Don't Bank On It!

Sweet Sixteen

2011-12-05T09:03:00.003+08:00

Prep School, hamba loceng, grey, roll call, lights off, common room, asal lak common room? fire drill, knuckle.

New Hostel, Lata Kekabu, rebel, sampin 1 petak, duck walk, freak match Dorm 10, tukar baju laju-laju, mengira bintang dibalik awan, burnt banner.

Big School, cuak, kadir-kadir, rampa, pompoy, lesen, beruk, ular, senior comm, graveyard, night court, let go, PMR, tricosor, stadium raja bersiong, burn the gombang!

Honeymoon, 3rd best, freedom, burung, penguin, lambatnya 2000.

Senior, segregation, kencing berdarah, sket je boi, gantung, Ulu Chepor, SPM, SPM? oh shit...

05.12.1995-05.12.2011: 16 years bros, Fiat Sapientia Virtus!

Roadblock

2011-12-02T17:04:00.002+08:00

Lama dah tak update blog nih, busy kerja and busy layan anak. Masa terluang selain tuh buat tido dengan main FM. Pemain tegar since 1997, true story.

Anyway since office hours dah habis (kerja bank Fridays balik 4.45pm, SSJ!), and hujan boleh tahan menggila kat luar, aku bukak cerita lama sebagai mengisi masa lapang.

Malam tuh entah apa pasal, Manao ajak pegi downtown Cheras. Redneck Selama (RS) pon ada sekali, maybe lepas lepak minum kat Taman Dagang kot nih. Anyway, naik kereta aku pegi sana. Lepas pusing-pusing takde arah tujuan kat downtown, kitorang gerak nak balik Ampang. Sampai je dekat roundabout dekat Jalan Cheras (kot?) ade road block la pulak. Biasa la weekend.

Sampai je dekat road block tuh abang polis suruh gi tepi. Cool je la kan, memang tak speeding since baru lepas roundabout, seat belt pon pakai. Bukak tingkap, tegur adik polis (baru perasan muda lagi polis tuh, confirm aku lagi tua).

"mintak IC, lesen"

Dia tenung lama, then pandang muka aku plak lama-lama. Aku dah nervous. Takkan muka dah lain sangat dengan gambar kot.

"Lesen latest ade?"
"Yang tu la latest"
"Yang nih dah mati. Sure takde yang lagi baru?"

Sudah! Menggelabah buat-buat bukak wallet belek semua card yang ada padahal hati dah tahu memang takde lain dah.

"Kalau takde cakap takde, tak payah panjang cerita"

Tahu pulak dia aku pura-pura, damn. Dia suluh dalam kereta kat Manao, then kat RS. Manao muka kaki pukul, RS memang tak nampak langsung muka dalam gelap. Kena senyum baru nampak. Kot.

"Lagi dua orang ada IC, lesen tak?"

Gelabah la kawan-kawan aku keluarkan IC semua bagai tunjuk kat adik polis. Dia tgk RS punya kejap,

"Tukar driver, suruh kawan kau yang bawak kereta. Lepas nih pegi buat lesen baru"

Dengan pantas Manao tukar tempat dan kami berlalu pergi. Rasanya kalau bukan pasal kad kuasa TUDM Captain RS, confirm kena saman dah aku. Ye lah, lesen dh mati SETAHUN.

At least jimat RM30 ye tak for one year renewal fee? Hehe

Letter To An Infant

2011-10-18T15:45:00.006+08:00

Dearest,

I have written and rewritten this letter so many times I lost count. It took me so long, you are now 6 weeks old. I want this to be perfect, yet I know I will fail.

I will always remember the moments that I held you in my arms. Whenever your eyes looked into mine, I melted like butter in the hot sun. I'll always remember the way your small mouth pouts whenever you're content, and your toothless grins when you're drowsy.

I hope you will love travelling as much as I do. I hope you'll find joy taking long spartan train rides and walking for hours in some foreign cities. I hope you'll soak yourself in the differing cultures and not mind carrying around heavy backpacks and sleeping in some cheap motel. I hope you'll embrace the sands and beaches, and also the streets and fountains of the world. I hope your idea of travelling is not just a quick flight to a fancy hotel and guided tours.

I hope you'll take a shine to photography because I want to spend hours with you on photography trips, and be able to teach you a thing or two about apertures and shutter speeds. I want you to do it because it gives you satisfaction and not because the hipster kid next door is doing it too.

I hope you'll be interested in the outdoors, and we can go on camping trips just the two of us. We'll swim in the icy cold water of the river in the mornings and start a barbecue at night and I will tell you the best horror stories I can come up with so that you'll want to sleep close to me.

I hope you'll enjoy football so we can go to matches together. I hope you wouldn't mind the crowd and the deafeniing roar, and I hope you'll feel the elation of winning though sometimes you will have to bear the bitterness of defeat.

I hope for so many things but the truth is, I just want you to be your own man. Always remember your roots, and you would not stray far. Be kind always, have patience and have as little regrets in life as possible. You will have heartbreaks and you will break hearts. Cherish your family, especially mama. You will understand why when you have your own child later, trust me. Treasure your good friends because some do stick around for life. Love and be loved in return, and the world is a much better place for it.

I love you.

Yours truly,
Abah.

Bulan Malu

2011-09-28T15:13:00.002+08:00

Two weeks ago:
I went down to SDMC's parking to move my car nearer to the lifts in case the wife can be discharged the next day. Since I was already down, I thought why not get a quick drink at mamak across the road. Just a quick limau ais would be just fine.

So I walked over and sat down and ordered. Soon my drink came, and I was sipping it happily when I realized, mana aku bawak wallet turun tadi!

I mulled asking the brader at the next table for a RM2 quick loan, but muka tak cukup tebal pulak. So finally I got up and walked to the counter when no one else was paying.

"Boss, I tertinggal duit lah. Kejap lagi I datang balik bayar OK, amek duit kejap dekat hospital"

Nasib baik anney tuh OK, tapi memang laju ah aku pergi ambil duit and datang balik bayar, Sumpah malu.

Last week:
Went out for lunch with Haz and he specifically wanted to eat 'mat salleh', so we walked over to Nando's. Ordered, ate, chatted, laughed. Then we asked for the bill. We took out our wallets,

"Eh Haz, aku rasa aku short nih. Cover dulu, jap lagi aku bayar"
"Bro, aku pon ada Rm20 je aku rase nih"

Brader waiter dah buat muka ketat.

"OK, jom pool up our money tengok berapa ada"

Nervous giggle, while avoiding brader waiter's steely gaze.

"Takpe lah, abang bayar je berapa yang ade"
"Eh cukup nih kot, bro aku ade RM24 je. Kau ade berape?"
"Jap - RM25. Alamak sen tak cukup!"
"Takpe la bang, nih pon dah OK.."
"Hah ade sen dalam poket!"

Muka tebal macam tayar dah rasa.

Masterchef

2011-08-24T10:44:00.004+08:00

Last week, on a whim I decided to cook for berbuka. I checked the pantry and saw that I have enough to cook up some spaghetti aglio olio, so I boiled some water for the spaghetti, chopped up garlic and some herbs, heated some olive oil in the pan, put the spaghetti in the boiling water with some olive oil and salt, then put the chopped up garlic and herbs in the pan, along with some chili flakes. For flavour, I threw in some coarse salt too. When the spaghetti's nicely al dente, I drained most of the water, put the spaghetti in the pan, added some of the spaghetti water, and after a while it's done!

Transferred the whole thing to a bowl, with a thong I nicely picked up the spaghetti and put it on the plates like I learned on Masterchef :D. Pretty soon, it's time to berbuka already so we tucked in heartily.

Then suddenly a silence and we looked at each other.

"I rasa kalau letak salt and pepper OK sikit kot?"

Susah betul masak time puasa nih when you can't tell sugar from salt.

Thank You

2011-08-18T12:39:00.003+08:00

Last week I was in Phnom Penh for work. The trip reminded me of the first time I was there in 2008. There were 6 of us, and we were having some drinks and snacks at a nice french-style cafe somewhere in the city. As we were about to leave, I decided to ask the waitress who was standing nearby:

"How do you say 'thank you' in Cambodia?"
"Thank you" she replied with a smile.

Confused silence, then slowly apprehension came over me.

"I mean, how do say 'thank you' in Khmer?"
"Aw khun" she replied with a bigger smile.

Siot, aku kena bahan dengan awek Cambodia!

Guna

2011-08-05T15:58:00.003+08:00

Kat Kuala Kangsar dulu-dulu ada dua kedai gunting mamak yang kitorang selalu pergi. Satu nama Romeo, satu lagi Guna. Satu sama row dengan tailor Side Two dengan kedai Seri Menanti (cuba la makan sini, memang sumpah korang kena tunggu lama nak dapat food), lagi satu dekat lembah dekat-dekat Cyber Valley cybercafe port budak-budak fly lepak main game dan hisap rokok. Tak tahu la ada lagi ke tak semua kedai-kedai aku sebut, nih zaman 90s dulu punya cerita.

Anyway, Guna nih memang suka buat lawak ganas-ganas. Sikit-sikit cakap nak potong telinga lah apa lah, memang cuak. Tapi dia potong ok, tak macam Romeo yang potong semua pesen sama je. Pastuh taruk bedak Holiday On Ice plak tuh, baunya ya rabbi. Sideburn confirm pedih kena tarah dengan blade dia, aduhh...

Ok berbalik kepada Guna, one day aku pergi la nak potong rambut. Kalau tak potong karang kena pelempang dengan Cikgu Yop lagi lepas inspection, pekak jugak telinga kejap. Sambil Guna potong rambut aku, ade sorang lagi brader india dok sebelah. Brader tuh dok baca paper Tamil, tak sure la plak Tamil Nesan ke ape. Aku tengok cover depan, sama gambar macam cover Utusan yang aku baru baca tadi, gambar rompakan bank kot. Selamba la gua refer kat gambar tuh sambil buat small talk dengan Guna:

"Rompakan bank kat Kuantan, satu juta hilang kan?" sambil mata jeling ke paper tuh and angkat kening sikit.

Tiba-tiba Guna berhenti potong rambut aku and tengok muka aku ikut cermin tak berkelip.

"You reti baca Tamil ka?!!"

Menyumpah Guna bila aku explain hal sebenar. Nasib baik tak tobek rambut aku dia bantai.

Off The Pitch

2011-08-01T11:01:00.005+08:00

I was there along with perhaps 85,000 more people (I can't say Malaysians since mat salleh pon ramai je tengok, siap pakai jersi Malaysia lagi) to watch our boys take on Singa Import. Gedebak gedebuk, we drew the match and lost 4-6 on aggregate. They even took the best acting award too, oh well.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure the game itself has been blogged to death already by now so you can Google your way to it. I'm gonna write about everything else instead.

After work, I rushed to the toilet and changed quickly into my blue Malaysian jersey, blue jeans and trusted Jack Purcells and took a train to Bukit Jalil. After a long cramped ride, I arrived to a festive atmosphere. A sea of blues and yellows and the odd Man Utd jersey here and there (tak reti bahasa bebudak MU nih, pakai jersi merah time Malaysia lawan Singa Import), I found Zad near the station and went looking for Vijay. After prolonged looking (the phone line was jammed up), and walking to find a less crowded gate, we finally entered Green Gate and walked all the way to the end of the terrace. We found a place on the third tier and sat and waited for the game to start.

The stadium filled up rather quickly and the noise was deafening. We can see the Ultras Malaya set who took up one section on the first tier already getting into the groove with their chants and drumming. I am guessing their most popular chant that day was "Loser, loser" directed at Shahril Ishak, which was quickly picked up by the rest of the stadium. Nice.

I've not sang Negaraku in about 11 years, and that was an excellent moment to do it again. The stadium sang in unison and the way the crowd erupted after the anthem was tremendous. Shame that a lot of fans booed Singapore's anthem, but then their players weren't sporting (or even Singaporeans in the first place, heh) during the game anyway, so lantak pi lah.

Of course there are still some idiots who lit and threw firecrackers (which blinded one poor chap, I read in today's paper) but generally it was a footballing crowd. I can still recall the elation when Safee scored the first goal, and the utter disappointment when Singa Import China scored the equalizer. It was an immediate hush around the stadium, and we can actually hear the 300 odd supporters in red cheering.

But Ultras Malaya soldiered on and soon the rest of the stadium joined in to lend our vocal support as the 12th player. But it soon dawned that it's not going anywhere and by the time the referee blew, sections of the stadium were already emptying.

It was a good atmosphere, and Zad said it best with "thanks for introducing me to the joys of a full 90,000 capacity stadium". You won't find that experience in front of the telly albeit much more comfortable and with the advantage of instant replay, trust me the real deal is worth the hassle. That said, I have a few comments to make:

1. Why can't we have numbered seats on the tickets? That will ensure everyone who bought it WILL get a seat. Twice before I've been to a football match and did not get a seat despite paying good money for it. People had to sit on the stairways and every nook and cranny they can find. Imagine if there's an emergency, what then?

2. They need to dedicate a section for families. I watched a game in White Hart Lane a while back, and I bought a Family section ticket. That section had more stewards and enforced a strict no swearing policy (a shirtless bloke was told firmly to "shut your trap, put your shirt on, or I'll kick you out!" when he swore a few times). Little kids need not be exposed to that side of the game really.

3. There was no control upon exiting (and entering too actually) the stadium, everyone just rushed to exit through the awfully small exit points. Some idiots kept pushing and that caused a little commotion. Pity the ladies and again small children who had to brave through that as well.

4. Same thing at the LRT station, people were crowded near the entrance because they won't let more people in the station. IMHO, let the people in but control entrance to the platforms instead. Small space, too many people - someone can easily faint or have difficulty breathing. Referring to my experience watching the game in London, the tube station was manned by policemen and they ensured that people line up orderly (even when the line was so long I can't see the start of it). Why can't we be doing this?

5. The management need to get a hold of the stalls, there were too many of them. The reason why people had to crowd the LRT entrance was because there was no other space to wait once you're near the station. Otherwise you have to walk back to the stairs, and turning around in that stampede was not an option really. Same goes for vendors inside and outside the stadium, people were rushing to get out and they stood right in front of the exit hawking their stuff. Good idea in normal circumstances, but terrible idea with this kind of crowd.

6. Indiscriminate parking, especially by motorcycles and vendors' vans. It blocks pedestrian traffic flow A LOT.

So, will we see any changes after this (after a barrage of criticisms, especially after the 3 EPL matches which saw many SNBJ virgins attend for the first time)? Let's hope someone does something before we see a Heysel in our own back yard.

Porridge

2011-07-26T10:48:00.002+08:00

Heard on the LRT.

Girl 1: Eh how do you spell porridge?
Girl 2: P-O-R-I..
Girl 3: No laaa, P-O-L-I-S-H porish loh!

Sweet.

Brazil

2011-07-22T09:11:00.002+08:00

"Hey, you are going to the UK for training soon right, any plans to travel after that?"
"Yeah, I'm going to Brazil."
"Whoah, why so far one?"
"No lah, where got far. I'm going by train there."

Tick. Tock.

"Ohh you mean Brussels?!"
"Ya loh, that's what I told you what."

True story.

Angker

2011-07-13T16:48:00.004+08:00

I am a sucker for good horror stories, and I found a good one recently. It's reputedly a famous urban legend among UiTM Shah Alam students, but heck it's a good one! I copied it from Obe's Blog Serius, and he said he found it in Lowyat.net's forum so I have no idea who to credit for the story (nama pon urban legend kan?).

I thought the story worked well since the characters sounds like real life folks (come on, who doesn't know a real life Bob, Wak, Sam or Lan?), it would make a nice movie no?

Well, here goes (in BM since I'm too lazy to translate):

9 tahun lepas aku dapat sambung belajar di UiTM Shah Alam. Jadi perkara pertama yang perlu difikirkan adalah tempat tinggal sebab aku tidak dapat hostel. Oleh sebab kerajinan & keprihatinan aku dan kawan-kawan,maka dapatlah kami rumah sewa, berdekatan seksyen 2. Berhampiran dengan Wet World [kalau korang tahu la].

Rumah tu banglo 2 tingkat 4 bilik. 3 bilik dekat atas dan 1 bilik dekat bawah. Kami semua berlapan,kiranya 2 orang untuk 1 bilik lah. Aku ringkaskan sajalah, kami masuk rumah tu dengan perasaan berbelah bahagi; gembira, suka, pelik, rimas, takut semua ada.

Pertama,tuan umah hanya kutip rm50 saja sebagai deposit dan sewa pertama hanya bayar bila masuk bulan kedua kami duduk rumah tu. Kiranya bulan pertama percuma lah....[?]Kedua,tuan rumah tak bagi kami bawa barang banyak-banyak sebab nanti penat nak angkat balik, terangnya...Ketiga,pokok ara tepi umah tu sangat besar sampai dahannya boleh masuk tingkap bilik atas.Malam pertama duduk rumah tu kami tidak tidur sebab sibuk punggah dan kemas barang serta layan serta layan dvd korea. Cerita seramnya berlaku semasa hari kedua. Tak payah nak tunggu malam, siang-siang pun kami dah kena kacau. Azmi "dagu" orang pertama kena.

Masa tu baru pukul 10.30 pagi [anggaran aku la], si Azmi ni bangun nak buang air besar. Jadi dia pergilah bilik air di bawah tu tapi ada orang di dalam [sebab pintu tertutup]. Bilik air atas rosak, tuan umah kata nanti dia akan betulkan. Tunggu punya tunggu, tak keluar-keluar orang dalam tandas tu. Jadi Azmi ni memekik la suruh cepat sikit keluar sebab dia tak tahan. Akibat jeritan si Azmi ni, habis satu rumah bangun pergi tengok apa hal. Yang peliknya, kami berlapan semua ada, habis siapa dlm tandas ni? Pintu tandas berkunci siap ada bunyi orang flush jamban lagi. Dalam ramai-ramai ni,Lan seorang saja yg berani sikit [mungkin fasal dia ni keturunan bugis], dia rentap pintu tandas tu sampai terbuka. Tak ada orang tapi daripada kesan yang ada,pintu tu memang dikunci daripada dalam. Akhirnya Azmi tak jadi berak, mungkin sebab takut.

Malam tu kami kena lagi teruk.

Masa aku nyenyak tidur malam tu tiba-tiba ada orang tarik kedua-dua belah kaki aku sampai aku terjatuh katil. Kepala aku terhentak dulu di lantai! Apa lagi,angin la aku sebab ingat budak-budak nak main-mainkan aku tapi bila bangun tak nampak orang pulak. Yang ada cuma Lan yang tengah membuta dekat katil atas. Aku tak rasa Lan yang buat sebab mesti dia tidur mati. Bila aku keluar bilik, aku dengar budak-budak tengah ketawa. Rupanya diaorang tengah layan DVD dekat hall bawah. Aku pun masuk bilik balik sebab masih bingung tapi baru ak perasan masa aku tengah jengah ke bawah tadi aku perasan Lan ada!! Bukan ke tadi aku nampak dia tengah membuta dalam bilik? Ahh sudah. Dengan perasaan berani-berani takut aku tengok atas katil Lan ada bonjol bawah selimut,kiranya macam ada orang lah. Aku tarik kain selimut tu and guess what? Ada batu nisan yang dah retak dan secara automatik bilik aku diselubungi bau hapak dan hanyir yang menusuk.

