1 January

Japan just got struck by a 7.0 earthquake? It is just the first day of 2012. How are we going to survive till 21st December. Honestly, I do not believe that the earth would end at 2012, but I'm going to stock up on food and put up a bug-out-bag anyway. One reason is because I think it is cool to be prepared, and you will never know if the May 13 incident repeats itself again.

Basically, a bug-out-bag is a bag which you will carry with you when SHTF ( Shit Hits The Fan) happens. What is SHTF?  It is a term used by survivalist when a disaster strikes. A bug-out-bag is suppose to aid your survival for 72 hours in any possible way. The basic contents of a bug-out-bag are food, water, clothing, arms(If legal), shelter. I guess I'll put one up after the Chinese New Year celebrations.

Anyway, I was chatting with Chuo Shuan and this is what he said.

Signing off, Justin

30 December

Not sure why, but I feel super tired these few days. Mom saying shit like I'm not eating enough rice. To think that she is modern, she is saying things of what the older generation would say. Anyway, ride in Kiara yesterday was harder than usual maybe because I've been exercising for the pass few days. I almost knocked a kid down during my ride. That kid was running left to right, in a zig-zag pattern. I saw him about 100m in front of me, as I see him getting tired and resting awhile, I decided to make my move and cycle pass him. Out of the blue, he suddenly got his energy back and ran to my direction. In my mind, I was thinking, is he stupid or what?
Suddenly I realize, he is not going to move and is just going to stop in front of me. So yes, emergency brakes. There goes every last bit of my semi sleek tires. From my initial thoughts, now I'm thinking who are these kid's parents. They really fucked him up badly.

Then I noticed that the kids dad looked back and called for the kid. The dad didn't even scold the kid or apologize to me. What the hell indeed.

Anyway, I had the urge to go out today while I was sitting on my sofa. I was really looking forward to the movie 'Darkest Hour'. I ended up going out with my friends of the same age. They so happen to have an extra ticket. The movie had a good start and all but not a good ending. The concept of the movie is not too different than the documentary I watched this morning. In the movie, the humans used a strategy called asymmetric warfare which really interest me. The whole idea of asymmetric warfare is just.. SMART.

We went to the arcade right after the movie. Not sure what gotten into me, but I think I spent 11 bucks in the arcade. Most of the money were spent on air hockey. Went to Digital Mall after Tropicana City to pick up a mid-range heatsink for my CPU. When I opened the box containing the heatsink at home, the heatsink was somehow dented. Told my dad that we have to go back tomorrow to change it. In the mean time, I polished my brother's heatsink and my old pentium 4 processor. I only had up to 1000grid sandpaper, need to use a wet 2000 grid sandpaper to bring it to a mirror shine. Oh and not to forget, my dad bought me a used Quad core processor for RM200. That is the best price you can get out there

Quad core 

Have not finished polishing my pentium 4

Signing off, Justin

27 December

Yesterday was another day partially wasted. I slacked at home the whole morning and afternoon. I did nothing but read about my router and hacking Wifi. Took an hour-long-nap, I rarely take such long naps these days, but I woke up super early all prepared for badminton which was supposed to be at 8am. What happened was Raj pulled out after knowing that Melissa is not going. He won't go for anything unless there is a girl or two going. Bing Xi woke up late. So yea, did not get to play.

Went to Bukit Kiara in the evening. It has been awhile since I last cycled. After riding 2 rounds I was too lazy to push on to the third so I took a break at the hut. There, I met Azrul, I cycled with him along with one of his friends off road before. Previously, another larger group tagged along with us. Yesterday was a fairly quiet day. Not many cyclists. The both of us took a shorter version of the previous time. It was cut short by 20 minutes. Wasn't as tough as the other day, the trail was super dry.

We came out at 6.40pm. It gave me some time to stop by at my friend's place to pick up his used tire. Bought them for RM30, it was a real bargain. Although it is more than a year old, it was only used for a month or two.

