2005

The “last” finance working day of 2005. As of tomorrow till New Year, no cheque will be issue. My department today becomes the battleground of invoices. We still have less than 8 hours to kill. Not good, with the department’s politic, I lost one of my best staff to the worst staff that the department have to offer. I definitely will not complain if the transfer will be made next year, however, it was done two weeks ago, during this time of year. Clever ar my colleague, exchanging my staff with hers, damn politician! No time to train her maa. On my new staff table, pile of invoices still hanging there, giving me the creeps when I walked pass her table, seeing all the urgent chop on top of almost all of the invoices. What done is done. My main concern right now is less accrual! I don’t want the same thing happened in 2004 happen again. If we couldn’t pay this year, at least I wanted it to be entered into the system.

Accompany Bob to meet one of his clients yesterday evening. Showed them a new unique style of wedding album. I didn’t give a damn at first, till Bob showed the album to me. Wow! It was beautiful. The pictures were printed, and it was sort like a story, without words written, the pictures themselves have already spoken. The pictures were self-arranged, and it was none that I’ve ever seen before. Hmm… gonna grab one for me, when the time comes J

Tomorrow, Tag’s wedding, Seremban. The plan was to get a ride on Pejol’s Waja. I’m not sure what’s the plan after that. Home? PD? Or Umbai? Whatever it will be, I’m looking forward to it. It’s a 3 days holiday, and I’m going to enjoy in it.

LATE!!!

Woke up late yesterday. I picked up my phone, it’s 9.05. Dialed up my boss, stated that I’ve overslept, she laughed and asked me whether I’m coming or not. With the amount of work left on my table, I couldn’t consider no as an answer. I came into the office at 10, morale already low with hangover still sit on the edge of my eye-lid.

My staffs have already left for training. According to the schedule, mine was in the evening. The training was about fund management, more towards managing budget, specifically for transferring this year budget to the next. It’s a two-hour training, but my staffs were back at their seat an hour earlier. What a relief, I thought, well, when I went, I was totally wrong. A bunch of bosses were there.

The problem with a meeting/training with a bunch of bosses were they tend to show off, though actually there’s nothing to show, but they did, so the training time were dragged 20 minutes late. I’ve fallen asleep at first, but my instinct does it works well. At the corner of my sleeping eyes, I saw one of the bosses asking questions’ with eyes keep looking back at me. My self-training in Tai-Chi works really well too, haha. She started referring at me when the questions’ end, a question that I have answered a million times before. I diverted it to others, haha.

That’s the obstacle of being an accountant I guess. End-users tend to think that all money-related problem linked to us. Whatever ways we have explained to them, they will never have understood. Treasury, budget and finance department were different entities. That’s true enough for my company though.

Some of my colleagues were asking whether I’m going to take leaves or not. There’s 4 left of mine. Hmmm…I think I rather not, going to keep it for next year. Speaking of leaves, I went to the hunter’s site yesterday. One particular hunt catches my eyes. There were not that many events for next year, of course, as we were still in 2005. This hunt would be held in February, from Sunway to the Lost World of Tambun. I would really like to have a breakaway anyhow, however, the entry price was really way up. Should I wait for other events to be registered?

The other reasons were it’s not organized by Time-Out Solution. I have no experience what so ever in hunts other than Time-Out Solution. In that case, if I were to enter, I definitely invite the Am-Bank team to join, some of them were the top hunters in Malaysia. I may create a new team, Bob express his interest to join, so he’s in. The problem right now is a navigator. Now, where would I find one?

An ideal-team should consist of four. A driver, navigator and 2 solvers. A driver should be fast, bonus would be if he knew the terrain well, any shortcuts would be an advantage. A navigator should be someone cool, doesn’t crack under pressure and confident. A bonus would be someone that knows how to calm down his team when the competition is heating up. The solvers, as the name implies, solved the puzzle. He doesn’t have to be knowledgeable, but he should have phone, two would be better, with both batteries fully charged. Contacts at home or in other rival teams will be an absolute advantage.

Things to be brought during the hunt that a team should have consist of dictionary, light foods and drinks and for the smokers, 2 packs of cigarettes. Please bring a BIG dictionary, left the small one at home. Yeah, I know the contents are the same. It’s not about the content, it’s a mind warfare. Imagine your rivals face when they saw you carried a big-ass dictionary in your hand, haha. I still remembered my face when I saw Balan’s, haha. I brought the smallest one I have at that time, I brought it out of the car, Balan’s team stopped behind us, and one of them brought out one of the biggest dictionary that I’ve ever seen. Queitly, I put back mine in the car, haha. By the way, Balan’s team was the defending champion for God knows how much in my company.

The food, of course, to be consumed during the ride, and it’s a long ride, I tell you. My only experience finishing early was when it was held in Penang (the last time I went). We manage to have a decent lunch (3 PM) at Pelita. However, I’m still hungry for the taste of victory. Maybe, I pray for a better result next time I went. Those things have got to be over now, cheers!

Block or Blog?

Last few days, Farah SMS me, asking for some tips to replace the word visitor. She’s encountered writer’s block, and asked me for any suggestion. It was for an event she said, and the word visitor just doesn’t seem fit. I read her SMS, and look at the clock, it was already 15 minutes past 1. The problem with my brain was after 12, there’ll be no entry for critical thinking, only comics and jokes allowed, haha. I did give her a few suggestions, but they didn’t satisfy me either. We both knew there’s this some “kick-butt” word that could replace visitor, but what? She sticks with visitor after that. Two days later, she SMS me with the word that we were looking for almost an hour.

It’s weird, isn’t it? The way our brain works. My English teacher always reminded me, lecturing me about the importance of notes, points etc to scribe before the start of any writing.

“Izrul, hang nie nanti kena writer’s block baru hang tau. Write your point first on a piece of paper, lepas tu baru start.”

“Tau, sure.”

Well, I never did. Although I did said I understand what she said, I didn’t, at that time at least, never encountered a writer’s block before. And when I did, man, I never felt so dumb. I’ve read about Mages in Dragonlance, about Wizard in Dungeon & Dragons where their weaknesses lays whenever they recited spells, the words will vanish from their mind. Yeah, now I know where the creators of the series got their ideas.

The weekends were not so happening. After I left Bob’s house Saturday morning, my mom’s asked me to send her to work, which I did, then pick her up when her shift was over, then my Grandfather holds kenduri at his house, and I was the driver, going here and forth, fetching here and there, till Sunday evening.

When I’m free on both of those days, I continued my reading/studies on the history of World War 2. I’ve stopped on the pages where the Russians started to reclaim Stalingrad. The tanks, particularly the Tigers and T-34s still captivated my imagination. There are still a lot of pages to cover, but if there’s no more new games for me to play, been planning to finish it by the end of this month.

There are still about ten books that I still haven’t started reading yet, though I’ve bought some of them dated about 2 years ago, haha. Book fetish maybe? No more, I planned to finish all of them before I bought a new one. Yeah, there are some books that have catches my eyes, but a promise a promise, and I intend to keep it. Currently there’s Grisham’s, King’s, Archer’s and a couple of books about medieval battles and financial planning. Yeah, I’m into financial now, haha, weird huh?

Talking about games, I still haven’t played Black & White 2 just yet and waiting for FEAR, Call of Duty 2 and Hitman 3. I’m on Space Rangers 2 right now. They said that games are for kids. Well, I dare them to play Space Rangers, then tell me whether it’s for kids or not. There’s math, IQ problem and mgmt in there. Become an Elus for the Faayans for example. I played that problem twice, passed once and when I tried again, I just gave up after several attempts. Thank God for autosave! I even rejected several Physique tests. With this depth, how long would it takes before your submarine hits the bottom, blink blink, I just shutdown the PC.

