High

I was up in the sky last Monday, on my way to Duty Free Labuan, feeling high. I mean, what better way to see the clouds than to glide in them. Ok, I admit, to glide in heavy clouds just freaks the blood out of me; the cabin rattles like a bus on fist-sized-gravel village roads. But the flight that day was relatively smooth. So I was enjoying the cloud scene, feeling high even before any duty free booze got a hold of me.

Looks like it's raining on parts of the peninsula. I guess it's somewhere over the mountains of Pahang.




See the face, leave it alone...

This scene blue me away

Tips of the ice clouds
Cloud 9?

Ever wonder why it's so cloudy outside?

Because there's no smoking inside.

Ok, that's lame. I better sign off here.

Oh, I'm now in Miri by the way. Celebrating Gawai. Another damn good reason to get high.

How low...

Have you seen how low the planes go at St. Maarten in the Caribbean?

This low!

They don't call it the friendly Caribbean for nothing. You can almost caress the giant's belly.

I received a mail with a handful more photos like this. I Googled and found some more. How delightful. Click the picture to go to the source, Airliners.net. Oh, and Google up the videos as well. They're awesome!

P.A.R.T. Why? Coz I gotta!

Word on the street is that some friends are going to Zouk tonight and they’re wondering if I would join.

“Oh sure! Zouk be great! What time to meet?” I asked.

“Usually at eleven”

“Ok.”

Wait, isn’t today Wednesday? I don’t have the day off tomorrow! And it’s ladies night, I suppose. What’s in it for me?

“They’re bringing 3 lady friends” I was texted.

Owh alright. Just flow with it. It’s been a while since I let it loose(two weeks to be exact). One day with a hangover at work can’t be that bad. The last time I went through it was….hmmm I guess I was too wasted to remember…Or has it been only on weekends...
Maybe if we get there earlier, I could leave in time for bed. (I might as well bang my head on the wall in the morning)

Oh well, here goes…

Abort

What do you do when there’s suspiciously limited time given to prepare a tender proposal for a major job for a major player, assuming you know how they became and stay major. They normally give about two months for the preparation but this time, they decided to give less than three weeks.

Several other bidders have requested deadline extension which were not even considered. Some specification seem to point to one bidder when there are 23 bidding for the job. Fishy, i know.

You do your best to work closely with your principal with the little time you have only to find out that more time is needed for submission. You desperately request for extension even though you know it is impossible.

Just to make matters worse, you've found out that another prospect job proposed earlier was disrupted by the reintroduction of a disqualified bidder when it was down to the final two. Just when you think you're safe, there were three...again.

This was made possible with just a phone call from 'above'. Smells like 'world' you say? I know...

So finally, you do the smart thing, the only practical thing; back off. It’s a puppet show ladies and gentlemen. Unless you’re good friends with the puppet master and get to yank some of the strings.


And so it is, I can now look forward to a peaceful holiday, after the much expected abortion. Stress kills.

Wallet talk

What if your wallet could talk? What would it say to you? When you’re about to make that one purchase you couldn’t quite justify?


How would you react when something tells you to think about it for a second? Would you take a second to reflect? Take a second look.

Would it look like this?

Haha….

That’s my wallet’s mouth.

I knew I saw something in there last time I checked but never took a second look to check it out. I thought I must be seeing things.


Then yesterday it bugged me so much that I actually took out the piece of paper.

Well, what do you know, it really asked ‘Are you nuts?’ Question mark and all. What the….oh, it’s the name of a bun I bought at Bread Story. A soft bun with a mad dose of peanut butter in the middle. It literally oozes out of the opening on every bite. Looks like the story doesn’t end at the buns. It’s on the receipt as well.

What ever the case, it all ends well. Nothing to shout about. But why the long story?

I guess that’s what you get when you name your buns after your nuts.

Thursday at Laundry

Last Thursday I got to Laundry to watch CPMS's Brucie play for his band Stonebay. It was Moonshine night, a generous ooze of talent and creativity.

And the place is, let me tell you, warm and cozy. Check out the review by Shaolin Tiger.

The pillow

The corner view

The other corner view

Centerstage

Setting up Brucie

The ladies in red. Sorry Weggs, the yellow spotlight caught your face. Nuttin' I could do bout' it. But you guys look great!

