Precision Parking

There is this car at my place which is usually parked at a not-quite-meant-for-one-car space. It's not a designated parking lot but I do not see anyone else try to 'fight' for this space. I notice it sometimes on my way past and it's always the same silver car/driver. You can see why.

 

I tip my hat off to the driver. I'm nowhere near as good at parking.

Balotelli, the Misunderstood Genius

You just gotta love this guy, don't you ? He's a regular riot.

Mario Balotelli finds it hard work being a genius

Mario Balotelli : "It's said geniuses are misunderstood. So perhaps genius is so different that people don't understand it."

Why We Need Better English

Lately I've been conducting interviews to fill vacancies in my department. Let's just say that results have been disappointing so far. There have been numerous surveys on the reasons why fresh graduates in Malaysia have so much difficulty finding jobs. The major reasons include not being properly trained/prepared to work, unrealistic expectations and incompetent English.

I have one more to add. It helps if they turn up for the interview once the date and time have been agreed. I'd set up 5 interviews - 2 informed me they couldn't make it with a reasonable explanation and 3 just didn't bother to turn up. Without informing me. Utter professionalism. Incredible courtesy. Just the sort of thing to make employers happy. CGPA of 3, my foot !

As an aside, this excerpt of CV is why we need to have a better standard of English in Malaysia. I wasn't sure whether the girl was serious about her personal strength, or what position she thought she was applying for, but it certainly made me wonder whether it was a typo.

Angry Birds invades CNY ...

... on ang pow packets, no less. I've seen them turn up in lots of places but gate crashing CNY is kinda pushing it. Real cute ang pow packets though.

a Spanner in the Banner

Courtesy of a franchise chain. See if you can spot what made me look ...

and at the Hospital ...

Okay, maybe it's in keeping with the theme of the place, or perhaps it's just a tad baby-centric; but I found this painting at the corridor leading to the Delivery & Labour room at the hospital.

I'm guessing, but I suspect that most people passing by would not have realized the irony inherent in placing this painting at it's particular location.

Festive Season Goodies

Which is when the hypermarkets roll out the discounts and best bargains to entice you to shop with them rather than at one of their many competitors - but would you be enticed by this particular offer ?

Rejects ?

I was walking along in the shopping complex, blissfully unaware of Liverpool's upcoming visit to Malaysia until I chanced upon this rather unfortunate banner ...

The Time is Nowitzki

The Dallas Mavericks win the NBA Finals and Dirk Nowitzki is named the Finals MVP. Congratulations !

Dirk's personal coach, shot doctor Holger Geschwinder : "Tomorrow he gets a day off, as promised."

the new 'Baby-Faced Assasin'

Much has been made and said about the similarities between Chicharito and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - the clinical goal scoring skills, the 'super sub' tag and yes, the baby face. So, to no one's surprise, the British press have dubbed Chicharito as the new 'Baby Faced Assasin'.

Unfortunately, sometimes words and nicknames get lost in translation, as this Mexican magazine proves.

I hope that the nickname translates well in Mexico, cos in English 'Baby Killer' has a totally different connotation.

NB. My personal opinion of Chicharito ? There are some striking similarities with Solsjkaer but Chicharito reminds me more of another Old Trafford hero - Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Like Ruud, Chicharito is totally focused on scoring goals, often plays on the shoulder of the last defender, can't hold the ball up, isn't very good at involving other team mates in play and scores practically all his goals in the penalty box. He's also a master of the tap in, scoring a ship load of goals with the goalkeeper nowhere near him to attempt a save. And, unlike Solsjkaer, I could never imagine Chicharito playing at right midfield.

As things stand, it looks like Chicharito will be scoring many, many goals for United in years to come. Just like Ruud used to do.

fare thee well, Ollie ...

Now that Blackpool have been relegated, I have to confess that I'm going to miss their manager Ian Holloway. Blackpool were so skint, they didn't have any business being in the Premier League in the first place. But they were, and they stuck to their beliefs and played some very attractive attacking football. And all credit to their manager for that. Pity they couldn't defend to save their lives.

And I won't be the only one who will miss having Ian Holloway doing interviews. The guy was totally original. Here he is talking about Cristiano Ronaldo :

“He’s six foot something, fit as a flea, good looking – he’s got to have something wrong with him. Hopefully he’s hung like a hamster – That would make us all feel better. Having said that, me missus has got a pet hamster at home, and his cock’s massive.”

What is the secret of Donald Trump's hair ?

You've got to love it when stuff like this turns up. It's whimsical and yet it's the sort of question you can imagine being asked at a coffee table chinwag.

KL28

The owner who bought this license plate,

PJ is the common abbreviation of Petaling Jaya

also bought this license plate :

and KL is the common abbreviation of Kuala Lumpur

Now, if you're from Malaysia, you'll know that KL is the capital of Malaysia and PJ is the satellite city of KL. The two cities are very closely linked and many people commute between the two cities every day. As for the "28", in Cantonese it means "easy fortune".

So with a little bit of work to track the license plates down, and the plonking down of a lot of money, said owner can appreciate both his matching license plates.

Thoughts to Ponder upon ...

"If a man speaks in the forest and there are no women around to hear, is he still wrong ?"

illegal parking and it's consequences...

The only professions that screw people as part of their job are prostitutes and politicians. For the rest of us, screwing around during working hours is generally a no-no and is a violation of work place rules which is usually punishable with a dismissal.

So would you sack the big fella here ?

Oktoberfest

Cheers !

"Visitors to the Munich Oktoberfest this year drank their way into the history books by downing an unprecedented 7 million liters of beer ... The impressive list of lost items includes ... a set of dentures, a hearing aid, a leather whip, a live rabbit, a tuba, a ship in a bottle, 1,450 items of clothing, 770 identity cards, 420 wallets, 366 keys, 330 bags and 320 pairs of glasses, 90 cameras and 90 items of jewellery and watches. A total of 37 children were also lost."

- from Spiegel Online article

Second Glance #1

We were at MidValley last Saturday when we saw this in one of the shop lots :