All These Hits

Truthfully I must say that I have never gotten this amount of hits on my blog before. Honestly speaking it scares me a little.

What I want to know is how did you people find me! I'm really quite curious to know how this amount of people stumbled upon my blog and actually read my stuff! Surely Facebook alone couldn't have generated this amount of hits?? I would be really glad to get to know you guys. :)

Look at all this green.

It surprises me how Hooligans in the Park is the most viewed blog post. For one it was just a short rant and two, it wasn't really directed at anyone... It was just an incident that happened with le petit ami. Er. It wasn't even shared.

What made you guys come here though? Was there a journey involved to clicking into my blog? Did many of you stay? Please do comment, I'd love to hear from all of you. :D

While I try to finish writing my drafts and start on some other posts, here is a collection of .gifs that I find perfectly describes my feels when I check back each day and see my stats increasing. 

Service Providers Provide No Service

One thing I always gripe about when I go out to eat is the compulsory service charge and government tax, because it always makes the total price ridiculously more expensive. (That's usually a 16% extra on whatever you ordered, except in some places it's an insane 20%.)

Yesterday was a perfect time to show why I gripe about the service charge. I never like giving the government my money already so the government tax is forever ignored. But service charge is another thing all together.

Many a times I wish we could do what they do in America, and leave tips. If that happens in Malaysia I can save myself a LOT on tips because some people really don't deserve my money at all. Service providers don't provide service. I don't provide their tips.

Recently my sister bought online movie tickets at TGV in Sunway, and when we went to collect it, they couldn't find her tickets. There was a lot of panic going about since the movie was about to start, so the lady at the counter went to check with her manager. It turned out that the booking was all correct... for the TGV in Ipoh. We were quite dumbfounded. Right after telling us this, the lady asked us to leave the line. She offered no more assistance in possibly getting us a seat at the Sunway TGV, or even a smile. Just quite simply a GTFO my lawn situation. In her defence I guess she wasn't really obligated to help us out, but still. It put a huge twist in our day.

Well obviously since the movie was out of the question for now we decided to go for food. It's been ages since we had Burger King (and honestly I never knew there was a BK in Sunway) so we went there.

(Picture stolen from the internet.)

WHAT A WASTE OF TIME THOUGH.

Like what normal people would do, we lined up at the counter with less people. Because, you know. Less people = faster service. Logical right?

There were two people who were supposed to work at the counter and three to four other people in the kitchen. The outlet didn't seem like it was short on staff or anything. The African dude in front of me had placed his order and moved to the side to wait for it. I was basically the next person to place my order.

For some reason the cashiers moved to the back to prepare the African dude's food. Without taking my order. Or the order of the people in the other line. Basically on the screen where the workers (and us) could see placed orders, there was only ONE order.

If you guys have been to any fast food outlet (like McD or something) then you should know that the orders should be taken continuously, which would show up on the screen, and the workers in the kitchen can prepare it then send it to the counter. That's how it's supposed to work.

What happened was that there was only ONE order and like ten people lining up with no one to take their orders. The worker who was supposed to prepare the burgers had nothing to do so she was just chilling there, and the guy who made the french fries was stoning away at the oil stove, while the rest of the workers who looked like they had nothing to do were just standing at the back talking to each other. No one was at the counter to take orders, and the the fat lady who prepared the African dude's food was so bad at it she spilled the fries over the tray and had to push the fries all back into the little box. She took like two minutes doing this. Two minutes. 120 seconds. To push spilled fries back into their boxes.

Honestly speaking everyone in there was so inefficient even flipping burgers is much too hard for them. Fast food outlet? Hah, I could get faster food if an ant carried it to me.

Finally this Chinese lady came out from the back room and came (with relatively quick speed) to the counter. The other line, that is. At this point I was getting extremely frustrated already, because I was hungry and I am not a patient person. Then halfway through the order of the person at the other line she suddenly turned to me and said,

"Counter closed." and closed the register.

Just like that. She didn't even look at me. Didn't apologize for the horrid service. After I waited around 10 minutes for nothing she just closed the counter in front of my face.

