How you doin?

Eddie Murphy getting married to himself?? What is the world coming to?? Now that's a sight to be seen.. Wait!! I did see it, last night to be exact. Well, in Norbit anyway.. It's the latest big screen release by the comic veteran. Got to go with the missus and the entourage (my cousin and best mate) along with their 'missus' (Girl Frens lah). High expectations all round from Mrs. SandMan and the rest of the gang. Knowing it to be a 'clone' movie of Nutty Professor 1&2(Mr. Murphy playing multi characters), all of us were waiting to have a great laugh fiesta (lurus kah inda tu spelling nya atu?, ah screw it..). Anyways, 15 minutes into the movie, the laughters came but not as often as we have expected. 3/4 through the movie I had a thought.. was it a comedy or an insult to our gravity challenged friends. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against them (being an obese person a good half of my adult life before I joined the gym), I felt that the comedic scene potrayed through out the movie is too demeaning. Even the rest of the gang agreed with me, getting laughs from other people's problem is not a good night out. All in all, 4/10 for the movie. The 1 good thing that came out of the night was that I get to spend it with the people whom I love and are very close to, Mrs. SandMan (love of my life), Luq (my cuz/best mate) and last but not least, Azmi (my other best mate/personal physician). Even though they brought along their 'hand bags' (Girl Frens agi heheh) along (heheh sorry mat..) but me and the missus didn't mind them tagging along. It felt like a triple date... oh yeah, back to the movie.. if you like laughting at other people's expense, watch it.. if not, don't even think of coming close to the cineplex.. even with a 10 feet pole.. One more thing, can't wait to watch Mr. Bean's Holiday though, at least that movie we are laughting with him and not AT him (I hope).. Gracias

You!! Guilty!!

Had a chance to check out the new cineplex in town (Seri Q-Lap) last Sunday (could have been in Bangkok.. still mad about that) and was quite impressed with the layout. Since this is the first time I ever stepped in the new mall (even though its only a stone throw away from my office), I was very eager to check out the place. 1st impression, it was a small buidling to be called a mall. Antah ah? maybe used to seeing malls being 'big' shooping complexes but Q-Lap mall has all the usual elements of a mall. Descent food court, shops and a supermarket and now a cinema.. Not bad.. Got to watch Ghost Rider there and 2 words comes to mind... AWESOME CGI!!! (well more than 2 words heheh) Not being a great fan of GR, I was a fan by the end of the movie.. or was I just a fan of the movie rather than the character?? Your typical comic book adaptation movie, hard core action, some what love story and the all too familiar 'sex sells' (in the form of Eva Mandes's cleavage) were present. I won't go into details of the movie, but all in all I give a 8.5/10 for the CGI but a 6/10 for the storyline. I have to agree with our very own local celebrity blogger (Rano). Nicholas Cage does not play a cool super hero's alter ego, apart from when he is Ghost Rider and not when he is plain ol' Johnny Blaze. A dare devil stunt man who loves coloured jelly beans and listens to The Carpenters?? Checky I would say, maybe the creators of GR wanted to inject some soul into the character, who knows?? Hey wait a minute? GR does not have a soul, he sold it to the devil... for love... ooooo...

Delayed, Postponed, Cancelled (Part 2)...

My oh my.. The never ending story of our cancelled trip took a different turn yesterday when my entourage and I (aseh.. heheh) went to RBA Main office to get our cancelled tickets sorted out. With endorsement letter in hand (given by RBA airport office), we were all but happy to go there to get at least our full reimbursement from the airline. However, it was a different story when the 'invisible' supervisor in charge at the main office declined to acknowledge our presence and that an administrative fee of $100 per ticket is still to be levied. Heh?? Was it just me, or the airline was the one who postponed and then cancelled the flight? After a few moments of verbal exchange with the counter staff, we were instructed to go back to RBA Airport office to clarify our letter and take it from there. What??!!! The last time I've checked, we were the paying customers and didn't plan to fly for free!!! Not wanting to make a scene, we reluctantly went back to the airport to sort things out. Upon arriving there, RBA staffs were more helpful and accomandating than the ones in BSB. They acknowledge that the cancelled trip were not our fault (obviously), and we were entitled to get full reimbursement of our tickets.. Thank god for that... In the end of the day, we got what we wanted, but had to 'work' quite hard to get it. My concern, is this an everyday occurance where there are no communication between the 2 offices or is this just a one time thing? I hope it's the latter.... Still very very sadden with RBA at the moment..

Delayed, Postponed, Cancelled...

Patiently Waiting..

