It has been like 13 days since my last post and the first thing you heard from me is disappointment news *sigh... I wanted to post something earlier, but what with the raya holidays combined with my internet connection that's very unstable and sometimes excruciatingly slow, had also contributed to my unwillingness and "malas" ness (laziness) to update my blog.

Anyway, back to my main story, just to make things clear before I start writing -it was a night of disappointment to me and me only -and not to anyone else. In fact to everyone else, it was probably the most enjoyable night ever and to tell you the truth it was kinda fun and entertaining. But to me, the night is the my most disappointing night of year 2008.

Date of Incident: 10 October 2008
Event: Company 10th Anniversary cum Annual Dinner 2008

Why do I dubbed it as my most disappointing night of 2008? Let me count the ways:

(1) Even in the 1st correspondence for the night, my name has been left out. I got to know from my department colleague who so graciously sent me the mass mail for my reference. Seeing that it has some exciting events and competition lined up, I have submitted my name for the Karaoke Competition.
(2) Even though I have submitted my name in the Karaoke Competition and participation has been confirmed, SUPRISINGLY my name is still left out in the 2nd correspondence in regards to the dinner itinerary. Funny how my name is stated as 1 of the participants, but the email is not even copied to me.... But copied to all of other staff....

(3) To my horror when my colleague forwarded me the email -I am the first participant to perform on that night. Yikkessss!!!!!

(4) I am again missed out in another correspondence in regards to celebrating staffs birthdays which falls in Sept & Oct'08 at the same night. Not only am I not included in the communication, my name was also not stated as 1 of the "babies" celebrating birthday in Oct'08 (Yes friends, if anyone is taking note, my birthday is on 22 October ;)). Instead of getting pissed off, I just send an email to inform the admin that my name has been left out, and even got a reply back that they apologize and has put my name on the list

(5) On the night itself, being the first contestant, my heart was beating like a jungle drum for human sacrifice and I was sooooo freaked out that on 1 of the high notes, I lose control of my voice and it cracked. Arrgggghhhh!!! Thank God everything else went smoothly. I gave a somewhat professional and confident performance even though I feel like sinking through the floor. But what the h*** even if you've made a mistake, better do it in style right? Heh

(6) Not expected -my name is still left out when they're calling for the Sept & Oct "babies" on stage. Urgggghhhh!!! When I asked veryyyyy niceeellllyyy to the admin -she said she had submitted my name to the MC (cum my HR whose the person who actually left my name out in the first place) and when I ask the MC -she said that that is the list that was given to her by the admin. Heh.

(7) The result of the Karaoke Competition really put me off guard. I got 3rd place ONLY. What's that? I should be glad I hear you say?? Well maybe if I'm competing in One in A Million or Malaysian Idol. But it is very insulting to lose to average singers who sang a very non-challenging song and didn't bring anything unique to it like I did. Oh and did I tell you I'm the defending champion? Now I know how Siti Sarah / Dayang Nurfaizah felt when they got eliminated. :p

Anyway, I did ask the judges in their professional decision, what makes me not the winner -and they say it's because my voice cracked at 1 point and the others who won over me -did not, even though they're performance are so-so and average only. Heh. Well, to be fair, the guy who won 1st place was quite good, but the 2nd was really nothing special! I even checked the criterias in the score sheet and the marks is from 1 -5 for (1) Voice quality (2) Performance (3) Appearance (4) Crowd Response. And believe me, despite the 1 time voice cracked, I got the other 3 criterias down-pat. The crowd cheered like crazy and I was utilizing the stage like a pro. Whilst the ones who won just stand there looking at the screen. Heh. Now, do I have the reason to be pissed off and insulted or not? Nevertheless I still put up a smile, go on to the stage to take my prize (but not even pausing to pose for a photo -i just want to get it done and over with), and congratulates the other 2 winners. Oh well, there's still next year. Now that I know their capabilities, I will not give any of them to win over me ever again. ;) Muahahahahaaa.

Am I a sore loser? Up to you how to judge it. But I am not going to be a hypocrite and pretend that I am fine with it when I'm not. Oh but there's 1 good thing that came out of this night despite the 7 disappointing points -it put my name on the company map again (the company is growing bigger and bigger and we have a lot of companies in the group) and I made new friends with people from other companies. This, I'm quite happy.

