Simple Life, Simpler Mind, Simplest Dude

I found it..finally!!!

2006-06-21T22:23:00.000+08:00

What am I talking about? Well, it's the intro song to the Anime Samurai X. I think it's been 5 years since I first asked the question "Anyody know what's the title of that song?". Well, I found it thanks to a colleague of mine who took about a minute to get it for me.

The title of the song is Sobakasu by the band Judy and Mary. I'm not a big fan of Japanese songs or artists but a good song is a good song, no matter the language. Here's a video of them performing it live. Yeah, they kick ass doing it live too!!!

Really hillarious football moments!!!

2006-06-19T23:27:00.000+08:00

Seeing that the Worldcup fever goin' around, this comes courtesy of my buddy sid. Real gut-bustin' stuff.

Anti ipod?

2006-06-18T02:51:00.000+08:00

Been reading reviews on MP3 players recently. Thinking of getting me one since I now need to commute to work and need some music to brighten up my day. Came across a bunch of sites that seem to have lots to say about the ipod.

http://ipodsdirtysecret.com/,
http://www.idont.com/

Personally, I have nothing against the ipod. I even think it looks pretty good. But I'm still doing more research so no comments fer now.

Bali Pics from My Bali Trip

2006-05-14T20:48:00.000+08:00

Just wanna share some pics I took while on the trip. Check it out here:
http://www.davidkhaw.fotopic.net/c950793.html

I'm not really sure why, but I kinda like taking em' panoramic photos. Be sure to check em' out.

Bali Trip

2006-05-11T15:50:00.000+08:00

Good Times!!! Been back for about a week now. 1 week is definitely not enough.

Firstly, a big shout out to my Balinese buddies, Fauzan, Joe, Manok, Danny, Made and the rest of the Pit crew. They were kind enough to come pick us up from Ngurah Rai airport with 2 cars. Yeah, there were about 8 of us on one flight, plus all the boards, 2 cars was just nice. On the fisrt day, we wasn't able to do much really. We arrived about 2pm and by the time we checked in, it was about 5pm. But that didn't stop us from hitting the surf at Kuta beach tho. Wavehungry city boys...and girls...hehe.

The next day we headed down to Serangan. After that, it was back to Kuta beach. The day after we rented a Kijang coz the local guys had only one car available. It was about 100,000rp per day. Not bad in my opinion. We started off early in the morning and headed down to Balian. It was about two hors from Jalan Legian, where we were staying. Oh what a beautiful place this is. The surf there was super heavy (by city boy standards). I didn't feel confident in hitting the surf so I stayed out and shot some pics and watched the surfers that were in. Hats off to David G, Mun Hoe and Joel, the only three KL boys who braved the surf. Fauzan got a couple of good rides too but even he came out early and admitted that it was pretty heavy out there. Once everyone was out, we packed up and headed to Medewi which was about an hour away from Balian. The surf in Medewi is very similar to our cherating break (left break). There were lots of rocks there and the fact that I saw many surfers wearing booties didn't really make me jump for joy. Apparently there are many sea urchins there so it's not a good idea to walk around in the water. Neverheless, some of us went in and it wasn't too bad. The waves were ok in size but the problem was that there were many surfers. And being a point break, that wasn't a good thing. However, I waited further down (as I usually do when theres a crowd), and managed to get some of the leftover waves. Getting out was an issue cause it was all rocks but I managed, not without getting a couple of scratches and dings on my board.(Note to self, remember to ask how to get out also nextime).

The rest of the days, I pretty much surfed Kuta beach and drank lotsa bintangs. Still, it is my favorite spot next to "Playground" at Nusa Lembongan simply because it is just the right size and power for my level of surfing. Also, I love chasing rights and lefts and learning to read the waves. Not to forget being able to come out and chill with a bintang while watching some really good surfers. All this can be found at Kuta beach.

