Mat Rempit

According to Wikipedia, mat rempit is a Malaysian term for 'an individual who participates in illegal street racing'. They're the one who perform those stupid and dangerous stunts with their beloved motorbikes and the source of the 'vroom vroom' noises. Usually, they often come in abundances, conquering the side roads, vroom-ing, while waiting for the right moment to just blast off on the street late at night.

Yesterday night, or more accurately, this morning, somewhere around 2 am, after our yum cha session, me and my friends were heading back to our hostels, planning to have some good night sleep. As we were heading to the RST gate at Gambir Road, the unmistakeably 'vroom vroom' sound and the huge cluster of human beings gathered at the junction signified the beginning of their night activities. We tried to cross the junction but there's a gang blocking the junction. The presence of the traffic light at the junction served no purposes as even it's green on our sides, there's still those idiotic mat rempit vroom-ing past us. In the end, we decided to U-turn back and went to crash at our friend's house around the area.

All of us were wondering the same question: Where's the heck are the police forces? We paid our taxes to the government which in turn become their salaries, so, technically, we paid their salaries. OK, so it's our parents who paid their salaries but...you get what I mean. It's ain't the first time they have such illegal racing along that road. Many times had we seen such activities, especially Saturday's nights.

Another thing I don't understand is, how can the mat rempits can be so irresponsible? They risked their lives for what, a second of thrill? Do they ever think about their families who were most probably worried sick for their safety???

While searching through Wikipedia, I came across this:

Kelantan to build track for Mat Rempit

Kosmo! reported that Mat Rempit in the state of Kelantan will be allowed to show off their skills at a special track to be built by the state government soon. The government of Kelantan Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat said the track in Tanah Merah was not a waste of money. “ They (Mat Rempit) always make their mothers and wives worry. With the track they will have a proper place to express their feelings and show their bravery and heroics ”

How accurate that piece of article, I have no idea but the notions of building a circuit for this purposes is like telling them, "Hey, mat rempit, keep up with your good works and to reward you, here's your own circuit. You can now die in this track specially built for you."

Malaysia is going downhill, I have a feeling. Maybe it's time to migrate...

p/s Don't bother trying to call the polices. They just hang up your calls. This comes from experience.

Sushi, Karaoke, Movie.

Today was the last day for the Sushi King RM 2 Bonanza so me and my friends headed to Gurney Plaza for some delicious meal of sushis. It's a promotion exclusive for Sushi King members and since none of us were members, we have to borrow from someone. We really went all out, grabbing almost every plate of sushi that are on promotion. We ended up consuming about RM 72 with just the three of us. OK la, not really that much of a big deal.

After sushis, we waited for the arrival of a friend of ours before we went to karaoke session. Without him, karaoke is not the same since he's the audio for us. Rather short session compared to the previous times (just 2 and 1/2 hours only) so, utiliti belum capai optimum (not enough). After that, we went to have dinner at Gurney Drive before we went back in for the movie Pandorum.

Speaking of Pandorum, it was a rather interesting movie for me. It tells the story of a man just woke up from a hyper-sleep to find the spaceship he's in was stranded and vacant of people and without any single memory. Slowly, his memories began to come back and to get the ship's reactor started, he needed to get to the main part of the ship. While heading towards the reactor, he discovered he's not really alone...

OK, it's suck when I tried to summarize it but really, it's worth the time to watch it. The only thing I wished they had done better is the editing. Yea, and also to Malaysia's stupid censorboard, stop chopping movies!

After that, we went to Hard Rock Hotel again since it's just another 15-20 minutes drive from Gurney Plaza. We went to Hard Rock Cafe. The atmosphere was so energetic and I was so tempted to order myself some alcoholic drinks but better restraint myself. Then, we explored the hotel again (out of the four, only two of us been to the hotel...) and cam-whored here and there. When tired, we headed back hostel.