See Stonebay play

See chick play

She gave an encore! This was for the open mic session and there were loads of good stuff going on. Many talents strut their worth. I was too delighted to grab more shots. Check them out at Laundry Bar's blog.

It was a great night.

Why I like?

While pondering some of the lomograph pictures at wondermilk shop, I asked Bert what he liked about a cactus picture with a blue sky background and some power lines in view. The camera seemed to point upward.

“I don’t know, it’s just nice.”

Uhuh, I think so too. Although, there are many things that I can point out and anyone can pretend to agree with me and we either end it at that or make up more crap than we could handle.

But I won’t go there. Sometimes it’s easy to just say you like something, without sweating out the reasoning and confusing your poor self. Correction, most of the time. Let me quote Paris Hilton, (or is it Nicole Ritchie? ), “that’s hot”.

The picture reminded me of a shot I have in my archive, taken in August last year, Independence day.

“I have somewhat a similar setting(well, just spikes at least), with Menara Dayabumi in the background, at night” I told Bert.

How is that similar? Beats me.

This is for you Bert.



Have a nice Tuesday everyone. Don't sweat it.

Cup cakes are sticky

I went to the cuppacakes show at superdzu’s wondermilk shop last Saturday. Lots of people turned up and the cup cakes sold like cuppacakes! They were sweeet!

This shop has multiple quirky stuff, new and antique, manufactured and handmade, all original. Drop by if you’re in the neighborhood. You’ll find something you like.

Here are some snapshots from the event. None showing the mingling masses though. But oh! What a night.

They may be small samples but they pack a sweet punch! The baby deer is just for show.

This little girl says it all. Yum!

And this little boy shows it all. Got milk? Drop dead adorable okay... I'm surprised he's still in one piece.

The lovely window decor of Wondermilk Shop.

That's all folks. And remember, whatever you do, do not stick!

I wonder what this neighbor shop owner meant...(Not! I know exactly what it means, 'stick no bill', but they sure have a funny way of saying it)

The sign

I have taken lunch at this restaurant several times, the food’s good. There is also a pastry stall here that sells good Portuguese Egg tarts and Ipoh Char Siew Pau, and they are Oh so fine. It's just a block away from my office. As I’ve always approached this place from the side, I've never seen the sign, until a few days ago.

The day I saw this was when I walked around the blocks after lunch at another place. It carved a lingering grin on my face. No friggin wonder!

Hah! Never saw that coming.

I dream of Gaggia

I am getting to terms with my Delonghi's shortcomings. It needs to be replaced soon. There are things she won't do for me. And several trips to my favorite gadget shop are making me itchy.

Got my eyes on this little baby. Quite the performer.
Any magic lamps or Leprechauns for lease?

Yabada Badu...

Phew, last week was crazy. I thought I got connected for good. It turns out there were still problems with the internet connection and on Saturday they called me (at home) to check the rectified connection once I entered office on Tuesday.

And so now it is good again.

But I'm not going to say anything is permanent yet, coz I felt like Robin's Elmo, bobbing around, telling everybody that I'm back when in fact I was barely in sight.

I've also been busy hanging around at relatives' houses for some gatherings and gained one kilo (yeah, get mellow) in the process.

"This is why I don't really want to come visit, I keep on stuffing myself with all kinds of food. They're all good and always there, here!" I told my aunts.

They take it as a compliment of course. Honestly, even before anything goes pass my esophAgus, my aunts would say "there's cheese cake in the fridge", "grab some of the fruits now", "here, have some jell'o", "coffee? desert?".......

Sigh...

Oh, by the way, have you seen Sergio Mendes' new video, That Heat, featuring will i am of B.E.P. and Erykah Badu? Like whoa, Miss Badu is HOT! in the video. Here, check it out. It takes a while to load though, so catch it on MTV or Channel V if you can.

I don't know about you, but this video makes me go Yabada Badu.....
Forget Beyonce, Jessica Who?

A walk in the city

These are a few shots taken around the Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur city center, taken weeks ago on a walk after lunch, before we shifted to Damansara Utama. They are still there but blink and you'll miss them. And that's not hard to do, considering the twin distractions.

Intricate works of branches.

The main branch in Malaysia.

A bulging bark.

The fern down under.

Oh! That's so ferny!

And I'm back in the game

One week.