Overall, during this trip, I really felt that by being a city boy and living 4 hours away from the closest break that progress is rather difficult if not impossible. Waves any bigger than head high and heavy is really a test to ones mental and physical capabilities. However, I do still enjoy surfing very much and plan on surfing till I can't surf no more. It is my dream to someday live near a surfing beach and be able to surf daily.

Next, Singapore...

Proven Ways on How to become a Millionaire

2006-04-25T18:41:00.000+08:00

Haha...you greedy fools. This picture just shows one of the many things I love about my annual trip to Bali. Not only do I get to surf and chill all day, I also get to be a millionaire (that's 1.2 million right there in the pic)...for a couple of days at least.

I'm so looking forward to this trip since I missed out on it last year. However, I'm only going for a week, as opposed to the usual 2 weeks this time due to my financial situation. Nevertheless, it's going to be a fun trip for sure. This time around, it's gonna be really chaotic due to the number of friends going on this trip. 20+ persons the last time I counted. That's not even counting my friends there.

Ahhh...images of crystal clear waters, sunshine, golden sands and killer surf is floating around in my head. Ok...to all yall in the rat race...have a fun day at work ok. I'm outta here.

Peace!!!

Deutschland Represent!!! The VDub

2006-04-18T21:20:00.000+08:00

Everyone has seen the "Pimp My Ride" show on MTV right, well, this is the opposite. Helluva cool and funny Ad. Done by the guys at Volkswagen. I'm liking this car-maker more and more each day.

Ice Age 2, Alternate Titles...NOT!!!

2006-04-18T04:00:00.000+08:00

I was just browsing the Blue Sky Studios website (peeps' responsible for Ice Age, Robots and the recent Ice Age 2) and came across a section that simply made me laugh like hell. I think I may have just added a couple of months to my life. I'm still laughing while typing this out. I hope you guys find it as funny as I did. I'm not that different...am I??? I marked my favorites with a *.

Cool as Ice (age)
High Sage 2
Brokeback Glacier*
The Few, The Frozen, They Thaw
The Chronicles of Manford
Million Years Ago Babies
Lost in Migration
Must Love Sloths
The Road to Extinction
Some Like It Cold
Ice Age 2: Electric Boogaloo*
Dude, Where's My Acorn?*
Something's Gotta Melt
Along Came Ellie
How To Lose A Sloth In 10 Days*
The Nut Whisperer
How Manny Got His Groove Back*
The World According to Sloth
Crouching Tiger Hidden Mammoth*
Sloths on a Plane
Me, My Sloth, and Irene*
Once Upon a Time in an Ice Age
Riding on Glaciers With Mammals
Courage Under Ice
Revenge of the Sloth*
Memoirs of a Mammoth*
The Fast and the Furry-ous*
Revenge of the Sloth
When Manny Met Ellie*
Four Glaciers And A Meltdown
Dead Scrat Walking
Manny's Choice
Dead Mammoth Society*
Scent Of A Mammoth*
In The Name Of The Nut
Bicentennial Man-ny
Mammoth's Inc
Raiders of the Lost Aardvark
Ice Age 2: The Meltening

ArtPad Beta...very cool

2006-03-29T01:49:00.000+08:00

Came across this fun little application. It's basically an artpad with some basic tools. The cool part about it is that you can playback the creation process. Furthermore when you're done, you'll have a link to your creation. Check out my creation. It's no Picasso tho'. http://artpad.art.com/gallery/?iwumif5888g

The one thing I'm not sure they can fix is that it lags once you got whole lotta strokes down. I guess that's the price you pay when there is unlimited undo's.

Now, what are you waiting for, go ahead and unleash your artsy-fartsy self!!!
http://artpad.art.com/artpad/painter/

CPU Heating up

2006-03-28T00:26:00.000+08:00

Found out that the beeps that I keep getting (My previous post:Rendering Nightmare) when I'm rendering is actually heat related. Ow must be right. It's because when I turned off my a/c one warm afternoon, the beeps were coming on like crazy everytime I hit render. Then I switched my a/c on again and voila, no more beeps. I'm actually surprised that it made that much difference. Sigh...maybe's it's about time I looked into getting one of them funky water-cooled cooling systems that I always laugh at for my machine.

