith to me. Itsumo Arigatou, Hontou wa Arigatou.

Oh great, it's half-past four. :p

Monday, April 18, 2005

Nostalgia

Well, what a wave of nostalgia hitting the boy's crib tonight. First off, the day report:

Today ain't a big day in the first half.

On the second half, I followed my dad to AS (some say its America, but it's actually Alor Star). So this gives me a chance to buy some long-delayed new PS2 games. Oh yeah. One of the games is Megaman Anniversary Collection.

What is it? As the name implies, it's a collection of Megaman games from Megaman 1 to Megaman 8, a collection spanning 15 years. It's from the NES days, so don't expect 3D graphics or such. To us, it's all about the gameplay.

After we booted up the game, a flood of nostalgia came over us. The days of old came rushing back. The smell of the blazing hot afternoon, the distinctive smell of mom's cooking in the kitchen, the toughness of the final boss in Megaman 1...

Another wave of nostalgia:

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Relate

A short one today. Just post a blog I found while surfing.

http://outpostnine.com/editorials/owl.html

This entry reall pushed my buttons. I really could relate to him. What he says in the middle of the blog is a mirror of my own. Read it up yourself, and comment about it.

Saturday, April 16, 2005

Grasshopper Dreams 2.0 alpha

New layout, bee-atch! :D

Made by Ross. Will talk about it later. That's why it's still 2.0 Alpha version. Still haven't got all the kinks out yet, namely, putting up links, and *gasp!* a tagboard account.

hm.... Ikan bakar...yum yum.

Friday, April 15, 2005

Fifty Percent

First off, for Lase:


Well, I'm gonna unload what the Homies and I did yesterday. Basically, we went for a swim at Perlis' best-kept secret: Bukit Air. (Pablo, stop it with the 'ayaq' jokes.) It's a waterfall/lagoon place in the middle of the Perlisian jungle. We went up there by car, and we went straight to the lagoon and dip. It was very cool, temperature-wise, because of the surrounding jungle. Although the water was only up to our waists, it was very fun and cool. And it was relaxing being in the lush jungle with the natural sounds.

And no, the place ain't that secluded. Like I said, we went up there by car. Heck, even the floor of the 'lagoon' was fully tiled. No deep monsters lurking in the depths.

That was yesterday. As for today, Well, I took out my 'Hog and just go around town. Which brings me to one of my favorite hobbies.

This hobby of mine don't have an exact moniker to call it by. Maybe you guys could name it or something. The main ingredient is of course my 'hog. The second ingredient is a full tank of gas. The last ingredient is the most important: the thirst for adventure.

It ain't explorace/eco-challenge kinda thing, though I wouldn't mind it. No, it's a simple thing. Oh, another requirement: kampung roads.

Basically it goes like this: I ride around the mukim, looking around. If I found a kampung road, 3 out of 5 times I'll take it. I just ride on the road, admiring the view and the surrounding, the society, the atmosphere.

Try imagine yourself in the middle of a paddy field. The field stretches as far as the eyes can see. Over there on one side of the horizon, an ancient hilly range that stretches from the other side of the state and into Thailand itself. Imagine the sky is as blue as the sea, clouds like a school of fish playing around. Imagine jutting hills that's million of years old. Imagine you are in the center of a flatland state.

Imagine that and you'll feel 50% of Perlis' heartland already.

P.S.: Ross, already finished with 'it' ka? It really looks cool. Hats off to you.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Do not operate heavy machinery

Like always, I've been distracted by stuff. And I haven't touched the ps2 yet. Haiya....

Queen Of Spam, Pablo is really hot right now. Get the fire extinguisher, dudes. My advice to Pablo, slow down the SpamMobile, girl.

Lase, you're still in exam mode. You don't have to be here. Study. Totally forgot about my blog? why should I be mad pulaks? You said it yourself, exam stress. Alah, I don't mind. As long as you don't totally forget me lah. Ayam golek... Mmm....

I had some rough cough and stifling sniffling today, so I downed a medicine lying about in the house. (Kids, don't try this at home. I'm a trained professional and I know the risks.) Apparently, it was my dad's, and it was so good. It also carried the "Do not operate heavy machinery and Driving. May cause drowsiness" etc etc.

So I took it (the labels says to take a teaspoon. Sikitnya...) and it was goddamn good. So I retreated back into the room and watched some CSI. After an hour (this was before lunch, around 10-something AM) I was too tired to stand up. So I goal'ed. Like a ripe cempedak. In my semi-conscious state, I also realized that my mouth is open and I'm surely gonna drool.

Woke up around lunch by my dad. It was like a map of Australia... Anyway, I was too woozy to get up. My body was very light and I couldn't balance myself. I never had such a powerful ubat. Wanna try it again, by I really hate the woozyness part. heck, I even continued sleeping later in the afternoon.

