Rusty's solo Sunday Drive to Endah Parade

It was 11am in the morning when Trowa log into MSN. As I was showing off my new Selphie Tilmit PVC figurine to him I was invited to Endah Parade for a Gundam competition held by a hobby shop there since he’s a regular at that palace and like all loyal customers, they’ll try to help boost business of the shop. Since I’ve nothing to do today, I might as well give it a try, who knows, that shop might sell some 1/6 military figs or some really cute anime figurine. I left at 2pm but only reached an hour later. What’s the hold up? I overshot the exit and had trouble making a U turn. So in the end I turn out to the federal highway and start all over. Yeah, that’s truly a Kodak moment.

Anyway, it appears that the journey was more exciting than the destination. The first impression was really bad. The moment I entered the basement car park where was blockade all over the place trying to force traffic into a unidirectional flow. Unidirectional flow is a big no no in car park as it tend to jam up the queue when the car in front stops and wait for someone else to exit. As I got through the ordeal in the parking lot, I was met with a ghost town. Yes, that place is quite vacant. Over all built of the place is quite big, think of it as 1 Utama new wing but only with more floors. Seven floors of shops (LG-L5). I thought I was in twilight zone as the parking was full but when I reached 3^rd floor where the competition was held, rows after rows of shops was closed. After further exploring only I discovered that only lower ground till first floor was fully occupied and those are the busiest floors. It’s a shame that for such a beautiful layout, many shop lots are vacant and not properly utilized. It could be due to the rather lousy location of the shopping center since it’s just a drive away from down town KL. What really attracted my attention was a huge wooden ship inside the shopping center. Quite nice to look at, but that’s just about it. The main crowd puller is Carefour which is at the lower ground. Another thing unique about this place is there are quite a number of foot reflexology centers at that place. I’ve stopped counting at ten, and that’s just in one floor alone.

Anyway, back to the competition, as I guessed it, it’s rather small. Only two tables used with about 10 participants (food and beverages supplied). I’m not a big fan of Gundam. Sure, I do admire the figurine and model kits but I wouldn’t buy them even for display. However I’d definitely buy some MechWarrior stuff though. According to Trowa, that shop is specialized in Gundam stuff and it’s true, inside the shop, there’s loads of Gundam kits stacked till the selling, no joke man. As for anime figure, it’s rather disappointing as the collection’s small compared to what XL is offering. But, if you are looking for rare items, this is definitely the place. For the first time I’ve seed Hasbro binaltech transformers. What’s the difference with Takara? Takara binaltech is die cast metal wile Hasbro’s plastic. And the quality difference is really noticeable. If I’m good on the air brush I might consider. Although no exactly what I had in mind of a Gundam competition, still it’s a nice experience and great opportunity to test out my K750i in macro mode.

The boat inside Endah Parade

Shops closed on a Sunday

Shop where the competition was held


it wasn't even big


believe it or not, you are looking at the winning entery

1 on 1 DOTA for Dummies

I had a game of DotA (Defense of the Ancients) with my cousin yesterday and it really got me inspired in writing this. It’s been quite a while since I’ve ever played a 1 on 1 game plus most competition is set at 3 vs 3 or 5 vs 5, after all DotA is a team based game. So here are some quick tips for those interested (Existenz take note).

First blood
The best thing about 1 on 1 is that each player automatically starts with 3.5k gold. That’s already enough to buy lots of lvl1 items but also the most important early game lvl3 item, the Daggon (Staff of wizardry 1000 + blades of attack 650 + recipe 1350 = 3000). At level 1 it can churn out bad-ass bolt of red lightning at 400 damage. That’s already enough* to take out low hp heroes like bone Fletcher, oblivion, rikimaru and even the drow ranger. (* might need to soften up the hero first).

Top 3 heroes that’s deadly with the Daggon in early game.
Goblin techies – Daggon (400) + Suicide squad, attack (650) = 1050dmg
Pugna (Oblivion) – Decrepify (+40%) + Daggon (400) = 560dmg
Zeus – Lightning bolt (100) + Daggon (400) = 500dmg

Note, damage might vary depending on enemy’s armor rating.

Seek and destroy
With clever use of observer wards, it’s easy to ambush and prevent ambushes. There are many blind spot and ambush points in the game so, knowing here and when to use is purely based on wisdom and experience. I would’ve provided a map if I could.

Staying in the game
The longer you stay in battles, the more experience you get (provided you are near enough when a creep dies). So, it’s always best to stock up on lesser clarity potion and flask of sapphire water to save trips from base to battlefield. Also, getting a courier chicken is advisable. Having a 1-2 level lead is important especially for spamming heroes as spells would grow stronger, thus giving an edge in the game. Attacking the opposing hero first to force him to return back to base to charge up is also an age old technique that’s still being used.

Practice practice practice
Title explains it all.

picture curtersy of http://dota-allstars.com/

Best Claypot Chicken Rice

Firstly, what does 'NgaPohFun' stand for? XD It means claypot rice in Cantonese. Here, i'll show what i had which was claypot chicken rice. What you can find inside is usually the rice itself, baked to yummy-goodness in a claypot! Then there is the chicken itself which is usually steamed first, then placed into the claypot. Additional ingredients to add to the taste are the preserved pork sausages ('lap-cheong' in Cantonese) and some salted-fish.

