I'm 22

But aunties keep thinking I'm 18

First off, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. I am satisfied with my previous 1 year experience myself though I got burned for the 6th time in a relationship mid year through. Apart from that I'd no regrets on the successes and milestones I've achieved for future propaganda.

My staff makes my singularity a regular jest in the workplace, occasionally promoting me to customers while stressing my singularity, jokingly of course. (If you happen to read this, thanks for the party at the office ya haha). However this is not the point. The interesting point is that as the joke develops, 100% of the female clients assumed I'm 18. FTW? I'm both offended and pleased(?) that I look 4 years younger(?). (see see see, I'm cute AND young haha take that Amie!)

I knew my age and newbie status into the brutal Sarawakian business environment was expected to bring hostility. People tend to look down upon noobs. And in less than 2 months meeting clients I got toyed around by 2 SMEs because they thought I was a joke. Mother truckers don't know who they're dealing with. No body was found floating in the river as a repercussion thankfully.

Anywho I think the first edict I'm going to roll for my 22nd year is an image change. Will post some narcissist pictures on Facebook once done. Hopefully that will make me look as old as I am (funny yes, because many try to look young).

Owh and as tradition dictates, I got myself a present too. A set of Altec Lansing to put some bass in my barren home sound system. However this is a small sleepy village I'm living in so I can only set the volume up to 20% to avoid public bass pollution. I need to sound proof my room... well, I'm only '18' and the nite is still young. Let's partaayyy!!!

Graduation

I'm a grad mother truckers!

After my short trip to Miri I set off to my next point of pilgrimage: Perth. This one was for my graduation. Looking back from my noob years as a fresh blood foundation kid to the day I finally got up that graduation stage, I've seriously come a long way.

What's next? As few more comrades fight on to fight the war, I'll be stepping out of it gracefully to wage another war that will ultimately decide the fate of the Motherland. I'll be waiting for you guys at the other side and will continue to believe that we can still revolutionize the country by hook or by crook.

I'd like to personally send my infinite thanks to Boss and Big Boss who were there for financial and moral support. My fellow comrades who were there with me during our fights on or off screen. My fellow kamchengz from 5008, 3666, Senadin, Vickery and the Lawson Street gangs who shared the same sheet different day with me. My S.O.B. familias especially the school of Management and Marketing. And finally Creator for providing spiritual solace and all the people I've mentioned earlier. *bows down* "domo arigato".

Exotic Animals, Money, Sarawak

Get lucky by throwing money at exotic turtles!

Literally "horny snapper turtle"

This one is located in a busy, musty and hot Niah restaurant, 1 hour south from Miri. There's a special section in the large restaurant for an assortment of captured exotic animals that are being displayed for the passing travelers. The notice at a tank below caught my attention:

This "Dragon King" would be an awesome addition to my Pokemon collection

Although bearing an awesome name and came all the way from a Holy Temple of I'm not sure exactly where, this Dragon King or Snapper Turtle (English name) don't look as excited as any celebrity should. I wanted to poke the thing but the whole tank is locked solid and the restaurant's toilet keeper at the back was looking at me suspiciously. He may not seem big from this angle but I can assure you he is 4 times the size of your desktop or laptop you have there. So what am I supposed to do with it? Make a wish? No problem let me throw in some cash...

WHAT A WHOPPER! This guy is making more money than I am (jobless student's income is always negative). So what you have to do is throw in some cash, make a wish and hope the King will grant it. Generally this sounds crude, but I saw some requests hand-written from an orphanage seeking money. I'm not sure if their wishes have been granted but the turtle must have some awesome telekinetic money-raking prowess to make him credible enough to earn this much. Anything goes here in Sarawak.

Alright people. Grab your cash, make a wish and throw it at the turtles below. If the cash gets stuck at the screen your wish may come true, if it flies off well, try another wish.

The Dragon King's less intimidating but happier cousins in another tank. Throw some money at them.

Selamat Hari Raya

End of Ramadhan already? What it's year 1431H already?

Man time flies faster and faster as you get older and older. I anticipated it, and yes it felt like yesterday when I said "Day 1" on Facebook. Oh well.

Salam Eid Mubarak to all. Maaf zahir batin. I know I may have offended you in anyway, being an ass in front of you somehow or simply forgot to reply your SMS and Facebook comments. So forgive this dude for all the mistakes, and slap him in the face the next time he does a mistake.

P/S: Sibu line pathetically slow again somehow after the quake in NZ (hmmm), thus it turned me off from giving updates. I forgive you zahir-ly TMNet.

