schumey 2nd.. better than last =)

well, as i said earlier schumey had a good chance of winning this race tonite but unfortunately kimi's mclaren proved to be just too fast for him. doesn't matter - just as long as cocky ass alonso did not finish in the points (he finished 11th - with 0, read Z-E-R-O points). i seriously do not mind kimi finishing 1st as he looks all set to be the next schumacher, but alonso..? i dont think so dawg, to me he's just some cocky-ass idiot who is in no place (and probably never fit) to be even thinking of becoming an f1 champion. personally, he was put back in exactly where he's supposed to be today- right at the bottom end of the field..

go schumey go!

yes! finally a pole for the world champion, and its about time too! trust schumey to do it in style - almost a second faster than 2nd place montoya. running a lighter fuel strategy you say? well, could be.. u'll only find out in about 6 hours time when ferrari storms to a superb victory in hungary. wishful thinking? hehe, u cant blame me (i'm one of those who actually thinks he stands a chance to win this years drivers' championship despite being 40 points down fm 1st place alonso and 4 points fm 2nd place raikonnen). what can i say, but "go schumey go!!"

hi, my name is calvin and i'm a tv addict..

i admit that there's nothing i find more relaxing than spending the evening after coming back from work just laid out on the couch watching the idiot box. (oh wait, there IS something: happy hours-ing with frens drinking ourselves silly after a long day at work, but thats a whole different confession =P)

well, the latest show which i cant seem to miss is 'one tree hill'. although my 1st reaction to the show is that "oh no, not another teen series..", but i soon found myself liking it and even looking forward to next week. well, before this it was actually smallville that i liked, but thats only cos of kristin kreuk (she so hot), but since starworld/tv3 stopped airing it after the 1st season, i kinda forgetten about it. well, u must be thinking one show's not that bad rite? wrong. there's also desperate housewives, ed, frasier, jag... and not-so-favorites-but-dont-mind-watching friends, king of queens.. the list goes on and on. basically to in a nutshell, anything playing on tele does it for me.

sigh.. someone help me get a life! but then again, its either the tele or out drinking all nite, every day of the week. talk about choices. hehe..

to sum up my weekend..

schumey finally got a cap of whoop-ass this weekend at the german gp with a honda and renault overtaking him as easily as a lamborghini would a 1.3 proton wira - okay, thats an exaggeration. he did put up a fight and did an excellent job holding the other obviously much faster cars back, but unfortunately that was not good enough. i dont blame him though, to me he's still no.1 - its the damned bridgestones i blame. gawd damn bridgies are freaking hopeless! u'd think that they'd buck up by now but no.. they just continue doing whatever it is they do: making championship LOSING tires. grrrr, u bet i'm pissed. and it wasnt so bad if kimi was winning the championship, i just cant stand that dick alonso winning race after race. well, enough bout f1 already..

looks like the nation-wide debate about APs have yet to go away.. now some ministers are questioning the issuance of APs and how will proton be protected?! my question back to them is how many of u politicians and wannabes are actually driving protons as a 1st car? i'm just sooOOOoo sure most of them are driving big-ass mercedes' and bmws which ironically was probably brought into the country by the "AP kings" whose modus operandis are so heavily being debated now (probably sold it to them at a great discounted price too!). so what they hell are u guys complaining about?! dickheads.

malaysia's latest debate

for those of u not in the country (or just do not pick up the papers to read the latest headlines), the hottest topic everywhere is our AP (Approved Permit) issues. well, for those of u who have no idea what that is, in a nutshell in order for a person to import a car, whether new or used, into the country, u need an AP from the government. These APs are issued by the govt to the bumiputeras (ie malays) so that they may help them out.

so anyway, its now been questioned as to why a large percentage of the total APs issued last year was only to four prominent biznesmen and not equally among the ppl. now, this was brought about by our dear ex-prime minister Dr M, which almost immediately after everyone started making hell alot of noise about it and making comments like "its about time" and "this has been going on for too long". i mean, if u guys knew this was going on all this while why din someone say something bout it? why wait for someone to say something before u voice ur own thoughts?

sigh.. i just think that all this attention on the APs has eclipsed a more pressing issue: the bridge collapse along the NKVE (new klang valley expressway) which was attributed to the use of lousy building materials (ie putting less of the important and expensive stuff into the mix). now, this is a big big prob over here. u will know what i mean when u walk into most of our brand new houses and find that the walls are already cracking, water pipes leaking and basically falling apart even before the owners moved in. its so bad these days that its even an accepted fact that houses HAVE to be renovated before moving in. sigh, isnt it sad the situation we've come to?

