The Brain Blog

I’ve been roving within the confines of an incalculably great three-dimensional realm before I realized how primal this blog has become since the last update. I’d burned my little feet over my own blazing trail, tore a flesh off from a lump of crack at the edge of a rock, and right now I am all hyperventilated after a long neverending run, finally in my seat, facing the screen of the computer again and still in wonder of what has happened on earth over the last few months during my exile. Let’s start off today with a new face-life and brand new coverage as a permanent IBM employee hehehehe. Yep, finally i see the pieces of puzzles coming in together.

Let’s cut short of the crap and get down to the point. I am not entirely sure if there’s anyone who’s anybody out there heard of this instant Spielberg classic piece called "Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind"?  To those of you who have never heard of such title nor have even caught a glimpse of it, I suggest you lift that ass out of that seat and head to the nearest store and a get a copy of this and play loud. Real Loud. Your about to experience a classic is what I am telling you. You can forget about that maddeningly humid, maddeningly muddy, maddeningly unbearable experiences you’ve had with other films.

Word is, the Ultimate DVD Edition for "Close Encounters" is already out and I am already salivating over it since day one. I’ve inquired from a couple of retailers and they went all na-da on it and worst is, it may never be released in Malaysia…..EVER! What the hell? Man. I wonder how do all these crazy collector’s get their stuff? E-Bay? The thing is, they want to inspire ppl to buy original but then where’s the stuff? I mean I don’t need a regular edition disc to go by when other crazy collector out there has got an ultimate edition on a double dip with excellent features, a pull-out poster, some memorable goodies and all I have is just another ordinary single disc which any guy out there could get. It feels like a dick sometimes.

Just waiting for my American Express and I am heading off to Amazon. Yeah this baby is mine, Oh yeah I got to check at Borders to see if the book is out too. Damn those sons of ………..

Whoooooooooooooooooo!!!!

The 5 year journey down the road has finally come to an end with a scroll in my hand! I’ve finally graduated with an honors degree courtesy of UNITEN. hehehehe.

Thank you so much to everyone for all your beautiful encouragement, continuous support and amazing love.

Wonderful happiness, tremendous hugs, and love, love, love to you all!

Having a little chat with that ol’ Chap!

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Oh Dear God!!! I’ve finally Graduated!!!!

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Brotherly Love.

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The Graduate. I will surely, dearly miss Uniten. Goodbye and Farewell……*weeps*

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Yep. Meet Saiful, he’s yet to grad. heheheheh. Poor thing

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Patricia and I, my partner in crime

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Proud Family.

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CC Looi! The girl with the brushy hair. hehehehe.

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Suresh and I finally don the robe.

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The best student gives his speech to all the underlings out there. hahahahaha.

It Works!

Imagine yourself having this weight leveling inside your head like a bag of cement and you find yourself in a position where your condition is absolutely far-flung. Well, it’s safe to say that your worrying days are finally over, though I won’t be held liable to any serious damage that may incur but the practice is worth the try.

A couple of months back, I was in a serious state of trauma, usually of which occurs to most students during the period of a final year project work. It was critically unstable; a strain in the eye, fatigueness and drooling of mucus due to excessive influenza. It felt like I was on the doorstep to death merely waiting for the grim reaper to toss me back to hell.

Then I did the unthinkable. I slammed my head across the key board so hard, i could have sworn I heard a crack in the skull in between and it felted good. yeah it was good and it even bled. I couldn’t even feel the pain probably my pain senses got its own senses knocked out from that impact. I felt a sudden warmth across my forehead as I put a finger across it, I felt blood. It was welcoming.

With the pain senses knocked down, I smashed my head again but this time onto the wooden cupboard. The impact shook the damn thing like a quake of epidemic proportions. Definitely higher than 10 on the richter scale. Oblivious to the first wave, I struck another blow again and the whole thing went blank. There was no pain, like I was in a deep, drugged semi-sleep and not in unconsciousness.

I thought I was dead but then later, I found myself on a stretcher with few little small monitors with green little lines and a couple of tubes all wrapped onto me and some apparatus attached to a stereotactic hat. One of the monitors had an inverted view of a brain. Yeah my brain which I was informed later on, was miracalously cured by that sudden boom.

