Eighteen

A belated birthday wish to my brother Kimi. He turned 18 yesterday (I did wish him personally alright, I didn't forget!).

Kimi,
Look forward and erase those blots. Times are hard, but it's only easy for the lazy. You'll only be 18 once, enjoy it but keep a level head. Don't do things you will regret a few years down the line, attributing past mistakes to youthfulness is just a way to avert blame. Be the man I know you can be, stay strong and keep rocking!

- Your Broke Banker Brother
(formerly 18 not too long ago.)

Bukit Tabur!

Sometime last week Zairus had this idea that we should go and scale Bukit Tabur and take pictures. Sure I've read about the place and seen (wonderful) pics of it on the net, but don't really have any idea of what to expect.

So come Saturday morning, Zairus and I drove to Taman Melawati to the starting point, which is just before the Klang Gate Dam entrance. We started up at 5.30am (trying to catch the sunrise), and 15 minutes later we arrived at a plateau. We thought 'is this it?', and lepak there waiting for the sunrise. Just after 6.00am we heard voices and a group of climbers went past us and were soon lost in the darkness. Then only we realized we're nowhere near the peak yet.

So we continued on, it was easy going all the way to the peak. The sun rose when we were still some pace off the peak, so had to take the pictures there and then. The view at the top was excellent, the pictures in Flickr did not lie indeed. By around 9.30am, we're ready to go down.

Earnestly we asked some guys who has peaked several times before, how do we go down. They told us that since we're first timers, we should go down the orchard way as it's very scenic. It's just a bit hilly, so we were told.

Maybe he thought we're fit climbers.

I tell you now, it's not as easy as it sounds. Maybe if you're fitter it is a piece of cake but for the two of us, challenging is a subtle way of putting it. There's probably 9 summits to scale after the scenic peak, and climbing up and down rock faces while staring at the drop below you're feet wasn't exactly what I was expecting.

But we made it through largely unscathed, just a few scratches and bruises here and there. Arrived at the car around 12.00pm, went for a superb ais kacang at the foodcourt nearby the MRR2 interchange, and then drove home for a refreshing shower and well deserved nap!

Managed to take a couple hundreds of pictures, still lying in my PC though. Will upload them sometime soon, I hope. Caught the wonderful scenery that I never thought KL can still provide, had an exerting exercise and the relief after it ended was priceless!

Some tips for those planning to go:
1. Bring lotsa water, two 500ml bottles are not enough. Lesson learnt.
2. Bring a Snickers or something like that, good for that extra energy boost when you thought your legs can't go any further.
3. Bring a deep heating rub as well, cramps can set in if you're not used to the exertion (or because you did not warm up like us idiots). Trust me, climbing a near vertical rock face while both ur thighs were cramping is not something I want to relive even again.
4. A glove would be helpful when scaling the rocks, especially if you love your hands.
5. Wear proper attire. I wore my Nike ACG, and it's a wonderful sandal to wear on hikes like this. I wore my Timberland cargo pants as well, which I must say is an excellent pair of pants.
Even after all those contact with rough surfaces, it is not even frayed a bit.
6. Wear a cap, it helps to keep the sun and sweat out of your eyes, especially while again scaling the rock faces. Lesson learnt.
7. Leave everything you don't need. We thought it's going to be an easy stroll so we brought our phones, wallet, keys etc. I say leave them all behind.. Just bring your car keys and IC in a pouch or bag.
8. Have a good breakfast beforehand, but not too much. A woman was retching when she got to the small area me and Zairus was taking pictures. Not a sight I'm expecting.
9. Have a good night's sleep beforehand. I slept minimally the night before, a point which I regretted. You'll need the rest, trust me.
10. Finally, have fun!

The climb up and down should take only about 4 hours or so. We took longer since we stopped quite a lot to take pictures, to rest and to wait for our turns at some places along the route. If you're planning on going, good luck and do tell me how did your climb go!

*posted on behalf of author who's still disconnected

Here We Go

I have not been away, just disconnected.

