Still Too Busy

The title says it all.

Yesterday, I was off from work and today I'm back at work again. Had only one day off. Very tired. We've had a grueling few days here and everyone's on edge. Sadly, there will be extra work until the end of February when we will finally get our replacement.

Still can't think of anything worth writing about but the urge to post is there. So what does one talk about when there's nothing to talk about?

Well... The weather is very hot today. Extremely hot. The planet is getting hotter, that's a fact. Just now I was outside and suddenly a memory from a long, long time ago appeared in my head. I was 5 years old and still living in our old house. I remember very clearly frolicking outside with various animals in our yard.

It wasn't this hot at 10.00am 30 years ago.

Maybe I should do my part and get a car that doesn't fail emissions tests? Unfortunately, this won't make much sense from the financial point of view. I can only buy a new car four years from now. Which is a damn shame because there are at least two new cars that I really fancy and can actually afford, provided I get rid of mine now. Which is a lot easier said then done.

In the same wanting-to-buy-stuff-but-can't vein, I really want my own notebook. Unfortunately, I can't justify buying it at the moment. I've thought long and hard and can't come up with a good reason for getting one other than the peer pressure. Nearly everyone I know has either got one or in the process of getting one. In fact, a colleague received his notebook a few days ago.

Ach.

Anyway, I'm definitely getting one this year. I just need to square away a few things first. Maybe I'll get one as a reward for all this extra work I've been doing.

So far 2008 has been a busy year. Which is a lot better than many previous years up to this point.

I haven't written about women and relationships in a long, long, long time eh? Don't know why. I want to and in fact I have many things to discuss. I get a lot of self-help dating tips in my mail and many of those tips will make really good things to discuss.

I think the fact that I'm not really into anyone right now may have something to do with my not posting about it. My current situation is rather boring. I have this urge to go and meet new people again despite my better judgment.

Why I'm not doing anything about it is another blog post all by itself.

One last thing, the other day I was managing my haloscan account when I noticed many comments offering help from people who claim to know me or claim to be my friend. While I'm touched by the gesture, I do wish these people would either identify themselves or just mail me.

I remember one particular comment offering to introduce someone to me. This is great except that I found that comment buried in an old post months after it was posted...

Wouldn't it be nice if I knew who it was who posted that. I would like to have responded timely to that offer.

So some ID would help. Or if you would like to keep yourself secret, just mail me. My email is available in my blogger profile.

Ok then, I must go now. Must figure out what to do for lunch because the ATM machine is down and I only have 4 bucks...

Saying of The Week

"Change is inevitable... except from a vending machine.."

Busy. No time to blog. Nothing to write about anyway.

Later.

Me?

True or not?

The intelligence part is quite true. I like computers and clever gadgets. I am rather logical and I do like the maths quite a bit. And science! Anyone who's ever seen my mp3/cd/cassette collection knows how much I love music. I'm also quite fascinated by languages.

The personality part, I don't know. I mean, me a craftsman? A creator? Unless "craftsman" also means "guy who fixes broken things (usually computers)", this assessment is a wee bit off...

I would like to invite everyone to take this test. Let's compare notes.

In other news, the new Proton Saga (formerly known as the Proton BLM) is out. It looks absolutely gorgeous! The specs are quite competitive and so is the price.

I want one dammit!

Five Minute Post

I have 5 minutes to post. In the office now. Nobody here yet.

Checked out The Spring over the last few days. Big. Impressive. Different. It's about time we get something like this around here.

However...

I personally think that the standards of many of the stores are just a little too high for your average Kuchingite to afford (although I could be wrong about this actually). Some of the boutiques are so high end it's scary... Then again, I'm not exactly a connoisseur so obviously I can't say much..

Hopefully, the place will survive and prosper. I do like it a lot and it's a nice place to hang out. The Food Court is quite nice. I was at my friend's house yesterday delivering his PC and he told me that he absolutely loves Kluang Station. Must check it out soon.

