Apple and I

I was an anti-Apple activist for a long time ( I guess the word "was" has given away the fact that I'm no longer live up to the title). And I'm not opposing the i-series products for the sake of subversion nor am I detest the trend / popularism. Its just that I hate the fact that the craze of iphone in the early days of its release has created a distorted "iphone elite" perception whereby iphone users consider themselves a cut above the rest. If you still using a non-smart phone (yours truly), how many times have you encountered comments such as "huh, you are still using XX phone arr?", "No one is using your kind of phone anymore!!". 

Many jaws had dropped into the drain whenever they find out that I'm still using my Sony Ericsson W660i till this day. Like I mentioned, I'm not defying the trend intentionally by keeping an out-dated phone. I may not be gadget savy, but I do keep myself educated with the latest trend out there, to adhere or not, its another story entirely. In fact, when the W (or walkman)-series were out in the market, it was the coolest thing happened in the mobile phone industry whereby suddenly every youngsters on the street listen to music through their phone like a mp3 player. "Walkman" is such a recognized word that many didn't realized that it is actually Sony's brand name which was originally used for portable audio cassette player. When I was still a 12 years old school girl, my biggest dream is to have a Sony cassette player, and when I finally got it at at the age of 15, I had 911's "Don't make me wait" playing to my ears 24-7. 

This is 911 for you, if you never heard them before, and no its not the emergency phone number I'm talking about here

As you know, later on the walkman series of the mobile phone was born, and it redefined the music listening habits of many by allowing people to carry music with them on the lightweight phones and listen to music while they are on the move. Till this day, there is no deny on the fact that Walkman series is most popular for its sheer music quality.

So come back to iphone. Yes it's cool and the smart touch capability has become the new technological paradigm in the mobile communication, and Apple's i-series is leapfrog ahead of other competitors. However it still doesn't justify the act of some of the iphone users who think they are the upper class of the technorati just because they can navigate by touch rather than press buttons. Its delusional when some thinks that they're buying into a way of life or an upper echelon of society when they buy an iphone.

I hate the fact that if you want to become the members of a clique where people talk in iphone lingual, or play once-so-popular angry bird or fruit ninja, or instalgram every dish served on the plate, or update your facebook status all the time, the pre-requisite is to have the thousand ringgit phone in your hand. The question is do you really need an ALL in ONE smartphone? For me phone is meant for calling and sms. Even for the w660i, I no longer use it to listen to music, because now I listen to car's stereo while driving instead of listen to mp3 while taking public transport like i used to.  

I do understood that this is all part of the marketing gimmicks and you can't really blame the users who succumbed into the "i"topia realm because its inevitable when the Apple pandemic are worldwide. I can only said that Apple is lucky to have the most loyal and fantastic fan any company would dream to have.

With that being said, I don't condone iphone itself, I like the fact that i-series products are intriguing, clever and minimalist, it has carved a style of its own which differentiate itself from the rest in this saturated and highly competitive telecommunication industry. I cant comment about the usability of the iphone because I don't owned one, but I will definitely comment about the ipad in my next post. 

Until I see the need of having smartphone, I'm sticking with my RM500 (now should be cheaper) Sony Ericsson phone which I can call and sms. Till then.  

27, 29

I stumbled across this post named 21,23,25 last night when I'm trying to update the labels of my old posts. It was written nearly 4 years ago, which was a simple exercise of re-discovering myself. It brought back so much of memories, and it was such a great joy to see how my life was back in those days. They were just simple answers to some common questions, but when these answers were presented in a sequential manner according timeline, it almost felt like a life log, a log which shows the progression of my life over the years.

So in order to continue the ritual, here comes my 27 and 29.  

2 years ago

1. How old were you?: 27

2. Where did you go to school?: I am glad that I no longer required to go to school. I mean the hanging out with course-mates part was fun, but the examination was dreadful. In fact, I still have stupid nightmares about not able to finish revision / exam on time now and then.

3. Where did you work? Still the same company. At Mines, as a Product Manager of a biotech firm

4. Where did you live? It was still the box-like 800 square feet flat at Genting Klang with 2 other housemates, but I was in the process of moving into our own house. I had enjoyed the place although the lift always smell like urine, and the noise never ceased day and night. I guess its the companionship which makes the whole lot different. Sometimes, I still miss the late night chat I had with Sam, my dear sister and a friend whom I can always count on and whom I can cry together with. 

Our humble little place, we don't even have a proper table back then!

5. Where did you hang out? Probably at home most of the time. My life was kinda mundane back then, I dont hang out with friends that much. Partly due to the fact that I was still trying to figure out how would I fit into this grand scheme of life which was slowly taking it shape after 3 years came back from UK. It was a period of transition from single to soon be married, so alot of stuff to ponder and to decide.   

6. What's your biggest achievement? Was engaged considered as achievement? :) Oh, and we had finally bought a place we can called our home.

7.Who was your bff(s): Peter and my kupo gang. My girl friends are wacky and fun!!

Kupo trip to Melaka.

