MPO @ DFP & PLK vs. KFC

If you've been following my blog for a while, at least in the past month or so, the first half of the title should make sense to you. However, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't get the second half of it, we'll get into that as you read along.

Today marked the third time I have been to the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas (DFP) at Suria KLCC for a show. The first was a chamber concert, the second being a full orchestra concert that was graced by a famous violinist by the name of Chuanyun Li. Today's performance featured Benjamin Schmid as the solo violinist and conductor, Karen Kamensek.

Before that though, I hung out at Andrew's place a bit after eleven o'clock. Its pretty cool seeing Andrew again, and just like old times, he's talking about and showing me all these new PC or console games he's into. I got a first hand feel of something new he's into called Prototype. I won't describe to you what it is, just get a feel of it off a trailer or YouTube fan videos. I'll tell you though, its pretty fun, but its not a game for the faint hearted I'll say.



Prototype, developed by Radical Entertainment


We even got into a game that is SO nostalgic! We played the original Playstation 1 'Crash Team Racing' (CTR) game. If you're a gamer that feels the new Team Fortress is too cartoonish but the gameplay is just so good, that's exactly the way Andrew and I feel about CTR.



CTR, developed by Naughty Dog


It really has a long lasting addictiveness. We were playing this game about 6-8 years ago! We played battle mode, and just like old times.... Andrew thrashed me outright. I believe the correct terminology to describe this situation is 'pwn'.



Andrew Yew


Anyhow, we went out for lunch, went back to his house again for him to change before driving off to Suria KLCC. It was an afternoon concert, so I told Andrew to get into some smart casual attire. So as you can see in the photo, he's wearing a proper collared buttoned shirt, plus he's got some Chino pants on, so it was all good. There was just one thing, which I forgot to tell him; and which he only realised, and then told me when we were already in KL city, which was this:





His shoes!! If you can't see it clearly, that shoe has a 'swoosh' on it. Anyone would know that by right, any shoe with a 'swoosh' doesn't get to enter the DFP. My mind brushed it aside though, thinking, "Well, the shoe is kind of dark. Maybe we'll still get past the ushers without anyone noticing,"

We were running a bit late, and we got there at about 2.45 which is the time people are supposed to be seated already. Although it wasn't a sell out show, the tickets we got were still towards the front which I was a little dissapointed with. Thankfully, it wasn't at the very front of the stage.

So we bought the tickets from the box office and went up the stairs. I was conciously trying to cover Andrew and his SWOOSHY SHOES from being noticed by the ushers, and we'd passed every one, except the enterance. I thought, "Phew, that should be it"

I handed over my ticket to the usher, and walked in, expecting Andrew to follow. He got DETAINED!! In my mind, I went, "No, no..... please no.." The two ushers at the door were debating whether to let Andrew in. Like myself, they'd obviously seen the sneaker pattern, not to mention the 'swoosh'. However, again, like myself they also thought, it wasn't an obvious pair of sports shoes or sneakers and it was of a pretty dark colour (desperate justification to say it looks something like formal black leather shoes). I really thank God they let him in, otherwise, we'd have wasted RM 20 each for absolutely nothing.



Conductor Karen Kamensek

So we were graced by Karen Kamensek, and she was definitely different from Xian Zhang a few weeks before. The song choice was pretty cool I thought. The music this week was the kind that really tensed you up. It wasn't one of those 'relaxation' concerts. Don't mistake this for a comparison of 'lively' and 'sleepy'. For me it was more of 'tension' against 'peaceful' if you will. Of course, it wasn't like that all the way, if not, it would have been rather stifling.

Benjamin Schmid came in before the interval and he too was of a different character than Chuanyun Li. Not as showy as his Chinese counterpart, but I think he looks like someone that has a bit of class and his playing doesn't come off as an arrogant showcase, but something that just nicely complements the rest of the ensemble.

Some of what they played reminded me of tunes that I'm sure are of a similar tune to that of the legacy Disney shows. Remember the original cartoon productions of Cinderella and Snow White? They had their share of orchestral music, and just for some reason, today's MPO performance reminded me a little of that.

The show was good, and we were just about ready to leave. Then, another piece of drama from Andrew:


He lost his parking ticket.


It remains for us a mystery, even now, how and where did Andrew Yew lose his parking ticket. As a result, young Mr. Yew here had to pay the RM 30.00 fine. Ouch. Lawl....

