Nappies

One consequence of being a parent is one gets very intimately acquainted with the nappy (or if you prefer, diaper).

Before Omar was born, we considered using reusable nappies. They are both cheaper in the long run while at the same time more environmentally friendly. The first problem with that, however, was we do not have our own washing machine we could use every day to clean the nappies. Then, even if we were to wash them by hand, drying them in time would be another problem. So, until we return home to Malaysia, disposables became the natural choice.

We tried several brands of nappies, from well-known major brands to cheaper store brands, before we finally settled on just4bums from Kiddicare.

A box of size 2 nappies contains 240 pieces

The nappies themselves are great. A box contains a month’s supply, which is wonderful because we rely on public transport. The list price is £50 per box, but so far we have been paying only £19.99. Orders are delivered by courier the next day. There is even a free reminder service in case you forget to re-order, but we don’t use it. Kiddicare also offers to refund the nappies we do not use.

Omar turned 3 months yesterday, and coincidentally last night too we graduated him from size 2 (for 3-6kg babies) to size 3 (4-9kg). We don’t know how much nappies cost in Malaysia (I heard it’s a lot) but we are considering buying a few months’ worth to bring home when we return.

:P

T-shirts, etc

Still waiting for my books!

In the mean time, J!NX had another round of offers to take $5 off the price of each shirt for orders of three shirts or more. So I finally bought that WoW Arthas T-shirt, plus three others, MUAHAHA!

Some related dates for future reference:

J!NX order placed: March 20
Package mailed (via USPS Priority Mail): March 20
Estimated delivery date: April 3-10
Package cleared by Malaysian Customs: March 25
Package received: March 26

Amazon order placed: March 5
Package mailed: March 6
Estimated delivery date: April 11
Package received: ???

I’m guessing as the recession continues there’ll be more offers to come. Bad, bad recession!
:P

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PICTURE from top to bottom: J!NX You Don't Pay Me to Talk Pretty (featuring Jayne from Firefly), WoW Arthas, and limited releases Mod Shop (long sleeve thermal) and Terror Bot T-shirt designs.

Lessons

INSPECT YOUR GEAR. On our very first day in Bali, the outsole of my right shoe came off as I entered our hotel room. Yes, shit happens, but I wasn’t planning on getting wet so didn’t even pack spare flip flops. Apparently, the rubber soles of both shoes have worn almost completely flat. They were still very much wearable, though, especially after I patched the lose rubber up with half a tube of contact glue that cost me Rp2,500 at a local hardware store.

INVEST. I should really buy a proper backpack for future travels. I took the old notebook backpack (sans notebook) for the trip, which is both too heavy and too small. I am already used to the weight, lugging my 3.5 kg full-size notebook to and from work every day, but the small internal volume (due to the protective padding) prove quite a huge setback.

BE PREPARED. Another important item, apart from the spare flip flops, that I sacrificed was a spare pair of pants. I figured, with daytime temperature of between 30 and 35 degrees Celsius, Bali is no different than Kuala Lumpur, so I could risk it with just the pair of jeans I was wearing. What a mistake that was; I forgot the last time I actually trekked around KL in the sun. It didn’t take long at all before I was soaked in sweat. Now I have two pairs of shorts I doubt I’ll ever wear again. :P

It rained heavily during much of the second day. I left my rain gear too but thankfully we spent most of the time in the car comfortably dry.

TECHNOLOGY FAILS. Mobile phone service was erratic throughout the trip. Only once a phone call got through; it wasn’t much better with text messages. ATM machines were just as moody. One minute they worked and the next minute they said that my account didn’t exist. This brings me to the next point...

BRING ENOUGH CASH. Not all shops accept plastic. When they do, the connection may be busy or the phone line may fail. Swipe in the wrong place and you card may get cloned. When travelling to strange places, cash is king. My only complaint is the confusing Indonesian huge currency denominations. All those zeroes made my head spin.

GET CORRECT INFORMATION. My travel buddy told me to keep aside Rp100,000 for airport tax. I did, but the actual figure turned out to be Rp150,000. It was nothing major, but I should have known better to do my own homework.

