yes! finally got my adsl connection up and running again. goodbye laggy and days of endless disconnection and hello ultra-fast (okay, thats just exaggerating it alil..) broadband information superhighway!! *muak muak muak my router* hahaha..

okay, now that i'm done checking my mails and stuff.. wat am i do to? hmm.... all that speed with nothing to do. sigh, isn't that life?

Yesterday I attended a meeting at Phillip Morris’ factory in seremban (yeah, I know.. far right?). Man, was I surprised when I reached there. I mean know that they are like one of the richest companies in the world but I didn’t expect their FACTORY to be sooooooo nice. And omg was it huge!! I mean there was just so much extra (and not to mention empty) land everywhere! Even the parking lot (which was huge) was situated pretty far away from the factory and office building (again, 2 different HUGE buildings). Their office was equally as amazing because not only its very nice, its also very very very quiet and peaceful. I mean from the reception/lobby area, its so quiet – no one talking, no phones ringing.. nothing. U’d think u were in a museum in the middle of the night. Amazing.. it’d be the best place in the world to work in if it weren’t for just one problem: u can smoke anywhere in the compound – a very unique feature/priviledge which I don’t believe u can find anywhere else in the world save other ciggie companies. When I say anywhere I really mean ANYWHERE – from the moment u park u car, all the way to the reception area, to the meeting rooms, toilets anywhere .. heck, I saw many employees walking around the office smoking. Kewl eh? Not if u’re a non-smoker I tell you that. its gonna be a prob for smokers oso actually cos i think u're probably gonna go thru like at least 2 packs a day in that kinda environment. at least the air's fresh and the place clean - owing to the building's top notch ventilation (somehow the smoke disappears the moment u puff it out - owing to the million vents on the ceiling, and the billion ashtrays all over the place).

So anyway, during the meeting, I noticed the chairperson from the Philip Morris Malaysia (PMM) camp had this one very funny habit: from the moment he stepped into the room, he took out a pack of Marlboros (duh), lit a ciggie and placed the pack on the table (prominently, but within still reach) – took a few drags from the fag and just left it burning in the ashtray. He repeated this throughout the entire meeting, always only taking a few drags, then leaves the ciggie to burn in the ashtray – its almost as if he just wants to make the room smoky (hmmm..). well, actually I’ve already heard of this “habit” from a friend – that its apparently something which tobacco companies make their representatives do during meetings. My theory is that they just want u to inhale their nicotine (esp if u’re a non-smoker or a customer of a competing brand).

All I can say is that just sitting through that 2.5 hr meeting, I think I inhaled enough nicotine to last me a few weeks. months even – the worst part was that later on that evening I actually found myself craving for a puff (something which has not happened to me for quite some time..). sigh, yes I guess it is THAT easy to “fall off the bandwagon”.

just watched alien vs predator (AVP) yesterday. hmm, can't quite say i was disappointed cos i kinda expected that it was a gonna be a dumb show, but i watched it anyway cos the other choice was '13 going on 30'.. so lets not even go there.

anyway, didn't bother to expect much from avp, but apart from the fact that most of the storyline was no surprise (ie aliens needs 'hosts' to multiply, predators are the perfect hunters bla bla bla..) i found the story to be quite interesting because the story unfolds really nicely .. how it fits in to the history of mankind (ie ties in to the origins of the aztecs', egyptians' and cambodians' pyramids). but at the end of the day its still a guys flick, with loads of mindless violence and short and simple storyline - it was only a 1.5 hr movie with not too many twists.. perfect if u just want to watch something that doesnt require too much processing power. =)

SEPANG DRAG BATTLE

*yawn* i hate not being able to sleep late. its only like 11.30am and i cant seem to sleep anymore although i only slept at 3am yesterday. and what did i do last nite until i slept so late u ask? i wish i could say that i went clubbing or was chillin out somewhere kewl which was actually worth staying up so late but i can't.. cos i was at the sepang f1 circuit watching a stupid drag event. i mean it sounds exciting and all, especially with all the hype that was brought about from fast and furious et al, but trust me actually attending a drag event is damn boring. actually the funny thing is that i've already established the 1st few times i've attended it (the 1st one was held sometime last yr), and i've actually been absent from a few events, but i really dunno why i was coaxed so easily by some mates to attend last nite's one. hmm..

