It's so quiet today when i come into the office. Even during the peak hours, I can barely hear anything. Thanks a lot to Patmah, the most talkative lady I've ever met. Not just her, it's most people are taking the week off as there is the Deepa-Raya celebration. I thought KSTan will give me more work load today since no one's around, but in actual fact, he's preoccupied with his stuffs as usual.

Hence, I take the morning to write my weekly report, and make some final touches on the program before submitting it to KSTan later (if he's free). Maybe read some MATLAB or whatever if i'm really that bored. For now, nap time.

Irene told me that her friend's parents are going for a kinda cruise where they bring you to some 200km off shore, and leave you there to gamble all you want and brings you back to land again. Her friend's parents are coming all the way from the other side of the island with a whole group of teachers. Teachers, Bah!!! What kinda good student our country can expect to generate with teachers who bring their own kids to a gambling cruise???

Anyway...it's a very cheap 1 day cruise. According to Irene, it's because the company is having some sort of promotion (to attract more gamblers). The ticket itself is a mere RM40 inclusive of 2 buffets. Cheap huh, not just that, we are each given a RM20 gambling coupon, and a free drink on the bar.

There's two casinos inside the ship, one serves games which are well calculated with actural science, while the other is just a mere game of luck which we usually see Honkies playing on the back of the streets. When Irene saw it, she was so afraid, shouting "eh Hueng, Illegal, Illegal..."
such an innocent gal she is, how cute. In my opinion, it's not illegal or not illegal, it's only a matter of how they calculate their winnings. For me, it's not a matter of legality, but a matter of probablity and maths. One is a calculated game while the other is just a pure game of luck.

We cannot exchange the RM20 gambling coupon with cash, but we can place it on the table to try out luck. Initially Irene lost interest in winning any money as she doesn't know a thing about barracat Roullette. After some basic tutorials, she manage to understand the game quite well. She made a few guesses in her mind before she place her betting card. Surprisingly, both mine and her bet wins us RM20!!! Not bad huh...meaning we only paid RM20 for the cruise (in a way).

Insider the casino, I've also noticed a few girls in their 30's carrying a pouch around. People ask them for money and they scribble some signature on those gambler's card. Let me introduce you to the loan sharks. Before this, I've always though that loan sharks are some horrible people which looks like bouncers outside the night clubs. But these girls are looking so helpless and weak, and willing to offer a "kind hand" to those who lose money. Even old ah ma loan money from these gals. Now i know how gamblers went bankrupt in a very short time, these money lenders just look like anyone else in the ship, you can't differenciate them if you see one walking on the streets.


The Deck (if that's what it's called)

During meals, everyone have to que outside the restaurant to get to our food. Imagine how much people are there in the ship, and there's only one restaurant which serves some economy rice kinda dishes only. And they make it a point to switch of the air-con inside the restaurant, so that the diners will not enjoy their food. To make things worse, they make announcement on the loud speaker every single minute, asking people to finish their meal faster and surrender their seats to some other guests. I never seen such thing happen in SuperStar Virgo, which has 4 different kind of restaurant, which serves different type of cuisine 5 meals a day.


Crowded Food Deprived Passengers

While we get our drinks from the bar in the afternoon, there's a huge selection of liquor to choose from. I pity those people who wasn't informed and exchanged their coupons with a tin of cola. I tried their Rum in Cola, while Irene choose Tequila Pop. Tequila Pop is a mixture of Tequila and Sprite, and before you drink, you have to "pop" the glass on the table and finish the whole shot bottoms up. We ended up ordering another shot of Tequila for RM6 each. Quite reasonably priced, considering Roadhouse Grill will be charging us twice the price.

