endroog

“They Don’t Care About Us”

Skin head, dead head
Everybody gone bad
Situation, aggravation
Everybody allegation
In the suite, on the news
Everybody dog food
Bang bang, shot dead
Everybody’s gone mad

All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us

Beat me, hate me
You can never break me
Will me, thrill me
You can never kill me
Jew me, sue me
Everybody do me
Kick me, kike me
Don’t you black or white me

All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us

Tell me what has become of my life
I have a wife and two children who love me
I am the victim of police brutality, now
I’m tired of bein’ the victim of hate
You’re rapin’ me of my pride
Oh, for God’s sake
I look to heaven to fulfill its prophecy…
Set me free

Skin head, dead head
Everybody gone bad
trepidation, speculation
Everybody allegation
In the suite, on the news
Everybody dog food
black man, black male
Throw your brother in jail

All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us

Tell me what has become of my rights
Am I invisible because you ignore me?
Your proclamation promised me free liberty, now
I’m tired of bein’ the victim of shame
They’re throwing me in a class with a bad name
I can’t believe this is the land from which I came
You know I do really hate to say it
The government don’t wanna see
But if Roosevelt was livin’
He wouldn’t let this be, no, no

Skin head, dead head
Everybody gone bad
Situation, speculation
Everybody litigation
Beat me, bash me
You can never trash me
Hit me, kick me
You can never get me

All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us

Some things in life they just don’t wanna see
But if Martin Luther was livin’
He wouldn’t let this be

Skin head, dead head
Everybody gone bad
Situation, segregation
Everybody allegation
In the suite, on the news
Everybody dog food
Kick me, strike me
Don’t you wrong or right me

All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us

All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us

All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us

Does it matter if you’re black or white ?

This is a tribute to the Michael Jackson,the King of Pop. His legend and memory will live on in our lifetime and generations to come. During the 80s and 90s, everyone (every single perosn?) on the planet know who is Michael Jackson.

My favourite MJ songs:

Beat It, Doggone Girl, Thriller, Who is It, Give it to me, Heal The World, We Are the World, Remember The Time, …… well I might as well just list all the albums. But if you want be to pick a favourite, i’ll pick Who is It and Beat It.

Remember there was once during school and the English teacher asked us to write a poem and submit the next day. Being clueless on what or how to write a damn poem, I got my idea while listening to the Thriller album at home  in the afternoon after school. The song Thriller and the last part where the “ghost” was talking:

Darkness falls across the land
The midnite hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize yawls neighbourhood
And whosoever shall be found
Without the soul for getting down
Must stand and face the hounds of hell
And rot inside a corpses shell
The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzy ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom
And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller

I got a good mark and a praise from the teacher… who I bet did not realise that it was taken bluntly from the lyrics. Also I remember the time when we sang Heal The World in concerts and performances. Classmate R. Devindran and Gilbert Lands Roy performed Black and White during school year end awards day. Kok Ming the smooth criminal came to school to show off his Discman (CD version of the famous Walkman)…. listening to Bad and Dangerous album that we all came to love. The song Will You Be There was immortalise in the captured killer whale movie Free Willy.

Funny moments when my bro impersonating MJ, my cousin doing a cover of the Earth Song. Michael Jackson was just part of life. Even my late grandparents can pronounce Michael Jackson and they like him they would glue to the TV when there’s MJ concert showed on TV.

Well, fate has denied us another album or world tour of Michael Jackson. Rest in peace, MJ. Your memory and legend will live on in the HiStory of mankind for you are the one and only King of Pop. We love you.

endroo G

Positioning device these days are fast becoming a must-have gadget for road users. Normal maps are now obsolete. I have always thought that road warriors like me doesn’t need a GPS device. I am wrong. There is always some remote corner of the city that you may not have been foot before.

Had an appointment at Hulu Klang police station the other day and I relied on my phone… equipped with garmin Mobile XT, to look for the place. The software is very accurate. Just last week, I was lost in Port Klang and again the phone helped me again.

