Foong Speaks Her Mind

If I had not looked at the calender and being aware of the day and date, I would think it’s already Christmas because Astro keep playing re-runs of Christmas-themed movies in the past week either on Hallmark Channel (702) or the other movie channels.

It is freaking July now not December. Maybe they are trying to remind us to save up to buy presents for our family and friends come Christmas? Or maybe they thought it is very fitting to play Christmas-themed (thus Christian theme) movies around this time because of St Anne’s Feast?

Whatever their reasons, it is darn weird to be watching Christmas-sy movies and going all teary-eyed over touching Christmas-sy moments (yeah, I am a real sucker when it comes to those tear-jerking movies) in the middle of the year.

Actually I do love Christmas movies and don’t mind watching it but what I do not understand is that by December, they will start reducing Christmas movies and start playing other non-Christmas movies (mostly violent horror or gory thriller movies). Where’s the logic in that?

So, December is a time for more horror and thriller movies while the middle of the year is loaded with Christmas movies? That’s darn weird. I dunno, where’s the fun in Christmas if there is no atmosphere of Christmas everywhere from sentimental Christmas movies to Christmas jingles over the radio?

I know I am not Christian but my mom used to celebrate Christmas with us and we used to go over to our neighbour’s, who are Christians, to celebrate with them. So, Christmas sorta brings back a lot of great memories for me. As far as I can remember it is full of singing of Christmas carols, great pastries and of course, presents!

So, the mere thought of putting up a Christmas tree brings back all those wonderful memories to me. For me, Christmas is not a religious event but more of a family time full of joy and warmth and camaraderie. Now, before any of you devout Christians out there jump on me for daring to say such a thing, I am just saying this in my point of view. I know it is a religious event.

I know Christmas is not for another few months, but heck, since Astro put me in the mood for Christmas, I shall leave you with one of the most beautiful Christmas songs which I love:

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To Astro:

I ranted about Astro’s lousy service last month (Astro sux big time) and I got quite a lot of comments agreeing to my rant. So, here I am going to list out some of those grouses against Astro. This is going to all those who are about to subscribe to Astro and hopefully to someone in Astro!

From NTW:

Yes! Astro really sucks. Bad service is an understatement really.

After inserting the new smart card, some of my favorite news & documentary programs eg CCTV9, BBC, AlJazeera, CNBC, Discovery, National Geography, etc which I have been enjoying before the introduction of the new card disappear from the screen for most of the day and night. I could only view these hijacked programs in the early hours of the morning from 5am to 8am.

When I complain to Astro customer service, I get the standard answer that either the decoder is faulty or the receiver dish is not receiving the full satellite signal. If I need to fix the problem I will have to pay the technician RM50.00 for the service, and this amount does not include cost of replacement parts if the decoder or the satellite dish is damaged.

If that is so how come I can still view the hijacked programs clearly at dawn?

I am seriously thinking of terminating Astro service. With so many free channels to watch in the TV nowadays, who needs Astro anyway?

From Frustrated:

Same here. I am seriously thinking about termination the service as well after the series we’re watching end. Had problems when we relocated and tried to move our astro here. They offer you free moving but they are very slow at responding even when you give them supposedly more than enough time for the notice. And even trying to call their customer service is a pain in the ass, the long wait and suddenly you get cut off mid way, that is if you get connected at all.

And they also hire some bitches as customer service representatives which annoy you more.

From Choonie:

I cancelled my astro account a year ago. Very frustrated with their service. Never receive my Astro magazine but the bill can reach me promptly. Then, the Astro service here can never help me. They either push the problem to KL Astro or the KL Astro pushes it back to Kuching. They think I am so rich. Keep calling KL from Kuching. I scolded them on this issue and you guys know how the bitch replies, “Well… you can always use your office’s phone to call us!” Chi Sing… Terminate my account immediately.

These are just comments on my Astro Sux Big Time post but outside of the blogosphere, I have heard so many complaints against Astro, I felt like canceling my account too!

Here’s one of it, an account from a close relative.

He received a notice that the new smart stupid card will be sent to him to replace the old card and that the old card will be de-activated in 14 days.

So, the new stupid card came 21 days later. He was without Astro for 7 days because the old card was deactivated. It was during that period that the Thomas Cup was on. He was hopping mad and called Astro service centre.

All they said in response was ‘we already sent out the replacement card’. So, not about to let them off easily, he called them several times and really gave them a good thrashing. In the end, about six to seven phone calls later, a manager called back and apologised. My relative is not going to let them off easily. He demanded for compensation as he was not going to pay for the 7-day no service period. He pointed out that because of their inefficiency, he missed the Thomas Cup. Finally, they agreed to deduct some money from his total bill.

However, that is not the end of his problems. The new card was faulty. So, they sent another card. The second one was also faulty, so they sent a third one. Again, it could not operate well. Now, my relative is still calling them up and vocally giving whoever picks up the phone a real thrashing.

My problem with Astro is still the same. Lousy programmes, chock full of advertisements and with the new stupid card, I get blank screens as and when it feels like it. Not even during cloudy weather or thunderstorms! So, once again, ASTRO SUCKS BIG TIME!

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We don’t need Astro’s Discovery Channel anymore because we have our very own documentary right in our home…heh…well, only a spider documentary la but it is just as good nevertheless.

Yep, that’s the spider (on the right) and its big…family…

Despite what it looks like here, it is actually very tiny. No bigger than a drop of water. I had to use the close up function on the camera to get a clear picture of it.

Can you guess where this spider is staying?

Till today, I have not cleared the web and now with all that tiny spiders around, I even more geli to do it. So, I am still waiting for TH to do it.

In the meantime, we continue to keep a watchful eye over the big butt spider and its family…very much like watching Discovery channel because it still fascinates us whenever a poor insect got trapped in the web and we will see the spider hurrying to it and wrap its web around the insect till it is mummified.

Much, much better than the stupid reruns on Astro.

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