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carpe diem

On the way back from Tioman, we stopped over Ayer Keroh to watch WorldCup. During the intense match I was oblivious to my surrounding, then I realised that I was the only one cheering for Germany loudly surrounded by a bunch of staunch England supporters. I survived the night without getting myself beaten up or at least I didn’t end up walking home, considering on how annoying I was mocking on Beckham and England non-stop all the way till we reached KL. ;-)

As I predicted, England lost to Germany and the result was… bad. It’s 4-1, okay granted that there should be another goal for England, but for some reason nobody saw it until the TV replayed the slow-motion shot. But anyway, England still lost the game as predicted. They depended too much on that pretty boy Beckham, sick of that fella lah… even the cameramen stopped showing his presence at the bench and focused on Mick Jagger instead :-) Rooney couldn’t do the job, keeps toppling over like a girl even when nobody was tackling him. Silly game by England and their defense was terrible. It’s their fault but as usual, the English newspapers and commentators were blaming on Capello… duh. Anyway, they can try again in 2014.

My next prediction was that Argentina will meet Germany for Quarter-Finals and true enough, they will this coming Saturday after they beat Mexico 3-1 that same night. I was already at Hartamas when Argentina played but too tired to stay until Mexico scored, left the place after Tevez’s superb score that gives Argentina that winning goal.

My focus now is on Brasil and last night’s match with Chile although they won 3-0, I was a bit disappointed with their strikers and Kaka’s performance. It should’ve been at least 4-0. Anyway, tonight it will be Spain vs Portugal and it will be an interesting match to watch. Both teams are really good and it’s difficult to tell who will win. Whatever it is, the winner will be meeting Brasil on next match.

With England already packing their bags to go home sulking… Brasil, Argentina and Spain looks promising. Argentina’s fate will depend on how they perform against Germany tonight. As for me, it will be another row of sleepless week, developing Panda eyes.

manic morning

The flight was scheduled for 7:40am and when I woke up it was 6am. It’s like the clock’s number 6 figure was zooming in and out of my vision, a la Hindustan movie to emphasize how late I was. Yeah, no thanks to WorldCup match last night for this. I didn’t even watch the game last night though I was there joining the crowd for the cheering part. So I rushed like crazy, quick shower and everything done quickly, putting on clothes while walking and grabbing my bag, shoes, etcetera and soon enough I was already on the road to LCCT. I drove way past the speed limit, reached the airport and parked the car at 7am. I hope there’s no speed trap at dawn, else I’ll be in big trouble because there’s no way the PDRM will give me discounts for the ticket, given the speed limit that I broke.

The check-in counter was already closed when I reached there but there’s a lady at another counter somehow was kind enough to help registering my flight and then I had to rush through the queue like a madman. I’m quite sure some of them were cursing at me for cutting queue, I had no choice but to just glide through the long queue while apologizing along the way. When I finally reached the boarding gate, I realized that the iPad is not in my hands and it hits me like a tonne of bricks that I accidentally left it at the registration counter. So there I was, after explaining to the security officer and got his permission, I rushed back out of the boarding area through the same queue that I cut earlier.

The iPad was still there, at the counter. The airport was busy as usual and anyone could have just grabbed the iPad without anyone noticing. To make me feel even worse I didn’t have it password protected because it was prepared for the meeting that I’m attending. I think it was the iPad’s cover that made it looks like just an ordinary paper organizer, that saved it.

The rest of the day was as usual, long meetings and discussions. Met few old friends and everything turned out pretty much as planned. To avoid rushing like a madman again, I made a point that the meetings finishes on-time and now I’m already at the airport cozily waiting for my flight while blogging away. Can’t wait to get home and watch the WorldCup, hope Cameroon will win against Netherlands tonight.

i and eye

I was chatting with Rajiv yesterday when he made a joke that he won’t get himself anymore of Apple’s stuffs, like the iPad or iMac because it seems that those he knows who uses iPhone, iPad or iMac somehow starting to have problems with their eyes. I’ve heard of stories of how many iPhone users got injured because they were busy using it while walking on the streets but then again, it can happen to just about anyone, it’s all out of coincidence lah.

Sapna likes the iPhone so much and she have problem with her left eye, Karen had to undergo some serious eye examination after she got herself the iPhone and I, last week was attacked by a bird and injured my left eye after I got myself the iPad 3G. Rajiv, after his recent spinal injury has been quite superstitious or too cautious about everything around him that moves or breathes, and now decides that he won’t get himself an iPad no matter how cool the apps I demonstrated to him yesterday. Nevermind, that will be my challenge to convince him otherwise.

A poke into my eyes won’t stop me from indulging further into the world of “i” devices from Apple, I ain’t gonna fall for such superstitious kinda thingy la dey! :-)

Anyway, since my most recent injury has got something to do with birds, the most recent game which is the most popular downloaded apps in AppStore is also about birds. The app called AngryBirds, is now my most favorite game after Knights OnRush and Zombie Soccer. Aldin and Aliff loves the games too. iPad is the new gadget for our father and sons gaming session at home.

attacked by a magpie

Yesterday while walking back to Afif’s place, a bird suddenly attacked me. I was the only person on the street and there it was flying right straight at me.

I thought Aussie binge drinking culture is getting to their wildlife but apparently the bird, which was the Australian Magpie, is naturally aggressive or defensive during mating season. Yeah, thanks to Google and Wikipedia for the details since initially I wasn’t sure what sort of bird it was. This sounded so like the Titan triggerfish, attacking or giving warnings to passers-by. Now I’m starting to feel that it’s not only triggerfish that likes to attack me.