That's the duration for me to get comfortably online at the office on a moving out week. Things have been so crazy here that there is barely time to get work done. The fax machine only kicked up on Wednesday and the internet was only connected by Friday evening. Between that we had boxing days, rearranging our own stuff and guess who was busy troubleshooting the networking problems?

I had to chase the internet service provider to expedite the service line transfer because I needed to constantly check my e-mail for urgent incoming mails. Starbucks is just a block away so I could walk in for wireless broadband and a double espresso shot, every single day of the week, sometimes twice in a day. But the constant calls for quick response from me meant that I can't rely on a cup of coffee to do my job.

And completing the network terminals took too much time since some smart 's' networking contractor decided to do the network cables half way, (based on you-know-who's orders), leaving me to complete the other end termination at the last minute. Even then some of the cables gave problems and after hours of head scratching it was found that the initial crimping intended for the network switch was not properly done by them. The whole chaos was over just by tightening the crimping on the CAT-5E cable plug!

So, now that the silence is broken, you can expect regular blogging from this side of the sphere, and no, there won't be any bitching about work or anything related.

I'm in my happy place again.

Of Easter and Goodbra

I was surfing the internet at Starbucks Saturday evening when one of my dance buddies called me.

“Hey Agus. How are you?” He asked.

“I’m good. And you?”

“Oh, I’m okay. Are you still staying at urm…?” he continued.

“Yah. Haha, it really has been that long huh. Too long that you forgot where I stayed. What about you? Still there?” I said.

“Yeah. I’m still there. Hey listen, what are you doing tonight? I was thinking of going to SFX. You wanna come?” he asked.

I paused for a moment, trying to recall what SFX stood for. Then I remembered, Saint Francis Xavier.

“Uhm, are we going to church?” I asked for confirmation, half grinning.

“Yah, Vernon told me he’s going there and said we could meet there for the midnight mass. It starts at 10.30 pm. So I’ll see you there? He said.

“Ok. But could you come to my place and we go together in one car? It’s on the way and since there will be limited parking space I think it’s wise to car pool.” I advised.

“Cool, I’ll be at your place by 9pm.”

After I gathered what SFX is I couldn’t keep a straight face. There I was on a Saturday evening chilling and my Saturday-Night-Fever friend calls me for church. And he sounded so casual. Or maybe it’s just me.

Hah! That’s how rotten I’ve become. This little sinner is so going to hey...(*edited for fear of lightling strikes). Only God’s grace can save me now.

Blessed Easter dear Agus.


On Easter Sunday I went to One Utama to catch Gubra with some bloggers organized by Wegra. We had a fun evening as we learned more about each other. I discovered Cik Pijah was at the same college in PPP Shah Alam. This world is getting smaller with Blogger. Delightful as it is, I hope I don’t get claustrophobic anytime soon.

Oh, and Gubra is good. Go watch it. Malaysians so need it.

I think I’ll call it Goodbra. On second thought, maybe not.

Moving out

Today is the last day for my office in Megan Avenue II, Jalan Yap Kwan Seng. Next week I'll be posting from Damansara Uptown. A busy week ahead, sorting out the boxes, unpacking and arranging our new workstations. And I thought packing was a hastle.

Egg Tart

If you're ever in Baker's Cottage Bakery, especially the one in Bangsar, get their traditional egg tart. Simply delicious. The best in Klang Valley. If you love egg tart that is. I have tried almost every bakery and this one in Bangsar sells out their tarts every single day. I often come in their outlet after work at around 7pm, only to find an empty tart tray. I asked them if they ever increased their quantity to cope with the demand and they told me they did but still it finishes every day, before 6.30 pm.

Soft creamy egg custard in a flaky pastry base.

But I guess I'm going to have a harder time catching them tarts, now that I've let the word out.

If you know of a better place please let me know because I'm on a mission (sort of) to find the best egg tart in town.

I know, I know, me and my food cravings.

Star Hill

Last Saturday rained so heavily it flooded parts of Klang Valey. It rained till late evening but it didn’t dampen our spirits for a bloggers’ meet. Chen, Fellow Traveller, Sbanboy and I went to Jalan Imbi for dinner. It was still drizzling persistently. We then went for a stroll at Bintang Walk and spent much of our waiting (for Sharon) time at Starhill Gallery. Boy that place is magical, almost. I need to revisit to get countless shots of many amazing angles. Dinner there could melt my wallet though.

