Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 808 views
I received a DM from Mr. Josh Lim, the boss for Advertlets last Wednesday.
I was in the ‘jungle’ near Bakun and the mobile coverage was really bad but I called him up anyway. First time talking to the man. Excerpt of our painfully transmitted over the sucky mobile coverage went something like this..
Me: “Hello, Josh? Bong here.”
Josh: “Who?”
Me: “Bongkersz.”
Josh: “Oh, yes. Bongkersz. Bong Chan Siong.”
LOL! No need for the full name man! I lost count how many times we asked each other “Hello… can you hear me?” or repeated “Yes I can hear you fine.” during the short conversation. HAHA!
He asked me whether I would be available in Kuching on Friday night for a project. I told him maybe, because I wasn’t sure I would be back on Friday. Anyway he said he would provide me with the details the next day. I was invited to partay Xpax Xplay Party at Paragon, Travillion, Kuching!
I wasn’t overly excited at that time because I wasn’t sure I would be back in Kuching on Friday night.
Then on Friday morning, I have decided to go on a road trip with my colleague, driving back from Simpang Bakun to Kuching. He dropped me at Betong around 4pm and I then continued driving to Kuching with @Emi_Mel. We started around 5.30pm and reached Kuching around 8.30pm and we were ready to partay!! *chanting* Partay people partay people partay people….
Checking with Mr. Josh if I am already in the list.. (click image for full size)
We went to Paragon, Travillion around 10pm and I was surprised that my name was not in the list. I asked them to double, triple check and showed them the tweets from Josh but they still couldn’t find my name. To cut the story short, I managed to get in the club after contacting Josh on phone and he directed me to a lady called Rosemary. But, too bad I didn’t get the ‘VIP tag’ and thus had no access to the ‘VIPs area’ and of course, no free flow drinks for me…
The VIP tag, cheekily named ‘VXP’. This is Fahriee’s tag… (photo stolen from him as well)
I managed to sneak up to the VIPs area for a while and stole a shot with my Crackberreh!
Anyway I had so much fun at the party. DJ Monkey and DJ Funkzu iz teh shitz! Love the beats churned out by the both DJs, really nothing short of awesomeness. I kinda ‘duh!’ when some club Djs playing the same old shits, repetitively cos I rather listen to the radio for that. Keyword here is ‘repetitively’.
This is DJ Monkey. Nice inks man! (photo stolen from Fahriee again)
There were other performances as well, by Soul Higher and Shawn Lee.
Sorry for the poor quality picture hahaha!
Shawn Lee the beatbox machine! Fahriee was not doing him justice when he’s busy tweeting there lol…. or was he tweeting about how awesome Shawn Lee was? Hmm… I recorded the part where Shawn Lee was beatboxing but the sound quality is so crappy for me to put it up. Sigh. One word for Shawn Lee, madness!
Put your hands up in the air partay people! (photo stolen from Xpax’s FB Page)
With Fahriee and Rosemary. (photo stolen from Fahriee)
Huarghhhh! (photo stolen from Fahriee)
Kuching definitely need more of such event to cater for the crazy party revelers here. Looking forward for the upcoming edition of Xpax Xplay party! (They were partying at Opera, Sunway on Saturday night and from the photos.. damn it sure looked like a blast!)
ps: A short hiatus from this blog (last post was a month and a half back…) and the first post after the break is about partying.. 
Now, Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) is just around the corner…
pss: I no longer look pink after few sips of alcoholic beverages because I am few shades darker after many days slaving in the jungle..
psss: I think the tagline “..when blogging is a constipated affair.” fits this blog real nice now…
Posted in Blogosphere, Event, Facebook, Friends, Fun, Me, Not So Femes, Yet..., People, Social Media, Tweets, Twitter | 12 Comments »
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 1,366 views
Finally, I got time to sit down and write a blog post! Huarghh!
Let’s get down to business. Last Sunday, with the help of my ‘trunk buddy’ – Comeez aka Pierce and friends, Myremi aka Rowena and another friend I couldn’t quite remember the name (Sorry, bad memory heh!) I arranged an impromptu session of ‘unboxing the #N97minitrunk that I received from WOMWorld Nokia.
