just take the damned bus

just take the damned bus.
our generous traffic branch of the malaysia police force extended a discount period for paying summonses til sept 30. i took the chance n went ahead with paying mine. nothing serious, just made an illegal u-turn n ended up stumbling upon the white-clad campers. guess they needed their quota for the month.

there's a scene between a cop n this young girl, not more than 18, who was there for the discount too. it seems like the car is her mom's, n her friend drove it, unaware than the road tax has expired n no insurance was purchased for the car.
i'm not sure if insurance is required by the law here, but according to the cop, the summonse was for a total of 3 violations: expired road tax, no insurance, n denying to sign n acknowledge the summonse when asked to sign. for each of the 3, she has to pay RM300, which comes to a total of RM900.

it sounds like total bullshit to me. denying to sign n acknowledge a summonse is an offence?! wtf?! does that mean that when we're given a summonse, we'll HAVE to sign it no matter what?

if i'm stopped by some corrupt cop looking to earn a few quick bucks, hinting at me to pay for some made up offense, n i refused to pay, so he gave me a summonse, which i definitely will not agree nor acknowledge, i'm actually violating the law?? so i'm in the wrong for not agreeing/admitting to something i did not do in the first place? what a great system we have.

i've always had a bad impression of the local traffic rules n regulations - too many loopholes for all those corrupt cops out there to prey on us. now, it's gotten worse as they get more empowered, n the rules get more ridiculous.

1. 14-day loss of licences for errant drivers.
2. drive traffice offenders off our roads.

the new rules are:
1.DANGEROUS or reckless driving resulting in death
2.RECKLESS and dangerous driving
3.CARELESS and inconsiderate driving
4.DRIVING under the influence of alcohol or drugs
5.DRIVING or controlling a motor vehicle while the alcohol level in the blood system exceeds the permitted level
6.BEATING the traffic lights
7.DRIVING in excess of 40kph above the speed limit

now can someone tell me the difference between driving under the influence of alcohol n driving while the alcohol level in the blood system exceeds the permitted level?? how can someone be driving under influence of alcohol n not have the level exceed the permitted level??
when u look at it, drunk driving actually violates rules #2,3,4,5 all at the same time. u're driving under influence, having alcohol levels exceeding the limit, driving carelessly n recklessly.

am i the only one that's seeing the absurd redundancies in those ridiculous rules?

our transport minister is right about the increased opportunity for bribery with the new rules. we've more or less been getting either hinted subtly or directly asked for 'duit kopi' by traffic cops, n that's when if we broke 1 rule, we broke 1 rule.

now with these new rules, the extra summonses n the 14-day revoking of licences, our white-clad kings of the roads are gonna be having a field day. everyday.

mirrormask

it always amazes me how many different ideas that neil gaiman can come up with in each of his new stories. dave mckean's creativity and ingenuity with his illustrations always leaves me speechless. i've been totally marvelled by their works since sandman, and yet again their latest collaboration took my breathe away before i even manage to see the movie.

early in the sandman series, richard madoc, a novelist, exchanges a trichinobezoar for a the muse, calliope. "I need her. If I didn't have her, I wouldn't be able to write. I wouldn't have ideas." says richard madoc when morpheus the dream king arrives to free the enslaved muse.

sometimes, i wonder if neil gaiman has a few muses of his own locked up in his attic. :)
i read through the first 100+ pages of the script and there are already so many unheard-of ideas - sphinxes love eating books, books will float back to the library if you don't want them anymore and the flutter around like butterflies too, people wear masks and believe that you can't express any emotion without masks - my brain will probably fry itself if i were to try coming up with stuff like these.

photos from the set n the movie shows a very strong feel of dave mckean. it's like seeing his illustrations coming to live on screen. ok, i'm just guessing on that but i'll bet the movie will feel exactly like that to anyone who's familiar with dave mckean's style in art. the panning of the camera on certain scenes looks really impressive from the script.

the story is a twist of alice in wonderland, making it much darker (when comparing with the comtemporary children's version), more witty humor n a totally brand new neil gaiman fairy tale, riding dave mckean's design n directing.

like i said before i even read the book, a collaboration of my fav artist n fav author, moved to the big screen, what more can i ask for?

