Bullet Time In KL

It's almost 10 pm and I'm at a quarter to broke.

No, not really. But sometime this afternoon (at about 2 o'clock) I almost did something that would have nudged myself in that direction:

bought the K700.

I can't help it, really. Anyway, from the beginning. This afternoon I managed to take some time in between rushing to Shah Alam and back (checking on those students) to get my books at Kino and get a birthday present for me friend Jo. I could barely contain my impatience as the girl at the reservation counter carefully unwrapped the package with Bruce Campbell's If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor. That alone would have set me MYR 56, which I was well prepared for. What I wasn't, was seeing the second volume of Alan Moore's LXG (the graphic novel, not the lousy film translation) on the comic shelves. It took me three seconds to get it (and actually another MYR 45 to purchase it).


















If that weren't enough to get me started on this downward spiral towards almost certain bankruptcy this month (before anyone else asks, a lecturer in a local uni gets paid peanuts) I had to stop in Sg Wang to pick up Jo's birthday present. Whilst walking up my roving eyes suddenly registered the rows upon rows of mobile phone shops-

and I nearly died.

It was horrible, too horrible to mention. I flitted (if a Hulk-like bound can be considered such) between shops, comparing prices, originality of the components, warranties and various other miscellany with the result that at about 2 pm I was already on the verge of becoming a gibbering lunatic, or much worse, actually rushing to the ATM to pay the remainder of the price after trading in my old (old???) mobile.

Time slowed down. I could see the girl at the counter's smile falter slightly as I began to take my mobile back, mutter something in the way of an excuse and walk briskly away....and around the whole block in circles.

Circles. 5 minutes later, time began to move again and I found myself in front of the same shop. Only this time, that overpowering urge to buy was gone, replaced by a stern voice that said "Ash, thou shalt not buy the mobile until thou hast more clothes."

How does one argue with that?

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Coming up next: Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Korei and the horror that is Taking Lives reviewed! Also, Wanted Book Lists: Expansion Pack, and plenty more when the Insane Ox finally decides to write them!