I Wonder

All alone the broadening skies
Under the every night I will lie
Scratching claw and grip the rails
Every day my living hell
Oh God you know I've tried
I know how hard I tried
and oh I tried......
Hey I'd like to daze away to a
Place like no one has known
In a state of mind I could call mine
That only I could own
Where I could hum a tune anytime
I choose, and then there is no such thing as time
Where I can feel no pain just calm and sane
What a place for one to find
Now you see I'm watching everything
I do and they're watching everything I say
Why wont they leave me be?
Why am I even here? I wonder
You leave me wondering
Won't you stop watching me
I said they're watching me, watching me, watching me
Now in my corner I got the ceiling in my eyes
Arms holding up my knees
And rocking back and forth my life
I didn't mean to feel this way
When I walked into the door, Lord
Then they ripped away my memories
And I cant remember who I was before.
And I only wanted to be 16 and free.
......and I wonder.

Exes

Turning on my MP3, thinking of writing when My Friends, a song by Red Hot Chili Pepper captured my thoughts for a while. A question popped –up in my head. Why? Why can’t some people changed? It’s been lingering in my head for a while, didn’t give it much thought though, till now. I mean, I don’t really care of what people think or act, it’s their choice, even I don’t want to be control, and because of that, I don’t want to control anybody’s act or think. I would just give a layout to whoever that cares, and it’s up to them.

Currently, ironically, Blind Melon’s song, I Wonder started itself up, one of my favourite song. Yeah, I’m wondering right now. My ex called a few days ago. That’s the last call I received from her, it’s almost a week now. With that, I think I can assuredly confirm myself that she’s gone for good. She was upset about my current life right now, happier than she was. She found out about my girlfriend, and as usual, started to throw me accuses and such without finding out the real story.

You know, I don’t feel mad anymore. Just a feeling of pity for her, pray that she would eventually be happy one day, living in her own created perfect world. It’s sad to be parted, I never wished our relationship to end this way, I never did. After 4 years, all the things promised have blown out to bits. It took me a year (the 4th) to finally realize that the feeling I felt for her was pity, nothing more, nothing less. Why can’t she just changed? I have changed a lot because of her, but it’s not enough, nothing ever enough for her.

The sad thing was, after I broke-up with her, I started to go out with other women. Promising myself to search for an unknown stranger, I started to hang out with places I’ve never dreamed of going, in search of solitude, peace and quite. Hoping for a re-bound, it was great at first, and then started to notice, yet again, that they tried to use me. What’s wrong with these people? Can’t they appreciate a guy who listened? Who really cares? Of course, I’m not one that easily falls in love with anyone though I still remained friends with some of them.

Of course, I started to find other types of people as well, it’s a wonder for me, because if you really do search for different types of people, there they are, just right in front of you. Some of them do freak me out a bit. I thought I was crazy, but they were even crazier! I’m cautioned enough not to let any of them knew where my house was, only Allah knew what they would have done if they knew, psychotic stalker, and to think that some of them I just met once, no promise has been given, of course, Allah, I wasn’t even flirting!

After the rebound “session” has finished, I started to lay low. Hanging out with my friends again somehow rejuvenates me. I started to feel myself again. Alhamdulillah, about two months ago, I’ve met this girl, and yeah, I have no intention at first to tackle her or anything, but those things just came by itself. I’ve gave up my mission to find someone that can understand me, and after three disastrous relationship, I don’t think anyone will, thinking that it was all bullshit and crap.

But here she was, describing every detail of me, some that even I didn’t aware of. She even said what should have been done to people of my type. I was dumbfounded. Never, did anyone told me that. All anyone (my exes) ever thought about was how or what I should/would do to satisfy them. What about me?

The only thing I regret right now was my exes. I mean, I won’t get back to them, but as a friend, I wish I could do something to get them back on track. People said I have a huge impact on them. Of course I did, who would have given anything for free and still maintained when received none in return? Haha. I wanted nothing except some acknowledgement that I did exist in their life, and none of them has given that to me, what’s the point of staying then?

However, I’m a soft hearted man, if any of them in need of my help, I’ll be there, though of course, my main priority right now is the one I love right now, the one that acknowledge my existence beside her. For once, I feel really appreciated, in a relationship, my job was getting secured (even though my boss asked me to classify creditors to debtors, haha) and yeah, life is good.

We're History

Up till now, I was still wondering, why Malaysians more knowledgeable in other civilization histories more than our own? Is it our lack of passion? Malaysians were just…..don’t care lor? Or was it the Education Ministry at fault? More conspiracy thought was, is there someone (particularly the British Empire) that doesn’t want us to know about our past?

I’ve started to wonder about this when I heard the truth about our national hero, Hang Tuah with his 4 sworn siblings, Hang Jebat, Hang Kasturi, Hang Lekir And Hang Lekiu (I was in Form 2 if I’m not mistaken). Hang Jebat was accused to be a traitor, frustrated by the Sultan’s decision to execute Hang Tuah for a crime that Hang Tuah didn’t commit. Hang Jebat opposed the crown, raising a coup against Sultan and make himself king. Hang Tuah, who was actually been hidden by Tun Perak (the Prime Minister), been pardoned by the Sultan and was commanded to kill Hang Jebat. Hang Tuah did and that’s the end of the life of the tyrant (who actually been there in the first place to avenge the “death” of Hang Tuah……ironic?). The catch is, it’s not Hang Jebat that raise the coup, it’s Hang Kasturi! Now, why would someone want to do that?

It’s actually connected with the Malay’s culture itself. You see, the Malays were highly sensitive about other person’s feeling. Traditionally, they were not famous for any outspoken behaviour. They were very polite and every word that came out of their mouth was made to not offend the listener’s heart. Kasturi was actually a name of a flower with a beautiful fragment. The name itself got it’s own beauty grace. Therefore, the Malays thought that it would do no good to pollute such a name and hence, the name of the person above was “chosen” to be the “bidan terjun”.

The other thing that I thought was really questionable was the story itself. Every historical fact should have at least 2 independent documents to verify the stories. I mean, take the above stories again, a very loyal servant of the Sultan, who was so loyal he even doesn’t bear any grudge to the one that ordered him killed. He was so loyal that he even agreed to kill his childhood friend that he called brother, who committed the act of treason because of him! Does that sound bullshit? I don’t know, it does sounds fishy though. The stories come from Tun Sri Lanang who was a writer during those times. However, there was another book called Sejarah Melayu who told completely different sets of stories. In its version, Hang Tuah was not the hero, and he’s a coward who runs at the start of battle, the hero in the book was Tun Perak. Two different books with two completely different stories, now, which one told the truth?

(Frankly, I don’t know. To whoever reading this, I wrote this to present the fact that I know of and to let you readers think, not to jeopardise the credibility of any writers. Truthfully, I’ve got a high respect for both of them)

Look at the present days for example, I’m no politician, I hate politics, for me, most of them are the same, all talk and no shows, I believed that with greater power come greater corruption if you’re not careful, if you know what I mean. But let’s look at the Malays right now; most of them still followed UMNO’s lead. Why? Most reasons I heard of was UMNO’s been here since the independent day and our ancestors have been voting them since. Sounds familiar? Was it because most Malays have their mind planted by Hang Tuah’s story? However wrong your leader are, follow him, as that what Hang Tuah will do. Was that the right mindset? I’ve got nothing against voters that vote because they really believed in UMNO’s or for any reasons. The same goes to PAS voters. If you’re voting for PAS because your dad and uncle do that, stop it! You have the right to think, there’s no more slave in the world and definitely not here in Malaysia. Sometimes I do thought the stories put in our history textbook was a tactic used by the politicians to secure their vote. Well, I could be right, I could be wrong.

