'Everyone' Celebrates Xmas Now?

I noticed in Friendster, people were wishing people who weren't Christians 'Merry Christmas'. Actually, they were wishing one another. Christmas has become something like Happy New Year, where it's not limited to a particular race or religion.

It's funny really. Christmas has become so commercialized. It's not a sacred celebration among the Christians anymore. The reason for celebrating Christmas has changed. It's no longer to commemorate the birth of Jesus, it's become something else, I don't know what.

Now, everyone celebrates everything. Suddenly, everyone is celebrating Hari Raya, Deepavali, Chinese New year and Christmas. They might just not go to work a few days before the celebrations. Their excuse would be, 'Oh, few more days Deepavali already.' And they are not even Hindus! Maybe they want to celebrate together too.

In this rat race world where more and more people are working harder to reach their life goals or whatever, so I guess any celebration would be their excuse to just relax for a while. Maybe. =/

How was the Prosperity Burger?

What to eat for dinner today? I thought earlier. Food is quite a problem for me. Now that I'm not staying at home, I have to worry about where to get my food from. No more mom's home-cooked food. No more not having to worry about where to get my next meal.

There are many food shops near my uni but I have to walk there. Car park's a problem so I can't park anywhere near those shops. If I feel hardworking, then only I'll take the trouble to walk all the way to the chinese restaurant where they sell fried rice, economy rice, normal Chinese food that ain't spicy! I can't stand to eat nasi kandar and roti canai everyday! Only once in while, like once a week.

So, I ate at McDonald's today with my friends. I decided to order something which is not my usual McChicken meal with fries and Coke. Today, I ordered the Beef Prosperity Burger meal. The set includes the burger, twister fries or fries twisters, and green tea. The cashier asked me in an overly-concerned, slow kind of way, 'Do you want green tea?' It's as if she didn't like the green tea herself! Anyway, I was in the mood for orange juice so I changed my drink.

Wow, the burger was SPICY with all its black pepper sauce! I've always liked black pepper as in black pepper chicken but this black pepper sauce was utterly...spicy. =) After a few bites, I quickly got hold of my orange juice and drank to cool my mouth down.

All in all, the burger was quite nice. I remember eating it many years ago and liked it, that's why I decided to eat it again. It only comes once a year, before Chinese New Year. Unfortunately, not everyone likes it. Haha! Read this post by Shannelicious.

2nd floor = Excellent Connection!

Now, I'm at another apartment elsewhere on the second floor and the connection is really fast! This is what I'm talking about. This is the promised 3.6Mbps. I guess this area is heavily covered with the 3G thing.

Huh...don't tell me that I cannot use this modem thingy on the 5th floor! Sigh....

Never mind. Let me enjoy the extra excellent connection now. =)

Stupid Maxis Broadband

Okay, I'm getting really pissed off with Maxis' broadband connection. Almost regretting my purchase. Had too many high expectations which could not be met.

I'm at the 5th floor of an apartment now in Penang and it takes such a freaking long time for me to sign in MSN Messenger. I can't open any webpage either. Then, I had to resort to stealing someone else's WiFi so that I can blog this post.

Oh my goodness...RM138 a month for the next 18 months of miserable Internet connections. What to do...what to do... I'm horrified with their connection. Or maybe I'm using it at the wrong places where the 3G thing is not so widespread yet. I don't know. All I know is that going online with Maxis USB Modem is so NOT fun!

It looks sleek and nice and easy to carry around but what's the use? What's the point of paying them RM138 a month if I can't enjoy even a decent 20 minutes of Internet surfing. And I don't play online games either. All I do is blog and download songs. That's all! Is that too much to ask? Ah....I hate Maxis Broadband and it's only Day 3 of me using it.

I was so eager to try it out and it was a risk I took. An expensive risk. And now I have to find RM138 a month to pay off the bills. Silly me. I wonder how it's going with other Maxis USB modem users. Are they fuming and tearing their hair out? Or are they still patiently going online with it and hoping that one day it will miraculously be fast for once.

I bought it because I travel around and I don't have a fixed line. Yes, there's a fixed line at home but I don't go home often now and no one will be using if I applied for Streamyx there. My only option would be this stupid USB modem. And what a nightmare. I hate it so much.

The Maxis USB Modem Broadband

Yesterday, I decided to get myself the Maxis USB Modem broadband. High Speed Internet Access.

I’m trying it right now and I’m not completely satisfied with it. At the Maxis centre, the salesgirl explained things and made it seem like I’ll be connected to the Internet without any problems. Even if I were to try to go online on the 20th floor of an apartment, I can still enjoy Internet speeds up to 3.6Mbps.

So I paid RM100 for activation and they gave me a neat box with the USB modem in it. There are a long and short wire or connector and an installation CD for Mac users. She said that I’ll be able to surf the Internet in 6 hours’ time. That time was around 1pm so I figured that I can go online at 7p.m. And I did go online at 7pm.

However, I’m quite upset that web pages opened at a slow rate. I haven’t tried surfing the Net at the apartment yet. Maybe later.

But it’s quite fun going online in my room. I never thought that it’d be possible. Well, the downside is that websites load slowly last night at 8.47 pm. It’s frustrating not being able to open Blogger now. Aiyo….still can’t open!