We recorded the wholte #N97minitrunk unboxing process and the video still being edited. Too many craps in it, contributed by yours truly. I will post it up when it is ready, so you guys can have a chance to laugh at me making a fool of myself in the video. I have not look at the video, I hope I don’t sound funny…
Mission: Unboxing #N97minitrunk
Location: Comeez’s office meeting room.
Participants: Bongkersz, Comeez, Myremi and Miss ‘Forgotten Name’
The #N97minitrunk, darn it’s heavy!
Contents of the #N97minitrunk
That brownish thing is not someone’s crap. It’s a pinecone..
An envelope, quill pen, photo album, big ass calculator, stereo player, alarm clock, moleskin notebook, compass, tape recorder, old school address book, pinecone (?), disposable camera, gigantic snake and ladder board game.. and the N97mini of course!
Sweet! Love the orange against black, reddish brown colour combination. I passed the phone to Comeez, I have not try it, so cannot do a review yet. We shall wait….
Inside the envelope, a myriad of challenges.. and stickers!
A note from Nokia, explaining the #N97minitrunk challenges. All together 5 challenges. Winners (you and your trunk buddy) get themselves a N97 mini. Duh!
Challenge 1 – Trunk in action. I have submitted my entry titled – #N97trunkmini and Cherrie. Photos, maybe in the coming posts.. HAHA!
Challenge 3 – Music on the go. Together with Comeez, Myremi and our videowoman, we have created a video. Still under editing process. I can’t wait to see it myself..
Challenge 4 – Gaming. Now, I may need your help. Anyone of you in Kuching area who would like to join me and friends playing snakes and ladders board game? Exact time and location will be finalised soon. We need to create a video of crazy people, playing crazy game. Heard people at WOMWorld Nokia love to see those videos… ha! ha! ha!
Challenge 5 – Share your album. We have taken some photos with the disposable camera during the unboxing session. Have not figure out how to tackle this challenge. Ehe, that suggestion of ‘leave your album somewhere’ sounds a lot like what an employee of a fruity company did, recently.
ps: Which feature/function of the phone is represented by the pinecone? I have some ideas.. not going to say for now..
Posted in Friends, Fun, Gadgets, Me, Mobile, Nokia | 6 Comments »
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 1,320 views
I was in KL for the weekend. After breaking up many promises to go and chill out with my friends on the other side (so sorry peeps for that!), finally I made a last minute decision to go. Booked my ticket on Thursday and flew down on Friday evening. I am glad I made it to KL because I had the chance to attend few very important tweetups, meeting old friends – especially my lovely comrades from Facebook, and hanging out with many new friends from Twittersphere.
I touched down at LCCT around 7.30pm, took a bus to KL Sentral which took me an hour to reach there. Another 10 mins wasted to find a cab. First cab asked for RM35, I told him to go back and sleep, then I went to the roadside and managed to catch a macha. We had a good chat about Sarawak (after he learned that I am a Sarawakian), tuak, toddy, samsu and a little bit on politics. I was heading to Rocket Cafe to attend a tweetup with Lim Kit Siang. Tony Pua was there as well. I was late, reached there around 9pm and luckily I just missed the session about half an hour.
Teeetup with Lim Kit Siang and Tony Pua
The tweetup make-up is a very multiracial one, something different from the usual DAP organised gatherings I have been to. In fact, Vijay whispered to me halfway during the tweetup, “Hey Bong, you know this is the first gathering I’ve been that I see so many races, normally.. majority Chinese and few Indians, very seldom got Malays. Tonight we have so many”.
Many questions and comment were raised during the tweetup. Questions on Lim Kit Siang’s call for boycott during the swearing in ceremony in Perak post GE 2008, September 16 and many more.
I had the chance to ask few questions and make some comments on the image of DAP as a multiracial party hampered by its inability to get the right mixture of members and leaders to reflect a true multiracial party. Many other tweeples jumped in and gave their comments on how DAP is still perceived among Malays as a Chinese party. Something need to be done to change this perception.