Not everyone knows the truth about our history. The facts about it were actually here in Malaysia itself, mostly kept in the National Archive. My question was, why kept it hidden? Why put a totally wrong info in the textbook for the school children to read and memorise for their exam? Why didn’t the ministry of education let the truth out? What was the effect to anyone if the truth did get out?

Not everyone knows during the Malacca siege, the Malaccans already have muskets and cannons to fight against the Portuguese. Till right now, I was still searching, despite all that, how could Malacca fall and after so many years, hundred even, the Malaccans never managed to reclaim back their land? They have the resources they need to fight back, it’s not like throwing sticks to a full-armed men, both armies were well equipped so what’s the catch?

How many of us thoughts that Kedah was weak? Being plundered by the Siamese as if there’s nothing on Kedah except a bare naked lady waiting to be rape. The fact is Kedah have, up to a certain point, managed to invade Siam, though the siege was not that long, but that shows Kedah do fight back, not in full submission all the time.

How many of us heard of Panglima Awang a.k.a Henry the Black? There’s no bulllshit in that story as far as I’m concern. There’s an Italian’s diary mentioned about him and the famous Magellan, and in the Spanish Museum itself his name was included as an attendee during one of the Spanish King’s ceremony. If Awang (or whoever his malay name is) managed to come back to Tanah Melayu after the incident at Philippines (Magellan been mutinied by his First Mate, Awang revenged Magellan and no one sees him again), he will be the first person to travel around the world instead of Magellan.

Then the question of was Bugis the only pirates in Malays peninsular area? That’s stereotyping as far as I can tell. It’s the same as thinking that all Malays were lazy. What I know was most of the Bugis people were mercenaries and mostly hired by the Sultans or merchants as bodyguards or shock troop in their army.
There’s so much to know about our history as far as I can tell. There’s a lot to be learn and appreciated. There’s a new light been shade about Chinese government during the ancient years. I think it’s about time to shade ours.

The Smashing Pumpkins

The word is.........Billy is going to reform Smashing Pumpkins back.......is he? I mean, I'm excited as hell when I read it on Netphoria, but, could he? The thing is, would D'arcy and James rejoin the band? Things will not be the same without all four together, I know that, Billy knows that too. SP needs all four back. Without any one of them, I wouldn't even interested to know. Of course, I'm talking about the era of Gish till Pisces Iscariot where the raw grunge sound was still exploding, bouncing back and forth from my ear drum. If, which I doubt, the band will reform again, I hope the sound would re-emerge again, but definitely not from Adore or Machina, no, not any of those.

The band started to form in 1987 in Chicago when Billy meets James, a Japanese-American (he can’t speak Japanese). Sharing the same interest, they decided to form a band. Using a drum-machine and Billy as the bassist, both of them perform some decent gig at bars. They met D’arcy and Jimmy later and started to call themselves Smashing Pumpkins. During the early days of their live performance, Billy noticed that after every show, there would be pieces of pumpkins being smashed all around the stage area, and he decided to add the The in front to become The Smashing Pumpkins. The band does not, in any kind of form, relate to pumpkins.

They recorded their first album, Gish under an indie label. The follow-up album, Siamese Dream, was their breakthrough album. One of the most successful album in the world, it did a lot to cover the fact that the band has started to crumble. After overcoming the internal problems, they got through to make a double album, which was a risk worth taking. Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness was made and the albums sold a lot more than its predecessors. Immediately after that, Jimmy got stuck with drugs, going to rehab while their touring keyboard died after overdosing himself. The band’s music was different after that, more to commercial base, and Adore was produced. A flop after the previous albums, it doesn’t take far. Jimmy was back after rehab and Machina: The Machine of God was produced. The raw sound was back but still doesn’t have the “edge”. D’arcy quits the band followed by James (they both set-up a recording company) and Billy, with Jimmy, started a new band called Zwan, but they didn’t made it far.

I first heard about this band together with Blind Melon, Lemonhead and Radiohead from Remaja. I was 15 at that time. I bought all 3 albums (couldn't find Lemonhead's). The first SP's album (their second, after Gish) that I heard was Siamese Dream. The first thing I noticed was Jimmy's drum. It was a love at first hearing. Damn he's good, unique with his own style of running and rolling.

Billy Corgan was described by his teacher as “relatively quiet” but to his friend, outspoken. Influenced by musicians such as The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, with his gothic view of life, started to play guitar as early when he is 15. A writer himself, he wrote most of the songs featured in the album. He was with a band before called The Marked. After 20 gigs or so, it was disband. During Siamese Dreams sessions, rumored has it that he played most of the instruments himself. True or not, he is a really fantastic guitarist. During live shows, he played most of the lead, continued by James when he has to sing again. The song that he describes as having the most part of him was Disarm. His voice was one of a kind. One second the pitching was so high and abruptly, it went down, to date, I have never heard of anyone that has a voice like him.

James Iha was the lead guitarist of the band. A Graphic Art student from Loyola University, he quits studying later to join the band. During the early days with Smashing Pumpkins, he was playing with another band called Snake Train. A talented guitarist, he showered the audience with his effect and rather mellow performance, supporting Billy with his powered playing style. He got into relationship with D’arcy during Siamese Dreams sessions, their relationship doesn’t hold on long and causing much headache to Billy in order to keep the band together. His talent showed itself during lives performance.

During a show at bar called Avalon, Billy got into an argument with D’arcy Wretzky. Billy was complaining (out-loud) about the band that always performed there, saying that they were a bunch of crap. D’arcy got irritated and after a while, claimed that she was on a band too, playing bass. The problem is, the only instrument that D’arcy has ever had professional training was the cello. Billy got interested (as he was in need of a bassist) and asked her to call him, which she did, and was invited to Billy’s house. She didn’t even know how to properly hold her instrument, much to Billy’s amazement. But there’s something in her character that interested Billy, and she was a kind person, and she joined the band without an audition. In Quiet, her bassist played was heard and one of the key factor that make Quiet one of the best songs of the band.

Jimmy Chamberlain was introduced by a friend. A jazz drummer who previously played a ten-piece showband called JP and The Cats and the only member of the band who graduated from Northern Illinois University. With most of his family a drummer, it doesn’t took long for him to blend into a rock group. He saw potential in the band, he once said and decided to join the band, taking interest in Billy’s talent as a songwriter. His drumming skills was, for me, best shown in Geek USA.

Other than Disarm, Quiet and Geek USA, other songs that I liked were Cherub Rock, Today, Mayonnaise, Tonight, 1979, Bullet with Butterfly Wings, Blew and Soma. Soma was the best, with the lyrics combined with the most touching lead I ever heard, tells about the frustration of not giving the best to the one we care. Although how hard we try, it would never be enough, and it’s already time to say goodbye. Today was the most popular song, telling however hard the day was, it was still the best.

I was heartbroken when I heard the news about the band breaking up. I followed for news of each of the band members, hoping that one day they will reform. Although the latest was Billy wants to reform the band, it was just Billy’s. No news about and comment from the other three. I still have this golden dream of meeting D’arcy in person, hahaha.