Anyway, it’s Christmas today! Christmas = presents. Not that I’ll be getting many presents now. =) But I’ll still be getting a few from my sisters! So, it’s not going to be downright miserable.

I’m so happy I can go online anytime, anywhere! I can even send SMSes from my laptop with my new SIM card. Yeah, you have to insert the SIM card into your USB modem. Oh, monthly charges are RM138 a month. They’ll only charge me RM138 next month. And I’m bound to an 18-month contract. It means I can’t ever cancel this USB broadband service for the next 18 months! It means I’ll be paying them around RM2000+++!!! Man, I really hope they improve their service so that the loading will be faster.

Stupid Blogger still not opened yet.

Well, it's opened now. Oh my gosh, don't tell me that I'm going to keep experiencing this slow, slow, slow loading!!!!!!!!!!

Which wireless broadband service to use?

I've been searching the Internet for more information on Maxis wireless broadband. From the Maxis website, everything looks nice and clear and to me, it all seem inviting. Cos I'm desperate to connect to the Internet!

However, at my pal's place, there's no fixed phone and we don't intend to get one. That's why I think I'll resort to using wireless broadband services. So now, Maxis and Celcom are my options.

Then, somebody blogged that Maxis broadband doesn't work really well if you were to live in a condominium or apartment higher than the 4th floor. Does that imply to everybody who happens to stay on the 4th floor or higher?

And I've been reading about some 'hidden' charges by Maxis. I thought I'll go ahead with their Starter plan for only RM68 a month. There's a 30-day trial too. All seem pretty easy right? Unfortunately, many people complained about their wireless service.

What about Celcom broadband? Is it any good? Will there be interruptions if one were to go online in an apartment and staying higher than the 4th floor?

Any advice would be highly appreciated!

How does TMNet Prepaid card work?

Recently I purchased a TMNet Prepaid Start up card online (RM30) and thought that I could go online at my friend's place. No, there's no telephone line so I could not use dial-up or even have Streamyx there. I thought with TMNet prepaid, I could surf the Internet!

But no. I think in order to use the prepaid card, we need a phone or I should go to a TMNet Hotspot area! Argh! I just wanna go online at my friend's place where I'm staying for a while. They did say that we could online anytime and ANYWHERE!!!

And what's the use of this prepaid card if I were to go to some Hotspot area? Like Starbucks for example. I thought that I can buy a cup of coffee and then I'll be able to access the Internet automatically. Is that how it works? I'm not sure cos I haven't tried before.

I was thinking about Maxis broadband but it's RM128 a month! That's so expensive! But, I think that that is really anytime and ANYWHERE!

I gotta find out more about these stuff.

The Best Damn Thing!

I bought the latest Avril Lavigne CD - The Best Damn Thing and.......

I like it! Well, not every song but the more I hear, the more I get used to them and then I'll like them more. It's usually like that with me.

Anyway, my favourite song from her CD would definitely be 'Runaway'. I like the way the drums beat. Makes you feel like dancing! But, check out the lyrics:

'I just wanna scream and lose control
Throw my hands up and let it go
Forget about everything and runaway, yeah
I just want to fall and lose myself
Laughing so hard it hurts like hell
Forget about everything and runaway, yeah'

If you were to run away, you can't really run away forever right? I really wish I could run away from things right now...but it's easier if I just face them and get it over with!

Another song I like from the album is 'Innocence'. The lyrics are...meaningful? Well, if that's the word to describe it. I kind of like 'The Best Damn Thing' too.

Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, ho...! Haha! There are a lot of Hey, heys in this album. This album certainly is different from her previous ones. But my favourite album would always be her first one, 'Let Go'.

And oh, check out what I got for my birthday!




That's one huuuuge.....card and I simply love it! It came with chocolates too. =)

Back again

Hey there, sorry I haven't been updating my blogs. Know what? I'm too busy to take care of 2 blogs. One is already quite a tough job for me let alone two! What was I thinking? Anyways, I had fun 'maintaining' both my blogs. Now, I'll only keep THIS blog. Oh yeah.

Well, university life is starting again for me. My last semester's results are not that good. For me. I should have studied harder but it's a mystery as to what I actually did last semester! Better pull myself together now. I have 7 subjects/courses this semester. Last semester, I took 6. So now it's an extra one subject and I had better STUDY!!!

The sad thing is I still can't bond with my new friends. They speak Mandarin most of the time and I simply hate being left out in their conversations. Then, perhaps out of pity for me, they'll ask me some weird question or something. Sad, sad, sad. At times, I feel like I'm better off being alone.

But, no worries now. I have decided that I'm going to drown myself in my studies. And I want to join some sports too. Maybe squash? Or table tennis. Everything seems to interesting and I just want to join all but do I have the time? What with all my classes and assignments...I must stop dreaming!

Oh, this is still my first year in uni so I'm not allowed to drive in campus still. I'd better be careful and not get another 'saman'. 20 bucks you know??? Terrible! So, should I drive tomorrow or just hop on the bus just like everybody else? Tomorrow is our first day of school, so do ya think there'll be any pegawai keselamatan waiting to catch people like me? I'll see how. My first class tomorrow is at 9 am.

Please, please...I hope this semester won't be as dreadful as my first one! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.