Liga Kampung #06 Field Map Announced

Get your field strategist to work! The field map is announced! 

For a clearer image of the map, visit their official Facebook event page, LIGA KAMPUNG #06 or try this LINK.

Paintball TCP Cup 2013 Field Map Announced

Get your field strategist to work!

For a clearer image of the map, visit their official Facebook event page, Paintball TCP Cup 2013  or try this LINK.

Upcoming Tournament: Paintball TCP Cup 2013, Putrajaya

Heres some good news for new teams who can't make it to the Liga Kampung #06 in Ipoh but wants to end 2013 with a bang; a paintball tournament for newbies and D4 teams! 

Tournament Date
Date: 28th and 29th December 2013
Location: Putrajaya Challenge Park, Putrajaya 
Time: 8am to 7pm 

Walk The Field
Date: 27th December 2013
Location: Putrajaya Challenge Park, Putrajaya 
Time: 10am to 7pm

Captains Meeting
Date: 27th December 2013
Location: Putrajaya Challenge Park, Putrajaya 
Time: 5pm

Closing Registration Date: 24th December 2013
Maximum Team: 20 teams
Category: New Players and Division 4 only
Match Format: Speedball 5on5
Marker Type: Mechanical Marker

Marshalling: Malaysia Paintball Referee Organisation (MPRO)
Player's Datebase/Information Control: Malaysia-National Paintball League (MY-NPL)
Organiser: Perbandaran Putrajaya (PPJ)
Event Coordinator: Equip. Management
Match Coordinator: ProPark Paintball and Events 

Terms - Conditions - Regulations - Fine Prints  
a) Each team must consist a minimum of five (5) and a maximum of eight (8) non pro players or players who have only played up to Division 4 in the Malaysian Paintball League or any other major tournaments.
b) Closing date for registration will be on the 24th December 2013, 5pm. No amendments to player lineups are allowed after the closing date. Teams failing to comply to this clause will result a disqualification of entry to the tournament.
c) Entry Fee is RM1000 per team. The fee includes:
-registration fee,
-ID Tags
-5 boxes of pallets (10,000 pallets) -required
Each team will be required to purchase 5 boxes of pallets. The organiser will not purchase back the left over (unused) pallets, instead, teams will be allowed to use the pallets at ProPark Paintball Field (field rental omitted).
d) Additional pallets can be purchased at the price of RM170 per box (2000 pallets) or RM50 per bag (500 pallets). Only official event pallets are allowed to be used in the field during the tournament.
e) ID Tags are to be worn at all times in the tournament compound. Mugshot pictures are to be sent together during registration for the the ID issuance.
f) Each team will play eight (8) matches in the Prelim round. >Quarter Final will be based on death match best of 3 games format.
g) Only "Paint Markers" and "Mechanical Markers" are allowed to be used during the tournament. Each team will be provided with face mask and in house markers, however, own equipment (mechanical marker, e-loader, harness and pods) are allowed to be used in the field.
h) Players are to be properly dressed for the game. Too lazy to translate. Don't wear fucking skirts.
i) Captains' Meeting will be held on the 27th December 2013, Friday, 8pm (contradicts with what is written at top, 5pm)
k) Failure to wear face mask will result free win to opponent team. Jeez they really need to sort out the t&c.

Registration Guide:
a) Get the registration form here: LINK. Completed forms together with the passport pictures can be submitted for processing to paintballtcp2013@yahoo.com.
b) Deposit of RM200 to secure spot. Balance to paid 5 days before the tournament, 23rd December 2013.
c) Email the bankin slip/online payment slip to the secretariat as proof of payment.

Payment methods: 
a) Cash Payment can be made directly at Paintball @ MEAPS
b) Cheques payable to PROPARK EVENT
c) Cash Deposit Account No. 5622 6302 6153 (Maybank Berhad )

Site:
FB event page
Official Tournament Website

May the best teams win.

Malaysia losing its taste.

When was the last time you got really tired of fast food at your neighbourhood malls and thought that the foodcourt would be a good substitute for a lunch and had to learn the hard that the food serve there sucks. 

There were many times that I would blame the cooks for the low quality of taste in their food especially when they food receives a sudden fame from of endorsement from food blogs and TV shows but this time the best people to have my gun aimed at are the food court operator.

While Malaysians have been not known to spend alot of cash on food (not expensive, but alot), some sleazy opportunist have took this chance to cut down their cost from every possible way to increase their margin. With the recent fuel, sugar and electricity price hike, we have seen some food stalls maintaining their servings with about 5% to 10% increase of price on the food menu. Some would choose to downsize their portion to maintain the current food price. This, though hurting their loyal customer's wallet, is fair.

But the worst thing to do, from my point of view is to hire unskilled cheap labour, cut down on the portion and sell the food for a price that is not the worth the taste.

My recent visit to the neighbourhood mall was to serve one main purpose, an early lunch (or brunch) for a long trip ahead. SiChanteq who is 20 weeks pregnant had a sudden craving for rice with local dishes which of course could not be found at Subway, Kenny Roger Roosters, KFC or Old Town. With the only available option left, we head down to the food court and went straight to the Tom Yam Stall.

