Never questioned this till yesterday

I've been able to catch the news on tv this couple of days. The hot-topic seems to be chinese nationals being harrased and abused by the local police force. How shameful!!! People whom we are supposed to go to in case of trouble end up being the troublemaker...go figure.

However, that is not really what I want to write about since there are already enough blogs and e-mails covering that issue. Another news that kept coming to my attention is the troubles that our national power provider (Tenaga Nasional berhad) is having. Apparently they are in a huge financial debt, and need to find a solution. There have been talks about them increasing the tariffs but is not confirmed yet. I think what they really need to do is figure out how such a huge and important corporation fall in debt?

While still watching the news there was a commercial break and guess what, it was the Tenaga Nasional commercial airing. My brother who was also watching the news said "No money, then why they advertising?". Then instantly, one big question came to my mind, why on earth does Tenaga Nasional need to advertise? They have NO COMPETITORS. If anybody can answer me this please do. If your gonna say that they want to increase public knowledge on their existence, I say, yah right! i think the constant blackouts that some people (including but not limited to myself) face are reminders enough.

First surf session this season

Ouch! That's all I have to say the moment I started to feel the muscles in my back, shoulders and arm start to ache after just 20 minutes of paddling. I was so pissed because I couldn't keep paddling towards the pocket. Mind you the current was pretty strong. If it was mid season, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't even think about it. But after spending almost a year out of the surf, it's not surprising. Damn we Malaysian surfers have got it hard. Imagine this, for the average joe (being someone who needs to work) who only surfs the weekend, it takes us awhile to strengthen ourselves for the tough conditions. Furthermore, our monsoon only lasts for about 3 months. So we basically always take two step forwards and one step back. It sucks. I've seen dudes (usually foreigners and luckier locals who need not work) who haven't surfed after a year and still rip. I put it down to them having conditioned themselves for years that being away from the surf for a long time doesn't really effect their abilities. I envy them.

So what do us average Malaysian surfers do? We travel. Well, I seriously doubt that spending 2 weeks in Bali really helps condition us, but hell, it certainly gets rid of our itch :)

You must be asking yourself, why on earth do I continue surfing? Well, looking at it objectively, I would ask the same thing. But not all things in life can be viewed objectively. I honestly can not explain why I keep doing it. it could be the adrenalin rush of charging a big (by Malaysian standards lar) wave, the joy of experiencing all that with a couple of buddies, the stoke that you get from getting an awesome ride....I don't know. I guess the best way to find out is to try it out yourself.

I honestly hope that someday I will find a way to surf more and work less (while still taking good care of my family of course). But till that day, this is the life that chose me and i'll live with it.

Peace

Getting US Visa for Malaysians

Argh, another one of the items I want to write about that will hopefully help me in the future and maybe at the same time help others.

As usual, the first place I started was at the embassy page (God bless the internet). Just click on the "Visas to the U.S." link and select the appropriate option. In my case it was the non-immigrant visa service. Here, there's pretty much all the info u need.

Basically, there is an online form to fill out (U'll need Adobe Reader 5.0 and above for this). Complete the form with the needed particulars. When ur done, submit the form and print it out. You will need to do this because the form is needed for when u attend an interview at the embassy. Promptly after (or maybe during the process) filling up the form, u will need to schedule an interview. For male applicants, they are required to print out and complete a supplemental form that needs to completed and brought along for the interview.

Next, head down to the closest RHB bank and pay RM380 and you'll get a pink slip. Guard this with ur life.

They recommend bringing supporting documents that shows you have no intentions of staying in the US as an immigrant. In my case, I brought my J form, EA Form, payslips, home loan documents, car loan documents, bank statements, insurance policy and some other stuff I can't recall.

My interview was scheduled to be at 8.30 in the morning. The place is at the US embassy, Jalan Tun Razak for those who don't know. You have a buffer of 30 minutes before and after that time to appear for the interview. When you reach the embassy, you'll need to show ur documents to the the guard at the entrance and surrender your IC in place of a security tag. There'll be a pretty long queue so be prepared.

Once you are in, there'll be two security checkpoints before you reach the chancery. take a number, surrender your passport and documents, and wait. When ur number is called head to the counter and proceed with the interview. To be honest, my interview was pretty quick. He pretty much asked why I want to go there? Then he asked me what am I working as. He told me that US is an exspensive place to go and wanted to see my payslip. Before I could flip through my folder and get to my payslip, he saw my J Form and wanted to see that instead. He took a quick look at it, and approved my visa. I got a blue card, and was told to collect before 3pm the next day.

Next afternoon I went and collected my visa (which is laminated in my passport) with no problems. Except maybe being the heat that caused me to sweat like a pig :)

Thats it.

Renewing Your Malaysian Passport

Just a small note on the process of renewing my (Malaysian) passport. Who knows, this might help some curious readers out there.

Ok, First thing that I did was visit the Malaysian Immigration website at http://www.imi.gov.my/. To my amazement, this site was actually pretty good and very informative as well. Next thing I did was to download the passport renewal form (ur gonna need at least acrobat reader 5.0) and printed it out. I filled it up and proceeded to the immigration department in Pusat Bandar Damansara the following day.

I arrived there at about 8 am. Found out I needed to get my passport photo taken first, so I wasted some time there but luckily there were many photo centres there and it took about 5 minutes to get it done. Next was to proceed to the immigration office. Go up the escalator, enter the door to the right, and follow the yellow line on the ground. You'll end up at the rightmost counter where you show them ur form, with photos and a copy of ur IC. Then they'll give u a number. Wait. Usually it wouldn't take long (if u r early) but in my case, I was unlucky. The system went dowdown for more than an hour, damn. Once ur number is called, head to the counter and present them with ur documents .They'll hold on to ur IC. Once they accept it, u then gotta wait till they call ur number again. This time head to the the cashier counter and pay RM300. They'll return ur IC and give u a receipt to collect ur passport the next day.

Collecting ur passport is pretty much the same process. Head up the same escalator, this time enter the door to the left and keep heading left. You'll reach the collection counters. Present them with ur receipt, get a number. Once they call ur number, you can go ahead and collect ur passport.

Notes:

1) Bring a copy of ur IC
2) Prepare 2 passport sized photographs
3) Download and fill up the form accordingly
4) Bring RM300