Monthly Archive
Browsing entries posted on March 2008
Next time I’ll just take your damn money.
This is a ranty post about the pathetic level of customer service at the Arts Canteen. Specifically, the waffle stall.
The stall is run as 2 halves - one aunty on each side, one makes waffles while the other sells fried rice and other oily snacks. The waffle aunty is by far the grumpiest person in the canteen.
Today I asked for 2 plain waffles (cost: $1.20) and gave her a 10-dollar note. In return, she gave me $9.30. So of course, being the honest upright soul that I am, I returned the dollar coin to her and pointed out that it should be a 50-cent coin instead. She didn’t seem to get it, perhaps my leap of logic was one too far for her. When I tried explaining some more, what did she do?
She took back all the money, went to the cash box and came back with the correct amount. After I put it away in my wallet, she asked me indignantly, “Dui bu dui (is it correct)?” I just nodded, but you’d have thought that I had accused her of short-changing me, when really I was just being kind.
She’s the one who made the mistake, she’s the one who stood to make a loss (albeit of a miserable 50 cents), so why is she acting like it’s my fault? And what’s more, she doesn’t hand the waffles to you. She just chucks it on the counter. Wah liao, people give you business you still act so rudely.
Maybe she should take turns with the other aunty, that one is always free enough to chat on the phone. Perhaps she’s just resentful that these damn uni students just won’t stop eating waffles all day long, so she’s stuck making them all day long too.
Name On A Plate
If you have a UK-registered vehicle and would like Personalised Number Plates for it, Northumbria Numbers has the solution. Their revamped website now features an advanced search engine that allows you to input the letter-number combination of your choice.
Tabs at the top make navigation easier, and you can now offer your own license plate for sale through the company. If you would really like your name (or some variant of it) on your car number plates, the company has a selection of clever combinations that spell it out.
Pet Shop Service Grade: C
Ever since getting the mice, I think I’ve been to pet shops more times than I’ve been in clothing shops. Really really. And I’ve had plenty of opportunity to experience their retail service firsthand.
I’m a member at the chain of pet shops known as Pet Lovers’ Centre, plus they have 2 outlets within easy reach of me, so I often go there. Unfortunately, service at these places is also the worst I’ve ever seen. 
My most recent quest was to check out the Habitrail Ovo Maze extension, since Tim keeps escaping from his box and he’s currently imprisoned by an improvised plastic wrap cover. So I went to Vivocity over the weekend.
The staff member I asked for help didn’t even speak English. Sure he understood me, but to have someone who doesn’t speak English, at the largest branch that gets lots of non-Chinese-speaking customers, is frankly a dumb move. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to deal with customers directly, but how am I supposed to know whom I should approach? Anyway he didn’t know what item I was talking about, but they didn’t have it anyway.
Next I tried the Holland Village branch. This was an especially bad experience. The staff were eating their lunch right at the counter. And it wasn’t even their fault - I overheard one of the staff telling a regular customer that “management makes us eat on the job to increase efficiency”. That’s seriously awful - it reeks of unprofessionalism, plus it didn’t make them any more efficient since you had to wait for them to at least finish chewing.
Again, they didn’t have the item I wanted, so I asked if they could call up the other branches to check. I was right at the counter as they tried to do this, and one staff member was telling the other, “this item isn’t in stock, I know because I haven’t seen it” in Chinese. Hello! I’m standing right here, why don’t you tell me straight to my face? As it was, I waited for them to inform me of availability, but they didn’t seem to be doing anything except speak about my request as if I wasn’t standing right within earshot. So I gave up and walked away.
Oh, and while I was there, one staff member was discomfitedly trying to attend to a slightly annoyed Caucasian lady who complained that her dog had developed a mouth inflammation after eating their recommended (expensive) brand of dog food. Whoops!
Today I went to the Plaza Singapura branch, which is hidden in the basement and had only 2 staff members on duty. Nevertheless, they were very helpful and knowledgeable about the item, and even checked up on availability for me. When the other branch didn’t respond, the staff took down my number and subsequently called me. By that time, I had already checked out the item at the Centrepoint branch, but at least they tried.