What stood behind the counter was 3 Nepalese men who seemed rather not eager bout the sight of a pair of hungry customers. There was lack of communication due to language barriers and so special request or alteration to the menu seemed impossible. We picked a food set for 2 that costed nearly RM22.00.

The result?

Like the fine print on the menu, the display image did not look at all like what was served.
The taste for all 3 dishes was flat.
Tomyam that did not taste like Tomyam.
Ayam Paprik was not cooked for 2.
And the Kangkung Belacan that was cooked with a reduced amount of Belacan.

1) Not being racist, but it would've been better if they have hired a female Thai or an Indonesian cook - local regional foreign cooks would know the taste and the appropriate portion size.
2) The price was such lousy quality food is ridiculous. If they were to say that it is due to the high rent and expensive ingredients, it would still be utter bullshit.
3) This is a fail representation of our local dish to tourists.
4) Day light robbery.

This, of course, is another pointless post.

Upcoming Tournament: Liga Kampung Perak #06

Liga Kampung returns again, this time at the very end of 2013. The sixth series of the league will be held up north in Ipoh, the capital city of Perak.

Below are the details for Liga Kampung #06:
28th and 29th December 2013

OPEN DIVISION
Format M5. 12bps.
Entry Fee: RM350.00 per team
ID Tag: RM20.00 per player

Champion will receive RM3000 + Medals + Trophy
1st Runner Up - RM1500 + Medals
2nd Runner Up - RM750 + Medals
3rd Runner Up - Medals
________________________________________

MECHANICAL DIVISION
Format M5. Mech
Entry Fee: RM250.00 per team
ID Tag: RM20.00 per player

Champion will receive RM2000 + Medals + Trophy
1st Runner Up - RM1000 + Medals
2nd Runner Up - RM500 + Medals
3rd Runner Up - Medals

Pallets - RM180 per box

Tournament Format:
5 Men Centre Flag
5 Players in the field + 2 Subs
Marshall: Malaysian Paintball Referee Organisation (MPRO)
Prelim - 4-5 matches
Top 16 Prelim will go head on at the knockout stage
Knockout match at Quarter Final
Knockout match for 3rd and 4th Placers
Final

To sign up, teams are required to go to this link: SIGN UP LIGA KAMPUNG #06 

Closing Date for registration is on the 26th December 2013.
Bracket Draw will be done on the 27th December 2013.

For more information on the event, you may reach out to the organiser via mobile Sofian Daud 016 332 3337 or Mohd Zulfadli 016 016 233 5484 or their FB event page.

May the best team wins! 

#PRU4Antarctica: Finalist Announced and How I Creeped Robert Swan in the Gents

When all hopes were thought lost for Antarctica, an unexpected email that came into my inbox that late evening somehow became the silver lining of the collapsed dream of going to the southern polar ice cap. It was an invitation to go to Robert Swan's Leadership on the Edge talk at Shangri-La Hotel Kuala Lumpur. I quickly forwarded the email to my bosses with a devil's deal of trading 2 days of my annual leaves for a 4 hour time off to attend the talk.

Knowing how I had babbling about how I was going to win the trip to Antarctica on an all expense paid trip and how gloomy I was when I learned that I was not selected, my boss agreed that I take the afternoon off to enjoy myself there at the talk. 

4th December 2013 came quickly and I was not really working that morning. All available hours was spent on coming with scheme to convince Robert Swan to take me along with him on the expedition. At 12pm, I had my PC shut down and I went downstairs wearing the #Pru4Antarctica tshirt with another raglan tshirt underneath it and a permanent marker pen, I slowly moved towards Shangri-La on my old faithful ex5. 

Upon arriving there, I quickly made my way to the Grand Ballroom at level B2. I was told that there would be food (or some light refreshment as they have put it in the email) but I was not all expecting this:

I mingled around with some familiar faces right until a hotel staff walked around the ballroom lobby ringing a bell in his hand- it was time. I felt like a suicide bomber on a one way mission.

Without the dinning tables and chairs and the buffet table at the sides of the room, the grand room seemed somewhat more spacious than what I remembered. Quickly I scanned for the perfect seat. Since I was amongst the first to walk in, centre seats was still vacant. This was the perfect spot.

Quietly I sat and scanned the room for Robert Swan. Since 99 percent of the people in the room were Asians, I was very confident that it will not be that hard to spot a 57 years old British explorer. Other participants started to flood the room from the entrance at the right side of the room. Eager, excited and unorganised, they helped themselves with a seat. I was surprise at what I say at the opposite of the room.

Semi finalists! There they were. Just a few steps away. 

They were then called onto stage for a photo session. It was when they were done, I noticed a tall well build Caucasian man sporting a hiking bag being escorted to his seat. I was really disappointed with the result of the image captured by my camera.

Clearly (ironic to use this word) I had the wrong setting on my camera at the point of time. The session began with the emcee welcoming guests and calling upon the CEO of Prudential Malaysia, Philip Seah with his opening speech who then passed the mic to Robert Swan.