When Sharon finally arrived we settled down at Starbucks for a drink and desert.

Here are random shots of the night. More photos can be found at the bloggers’ links.

Star Hill Galery

Creepy blue bark

Paper dog

Flower Power

For all my friends who love flowers, especially Robin, Happy, Panda and (insert name via comment box).

The last picture is large enough to be set as desktop background. Enjoy.

Oh, and can someone name this flower for me so I could at least look like I know what I'm doing.




I'm sure these stay fresh way over the weekend, not two minutes. Hah!

Have a great one everybody.

Triviagus

Strange things have been found about Agus, but none the more peculiar than these...

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Agus!

1. Humans have 46 chromosomes, peas have 14, and agus has 7.
2. Ninety-six percent of all candles sold are purchased by agus.
3. Only one person in two billion will live to be agus.
4. The average duration of sexual intercourse for agus is two minutes.
5. Agus was first discovered by Alexander the Great in India, and introduced to Europe on his return.
6. New Zealand was the first place to allow agus to vote!
7. The patron saint of agus is Saint Eugenie.
8. Agus is the last letter of the Greek alphabet.
9. Ideally, agus should be stored on his side at a temperature of 55 degrees!
10. Agus can be very poisonous if injected intravenously.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

Huh!

What the...

1. 7 chromosomes?!!! No wonder I've always felt different. I have 2 peas though.


2. Yeah, all the wax is for my booking at Madame Tussaud's wax museum.


3. Oh Yeah? Try living in Indonesia.


4. Two minutes? Baby, I can last longer than that. You believe me don't you?


5. Sure, I was gathering spice in India when Alex bumped into me.


6. And yet, I'm not registered in Malaysia.


7. I don't suppose Eugene is a lady, is she?


8. Strange, I always thought I was the alpha male.


9. Hey, I do sleep on my side sometimes. 55 Degrees means I'm hot!


10. You'd be dead if I crept into your system.

The Quest

With motivation comes the need to know. I started browsing the internet and learned about fat tissues and how they work, gathered substantial information on how a diet works and how increased metabolism and physical activities help. I got the big picture but it was not sufficient for me to launch an effective assault. Information was scattered and I was taking too much time browsing the internet, selecting useful facts amongst trash.

One thing’s for sure, ‘crash diet never works’.

But I couldn’t help but wonder about weight management products sold in pharmacies; how they are claimed to be effective and how much would it cost to obtain the desired results. I thought I owe it to myself to check it out and maybe save a lot of time by getting a head start through one of them. As I entered different franchises I discovered many products with different applications. The price varies and some are very expensive. There is no guarantee that they are safe and effective. As for the cheap ones, I wouldn’t bet my health on it. Furthermore, many have lost their lives or become vegetables after undergoing different types of seemingly harmless drugs and procedures.

Because I was scared of the reported cases and didn’t want to spend a fortune on products I was not sure would work, I decided to go old school, and I ended up buying multi vitamin pills and fish oil instead. I figured that since I will be reducing the amount of food intake, I can’t be sure of the nutrients I’ll be lacking. I needed all the vitamins and minerals I could get in a pop. Meanwhile, fish oil would help provide a balanced HDL level in my system.

No diet pills, no surgery and no slimming boutiques, just the good old fashioned way of reducing intake and burning calories. But where could I start? – At the bookstore of course. Oh, but it wasn’t as easy as that.

I felt like Alice spanked all the way to wonderland! There were too many books to choose from. There’s Atkins, Body for life, South Beach and a whole lot more. The choices were dizzying and the longer I stood there searching, the more uncomfortable it became.

There I was, a ‘big boy’ in the ‘Diet’ section, looking for the one book that just might change my life. I could almost hear the snide remarks.
“Hey plus size! Are you lost or something? ”
“Oy, you can’t eat those. The bakery’s that way!”
“Are you sure you’re not stuck in that narrow isle?”

Of course they were words coming from my own mean and nasty side. I was insecure like that. But I figured if I wanted to make it work I should mask them off and choose wisely. Furthermore, it was getting late, the store was near closing and I was not about to leave without a guide in hand. I got anxious and felt hopeless. All the books have different ways of presenting their facts and most were very thick. How was I supposed to start the program the soonest when I’d be busy reading and possibly munching snacks to fuel my concentration? How messed up would that be?

