Mindless in East Sussex

 Does anyone still use this???   Seriously.....

End of Year Blog

Hello boys and girls. I've been a few months since I've written anything. Low and behold, 2009 came and went. I blame Facebook and Twitter. With constant status updates and being concise all the time, makes no room for long winded blogging. But that's not an excuse, the truth is I'm just naturally lazy. Heh.

Women of 2012 - A Predictive Ramble

Hello people. Its been a while since my last confession (as they say on TV). I been extreamly slack in my blogging and I really should come here and write something once in a while. If anything, its another outlet for me  to express myself in a world taken over by the ease of social media. I am guilty of being one of millions who prefer the ease and simplisity of Facebook, Twitter and what not. Quite honestly blogging seems to require much more thought and effort. I say NO to being lax and henceforth, will attempt to break free from the shacles  of inactivity and malaise.

Prior to this, I had a glance through some of my older entries from the past. I noticed I used to be somewhat angry and loose tongued. No topic seemed to contraversial or taboo. I particularly remember the on

TOLL SCAM! - Ask for receipts All The Time!!!

Someone had to go to some place in Desa Pandan yesterday afternoon. Of course the road that he used was KESAS Highway. It happened after he handed to the Toll Operator my payment for using that expensive highway - RM 2.20.

The Man : "Resit, pliz..."
Toll Operator : "Err, bang, resit takde la..."
The Man : "Mcm mana boleh takde pulak...?"
Toll Operator : "Erm, saya TERTEKAN kelas 4.... harga dia lain..."
Me : "Kelas 4???".... (sambil tercari-cari where I could find any clue about Kelas 4...)
Toll Operator: Ah, there it is, just right in front of me...
All of the sudden,

Toll Operator : "Bang, nah amik la... saya bagi 'change'" (handing me RM1.10)The Man : (automatically accept the notes with blank expression, shut my window close and bye-bye)

At first, I said to myself, "Hey, at least I pay half, itu sudah Untung..."
Until I realize the actual plot done by the Toll Operator... Damn it, I forgot his name from the name tag!!!

Like what old folk said - Selagi tak kena batang hidung sendiri, selagi itu kita tak sedar.
Now I know that there is some basis of a few allegation towards the Toll Operator. Even one of my friend refuse to work as Toll Operator due to this sinister plot.
Apparently, most of them vowed not to disclose this wrongdoing to other people and unanimously doing it without any guilt.

So how much do the Toll Operator actually earn from this broad day light robbery in their own employer's premises. Let say that every time the Class 1, 2 and 3 pass through the gate and the Operator press the Class 4 for Taxis...

One Car - Class 1 - Loss - $1.10
One Lorry - Class 2 - Loss -$ 2.20
One Lorry - Class 3 - Loss - $3.30

If the Operator manage to get 100 vehicle for every class in a period of 8 working hours a day.

Class 1 $1.10 x 100 = $110
Class 2 $2.20 x 100 = $220
Class 3 $3.30 x 100 = $330
Total = $660.00 per day!

Assuming he/she work for 5 days a week or 22 days a month.
Total = RM 14,520.00 per month
Not including his/her own monthly salary....
Wow!! that's more than 3 times fold of normal engineer's salary.

And that's only for one operator... how about other operators that did the same thing?!

The above calculation may vary for different lanes. I bet that the one who works in Lorry Lane may be doing this and have joyous time for sucking hundreds everyday from this system. Those who stay in normal car lane, might be getting less as he/she can only deduct from Class1 to Class 4 only.

All the above is just my say. My pre-assumption. Not base on actual, except from yesterday short experience. We heard a lot that some make money being toll operator and lived luxuriously, but some suffer due to low wages.

Nevertheless, Kesas was known years ago for having bribery scandal involving the Petrol Station operator. Those days, for example, there are only BP and Caltex near Awan Besar dan Awan Kecil. Now there are Petronas and Shell some more. Yes, the culprit were charged with Bribery, only that he was caught red-handed with concrete proof. How about others??? for instance the toll operator.

Government had to pay the toll company for the toll hike although the toll company keep on making profit.