All this while, I have been practising my interview speech (it was mentioned in the terms and regulation for this competition that there might an interview session with Robert, should there be more than 2 suitable candidates for the final 2) beginning with "Hi Robert Swan, truly privileged to be seated in a room with a living legend; I could not believe myself that that was actually happening. I was seating in a room looking, listening to a living legend; the first man to walk on both North and South Pole.

He started off his talk with a bit of stand up comedy with saying that he hates walking and how he thinks he has done enough of it, he hates cold weather and he hates ice in his underwears and how he hates gloomy people. I sat there listening to every word, like a grandchild listening to his grandfather about how the world was like back then.

He shared that he has always wanted to become a polar traveller ever since he was a kid, how he raised he had to raise USD 5Million at the age of 23, how 7 years later he succeed to gather the fund to buy a ship, how he and his team had to battle through the rough sea to get to Antarctica from New Zealand, how it felt like to arrive there for the first time. the difficult times the occurred throughout the long walk to the South Pole and how he learned that his ship sunk when he got back to his base and was immediately bankrupt.

He also mentioned that;
**humour is essential in a team,
**a leader should not lead all the time, he should step back, allow another person to take over and provide support,
**being truthful when working in a team allows plenty of room to avoid unwanted error,
**everyone should chase their childhood dream.

The talk ended about 50 minutes later. As the participants moved towards the buffet of French Pastries at the lobby of the ballroom, I noticed that no one made an attempt to approach Robert for a picture. Robert took his backpack and quickly walked towards the exit. He made a few occasional stops to shake hands with some prominent Prudential figures before he made his way through the lobby.

A sudden rush of adrenalin pumped through my veins as I mustered of whatever was left in my confidence jar to approach him. I widen my stride to catch up with him. That was when a random dude out of nowhere came up to him acting all important suddenly discussing something that was not all important but he acted as if was a big deal by nodding his head, making face expression that I thought was unnecessary. Who the cock was this cockblocker? He then left Robert after shaking his hand and that's when the polar traveller asked "Where's the loo?"

This was my chance. I quickly followed him and showed him the Gents when was poking his head into the hallway to the Surau and a "oh its thata way?" was his reply. He went in and I waited at the wash basin. My head ran all sorts of possible script that I could use to get him to sign my tshirt or maybe convince him to take a selfie with me.

The autograph happened but the thought of a picture was lost in the excitement.

"Thanks Mate" was what he said he left the Gents. I was not sure if he was flattered or he was creeped out.

I joined the crowd back in the lobby sporting the only Pru4Antarctica with the legendary polar walker's autograph.

Prudential has decided to add another spot for the finalist and they are:

Paul and Faisal. Helena could make it to the event. At least I was right about her making to the finals.

Got the chance to take a picture with Ramon. 

I'm still framing this shirt though it looked like he scribbled his initials.

Kedai Makan Upin & Ipin

Our long walk from Berjaya Times Square to Sungei Wang Plaza in search for Tom Yam came to a stumble block when we arrived at the food court noticing that most of the shops are done for the day. SiChanteq could not hide her frustrated face and all the way down she was frowning. The baby wants Tom Yam she said, another way of her putting it when she craves for a specific menu.

We made our way out of the building and not far from the front entrance, I stopped her to look at the menu display outside of what seems to be a restaurant selling local food. She said let's.

Upin & Ipin is an award winning television series of animated shorts produced by Les' Copaque Production  which features the life and adventures of the eponymous twin brothers in a fictional Malaysian village (wiki). They have won the hearts of many of their young fans.

The restaurant environment is something between a theme park restaurant and a nursery. Most of their patrons are families with little children.

None of the children could sit still.

We were greeted by a foreign waiter who handed us the menu, an order chit and a pencil. The menu was very straight forward but I noticed that some of the food seemed to be slightly overpriced. We went for the Nasi Ayam and the Mee Rebus.

The waiter returned to update us that the kitchen crew had just finished up the ingredients to make a Mee Rebus and suggested that we go for either the Mee Soto or Assam Laksa (that was the only thing left from the Mee section). He walked back to the kitchen after we decided to try their Laksa.

It did not take long for the Laksa to arrive.

It was kinda frustrating to learn that it did not come with the half of a hard boiled egg and what frustrated me even more was that instead of thick gravy of fine fish meat, the Laksa came with I think is chunks of sardines. Thats cheating. 

SiChanteq seemed to like the taste.

Her Nasi Ayam took forever to arrive. 

But when it did, she found out that the rice, chicken, and soup was cold. She was given drumstick when she wrote Chicken Breast at the Remarks section on the order chit.

This restaurant, one of many in Klang Valley, also has the Upin Ipin merchandise arranged neatly, ready for sale.

The helmets on the bottom shelf are not for sale. 

Kedai Makan Upin Ipin

Address:

Lot G001-2A & 2B, Plaza Sungei Wang,
Jln Sultan Ismail, Sungei Wang Plaza,
43000 Kuala Lumpur

Food rating: Meh.
Price: Nasi Ayam + Assam Laksa + Ice Lemon Tea + Sirap Bandung = RM26.70
Environment: Little children running around with parents on their tail trying to get them to finish their food
Extra: Episodes of the animation is played on TV- S6E12 Kenangan Mengusik Jiwa was on