Anyway, he sent me back and that was that. Almost as soon as we got back.. my mother decided we'd go out to TTDI for dinner and she also wanted to buy some fruit from the night market there. So we went, and so we arrive at the point where I explain PLK vs KFC. We went in for dinner at a relatively new fast food join for Malaysia, Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen. Yes, Popeye as in Popeye the sailorman, although sadly, his face doesn't appear there.


They're so close to each other, in fact, they're opposite each other.


So why PLK vs KFC? This is because I can compare their set menus against each other quite effectively here. I bought a two piece chicken set,which KFC also has, so lets break down the comparison here:



Popeye's 'biscuit', which to me is simply a mini-scone that is a whole lot better than eating an ordinary bread bun that KFC always gives. Even the coleslaw and mashed potato, Popeye's definitely beats KFC. Another good thing about Popeye is like McDonalds, they prefer Coke to Pepsi, which for me is a good thing. The problem is, the main thing is nowhere close to giving KFC chicken a serious run for its money. Another blog mentioned Popeye's chicken is less oily, but KFC definitely has better taste. Sadly too, with Popeye's who's not even charging with 5% extra government tax is still a little more expensive than KFC's price after tax.

Anyhow, after being 'inspired' to blog about this little comparison, I went down with my mum to accompany her pick out the fruits that will inevitably end up in the juicer in our kitchen downstairs.


So this is where we'd end up.



And this is what we'd end up buying.

This blog post doesn't end here though (as long as it already is). As we we're walking down that narrow walkway in between stalls, a face suddenly flashed by and said, "Hi!"

The first thing my mind said was, "What?" in a panicky sort of way. Then the face said hi and all, and for the first two seconds, I'm like, "Who is this?"

Then, my brain suddenly clicked a few memories together beginning from the year 2000. Oh! Sabrina! I really haven't seen her since like, probably the last day of SPM, or before that even. She was my schoolmate in primary six, when I just came back from Vietnam and we were in the same class again during form 4 and 5, but I didn't talk much with her during high school.

The conversation was brief because I had to catch up with my mum who'd walked ahead. And because I'm an idiot, I forgot to like, take down or exchange numbers or anything. Fortunately, she has Facebook, I've added her, but still, I don't really like Facebook. Hence, I hardly use it. In fact, I'm pretty tired of social networking, I just commit to my blog, that's it. In that sense, I guess its a little unlikely we'll meet to catch up sometime, but we'll see. Definitely an unexpected welcome face today.

People Popping In

Its been more than a month now, since I came back to Kuala Lumpur to undergo my industrial training with PETRONAS Carigali. To be precise, I'm currently in my sixth week, with approximately 26 weeks to go after that. After which, I'll be required to report back to UTP in Tronoh, Perak for my final year of studies of my bachelor's degree.

It hasn't taken long for me to settle down since I've been familiar with KL throughout my high school and short college life. I think within two weeks, things began to be familiar, the places I'd go to and the faces I'd see.

A little surprisingly though, some things have turned out slightly different in terms of the people I'd be expecting to talk to or hang out with.

For starters, for some reason or another, I've been talking a lot more with Yvonne recently, which is a surprise to some extent. We never really talked much before, even though we're both in Hearts United; but maybe that was because I was in UTP most of the time. She's a good talker, open about quite a number of things, so I'm pretty much a happy listener, plus she's not a bad singer herself.

Then, there was Sung Ching, who admittedly I've hardly talked to, and haven't seen in a very long time (she's from Penang I think). She just suddenly popped up one day on MSN, so we started talking and so far a lot of the conversations have been revolving around music and she got pretty crazy when I told her that I'm starting to appreciate the classical side of music a little more. Actually, she's pretty much crazy in her language all the time, pretty phenomenal. I personally think, there's a thing about Penang girls whereby they're all strange or unique in some very weird way, lol. This is speaking of experience being friends with a few girls from there.

Then there's Jon from IBM, who's also in church. We've talked over gtalk when I was in UTP, but there've been even more conversations with me coming back to KL and SIB. It's glad to know we both agree that Michael Jackson is not that great albeit he had a tremendous career. We both agree that somebody's gtalk display message '... the death of a great man' definitely does not fit a Michael Jackson tag. I have nothing against Jackson personally, but he's hardly personified what I look for in a pop star, James Brown is that person to me. Anyway, Jon's been good stuff, his lame jokes remind me one of many reasons I love SIB.