I manage to watch an episode of 'Modern Marvels' today. Honestly, I use to think it was a boring show because the first episode I watch was about skyscrapers. Never knew that the show was in the buissness for so long. Started in 1996. I left my house for Bukit Kiara at 1.45pm. At 1pm, I hung my cycling pants in front of a fan, in desperation to dry it before I go out.

We cycled 2 rounds on tar mat road and up to the twin peak. We then came back down with the same trail up. It was quite a steep ride down, I was riding at a mean 25kmph? It was a chance for me to practice my handling as well as shifting my center of gravity. I almost got threw over my bike when i hit a bump right after a steep slope. As we cycled back, we unfortunately cycled into a rain storm. The rain was so heavy, I couldn't see anything 5meters away. We were separated after that. I was cycling really slowly because I fell somewhere along that highway last time. I waited for the rain to stop at SS2 Mcdonalds. I felt really cold, was shivering at that time.

Had a cup of warm coffee after I showered. Sometimes, after a day of enduring, you will find pleasure in the simplest things.

Panaracer Fire XC Pro 2.1

Original price: RM140

Bought at: RM30

The tracks are still mighty fine.

Signing off, Justin

24 December

Went out to Digital Mall at section 14 with my dad to get a new external hard disk. I did not expect to bring home anything, my main agenda was to go and check-out the prices. Ever since the Thailand flood, all production of hard disks were on hold. Causing a global hard disk shortage. That is why, all the hard disks price sky rocketed. A month or two back, I bought my first Terabyte hard disk. Bought it at RM174, right now the market price is at an unbelievable RM3XX. Me and my dad walked around the mall searching for the cheapest price. Which is this Samsung G3 Station. Bought it from a store rather than a shop. They were selling it for RM2XX. I hesitated and walked away at first, then my dad asked me to turn around and buy it. He says I will never get back this price until they restart production which will take 6 months to a year. 

When I got home I immediately tried to make a 'cloud'. Am still struggling with it now

23 December

Slept straight through several alarms. Thank god my maid woke me up or else I think I would be late again. Before I left, I was actually looking for my earphones. I was thinking of listening to some songs while waiting for Sabrina. By the time it was 10.20am, I still couldn't find it. So I just left the house without it. Turns out, she came earlier than me. We took U64 to OneUtama. In the bus, we exchanged gifts. I got her a reverse mount for her lens and she got me a snow globe and a hat, a claus hat. We watched Arthur's Christmas, it was a good movie. Thank god it was not one of those movies that are catered solely for kids. I didn't expect Arthur to be the next Santa.

We went straight to IPC right after the movie. It was a 10-minute-walk. The decorations were rather simple.I liked it but Sabrina did not. We had tea break at Ikea. I remember I use to eat the curry puffs there really often, about once a week. It was on my treat. The ice-cream there is no longer made by the staff. The new system is simple. At the counter, you will receive a token after you pay. You place the cone at the bottom of the machine and feed the token in to the machine. It does all the magic for you.

After our light meal, we went to Curve. The decorations there were superb. Got a new profile picture there, credits to Sabrina. We walked to Cineleisure after that. There was a huge-ass Christmas tree right in-front. We queued up for the free shuttle bus back to the station shortly after taking pictures of the tree. Even though today was fun and all, I was quite disappointed with the pictures I took with my 50mm. Pictures are just so much harder to take without IS. I had a hard time with composition while working with that fixed focal length for the whole day.

First attempt of taking a picture of the both of us

I like this!

Got a guy with a DSLR to take this shot for us with my camera.

Reverse mount on an 18-55, f16 1/120s

Tough luck ,eh?

Decos?

I wanted to get a reverse mount for my 18-135 but I fear that the neck would break under stress. I ended up buying a 50mm reverse mount along with a set of extension tubes (No electronics).

Key to what 17th-Petaling scouts call home.

Old-school capacitor from my motherboard

Pentium 4 processor

I'm gonna screw you. 

