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The A6 Monologue sketch book has been sitting on the dining table nicely wrap in its original packaging for a few days.  The small sketch book was calling to me and finally today, I decided it was time to rip it’s plastic appart and deflower it.  My first sketch was using my fountain pen drawing the waves of sea in a hot sunny day.  The cream paper was a little rough, and it did not settle well my the foutain pen ink.  You will notice a little smear.  So, for this sketch book, its either pencil or ball pent for me, atleast till I do water or poster color, that is if I ever do that.  The A6 sits well with the palm and easy to carry.  The soft leather skin has a nice feel to it too.  The band was at the right tension and was not too tight.  The only draw back for the band was that it was hard to pick the band, when I use my nails, I dig into the leather, maybe it was inexperience in using this kind of book.  Overall I like the built, and can’t wait to deflower the other monologue that I bought over the weekend.  Now, what should I draw next?

After our favourite noodle breakfast at Bukit Cina, we were already thinking of lunch.  It was already 10am after all.  Muar came from my brother in law.  Muar? isn’t that like Johor = far? Its only an hour away max he exclaim.  Well, why not, since we have nothing much to do.  Coming from Penang, I would love to check out the food scene in Muar, especially the hawker fare.  So, we set out to Muar from Malacca just after noon.  To my surprise, it was not that far, there was this one road that we took, direct and looks like a highway, but it is free.  Muar was only less than 50km, and it didn’t take the hour mention by my brother in-law. 

The fist thing I notice in the drive in was the 30ft TV Antenna.  Almost every home has it, watching Singapore programs for free.  The city was decent, clean and was well kept.  It has the rustic feel of an old Malaysian city, but with fresh coat of paint.  Honestly, this city looks like more well kept than Penang, even though I love Penang much.  So, after some left, right, right turn, we came to this hawker section of the town.  My brother in law recommends the wantan mee, I like the ones in Penang better.  The pork satay was good, it was tender and tasty.  Otak Otak was spicy.  Liang Teh was nice.  The Ham Chim Peng was also very nice, it was soft and sweet.  The Muar Chee was ok, like any other muar chee. 

After filling our stomach, we went to the riverside.  I realize that Muar has quite a number of colonial buildings.  I was wondering what were the colonials doing here back in the days? Was muar a port for them to go Singapore and Penang? Nevertheless, the riverside was well kept and nice.  The scenery was also nice and cooling to rest under the huge trees that lines up along the river.  After a few minutes there we went to the famous Muar 434 coffee shop.  The Sai Kee White Coffee Espresso Special was great.  Rich like all other Malaysian home brew, and you can feel the caffeine effect for a while.  The coffee was great with the Ham Chim Peng.  The ambiance of the restaurant was also unique.  You have loads of pictures on the wall, one with Mona Lisa holding the 434 coffee packet on her hand.  Marble tables and wooden floors.  Softly air conditioned with ceiling fan giving the feeling of a cool afternoon breeze.  After having our fix, we head back, and that was our escapade of driving interstate for lunch. 

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JamLegend is a web rendition of the popular game Guitar Hero.  Using your keyboard as a guitar, you can Jam through various gene type of songs.  I have not played guitar hero before, but I know what it is and have seen youtuber showing off their skills.  This looks the same and I enjoy it much.  The pace was a little fast when I started, but once I get used to the beats, it comes in natural.  Sometimes, I think my subconscious mind was driving the finger rather than me.  This was especially evident when comes the tricky sequences.  Somehow the fingers just grace through the buttons automatically, while I was thinking when I will be screwing up.  And the second that thought expires, I screw up.  As I played the song more and more times, I got better and able to accomplish the tricky notes, and that felt really good.  I wonder if playing the real guitar felt the same way too.  There are a total of 5 strings, and 3 levels.  Easy only plays 3 strings, while medium 4 and hard all 5 strings.  As you play and scores, you get groupies, which is like a trophy of your accomplishments.  Currently there are a total of 38 accomplishments, and it will take an expert of the game or a lot of time to get them all.  You can also invite your friend to a Duels to see who is better and also to climb the points ladder as well as collect accomplishments.  Currently the game only has guitar, but I see Bass, Drums and keyboard as part of the future offerings. After all, the laptop keyboard has so many buttons, enough to support the mention instruments. 

