A reason to stay on the job...

Yesterday, I was busy at work and my colleague Kris, whom I spent 8 months in the coal mine with came over to my desk. "Do you have some time now", he asked. "Not now dude, I need to complete this client document.....wait!, did you just get your new car?". Kris nodded his head. We scrambled down to the parking lot behind my office....There she was...gleaming in an aura of autoerotic glory..a brand new custom built 2006 model AUDI S4!!!!

Kris is very exquisite in his taste of material possessions. He had the car in the fullest options available...totally decked out, including full Bose sound systems, carbon-fiber trim which is not offered to Americans and he had to bug his agent to get it from Germany. The car was built to order for his specs all the way from Germany including GPS systems, specific colors of interior bottons, leather recaro seats, fog lights, trims, etc.

Here are the manufacturers specs....

Engine
Type:V8
Displacement cu in (cc): 250 (4163)
Power bhp (kW) at RPM: 344(253) / 7000
Torque lb-ft (Nm) at RPM: 303(410) / 3500
Redline at RPM: n.a.
Brakes & Tires Brakes F/R:
ABS, vented disc/vented disc
Tires F-R: 235/40 R18
Exterior Dimensions & Weight
Length × Width × Height in: 178.9 × 69.1 × 55.7
Weight lb (kg): 3659 (1660)
Performance
Acceleration 0-62 mph s: 5.6
Top Speed mph (km/h): 155 (250)
Fuel Economy EPA city/highway mpg (l/100 km): n.a. (13.3)

We took the car for a spin. Kris was gracious enough to let me drive her. The steering wheel initially felt really light (drive by wire) and it probably was utilizing servo mechanics. The interesting thing is the wheel got heavier as the vehicle picked up speed. It had a 6+1-speed manual transmission using short strokes gearshift. The car glided to ridiculous speeds with ease. Within 6 seconds I was driving past 55mph..I did not even know I was doing 90mph as it felt like I was doing 30mph. You have to remember that when I drive past 80mph on mamba...the floor will be shaking and the wheel will have a mind of its own and you will have a hard time differentiating between a Californian earthquake and mamba's gasp for air. S4 ...took very tight corners, sport tuned suspension forgives any abrupt manouvers u make. The aluminum chasis definitely improves the power to weight ratio though I wonder if it plays any part in evening out the roughness of the ride.

We popped the bonnet once we got the car back. It was amazing to see a 4.2L V8 engine squeezed into that small engine bay. Look at this picture!!! Just for your info, I think the "V8 4.2" to the Audi badge towards the driver is about only 2 feet!!















Did I also mention that the headlights steer around the corner with you? That was a technology initiated by the BMW 5 series if I remember..

"I got this car so that I have a more binding reason to continue working for the firm to pay for it", reasoned Kris.

Sounds like a good reason to stay on the job.

High school chemistry

During high school, I had a love-hate relationship with the chemistry lab classes. The hatred came from the fact that the lab classes were awefully long and we had to do mundane experiments like titration to determine the number of moles of ch3cooh or NaOH in a sample. I mean these experiments were cool but doing them 100times over and over again is a little boring. Secondly, I was sent to detention class once for misappropriating some magnesium ribbons with my other classmates...That left a bitter after taste after I was mentally and physically abused by the evil prefects during detention class.

I had more fun squirting ionic water on my friends with the squeezy bottles or running my own experiments when the teacher walked out of lab for a second. Magnesium ribbons and acid, Magnesium ribbons and fire, Potassium Permanganate, etc. were more interesting to play with. There were some colored chemicals that I will use to stain on my friends' shirts and will demand a ransome before I gave them the oxidant to reverse the damage.

There were some prodigies in my class but... I was thoroughly impressed with the one who remain anonymous to this day for his feat of brilliance...The one who discovered the 4th law of newton. ...when I was bored in class as usual and started playing with the bunsen burner wooden blocks and noticed some writings on it. It was written....

Newton's 4th law of motion...
The angle of dangle is proportional to the thrust of the bust provided the mass of the ass is constant

The law was way beyond comprehension for most 14 yr olds in my high school.. including me...even now, I only partially comprehend the law. Remarkable is the display of utter geniusness that resides in the minds that lament structured education. If the Singapore government can unleash the practical implication of this law, it might solve the crisis the nation is facing in creating more babies.

Dresden and Gabriel

Last weekend, Vim's house mate John (a party animal) had a hook-up with the local trance clubs in LA and we managed to get on the VIP list for a night with Gabriel and Dresden!!!! The club (club circus) is located on Santa Monica Blvd (1hr from OC).

I met Vim and all his buddies from USC. These guys were already prepped for the night (80% drunk) . The music was OUT OF THE WORLD!!! The trance music got the crowd crazy...all this time I am at the OC i realized the losers here only listen to Hip hop and trance music apparently is almost treated like small pox or something. I was so rejuvenated to see 1000s of brothers and sisters in LA appreciating trance music. The beauty of trance music is, the music captures your soul..and people are out there to dance and have fun....unlike hip hop clubs where dudes are just trying to look cool and normally you will see a hoarde of guys oogling at girls to make a move....something i loathe; just wanna have pure fun listening to music.