Automated Ikea Ice Cream machine

Signing off, Justin

22 December

The day that many have anticipated is finally here. Many students and their parents were shitting bricks the whole week. While everyone was in school waiting for their PMR results, I was having my first aid course exam. To be honest, I only flipped through the notes a day before the exam. I was expecting it to be easy. But when I actually read the notes earlier today, I freaked out a little. By then, I was really doubting if I would pass or not. Turns out, the theory paper was fairly easy. Much easier than the PBSM paper. Almost similar to the JPAM paper. Everything went well except for the CPR part. The examiner asked me a lot of questions just to pressure me. Honestly, I was guessing all the way, till the last few questions, I was frank enough to say "I don't know".


After the exam, I cycled to my grandparents' place to change to my school uniform before collecting my results in school. I was one of the last to be entertained by Mr.Narul. Honestly, I did not think much after I got my results. Stayed in school to catch up with my friends for a while. Then I saw Charmaine running to me with the All-Stressed-Out face. First thing she said to me was, 'Justin, can you cycle back to Yuk Chai?' I was stunned for a while then I thought to myself, she probably left something there. True enough she added: 'Please Justin, I left my phone there' Honestly, I wished I could have helped her but I was feeling bad for being 40-50minutes late for breakfast with Yujing and Sabrina. I told Charmaine to call Yujing to ask if he could help since he stay really close to Yuk Chai. She hesitate and said that he would scold her. So I ended up calling Sabrina for her.

A while later I got good news from her. Not only they found the phone but they found my long-lost diffuser. I actually ordered one yesterday, I faced the fact that I may not see it ever again. I went home after that to take a shower before meeting the rest up at Kelana Jaya Station at 12.50pm. Shortly after I got there, the bus arrived. We watched Sherlock Holmes. I really do not remember much from the movie because I fell asleep in the halfway throughout the movie. I'm pretty sure it is the medicine that the doctor prescribed me with.

After the movie, we went to the arcade for a while. It has been awhile since I played Daytona. I use to suck at that game but to my surprise, I was first. We chilled at a mamak nearby the station while playing cards after the mall.

When I got home, I felt brave and 'balls-ful' enough to do something about my leg. I can feel fluids building up in the cavity between my toe flesh and the nail. It got worst as the day passed . I was ready to pierce a red hot needle through my nail. As I was sterilizing the needle, my dad walked in. He immediately stopped me and asked to have dinner before bringing me to the doctor. I requested the doctor to pierce the nail for me. I felt pain the moment he wiped my toe with alcohol. It wasn't burning, it was more of a blunt pain.

As he makes his way through the nail with the needle, I was holding the sides of the bed tightly. I was shivering as the needle got deeper. Suddenly, I felt this sharp prick, My whole body jerked driving my toe towards the needle. It poked through not only the nail but went in the nail. It was painful but I was relieved. I could see the fluid oozing out of the tiny whole the doctor just made.

Chuo Shuan and le Tree

The Three and le Tree

6As and 1B. What I expected. I'm not very satisfied though.

Signing off, Justin

20 December

Regret not doing anything to my toe while it was sore and reddish. When I woke up this morning, it turned blue. It is black now. All I can do now, is sit and egg my toe. Yes egging, a traditional remedy to cure bruises. It is done by wrapping a cloth around an egg and putting it at the bruised area. I guess it helps by allowing blood clot to flow.

Me egging my toe.

Signing off, Justin

19 December

Hello people, just came back form camp, a jungle camp. This is the third time I've been to Templer's park this month. Honestly, this camp is lack of man power and skillful people. I wouldn't say that I am skillful, but in this camp, I did not have a chance to slack. During the previous camps, I could depend on Yew Leung or Kin Cheng but not this time.

Anyway, I followed Michelle's car since her mom was willing to fetch us there. It was only 4 of us, me, Siva, Michelle and PhuayYee. Me and the girls hiked up to the campsite first leaving Mr. Siva along with the other equipment. First thing we did when we arrived was the usual, which is to clean up the campsite and get rid of the fallen leaves.

