Bubbye O2, So Long N90, White Guy-Chapat Hybrids, and a bunch of tolls...
Yesterday I sold the PDA-phone I had been using for some time, The O2 XDA II Mini. I don't know exactly why I did, it was basically to sell it at a relatively high price while I still could, and perhaps because I lost the SDIO wi-fi card and rendered its best app useless. The guy that had contacted me, was to my surprise, a Malay guy. Usually the guys that deal in tech gadgets are chapats, and it was something of a welcome relief to see someone else. I had expected that the guy, in true Malaysian style would whine and try to bargain further, even though we had already agreed upon the price. However, the guy turned out to be a true gentleman! He didn't create any issues about the product or the pricing! Awesome! Best sale of a used item, ever.
Today I had 2 out of 3 classes cancelled so I chilled at home mostly, but at some point decided to buy a Nokia N90. Absolute top-of-the-line phone, it usually sells for about RM 3000 or so, but I sourced one for about RM 2100. Pretty good deal, right? I went to see the item, and it was sound enough, with a beautifully crisp screen and fancy camera and all. However, there was something about the device that didn't quite win me over ... perhaps the size, perhaps the way it looks fragile, or maybe just its odd style. And it seems, that not only is the N90 a waste, but it has waste revolving all around it ... symbolically or metaphorically or whatever. To get to the place, I took a series of wrong turns, ended up in a different city, and in the process spent more than RM 40 of gas and RM 15 on tolls! Ughhh .... tolls ... they're not that much in absolute value, but they're so frequent that it can start to hurt.
I had my lunch at Subway today. While chomping away on my footlong seafood and crab on parmesan oregano sub, I noticed a white guy buying Milo drinks for his chapat (?) family. And it was at that point that I realized the commonality of this scenario. Has anyone noticed HOW MANY white guys there are in Malaysia who have married local chapats? And that they all look alike? They're all old, 50+, pot-bellied, somewhat tall and balding! Seriously! I started trying to remember how many examples of this I've seen other than Alan Downe and the guy in front of me, and I could actually come up with a few instances. Why do they do this? Is it because women in their home countries reject them, and refuse to bear their children? Or is it because they can't find decent jobs in their home countries and come to Malaysia to try and garner a little respect from suck-up locals? In any case, it seems they come here and try to start life anew ... but the question is ... why? (X-files soundtrack playing). Maybe 50-year old, fat, balding white guys are aliens who are trying to ... never mind.
Today I had 2 out of 3 classes cancelled so I chilled at home mostly, but at some point decided to buy a Nokia N90. Absolute top-of-the-line phone, it usually sells for about RM 3000 or so, but I sourced one for about RM 2100. Pretty good deal, right? I went to see the item, and it was sound enough, with a beautifully crisp screen and fancy camera and all. However, there was something about the device that didn't quite win me over ... perhaps the size, perhaps the way it looks fragile, or maybe just its odd style. And it seems, that not only is the N90 a waste, but it has waste revolving all around it ... symbolically or metaphorically or whatever. To get to the place, I took a series of wrong turns, ended up in a different city, and in the process spent more than RM 40 of gas and RM 15 on tolls! Ughhh .... tolls ... they're not that much in absolute value, but they're so frequent that it can start to hurt.
I had my lunch at Subway today. While chomping away on my footlong seafood and crab on parmesan oregano sub, I noticed a white guy buying Milo drinks for his chapat (?) family. And it was at that point that I realized the commonality of this scenario. Has anyone noticed HOW MANY white guys there are in Malaysia who have married local chapats? And that they all look alike? They're all old, 50+, pot-bellied, somewhat tall and balding! Seriously! I started trying to remember how many examples of this I've seen other than Alan Downe and the guy in front of me, and I could actually come up with a few instances. Why do they do this? Is it because women in their home countries reject them, and refuse to bear their children? Or is it because they can't find decent jobs in their home countries and come to Malaysia to try and garner a little respect from suck-up locals? In any case, it seems they come here and try to start life anew ... but the question is ... why? (X-files soundtrack playing). Maybe 50-year old, fat, balding white guys are aliens who are trying to ... never mind.
posted by Loy at 1:56 a.m.
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