8. What car did you drive? Still my same old Myvi

9. Had you had your heart broken? Can you imagine a 27 years old still complain about heart breaks?

10.Single/Taken/Married/Divorced? Engaged ;)

Photo taken on the night he proposed

Today

1. How old were you? 29

2. Where did you go to school? No! Do I still have to answer this question every two years for the rest of the my life? I'm officially deleting this question. 

3. Where did you work? Still with the same company! It has been freaking 5 years!!! I need a change! 

4. Where did you live? My HOME!!!

It has been nearly 2 years since we moved in and owned this little nest called home, there are many nights when I'm lying on my bed smelling my smelly pillow, and suddenly felt that I am the happiest person in the world. Contentment is when you are exactly where you belong. 

5. Where did you hang out? Church and my kitchen. Peter and I love to host dinner for our friends and family. Partly due to our new found interest- cooking and baking! Well, food tasted the best when its shared with many. ;)

6. What's your biggest achievement? Was getting married consider as an achievement?;) 7 years of courtship was finally sealed with a pair of rings. 

7.Who was your bff(s): Its still Peter and my kupo gang. My girl friends are still super wacky and fun to hang out with although they might really turn into kupo soon. hahaha...

8. What car did you drive? My forever faithful MyVi

9. Had you had your heart broken? Am deleting this question too. 

10.Single/Taken/Married/Divorced? Happily married. 

No Longer Macao Trip Part 4

Ok this is the last post of my Macao trip, which takes forever to publish!

Say hi to Hong Kong!! 

We spent a good two days roaming around Kowloon and Chin Tsa Chui area in Hong Kong, travelling back and forth by ferry from Macau (takes around 45 minutes per trip). 

The Victoria Harbour was very beautiful. We have a good walk at Avenue of Stars along the pier, where you can find all the famous celebrity hand prints and statues, like the late Bruce Lee. His statue were 2.5m high and made of copper! The Avenue of Stars was modelled on Hollywood Walk of Fame, which honours the celebrities of Hong Kong Film industry. Well, Hong Kong is THE place where the globalization of Chinese entertainment industry started, especially the Cantonese kungfu movies. The actors and actress definitely deserve all the credit. 

Oh, we saw the famous Hong Kong's United Buddy Bears at the pier too! 

Meet Loah, Peter's gaming buddy. He is super nice and super friendly. Funny thing was he just came back from Australia after studies, so he is pretty much foreign to Hong Kong's tourist sites, and we end up  exploring the tourist spots together. He brought us to Mongkok where all the tourist shopping streets located, and the streets are EXTREMELY busy and packed.

They were alot of street food, but we didn't try much as we were saving our stomach for the dim sum. 

Here comes our LONG AWAITED HONG KONG DIM SUM BUFFET at xiao fei yang. I have totally forgotten how much per person cost, basically its made per order but you can order as much as you can eat! The taste of the dim sum is slightly different than the Malaysian's version. We always have varieties of pork or prawn filling in Malaysian's version of dim sum, hence it tasted pretty much the same after a few plates. However the original ones in Hong Kong comes in so much of varieties, they have dim sum with fillings such as vege and nuts only, beef intestines, and even "yao zha guai" wrapped in the dim sum skin.  

YUM YUM!

According to Loah, dim sum is usually for older generation, whereby they have all the time in world to just relax and eat. Whilst for youngsters and walking class, usually they will just go into a Chinese restaurant, da bao something like sandwich, then start to eat while walking off. That's sort of confirm our perception towards the Hongkies whereby the working class literally have no life. ;(

 

During our second trip to Hong Kong, we have tried the local Cha Chaan Teng (morning tea restaurant) named Australian Dairy Co.. I'm really not sure what does Australian has to do with the restaurant cuz its very Chinese to me. It was an eye opener experience because the restaurant was super hectic and busy. The crowds were crazy but the food was super good. People were basically lining up beside your table waiting for you to go off, and I keep seeing people stand up from their seat and another came sit down, or came in and out of the restaurant. We ordered the usual set of the breakfast which includes fresh/ cold milk, macaroni with ham, toast bread with sunny side up or scramble egg. And gosh the scramble egg was SUPER good. I have never known in my whole life that scramble egg can taste like that. 

Most of the places sell the Kowloon Dairy's cold pasteurised milk in glass bottles, and it was very refreshing. I have tried the chocolate version and it was equally good. 

We have also tried the local "Kim Gary" or "Causeway Bay" type of Cha Chaan Teng which looks a bit more high class. We tried their famous crispy bun served with sweet condensed milk (don't know why its called nai you "ZHU" in Chinese, it has nothing to do with pig!), polo bun and their Portuguese pork curry. It was pretty satisfying as well.

Well, that sums up our 4 days Macao (extended to Hong Kong) Trip, overall it was good but seriously, no countries can beat Taiwan k, which remained to be our favourite country to travel to. We have yet to have the chance to explore Hong Kong to the fullest, but I have to say that shopping wise, they have the best to offer. I hope H&M will open up in Malaysia real soon. 

Till then, ciao.