Lim Kit Siang gave a good answer on this. He pointed out that in principle, DAP never close its door to any Malaysian, be it Malay, Chinese, Indian etc. The party does not limit any Malaysian of any race and religion to join the party. He then mentioned some prominent Malay leaders in DAP – a well-known Malay, MP Ahmad Nor, who was its vice-president until his death in 2003, Tunku Abdul Aziz the current party vice-president as an example of DAP multiracial and open to all. approach. It’s wrong to say that the DAP is not interested broadening its appeal to the Malays.
But DAP has difficulties to attract other races especially Malays because there are so many other parties to choose from and most of the time being an opposition party doesn’t help. Malays can choose from Umno, Gerakan, PPP then only PAS, PKR and lastly DAP. For those who are pro-opposition, before PKR was formed they would choose either PAS or DAP but now they can choose PKR.
Hmm, for me I personally feel the problem with DAP trying to attract Malay members is that DAP does not have enough specifics in their programmes or policies for the Malays as a specific community. How DAP is going to assist the Malays in their development, what kind of policies DAP has for them. Reaching out to the Malays is different from reaching out to the Chinese and Indians and other Natives for that matter. Religion is one crucial factor.
Another issue brought up was on the dissemination of information to the ground. DAP specifically or Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in general could have done many good things but all this good news are not delivered to the right people due to the distortion, manipulative and blackout in mainstream media. This problem is also related to the previous question and comments where DAP is perceived as a Chinese party when DAP has always been multi-racial in its composition and outlook.
PR also does not have an official one stop centre’ for all the news, press statements, commentaries on policies and current issues, blogs for its leaders, members and supporters. Independent or alternative media who are pro PR like Malaysia Today and Malaysiakini are not enough. TV Selangor is a good example on how Pakatan Rakyat can use it to present PR’s side on any story and issues of current interests, offering counter-statements, interviews on various issues and showing all the good works carried out by PR. Heck it even has live parliamentary session, something Malaysian cannot get from RTM channels or any mainstream electronic media.
I also commented on the cooperation between Pakatan Rakyat parties – PKR, DAP and PAS where PR still does not portray itself as a coalition with united voice when you have situation where PAS will take lead on a certain issue, DAP will take lead on another issue. I suggested that for DAP to portray and show that it is a party who is after Malaysians’ interests, it should always go to the front.
Tony Pua replied “Let’s say for an example, on the Allah issue if DAP was the first to go out and say ‘It is okay for the Christians to use the Allah word’ and then PAS followed after that, how people would think? How the Muslims would think? Don’t you think Umno and BN would jump to the opportunity to say PAS ‘ikut telunjuk’ (PAS is DAP’s puppet)? That is why for certain issues, we find it is better for us to sit back and let other parties take the lead.
Valid point, which I gave my next comment ‘Then, to avoid such problem, giving impression to the people out there on the disunity of PR parties, of who’s taking the lead and who’s taking the back seat, shouldn’t Pakatan Rakyat issue some sort of joint-statement when dealing with an issue? That way, no question of each party issuing its own statement or the possibility of contradicting each other. It is also more difficult for PR detractors to accuse any party of being submissive to other party. Any statement or comments coming from other PR leaders or parties after the official statement are considered as just personal opinions/views since the official stand has been made.”
Hmm….
Too bad, time was running out and the only reply I got was “Well, that’s an idealistic thinking”. Hmm….
Tweetup at The Reef, TTDI
A friend was waiting for more than 15 mins downstairs for me and Vijay to go for another tweetup at The Reef, TTDI. So after we took some group photos, we left for The Reef. I was so happy to meet up with the regular tweeples in person – @Asohan, @orangasle, @feistyflo (Thanks for inviting me cayang hahaha!), @zeffri (and his lovely wife), @IcedNyior, @thechannelc (she left without saying goodbye! Easier to sneak out than saying goodbye eh??), @sureshdr, @rachelweiyi, @iemzhar, @JcrT, @auzani (he came a bit late after). Sorry if I miss out your name, writing this off the top of my head.
Had so much fun, gyrating to the 80’s tune. We even made a toss to #yorais! We were so loud and at one point chanting “U2, U2, U2″ asking for songs from the band to be played. Too bad, our requests were ignored.. huargghhh! Nobody was taking photos of the tweetup, I think @IcedNyior took some and twitpic-ed it, may need to check her tweets for the photos. We adjourned to the mamak opposite the bar and I had my sleep around 4.30am. I was staying at D’aman Ria, the place where I stayed when I was working in Klang Valley. Thanks CM for opening the door at 4am LOL!
