Shashinki.com - Malaysia's Online Camera Shop!

ShaShinKi.com - Malaysia's Online Camera Shop!

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Automotive

The Volvo C70 at the Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show (KLIMS) '06. Submission to the PhotoFriday Challenge.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Day 2: Prize-Giving Ceremony

I had set my phone alarm to 7am, but the voice and knock of my uncle on my cousin's door next to the room I slept in woke me up around 6:45am. I lazed in bed until the alarm was set off. The plan was for me to accompany my cousin to work, but I had to leave early because he had a meeting with a client around 9:30am. I was dressed by 8:30am.

I waited. My aunt stepped down from the stairs just before 9am. Offered to make me breakfast, and I accepted a cup of Milo. Not much of a breakfast person. Still no sign of my cousin by 9.10am. My aunt knocks on his door to wake him up. Cousin appears at 9:25am. He said the client called him and he rescheduled the meeting to 10am. He dropped me off at MidValley.

Let's see...where did I go first? When I got my bearings, I went right up to Pets Wonderland. I looked at the baby ferrets (imported from Holland) playing. I noted their big pile of poo in the corner of the cage (when they pick a corner, they REALLY pick a corner and stick to it). I saw the many Russian dwarf (little people?) hamsters squished beyond recognition (still alive, bless their little flexible bodies) in the gaps between enclosure and door. Sure, they look cute, but I couldn't get a hamster knowing that its ticker was set to stop after two years.

I went to the other side of the entrance, where the lizards were. There was a huge iguana, basking under the heat of the light. It was shedding its skin. And I noted how iguana poo looked. I can't recall now, though. Then, when the staff had opened the store, I went up to see the guinea pigs. The dogs were not in their cages at the time. I love looking at guinea pigs, admiring their various colours (white, red, black) and appearance. I saw hedgehogs too...and then I came to the Giant White Mice cage. In the corner closest to the front of the glass partition, I saw two pink, hairless baby mice suckling close to their mother. Then, as my eyes wandered deeper into the glass enclosure, I noticed a mouse's head. It was attached to a dried up body. Hairless. Don't think it was cannibalism, as the body was intact. No signs of blood around the body. I informed a female staff member and she went, "Oh!" and then disappeared. I didn't see her again and I wasn't going to wait. I only had about 30 mins remaining.

Next stop was Why Pay More? to check out on the shoes. The Reeboks in the style that I had bought in the past were all gone. More size selections this time though. But I wasn't planning on buying a pair of shoes, so I didn't.

I went to IT World to check on the Mouse prices (what I needed) and saw a Logitech mouse with cool tiger stripes. But I didn't get it because I knew I was headed for Ampang Point and wanted to compare prices first.

Then it was down to Watson's. Spotted a promotion where the St. Ives
® Medicated Apricot Scrub came along with a free St. Ives® Apricot Radiance™ Blemish-Fighting Cream Cleanser and it only cost RM18.90. The promoter was saying that the promotion had ended, but they were getting rid of their stock. I asked if there would be any in my town, and she said that she couldn't be sure. But the fact was, they wouldn't be offering this once stocks were sold out. I just had to get it. I've been using it for exactly two weeks now (wow, how quickly time flies!) and the effects have been good. I look better (no more dull skin) and my skin doesn't get dry nor oily. Just after paying for my purchase, my cousin calls and says that he'll be there in 5 mins. I hurry off to the entrance where he had dropped me off earlier.

*updated*

He was already parked out in the front and I didn't see him until a minute later (when he came out of the car). Took quite awhile to get to Ampang Point from there. It definitely was a long way away and I was glad that my cousin worked at Ampang Point (what were the chances it would be there?) and I didn't have to inconvenience anyone to get there.

My cousin parked his car in the underground parking and arranged for his car to be washed. By the time we were out of there, we decided to have an early lunch, as it was already past noon. I had a plate of Chicken Rice and I think that cost RM4.20 (no soup for that price!). They even charged RM0.30 for iced water! My cousin picked up the tab, eventhough I had wanted to pay for my lunch. Bless him.

