Mario!

Remember this guy? Children of the 80's would know this.

I still remember the character. Jumping over tortoises, ghouls, smashing bricks & collecting power-ups. Sometimes hidden brick may hide special points if you know which one to smash. It's so simple and easy to play, but yet, still very enjoyable. Until today, I still remember the backing tunes of the game which I think is very catchy and easily recognizable.

Why am I suddenly being so nostalgic? I just bought an emulator program for the PC to play Super Mario. And it's been faithfully re-produced I can't help but teleport myself back to the 80's. And it's nice to know I still remember some of the hidden passages in the man-eating sewere pipes and bricks with the hidden points.


Even though I do have PS2 at home and PC capable to play some of the recent games, but still I find Super Mario entertaining. I'm just attracted to the simplicity of it. No need to crack my heads solving complex puzzles, twist my head running around in virtual world killing scary monsters or need to use all 10 fingers to press on like a hundred different button combinations to enjoy a game. This game do not even need high resources for graphics. It's all about the gameplay and it's entertainment value. It's either that or I'm getting old already hehehe

Someone should be sacked!

the strategist at Scuderia Ferrari F1...

In Malaysian GP, they held Massa in the pits during qualifying, thinking there's not enough time for others to beat his time... but they calculated wrongly and Massa did not even qualify for Q2 qualifying session. Then during the race, they put on wet tyres on Kimi's car when the rain was still a good 15 minutes away! No need to ask, he destroyed the tyres, well before the first drop of rain.

Then last night at Spanish GP, they short-fueled Massa, who was running 3rd at the time. But it was too short and he did not have enough fuel to complete the race! He had to yield to conserve fuel and bring the car to the chequered flag. He lost 3rd place to Vettel. They thought they had enough cushion to Alonso with a 16 seconds gap. Massa was doing 4.5 sec/lap slower with a remaining 4 laps. Wouldn't that equal to 18 seconds!?

What were THEY thinking?

This kind of elementary mistakes is really unexpected in the uber high-tech F1 sport. More so form a team who have won the championship umpteen time in recent years. And just let's not recall last year's season, which is just more embarassing to them.

Pics taken from: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_singapore_grand_prix.html

Buck up!

X-men Origins

Went to watch this last night with Anis, after a quick dinner at Nando [thanks dear, belanja i :)]

Anyway, it's a great movie. Have watched the previous releases, but I think this is the best. From this movie I understand what's so great about Wolverine. How he get to become 'indestructible'. How and why he became the leader of the X-men.

The story revolves around Wolverine's life, back from more than a hundred years ago (*gasp!*). How his life went through until about now. How his brotherhood with Victor developed. His real character.

I really love the twist on what actually happened when they killed his wife/girlfriend, Kayla. It was totally unpredicted. And also some sense of humour with this character, Wade, who is a good soldier but can't keep his mouth shut. Later he became 'Weapon XI', with his mouth shut off.

I really suck at writing movie review, but this is really a good watch.

Finally!

I got my driving license replacement yesterday, after a full two weeks waiting for JPJ to update their system. During which I had to pass through two roadblocks and dodge a few others. Luckily was never been asked for my driving license while going through the roadblocks *phew*

And since I was already there, renewed my license all the way to 2014! *muahaha*

GPRS internet...

... it's very useful!

Last week, when i lost my wallet, I wanted to find Citibank's phone number, used GPRS on my phone. Then when I went to JPN Sri Rampai, I was trying to locate the exact location, used GPRS to surf their website from inside my car.

Later while waiting at JPN, used GPRS to surf my automotive forums to kill time. Then few days ago, was lost looking for a new futsal center, stopped at a petrol station to search for the exact address.

It's such a convenience. In fact, was even contemplating to activate 3G so I can surf faster on my phone.

But yesterday, the bill came. My call charge was less than RM30, but, GPRS usage alone costed me an eye popping RM50.30! In total, I spent less than a full hour surfing the net on it. It's so freaking expensive. Most websites are not mobile friendly. They contain background image and lots of other images that just kill your GPRS bill.

So no more mobile internet for me. Only if really, really, really need to.

Why i quit badminton

it's sooo expensive!

Nowadays a tube of good quality shuttlecocks (I always use RSL silverfeather) is RM44, for a dozen shuttlecocks. So that works out to almost RM4 each. For singles game, it may last 2-3 sets. If doubles, it can barely last a single set. Depending on players skill as well. I noticed less skilled players tend to destroy shuttlecocks much quicker.

And normally, I would play at least 4-5 sets every time. So that's easily 3-4 shuttles into the rubbish bin. Made worse, when there are 5-6 of you, but none of them actually have shuttlecocks in their bags! Even worst when I just brought out a new, crisp shuttlecock, played for just one short set then have to give way for friends to play. When it's my turn to play again, I end up with a well-used, badly damaged & wobbly shuttlecock and nobody even bother to replace it. And of course, I will then have to supply another new, crisp shuttlecock. Everybody else just look

*sigh*

seems i better go back to my running & cycling

JPN vs JPJ vs Maybank

Mcm yg korang tau, aku hilang wallet last week. So biasalah, proses mengadap naik turun jabatan kerajaan untuk dapatkan replacement kad semua. Boring, tapi terpaksa buat jugak.