Masa ni jangan tanya aku lah apa aku buat sebab kalau benda ni jadi dekat korang pun takkan nak tinggal dalam bilik tu lagi betul tak? Aku rasa kaki aku dah tak jejak tanah sebab lari laju sangat. Aku lari keluar bilik tu dan pergi ke hall sebab nak beritahu kawan-kawan aku tapi yang macam haram jadahnya tak ada seorang pun ada dekat hall. Nak tahu man diorang pergi? Semua dah duduk dekat luar rumah! Rupanya awal-awal lagi diorang dah kena kacau. Yang laknatnya, tak ada seorang pun nak kejutkan aku....taik betul diorang ni.

Lepas diorang tenangkan aku, kami berbincang nak buat apa sebab sekarang sudah pukul 3 pagi. Nak minta tolong tok imam,rumah tok imam pun kami tak tahu. Nak minta tolong jiran, kiri kanan rumah kami cina. Akhirnya Salleh ajak lepak restoran Hakim sampai pagi. Bunyinya macam senang tapi masing-masing semua tak pakai baju dan pakai boxer dengan kain pelekat saja. Mahu tak mahu terpaksalah kami masuk rumah tu balik sebab nak ambil seluar, dompet dan kunci motor.

Oleh sebab bilik Bob dan Naim saja yang ada di bawah, maka kami ambil keputusan nak pinjam baju n seluar mereka. Masing-masing takut nak naik tingkat atas. Dompet pun aku tinggal. Masing-masing berpakat guna duit Naim dahulu. Nasib baik kunci motor kami sangkut dekat dinding [tempat penyangkut]. Masa nak keluar dari rumah tu, Wak perasan ada budak perempuan dekat pintu dapur tengah senyum sambil lambai tangan dekat dia. Aku pun terperasan budak tu juga lepas aku tengok muka Wak bertukar pucat lesi. Senyuman budak tu buat aku rasa macam nak terkincit dalam seluar. Kepala lutut aku menggigil sampailah dekat restoran Hakim!

Lepas sampai restoran Hakim, masing-masing sibuk buka cerita termasuk aku sekali lah. Mula-mula Wak cerita, malam tu lebih kurang pukul 12 lebih,dia sibuk download lagu tiba-tiba ada bunyi macam orang baling batu dekat tingkap bilik dia. Bila dia jengah,dia nampak ada seorang perempuan duduk dekat atas pokok kayu ara sebelah rumah tu, pakai baju putih kekuningan dan koyak-koyak dengan rambut panjang. Yang sadisnya,perempuan hodoh tu boleh senyum dekat dia pulak. Wak ni apa lagi terus tutup tingkap dan keluar pergi bilik dia n terus pergi bilik aku lah kononnya. Malangnya, lagi seekor hantu pulak duduk dekat depan pintu bilik dia tapi kali ni hantu budak. Jadi dia ambil keputusan terjun tingkap bilik dia ke bawah. Akibatnya, kaki dia terkehel. Nasib baik tak patah.

Azmi "dagu" pula cerita dia nampak ada budak perempuan lambai tangan dekat dia [yang ini, aku pun kena juga ok]. Aku pasti budak itu bukan manusia sebab dia tak ada kaki! Sam pula cerita dia nampak hantu tu dekat siling umah! Bila buka saja mata, hantu itu betul-betul "eye to eye" dengan dia. Kiranya semua kena kacau lah ni. Dan aku orang akhir sekali cerita. Aku cakap lah dua-dua kaki aku kena tarik masa tidur sampai kepala aku terhentak dekat lantai. Lepas itu aku cakap lah yang aku nampak diorang tengah layan dvd dekat Hall tapi Azmi tiba-tiba menyampuk "Bila masa pulak kami tengok dvd ?". Rupa-rupanya tiada seorang pun yang tengok dvd pagi tersebut! Jadi, siapa yang aku nampak?! Haru betul.....kaki aku yang dari tadi menggigil makin bertambah kuat gigilnya.

Tengah sibuk berborak,aku terbau sesuatu yang kurang enak. Kawan-kawan aku yang lain pun terbau juga. Rupanya Azmi ni tadi dah terkencing dalam seluar sebab takut sangat. Nasib baik malam tu tak ramai sangat orang dekat Restoran Hakim tu. Malu betul! Aku pulak ternampak Sam pakai selipar sebelah lain. Daripada sibuk-sibuk bercerita seram terus jadi cerita kelakar pulak.

Tengah ketawa, baru kami perasan Salleh dengan Naim tak ada bersama kami. Yang ada cuma kami berenam. Aku, Azmi Dagu, Sam banjar,Wak, Bob dengan Lan. Dalam ramai-ramai tu cuma Bob seorang yang bawa HP, jadi kami cuba telefon Naim tapi tak ada orang angkat. Telefon Salleh pula, sama juga tak ada orang angkat. Kemudian Lan ambil HP Bob tu, dia baca apa entah agaknya lepas tu tahu apa jadi? Dengar suara perempuan menggilai! Gila-gila punya ngilai sampai meremang bulu roma aku. Kami berenam terus terdiam. Akhirnya kami sepakat akan tunggu sampai pagi esok baru balik rumah itu semula dan cari Naim dengan Salleh. Lepas dengar suara perempuan menggilai dalam HP tu, tiada seorang pun yang buka mulut sehinggalah subuh!

Pukul 7.30 pagi baru kami blah dari Hakim. Hati aku masih lagi kuat berdebar-debar. Yang lain-lain aku tahulah. Sampai dekat depan rumah, aku tengok pintu rumah dengan pagar terbuka seluas-luasnya. Kalau pencuri masuk ni, memang dia akan kaya sebab laptop, wallet dengan HP kami semua dibiarkan macam itu saja. Bulu tengkuk aku masih lagi meremang. Tak ada seorang pun berani masuk rumah itu dahulu Aku ingat, ada lah 20-30 minit kami duduk tercangak-cangak dekat depan rumah sebab tak berani masuk. Entah macam mana agaknya HP Bob berbunyi.Hati aku da x sedap. Jangan la kata hantu tu yang telefon masuk umah. Lan angkat. Sebenarnya dalam ramai-ramai, Lan lah yang paling berani tapi kadang-kadang penakut juga lah. Pihak hospital telefon, katanya Naim ada di wad kecemasan hospital Klang. Kemalangan katanya. Pihak hospital kata, ada miss call dari nombor hp Bob, sebab itu dia telefon nombor Bob. Oooo baru aku faham. Yang peliknya Naim kemalangan?

Masing-masing serba salah jadinya. Bingung pun ya juga. Tak tahu sama ada nak melawat Naim di hospital Klang atau cari Salleh yang hilang. Akhirnya kami telefon tuan rumah untuk tengok apa yg patut. Aku dengan Sam pulak pergi hospital Klang tengok keadaan Naim. Kalau memang tenat sangat, aku akan beritahu yang lain suruh datang. Yang lain aku suruh cari Salleh keliling umah, takut-takut dia kena sorok. Kami masing-masing hanya bertawakal. Masa dalam perjalanan ke hospital Klang, aku pun tak tahu Sam pecut sampai berapa tapi hati aku masih lagi kuat mengatakan bahawa perkara ini belum habis lagi.

Sampai hospital,aku terus cari Naim. Sebak sungguh hati aku tengok keadaan Naim yang parah. Kaki dia teruk. Doktor kata kena lenyek dengan kereta atau sesuatu. Kes langgar lari. Naluri aku kuat mengatakan bahawa umur Naim ni tak panjang sebab darah keluar membuak-membuak. Sam tak sanggup tengok, air mata dia berjurai-jurai keluar. Doktor pun cakap Naim ni sudah nyawa-nyawa ikan, tak dapat nak tolong banyak. Aku duduk tepi Naim, dia boleh bercakap lagi tapi sangkut-sangkut. Dia mintak maaf sebab menyusahkan kami. Berulang-ulang kali dia minta maaf tapi aku masih lagi tak dapat tangkap apa yang dia cakap. Akhirnya dia meninggal juga. Aku gagahkan hati aku telefon kawan-kawan yang lain beritahu kematian Naim. Aku tengok Sam terduduk tepi balkoni dengan mata merah sebab nangis banyak sangat. Tak lama lepas itu keluarga Naim datang. Aku tak anggup nak tunggu lagi dan ajak Sam balik Shah Alam.

Sampai dekat rumah, aku tengok ramai gila orang tengah cari Salleh tapi tak jumpa-jumpa. Habis satu umah digeledah. Akhirnya ada orang tua dekat situ minta tolong dengan seorang ustaz. Aku tak ingat apa nama ustaz itu tapi lepas Asar baru kami jumpa Saleeh duduk dekat atas busut belakang rumah. Yang hairannya, sudah 5,6 kali orang cari tapi tak ada pula jumpa dia dekat situ. Tak kisahlah janji dapat jumpa balik Salleh. Kami semua ambil keputusan pindah dari rumah hari itu juga. Kebetulan dekat seksyen 7 [pintu belakang UITM] ada satu rumah untuk disewa, jadi kami pindah situ lah. Barang-barang Naim kami angkut sekali. Terus terang aku cakap, memang aku angin gila tengok muka tuan rumah sebab tak beritahu yang rumah ini "keras".patut lah dia suruh bayar rm50 saja dulu dan tak bagi bawa barang banyak-banyak. Chisss......

Aku demam 3 hari.

Jenazah Naim selamat dikebumikan di Raub,Pahang.

Seminggu lepas Itu,keadaan sudah ok sikit cuma Salleh saja yang sakit-sakit badan. Akhirnya mulut aku tergerak nak tanya Salleh apa yang berlaku sebenarnya sebab sebelum Naim meninggal dia ada cakap dekat aku suruh tanya Salleh satu rahsia. Rupanya masa hari pertama kami masuk rumah tu, Naim dengan Salleh sudah buat hal. Dia cangkul busut dekat belakang rumah tu. Naim pula kuis-kuis dengan kaki dia. Mungkin sebab itu lah kaki dia parah [dalam hati aku lah]. Kemudian Salleh cerita,kn ada malam yg kitorg satu uma kena kacau tu dia dengan Naim pun kena juga. Tapi hantu tu siap kejar diorang sampai dekat jalan. Diorang punya la cuak sampai lari ke tengah jalan. Entah mana datangnya kereta tiba-tiba hentam mereka. Naim tercampak tengah jalan, dia pulak dekat tepi jalan. Datang kereta lain terus lenyek kaki Naim. Lepas tu, Salleh kata dia terus tak sedar apa-apa sampailah kami jumpa dia atas busut tu. Yang peliknya,macam mana dia boleh duduk atas busut sedangkan dia kata dia lari dekat tengah jalan besar? Kenapa Naim seorang yang kena teruk?

Akhirnya aku dapat jawapan sebenar. Tak lama lepas Salleh cerita dengan aku, dia jatuh sakit. Tak tahulah sakit apa tapi 3 bulan kemudian dia meninggal. Keluarga dia sendiri kebingungan sebab doktor pun tak tahu sakit Saalleh. Tapi aku yakin, kes ni ada kaitan dengan busut yang diorang gali tu. Aku dengan geng-geng aku yang lain sempat ziarah arwah Salleh. Paling tak boleh tahan Bob sebab dia roomate dengan Naim. Memang aku tau dia sedih sangat. Yang tak boleh lupa, kami semua menangis masa angkat jenazah Salleh. Rasa sedih sangat masa tu..

Aku, Azmi Dagu, Sam banjar,Wak, Bob dan Lan, semua sekali selamat habiskan pengajian di UITM. Buat Naim dan Salleh, kami tetap akan ingat korang sampai bila-bila. Al- fatihah
Ops..Rumah banglo dekat seksyen 2 itu sampai sekarang ada lagi [agaknya]. Tiap kali aku lalu kawasan situ mesti aku rasa sedih sangat. Lagi satu,masa hari terakhir kami di rumah tu, Wak tertinggal hp dia dekat bilik atas. Jadi pada siapa-siapa yang berani, boleh lah ambil hp tu tapi itu pun kalau korang berani la...nokia 3310

* * *

So, did you like it? ;)

Jumaatday

2011-07-01T15:06:00.001+08:00

True story, mamak dekat sini asked Aishah "baby, nak minum apa?". FTW!

I'm sure it's hardly original but I'm claiming the copyright to Syukur Sudah Jumaat (SSJ). TGIF is so old school yo.

SSJ mateys!

Fresh

2011-06-27T10:26:00.003+08:00

There is this standing mindset (especially amongst bankers in foreign banks) that the local banks are a notch below. The Liga Perdana to the Liga Super, where of course the big boys go to play. Oh come on don't deny it, I was one of you.

I recently made the switch to a local bank, despite it being one of the biggest local banks I still had some reservations. The salary offered was good, but the benefits package was very much subpar to what I was used to. But I decided to join anyway because it was for a regional position and the manager was someone I felt I can work with. Well here I am about a month in, and I can already dispel some of the notions I had previously.

My old bank prides itself on being a major global player, and as such kept telling us that we were lucky to be part of the organisation. Well I did felt lucky earlier in my career there. We were paid very well (for a fresh graduate that is), the benefits provided were some of the best in the industry if not the country, and as a management trainee were accorded some extra privileges like rubbing shoulders with the top management (CEO included, mind you) regularly in both formal and social settings, and were also provided the best training one can offer. Four weeks in UK, three in Hong Kong, that's pretty damn good I must say!

After 2 CEO changes later, things were not looking good. The new CEO is a very brash man who doesn't practice any subtleties and niceties that people loved with the previous CEOs. When asked why aren't the bank trying to compete in the market by increasing the salary since many talents leave year after year for the bigger bucks elsewhere, he just responded 'if you want more money, then you can leave too'. Talk about tact. True to fact, a lot of people left and in time I too became part of that movement =P

Anyway enough about the old place, let's talk about the new bank. Honestly I expected the worse. My first day did nought to dispel that. I reported to the HR and was asked to wait in a room full of other first day joiners. Most of them fresh faced and eager to be a banker, some like me looked wary already after a few years on the line. Filling up a stack of forms was next, it wasn't as organised as I would've liked but that's life kan? The we were taken to our respective floors. I was given an archaic old PC (CRT monitor yo!) that takes ages to startup, and soon realised that IE6.0 and Lotus Notes 7.0 is the current system standard. The warning lights in my head all came on, and all the key words people usually associate with local banks come to the front - old school, slow, lazy, bureaucratic, lethargic, etc fills my head. Man I was scared, here I was a pampered foreign banker jumping into this backwater called local banks. Plus my boss was away that day, so I had the whole day to rethink my decision oh the agony.

The next day my boss comes in and things started to change. She asked someone to replace my PC straightaway and I got a spankin' new Lenovo with a 19'' LCD within a few days (unfortunately, IE6.0 and LN7.0 is apparently still the bankwide standard, bummer). She briefed me a bit about the department and the bank, and it was reassuring. She was a former foreign banker as well, and most my department either comes from HSBC/Citi/Stanchart triumvirate or from the Big Four. She explains how things work, and though she laments the pace as being a bit slow, it is improving over when she first joined.

Old school? Some departments maybe, but mine is alright. Especially since more than half of the guys here are mid 30s and youngers. Slow? I agree with this, don't expect a response to your e-mails within a day or two (even with chasers), try a week. If this like what my boss said is 'improving', I pity those who joined way back when. Bureaucratic? Yes. I need to go through twice the number of approvals I need previously for a business case. Lethargic? Not here. Probably because we are of a younger subset, I don't know. The place is definitely more friendlier, I have more space to my cubicle than I know what to do with, I have a pantry that's bigger than my old big boss' office, the lifts faster and most importantly kids, some local banks pay a whole lot more than you think ;)

Name

2011-06-21T09:36:00.003+08:00

Quick question, what's up with Malay parents these days naming their kids Isaac and Julian and Adrien? Sebab trend ke sebab malu nak namakan dengan nama melayu/Islam?

Echo

2011-06-17T14:56:00.000+08:00

*Flexes fingers*

Now, how do I start again?

New

2011-01-05T16:38:00.001+08:00

I don't really feel like doing a lengthy review of 2010, so in short 2010 saw me travelling to Hong Kong, Macau and Bangkok (again, but this time by land yo), but the biggest landmark of last year was that i finally ended my bachelorhood and got married =D

Now that I am married, my plans for 2011 are gonna change a little bit. Can't do crazy backpacking like I used to, gotta take into account that she's not used to travelling let alone backpacking. So our first plan for the year is gonna be Bali sometime soon once we got our life sorted out first. Anyone got experience staying at private villas in Ubud?

We're also planning to head north to Bangkok yet again since she's really enthralled by my stories of the city - that would probably be sometime mid year. If we got some more extra cash stashed away somewhere, perhaps a visit to Jakarta-Bandung is in order to visit some friends and do more shopping.

Apart from travelling, I have a few other things in mind. I finally did upgrade from my Canon 400D to Canon 60D last week, so far it's been a wonderful piece of machinery. Gotta put it to real use soon to see how does it measure up - photography outings anyone?

I also gotta start going back to the driving range, I'm pretty sure whatever form or swing I had is now gone so it's gonna feel like starting over, oh my back.

Besides that, am thinking of buying a bicycle. Haven't rode one since maybe Standard 6, and I'm really hoping that riding a bike is not a skill that you lose over time. Though riding in Ampang would probably be considered an extreme sport, the drivers around there are crazy I tell you. To be fair, that would include me too from time to time hehe.

The more extravagant plan is buying that nice house I've been eyeing which is priced just a wee bit beyond what I can afford (22x75 + freehold + good location = must buy!). A promotion (and the pay rise that comes along with it) would definitely help ;)

Well that's about it I guess. Gonna turn 28(!) in a fortnight's time, inching closer to the big three zero. Just 7 more years for me to meet my deadline of having my own business. But for now, I got a decent car, a cosy home, a good job and the woman of my dreams. Not too shabby I guess, Alhamdulillah.

Tigers

2010-12-07T23:14:00.001+08:00

It's not a secret that Malaysian football, domestic leagues and the national team both, has been in the ditches for so long. Not much can be said when we keep on harping on the exploits of the teams of the 70s even some 40 years on.

I still remember in the early to mid 90s, we had quite a good semi-pro league going. The mercurial foreign players such as the likes of Ervin Boban, Scott Ollerenshaw, Zsolt Bucs & Olubumi (later converted to Abdul Rahman) Adigun complemented the local boys like Hashim Mustapha, Dollah Salleh, Radhi Md Din & Matlan Marjan. Local matches are shown on TV, men actually went to watch the games while those who didn't stayed home to watch them.