I was ready to throw a fit right then and there but then decided that yelling at such people would not only be uncouth of me, but also lead to nowhere, so I grit my teeth and rage quit the place.

Like hell I'm lining up at the other counter again. Bitch please.

So we went over to have Sushi King near the ice skating rink. The service wasn't all that good either but after what happened in Burger King it was at least MUCH better.

It's really disheartening how Malaysians tolerate the ridiculous service everywhere. In restaurants, doing official paperwork, in government offices, basically everywhere... Malaysians never know what their own rights are. They are terribly ignorant towards their rights, including how they live their lives. Considering how aggressive most of them are on the roads, the rest of them are passive in everything. Like a dog that is on a leash and needs to be lead around. Ignorance is the biggest downfall of Malaysian society, not bigotry. Bigotry is downfall of Malaysian politics, and then again possibly politics worldwide, though I dare not make such a claim.

As a service provider you are supposed to provide service to the best of your ability. This means even though you had the shittiest day ever you don't show your bad mood to the customers, because no one appreciates your shittiness. ESPECIALLY if you're working as a service provider. We don't owe you anything. We don't want to deal with your moods. We are not even obligated to deal with your moods.

Service providers, however, ARE OBLIGATED TO. You provide service, you provide quality service. Smile, say thank you, and apologize when in doubt. Sure it's a shitty ass job but it's your job so suck it up and do it.

Also never forget the most important RULE #1:

The customer is always right.

And if you think the customer is wrong, there is RULE #2:

Refer back to rule #1.

because if you don't, some irate customer is going to be sick of all the bad service and blog about it. And who knows maybe that irate customer won't ever be going back to Sunway Burger King anymore.

Cosfucks: Don't Be One

I've had many a rant about this before, but since having dinner with my lovely group of cosplay friends I decided that a proper rant needed to be written without any sort of bursts of laughter like we are prone to do. (Though today I coughed more than laughed so really I couldn't talk anyway. But still a fabulously wonderful dinner.)

It's without a doubt that in the past few years Cosplay has grown tremendously as a hobby, or even as a profession. Cosplay became the stepping stone into fame and fortune. I know of stories where cosplayers became models, or idols or even fashion designers and photographers got jobs- big jobs at that. Stories like that which cause people to start taking Cosplay seriously. Gradually there were competitions with a decisive amount of cash or prizes. Cosplayers were hired for part time work because they knew how to wear a costume and pose.

Now let me first state very explicitly that I am not an old timer. In fact I am considered very new at this cosplay business, and within the community as well. I am not well-versed with cosplay idols. I don't even watch anime for the matter. I started cosplaying only last year, so in terms of experience, it's not really there.

All this here is my opinion. My observations in events and the comic fiesta forums (though I am hardly active anymore) for years before I cosplayed gave me my own ideas about what Cosplay really is. When I actually came out and cosplayed, though, I was quite surprised to see much different mindsets.

Firstly let me state that I do not want to bash anyone. I don't speak with a particular person in mind.

What I find most disheartening about cosplayers today is the people who don't understand what cosplaying is. To me it is a way of expression. In costume I am someone else, I become the character for a while. I become strong and capable. I have magic on my hands. I can do stuff I normally wouldn't be able to. Cosplay makes it all happen. What I don't like is when people Cosplay just for the sake of cosplaying.

A long time ago in the cf forums I remember someone asking why people want to Cosplay. The answers ranged from "it's fun!" to "It allows me to bring my favorite character to life!". There was passion in every cosplayer, a certain driving force behind all the work they put into their cosplays. This was what attracted me so much in Cosplay. That the community was so wholly united for one hobby. I wanted to be part of that passion.

Now when I ask people who are thinking of cosplaying WHY they want to Cosplay, it hurts me to hear things like "I want to be famous like Alodia." "Everyone is doing it." "Oh I dunno. Looks like fun." I mean, excuse me? Sure it's a fantastic hobby but it is not easy. It does not bring you instant fame. Yes Cosplay is a very glamorous hobby but that does not equal fame. The fame comes when your Cosplay is exceptional. And for your Cosplay to be exceptional, you need passion. Just like with any other hobby.

