The case for Spotify Premium

Music is a big part in my life. I can’t imagine going through a day without hearing some kind of music. Well actually I can but it will be pretty boring. I start the morning listening to the radio while getting ready for work. When I drive, playing some songs on the stereo is a must. And sometimes when I’m relaxing at home I will turn on the radio again or listen to my music library or tune in to Spotify.

Now Spotify is a relatively new introduction to me. Suddenly I have this huge collection of music from practically every artist, singers and bands in the world at my fingertip. I can listen to them anywhere, anytime using my phone or computer. Unlike iTunes, I don’t need to purchase the full song to listen to them because I could just stream them on-demand every time. What’s more, since I don’t download them mp3 files to my devices, they won’t take up precious space. Coupled with my Digi Music Freedom plan a while back, it’s a perfect combination. So how do they make money from this service? By offering ad-free music through its Premium subscription and also by running ads for their non-premium customers of course.

The Spotify ads is another topic by itself. They are quite frequent and sometimes notoriously annoying. The ads are like punishment to all their non-paying customers if I must say. They’re so bad sometimes I just feel turned off listening to Spotify altogether. One day however, they have this promotion where you pay only 2 ringgit for 2 months of Spotify Premium subscription. I thought 2 ringgit, what am I going to lose right? I could always cancel the subscription if it suck. So I decided to give it a try.

First thing I noticed about Spotify Premium is the fucken annoying ads. They’re gone completely. They’re not like Astro satellite TV where you already pay through your nose for content but keep being bombarded with endless ads. There’s no ads whatsoever. And then I love how I can skip back and forth and directly to a song instead of listening to them one by one in a playlist in the non-premium plan. Lastly I like how you can download all the songs you want to your mobile devices for offline listening. You don’t get any of those awesome features in the free plan. There's also this cool little feature where you can control the Spotify app playback say from your smartphone to your desktop or vice versa. So let's say you're too lazy to move to the desktop to skip a song you can do it from your phone.

In the end I enjoyed Spotify Premium so much I decided to continue my subscription after the 2 months trial. Their marketing plan actually work! Give the cheapskate users a taste of Spotify Premium and now they’re hooked just like substance abuse. If you love music like me and you’d like to have them wherever and whenever 24/7 give Spotify Premium a try. Even without the 2 ringgit promo you still can try Spotify Premium free for 30 days. After that you’ll be charged 15 ringgit per month for Malaysian customers. I’ve been a Premium subscriber for over a year now and I have to say I’m quite pleased with this service.

As always this post is not sponsored or paid whatsoever by Spotify or their affiliates. If a service or product is really good, I’ll promote them for free in my social media channels.

In pursuit of the perfect men’s sportswear

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If you’re into sports, the outdoors and fitness in general, you should attest to the importance of choosing the right fitness clothing for your activities. Be it working out in the gym, running in the park or even (and especially) hiking in the jungle or climbing up a mountain. You need the most appropriate attire for each occasion. When I first started out, I didn’t care much about my clothing line up but as I go along, I started to pay attention to my choice of clothing. Investing in some stylish and comfortable fitness clothing is the perfect motivation to keep me going. Here’s some tips to get the perfect men’s sportswear.



Try to avoid any rough fabrics as they could irritate your skin and cause discomfort to your body. Occasionally I will see people especially newbies showing up for a hike in their jeans which is a big no-no. Denim is quite a heavy fabric type and it will restrict your movement to say the least. Things will get worse when it rains because your jeans will be twice as heavy when it soak up the water. Get a fabric type that will let you move and does not constrain you. Pay attention to fit and than size as some fitness clothes tend to be smaller and more fitting that your regular clothes. You don’t want to wear something too loose or baggy because they will only slow you down. Always look for items that have a small percentage of spandex (yeah like those X-Men!) which is elastic, strong and durable compared to other fabrics. Spandex would allow for a greater range of motion during your exercise or workout and provides a comfortable fit without being too tight.

While it is perfectly fine to wear a regular, no brand clothing line let’s face it, you will feel a lot more confident if you wear an outfit that looks good on you. And you have to admit that only those big brand names that design the best looking and stylish fitness clothing. If you feel good about yourself, you will be inclined to exercise more (true story). Although trends change for fitness clothing all the time, the basics never go out of style. Add one ore more trendy pieces to your wardrobe but always keep your basic black or blue sports pants that are timeless!



Investing in some sports accessories is never a bad idea. Add a few stylish sports accessories to your outfit so you could pull that perfect metrosexual look. For example wear a sports watch (GPS-enabled would be cool), a baseball cap or a pair of sunnies for the perfect finishing touch to your outfit. Last but not least, one of the most important attire for your workout or sports activities is of course your shoes. Choose the correct shoe for the right activity. Running in the gym or on the road requires a slightly different shoe sole. And you don’t want to wear the same shoe you use for running to run in the jungle or climb up a hill or mountain because they don’t offer much grip like hiking shoes do. Get yourself a pair of the right sports shoe for the right occasion. You will be more comfortable it in, improves your safety and look stylish at the same time. And where else could you get the perfect men’s sportswear at unbeatable prices? At Zalora of course!

The Singapore Story review

While it’s still fresh in my mind, here’s a few things I learned from this memoirs:

• LKY feared separation from Malaysia at first because Singapore were without much resources and communist threat is still clear and common
• The Tunku and UMNO wanted to remove LKY and control Singapore ala Malaya with an iron grip. LKY would have none of that
• UMNO ultras especially Syed Ja’afar Albar (father of Hamid Albar) stoked racial sentiments by flamming anti-chinese and anti-Singapore sentiments and were responsible for communal unrests in Singapore
• Alliance ministers tried their best to sabotage economic and trade of Singapore with unfair measures
• Alliance component parties had no problem spreading their influence in Singapore but when PAP tried to achieve the same in Malaya (with some success) they opposed
• PAP were promoting the Malaysian Malaysia agenda, equal rights and opportunities for all. UMNO with its malay special rights policy will have none of it
• Singapore were kicked out of Malaya when the Tunku felt he failed to control their politics and removing LKY by force would cause major uprising in the tiny island state
• Racism is well and alive in UMNO from the beginning and they gain political mileage by scaring the malays into submission out of fear of threats from other races
• The Tunku is a very liberal with his drinks and women, not unsurprising given his autocratic upbringing
• The Tunku is a superstitious lot, strong believer in omens and lucky numbers. We got our independence on the 31st of August mainly because they were his lucky numbers
• That UMNO, MIC, MCA and pretty much all of Alliance(BN) is corrupt is a well established fact and common knowledge