Samy announced in September 2006 that the government paid compensation amounting to RM38.5 billion to 20 highway companies. A RM380 million windfall for 9 toll concessionaires earned solely from the toll hikes in 2008 alone;


Taken from anonymous from forwarded email...

I wonder, if the Toll Company are really "TELUS" in their operation and maintenance cost, while the operator are honest in doing their duty, how much million can be saved and enjoyed by toll company in term of PROFIT.

If the projection is high, there is no need for Government to spend more on subsidy or compensation towards the Toll Company.

If the profit is enough to cover the company's interest, then also, there is no need to increase the toll price anymore....

If just the Toll company can setup a system to prevent their toll operator to manipulate the "classing" system for their own personal benefit.. then the toll company can benefit better from toll collection.

I myself are so disgusted with certain TOLL OPERATOR.

As for the readers, please do your part in preventing this to happen. By hook or by crook, we had to use highways. At least the money we spent for the services, goes to the maintenance and operation of the highways... not to the selfish operators!

What say you????

Macam P

Macam Pantat

I miss blogging.

   i'd do it more if it didn't require so much thought...... heh

...... I really do miss it though.....

My Mandatory Birthday Blurb 2011

Hello hello, yes, another year has passed and I'm still alive. Happy about that I must say. This year has been hectic to say the least. I've never done so much travelling in one year and we're only half way through 2011. I'm not complaining though, I mean, in this economy, I'm happy I have a job let alone a job that requires frequent travel. This only real problem I have with my job is, having to be away from my family for weeks on end. Sometimes I feel I'm missing out on my children's growing up. Ultimately, I have to do this for them. 'Gotta pay the bills' as they say.

This year I was once again, on a golf course, in the Tournament Office, in some other country other than my own. The one difference is I received a surprise birthday cake! And what a surprise it was. This one had the full theatrics including accomplice actors and notions of alleged error on my part. Just what I needed after a long day of stress.... more stress. In the end it was worth it, teary eyed while blowing out my candle, I felt appreciated and loved. That's all one can hope for in this world. Initially I thought to myself, I was 'too old for this shit'... but the reality is, you appreciate it more as you get older.

Thanks guys..... one more day to go.... then I can finally go home to my loving wife and children. That's the only present I really want.

Photoshop Tennis 3 - AlphaBeatDown

click to enlarge

Howdy folks, its been a while since the last Photoshop Tennis match between ShoddyBlog and Me. This one is based on the Alphabet. The base image is one of a shopping mall somewhere. This image was challenging as the graininess and perspective made adding things to it, very difficult but extremely fun.

See if you can spot and name all 26 of them.... There is also a bonus 27th one just for the hell of it.

Stay tuned for the next round of Photoshop Tennis. This time we explore the wonders of the 90s!

Here are Photoshop Tennis match 1 and match 2 just to refresh your memory.

Welcome to Malaysia

I been meaning to post this....

Who is at fault?
The Taxi driver? The fares are so low and fuel is up, who could blame him.
The Customers? What choice do they have? Buses are crap and it ain't easy getting a cab.
The People in charge? How long does it take to fix a problem?

Happy New Year Ya Clowns!

Yo! As the title suggests, Happy New Year! I expect 2011 to be a hectic year with much travel and new opportunities in store. No need to declare resolutions and shit, we never stick to them anyway. I say just have a general idea of where you want to be at the end of the day and you'll live with less stress.

My last blog update was in October and I know I've been slack in updating this. It seems that social networking is all the trend these days. Facebook and Twitter have litterally taken over our lives. Blogging seems to be so old fashion now. To be honest, blogging takes too much effort and is rather time consuming. I've found that, although you can express more in a blog than in a 'status update', sometimes less is more. Many times in the past, I'd get in trouble with putting my thoughts on a page. I realise that not everyone shares my opinions or sense of humour for that matter. True freedom of speech does not exist. Its hard to convey your point of view or a humourous anticdote without it be misconstuded to something else.

These days, peoples attention span is getting less and less. Perhaps its the fact that everyone is busy or in a rush. No one has time to read pages and pages of text. I know my sisters have no patience for my ramblings here. I almost have to force them to read this. They are both so busy Twitting that if this doesnt appear on their Twitter feed, this will undoubtedly go unnoticed. Hell, the only reason anyone would read this is because I've linked Blogspot with Facebook, and as soon I press 'Publish' this 'Note' will appear on my wall.