MPH bookstores still not open yet. Really looking forward to it. The supermarket (Ta Kiong) totally rules. FOS is pretty ok too.

Yes, I'm quite cheap. Very cheap actually. Especially when it comes to clothes.

Talking about clothes, I recently realized that my so-called wardrobe is non-existent. I have like 4 pants and 5 shirts...

So I went out yesterday and bought this really good pair of pants for a extremely reasonable 70% discounted price of 29.95! Yes, I'm cheap. I need more polo shirts too. I need them for work. I'll probably go next Monday to shop for them. Cheap, functional ones that aren't too garish.

I also need new glasses.

I must make it a point to be less cheap with attire yes? After all, I'm not cheap at all when it comes to computers. Or eating out. Or booze. To be honest, I haven't really done a good job minding my appearance.

Must try harder.

In other news, I watched Elizabeth: The Golden Age. It was great! Cate Blanchett was totally awesome as The Virgin Queen. The sets, the costumes... sumptuous would be a good word to use when describing them.

I want to watch this again.

Ok, must end now. I hear people coming...

Springtime

Tsk. At work now and feeling very lazy. Forgot to bring my handphone just now too.

Also, I got pissed off at a user just now. See, some people use computers to do their work but can't be bothered to learn more about how to use a computer because IT people are around. This attitude sucks and really gets my goat. If something is important to your work shouldn't you be more attentive and motivated when people are teaching you how to use it? Just because support is around doesn't mean you can ask us to do everything. Like delete old stuff. And organize your info for you. Some people, too damn lazy/dumb for their own good.

Teaching isn't even an official part of my job for crying out loud.

Anyway.

It's an interesting day for Kuching because the giant mall The Spring opened. I usually don't really care but when I discovered that they actually have a website my interest peaked a bit. Looks very impressive from what I can gather from the website. From what I can see, it'll resemble one of those malls in the Peninsular.

Starbucks is there so at least we don't have to drive all the way to the airport anymore although the airport one has a certain quality about it. We usually go there at night and usually there are no crowds. I hope the one at The Spring will be ok too. Of course, there's free WiFi so that's cool.

MPH will also open a bookstore there. Really looking forward to that. We need more quality bookstores in Kuching. Maybe it will help push prices down. I love reading but I've been put off by book prices recently. These days I do 98% of my recreational reading online. Thank God for the internet and free information.

The current list of tenants at the Spring are quite impressive. I hope to see the rest of the available lots taken.

As curious as I am, I'm thinking of staying away at least until the crowds ease off. This weekend, everyone and his mother will be there. I can imagine the parking horror.

I'm thinking 11.00 am this Monday would be a good time to check out the Spring. I don't think too many people will be at a mall on Monday morning. Hopefully.

In other news, I finally pried myself from my games and watched some DVDs after a long, long time.

I'm not a huge fan of musicals but Dreamgirls was awesome. A must for RnB fans and those who enjoy the Motown Sound. I was very surprised by Eddie Murphy's perfomance. He was excellent. Jamie Foxx was great too. Entertaining film for sure. And Beyonce was nice to look at, as usual... Her acting wasn't bad either...

I also watched Gridiron Gang. That Dwayne Johnson is not a bad actor at all. He's supposed to be an "action hero" but some of his stuff is quite different from the stuff other "action heroes" appear in. Unlike most "action heroes" the guy has real charm and can even be funny.

Looking forward to more great stuff from The Rock in the future.

Hopefully this week goes by quickly and without drama. This is January and time feels like it's dragging its feet...

Twelve Inch

Computers and computer stuff are getting cheaper and cheaper and cheaper...

Small notebook computers are very, very expensive aren't they? They usually are. 12" notebooks are usually very, very expensive.

Except now you can get one for as low as RM1999/-

I came home from work this morning to find a Dell pamphlet on my table about their new 12.1" Vostro 1200!