Fun Homemade Video

2006-03-26T20:14:00.000+08:00

A fun video I found on googlevideo.

New Killer Online Game.

2006-03-24T23:26:00.000+08:00

I've just read a blog about Google Finance Beta off a buddy of mine's blog. This tool is way too cool. Plus it's easy to use too, I picked it up for like 2 minutes, and I already have some pretty huge names in my portfolio. Namely Dreamworks and Toyota...muahahaha! I've got like $13,440.00 invested and I've already got gains of a total of 15 bucks. Not bad eh! Unfortunately it is only limited to the US stock market for now.

After playing around with this tool for a bit, I came up with an idea to polish my investment skills. What I'm gonna do is get rid of my current investments and give myself $5000.00 as a start. Then, what I plan to do is grow this money through investments. So, what I basically need to do is keep myself updated with the latest news and follow the stock market, just like in the real world. Only difference is, I can blow all my investments and laugh about it later.

Rendering Nightmare

2006-03-23T14:34:00.000+08:00

Been working on some hi-poly 3d models for a client recently. Rendering can be such a bitch!!!Arggghh!!! My pc's crashed like 1,265,342 times...so far. I'm getting this strange beeps too midway through rendering. I really need to figure out what it means. Could be ram issues, storage issues, processor issues...looks like I'm gonna be opening a can of worms soon. I bet I could solve the problem, and it's gonna need a stack of RM's and a trip down to Low Yatt. Not now, tho, now all I need is to finish the f@*&ing render. Time to put some Game Development tricks to use.

#2 on Google!

2006-03-19T18:48:00.000+08:00

I accidentally pasted my name into google search and look what I found. I'm like result number 2. Woohooo! This could mean 2 things, That I am quite popular, or that there isn't many David Khaw's around. I'm guessing it's the latter...Good fun nevertheless. Now, what can I do to cop that #1 spot???

New Photos In My Album

2006-03-15T20:16:00.000+08:00

Finally updated my photo album. There's some from my trip to New York last year and also some taken when some Aussie pro surfers (Taj, Parko and Trent)had a photo shoot in Sunway. Check it out here.

I'm planning to upload some more pictures of my east coast surf trips and also my bali trips soon. So keep an eye out.

cheers.

Drifting in GT4

2006-03-12T15:49:00.000+08:00

I know that my bro has killa skillz when it comes to drifting in GT4 but wondered if there's anyone else out there who does it. Did a google search and look what I found. These guys have mad skillz too. To those who have tried drifting in GT4, I'm sure you'll appreciate these vids. I think they're using the steering wheel and pedals. That must be hella' fun!

http://overdrift.hp.infoseek.co.jp/movie/movie.top.htm#-movie-

Pimp My Ride, Malaysia...huh?

2006-03-08T19:28:00.000+08:00

Yup, you heard it right.West Coast Customs baby!!! Da boyz from that famous MTV show are gonna be in town apparently. There is supposed to be a party with pimped out rides and hopefully some bootyshakin' in Sunway. Read more about it at the zerotohundred.com forums. Or, you can click here.

http://www.zerotohundred.com/newforums/showthread.php?p=1164823#post1164823

Job vs Freelance

2006-03-06T21:10:00.000+08:00

Aih. This question has kept replaying in my head for the past couple of days. Do I get a 9 to 5 (9 to 6/7 for Malaysian companies) or do I take that brave step and venture into the world of freelancing and never look back. Okay, maybe looking back every once in the while and going "Oh crap!".
I've been doing the usual and weighing both the options and pretty much have always come up with the same conclusion which is freelancing. But the problem for me really is making the decision and following through with it. Oh boy???!!!