I remember when I first started blogging, getting comments was all I cared about. It is that feedback and interactivity with your readers, that makes blogging so satisfying. I suppose thats why Facebook and Twitter are such a big success. Its constant instant feedback.

Damn you Mark Zuckerberg. You rich cunt. I was watching Bloomberg last night about the Facebook story. The company is currently valued at 10 billion dollars. There are 500 million users and growing. Microsoft paid 240 Million for only 1.6% of the company. One can't help but feel slightly jealous. I watched The Social Network last year and thought "Why did I think of that?" .... damn.

Anyway, Happy New Year and my your dream come true....... Bitches.

When it rains in Jakarta

For me Jakarta has always been a destination of choice but yesterday, I was greeted with what only can be described as liquid hell. It was as if the skys opened up a wept tears of anger. This populous nation was clearly overwhelmed with the immense sudden quantity of rain that drenched the city. What should have been a relatively short drive from the airport to the city center became a torturous 5 hour ordeal.

Personally, I believe that the floods are as a result of too much shit in the sewer system. With over 100 million people, all shitting at once, where does it all go? Surely it has all clogged up the storm drains and pipes. Never mind that Jakarta city sits below sea-level, it has to be the shit that is causing these highway shit-rivers.

Just goes to show, that shit is eternal.

And this is what Disney princesses teach women....

My Mandatory Birthday Blurb 2010

Yes its that time again.. one more year has passed.. and I am older by one year. As you can see, I've not written anything for over 2 months. Very slack of me I know. Even then, in may, it was a copy paste article. Maybe its because Blogging is so 5 years ago? Nah, that's just a lame excuse. I'm just lazy, I always have been I suppose. Almost 'sloth-like' as my mom would put it.

Kudos to Simon for his expansive blurbs about the World Cup which has just concluded. He, of course is the reason I started my blog years ago, and I'm glad to see that he is still going strong with his surprising interest in soccer. Must be all those years working in London.

What has happened in the last 12 months? Goodness, so many things to recall. I've been doing my usual traveling around Asia for work. It was nice to have my family with me one of those outings, a sort of working holiday in Phuket, that was fun. My son is now in first grade at a government school. We had to adjust to the lack of attention the teachers have for our child due to the student to teacher ratio. Also having to adjust to waking up early to send him to school. Just when you thought, as you get older you didn't have to do that anymore. One of life's bitter irony. And I just stubbed my toe on the way to the kitchen. Oh God it hurts more than usual. My daughter is almost 2 years old, and as the day go by, I find myself thinking of the fool that would eventually be called 'boyfriend' and that makes me very upset. I will kill that dweeb or anyone else that would threaten to spoil my precious.

My wife, of now 8 years, is still by my side and forever the voice of reason in my otherwise loony world. She still manages to bring a smile to my face at times of darkness and ever ready to shake my core with words of 'where is my house you promised me??'. Soon darling, soon... I say. Hopefully, one day, we will achieve our goals together.

Anyway, here is a list of famous people that share my birthday:-
1. Jesse 'The Body' Ventura (15-Jul-1951) WWF Wrestler turned Governor of Minnesota and was the dude in Predator with the vulcan machine gun.
2. Jan-Michael Vincent (15-Jul-1944) Sting Fellow Hawk from 80s TV series Airwolf.
3. Kim Alexis (15-Jul-1960) Top 1980s model
4. Brian Austin Green (15-July-1973) David Silver from 90s TV series Beverly Hills 90210
5. Eddie Griffin (15-July-1968) Star of Undercover Brother and was the pimp in Deuce Bigalow. Remember the phrase "Dont make me he-bitch-man-slap you!"
6. Ayatollah Khamenei  (15-Jul-1939) Supreme leader of Iran
7. Brigitte Nielsen (15-Jul-1963) Stared in Red Sonja and was married to Sly Stallone
8. Rembrandt (15-Jul-1606) Painted Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp

Judging from this list, people born on this day, can either be great people in history or really crappy actors. So far I'm neither.... well, I did do a sub-standard commentating job for The Le Tour de Langkawi cycling race for TV, does that count?  A friend of mine put my name forward to do this, with absolutely zero knowledge of cycling, I foolishly said 'Yes'. Talk about undergoing the steepest learning curve ever. On the first day, I yelled out "and the guy in blue won!"... but at least by the end of the week I think I managed to sound like I knew what I was saying.