Ok. That's just the desciption of it. XD The kicker is. This is BY FAR THE BEST claypot chicken rice i have tasted! =) The taste is definitely there as most claypot chicken rice places fail to give a proper taste. The only other proper contender to this PJ Old Town one is at Damansara, which has dropped their standard recently (inconsistent food quality. sometimes can be too salty. ughh.).

After mixing, this is what it turns out to be. Steamy and yummy. From the smell, you can already tell how good it is going to be. lol. Then when eating it, i'm just oozing with satisfaction. Yum. ^_^

But wait! That's not all. There is also a soup specialty at the place. lolz. It's chinese herbal soup with a mixture of traditional herbs and spices in it. The taste is very good, just like having a relaxing drink. Best part is the presentation of the soup! It's done in an old coconut shell, very nice and creative. However, i don't know if it helps with the taste or not, but the soup surely tastes great! XD

I went to that place with my family that time. Perhaps one day can go with Rusty and Existenz. But thing is, i'm not sure if it opens for lunch or for supper. This is very important because Rusty, Existenz and myself are usually the night-time kakis. Supper is our favourite time of meal! LOL.

Identity Theft

OMFG! Some noob in LYN thinks it’s cool to steal someone’s avatar. Picture worth more than 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 letters. The plus point is zaxiao hasn't done anything retard-ish yet. so it could be just an honnest mistake. I think i'm going to PM him regarding that issue, see if we could work something out.

News Flash

It appears to be an honnest mistake and zaxiao has changed his avatar. kudos to that fella for respecting other people's avatar ^_^

1/6 Irony

I'm not sure what to blog about, so here goes my first post :p

Meet John Doe no 51. A weird name for a figure, but hey, Hot Toys ain't fancy about naming their products which is so unlike Dragon or bbi. Anyway, I got John about 3-4 months ago when he was first released as a Private Military Contractor. Since I couldn't afford the whole set, I manage to get him loose without any accessories or clothes on. "Poor John".

Anyway, I was quick to give him a new job away from the desert. Maybe as a British SAS deep in the tropical rainforest of the Kalimantan Borneo region as part and partial of this vigorous training. Then something happened, I didn't have enough gear for him other than woodland BDU, SAS Tactical vest (woodland), some Kevlar, Military Boots and a silver revolver which is not even part of the British armament. I was in a dilemma, my SAS bash is not materializing.

In the end, I manage to put up some quick desert tan accessories on John to make him look like… a private military contractor with too much grenade on him. The good news is, it’s not finished yet, so maybe there’s still a chance in the future that John won’t be breathing dust in the Iraqi desert.

Chillin' @ Mid-Valley

Just came back from Mid-Valley.

After Rusty's exam this morning, we (with Existenz) went there and reached at about 2.45PM. Kinda hard to find parking on a busy Saturday when everyone was supposed to be on a longgg holiday since May Day is on Monday. XD

First went to the Mid-Valley Food Court.
Rusty ordered a plate of Japanese rice + chicken curry set for RM11 (includes a cup of tea, soup and salad). The amount of chicken they gave was quite a lot and it did look VERY yummy. *drool*. Forgot to take pics of the food because Rusty was so hungry already and i totally forgot about it (well, usually i take pics of my own food. that i won't forget. XD). hahahaha. I think by the time the food came, it was 3pm.. could you imagine lunch at 3pm. o.0 Me and Existenz already had lunch so we didn't take anything. Then after we wen't to order drinks at the Food Court then we thought again... for RM2 per drink (which was very small) at the Food Court, we order a large carbonated drink (for RM2.50)at McD's which was just around the corner.. and so we did! LOL.

After getting our drinks and quenching our thirsts (yes it is a darn hot day today, but luckily now at about 5PM, it's raining. yay!), Rusty had to get the USB-cables he bought replaced at a PC shop in IT-World Mid-Valley. Walk, walk.. walk.. then went there. Managed to change the cable but another one was tested ok. So kao-tim. Then duno wat to do in Mid-Valley.. There was some fashion show going on but it had finished already.

So kept on walking. Went inside a figure shop (XL-Shop) just to browse since collecting high-end figure toys is Rusty's favourite past-time hobby. Existenz wanted to get the talking-door-welcome alarm which was quite interesting. The alarm sounded 'Welcome' in Japanese when someone walked into the shop, and the alarm sounded 'Arigato Go Zai Maz (not sure how to spell this =p)' when someone walked out of the place. Quite a cool motion detector. Not sure how they do it though. And i'm also not sure why Existenz wanted to get one. Beats me...LOL

After that, wanted to go play DOTA (Defense of the Ancients) at E-Zone cafe Mid-Valley. Then Existenz said he still got work to do. Apalah... haha

- Pictures respectively sourced from http://www.midvalley.com.my/ and http://www.xl-shop.com/

Just for show?

Bun's Putra. Edited photo to black-n-white.
Cool-looking car. Just that sitting inside it is a bit...errr.... XD

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