Dam You

Bakun: Decade of Damnation

Remember Empangan Bakun? The very big dam that's supposed to power Sarawak's development? The first time you heard it should be from Kajian Tempatan textbook from Primary 4 or 5 (forgot already). Well for me I've read that book more than a decade ago. 10 years later Bakun is still a project overdue many times and used as the same school textbook reference of what Sarawak can offer, as well as the occasional cause for the displaced natives to be pissed about.

Still pissed. And confused.

Then recently Borneo Post stated that the Federal government pulled out from purchasing the dam for RM8,000,000,000 due to financial crisis (another story). So now the Sarawak state government can move in to buy it for RM6,000,000,000.

RM6bil is okay for this epic functional dam. Oh wait, this is 3 Gorges Dam. Completed earlier than Bakun. (Source)

RM6bil is a lot of cash. It will do good for Sarawak as the mega hydroelectric power will fuel Sarawak's Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) projects. BUT I will side with the political pundits this time.

WHY THE PHUOC DO WE NEED TO SPEND RM6,000,000,000 ON AN UNCONFIRMED-CAN-BE-FINISHED DAM? RM6bil could've been used on finishing many much-needed roads in Sarawak. Shock absorbers ain't cheap dammit!

And let's not forget about how cursed Bakun is. The Coxsakie outbreak that coincided with the dam's relaunch in 1997. The leptospirosis (rat fever, kencing tikus, Mickey's bane) at Bakun as well barely a month ago. And also rumors of black magic and other wrath incurred by the pissed off locals to stop the desecration of their ancestral lands (imagine Avatar, minus the blues).

Flaming online works too I guess...

The money that's apparently spent on the 2,400MW dam is never enough to complete it after a decade. It's like a black hole. No matter how much paper money you throw at the dam the Google images will show the same pictures of it 5-7 years, showing that the contractors do not have built-in cameras on their phones.

Apa ni?

I won't bash much as I'm respecting the month of Ramadhan. The rest of the things about Bakun are common knowledge based on how the government roll. And here's more readings on why you should be worried if you are a taxpayer.

Owh did I mention the government wants to make another 2 new dams? Damn, just think about all those new black holes, more displaced natives and superior government planning for energy supply enough for maybe 1/2 of China (not sure, I'm no Civil Engineer). We need transparent public spending report dammit!

Aggressive Biscuits

First there's Oreo. Then there's Cream-O. Now there's Bis-O.

I haven't tried Bis-O due to it's shabbiness though, obviously. The hilarity in this imitation wars is further enhanced by the latter's pronunciation which is close to bisul... what's next?

Tension With Indonesia Again

Indonesian extremists threatened to 'sweep' Malaysians off Indonesia, again.

While Malaysia Barat is tearing themselves apart from the recent case of the racist principal telling Chinese kids to go back China, trouble is brewing with our neighbor to the south. Barely a year ago the Benteng Demokrasi Rakyat (BENDERA) announced that they will invade Malaysia to cause havoc with its 40 well-trained, bamboo-armed and black-magic-protected men.

And a few days ago, the action of Malaysia capturing 3 Indonesian maritime officers triggered another proxy war, with Indonesia 'silently' retaliating by arresting Malaysian fishermen. The whole thing snow balled into a crisis as protesters threw shit at the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta. The nationalist group BENDERA then declared another 'sweep' to kick off Malaysians allegedly violating Indonesia's sovereignty out of their country. It's officially the season to 'ganyang Malaysia' again.

Now at this point I share your blurness on what really pissed them off to the point of throwing human faeces at the embassy. This simple but crucial disclosure may reveal a bit why the tension between the two countries are on high again:

"...according to Malaysian officials, they received satellite photos that the 15 fishermen in five boats were indeed in Malaysian territory – their GPS clearly showed this. An Indonesian maritime boat which encroached into Tanjung Punggai in Kota Tinggi confronted the boats and arrested seven fishermen.

Good sense prevailed as Malaysia released the Indonesian maritime officers while Indonesia sent the fishermen home to Malaysia on Aug 17.

...the Indonesian government sent a diplomatic note to protest the arrest, claiming that Malaysia had violated Indonesian integrity because the incident occurred in Indonesian waters.

Indonesia’s Maritime and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad said Indonesia freed the seven fishermen due to lack of proof...because he needs to pacify his countrymen to show that Indonesia is standing up to Malaysia (Kiasu la).