Kraken Headed

Hi there………Almost a month has passed, right? Why no update? Busy maaa…….. Tekanan perasaan tahap kritikal smlm. Deal with an FNG (who “happened” to be your boss) was frustrating. My other bosses? Alhamdulillah, couldn’t wish better, but this one? Can someone give me a name of an accountant that doesn’t even know what an Excel is? Excel as in Microsoft Office APPLICATION? Which accountant can be more stupid than that? Moreover, he’s actually TREMBLING when talking to me. Trembling? I’m not joking, now, who’s the boss here? Stuuupiiiid. Dah la lembap. Yesterday, he asked me to do an “urgent” task, to find the cost of investment and net tangible asset. From where? He don’t know….and he expect me to know? I’m in account payable team for crying out loud. Ask me about ageing, how much we owe, what’s the creditors turnover? Mo Man Tai. Reporting is not my game. I don’t even have the access to view P & L. Balance sheet? Balance SHIT is more like it.

Next, tax issues. The breast-feed department of the company. Under traveling GL, someone bought a flight ticket. The question from tax, please confirm that he travel using the ticket. The answer (deep in my heart): He used it as a toilet paper. Duhhhh!!! What the hell is your problem? Please find out why there’s no withholding tax? For a million time, that amount were recorded during goods received, check the document number laa, how can you impose tax on the goods that we haven’t paid yet? And what do they do? Dunno, o yeah, downgrading our performance evaluation. How can they do that? Asked my would be ex-boss, WE are your staff, YOU should evaluate us, not some other department ANDARTU that could still be thinking why nobody loves her.

Then, my leave was rejected. Rejected? My leave never been rejected before!! What does she needs me for this Monday anyway? I just need a break from all this, weekend? Jangan harap laa, too many invitations to fulfill, not that I’m complaining about that, it means I have lots of friends, right? The thing is, I really in need for a time to be alone right now, just me and me.

Been thinking about a breakaway again, yeah, should be about time now. But, budget lari ar…. My bonus this year has already been allocated out, it’s already finished before I even received it, haha. Nowadays, been thinking about having Vios parked in front of my house. O yeah, got to have her ( saliva dropping, haha). Thing that been stopping me from having her? Errmmmm……rahsia arr, hihi, not the right time to tell anyone just yet. Vios tak lari ke mana, right? Hei, bila nak pi Penang nie?????

Penang Hunt '05

Just got back from Penang with speeding ticket accompany me (budget,budget). Penang-Ipoh = 1 hour was quiet a run, I might say, until the man in black caught me red-handed flying the car 160 kmh (they usually in white, damn). Kelisa = good, you won't regret it, until I went to the service centre yesterday and they charged me RM 700++. 700 + 300 = not good.

Once again, Maxis has half sponsored us to attend another treasure hunt. This time of the year, the destination was Penang. It's been three times in a row that we have done it at the North, previously Pangkor and Sg Petani, and we was wondering where would our next destination be. The North again? (I hope so, hahaha, wink, wink).

WE didn't win anything actually, not even one of us (my teamS) got hit by the lucky draw, except for Steven, beginner's luck. Maxis offered RM 30K for prizes and lucky draw. And yeah, Shaun (again), it's confirmed, he brought Toyol with him, again, this year, he won one of the biggest lucky draw prizes offered, the magnifico PS2! If not the Toyol, then what else? Come one, every damn single hunt he has hit the jackpot, luck? Oooooohhhhh, damn lucky SOB he is, huh? The first prize of the lucky draw was RM 3K travel voucher for two anywhere around the world.

However, I DID won something that night, not related to the hunt,pity them, had to watch DVD after the dinner has ended. Well, that's what happened when you insisted me to bring my small little car for a long distant hunt to my longing place, haha. Actually, they were tired anyway, they would already lie flat even if I was there.

The hunt took us through Rawang, Simpang Pulai, Ipoh and ended up in Prai. The organizer would provide each team (of four) with a tulip (a sort of map, but a lot different) and two sets of questions, one for the submission and the other for conteng-conteng. There were 30 questions, to be answered within 3 legs of the hunt, two challenges (identifying pictures and smells), 4 treasures (drinks,snacks) to be brought in and road safety questions. The most notably challenges that I've been through was in Johor, the Go-Kart challenges.

The questions either were easier this time, or we have gotten better,haha. We only flunked 5 of them (our best record before was 9), however, in any hunt, 5 was considered as not good, there are tonnes of team that could have done better, but it was our personnel achievement nonetheless.

The questions would be divided into about 8 categories, such as Anagrams (mixed words, clue such as perhaps,could be)), sounds like (clue such as I hear, noisy), backwards (clue such as recall, return). It means that whenever you read the questions, first you have to identify what categories does the question fit.

If it is anagram, you should see words like "perhaps" in the question, backwards wiil accompany by words such as "return" and so on. It was fun, of course, for new comers, it would be a pain in the ass, but a couple more, you will enjoy it definately.

Our target actually was not to win, of course, with Balan's and Shaun's team still at large (but for the first time, both of them didn't make it into top three, muahahaha), our aim was to enjoy ourselves and to hit the lucky draw. Though I didn't won anything relating to the hunt this year (as was previous previous year), I do manage to hit the Jackpot, woooohoooooo!!!!!! But that's another story.

Salon, Sepet Vs.....

……..the rest of the Malay scenes. What are the rest of the Malay Scenes? Well, it definitely not including Layar Lara, Spinning Gasing and a few countable films, but for the rest of them, the scenes included movies that were worthless to watch.

Yeah, yeah, shout all you want, you fans of Sembilu 1, 2, 3, I don’t care what you have in your mind, your heart or your mouth, the movies were just…suck.

I have never watched any of the movies before, well, maybe a bit of it, but knowing the plot, it doesn’t matter anyway. I mean, wasn’t it obviously stupid for the couple whose relationship not approved by the girl’s brother to wait for seven years while the brother served his sentences in prison? Get married la during that time you buffoon. The parents approved what? Moreover, why the brother holds such a grudge anyway? It just doesn’t make sense, the plots are too weak and I’ve never heard of those stupid things before in my life.

The actors and actresses? Commercial based. You know, I was really frustrated about KL Menjerit, the sequel or prequel, I’m not sure. I really like the first one, although the cinematic, the sound are not that good, but the plot and the actors were okay, at least, they can act. Then came Erra Fazira. Well, I knew her personally, but this is business, nothing personal. I hate her act; the only thing that she could make that seems real was her tears, that’s all. Accompanied by a weak plot makes it worse.

It’s bugging me to think how in the world would someone watched Anak Mami or Gila2 Pengantin, it just, doesn’t make sense. Soal Hati was okay la, Afdlin saves a lot there. But the rest? Hmm…. still remembered when The Phantom Menace was out on the first day. Almost everywhere the tickets were out. But on that day, we, about 10 people, drove to The Mines at 8 PM, without booking or anything, asked for the tickets for the midnight show and we got the back seat, hahahaha, to think that even in the US the tickets were sold out.

There were several movies of note during those times. Rahsia, Layar Lara, Sayang Salmah, although it still doesn’t reach the good standards yet, but the plots were good, it makes people think. However, movie like Kaki Bakar was much too heavy, it was more towards the director’s ideology rather than commercial based.

Not long before, Spinning Gasing makes its way into the commercial line. There were several movies before, mostly independence, but Spinning Gasing has succeeded in making its way into the big screen, though I’ve heard after a couple of years in the dark room of Finas.

It’s a start of a new age of filming genre in Malaysia. The cinematic, the actors and the plot were good. It does reflected a bit about Malaysian nowadays, it makes the viewers think about the message that the film tried to send through. Whether it’s bullshit or not, it doesn’t matter; most of the movies around the world were bullshits this day, no matter how they said that the movies were based on true stories, yeah, right.

This year alone, we have seen Gold and Gincu, Sepet and the latest one, Salon, making their way to the cinema. I’m planning to watch Salon in a couple of days maybe. I was hoping that there will be more of these types of film. I could only pray.