I looked harder, sifting through the racks and returning to some spots for the tenth time. Finally a book caught my attention. It was entitled ‘The No Beach, No Zone, No Nonsense Weight Loss Plan’. I must add ‘No Clever Title’ as well. Or was it the cleverness that caught my attention.

It felt nice in my hands instantly and weighs a mere 120 grams, a lightweight plan for a heavy man. No larger that your ordinary organizer, it claims to be ‘A Pocket Guide to What Works’ and that’s no gimmick. It took me about three days to digest everything, what with work and all. But when I finally put it down I was ready to begin and knew where to start.

Here’s my take on the chapters.

Chapter 1 explains the nature of body fat, how it relates to your health and the indicators that can be used to evaluate your health. - A good set of information.

Chapter 2 explores various reasons that make a solid motivation, the name of the game. - - I got this one all right.

Chapter 3 presents a variety of weight loss strategies and the researches that proved what they really end up being in the end. Research shows that the factor is total daily calorie intake, and exercise helps.

Chapter 4 explores deeper facts about calories and how to calculate your baseline calorie needs. It describes how counting calories takes away the guessing game and facilitates the diet strategy.

Chapter 5 presents ways you can perform daily activities and routines as effective exercises. Your world is your gym. It made me dance, literally.

Chapter 6 explains what people who successfully manage their weight have in common. It’s about keeping the weight off for a long term, long after the plan worked. Habits die hard.

Chapter 7 suggests how to get on target and stay there - the pep talk, final words of encouragement and advice.

That’s it. All seven chapters got me going for my next move.

After reading the book it became clear to me that the two things I had to focus on are my calorie intake and energy consumption. In order to burn the existing stored energy in the form of fat, the energy I use up each day has to be more than my daily calorie intake.

Now that I knew, it was time to put it to work.

Always the second, never the fool.

That's what happens every April.

I chilled out with some friends yesterday evening. Told them there's a gathering at 1 Utama among old high school friends. Ordered our drinks at starbucks for afternoon tea (no one had tea actually, although one had hot vanilla milk). After that I let slip my birth date.

"But I guess you guys ordered and paid already, aw shucks" I joked.

One friend had to go back early cos her 1 year old had her way while I was out fetching another, who was born exactly the same day and year. We're practically twins, since the seventh grade till the day we left high school. This is our first anniversary together.

We had dinner at 6.30, at Johnny's Steamboat (I regret the absence of pictures here) and roamed the mall.

We met up with a friend who happened to be there for his company's family day. The bowling alley. We didn't bowl but had a few games of pool eventhough I suck at it. I also tried foosball for the first time and loved it! Man that game is exhilirating!

As promised, we had cakes at Secret Recipe (this outlet serves great cheese cakes), a total of nine varieties. A slice for almost every type available but it was too much for six. Armed with our own forks we butchered every slice at random for what they're worth. Like a pack of coyotes we sampled every slice - like speed tasting. We left crumbs that could make another slice.

The birthday couple. Contessa and Agustus.

It's been a long while since I celebrated my birthday. Most of the time I forget the date and end up wishing myself a belated birthday.

Once during highschool, a friend shouted 'Oy Agus! Happy birthday' across another dorm block and I said 'Oh yeah...It's my birthday. Huh, what do you know' and continued what I was doing earlier, with a lingering smile.

It's April again

And they're playing tricks again. I'm the second fool. Tomorrow is my birthday and that means I'm one year from thirty. Middle earth, here I come.

Funny Birthday Song

Happy Birthday, Adam Sandler

I had a pleasant time with Seremban Boy last night. Before you get any ideas, click his link and see the pictures. A very cheerful and bubbly guy he is. Energetic no matter how tired his mood may be, judging from his recent blog entries. We met up because he told me he needed my help to lose weight but guess what, we ended up eating more than we should have.

"It's not everyday I have meals like this, with a companion" he said.

And I was more than happy to share the calories. Fat Man Steaboat served as a great ice breaker too. Although we got very cozy over the first meal already, fried kueh teow Hong Kong style, I think.

Hmm, I should lay out my diet program sooner than I thought.