Chatter Of The Squirrel

Book: 20 Fragments Of A Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo

After one of my CKT dinners, I grabbed a random book to read while waiting for time to pass.

20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo, is a short novel about a village girl who came to Beijing and became a “ke le fe“.

It’s some random fragments of life in Beijing for the new generation of Chinese youths, particularly the poor and struggling ones with just the unfortunate awareness to still cling helplessly to a vague, hopeless dream.

I don’t do very well with stories like these. Stories with no overall plot or direction. When Fenfang’s boyfriend is swimming in a puddle all by himself instead of teaching her to swim as well, it’s probably a dirge to chivalry, or some such commentary. But I can’t really tell for sure.

But the author does paint a number of interesting characters, and I did enjoy the book.

Food: Char Kuey Teow for RM1.10

Seri Penang at Ikano Power Centre, (next to ACE Hardware), has a promotion all of April.

Char Kuey Teow promo from 3pm to 6pm, only RM1 per plate.

That’s why I rush out of work promptly at 5.30, and race to IKEA. I usually can get my ass in a chair by 5.54.

The portion looks kinda small, but well worth it for RM1. It’s got bits of shrimps, cockles and that funny green vegetable that looks like spring onion leaves, but isn’t. It’s really yummy.

Not 7.90 yummy (which is the usual price), but I am thoroughly enjoying it at this price. Have been trying to have my dinner here every evening since discovering it. It’s really great, cos right after dinner, I can hop over to Borders and read.

Today’s the last day of this promotion. For the month of May, it’s going to be Penang Laksa, for RM1. And June, it’ll be Yong Chow Fried Rice, for RM1. I know exactly where I’ll be eating my dinner for the next 2 months…

The restaurant is quite full these days, sometimes more than 20 people before 6pm. But everyone is only eating CKT. Sometimes 2 plates each. I hope the place will stay afloat at least till June. ^_^ The food is quite good, just ridiculously priced.

Blogging Is My Second Brain

Someone resetted the settings on a Metrologic barcode scanner back to defaults. As a result, it’s not working with the USB/PS2 adapter that I bought for that scanner so that it can be used on notebook computers.

I’ve fixed this problem almost a year ago.

Good thing that I blogged about it then, so that I know exactly what I did the last time, and can fix the problem with minimum loss of time.

I use my blog to remember things that I might need to remember later. It’s easy to add info, and I can easily retrieve said info as long as I have a web connection.

Photog: My First Astrophotography Pic

Nothing amazing about this pic. Just a 10min bulb exposure of the night sky in Port Dickson.

Taken with my K10D, DA40mm lens, and my homegrown wired shutter release.

Walked down the steps almost to the beach, away from the lights from the resort, put the camera in the shadow of a wall. Propped the camera on my sandals, pointing to a random spot in the sky, turned on Bulb exposure with my remote, and left it for 10min.

The camera caught way more stars than I thought was in the sky. The thing in the bottom corner is a fence post. It was not illuminated by any light when I was shooting. It might have been radiating infrared radiation that the sensor picked up in the long exposure. (But I could be wrong.)

I was quite unprepared to do astrophotography. Didn’t even have my tripod on me, but luckily I remebered my remote. It was a clear, dark night, even the moon was on the other side of the earth. I didn’t want to waste the opportunity and got up to take this shot when the rest of my bunkmates were already abed.

But even this humble photo, is getting me inspired in astronomy again… 

Reading about the barndoor mount. Rereading Dan’s review on the Astroscan, and gritting my teeth with regret that they have no distributor in Melbourne where I might trouble my sister to get one for me. Do I have a friend in the US who loves me enough to lug 5-6kg worth of glass and metal to Malaysia for me? Doubtful

Even looking at how I can build my own telescope. And from there, I discover how Pyrex is dead, and how amateur astronomers are bemoaning the loss of the one kiln in the world that made thick borosilicate pyrex glass that can be used to make telescope reflectors.

A world that’s been hidden before is suddenly brought to light with closer scrutiny. Just like how a  long exposure revealed stars that were too dim for the eyes to see.

Movie: Napoleon Dynamite

Napoleon Dynamite is an indie movie that made millions. Voted one of the top comedies of our time. Referenced and parodied in many contemporary media, including Robot Chicken. So I just got to see what’s it about.

Jon Heder shot to fame in this film. First encountered him in The Backbenchers.

Anyway. Napoleon Dynamite. Don’t get it.

It’s about a high school kid who’s so lame that you’re supposed to laugh at his lameness.

Really not that funny at all.

GOSH!