Dear readers,

Some time has passed since I got back from Guam tour, but no updates...Why?

Well lets just say I am in Brunei and I am using dial up to surf... Yes, pretty damn slow.

I have written 3 post already since then, but because of the snail paced internet loading images to the post takes too long to upload. Lets just say that I can go get lunch in town, eat lunch at home, take a massive crap after lunch and still the image will not be loaded. Where is the fun of just reading when you can have images included with the text. Also this blog is not like some political info-rama blog where text is more valuable then images....well in most cases text is important unless there is a image of Dr. K caught with his pants down or some incriminating photos of the Malaysian executives...How juicy will that be...but no. this blog is not that type. On some occasions will I post something serious but this blog will remain to be my filtered inner thoughts on cyber space.

So until I am able to connect to better internet speed I will continue writing post for this blog and save it till the time comes again for me to update

SOMEBAL.BLOGSPOT.COM
a truly acquired taste!

Asian Pacific Rugby Tournament – Division 6

As promised, dear readers, I have broadband again! SWEET! Good times are back! Anyways, here is the post about my trip to Guam... Note: I didn't get to complete, limited internet thus had no mood to complete it.

As I post a previously, Brunei was invited to a three nation rugby tournament which means that Brunei has been bumped up a notched to division 6 on the world level. Different teams, tougher opponents, larger players, harder games! All this comes with the territory of being levelled up.

www.Bruneirugby.wordpress.com published the names for the selected few to represent Brunei on this new chapter of rugby. This is a rough account of how the trip went.

24^th June we all flew to Manila for a day as there are no excising flights from Brunei direct to Guam. Arriving in Manila International Airport around 10pm and about midnight we arrived in our fairly luxurious place, Richmond Hotel.

Just arrive @ Richmond Hotel

As normal mornings, we woke up to a morning jog. This time round the jog was brisk as the air around Manila is thick with smog; even my asthma was threatening my lungs as I walk out of the hotel lobby doors. Some quick drills and stretching on the streets behind our hotel. Then we all set out to look for a patch of land where we could train more, after several blocks and a security guard with a shot gun chasing us away [“this is private property! GET OUT!”] we found a stretch of un-used road where coach Zack decided to just make us sprint. As the minutes pass doing the sprints more and more cars stared to use the road and we ended the run and it was back to the hotel and up stairs again for a quick shower and breakfast and it was free and easy.

In Guam it was more or less similar, early morning jogs, breakfast, rest from breakfast through lunch and training at 3pm at a local high school soccer pitch, then dinner. Dinner depends on the day, if it was on game day, there would be a reception dinner with both teams seating together and having a chat after each match & on the none game days, dinner would be treated at the sponsoring restaurants, which includes Tony Rommas and Ban Thai. HSBC & Budwiser Light being the main sponsor for the whole tournament.

Photo Gallery

Ron, Ez & Hans : Just arrive at Guam International Airport!

The welcoming committee

The awesome bus!

The Marriott Hotel, Guam

View of the surroundings from the roomA closer look at the beach

All together now...Oooooo Ahhhhh!

Random Photos @ GuamPez sticks...man I use to eat these as a kids! but they stop selling them in Brunei
.....Sad Sad Sad.....

Nachos with hot cheese..hmmmm

My ride....how i wish.... US$150/hour care to rent it!

A shop lot next to Marriott

A closer look....

Lol, not a view you would see often

More pictures to come...

GUAM Vs. BRUNEI Rugby

Will update later on... have not had time to write up of the happenings and going on since I left for the training camp.

Here is a picture at the hotel that i am staying in Guam:

Hell starts from a jog...

First day of training, one word to sum it all up: OMGWTFBBQ!

[Well that’s more than a word, so sue me!]

This is how the day came to be;

Wakeup call at 4.00am, wash all the nook & crannies.

5am –Star our morning run, the course runs quite far...for a person that just came out of exams, sat behind a desk and computers for majority of the semester, typing away for assignments and editing film. THIS WAS GRULING! I was so unfit and embarrassed that even the morning birds stop chirping when I jogged by [attempted jog] or it could be the earth shaking after my foot fall 0_o. After the taxing jog, I found myself in front of our national stadium front steps. Remember Rocky doing the iconic run up the steps at a art museum? Just replay that scene ... O lets say for 20minutes...Ooooo I so hate stair after that! The jog ended when the sun was already up, roughly about 6++am. Made our way back to the sports village for Breakfast a well needed rest.