What happened between then and now? I guess the popular theory is that after the major match fixing scandal, people just lost the passion and the players who were not affected by the scandal were just not good enough.

And it all went downhill from there. Various plans and initiative were carried out, but we were sliding further and further down the football pecking order. Remember the Olimpik 2000 team? That was an initiative to get future national players more playing time, which failed. Basically the team was crap. A few actually went on to have a long career in football like Khalid Jamlus and Akmal Rizal while the rest faded away.

But you know, these days I'm actually seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Still dim, but it's a light nonetheless. On the domestic front, two things happened. One is the emergence of the Kelantan team as a major force after years of being in the doldrums. Why is this important? Well, this is the only team where home games are ALWAYS packed, and away games would see a sizable away support cheering the team on. What does this have to do with the big picture? Several things. The team now actually have money from the gate collection, and with the team playing so well the supporters splurge on authentic team merchandise which means more money too. With that kind of money, they can attract the best players around. Which also means that the other teams gotta start to buck up and get their act together. Playing in front of a voracious crowd weekly surely would help our boys grow some balls and gain mental toughness too.

Kelantan when on song is a joy to watch, second leg Malaysia Cup tie against Selangor comes into mind when Selangor was demolished despite having the players and the money to match Kelantan. Despite these two teams, Negeri Sembilan is also consistently fighting for silverware on all fronts. I hope next season we'll see a re-emergence of Perak, Pahang, Kedah and the Borneo twins who have been big teams in the past.

The other thing is the raw talent coming through are being handled correctly. Harimau Muda A and B are playing regular football, and unlike Olimpik 2000 these guys are actually good. Then they were also given exposure in the Slovakian league, which sounded like a dud but I am sure helped in some ways. Then you see many players below 25 playing week in and week out for their teams, which can only be good for the future.

Starting with some friendlies, we started to shift gears. In Guangzhou we did very well in my books, despite some dubious officiating in the game against China we made it through to play Iran. And that's with half the team out due to injuries and suspensions. Now we're playing the AFF Suzuki Cup, where after the 1-5 drubbing by Indonesia the wolves came out baying for blood immediately. K. Rajagopal realised his mistake I guess and immediately restored Khairul Fahmi as Malaysia's No. 1. With a much more reliable keeper than Sharbinee, the young back four gained confidence and started playing like they did in Guangzhou. Draw with Thailand and just now a 5-1 thrashing of Laos saw us through to the semis (credit shall also go to Indonesia for being sporting and not just rollover to Thailand).

Of course I'm pretty sure there will still be wolves out there discrediting our performance. They are not world class players yet, sure. We're not the feared team in Asia nor Asean yet, true. But I have faith. It has to start somewhere and I have a niggling feeling that it has started already. It is my belief that in 5 years time this current team we have will have matured enough to be a force to be reckoned with. These same guys will be mid 20s to early 30s then, which should be at the peak of their careers. It's time to start cheering our boys on, and not just ignore pre-game and criticise post-game no matter the result.

If not us, then who? If not now, then when?

Current Malaysia squad at the AFF Suzuki Cup
Khairul Fahmi, Sharbinee; Sabre, Faizal Mohd, Asraruddin, Muslim, Fadhli, Razman, Khairul Helmi, Mahali; Safiq, Amar, Khyril, Amirulhadi, Guru, Kuna, Faizal Abu Bakar, Amri; Norshahrul, Safee, Ashaari, Izzaq.

AYUH HARIMAU MALAYA!

The Cult Of The i

2010-11-24T19:13:00.003+08:00

I woke early on Sunday, by 7am I was already in the shower. Put on some comfortable clothes, grabbed the keys and hurried to the lift.

Turned back because forgot the wallet. Then again rushed to the lift and to the car and sped out.

By 8am, I was already on the escalator going up to where I wanted to be. I was early, I'm pretty sure that - ohh, I'm number 14.

Yes, I did the unthinkable. I actually went to line up outside Maxis KLCC to get the iPhone 4 at 8am on a Sunday morning. Last Sunday there was only 20 in stock, so the folks who arrived some 10 minutes after me had to go back empty-handed.

The whole process of getting one is a big hassle. I lined up at 8am, and the Centre opens at 8.30am. We were asked beforehand which iPhone 4 we wanted (16GB or 32GB) and was given a number. Then when the door opened we all went to a special iPhone 4 counter and was asked some questions about out preferred iValue plans and payment method etc. Then they photocopied my IC and was asked to wait 10 minutes.

Boy that was the longest 10 minutes ever. It was already 9.15am when I asked one staff what's going on, and what am I supposed to wait for. I was told to wait for the number. Okay then.

It's 10.00am and still no number given out, how hard was it to get me a damn number? So I asked again. Only then I was told that number 14 will only be processed IN THE AFTERNOON and they will call me when it's ready for pickup. Flippin' hell, they could've told me that after they photocopied my IC and save me more than an hour of useless waiting around.

So I left and went to wash my car, all the while planning to go to the bank and run some other errands to pass the time when Maxis called at 10.30am that my iPhone is ready for pickup. iDontfuckinbelieveit.

So I went back to Maxis KLCC and finally got a goddamn number, and waited for another 45 minutes before my number was called. So I went to the iPhone collection/payment counter, and the whole process took maybe 10 minutes tops. I was told to go to the unbricking counter, and it was done in less than 1 minute.

The whole ordeal took me the whole morning that could've been put to do more productive stuff like err sleeping in for instance. Okay maybe not productive but definitely beats waiting around like that. It could've gone better, they could've just told me at 8.45am that my phone will only be ready in the afternoon so I can go run my errands or balik sambung tidur and I'll just pop back in later to collect it.

After all that trouble, this phone better be worth it.

Sole Searching

2010-10-28T23:07:00.003+08:00

I've been stressed up lately with some financial troubles, and kept blaming it on not being paid enough. Of course in a way that's true actually seeing how expensive everything are in KL these days.

Anyway last week, the soles of my shoes were finally worn out until there's a hole that small stones can fit through. And my socks will get wet if it rained too. Since I don't have the extra money to just drop into Pedro and get a new one, I decided to just go get it repaired during lunch on Monday.

So I went to this pakcik where I usually repair my shoes, the same pakcik that I wrote about before. I took off my shoes, slipped on the flip flops that he has ready for the customers to wear while waiting and waited while he got to work on my shoes.

He's a chatty fella, so we chatted a bit about this and that. I then noticed he's been using his thighs as base when he has to hammer the new soles in place, so I asked him about it.

"Nak buat macam mana, besi tuh kena curik malam tadi. Sakit tuh memang sakit tapi kena cari rezeki jugak", he said with a shrug of the shoulders and smiled.

"Tak apalah, bukan rezeki saya".

I felt like I was hit by a truck. There I was begrudging my salary when I earned it in the comfort of an air-conditioned office, sitting in an ergonomical chair and at most I'll get a headache from the stress; while this is a man who works on a sidewalk with the dust and exhaust fumes around him, cutting, pulling, hammering (now on his thighs since the anvil-like thingy he normally used got stolen) yet he seemed more at peace with his life.

I realised then that I have not been as thankful for all the things that I've been blessed with. We often focus on the have-nots rather than the haves. Sure I might not get my Audi next year, but at least I already have a decent car to get me around. I might not have the cash for that nice property that is sure to skyrocket in value, but I already have a comfortable place to live. So I might feel a bit underpaid, but compared to his life I got it way easier. So many things I should be thankful for rather than go through the truckloads of complaints that I have accumulated.

That day I walked off not only with repaired soles but just maybe, with a repaired soul too.

Hi, I'm Brad

2010-10-08T16:26:00.000+08:00

My younger brother is afflicted with a serious condition called 'perasan hensem'. He is always crafting tall tales of how girls swoon and sway because of his hensemness. Being the elder brother, of course I can't let him have his day.

Well one day, we were watching the idiot box when he quipped:

"I'm so handsome, girls froze in their tracks when they saw me"

"Yeah right, that was because I was right behind you"

"No, they didn't even see you because I was glowing with awesome handsomeness"

"Those are just streetlights reflected off your oily pimply face lah"

"Ceh, ini adik Brad Pitt tau?"

Before he realised it, I already said thanks =D

Vandals

2010-09-29T17:40:00.002+08:00

Whenever I (had to) use public toilets, I used to read the graffitis 'decorating' the stall while taking care of business. It amuses me to read so many advertisement for 'services' of all kinds. Jantan sasa? Got. Amoi manja? Got. Pondan mantap? Gottttt.

They always listed down the phone numbers as well if you feel like having a try. Many a times, they even have diagrams illustrating 'certain' facts.

Then recently I noticed how times have changed. After such a long time of not visiting public WCs with graffitis, I finally found one with some writings on the door and walls:

"kerajaan makan duit rakyat!"

"parti xyz takda telur, pengecut"

"parti 123 pak turut, sembah parti abc"

Aik, vandals pon nak main politik jugak? When did everyone stopped having fun?

Long Drive Home

2010-09-14T11:10:00.001+08:00

Took me 9 hours of non-stop driving (save for two toilet breaks in Kuala Krai and Kechau Petronas stations) to get me safe and sound back in Ampang yesterday.

The trip got off to a bad start, the traffic grinded to a halt somewhere after Kota Bharu and crawled towards Kuala Krai at a pace a snail would be ashamed of. The 1-hour stretch became 3, and I contemplated turning back and trying my luck another time.

But I persevered. Soon after Kuala Krai the traffic jam untangled itself and we managed to cruise at around 80 km/h. Of course at some stretches it slowed down to a crawl again and you'll start seeing dimwits using the emergency lanes to overtake on the left side. There's an MPV with multiple stickers and whatnot saying there's a baby on board doing so, funny that the driver doesn't seem to care about the safety of said baby.

Somewhere near Kuala Lipis, Makdik called updating me on the traffic condition (she's got a few hours headstart on me ), the traffic had crawled to a standstill in Raub seemingly. So I took the alternative route via obscure small hamlets of Sg Ruan, Klau, Sertik etc. Pretty soon it started to feel like a bad horror movie.

That stretch was pretty much empty save for a motorcycle now and then, and it was getting dark fast. Darker when the tall palm trees are casting longer and longer shadows. I don't see any streetlight lights, and homes were few and far in between. God don't let my car broke down here, please.

Did I mention I was driving alone?

An hour or so later (and a wrong turn inserted for good measure), I emerged on a small ramp leading to the Karak Highway and I was on the home stretch!

Woke up today with stiff arms, sore back, sore throat (from the heat and uhh singing along to the CDs to keep me company), headache and feeling rather glad I did not turn back and miss out on this mini adventure of sorts.

And oh, Selamat Hari Raya people!

Some Like It Wet

2010-09-01T12:35:00.003+08:00

Yesterday it rained so heavily I can't see further than the car in front of me. Trudging along at 50 km/h, not daring to go any faster lest we want to end up dead, it reminded me of something though.

I used to walk to and fro class in uni every day for 4 years, and it took me about 15-20 minutes per way. Enough time to ~~swear~~ sweat under the burning sun. And sometimes, the sky would open up on me and I would be soaked head to toe. If I was on the way to class, that would mean an about turn was necessary and uhh no class.

Thing is, I actually enjoyed being rained upon. Besides the obvious fact that it negates the risk of my hair catching fire from the heat, it has a calming effect. The cool caress of the droplets as they first kissed the skin was delicious, and the refreshing outpour following that usually invigorates.

Sometimes good samaritans would stop their cars and offer me rides, and sometimes I would accept. Other times, I'd smile and shake my head while mouthing a silent thank you. I bet they think I'm crazy.

Then after 4 years of walking, I finally got to use my mom's old car and then 2 years ago I bought my own car to replace that one. No more wet pasty hair, no drenched shirts and pants, no sloshing shoes. It is no fun anymore.

Next time I'm home fiddling my thumb, and the sky starts to turn grey - I will be out there, probably pretending to look for a lost key or kitten so that the neighbours won't look at me funny next time. But I will be embracing the downpour like a long lost friend now found again. Oh yes I will.

Point To Ponder

2010-08-27T14:19:00.000+08:00

I was walking back after Friday prayers and saw a car with a big sticker on the rear window saying boldly in black and yellow - Fear Allah.

I don't know, but it feels wrong to preach based on fear. Compare that to the 'I Love Jesus' stickers instead. When you fear, you often find ways to rebel. But when you love, you do more than you are supposed to. Isn't that often the case?

Dahlia Street Crew

2010-08-23T12:52:00.003+08:00

Come to think of it, we had a frat house going back in Uni. That double storey terrace in Desa Dahlia was our very own frat house, 6 residents (me, Scouser, AlyG, Man, Pije, Amr) and maybe a dozen hang-arounds made the place so.

Our immediate neighbour was a pakcik and his family we affectionately call Ayah Pin (after the infamous Kerajaan Langit fella, remember him?). We sure gave him a hard time, a few times he knocked on our doors telling us to be quiet. Luckily he never called the cops on us. Sorry ~~Ayah Pin~~ pakcik, we were idiots then.

Across the street was a whole row of houses taken over by Samsung and made into hostels for their female workers. Boy those ladies weren't shy. Getting catcalls from women was a novelty, but getting it from ladies clad in bras and no shirts was a bit scary.

Some of us used to play firecrackers in the yard we had behind the house, and after a while it gets old. So to keep it fresh, main dalam rumah pulak. Imagine the shock you get from a loud bang coming from the kitchen downstairs, only to find 2 hysterical guys throwing mercuns at each other.

Then we had 'Sunway Lagoon', riding a small mattress down the stairs just because we can. Usually results in very sore bums and other miscellaneous light injuries, light enough not to deter us for subsequent runs.

We recorded our own version of 'Forever Blowing Bubbles' after watching Green Street Hooligans, and call ourselves the Dahlia Street Crew. AlyG's cluelessness was hilarious. I still have the mp3 boys, hahaha.

We even had an indoor BBQ once, no kidding. We were planning for one and was just about to get started in the yard when it started to rain. Luckily someone had 2 electric BBQ, so we decided to move it indoors and closed the doors and windows to prevent the smoke from coming out and alarming our neighbours. Loads of food, lots of good people, PS2, massive smoke inhalation, slight electric shocks. Superb. Haz even took some videos of us and posted it to Youtube, bugger!

And then there's the pranks like the 'terima kasih Era' prank I wrote about earlier. I still can't bring myself to add her on Facebook, the shame! But it was funny though, hehe. We also used to drive our friends' houses and shout their names in the middle of the nights. We call it Drive-By Shouting. God what were we thinking?

Then there's the cookouts we have (I think we cooked throughout Ramadhan), playing the guitars and learning new songs, dinner at the cheapest place possible, boycotting our favourite restaurant because it started to get sloppy, each of us downloading different series so that we have non-ending supply of things to watch on our house local network etc. We spent a whole lot of time just hanging out together.

It was one of the best periods of my Uni life. Everytime I find myself in the vicinity I would take a short detour just to see how the old (frat) house is doing. Man, Pije and Amr are all married with kids and working with Petronas, JKR and TNB. Me and Scouser are both in banking despite all of us being engineering graduates. I lost contact with AlyG, and last I heard he was still chilling around. Awesome.

Fun At The Mamak

2010-08-18T11:25:00.000+08:00

"anney, menu ade?"

Roti kosong
Roti telur
Roti pisang
Roti sardin
Roti bawang
Roti tisu
Roti tampal
Roti jantan

Ehh?

"anney, roti jantan nih roti apa?"

"sama macam itu roti telur, tapi dua biji telur"

Ahh, should've guessed that.

True story.

Interview With The Banker

2010-07-28T16:54:00.003+08:00

A few months ago I was asked to attend an interview with a local Islamic bank. I was kinda excited at the prospect of going into the Islamic banking space, so I decided to give it my best shot.

So there I was, dressed to the nines with my swanky cufflinks, tailored shirt and matching tie, tailored pants (no pleats, of course) and all the works. I was trying to make a decent first impression, you know.

As I was filling up the forms in the HR waiting area, I started to notice that the other folks who were there for interviews (I know so because they were all filling up the same forms) did not exactly put much thought into what they were wearing. Imagine lots of 'shiny' shirts (kain berkilat, is it rayon? polyester?), ties that clashes with the shirt colour, khaki pants and loafers. I thought hey, I'm gonna be a standout!

That was before I observed the bank's staff as they passed though the waiting area. They were dressed like these guys! I thought oh heck, if the clothes are not gonna help me I'll just impress them with my BS, I mean my CV and my oratory skills instead.

I was called into the room and was met with 3 middle-aged ladies who looked so motherly and a man wearing a jubah and kopiah. Huh? Turned out, he's the hiring manager, and an ustaz at that! My mind starts recalling all the do'a and surah just in case he asked, you never know right?

Well I think I did quite well since one of the moms (she's the Head of Something apparently) said I'm very eloquent and she's quite impressed with the CV too. Then the ustaz just had to come up with a trick question, would I choose a horse or a woman. That's it, no explanation. No prizes for guessing which one did I chose.

At the end, the HR manager said they really liked my personality but was not sure about me fitting in with their bank because I was too confident and smooth and all that jazz. That's the first time I heard anyone said that I'm much too good for something, ever! It's a weird feeling, disappointed yet disgustingly happy too =P And I guess my choosing the sexy blonde over the strong thoroughbred did not help sway the votes either, hehe.

So yeah, I didn't get that job, but they did offered something else which I was not interested in. Come to think of it, it was the best for both parties. I'm guessing we're operating on different frequencies, and I still need my daily dose of lengluis of course.

Siamese Dreams

2010-07-23T16:11:00.001+08:00

Yesterday Manao showed me an online news portal depicting Bangkok has been voted as the world's best city. No surprises there, i thought.

Bangkok is my all time favourite city, followed by Hong Kong and Venice in third place. I've been to Bangkok twice now, 5D4N and 6D5N respectively and I still want to return for at least another trip. Or two.

What's so great about Bangkok? Not so sure really. I've stayed at the lively Khao San Road twice now, and it has not failed me with it's cheap yet clean and comfortable hotels (RM25/pax and you get room with A/C and hot shower), cheap and tasty hawker food (pad thai for about RM3, and all the fruit shakes you want for about the same price), various live performances, bars and clubs to spend your nights and also the multitude of nationalities drifting in and out of this backpackers haven. Conversation and friendship struck out of nothing (though more often than not it's over buckets and beers).

And then there's the people. Soft spoken and polite, it makes you feel brash being around these folks. I have always loved the distinct sound of the Thai language, and hearing it spoken (especially by the ladies and their oh-so-soft kha) is music to my ears. We even made friends with a very amiable taxi driver Tom who never charged us extra even when he had to drive across town to pick us up. He even declined our fare after he sent us to Suvarnabhumi. His reason being "we are friends, no need to pay this time". Can you even imagine this happening in KL? Mimpi la brader.

There's also the shopping. Chatuchak is well known, but you should only go there for the small indie brands. Self-designed clothes, and usually not remade once finished, this is where you go to get something unique at a very cheap price. MBK has got the other stuffs and in air-conditioned comfort. A multitude of tailors around town can make good quality shirts, pants and suits for a fraction of what you're gonna pay back home. I made 6 shirts and a pair of pants, all customised to my liking for only RM500, do the maths.

