tales of horror from ipoh...

...and some other things in KL.

Like I've said before, traveling around all the time isn't exactly the best thing in the world because it is tiring and you're killing the environment along the way. Anyway, I'm really glad that I had the chance to go up to Ipoh to meet some of the nicest people that I've ever met and have the awesome and deservedly famous 'Taugeh Chicken'.

Anyway, you're probably wondering why did I title this as 'Tales of horror from Ipoh...' It's not so much because of the people or anything but rather the horror is from the public toilet at Medan Gopeng. I will spare you the gory and rather unsettling details but all I have to say is that one should be wary of all public toilets; especially the toilet bowls in the cubicles. Not all of them flush the way it should; ie downwards into the hole. What happened to me in Ipoh is that instead of the toilet bowl flushing the gunk down, EVERYTHING SHOOTS STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BLIMEY COW-RIPPING BOWL!

Thank God as I was fastening the zip on my pants, something or rather someone urged me to not stand in front of the bowl when I flush the bowl. And somehow my usually stubborn head decided to heed the advice and I stood a bit to the side when I pull the lever. The moment I pulled the lever, EVERYTHING SHOOTS OUT OF THE DAMN BOWL INTO THE DOOR IN FRONT OF IT. Good Lord, that was close.

If you want to know about the unsettling details, feel free to ask me about it.

Anyway, at the end of the day, the eyelids on our eyes are as heavy as a couple of 2-tonne trucks and naturally Cheng Yee and I crashed out at my auntie's place in KL. So, after a long and peaceful sleep, I woke up and I remembered that I have to iron my clothes before going to Brickfields to do some recording. So, I went to the back and saw Cheng Yee ironing his clothes and I thought, "Oh well... I'll wait for him to finish."

So, after Cheng Yee's turn, I had mine and I started to iron my shirt and pants. After struggling with it for HALF AN HOUR wondering why wouldn't the iron press out the creases then it hit me. I DID NOT TURN THE IRON ON.

*sigh*

Yes, I do know how to iron my own clothes.

I guess it's just one of those things that happen during one of those days. I have a feeling that this trip will be a lot more interesting than I thought.

some updates

I can't believe I'm making one of 'these' posts now because frankly, these don't contain much information other than to let you readers know that I'm still alive and kicking around.

Currently I'm 'working' in KL with some of the nicest people I've ever met in my life and life's been a roller coaster ride. Just a little bit different because every trip is like getting on a different roller coaster ride without knowing which turn is coming on next or when the seatbelt is going to untie itself and drop you 200ft into the ground below. Hmm... that's morbid. Let's do it again.

Uhm... I'll be 'working' in KL every weekend for the next 3 months, on this awesome project with some of the nicest people I've ever met in my life and this has been a wonderful learning experience for me. Aside from learning the difference between a bread and 'mexican bun', I think the trip's been really wild and crazy for Cheng Yee and I. You'll never know what's going to happen tomorrow and we should always take things one step at a time.

Of course, that is not to say that you shouldn't plan into the future but rather keep in mind that however good your plan is, it will still boil down to that very day when you're going to have to take that drastic step of action. Some say believe in yourself and take it like a man in faith but I say, having people close to you to listen to you and get you through day by day really helps.

Maybe this will prepare me for other things in life or even life in big cities when I have to go off for my tertiary studies. Well, it's pretty much inevitable and it's time to learn to live away from home. Ahh... now I know how awesome my bed and pillow is back at home. Minus the blanket. Yeah, I hate the blanket cause it's tickles me at night.

Hmm... I'm rambling again.

S'all!

no. 1 on my birthday wish list

I know my birthday is still a long time away (23rd March, woo) but I think I have found the 'holy grail' of magic apparatus, in my opinion that is.

As a magician, I always have this problem where my pockets, on my jacket and pants, bulge very obviously due to the number of decks that I carry on me as well as all the props(like coins, wands, elephants and rabbits) that I need to perform magic. So, to solve this 'common' problem that's faced by thousands of working magicians out there, a company called 'High Caliber Magic' built a HOLSTER based on a real-life shoulder holster for guns that are used by law enforcement officers around the world.

Maybe the .gif below will give you a basic idea of what I'm talking about:

As you can see, it looks mighty awesome and best part is, it's not going to affect how the jacket and pants look, eventhough the magician is packed with enough materials to start a cult. It can basically fit 2 decks of cards, a roll of coins, marker pen, extra props, elephants and rabbits.

I'm not selling this product very well but if you want more information, you can go to the website here: http://www.highcalibermagic.com/original.html

However, these things cost a bomb. The Original High Caliber Holster, which is the full rig that you see above costs USD$300. :o

For those of us, who can't afford the full rig, they also sell smaller holsters called the Ricochet(USD$175) and Derringer(USD$80). It's still very expensive but it still looks pretty darn kickass to carry around. To give you an idea of how they look:

The Ricochet.