Then there's Jeannie, my everlasting 'cucuk' rival in Hearts United. For those from UTP reading, she's my equivalent for Mei Le if you know what I mean. The difference is, Jeannie is taller and works for the government testing drugs.. (this statement already indirectly teases her in some way, lawl). Of course I can't go so far... unless I want Philip to kill me, big LOL. For all the insults we throw at each other for fun, her being 'kind' enough to offer me a ride home has resulted in some very interesting intellectual conversations, the last one being about parenting. I don't even know why we started talking about that.

Then, just last weekend, I was in NSt for my second week of observation with the music team. I was sitting in the back for the entire service with the PA man, (Ji wang is his name I'm sure, but the spelling, not so sure, is it REALLY Jiwang?). At the end as people were clearing up, my eye caught someone, and I thought, "Hmm, yeah... this girl's still around". Then suddenly, somehow from a distance, I saw her looking up at my direction and she walked over to the PA box and said, "Hey! How are you, its good to see you." I was pretty surprised because I hadn't talked to or seen her in years (literally) so that actually made me quite happy. That's from a 'mini-reunion' with Samantha Claire. So we've been chatting a bit since then.

The most surprising one though, was a couple of weeks before that. I remember I was in the car one night and I got a phone call. The voice sounded so familiar but I just couldn't put a name on the voice. The conversation went something like:

Anonymous: Hello, do you remember me?

Christon: Um.... not really, but your voice does sound quite familiar, if you'd just tell me your name...

Anonymous: Oh, well, its Bob.

Christon: Bob? Um.. I don't know anyone by the name of Bob...

Anonymous: It's Andrew lah

Christon's Mind: ANDREWWW!!!!!!!


Andrew (Yew) is a really good friend of mine. We've been hanging out almost ever since I moved to KL from Ho Chi Minh city. He's a few years older than me, but that never became a barrier to what'd I'd say was (and fortunately now so, still is) a very fun friendship. Ironically, I'll be finishing my studies earlier than him, but that's all because this genius friend of mine is studying medicine. So we've been hanging out quite a lot since then.

I've been to his place, he's been to my place. We went for the Haji Samuri satay at Uptown, which was simply awful this time around*. As in my previous post, I'm a little psyched to be invited to his parent's 30th anniversary, partially because he's supposed to sing (I have never in my life seen Andrew Yew perform ANYTHING musical). And this coming Sunday, we'll also be heading down to the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas at Suria KLCC to catch a performance by the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

So yeah, that's pretty much the very welcome unexpected people that've popped up in my life quite recently.




*To members of the consumer society (which is everybody), please note that every time a product gets commercialised, expect the original taste/flavour/quality/durability of that product to decrease by at least 50%.

My Weekends

Well, before getting into the topic of the blog title, a little update on my week so far. The Sunday - Monday period has been bad for me. I won't go into details, but working on something for work that's supposed to be just on a goodwill/best efforts basis got me sick, literally. I was already coming down with a flu on Sunday night, working at home. Monday would be the worst, as the working day progressed, I got sicker and sicker.

I started having this migraine that just started to kill me. I think I've never had such a headache in my life, and some of the people I was working with I felt were unreasonable when all this is on a 'goodwill' basis. I don't think I would've minded as much if the work was anything to do with core business. Anyhow, I've seen the doctor, she gave me a medical certificate for the half-day I took off and today as well, which I really needed to recover fully.

Moving on, I've realised that my past two weekends have been quite full. The previous weekend, I'd spent my day with NSt, with Sunday being reserved for the MPO concert featuring violinist Chuanyun Li. Last weekend I came in early for NSt again, staying back for main service, with Sunday being dedicated to that 'goodwill work' I just mentioned. This weekend promises a similar lineup, with NSt, and then another MPO concert on Sunday afternoon.

As you can see, NSt's becoming a regular fixture for me during the weekends, and will probably remain that way until I leave Kuala Lumpur for UTP, Tronoh. For those who are unaware, NarrowStreet (NSt) is the high school youth group in SIB(KL) church and College United Zone (CoUZ) is the group for college and university students. I'll be serving in the NSt ministry, so I'll be involved with them every Saturday, with the music team and with one of the cells that's just named itself CS 3.16, lol.

The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra is another element I'm looking forward to make a part of my regular fixtures, at least twice a month. I've always wanted to have a chance to appreciate classical music, especially orchestras, so my eight month stint is a real chance for me to do it. In fact next week, I'll be there on Sunday again with Mellissa, Cheryl and Andrew who's just come back from Ireland on holiday (he's studying medicine).

