Interstellar

I went into the movie last night expecting a sci-fi ride. One of those standard Hollywood fare with spectacular special effect. But what I got coming out of this movie was a more philosophical debate. A rather deep one at that. Not something I bargained for.

But this was not to say that the movie was a farce.

I would put this movie on the same level of Contact, which for me one of the best sci-fi movie I had ever watched. Again not for the special effects, but on the philosophical conundrum at the back end.

A lot of the concepts were far fetched. May not even be scientifically true as well, but intriguing none the less. Although it made more sense than Inception.

Typical of Nolan's movie, one had to pay attention at opening scenes as they would return later.

I felt that I got more than I bargained for at the end of the movie. The closure was satisfactory but still there were questions unanswered. Would I recommend the movie to everybody? Not really. Those not interested would definitely doze off halfway. But for me, I would definitely be getting the DVD when it comes out ...

Excruciating

It had been a long morning and as the afternoon wore on, the heaven opened. And as usual, Friday afternoon rain spelled heavy traffic.

I've been stuck for the last 30 minutes, hardly making any progress. And the rain looked to continue. That would also spoil our weekly Friday Evening outing.

Praying that the traffic smoothed out in the coming few minutes.... Happy weekend all!

BLS Weekend

Every couple of years, I had to attend a refresher course on Basic Life Support and pass a quiz at the end of it to collect a certificate. This time it would be this weekend. Saturday afternoon after clinic to be exact.

At least I didn't have to attend the full course again - over three days. I just needed to turn up on the afternoon, sit for a short lecture for revision and then exam. Hopefully it would be as straight forward as that.

But, before that, I had to do a bit of reading. Oh dear ...

Immigration Time

My current passport had expired. But since I was imposed by a traveling and flying ban by Puan Anita, I didn’t bother renewing my passport. In December, me, Anita and the boys were planning to hit Singapore, so it was time to renew. The boys were still at school, and since I seldom had free time, I had to utilise all the free mornings I had. So, today was the day.

I got all my documents ready ahead of time. I even stopped at the Immigration Office a couple of days back to double check on the documents I needed to bring - I can be like that. I was told that all I needed to bring was my old passport, my MyKad and to fill in a simple sheet of paper on my details and the rest would be taken care of on the day at the counter.

RM300 for 5 years ....Heading out happy ...I set off to the Immigration Office at Wangsa Maju, about 15 minutes away from the Gombak House just after 7 this morning. The office opened at 7.30 and there was already a queue when I arrived. I was the 35th customer to be served. The officer checked that my documents are legit and I was told to take a seat and wait for my number. It was around 7.50 am then.

My number was called at around 8.10, handed in the documents, had my photograph taken, thumbprints scanned, documents signed. Got my number back and asked to wait to pay at another counter in the next 15 minutes. I was already with my payment receipt at 8.28 am. The lady behind the cashier told me that my passport would be ready in about an hour’s time. Time for breakfast I thought.

A mamak restaurant at the end of the row sorted that out, and I was back after 20 minutes. I started browsing the net and checked my twitter feed. And just before 9am, my number was up for passport collection!

All was settled within 90 minutes without any fuss! Great stuff, and the staffs were friendly too. Even the security - mainly made up by Rela officers were kind and helpful. They had a separate lines for customers with young children and old folks. They would be served and attended to much faster. But to be honest, it couldn’t have been much faster than this!

I was very happy and impressed. The system was efficient as advertised, and I was glad that I went to a smaller office where the crowd was smaller. Next week it would be Anita’s and the boys’ turn. After being through the process today, I was not worried at all about what they would have to go through.

A few suggestions would be to have a bigger screen for the numbers - the one there had only a couple of lines and there was no numbers on top of each of the individual counters. The PA system was also out of commission on the day, so you had to pay attention to when your number were called. I didn’t have time to see if there were toilet facilities and sure available, as I was sure those may come in handy …..

Great job guys!

Hi-tech Mamak

Hi-tech Mamak : While waiting for my number to come up at the Immigration Office, I went for a quick breakfast at a mama restaurant at the end of the row - Ali Maju it was called.

Sat down, had my order called, and the fella taking the order were keying them onto an Android tablet on his hands. He then handed me a smart card for me to take to the cashier later when I wanted to check out!

The food came in quite slowly however, so I was’t really sure if such a complicated system helped in the end of the day. Maybe during hectic hours it might do …. but it was impressive none the less. Maybe Apple Pay would be coming next ….