PS: that's death from sandman on the side. she's got nothing to do with the movie, i just like the pic. :P

are those tits on ur phone?

the malaysian govt is so hell-bent on stopping the spread of almight pr0ns that they're gonna have cops stop ppl on the streets n search their mobile phone. yes, that's right. all ur mobile phones are belong to us, they say. (can't help the lame joke)

similar reports from 2 differe sources: bbc uk and news24.. i've been trying to look for a link from malaysia online papers, but can't seem to locate one. it'll be most interesting to find the Harian Metro article that actually reports on "teenagers are using their mobile phones to video mass sex parties and then send the pictures to each other."

dude, where the hell are the mass sex parties? how do one get invited? i'll like an invitation pls. hello? HELLO~??

so, here's the low down. be prepared to get stopped on the streets by policemen in uniforms or plainclothes asking for ur mobile. be prepared to have them go thru all ur pics, pr0n or not, n be prepared to suffer idiotic comments from them that was supposed to be funny.

the other thing right now is, how much identification do they have to provide the public before we have to oblige n handover our mobiles? what's to stop impostors to actually just grab our mobiles n run? with the bribery among traffic police still rampant nowadays, i think this might just be another opportunity for duit kopi for cops.

ok. i can't get this outta my mind. where the hell are the mass sex parties?!!

home sweet home

it's great to be back home in ipoh.
i haven't been back for a couple of month, and i was pretty lucky to be able to just take leave for friday outta no where and go home.

my ex-colleagues all agreed, as soon as they saw me, that i grew fat. damn. i knew that i've gained quite a lot of weight, especially in my mid-section, but hey, y'all didn't have to tell me that the first thing we meet. gah!
trying out jeans on saturday really slapped the fact right on my face. hard. i had to get a pair of jeans that's 2 inches wider in the waist then i usually get to make it fit comfortably. i REALLY need to do something about my weight.

mom's not really helping, but i don't blame her. i miss her cooking so much, i just finished everything she cooked, every meal at home. :) however much people say penang food is great, there's nothing better than a real home-cooked meal. i miss mom's food so much.

reminder: next time, get a return bus ticket as soon as i get back.
it was totally unexpected that most of today's tickets are all sold out. i'd already went a day earlier to get one, but the only ones left are for early morning buses. i ended up having to get the 10am one. missed out on another home-cooked lunch.

met up with a close friend on saturday for some shopping and catching up. she's popular as ever. her ex wants her back. her ex's best friend wants her. so do quite a few others. :)
the funniest was this really sad guy who's gone after 2 other girls in the span of one year, lost but didn't know how to quit, now also going after her. the funny fella actually bought her breakfast this morning. i'm not sure whether she ate it later or not, i'll check up on that later just for laughs, but she just dumped the whole box on her desk and went out for breakfast with me in front of him.
now, if he still doesn't get it after that, then he's a bigger loser than i think he is.

now i'm back in penang. almost fully charged from my trip back home. almost, because i didn't get to stay a few hours more. tomorrow's gonna be hell at work since i left quite a lot hanging thursday evening before i went off.

the haze has recovered a lil this morning, after a huge thunderstorm sometime before daybreak. i've forgotten to upload the pics to my photobucket account, maybe i'll do that later so i can post them here. i can at least see equatorial this morning.

went to some very rural area in kulim, around 45 minute's drive from penang, for some very fresh fish. the drive was pleasant up til the last part where we were going thru a tight, bumpy country road only wide enough for 1 car at a time.


the entrance to the place was crowded with expensive cars like mercs and bmws. there was even a rare-in-malaysia bmw 1 series. it seems like this place is really famous for its fishes. the "restaurant" is basically just a small "shack" built of simple wood and brick structures, open-aired and surrounded by the ponds in which the fishes are bred. tables and chairs are those used at normal hawker stalls.



we occupied 2 tables, had a total of 6 dishes consisting of 5 (huge!) fishes and veges each. the fishes were extremely good. all 5 fishes were cooked in totally different ways. the meat is extremely tender and sweet for fresh-water produce. the main reason behind this, as what i learnt, is that they seriously only get the fishes from the ponds when ordered. the fishes are cooked straightaway, after being knocked out cold. i'm not much of a fish-fan but the meal was just great.


pics of the surrounding areas and ponds.


the fella catching fishes from the pond.


this is the weirdest pic of the day. this rock is in the middle of the pond and all these frogs are huddled together on the rock. i'm wondering whether they are actually fed to the fishes.


all in all, it was a great trip. the 90-min drive to and fro is well worth it for the extraordinarily good food we had. plus, the price is freaking cheap. altogether we only spent around RM350. that's for a total of 12 dishes for 15 people. :)