People come up to me and ask, "Where do you get your wig?" "Where do you get your costume?" "Where do you get your props done?" They think cosplay is all about the costume and a wig. As long as you get the best stuff money can buy, you're set. I'm sorry, no. For one, stop being so lazy and just do your research. Yes you know a friend who cosplays. You want to know where to start, so you ask. That's a very good thing. But please at least do some research beforehand! Do you expect me to tell you in painstaking detail all the things you need to prepare for ONE cosplay? Yeah, it's probably take me all night and a day. The worst thing is? When I ask you for your character, and you tell me you don't know the character. You only cosplay him/her because they are popular.

Let's wait a minute for that to sink in.

...Look I forgive you if you're in a group. I even forgive you if you don't watch the anime/play the game to know the character first-hand, as long as you made an effort to research on the character. But if you CHOSE a character you don't relate to and want to cosplay that character for the popularity, I'm sorry, no matter how close you are to me I am going to punch you solidly in the eye sockets.

We have a term for people who do that. It's called 'cosfucks'. That is not a good thing.

I'm not saying all cosplayers have to be brilliant. Not at all. I'm saying that if you put effort to understand the character you're cosplaying, it's fine. Cosplaying is less about the costume and more about the character. It's "costume role-play". YOU ARE NOW THE CHARACTER. People look at you and say, "Oh look it's Sasuke!" People don't see YOU. People see the character. THAT is the true essence of cosplay.

Imagine if you saw a favorite character of yours at a convention. Take, for example, Naruto. Everyone knows Naruto. If you saw Naruto, you'd want to go up and talk to him. You think of him as Naruto, you expect him to turn around and give you a Naruto shit-eating grin, maybe talk about ramen, and then take pictures with a peace sign, because that's what Naruto does. If Naruto turns around and he's all broody and mean like Sasuke you'll be like WAT. NARUTO R U OK?

That is exactly what happens WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW YOUR CHARACTER I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH.

Please, people. Please just AT LEAST DO YOUR RESEARCH. I AM CRY AT PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW THEIR OWN CHARACTERS. HOWWWWW. IT'S LIKE WALKING INTO AN ENGLISH EXAM TO DO MATH QUESTIONS YOU JUST DON'T.

I would rather people start with a character they absolutely love to pieces, rather than an over-done popular character they don't care two cents about. Because sometimes it really is the passion that makes the difference.

I find my number of drafts very disheartening. I suppose I must write them because they're starting to irritate me.

Stories and Walls

This morning I managed to grab some time with le petit ami's aunt, who is a journalist, and very graciously allowed me to join her and her friends for lunch. Such a kind, wonderful lady! Now I feel incredibly inefficient since everything was planned last minute as she had to leave in the afternoon. :\

There is nothing more interesting than hearing stories of other people, especially people with a deep pool of experiences. Stories that lead to stories that lead to more stories. Life is just stories that overlap to create a multi-dimensional experience and then history comes in and makes it one-dimensional again. Sort of like how people tend to undervalue the beauty of simplicity and add more colors and glitters and sparkly things to things that don't need them, like vampires. That was such a bad comparison. I don't know what my mind is doing right now.

One day I will be that. To have a whole deposit of grand adventures and great stories to tell, to live my life the way I want to live it.

Here, have a silly picture of me telling myself that 

I dare to live my life the way I want to. 

Original picture at Roxy's gallery, please like and share if 

you think my vague attempt at being witty did not end up generic.

As it is, I can only dream of living the good life right now, and continue to struggle with the baggage I have on my end. I need to find a metaphorical sea to dump my metaphorical baggage into, and wish it away to the end of cyberspace as metaphorical bits and bytes.

It is funny though, how when people ask for opinions of decisions we are quick to give solutions, in which everything can be done ideally. Yet when we face our own walls we think it unclimbable, we think it impossible, we sit against it in our minds and cry because of the utter weakness we can only see.

I either need a good large dose of Calvin and Hobbes right now, or some ninja skills. Perhaps I need a bit of both.