To be continued… (Next post - fish head noodle, Kanna Curry House farewell lunch and Teh Tarik Tweetup with Anwar Ibrahim)
Posted in Barisan Rakyat, Blogosphere, DAP, Friends, Lim Kit Siang, Malaysia, Me, People, Politicians, Politics, Social Media, Twitter | 9 Comments »
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 1,413 views
Another rambling post.
This is to answer few questions by friends especially after I posted my ordeal with the customs yesterday. Many friends commented in my Facebook Notes and asked me in Yahoo Messenger, Gtalk, MSN, Twitter these few questions:
“All these trouble for WHAT again?”
“Why do so much since its just a trial unit? Send it back la. Wasting money only.”
“Aiyoh.. is it worth all that trouble just to test the product?”
Well you get the idea. My friends were asking me why would I want to do ’so much’ and why I need to ‘trouble’ myself to such extent just to get a trial device which I need to return back later. And also, why I need to waste my money paying for this and that just to get the clearance.
Money. Well, WOMWorld Nokia has agreed to pay for all the related charges so I don’t have to pay any, but that is beside the point.
The point is, you guys are asking the wrong question. The question should be;
‘Why this particular customs officer makes it hard for me just to get a trial device?’
‘Why he created so much troubles and unnecessary problems just for ONE TRIAL device?’
My dear friends seemed to suggest that the best solution is to give in. Sorry but I have to disagree. If by giving in to such ridiculous request is a solution, then indirectly I am helping to keep this kind vicious cycle in perpetual. We always blame the system every now and then but we choose to do nothing when given the chance to do so.
And why is the tendency to blame the victim eh? Just like how some people blame rape victim for walking alone, dressing sexily or provocatively etc, snatch victims for bringing the handbag, walking on the wrong side of the road or just being ‘careless’?
Well I may not be exactly a victim here, more like a disgruntled customer/citizen wanting to be treated fairly but you get my point on ‘blaming the victim/helpless’ mentality prevalent among some Malaysians.
Allow me to sidetrack a bit and touch on a favourite topic among Malaysians. Corruption. Since I have so many comments directly or indirectly hinting the possible element of corruption in my dealing with the customs, I think it is only fair for me to write a little bit on that.
Malaysians love to paint the many enforcement units as a corrupted bunch of scums. To be fair, Malaysians also play a big part in making them as such. We are guilty if we bitch about the system and do nothing when given the chance but keep feeding the system, indirectly or directly.
The analogy is simple. If I ask and you don’t give, there is no deal, right? Morality is relative here, who is more guilty – the giver or the taker – is up for debate the point is both are guilty of the act. It is a vicious cycle and people are making their decision to keep it in existence with every actions they would take without them realising it or not.
Back to the complicated, troublesome customs procedures I need to go through to get my N900. Did I ask for, or want to have such complicated procedures, troubles and problems to go through just for a trial device? Who creates the problems and troubles in the 1st place? Did I not comply to the necessary requests and yet was given a hard time by the officer?
Of course, given choice I would just sleep at home and let it go. Hell I would not go to work if I am given the absolute freedom and liberty to choose. But, I need to. I am fighter, I would like to think as such. It is a waste of my good education *cough cough* if I don’t put it to good use. We should do our little bit of fights and not letting bullies trampling us with no resistance at all. Keeping silence, is not always the best option. It is only apt for me to share these wise words to decribe political apathy;
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me–
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
(A popular poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemoller)
To be honest, it is actually not so much a trouble for me to make few calls, surfing some websites, checking up the related acts and procedures and then explaining things in a understandable language so that the relevant people can weigh in my side of the story and judge things as it is.
Thank you my good friends for the concern. I love you people and I also expect more of myself. 
And I think I just killed more people with the length of this post. Reading is good for you, people~!
ps: With my awesome negotiation skills *grins*, who knows I may get the device after I trial it?
Posted in 2 cents, People, Personal, Politics, Quote, Rants, Thoughts | 2 Comments »