Twelve inch only! That's so cool. And not expensive at all. An Intel Core 2 Duo shod Vostro will cost about RM2200/- which is very competitive for a ultralight.

I can actually afford that. Shit. If only there was an available with a dedicated graphics card.

I'm sure it will be available in one or two months.

Ok, I'm off to check out other notebook brands. I wonder if HP has anything similar to this...

PS: I found a useful guide to Finding The Right Notebook.

PPS: Been through other manufacturer's websites and forums and stuff. For ultralights (12" notebooks) Vostro 1200 has the best bang for buck at the moment.

Clash With The Titans!

Something interesting just occurred to me just a moment ago.

I've been playing Titan Quest : Immortal Throne over the last week. The week before that I was playing God of War 2 on my PS2.

It occurred to me that both games begin in Greece and uses Greek Mythology as a backdrop, namely the conflict between the Greek pantheon and the Titans. Interesting coincidence no?

Anyway, today I'm going to write about Titan Quest. God of War 2 is so famous and so excellent there's not much need to discuss it.

I've never even heard of TitanQuest and the expansion Immortal Throne until one of my friends told me to try it out. It is an hack and slash action RPG. Which means that its a Diablo ripoff, which means lots of combat with monsters which also means lots of mouse clicking. Gameplay? It's a Diablo clone. Lots of clicking...

So what's so good about a Diablo clone and how does it compare to the original? Usually clones of popular games are never really as good as the original. But not Titan Quest for it is a good Diablo clone. I'm sure many gamers have fond memories of all those hours spent clicking away in Diablo/Diablo2. Play Titan Quest and prepare to get nostalgic . In a good way.

In fact I'm starting to think maybe it's better than Diablo and Diablo 2. Not only from the technological point of view where it obviously is superior. Titan Quest's got some really neat features.

I remember in Diablo you could pick between three types of characters. In Diablo 2, you can pick from five. In Titan Quest and it's expansion, you can pick from many, many classes. I really do mean lots.

I also like how they made loot more "believable". It's a "what you see is what you get" kind of system.

If you kill a boar you won't get weapons and armour, for instance. Instead, you might get a boar hide trinket which you can use to enchant your stuff. Same goes with other animals. If you take out an archer, you will get a bow (obviously). If you see an archer using a bow that looks different from the weapons of his/her other bow using colleagues, it's a special item and you can pick it up if you kill the archer. Whatever weapon and equipment your enemy is using is exactly what will drop when you kill it.

I like this loot system. It's a small feature but I really, really like it.

If you install Immortal Throne, there's a feature which enables you to swap items with your other single player characters. Very cool feature.

The graphics? Excellent textures and lighting. The physics? Nice ragdoll effects.

Conclusion? Diablo ripoff. But a good one. So I'm recommending this to any Diablo fan.

__________________________________

In other news, there was a bit of news from a colleague about this very attractive engineer here. Her current boyfriend is apparently going out with someone else behind her back. Poor girl, she is actually very, very nice.

I'm suddenly tempted to "make things interesting"so to speak.

Actually, I'm not really serious with the idea because this urge will go away in the morning . Probably...

Better not, it's not a good idea and I'll probably fail anyway.

So how's your weekend?

A Lighter Post

Monopoly Mania: 25 of the Most Awesome Monopoly Boards Ever

I found this really cool post while blind surfing. Really cool. I want to play the Transformers one. I also like the Electronic Banking version.

In other news, the new Saga is available for booking. From what little I've seen of it so far, it looks great. Best of all, it costs about the same as my current car when I first got it. I'm going for a test drive if I can.

All of a sudden, I'm wondering how much my current car is worth and how much extra money I need to cough up to get it...

Some Crap

There was an newspaper article the other day about the Public Service Department and their intentions to hire more non-Malays into the public sector. I also read another article where the PSD boss claimed that most non-Malay people aren't interested in working for the government.
Then there was another one stating that the PSD doesn't factor race when processing applications.

I laughed. And laughed some more.