Most Thais I've met are devout Buddhists and they subscribe to the idea that everyone is equal or something like that (from a conversation with a cabbie, so I can't vouch on the facts), hence the accepting gesture towards gays, lesbians, kathoeys and all sorts of people from the human spectrum. I've seen kathoeys that walked past a small shrine stopped and offered a prayer before resuming their walk. Regardless of the religion, I find this beautiful.

Of course there's the infamous Bangkok nightlife which equates to stripclubs and sex shows and whatnot but for me that is just a sideshow. Patpong is not a place you want to spend much time at, seriously. The real nightlife can be had at Ratchada, where the music was out of this world. I am no clubber, but Hollywood is really something else. Give it a go if you're in town.

So I've seen the idyllic countryside during my train ride, and I've also chilled at Pattaya beach side eating various seafood (fresh and cheap!), and rather than distract it actually enforces my affection for Bangkok and Thailand in general. During the first trip, all four of us (Manao, Pyan, JT, myself) fell in love with the city. More recently, Yam and Ben felt the same way while for me and JT it served to reinforce what we already knew. We don't need no survey to tell us what city is ranked first, we already know.

Mini Odyssey

2010-07-16T15:56:00.009+08:00

For almost a week I was in Bangkok again, savouring the Thanon Khao San lifestyle and enjoying every moment away from my daily reality back home. It's always good to be traveling somewhere, and it's even better when that somewhere is Bangkok aka Krung Thep aka the City of Angels. Pom rak Krung Thep mak mak, ching.

Since it's my second trip up north, I decided to shake things up a bit and travel by the express train from Butterworth to Bangkok which would take 22 hours but I would be ensconced in air conditioned comfort plus considerably comfy berths to sleep in. So last Thursday I hopped on the earliest bus from KL with Yam to get to Butterworth to catch the train. We arrived at around 1pm, and had time for a quick lunch at the bus station before making our way to the adjacent train station to get on the 2.20pm train.

We arrived at the station all eager to hop on the train and sleep the journey off, only to be told bluntly that the train was canceled due to a derailed train the day before. WTF! We got a full refund on the tickets but now have to find an alternative way to Bangkok. After asking the KTM staff for tips, we rushed to catch the 2pm bus heading for Hat Yai. Paid RM38 for the bus ticket and headed north to the border and afterwards Hat Yai in about 4 hours from Butterworth.

The bus conveniently dropped us in front of it's office/travel agent and was immediately crowded by touts telling us to get on their tuk-tuks (in actuality a song thaew) to catch the 6.30pm bus to Bangkok for THB800 I think. After a quick discussion we decided to take a gamble and forego the bus and took a song thaew to the train station (despite the song thaew's driver's protest saying that all trains are off). Turned out, trains were running normally and we managed to secure tickets to Bangkok for only THB 339 (about RM40) but with one catch. We had to ride third class since all other tickets are sold out.With a 'what the hell' shrug, we got ourselves to platform 5 and boarded the 7pm train. It is going to be a 16 hour ride at least, no air-conditioning, no berths, no problem. The seats were reasonably comfortable and since the carriage is not full we secured a 'compartment' each to ourselves.

It's a different travelling experience, the wind blowing in your face as you see the Thai countryside roll by. We went through Songkhla, Phattalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani and soon I fell into an awkward contorted sleep (which would be continually interrupted by screaming muscles and joints, which requires a change of position).

I woke up very early next morning and was greeted by a breathtaking dawn vista somewhere in Prachuap Khiri Khan. Soon the paddy fields and faraway hills faded and the sea comes into view.

Pretty soon, the more familiar names of Hua Hin and Cha-am comes into view and we are only a few hours away from reaching Hualamphong station in Bangkok. At around noon, we finally pulled to a stop and here we are finally in Bangkok after 30 hours of non-stop travelling from KL.

Truth be told, that's the most fun I've had going to a destination. I was tired, hungry, body aching all over, face probably grimy from 16-17 hours of air blowing on to my face but I thoroughly enjoyed the trip. It costs only about RM100, but I get to see breathtaking sights and enjoy the sights and sounds of the Thai countryside. I strongly suggest you try the overland trip, but make sure you get on the journey with an open mind and a strong love for travel. Since the train is actually running the route of Sungai Kolok-Bangkok, you can even try starting your trip from almost the southernmost tip of Thailand (Sungai Kolok or better known as Golok is a Thai town bordering the Kelantan town of Rantau Panjang).

That's it for the first part of my Bangkok trip, will write of the rest of the trip in a later post since I gotta go eat (gosh I miss the pad thai in Khao San!) and you people have more things to do than read about my trip. Stay tuned!

Pompoy

2010-07-02T11:41:00.000+08:00

Kalau tengok orang hisap rokok sekarang, teringat zaman sekolah sorok-sorok hisap rokok kat tangga kelas time prep petang (dan malam!), satu batang Surya kawtim 4-5 orang. Bara dah panjang, asap dah panas, bibir dah pedih. Tegar. Balik kelas badan bau asap, mulut rasa cengkih. Nice.

Those were the days eh?

Why Get An Evo When...

2010-06-29T16:18:00.003+08:00

Last June I was actually contemplating to buy a 1995 rosso Ferrari F355, which incidentally is my all time favourite Ferrari. After considering my finances (and seriously thinking about renting out my place and stay elsewhere cheaper), I decided it would be a very stupid thing to do.

This June, I saw an ad for 2005 black Porsche Boxster at an even lower price! My financial sensibility (or something resembling it) was again shaken and I took out the calculator once more. In the end decided not to, but with a heavier heart.

Is this the quarter-life crisis, and would I finally succumb to temptations in June 2011? I hope so not!

Now Where Did My Salary Go?

2010-06-28T16:20:00.001+08:00

I am now back on home soil for a couple of weeks now. First day back at work, checked my inbox and was greeted with 700+ e-mails. Took me almost 2 weeks to clear everything, sigh.

Been a bit busy lately at work, it is the high season for us and the fact that half of the execs have resigned (including Big Boss who nicely gave a 24-hour notice before leaving, thanks a lot) does not help. Normally we would have a Director, assisted by 5 Senior VPs. Now we only have 2 Senior VPs left, and since my boss is taking up a portion of the Director's work naturally some of his work comes to me. Phew. Just have to take each new task one swear word at a time I guess.

But thankfully, I'm due to go on my compulsory leave in 2 weeks time! Two consecutive weeks of paid leave, that is bliss. I'll be spending my time in Bangkok for most of it, taking a 22-hour train ride to Hualamphong station from Butterworth just to do something different this time around. Will we have Bangkotitis second wave, we'll wait and see ;)

Pak Andhy is getting married in October and he's inviting me over to Jakarta for the wedding. I'm looking forward to attending my first authentic Javanese wedding, let's hope I can save enough money after Bangkok to go to Jakarta. Fir, I'm taking you up on that chicken tongseng offer yeah?

Finally in December the guys and gals are planning a getaway in Phuket. That would be one trip too many for me this year since I have something bigger in store.

Yeah, I work to travel.

Bing Bang Wah

2010-06-03T21:33:00.005+08:00

For the past few days it's been cold, windy, foggy and drizzling throughout the day. It feels so much like London in autumn, no wonder so many Brits call this place home.

Victoria Harbour, as seen from Level 42.

Went to a nice halal Turkish restaurant in Mongkok for dinner last night, before taking a stroll down Fai Yuen Street (aka Sneakers Street). OMG. I've never seen so many shop selling so many shoes in my life. I managed to keep calm, though I have earmarked one or two (or three) that caught my eyes. You can be sure that I'll be back pretty soon =P

Later on I joined the guys on one of their regular drinking sessions (though only with a Coke Light to keep me company), and quickly got up to speed with the drinking games. The title of this post is just one of the games, and the games just got more interesting, exciting and uhh risque as the night wore on and the copious amounts of alcohol starts taking its' toll. These Hongkies sure know how to have fun!

Can't wait for Saturday, going on a day trip to Macau. Heard that Cirque du Soleil has a show there, that is one thing not to be missed. Of course, there's also the famous Portuguese egg tarts and crab congee waiting to be devoured.

My camera is pretty much underused here, I'll prolly whip it out more next week and try to get some interesting pictures of Hong Kong life.

Hongkie Panky

2010-05-31T23:01:00.002+08:00

Before I came here, I wasn't so receptive of the idea of spending 3 weeks in crowded Hong Kong. I was kind of hoping that I can even sit it out altogether. The night before I flew here I even sprained my ankle stepping accidentally into a hole, which dampened the mood further. But soon enough I found myself in Chek Lap Kok airport, without the usual excitement and anticipation that usually followed me whenever I went travelling.

Checked into the hotel, and found that I got a nice cosy room which brightened me up a bit. However the busted ankle just saw me sleeping the first Sunday off while some of the guys went out and about, taking in the new city experience.After we're done with business on Monday, I forced myself to walk around the surrounding area for a bit just to see what's Kowloon all about. I've heard many things about it. Noisy, dirty, crowded, polluted, the works. Guess what, I was pleasantly surprised that it's not as bad as some people made it sound like. Sure it's noisy and crowded and polluted (as you would expect from a city like this) but it's not dirty at all. A trivia point, I've not seen a single fly yet - which is a miracle by my standards since I've since walked practically everywhere between Mongkok to Tsim Sha Tsui to Causeway Bay to Central. Even the most dodgy looking eateries (a la Jalan Alor) is clean.

The toilets in the malls and stores are spick and span, people don't spit everywhere and they actually do use the trashcans, they use the pedestrian crossing diligently 95% of the time, cars actually stop to let people cross at said crossings, public transportation is wonderful with it's frequency, punctuality and sheer network (you can walk from one station to the other, something like the Tube) of it. The pavements are wide enough, and there's even underground network of tunnels connecting many malls, MTR stations and various locations that you can still walk around even if there's a typhoon blowing hard outside.
The local folks seemed pretty assured of their police force, one guy Vincent assured me that in HK the cops usually arrive very quickly whenever there's a crime that sometimes it seemed impossible. I even saw a demonstration of that when a number of guys (immigrants I guess, Indians I suspect from the language) were about to get into a brawl. In no time at all 5 (FIVE!) police vans arrive to defuse the situation. No wonder the Hongkies are so confident.

The food is expensive and halal eateries are scattered around the area, though you must really look for it. Shopping for electronic gadgets and clothings are amazingly cheap (usually 30-50% cheaper than prices back home for the same item), and this is in proper stores and not the dodgier neon-lighted shops which are usually cheaper but can also scam you out of your cash if you are not careful. I guess I'm even luckier than I don't get harassed by salesmen looking for tourist money since I look pretty much like a local, thank God for the chinese genes!

I've seen the much talked about light show at the Harbour, took the famous Star Ferry over to Central, did my shopping in Mongkok and Causeway Bay, rode the tram up to the Peak for the amazing night view of the city. All the must do stuff, done. Come Saturday I'll be hopping on a ferry to get me to Macau for the sights (and a flutter or two, perhaps?) and sounds and tastes (Portuguese egg tarts y'all!), Sunday is yet to be decided.

Hong Kong has so far been a city of wonders for me, and I'm loving every second that I've been treading the pavements walking in and out of small alleys onto busy high streets and ducking into the odd MTR or two. If you've not been here, I suggest you make plans to do so. Come with an open mind, and you might just fall in love too ;)

Peakture Of The Day

2010-05-29T23:24:00.000+08:00

Night view from The Peak.

TST

2010-05-29T01:06:00.002+08:00

8pm, down by the Harbour.

Hello From Hong Kong!

2010-05-25T00:32:00.004+08:00

Yeap, been here for two days now. The weather's fine, though they're anticipating the typhoon season to start pretty soon. I'm bunked in a nice hotel in Nathan Road, which is like in the middle of a triangle between Mongkok, Kowloon and Tsim Sha Tsui. Not a bad location at all.

The room's pretty nice, no complaints so far.
The best thing about the room is gotta be this:

I can watch the telly while taking a shower!

Rakyat Harus Faham

2010-05-20T15:46:00.002+08:00

I'm not a political blogger, nor do I yearn to be one. But I am an interested observer, a backbencher to the backbencher of sorts.

It annoys me to no end when the government does not seem to understand their raison d'être. Firstly, whenever the general public raised a big hoo haa over something (toll rate to be raised, new taxes etc) the Minister in question would tend to answer with a Rakyat Harus Faham talk.

"Toll rates to be raised by 30%, we want an explanation!"
"Rakyat harus faham, the government is currently bearing the RM300mil cost of bla bla bla"

"Fuel prices to go up again, why?"
"Rakyat harus faham, currently billions of Ringgits are spent bla bla bla"

Well, if the government is not going to bear those costs, why are we paying taxes then? If they can't manage the budget prudently, should they still be in power? In banking, we provide mainly a service to our customers. The customers does nto want to understand what goes on behind the scenes, they only want the expected results. There's no point explaining to them we are facing this and that difficulty because to them, it does not matter. Telling the customer that they have to understand that we're bearing this cost and doing this and that just to do this for them is not going to get you more leeway. You might lose the customer even. In the broader aspect, why should we bother with the nitty gritty details of governing the nation? It's your task to govern, and govern it well. Give a better explanation, not the Rakyat Harus Faham talk please.

Also why is it that only when there's a by-election that everyone flocks to that constituency promising this and that and start building clinics and schools and bridges? If that's the practice then you'll do well to vote the most likely to die early in the next election. It should be on-going, and it needn't be tagged as Satu Lagi Projek Kerajaan Barisan Nasional. The money does not come from your coffers, Mister BN sir. Satu Lagi Projek Kerajaan is more apt.

I might sound pretty pro-opposition here, but I am not. I feel the current opposition offers nothing new or different to the current government in power. I am pro-people, pro-development, pro-rights. I am idealistic, but it doesn't hurt to dream of a better world ;)

Thought Of The Day

2010-05-13T14:40:00.001+08:00

Kalau Shabery berbahas dengan Shaziman, adakah akan berlaku parti buih (mulut)? Bincangkan.

Listen

2010-04-19T05:20:00.003+08:00

If you wanna do emo, do it right:

1. Avenged Sevenfold - I Won't See You Tonight Part 1
"Cry alone, I've gone away
No more nights, no more pain
I've gone alone, took all my strength
I've made the change
I won't see you tonight"

2. Jawbreaker - Kiss The Bottle
"I kissed the bottle
I should've been kissing you
You wake up to an empty night
With tears for two"

3. From Autumn To Ashes - Autumn's Monologue
"Oh why can't I be what you need?
A new improved version of me
But I'm nothing so good
No, I'm nothing"

Give them a try.

Forever 17

2010-04-13T14:45:00.003+08:00

Last weekend we had our 10th Anniversary of leaving the school. We anticipated 50, but 100 turned up. For those three days we forget all our grown-up worries and focused on being boys again.

Eggs on toast, with sos cap Arnab for breakfast. Long cold soak at Ulu Kenas, with two bags of piping hot Kaw Kee paus to keep us warm. Sweet bowls of cendols alternating with plates of laksa at Lembah. Mi goreng basah with a heap of cili jeruk at Kaw Kee. Ice cold Teh Herba to cool you down in the 38C heat. Leisurely drives up Bukit Chandan to Masjid Ubudiah and Istana Kuning. Simple lunch at So'od. Dinner at Yusnoi. Reminiscing over Jeng Leng, Cik Nah, Crank, Karok, Fajar, Kamy, Side Two. Kuala Kangsar, checked.

Long hours chatting away, loud and often vulgar jokes abound, awaiting turns to shower and brush your teeth, looking for space to sleep on the mattresses laid on the floor, wearing the batch shirts with pride, attending the concert and showing our full support to the band, waking up bright and early just to get ready for the batch photo session, walking around for nice shots of the school, saying hi to old acquantainces, saying hi to old teachers. Talking about Common Room, Mob Justice, Urban Bred, burn the gombang, 'I saw you at the party', manggis, perut, uban, botak. Koleq, checked.

Arrived back in KL late Sunday afternoon with a no voice left, pounding headache and a desperate lack of sleep. Got home, turned the A/C on, changed into something more comfortable and instantly drifted off for a peaceful 14 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Woke up with sore throat and a deep throbbing in my left temple and something more serious.

Loneliness.

Morning Madness

2010-03-18T09:53:00.002+08:00

From: X
To: F; S

S,
Please go through the list provided and pick out the ones with existing facilities. These are FX customers, so we should look to do more.

F,
This is something you should do as a support staff and not let us in sales do it. We should be focusing on sales rather than this. If you don't agree, please come and see me.

Regards,
X

From F
To: X; S

X,
Please read my note out on 01Mar where I have actually done all necessary filtering and analysis. If you have read it, then there's no need for S to be doing it all over again as I have done the hard work. I attach below the aforementioned note for your reference.

Regards,
F

- - - - -

One of the great wonders of the world, how come idiots get to be SVPs?

Hollywhat?

2010-03-12T10:53:00.002+08:00

Pergi minum dekat Andalus jumpa Diana Danielle dengan Farid Kamil.

Jalan pergi Ampang Point jumpa Mustapha Kamal.

Potong rambut dekat Derrick selisih dengan Imuda.

Pergi Sushi King pekena pulut mahal jumpa Syanie.

Pergi Tesco jumpa Siti and Dato' Misai.

Pergi tengok movie jumpa Que Haidar dengan Linda Jasmine.

Pagi tadi keluar nak pergi kerja Azizah Mahzan melintas jalan pulak.

Budak-budak AF muka bangga tak tentu hala lagi la bersepah.

Ampang dah jadi Hollywood Malaysia ke?

Lest We Forget

2010-03-05T20:59:00.001+08:00

An Ode To MCKK

We offer our youth
To the world we build
With courage and truth
And love fulfilled

A city will rise
That is bright and fair
Into cloudless skies
And fresh clean air

Proudly we’ll serve
With faith will strain
Muscle and nerve
And heart and brain

‘til wisdom descends
Like a silver dove
‘til evil ends
And the law is love

- Anthony Burgess, 1954

Personality Of The Day

2010-02-24T10:51:00.004+08:00

Hasbullah Awang is like the local version of John Motson or Andy Gray. His voice often accompanies footie matches shown on local TV, and he's been doing that for practically ages. Experienced though he is, he's not free from hilarious slips of the tongue.

Me and the boys, we still remember World Club 1998, when introducing the potent Chile strikeforce at the time - Ivan Zamorano and Marcelo Salas - nonchalantly announced "gandingan mantap Marcelo dan Salas!".

A more recent gaffe was during a Champions League match involving AC Milan and probably Barcelona (forgot which year though), when he announced in his spirited way "di kubu kuat AC Milan, Nou Camp!". For the non footie savvy out there, Milan plays in San Siro aka Giussepe Meazza Stadium while Barcelona plays at the Nou Camp.