It's already 2008, and perhaps it's too late to do a post mortem of 2007. However, since we're all our own Napoleon on our repective blogs, I chose to do so nonetheless. Let's see, where shall we start?

Positives: found someone wonderful, moving into my own house, travelled to East Malaysia twice for music fests, bonded closer with old friends.

Negatives: contracted dengue, lost some old friends.

That's all I can remember really. A year is a terribly long time to recall. So in short, 2007 has been a great year in that I've had more ups and downs. Resolutions? I don't make one on New Year's Day, I make em on my birthday instead. Enough about new year, it's getting old.

I spoke of losing old friends somewhere up there. It was sad really. Some friends, it was me who always did the initiative to keep in touch etc. I can say I've lost 4 friends:

#1 had some personal issues and said that she's erasing me from her life.

#2 slinked away into the dark due to inferiority complex. All his friends got good jobs, while he's still unemployed almost 2 years after graduation. Actually it's his own doing, never making an effort to actually find a decent job.

#3 & #4 were the type who never made the effort to keep in touch with me since I left uni. When they did, it was only to borrow a sizeable sum of money. It saddens me than I am reduced from being a friend to just a pile of money to them. No I did not give a cent to either one, and I decided to not be friends with both of them anymore, bloodsucking bastards.

On New Year's Day, I had a housewarming for my close friends. I invited only those I consider close friends and I think they can make it. If you're not invited, then it's either one of the two reasons. 40 turned up, it was great seeing all these faces in one place for me. I hoped everyone had fun, had enough to eat (though I'm sure not enough places to sit since some took the liberty of sitting on my TV cabinet even!). I'll upload the pics when I have the chance to. So much to say, so much has happened since I last blogged. Just hope that TM will connect the damn line soon enough so I can blog whenever I like.

For whatever it's still worth, Happy New Year!

*posted on behalf of author who's currently zoned out from information technology

Moving In

I was on leave from Friday to Monday because I was moving into my new house. It's a condo actually, but a house nonetheless. Anyway, it was a physically and mentally tiring process. Waking up at 7am and straight at work until around 1am-2am. I was stressed out, I was tired beyond words. To everyone who tried calling me or sent me SMSes during those 4 days, I'm very sorry if I did not reply or answer your calls for I was very much engaged the whole time.

Anyway, I learnt several things. Firstly, don't do it alone. I was lucky that my mom and my brother was around to help out, and frankly even that is not enough. Get a crew of maybe 4 guys to help with the heavy stuff and maybe 2 ladies to help with the details. I'm serious. Next, it will cost you a bomb. My bank balance is almost zero, my card is maxed out. I've done a rough tally, and you'll need at least RM15k to make a house livable. Sure you can spend less if you want it to be sparse. I want to get it done in one go, so do anticipate that amount. The more the better, of course.

But at the end of the day, when I lay down on my bed, I know I can still smile through the daze of it all. I'm happy with how the house has turned out to be, and I'm happiest with my room. What's even sweeter is that I can lay awake and watch the lights of KL flicker, and I can stay awake to watch the skies change colour throughout the night. I sleep very well now, no doubt helped by the fatigue and the wonderful mattress. I woke up this morning greeted by a lovely shade of the sky. Life is great, non?

Twelve

Nizam pointed out over lunch that today marked the twelfth year we've known each other. Yes sir, 12 years ago today, 108 boys from all walks of life enrolled at a certain old school at a certain sleepy town in Perak. Over the course of the next few days the number would swell to include the Sabah & Sarawak boys (6 of them), Shukor (who registered late due to a freak accident) and Feylong (measles was it?). Then a few more boys would join us to make it altogether 124.

After 5 years, only 104 of the original 124 made it all the way to the last day. 20 lost their way somewhere in between.

To all my brothers of Remnants aka MCKK9600, it's been an honour knowing you guys.