So there you go. Me rambling about the most disappointing night of 2008. Since there's 2 months more to go in 2008, I really hope nothing else in the near future tops this night. There might be people whose going to post bad comments about this, but hey i'm just voicing out my frustration, and as long as it did not bring any harm to anyone, please don't be too hard on me and gimme a break OK? ;) Signing out for now, until the next post, Take Care!!

This is posted to me by MataHati Bangsa of Facebook for all of your reference. Useful when going back to hometown time...or going anywhere for that matter. Just press Ctrl F and type in your location / state to check, if you don't want to go through the whole list. :)

Raya Speed Traps Location

PLUS North Bound
*Under a bridge at about 456km, Sg Buloh junction.
*Under a bridge at about 459km, Bukit Lanjan interchange.
*Under the overhead restaurant at Sg Buloh.
*Under the last bridge before Sg Besi toll at 309.2km.
*Under the bridge at 296.5km, Bangi junction.
*Under the newly constructed bridge at 289.0km, after Nilai North junction.
*Under the bridge at 286.5km, Nilai North junction.

PLUS South Bound
*Below signboard at about 454.6km and 455.2km, Sg Buloh layby.
*Under the bridge after Subang junction at 11.3km.
*Under the bridge at 22km, Bukit Lanjan junction.
*Under the bridge before Mint hotel, Sg Besi Toll. 80km/h only!
*Under the bridge at 302.8km, Kajang junction.
*About 1km south of Bangi junction, both south and north bound outer lanes* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*At 296.5km and 297km, Bangi junction.
*Under the newly constructed bridge at 289.0km, before Nilai North junction.
*At 285.5km and 285.8km, Nilai North junction.
*On center divider at 251.8km and 253km after Senawang junction.
*After Alor Gajah junction at 213.9km, next to water theme park.
*Behind the right hand crash barrier at 198.4km.

Elite Central Link East/North Bound
*On left hand side at 4.8km after Batu Tiga/Shah Alam exit
*Under the overhead restaurant at USJ/Hicom junction about 8.5km. 90km/h zone!
*Below the bridge before USJ/Hicom junction at 10.5km.

Elite Central Link West/South Bound
*Under the overhead restaurant at USJ/Hicom junction about 8.5km. 90km/h zone!
*Below the bridge before USJ/Hicom junction at 10.5km.
*After exit from KLIA toll to the airport, below Jalan Pekeliling flyover. 90km/h

NKVE East/North Bound
*300m before Jalan Duta toll, 60km/h!
*Behind crash barrier on the left when going towards Jalan Duta toll, at 24.9km, 80km/h!
*Below bridge at Damansara Junction, 17.5km

NKVE West/South Bound
*Behind crash barrier on the left when leaving Jalan Duta toll from KL, at 25.3 km and 25.7km, 80km/h!
*From Jln Duta, below the bridge, 23km, 80km/h zone!
*From Jln Duta, at the underpass at Sg Buloh Y-junction, 22km.
*Behind crash barrier at Damansara Junction, 17.7km and 16.8km
*Below railway bridge at 11.2km
*Under the bridge at Shah Alam junction.

Kesas East Bound
*Under the bridge at 44.8km, downhill run after Puchong junction.

Kesas West Bound
*At Sg Besi side of East Bound Toll. Kuala LumpurCity
*Jalan Duta; below the flyover at the Damansara junction, 70km/h zone.

Klang
*Dual carriageway between Klang and Port Klang. Towards Klang direction, at about 13km mile stone. 70km/h only!

East Coast
*Road sign at Karak highway is inadequate especially at Y junction; if you are unfamilar, go slow.
*East bound, downhill run after Raub junction.
*Maran, 60km/h zone.
*Paya Bungor, 70km/h zone.

JOHOR
South Bound
*Tangkak junction.
*Under the bridge after Yong Peng

North junction
*at 97.3km.
*Ayer Hitam junction.
*Sedenak junction.