Guys, the GPS software on your phone is highly recommended. Its handy when you are lost in town. Bug your phone dealer to install one for you. Pirated of course. haha.

Hi there…. recently we see a lot of shit going on around. The plane crash in Atlantic, the indonesian lady being force into sex slavery by the Kelantan prince, various Old Town White Coffee outlets in Klang Valley (3 ½ Mile Old Klang Road, Jaya One, Jaya Three Two, etc) being closed at the same time last Thursday after some people planned to gather there in black to drink coffee (it was not reported in The Star, NST etc but in Malaysiakini). This Thursday there will be another gathering in Old Town as reported by Malaysiakini… just check it out if you are around an Old Town outlet. This post is not sponsored by Old Town White Coffee, mind you.

Closer to me, some people always advocate that we should not talk or blog about politics in work place but there are times that we cannot refrain from talking about it. When someone is in anger and dissatisfaction with the management only he will take the option to vent it out somewhere such as in this blog. There are some circumstances why some things cannot be escalated to the higher management because you won’t have back up from colleagues and well, “unity” doesn’t exist in the first place. Well, politics are everywhere and in every single organisation. The culture of a company is shaped by the politics or rather the politics shaped by culture. What ever. So the reason I’m writing this shit today is that when you thought you are part of a revolution or battle, and put all your might into fighting the battle, the commander or rather the general may just sold out to the enemy. Sounds confused? I should say that is because of the organisation’s culture of not cultivating any good internal relationship among employees by having company outings, family days… that kind out activities. You know what I mean. Especially in this branch of financial service industry, I can say it is a highly dangerous factor for not having “unity” among co-workers.

Being in a department where there are two managers, three deputies and two assistant managers, it is surely a fucking pain in the ass. The top two may have different views on things and thus create something you call political divide. Adding salt to the wound, the deputies will try to preach their brand of religion cult and at the end of the day, you’ll have a cold war coming from all angle raging in the office, worst still, unseen. Foooh. Fuiyoh. Tripod culture is usually practised in such environment but not everyone’s a “tripoder”. The meaning of “tripod” here is what the chinese call “shoe-shine boy” or in malay “kaki ampu”. Try it with your pinky finger, index finger and thumb. Not everyone can tolerate to be a tripoder as it is like being a traitor to oneself…. its like selling yourself. If you can go and drink till the wee hours and go home puking…. you’ll get better chances and advantages. This is something like cronyism. Yeah. That is the politically-correct word. That’s the way it is but doesn’t mean it should be. So, as I said earlier, unity doesn’t even fucking exist, and cronies who been enjoying benefits will not back you up in

One thing can be learnt from this job is that never trust anyone for anyone who seems to be good to you is just a gimmick for they have a different agenda that you may not know. When it comes to money, everyone is working for their own benefit. Ok, that’s why we work, anyway but the sense of kinship among coworkers which is supposedly be greater than the sense of money is not present. Greed is what will make a man do untoward things to another man. Agree? So, who to be blamed? The organisation itself has to be blamed because of obvious reasons which I think cannot be published here. If you read this post, thank you. If you didn’t, it is ok. It’s just a fucking rant.

After 2 weeks of class for the last paper, I finally realise that many of my fellow classmates are taking the class just to pass exam. Well, dont get me wrong, I’m not saying that is wrong but it made me ponder, what the heck am I doing in the class? Am I there just to pass the papers or there to learn what would be of help for the career in the future?

As many of you who had taken a marketing subject before would know that this dicipline is very wide in scope. We just cannot get everything from the book especially those tailored-book for a particular industry for example. The facilitator tried to instill the reseaching culture in us as all his assignments required us to do research.