An hour later, I receive a call from Mr. Siva asking me to go down and help out the others to carry the equipment up to the campsite. I hesitated because it took me a while to get to the campsite now you want me to go back down. I sort of ran all the way down empty handed. First time running down, took me 10 minutes only. When I got down, everyone was using the toilet. So, I ate half of my breakfast which I think already turned bad.

By the time all of us got up to the campsite, we were already 2 hours behind schedule. So, we had to go out to chop bamboo without resting. We were only able to complete our sleeping place at 3.00am. I had to do night-guard duty till 4 with Yujing. I woke up at 7.00am, which means I got at most 3 hours of sleep which is considered quite good in camp.

In the afternoon, me and Yujing continued chopping bamboo. By the time we got back tot eh campsite, there were a lot more people than I expected. We got quite a lot of scolding from Sir Vincent because our equipment was not sharp enough. He even went to the next level by asking Yujing to chop his chest with all the axes and parangs we had. That was the time I realized my own personal parang was missing. I was really disappointed and sad. Because the previous camp, I took my dad's Stanley© Measuring tape and broke it. 

Before dinner, Sir Alwin asked me to build a tripod table before we could start eating. I really felt the pressure because we screwed up our backwoodsman and everyone was hungry. At that time, no one was free to help me I sawed every piece of it by myself. Michelle and Sir Alwin helped with the tying. After dinner, we had our Malam Kebudayaan AKA bond fire. I was suppose to pass the torch to Mr. Siva but as soon as the flaming torch was directly above the pile of petroleum soaked wood, everything just exploded into flames. There was a wave of blue flames traveling on the ground. Cool but dangerous.

We did not really plan for an sketch so what we did was tell what happened from the first our of camp to the present. We even did a forecast of the future. We did our survival night which I was looking forward to before camp, but not so much during. After our survival night, Sir Alwin told us that if we could not finish 15 gadgets by the next morning inspection, we will be punished. It was 3.30am already. I was too sleepy to do anything. So what I did was went to bed. Yujing woke me up at 5.00am. I started work on my bamboo cup and bamboo water container. at 5.30am, I woke Michelle and Phuay Yee up. 

By morning inspection, we had 16 gadgets up. We still got punished anyway, I guess life is unfair that way. I was actually counting the number of hours left till we get home. We took public transport home. So happen that the bus driver of the bus we rode was the same as the other day. We then transit to Masjid Jamek line and to home. I can't describe how good I felt putting my sore hands on cold metal poles. It is just so good. I reached home at 5.30pm. Was suppose to take an hour nap before the attending the BBQ party to celebrate Soon Way's birthday in front of my house. Turns out that I over slept. I went to the BBQ at 8.00pm. They were done eating. Everything was in a mess. Plates and food were everywhere. If we did this in scouts, we would probably be dead. 

Sleeping beauties

Flagbreak 

I wonder if hell looks like this

QM

Bamboo bed

My water container

My sign board

Only 6 campers and 2 full time scouters

This is what happen in the BBQ

Signing off, Justin

11 December

Did I tell you how much I hate waking up late? Anyway, when I got up today, it was almost 11. Almost half of the day wasted. Went on Skype with Michelle to settle some first aid course things. I went for lunch shortly after that. After lunch, I washed my bike. It is the first time I washed it since I bought the bike. Quite a lot of dirt have built up around the disc and brake pads. In fact, I think the disc got scratched because I used the brakes despite the dirt there. I used diesel to wipe the cassette and the derailleur.

After cleaning, I went Pasar Road/ Electronic road (as some calls it) with my dad. Agenda was to buy LED's for my bicycle and a Lead Acid Battery replacement for my UPS, Uninterupted Power Supply. It is for my computer. What is does is, when there is a blackout or a trip, my computer will continue running on battery for a minute or 2. Enough time to save any important work/projects and safely shut down. Cool eh?