And believe it or not, since that incident, I’ve never had a single stress in my entire life. Astounding discovery eh?

PS: By the way, here was what left of me when the medics arrived. I was sprawled onto the floor with my eyes bulged. Finally able to see myself in a picture when I was this close to death’s door.

POW : Genting Youths

IBM Eats My Greens!

I’m preparing my coins for tomorrow’s return to work.  As you can see I have little piles lined up, ready to go with a 10 ringgit bill.

Each of this pile consists of a couple of double quarters, a few dimes, a penny and some nickels. Probably I’d have to head over to that sad place called RHB. 2 trips per-day. One round trip in the morning and another in the evening.

On my first week, I took my car to that garbage dump.  Each trip cost me an average of probably 5 bucks.  This meant 10 bucks a day.  I took out my calculator and did my math …

   1. 10 bucks a day, 5 days a week means that my car expenses alone eats up about 200 bucks monthly.
   2. I don’t know what percentage of my total salary will go to transportation fare (although I am right on clear I get a claim on mileage 40 Gs a day. errr..40 bucks a day hehehehe) because, honestly, I absolutely know what my salary is.  That was never part of what I had to consider when I had joined IBM though.  Wait, did I even think?

I paused here to scratch my head. Yep I know your scratching too. I am confused and when I am confused, I need someone to be confused so both of us could probably be in the same confusion right now.

I set aside my calculator and did some more thinking … 200 greens is not a joke especially when you think about what other people earn.  A household helper easily earns about 0.5 to .6 Gs  a month (maybe even less) for a job that requires them to work at least 12-16 hours a day. (Proves that I am in total lost, I am comparing my job to a daily maid)….. Plus, I am sure, they set aside most of what they earn to send to their families in remote towns or municipalities.   When it gets there (or, I am sure, some family members visit them monthly to "collect"), will it be enough to put decent food on the table? I am thinking long-term here. I could probably get married next week so long term planning is crucial.

I have other practical (and self-serving) reasons: I can no longer drive because, given the condition of my lazyness now, that would be too risky (and painful), so hailing a cab would probably spew up more of my good greens.

Sighhhh. Tomorrow, I will be ready with my coins.  They are my "daily bread".

After taking this test, am glad I still have my sanity intact. 60% would have made me too lax (relaxed?) and 89% would seem to make it appear that I have no other life and need therapy fast!! It helps that am not online for the most part of the day.

Am also surprised to learn that blogging addiction does not only refer to bloggers but avid readers (or followers) of blogs. You can take the quiz too if you’re a fan!

Mingle2.com

The IBM Blades is now Up!

If your homes all tangled up with cables and wires, say goodbye to all those slithering pests and put way for an incredible "Blades" machine courtesy of IBM. Well, promoting the damn beast is the least I can do despite knowing my very own department was never aware of such events, let alone the term "Blades". Yeah, shameful nonetheless.

But anyway, The "Blades" Opening was incredible. Literally thousands of lost souls jam packed the entire arena, just to catch a glimpse of IBM’s next; CEOs, CTOs, low levels, high levels, labors, janitors……slaves, people from every aspect of fields. The food was…should I say it? bloody damn good. The lambs were roasted to perfection, adorned with gooey thick black pepper sauce and cuts of lavish onions that was just oh so perfect. The arena was simply mind-blowing, with a bowl of mints for each and everybody and a 500 ML bottle of water freshly from the French alps. It was good. It was darn good, and there was not even a penny cost. It was all on the house.

With thousands in the arena, we were like puny little ants, lost in the city but we could never say no when it comes to photography. hehehehhee.

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Those lights up there cost a grand deal of fortune. Not even the slaves with the kiddie bag, let alone combined, in this room, can afford to get one. 

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Welcome to the IBM Blades 2007. What a lovely opening sequence.

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IBMers enjoying a hint of red wine before kicking off the next session of Blades!

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The biggest cable ever. Kudos to these 2 fine people. Aidil and Mathuran. Credit to IBM for having this 2 employed.

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Our Cables finally got the recognition it deserved. It was the main event of the day.

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Hail to The Powers That Be.