So here is to the next year ahead, and as always I give myself some massive boobs to stare at, just because I can.

Here is Jordan Carver, she is from Germany and is currently trying to dethrone big boob legend, Denise Milani as the number one internet pinup girl. Her boob to waist ratio is unreal. Surreal almost. Really. Just take a look!

nuff said.......................

The Man Rules

The Man Rules
At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down

Finally,the guys' side of the story.
(must admit, it's pretty good.)
We always hear"the rules"
From the female side.

Now here are the rules from the male side.

These are our rules!
Please note.. these are all numbered "1 "
ON PURPOSE!

1.   Men are NOT mind readers.

1.    Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down.
We need it up, you need it down.
You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1.    Sunday sports It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides.
Let it be.

1.    Crying is blackmail.

1.    Ask for what you want.
Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
Just say it!

1.    Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1.    Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do.
Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1.    Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument.
In fact, all comments become Null and void after 7 Days.

1.    If you think you're fat, you probably are..
Don't ask us.

1.    If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one

1.    You can either ask us to do something Or tell us how you want it done.
Not both.
If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1.    Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials..

1.    Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1.    ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings.
Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1.    If it itches, it will be scratched.
We do that.

1.    If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong.
We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1.    If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, Expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1.    When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine..Really

1.    Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as FOOTBALL or

motor sports

1.    You have enough clothes.

1.    You have too many shoes.

1.    I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

1.    Thank you for reading this.
Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight;

But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

Photoshop Tennis Match 2 (after 14 rounds)

Photoshop is a wonderful thing. Thank god for illegal copies here in Asia, otherwise I would have to fork out thousands, like the rest of the world. Moving on, here we have match 2 of Simon and Ozi's Photoshop Tennis grand-slam extravaganza. This new starting image chosen by Simon poses a whole new set of challenges. First of, its a smaller image. Second, its an image with minimal depth. Third, its littered with little lighting and Gaussian blur "potholes" to fall into. I look forward to this one. I will edit the paragraph below to tell you of the changes made in each round. I'll try and make it as interesting a read for those who read this after the match is over.

Simon starts by adding a the image from Match 1 into one of the frames. I then do the same by inserting a production snap shot of our student film made in 1998 called Bloody Hell 2. Simon then made the freak from The Ring crawl out of another painting. That's plain creepy. Then Thundercats to the rescue. Look! its the idol from Indiana Jones up for grabs. In round 6, I kill Spongebob. Do you remember Ghostbusters 2? Well there is Vigo the painting. In round 8, I think we need more awareness about Tigers. See if you can spot more things we've added on after 14 rounds. I really love this game. Can't wait for match 3!

Click to enlarge.

Photoshop Tennis (updated after Round 22)

First and foremost, Happy New Year. Just the other day, I was talking to my fellow blogger, Mr Shoddy Simon, and I was telling him how uninspired I was to write on my blog these days. So, the ingenious Beef recommended I focus my blog around stuff I do with Photoshop. I agree.

And so we start 2010 with a game of Photoshop Tennis. Its a game where you start with one image and then using Photoshop (obviously) you add something and then send it to the other person. Then he adds something and sends it back. I guess if you want to waste time, do it creatively. For this we used a nice image of Venice, Italy, at night.

click to enlarge

This is what we have after 20 rounds. Simon started with the guy in the sleeping bag. Then I put in Ariel from the Little Mermaid. Then Simon put in Batman and the Bat signal. I've put in Freddy Kruger. Then Simon put a man on fire and I called in King Kong. Simon felt we needed some security with ED 209 and I think The Dark Side of the force can help. In round 8, Simon made Dr. Zoidberg float on water of which I replied with the Alien from Aliens. Round 10 and 11 sees Simon adding the two grumpy old men from the Muppets and me adding Gemma Atkinson, because whenever possible, you must have Gemma in any picture. The ghost of Michael Jackson's past haunts us and I just realized we need a soft drink sponsor. Round 15-16, Godzilla thinks its Japan and Spiderman is wondering about the guy in the sleeping bag. Oh look its the Skeckies from Dark Crystal and I like Stewie Griffin. Round 19-20 sees Simon open a Porky's branch while I help some Philippine kids escape a flooded waters. And finally, a caterpillar and a gymnast completes the picture.

