Reading List

According to the Guardian, George Orwell’s 1984 is one of the top 10 books people claim to have read (but actually didn’t). I must say, the idea of reading 1984 would never have crossed my mind 10 years ago when all I read were fantasy epics. Now that I’m (supposedly) more mature, I’m glad that I’m expanding my reading list. I started reading contemporary fiction a few years ago, thanks to David Mitchell’s The Thousand Autumns of Jacob DeZoet. Prior to reading that book, I never had thought historical fiction could be so engrossing.

Basically, no matter the genre, I like reading books that have these elements: adventure, comedy, good vs evil, and a little bit of romance. I generally stay away from books that are too dark. I would consider Orwell’s 1984 as “dark” but after reading Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84, I was curious about the other “1984”. It doesn’t have the elements of my kind of book but it still captured my attention. It was depressing reading it and the time I read it coincided with my starting work at a large organisation which was not unlike the organisation described in 1984. I suspect my reading the book at that time heightened my discomfort with the organisation I joined.

From there, I read a book I had bought a while back but had never gotten around to reading it: Kaleidoscope: The Memoir of P.G. Lim. Ever since I interviewed her in 2008/2009, I admired her. After reading her memoir, the admiration has grown stronger. She had achieved so much in her life that I could never hope to replicate. She was one of the first few Asian women to study at Cambridge. After graduating, she became a lawyer and then became a UN diplomat. Thoughts of retiring were put on hold when she was offered the job as the director of the Kuala Lumpur Regional Arbitration Centre. There was hardly a dull moment in her life. The memoir was also a revelation because she delved in the country’s pre-Independence days. I’m ashamed that there are a lot of things that happened back then that I didn’t know about. She wrote briefly about the May 13 riots and that was more than what I got from the history books I pored over in school. Some people are of the opinion that the root cause of the riots can’t exactly be pinned down to one factor and her book corroborated that opinion. There were too many elements going on at the time. One thing for sure is that we shouldn’t harp on who was to blame or who suffered the most. We should learn from the past and work for a better future.

After Kaleidoscope, I continued reading L.M. Montgomery’s Anne’s House of Dreams. I can’t remember why I stopped reading it, I like her books. It’s full of drama and humour and wherever Anne is, she can always find the beauty of the place and Montgomery’s writing evokes a sense of realism which makes you feel like you’ve been to that place before. I finished reading it yesterday and as usual, feel sad that I’ve reached the end. There are three more books in the Anne of Green Gables series and since I liked all five books, I think I will get books six and seven. The eighth one is titled Rilla of Ingleside, so it’s obviously not about Anne; I may not read it but we’ll see.

I am now reading Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, coincidentally another book in the top 10 list of books people claim to have read. The beginning was a bit confusing as the author dives right in but after a while, you get the feel of Maycomb County and the people in it. I can’t comment anymore because I really just started this book.

Back with TM

After trying P1, UMobile and Maxis, I made the decision (with a heavy heart) to sign up for TM’s UniFi. Why the reluctance? I used to use Streamyx a few years and was less than impressed with the service. Since then, I have tried other Internet service providers but the result has more or less been the same. It’s always the usual complaint: Internet connection is unstable, Internet speed is slow, cannot connect to Internet for days and so on.

The one beef I had with P1 was that everytime I called P1 for “technical assistance”, I would always have to switch on our ancient desktop which takes a long time to start and then have to follow their instruction which I never figured its relevance. Type in this IP address, type in that, key in this, reset the modem, restart the modem. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. One thing for sure is that the Internet connection is always unstable. It may be there for one day and gone the next and whole annoying cycle repeats itself again.

Once the contract period ended, I started to use UMobile for mainly two reasons: no contract and no installation (you just need a portable modem that you can plug anywhere). It was fine for a while. The speed was average but at least it was consistent. But alas, good things sometimes have to end. After 9 months or so, the Internet speed became really slow and sometimes unstable. The good part about calling UMobile’s customer service is that they don’t ask you to do mindless stuff with your desktop computer. I just call them, they do a few things and usually the Internet is back on. Of course, towards the end, nothing could be done and I had to stop using their service. The only main gripe was what took place when I wanted to terminate the service. The system was down that morning so they couldn’t terminate my plan. But if I did not terminate it that day itself, I would have to pay the full monthly fee for the next month. I said that’s not fair because the reason I couldn’t terminate was because their system was down. The UMobile staff asked me to go to their other service centre in Sunway instead. I stormed out. I wasn’t going to go ALL THE WAY to Sunway just because their system was down. I went back there in the afternoon and thank goodness the system was up and I was able to terminate my Internet plan.