While Gordon Brown enjoys his new premiership, I was enjoying my very own premiership of bossing these new scoundrels at work, there’s always time where I can be as sweet as milk and honey. and times where I can be like a damsel in distress. Since the night has been quite a drag, so I guess I’ll end this short with a couple of them shots that I took while I was in power that lasted for like…10 minutes?  hehehehehe.

These duo shenanigans tried to escape from their skulduggery but to no avail. Under my 10 minute leadership, everything needs to be done in perfection.

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The big boss checks into these orderlies. Somehow still not satisfying. To hell with this scoundrels.

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When the boss reads paper, nobody is allowed to be within his premises. This is the only time the big boss takes a good breather before he commences work. So Shush People!

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How sweet can Mr Boss be. A typical boss usually has a sense of high profiling but under Aidil’s 10 minute leadership, I show to my underlings that a boss can have a timeout with their slaves hahahahahaha.

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Smiling with my underlings is part of my virtues. Every leader should leave his mark therefore before I end my term as "the Boss", I make sure everybody knows that the Aidil 10 minute era is all about being smiley. =)

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POW : IBM Geeks

Sometimes the weirdest things that we do tend to be the most amusing ones.

I wouldn’t even have the slightest inkling of where in heavens would I get such an idea of snapping photos of the way people eat. In general, if you were to scour across the Net, there are tons of photos of people’s expression prior to eating but seemingly rare with the ones on meal. With my bristly little T9 Sony cam as my everyday companion, I’ve been secretly known to snap photos of people when they were at least aware of. I opine that it felt like a tickle in the spine.

Exhibit 1 : Signs of calmness beads across his face with
eyes remain complete focus on his food. I see some few minor regrets here and there, probably the food wasn’t that all tasty, yet he can still whip the heck out of them right into his gap. Excellent pose of showmanship.

Exhibit 2 : Clinging to his life downing his food like a guy who’d gone completely insane out of hunger, this dude shows he could whack anything that’s on a silver platter. But he fails to hide his expression. The only thing I am inspired of this picture is regurgitation. Bless Me God.

Exhibit 3 : This hungry bear probably faced the Vikings, so maybe he’s whipped up a little Nordic stew on the way in. He’s already enjoyed some wild culinary delights like grilled Lion, Barbecued Buffalo and now 2 humongous Chicken Burgers. A complete whacko. He looks like someone that came up from a computer that warps and distorts like a carny mirror. Look at that nose…Probably he was teased mercilessly about having a big nose.

Damn! Now that shot makes me look like I have a big schnozz! =)

POW : The Future

Mish mash of notes of formulas, and mathematical nonsense are scattered across the room, bath towels and filthy laundries lay clumsily on the bed that never received the treatment it deserved. Stack of CDs and DVDs were arranged verociously in between a bucket of pretzels which never belonged there. Countless number of papers dealing with hocus pocus figures are just nothing but additives to the whole collection of heap. And right in the center of the room like a spider at the center of its web waiting, sitting rather awkwardly on a 3 legged steel chair, the man of the room stares attentively at his 15 inch flat panel monitor, mind gleaming brashly over the topic to croon forth.

Somehow behind that brashful gleam, an element of uneasiness lay dominant, pounding every seconds of it like a death clock ticking, shutting off any activity to the mind except those death numbers that never seemed to die.

A glass of freshly squeezed orange juice serve nothing but to abet any blockade to the mind remain powerless to this commanding force. Even the cold night air sweeping into this claustrophobic room is defenseless from this annihilator.

The mind is in a total shutdown.

The man takes in a breather, yet to no avail. Perspiration beads across his forehead, the cold night air feels warm like an invisible wall, with thick incense that could make him gag. The whole sensation feels so inviting as a headache. This vomiturition of uneasiness has blatantly pushed the envelope of vociferant into a voracious vexation.

A Heartfelt thanks to IBM for making the mind go all numbers.

Exhibit 1 : The man of the room stares at his computer screen with a mind full with numbers.