And of course the more frequent mixups of numbers "Nombor 8 pantas meluru di sayap kiri, maaf nombor 3 sebenarnya" or action itself "GOALLL! Ohh maaf, rupanya sedikit tersasar"

Other contributions are welcomed.

Kit Theng

2010-02-21T16:20:00.003+08:00

My feet itches for foreign soil yet again. I long to sit on the green grass in the shade of a tree, reading Nabokov while taking in the evening breeze in Bangkok. So I made a plan to return to the welcoming environs of Khao San.
Come July, I'm hopping on a train to get me to Hua Lamphong station. Pom ao pai Krung Thep leao.

Bonne Nuit

2010-02-12T00:05:00.004+08:00

Falling asleep with the sounds of Coronation Street playing on the telly is so comforting.

Are we back to 1994 now?

Beyond Apprehension

2010-02-10T17:57:00.003+08:00

It's late in the afternoon, and it's gonna get dark soon. The roads are jammed up to the brims, heavy grey exhaust fume hangs around like the memory of your first love. The maddening din of honking soon manifests itself as a dull throbbing in your left temple. The hustle and bustle of the sidewalks is maddening yet comforting in its' familiarity.

Strange, but sometimes when I'm away from the city I would miss this.

I think I'm in love with KL.

Twenty Seven

2010-01-20T09:48:00.003+08:00

The correct and acceptable manner: Thanks guys for the wishes and stuff. Really appreciate that, I heart you all! *hugs*

The actual situation: Twentysevenohmygodohmygod. I should start hanging out with older guys to make me feel young. Haz? Zad? VJ? Han? Joe? Jom lepak!!!

Oohh 3 more years to go for my Beemer/Audi deadline. How lah?

Wawasan 2020, Satu Pandangan Jauh

2010-01-12T11:20:00.001+08:00

2020 is only a decade away, yet I'm not seeing any flying cars yet or people going to work in silver suits a la The Jetsons. But it would be interesting to go Nostradamus and predict what 2020 would be like, based on comparison with the last decade:

2000: KTM Komuter was never on time, always packed to the brim during rush hours, and tend to stop in the middle of the tracks for no apparent reasons for several minutes (sometimes with even the A?C turned off).
2010: Despite it being the biggest moneymaker for KTM, it is still notoriously bad.
2020: Since the RapidKL LRT service has been expanded to cover until Seremban in the south, Bentong to the east, Port Klang to the west and Rawang to the north (with extensions to Ipoh under works), the Komuter has been relocated to serve Kelantan's rural outbacks instead with stops such as Gaal, Manek Urai, Pahi and Dabong proving to be very popular.

2000: ASTRO was the premium satellite TV provider, with the sole competitor being the 5-channel Mega TV cable. Mega TV soon went out of business and ASTRO had a monopoly of the market.
2010: ASTRO still has that monopoly, surprisingly. They can dictate the price and service level sesukahati since there's no market pressure.
2020: ASTRO staged a coup d'etat of sorts, when they assumed controlling stake of Khazanah Nasional. Effectively, Tan Sri Ananda is named as the Finance Minister and Telecommunications & Multimedia Minister (double portfolio). His bid to become the first non-Malay PM was denied by the Legislation.

2000: BN had a firm grip on the nation's political scene. Despite Adil's attempts at breaking the status quo, they are ultimately unable to shake the longstanding position of power.
2010: The last General Election saw a division of power unseen before, where PR led by PKR (Adil decides that it is no longer adil, so it changed the name. I think) managed to seize power in several states.
2020: Due to incompetencies and personal glory-hunting, PR quickly dissolved and PKR merged with DAP to create Keadilan Untuk RAkyat Progresif (KURAP). PAS decided to merge with UMNO's Team B and create Parti UNtuk DEmoKrasi (PUNDEK). UMNO Team A merged with MIC & MCA to create BAngsa Bersatu Untuk Negara (BABUN). However the General Election was largely won by Parti ASTRO.

2000: Malaysian football was in disarray. Despite the best efforts of Claude LeRoy and Allan Harris, the national team very much sucked. Many blamed it on having too many politicians and rolayties in the administration of the game.
2010: We still have many politicians and royalties involved, but we did won the gold in the SEA Games with a single lucky goal. FAM went crazy immediately, The Sports Minister followed suite and went just as crazy (oh my bad, foaming at the mouth does not always equals to crazy). The national squad will be sent to Europe for stints, while national age group teams will also be sent to Europe to play as a team in some obscure Eastern European league.
2020: With the 'Golden Generation' reaching the twilight of their careers, we have since won the Asian Cup once albeit with the help of 7 naturalised Brazilians playing. What heppened to the European trainees? Well, most of them did not make the grade and resorted to opening restaurants in Europe. Now you can enjoy mamak food in Prague (Sri Zaquan Adha Maju), and Krakow (Darul Bunyamin Omar 786). Weirdly, the Pahang royalties still controls FAM (and Pahang is still in the top tier tournament despite coming last every season)

So what's your prediction?

Cerita Joe

2010-01-08T11:29:00.003+08:00

"Ade sekali nih, masa aku belajar kat UM lagi la, pegi lepak mamak tengok bola dengan kawan-kawan. Sekali tengok ade mamak baru kerja situ, punya lah selalu pergi sampai dah boleh cam kalau ada orang baru.

"Aku pon panggil la 'Aney!', datang la aney baru nih. Kitorang nak order air. So sambil-sambil bebudak dok fikir nak order apa, aku layan ah borak dengan aney tuh jap.

"Aku tengok atas meja ade nasi lemak bungkus kecik-kecik, aku tanye berapa. Dia jawab '60 sen'. Tengok ade kuih ape benda ntah, aku tanya gak harga, die jawab la '30 sen'. Bukan aku nak beli pon, saje nak test dah reti cakap melayu belum.

"Aku pon tanya la pulak 'baru datang Malaysia ke?', die geleng kepala. Tanya sudah reti cakap Malaysia, die geleng kepala. Diorang kan geleng kepala kalau 'ya'. Last sekali aku tanya 'BERAPA lama dah datang Malaysia?'

"Aney tuh tenung aku jap, then die jawab dengan confidentnya '60 sen'.

Are You Kidding Me?

2010-01-06T10:48:00.002+08:00

Is it just me or is it really weird that only a Sargeant is being implicated in the missing F-5E engine case? It is not like a few boxes of pens or paper that can easily go unnoticed for a year, it's two big ass engines worth RM100million purpotedly. I'm sure some other people are involved to get the necessary clearance to at least get it out of the Bases.

So the Sargeant must've worked alone since he's the only one being charged. I wonder how did he sneaked those engines out, in his pockets? Even if it is true that he worked alone with no higher ranking officers involved, then I believe more heads should roll since such a significant theft was left undiscovered for a year. Hrmm, the wonders of Malaysia...

Monday's Musings

2010-01-04T14:36:00.002+08:00

It's 2010 yo. 2009 seems like a wasted year, did not have much to say about it really.

New year's resolution? Hrmm, lose weight, run more, swim more, save the animals, world peace and all that jazz. Last year's resolution? Can't really remember now but I suppose it must've been lose weight, run more, swim more, save the animals, world peace and all that jazz.

Seriously, I wanna get either a promotion or a new job this year. If the bank doesn't think I'm kissing ass enough to promote me, then it's time to seek new pastures (and asses to kiss, oh joy).

Am gonna turn 27 in a fortnight, got a reality check during lunch last week. Temasek Scholar was talking about some guy and he said 'he's very young, early 20s like that'. Then an uncomfortable silence reigned for a while before someone quipped 'yep boys, we're late 20s now'. That dream about owning a 3-series before reaching 3-series, well that's why I need that promotion or big move away.

Anyway, hope it's not too late to wish you folks a Happy New Year. Have a fulfilling year ahead, God bless.

Ideas For A Better Malaysia #215

2009-12-30T10:14:00.004+08:00

There's been way too many fatal bus crashes in this country, and everytime it happened the people in power would start condemning this and that, suggesting this and that, investigating this and that. But every single time, it would just quieten down again in a few weeks and all's swell again. Until another crash that is. Repeat ad nauseum.

As someone who used to ride longhaul express buses regularly for close to a decade, I can tell you that rarely the ride was comfortable. If it travels by day, the aircond were never cold enough. By night, it feels like Siberia. The seats would sometime be broken, either you can't lower it, or it won't stay up. The toilets would always be horrendous, leaving you to hold it in until the next stop. And the worse part is, the drivers are always very reckless. I would usually stay up the whole journey since I don't dare sleep with that kind of driving (as if by staying awake I could do much about it).

So as a (former) seasoned bus traveller, I am here to present two solutions:
1. Get the all-talk politicians to actually ride one those buses incognito, and feel the thrill. They'll be shitting their Brioni pants before the bus even reached Bentong or Kuala Kangsar. But of course don't expect swift action. It'll take years for things to actually change around here. Even with shit-stained Brionis.
2. Modify the buses. Don't bother putting in speed limiters, or GPS or what not. Just make the driver sit outside the bus. Mould the bus body to exclude the driver's area, so he'll be exposed. Don't give him a seatbelt either, just a helmet would do. Then we'll see if they'll drive as recklessly anymore.

What say you?

Belasungkawa

2009-12-21T18:31:00.005+08:00

Back in Form 2, Pondar was my bedmate. He's vivacious, loud, cheeky and yet quite sensitive. He was my partner when we started a dorm ritual - watching a cute chinese girl pass by the school gate every afternoon without fail on her bicycle. We would rush back after afternoon prep classes and head straight to the balcony outside our dorm. There we would wait for that familiar red bicycle to come down the road towards us. At first it was just us, watching in silence. Then we got bolder so me and Pondar would often fight to be the one to say hi to her. At first there was no response. Then she started smiling to us as she passed by. Then she started waving to us. Then one day we even asked her name, and she replied! I can't remember what it was anymore, but the afternoon girl-gazing became our secret activity day in day out.

Of course later on the rest of the guys caught on to what we were doing and the crowd soon grew. After a while the girl stopped coming round our way, and the daily sessions ended just like that.

We were also caught head banging to some punk-rock cassettes, and as a punishment was beaten up by the prefects and made to stand in the middle of the hockey field and shout at the top of our lungs that we won't be making anymore ruckus in the dorm until we lost our voices.

After leaving school I rarely met him. Then he went on to work in his hometown in Labuan. Then on Saturday we got word that he was involved in a road accident in Labuan and suffered massive head injuries. He passed away that day.

Innalillah wa-inna ilaihi raji’un – Truly to Allah we belong, and truly to Him shall we return. Goodbye dear friend and brother, thank you for all the memories and we will miss you.

Allahyarham Azil Afiq bin Thaharudin aka Pondar
A116, Sulaiman House
1983-2009

Innalillah

2009-12-17T13:28:00.001+08:00

A friend and brother, Nizam Ruslan lost his father this morning. Al-Fatihah to Allahyarham Ruslan. Be strong bro.

Picture Of The Day

2009-12-08T17:25:00.001+08:00

Mulder, sila pilih team lain untuk anda sokong dengan seberapa segera.

*gamba cilok from Sokernet

Merapu Di Petang Jumaat

2009-12-04T18:24:00.002+08:00

Up until a few years ago my dad had to support a family which includes us 5 kids. Then when Pija got a scholarship to do medicine in Ireland, I guessed it must've eased the burden a bit. Me being the antithesis of Pija was not smart enough to warrant a scholarship and so stayed within these shores and enslaved myself to PTPTN instead. Of course it's not enough and always, always late so dad still had to come to my rescue many times over. So when I started working I vowed not to ask for financial help any more, unless when I really really have to (so far it's been 3 years and a month, go me!).

That leaves 3 kids to feed school and generally bring up for my parents. The full benefit however fell to Kimi who quickly swooped in to ask for a car (and subsequent modifications afterwards) as a ransom for going to class. And he's only 19. I on the other hand walked to class for 15 minutes per way for 4 years before my dad granted me the use of my mom's old car. Even then it's because I had to go for my internship in Sony.

Anis showed me her new Crocs (these babies don't come for cheap, especially for something so simple) a few days ago, and she even got her own handphone these days. She is only 8! Iffah's always stuck to the MP3 player, and she's got Nike kicks for getting straight A's in her UPSR. My younger siblings sure got it good when compared to the time when both me and Pija were young.

Back then both of my parents were just teachers newly starting out, and with two kids to boot. I remember the envy I feel when my cousins brought with them expensive toys when they came over to play, but there's a sense of apprehension that it was not prudent for me to ask for something like that. No, we did not go lacking in any sense mind you. I made up for it by spending my time at the kampung - fishing for ikan puyu at the stream behind grandma's house (with a rod made from bamboo, DIY-ed by my late grandad himself), flying the wau at the paddy field during the dry season, looking for rubber tree nuts to turn into a creative helicopter using nothing more than that, a rubber band and an ice cream stick, buying buah gurah (some sort of concrete marble, I guess) to play against the other boys and so on and of course divebombing into the river at the waterlock, where apparently my dad got his scar when he dived onto a submerged tree branch in his own boyhood days. No history did not repeat itself and I did not get a similar scar to show for it =P

In school, I was exposed to other boys who are much more well off. I learnt something new from them - brand names. These kids would wear Billabong or Quiksilver, and the rest of us would dream of the day when we will be able to wear those stuff. Then of course it escalated. Handphones started being a necessity, and I only had my first one in 2001 (Mitsubishi Trium, yo!). I bought my first Levi's (with PTPTN money, hehe) in 2003, and still wears it until recently when I got to fat to fit into it. Bummer.

Anyway, when I started earning my own money and practically no one can stop me from spending it all away, I went a bit crazy at first. My attire to work today is an example (Clarks shoes, Nike socks, Dockers pants, CK boxers, Nautica shirt, Cerruti watch, Boss glasses, Gap messenger bag). It's all about Brands! I'm a good contributor to the country's revenue coffers ;) But with time, it eased off. I have more clothes than I can wear (I counted 30 work shirts alone, that's enough for 6 weeks of work), enough gadgets to make a spaceship out of and not much more I can ask for. But there's one more thing I'm thinking of now. It's one of the legacy of my schooldays, watching those have-kids flaunt it while I can only dream of it. I will make it a reality real soon...

Gua nak beli jam G-Shock ah!

Exploring My Culture: Episode 1

2009-11-22T22:25:00.005+08:00

People (except for those who have known me for ages) are often surprised when I pick up a call and start blabbing in my native Kelantanese. Even friends who knew that I'm from Kelantan would still find it weird and funny when I speak the lingo, especially for the first time, in front of them. But this next fact I guess would surprise them even further. I'm a huge fan of dikir barat, yes ma'am.

I guess it started when mom started buying dikir barat cassettes and later CDs from the night markets and would play them in the car. So I had to listen to the songs, which very quickly grew on me. The rhythms are often similar, with traditional music and sometimes clapping in the background, but it was the lyrics that got me. Often they are meant as advices, telling you the dangers of drugs or the perils of badmouthing people for example. Most times, it's done in a very humorous and catchy way that the song would be stuck on you.

But I've never seen a dikir barat performance yet. Sure I've seen the one students do up in schools, and the ones shown on RTM yonks ago (AIDS merbahaya, Aedes pula mengancam manusia, remember?). But then I saw a video of the National Dikir Barat Competition, and was enthralled! Maybe about 30 men sitting in lines, the rear line on a pedestal so you can see them. Their moves were complicated, synchronised perfectly to the music and changes tempo in tune with the song. It's like nothing I've seen before. I Youtubed more videos and saw that this is the norm for a real dikir barat performance. This is no child's play, this is a complex performance.

Since for competitions it is basically a debate, and the teams would make their case. This is where the importance of having a good tukang karut comes in to play, because he needs to improvise the lyrics as the 'debate' goes on. The awak-awak would be repeating his lines (and in a more informal setting, with much gusto and improvisation on their part too) while performing their moves which only makes us of the upper body and the knees. The tukang karut would often make lighthearted jabs at his opponent, riling him up a little, and when his turn ends we'll see the reply!

I read on a forum dedicated to dikir barat connoisseurs (dikirbarat.net), the tok jogho represents the King, thus he is always seated and his song is more serious. The tukang karut is his laksamana, where he would take the King's words (in the song) and use it to lead the attack on the opponent. The awak-awak are the foot soldiers, mirroring the laksamana's words in numbers and put it to action.

But of course, don't take my word for it. There's much more to this art form, and you'll do well to explore it yourself regardless if you're Kelantanese or not. I am very glad that back in Kelantan the dikir barat scene is still very much active, with some tukang karut achieving fame and perhaps even celebrity status. Take a walk to the nearest pasar malam whenever you're in Kelantan and you'll find a stall or two selling the latest albums. You can even ask them which is the top album of the moment, and you won't be disappointed. If you're looking for the live performance, try ask around. There's one going on someplace, sometime, I'm sure of it ;)

P/S: if you see rappers improvising their lines during 'battles' and think that is impressive, then you've seen nothing yet homies.

Is It Cold Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?

2009-11-17T22:28:00.004+08:00

Get your winter coats out boys and girls, it's gonna be snowing this Friday!

Oh haven't you heard? There's gonna be a freak winter storm in KL, we might be snowed in so stock up on food and stuff quick!

I'm gonna go look for a snowboard tomorrow (does anyone know where I can find one in KL?) so that I can spend the weekend snowboarding in Bukit Belacan. Ami Yummy already made plans to go ice skating should Sg Klang & Sg Gombak froze over. Brown ice to skate on, nice.

To the hip-hop homies who wore snowcaps and bubble jackets in the hot and humid Malaysian weather, now's the time to don them in style and minus the profuse sweating, bless!

"Dear all,

For those who miss last weekend newspaper on the flood situation in Kelantan and Trengganu, the weather forecasted for around this coming November 15th is cold Siberian wind (due to melting of the ice caps – global warming) will be heading towards the equator and will result is another round of heavier rain hitting the East coast states. In this connection, the freak winter storm predicted for coming November 20th (article below) may have some truth, just stay aware and note the freaky weather in KL from now.

Rumours are surfacing about a freak winter storm that is expected to hit the Kuala Lumpur city centre on Friday, 20 November 2009 at around 7pm. Being near the equator, KL has never experienced such a cold weather phenomenon and residents used to the hot and humid weather are warned to take serious precautions.

Reliable sources think that there are reasons to believe these rumours following some unusual weather-related events that many parts of the world have experienced in recent history. Those who have never experienced extreme cold weather are advised to stick close to one another for support. I suggest reading this article on How to Survive Being Stranded in Snow and other similar ones you can find easily on the internet.

As I personally know some of these sources, I will send out further notices as we get closer to the anticipated event. Remember, mark 20 November 2009 in your diaries. In such an occurrence, there is safety in numbers so stay close to one another, especially after office hours!"