Then came an uproar to the style of teaching of this particular facilitator, who is a qualified marketing major who has a list of qualification including an MBa and ACII for that matter. His researching culture caused inconvenience to many in the class who would prefer a cut-and-paste and copy-from-book approach. They were also afraid of the facilitator’s strict requirement for the marking of assignments and the project paper. A petition was motioned and yeah, everyone wanted to replace the teacher. They almost went picketing. Majority wanted the replacement and some remained neutral including myself. Reasons raised in various emails to the instituition’s authority that was copied to me include the following lines:-

1. “Expecting us to go extra miles e.g internet or other sources to get information”
2. “His assignment look very tough(look at his condition eg must be original lah,etc)” <- plagiarism issue
3. “Assigment is too stringent – do not give any lee-way”
4. “Keep on asking us to surf Internet to answer assignment which I do not have any!”
5. “I have the opinion that he lacks preparation as I observed he read from the course book, or slide, and then appear to be ‘figuring’ out the sentence and after that to explain.”
6. “A lecturer who is to share and transfer his knowledge to the rest of the class would obviously know the coursebook by heart from front to back.  At least that is the impression I get from the previous classes”

So, in the end the facilitator was replaced due to a priciple that we learned from class….. customer’s satisfaction.

Another addition to the already long list of highway jargon (NKVE,KESAS, SPRINT, PLUS, LDP, BESRAYA, MRR2, MRR1, SMART, NPE, Penchala Link, Kerinchi Link, Guthrie, Federal…)  ….. the DUKE. Its an abbreviation of Duta Ulu Kelang expressway. It cost for RM2.00 and you save plenty of time (just about 5 minutes?!) travelling from Hulu Klang to Jalan Duta, which if you take the MRR2 will take you about 20-25 minutes in normal traffic. If the road is jam, it’ll take about 30-40 minutes. This is great savings, man.

To go to Setapak or even Hulu Kelang from Damansara, just take the Penchala Link (RM2.00) and reach Jalan Duta. Then you take the DUKE (another RM2.00) and head straight to Setapak or all the way to Hulu Kelang. In just 5-10 minutes, you’ll be sipping teh tarik in Setapak. Great job, Samy Vellu… ?

Here’s an article that I think is very informative on the petrol we gonna use for a long time till the crude oil reserves in the world depleted completely. By the way, RON stands for Research Octane Number.

Recently the government announced that the price of fuel is going up by RM0.20 this September. They are going to introduce a new RON95 as a cheaper alternative for daily consumption and the one we already been using daily, the RON97 (eg. the current Super green by Shell) is gonna be the premium petrol. So.. can your engine use the new RON95 or you have to stick to the RON97 which was stated on the sticker at your fuel flap lid. Are they phasing out the expensive Shell’s V-Power? That article also pointed out that we’ve been duped by pump attendants and marketing adverts to use expensive petrol as many of of cars’ engines were tuned to even use RON92.

The RON92 is also suitable for many modern engines and even the latest Honda models such as the Civic and CR-V sold in Malaysia are tuned to use RON91 so RON92 is not a problem (in fact, some Honda models sold in Indonesia are even tuned for RON88). All Perodua models are tuned to run on RON90 and that is a very large number of cars on the road. Those who can use RON92 can save a few sen per litre which, over the long term, still represents a saving in motoring costs (enough for one roti canai breakfast a week!). Many motorists have not purchased cheaper RON92 even though their car engine may be able to use it either through ignorance, lack of understanding and even being discouraged by pump attendants who often call this grade of fuel ‘Lama’ (old).

http://www.motortrader.com.my/NUS/articles/article_1352/page_m.asp

Business is so competitive these days… till a desperate agent called up and asked me to cancel my application for streamyx which I applied at TM Point. The desperado offer me RM60 cash in return for me to cancel my application… and re-apply from her. She claims that she can access TM’s database system and retrieve my info and she saw that I just recently applied for streamyx, and the application is delegated to an agent appointed by TM Point themselves. The desperate agent gave me the contact number of the person in-charge at the agency, Generation 3 Sdn Bhd and asked me to call Gen3 to cancel the application. What rubbish is this, man.