POW : An Early Reunion

The sound of the keypads clickety-clicking were the only sounds I could hear as I work myself through the horrendous amounts of numbers and notes that seemed, by day, like a strain in the eye and a headache that just kept on flickering and flashing to a machine gun beat. On top of all that, the sounds of my pot bellowing like a steam boiling out from a kettle were just additives to the whole enduring uneasiness. The only solace was the 2 hour lunch break which by then the entire abomination of fatigue and hunger were burning high inside of me. But somewhere a little along the way, a little voice inside my head kept my spirit high since a) this is IBM b) IBMers literally live with workloads, hey you land a good firm, you land a good pay but definitely it won’t be as easy as what the tooth-fairy says. (No arguments there)

One of the best things about being part of IBM is that "One Utama" is just a walk away, so basically everyday its lunch. And knowing "One Utama" is literally a food-haven so the choices are limitless and making a decision on the whereabouts isn’t anything like a walk in the park. Sometimes we’d be pondering for at least 30 minutes just to get our heads parallel on a place for some good eating. So just to cut off the hustles and bustles, we would try on a different eatery everyday and you know what, it’s a good adventure to say the least so I am going to list down the top 3 and to speel on the worst 3 in no alphabetical order.

Top 3

1) Johnny’s - You want some good thai eatery, this is it. Excellent Tom Yam, Outstanding Roast Beef and definitely eye popping price. You could get the whole set with Thai Tea, Rice, Tom Yam and another side order dish with dessert in the end for a price no more than RM 8. I call this the kitchen of wisdom.

2) Robert Harris Cafe - Evokes the lamb like no other. I am quite a sucker for lamb so I’d highly recommend this grilled lamb served with samplings of Mozzarella cheese, sparks of fresh ginger, cuts of greens and a glass of freshly squeezed orange to boot. I’d say even if you don’t live around the corner, you’ll want to keep coming back. Though price is actually a wee bit pricey but definitely on the hit
list.

3) Sushi Groove - You’ve got to love restaurants that give equal dedication to ambiance and food. The place is gorgeous, the chicks…well there were none, but the food no less, excellent. Celebrating its first week opening, its definitely off a good start with the grilled to perfection lamb rice that just make you salivate, and japanese curry covered with cucumber salads and bits of scallions with a wasabi-scorched palate.

My Best Pick : Sushi Groove - It makes you jiggy with the groove.

Worst 3

1) My News Cafe - Urgh! Talk about food that’ll make you weep. This is it. Not just it eats up your cash but it takes away your appetite. The fried rice and chilly dogs were of abysmal taste, cheap in quantity and at most forgettable. One total train wreck.  A word of caution, they don’t serve fresh eatables. They just microwave them. Avoid this at all cause. You might live long.

2) Peranakan - If your not in it for the waitress, then avoid this heap. It makes food courts look like they were critically acclaimed. The hunk-a-junk they call it Jawa Fried Rice is devoid of taste that goes nowhere at a breakneck pace. Or perhaps they ought to call it Peranakan Fried Rice since it’s the only one that literally tastes like leftovers that even the tiniest creatures on the planet wouldn’t even dwell upon. Sons of ……..

3) Organic Farm - Can someone tell me what in the hell could have driven me to order that shamefully organic soya noodle that seemed to put a bruise on my tongue for the entire 1 hr ordeal. By illustrate, it looks so good. By taste, it felt like I was eating rubber. Probably all of the effort went into the well-done visuals and less than a cent went into the cook. Not worth a penny spent. Though there’s certainly an appreciation of organic foods but not in mainstream culture, especially with younger generations. So why not we give some space to the nonagenarians.

My Worst Pick : My News Cafe - Urgh! A Stinker, An Irredeemable Mess.

Look at that Robert Harris’ meal. Ahh that juicy lamb steak.

"We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same." Anne Frank.

The Pulitzer award winning 1959 motion picture "The Diary of Anne Frank" was one of the most held film that year earning 3 Oscars and countless appraisals from critics and audiences alike. Though I had never seen the film before but having heard how wonderfully written Anne Frank’s diary was, I wasn’t surprise at how much buzz it was getting at that time and is still is.

After 60 years her diary was turned into a novel, it was mutating again. Today, like a jumbo jet crash-landing in a suburban park, a petition came down from the sky disgorging handfuls signatures aiming for Steven Spielberg to direct a potential remake.

If your one of those who’d wish to see Anne Frank’s moving story back on the big screen one last time and to see her story lived on to our generation, please don’t hesitate to sign in your signature at this petition made by AnneFrank2009 Official web.

It only takes a moment to add your name.

One vote can make a difference.

Anne Frank 2009