ARRRGGGHHHH!!!! NOT AGAIN!!!!

yesterday, managed to drag myself out to Titiwangsa for a run. Was there at 8:45AM. Many people there since they have yet another fishing competition.

Parked my car at an empty space, a bit to the inside since the roadside parking was all full. But when I got back to the car an hour later, the front passenger window was all smashed up! Broken glass everywhere.

First thing noticed they took my wallet & handphone from the arm rest compartment. But from further check, noticed also that they took my boost meter on the dashboard, a pair of sunglass & my only alarm remote control. Damn! Luckily can still drive the car back home, albeit with the indicator light flashing due to the alarm triggered.

Could've been worse since apparently they ignored my speed meter on the steering column, but obviously within reach, the CD player & smart tag device with Maybank Zing card.

The loses are one thing, but the hassles are another. Now have to go through JPN, JPJ & Maybank, again, for the replacement cards. Not to mention this time also need to go to Celcom and two workshops to replace the broken window and the alarm.

This is gonna cost me a lot! New window, new wallet, new handphone, new sunglass & new boost meter. Not to mention replacement charges for MyKad, credit cards & ATM card. *sigh*

Hate these people. May they all rot in hell.

BNM vs 12 year olds

Yesterday, we had a friendly squash match between BNM's players and some 12 year olds from SRAM (squash equivalent to BAM for badminton). These boys are Malaysian future in world squash.

To be frank, I was very, very amazed looking at their ability, skills and determination. They really CAN play! Despite of their small size, they gave a hard time for our players and some of BNM's players are Division 2 and Division 3 players in KL League! I didn't play yesterday, but to be honest, I doubt I can win against them. They really are THAT good!

And their determination is solid. They really played it all out even it was just a friendly match, against unknown, albeit adult players.

I say, kudos to the boys! Keep up the spirit! Rule the world 8 years from now.

S1K race - 6 June 2009

Was there last weekend, after enduring a 1 1/2 hour long drive from Sg. Besi toll to Nilai/KLIA exit. Sounds ridiculous? Well, because it was! People slowing down traffic to a stop-n-go crawl, just to look at minor accidents by the road side, but that's a story for another time.

The stupid crawl on NSE

Was there to support my friends, Fahrein & Edrin driving for Team KL Motopark/Matspeed. Muzamil & Hisham driving their own team's car and old friend, Rashid, also driving for a private team.

The paddock pass. I was told it's RM50 for the pass, but found out its actually RM90 with parking. So chose to sit at the grand stand instead, which is free. Later I knew it was a wise decision. No way I'm gonna pay RM90 just to see race-prepped 'normal cars'... unlike MME race which normally has some nice Porsches RSRs, Astons, BMW Z4s and Holdens competing.

When I got there, it was more than 2 hours into the race, but still a long way to go to 1000km... In terms of car variety, it was very lacking. All I see was Integra DC2s, Civic EGs & EKs and Satria GTIs. The only saving grace was a pair of sharp-looking, white Satria Neo of Team Proton Axle, two Gen2s and two Toyota Levins. Sad also to find out last year's Class B MME winner, Proton R3's Neo parked in their pits, later I found out it was due to engine management problem.

Proton Axle's Neo

The race mostly was uneventful. The track looks kind of empty with the cars wide spaced between each other. But at times there are interesting scraps between similar cars, especially watching the how the Neos fighting off their bigger brother, the GTIs.

Integra vs GTI

But more importantly, I felt good to see the passion and determination of the participants, even for such a low-key event. Some teams came with fully prepped cars, complete with in-car hydraulic jacks and pit-lane speed limiter, backed by organised & professional pit crew. Meanwhile, some are competing just out of their passion for racing. I notice a very sick Putra, doing the laps at a very slow speed, but still keep on going, laps after laps. Just for the sake of racing and finishing the race. Quite a number of cars are devoid of any sponsor decals, except for Achilles and Petronas. the event sponsors. It means these people are racing out of their own pocket, for the fun of it. Their passion and determination amazes me and makes me of thinking of racing next year!

Fahrein & Edrin were driving the Team KL Motopark's rally-cross spec Gen2 (pic nicked from terato.com)

Rashid was the 1st driver of this rented Civic EG (pic nicked from terato.com)

Overall, it was an interesting race. I had to leave at around 4:00PM, the cars have done about 70-odd laps by then. At the end of lap 182 around 8:45PM, the race was won by team Type R with their Class 1 Integra DC2. Followed very closely by a Class 2 Civic EG! I totally believe the R3 Neo would've give them a good fight if it was still racing. Sad also that both Proton Axle's Neos expired before the end. Same goes for Muzamil's Levin. But Fahrein & Edrin finished the race, much to their delight.

Here, hoping for a better race next year. Maybe we can see more manufacturers taking part? Bring out the Civic FD2, Swift Sport, the over-dressed Latio, Vios, etc.. please...

BTW, 'S1K race' stands for Sepang 1000km race

A night at Titiwangsa

that was last night's run. Great!

That marks the start of the season for me. Pace and timing is immaterial at the moment, considering the shape I'm in now. But the fact that I dragged myself out of the house and did 3 laps around Titiwangsa non-stop is already good enough, for the moment.

Let's see if I can keep myself motivated until November. Must try harder.

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.