Anyway I didn’t like the item. It looks good in the pictures but it felt a bit flimsy to me, and the moving parts just seemed like a tail accident waiting to happen. Plus at more than 40 dollars, it’s overpriced.
To be honest, I’ve yet to see a really knowledgeable and caring staff member at any of the branches. Smaller pet shops actually provide better service, in my opinion. When I bought Tim, the proprieter spent 15 minutes catching the mice and inspecting their rear ends for me. All for an animal that cost 3 dollars. Plus he gave me a discount on another item. I doubt anyone at Pet Lovers’ Centre would be so committed, not to mention the fact that they only sell expensive hamsters that cost double digits, and not pocket-change mice.
Liking animals alone doesn’t qualify you for a job at a pet shop. You need to know how to please their human owners as well. And I think the staff at Pet Lovers’ Centre need to learn this.
Buy GQ!
I always thought GQ was just a very metrosexual-oriented fashion magazine for the dapper male. The April 2008 issue, however, has shown me the error of my ways. And I’m not talking about Adriana Lima’s extremely sexy pictures, although some of you might want to check that out too…
Claudia Schiffer has a photo spread in the fashion section, advertising neckties - and their, uh, versatility. Her partner in the pictures is none other than Joseph Gordon-Levitt, child star turned serious actor. 10 years ago he was my teenage crush, although he was further down the hierarchy. Now he’s the envy of straight men everywhere as he frolics with Claudia Schiffer, playing noir detective to her glamorous spy. Article here, slideshow here.
Warning: These pictures may be mildly inappropriate for work. They are so hot, I melted into a puddle. They’re so hot, the afterimage is burned into my brain. They’re so hot, I’m going to jump the next Gordon-Levitt lookalike I see… hit the jump to see the rest.
Rune Factory FTW!
2nd Nov:
I think it’s impossible to overstate how much I love Rune Factory. It’s a “fantasy Harvest Moon”, so in addition to playing farmer and livestock owner I also have to whack monsters and solve the mystery of said monsters’ appearance in my quiet little town. Oh, and I’m amnesic! Way to up the “unknown hero” factor.
Farming, I’ve done before. Keeping animals, no biggie. Whacking monsters - now that’s a new one. And I must say, I’m enjoying it tremendously. Leveling up is fun. Getting rare items is fun. Narrowly beating the level boss is fun. What’s not to like?
Probably it’s more fun now that I’m at a very high level for everything. I took on the 1st boss too early and died several times with nothing to show for my efforts. A bit of training on his minions, and soon I took him down easy. The 2nd one was a real challenge, I barely beat it with a sliver of HP to spare. I’m a non-strategic melee fighter - I just get in there and beat on the monster, hoping to kill him before he kills me. I was lucky that it worked, even though my audience of one didn’t think I could do it. Heck, I didn’t think I could either.
By this time, it was late Fall (the game is divided into 4 seasons of 30 days each) and the next day was the beginning of Winter. I triggered the plot event quite by accident, fulfilled the requirements for the next cave again by accident, and beat the boss so quickly I was left aghast. I whacked that stupid giant Rafflesia maybe 10 times with an entry-level weapon - and it died.
I decided to take my own sweet time before clearing out the 4th cave level, because the boss was reputedly very hard. Finally I reached level 60, after upgrading my weapon and shield several times, and brewing better potions (now I’m my own apothecary, whee!). Unable to stand the suspense, I went into the fight with only full HP and no RP. RP are needed to “power” your tools, so I was handicapping myself in this manner because I would be using HP to power my weapons instead. No matter, I still beat the boss. It was an easier battle than the one against the Chimera in the 2nd cave, but still harder than the farce that was the Rafflesia.
Unfortunately, my celebrations were halted when I realised the next cave was a Winter-only cave, and it was now early Spring. Whee. Well done me. No matter, that meant 3 seasons to improve my cooking, sewing, forging and pharmacy skills, not to mention 3 seasons in which to woo the ladies of the town. Oh, and to up my level to 99, of course. Some people think overleveling takes the fun out of the game, because the fights are too one-sided and end too early. Me, I just want to complete the storyline ASAP. At this rate, by the time I face the mermaidy Siren in Winter, she’ll be ass-whooped before she knows it. Ha ha!