We get a penny's worth for a penny given. The ticket is cheap, but the place is cheap also. The Lion Bar (as they called it) is the place of gathering, a place to drink and a cinema all in one. They have a performance which is stated as "the attraction of the day" which shows a band singing Jolin Tsai's "Mouse" over and over again, and still needs to read the lyrics while performing. Just one song, and that's it! Cheapo!~~~


Tight small corridor

The corridors are so small that it can only fit one person. These type of places are not suitable for people to have an enjoyable time, unless you take gambling as a pleasure. The only people that love this kinda trips would be young children as they can jump up and down without restrains while their parents are gambling downstairs, and also young grandparents which opt to spend their time gambling instead of staying home with their grandchildrens. For my next trip, I'll rather save up 20 times as much money and take my choobee for a 3 days 2 nights cruise in the SuperStar Cruise.

It's almost night when we finish our dinner. I excuse myself from the table earlier as I want to catch a few shots on the sunset. Not bad a catch actually, got a few decent shots before Irene and her friends join me. As the ship is approaching the jetty, we have a nice look at the sky scrappers lighting up. It's an enjoyable trip, if not for all the que, and the old passengers which cut into the que. Will I come again, maybe...if I need some cheap tequila, and to enjoy the sun setting over the horizon.












Lovely Couple


Weld Quay at Night

Tagged by Cirnelle @ YiLing last week or so. Wish i have time to do that earlier.

(i) Make funny shape/sound with my nose when I'm itchy.

This happens so frequent that even during interviews/oral exams, my marks are deducted due to that habit. Not forgetting I've sinus since young, so the occurence of my nose getting itchy is high.

(ii) Fall asleep anywhere

I can fall asleep in the office, in the library, in the mall, and even once in the streets. That's some 3 years ago story when I went JB with Irene just to watch LOTR.

(iii) Sing in BeeGee's style

Whenever I reached my normal voice limit, I'll sing in this high pitch (Bee Gee's style). I've shocked people, raised ppl's goosebumps, and make people turn pale. The last time i did that, a Jap gal turn over and give me a funny stare.

(iv) Wear same garment for 1 week!

Alrite, it might sound dirty for those who changed twice a day. But, I am more of an environmental friendly guy. I recycle all the papers I use to jot notes/draft. Not like most of the people i know, who just simply throw it into the nearest dustbin.

(v) I do house cleaning when I'm stressed/tension

Not just during those times. I just love doing house cleaning. Before any exams, or after all I've finished my papers. I know a lot of people jump straight into the nearest shopping mall/cinema right after their exams. But for me, I've to make sure I clean up the house before going out. I enjoy doing that in a way.

People only work for like 8-5 or the most also 8-5.30. But for me, I'm still at the office even long after everyone went home. The first few days i only leave at 6pm. and at times I only left at 6.30. Getting back late so frequently, don't know if I'll get a raise or not. Problem is, I don't have much output eventhough I stay long hours in the office.

From what I heard from the others, some of them only need to do technician job, others are only being left alone with some reading materials. As for me, I'm being given tasks to do myself, make my own judgement, and comes out with solution. They expect things to be done yesterday, not tomorrow. Hence I'll never get my things out on time, or ahead of time.

I always get to hear Irene and Cirnelle claiming that they have nothing much to do all day, or finishing their projects ahead of time. But when would I have the luxury to check my mails during office hours, or reading blogs. By the time I reach home also, the most I can do is to watch a movie or two. Aih~

Yesterday my car battery dies on me. And "so called" repaired dy. But today it dies again after my father drove it to office. So from Bayan Lepas, I've to drive all the way down town to pick him up. And it's after working hours, the roads are all jam up. Took me 30 minutes just to get where he is. By the time reach home also 8 in the evening liao. Finish dinner already time for bed :((

My supervisor trains me up and expecting rather high from me. Hopefully I won't disapoint him, or getting nuts before he is disapointed.

Car Battery runs dry after I left it on for the whole day when I’m in the office. Called up dad to pick me up from work. He then called up the repair shop below his office to come and help me jump-start the car. The battery is just a mere 1 year old, so they think that by recharging it, the battery can still work for quite some time.