The truth is, race DOES factor when it comes to appointments in the public sector. Everyone and his dog knows this, as evident in these two letters in The Star.

I have my own stories to tell. One of my friends was unemployed a few months back. I asked her how come she didn't apply for the various government vacancies available at the time. She said she won't bother because "only Malays get it".

Then I have other friends who come out of colleges and universities and go straight to the private sector to look for work. They didn't bother applying for government jobs either.

By the way, in the examples above those friends of mine are Iban and Bidayuh. You'd think that being classified Bumiputera might help them in this case but actually not really.

I'm not surprised by this attitude.

It's not true that "only Malays get it". Other people do get it. Sometimes. Once in a while. Occasionally. But more often than not, you know I know lah. More often than not a Malay person will get it regardless of other things like qualification and expertise.

But here's the shocker. I'm not going to blame the government or the boss of the PSD. It might not be their fault as far as implementation goes.

Remember the fuss about Little Napoleons some time ago? (For those who don't get it, a Little Napoleon is a megalomaniac government officer who enjoys exercising his powers a little too much). Here lies the problem. The government or the PM or the minister of whatever portfolio may issue whatever directives but by the time it gets down to middle management, the whole thing goes to hell.

This happens quite a bit around here. In this case, the PSD might actually mean it when they say that they want more non-Malay people to join the public service. I'm certain the instructions and the memos and other documents have been issued.

So how come no change? Well, the middle management, the head of departments, the deans, the HR people, they might have other ideas...

I used to work for the government once too. I can tell you that some heads of departments are EXTREMELY influential and VERY "flexible" when it comes to "following" Ministry directives. Some of these people are also VERY, VERY racist. Seriously. Since they are head of department, they can conjure up all kinds of official sounding reasons why so-and-so got promoted and why so-and-so got appointed to whatever position.

I know this kind of manipulation. It happened to me. In the end, they made me leave which was a good thing in the long run. I could write the whole story but it's really, really wrong. That same story is also why I personally would NEVER work for the government again, at least not until they change the working the culture.

This sort of shit happens a lot. I'm not the only non-Malay person I know who left a "cushy" government job. So how to change this? How do you investigate this kind of happenings? How do you nail a head of department who knows this Datuk and that Datuk and so on so forth?

The PSD could try to investigate if they want to but let me tell you, unless they go covert and plant spies the info they get will NOT be the correct picture.

I guess this is just a small part of the "Little Napoleon" problem with the public and civil service. It's a sickness and I don't see how anyone can change it.

Having said all this I must say that occasionally, things aren't this bad. I also have other non-Malay friends who do work for the government who are treated equally and have even gotten promoted.

It's so unfortunate that the word "ocassionally" crops up in that last paragraph...

So if the PSD really wants to do something about this please do so. There are many, many non-Malay people who are willing and able to serve and do it well. Heck, some of these people are even available right this minute what with them not being employed and all that...

The thing I'd like to see is how the PSD is going to do it..

Another Year...

I didn't do a thing for New Years' Eve. I was at home playing GTA: San Andreas. It was rainy and I had to go to sleep early.

At work now.

I was reading last year's New Year entry just now. I was at work then as well. At that time, little did I know just how significant the year 2007 was to become.

It was a significant year. In fact, it was a pivotal year. A year of a new beginning for me personally.

I read some blogs this morning and some of them had lists of resolutions for the new year.

Mine is very simple and very doable. 2008 will be the first full year I'll have without being depressed, barring any relapses of course.

I'm going to live and live fully unhindered by the beast that is clinical depression. It's so good to be free. I can be normal again and it feels pretty good.

I'll continue to pick up pieces, repair the fallout caused by my sickness and continue to normalize my life.

I hope more good will come this year and I hope I'll be able to make things happen in my personal life. After all, I'm not getting any younger and I don't have much time left.

Here's hoping to a successful New Year for myself and everyone out there. May we have good fortune, happiness, hope and strength of spirit.

Happy New Year everyone.