Call me a masochist, but….

yeeEE-HAW for Malaysian heat!

Whether its 3, 6, or 9 months away I’ve always come back thinking “OMFG I’ve been taken the sun for granted” . Having to shower thrice a day, sweating like a stuck pig in a rotisserie and even having to suffer droves of malodorous plebeians will never change that.

That, however, will probably mean I’ll be dead soon enough from heatstroke while trying to regain some colour tanning at poolside between laps ( having warned my mother in advance to spare the little debacle in Penang last year - *anak orang putih gila mana tuh jemur tengah matahari tuh YA ALLAH anak akuuu!* ) unless I lapse into a diabetic coma first from the customary back-for-summer eating binge.

Finally back in my own comfy cozy room again. Ahhh…

Anyway –

Gallic Sales(wo)manship

Was doing some last minute shopping at good ‘ol Selfridges in London and decided to get a different brand of scented candles for the boss lady of the house. Somehow I ended up at the Diptyque shop and started sampling their irritatingly labeled ( scattered letters, which also happen to be in French) candles, when the salesgirl *foomph* appeared outta nowhere.

Miss E:Good afternoon, are you looking for anything in particular? * in a yummy YUMMY typical French accent*

Amar: Not really, just a gift for my mother.

Otak Amar: ZOMFG hot cute French salesgirl! Zut alors!

Aww how nice. Do you know what kind of smells she likes?

Yeah- light, green floral smells. Maybe something slightly sweet.
And the accent! The accent! *phooh phooh* kontrol kontrol

* 5 mins or so of aural and olfactory delight while she shows me the range *

Wow you really know your smells, no?

Hahaha that probably just means I do this way too often. I’ll take this one.
That’s blatantly a sale scoring fake compliment and I don’t even care.

Ah yes good choice, I really like that one too.

Haih tipu tipu pon enjoy jelah. OOoo nice ass too.

*rings it up at the till after taking a prettily wrapped one, and wrapping it in more scented wrap and chucking a few samples*

There you go, have a nice day.

Merci. (summoning all my wannabe kefrench-an)
Sigh that’s probably the last French accent ill hear for a while.

Merci beaucoup! Au revoir!

Man that’s such a refreshing change from the swarm of effeminate salesmen on the ground floor. Almost made up for the time a coupla years back when a cashier slipped me HIS number with the receipt after some small talk. So that WAS a wink earlier on. BrrrRRRrrrrr. Flattered but still extremely weirded out. BRrrr.

Anyway yeah man…you can sell anything, provided that there’s a hot French salesgirl pushin it. I’m sure Alizee could sell me a freakin brick for at least a hundred pounds. Ditto with Laetitia Casta and a bottlecap.

Back in GMT + 0800 –

Tengkiuuu Sangeetha for being underweight ( on luggage ). Muahaha didn’t have to pay a cent for overweight and also slickly evaded my guni beras hand carry being weighed all the way into the plane.

During three days , counting down from touchdown itself, I managed to have – Bubur pedas, keledek goreng, keropok lekor + murtabak from terengganu, cendol, pasembor, rojak, sotong kangkong, wantan noodles, pisang goreng, wajik durian, Sarawak laksa, assam laksa, and some things I don’t even remember. Some of it homemade, to boot!

Luckily my desktop survived being brought home in pieces. Even more amazingly, it worked after I rewired it from scratch in a new ultralight Thermaltake casing. Tak meletup! W00t! Definitely putting the new 7900GT through its paces with Oblivion.

Not the prettiest wiring job, but I can always tidy it up later. Psycho kan – later have to bring this bitch back sommore.

My old man’s impulse tech shopping continues with more gadgets that either will fade into disuse, or being grossly underutilized eg a Blackberry used ONLY for emails and a Nikon D50 probably doomed to a lifetime of poorly taken candids and corporate group poses. I will do all I can to liberate it from that fate – cmon the man doesn’t even know how to upload the photos to his comp. In the end send the whole camera to photoshop and pay even more to get the photos on CD.

So while bummin around i messed with the camera a little around the house....

So that’s another summer project – send dear old dad back to his film F65 and abscond with the D50 for camwhoring, incriminating candids and maybe the odd spot of artsyness or macro shots.

Alrighty now….who’s up for some 1 Utama-ing? CC-ing?

Eating-Amar’s-Food-ing?

Nyahahaha. R.S.V.P. dulu , dahlings!

YEEE-HAW second year's done with.

Done.Dusted. Sterilised. Nuked.

Barring that one totally screwed 5 CATs paper, should be passable la. Worrying more about keeping that blasted 2-1. Gonna keep this short - gotta finish up packin and mosey down to London to get some last minute shoppayng done until my flight on the 21st.

No more of this....