I went to the shop to make payment. And I bump into a guy I knew back in my primary school day, Edison. At first glance I don’t recall his name, nor did I recognize his face. But luckily he starts the conversation first. Though I don’t have any memory about this guy, I do remember seeing him in the pictures I kept of those days.

Coincidence or what? Hm…dunno how to continue, get back to work. :P

Happy: SB-600, Sad: photos lost

Yeah! Finally made the payment for Nikon’s Speedlite SB-600 in Foto Easycam in Komtar. Have been flickling my thoughts between the cheaper SB-600 and the more expensive SB-800 which cost RM500+ more. Ended up decided on the lower version as I’m still on my learning curve. A RM720 SB-600 will give me enough things to explore for a few months at the very least.

As compared with my other previous large expenses, I don’t quite feel guilty for this particular purchase mainly because I don’t have time to think over the purchase, and secondly, It’s what I want for a very long time. Since I’ve ordered a Stofen Omnibounce from that shop, I paid for an extra RM100 for that unit. Paid the full RM820, with an extra $16 since I’m paying in card.

Went to Taiping right after buying the flash as me and my family is going there for a river cruise at night to see the fireflies and crocodiles. Yeah, I know my flash doesn’t capture fireflies well. Neither does it help at such a low light. But I did try taking some photographs around Taiping’s Lake Gardens since we arrived there early. Sad thing is I’ve lost all my images taken over there as I’ve forgotten to discharge the flash every time I dismount my flash. According to the manual, this is due to the static charge/magnetic fields between the two electronic components that caused such a problem.

I’m having a bad day actually as my common sinus came back to me. Oh well of course I enjoy the trip, but I have to lay down and rest in the boat when there’s nothing much to see and the captain/fisherman was searching for the crocs. Just for your information, the place is Kuala Sepetang, and they have a very cooling swamp area there. The journey itself is a great experience. Seen a lot of fireflies, synchronized as well as non-synchronized ones. Disappointedly, we managed to tracked only two crocs through out the three hour journey. But it’s a great experience there. Thanks Neil, our tour guide for bringing us to that place.

Now I’m still trying to recover the pictures. Hopefully there’s someone who know some free software out that which does Image Recovery. Those that I Googled out and tried needs either a password or merely recover those images so small I can barely print a stamp size picture out of them. The most wasted shot I can say is of my sister in the playground, as well as pictures of me and Irene jumping up and down in the field.

Learning smth new from different people everyday. That’s what I’ve been doing since day one in Seagate. First there was Pathy who guides me through the basics of EMI (which I’ve already taken a semester on that subject. And there there’s this Mohd. who brings me around the plant to show me around. Third day was this Wei Kiat guy who teach me about corrosion of the slider head.

I wasn’t the kinda person who can sit there for hours to read, read and read. Hence an apprenticeship is what I really need. When these people have some time to work on their stuffs, I’ll approach them to ask them for help. To guide me through what they know. The good part here is that I can know who is in charged of what, and what these individuals are doing. Secondly I can also get to know them in person, and make them know about my existence. I heard from my other friends having their internship at other places, but most of them are given thick manuals (which I’m also being given) to read through, so that they will not disturb their supervisor’s work. Same here, but as a part of the family, we also have the rights to ask when we are in doubt.

Today I’m being given a thick book related with Electrical Overstress (EOS)/ Electrostatic Discharge (ESD). It’s a compilation of papers written specifically on this subject. I’m thankful that my supervisor let me read through such an informative book.

Right after lunch, I went visiting Wei Kiat again to see how he query the defective images out from the oracle server using some SQL templates already available. After familiarize myself with the workflow, I have this fantasy of automating the system using what so knowledge I have. But turns out that the system they are expecting is far more complicated then what I have ever learnt. There is already a similar system like this available on the network, and I’m supposed to understand how to do the same thing.