I walked back with him to the shopping centre and loitered around, looking at pointing devices (mouses/mice). There weren't many computer stores there. Only two, if I recall correctly. I loitered some more, and then it was 2:20pm. I went off to the restroom to brush my teeth and look presentable. They only had two sinks there and I don't know what the other woman must have been thinking (toothbrush? toothpaste? homeless?). When I was done, I decided to walk to Habib Jewels at 2:30pm. I went through the side entrance and there were the usual glass displays and attentive sales personnel. I smiled at someone and mentioned that I was there for the prize presentation. She went off to ask someone else and that person told me that I could take the lift to the third floor. I did that and there was nobody there. Just chairs and the backdrop (just like the photo at the bottom - minus the people). I found an open door and walked through that. And saw a cleaning woman scrubbing a little fountain-pool thingy. Made small talk and then somebody approached me and said that they weren't ready and that the floor needed sweeping. Errr, okay. So off I went down to the ground floor and sat on a chair in the lobby area.

The security guard was yakking away with the receptionist. And the seconds ticked by slowly. Around 2:50pm, an elderly Indian woman, two women and two little boys came into the lobby. I wasnt planning on being perky, friendly, so I just looked out of the glass windows. And boy was I glad. I saw a smart fortwo driving past. The first time I saw it on the road. The elderly Indian woman asks me if I was there for the prize-giving ceremony and I replied in the affirmative. I said that I was a consolation prize winner and she replied that she was the first prize winner. I think I congratulated her.

Then a Chinese couple enters and the woman sits on the chair near me. I divulged that I was from KT and they were surprised that I would travel all the way just to accept the prize. I talked with the Chinese couple and the man replied that he was representing his brother (Teoh), who was in KT too. The brother had won the second prize. He asked me if I knew his brother, and I didn't recognize the name. And then..."You mean the man who always wins contests?" I asked. It was him indeed. The reason he didn't attend the ceremony was that he had just returned from Liverpool - the grand prize of a football-themed contest, and he wasn't up to travelling to KL. Had I known him, perhaps I could have been his representative too. And then absconded with the RM5,000 earring and pendant set. Naah, I'm just kidding. My conscience doesn't allow me to do that. Besides, they had photos of me at the ceremony, and all my details from the contest. I'd be a fool.



The boys were very boisterous. One had a Finding Nemo backpack, the other didn't. Together, they made a ruckus. Even during the event, one of them dropped their toy car loudly onto the wooden floor.



Before the event started, this was the scene. The photographer is the one on the far left, then the reporter and two Habib Jewels staff. My prize was in one of the smaller paperbags.

An Indian man (Kumar) arrived just before the event was to commence and he was the other consolation prize winner. There were supposed to be three consolation prize winners, but the doctor couldn't make it. The third prize winner was caught in traffic and only arrived while we were having refreshments.

Anyway, there was a little speech by the manager, and the PR woman. And then the winners went out to the front to receive their prizes. We had to read our winning slogans, and then we all posed for photographs. We were instructed to admire the first prize winner's bracelet, and to talk amongst ourselves. I think I remember saying, "Ooh, what a nice bracelet" twice. How idiotic.

We had refreshments and sat around tables that seated four. I sat with Kumar and the Teohs. We were talking about contests and it seemed that we were regular compers. Kumar said that he had won a prize a year or two earlier. And Mr Teoh said that his brother owned a club and had the opportunity to collect bottle caps for entries. He also knocked on his neighbours' doors to ask for entry forms in their copies of the newspaper. In fact, he was the only one who submitted EIGHT entries while the rest of us submitted only one each.

Just before leaving, I had mentioned that I was staying with my relatives in Puchong Jaya, and Mr Teoh said that they lived in the same area! I could get a lift back with them, they offered. Well, I tried to text my cousin, but there was no response, and I had to decline their offer. Small world indeed! I walked back to my cousin's shop and it was pretty busy.



My cousin's shop during a lull in business. He was busy preparing details of the Maxis roadshow. We finally got back around 6pm, I think. The night before, the plan was to catch a movie, 'The da Vinci Code', so after dinner, we went off to the IOI Mall. I watched the movie, but my relatives dozed off during several scenes. I felt bad about that, even more so when my uncle hadn't freshened up after arriving back from work.