The next Sunday, I have something on yet again, although not in the form of an orchestra. I've been invited to Andrew's parents 30th year anniversary dinner at Seri Hartamas. I think its going to be a pretty sweet ordeal, they're having it at the Modesto's restaurant. I've been there once, its a cozy place.

So, I've got a couple of busy weekends coming up, but I must say I'm really looking forward to it.


p/s: Anyone now where I can get a good office coat at a good price? I really want one.

A Day in the Office

Welcome back to the PETRONAS Twin Towers (PETT) at Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC)

Today on Living thoughts... Simply Loud, we're going to have a look into a typical day of industrial training of a student from Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) who is currently attached to the department of Business Information Management & Administration (BIMA), under the Corporate Services (CS) division of PETRONAS Carigali. We met him for an interview the day before we had a scheduled visit to his office. Excerpts from this short interview are as follows.

ChRisE: Christon, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and who you're working with

Christon: Well, as you know, I'm from UTP, currently 20 years of age and I've been undergoing this program for about 4 weeks now. BIMA is basically like a mini-organisation that controls ICT governance for the whole of PETRONAS Carigali.

ChRisE: I see. So what do you actually do in BIMA for PETRONAS Carigali?

Christon: Firstly, I've been assigned to work with Mr. Rozaidee to assist with any work regarding networking or network architecture over the first four months, and after that I will be under Ms. Suzanna to work on software application related issues for the remaining four months. The opposite is true for my fellow intern.

ChRisE: You're in this program for eight months, do you expect to make a significant or important contribution to the organisation?

Christon: In terms of making a significant contribution, I don't expect to be the one making a decision that can save the company a few million dollars, but I certainly want to be able to make the work of my supervisor(s) easier and to perhaps make them aware or alert of certain issues that they may have overlooked in tandem with being such busy people. Basically, my objective is to contribute to efficiency and avoid being an extra burden, to provide fresh opinions if possible. Anything 'big' or 'significant' I can give is simply just a bonus.

We left the interview at that as we would have more time the next day to go into office himself. We tagged along with Christon in the morning to find out what a whole working day is really like.

Breakfast @ Suria KLCC is a routine

Starting on the morning of a working day, Christon leaves home by car with his father, Simon Emang, who is incidentally also from PETRONAS Carigali, working in Supply Chain Management on level 52 of Tower 1, Petronas Twin Towers (PETT). Breakfast at Suria KLCC is a routine occurence before checking into office early.

Christon, attached to BIMA is located on the 24th floor of Tower 1, PETT. BIMA currently only has four permanent staff, Mr. Ghaffar (senior manager), Ms. Suzanna, Mr. Rozaidee and Mr. Kamal.

Among the highlights of Christon's work so far has been his involvement in the Microsoft Office 2007 Knowledge Sharing sessions as part of BIMA's effort to ensure a smooth rollout of the the 2007 office suite in PETRONAS Carigali. He has also been tasked to do a short tracking of printer usage in PETT for PETRONAS Carigali and analysis for submission to the head of finance. He has also been involved in several meeting involving meetings with Sapura Crest, CISCO and internal parties on proposed and ongoing ICT projects involving the organisation.

A crucial and everyday part of Christon's work in BIMA involves one software application in the Microsoft Office 2007 suite:

Microsoft Outlook 2007

This is where Christon keeps up to date on all ICT concerns that come from within the country and around the globe. Every now and then BIMA has to concern itself with ICT project appraisal and monitor ICT performance utilisation in regional offices.



Industrial Training Attendance Sheet

During the beginning, the middle and at the end of the day, Christon is required to update a daily attendance sheet. This attendance sheet is processed and used by Human Resources department that will refer to the Finance department that will release the payment for the monthly internship allowance.

That's where his working day usually ends, as he punches out for the day and goes home on the busy road that the many others working in the city share.

Luxury Brand Awareness @ Suria KLCC

Suria KLCC

Today, we're going to do a little luxury brand awareness. Some people may know a lot more than what's in here, but some may not have a clue as to what some are. Suria KLCC is one of a number of Malaysian shopping complexes, and probably one of the first to introduce luxury brand shopping to the nation. So to some extent, a number of the wealthier people need not neccessarily wait for a holiday to go on a nice shopping spree.

This photo-article will introduce to you, some, though not all of numerous luxury brand names one might want to know. You may even be surprised by the mention of one or two.

Versace: A leading fashion brand from Italy that makes handbags, jewellery, the works...