i mean that this AP thing is important and all, that the distribution of wealth among the malays are important (ahem), but dont u think bridges and houses collapsing is a much more important issue? i mean ppl could die for gawds sake. but i guess perhaps debating who gets to import the next 20,000 cars next year is more important.. *sheesh*

oh btw, if u've passed by federal highway lately i'm sure u've noticed that car dealer Naza has now upgraded their showroom to become an automall boasting tens of thousands of imported cars and superbikes on display (apparently largest is southeast asia..?) - would it be such a surprise that the recipient of the most APs last year was none other than the boss of this place?

well, in case any of u are wondering what my stand is in this AP debate, all i can say is i feel that although it maybe unfair that just a few individuals are getting most of the APs, i guess it goes by Pareto's 20/80 rule and that there's definitely a reason to why some got more than others. heck, one of them built a gawd-damn automall for goodness sake! at least it shows that he actually put some thought into it and is genuine bout selling cars. it sure speaks tonnes more than those of u who just placed some cars under a attap hut and expect to make it big. worst off are the ones who din even bother to do anything- they just sold the permits to someone else for a profit.

okay, better stop now before i get caught for bad mouthing the govt. =P

cuti cuti malaysia

took mon and tues off and spent a long weekend down in penang. this time my sis followed me along so this time around we decided to go do some tourist-sy stuff, ie sight seeing. surprisingly, it was pretty fun (and i learnt some new stuff too!).

well, here's basically a rough summary the places i visited:

1. cheong fatt tze mansion (aka the blue mansion) - some super rich guy's house in penang. although not as lavish as the big ones u see on tv in china (those with those big ass gates complete with a few gardens, ponds and even mansion-like houses for wives, consorts, children, maids etc..), it was still pretty impressive - from its intricate wall and ceiling designs, to its "perfect" feng shui layout. check it out next time ur down there, 10 bucks a pop but make sure u get there at 11am or 3pm, cos thats when the tour starts.

2. khoo kongsi - nothing special, just some association for the khoo clan in penang, but the design of the place is amazing: walls and pillars were handcarved by some 150 odd china artists and took 10 years to complete. features prayer rooms, and records prominent khoo clan members and its history. basically jus go there to check out the building, unless ur a khoo then of course u can go there and check out wats up with ur family, hehe.. (charges 5 bucks a head, pah)

3. penang museum - hehe, been there when i was a lil kid on some school organized excursion but i think they've upgraded it somewhat and it now features a multimedia section - although its shows stupid, long and draggy yet irrelevant clips - u still have to commend them on their effort. at rm1 per person, its a bargain cos their a/c is cold and it was a hot, HOT day when i visited it. =P

oh, and also managed to catch fantastic four and penang's one and only GSC (or megaplex for that matter). now this is one movie i really enjoyed. although it can be kiddy at times (c'mon, what u expect from a kids' film?), it was good. if u enjoyed spidey 1 and 2, u'll love this. totally recommend it.

oh oh, (can't believe i almost forgot) one of the main reasons i went down this time was to attend penang's bon odori festival at the esplanade. in case ur in the dark about whats that (actualy i am too, but i'll help fill u in on what i do know about it), its some celebration thing with traditional dances and lotsa food! hehe. it was pretty okay, but the best part is that the festival was ended with a superb fireworks display. i was REALLY impressed cos they pretty much went all out on it. considering its not even a local festival, they REALLY went all out - it took my breath away. sigh..

my very 1st MC ever

believe it or not, i actually took my very 1st medical leave today. therefore felt that this monumental occasion should be documented here in my blog because:

1. 1st time wei!
2. if it starts going downhill from here, at least i have a record of when exactly it all started from.

well, the truth is that i wasnt exactly THAT sick cos i could've actually went to work - although it'd probably be a really slow and "kill-me-please" kinda day - so i thought i'd just pass and sleep til 12pm. my my my.. that was the life. had lunch, came home and chill.. watch some tv, had dinner.. chill, watch some tv. sighhhh.. however, the upside to all this was that i'm really well rested and (hopefully) up for watever challenges that tomorrow hold for me (yah, rite!).

as u can see selected information has been blanked out fm the MC (medical cert) to protect myself from:

1. my medical practitioner reading this and realise he's been had
2. my boss reading this and realise he's been had

either way jus to protect me own arse, had to do wat i had to do.. although still wanting to share this lil bit of useless info with you. haha..

my brand spanking new 17" samsung flat screen monitor

read: flat screen, not flat PANEL. yes, i'm cheap but i dont use the pc that much to justify spending double the price to save space when i've got lots of it on my desk..