Everybody naturally has 4 grandparents, two maternal and two paternal. Some people live into adulthood with all their grandparents still around, some never have the chance to meet anyone of them. Most people fall in between, knowing just one or two of them for awhile when they were young. My maternal grandmother lived a hard life. She came down from China alone, and lived for most of her life in Malaya in poverty without any relatives. As I knew her, she was a bitter woman with a caustic tongue, a trait somewhat passed down to my mom and me. In her later years, she suffered near-total deafness, and spoke very…

So I went iPod shopping today, kononnya lah…. Actually I was in KLCC on the way back from banana leaf rice in Lebuh Ampang with a friend (we took the LRT). I was walking to the escalator when the display window caught my eye… it was a white iPod! I’ve never really seen one before, except in magazines where they are really hyping it up. Fortune ran this article on Apple’s Steve Jobs and showed this collage of photos of famous people with their iPods. My friend gave me an iPAQ MP3 player before, but the download so slow I gave up using it… besides it was only 64MB. So…

I blogged about Forbes’ Top 10 Billionaires List here, and since I’m still hoping to be a billionaire one day (HAHAHAHAHAAA…!), I can’t help blogging about it again. Today, let’s look at the 10 richest dudes. Julius Chan has strangely dropped out of the list. So, like David Letterman, let’s count ‘em down: Number 10: S. Robson Walton (US, RM69bil) – Chairman of Wal-Mart. It’s a bit like Tesco & Giant. But unlike Giant, this one actually knows how to make money. Actually, father Sam was the guy who made the money, this guy just won the genetic lottery to be born rich. Probably beat his brothers silly to be…

I think it’s high time I put my 2 cents worth on the current telco war in Malaysia. If you have seen the ads on TV and newsprint lately, you can see the 3 players getting more and more desperate aggressive in their right to your money. At the moment, Celcom and Maxis are battling it out at the top, while DiGi is trailing a distant third. There is another service provider, the GLC-owned TMTouch, but it has since merged with Celcom.This wasn’t the case when I started using mobile phones. Back then (in the dawn of time…) there more players, differentiated by their access numbers: Celcom (010 analogue, 019…

Interesting what the car can say about the driver…:(NOTE: No offense to any Malaysian car owners. If you are too sensitive about your car, please don’t read any further. You’ve been warned.)New Red or White Kancil – Lady driver, first job. New Red or White Iswara Aeroback – Male driver, first job. Red Honda CRV – Rich man’s wife. Especially with all those useless accessories like kangaroo bar, taillights protector, etc. Rich people must be higher than us, mah. Some more can block our sight of traffic. Metallic Unser (new) – Housewife, driving children and neighbour’s children to school. (Maid in backseat)Black or Silver Honda City or Civic VTEC –…

Malai – What are you doing, defacing our websites? Have you no sense of decency? Indo – We can do whatever we like. You guys deserve it. You treat us like animals, we fight back. Malai – When did we treat you like animals? We offer you jobs, without us your country will sink down the tube and go bankrupt. Indo – Don’t give us that holier-than-thou attitude. Your country was built on the back of our sons. Your twin towers, your F1 circuits and all your altars of greed and egomaniacal symbols, all by us.Malai – We’re a progressive nation, unlike you. We work hard, and reap the fruits…

Don’t forget to turn out the lights, Kenny;Don’t stay out too late, the moon is dark tonight.Don’t forget which key unlocks the gate,I hope to see you again in the morning light. Don’t mind me, I’m a little worried,You look a bit pale these days;Maybe its just the weather,I don’t bother what the weatherman says. Don’t forget to turn out the lights, Kenny;I may not see you later,If I’m not here when you return,Help yourself to some dinner. You were not here when I returned.And I don’t think you’ll be coming back.Take care, Kenny, and travel light,And thanks for turning out the lights. See you soon, Kenny.

These few weeks we’ve been bombarded with lots of bad news in the press. I say, let’s celebrate to good along with the bad. I know bad news with catchy blurbs sell lots of newspapers, but here are some headlines I would love to see on my RSS newsfeed (but would probably not happen any time soon): “Pikachu Dam Overflows with Too Much Water, Johor Flooded” “Robber Trip and Break Teeth During Heist, Considering Legal ActionAgainst Shoelace Manufacturer” “Osama Really Gay” “Study ShowsBurgers and Fries Reduce Heart Risk” “Govt reduces Excise Duty on ImportCar Models” “Astro Apologizes for Crappy Services, Reduces MonthlyRates” “MIX FM DJ Finally Realises He Isn’t Funny…

A new entry has made it into the annual Forbes’ Billionaire List issued last Friday. While the top 5 spots remained unchanged with Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Lakshmi Mittal, Martha Stewart and Queen Elizabeth, an insidious tycoon has hit no.6 making him the first Malaysian to enter the annual Forbes listing. However, unlike successful Asian businessmen like Stanley Ho and Robert Kuok, not much is widely known about Julius Chan Ah Long a.k.a. Brother Dragon (‘Long Kor’) and his business details although rumours and news from underground sources are aplenty. But it is a well known fact that Julius’ net worth stands in the excess of USD 20 billion.…

For all tourists visiting Malaysia, especially Westerners, I welcome you to our warm and beautiful country. While you leisurely take your time shopping and sight-seeing, I hope I can offer you a handy guide on some Malaysian customs and practices, which you may find very peculiar. Saturday afternoon in the suburbs:Now if you are in the suburbs with a high Chinese population, Saturday afternoons are not the best time to be near shoplot areas. There will be a huge concentration of cars, motorbikes, trishaws, mobile stall operators etc discriminately parking in the middle of the road to access a certain kind of shop. These shops are usually two side by…