It'll be the last time for such fun night with the impending finals, financial constraint, and the upcoming long holidays. I guess it's a grand blast for a farewell. Haha.

Handphone-less

I was given a link to a post written by someone quite important in USM (who, I don't know wo...). Here's the extract of the post:

Kampus Sejahtera gets roped in for many things, many of which I have no resource to follow up - so, I say no.

This one, I think I can't squirm my way out. My wife told me yesterday that I used only about RM4-RM5 worth of calls on my mobile but pay RM30 per month for the service. "Happily" my children now get to enjoy my unused credits because "we are family". Should we be happy? Probably not, since it means my children will be getting more radiation from the handphones. Well, actually, they are not using more but we will be paying less because of the package. But that's not the point of this post. The point is : do you know enough about the hazards of handphone usage? And what should you or can you do about it?

Now, think, can you imagine not being about to get a good reception for your handphone while on campus. I can remember the good old days when these strange people will be walking aimlessly around the room, pointing their "remote-control" (handphone lah) in various directions trying to catch the signal. "Try near the window", someone will helpfully advise. Well, those days could be back soon on campus.

I can tell you that the decision has been made to eventually phase out the telco towers on campus. Is the decision final? Can you still influence and reverse that decision? Do you know enough to support or oppose the decision?

I have asked a few students, and almost all say its a stupid idea (to shutdown the telco towers). My three children (and I think wife) share similar sentiments. Others however think that if there are viable alternatives, like superfast WIFI and landlines, they can live without the handphones.

So, what's the problem with the handphones? Radiation coming directly from your handset when you are talking on the phone - right into your brain. Any proof? Well, I have asked my son to do some detective work (he's studying to be a telco engineer; maybe). Also, there's talk about lowering sperm count. If you have some concrete proof, send them to me.

The idea of getting rid of telco towers in campus is super stupid. Imagine bot being able to call and talk with your families and loved ones while inside the campus or can't received their calls when there's something bad happened in the family. Or there's an accident inside campus but you can't call 999. Troublesome thing it'll be when there's no phone connection.

The thing about upgrading the WiFi service is pure bullshit. There's a limitation in our connection. No matter how great you upgrade the WiFi, there's still the chances of not able to access it. And WiFi is not phone as not everyone owns a laptop and not everyone knows how to use Internet. My parents surely don't know how.

There's a risk in everything we do. There's the possibilities of getting in an accident when you're in a car. Does that means you're not driving? Eating might leads to food poisoning, so, you're not eating?

I don't know. Maybe I'm too used of having handphone on my pocket, ready for action when needed to. However rare I used it, I still have it by my side. I guess it's the 21th century effect. What do you think?

Just Some Update

Being a Maths student here in USM is freaking free. Flexible time, lousy lecturers (only few are exceptional) where you can just simply skip their classes and tutorials that even if you don't do it doesn't matter. Honestly, compare to all the Sciences Schools (Faculties), Maths are the most free. There's no reports to hand in or tedious lab works to complete and all. So, all in all, I feel blissful. Hehe...OK, I just speak for myself only. There are some Maths students who are really busy with their works and studies, just not me.

Anyway, last night, me and my friends went out to have supper and also celebrated his birthday before it's officially over in an hour or so (we did celebrated his birthday, albeit 2 days earlier...). Then, we started to plan our vacations during the semester break, where are we going and all. So, for sure, this coming break, I'm going south of Peninsula Malaysia, with the first stop being Johor and heading up back Melaka, Seremban and KL. There's many more places I wanna go but I don't want to jinx it by spilling it out. 'Till I secured my ride ticket, I'm keeping mum about it. One thing for sure, I'm excited (too excited to even study right now XD).

Then, we went to a nearby seaside to relax and enjoys a bottle or two of Heinekens. Feeling the breeze of sea air with friends are so much enjoyable. Stopped by at mamak stall for some drinks first before heading back hostels for rest. Thanks to the birthday boy for the treat. Very paiseh la, you treating us all.