Tiffany & Co: The brand specializes in jewellery & silverware, a place where one might like to get a highly valued wedding ring.

Prada: In the same reign as Versace, clothes, shoes, leather accessories are a high end specialty, also from Italy

What might you do for a Prada bag?

Chanel: From France comes a Parisian fashion house that sells luxury clothing, fragrances, handbags, cosmetics, fine jewellery

Watches from CHANEL

Cartier: World renown French jeweller and watchmaker boasts of its own rich collections, have you ever heard of the term, a 'Cartier diamond'? Probably unsurprising from the number one luxury jewellery seller in the world.

Faber Castell: Surprised? Sure it sells an eraser you can buy, but they also made something you probably can't afford. It has made a fountain pen, labelled, 'Pen of The Year 2009', where parts of it are made out of horse hair. It is being sold at Suria KLCC, for about RM 10 000. How many Pilot G2 pens can you buy with RM 10 000?

Bally: Remember this one? Famously known throughout many Malaysian schools for its inclusion in an English short story, but better respected as a Swiss Shoe company.

Sincere: Not a watchmaker itself, but a prime retailer of fine watches in Asia, established in 1958, Singapore. Among the brands it carries, Tag Huer, Omega, Dior, Gucci, Hermes, Mont Blanc and many more

Bvlgari: Starting with jewellery, it now produces fine watches, handbags as well as fragrances. Probably one of the legacy corporations as its roots trace back to the year 1884.

Tissot: Nothing to do with wet tissues or anything of the sort, it is a Swiss watch manufacturer existing since 1853. Lasting more than a century, it is now even commisioned as the timekeeper for world sporting events including ice-hockey, cycling, fencing

Rolex: Probably the brand everybody might know, world famous watchmaker Rolex is founded much later than Tissot but has grown to be a huge status symbol, and is even ranked among the world's 100 most valuable global brands by BusinessWeek.

Giorgio Armani: Considered the most expensive in the bunch, the designer of this series is in the name

Emporio Armani: Targeted at the young adults, may be a bit less classy than Giorgio Armani series, but considered more trendy than the higher end series.

Armani Exchange: Geared towards younger customers and uses urban trend styles. Cheaper than the other two Armani brands above, but its prices still pay a lot of respect to the name Armani. Armani headquarters are located in Milan, Italy.

Royal Selangor: Moving away from Europe, Malaysia has something it can pride itself on, its ability to specialise in pewter has earned itself good international recognition with high quality goods and innovative design. Malaysians have never labelled it 'cheap'.

Gucci: A household name, but not neccessarily present in every household. Most Malaysians know Gucci very well for its handbags, to some extent a woman's luxury leather house.

Gucci handbags and purses on display

Harrods: From London to the city centre of Kuala Lumpur, the world's most famous luxury department store plays host to a good number of luxury brands, some of which may already be mentioned in this article, to name a few others: DKNY, Furla, Christian Dior, Davidoff and more.

Godiva: A manufacturer of premium chocolate, featuring regularly in luxury department stores, and decided to open its own little shop right next to Harrods in Suria KLCC.

Godiva is located on the 1st floor, at the end facing the KLCC park.

Fendi: Yet another premium Italian fashion house, its home is in Rome, and is best known for its handbags.

Dunhill: Much more than most of us know it for, it actually specialises in men's luxury leather goods, clothing lines and accessories. The cigarette brand we also knew it for is considered a luxury brand, produced by British American Tobacco. A similar competitor, Davidoff also has presence in Suria KLCC.

Etienne Aigner: Less known, but produces high quality handbags, small leather goods and jewllery.

Louis Vuitton: Now I pay respects to an old friend's favourite. Honestly, I personally like the name and logo a lot more than the others. The French fashion designer, whose home is the capital of France, founded in 1854, continues to compete against the likes of Prada, Armani, Dolce & Gabana among others.

An LV bag on display outside the store. Louis Vuitton is located close to the second front enterance (facing Menara TA and BSN) of Suria KLCC.

That wraps up my highlight among some of the most prominent luxury names in Suria KLCC. So if you've ever wondered a bit about any of these brands, the differences and similarities, hopefully you've gained a little insight today. Of course, you can always find out more by making a trip down to the city centre to take a look for yourselves. As always, at Suria KLCC:

That brings us to a close of today's edition of Living thoughts... Simply Loud. Stay tuned for 'A Day at The Office' coming soon. This article is brought to you by yours truly, Christon Emang.