P/S: Please don't tell me you believe this crap? One of the most ridiculous e-mail forwarded to me ever, mindblowingly ludicrous! But then I wouldn't complain if it actually snowed here, would be a nice change right? =P

View From The Stands

2009-11-08T08:31:00.004+08:00

The stage was set. A sea of red greeted my arrival in Bukit Jalil yesterday. 3/4 of the stadium was jam packed with fans bedecked in red and white. The noise level was wild, drums and trumpets helped to trump up the atmosphere and synchronise chants. Banners was unfurled around the stadium and flags of various kinds were on display (one joker even brought a PAS flag with a silhouette of the Malaysia Cup on the white 'moon'). Everyone was in a party mood - anticipating an excellent game as just reward for making a lot of effort to attend the game and show their support. It's game time!

But we were to be disappointed by an abject display by the team. The defenders were disorganised at best, missing tackles and making miskicks. The midfield went missing for major parts of the game. The strikers seemed nervy and kept holding on to the ball for too long. Main culprits would be Nizad Ayub (7), Norhisham Hasan (9) and Zamri Ramli (27). Looking at their game, they should be playing in Liga Belia Jajahan Bachok instead of at the highest level like this. Us in the stands were getting very frustrated with the inept gameplay on show.

After Shahurain scored the excellent first goal (again due to bad defending on our part), word on the stands was that we will not come back from that since the team is known to play badly after getting behind. True to word, they did. We still had hope going into half time though. But when Hairuddin scored another (yes you guessed it, atrocious defending again!) from the get go of the second half, there seemed to be no way back now. Even with Nizad and Norhisham taken out replaced by Che Hisamuddin (11) and Khalid Jamlus (25), the performance did not improve by much. By then it became apparent who is the worst player on the pitch. From where I'm sitting, major calls for Zamri to be taken out (and probably buang daerah to Rompin) was getting louder. I guess Negri players have also identified him as the weak spot as most of their attacks started coming through their left flank. It was like Negri having an extra player with his bad passes, positioning and tackles. It's practically a game of 10 against 12.

When Zamri brought down a Negri player for the penalty, the Red Warriors fell silent. Zaquan Adha converted coolly, and at 0-3 down I decided to leave this debacle for my long train ride home. Apparently quite a lot of other people felt the same way. I think I caught the first train out of Bukit Jalil but it was packed full to the brim with Kelantan supporters. There's still a crowd on the platform, mind you. I'll tell you later about the train ride itself ;)

Some supporters threw firecrackers and bottles and even burnt stuff last night, but somehow I understood. You have to be there in the stands to understand the frustration. It didn't make it right, and I should know better since I had a firecracker explode at my calf leaving an angry red patch of irritated and slightly singed skin, but understandable. Many of these folks came all the way from Kelantan by all means possible. Some took leave to ensure they had time to queue up to get the tickets while some paid crazy money to buy tickets from touts when all else fails. When more than 60,000 supporters made all kinds of effort off the pitch, shouldn't we be expecting the team to be making the effort on the pitch too?

Yes we lost to the better team. Negri absolutely deserved the win, and we deserved the thumping we got. I reserve my praise only for Indra Putra (23) Daudsu Jamaluddin (15) and Halim Napi (1) who played well enough to preserve whatever pride we have left. Well boys, let's start looking forward to next year. Bukit Jalil sekali lagi boh tahung depé? Bereh!

Gomo!

2009-11-07T10:44:00.001+08:00

Kalau support MU la Arsenal la bagai nak rak, local team masuk final tak pergi tengok serupa tak payah.

Guano gu, jupo di Bukit Jalil malé nih?

Misunderstood

2009-11-04T16:06:00.001+08:00

Don't you just hate it when people misunderstood what you're saying and the result made you look bad?

Case in point, I dropped by a branch of a bank earlier today to make my car and house loan repayments. Filled up the forms, queued for like 5 minutes, went to the counter, gave the teller the forms and fished out the cash from my wallet.

I gave him a lump sum for both repayments, and there's a balance of RM35.36. But because of the rounding up the balance due was RM35.35.

So the teller did his stuff and then started taking out money for my balance. He gave me RM35 in notes and started counting the cents from a box of change. I noticed there's still 1 sen coins in the box, so I casually asked him:

"Ada lagi 1 sen?"

Perhaps it was my tone, or he was caught unaware, he replied:

"Memang kurang 1 sen sebab rounding up".

Arghhhh, and with that he effectively reduced me to a cheap ignorant idiot who even asked about the 1 sen deficit! I started to correct him, but then the damage's done. Note to self, go to a different branch next time.

Abah

2009-10-21T21:24:00.006+08:00

Was surprised to see on Facebook a picture I've not seen before, yet so familiar. It's a picture of my late paternal grandfather Allahyarham Haji Abdullah Haji Salleh (known affectionately to us grandkids as Abah) when he was still a teacher. My auntie posted it up from some stranger's short blog entry about him.

"Cikgu Lah adalah guru yang mengajar SMAS Pulai Chondong ditahun 70an. Ia tinggal di Kampung Galang. Ketika berulang alik kesekolah ia menaiki keretanya kalau tidak silap Datsun. Beliau sudah lama kembali kerahmatullah. Dahulu guru dapat mengajar murid dengan berkesan kerana dapat sedikit sebanyak dapat menggunakan body contact iaitu seperti menggunakan kekerasan tangan dengan niat mengajar. Jadi kita murid adalah merasa takut dan ambil berat untuk belajar." - dsnbuluh.blogspot.com

I've heard countless stories about him from my dad, my mom (whom Abah doted on like his own daughter), my aunties and uncles. Of course since I spent a lot of my childhood days with Abah and Ma, I have my own memories of him.

I remember him asking me to buy his favourite pack of cigarettes - Peter Stuyvesant - and I always get to keep the change. I remember him taking afternoon siestas on his favourite kerusi malas (deck chair with multicoloured plastic strings wound around the metal frame, you know what I mean) shirtless and waking with reddish stripes all over his back.

I remember motorcycle rides with him, me in the basket in front and him riding leisurely. Nobody wore helmets back then. I remember burning my knee on his hot motorcycle exhaust when I stumbled while getting off. I still have the scar to show for it.

I remember his ungainly Subaru (or was it Daihatsu?) minivan, and his red Fiat car. Apparently my dad said he loves small cars.

Che Na and myself on the hood of the Fiat, on the way to Bukit Ajil. Pic taken by Che Ni.

I remember trips with him and Ma and young Che Na and Makdik to Penang and Langkawi. I even remember asking him what does the signboard 'ikut kiri kecuali memotong' means.

I remember him taking the flight to KL with us, my first time ever. I remember him sending us off when we boarded the flight headed for London back in 1993. I remember excitedly reading letters from home telling us in East Ham that Abah and the rest are planning for a visit. He never came.

A few months later he passed away while we were a million miles way. While I was a million miles away.

To that unknown blogger, thank you so much for reminding me about this man I loved. Abah, once in a while Pih still thinks about you. Al-Fatihah.

Phone Trivia

2009-10-19T14:17:00.001+08:00

The other day over lunch, I was talking to some friends about handphones (mobile phones, cellphones, don't be anal) and the fads that was considered the in thing back then. Behold I present, Top 10 Handphone Facts Of Days Yonder!

1. Remember when every other person owned a Nokia 3210 or 3310? The biggest draw was the Snake game, which can keep you occupied for hours on end. Getting your name on the High Score of your friend's phones was the ultimate reward.

2. Circa the same period, these phones made it possible for users to compose their own ringtone. No more annoying factory standard tones, hello annoying self-composed ringtones! Some people would buy the small booklets with the codes to the latest songs, some had the musical gift to be able to dictate the codes by ear. Bless!

3. Somehow it became a (very daft) trend to hang the phones by a lanyard around the neck. For those who can afford the prohibitively expensive small phones, it didn't look too bad. But then you'll see idiots with a 3310 trying to do the same and end up with a stiff neck at the end of the day.

4. Phones then was very much customizable physically. You can change the plastic casing for about RM10, and also change the screen backlight from boring yellow to white blue or red. Then some bright light discovered that you can put a picture on the LCD which only shows up when the screen is off. When the screen lights up, the picture disappears *gasp*.

5. There was a time when transparent plastic casing was a sought after item for it's cool factor. How to make it much cooler? By using a special battery with multicoloured LEDs that lights up whenever the phone's active i.e. incoming call. Groovy!

6. Remember Ericsson T10, Philips Twist, Nokia Banana et al? Those used to be cool...

7. Now how about Sagem, Alcatel, Siemens, Mitsubishi? If you have no idea that they used to produce handphones, then you must be quite young. I wonder if any of them are still producing handphones?

8. Simcards used to cost an arm and an ear. I bought my Maxis simcard for RM198 at a stall in Carrefour Subang Jaya (it was even pricier before that, RM200++, does anyone remember the price?). Now they're practically giving it away for free. Bummer.

9. It used to cost 60 freaking cents per minute to make calls from prepaid numbers, and for most folks they had to make a RM50/RM60 topup last for a month. SMS was the way to go brother.

10. When desperate, or whenever you know the other person is using postpaid, or whenever you feel cheap, just do the popular thing - misscall! It's the Malaysian equivalent to the 'hey, call me back' message at no cost at all. People who misscalled me often will just get one from me in return. It's my way of saying 'can't, my credit's running low too'.

Got any more?

Jaded

2009-10-14T10:18:00.002+08:00

Boss: So how's our penetration rate year to date?
Me: We're currently at 13.9%, while plan for the year is 8%. We have exceeded the target by 5.9%
Boss: I think the plan was too low.
Me: No, I don't think so. As at Decemeber 08 we were only at 5.4%.
Boss:. Hrmm, ok.

That was the closest I came to slugging my own boss. I was given that target of 8% because the penetration rate has been rather dormant for years. Now that I've exceeded the target by a big margin, how dare he say that's because the plan was too low. I've worked my ass off for this shit, saying 'good job' was the least you can do.

I need to leave.

Must Makan List #1

2009-09-07T15:53:00.001+08:00

I know it's not a good thing to do, but when it's not yet 4pm and the tummy is playing an angry tune so loud people around me turned their heads to look for the source, my mind invariably think about food. Oh the torture...

No secret that I love a good eat. It's a trait that runs deep in the family. We would go anywhere for a decent bite. Therefore I present to you, Must Makan List!

1. Pasar Ramadhan are also synonymous with Roti John, but there's only one definitive Roti John for me (and a whole lot of other people) - Roti John Unan Putrajaya. Memories of those wonderful Roti Johns are like a tide crashing at my resolve, should I break you'll find me amongst the faithfuls standing in line for up to an hour just to get their paws on the Roti Johns.

2. The Nan Corner in Ampang Jaya was famous for the roti nan, but I go there for something else. What often goes together with 7-11 outlets? Ramly Burger stalls! This one, we christened Burger Sampah is my favourite. They burgers are uber-messy, overflowing with sauce and mayo and falls apart and the slightest of touch. And that is why I love it so much.

3. Taman Kosas is not ordinarily known for it's gastronomic delights but Nasi Lemak Kukus Hot Station is a different story. It is cheap, tasty and not crowded (yet) like other famous nasi lemak joints. The place does a bad job of advertising itself with the lack of signage, but that's only good news for me since the crowd are mostly locals or regulars I guess.

4. If you ever found yourself in downtown KL, in the vicinity of Masjid India, then head on to Insaf for a meal that's gonna leave you struggling to stay awake afterwards. Nasi Beryani and ayam madu, coupled with the blended Mango drink - bliss! Prob is, when the bill comes, you'll know why the joint is called Insaf =P

5. Ohh if you like popiahs, head over to Desa Pandan's Pasar Ramadhan for some good ones. It's RM1 each, but it's a lot bigger than your normal popiahs. The line gets a bit long too, so do come early!

Let's leave it at 5 first, I'll continue with more whenever the fancy strikes me. Selamat berbuka today, folks ;)

Cab Conversations

2009-09-01T11:06:00.000+08:00

Hi folks, have not been blogging for a while now. A bit busy with the real life. Yes, I do have a life seemingly, surprise surprise.

Last week I was on a business trip to JB, a day trip some more. Took the first flight out (had to leave home by 5.30am to make that flight, sheesh), and came back later in the afternoon.

Thing with me is, I always like to strike up a conversation with the cabbie. Seldom I find a cabbie whose not talkative anyway, most of them just need a little prodding to start going machine-gun mode. A travel guide to KL I read once said the cabbies here are the center of information, ask them anything. Whether it's the right information, is anyone's guess.

The early morning cab ride to the airport was with a young-ish Indian guy, I chatted with him a bit about his family and his work. He gave a useful tip too: from KLIA in the afternoons, better take the cab directly home rather than taking the ERL and trying to get a cab from KL Sentral. He said a lot of cabbies won't be around since they don't wanna be stuck in traffic jams during berbuka time. Since he's not gonna gain anything by offering me that advice, I decided to heed that advice later.

From JB airport to my destination, a Malay pakcik was the cabbie (Proton Saga Limo beb!). After making small talk, the pakcik then proceeded to tell me all about the Iskandar plan, Nusajaya, Syed Mokhtar, which roads are jammed, Pasar Selayang and so on. It's like a verbal Wikipedia!

After my meeting, I rushed back to the airport to catch the flight back to KL. The Chinese fella driving was very talkative, I only asked him the Malaysian equivalent of Bonjour "dah makan?", and off he goes. He was asking me lots of questions about myself and my job, and offered a lot of advices too. It went something like this:

"Boss, saya tanya you punya gaji boleh bagitau ka?"
"Err, RMXXXX (some random number)"
"Saya cakap ah, itu sangat sikit tau. You kerja polis pon boleh dapat lagi banyak. Ini you kerja sampai malam, travel sana sini, tapi gaji sikit. You tamau masuk government ka?"
"Why ah, ada best ka?"
"Ooooo, itu paling bagus punya! Gaji bagus, kerja senang sikit, takda pening-pening punya tau. You ada join UMNO ka?"
"Haha, belum lagi la."
"You kena join cepat-cepat, sana senang mau dapat peluang kerja. Saya tahu ini memang fact. Sama juga kalau saya join MCA, sama juga. Tapi saya sekolah rendah saja, you sekolah tinggi sure senang. You rasa berapa banyak harimau makan harimau?"
"Hah? Errr, tak ada la saya rasa"
"Betul, ini sebab.."

And it went on and on. He never ran out of topics it seemed. Much more fun that listening to the radio, hands down!

From KLIA back to Ampang, it was an old Indian uncle driving the cab. This guy really made the most of his job, he knew the latest price of oil per barrel ("semalam ada orang Petronas naik cab saya, dia bagitau"), the economic V-shaped recovery ("last week ada Korean businessman cerita sama saya"), Vietnam's economic potential ("saya punya regular customer selalu travel pergi Vietnam every week") and so on. He impressed me! I could actually talk shop with this uncle, and he's taking it all in his stride.

Forget the radio or your iPod next time you're in a cab and strike up a conversation with the cabbie. Chances are you'll be in for an interesting if not fruitful conversation ;)

Mr. Tan

2009-08-13T01:52:00.002+08:00

I have always disliked maths, though it will always be a mystery why the hell did I do engineering in uni and now working in a bank. My maths grade were okay during school though I hated it so much, except for during Form 4.

You know what they say, it being a honeymoon year and all. I really took it in spirit and frankly didn't bother much about my grades. Tasted my first F9 for Add Maths in Form 4, and it continues a few more times. I have no problem with Mod Maths but with Add Maths, I was completely lost back then. Mr. Tan was our Add Maths teacher then, a very patient and passionate veteran teacher who tirelessly tried to get us to understand what he's teaching us. I feel sorry for him looking back now, it's like dumping knowledge into a black hole =P

Anyway, when Form 4 comes to an end and Form 5 comes around, i realised the folly of my fooling around. I started studying Add Maths, asking for help from the bright sparks in class like Lada (goddamn he's a genius, he can sleep all throughout the period and still be able to solve the problems given!). The first exam of the year came around and funnily enough I was able to answer the questions posed. I felt a flicker of hope there!

So the day came when Mr. Tan told us the papers have all been checked and marked. He's gonna call us to collect our papers starting with the highest going down to the lowest. Groans were heard all around, we're not expecting this public humiliation!

"Hazrul Nizam, sangat bagus. 100%"

"Azahari, bagus juga, 100%"

Then I heard my name. MY NAME?!!

"FH, 99% bagus"

In a daze I walked to the front of class and picked up my papers beaming with utmost pride. Then Mr. Tan came up with the ultimate killjoy.

"You buat sendiri ke?"

Adoi.

P/S: Sumpah aku buat sendiri langsung tak tiru. People around me were all F9 Club members, aku nak tiru sape weh??? I don't blame him though, from failing continuously to getting 99% must've been very suspicious to him, bless his old heart.

Customer Service

2009-08-11T16:38:00.001+08:00

Ever since I started working in the Bank, I've learnt the importance of good customer service. This is why I would willingly pay more to buy from a good sales person than save the few bucks at a shop where the sales person couldn't care less.

It also made me aware of the amazingly bad customer service I've had to endure. Choice selects:

1. Proton.
Hands down the worse ever. Their Proton i-Care helpline is a joke. They promised me the car in 2 weeks at most, and I only got it after 3 months. And that was after dozens of calls made to the Manager who only talked to me the first time, and then keep evading my calls by being 'away' every time I called his number. Found his cell phone number and called him and voila he answered! Guess what, he's in a very important meeting and will call back. He never did.

I got the car, and it has a suite of problems, the worse of which is a faulty ECM which resulted in the engine shutting down suddenly and can't be restarted until the car cools down. I called the Proton 24-hours Helpline to tow my the first time it happened, smack in the middle of a very busy traffic light. Guess what, the guy who was on the line kept asking me for my car insurance policy number. WTF? I blew my top off, and told him to get a tow truck quickly because my battery is low and I can't stand being honked at by asshole drivers who think I deliberately parked my car in the middle of the intersection, despite my hazard light blinking. And no, the tow truck never came. They sent a mechanic who touched this and that and said it's wiring problem. The car engine then has cooled down enough to be restarted.

Went to a Proton Edar service rep, and they said it's been fixed and blamed me for going up inclines without downshifting to a lower gear. They said it's caused by 'spark plug masuk minyak' whatever the hell that means. Within a day it broke down again, in the middle of MRR2 as I was sending it to Proton Edar Service Center for second opinion. I was maybe 2KM away, and I called them for assistance. They told me to wait for 30mins and see if I can start the car and then call them again. Luckily I found out the night before my insurance offers free towing service, no questions asked.

So finally problem was solved, but not after going through all this shit. Dato' Syed Zainal, do something la beb. Macam haram customer service kau nih.

2. TMnet/Streamyx.
If I forgot to pay my bills, they would be so diligent in cutting off my net connection. But when their service was like shit a while back, they didn't even offer an explanation until a few weeks later. What, no courtesy to even refund us for the subpar performance? Imagine getting a time out message even to open Google.

My calls to them about it were always answered 'we're upgrading bla bla bla', or 'we're already looking into it bla bla bla'. When I asked when will this be resolved, they won't give me a timeline.