Malaysia has since quietly responded to the note and made it clear that the Indonesians had encroached into Malaysian waters"

Source: The Star

To summarize, there's a water border dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia. This dispute caused the clash of jurisdiction between the two countries who claimed the incident occurred in THEIR territory. BENDERA just jumped in to light up the fuels of war and all these protests came to be. What started as a hate-war accusing Malaysia of 'curi budaya' or stealing the culture of Indonesia last year is now made bigger with this recent events.

It all started with this...


Then this 'sapu Malaysia', roadbloacks to spot-check for Malaysians and ask them to GTFO...

mmm... she's hot

And we're supposed to fight with these BENDERA elites...


The Indonesian government does not endorse nor support these extremists' actions. BENDERA's October 8th 2009 invasion is way overdue by almost a year. And this fresh ganyang Malaysia thing is predicted to pass away with time. Malaysians in Indonesia should take care of themselves. If BENDERA's willing to grab shit and throw it with rage at the embassy, who knows what else they're capable of while ignoring all the don'ts during this Ramadhan.

Don't join in the fray, just be rational and let us get a move on with work, assignments, life etc.

Sungai Merah is Dead

Sibuians surrounded bridges along Sungai Merah to fish in dead fishes. Fish market sales and stomach ache cases increment predicted tomorrow.

Today's weather is hot and sunny. And the flood have receded in most places, allowing simple Sibu-folks to go around their business normally again. However today I stumbled a large crowd in Sungai Merah.

People here only crowd around bridges for fishing, pakto or if someone just jumped off the bridge. Curious if it's the latter, I decided to join in.

Turns out they are netting fishes. Dead and dying fishes floating downstream along the Sungai Merah lit. Red River.

Another person kepoh like me told me there were more of the floaters in the morning and several opportunistic Sibuians grabbed as much fish as they can, leaving virtually nothing for me to take pictures of by then (3pm). However some persistent fishermen caught whatever leftovers the river yielded. And for leftovers, some of the fish are quite a pricey catch. Keli, sepat, buris, and some more fish of which I'm not sure what their native names are.

Although it's a free for all free fishing, or simply netting, I'm wondering what killed these fishes. The very same kepoh person told me there's been some logging upstream that killed them, however the logic escaped me. I'm assuming the recent flood unleashed something in the river and killed all the aquatic life, the same thing that happened in 2009's January near Kapit (read the news here).

It looked like this in Belaga and Kapit last year and it could've been like this this morning in Sg. Merah. (Image source)

I'm predicting a huge influx of random fish from buris to empurau in the market tomorrow. OR a huge influx of people with dire stomach pain checking in the hospitals. My advise is to not buy any fishes for the next few days.

Sibu Flood & Leptospirosis

Deadlier than Jaws, kencing manis and horny hamsters combined

The recent flood obviously caused overflow and mergers of canals, drains, lakes, rivers and other water bodies in Sibu. And for those who still remember the leptospirosis infections, deaths and detections in Sibu waters, you guys should be able to apply the logic of how the flood can unleash the kencing tikus disease upon the simple Sibu-folks.

Name: Leptospirosis aka Rat Fever aka Kencing Tikus

Transmission: Direct or indirect exposure to infected animal fluids or excreta (shit)

Early Symptoms: Severe body aches, frontal headaches, red eyes, flu-like symptoms (fever)

Complications: Meningitis, extreme fatigue, hearing loss, respiratory distress, azotemia, renal interstitial tubular necrosis, death.

Source: wiki, image from kagakribet.com

The virus has been detected in two places in Sibu; Junaco Park National Service Camp and Permai Road recreational park (source: nst.com.my).

Although quarantine efforts were made, I still strongly believe the Health Minister should warn kids or anyone else from playing in the water. Touch wood, the leptospirosis may have spread wide into the flooded residential areas and now we are waiting for the news headlines in Borneo Post, See Hua etc... but if no one is doing it yet, I'll do it.

SIBU, Aug 23 - The virus causing the deadly Leptospirosis disease that was been detected in Junaco Park and Jalan Permai may have spread to other areas via the recent flood. Every sane and health conscious individuals are advised to stay away from the flood as much as possible and drink clean boiled water. Flee to the high ground if it's necessary, barricade your homes and report any unusual behaviors. Wait for further instructions.

The teh-c peng special waters is now served with rat's piss.

Sibu Flood August 2010

I keep seeing the anti-BN related video of the Sibu flood being shared on Facebook, which I think and believe is baseless. Sometimes some things in life are not caused by politics. As for this year's flood, it's the King Tide and the near full moon. Here, enjoy a video I made on this lazy Sunday. It's a personal tour around the flooded Sibu.



Owh for those who are not familiar with this lil' Venice hometown of mine, these kind of floodings are usual annual events.