Nice management huh

I mentioned about the shortcut to school in my last entry. Recently, the management seemed to have tightened the security around the fence. Considering that the guards there don't have anything to do, I suppose they'll have some fun yelling at students trying to take the shortcut.

So one hot afternoon while I was getting back from classes, to take a quick break before going back an hour later. That wasn't too much trouble since the trip takes only five minutes to and fro, leaving me with fifty minutes in between. Unfortunately, on my way back home, I was waylaid by one guard. I guessed that he was Pakistani from his name tag. He spoke relatively good English, though he struggled at words sometimes. He told me that I can't go from this route, like "You, uh, can't go from this route." I asked for a reason, since there were no signs around the area saying that this path is forbidden. The guard told me that the patch of land belonged to another company and he's not sure what are they going to do with it. Fine then, I asked him whether if I could raise this issue to the management. He did not supply me with a hotline numbe or a complaints e-mail address since he didn't know any. We had a friendly chat before he let me go.

With forty minutes left and a hot sun above, I skipped that class.



Another day I was taking the shortcut again with a friend when a guard -- no, I'm not sure if he's a guard or just some whack. The guards are in uniform and had nametags. This one was just wearing a T-shirt with no name tag. But anyway, he didn't hesitate to give out threats. He was rather rude to my friend, but that was deserving of my friend since he was rude to the 'guard' in the first place. After the exchange of threats, I tried to start a conversation with him.



Me: Is there any reason why we can't walk this path, considering that there are no notices around saying so?

'Guard': I don't want to talk so much. You can't cross here, OK?

Me: But why isn't there a sign or written notice here saying that we can't cross here?

'Guard': Because I've told everyone who comes by not to walk this path.

Me: OK, fine, we'll turn back. But can you give me a reason why we can't walk this path?

'Guard': This land is MK Land's (developer of the condos), not MMU's (my university). They made crossing here illegal. I'm the security officer, I have the rights. *turns to friend* And you don't give me that kind of face, you think you're so good, studying in MMU? I'll take down your IC numbers next time.

(At this time, I was wondering who actually owns that patch of land.)

Me: So what would you do with our IC numbers?

'Guard': Why should I tell you? (Because that's our IC numbers, duh!)

Me: OK, whatever. Anyway, do you know where I can clarify about this, since you don't want to tell me anything?

'Guard': You can always go to the office.

Me: Any numbers I can call, or e-mail addreses?

'Guard': *smirk* Why do you need the telephone number?

Me: Because it saves me the trouble to go there?

'Guard': *laugh* Nah there's no number. Just go to the office.

Me: I thought this place is like so high-tech or something, and you don't have a number. Anyway, you're Mr.?

He then tells me his name, then we leave.


Now, I am one who doesn't wish to break the rules. My main beef is that there is no sign clearly stating that no trespassing is allowed. Heck, the 'guard' didn't even have identification, he could be bullshitting me anyway. If there is a sign to stop people from walking that path, I'll gladly respect their decision and take the long way.

Secondly, the 'guards' attitude pissed me off. I understand that he was rude to my friend because he was rude to him, but the least thing he could do was to answer my questions properly. I don't think I showed any hostility during the conversation, in fact I was smiling all the while.

Thirdly, a point which I have not mentioned, I searched the condo's website to look for contacts. The only contact given was of its sales department. Regardless I sent a mail there, but it bounced because apparently no such address existed. Yes, I did spellcheck. So, a company that cares only about its sales and nothing after that. Speaks a lot of its intentions, heh?

In any case, I'll be heading down to the office in a few day's time, where I have one free day. I won't even force them to let students use that path, I just want a good explanation. Wish me luck.

Huge update

S'been two weeks since I wrote my last entry. What has happened? Hell lot. It would be easier for me if I wrote it in several entries over the past two weeks, but I was (1) busy and (2) lazy as usual.

First of all, I started my second year of university. It just feels good being back in school again, though I was pretty swamped in just my first week. I'll get to that later.

Anyway, my hostel application was rejected since last semester, and I missed the appeal dates. I managed to find a (cheap) place two days just before school started, a two-room in my senior's house. I'm currently sharing a room with coffee-ping, he's a nice guy if you feed him his regular supply of hentai and fighting games.