BECK

I have no attention actually to start writing about a Manga. I’ve been planning too but there were too much plot, too much to tell and anyway, I don’t know which Manga that I should tell, as there are tons of manga collections in my house, either the hardcopies or the one downloaded to my PC.

Then, one day, last Monday to be exact, Apek message me early in the morning, too early in fact that I haven’t when to bath yet. He said that there’s a new Manga that he found, Beck. He recommend me to download it, and if Apek said that a Manga is good, it is good, for the both of us at least. Then, as I downloaded it in the morning during office hour, he messaged me, again, always at lunch time, to haste the download, as he has no one to share his story with, well, this better be good.

And hell ya it’s good!!! This is not the typical Manga ladies and gentleman. There’s no super power heroes, the good guys do not always win, no super-duper hot chicks, the plot was very, very good. It’s a Manga that could reflect our everyday life, not everyone, but one could tell that there’s something in the Manga that could link to their life, past and present.

It’s a story about a rock/metal/new age band that called themselves Beck. Beck is actually the name of the lead guitarist’s (Ryusuke) dog, and as their leader and founder, when asked about their band’s name, could only think of a name with his name on it, of course, the others doesn’t agree on it, and as the dog is very special (I still don’t know why it has patches on it’s body) to all of them, they decided to name it that.

The story started with how the band started, their rise, and then fall down, rises again, fall again. The bands keep breaking and get together again and again. There are so many problems to begin with, the only real talent that the band got were Taira and Ryusuke by the way, and it’s real, as I reflected it on a couple of my friends’ band. Although, of course, I could see Zack (Rage Against the Machine) as their lead singer and their bassist was like the bassist from Red Hot Chilis Paper with his pant on but the characters were original.

Not only was that, but the love story that evolved between Maho (Ryusuke’s sister) and Koyuki (the band rhythm and the main character) was very, I don’t know how to say it, but it’s different, way too different, not only to Manga, but to any others love story as well, in TV or in any love novel.

I mean, the writer could make us feel that they are really in love. He make us feel their love, he doesn’t actually shown it in the drawings or writing, ooo well, if he shows it, I don’t think the Manga could go any farther.

Maho and Koyuki character were different. Maho is a Japanese that lived in America. She’s back to Japan following his father. She is very rude (by Japanese standard), clubbing, hang out with strangers, very outspoken and all the thing that an American girl would do. Koyuki once described her as not normal (they have a fight after that).

Koyuki? Well, mat skema. He joined the band because he was persuaded by his childhood friend (he got a crush on her). His guitar skill sucks (he got better actually, but still not that good) but his voice could make the crowd listen in awed. Even Chiba (the lead singer) goyang when he heard his voice (even thought the band would kicked him out). It’s his voice that makes Maho interested into him actually at first, until she learned the other good side of him.

Then again, as Maho always kicked him around, it’s interested to know that they loved each other so much. There are tons of fan waiting to be noticed by Koyuki, and guys were drooling when they saw Maho (even Apek, haha), they still with each other. Maho doesn’t showed her love to Koyuki directly but as Ryusuke once said

“The people who are strongest outside are weakest within”

(of course, he was describing her sister to Koyuki at that time), she showed it indirectly, by getting an autograph for Koyuki, reforming the band without Koyuki’s knowledge after Ryusuke’s left and many more. It’s hard to see her open up or cry, but when she did, yeah, Ryusuke’s word does have sense at all. The way the writer builds up their relationship was worth to be read.

Of course, they are still Chiba (lead singer, the comic’s clown), Taika (bassist) and Saku (drummer), each of them has their stories to tell, and with their producers, fans and rival. There a lot of plot in this story, but it was well developed.

In other word, get it, download it, or buy it, for the Manga fans, it is worth it, it’s fun anyway.

Kidney Stone! Kidney Stone!

I still remembered the day clearly, as if it happened everyday (Nauzubillah). The day before it happened, I’ve asked Roshdi when we were in the office toilet, that I felt something moving at my ari-ari and he said

“angin je tu, kurangkan minum ais”

which was true, in normal circumstances. But for that historical day, I was preparing to go to office that day, it was around 7 at that time, when suddenly……

The pain was unbearable. It started at my kidney, then moving down towards the ari-ari on my left side. I was going to pee at that time, with my pants down of course. No, I’m not going to tell you some porn here okay :-). But there’s no pain when I’m peeing, the pain comes from the inside.

I crawled back to the living room, screaming all the way. The house was empty at that time. I managed myself to call Roshdi at that time, that the pain I felt yesterday was becoming increasingly unbearable, and I won’t be able to make it to the office.

Then, the problem of transport. I cannot straighten my body at that time, as if by bending down would make any better. Nothing I did at that time reduced the pain. I even punched myself at the kidney, but no effect. Then I remembered Zu, he was unemployed at that time, so I make the last call for the day, I called him, and asked him to pick me up.

I started to cry at that time. I found out later that everyone who has encountered the same problem as mine would react the same way. Cried, screaming and for some of them berguling-guling on their bed, and people who were with them could only watched, as they was nothing that they could do anyway. The pain……..was hell.

I went to the clinic with Zu, after remembering to put my pants up (the most tricky part). Suddenly, the pain gone! It gone suddenly as if nothing has happened. It was about an hour after I make the first call. But as Zu has already arrived, I went with him regardless. They tested my urine, and it contained blood. The doctor asked me whether I’ve got kidney stone before, and the answer is no. They referred me to Dr. Mahmud at Ampang Putri.

I went to see him, alone as Zu has something that he has to do that day. And as I’ve said before, there’s no more pain. I could drive, as slow as it can, afraid the attack would come again, and thank Allah that Ampang Putri is near.

I went to see Dr Mahmud, X-ray (something happened during the X-ray, but that’s another story) and confirmed, there’s a 4mm crystallite stone in my kidney’s tube. The picture was……as if looking at beauty and the beast. My right kidney was so cute, small, and the tube that connected it to the bladder was small and thin. To watch the creation of Allah in our body was awesome.

However, my left kidney was the beast. It was 3 times bigger, and the tube remembered me of Samy Vellu’s road, zig-zagging, bumping and some of the tube was bigger than the other. Dr Mahmud said that was because the stone travel through the tube, and as it was quite big, it got stuck sometimes at the time, which explained the bumping and zig-zagging. The kidney was bigger as the stone was currently on the door to my bladder, and the urine got stuck there, and that was the cause of the pain.

Alhamdulillah, after taking my medication, modern and traditional, after a month I was back to my old self.

What the cause of it? People tend to say it was because I hold my bladder. Although its true, yeah I never pee in public, haha (now I’m doing it), but after doing a lot of research, no one mention about the pee, it was NOT about the pee, it was because of the amount of water consumed by us everyday.

It was true. I drank fresh, clean, colourless water about once every one or two months, and I only drank about three or four glasses of water everyday. Teh tarik in the morning, nescafe during lunch, cordial in the night and if I got lucky, another teh tarik during the evening.

The process was like this. We ate everyday. The food come to our stomach, and the stomach will process the protein and carbohydrate, where the excess amount would be kicked out using the “back door”. The vitamin, calcium and all, will not be process by our stomach, it will be transferred to our kidney, where the excess will be kicked out using the urine. However, without water, how the process would end?

The excess amount that couldn’t be out would stay in the kidney, and with time, it will formed into the crystallite stone. The article wrote that it’s okay to eat, as long as the fresh water consumed is more than the food consumed, about 2 to 1. I drank fresh water right now, at first, it was hard, tasteless, but now, I can feel the sweetness of it. For you guys out there, drink, drink and drink everyday. I would never want anyone to feel the way I felt. It could save you a lot of pain.