Oh yeah, Went out with my dad today. Saw an ostrich farm for the first time. Smelly like crap. Also, my driver's license and my 'hog's road tax have been renewed. Watch out Kangar!

Oh, to enlighten Pablo and the rest of the lot:
Verbose, adj., containing more words than necessary, wordy.
Regress, n., movement backward to a previous and especially worse or more primitive state or condition.
From Merriam-webster online dictionary.

As for Algernon, it's actually a lab rat which had a surgery to make it more intelligent. The experiment was a success, so it was done on a human, Charlie Gordon. Sadly, Algernon regresses and finally died. So what about Charlie...?

It's all in the book titled "Flowers for Algernon". I'll give it you soon, Pablo. It's one of my beloved books.

Monday, April 11, 2005

An Algernon Moment

I feel like I'm losing it. I'm losing my grip on my mind. My ability to think. All I can do now is float in this empty space. With no lines to call horizon or wall, I just float...

It feels like it's slipping through me, like a handful of sand falling down through the fingers. Falling slowly..

It's not yet 48 hours and I'm already feeling despair and bored. What I'm really afraid of is that I'm losing my mental capacity and ability. In true Algernon moment, I'm regressing into my prehistoric self, devoid of any mental processes.

I don't want that to happen. I don't want to take control of me. This is my body, my home. I won't surrender without a fight. Over my dead body and mind.

In other words, I will use this blog as a diary of sorts of my battle that is raging inside me. I want to really defeat this vile creature. It will not take over me. I have plans and I want those plans fulfilled.

I'm working on a new layout for the blog. That's the top priority. Others include playing around vector-tracing. i'll put up any updates. I'm not gonna let this battle be a silent one.

I might lose this battle, but at least let this battle be known. Algernon finally regresses back to his old retarded self, but I am determined not to. I will not let my mind catch rust.

Ooh, ps2!

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Just a short one for today...

well,

I'm home, muthafuckas!!

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Can I borrow 5 bucks....

...I'm just short 5 bucks to buy myself a Nuclear Detonation Kit. Why? I want to blow up Shah Alam.

Why again? This place is like the nexus of emofagness. [Oh yeah, blogger warning. Explicit Language (maybe) up ahead.]

Why again? Y'see, today was the last paper for us (yay!) so She and I went out and go crazy la. Midvalley. Gila. Before we left for Kl, she was such an emo. I'm not saying it in a bad way la. She was sad about something. I really hate seeing that. Okay, so we went out of SA and went to Sentral and MV.

Guess what? She cheered up. And me too, just because she cheered up.

Time's up, so we got the bus back to station. Along the way, she's really happy.

Just as we enter the Shah Alam city limits, she goes back to her emo self. And me too. Mutherfucka.

What is it with this crappy town? The only times I am happy is when I'm out of town. Sg.Buloh, Sg.Besi, Melaka, Segamat. Everytime I'm out of this frickin town I'm happy. Just I cross into the city limits, the muthafucking emo struck.

So you guys should like, get worried that I want to blow up Shah Alam. This city sucks monkey balls. My girl's not happy. I'm not happy. This city sucks.

But enough of the sucking and mutherfucking. The question is, why does this city suck? Why not PJ? KL? Hell, why not Kangar? It really bothers me la about this town. The atmosphere's lame. Not to mention fun places. It feels like it's not safe here.

But then again, you have to make do with your city. You can't expect the city to live up to your expectation. Then again, that's defeatist's talk. Oh well.

Sidenote: I saw some who looks exactly like our dear Joe_Hahn. Right up to the slick pull-back hair. Hm.

sidenote #2. This one really made my day. Funnay.

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Rather than a comment....

....I'd better put up a new blog. Justice for Ibanez!

Don't worry, dude. Like our (future) government's motto: We Understand.

Of course I want try out Ross' JS taggie. Looks cool enough. Just hope it'll be there when I get back.

She? Uh... I'll answer that later la. Too bad Kero-chan's original plans were scrapped, or you would've known her by now.

Erm.. what else huh... Oh yeah! 7 days left to home! 10th is soo far away at times like this...

Enough la. I'm off going fact-finding for...um...

Friday, April 01, 2005

Perscription drugs?

Oh yeah! 4chan (and 5chan and idlechan and renchan and moeboard) archive! www.0chan.org. That's a zero. Oh, NOT VERY WORKSAFE AT ALL!

Hmm, I guess my mood's going up a bit. Had to resort to extreme measures, namely chatting with 3 closest friends at the same time. Thanks to Lase, G-man, and Kero-chan.

And yeah, Lase said that the blog's getting boring. I know. Too much angsty stuff. I promise (a politician's promise) that when I get back home, I'll update the site layout. Maybe do some wallpapering. Oh yeah, I'll definitely do some vector tracing. hmm..what else ah.. oh yeah, *gasp!* maybe a tagboard.

And of course, fresh blogs. If I can la. :P