I also nearly got married to one of the girls, quite by accident - I didn’t realise it was a proposal dialogue I was conducting with her. In a panic of cold feet, I rebooted. No way was I going to get married so early when there were other ladies to be hooked! The relationship management part of the game is just as challenging as the fighting. Some of them only want extremely rare items, others want you to propose with one-off items that require a side quest to obtain, and so on.
And that’s why Rune Factory has captured my attention in a way no other game has. It combines my favourite elements about farming with a progress-driven storyline, and lets me vent my frustrations on innocent monsters. I like to pretend that I’m a feudal lord come to collect tribute, and I will dispatch their people one by one until they meet my demands by dropping the item I want. Cruel? Talk to the sword, dude!
Update: 23rd February 2008
Hooray! I’ve completed the game (sort of). I loaded up on HP and RP, and went to the last cave. It was a doddle beating the monsters, then there was a long cutscene before the Grimoire dragon awoke and the fight began. I was using my new Ultimate Weapon, the Fourth Element, which has attack ratings for all 4 elements (very useful). One swing of this gets me 300-400 damage, compared to my Ol’ Faithful, Heaven Asunder, which got 100-200 damage.
Grimoire was a good challenge, I had to use 1 potion because it was causing me major damage and I was meleeing it so I couldn’t dodge. After I defeated it, the enemy faction reappeared, aghast at the failure of their grand plan. The commander, Lynette, was told to commit ritual suicide, but my character generously invited her to live in our little town, instead of going back in dishonour to her own country.
Then Lynette’s superior, Ethelberd (that’s a guy) dropped the metaphorical bomb: he had 100 tanks made with the most superior technology waiting to bring destruction to my village. After I went round the village informing everyone, Ivan the itinerant peddler and Lynette joined me in facing down the tanks.
Just as I was getting worried that there was a final “fight 100 tanks” marathon level, the shadow of a great horned dragon appeared over the tanks and breathed nature magic over them, causing weeds, vegetables and mushrooms to grow rapidly and block the tanks. The Grimoire had reached its final apotheosis and was now Terrable, one of the Dragon Gods of legend (who all have silly names, by the way). Mired in the vegetation, the tanks had to be abandoned, and the Sechs Empire people walked back across the border to their own country.
If you’re wondering why they just couldn’t hack away at the vegetation or something like that, the storyline is that everyone must respect nature. Since the Sechs Empire did not do that, the power of nature came back to bite them in the rear.
Still, the story hadn’t ended. In another cutscene, Ivan was shown going back to a throne room somewhere unknown. He informed the king that he had just returned from “above”, and that a master swordsman had averted the crisis. Presumably this kingdom is underground, and my character was the swordsman alluded to. Ivan went on to say that he had miscalculated, upon which the king replied: “A master swordsman of royal birth?” thus implying that my character was a prince, and Ivan his brother (something I’d suspected all along). Ivan could have told my character everything and brought him back, but upon seeing how well-received I was by the villagers, he decided that I would have been much happier as a heroic farmer. *sniff*
Lynette moved into the village and wanders around, observing village life and trying to get to know everyone. I intend to marry her, because her birthday is apparently Fall 25 (also my in-game birthday) and her name is Lyn-ette. Of course I’m being egoistic. That’s what games are for.
I still haven’t completed my shipping list, so that’s next on the agenda, along with marrying Lynette and having a kid. Once all that’s done, I’ll have nothing left to play for and will probably start a new game to see if experience helps the second time around.
Cavender’s, Western Outfitters
While Western wear in the Asian context may conjure up images of cowboys and Brokeback Mountain, it is a perfectly acceptable style for everyday wear in parts of America. A cowboy hat isn’t just a nifty novelty item, it’s probably standard headgear in some parts of Texas.
So if you’re going to buy any Western clothes, you might as well buy from a top online retailer. Cavender’s even offers free ground shipping on all orders over US$50, as well as free returns on their footwear, such as cowboy boots.
