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I found our New Year’s celebration and fireworks display at Merdeka Square a little sad. Thankfully I was not there in person as I could watch the other celebrations on TV. When the stroke of midnight struck in Malaysia and the fireworks went off, I was taken aback by the odd camera angle of the live broadcast of Ambang 2009.

The cameraman was actually standing in Merdeka Square and viewing the fireworks from there. At the very least, he should have gone up to the roof top of Dayabumi or even up Bukit Aman for a better shot. That angle is just horrible when trying to show viewers the fireworks display. Therefore, I switched away after a while.

I switched over to TVB8 to watch the Hong Kong fireworks display instead. Now, that is a much better fireworks display and the cameraman had the brains to actually stick the camera a distance away in order to capture the fireworks coming off the rooftops of all the sky scrapers. I had also seen the Sydney one an hour earlier on the OZ news channel. This is when I realised that there is about a 5 minute broadcast delay for some of these stations.

Anyway, from the press reports today, it seems that there was quite a carnival celebration at 1U last night. There were lots of local stars performing at 1U last night including Suki. The younger stars seem to have been invited to all the hip and happening parties, leaving the old ones to perform at Merdeka Square. I had originally thought of going to 1U with my camera but decided against it as I did not want to spend several hours looking for a vacant car park.

This reminds me that I need to go out one of these evenings, to get a few good photos of KL City at night.

According to a recent article from TheStar, we Malaysians suffer from a ‘mega sale’ culture. There is plenty of evidence to support this, especially in KL. As evidenced by this photo that I took on Christmas eve at MidValley, the shopping malls are thronging with shoppers and practically every car park bay is full. When I got to Zone A, the counter outside was only showing 10 lots left.

This is a very promising sign, particularly in the face of the looming economic crisis and recession. However, my understanding of the label goes a little deeper than that. We are most definitely a nation of bargain hunters. We are willing to put in extra effort to find a good bargain for almost anything and everything. The article also states that the only difference between shoppers today and shoppers yesterday, is that we no longer purchase ‘luxury’ items.

In fact, after visiting IOI Mall in Puchong, I noticed that a new wing had just been erected and that some of the tenants seem to have just moved in or are in the process of moving in. I figure, this means that they are expecting to expand next year with more shops and more shoppers. So, it seems that the Malaysian economy is not that bad after all.

As someone mentioned to me the other day, Malaysians are generally a fairly rich lot. It is our government that is having trouble filling its coffers. About 46% of our national income comes from oil money and the last budget was done with the assumption that the price of oil would stay at US$125 per barrel. Since it is now just under US$40 per barrel, our country is set to lose billions of dollars in revenue in 2009 alone.

That is why, the government is thinking up schemes to funnel some of the peoples’ hard currency into its own coffers. These include things like issuing more government bonds and fixing a floor price for petrol. So, I am personally not too worried about things in the country. The people will make sure the the economy turns, even if the government is unable to do so itself.

However, I will also be on the lookout for bargains, once the full brunt of the recession hits and prices are slashed on a number of ‘luxury’ items.

The most significant thing that happened to me today was being addressed as ‘uncle’ by some girl who worked at the local Carrefour. I was in the store shopping for some daily provisions. I paid for my purchases at the cashier counter and the girl who worked there asked me, “uncle, do you want the 5 sen back?”. Uncle??!! I didn’t know that I looked old enough to be called ‘uncle’ except by my niece and nephews. This girl working at the cashier counter was probably some school girl earning some pocket money over the school holidays. However, it still meant that she was at least 16 years old. However, this does not explain why she called me thus.

In other news:

I read an article in TheStar today with regards to the PMR results for science and math in English. It quoted a representative from that which was formerly known as UCLES. The representative said that, “the standard of our Mathematics and Science paper was higher than the United Kingdom’s”. Incidentally this is nothing to be proud of.

In the UK, the scientific community has been complaining about the dire straits of their math and science standards for many years. They know full well that they are falling behind the rest of the world in this respect and are understandably worried about it. A mathematician PhD that I once lived with also made a similar remark before. The scientific community over there tries their best to raise awareness and pressure the government to upgrade standards.

However, it just dawned on me that our recent arguments about teaching math in English is rather moot. Everyone knows that math is a language unto itself. Hence, it should be just as easy (or difficult) to teach math in any language, alien or terrestrial. This article may be of some interest. The case for science is rather different though.

On another note:

I have come to notice that a lot of Korean sentences end with the phrase ‘su-mi-da’ or something to that affect. I should really ask my Korean friend what it means.

PS: My friend says that it is something like ‘desu’ in Japanese. Now, that makes some sense.