The songs selection are good, I enjoyed the beats most of the time.  As the game are currently in Beta, I expect to see some minor tweaks in the near future.  Currently, the game seams to load in segments over broadband, so if it is not fully loaded, you can expects to pause once you have finish the segment.  This disrupts the game.  I guess sometimes the loading speed is not that fast, and people may get tired of waiting, that is why they allow you to go first.  I have been addicted to this game for a couple of days and now tired of playing alone.  Come join me with the invitation below.  Just click “Join Jamlegend” and it will bring you the sign up page.  You will automatically be my friend.  Train up and challenge me.  Oh, the game is free, forgot to mention that. 

Join JamLegend

I for one love musicals, and when Mamma Mia comes to the silver screen, I had to see it.  It was just formidable.  Me and my wife had so much fun that we could not stop talking about it on the way home.  The movie had ended, but the characters and songs were still playing in our mind.  It was a Fun and feel good movie, and with Abba timeless songs, it was just amazing.  The guy 3 rows to my right, sang almost to every song, I know he had a great time.  Me on the other hand was moving and swaying and I pity the girl on my right.  On her left, she has a guy that sings during the movie, and on her left (mua), she has a guy that dance, it must have been dreadful for her.. but I see she still enjoys the movie.  

During the movie, there were moments that I felt free, to let go all the woes and rekindle me with my younger days of less worries and carefree.  This is what a great movie does, stirring up emotions unexpectedly and shows you how life can be different by just change your mind or the way you think.  This was a fun movie, the actors were visibly seen having a ball of their time.  The location were also lovely, especially towards the end, where the wedding were about to take place, a little chapel up on the hill, with lanterns grazing the entire pathway, it just bring awe to the entire audience.  Luckily I am already married, so my wife just say “when you want to bring me to a Greek Island” rather than, “I want a wedding like this”.  Oh, maybe the latter was cheaper.. haha, Reality of marriages where the guys wants a cheaper wedding so that the money can be spent on the honeymoon, the girl on the other hand, wants it to be a day of remembrance for the rest of her life, ie. grandeur. 

I saw 5xMom Lilian there, and I dont recognize any of the other Penang Bloggers.  The girl behind me brought her teacher (I suspected), and the guys was hilarious.  He smuggle food into the cinema, and keep saying that this was smuggled food, also he was saying that this was a ploy by the government to capture all bloggers into ISA.  I thought he was a funny chap. 

Its a must watch movie, something light, fun, and feel good to take you away from the current political and economical issues.  It will make you dance, sing, and talk about funny scenes after the movie.  If it does not do all that for you, then there is always Eagle Eye, which is coming soon.  Thanks to Nuffnang for the tickets.  Now, where is my old Abba CD?

My little housemaid has finally arrived.  We named it, Bolo.  Its an amazing little thing.  Out of the box, I pulled a yellow tag to activate the battery, and  ‘tuutiluu’ Bolo greeted me to life .  I set it to charge and within a couple of hours, the little thing were set to go.  I set it to do it’s duties every morning at 9am, so that we wouldn’t be bothered by the vacuuming noise. Today was it’s first day, and boy, the floors are spanking shining.  Unfortunately, first day at work didn’t go all too well for Bolo.  It picked up of my pants behind the drawers and got stuck.  Fortunate enough for me, he was almost done, except for some corners.  The great thing about Bolo, the iRobot Roomba 560 is that it does all the work it suppose to.  And the disappointing thing is that it aint that perfect. It knocked down our ironing board and got stuck on the toilet rug.  It works well with carpet as the weight of the carpet allows it to free itself, but a light toilet rug, just follows it where ever it go.  The funny thing about the entire package is that the charging or docking bay is black, while the charger or power adapter is white in color.  The Roomba 560 comes with two ‘light house’, two little transceiver that tells the little thing where the room divide.  This is so that it can finish the first room before moving to the second room.  Else, it will just go where ever it wants.  I didn’t really mind so I just let the little thing rip.  The two little light out also was not in matching color.  the entire module felt like a lego set, with each items having its own color scheme.  It would be nice if the colors are in sync.  Will let it roomba tomorrow morning at 9am again and see if it can get those spots…