It’s had much to do with SQL and ASP. One of my project for this internship is to work on a system to detect corrosion of the sliders by inserting certain query like the duration of query, the percentage of defects which we want to query and a list of other things. There are also various error codes, and things like that which I shouldn’t bore you with.

After looking at the SimOne (modified name), WeiKiat directs me to another guy who does the software – Ban Siong. He was rather busy lately, so I don’t really have much time learning from him. Eventhough he’s a bit frightening IMHO, but he is willing to spend time to explain those error codes to me. But I guess I’ll have to understand SimOne from him next week, as he’ll be going for training again on Friday.

My supervisor has high expectations for me and expects SimTwo to be up within my internship of a mere 3 months. Luckily he will assign me to a programmer who will help me to do the ASP and SQL link. What a relieve!

An extract from The Star Online

Prime Minister's wife dies
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's wife, Datin Seri Endon Mahmood passed away on Thursday morning after a nearly four-year battle with breast cancer. She was 64. Members of the public can pay their last respects at Seri Perdana between 11am and 4pm.

Sad to hear that. And tomolo is supposed to be a celebration of smth called Nurul Al Quran. So, since two big things coming in, am I able to have my day off tomolo? Hm.... Still waiting for my access and telephone line to be fixed for next week. :(

Woke up before 7am. It’s been a long time since I’ve wake up that early in the morning. Not counting those days when I was in Langkawi for holiday. That is because of the sunrise and tight schedule. I cooked eggs for breakfast, ate with bread that dad bought back y’day night. I thought that I’ve to report to duty only at 8.30am. But after breakfast, when I rechecked the report, only I found out that I’ll be terribly late if I got there by then.

Fortunately, I managed to make it to the security guard house at 0800 hours sharp. But the security guards thought that I was a vendor, so they gave me the wrong tag. MISTAKE!!! I’ve waited there for like 10 minutes, and there’s another guy that comes for training…but later only I found out that he is coming for some other short courses, not an industrial training like what I’m going to do. So, there’s this lady that comes to pick him up for training blindly waiting there. After like 15 minutes, Nandnee called me up asking where I am…only to realized that I’ve been waiting for someone to pick me up at the security guard house. Oh well…

Later, I’ve to get thru some documents which I’ve to sign, and then I was being introduced to my boss/supervisor Mr. KS Tan. He later showed me my desk and I joined into their weekly meeting with LC Ong, SC Ng and Pathy, which are all in his team. I was told what I’m suppose to do and handed some reading materials bla bla bla…

I was so bored/tired first day that I mengantuk throughout the day. My kind supervisor brings me out for lunch with some of his friends. I’m delighted cause they are this group of people who are all talking tech/current issues in an relaxing manner. That’s some kinda group of people that I’ll love to discuss/chat with. Hard to find in other places as not all people love to read that much especially the juniors.

Only signed out at about 6.15pm in the evening as I wasn’t aware if I can leave or not. There’s such a huge traffic jam along the way back. Guess I’ve to choose another route back home dy. So tired that I went straight to sleep while waiting for Irene to pick me up at my place for dinner. It’s so kind of her to come to my place after dinner to have some sweet time together. That’s the best encouragement anyone can give me. Like what my sister says in her testimonial placed on my Friendster page, I’m kinda weak inside. Thankfully I’ve Irene to share my burden.

Another weekend, another opportunity to take photos. I'm so excited. I din expect much as it's raining cats and dogs the night before. My model/gf wasn't really feeling well, complaining to me all week long. This journey up there was suppose to be testing out the car reflector RM 2.90 which i purchased few days ago.

Woke up as early as 6.20am as we don't want to get too hot taking photos in the middle of the day. Thankfully, with the blessings, we are able to make it up there around 8am. Bringing along with me is the photographer's vest Irene gave me for our 3rd anniversary, 2 sets of cloths, some gals accesories, and my photograph equipments kept inside my vest. On these occasions, i find that it's more convinient to have those things close to me rather than inside the bag.