The Derringer.

Incredibly expensive, it is. Ah well, a boy can dream, can't he?

time to kickass

Some of you can be a real donkey-stick about other people's illness. I blogged about it because I thought it is my responsibility to let my friends know about it and take good care of themselves. That doesn't mean it's funny to make crude jokes and witty smart-ass comments about my family.

Do them one more time in front of me and I'll open up a can of whoop-ass and make a sandwich out of you.




(Note: I wasn't talking about you, Jean.)

damn scabies

Okay guys, I know this will raise a few alarms and tickle some fancies but I have scabies. For the past couple of weeks I have been having some terrible itching all over my body and it's been getting progressively worse from day to day. So, I went to see a dermatologist today and he told me that I've got scabies. Chances are, I caught it from Hotel Telang Usan from my recent Sarawak trip.

Here are some quotes from Wikipedia.com regarding Scabies:

"Scabies is a transmissible ectoparasite skin infection characterized by superficial burrows, intense pruritus (itching) and secondary infection. The word scabies comes from the Latin word for "scratch" (scabere)."

"Scabies is transmitted readily, often throughout an entire household, by skin-to-skin contact with an infected person (e.g. bed partners, schoolmates, daycare), and thus is sometimes classed as a sexually transmitted disease. Spread by clothing, bedding, or towels is a less significant risk, though possible."

"The symptoms are caused by an allergic reaction that the body develops over time to the mites and their by-products under the skin, thus the 4-6 week "incubation" period. There are usually relatively few mites on a normal, healthy person — about 11 females in burrows. Scabies are microscopic although sometimes they are visible as a pinpoint of white. The females burrow into the skin and lay eggs there. Males roam on top of the skin, however, they can and do occasionally burrow. Both males and females surface at times, especially at night. They can be washed or scratched off (however scratching should be done with a washcloth to avoid cutting the skin as this can lead to infection), which, although not a cure, helps to keep the total population low. Also, humans create antibodies to the scabies mites which do kill some of them."

"Preventing reinfection

All family and close contacts should be treated at the same time, even if asymptomatic. Cleaning of environment should occur simultaneously, as there is a risk of reinfection. Without a host, scabies mites can on average survive up to 48-72 hours away from human skin. [5] (In cases of Crusted Scabies, mites can survive up to 7 days.) Therefore it is recommended to wash all material (such as clothes, bedding, and towels) that has been in contact with all infested persons in the last three days.

Cleaning the environment should include:

• Vacuuming floors, carpets, and rugs.
• Disinfecting floor and bathroom surfaces by mopping.
• Daily washing of recently worn clothes, towels and bedding in hot water and drying in a hot dryer.
• Hot drying pillows for 30 minutes.
• Overnight freezing, in a plastic bag: stuffed animals, brushes, combs, shoes, coats, gloves, hats, robes, wetsuits, etc.
• Quarantine in a plastic bag for two weeks: things that cannot be washed, hot dried, frozen or drycleaned.
• Drycleaning: things that cannot be washed, hot dried or frozen or quarantined."

The shitty thing about scabies is this: it has an incubation period of 4-6 weeks before the symptoms show and the problem with that is anyone who comes in contact with my personal clothings and belongings have a tiny bit of possibility of being infected with scabies. I'm fairly sure that I haven't been sleeping around with anyone so, that shouldn't be a problem. Even more crappy than this is that my whole family is infected thanks to me. So... yeah.

The doctor told me to apply some sort of lotion all over my body at night before going to bed and tomorrow morning I'll have a grand time cleaning EVERYTHING in my house. From bedsheets and pillows to sofas and stuffed toys. Haih.

So, friends. Please keep an eye out for your own body because if you start feeling itching between the crevices on your body such as between your fingers, armpit, underneath your knees or pelvis and you seem to have those mosquito looking bites on your body that itches the lemons out of you, then please get it checked out and take preventive measures.

If you caught it from me, then I'm really sorry. Just let me know and I'll buy you a drink.

Aww... damn.

art of quick changing

I know this video is pretty old already but in case you have not seen it before, here's David and Dania doing a Quick Changing Act on America's Got Talent. Notice I didn't call it a trick because it's way more than a trick and it's an art by itself. This is so awesome:



Okay, that's it. I have to start putting up an ad saying:

ATTENTION!
MAGICIAN'S ASSISTANT WANTED.

Must be willing to:

1. Change into different clothes.
2. Wiggle hands and feet to the music.
3. Change into even more clothes.
4. Do all that within a few seconds.

All interested parties please call 1800-MAGIC-BOY ext. #3 to apply.