We even fought for the last bottle...

Hiking at Bukit Jambul

This late afternoon, I went with my roommate to Bukit Jambul for hiking. It's my first time hiking even though I'm from Ipoh, a town surrounded by mountains and hills. Not a really high mountain as it just took roughly 10 to 15 minutes to reach to the top.

The view at the top of the mountain is rather nice. You can see the majestic Penang Bridge stretching along the South Channel and those high rise buildings in the mainland island. Can't take a good picture of it due to the trees shooting out everywhere and the lousy phone I called camera. In great need of a good one.

Next mountain to conquer, Bukit Bendera. Anyone wants to come with me???

There's freaking many of these kind of rich man houses...
Wild orchids (I think) are aplenty at the bottom of the hill...
The reds among the greens...
The trail I used to hike up...
At the top...
Lousy camera phone and the many tall trees unable me to capture the beautiful scenery
The trail back...

中秋节

中秋节就这样过了。。。

雨还在下到不停。。。
想和朋友一路吃月饼喝茶，一路欣赏月亮星星，但是不行。。。
跟朋友去了OXO Cafe 喝茶聊天。。。
有点想念我的家人。。。

床前明月光，
疑是地上霜，
举头望明月，
低头思故乡。

上的 sem 学的。。。
中秋节快乐！！！

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Mid-Autumn Festival just come and go in a blink of an eye. Due to the pouring rain, we can't find a spot to eat mooncake and enjoy the beauty of the moon. Hence, we went to OXO Cafe to hang out and talk.

Since it's Mid-Autumn Fetival where families reunions are important, there's a bit of homesickness but I just came back to uni barely a week ago, so I didn't go back during this Chinese festival.

The Chinese poem I learnt last semester, I had no idea how to translate, so, I'll just leave it there. Anyway, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Hard Rock Hotel

So, after my swimming lesson (which I'm an extremely SLOW learner), my friends and I went to 火锅之家 (Town Steamboat Restaurant) for dinner. Well, as usual, whenever I went to these buffet-style eateries, I tend to eat like all hell break loose. There's no stopping me until I feel that my stomach bloated and worth the money I paid. It's fun, really, crapping with friends while waiting for the food to cook.

Since all of us were too full to just go back to hostel and sleep (I swear my stomach got rounder after the meal!), we decided to go for the newly-opened Hard Rock Hotel at Batu Feringghi. Malaysia's first ever Hard Rock Hotel, it was really a beautiful and atmospheric place to stay and have some rock and roll food time, albeit small. We went inside the Hard Rock Cafe and it was blasting with fantastic musics sang by live band. People were relaxing and just having some beers and vodkas while listening to some classic and contemporary rock musics.

The iconic Hard Rock symbol...not very clear...

The large guitar before the entrance of the hotel

Inside the Hard Rock Cafe

After our brief visit into Hard Rock Cafe, we entered the hotel itself. Man, the place is awesome. Decorated with pictures and outfits wore by famous rock and roll artistes such as The Supremes, Bon Jovi, and others, it's like a mini tour through the Hall of Rock and Roll. The Beatles seems to be the main artist in the hotel as there's quite a number of portraits and grafittis gracing the hotel. And their pool. I didn't get to enter the pool but from what I can see from the moody light, it would be a breath-taking view.

At the entrance of the hotel

Trying to capture the whole logo but failed...

Their pool, though not the whole of it...

The Supremes

It's The Beatles!

The hallway in the hotel rooms...

The lounge at the fifth floor...

My friend and I were playing with the idea of having our Maths Night here at the Hard Rock Hotel. It would be expensive, I'm pretty sure, but for this atmospheric feel, it totally worth it. We could have a Rock and Roll theme (I know, I know, how creative...) at their Ball Room or we could have our Night in the form of pool party. Hmm, must suggest it to the director of the programme.

Me and my friends before we went back hostel