Previously in October.

Prologue: I am shooting myself in the feet (metaphor) so many times already that I've pretty much blown off the lower half of my body to smithereens. (metaphor). Why didn't the jolt of reality (metaphor) didn't sink in anyway? Why am I procrastinating about? When's the expiry date of the book that I should've been reading? Have I been complacent. Never mind about these question, let's get some kick out of streaming Youtube goodness, shall we?

Plenty of stuff happens since we left off last time.

Musim tengkujuh sudahpun melanda Semenanjung Malaysia and it has been a week now that it had rainy evening. It makes sleeping and napping much more comfortable than ever.

Of course the best thing doesn't stop at cool night to sleep in as the weather during day time is better than ever with clear blue sky and fluffy cloud. *aww* As reclusive sociophobe as I do, it still feels good to look out of the window and see clear blue sky free from dust and haze.

The moment in which the rental invoice made the visit every month is as fickle as ever as it comes in the middle of October...which is about two weeks after I've made my rental payment for September. So what is it: the rental invoice of September came late (because of processing new student and what not) or October came early? Is the rental invoice for the next month will come swing back to early month instead now that we've got in the groove with the new academic year?

The shopping arcade located behind Pusat Cahayasiswa, christened with a juiced up glamourous name of "Uptown Mall" unfitting of it size and purpose has some new tenants opening up for business! Despite its obscure location from the general crowd traffic, the hopeful studentpreneurs (yet another buzzword to juiced up their initiative) opened their business with promotions to attract their potential customers to this obscure spot of campus! For example, I had been there solely for that computer shop opened by one of those keen studentpreneurs that sells computer gadgets and flash drive because of their opening promotion of hourly RM5 flash drive promo...with only five of them every time. Me, Esther and Vicky actually went to check out that place about 10 minutes before the clock hit 1pm (The promo starts at 12 noon) only to be told that it's already sold out...with a bunch of their friends hanging in front of the shop camwhoring. OK I know I shouldn't taken a piss out of them studentpreneurs because it's alright to have business dream tracing the way of wankers capitalist pigs successful businesspeople out there. What they should've done however is to release the promo bang on time instead of letting bunch of old friends hanging around without giving a chance for rabid cheapskate lunatics ready to elbow someone other shoppers too.

Plus, the least the studentpreneur can do (as a student) is to avoid typo at the general description of your business so that annoying pedant like me won't take a piss out of it. (Not sure who's the fault for this whether it's the general management of uptown mall or the tenant themselves,) In fact, before I want to take a piss of out of this one, I actually made some effort (note: Internet) to check whether it's the name for such trade. Turns out "souvinier" is REALLY indeed a typo for souvenir. A very Malaysian typo mistake.

The month of October has been a month of gastronomy exploration (and inadvertently, failure of austerity measures) thanks to my new found postgraduate lunch mates in the form of Esther and Vicky!

Had Soybean Milk Icecream from the Soybean specialty shop over Pekaka which taste exactly like soybean milk or tauhua except smoother and melts in your mouth.

Tried something else from Plus2 instead of usual Wantan mee in the form of fried rice in broth or 淋饭. (27 Oct Thursday)

And immediately after that lunch over Plus2, swayed by desire to have Sundae Cone over McDonald as we walk passed it.

Went to Gil Korean Cafe twice to have home cook Korean meal. I had the spicy chicken thing (middle left) and vermicelli rice (top middle and centre middle). The Korean pastry/dessert of pumpkin broth and sugar pastry Hoddeok (which for some reason always got me confused with hotdog whenever Wilson is pronouncing it.) is a nice addition to my meal because I wouldn't have ordered it if I am eating alone to save money. Tried kimbap or Korean rice roll too as after meal snack while chatting away with Vicky, Esther and Wilson.