CSS - Comic Strip Spotlight 2
First, a seasonal one to my Christ-following readers, as they celebrate what used to be a pagan springtime festival.
Comic strip “The New Adventures of Queen Victoria” courtesy of Gocomics.com.
Next, “Pearls Before Swine” gets an honourable mention again, with their take on corporate culture - crocodile-style.
Comic “Pearls Before Swine” courtesy of Comics.com.
Superstar Virgo Day 4
We checked out after breakfast. More eggs and hash browns, yay!
Picture taken while waiting to disembark. Golden horses and warrior statue, how very… bourgeois.
At Port Klang, the Customs people checked our luggage BY HAND. Why they can’t invest in X-ray machines, I don’t know. This resulted in insane queues like the one above. Star Cruises was smart to dissociate itself from this sour experience - nothing can be seen of their staff once you get off the ship. That way, the blame lies squarely on Malaysian Customs and Immigration. They seriously need a better way of doing this!
So long and thanks for all the scrambled eggs!
Superstar Virgo Day 3
I woke up early to hit the sports deck as I wanted to try out the Treadwall. I haven’t been near a climbing wall since JC, when I failed miserably. Due to my lovely position on the highest deck, I got a great view of Langkawi waters as we pulled into port.
More beautiful water to photograph!
Experienced climber shows me how it’s done.
After this, we went to have a soak in the jacuzzis.
She just happened to be leaving.
After morning tea (we missed breakfast), we went ashore. No boats this time, as there’s a jetty.
In this picture, you can see that the Superstar Virgo is about 20 buses long. The normal buses la, not the SMRT stretchy buses!
There is nothing much to do on Langkawi if you don’t want to go island-hopping and shopping. So we went go-karting. We were the only ones there, at noon on a Wednesday.
The view from the grandstand is really pretty, as you can see Pantai Cenang, with hills in the background (I am enamoured of such landscape combinations). Go-karting was fun too, I did 7 laps while my companion (who is an experienced driver) did 8. We went pretty fast, wheeee! The guys in the control room will give you a printout with your stats on it when you’re done.
Then we took a van taxi to the main shopping area in Kuah, but first we stopped by the statue of the animal for which Langkawi is named.
Oh hey giant eagle statue. “Lang” comes from “helang” which is the Malay word for “eagle”.
Langkawi is still very much rural, here’s a kerbau grazing in the sawah padi. Unfortunately it seems harvest time was over, the fields were all dry and brown.
Flag war at the traffic lights.
A 3-D topographical representation of Langkawi and surrounding islands of interest. “Pulau Kentut Besar” and its smaller sibling, “Pulau Kentut Kecil” always make me laugh. “Kentut” is “fart”.
Finally, the duty-free shops of Langkawi. I cannot buy liquor because I don’t get customs duty exemption for them! But I can still take pictures, no?
Tiny Absolut miniatures.
Big Absolut bottles.
This makes up the whole range - I want an Apeach, please.
For those with better taste - Grey Goose and Belvedere, premium vodkas.
It’s not just a name, it’s an indication of the contents.
See? Poor little guy.
Very bad photo of the elusive Frangelico, currently all the rage in town for its ability to make a shot taste like chocolate cake.
Kampung scene as seen from inside a moving van. These landscapes make me feel funny inside - a bit anxious and frustrated, mostly because we drew and painted them in Art class, and I was a mediocre artist.
Back at the ship. You can see the balconies at the rear, belonging to the suites. These guys have jacuzzis in their cabins.
View of the Grand Piazza, which is just a fancy name for “Lobby and Reception”.
View from my cabin.
We got back early because it was the night of the Gala Dinner. Since we were slotted for the 2nd seating at 9pm, my companion and I decided to eat ice-cream and play Trivial Pursuit: LOTR Edition.
It’s based on the movies so it’s easier than if it were based on the book *shudders*.
Board and playing pieces. Note the Ringwraith figure at the top. That’s for expert rules.
My Aragorn figurine at the hub, just before I answered the game-winning question.
Frodo figurine.
The Ring-bearer faces the One Ring!
After all that fun and games, we had to get dressed up in formal wear for Gala Dinner.