Open Sesame

Eid has been celebrated by the Muslims around the world for almost 10 days now, and today is the second weekend. People, especially in Malaysia, would take the advantage of weekend to organize an open house, for friends and family to come and celebrate the Eid.

Usually, the organizer would send out the invitation to the ones invited a week before the event so that the invitee could organize their plan, which house to go first (because it’s the custom here to try to fill out all the invitation), how much time to spend at each house etc.

However, for this particular year, what I noticed was instead of inviting the guest at earlier date before the event, the organizer would send out the invitation ad-hoc style, the day of the event itself. This is so true as for all the open house that I’ve went, all of them invited me a few hours before the event, and some of them not even an hour before it starts! As I wrote this, I’ve just got an sms from Gap to come to his house today after Zuhur.

No, I don’t think I’m just a filler okay, hihi. Most of my friends were invited in the same way too. When I went to their house, I saw most of the invitees are friends that live nearby, or close with the organizer. The event tends to be small but for me, it was much more meaningful, as the friends could mingle out more closely together.

But I do receive an invitation from this particular friend for this Saturday open house, but she said she’s only invited selected friends. Don’t get me wrong, she’s married ;-). My point is although I’ve been invited early, but the event would be just for certain friends, ermmmm…..not so open house la :-)

However, the Eid are still long from over. Maybe they will be some that still maintained the tradition, although I’ve didn’t received any invitation for an event like that just yet. It’s weird you know, as when anyone asked me yesterday at Bai’s house whether there’s anymore open house for me to go, I said no, this is the only one today. But as I stepped out of her house, Aie called me and invited me to come to his house, pronto!

Happy

After one week at Segamat, I’m back to KL. Not too keen to get back, as if I have any choice, but here I am nonetheless. It’s a good break, one of the best Eid I’ve ever celebrated since duit raya ceased to come to my pocket.

Still in Raya mood, but come to think of it, I didn't even flinch coming to work today, promised someone to be happy ;-) . Then again, even if I didn't made that promised, I already am happy, haha. It seems ages since I ever had this kind of feeling, quite forgotten how it was nowadays, until the middle of Ramadhan somehow, slowly building up, emailing her every day, then started calling her every night since malam raya (and still emailing her). Syukur sesangat actually, having met a friend like her. We've talked a lot, and it seems there's no end to our chit-chat, there's always stories to be told. Sincerely, I do hope that our relationship continues, it's been so long since I'm really having fun, to appreciate the feeling of happiness again.....to where? Only time will tell ;-)

Alhamdulillah, the journey home towards KL encountered a little traffic. My ex-boss complained when we're having teh tarik this morning that he stuck at Senawang for almost 2? 3 hours? He started from Batu Pahat at 2 and arrived here at 8. Wow, that's a long time taken to arrived here, since the journey should have took around 3 hours at least, but 6? Hmmm, as if being from Kedah to KL, but of course, I heard that the journey home from the North were much more menguji keimanan, was it? Well, ask Bob :-).

It's November now, how fast the time goes by. Been thinking about a lot of things when I was in Segamat. Would really love to convert them into words. Think about writing yesterday, but busy with Raya, going to my Aunt's, Grandfather and Doot's house, so maybe in a couple of days there will be a major update, InsyaAllah.

Fire In the Hole

Yesterday after iftar at Bob's houses, and after watching a bit of X-Men 2, went out with Bob and Pejol to have a decent chow. Forgot to bring my medicine, but think it would be quick, decided to have it once I'm home. It was about 9.30 at that time. We went to NZ and later joined by Doot and Aie.

We talked about the good old days, and as Hari Raya is fast approaching, we talked about it as well, about what happened 15 years ago. The most unforgetful thing that is still in my mind was during Terawih. The good kids will stay on until 8 Rakaat while the not so good kid, well, they already left after Isya' over.

At that time, to go out "unnoticed" was to go cross right in front of the Jemaah's view, and the Imam of course. It will be suicidal to let your face been caught red-handed by that.The right moment would be when all of them kneel with their face down doing prayer, and then the place will be full of noises made by slippers wore on running feet. Of course, we were small at that time, it never cross our mind that they already knew who we were, with the madrasah's back saf empty and all, and, the noises of course, hihi. Morever, our housing area were so small, about 100-150 families, we all knew each other.

War began soon after. The late comers usually become the attackers, riding a bike (chopper would be an advantage) contained 2 people, the driver and the gunner. The driver usually picked among the bravest of the group, because he is the one that will make the attempt to go as near as he can to the "enemy" for the gunner to have a nice spot to shoot at. Armed usually with Moon Rockets or Thunderclaps (the latter are much preferred) and a couple of Padi we usually left the road that the battle has commence with smoke and firecracker powder will be smelt through the air.

There were also footsoldiers, sneaking their way through the side of the drain, biding their time, ambushing people (usually girls), and there's also house war, instead of riding, we stayed in the yard of someone's house, the other team in the other house, and we will exchanged fire with each other. Of course, the parents were doing Terawih at that time. The last time I played house war end-up with cops appeared in front of Jasni's gate carrying a real gun. We sticked with bikes after that (never learned huh).

We even tied Mercun Tarik at the rim of any Jemaah bike, usually the Bilal's. Before long, we will heard the popping sound accompany with a couple of curses coming from several mouth,haha.

Then it times to return to the Jemaah for the biggest event after Terawih, the morey. The morey usually contained light supper with tea or coffee. Come to think of it, we usually knew (don't know how) when the prayer was going to end. To enter back to the Jemaah, the same procedure is applied. However, when we entered, we will immediately sit at Tahiyyat Akhir position, and of course, even the blind could hear our breath which is heavy after our "ordeal". Never heard that praying will be so tiring :-) .

Ramadhan's night were the only nights that most children will have their freedom from their parents. Most parents let their kids playing around with their friends during this time. I still remembered when my mom caught me with mosquito coil inside my baju melayu pocket...

"Ooo, main mercun ek?"

...and that's that, no scolding or anything, yeah, I know they knew about my whereabout during praying time, like most parents do. Kids just want to have fun at this of year, after 11 months under close supervision. Furthermore, they are free from the devil's influence, right? Selamat Hari Raya guys.

Down With The Sickness

Been thinking about a few things that I would love to write during the weekends, however, an attack from the unseen left me stranded on my bed. It begins on late Friday afternoon, and I couldn't say that I'm fully recovered yet, freak me out a bit though.

One of my friend caught dengue yesterday, confirmed. She's been telling me how sick she was since last Wednesday when we went iftar together. I don't think it was that serious at that time. She got MC for 3 days (nothing new actually) , went back to Perak for Eid last Saturday, and been admitted yesterday, after vomitting and all.

Naturally, she's the main suspect for my predicament...... dengue? Nauzubillah. Don't think I'm prepared for it, after all, Eid is just around the corner. By the way, I'm off to Segamat today, after office hour. Maybe I'll call Shahir tonight for a late night drink. It's not like the old days, when my cousins still bachelor, we used to hang out together after doing the chores that Grandma asked us to do. Now, I'm the only one left (my cousins under me are girls, and man? only boys), single and no! Mr. Nash, no, I'm not desperate and lonely, I hate it when you said that.

So, to all of you out there, Selamat Hari Raya and Maaf Zahir Batin. Drive carefully okay? If you're on the verge of sleeping, please stop for a while, 5 minutes rest will not make any difference, but a second you close your eyes when driving could mean closing it forever, heed my words, take care.