I think i've managed to get to try a few of those ideas that have been coming into my mind after the Langkawi trip. Thankfully Irene learn some Photoshop when she was free, and with her help, we managed to process and develop some photos at the same day as we shot those photos. Spent about RM75 for the photos, one set for her another for myself.

Here's one we both agree is the best shot, others can be found in My Gallery

This morning bring Justin to a Housing company to enquire bout a room for his industrial training. Only when we got in that we found out that they doesn't rent rooms, but houses instead. Then I thought of bringing him around that area to see if there's any 7-eleven.

Good thing (in a way) about Penang is that the area has a lot of 7-eleven. In this 24/7 shop, there's a Buletin Board where the community can post up their rent adverts there. Jalan-jalan only i found more than 7 in this Bayan Lepas/Baru area. There's 1 in Sunshine Square, Sungai Dua, 2 in Bukit Jambul, one in Sungai Ara. I think there's a couple more that i've visited this morning, but i just can't remember...tired liao. Sleep first

The day to bid goodbye to Langkawi. Woke up 30 minutes earlier compared to yesterday as I don't want them to waste much precious time in bed. After breakfast at the same mamak stall, drove up to Gunung Mat Chincang to find out that the place is closed for maintenance on wednesday mornings. Aw~that's too bad isn't it? But since we're there, we took some photographs around Oriental Village. One I can hardly forget is the "10 Brothers" where each individual acts one character in the movie. Lovely shot i can say...

Anyway, since we can't get up the cable car, we opt for the 7 Wells. While waiting for Alex and Bryant to hike up, we rest ourselves at the waterfalls. There's not much people visiting that place, so we can practically claim to have the whole place for ourselves.

Before giving back the car at the jetty, spend some time shopping around Kuah town. Seow Kern is the most hardcore shopper, spending over RM600 on liquor. Dang! He really make full use of the chance he have to get duty free liquors. And while we are waiting for our ferry, guess wut we ate (again). Yes yes yes....KFC!!! Haha...not funny. Ate KFC twice during a 3 days 2 nights trip. But wut the heck, there's not much choices as it's puasa season.

Inside the ferry, took a nice nap as there's not much passengers. But then they make a stopover at Pulau Payar to pick up extra passengers. Fortunately it wasn't any old couples sitting beside me. Two young japanese ladies which came with their friends occupied the seats. Took a photo with them and after a short chat, I ask for their email address so that I can send the photos over. Too bad they never replied me after I sent them the photos i took with them. :(

Wake up rather early, if not we might missed the trip, which I think it'll be better to be earlier so that we can go more places after coming back. Wasn't really feel like going into the water as my Nikki doesn't know how to swim. But when we reached the first island, there's this irresistable lake that I've to make sure I jump into it without regrets. I paid for a swiming shorts as I didn't bring my own. Being down at the water is worth everything. It's a clear water lake which means my body won't feel sticky after coming up from the water. And they have this fish which stunk on your feet to suck out the dirt. "Someone's rubbish is someone else's treasure". What we find dirty becomes their food source.

The kind boatman, Rosli brings us to about 7 islands, more than the tentative 5 islands. And we are only charged RM25 per person. It's much cheaper than the deal others closed. Yap PengSwee, one of the people i know from Wushu was there as well, they have to pay for RM35 per person, and only went to 3 islands. Good thing is, Rosli brings us to those islands which only locals visits. He also brings us to places where they pick seashells from the shore. During the trip, Rosli gets quite close to us, thanks to Alex (Seow Kern's brother). He went along quite well with everyone, a very friendly guy. The cheerful spirit of the group also makes Rosli feel his job appreciated by us. Lesson learnt: you'll work harder if your effort are recognised.