While walking, I saw this man selling Carbon Fiber Vinyls, couldn't resist. I had to buy it. As I continue walking, I realize almost all the shop carry such a stock. All selling at exactly the same price. Before going home, I got the LEDs. Slightly different than the old one. Anyway, I started thinking of what to wrap in Carbon Fiber during my journey home. After some brainstorming, I chose my mouse. Originally, there was a coat of rubber on the mouse, it faded over the years. After cutting out a piece of the vinyl, I was thinking to myself, how am I going to wrap it. I went to google: ' How to use Carbon Fiber Vinyl'. I watched a video, he used a heat gun.

I grabbed a hair dryer for standby. At first, it was really messy. I slowly worked my way through the whole mouse. Using the hair dryer to soften the vinyl at the same time. When I was finally done, I was impressed. Very few flaws. It looks quite professional.

Signing off, Justin

8 December

pretty late last night because I took an afternoon nap. I think I only had about 5 hours of sleep. Saw a text from Alwin to bring a flysheet. Since all the flysheets are at Yujing's place, I phoned him. He was already on his way to the station. So, Too Bad. I was kind of in a rush, I only grabbed a thin plastic bag for my camera. Didn't bring anything else besides my camera, tripod and 1L of water. We, along with Siva, took the train to Sentral and transit to KTM to rawang. Have I mentioned I hate the KTM? I tried to sleep in the train, I was slipping in and out of conciousness. Next thing I know, I hear this siren. I woke up and looked around, there was nothing wrong, no one was panicking or rushing out of the train, so back to sleep.

When we got to Rawang, we had a drink at PapaRich. Waited for Alwin for I think what was like 20-30 minutes. When he came, he told us what he wanted us to do in the camp, and what not to do. He drove us to the Templer's Park. We stopped by at the Selangor scouts headquaters because I wanted to get some books as well as a badge. It started raining the same time we started hiking. Pure luck or just the work of The Adjustment Bureau.

Despite the rain, it did not stop us, we continued pushing on. By the time we passed the second campsite, it was raining cats and dogs. I was leading by about 5 meters from the others and I can't hear anything despite them shouting. I was super worried for my camera which is just in a super thin plastic bag which I grabbed before leaving home. When we found the third and hidden campsite, it was really hidden. It was covered by a fallen tree. We had to clear it before getting in. The campsite looks really dirty, but Alwin says that once we clean it up, it is going to look like home.

Personally, I really don't like that campsite and I think it is a really bad idea. I'm guessing Alwin is feeling nostalgic from his scouting days, that is why he has this strong attachment with the campsite. I got the feeling that a wild boar will pay us a visit during the camp. Anyway, we hiked down after inspecting the campsite. The trail look super different. It looks more like a stream than a trail.

We went to this expedition and camping shop somewhere in Rawang after that. Saw this super lightweight hammock, it is not only light weight, but the material is waterproof and it is cheap. My main concern is whether it can hold my weight or not. Out side the shop, I rolled up my pants to check for leeches, I was in for a shock. There were 5 leeches on me. 3 were HUGE ASS, the size of half of my thumb. I put it on the ground. It didn't move fast because it was super bloated. I used a rock so smash all of the fat ones. It went *SPLAT* blood flew in all directions. Was super disgusting, not sure why did I even do it, probably out of rage. We went to clean ourselves up at Alwin's house before having lunch at 4pm. I had to wrap the leech bites with a generous amount of paper towel.

When I got home, blood was still pouring out of those bites. These leeches must have injected a serious amount of anti-coagulant. I replaced the dressing and tied a bandage super tight around the area to give it pressure. It sort of worked until it started spilling out blood again at night. Till now, tiny amount of blood is still dripping out.

Looks like someone lost their slipper.

It rained super heavily after this, didn't want to risk my camera.

Bleeding finally start to stop, it was worst than this before.

Many methods I used to try to stop the bleeding

Looks like a patch of blood leaked through

Signing off, Justin