Fast N Furious

This year open fast were worst than last year. Oil price does take its toll this year I think. Last year, I lost count to how many buffet I attended, but this year? There were only two, Chicken Hart’s and Nikko, even the latter was free. I mean the pricing for each buffet this year was unthinkable, outrageous. If, and I know you guys wish it too, if only our salary were equivalent to the changes in oil price, I don’t think I have an issue here, right? :-).

Tomorrow there will be a small gathering of my old housemate and friends, open fast together, and unlike last year, at Shroom, I decided to have it this year in Pelita, hahaha, the good old Pelita as always. Don’t have much time to think about other places. Apek and Au has mentioned about being together this year several time before. Not thinking about it much with my closing and all (busy, busy), but Joe drop me a message this morning asking when it will be.

Tag has mentioned yesterday about a great seafood buffet somewhere in Pandan, but the place would still be available after Ramadhan, cheaper and all, and with the time constrained, I don’t think I’ll get there without problem. Furthermore, I’m not in the mood to handle complains about the price and location this time at month end (work preassure, preassure).

Whatever it is, many would still not be available tomorrow, Supi, Et and Au couldn’t make it, sorry guys for the last minute planning, I know you guys are looking forward to it, I have some problems this couple of days (don’t worry, I’m still in the verge of sanity :-)), my friend’s actually, (Alhamdulillah, it’s under control now), well, you know me, still trying to be the problem solver always, but next year it will be different, I can tell, InsyaAllah.

I was again in my cooking mood this year, collected as many new recipes as I get my hands on, and when will I try them? After Eid of course, I couldn’t try them now, xtahan ooo, hihihi. Hmmm, still searching for the right ingredients for a great soup, can anyone drop me a line here? Thanks.

Calvin & Hobbes

This is one of the best comic strips ever. It’s one of my old times favourite, need to collect them all, yes, I will do that, trust me. Bill Watterson has really succeeded in bringing the world in a child’s point of view, the two way communication between Calvin and his stuffed tiger Hobbes actually told us a lot about life.

For me, this comic should be catogerised in the dark humour section. I personally believed that Bill wanted to bring out the child that is in every person’s inner self. He was not talking about a child (no child could ever think like Calvin), he was talking about us, the grown-ups. Calvin talked about politics, family values, life here and there were enough evidence to show what Bill’s had in mind. Calvin’s fantasy? The Clone? Haha, wish I could have one of those right now.

Hobbes as imaginary friend, I mean, who doesn’t have an imaginary friend back then? Even now, don’t we still talk to ourselves? Expressing our anger, dissatisfied to others that we didn’t spoke out loud? Remember how lonely we felt, with rains pouring outside our window during those dark nights, the lines were jammed, Astro were out cold? Bill’s really good in bringing us back to the black and white era. Remember, how ever you denies it, there’s a child inside of you, bring it out (to some extend), have fun, nobody lives forever anyway. Life is short, don’t ruin it.

KAI's

Got my hair done today at Kai’s. My am I satisfied! Really, they’ve made it like they really care about your hair, and they really did. It’s not a saloon, just a normal barber shop situated in front of the Coliseum (Indian’s Cinema) deep in one of the busiest area in KL, especially during festive season.

I’ve got nothing against saloon, it just that I don’t think I have the “guts” to go there at all. It’s kind of, “sophisticated”, if you know what I mean. I’m a traditionalist, a brand loyalty type of person, and since I’ve been to a decent barber shop till to date, I’m comfortable to stick with it, it’s hard to change. I still remembered for almost 6 years since I was in Form 4 until I graduated from Uniten, my hair never been cut by a “professional” barber! Thanks to Aie, Toron, Bob and countless others for taking care of my hair during those memorable years. You guys were awesome.

At Kai, the old fashioned cut resurfaced once more, it’s hard nowadays to find barbers that still cut your hair using their fingers as anchor, and at Kai’s, they still doing just that. I don’t know how to describe the “sensation” felt between cutting your hair with comb and fingers, but they are different. It’s much more satisfied using fingers, brings me back to my childhood years, went to this tailor cum barber shop at Pasar Sentul with my grandfather, riding the basikal tua, it wasn’t there anymore, giving it ways to Sentul Raya.

Although the time taken to cut each customers’ hair was long (30-40 minutes), but it was worth it, what ever style that you want, there’s different way to cut it. They know what they were doing, not like most shop’s that just nodding their head, and instead looking like Beckham, you end up looking like Posh, haha. The way they do it, looks like they were doing some form of art, like they’ve looked every single hair on your head, searching for the hair line, break it, and create a new one.

It’s difficult to say it, but your hair will be in good care in their hands, I even dozed off several time during the process. For those guys out there, give this place a try, the price are a bit high than other barbers’, but it’s simply worth it.

P/S: Bob, it will be great to attach a picture of the shop’s front here, think you can provide one? Thanks.

The Jester Would Like too.......

….express his gratitude to everyone that helps in making this blog possible. I won’t mention names here in order to avoid missing someone out. You know who you are, thanks a lot for believing in me, supporting me and making me realized that I still have a dream to achieve. Although this is not what I actually had in mind but this will be the first step towards my actual goal (you’ll know that, right? ;-))

It’s only been a week but to get here after almost 7 years in hibernation is a big step for me indeed. There’s still more works to be done here but I’ll manage it, with the help of you guys of course. After my PC was attacked by virus, all the websites that I’ve send my works were all shutdown for good and the only magazine that ever paid me went bankrupt, I was thinking, am I jinx? Please, do forgive me if Google decides to shut this down tooJ. Jokes aside, to stand again after all of my 4 years of work burned to ashes is a very difficult thing to do. No, I won’t rewrite the stories and articles that I’ve written before, it won’t be the same anymore, it’s time to move on.

To my old and new friends and passerby out there, please feel welcome here, I can’t offer you drinks and snack, just a little piece of my mind that wanted to get out and been translated into words is all that I’ve got to offer. Maybe more will come, InsyaAllah. Jot down your comment, I’ll appreciate it.

The True Fairytale

I'm so very happy today......I've received an email from a friend of mine from JB. We contacted each other frequently through email almost everyday. She is a nice girl, open minded, send message directly to my face and we loved to discuss new topics almost every day. She's a virgin, I mean, she has NEVER fall in love, and she's older than me. Sometimes we both talked about that, she has no problem in a relationship, it was just that her heart still doesn't find the one she seek.

Then, suddenly, I haven't received her mail for almost a week. Weird....was she sick? I decided to drop her a mail yesterday (why I didn't call? Pls, don't ask.). Today, I received her reply........

A'kum,

what a week i had!!! you won't believe what happen to
me..

last wednesday, a friend call me asking for my picture.
he wanted to kenalkan to a guy.. so, ok..i bagilah.

then he asked me to berbuka posa at his house (lets
call him org tengah- married, warak punya org) with the guy that he want to
introduced to me..so on friday i went to his house..kalau ikutkan hati
malasnya...
but it turn out the guy was ok.. no firework for me..tapi baiklah
budaknya..peramah, tersenyum, ok looking..

went home around 10pm, then org tengah ni called me and
ask me mcmana? i said oklah..then he said that guy pun kata i'm ok, and somehow
willing to get married with me this December!!!! why december??...org tengah ni
tahu my sister is getting married on the 17th december.. him being a warak guy
feels like..cepat2kanlah!! and somehow i actually said yes to all of
this!!!

but still i manage to ask for the guy h/p number, so i
called him up, then i asked betul ke dia ni? baru jumpa 4-5 jam dah nak kawin
ngan i!! he said betul...cannot explain perasaan tu tiba2 rasa..memang terbuka
hati ngan i. he told me later that masa sampai kat umah org tengah tu, i was
walking in front of him, dia kata dah rasa lain macam.. ( i think u know what
that means??) sebelum ni memang ramai pompuan dia kenal, tapi tak terbuka hati
with any of them.. but with me, memang dia yakin.terbuka sungguh hatinya!!! i
asked him buat sembahyang istiharah tak? dia kata tak, sbb dia memang yakin ngan
i??!!!

so dalm masa seminggu ni, we already plan our tarikh
merisik, lepas raya, meminang, bulan 12 dan kawin paling lambat bulan
3!!

the first 2-3 days memang rasa tak yakin, sbb at the
same time i baru berkawan ngan someone.. i kind of rasa selesa with this
guy..rasa bersalah..and betul ke pilihan i!! but then this guy yg i'm getting
married ni adalah what i doa!! half of the ciri2 lelaki yg i minta dr Allh, ada
kat this guy..itu yg i doa, takkan i nak tolak..

