Hall of Shame (17)

If you are wondering where are the previous 16 entries of this Hall of Shame series, well, the first one is here.

Number 2 to 16 were the 15 cases I recorded between April 2010 and April 2011, I just never get to posting them... yet. (slacker point +1) =P

Hall of Shame is my public service to name and shame the irresponsible, inconsiderate, often selfish and probably stupid offenders so the general public can be aware of these bastards offenders and be cautious if ever have the misfortune of encountering them.

It's mainly traffic related but could be anything that a law-abiding, responsible and considerate citizen will not do.

Trust me, if I had a video camera in my car and captured these offences, I would post them on YouTube and send a copy to the police as evidence. The police probably won't do anything about it but hey, I do my part.

Anyway...

Date: 21 May 2011

Time: around 20:59 hours

Location: Union High School traffic light, Penang

Offender: driver of silver Mercedes E240 with number plate WJQ8336

Offence: sped past and went straight on the right turn only lane when it's green for straight lane, would have run into me on the straight lane if I failed to notice the bastard and braked in time.

I was hoping the traffic camera would catch it, disappointed that no flash so probably didn't. Camera only for running red light on straight lane I guess.

If you have the misfortune to meet this bugger on the road, stay clear and be cautious, the driver has no care for the safety of other road users. Typical rich selfish bastard road bully.

You have been warned, public service done. (karma +1)

Bits and Pieces

Random collection of recent events and thoughts.

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His Royal Highness King Toddler Young was wearing his bright yellow pyjamas a few nights ago.

His brother, His Royal Highness Boy King Hsiang, said,

Look papa, didi looks like a banana!

Well, he does look very yellow...

Didi, I am going to eat you!

And the kings played and filled the room with laughters.

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I think Nelson's "five minutes heat" is over after he posted two entries on his blog.

So much for his comeback. =P

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Defied the "curse" saying I would still be in dungeon mode today. Booyah!

Though I am fervently praying that things don't fall apart.

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Workload is mounting up. Not a bad thing as it indicates job security, at least for the short term.

Would be nice to get a heads up before being dragged into yet another meeting though.

And a check on bandwidth would have been much appreciated.

Oh well, managers' style differs.

Reprieve

Had a long day yesterday, in the dungeon till 19:30 hours, then worked till 23:30 hours after dinner. Stuff that we got to work in the morning stopped working after lunch, that really put me in a rather glum mood. (mood -1)

Though I was tired as hell, I just couldn't sleep in the night. Probably it's near full moon again.

This morning when I finally drifted off to sleep, the two kings tried their very best to generate as much noise as possible. Eventually I got out of bed and gave them a good scolding. (mood -3)

Never disturb my sleep, I will bite. Really.

Of course I couldn't get back to sleep anymore, so I am feeling rubbish the whole day.

Got a bit of peace and quiet time after lunch, when the little king was taking his afternoon nap and the older king was contented watching the television.

I went to my room with a chilled can of Coke, popped open a packet of junk food, and read Michael Crichton's Airframe. I felt much better after that little time out. (mood +2)

A bit of peace and quiet time, that's all I ask.

And undisturbed rest!

Dungeon Master

Oh, how I wish this is about board game, of which I have several.

Since I have gone through all the missions and maps and what not of those board games, naturally I should be the dungeon master else I would have unfair advantages if I were one of the players.

Only I do not have a group of like-minded friends who can spend the few hours every week for a game or two. =\

But alas, this entry is not about board game.

Ever since Nelson coined the word "dungeon" to describe laboratory, I have been using it whenever I have to spend extensive time in the lab.

The latest being these last three days. Went in after breakfast, only to resurface briefly for lunch and then back in until late evening.

Lifting, fitting, tweaking, fixing, trying, testing, heating, cooling, pumping, head-scratching, troubleshooting, and making a puddle on the floor.

All the while my e-mail inbox is filling up and all other stuff pretty much got ignored. There ain't no time to spare while in dungeon mode.

And it's going to continue until we brought the system up and running. We are almost done, with luck Monday will be the last time I enter the dungeon.

One can hope. =)

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. As this is relevant work for a irresistible hot and tantalising cool thermal engineer, I am helping to bring up the thermal subsystem of a machine. You know, dealing with hot stuff or just staying cool. =P

Does mean I am busier than usual though. So if you tried to contact me via instant messaging or e-mail but did not get a timely response, I wasn't being rude or ignoring you. I might just be sticking my head in the machine checking stuff or getting my hands dirty and wet trying to stop the leakages.