A little bit of this...

And even this-

See y'all back home over summer!!!

la la, la la!

we're gonna make you pop-u-lar!

ZOMG Wicked, The Musical soundtrack is farking nice okay! Super catchy tunes, super chunted cast. Actually BOUGHT the CD *KOFF deadTorrentKOFF*. Worth it. Set la this September must come back early to catch it in London dah. Chill chill Puteri don't book tickets yet tengok camana.

Basically, its a musical from a book in '95, a contemporary-ish take on Oz, going back in before The Wizard of Oz to tell more of the story of the Wicked Witch of the West. Why she is green, how she became misconstrued as wicked, whats really up with those ruby red slippers, everything! Marlass nak elaborate. Haih google or YouTube it only. Here's the trailer.

Speaking of Wicked Witches....

I'm MELTINNGGGGG!!!!!

The temperature has pretty much been 26Deg or hotter these last coupla days - with today topping 30. Its all fine and good when you're in the sun and breeze and shit. But not when you're in your room trying to study and you're sweating like a blind lesbian at the fishmongers. PANAS giler babi okay - not like my halogen table light or my freakin desktop is helping with the heat.

Anyone who finishes the ice in the fridge and doesnt refill will feel my tamparan tuhan hindu seribu tangan okayyyy!

But yeah back on exams and my iTunes playlist being a prophetic snarky slutbag ho.

Came back from Tech Sci 2 part 1 which i konfem totally mental block bombed ( dammit vibrationary mechanics and fluids) -

The Sound of Failure - The Flaming Lips

and Tech Sci 2 part 2 - which i think went rather well -Energy & Enviroment and Electromechanical dev. (except for the most faktap mistake - Taking bore diameters as radii when calculating area. DAMN waste).-

I Can Do That - A Chorus Line Soundtrack

Only Com. Sys ( which i'm takin a little break this very moment from ) and Tech Sci 2 part 3 to go. Balls to the wall time!!

But of course study hard must also play a liiitle bit in between also. Managed to play a little bit of the new Tomb Raider - the last one i bloody played was tomb raider 2 so yeah. Then i remembered why i dont anymore.

Its the same goddamned thing again and again with "better graphics" and "added gameplay mechanics". YEah - read "curvier curves" and " jigglier jugs". WHOPEE artifact hunt with some stupid story based on extrapolated myths, with a dash of her past inbetween.

After a few minutes of jumping chasms and shimmying across ledges and pole vaulting...

FUCK its just like Prince of Persia. Even the maps are quite similar. Just switch a gravity defying fakely British lass with a damned, brooding generic 1001 nights prince. Just switch the guns for swords. Even the combat manouveres sebijik i tell you.

They should meet. Lara and the Prince. Really.
Lara ( in Tea&Crumpets Brit accent): I see, those are some nice swords*jiggle*. Would you mind if i borrowed them and do some analysis on them at the Cavendish Institute?*jiggle* That will be right on brilliant!
The Prince: *looks around for Dahaka* Hands off BITCH.
Lara: Oh so is that how its going to be eh?

*runs circles around each other doing vaguely similar moves until lara plants a cap in the Prince's forehead*


*Prince rewinds time and decapitates Lara, whose corpse goes on jiggling for some reason*

UNHhh , workin, workin up a black sweat!

Okay wrong prince, but whatever.

Ain't touchin YouTube with a stick either. Those of you who have no more exams, youtube this - "silent library" - HILARIOUS Japanese gameshows. Seriously , these people come up with the weirdest/most hilarious/most disturbing things at the same time.

There's SOOO much fucking irritating unfunny rubbish on youtube. Self indulgent videoblogs. OMG those irritating videoblogs. At least with bad blogs , if you DO have to read them to fulfil some masochistic need at least you can read it fast. With a vidblog tho you'd have to endure their mugs and attempts and failed enunciation and overdramatizations.

Granted some of them ARE occasionally funny tho. Its just too fuckin easy for any moron with a webcam and a youtube account to impose their unfunniness/loserness/poseurishness on the unsuspecting youtube skimmer.

So boys and girls, the smartest thing to do is, AVOID youtube! Or at least, only search for things you know, or a link your friend sends and tells you its really really REALLY funny. If its not then slap their fucking teeth out.

Back to C++ and memory registers. Yumma dum dum. only 3 more dayssss!!!

*Amar sashays off to Rihanna's "S.O.S" *
*okay not sashay, but doing some usher/rain/JTish moves*

"Khianatiii, sebisa dirimu mengkhianatiii....": Cinta Putih - Kerispatih
"Super hailat tergolek jamban habis toilet paper": W.A. , nothing to do with TP emergencies

I could SWEAR that my iTunes random setting has a bloody mind of its own.