PERLIS, KEDAH AND PENANG
North Bound
*Around Ayer Hitam in 60km/h zone.
*Before Perwaja Steel.
*Sg Petani junction.
*Between Seberang Jaya junction and Sg Dua Toll.
*PenangBridgeat island end.Speed limit 80km/h.
South Bound
*PenangBridgeisland end. Speed limit 80km/h.
*About 2km before Juru Toll Speed limit 90km/h.

PERAK
North Bound
*Under the bridge at 197..1km and 198.8km, after
Kamunting Junction.
*Under the bridge at 204.3km, after Kamunting
Junction.
*Under the bridge at 208km, before Kamunting Junction.
*Under the bridge at 214.8km, before Kamunting
junction.
*Ipoh Vista Point at about 263km. Speed limit 80km/h.
*Under the bridge at 271km, Ipoh North Junction.
*Under the bridge at 274..4km, Ipoh South Junction.
*Under the bridge at 286.9km, Simpang Pulai Junction.
*Under the bridge at 296km, Gopeng Junction.
*Under the bridge at 352.6km, after Sungkai Junction.
*Under the bridge at 353km, Sungkai Junction.
*Under the bridge at 373km, Slim River Junction.
South Bound
*Under the bridge at 199km, before Kamunting junction.
*Under the bridge at 241.9km, at Kalau Kangsar
junction.
*Under the sign post at 296.1km, before Gopeng
Junction.
*Under the bridge at 297km, at Gopeng Junction.
*Under the bridge at 300km, after Gopeng junction.
*Under the bridge at 308.6km, after Gopeng junction.
*Under the bridge at 372.6km, at SlimRiverjunction.

Malaysia's 'worst in the world' taxis tarnish national image

Reads the headline of Regional - MSN Malaysia News - News for today, 18 September 2008. It reported that in a survey by the local magazine The Expat, some 200 foreigners from 30 countries rated Malaysia the worst among 23 countries in terms of taxi quality, courtesy, availability and expertise. There are complains all over from tourists (not to mention locales) that the taxi drivers refused to use the meter, overcharge and pick-and-choose which destinations they will travel to. There's once where a tourist was charges RM260 for a trip from KLIA to KL!! Now this is really too much.

My personal experience came from taxis in Subang Jaya area. If you take a cab from Carrefour to Sunway Pyramid they will charge you a flat rate of RM8 even though it's a teensy weensy distance. And from Carrefour to Old Klang Road / SS2 PJ, they will charge a flat rate of RM15 although it only took 5 minutes using LDP from Subang Jaya to Old Klang Road. Paying for the toll is fine, but all in all I don't think it should came out more than RM10 or even RM8 for that matter, including the toll. This is in broad daylight, mind you and not the after midnight charges. Me being hot and tired, just agreeing while grumbling all the way. Did I protested? Of course I did! But guess what -all of the other taxis there took the same rate! Believe me, I've asked. Suprisingly (or not so suprising to some of you), all of them have some sort of "United CabFare Agreement for Subang Jaya". So there you go.

Anyway, I can't say that this news is a shock for me, but to have people from other countries pointing this out, voted us as the worst and reported it as news headline is downright embarassing. Somebody have to do something about it. In fact, a lot of bodies have to do something about it -like tightening the rules, do random checking in the complained area -like going undercover or something to investigate, and suspending the license of the offender for a period of time; those kind of things. (See? I'm not only complaining, I also give suggestions). I'm sure a lot of us has file in complains or even SMS to the number at the back of the taxi / cab, but are there any actions taken? I wonder... *Sigh

Read the headline news here http://news.my.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1682892

Vehicle owners can now claim their fuel cash rebates through e-government services concessionare, MY E.G. Services Sdn. Bhd. (MYEG), at its online portal
MYEG executive Datuk Dr Norraesah Mohamad said Pos Malaysia Bhd would verify claims before making payments to vehicle owners through money orders within seven working days, or credit the status of of their fuel cash rebates at any time through MYEG portal. Eligible vehicle owners could now renew their road tax and submit fuel cash rebates claims simultineously using the online channel. The new service was an extension of its newly launched online road tax renewal service in April.

Wanie Idayu: No more long ques / waits in post office. Hooraaayyy!!!

Source: The Star & Personal Money