Next, was Maxis Broadband (not Fibre Internet). Their broadband packages are pretty affordable but it comes with a ghastly condition: daily peak hour (8am-2am) and off-peak hour (2am-8am) quotas. For the the 20GB plan I signed up for, the peak hour quota was 5GB and the off-peak hour quota was 15GB. It’s a grossly disproportionate division of quota but I thought that since my family and I weren't heavy Internet users (we hardly download stuff), it should be okay.

The annoyance started halfway through the first month when we hit the quota. I was quite surprised but since the plan came with the guarantee that we could still continue to use the Internet, albeit at a slower speed (128kps), I thought it would be all right. Unfortunately, I suspected the speed was much slower than the 128kps promised. It was the first month, so we decided to give it another chance. But I think the quota was exceeded even faster during the 2nd month. When I called to complain that I couldn’t even use the Internet, I made a shocking discovery that the 5GB daily peak hours quota was (get this) for the WHOLE MONTH! Can you believe it? I thought the 5GB daily peak hour quota would be renewed everyday as long as the user has not exceeded the monthly 20GB quota. It’s ridiculous if you really think about it. For someone who uses the Internet during normal hours, she is only entitled to 5GB of quota for the whole month even though she is paying for the 20GB package. If the user wants to make use of the off-peak hour quota, she only has a 6 hours out of 24 hours to utilise it . Once I heard that, my mind was made up. Contract or no, I’m terminating this service.

I knew there was a termination fee for this service but I was not going to pay it so easily. The package gave a guarantee that I could still surf the Internet once I exceeded the quota but I couldn’t even surf anymore. It seemed hardly fair for me to pay the termination fee for a poor quality service. Unsurprisingly, I was told that I needed to pay the termination fee when I went to the Maxis Centre. I stated my case and then the staff told me that if I returned the modem, I didn’t have to pay the termination fee. I did bring the modem, so I didn’t have to pay the termination fee. My question is, why didn’t the staff mention earlier that I woulnd’t have to pay if I returned the modem?

From my experience with 4 Internet service providers, I must say that Maxis is the worst. The way their broadband package are priced is a disservice to the customer. I don’t see how anyone can get value from its packages.

The Case of The 6 - Update

Yay, I managed to complete the 6 yesterday! It was a close one. I thought I had to stayback at work yesterday but turns out I didn't have too. Not that it would affect the 6, but I really wanted to break my fast at home rather than at the office :P

I now have four more days to replace but I think I'll take a break from fasting for a while and start again next month ;)

The Case of the 6

Just what is “the 6”? It’s what I’m calling puasa sunat Syawal. Unlike the one month mandatory fasting all Muslims observe during Ramadan, the 6 is optional and it is to be observed anytime during the month of Syawal except for the first day of Syawal.

Since one or two years ago, I’ve started observing the 6. The main reason is because I’m always rushing to replace my fast before the next Ramadan comes around. Let’s say I didn’t fast for 8 days last year due to that time of the month, usually I’ll be replacing those days right before the start of the next Ramadan. Most of the time I make it but the gap is usually too close for comfort. If I don’t manage to replace those days before the next Ramadan starts, the days I would need to replace will be multiplied by 2!

So, to counter this situation, I thought it would be best to do my replacement fasting early and this is where the 6 comes in. I get to replace my fast early in the year and if I really have some last minute replacement fasting to do before the next Ramadan comes, I would only need to fast around 3-4 days, which is quite manageable.

After Raya this year, I have 10 days to replace and I plan to offset some of those days with the 6. I didn’t start the 6 after the first week of Syawal like the rest of my family members because that time of the month was around the corner. It was also a busy period at work. Due to these two factors I decided to start the 6 on 26 August. That didn’t pan out. I had an office open house on 26, department open house on 27 and team lunch on 29 (I managed to start the 6 on 28 August). I now have 5 days left and I can only resume on 2 September. The last day of Syawal is on 6 September. I would have to fast from Monday to Friday next week. Theoretically possible but work might come in the way because there is a product launch on 6 September. Nonetheless, I am determined to complete the 6. Let’s hope I can make it.

Oppressive atmosphere

It's that time of the year again where the haze from Indonesia reaches Malaysian shores. A few days ago, the haze reached the southern part of the peninsula and Singapore. Yesterday morning, the haze reached Kuala Lumpur. I felt so uncomfortable yesterday, the combination of the heat and the haze makes for a depressing day. You can't go out, you can't do anything. You even feel weird. I'm taking care by drinking lots of water and I hope I don't fall sick but tomorrow is the start of another working week and there'll be no way of avoiding the haze.