Bring them back to the hotel after the 5 hours trip. I took a bath and have a siesta while the rest of them opt to hop into the pool and swim again. These people just can't have enough of the water. We were at the hotel till the evening where I suggest for a trop to Tanjung Rhu. It's a beautiful place to watch sunset. I was shocked when I arrived. The Tanjung Rhu Resort prepares small canopy in a row overlooking the sea where the sun sets. How i wish to bring irene here for a romantic dinner. While I was there, I met this english guy who came with a EOS 20D and a whole lot of expensive lenses. But he's out of luck, the sun already sets below the horizon when he reaches. Lesson learnt: it's not the gadgets you own, but the timing and patience you give which will give you beautiful pictures.

Before driving back, make a stop at The Four Season's Resort. According to Terrance Toh, the smallest resort will cost you a whoopy 4-digit number. USD 420 that is x 3.77....around RM 1583.4 / night / room ~!!! Woah! That's one whole month of pay for most working class people, and 3 times the pay of factory operators. Who have so much money to spend? Better give me the money to get a Tamron SP90/f2.8 or a Nikkor Macro 100mm/f2.8D. Rich people really rich people, I just got my SB600, wonder when will I be itchy enough to get this lens which can do 1:1 magnification. Erm erm...photography again...better get back to reality :P. Alrite, the place is like a palace, there are gasoline burning flames all over the walls, floors and doorways. But we din't feel hot at all as they are well separated. It's not those fake fires that used light bulbs to replace, but it's real fire...too bad I don't have any pictures taken of those...but if you want to have a look at some of the shots, please visit http://www.nesohu.com/images/Langkawi%201/ No time to post other pictures yet, you know how picky I am when talking about photography.

Have our buffet dinner at Aseania instead. For RM20 per meal, it's not bad a deal. Pool side buffet with all the nice local dishes: ABC with penang nutmegs is one of the most memorable dish. They also serve a lot of huge prawns among others. Have a satisfactory meal before heading back to bed.

This is the most worth mentioning trip I've ever experienced. The group is great, the trip is cheap, and photos taken are satisfactory. I arrived earlier than the rest of the guys as they were on another ferry. While I was waiting for them, I took the time to look around for a car rental. As it's a low season, I got us 2 Nissan Sentra for RM60 each per day!!! It's twice the price on peak/holiday season. And we are usually given a kancil, a proton aeroback at most for RM60.

So I drove one while I trust Seow Kern with the other car. Drove our way to Aseania to check in. My dad has this Aseania membership which saves up our travelling expenses for accomodation. Then after we settle down, I bring them to Underwater World. There is this new penquin colony which has quite a number of cute penguins. Kawaiii....~~~ Took quite a few shots of those cute lil creatures, but only a few satisfactory shots are kept.

Later in the evening, we go to enjoy the sunset at Datai Bay. Before going there, I bring them to Petronas Quay to have a look. It seems that mos of the yatch there are being washed way by the Tsunami that happened 10 months back. Before reaching Datai Bay, we found a place with a big waterfalls. Those ppl just hop into the water without thinking twice. While they are enjoying the water, I took that opportunity to take some shots on the river flow. The sky wasn't dark enuff for me to take slow shuttler speed, hm...might get a circular polarizer quite soon. Cir-Pol works as a ND filter as well as polarise out unwanted reflections.

Anyway, we were suppose to go Datai Bay after that, but I've taken the wrong turn, end up in some exotic hotel. Din stay there too long. Get back to Petronas Quay to have our dinner. As Bing Zhang din have enough sleep, we sent him back to the hotel before we drove all the way to Kuah to buy some beer for the night.

Yawn~!!! I'm so bored. Irene went to Genting with her collegues, i'll be alone for the weeekends. But hey! I'm going to Langkawi on Monday. Yeah~!

Before i go do anything on landscape, let me show u how i spend my saturday afternoon.

I hope my D70s doesn't get affected. I'm buying genuine products, thank god! Nikon D70s explode from knockoff batteries