Went to Sungai Dua Pasar Malam quite a few times too in which I walked in rain twice (with notwithstanding faulty umbrella). Nasi Kerabu and chicken cracklins from the indian mamak fried chicken stall had been appearing quite often in my palate hence a change of palate when I bought nasi tomato as well as the imitation shark fin soup two days ago. I was bloated and the crackling can be quite disgusting when you've it in large amount.

Sakae Sushi lunch promo (24 October Monday), this time alone so that I can have sushi without actually concerning about splitting the bill and paying it later. It's the very last day as this post is posted. Should I go for one last visit before the promotion ends for good this month?

Meanwhile, McDonald is experimenting with new and slightly healthier (comparatively to the usual ground patties which have dubious content) with Classic Chicken McDeluxe which is basically a mild version of Spicy Chicken McDeluxe with patties made of actual chicken breast meat. They introduced Chicken Mcbites too which is basically chicken cutlet nuggets instead of McNuggets made of ground chicken surimi. I think anyone of you thinking of eating slightly healthier (comparatively) in McDonald can give it a go because it's tender good.

On 27 October (Thursday), Esther decided to organise a belated birthday celebration to Wilson by inviting bunch of their PKA friends (with an extra atheist added in it i.e ME) which originally planned as a surprise but foiled because of the birthday boy himself that shows up one hour earlier at Pizza Station over Sungai Dua hence making it impossible to hide that chocolate mint cake that we picked up over Jasmine Bakery and birthday card shuffling under the desk.

Talking about Pizza Station, this new, seemingly homegrown brand had just opened their new and only the second outlet over Yellow House Sungai Dua, tapping into the market that Pizza Hut Sungai Dua has been hogging to itself for the longest time. Whether Pizza Station will give Pizza Hut a run of its mill (which probably won't anyway because Pizza Hut is a multinational) is still left to be seen, they are keen to make their presence felt by offering Buy 1 Free 1 Promotion in lieu of their opening celebration. Should be a good deal right?

 

Here's a collage of pizzas that we had ordered. My verdict: what can one expect from a small, home grown business anyway? But hey, at least their pizza dough and topping should be freshly made. Their sizes and their dough tend to be on a less filling side too. Need more dough to compete with Pizza Hut's portion.

The birthday celebration is not the highlight of that day however as the birthday dinner comes to an end (after much frantic calculation of tallying the bill), the ladies (Esther and Vicky) suddenly had a thought of watching a movie to just loosen up and unwind for the week. Of we go to Queensbay and watch Real Steel and what a timing it was as we went it just about 5 minutes after the movie actually started. What do I feel about the movie Real Steel? A very All-American (complete with ESPN reporting for Robot Boxing league!), heartwarming, inspiring, motivational movie about a boxer making a comeback from the rut his life has been going through with the sudden appearance of his long lost son with a animatronic robotic twist. No doubt it has a predictable plot with moments of cheesiness (especially the part when the beat up robot they used is proclaimed as People's Champion as a result of the kid making a direct challenge to Russian bombshell financier of controlling the game with money...immediately after its first match?!) but if you look forward for a feel good family movie then Real Steel will be the one for you. Oh, Hugh Jackman is quite a hunk, Atom the sparring bot looks humanly and the kid GOT moves. Still when you think a bit further (like overanalysing postgraduate I am), Robot fighting league in 2020 and second generation bot by 2014? It's already 2011 and the actual robot fighting "league" that we're having now are those flimsy bots in science fair and we're supposed to have such leap of technology in the span of 8 years to have giant boxing robots with voice control or shiny panels with joysticks and touchscreen. Oh what about the kid's mom that passed away but didn't make any actual appearance except passing remarks that she's cool and Hugh Jackman is an ass for leaving her after she accidentally got pregnant? *I am being anal.*

That's all for the month of October I guess. Can't believe it's going to be November soon! Have I been living in a separate dimension that time passed without me noticing it? Oh right, that dimension is procrastination. Doom is upon me.

Epilogue: Any more reading can I read? Anything? I need motivation to write.