I am simply in the dungeon mode. =)

Malaysian time

When a party is scheduled to start at a certain time, when do you plan to arrive?

A few minutes before? On time? Between +/- 15 minutes? Only start to prepare to go out at the time the party starts?

These were the timing (in percentage) based on a true event:

- arrived before scheduled start time: 0%

- arrived on time: 0%

- arrived between 0 to 30 minutes of scheduled start time: 0%

- arrived between 30 to 60 minutes of scheduled start time: 33.3%

- arrived between 60 to 90 minutes of scheduled start time: 44.5%

- arrived between 90 to 120 minutes of scheduled start time: 22.2%

Pathetic, I know.

Punctuality is not a Malaysian's forte, sadly I have to admit. It's not something I am proud of as a Malaysian.

Many Malaysians simply do not respect other people's time. They expect others to be late, so they think it's okay to be late themselves.

It's this kind of mentality that causes these people to never progress to be a better person, the "since the others are doing so, I may as well" mentality. Never do they think of breaking out of the vicious cycle and stop degrading to a lower standard. All it takes is for one to lower the bar and these people will follow suit and lower themselves to that level.

Instead of striving for progression, these people strive for regression. >_<

Know what's worse? Most of these people do not have the courtesy to inform when they are running late, it's like it's their god-forsaken right to be late and all other people should just wait for them.

Hmm... actually, it's probably because they are not running late, as they planned to be late in the first place.

The mentality is just... gah, I can't understand.

Such blatant disregard of others' time, I hate it.

Some people never learn

On 26th of April 2011, about 17:30 hours, shortly after the bridge toll, a dark blue Proton Wira with the license plate PDM1033 shot past me on the left and cut into the fast lane a car in front of me.

Nothing special there.

The interesting part started soon after, as throughout the distance from there to the mid point of the bridge, the driver kept on changing lanes trying to get ahead. Switching in and out of lanes, mostly failed attempts that resulted in sharp brakes to avoid collision. This happened so frequently that I started to take note and hence this entry.

All the while when the driver was changing lanes trying to get ahead, I stayed my course on the fast lane, following the car in front of me at a safe distance.

Eventually when we reached the mid point of the bridge, the Wira cut into the fast lane again for the umpteenth times. Care to guess how far ahead the driver had progressed for all the lane changing?

Zip. Nada, Nil.

The Wira ended up in the same position as when we started after the toll: a car in front of me. =D

On the down slope after the mid point, the Wira changed to the slow lane and pulled away, and I didn't see it for a while. I could not be sure, but I bet the driver was still doing the rather reckless lane changes. Probably with many failed attempts and sharp brakes as well. =P

I did saw the Wira again, right at the end of the bridge where it split to Georgetown and Gelugor/Bayan Baru. The Wira went left while I went right.

Wanna guess how far ahead the car was at that point? =)

Two cars ahead of me.

Congratulations! For all the vigorous lane changing, sharp brakes and accelerations that burned extra fuel plus putting other road users in danger, you have got ahead by ONE car after the whole length of Penang bridge!

I bet that 0.5 seconds faster was worth all that effort.

Really people, just stick to your lane and keep a safe distance, changing lanes will not get you ahead by much, if any. And done recklessly, it endangers other road users and made you look like a loser.

So why is this not in the Hall of Shame list? Yes I have a Hall of Shame where I name and shame the bad traffic offenders. I just haven't decided to post it. =P (Slacker point +1)

Well, because the driver at least had the courtesy to use signal light whenever he or she changed lane. So he or she was not the rude selfish idiotic f'ing bastard type. Probably just someone clueless and in a rush, unaware that to get somewhere fast (and safe), the trick is to not rush.

Brooding

Wanted to post something today.

But ended up with this.

This is not a "real" entry.

It's not that I have run out of stuff to write.

I have the habit of taking down notes when interesting stuff happened or I had a sudden idea which I like to share. I have quite a few of these notes, which need different degree of polishing to make proper entries.

Heck, I have ideas from February last year still not posted. (slacker point +1)



Just don't feel like it tonight though. Had a long and not so smooth day. I am tired and I just want to brood instead.

So instead of a meaningful sharing, today's a rant. Kind of.