*to be updated later*

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Two-petalled Crown of Thorns flower chosen

I hadn't checked my site stats in awhile and so when I noticed how many hits I had this week, I had to widen my eyes. A third photo was chosen at Interfacelift.com (June 6th). Nice to know that they do look through past submissions.

The reason I'm dragging my feet to update is because I have a lot to write about and the days are just too hot and humid. And if there's rain, there'll be thunder too (and I have to shutdown). I learnt yesterday, at the Frappr Sidekick Members chat page, that certain ISPs in the US replace fried modems (due to thunderstorms) free of charge! No fair.

I'll try to update later today. While I can still remember some details. Note to self: mention dead giant white mouse at Pets Wonderland.

Take care, all! By the way, I can't seem to chose font styles or see any of the usual functions on Blogger using Opera. Hmmm...

Monday, June 05, 2006

The Bus trip to KL

My bus ticket stated 11am, Tuesday morning. As usual, Dad drove me there by 10.20am. Before I could walk to the counter, Dad suggested I ask the bus driver. I handed him the ticket and he said it was the right bus. I was on seat 7C, and there was a girl sitting by the window on 7D. The bus was old and had tattered headrests. There were many empty seats, which were to be filled by passengers from the other towns along the route.

As the bus started on its journey, I started talking to the girl sitting next to me. She was on her way to KL for her uni project. She was studying in UM to be a town planner. Shazliana (I think that was her name) told me I could call her by her nickname, 'Baby' -- err, I don't think so. That wasn't the worst part. The worst part was hearing her say that she needed to talk to people on the bus or she would get motion sickness. I couldn't tell her that just by looking at her to speak, made me feel nauseous. So I tried looking out the window while speaking to her. It helped a little, but I prefer pretending to sleep.

Further along our conversation, I found out that I was on the 10:35am bus - I suppose they did that "Let's mock the time on the tickets" routine again. You'd think that would have made me arrive earlier to my destination. Alas! That was not to be. At the first rest stop (as usual, had sandwiches from home - I never buy any food from these stops), the bus took around 15 passengers from another Transnasional bus that had broken down nearby. I overheard the bus driver saying that he would drop them at the Kuantan bus terminal. Kuantan was out of the way and Shazliana started to fret that it would waste a lot of time. Kuantan was out of the way and was not part of the route. The bus arrived in Kuantan around 2pm. The stranded passengers had disembarked from the bus and were taking their things from the luggage compartment. Twenty minutes later, some of these passengers got on the bus again, bound for Kuala Lumpur! Why couldn't the few stranded passengers who were not headed for Kuala Lumpur be left at the rest stop for the next bus, while our bus continued our journey? Why couldn't Transnasional send in a replacement bus for the stranded passengers? Grrr!!

We made it to Kuala Lumpur in one piece by 6:40pm. My uncle was already waiting for me at the bus terminal, and I suggested that I buy my bus ticket back then and there after asking him when would be the most convenient time for him to send me to the terminal. He did want to think about it first, but I told him that it would be more convenient to buy it while I was at the terminal. We went to the counter and enquired about the tickets available for the 1st (as suggested by my father, a quick trip without hassling anyone for too long). The woman at the counter rattled off some times, starting with 9am. My uncle happily told her I would get on the 9am bus.

*** To Be Continued In Next Another Post ***

Was awakened at 8:30am

...by my mother who brought the newspaper in to show me the picture and accompanying article about the Habib Jewels contest results.

You may access the article here. Please be warned that I don't look that great in the photo, but I do look better than some people in there. *evil grin* I DO have a fringe, it's just not apparent in the pic. And I WAS wearing some make-up.

Sorry for the delay in updating. Was hounded by nephews all day, being pestered to let them use my laptop to play games.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

I'm back...

after an arduous nine-hour bus journey from KL. Apparently, the public holiday (the Agong's birthday) is the cue for everybody to drive to the hills and jam up the highways. One extra hour for my butt to go numb.

I don't think I'll condense the six days' worth of 'happenings' in one post. I'll start at the beginning (if I can remember the details). When I have been well-rested enough to post, without being pestered by nephews who want to use my laptop as an expensive tool to play online games. They already have their Gameboy Advance and Cartoon Network/Disney Channel/Nickelodeon to keep them company.

It's off to bed for me. Will update later. With photos. Oh, must transfer them first.