After the collision, there was just a slight sting in my left eye. After a few seconds, it feels much worse that I started running to the nearest store to get some clean bottled water to wash my eyes. The pain didn’t go away though, and I felt like there’s something in it. At home, I cleaned it with eyedrops and had an early night.

This morning when I woke up, I could hardly open my eye as it was swollen and really red all over. I called Rajiv to postpone our meeting and Afif sent me to the nearest GP for a check. The doctor was from Penang, we had a chat as he assessed my eyes. It was a corneal abrasion, near the iris but he said it wasn’t too bad to be worried about. He wrote a referral letter for me to see the Ophthalmologist and after a few phone calls he managed to get an appointment for tomorrow. 

He, perhaps was trying to make me feel better, said there was another case quite a while ago where a magpie had pecked a girl’s eye and blinded her. I felt luckier, but better? I doubt it. We also talked about using technology to help people who are in need of medical care, so I told him about the iPhone app that I’m currently working on and trying to get him to subscribe, so in the future if anyone have any emergency in Perth the app will automatically suggests the nearest available GP clinic or hospital. Heh, still trying to promote my apps even when I could hardly see the person’s face whom I was talking to.

He administered eye drops that gave a numbing feeling and it felt fine after that. I went to a pharmacy and got my own eye drops based on the prescription he gave. Then, spent the whole day hanging around Perth, the one-eyed iPad toting geek browsing internet using Optus broadband. Oh yes, I luurrve the iPad 3G :-)

Now, as I write this blog, the eye feels a lot better. It’s still blurry and I hope it’s not a permanent thing else it’s going to be a problem for me. Anyway, this is it for now.. not feeling good and it’s freezing cold too. Off to bed early tonight.

bob dah marley

It’s midnight and the WorldCup match for Germany vs Australia is another few hours before it starts. I’m starting to feel sleepy already.

While waiting, I’ve been practicing the pentatonic scales and adjusted a bit of Bob Marley’s No Woman No Cry riff. I find practicing the scales much more fun than working my fingers on the chords, yeah I know that’s not the proper steps in learning how to play guitar, but I just want to play some music to fill up my idle (and sometimes boring) hours. I will learn the chord progression later, when I have more time and patience to practice them.

So, here’s my modified intro to Bob Marley’s song… there’s still a lot to work on, this is only the first part of the song’s intro riff.

No Woman No Cry improvisation, by Bob Leafy
G, A, B, G, C… B… A…
F… F#, E, D, C

G, A, B, G, C… B… A…
F… A#-A, F#, E, D, C

Then sing the song with the usual chords, until it’s time for the solo plucks… that, I’m still working on it. It’s a bit long and harder to figure it out, but hopefully one day I will be able to. I’m very sure that there’s already existing TABs in the internet for this, but I prefer if I could figure it out myself.

Till then. Leafy, plucking away….

worldcup fever

WorldCup is just around the corner, starting from tonight I think the mamak stalls and open bars will be filled with cheering crowds wearing all sorts of costumes supporting their favorite teams. Maybe not really today because it just started but more towards the end at quarter-finals and semi-finals. It’ll peak at the final and that’s when almost everything will be at a standstill.

I’m no football/soccer fan, but when it comes to WorldCup I do watch them because they’re often interesting from the intensified efforts from each teams and their global supporters to claim the throne of world’s most popular and global sport. SiewChoo thinks that it would be either Italy, England or Spain that will win. Germany was my first choice as the winner but after giving it a moment of thought and studied the afternoon’s rainy clouds, wind direction, the fallen leaves and the chirping birds… I changed my mind and predicts that it would be either England, Brasil or France and chances are very high that Brasil will be the one walking home with the golden trophy.

I kinda like Cameroon and other underdogs though it’s very unlikely that they’ll ever get passed over the top teams but from the past matches, it was always interesting to see them play and giving their best shots. Anyway, in a few weeks we’ll see who will be the new bearer of the trophy.

My take…? Brasil! :-)

life’s like that

It’s been a hectic week, with an average of 3 hours sleep each day. But in the end, the hard work paid off. The event was a success, well at least I got almost everything that I wanted from it and I’m thankful for having very hardworking and committed team members giving their best. The iPad was the center of attention as I expected and the innovative ideas I put forth was well accepted by everyone. Extremely tiring week but well worth it.

However, in between those daily madness I somehow managed to slot in a few happy-hour sessions with friends and flaunted the bad-ass side of me, releasing all the stress out. Almost everyday, when I reached home and before calling it a day, I would practice some riffs that I learned from Justin’s website and hopefully soon will be able to do a little bit of blues too. Gotta keep practicing the pentatonic scales until I can play it without looking at the frets.

The week is almost over now and I’m not quite sure what’s in store for me next week, but I hope it will be interesting and stress-free. Flights all booked and ETA approved, can’t wait to get my first 3G version of the iPad. There’re so many things I want to do with it, can’t stop scribbling them in my Moleskine and doing the countdown.

stupid mat rempits

While cruising lazily to work today, two mat rempits on a bike suddenly decided to swerve across my lane. My reflex was to avoid from hitting them as best as I could and hit the brake. Tyres screeching followed by a loud thump, must’ve been another car hitting me from behind.

The two idiots escaped stupid meaningless death and I saw them giggling over it as they sped away fleeing from the scene. It happened so fast. I honked and cursed at them as I stopped my car by the road side. I was relieved that nobody was injured or worse, died. Stupid mat rempits!

I walked out of the car and met the lady who hit me, we shared the same anger over the incident and both were glad that only the cars were damaged.

Phew….