Then I called up TM call centre and to my dismay, they can’t give me the phone number of the particular branch where I did my application. Their website doesn’t help either. Fuck.

I don’t care who the fuck is getting commision from this… but I just dont like the way all this is handled. There had been 3-4 people calling me over the last 2 working days asking me for the login id I chose during the application and each time they claimed that they are calling from TM Streamyx. I fucked each of them and told them it’s all written in the application form.

This is the group photo with fellow contikis taken at the facade of Basillica Santa Croce in Florence.

Yeah yeah yeah….. I went to Liverpool…. except to those two lame saddistic stadiums which one is in red and the other in blue. For all Beatles fan… it is a must to do a pilgrimage to Liverpool. Ok… we were there for the Beatlemania although I’m some 45 years late. I confess I’m a fan of The Beatles. Szer said she is also a fan.

The tour cost was about £12 per person. The tour starts at Albert Dock and ends at Mathew Street. The tour cover areas where the four band members – John, Paul George and Ringo stayed when they were kid. We also saw the places that was mentioned in their various wonderful songs – Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields and Lime Street just to name a few. My Szer and I were the youngest among the “young” people in the bus. Some of the ladies grew up there seeing the Fab Four perfoming gigs before they became famous. They had since moved elsewhere and now they came back for a reunion and for the Beatles Magical Mystery tour. Some other guys came from as far as America to just to go on the tour.  Geez… the band may have disbanded many many years ago and 2 members were no more living….. but the mania still very much felt in Liverpool. Beatles is so timeless in Liverpool that it is part of their culture and proud history. Young and old people alike still move adn sing to the tunes like She Loves You, Please Mr Postman, Hard Days Night etc.

Beatles Story, Albert Dock. There’s even a Beatles-themed Starbuck coffeshop there.

This is where George Harrison use to stay when he was a kid. the house had long be sold to other people since  then.. and sometime I wonder how the current occupier can cope with the nuisance everyday that there will be a bunch of crazy people taking picture of their house. Ah well, I guess they must be very proud to have a connection or to be linked somewhat to the Beatles.

A closer view. We were early that day. The owner may be still sleeping at home at that time.

Ok… I forgot the name of this church..seriously. The tour guide however said they found a tomb of one “E. Rigby” in the church. Well, this must have been the mystery of the song Eleanor Rigby. Father Mckenzie writing a sermon? Anyone?!

This is the house of John Lennon. A semi-dee. And it has the blue-plate on it.

This is put up at the former house of famous people who had passed away for at least more that 20 years.

Ok. This is where Sir Paul McCartney used to stay… with his mom, Mary (of the “When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be… “ fame). The church were so fanatic of that song they made it into the collection of hymms in a book which you can find in the church. The guide told us it was here that many of the the famous songs were penned…. including Penny Lane and of course, Let It Be. See, Szer was so excited and smiling. “All you need is love… all you need is love… love is all you need…”. It may not be relevant in today’s materialistic world though. Kids, do not try this at home.

The guy on the right was our tour guide. A wacky and lovely chap… who is a hardcore Liverfool (read: Liverpool FC fan). He showed us photos of him with Sir Paul taken not long ago… telling how close is him to Sir Paul and all sorts of other Beatles related stories. He’s Liverpool local and the first thing he’d ask as his opening speech was ” Is there any Liverpool FC fan on the bus??” Well, of course he was obviously looking at the cap I was wearing, although it was a discreet brown coloured cap with a badge of the (Red) Devil… which I thought no one will recognise it is a MUFC cap… which I bought in Old Trafford the day before….. You just can bluff the eyes of the arch rivals. He kept on dissing Man Utd and praising the Liverfool team…. even Everton was not spared the diss.

There’s a Sgt Pepper signage on this disused building. Could it be the Sgt Pepper Lonely Heart Club?