Never questioned this till yesterday

2005-11-30T18:07:00.000+08:00

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

2005-11-29T18:57:00.000+08:00

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

2005-11-16T19:01:00.000+08:00

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

2005-11-14T18:54:00.000+08:00

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

Cheap is out!!!

2005-09-08T18:57:00.000+08:00

It has been many years I have been living in this beloved country of mine, Malaysia. For many years we have been a cheap place. By that I mean, the cost of living is cheap, petrol is cheap, taxes are low, labor is cheap and so forth that have so far been a pull to investors from other nations. For how long can we remain cheap?

For one, the cost of living here is not as cheap as it is hyped up to be. For example owning a car (sorry, I’m really bummed about this). Yeah, gas (or petrol as we call it) is cheap here, the government says that they are subsidizing and slowly increase the price due to the global market. Yup, all this while they’re overpricing cars. So, prices of cars are sky high and the price of petrol is slowly headed in the same direction. Obviously it will not continue being cheap. Then who would want to buy cars? Public transport here is such crap that everyone needs a car. How do you make someone pay those sky-high prices for cars? Easy, introduce a 9-year hire purchase plan and, voila, now everyone can own a car. Some are so blind that they are even proud of the fact that they qualify for a loan. Qualifying for a loan is nothing to be proud of, trust me. Not having to take one is.

Income taxes are low. This is true, we don’t even pay half as much as what those in countries like the U.K. and the U.S. do. However, they get so much in return for their taxes that I feel it is a good thing. Some of the things I’ve heard are that they get free air tickets to a country of their choice yearly. Also, they have a retirement home they can live their old age in, no charge. Education for their children is as good as free. Yup the education some of us are paying fuckin' thousands for. Their roads look way better than ours. There’s more that I can’t recall right now. I guess it’s not about how much you pay for taxes, but more about where that money goes. These are all what I’ve been told, and also what I’ve read. Do correct me if I’m wrong.

Labor here is cheap. No doubt about that. Indeed, labor cost here is cheap. And the worst part is that it’s something that the government is proud of. It’s easy to say that when you are a business owner or a high level executive. But for the rest of us, it’s hella’ scary. We can hardly afford to buy an original music cd (go tell an American to pay $40 US dollars for their cd, see what they’ll say), which is why piracy is on a rampage here. Sometimes I’m not even sure that bosses of companies even spend a minute (be it in their Benz’s and/or Beamer’s or while sipping latte’s at a yuppie hip café) thinking about how their employee’s lives are. Why are employees underpaid? To keep profit margins high? Companies just can’t pay much? Are the workers here all under skilled or unproductive? Could it be that the company is/was undercharging their clients or customers in the first place? This is a rather complicated issue which I hope the more fortunate bosses and high-up execs would take a look at.

I guess the problem lies within us. We’ve got to stop playing the cheap card and start playing the quality card. Make people do business with us because we are competent and deliver quality. Not because we are cheap. Get hired for what you are worth. It’s not easy but we’ve all got to do it. Don’t let them get away with underpaying you, or else, you will suffer and keep suffering the rest of your lives.

Personally, I too need to take steps to make myself competitive globally by improving the quality of my work. I can’t just be good amongst Malaysian’s but I’ve got to be good globally.

With all that said, I still do love my peaceful country. I never want to see this country go down. Therefore it is my hope, that we as Malaysians open our eyes to what’s going on and make a change however we can. I hate to think that moving to another country is the only solution to securing a future for my family and me, but if it is, so be it.

Richards blog

2005-08-22T14:32:00.000+08:00

Update.

Richards new blog http://www.nsk-richard.blogspot.com/. Added it to my friends link on the sidebar. A chance for us to see richard get creative :-)

Unknown Author - Poem (A Poem that Will Give You Goosebumps!)