All this while I thought I was the Internet addict but the disconnect didn’t bother me at all, while Suapi insisted on logging in to Facebook every evening. There are still 100-plus unread articles in my Google Reader page, but somehow I find myself not too eager to catch up.

Bali was wonderful, by the way.

Flip Flops

The university’s dress code, particularly the tudung, is the most talked-about of all universities in Malaysia. Which other university’s dress code make national headline and got debated in Parliament? My rant today however, has nothing to do with the tudung but the flip flops, or selipar jepun, our male students wear to class.

We’ve already established that I’m partial to shoes when it comes to footwear. Even without the dress code, the choice of footwear when going to class should be a no brainer. They should have already been conditioned on this small piece of etiquette through the 11-12 years of school plus 1-2 years of matriculation. Yet, these monkeys – yes, I’m calling them monkeys – are wearing selipar jamban to class.

If only this is a simple matter of choice of footwear, but how hard is it to find and wear a proper pair of shoes? Perhaps I should throw them out of the class or write them a ticket. Oh yes, writing them a ticket like some badass traffic cop would be totally awesome. They’ll definitely hate me then if they haven’t already, but at least it will spare me the eyesore.

The Week

I
My new J!NX t-shirts arrived on Thursday! They also sent me a bunch of stickers I don’t know what to do with for being such a good customer. The delivery took only one week compared to the typical two to three weeks with Amazon purchases, which, I think, is impressive. Now, if only Amazon too offers free delivery for international orders...

II
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was almost three hours long but I really enjoyed it throughout. My brother said that the generous exploitation of Brad Pitt’s good looks made the movie seemed almost like a very long commercial, though in a good way; but Benjamin Button was indeed very beautifully shot, an ode to The Big Easy. The whole movie actually reminded me of Forest Gump, to which I now finds out it shares the same screenplay writer, and Big Fish.

III
My mobile buzzed while I was in the cinema. After the movie I saw that it was from Razlan; he’s getting married in March. Congratulations. I doubt that I’d actually drive up to Pasir Puteh for the wedding, though. On the other hand, I just might do. I’ve never actually been to Kelantan so the road trip could be interesting.

IV
Suapi laughed at me either because my passport expired last September or my passport expired last September and I didn’t know it. Or because my passport expired last September and I didn’t know it because I used it last in 2006. Anyway, now I have to apply for a new passport.

T-shirts

Shopping for a T-shirt is impossible! I’ve been looking for a white T-shirt but couldn’t find one in stores I like.

I saw some interesting prospects online, though. There are a few designs from Threadless I really like, but while I contemplated making my first purchase from them, good ol’ J!NX has this “free shipping for orders above $40” offer, so I ordered three.

I bought T-shirts from J!NX before. It all began with a hoodie. I was looking for one during winter 2004/2005 when I saw J!NX on The Screen Savers. The rest, as they say, is history. This time around I wanted to buy the totally awesome WoW Arthas T-shirt but it was out of stock. Of course, it isn’t the only design I’m interested in ;-).

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PICTURE from top to bottom: J!NX Never Feed a Zombie, Jester, and Way of the Warrior T-shirt designs.

Footwear

Let’s talk about shoes.

I prefer to wear shoes when I go out of the house. There is a pair of slippers I wear when I take out the garbage or go to the mosque next door, but beyond that I always put my socks and shoes on. Many people don’t like to wear shoes (with socks) because they consider it a hassle and uncomfortable in the hot Malaysian climate, but I like to wear shoes because I don’t like to get my feet dusty and wet; and I don’t think that it’s a hassle at all. So, I put on my socks and shoes even to go to the local night market, restaurant, or grocery shop, knowing that my feet will be comfortably protected and I don’t have to worry about stepping on a puddle of water.

I have five pairs of shoes (I thought I have four, but I forgot about the pair of sneakers), but only wear two pairs regularly: a pair of black Dockers ProStyle to work, and a pair of waterproof Columbia Trail Meister Mid hiking boots everywhere else. They are both very comfortable shoes. There are also two pairs of dress shoes in my closet. One I bought for my convocation and only wore less than five times since, while the other I bought because it was on 70% discount and my brother thought I could use a new style.