Strawberry Fields….forever. It is the orphanage where John used to stay. Man, its a disused place. The local authority should keep it clean, restore and make it place nice for tourist alike. maybe they should turn the place into a museum. This can be a very important landmark in Liverpool.

Penny Lane. This is actually the Penny Lane in Liverpool. Not the one as describe in the song where there was a barber and so on… no shop is seen along this street.

The bus. It is so old school that the interior feels so 60s or 70s. Beatles music were played from the tour guide’s iPod.

The local authority replaced the signage countless time already. It is often stolen by pilgrims and Beatles fans alike as a memorabilia.

Back in town. They even name hotels to beatles related name….. like Hard Days Night Hotel. The Beatlemania is there to live forever…

Mathew Street… one of the most happening place in Liverpool where all the clubs, pubs and discos are located. It is here where the Beatles revolution started in a basement club, The Cavern Club.

There a names on the bricks, of those who performed here in the Cavern.

Marred by graffities.

Well, you dont see youngsters in these places doing hop hop. Haha. Those drinking at the bar are mostly twice my age.

The Magical Mystery Tour was something I wanted to do and at last I finally did it. The Beatles had became very much of the culture and history of Liverpool that will live one for generations to come. They even name the airport after John Lennon. I wonder if there is any other place where a rock band/music figure is so connected to the culture and history of their hometown. Perhaps, Elvis Presley and Memphis? The Selayang Connection Club Band and the town of Selayang? Hmm….

Haha. No pun intended. You know who I meant. So, the exam for the 4th paper is over. Another burden off the shoulder.. though I’m still doubtful of the outcome. One more paper to go. After the next paper, I’ll see if I can continue to the next level of the course…. Assoc.  Just hope everything goes well according to plan and I can get that increment as soon as possible as promised. But then, company is paying for the studies… so just consider it an employment benefit. Oh fuck, I shouldn’t be revealing that.

Alright, now, I think i gonna blog about the remaining of the Europe trip where I stopped last. Rome is coming up…. slowly but surely. Florence… Lucern….. Paris….. Liverpool (except the two fucking red & blue stadiums). Everytime I look back at the photos of the trip… I’m thinking what the fuck am I doing here. I should be sitting in that gondola or gulping beer in Hofbrauhaus or sipping wine in St Goar, or eating cake in Amsterdam. Well, maybe strolling along Champ Elysees (man, heard of that song by Les Champ Elysees by Joe Dassin?) My Szer asked what is taking me so long to blog…. well, I need to process the pictures first. I’ll get back to the momentum and try to blog frequently again… I hope.

Thought of getting a new phone. The phone I’m using now is gonna go kaput soon…. I thing there’s something wrong with the transmitter. Call would be disconnected (hang up) prematurely in the middle of a conversation. If it doesn’t hang up, it would appear as if the reception is not good and call quality is like what you get when the reception is at the lowest “1 bar”. So damn pissed off. Eyeing on this Nokia E71 or the E63. Lingesh said the E71 is good and the keyboard is ok with him. *Lingesh is as big as the giant in the movie show “Green Mile“. Damn… why we always need gadgets? I think its only normal… kids want toys… adult also need toys. Wait… you want me to get that iPhone? I think Min Dee is right…. iPhone 3G is now in Malaysia. 3G. Yes…. 3G. But does iPhone has a camera for video call for that matter?? Hmmm. Good question. At first I also never thought of that.

The weekend will be a long weekend…. maybe will go for a short trip somewhere near. I really need a break. But I’m not going Cameron Highlands. Arrgh… I need a holiday real soon……….. Anyone wanna go South East Asia – Siem Reap, Manila, Hanoi, Bandung, Bali, Chiang Mai, Pattaya or Phuket with me and my szer? I think Jogja-Borobudur should be in the top of the list as I cancelled the trip due to the “great fall” that made me quit smoking. But then… money money money… I must be funny. What a frustration (not the doctrine).