I have just finished reading a good novel, Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson. This novel was a gift from a good friend of mine. I like the author and while there are those who have complained about the book, it was not such a torture for me to read because I took several months to finish it as I have been writing my thesis before.

The tome, is actually made up of three books. The first book centers on Daniel Waterhouse and his exploits as a young Natural Philosopher and friend to Isaac Newton. The second book consists of “Half-Cocked” Jack Shaftoe, his meeting with Eliza and their subsequent adventures together and apart. The 3rd book features Eliza and Daniel in the events leading up to the Glorious Revolution. Therefore, it was not until around page 800 that the story actually begins to build upon the characters thus established.

I really like Neal Stephenson (I have almost all his books in my collection) and his writing style. I do intend to purchase his latest book – Anathem, but that will have to wait until either I go back to the UK or when the Malaysian book stores decide to slash the price of the book from its present RM70+ for the paper back. I like him because he weaves a believable web of fiction around very true and actual persons and events. Also, he puts technical computer knowledge into very subtle uses that any non computer scientist can appreciate, while all mathematicians and computer scientist would absolutely love.

However, I have to confess that there are two other reasons why I liked this book. First, is the oft mentioned places at Cambridge – it conjures up very vivid imagery in my head from the fresh memories as the first book introduces a host of characters including Natural Philosophers and the beginnings of the Royal Society. Second, is the use of French that is garnished across the pages – it adds an extra flair to the book and is simple enough to understand as the second book was filled with courtly events, Versailles and the Sun King.

While reading this novel, it made me think of some of my mathmo friends at Cambridge. I think that they would be able to appreciate his writing, if they are the kind who actually like reading fiction.

Alright, a friend of mine got married yesterday and I got drafted in as one of the ‘guys’. Since I had a new car, I did not mind helping out. My car has already seen 2000km in just 30 days. Not too shabby eh? Anyway, my duty was to follow him down to the bride’s place to pick up the bride and her entourage.

I had to wake up at 4am in the morning to gather at his place with the rest of the guys who were going down. He lived near 1U and the journey there took a mere 20 minutes, instead of the usual hour. I arrived with plenty of time to spare. After a light breakfast and a quick briefing, everyone journeyed down the Sprint-NKVE-Elite-PLUS highway route together towards Melaka.

I cannot say too much about the journey down except to say that we stuck together as a convoy almost the entire way. For some reason, we ‘rushed’ down to Melaka and arrived with plenty of time to spare. On arrival at the bride’s place, we honked our horns and generally made a nuisance of ourselves at the early hours of the morning. Then, it was time for the fun and games.

Anyone whom has watched any HongKong serial will know what these fun and games usually entail. However, the bridesmaids doing it were not particularly experienced. Therefore, I think that the groom was let off rather easy. The rest of us guys had to help out with things here and there too but he mainly did everything himself. In fact, the best man later showed me the stacks of red packets that he still had stashed in his various pockets as backup. Something for me to learn. Bravo!

After that, it was the traditional tea ceremony at the bride’s home followed quickly by our timely exit. At this point, three other young girls from the bride’s family hopped into my car and we ‘rushed’ back to KL for the groom’s side of the ceremony. I cannot say much about the journey back except that it involved a lot of creative overtaking. Again, as we arrived, we made a nuisance of ourselves by honking our horns. There was another Malay wedding along the next road and their guests seemed rather annoyed.

It was also at this point that I realised that there were lots of weddings happening this weekend. Many couples must be trying to tie the knot while there was still some bit of 2008 left. Along the highway, we encountered several other wedding convoys and there were tents set up in the housing areas as well, for different weddings. Anyway, at the groom’s place, they had to go through the tea ceremony followed by various photography sessions.

As for the dinner banquet, the place was filled with lots of VIPs and old people. However, seeing that everyone in Malaysia is linked by 2-degrees of separation, I actually bumped into a few people I know, and a few other people I am supposed to know, but cannot remember since it’s been ages since I’ve seen them. I was placed at the same table with the rest of the UK friends, including the MC and the best-man. So, at least it wasn’t too dull.

We actually prepared a special brew for the groom. We mixed some cili padi with a glass of wine. Then, when he came around, I pennied him in the good old Cambridge tradition and he had to down it. However, he could only drink a little before giving up. Then, the bride tried to help but couldn’t either. But since it was almost time to say goodbye, the happy couple had to dash to the door, which gave them the excuse for not finishing up the drink.

In the end, I think that the best thing about this whole day was that I had an opportunity to wear two new outfits – one of which was my purple suit with silver-purple silk shirt. Seriously, it isn’t as bad as it sounds and is actually quite good.