okay, in all fairness i was actually there to support a friend who has been struggling to perform (his car i mean) ever since gawd-knows-when. damn kesian the fella, he's got a lancer evo III (the real mccoy, not like mine.. haha) which is heavily souped up in australia and had many successful competitive drag runs (in australia too) - and thats really impressive cos apparently australia's home to the fastest drag cars (a red rx7 in particular, cant remember the name).

anywayyy.. he had a 10 sec car in australia - which is very impressive, considering thats the universal goal, remember vin diesel's aim to get a 10 sec supra in fast & furious? well, what my fren has is a 10 sec 2 litre sedan car. so i'd say its impressive (especially considering many "souped up" skylines and supras are only running high 12s.) however, he's been struggling for form ever since a few good runs when he 1st brought the car back from australia. so far, after more mods here and there, the best he's done (which i've seen) is low to mid 11s. not too bad, but he's really disappointed cos i mean he has a proven 10 sec car which just doesnt want to perform.

so back to the event, its been quite awhile since my last kl drag event so i didn't know what kinda times to expect. i mean i dunno if its the timing thats screwed or whether the ppl here are spending more cash on their rides, but i feel that the times have dropped ALOT since. i mean, the was an evo VI that ran 9.8 (!!) u've gotta be kidding me dawg, thats amazing! but that time was only recorded once, he ran a mid 10 and a low 11 after that. so we all think that there was something wrong with the timing (i mean cos 9.8?!) but in all fairness, that guy spent a fortune on his car - he's singapore see (explains alot right?) and he's from garage R (famous for their monster cars and richboy clientele). the average time for the classes were:

supercar class A - quite spread out at 11+
2wd turbo class B - was about 13/14s
vtec/mivec C - 12s (hehe, faster than class B boys)
NA 1.8 class D - 15s

there actually is another K car class E, ie kancil + kenari turbo category (also known as the wasting time category.. haha) but i din bother to watch any of it so i dont really know the times. i mean, like who cares right? hehe..

anyway its common knowledge that drag racings a "sport" whereby the person who throws the most money on their rides wins (almost alwiz, but of cos there are other factors too..) so anyway, just to put this into perspective in order to get a 13 sec civic vtec most dudes here spends about rm60k, not including the car and the vtec platform - rm60k just on mods. 11/12 sec skylines go into the hundred ks. (woooo..)

so anyway, after almost 5 hrs walking around the pit inhaling car fumes and watching them go down the drag strip a number of times, we headed off only at 1.30am (rm50 bucks poorer - food and ticket included) .. reminding myself once again i'm not attending the next one (just like i did 3 months ago).

I just finished James Clavell’s Shogun. As many of u’d already know I seem to have this weird fascination with all things Japanese, particularly matters from the feudal era – samurais, ninjas, whatever. So anyway, its been awhile since I had a chance to read something in this genre and I have to say shogun was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Not only because I’m just so into these kinda stories, but i personally found this one to be particularly engaging. What I mean is that u don’t just read it, you actually live and experience it. I can’t quite describe it, but its just different. I certainly recommend it if u think u’re up for a 1000+ page read - i'd say this one is like the bigmac of the bookland.. hehe

Guess I’ve gotta get myself to an MPH tomorrow cos shogun is the 1st chapter of a 6-book “Asian Saga”, and right now getting the 2nd book is a matter of life and death.. haha. I just hope that the rest of it are just as enjoyable, although I don’t think its in the feudal Japanese era anymore – shogun was set in the 1600s, the 2nd book “Tai-Pan” is set in 1841. wonder what’s that about – I can’t wait.