Even though it's okay now, but the experience left a bitter taste. They should have handled it better by sending personal letters to the customers or something before people gets mad about it. Jeremy Kung, any ideas? Don't tell me you only employ geeks with no social skills over there.

3. LHDN/IRB.
I never had problems with IRB before, until recently. I submitted my tax forms which shows that they owe me a sum of money for tax overpaid. After a few months of waiting (way past their promised deadline to issue cheques), I received a letter from them. I was excited since I was anticipating the cheque.

What I got was a letter saying I have to pay an extra RM750 due to previously untaxed portion or something. I was told to settle end by month end. So I called their customer service hotline.
I waited for a long time just to get to speak to someone. At every menu choice, the instruction is very lengthy and complete with some IRB message or something. When I finally managed to talk to someone, I was glad she was a nice girl. So I asked her what's all this about?

She said "encik tak perlu risau, kita akan offset payment tu dengan encik punye PCB. Jadi encik tak perlu membuat apa-apa bayaran". Huh, so why did you guys send me the statement along with the instruction to pay up and everything then? When I asked her what am I supposed to do, she said "encik tak perlu buat apa-apa, encik boleh abaikan saja statement tu". Arghhh!

Don't waste paper and my time lah!!! You could've just let me know in a short paragraph that you have debited certain amount from the overpaid tax balance because of this and that. Easy right, Dato' Hasmah?

Some others are excellent, like Domino's, Maxis and Astro, but the rest still have a long way to go.

Reflection

2009-08-04T11:58:00.001+08:00

I remember when I was walking down Avenue de New York towards Flamme de la Liberte, taking in the cool Autumn morning breeze while watching the Parisian life go by around me.
I remember thinking how lucky I was to be given than chance, to see far flung places I have only otherwise heard about. That was 11 months ago, I think it's about time I count my blessings again.

I am grateful that I still have my family, not a perfect one but I would not trade it for anything else. We are loud, boisterous and can be embarassing when we are all together. We seldom do things together now since we're far away most times, but we try to whenever we can. I'm happiest when I'm around them, though I don't show it often enough.

I am grateful that I have a wonderful extended family who loves to joke, laugh, cook, eat, travel, laugh (oh, I mentioned that already?) and in times of trouble, never fails to be there for each other. These are the things that helped shaped my life, and helped me see the lighter side of life, and how the worse of things can be endured with some hope and some faith. And of course, some laughs to ease the pain =)

I am grateful to have loyal friends who don't judge me for me failings, and have always been a phone call away whenever I need a time out. 13 years now knowing them, not a moment felt wasted. They're the best shrinks around, but they won't shy away from telling you to be a man and move on with your life if it warrants it.

I am grateful that I have met other cool people in uni and at work, people who shares my mentality and bandwidth. People who helped me get through the bad patches in uni and at work by just bitching along with me.

I am grateful for having a good stable job which have provided me with the means to do so many things I have otherwise only dreamt about. Sure it still sucks at times, but at times like these I'm just happy to still have this job.

I am grateful to be able to enjoy myself using my own money after I started working. I travelled a lot, I tried new things, I learnt new skills. I also wasted my money on a lot of things I don't need, but like little boys I did it just because I can. Sure, my savings account is pitiful but I can honestly say I've lived my life the way I want.

I am grateful that at a relatively young age I managed to own my own place, in a prime location to boot! The fact that the value has more than doubled in less than two years doesn't hurt either =P Most of my savings went into it, and it's damn hard work maintaining a house all by yourself. My monthly utility bills plus the mortgage takes away 1/3 of my salary, but at the end of a long day at work, I'll be sitting down with a nice drink on the couch and I'll be thinking that it's all worth it ;)

I am grateful that I managed to even buy my own car after that, after almost 4 years of driving my mom's old car ('90 Proton Knight y'all!). Though people been questioning my decision to buy a two-door, though people asked me why didn't I get a Honda instead of another Proton, I didn't flinch. First car is an emotional purchase, since that's the only car that made a connection with me (besides a Ferrari, but that's a different story), I went for it. Carpe diem.

Most of all, I'm grateful to still be alive and healthy. I'm grateful to be granted so many good things, and am given the strength to endure the bad things. Alhamdulillah.

"There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness." - Carl Jung

Still Searching

2009-08-02T17:10:00.005+08:00

I thought Innuendo was the worst live act I've seen, but Search just took the crown last night. Allow me to gripe from the start of the whole disaster called Di Awan Biru concert in Bukit Kiara on Saturday.

Firstly, the ticketing agent must be out of their minds. Tickets bought only entitled you to a reference number. Tickets are to be collected at the venue itself. No surprise when hundreds of people were shoving and pushing their way to collect the tickets from the 5 or so available redemption counters. The counters were placed right next to each other with no breathing space, and there was no one to control the crowd. Even worse, it's placed right next to the entrance point - which is another point of contention.

I don't know why, but seemingly the guys at the entrance chose to open only two narrow channels for people to pass. It might've worked swell earlier but it's almost 9pm and everyone was trying to get it, 2 channels just won't do it. After so many people telling them to open up more channels, they opened another one. God, can't someone with brains be in charge?

Now that we're through, and made our way to the field, we thought things will go smoothly from now on. Wrong. Search was late by an hour, which I was already expecting so I don't really see that as a problem. Then when they started the first song, Amy's mic weren't on! Great way to steal the thunder, well done sound engineer! The fireworks and flameburst on stage was cool, but we came to see Search and not the pyrotechnics.

Second song, Balada Pemuzik Jalanan was cut short by guess what, a power outage on the stage. Everything went quiet and dark suddenly and we were treated to a blast of spotlight while they rectified the error. The crowd was getting very annoyed now. Took them a while to get things done too. Given that the sound system was very bad in the first place, this is not helping matters. Amy's mic were on too slow on some songs, the bass' amp was very very bad, and the keyboard was way too loud. Somebody shoot the sound engineer, please.

Also I must say, Search did not meet the crowd's expectations. Come on, crowd favourites like Rozana, Kejora and Meniti Titian Usang were not played! Even the hugely popular Gadisku was only part of a medley. WTF??? Isabella was marred by Kid's erratic amp (sounds very much like my jamming sessions back in the days at Zai Am Studio, Kuala Kangsar honestly). Then they resorted to some solo jamming sessions by Yazid and Din which no one wanted to hear thank you very much.

Fantasia Bulan Madu? By the time they played that, a sizeable crowd has already left. I left halfway through Fantasia Bulan Madu too. The murmurs from the leaving crowd all have the same flavour - disappointment.

Should somehow someone connected with Search came upon this, know that most os us had to brave hours of traffic jam just to get to the venue, and had to tussle to get tickets at the redemption counter, then more pushing and shoving just to get in. No one complained very much in expectation of a stellar performance by Search, but we all left bitterly dissapointed.

I say, give it up. Retire. Let Search be something of a memory rather than serve this kind of half-assed effort to the fans. Honestly Amy, langsung tak berbaloi wa pegi wa cakap sama lu, ok?

Gone

2009-07-26T03:10:00.003+08:00

Yasmin Ahmad, 1958-2009. Gone too soon.

Good night, Orked.

Al-Fatihah.

Without A Cause

2009-07-21T13:32:00.002+08:00

Last week there was a No Shopping Day being promoted by FOMCA I think. I went out and bought 2 CK boxers, 1 Dockers pants, a pair of linen shorts and a shirt on that day.

Damn right I'm a rebel.

(Lupe Letak Title)

2009-07-13T12:28:00.001+08:00

If you've read my old entries you'll find that I travel quite a bit. I don't do travel-in-style because I prefer backpacking more. It's a lot cheaper, makes more sense (why should I pay top money for a nice 4-star hotel room when the only time I'll be in it is to sleep at night?) and it's a lot cheaper. Enough reasons for me ;)

Anyway, I have received some messages and e-mails asking me for tips on backpacking (watch out Ian Wright!), so here's some of the stuff I have advised people before, based on my own experience:

1. Make sure you have enough money. My rule of thumb is budget for USD100 per day, that is inclusive of room, food, transport etc. If you are backpacking around SEA, chances are you won't exceed that amount (unless you shop).

2. Keep your valuables with you at all times. This includes your passport, wallet, money, phone, camera and laptop if you are foolish enough to bring one. Might sound like something everyone knows, but it's a fact a lot of people take for granted.

3. Do not expect the locals to speak your language/english. Unless if you are travelling to a country whose mother tongue is your own/english that is. I have a very basic grasp of French which really helped while I was in Paris, but we struggled a bit in Italy and Spain due to the language barrier. A phrasebook (or even a printed page of basic phrases) will help a lot.

4. In countries that does not use the common alphabet (Roman is it?), you might want to ask someone at the hotel or airport to write down your hotel's address and embassy's address so that you can show it to anyone in case of trouble, or just to let the cab drivers know where exactly you want to go. Try pronouncing Thai/Khmer/Vietnamese words, and you'll fail most of the time, I'll bet on that.

5. Be open to changes in your itinerary. Be flexible, rigidness will only hinder the unexpected element of travelling. Try something new (like those deep fried bugs, which were surprisingly yummy!), do something different (some 'cakes' in Amsterdam anyone?). It makes the experience more fun and memorable!

6. Be prepared for the hangover. This only happens if it was an excellent trip. Places where you know you'll be back again sometime wil tug at your mind when you're back at work and trying to remember how it felt back in Venice/London/Bangkok/etc.

These are just the very basics, but I feel the main thing about backpacking is just to go and explore the place yourself. Good luck!

Sun Of A Beach

2009-07-04T22:41:00.003+08:00

Where I spent the last few days. Envy me.

Saigon Days

2009-06-29T17:42:00.002+08:00

Got back yesterday to a messy house no thanks to my brother. Dropped the heavy Deuter backpack on the bedroom floor and almost immediately fell asleep.

Only woke up this morning with a groggy head and a massive hunger pang. After sitting it out for a while, that's when the withdrawal starts to kick in. Yes, the post-vacation withdrawal syndrome for those not familiar with it. Symptoms are diorientation, and a heavy feeling inside, though symptoms may vary.

Saigon is a sprawling city made up of numerous narrow buildings packing the small streets. We stayed at one of those buildings along Bui Vien which is made up into a backpackers' hotel. Surprisingly the rooms are very nice and clean with daily maid service plus breakfast, and all for about USD3 per person per night.

Me, Loblo, JJ, Mulder and Abu all have never been to Vietnam before, so we don't really know what to expect. Now I can safely say it is more modern than Phnom Penh, with better sanitation and infrastructure, but not yet near KL or Bangkok's level. The people are friendly enough for the most part, the cabs are cheap if you know which companies to take. The standard rate from Ben Thanh market to our hotel was about 15,000VND, we got ripped off once by a meter-cab which quoted 50,000VND instead. A tip, use Vinasun or Vina Taxi only.

The traffic was crazy. Gazillions of motorbikes, and crossing the roads was like a suicide bid. We did what the locals do - just cross and hope for the best! Yeap, those bike will avoid you smoothly with only a few honks for the trouble. Otherwise just take a cab. Food was very cheap and good, no problem finding halal or at least seafood/vegetarian meals.

Those are the basics, which somehow combined to have this effect on us all, making it so hard to leave it all behind to come back to KL. Would I go again, yes. Definitely.

For pictures, go to http://flickr.com/thebanker.

Broga

2009-06-22T16:39:00.005+08:00

Last Saturday I went up Bukit Broga for the second time. The first time around I managed to get some nice shots, of which my fave is this one:

Arinus Maximus, star of Gladiator part 328

So me, Loblo and Jinjang Joe (JJ) hiked up the hill again in anticipation of more shots as such.

Truth is, I have no stamina to speak of. To quote The Journo "I have the lung capacity of a hummingbird" would be quite accurate.Tapi ku gagahi demi gambar-gambar indah yang menanti untuk diambil. Ayuh!

Alas, I was bitterly disappointed. Some bloody idiot set most of the hill on fire I guess, leaving scorched earth and dried up vegetation for most of the hilltop. Though there were some nice shots to be had, but certainly not enough to sate my appetite.

JJ mengenang nasib sebagai 'cutest Asian guy' (purpotedly).

Oh well, I guess that calls for Bukit Broga hike part 3 then!

Message From Mom

2009-06-17T15:05:00.002+08:00

My mom went to Indonesia last week, and upon returning she dedicated this song to me. She said it's very popular over there at the moment.

Apa salahku
Apa salah ibuku
Hidupku dirundung pilu
Tak ada yang mau dan menginginkan aku
Tuk jadi pengobat pilu
Tuk jadi penawar rindu
Tuk jadi kekasih hatiku

Timur Ke Barat
Selatan ke utara
Tak juga aku berjumpa
Dari musim durian hingga musim rambutan
Tak kunjung aku dapatkan
Tak jua aku temukan
Oh tuhan inikah cobaan

Ibu-ibu, bapak-bapak
Siapa yang punya anak
Bilang aku
Aku yang tengah malu
Sama teman-temanku
karena cuma diriku
yang tak laku-laku

Pengumuman-Pengumuman
Siapa yang mau bantu
Tolong aku kasiani aku
Tolong carikan diriku kekasih hatiku
Siapa yang mau
(Wali Band - Cari Jodoh)

Ouch.

The Family

2009-06-15T23:46:00.004+08:00

Work is no fun, I guess everyone whose been reading my posts knows that now. However, I just found a way to make it a bit more interesting. Let's marry something more cool and thrilling with the inane reality of work. What could be better than to play pretend? How about turning the department into a Mafia organisation for starters.

We'll start at the Family's organisation. For the sake of my job safety let's give the players Mafia names. Let's see, the Family's don Vito Gazza is on his way out, imprisoned yet still calling the shots behind bars. Unwilling to let go, they say. The upcoming don, Larry Ianucci is trying to wrestle the control of the family bit by bit.

Then there's the 4 caporegimes. There's the oldtimer Eddie 'Pops' Santorelli, rose up slowly though the ranks. Quiet, unassuming, on his way out. Then there's Anthony 'Legs' Silvestri, loudmouth but mostly hot air. Massimo 'Bugs' Mancuso, mumbles but a ran a tight ship over his crew. Michael 'Big Mike' Cuneo the big guy, ran the biggest moneymaking outfit of them all. There was a fifth caporegime, Gianni Gravano who were recently made capo of a related Family.

Then of course there's us, the wiseguys. The guys who did the actual work for the Family. Often underappreciated, bullied and stepped on. But it's all in a day's work.

Then working for us we have the enforcers, the button men. Hard to work with most times, yet have to be nice to them if we ever want to get anything done. Too bad we can't give some of them concrete socks to go fishing in.

So there you have it, the Family. Any future work related rants would be in this romanticised format, fit for a TV series a la The Sopranos.

Don't judge me, we all need some kind of theraphy.

Say What?

2009-06-11T14:06:00.000+08:00

I absolutely enjoy reading the Letters page in the daily papers.

One which I read last week in The Malay Mail was from a dissatisfied man who complained about IKEA. He complained that he wasn't eligible for the free parking that IKEA offers to customers who bought their goods. He also admitted that he bought nothing from the store. I laud the patient explanation by IKEA.

Another one today in The Star was from another man (I assume it's a man) who attacked a news report for calling humans 'aliens'. He said aliens are only for creatures not from Earth. He goes on to explain even mixed parentage children are still humans and not aliens (you don't say!). Oh he said he got his definition of 'aliens' from Wikipedia apparently. Solid. Perhaps he's not heard of a dictionary before...

Fun, isn't it?

Rockstar

2009-06-04T09:30:00.002+08:00

9 years ago, a group of boys grouped together and decided to resurrect the Annual Concert which has not been held for a few years. They have been jamming together for a few years now, so why not create bands and have a concert?

So the wheels were in motion. We never had specific bands during the weekly jamming sessions at Zai Am, so it was time to create it. The bands were pretty good for those days, but being jokers that we were none of us chose cool names for the bands. My band was the Butterfingers-worshipper, we called ourselves Soda Pop =D Another band played Nirvana religiously and hey called themselves Cock &Tail. Rage Against The Coke Machine played what else if not Rage Against The Machine. The Wisma Mat Sapaks played punk rock. There's prolly a few other bands but these 4 were formed from the core Saturday jamming crowd. See, it wasn't about the bands or the names, we did it just because we wanted to perform (like a rockstar, of course).

Flyers were designed in the spirit of the underground scene of the day, photocopied and distributed to death. I don't remember who designed the flyer, but I designed the backstage pass for bandmembers (I did the flyers for our Form 3 end of year concert - Vociferation Eternity). I still have one of those backstage passes you know.

So everything was in place, and the day arrived. Behold the first Annual Concert after 4 years, Malam Pria Mambo!

The night flew by in a blink of an eye. The bands played well, and I of course sang terribly (yes, I was the vocalist for Soda Pop unfortunately). The crowd was small, some parties pressured the juniors into staying away. The konon-pious crowd stayed away and pressured the inbetweeners into staying away too. Did we mind? No. We had a grand time yessiree.

And for that 15 minutes, I felt like a rockstar wa cakap sama lu...

Back Here

2009-06-03T11:21:00.001+08:00

It was a tiring weekend. After dinner on Friday I went out again to hang out with Han and Azlan over shisha. Left after a few hours to go fill up the car tank and returned home to sleep. Or so I thought.

After a few hours of tossing and turning, I gave up. At 2am I was in the kitchen preparing myself some breakfast. By 3am I'm already in the car ready to embark on the long drive home. Just as I started the engines, it started to pour. It didn't just rain, it was like someone dropped a huge bucket of water on my area.

Anyway, since I'll be driving out of town I figure it won't be that bad. Wrong.
It actually rained all the way to Kota Bharu. Visibility was very bad, and I don't dare push the limits of my Kruizers (good when dry, hopeless when wet). Took me an extra 90 minutes to reach my destination.

When I was somewhere near Machang town, the traffic was trudging along at a snail's pace. Then when I checked my rearview mirror, there's this Evo-wannabe Waja tailgating me. I was tired from driving and not sleeping the night before and the rain does not make things any easier for me. For this guy to be tailgating me so closely when there's obviously no space for me to move aside and impossible for me to go beyond 70km/h, I think he was toying with me.

The thing with cars like mine, people always thought it belongs to some nutjob who needed not much prodded to start driving crazy. I drive bloody auto, I'm not interested in racing you. So I did the only thing I can do in those circumstances. I braked hard.

Yeah stupid move I know, but I think he must've peed his pants a little because after that he kept a safe distance away from me before he saw half an opportunity and overtook me and was gone in...wait, he's stuck there. The traffic is heavy bro, lek laaaa...

Then it was all about Makdik's engagement and glorious good food to be had. But somehow it didn't turn out so well.

I was on MC yesterday because I got food poisoning. Had to go visit the john so many times my ass felt like it's on fire.

Now I'm at work, dehydrated and tired and in need of more rest. But since my inbox is burstng at it's seams, I can't take any more leave unfortunately, boo!

Mak Tulen U Ols!

2009-05-27T14:46:00.002+08:00

I was walking towards the LRT after work yesterday, minding my own business, when suddenly I felt a sharp pain on my chest.