As sweetly, meltingly soothing as they might be - Corrine Bailey Rae, Norah Jones and Jane Monheit are NOT productivity inspiring. They fucking send you off to a lovely place where everything is in blurred, contrast-enhanced Trip-O-vision ( think Monet) , fucking comfy couches everywhere draped in plush , silken cushions and everything smells like lilies. Bah

All this last minute cramming is makin me as antsy as hell. Would LOVE to get on a piste and go all ParangZorroButcherMusketeer on some hapless n00B.

Cooomela....epee, sabre foil also can.

Anyone?

"I give you balloon?"

Anyway, when i was rea....huh? Wha?

I think my barong mask is trying to say something to me. One sec.

"EH bisa kamu kerja tanpa beromong kosong atau meronong - mereneng, sih?"

Uh oh...

This moment of procrastination is brought to you by:

Leftover Pandan & Half-Price King Prawns GmbH

in association with

Housemate Sakit Otak With a Hardon for Nasi Lemak Inc..

No better cure for cravings of cuisine from home or exam stress then good food, no?

Shake, tremble, cower and fear
For the time of the Melon- it draws near!

Greenish spheres of evil innate,
All in their path - destroyed, unmade

When the blood has dried, the ruins ashen,
Theyll break into song - in chorus, in unison

Their voices, not unlike a baby's cry,
This, no one left alive to deny

As the dark melodies unfurl
Nary a soul left privy to this, the end of the world.

Don't ask me what the hell i was channeling.

Back to sussin' out Running a Business questions. Oh Joy.Oh indescribable joy.

Sambaliciously signing out!

YEsH i know i should be working, but i HAVE! My brain will turn to peanut butter ( "Sun-Pat"? more like cow-fuckin-pat) if i dont take a break from my Design for Durability blitz.

Just had to post a plug for my 3rd/4th year project proposal - Dr. M was quite keen on it as well so i just forwarded the brief after discussing it with him to the feller in charge of the project board. Seriously if its approved i'm gonna have soooo much fun with this -

The Riddle of Steel: A metallurgical & esoteric study of the historical art of bladesmithing.

Since the Bronze Age to modern times the art of bladesmithing has been shrouded in equal parts of lore and actual metallurgy. Through the course of this investigation, we shall delve into a historical – and if possible, specimen based – study of different historical swordsmithing methods involving Damascus steel, Wootz steel, Tamahagane steel and other crucible-fired steels.

Based on these qualitative and compositional studies, attempts to recreate these steels and their forging processes will be undertaken. These samples will undergo mechanical tests ( hardness, ductility, tensile strength) , macro/microstructure optical analysis and also a cutting test ( for which a jig would need to be devised). These tests will possibly culminate in the selection or the consolidation of a final composition and series of techniques with which a functional , full-sized blade will be produced.

In summary, this investigation will consist of:

1. A literature survey of classical swordsmithing methods covering technical and cultural/ornamental aspects.
2. The casting of test samples of selected compositions corresponding to the literature survey.
3. Mechanical tests on the samples for hardness, ductility and tensile strength, using several off-the shelf alloys as control samples
4. Microstructural characterization in relation to the compositional variation with the mechanical properties, again using several off-the shelf alloys as control samples.
5. To devise an experimental jig to evaluate the cutting ability of the samples.

can't make it sound too exciting - wouldn't want every tosser who goes "oooh swords - so much better than valves and vortexes and cement" and also appy for it. I want the WMG crucibles and forges all to myself.

During the meeting the other day he called in a colleague to join the discussion about the scope of this coursework. She was also quite interested - she was all like "whoaa this is just like the script in the Highlander movie ..you know the one where he tries to remake his sword but couldnt until he found the right metal?"

Ohhkay...

Then Dr.M pointed out that in sanskrit "Amar" meant immortal. Ironyyyyyyy.

But quite scared also - usually student proposed projects get more scrutiny and are usually picked for final year presentations to an audience usually comprised of freshers , members of staff and other ppl who can be bothered. Easy onlyyyy.....

*super drama music from something like Gladiator or highlander plays while shots of the forgework and testing roll*

*lights turn on, i do some katas with the blade, and chop something*

"Any questions?"

fuyooooooooooo set la.

On a random yet vaguely related note, looked up other meanings or "Amar". I already knew that it was the root for "love" in italian(amore) , spanish and portoguese. Apparently in Arabic it meant "great" and not "leader" as i had read somewhere before. Tapi potong stim giler when i found the Romanian meaning.

"Bitter"

Not even the seething, resentment bitter. The taste.

Well can't win 'em all!

"with your lvl 25 cookery skills, she is like a lvl1 neutral creep wei" - Alex, proving that there's been too much Dota action goin down.