I love my shoes!
Badly-taken stealth shot of the ship’s officers at dinner.
Dinner. Posh food makes me very nervous.
After holding in my tummy and being very careful with my movements for 90 minutes, I went back to my cabin and crashed out. Being good is tiring!
Superstar Virgo Day 2
For some odd reason I awoke at 6am, so I decided to watch the sunrise.
Yup. The sun rises in the east. The ship was heading north. My cabin was on the right side (literally and figuratively) so I could catch the sunrise.
After that, we have to go eat breakfast at Bella Vista. This place serves dim sum only at breakfast, along with the usual Continental breakfast and spread of fruits, cereals and pastry.
Frankly, I found the dim sum uninspiring and cold. I finagled my way into their Western breakfast later, as different seating sections have different menus. It was quite a long wait, but bacon and scrambled eggs are usually worth it.
After breakfast, we had to wait for the tender boats to ferry passengers to shore. The tendering deck is on deck 3, so decks 1 and 2 are below the waterline. I wonder what they keep there.
Phuket is very pretty from a distance, with a number of long beaches and pristine water.
It’s also surprisingly hilly, as we found out when we tried to ascend Promthep Cape to see a spectacular view.
This seaplane landed just as we were walking along the jetty to get to shore. So cool!
The longtail boats waiting to take passengers out to the smaller islands. I wanted to visit Phang Nga Bay, but it was too far away.
The view of Patong Beach from the top of Promthep Cape. Why do human beings like to go up to high places and marvel at the view? Maybe it’s just novelty value, since we spend so much of our time on ground level.
How is this picture like an innocent convict? They were both framed! (i.e. please don’t tell me to move closer and get the trees and dry grass out of the way)
The elusive shade of turquoise that I love to see in water, and haven’t seen since Krabi in May 2006.
Following our trip up the hill, we then went to this activity camp of sorts where one could engage in some shooting, ride some elephants, play paintball or just buy souvenirs. While the adults went shopping and elephant-riding (at very expensive rates), my companion decided to go shooting, and I followed. It was expensive - 690 baht to shoot 10 bullets from a .22 caliber revolver - but totally worth it. My companion opted for a .38 caliber semi-automatic, and that cost 890 baht.
My score at 10 yards is 62%. That means with 10 being bullseye, I have a pretty good chance of scoring a hit in the general vicinity. So I can shoot a barn door at 20 paces, thankyouverymuch.
After that was the requisite visit to a temple.
Which means photo op for me.
After all this, we finally went for lunch at a local hotel far up on the hillside (and as our guide loved reminding us, safe from future tsunami).
View of Phuket town from up the hill.
We stopped over at some cashew nut factory that also sells other dried food like squid and prawns and crab. It was free samples anyway. When the bus was pulling to a stop, I saw a very shaggy dog and remarked, “That dog needs a grooming.” Then I realised that the tassels weren’t a result of bad care, they were a characteristic of the breed known as Puli, a Hungarian sheepdog. The Komondor is the bigger and more famous version, and at first that’s what I thought it was. Further research informed me that the dog, being small and brown, wasn’t a Komondor because those are big and white. I tried to get a picture but this is all I got:
You can just about see the dog’s rear end next to the pole.
Back in the cashew nut factory compound, a solitary fruit bears a solitary nut. One fruit, one nut, one year. I’m surprised cashews aren’t even more expensive, considering the low fruition rate.
They released us back in Patong at dinnertime, just as the crowds were streaming in.
“World Famous A Go Go” - I can’t say I’ve heard of this place, but yeah, sleaze travels fast.
Kickboxers advertising their fight at the Muay Thai stadium. The photos get pretty bad from here onwards because my Ixus’s battery was dying out.
Similar to Kong Ming lanterns, these are sold by roadside vendors as “balloons” where it’s a giant sheath of plastic with a little flame at the bottom. They were very charming when they lined up and looked oddly like candles in the sky.
After a stop at the pancake vendor’s, followed by a run across the road to 7-11 to buy cheap beer, we took the boat back to the ship.
She’s very pretty when she’s wearing her night lights. *heehee*
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