Time stands still

Bus ride to ASMA Hotel Jerudong

Breakfast at ASMA

Me and my big mouth.. Maybe it serves me right, I shouldn't have counted my eggs before they hatched or even before they were laid. As today I was suppose to be on the back nine of the Pine Hurst golf course in Bangkok, but I'm actually on my bed at home in BRUNEI contemplating what might have been. I hope I won't be boring you guys with the details but hey its my blog and I'm gonna write what ever I want (Anger & Frustration speaking there). Yesterday afternoon started off efficiently with my cousin and I went to the money changers to get a hand full of Thai Baht. Checked in around 4pm and back home to freshen up. Back at the airport around 6pm, and was laughing and joking around in our seats by 615pm. 'Eh lama jua wang tani kan take off ani?' my cousin asked. Our flight as 'adequately' explained by the CSO is experiencing some 'recalibration of instruments' and the flight will be 'delayed for a few minutes'. Minutes passed, and it was almost an hour later before we heard any explanation by the cabin crew. Can't blame them though, they were bewildered as much as we were. By 8pm, 70% of the passengers on the flight were getting anxious. Who could blame them? I won't, as I was one of them. More on that later.. '.. The Engineer will require 20 - 30mins to get the parts for the instruments'. What the fuck!!! By this time, every one has lost hope. Things were about to get worst. Next thing that we heard was being asked to disembark. Light refreshments, light dinner and at 10pm were asked to 'enter gate 3 immediately for security check'. Oh yes.. we are actually going to Bangkok. A few minutes later, the unthinkable happened. '... due to technical difficulty, the flight will be estimated to leave TOMORROW' WHAT THE HELL!!!!! No one wanted to leave the departure gate. My cousin went into disarray, my best mate went into bizarro mode and I went to auto pilot heh?? apakan?? What is going on RBA?? Can we get a descent explanation from the ground staff. All they could say was they couldn't promise anything, but the tentative departure time is 12pm today. However, I have to give the ground staff some credit for their way of handling the situation. Even though they were a hand full of passengers who were very very frustrated (I wonder who??? heheh) but the ground staff were able to calm every one down. We were offered to go back home or stay a night in ASMA Hotel in Jerudong. 'Baik tah tani bemalam di sana saja' my cousin stressed. 'Awu eh, sudah tah nda sampai ke Bangkok, at least ampit jua bemalam di hotel' I replyed. At the end of the night, all 3 of us ended up in ASMA Hotel in Jerudong rather than in Bangkok. The more I think of lastnight, the more I'm getting frustrated. To make the story short, this morning woke up with a bit of hope as RBA informed that the flight is 'confirmed' to leave at 12pm today. Oh yes, maybe I can salvage a ruined golf weekend with some shopping for the missus. But it all turned sour as we received word during breakfast that the flight is scheduled to leave at 3pm!!! We came to a consensus to just cancel the trip as we were suppose to return back tomorrow morning. All that adrenaline and anxiety for nothing. Went straigth to the airport to pick up our luggage and get our tickets back. Saw a few familiar faces from the flight and they were dismayed as I was when we saw that even today's flight is CANCELLLED!!!! I won't say that I am a frequent traveller, but have had a fair share of travelling in my 29 years of air travel. But this is the worst experience I have had with our national flight carrier. Kenapa tia RBA ani?? I have always supported RBA, be it travelling to Europe or even regionally. But 1 incident won't deter me from travelling with them. It was a one time accident, but guys (RBA) please and I beg of you, please don't keep your passengers in the dark of what is happening during the delay. I for one would understand it if proper explaination of the situation was given at a much earlier time rather then at distant hourly announcements. So now I'm back home, with thousands of Thai Baht in my wallet and no where to go. Hey wait a minute, Empire Driving Range... hmmmm, interesting.

Slow Day...

Hey guys, this will be my last entry before my trip to BKK later this evening. Don't know what to pack for a 2 day trip to tell you the truth. However, the missus (bless her) had different things on her mind. Eventhough she's not tagging along, but she is always with me in spirit (or in this case her wish list hehehe). No worries, the most important thing that I must bring is my credit cards then. Looking forward to the golf game tomorrow in Bangkok, hope it doesn't rain though. And then after that, shopping!!! Any how, you guys enjoy your Gong Xi Fa Cai and long weekend.. As for me, I'm getting ready to yell.... BALL!!!!!

Communicate...

It is finally here, well almost.. The new Nokia Communicator (now called E90). Have been waiting for quite sometime for this model to come out. At 1st glance, i would not say that it's a looker, but with the specs issued by Nokia recently at 3GSM in Barcelona, this bad boy will surely pack a punch. Being a fan of the communicator since the 9210i, I have had 2 previous reincarnation of this series and have to admit that I'm still in love with the previous model. And this 1 is certainly going into my 2007 wish list. All built in, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth.. you name it, it has them all. But 1 thing that dissapointed me was the pixels for the camera (3.2M Pix.. only!!!). WTH is Nokia thinking??!! After announcing the N95 (alum agi sampai..) was going to have 5Mp for its built in camera, I was expecting the same for the E90. But hey, you can't have everything. It seems like my wish list for this year is growing by the minute. It started out with just getting a new laptop (Apple Mac Book Pro.. waiting for Leopard to be released), a new Callaway Golf Iron Set (nunggu abis chinese new year sal d Singapore murah heheh) and now the E90. Good heaven's.. How in the world will I finance all these things.. hehe (nya orang brunei, basar awa..) Anyways, as the saying goes, 'If there's a will, there's a way'. In this case it will be, 'If there's a will, there are debts to be paid' hahahah...

Postponed...

Wow, has it been 2 weeks already. Macam kes malas for the past few weeks. FYI, the handover for the Ulu Temburong Project has been postponed till the 1st or 3rd March 2007. Unfortunately, due to scheduling restrains the Minister of MIPR won't be officiating the handover. In his place will be The Director of Forestry. All the same, it will be an all day event. At this juncture (asih macam official saja bunyinya), I will like to take this opportunity to convey my best wishes to all our Chinese friends in Brunei and all over the world 'Gong Xi Fa Cai'. Hmm, speaking of that, I'll be off to Bangkok tomorrow. Will not be away long, should be back by Monday(hopefully). Reason for going... GOLF!!! Don't get me wrong, we have excellent golf courses here, but I just wanted a change. Last time I played (golf that is heheh) was in PineHurst Golfand Country Club (June 2006). I won't bore you guys with the details, but I will be posting my trip once I get back. In addition (there I go again with the formalities), to all Bruneians, SELAMAT MENYAMBUT HARI GURU... HEH??? (macam salah haribulan..) what I meant to say was SELAMAT MENYAMBUT HARI KEBANGSAAN YG KE 23. Kap Khoon Kaap.... (good way to be patriotic dude....)