I must say this Background image of Venice at night is mighty tough. Simon will post his addition on The Shoddy Blog. Let see what madness we can come up with!

End of Year Blog

Hello boys and girls. I've been a few months since I've written anything. Low and behold, 2009 came and went. I blame Facebook and Twitter. With constant status updates and being concise all the time, this makes no room for long winded blogging. But that's not an excuse, I'm just lazy.

I wanna look back at 2009 and give my review, but alas, it was all a blur. It was that kind of year to be honest. Lacklustre and forgettable. So lets just leave it at that and move on. Bring on 2010. One year closer to 2011. I haven't seen the movie yet, but they says its crap. So maybe I wont. Why would I want to scare myself silly? Let the end of the world come... whenever that maybe.

So here is a list of things of things to look forward to:-

1. .................................................... nah.... fuck it..... I aint making a list.

Merry X'mas and Happy New Year.

Everyone can go ahead and lick my balls! (here is the accompanying logo)

Baby Einstein - Plug your baby in

We live in the year 2009. We are surrounded by technology. Parenting has definitely changed over past 20 years. As kid, my 'TV time' was always restricted by my parents. It was a time were books were more timely than the internet, in fact, there was no internet in the 80s.

Today, I use technology in everything and that includes parenting. My first born is now 6 years old. Ever since he was born, I exposed him to technology. Everything from the cell phone to the personal computer, I made sure he was familiar to it all. Now he can switch on my entertainment system, google stuff, and I've been told that his conversational skills are far beyond the average 6 year-old. He is articulate and expressive. We are very proud of him.

The secret? Plug your plug your child into Baby Einstein. Over a decade ago, Baby Einstein was founded by Julie Clark, a mom who wanted to share her love of humanities with her baby. Her intent was to create products that offered interactive experiences for her and her daughter to discover the world together. Products are designed to encourage discovery and inspire new ways for parents and little ones to interact.

All Baby Einstein products, including its video line, are designed as interactive tools for parents to use with their babies. Since the debut of the very first title, Baby Einstein videos/DVDs were developed with the idea of creating a “digital board book,” allowing a parent to have two free hands while enjoying and experiencing the video with their little one – leaving their hands free to clap, point to objects and interact with their baby. parents/caregivers play a critical role in defining the “appropriate use of television.” The Baby Einstein Company has built its reputation on creating developmentally appropriate content that parents/caregivers know they can trust to use with their little ones.

A recent study from Harvard University on the issue of screen time for infants concludes the following:

* TV viewing for infants is not harmful.
* Content matters.
* TV viewing in infancy is not associated with language or visual motor skills at age 3.
* TV viewing in and of itself does not influence babies’ brain development – maternal, child and household characteristics are more influential to a child's brain development.

Ever morning since my son was 1, We would watch one Baby Einstein program with him. And today, my daughter is going through the same. I like to think of it as Early Childhood Development TV Foundation Regime Program or ECDTVFRP for short. Judging from my son's development of the past 6 years, I know we made the right decision in adopting this method. Remember, you decide the amount and what your baby is exposed to. Interactivity is key.

So there you go. Good luck

Isla Fisher vs Amy Adams

Is it just me or does Amy Adams and Isla Fisher look alike? I was watching "Definitely, Maybe" earlier today and I noticed that Isla Fisher reminded me of Amy Adams (Enchanted). I did a little internet search and found that Isla will be starring in the upcoming movie "Confessions Of A Shopaholic" and realized that I thought she was Amy when I saw the trailer on television. It's really confusing - especially when they both sport curls. And if you haven't figured it out yet, that's Isla on the left and Amy on the right.