JPN
Pagi² dah terpacak kat JPN cawangan Sri Rampai. Takde orang langsung tunggu kat dalam. Bila masuk, tgk atas kaunter dah letak signboard, "Sistem tergendala". Ceh, patut la takde orang. Diorang kata tak tau bila boleh OK & advise pegi cawangan lain. So terpaksa gerak pegi Maju Junction.

Kat Maju Junction, pun tak berapa ramai orang. Tunggu around 15 minit, nombor giliran dah naik. "Wah, cepatnya!" Kat kaunter, tunjuk report polis, check cap jari & bayar denda RM110 (huhuhu...) dah settle. Tak sampai 5 minit kat kanter. "Hebat!" Dia mintak pegi kaunter ambik gambar. Sangat efisyen. Dengan pantas aku masukkan kertas nombor giliran dalam kotak tulis 'Excellent'. Kotak tu utk rate servis diorang. Tgk ramai yang masukkan dalam kotak Excellent pun.

10 minit lepas tu, ambik gambar & settle dapat KPT sementara. Impressive, tak sampai 40 minit in total. Kalau dulu pegi JPN busuk² pun 1/2 hari melepak baru settle.

JPJ
Lepas JPN, terus shoot pegi JPJ Wangsa Maju pulak. Ramai orang, mcm biasa. Tapi yg bertambah serabut, orang² yg berkeliaran kat luar. Agent kedai kereta, runner lah, etc.. Kat parking, siap ada orang jual polish kereta. Kat depan pintu kaunter ada org bukak meja register credit card. Apa ni? Macam pasar borong!

Kaunter pertanyaan pun, muka kerek je. Campak² je borang. Tak explain apa². Pegi ambik nombor baru cakap kene isi 2 copy. Dah isi 2 copy, tanya photostat IC & gambar pulak. Nasib baik diorang dah ada 'deal' dgn kedai mana ntah, bukak booth photostat & gambar passport instant dalam ruang menunggu tu. Tapi sungguh tak proper, letak photocopy machine & mini studio kat ruang menunggu tu.

Tunggu tak sampai 2 minit, nombor giliran dah naik. Wah! Hebat! Replace road tax motor takde problem, tapi nak replace lesen pulak ada problem. Katanya takde rekod. So balik rumah ambik lesen 'L' & 'P' yg lama. Dia check, still takde rekod. Mcm tak pernah ada lesen! Hampeh. Dia kata, maybe tak tukar ke lesen penuh lepas habis lesen P. Then balik rumah lagi, nasib baik dapat jumpa slip renew lesen tahun 2001 punya. Bawak pegi JPJ balik, so diorang kata, since ada proof, diorang akan key-in balik rekod. Tapi kene tunggu jugak 2 minggu. Katanya maybe orang Pejabat Pos dah delete rekod. Apa² je lah....

Ngeri sungguh. Nasib baik ada lagi simpan lesen lama² yg dah berbelas tahun tu. Kalau tidak, kene masuk driving school balik wei! Tak dapat aku bayangkan aku kene balajar driving balik. So korang better berhati-hati. Simpan la lesen yg lelama tu.

Tapi officer kaunter tu, very helpful. 3 kali pegi, yg first je kene ambik nombor. 2nd & 3rd time terus je pegi kaunter. Ada inisiatif nak tolong.

Maybank Jalan Gombak
Lepas JPJ, pegi Maybank pulak. Ambik nombor giliran, selang 2 orang je daripada giliran, tapi tunggu punya la laaaaaammmmmaaaaa. Sejam jugak menunggu. Swasta skrg lagi lambat daripada govt? Apa laaa....

Dah naik boring tunggu, baru la sampai turn. Dah la mamat jaga kaunter tu panggil aku adik. Sampai la dia tgk nombor IC aku & sedar, aku ni tak la muda mana hahahaha ATM card dpt kat situ jugak. Tu pun nasib baik dia nak accept KPT sementara. Fuh, lega.

So in the end, Govt 2 - Swasta (Maybank) 0

hehehehe thumbs up to the efficient govt service nowadays

Update 5:19PM: aku baru je realize, from M2U savings account dah tak nampak, ada credit card account je. Call Helpline, dia kata kene re-register new M2U & pegi branch link kan balik credit card dgn M2U yg baru. Then kene buat balik favourite payee, 3rd part transfer, etc.. Hampeh sungguh. Hari tu masa buat kad ATM baru tak nak inform awal². Adoi la... Semua computerized, boleh je transfer semua sekali.

Govt 2 - Swasta (Maybank) -3075

p/s: geram ni