By the way, the lunch I mentioned earlier is a rather recent routine that Nizam, Mulder and me started. Every Wednesday we will try to have lunch together (and annoy the heck out of people who recognize the maroon striped tie). Today, Nageb has joined our folds. Time to get Dod to start walking a bit farther and join us too. Ahh, lunches with the boys - just like those days again!

"we came hoping to get out, we left crying to stay"

Multiplication

Yes folks, this is a multiple post dumped into one.

Numero un.
I can't access blogspot.com anymore, the people in IT blocked it now *groan*. Hence I can't respond to your comments directly as before. So lemme try and answer 'em here, especially the ones regarding the last post.

Memang aku dah dimanjakan oleh aircon dalam kete, lrt and office. Tak kira lagi kalau pegi malls plak lepas keje. It's not so much the heat that was getting to me actually, it's the staleness of air, poning kopalo den.

Numero deux.
"nobody said it was easy,
no one ever said it's gonna be this hard,
oh take me back to the start..."

I'm under unbelievable load of stress now. Work, of course. But I would've managed since my commercialization plans are going quite well. However, some people suka ati mak bapak changed deadlines from one week to the same day. It was the Plan for 2008, and I had to set the targets for the whole damn department. In case you're wondering, no it's not supposed to be my job. It's a Senior Manager's task, my direct boss. He's on leave and has tasked me to do it. I can do it, no problem, but I had to refer to his boss aka my big boss The Director. The Director just came back from his leave, so he's busy clearing things on his plate. I've been trying to get 5 minutes with him since the dawn of man (overstatement, exaggeration, humour me lah!). So, just in case she decided to tell the MD that I'm not reverting back to her with The Plan in time, I sent out whatever that I have with a note stating The Director is busy (with something for the MD nonetheless) and will give her the whole nine yards when I feel like it The Director is less busy to talk to me, the humble little fry.

Also there are other things.

Numero trois.
I went to my house on Saturday to send some of my things over since my brother is around to help out. After we got everything into the spare room (doubling as store room for now), we laid down on the floor cooling ourselves under the fan. That's when it struck me for the first time.

My house now feels like a home.

No, I have not moved in yet as the damn contractors have not finished repairing the defects I pointed out. They are now 8 days past their SLA, and I am incensed. But I've been dropping by ever so often to check out on the work progress, to install lights/fans/blinds, to go for a swim etc. It always felt like just an empty unit. But that day, something changed. I did not want to leave, I might have found the home I've been looking for so long.

I Am Hot

...and uncomfortable.

I came in this morning expecting the usual breeze of cool air coming out from the lobby as I entered the building. Woops, for the first time there was none. I went up to my floor, sat down at my cubicle and started to feel the warmth.

Anyway, I can't sit down and ponder about it as I had a meeting at 9am and was rushing to gather my things together for it. Then I walked up two flight of stairs (because I try to do at least some exercise, yeah laugh it off) to the meeting room, all the while trying to tie my tie in the growing warmth. I waited inside the meeting room for 10 minutes, and not a soul showed up. So I decided not to waste any more time and skipped down the stairs to check on the usual suspects. Lo and behold they were all at their places doing their work. I asked Liani, and she said the Big Boss sent a notice yesterday to all the bosses saying the meeting is cancelled. Since my boss is away on leave, I was the only one out of the loop. Great.

Now I'm sweating. It's a warm Monday morning, no air-conditioning, had just gone up and down two flights of stairs and my tie is starting to feel like a noose. Promptly I took the tie off in one bold tug (boys, if you tie it correctly you can do it too!) and rolled my sleeves up. Backroom mode, people.

Started my work, and within an hour the PC went out thrice. Turned out there's a power supply problem. So the lifts were partly disabled, the aircon down completely and there's the problem with sudden blackouts which caused lotsa people losing their work.

So now it's after lunch, and the office feels much much warmer. It feels like being in koleq's library all over again (sure we had aircon then but it's only effective if you happen to sit right in front of it). There must've been a conspiracy to make this Monday as unwork-friendly as possible. I wish I'm lounging in the pool right now...