2005-08-22T11:43:00.000+08:00

Here is something I've been keeping in my mail since forever. Got it from a friend with no credits whatsoever. It's a good read. Would really love to know who the author is. If anybody finds out do let me know.

On the subject was written : A Poem that Will Give You Goosebumps!

A drunk man in an Oldsmobile
They said had run the light
That caused the six-car pileup
On 109 that night.

When broken bodies lay about
And blood was everywhere,
The sirens screamed out ulogies,
For death was in the air.

A mother, trapped inside her car,
Was heard above the noise;
Her plaintive plea near split the air:
Oh, God, please spare my boys!"

She fought to loose her pinned hands;
She struggled to get free,
But mangled metal held her fast
In grim captivity.

Her frightened eyes then focused
On where the back seat once had been,
But all she saw was broken glass and
Two children's seats crushed in.

Her twins were nowhere to be seen;
She did not hear them cry,
And then she prayed they'd been thrown free,
Oh, God, don't let them die!"

Then firemen came and cut her loose,
But when they searched the back,
They found therein no little boys,
But the seat belts were intact.

They thought the woman had gone mad
And was travelling alone,
But when they turned to question her,
They discovered she was gone.

Policemen saw her running wild
And screaming above the noise
In beseeching supplication,
Please help me find my boys!

They're four years old and wear blue shirts;
Their jeans are blue to match."
One cop spoke up, "They're in my car,
And they don't have a scratch.

They said their daddy put them there
And gave them each a cone,
Then told them both to wait for Mom
To come and take them home.

I've searched the area high and low,
But I can't find their dad.
He must have fled the scene,
I guess, and that is very bad."

The mother hugged the twins and said,
While wiping at a tear,
He could not flee the scene, you see,
For he's been dead a year."

The cop just looked confused and asked,
Now, how can that be true?"
The boys said, "Mommy, Daddy came
And left a kiss for you."

He told us not to worry
And that you would be all right,
And then he put us in this car with
The pretty, flashing light.

We wanted him to stay with us,
Because we miss him so,
But Mommy, he just hugged us tight
And said he had to go.

He said someday we'd understand
And told us not to fuss,
And he said to tell you, Mommy,
He's watching over us."

The mother knew without a doubt
That what they spoke was true,
For she recalled their dad's last words,
I will watch over you."

The firemen's notes could not explain
The twisted, mangled car,
And how the three of them escaped
Without a single scar.
But on the cop's report was scribed,

In print so very fine, An angel walked the beat tonight on
Highway109.

CAR PRICES

2005-08-19T19:58:00.000+08:00

Ahhh...my favourite bitchin' subject. Why not? I'm gonna bitch on my first (ok, technically second) blog. Does anybody actually know how exspensive cars in Malaysia are? Ok, for example, a latest Toyota Camry would cost us about RM13x,xxx here where else in the US, it's about US$18,445. Ok, something is not right here. That's about RM 7 for every 1 US dollar if u make a straight ahead coversion. Silly isn't it when the currency exchange is at RM 3.70 to 1 USD. Is it just Toyota's? HELL NO!!! A Mazda RX-8 would cost us RM2XX,XXX compared to buying in the states for US$25,935. What? Somebody, please, make sense out of this cos' I just don't get it.

But then again, take a walk downtown KL and you'll probably notice all the new and flashy cars KLites' are driving. One too many times I've asked myself, where on earth do this people get their money from? Are this people just too happy to pay for overpriced goods? Do they enjoy servicing their loans for more than 5 years? Well, maybe I'm the only one who doesn't get it, but till I figure this one out, I'm gonna stick with me ol' rolla'.

Out.

Facts here:
http://www.toyota.com/
http://www.mazdausa.com/
http://www.motortrader.com.my/

Hey ma, look at me, I'm blogging

2005-08-18T17:12:00.000+08:00

Ok. After spending way too many hours reading blogs, I've finally decided, I'm gonna have one of my own. Yeah, that's right, I got my own blog now. Haha.