Monday, January 18, 2010

All hacked

My car as of Saturday:

An ass-less Impreza

The repair involved replacement of the rear panel, right three quarter panel, rear bumper & tail light. Apprently the damage was more below the skin. The boot floor panel was also a bit crumpled, but not bad enough until requiring a replacement. The rear sub frame took quite a beating as well. Need a bit of straightening work.

It explains why the estimated repair cost is RM8k. Unlike normal repair job involving knocking here and there, this job performs full replacement of the damaged panels. So the repairs will be undetectable virtually as-new condition. In fact this is the proper way of doing panel repairs as per safety guideline overseas. But of course, because of the high price, most people do not opt for this type of repair.

Can't wait to see the results.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Sepang - 10 Jan 2009

After the session:

Ripping off the bumper

Torn bumper, broken right rear light, dented fender and slightly dented boot

That's my car! It really rained in the last one hour of the session. During which I did probably a dozen or so laps, non-stop. But I lost it going down to T9 due to aquaplaning, slid along the short downhill straight, backwards, and ended up clipping the right rear to the steel barrier. But it could've been worse if I hit the barrier sideways. That would've spelt full car repainting. The only regret is, it happened on the out lap, when the red stop lights were already on and I've already slowed down! *sigh*

It's in the workshop now. Hopefully it'll recover soon. Still was not satisfied with my dry time. A lot more grip and much more stable with the new suspension. But did not managed to get a good clean unobstructed run.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Love this song!

The show, by Lenka. First heard it on TM advert on TV. And it immediately caught my attention. Finally downloaded it yesterday and it's been playing on repeats on my PC and my phone. Just love the simplicity of the song. The rhythm is so simple, yet catchy, with nice swingy feel at the chorus. Just can't help but to tap my feet along with the tempo everytime I listen to it. The singer also presented the song nicely with a cute & innocent feel to it. It proves a good song does not need complex arrangement.


Try to search the net for it. Sorry I won't put a download link here. It's illegal ;) BTW, I know all of you know how to get it anyway.

This makes me wonder, despite the number of so-called singers we have in Malaysia, why there's really rarely any song that's able to catch attention like the song above? A song that can attract attention at the first encounter. In my opinion, most Malay songs sound 'nice' because it's been forced onto the listener. The same song being repeatedly played on radio or advert on the TV, as time goes by, it becomes 'bearable'. Even if you just play the sound of a herd of cows mooing, with time that'll also sound bearable.

The last Malay song that caught my attention was Gemuruh by Faizal Tahir. And that's really some time ago. But in general the songs that attract my attention on first encounter are TM everyone connects advert song and the Kementerian Belia song played on ntv7, sang by a number of popular artists. But both are not recording songs.

And then I found this on youtube: Lenka? Not!

Just can't tell how much it sucks. For starters he wasn't even singing in tempo. As someone who plays musical instruments, it's really irritating to hear such a basic flaw. The voice is so flat I know of some LCD TVs more undulating than that. He doesn't complete full bars. In under 2 minutes and a half, the boy managed to ruin the whole song! But look at the comments. Some are really raving about him. They don't know any better. No wonder we then can have good entertainment with Simon Cowell demolishing these kind of singers on American Idol. Stupid Americans. But I do envy the recording facility the boy at his disposal. It's good, but it deserves better use, much better.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Foreign exchange trading

To all friends, I'm posting this as a reminder to all who're into this forex trading or thinking of doing it. I know, it has promised very good returns. In fact training and seminars are being advertised openly in newspapers.

But it remain an illegal activity to do in Malaysia, to trade foreign currency, no matter how, no matter what. And in the news today: Bank Negara warns against illegal foreign currency trading

Knowing BNM, when they issued that kind of statement, it means, get ready. We're going to get you NOW! Same like all those quick rich schemes. There were so many raids done by BNM last year. Many were caught andcharged in court. And also knowing BNM, we're very efficient at doing this. We just needed time to carefully study before we start our move since we do not want to be on the losing side.

So please friends, stay away from such activity.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Happy New Year to all!

A day late, but nevertheless, Happy New Year to all reading this.

Some news highlight:

1. No Plastic Day


I think it's a good move. I feel environmental preservation awareness among Malaysian are quite low. This despite the many programmes shown on Discovery Channel on Astro. I guess, most are more interested in the lame reality shows on Asto Ria...

BTW, I have been avoiding plastic bags for some while. If I'm at 7-11 or even Carrefour and buy things that I can hold with my two hands, I refused the plastic bag. I noticed some people even buyingj ust two items, maybe a can of drink and a cigarette also insist for the plastic bag. Then they went out of the door and step into their car which is just like 3-4 meters away. Why?

Let us all work to make this happen!




2. Who's there first?

The story of condominium & apartment owners 'shutting down' live music along Jalan P. Ramlee. It's not that I would want to stand for the musicians, but it raised the question, didn't the apartment owners think about it BEFORE buying their units?

So what if the apartment is located next to a busy highway and it gets noisy for them, will the authorities close down the highway then? Or if the apartment was built next to a shipping port and it gets noisy, will the port get closed then?

If you ask me, this is more of the issue of influence. Those buying the condo units along this particular road most probably are influential people. Maybe business people or even polictical links. To me, this is a blatant abuse of power. If the night spots are operating within the set rules and guidelines, especially on performing hours, the apartment residents should not, or have the rights to complaint about it. Old Malay proverbs, 'kalau takut dilambung ombak, jangan berumah di tepi pantai' applies here.