Went to Burger King Mutiara Damansara to tapau for lunch yesterday. I orderd a Value Meal set and paid the price RM11.75 using Touch and Go card and the cashier told me that for any purchase above Rm20.00 in a single receipt, I am entiltled to get a RM10.00 of credit top-up to my card. There’s a TnG counter where you can top-up your card.

What?! Free RM10.00 top-up?! Ok… so i ordered another burger (single; RM6.90 and chicken tender nugget RM2.95). The final bill add up to RM 22.8x. Tap the touch and go card. I got 2 burgers (whopper and Fish), a cup of regular soft drink, chicken tender nugget and fries.

At the end of the day, I only spent Rm12.xx for the lunch. Not bad. Go try yourself.

A: My touchNgo card expired. I also can’t believe it. Strange, right?!
G: How come? Since when the TnG card expires? Never heard of it.

A: Where can I get a new card?
G: Errr…. thats a problem. Normally you can get it at the PLUS hiway toll office. Now they sell it at petrol stations… but not all petrol stations. Thats the problem why there’s still soo many people queue at the “cash lane” at the highway toll.

A: Where to top up then?
G: Well, its not as convenient as Oyster Card in UK where you can top up at the newsstand. Here, you either topup at the hiway toll, bank ATMs or petrol stations. Again, not all petrol station.
A: Wha… so (inconvenient) one, ah?
G: Haha… what to do. Malaysia mah.

The Touch n’ Go card is supposed to be a very convenient card for motorists. I think it will be good if we can use cashless card to buy stuffs… without the need to carry cash and worried of being robbed. MEPS cash was a flop. We hope TnG will be something more than a paymede option for highway, parking, public transports and other venues. the only setback is the extra 10% charge at some venues for the usage of TnG.

Well, now with it being able to be used at Burger King, Station 1 and many more affliated merchants, it paves the way for others to follow. Hopefully, we can use it at the mamak someday…

A revolution (from the Latin revolutio, “a turn around”) is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time. Aristotle described two types of political revolution:

Revolutions have occurred through human history and vary widely in terms of methods, duration, and motivating ideology. Their results include major changes in culture, economy, and socio-political institutions.

Source: Wikipedia

Well, in history, as we all studied, that a revolution happen when the majority is sick of the unfairness by those in fucking power and who blatantly enrich themselves using power. Also of those who marginalised some, if not all, of the disadvantaged people of the population. For a revolution to succeed, there must be sacrifices. It is in those history books and Once upon a time in China (Wong Fei Hung) films we learned that everyone has to sacrifice for a revolution to bring changes for a better future. Revolution cannot be executed by one person. Everyone must join force to revolt for a better future. Have you seen lately, where there are abuse of power to enrich oneself? Man, why are we coming to this topic again…. are we not sick of all these idiot bastards? When you flip a pig’s stomach, what you’ll see is shit.

So… Thaksin or Abhisit?

When things in your life seem,  Almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class

And had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly,
He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
And proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students, if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
them into the jar.   He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again
If the jar was full…   They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand

And poured it into the jar..  Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded
With an un ani mous ‘yes.’

The professor then produced  Two cups of coffee from under the table
And poured the entire contents  into the jar, effectively
Filling the empty space between the sand.
The students laughed.

‘Now,’ said the professor,   As the laughter subsided,
‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life..
The golf balls are the important things – God, family,
children, health, friends, and favorite passions
Things that if everything else was lost

And only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and  car.

The sand is everything else – the small stuff.

‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’  he continued,
‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life..

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are
Important to you.

So…

Pay attention to the things  That are critical to your happiness.
Playwith your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time
To clean the house and fix the disposal.

‘Take care of the golf balls first –
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’

One of the students raised her hand
And inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled.
‘I’m glad you asked’.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life  may seem,
there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with  a friend!