Half the drivers on the road (in Penang at least) aren't fit to drive a kiddie car. The authorities may wonder how to handle the increasing amounts of traffic on the roads. Here's a solution - revoke the licenses of the more awful drivers on the road. You know, the drivers who

• take up two lanes at one time.
• slow to a total stop before every turn.
• drive at 25 km/h in the fast lane, beside somebody going at 20 km/h in the slow lane
• decide that single-lane/way two-way roads are where they should park by the roadside and reduce it to single-lane/road two-way roads.
• are confronted by a space 25% wider than their vehicle, and stop there because they apparently have zero depth perception
• and lots more, but let's stop this rant here.

Seriously, there should be a law against these people. Disrupting traffic, or something along that line. If you have that much time to waste puttering around the roads, people, take the damn bus.

Speaking of buses. There was a newspaper article recently about some new bus company planning to start operating in Penang, with over 150 buses to serve all areas. There were complaints from local bus operators that it would severely affect their business. All I can say is - big deal. You people have been screwing up for as long as I can remember. Explain why exactly we should be concerned by your business being affected? You don't deserve our sympathy or concern. With your terrible business practices, the only reason you're still around is the lack of transportation choices for many people. Hurry up and go broke. You won't be missed*.

* Except in 30 years, when my generation will tell our grandkids "When we were your age, we had to wait hours for a bus ride. No instant teleport around, you know."

 

When was the last time you were completely immersed in darkness? Total, complete darkness. The kind of utter darkness where you can't see your hand waving in front of your face.

Assuming you have experienced it, and you noticed it, what was your reaction? I know some people who would have freaked out. For myself, I found it quite interesting. And very peaceful. With two senses truely cut off (assuming it's night, and there isn't an ass next door blasting a speaker at full volume), the mind really starts to wander. Follow it around, drifting from topic to topic, and you get all sorts of interesting stuff to think on later. Lots of bloggable material, too. No, I wasn't tripping on weed or anything. Unfortunately, I was in the stage of neglecting my blog the last time I did that (immerse myself in darkness, that is, not weed). Ah well. And I doubt I'll experience it again anytime soon. Malaysia, with its night-time light pollution, is unconducive to such experiments.
 

Hi, and welcome back. Hey, sit down. Breathe deeply. Don't faint on me. No, you aren't hallucinating, I actually updated my blog.

So, what's been happening with me? I'm no longer studying in Australia, having been recalled back by my parents. Why? They missed me too much :) Yeah, sure. Still, it does sound better than me telling everybody I screwed up my exams. I'm not too proud of what I did, and I'd rather not dwell too much on it right now.

Well, I'm currently enrolled in KDU Penang, in a 3+0 double degree (business and computing) program by Northumbria University. Entry into 2nd year. Also working part time in my dad's office. Underpaid, of course. Heh. In my spare time (what little of it there is) I'm working on a java-based sudoku program. Theoretically it'd allow you to plug in numbers, and spit out the solution. Right now, I'd say I'm about 1/3 done.

Oh, and Happy CNY and VDay to you people out there. No, I didn't celebrate VDay. Refer to this post for my (still) current opinion on VDay. What can I say? I wasn't exactly very active socially in Adelaide... guess I should start getting out more, huh?
 

I was having lunch at a food court today, when I noticed this old guy at a nearby table. Quite a familiar face, he's a person of habit. During my first year, I saw him at Hungry Jacks every night that I was there. Same time every night and, if available, same table. 2nd year I stopped having dinner regularly at HJ, but I still saw him now and then. Lunchtimes he'll be at aforementioned food court.

So, I just finished my lunch, when I noticed him behaving rather strangely. He appeared to be trying to stand up, but the table was shaking - most of his weight was on it. He finally got up from his chair, but sat back down before he was fully upright. Alright, he really doesn't look good, I go over and ask him if he's all right. At this point he collapses onto the floor. Luckily I grab him before he whacks his head on something. Yell at my friends to call the ambulance. My friend gives me a blank look -_-". Couple of other people come over to help. Security comes over, makes some joke about it being her week for picking up guys, because somebody else collapsed there just the day before.

Anyway, the guy keeps telling us he doesn't need an ambulance, and he lives at.. somewhere. He's been sick the last few days, but needs to do some shopping. Some other security guys arrive, and I'm feeling out of place, not to mention my friends are bugging me that it's time to leave. Very well, the security should know what to do better than me. They get paid for it, after all. On the street outside, an ambulance passes us. Guess somebody did heed my request to call an ambulance.