Rest for about 2 hours, and at 9am we made our way to the gym for our so called light weight training. In actual fact [for the forwards, like myself] we were doing 80kilos of weight lifting on average. If it was off-seasons that is fine...but so close to the game day ... we will still be healing if we were to continue these sorts of weights for the next 8 days... After going through a series of insane weight lifting, 300 sit-ups & 200 push-ups we were granted access to the national pool for some R&R. Just about 12noon we all got back to our replacement home for the next 8 days for lunch and more rest time. All rest included a cold shower & nice short nap to recharge the worn out batteries.

Around 3pm we headed to one of the fields that we normally train at, on foot. It was about 9km from where we all live. Once on the field we did the drills and plays as of what any club or team would do. Around 6pm we were let off to walk back to our living quarters to freshen up and grab some dinner. Unfortunately I was late arriving for dinner [really took my time on the cold shower] all that was left for me was a few large spoons full of rice and sweet corn soup [which was most excellent]. The day ended with a team meeting to discuss the happenings and what to aspect on this coming trip.

Now, this is just the 1^st day of the training camp and there is another 8 more days to go. The same thing over and over again. I so hope I can last through this whole ordeal, to be honest especially during the morning jog I was tempted to quit, but remembering that this is once in a life time chance to play Rugby on a national level in GUAM and that they [the team] will be a man short if I were to leave...the hell with it just keep going on... place one foot in front of the other...don’t look a head where the road ends ... look up and focus on the morning sky ... just concentrate on the road that I am on & commit to finishing this!

The Incredible Hulk [2008]

When to watch the Hulk last night on spur of the moment thing. Accompanying me was Geroge [whom was at Bintang around 6 onwards watching Kong Fu Panda] and Raymond our so called Koala. Its been such a long time since I last went to the cinema in Miri....let alone and cinema anywhere.

This time round the Hulk directed by Louis Leterrier was a much better flick then the previous film done by Ang Lee back in 2003
[a real let down]

Hulk [2003]

With out giving too much of the plot this film, to what I believe, is based solely around how Bruce Banner is looking for the antidote to cure the cruse that he caused onto himself while at the same time seeking to control his anger, unlike the previous films where Bruce was depicted to control the monster within himself. I feel that this latest version of Bruce is much better; calm, collected, resourceful and like a educated man that he is suppose to be smart. Here are some of the scenes from 2008 the HULK!

What was also a good surprise in this film was the cameo appearance of the original HULK character, Lou Ferrigno who played a campus securtiy guard. You can still see his rippling muscles!

The transformation

-----------------------------------------
The lonely road of the HULK

Fuel Pumping tips

Earlier this month I did post a blog about fuel prices going up...

And in most cases now every one is feeling the pinch of the recent fuel price hike.

It feels like you are buying rocket fuel...

Exaggerating the experience ...--_--

Well I got a few tips on how to conserve fuel. Worth the read esp. in times like these:

1. Only buy or fill up your car or bike in the early mornings when the ground temperature is still cold. All service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The cooler the ground the, more dense the fuel will be. When it gets warmer petrol expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your liter is not exactly a liter. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business & service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps. [Go to those pumping station that are open 24hrs, If you are in Brunei...there are no pumping stations that are open 24hrs...though luck,going to have to wake up really early XD]
2. When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapours that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapour return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapour. Those vapours are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.
3. One of the most important tips is to fill up when your tank is HALF FULL. The reason for this is, the more fuel you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. petrol evaporates faster than you can imagine.
4. ...
   
5. Keep your car in shape. Not by bring it to the gym or letting it run on the treadmill , but by maintaining your car and bring it for regular tune ups. Change the motor oil regularly, upgrade/replace or clean your air filters regularly, and use fuel injector cleaners or complete fuel system treatment occasionally. Fuel injectors that are malfunctioned will vaporise your fuel poorly and affecting how completely the fuel is burned.
   

Hope this will help you get the most value for your money. Because no doubt every time you look at your gas meter, and it looks like this...

it just feels like ... shooting your self


Thanks to the email sender for fuel information, & to Drivewiser.ca for some of the information too.

Ultraman days revived [Updated]

A blast from the past

I use to remember the day’s way back in the early 80’s when Ultraman was the rave back in Brunei. Among my most favourite characters from the Ultra-family was Ultraman Joe or also known as Ultraman Jonias. Back then I only knew him as Ultraman, since he was my encounter with Ultraman

I remember when I was a kid, I love to watch over and over the VHS.

[Note to the X's, Y's generation VHS is also commonly known as video tapes. Look in your parents storage area and you will be able to find a fat black tape, and if you are lucky enough a VHS player will be near by... ]

A VHS tape....All together now..Ooooo! Aaaaahhhhh!...