Hiking boots may be a bit heavy for casual day-to-day wear for most people, but I like the protection, stability and support. Plus, I don’t have to worry much about the weather and where I step. There is this coal-colored Pagora Mid Omni-Tech trailing boots I saw recently on Columbia’s website I like. Bad news:

1. I don’t know if it is available in Malaysia; the distributor in Singapore listed on the website didn’t reply my email inquiry.
2. It sells for US$90 online, excluding shipping, which is a lot of money for a pair of shoes.
   

The good news is that the Trail Meister boots are still in very good condition. It’s already more than three years old, and I’ve worn it everywhere from going shopping and to the movies to hiking and camping; on concrete and mud and snow. Still, I figure it could last another three years!

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TRIVIA: Before going to the US I wore size 8 shoes. Now, I wear size 10½. No, I’m not confusing American/European/Asian sizing. Does walking a lot make your feet bigger?

Slow Day

I
They are a bit tricky to put on and take off, but I absolutely love toe socks!

II
Change (and more) found in the various compartments of my faithful five-year old backpack:

• RM1.13
• US$5.51
• £2.16 leftover from a 15-hour transit in Heathrow/London
  
• €0.01 from Professor Fenollosa
  
• ¥123 leftover from a transit in Narita
  
• 1 × MBTA brass token that used to worth US$1.25
  
• 1 × MARTA token from a visit to Atlanta
  

III
I finished marking the Principles of Macro paper on Tuesday and submitted the results yesterday. With the department virtually deserted I thought about taking today off, but decided against it thinking that some students might come looking for me with the Intro to Econs final coming this Monday. Guess what, nobody came.

BFG

“What is BFG?” asked mom.

Anyone who’s played DOOM or been around enough video games would know what a BFG is. BFG stands for Big F*%king Gun. There is no better way to call the biggest, meanest, most powerful weapon around but calling it what it is – a big fucking gun. I don’t play FPS, though; they give me motion sickness.

The J!NX BFG Creed is based on My Rifle: The Creed of a United States Marine, originally penned by Major General William H. Rupertus. Some may only know it from Full Metal Jacket.

I didn’t tell her all that, of course. :P

Pardon all my nonsense until I actually have something to write about.

When It's Cool to Wear a Gown

We are now halfway through the semester; having just finished week seven. I gave my students their mid-semester tests during week, so there is a bunch of papers to be marked at the office.

We are also having our 22nd Convocation this weekend. I believe that commencement or graduation is a better and more accurate word to describe the degree conferment ceremony. Somebody may be able to dig up how we came to use the term convocation instead. The older public universities in the country may simply keep the term by tradition, but we were only established in 1983. Besides, instead of one huge convocation of graduands, staff, alumni etc we have the ceremony split into five sessions over three days.

Anyway, I’ve always thought that the convocation ceremony is more of a big deal to parents and family members than to the students themselves. As a student I hated the week-long Convocation Fiesta* – CONVEST – that turns the campus into a circus. Classes were disrupted, and they closed down the college canteen to force you to go eat at the CONVEST Expo where the food were just as terrible, but you pay twice the amount and had to walk 20 miles. I wasn’t all that excited during my graduation too. Big deal, you finish your degree and get to go on a stage to receive your diploma from some big shot. [1] You only pretend, because you actually collect your diploma unceremoniously from a university pencil-pusher the next day; and [2] that big shot, who may not be that big of a shot at all, doesn’t really know who you are and why he is congratulating you. My mom surely did enjoy the show, though, both times.

As a colleague commented, we would probably have appreciated it more if we had to work harder to graduate. By the same token it is no wonder that parents are so excited in seeing their children graduate, after spending all the emotional, financial, and psychological investments in raising their children and seeing them through school. I can imagine myself getting excited seeing my students graduate.

I attended the second session today as part of the academic staff procession. As we were queuing to enter the hall, I had this amazing idea of a criterion to add when deciding where I want to apply to do my PhD – which school has the best-looking robe?

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* The Malay word pesta obviously comes from the Spanish fiesta, which in turn comes from Latin fēstum for feast. Why can't they just use the more common English word festival or fest, which by the way comes from German but still originates from the same Latin word; instead of fiesta, which is more commonly used to describe religious holidays? ‘Convocation Fest’ saves you a syllable, and doesn't sound as cheap.