Well, my best wishes to the old man. I do wonder why he asked not to call an ambulance, however. Simple stubbornness, the refusal to admit we need a doctor, which most of us have probably experienced, or was he thinking of the financial costs? (Ambulances in Australia are not cheap, they cost the patient several hundred dollars.) I don't know his reason, but I have to wonder if it's right that a sick person, who might require an ambulance, has to consider the financial implications of obtaining immediate help.
 

Here's an interesting site, LifeGem. It's a company based in the US (has branches in UK as well) that offers to create artificial diamonds from the cremated carbon remains of a loved one, whether of the genus homo sapiens, canidae, felidae, or any other species you like. The gems are offered in 2 colors, blue or yellow. They're really quite beautiful.





On the other hand, maybe it's just me, but there's something... weird about the idea of carrying around the remains of a beloved family member. Granted, it's technically the same as carrying a locket of hair around in a... locket (no pun intended). It just seems a bit.. gelee to me to be carrying around what's technically the remains of somebody you used to love. What do you think?
 

Another sleepless night. Sigh. I occasionally experience insomniac nights, where my thoughts start wandering into random threads, and weird scenarios, likely and unlikely, play themselves out in my head. Crap, I'm gonna be a zombie again today. A green-haired zombie. I must admit, my hair colour isn't looking bad. It's actually quite interesting (I hesitate to use the word 'cool').

Anyway, I've been musing on your average blog. I occasionally spend some time surfing blogspot, and there appears to be quite a number of people who feel the urge to tell me (and the rest of the world) what they had for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Tea and supper optional. I don't get it. Do they truly believe their dietary choices are of any interest to the rest of us? I wouldn't bother with such a question even for my closest friend. Perhaps understandable in a gf/bf relationship, but not otherwise. Others include every routine detail of their day-today lifes. The kind that goes "I woke up, had breakfast, went to work/school, had lunch, finished work, went home, had dinner, wrote this, and am now going to sleep." One of my friends suggested that maybe they don't have anything better to blog about. If that's the case, why write? If your subject matter is that dull, nobody's going to read it, no matter how many acquaintances you pester into linking to your blog. It's one thing to share highlights of your day/week/life, it's another when your life is so dull that your readers fall asleep skimming your blog (Now there's an idea, a possible cure for my insomnia!).
 

This post is just a place for me to post some irreverent/irrelevant thoughts which really have no place anywhere else. I'll be updating this post from time to time, and linking to this post from the side panel. Check back occasionally for updates.

• I wonder if I can persuade blogspot to subsidise me something for converting fypher away from friendster.
   
  
• Oh god, will my guestbook ever be obvious enough?
   
  
• Just wait till I get my hands on the incompetent idiot who manages my particular MSN server...
   
  
• Never redesign a webpage when you're short on sleep and can't tell the difference between great improvements and great eyesores

 

I don't usually write about my day-to-day life, but I'll make an exception here... OMG, my hair is green!!! Ok, so I've been planning to dye my hair for some time now. Today, went to buy some dye, bleach, etc. After bleaching, my hair is yellow. Right, apply blue dye. Wait 40 minutes. Wash it off. Look in mirror. Recall art lessons teaching the primary colours.

Sigh. Thank god it was semi-permanent dye only, good for 20 washes. Hopefully i'll get it out in a week or so. And no, I can't post any pics, not because I'm malu, but the green just wont show up in the pic. In the meantime, I guess I'll wear it proudly. And some dark glasses, preferably.
 

How dumb can events get? I was bored, sleepy (VERY sleepy) and stuck at uni in front of a computer. I get this weird idea of seeing if Google has my blog in its database. Turns out some of its servers do, and some dont. Yeah, little known fact, your search results may differ depending on which Google server you get assigned to. It's random. If that last part left you scratching your head, forget it. Anyway, I see a Xanga site with my name on it. I'm like 'wtf'? After all, I joined Xanga in 2004 and forgot about it a month after I joined. Guess what's on my Xanga site? A link pointing to this site. Zzz... ironic. Google doesn't know this site exists (at least the Google server I was assigned to), but can send me to a Xanga site which I don't remember existed. On the bright side, I found a couple of pages belonging to some long-ago friends. Fypher, nice to see you've finally adopted MSN. =D