If you are and Ultraman fan here is a little not known fact. Quite a few people out there believe that Ultraman Joe was not part of the Ultra family as he gets very little air play [as in a fully manned costume suit]. Joe did get recognize by the Ultraman creators and was shone in some Ultraman featured films

But there are a few comics that are out there that have Ultraman Joe and his colleagues, whom have similar designs, depicted in manga.

As the story goes Joe is from Constellation U40, where as the other Ultra beings are normally from the “Land of Light” in Nebula M78. But there are clips that show Ultraman Joe in a group with the other Ultraman’s.

Produced by Tsuburaya Productions and Sunrise, it was fairly Americanised although it kept its originality of being Japanese [if that makes any sense...it does to me >.<] If you are inn to this then I suggest you, dear reader , to go and do your own research.

Just felt like bring this up again...a blast from the past

Here is the opening credit for Ultraman Joe...man this brings back memories!

Such a catchy tune!

Here is a scene from Ultraman Joe

Cool!

'Meet the Spartan' National Service style

Was in Coffee Bean, in Miri today, to do some studying...when something on tele caught my eye. A new corporate advertisement endorse done by the Malaysian government to promote National Service. IT WAS HILARIOUS

It was something like "National service" + "meet the Spartan"+"Disney"

I guess it was to attract the younger generation to join voluntary. BUT OMG...even my Malaysian friends who were beside me saw this they were ashamed, disgusted and told me that 'that' advert was miss leading. Once of them was in PLKN and what the corporate advert shows was an exaggeration of what it is really like. Would love to share the clip with you, but could not fine it anywhere on Youtube. Hopefully someone will upload it to youtube.com

So far I have witnessed two different adverts with the same outlining theme...dance and sing along to the tune of National Service.

If you want to watch these ads yourself, go and turn on your tele to TV3.

XD

Malaysia fuel hike - a bright side of negatives

Those in Malaysia all know that the price has taken a giant leap for the sky, and the people are not happy.

Who would not be!

Forking over more of their own hard earn cash to just commute to and fro from work and home,god knows whats in plan for the weekend.

Husband: O dear, honey looks like we have to cancel our trip to visit your parents...

Just a few weeks ago, news of rice price was to go up and did go up a week ago. In todays eNEWS this caught my eye's:

http://www.nst.com.my/

All the negatives .... "FUEL PRICE HIKE"....and close to the bottom
"GOOD NEWS: FRAGRANT, GLUTINOUS RICE TO BE CHEAPER"
continued with FUEL PRICE HIKE, FUEL PRICE HIKE.

I stater to laugh out loud during a workshop that I was in at that time. Well I guess it is good to look at the brighter side when things are looking down...but this its just redundant... so many negative and one positive, 7:1. Whats worse is that all the negatives are direct results of the recent fuel price hike.

In another eNEWS site I was reading the STAR online...

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/6/6/nation/21476472&sec=nation

All the negatives about what are and could be the direct result of the fuel price hike, and at the end of the article... a note that states that road tax prices could be reduces...could be...

Father: Son, car fuel has gone up so high, you might have to start using the school buses
Son: But DAD! I read that fee for buses has also increased and that they may stop their services
Father: ........

Now every time I go to the fuel station I will be looking at the fuel gauge like this....

Guam...

Guam, hear of if?

Westerners (not talking about the West Malaysians) would defiantly have heard of Guam. For your information Guam is a territory of the United States of America. I am not going to tell you the whole story of Guam if you are interested to find out more visit Wikipedia for all the historical background and demography if Guam.

Anyway, in short, it’s a tourist haven of scenery both on land and under the sea. That is as much as I knew on the top of my head . For those that have a lack of visual stimulant impaired ....

Diving
(http://ns.gov.gu/visiting.html)

Coastal view
(Picture from www.davidmacd.com)

Yes this is the island, beautiful ain't it!

Yes, this is the actual island...but it has over 7 major hotels...5stars hotels! No play play!

• Hilton Guam Resort & SPA,
  
• Westin Resort Guam,
  
• Hyatt Regency Guam,
  
• Hotel Okura,
  
• Hotel Nikko Guam

just to name a few. Here is an atlas image of where Guam is...

It's way smaller then Singapore(707.1 km²) ; Guam (541.3 km² ), population of Guam is appox 173 thousand, where as my own country is just about 99o thousand.

Anyway, I will be going there on a good will sporting event. A national level rugby tournament. Somewhere in late June will be taking off, flying back roughly on 4th July (Independence day, N.America) or 5th July. Cross fingers it's the later...XD

Will upload images of my trip to Guam here, once I get back or while I am there...we will see.