Game of Thrones, Season Three, Episode Nine

Social media network exploded with fans' reaction to the dreaded Red Wedding weeks ago but in Malaysia, the episode was only broadcast last night. I was very tense from the beginning of last night's episode because although I wanted to watch that episode, I did not want to watch that particular scene. I managed to avoid the scene but because I was so careful to avoid it, I also missed a few scenes before it. So I watched it again today but of course, without watching that scene.

Some shocked viewers have voiced out their dismay by saying they will no longer watch the series or read the book. I would feel the same way too but I've already read what happens after the Red Wedding. While at the moment, it appears that only the good people suffer and die, there will be more casualties in the future and it involves the not-so-good people as well. Yes, the Red Wedding was painful to read but the author is just portraying the reality of the time, which is also relevant to this day. Sometimes, bad things happen to good people. "Life is not a song," to quote a phrase from the book.

For this episode, I particularly liked the scene with Bran and how he used his powers to help Jon who happened to be there with the wildlings. Even though they didn't meet, it was heartening to see that they were in the same place at the same time. By this time, a lot of the Stark family members have succumbed to the ruthless game of thrones but I'm still hoping that Bran, Rickon, Jon, Arya and Sansa will survive.

Fantasy Weekend - Game of Thrones, Season Three, Episode Four

SPOILER ALERT FOR GAME OF THRONES, SEASON THREE, EPISODE FOUR.

As usual, the dialogue is sharp and full of wit even though Tyrion was missing from this episode. As we saw in the previous episode, Jamie had his sword hand cut off by his captors. You wouldn’t think you would pity someone who easily pushed a child off a roof but somehow you pitied Jamie. Surely, no one deserved to have his hand chopped off in cold blood. Whatever it is, Jamie had a new reality to face and Brienne chided him sharply when he refused to eat. She also thanked him for saving her earlier by telling the captors that her homeland Tarth was full of sapphires, when in fact it was known as the sapphire isle because of its waters. The look on Jamie’s face was priceless: you can’t quite tell what he’s thinking but you just might think that he’s beginning to have a soft spot for the swordswoman.

Back at King's Landing, it was painful watching Tywin Lannister putting down Tyrion during an earlier episode but it was absolutely delightful watching him dish out a similar treatment to Cersei.

(The dialogues below have been paraphrased)

Tywin’s quote of the day: “I do not confide in you not because you’re a woman but because you’re not as smart as you think you are.”

It makes you wonder, does he like ANY of his children? I mean, he doesn’t seem to be too concerned about Jaime even though he acknowledges the guy as his heir.

But the highlight of the episode came towards the end. Having concluded their agreement, Daenarys brings one of her dragons in exchange for the full force of the Unsullied army of Astapor. The slave master was as insulting as ever. He told her the young Unsullied were still green and it would be good if she could test them by raiding a few cities not far from Astapor. He would gladly buy any of the captives from those cities so that he can train more Unsullied. Daenarys doesn’t say a word until she hands him her dragon and he gives her the whip to officially close the deal. Daenarys then asked Missandei if the deal has been finalised and if she is finally the true master of the Unsullied. The slave master said yes, using his usual derogatory name for Daenarys.

Daenarys then calls out the Unsullied in the Valyrian tongue to test them. She asked them to march forward and then stop. They obeyed.

Slave master: You speak Valyrian?

Daenarys: I am a Targaryen who carries the old blood of Valyria. Valyrian is my mother tongue.

Her eyes full of determination and restrained anger, she then ordered the Unsullied to kill every slave master and to release all slaves, with the condition that they spare all children. For the slave master who was holding one of her dragons, she called out the dragon’s name and he breathed fire towards the slave master.

Once the carnage was over, Daenarys rode a white horse and spoke again to the Unsullied.

Daenarys: Unsullied, today you are no longer a slave. Any man who wishes to leave may do so. You will not be harmed. I give you my word. But for those of you who would like to stay, I ask that you fight for me, as free men.

There was a moment of silence. Then, one Unsullied started to beat his spear to the ground. He was soon followed by the entire Unsullied army. Ser Jorah Mormont and Ser Barristan Selmy watched in amazement at their queen. Like me, they were probably thinking, she’s awesome. Here was a strong female leader who was firm yet kind, determined yet wise. She then lead the entire Unsullied army together with her three dragons flying above them. The show of strength and power sent shivers up my spine. It sent a strong message: nothing will stop Daenarys Targaryen from reclaiming her rightful place on the iron throne.