The music was phenomenon, everyone had a real good time. The lasers lights were gyrating to the beats. The beats were tantalizing...the tempo (takt) in sync with your heart beat and in tune with your soul...I started jumping around and i've no idea where I got my energy from. I almost felt I could decipher the mathematical equation from the sound from the complex harmonics of electronic synthesis. The effects of the constructive resonance waves were ecstatic, the propagation of sound waves was in sync with the pulsating laser lights; slight phasal difference in recieving these audio-visual effects from a near distant disillusioned and mesmerized the minds of appreciators...It was near perfect...no wonder trance appeals to geeks.

Vim's housemate John was like a duracell bunny...he had so much energy you can rig some cable to his skin and power the city block.

Anyhow, all good things must come to an end..i drove back at 4am and made it home safely..my ears were still ringing all the way back.... thanks to the singapore artillery....

Amazing weekend..and it was nostalgic to be in touch with my clubbing past.

Driver License on public server!!!

This is quite ridiculous. I just spent the last 1/2hr removing all my personal data from the internet. Read an excerpt of an email my friend sent me...

"Check for your driver's license . . and remove it! I definitely removed mine. I suggest you all do the same. Now you can see anyone's driver's license on the Internet, including your own! I just searched for mine and there it was...picture and all! Thanks Homeland Security! Go to the website, and check it out. Enter your name, city and state to see if yours is on file. After your license comes on the screen, click the box marked "Please Remove". This will remove it from public viewing, but not from law enforcement. Please notify all your friends so they can protect themselves, too. http://www.license.shorturl.com"

BALDing

Okie since some of my mofo friends love talking my head and hair when I was innocently talking about my headphones, I shall appease them with more knowledge on the topic.

Male pattern balding (MPB), which I guess what I am beginning to have is a natural process with guys..especially macho guys with high levels of testosterones. The correct testosterone will be DHT which is dihydroxytestosterone, a metabolite of testosterone. Eunuchs (pansies with no balls, literally..maybe Joule?), who have low levels of testosterones, do not lose scalp hair. In addition, men with a genetic defiency of 5alphareductase (enzyme that converts testestorone to DHT) also do not suffer...

There are some medications out there like Propecia or Finasteride which s a competitive inhibitor of that 5alphareductase and thus lower the DHT levels.

Up to 2/3 of guys experience MPB. I never thought I might be balding because my parents have full set of hair. It occured to me one day 4 years ago when I remembered my maternal grandfather was bald. He lived and died in India (bless his soul) so I did not spend much time with him. Thus, I was quite oblivious to the fact. On deeper recollection, my maternal uncle in India is also balding...hmmm....god dammit..F$%K! I just resigned to the fact that I have high testosterones and I refuse to take those medications that will punish my precious nads.

Anyhow I enjoy having my hair short anyway. If really my baldness becomes bad...i will spot a bruce willis hairstyle or rather the lack of it.
According to this chart..I am probably in the early stages. All I could say is I better enjoy my life more before I have that whole in the middle of my head!

Sound of Music

Audiophiles like Matlov have strong opinions on their musical instruments, headpones and such. I recently purchased the Bose noise cancelling headphones against Mat's recommendation. The Bose headpones are a must have to fit into the business cabins of the jets of Corporate America. Honestly, I don't give a damn about that; more importantly I want to protect my hearing and also listen to some good music.

I swear, music has never ever sounded this perfect before. Crystal clear resolution with good bass. When you switch on the noisecancelling, it blocks off all the ambient white noise. It is a must have for you guys with girlfriends who chat nonchalantly. For me, it makes me appreciate music better.

7th year for the Deepavali Rambo

I'm a veteran deepavali Rambo meaning I'm a one man show who never spent deepavali with my family for the last 7 years. I remember when I was a tiny kid in Singapore, deepavali was always a holiday in November when the chinese kids will use the break to study for the impending final-year exams during the november period and the malay kids will use it to play soccer in the void deck. I could have celebrated it with lesser inhibition if not for the fact that my exams will be a few days later. Nevertheless, it was nothing like mom's cooking, new clothes and basking in the happy ambience. I will be waiting by the kitchen so I could have the first shot in getting the food competing with my sisters. My mom will ask me to buy a bottle of Pepsi from provision shop downstairs to celebrate. I will unwillingly take a break from guarding the precious food and head downstairs.

During that phase in my life, drinking pepsi or coke was something extravagant. Probably equivalent to popping a bottle of Crystal Champagne or Moet Chandon or something. I will negotiate with lightning speed the flights of stairs from the 10th floor to head down (remember the food might be ready any moment). On the way up, I will step into the crowded HDB lift with some chinese families. The parents will be talking to their kids in chinese. I will be oblivious to the conversation till I hear "#@%...apu neh neh..@#$". Maybe they were discreetly wishing me happy deepavali or MAYBE they were disciplining their kids that if they don't behave the "apu" will get them. Apu neh neh or neh neh pok or whatever I was glad that I got some street credit on the block cos all the kids feared me..the formidable black mamba or rather the black mama..hehe!! :)