One of the films that I picked up yesterday, was a surprisingly good film. The title of the Korean film is ‘Open City‘ and the female lead is Son Ye Jin. For some reason, I have bought quite a few of her films. I think that it’s probably because I have been influenced by the film ‘Classic Romance’.

She normally plays the sweet-innocent kind of character but I’m not interested in those acts (one can only stomach so much glucose). However, she has been trying out some different roles and I’ve bought some of those. In this particular film, she plays the role of a criminal ring-leader of pickpockets. While her acting could do with a little improvement (I’m not entirely convinced that she’s a criminal ring-leader), the same cannot be said of her wardrobe.

I lost count of the number of outfits (after 20) that she actually wore in the whole film. She appeared on screen with a different one for every scene and there were a lot of scenes. In many of the scenes, she was dressed to kill. According to the story, she was supposed to use her sultry charms to her advantage. I noticed the clothes because it was like watching a fashion runway, with a bunch of other things happening in between.

The story itself was rather well written. At the beginning, I thought that this would be another perfectly predictable film from beginning to end. However, it turned out to be less predictable than I had imagined. Furthermore, the film was well edited and presented using flashbacks as a tool to link the storyline. In the end, I think that it was a rather enjoyable film. I’d watch it again if only to see all the outfits once more.

PS: Pics are not mine!!

I continued my exploration of KL today, by paying a visit to the shopping area in Mutiara Damansara. This included a visit to The Curve, Ikano and Cineleisure. I felt that I should just blog about experiences and observations. Don’t worry, this is not a review about the shopping malls or the shops.

I took the LDP there and parked inside The Curve. It was very curious to me because all the signs in the basement car park area were in English except for Keluar (Exit). Surprisingly, it also took me quite a while to locate a lot, even on an Tuesday afternoon. As I was already hungry, I immediately chose a place to have lunch – at Waroeng Penyet.

I chose the place because it had a cute name – Penyet (flat). However, there weren’t enough seats and I had to share a table with an old uncle. Since we were sitting together anyway, I decided to strike up a conversation. What my friend said is true – in Malaysia, everyone is separated by 2-degrees of separation. It turns out that we both know one particular person. He was a civil engineer and he ended up giving me a lot of worldly advice on working in Malaysia. He agrees with me that it is much better to work in Malaysia than overseas because there is more money to be made here than elsewhere.

After lunch, I went off shopping for stuff. I know that even 1U or MidValley would be packed full with people on a Tuesday afternoon. However, The Curve was strangely quiet. I found some things to buy for myself and my car. Then, it was time to cross the road over to Ikano and that was when I encountered another strange incident.

I was in Harvey Norman looking at random electronics when I overheard an argument between a woman and the shop manager. Seemed like the woman wanted to return something that she bought and the shop manager was trying to explain their ‘no refunds’ policy. Then the woman whipped out her mobile phone and mentioned that she would like to call her lawyer to check to see if the manager could do that. Finally, the manager gave in and gave her a refund. Now, the drama didn’t end there.

Then, the woman decided to go off shopping elsewhere and told the sales assistants to watch her son who was probably around 7. This was where it got interesting. Obviously, the sales assistants didn’t care at all that the poor kid ended up crying from being abandoned by his mother. I then overheard the mother saying to her friend that she needed to teach her son a lesson. The sales assistants were also joking among themselves at this kid’s expense.

All this time, I was thinking to myself that this is a terrible mother. Yes, you may need to discipline your child from time to time but this is not the right way to do it. Abandoning your child at a shopping centre is not right. I’m sure that the lawyers would have something to say about that as well, if she had bothered to give them a call.

After that, I met up with my friend who was shopping at the Japanese store there. Everything in the store sells for RM5. That is the gimmick. Most people would think that RM5 is not very much money and start buying stuff. Then, before you know it, there would already be RM100 worth of junk in the basket. This almost happened to my friend and she ended up sorting through the stuff and dumping some of it before buying the rest. After having tea together, we bade each other farewell and I decided to come home.

It was quite nice that they charged only RM2 per-entry for parking on a weekday and only RM3 on a weekend. Curiously though, the parking machines displayed two prices – one in Ringgit and the other in Euros. I doubt that the machine accepts Euros but it is curiousity anyway.

On my way back, I decided to try a different route. I paid RM2 for the privilege of using the Penchala Link and then another RM1.50 for using the Kerinchi Link before ending up on the Federal Highway and taking the normal road home. In the end, although it was smooth traffic all the way back, it still took a similar amount of time as the route was much further.