Yes, ON my chest. Some freaking insect somehow found it's way inside my shirt and stung my left nipple.

Go ahead, laugh now.

There

2009-05-24T21:13:00.002+08:00

I am giddy, I want to get away. I need to get away.

Not that I'm unhappy, but can't say that my life is peachy neither. I know of one remedy, offers quick relief and like most drugs the effect is temporary. Yes, travelling is my ponstan for the mundane existence that is reality. Gosh I'm tempted to just buy a ticket to anywhere random and spend a few days away from all that I know. There's a certain charm in the uncertainty.

I need a break from work, from people at work, from anything related to work.

Patience, one month to go...

Peedee

2009-05-18T00:17:00.006+08:00

Eddie beat me to it, but here goes nonetheless:

Band of Brothers: all 10 of us in the pic for once, camera balanced on the ground, timer set and click! Loved the way it turned out.

Airborne: or Kanak-kanak Ribena. Only 8 guys in the picture. 9 if you count Fadli swimming in the background, you can see his head bobbing away at the back. Me, behind the lens as always ;)

So many pictures, some not even fit for general viewing (you guys know what I mean, haha). After so much dillydallying, we finally made this PD trip a reality. For that, I'm glad =)

Lifesaver

2009-05-12T18:05:00.002+08:00

Dude,

I'm one of the "silent copied". Do appreciate my workload doesn't allow me to get directly involved in this but by my reckoning, I think you have it spot on.

Keep up the excellent work, and apologies if we (as in my Dept) have unnecessarily slowed down your work in any inadvertent way.

If we had more guys like you in this bank, we'd cream the competition.

Have a great workday
T

That e-mail (copied word by word, only censoring out his name) made my day. It has been a very crappy day, and that's the only shining light to talk about. Thanks man, though I don't even know you and I doubt that you know me, that really helps to ease the pain.

I should really stop blogging about work, but lately work is taking precedence over my life. Do I need a new job, or a new life?

G To The Rescue!

2009-05-06T19:09:00.002+08:00

He's a tough man to love. Everytime he passes by any of us, we'll get a tight knot in our stomaches. Whenever he calls and summons us to his place, our minds will be racing trying to guess what's on his mind. No matter how perfect you thought your business paper was, or how holistic your presentation material was, he'll find some simple questions to shoot you and you'll be left thinking "why didn't I think of that?".

I've been working for him close to 3 years now, and many times I've been made to feel inadequate. It's a common feeling shared by even Senior Managers. He's very demanding, thrives on compliance and control and cost-effectiveness. He is a machine when it comes to work. The smartest and scariest banker I've ever known. He's my Director.

But today I can safely say with all my heart, I love that guy.

Remember the stuff about some idiots I mention in the last post, well we had another meeting with the same idiots who this time decided to call in their Directors as well. So my Director thought enough is enough so he joined us for the meeting. Upon entering the meeting room, I saw quickly enough I'm the most junior person in the room and fully expected to be made the black sheep yet again. 30 minutes later, he has slapped them up down left right for being inconsistent, not giving clear information, incoherent between themselves etc. Yes, that includes those 2 other Directors too. He also defended what I had been doing as correct as per their request. He then turned the tables on them and asked them to provide us with the relevant documentation by tomorrow and we'll respond by next Monday, and that's that. The look on those idiots' face was priceless!

Just for that, all these years of being tortured by him felt worth it. I heart you Mr G!

Would You Care For Some Whine, Sir?

2009-05-05T12:27:00.000+08:00

It's been over a month since I last saw daylight upon leaving the office. Return home mostly in a daze, driving automatically and before I know it I'm plonked down in front of the telly and dozed off there. I miss my bed.

It's the head-cracking, expletive-ridden, migraine-inducing, blood-boiling kind of stress at work. Not made easier by idiots who by some stroke of luck made it to Senior Manager level, yet still spoke like a true idiot. Let's not go there, I'll be out of a job before I can shut my gob on that case.

Anyway, I always turn to retail theraphy to help grease the grind a little. You know, the drug to keep me coming to work and behave like a good natured boy should. So I bought meself a little something something from Cerruti. Alas, it's not enough! So I bought another something something from freaking Mont Blanc. Who said happiness can't be bought?

Well, they're freaking right. I've burnt a huge hole in my (spanking new) wallet, whoever said that would help in alleviating stress???

Hey, whining about it actually helped a little! And it's free too, bugger.

Life Cubed

2009-04-23T13:23:00.002+08:00

I hate cubicles. I hate cubicles. I hate cubicles.

I want an office so that at times like this I can lock the door and lie down on the fugly mauve carpet and convulse in beautiful solitude.

Then of course, I'd still have to get up and resume my unending work afterwards.

Rubber Story

2009-04-09T09:22:00.002+08:00

Politics both thrill and bore me at the same time. Let's talk about something else, before the new cabinet is announced and I might have more things to rant which ultimately no one gives a shit about. OMG, I could be a damn politician!

I realized I've been telling a lot of stories recently. Well, here's another one =P

There's this chinese fella back in uni who we are chummy with. Let's call him Eric. He was housemates with some of my buds, so that's how I got to know him.

Anyway, the story goes that one night Eric was going to get lucky with the girlfriend. Since they are smart, he goes out to a 7-Eleven to get some rubbers.

So he walks in and browsed the racks for what he needed. Turned out, he can't find it. So he walked to the counter and casually asked the sales assistant "Durex ada ka?". The kid looked about for a second and told him they probably have more in the store room. So Eric waited while the kid went in back to look for his Durex.

After a few minutes the kid came back out and told him:

"Bang, Durex takde la. Eveready je ada"

Epilogue: Though I find the kid's naivety cute, I bet Eric thought otherwise, heh.

Folly

2009-04-03T15:15:00.003+08:00

Tun Jeanne, are you freaking kidding me?

I thought it's the only title where one has to serve the nation at the highest level. As far as I know, only former PMs and former CJs are the only people almost assured (if not assured) of the title. So now it seems being a wife of a former PM is another surefire way. At least Tun Siti Hasmah was a patron for badminton for a long time, what have you done Tun Jeanne?

Some Kind Of Fool

2009-04-01T17:27:00.001+08:00

When I was younger, I never really had female friends. I was in an all-boys school ever since coming back from the UK and then went on to another all-boys boarding school for the next five years, what do you expect?

But when I was 14, a friendship developed with this girl I shall refer to as D. How? Long story. We started sending letters to and fro, and an awkward beginning soon bloomed into a very cherished friendship. She was the only girl I would call during the weekends and school holidays. So much so that even her mom knows about me and would sometimes chat with me before letting me speak to her. Safe to say my eyes were on the credit indicator on those public phones while the mom was talking!

But anyway, it was a cherished friendship for she was articulate, funny, and knowledgeable. Didn't hurt that she was cute as a button too =P

Met her for the first time when I took the bus to see her in her hometown. It's not that far though, only a 30mins bus ride away. Then met her a few times more after that.
Yes, I had a crush on her by then.

This friendship lasted for several years until one fateful day (chewah!). I hope I'm wrong since it's corny as heck but I called her on one Valentine's Day just to chat as usual and she rejected the call. Thinking nothing of it, I resumed watching TV. Then an SMS came.
"Sorry I can't talk to you anymore, I'm married".

She went incommunicado from there on and I made no more effort to contact her. Truth be said, I guess I was heartbroken. Not just because I had a crush, but because I felt I deserved better.

That was the story of my lost penpal, crush, bestie.

Until now.

She found me on FB a few weeks back. She messaged me and asked if I still remember her. She's got a common name, so it took a while for me to connect the dots. Then it hit me. It was D. So I asked her to be sure, is she who I think she is. She said yes.

She told me that throughout all these years she has been looking for news of me. Only now did she found me. She apologized.

To me, it's all water under the bridge. It hurt then, but the wound has scabbed and peeled. She's now a mother to a little boy, and is working not far from where I am. Funny that.

Anyway D, if you are reading this you know who you are. Thanks for making the effort to find me and apologize. I really appreciate that. Say hi to that little boy of yours yeah?

T,M,D, (ha, I bet you don't remember these now!)
Me.

Human Hovercraft

2009-03-24T11:15:00.001+08:00

I hate going shopping for new boxers at Isetan KLCC, but invariably I would always end up there. I hate it because every single time I went to the undies section of the men's department and walked over to the place where they have my preferred brand, there will be a female promoter standing nearby watching me. How uncomfortable is that?

I'm fickle with my boxers, I only buy those that I think looks nice (besides the obvious cutting, price and brand). Which means I would spend some time looking through the selection. All the while this girl would hover very closely and keep asking what colour I'm looking for, what size, what brand etc.

If I said it once that 'it's alright, I can handle it', don't ask the same damn question after 5 minutes!

Come on, put yourself in my shoes. How would you like it if when you're trying to buy a bra and a male promoter is asking you questions like what's your cup size, and eyeing your choices too. Not so fun, isn't it?

I know you're trying to help, or perhaps your boss have made it clear that no customer shall be left unattended or something, but hovering like that when a man is trying to buy his undies is not the way to go. On several occassions I left without buying because it got too annoying.

If somehow anyone who works in Isetan is reading this, please let those girls know. Especially since I have to go on another boxers shopping trip soon *sweats*

Sunday Rebellion

2009-03-19T12:14:00.001+08:00

It was a Sunday back in 1996, just after the morning prep class.We would mostly just laze around waiting for lunch, not that it's any good but because there's nothing else to do.

Suddenly a friend came up to my dorm and declared that he saw "pakcik dining hall masak lauk pakai selipar!"

Well, we all know the pakcik had a very relaxed attitude towards hygiene (he usually smokes while cooking, often shirtless too), but this must be a new low! Even if there wasn't enough cutleries to use to stir the lauk, surely there are better things to use than the trusty green selipar jepun.

So we trooped down and headed for the dining hall kitchen. We were ready to raise hell, we had enough of this lackadaisical attitude. In no time, we were face to face with the pakcik.

And he was stirring the lauk with a normal laddle, while the offending selipar jepun is worn on his feet as normal. The surprised look on his face was priceless.

"Aku tak cakap pon dia pakai selipar tuh buat kacau lauk, hahaha!"

Nasib baik aku tak ingat siapa kau...

Luarbiasa Baik

2009-03-17T13:57:00.001+08:00

If a friend who haven't spoken to you in ages suddenly call you up for coffee, be wary. It's one of three - insurance, MLM or to borrow some money. Okay there's a fourth which is genuine friendly intentions, but that almost never happens right?

On to this MLM shit, do you know anyone who actually made it big with any of the gazillion MLM companies out there? I was almost fooled by a friend back in uni (perhaps not his intention, but I don't know), he put up a full blown presentation for friends on the 'unique' strategy of CNI. Reportedly he's earning 4 figures monthly even then. Now he's still just a peon like most of us, waiting for the next paycheck.

This other girl was also into CNI wholeheartedly to the point that she blackmailed me into going to a CNI meet with her. Of course, once there I was so tickled by the absurdness of it I actually burst out laughing and got kicked out. Safe to say she never invited me back. Oh and her, she's still working with a relative of hers and stayed with another relative for a few years before finally renting a place for herself. I wonder where did all those 'millions' went to?

Another guy was big into Omega Trend or something, and he really went into it headfirst. He even quit his studies and pursued it full time since he said he'll earn more money doing that than being an engineer anyway. A few years later, we're all in our final year and he had just rejoined and restarted his engineering degree. He's driving a new Wira though, but he said his mom bought it for him.

Another guy was an acquantaince of my ex, whom I went to see just to see what's his 'unique' proposition is. His story is so full of holes that if you add curry it'll be a tasty roti jala. Case in point, he said a kid who was his downline took it up part time for 3-months and managed to buy a brand new beemer. My ass. Which bank would give out such a loan, even if he paid cash it'll bring up a lot of red flags (student, suddenly having enough cash to plonk down for a new beemer, you do the math). Took him to task on a few points but left the rest for other people to have fun with.

Then I see all these people getting conned by e-mail scams (Nigerian money anyone?), SMS scams, scratch-and-win scams etc. When will people learn there's no such thing as easy money? With hard work, of course you can make the big bucks with MLM no doubt about it. But if you are that hardworking and persuasive, you might as well do Unit Trust or Insurance and have money and credibility innit? I always use this rule of thumb: if it sounds to good to be true, it prolly is.

Expert Analysis

2009-03-06T11:30:00.001+08:00

"If they find something of interest in Asia that's at the right price, they may consider buying," - Mamoun Tazi, an analyst at MF Global Securities Ltd in London.

He was referring to a major global bank's takeover strategy. I think he's an idiot.

His 'analysis' is very broad and generalistic. Isn't it kinda obvious that everyone will only buy something that interest them if it's at the right price? I'm interested in a Ferrari but the price sure don't suit me (read: can't afford by miles!) so I'm not buying it. A Peugeot 206 however is at the right price, but it doesn't interest me.

Even worse, he used the words 'may consider buying'. That's another no-brainer, dimwit. I don't think I need to explain what's wrong with this right?

If his boss has any brains, he should give Mr. Tazi there a tight slap for making an ass out of the firm with that kind of statement.

Ahh, senseless rant. Happy Friday folks!

Fly

2009-03-04T23:02:00.003+08:00

I admit, I was never a very good student in school. Probably I was back in primary school, but then that could be due to the fact that I have two teachers as parents so non-submission was not an option. But then I got my big break - boarding school!

If there's one school rule I broke over and over again unrepentantly, it was staying within the gates. It started way back in Form 1, believe it or not. I would walk nonchalantly through Cikgu Azmi aka Wawu's gates and go down to Lembah for the roadside cendol (before it moved to the current location, it used to be located right beside the main roundabout and we would sit on benches perched on top of drains).

In Form 2, we would go out via the fence behind the mosque since there's a stump nearby that can be used to step over the fence. Either that or through the drain at the far end of New Hostel (before they blocked it with steel bars).

In Form 3 we had to ask for 'permission' from the Form 5 to 'fly', and I slowed down a bit since every time you ask for permission you'll be tasked to buy burgers or something in return.

Then came Form 4 - honeymoon year. Not to stoke old fires but we were practically left to our own devices since the Form 5 were unable to reign us in. I started exploring new territories. Ipoh became next port of call, thanks to Red & Yellow Omnibus operating out of KK bus station. We would either go to town legally on Saturdays and get changed in the public toilets and rush up the buses, or go out at night and spend the night at mosques in Ipoh. I know, what was I thinking? We went to Ipoh mostly to catch new movies at Ipoh Parade, or play arcade games at Yik Fong. That year, the best way out was through the gap in the fence leading to parking area for lorries. Most of us can fit through then, not sure now though =P

In Form 5, of course we can do whatever we want now. I took it another step further, fly to KL! First time I did it because Tuah asked me to accompany him because he wanted to go to Sg Wang to buy a new deck (skateboard, not cards). He's even paying for my bus ticket! So I went, arrived at Pudu and went to Sg Wang for a few hours and took the night train back to Kuala Kangsar. That year, going out was made easier when we befriended the guy who worked the kitchens. Thus Ekspres Surabaya was born - the dining hall van =D The fella would drive and we would lie flat on our backs until we got past the guardhouse, then he would drop us anywhere in town. But of course, you have to book your 'seats' early since it can fit only 4-5 guys in one trip and there's only one trip each night. Coming back in was usually via climbing over the connecting gate to the mosque and then making a dash for the safety of the dorms.

My parents would've been disappointed or even perhaps downright angry if they found out then, but since now I turned out not so bad after all I guess I can reveal some stuff now =P I am glad I did those things though, since life would be a lot less exciting if I hadn't. So yeah, perhaps I never was a teacher's favourite or a top student, but I don't regret a thing. Carpe diem fellas, carpe diem ;)

A/S/L Love

2009-02-27T10:21:00.001+08:00

My school was one of the first in the country to have an internet connection, thanks to rich old boys, and that was where I got my first taste of the internet. That was back in 1996, when internet was just a fledgling technology in Malaysia. I learned about Yahoo and Hotmail and mIRC there, then of course the holy trinity of the internet. The time when connecting to the internet alone takes 10 minutes and the teet-krek-krek-toot was a welcomed sound, and getting disconnected was a common occurance.

I used Yahoo up until 2005 or so when I converted to Google, I'm still using the same Hotmail account that I registered back then and who can forget mIRC? All the cool cats and copycats were spending their time on mIRC back then. I used a few different nicks like feuersturm and dressler, and was a regular on #warisan (for SBPians kan?) school-centric channels like #sunset, #overfloor, #sylvatica, and some others I can't even recall now. When I'm bored I would change my nick to something inviting like liana^love and join common channels like #mamak or #metropolitan and enjoy the sudden burst of private messages asking "hi, a/s/l?". Boy we sure had fun back then ;)

Oh to this particular guy, I'm sorry I lead you on. We made plans to meet up, he said he's in Damansara area so I said let's meet in Uptown (back when Uptown was THE place to hang out), eventhough I'm in Kuala Kangsar. I told him I'll be wearing a skirt with a blue top. Tsk tsk tsk liana^love, kesian dia...

Then cybercafes started sprouting up everywhere, even in sleepy Kuala Kangsar. Some people would go to play computer games like CM3, Command & Conquer, Warcraft, Diablo etc, while I go to code. I learnt HTML coding from Yam during one of those boring computer classes when the teacher would teach us how to use Microsoft Word *yawn*. Visits to cybercafes on weekends would see me coding and later updating my first 'blog', that was back in 1998 or so. It was hosted on Angelfire, but I can't remember the exact URL now, pity.

Dad hooked us up to the net in 2000 I think, and we got a quota of just 40 hours to be split amongst the 3 of us siblings. So me and Pija would sometimes eat into Kimi's portion =P Nights spent online at home was usually spent downloading songs through Napster or iMesh (one song would take hours) and chatting through mIRC. There wasn't much else to do back then anyway.

These days I'm just a consumer, technology like Blogger just kills the need for me to manually code HTML like I used to. I can't hope to reach Eddie's level of web knowledge these days, or Yam's, or my brother's for that matter. My interest has moved on to other things these days but just like first loves, you'll always remember the good times you had together

Death On Deadline Day

2009-02-24T18:17:00.003+08:00

The Director have this annoying habit of calling people to give work and will mete out the tightest deadline possible.

Me, my boss and another colleague went to see him to tell him that a business case we're building does not sound viable because of it's low margin. To cut a long story short, we got blasted at and he ended it by expecting me to see him on Thursday morning with a comprehensive presentation on how are we going to overcome the limitations and barriers that we've told him earlier.

The worst part is I'm on leave tomorrow. Or supposed to be.

Since the person in charge of stats is on course today, I can only get the necessary stuff from her tomorrow. So I have to come to work tomorrow regardless of my approved leave. And hey, I might even still be at work tomorrow night.

Oh God, I'm sure I'm gonna be shot to pieces come Thursday morning. It's like preparing for my own execution, bleargh.

All in a day's work huh?