Travelling from house to school is quick and easy, it's even quicker than going from hostel. You'd have to cross a fence and climb up a hill though. Sometimes, annoying guards would stop you and ask you to go the 'usual way', which I think it's discrimination against car-less people. Here's a quick diagram of the area:



As you can see, the green route is the preferred route by any student. The red route takes three times the time to reach school, and is only suitable for those who drive. There are security guards situated near the fence for 24 hours. I wonder if their only purpose is to stop students from crossing the fence.

On the other hand, we busied our heads off for the World Cyber Games 2005 Inter-College Challenge and Game Developers' Club recruitment. I'll start talking about the WCG event first.

Getting people to play games is harder than I thought. For five days we promoted our asses off and got only about 20 people. The common excuses were "Ah I suck at this game." (No, you just suck in general.) and "I only play this game for fun...." (Well, since when games aren't for fun?) I didn't manage to check out the event itself, since I was in the Hall doing club promotion.

Tuesday and Wednesday were Club Registration Days. Every official club in the university sets up a booth in the hall and try to get (con) as many people into their club as possible. We got 60+ people, there were quite some cute girls, especially this one who's a Hitman fan (whoa). Anyway, I tried my best to get people in, that's where my heart is. I think it's the first time where I've been so fervent in promoting for a club.

The main attraction of our booth is the name itself, often people come and ask "So you'll teach us how to make games?" which the proper reply to that would be "What kind of games would you like to make?" which the typical reply would be "Uh... I dunno, I thought you'll teach us to make games?" which the proper reply would be "Well, if you don't have any game ideas, we can't do anything about it."

Thursday and Friday went by pretty eventlessly, and now I'm sitting here writing this blog.

Movie review - Madagascar

I think I'm getting old.

From the producers of Shark Tale and Shrek, I should've known what to expect from Madagascar. Slapstick. Lots of them. When Alex the Lion gets happy in Madagascar, he doesn't just throw his arms up and shout 'Yippee!". Alex would throw his hands up, shout "Yippee!", hop up to the highest rock, does an en pointe, rolls down, splashes into a pool and making the nearby animals protest in disgust, snags an empty bottle and sings into it, then gives his best friends a tight hug, all while singing a happy song and happier music playing in the background.

I think I was supposed to laugh at that, but I didn't. The kids around me were laughing. Even the kids' parents were laughing. I fidgeted uncomfortably. I didn't find it funny at all. In fact, I was thinking that the producers did all this just to stretch the show longer - not to mention that it's pretty short at one and a half hour.

Well it's a kids' show. I'm 20 already. I'm not supposed to complain that kids' shows aren't funny. In fact the kids were roaring with laughter. And I just sat there waiting for the scene to move on. But it didn't. Alex was still frolicking around in joy and the kids were still laughing.

I dread that Madagascar's selling point would be humor of that sort. But the penguins saved the day. Oh, I'd watch that show again just for the penguins. And the cute little lemur. Watch out for the lemur.

The animation was slick and colorful, though I find Alex's paws a tad too blocky, but maybe that's why he's the cutest among the bunch. Scenes were realistically done too. The trees in Madagascar, however, had a cartoony feel to them, but that's not a bad thing.

Voice-acting wise, the actors did a great job - well, what did you expect from an all-star cast, with big stars like Chris Rock and Ben Stiller as the main cast? Sacha 'Ali G' Baron Cohen was a riot.

Music-wise, it was... weird. It's pretty much a mish-mash of everything from the past thirty years. You get 'Boogie Wonderland' playing when Gloria the Hippo does her routine underwater dance, 'Staying Alive' when Marty the Zebra roams the streets of New York alone, 'Chariots of Fire' at the beach scene, the National Geographic theme when the lion chases the zebra on the Madagascar grasslands. You've just gotta see it for yourself. I gotta admit that the 'Move it' theme was very catchy though.

Slapstick might not be for me now, but I'd want to watch that show again. Everything is just so happy and colorful and memorable that it makes me want to dance. Highly recommended. Go watch it, it rocks. Especially the penguins.