I was speechless at first......then it came to me......see???? These kind of things do happened, I remembered my BM lecturer told me a story about his friend, he was about the same age at that time, met a girl at a party, went back home, call the girl and said

"I'll give you a week to think through, coz I'm proposing right now.."

and the girl said yes!

I'm really happy for her and if she were my sister, I would hug her straight,haha. So, Apek, benda nie mmg jadi....in real life. Kalau dah jodoh, because you will never know. What are the chances to see a thing like this? Small I must say.

Most people would say they need time to think, to know each other better, some would say it's better to love after marriage, and some, like the cases above, would leave to faith to decide. None of these are wrong, the only thing that is wrong is sex before marriage. It's their choice, their preference, because the aftermath of the marriage is.....we wouldn't know for sure, nobody do, even if you're married with Tom Cruise or Jessica Alba, the probability of either it was a success or not, depends on the life after marriage itself.

I don't think she's rushing into thing, like I said before, it's faith. I wish she will find happiness with that guy and good luck :-).

P/S: Btw, u, dah kawin pun nanti singgah la sini gak noo,hihihi.

Battle of the Sexes

I love battles. Specifically since the ancient era till world war two, more than that, it’s just pure fabrication, mere bullshit I say, where the army been positioned (if possible) on top of the moon while their machine of destruction been played as if the puppets with its master. Noted battle such as the Gaugamela (Alexander vs Darius), Hattin (2nd Crusade), Bosworth (English vs French) and Stalingrad (3rd Reich vs Red Army) showed the brilliance of the General in charge to fight against all odd. Don’t get me wrong, I loved and supported peace, but what is gone is gone, as they said, and the one survived must learned their bitter mistake, never to repeat again (I wish).

Of course, there were some stupid battles, not worthy to even start a war anyway, but there’s none other more stupid than this battle, The Battle of the Sexes. I was on my way to work this morning, tune in to Hitz, and the topic for the morning was “What do Women says about Men, and vice versa”.

I mean, come on, this battle has been fought for ages, since the dawn of Men (or Women, which ever you prefer) and till now, no one ever win, ever! Why? E.G.O. The three letter word that was and still be used by both sexes to blame each other. I always wondered why most people still too sensitive about this topic nowadays. It’s totally a waste of time, used too many resources, and ends with each other still trying to choke one another to dead.

Sometimes, I received email about this kind of thing, such as 10 things that man and woman wants, read it, laughed, and forwarded it to most people I knew, because I want to share my laughter with them, and some of them do reply with abusive words saying that I PURPOSELY send it to them, konon nak kutukla (didn’t they noticed other addresses?). What’s wrong with this type of people anyway? I have never met, not a single person in this world that admit that they are the same with other people

“Diorang lain, aku lain.”

was the most common possible answer that I received and yet when they received this type of mail, suddenly they are united, we are all equal, families, hah!

Please, be sensible, we ARE different from one another, the one that’s truly knows us is our own self, and if we do find some of the things people said about us is true (please refer to Johari’s Windows to know more) and turns out to be unpleasant, change it, if you can’t or shan’t do, then keep it to yourself, don’t start yelping around that the world are against you. Making a fuss about this sort of things show to the others that you are admitting it.

I know I can’t stop this battle, but to those of you out there, we can make a difference, God gave each of us a brain, used it!

3 Guys and a Toothbrush

Due to several reasons, the people involved in this particular story will not appeared in their real name.

I remembered it clearly as if it happened every day in my life. Once I went to Carrefour, shopping with two of my friends. We’ve just got back from our usual ritual minum petang (we don’t actually hang out everyday) and Dell decided to go to Carrefour, ‘to buy stuff’, he said.

So off we went to Wangsa Maju. As I set my foot on the floor of the Mega Mart, I can tell that that day will not be as usual as it seems. You see, my sense of direction in confine spaces (although I’ve spent ¾ of my daytime working there) sucks…. Even if someone asked me the direction of Canon inside of KLCC, I would say

“U go to level 3, then go straight, after the centre court.”

Was it really in level 3? I hope so…. Hey, I’m trying to be nice here. Anyhow, we decided to get separated as I wanted to go to buy some magazine (Military History of coz), Dell went to the FOS and Fred…….well, he goes where he usually goes ….no…..I have no idea. Eventually, I finished my transaction, and in search for those two…..little did I realise that they too, were on the moved, in the end, we end up searching each other (you do realised the line reception inside Carrefour, right? None).

We finally met up, and entered the Mart together. Actually, I haven’t planned to buy up anything, but after seeing Dell with his toiletries, we (Fred and I) decided to buy something too, maner tahan ooooo.

Now, I’m a loyalty brand kind of guy, and if that particular brand catches my eyes, there’s a big possibilities that I won’t change to anything else. I’ve decided to buy a toothbrush…..Oral B…Fred decided to buy an Oral B too, but different product. At that time, I wasn’t even looked at the price tag, auwwww…..come one, such a cute brush, how expensive can it get, right?

After piling up our tray, we headed to the cashier. It’s one of the weekdays, and naturally, most of the cashier’s were vacant, and as we were feeling a little naughty that day we decided to head to this one chick. Nothing special about this chick (mekap tebal) and I’m not just saying that because of the thing that’s about to happen next.

Imagine the look on our face when the amount sold shown RM 114.75. That price for 15 toiletries, toiletries? Fine, I said, I paid with my card and left…..just outside of the counter. As there weren’t many customers on that day, most of the cashiers eyes were on us three (we make a little fuss here and there), imagine three man, still wearing office attire, in a mart, gathered together and virtually taking the things they bought out of the plastic bag again.

Of course, we wouldn’t wasted our 4 years together taking an account degree, we quickly establish a field audit, and one of the item’s price catch our eyes…500ML x2 - RM 29.50. Natang apa 500ML x2?

After doing a quick recon, it’s confirmed…my toothbrush…. What were they thinking, a toothbrush costing almost 30 bucks??? That’s my 2 days lunch for God sake! This must be a mistake….then someone decided to be the hero of the day. He approach the cashier

“Dik, nie camner bole silap nie, salah tekan nie.”

“Btul la bang, mmg harga die camtu.”

And then she laughed, in the beginning, it wasn’t all that bad, then, behind me, another sound started, then another, and another…. until almost all the row behind and in front of me started to laugh too. Malu giler sioootttttt….

But we keep our cool, asking casually for a refund, and the cashier was kind enough to show us the way to the refund dpmnt (laughing all the way). This time, I went alone. Another chick stood behind the counter, expecting my receipt. Without saying anything, I gave her the receipt. There was no way she could know what had happened earlier, but once she set her eyes on the receipt…. She begins to laugh too, see! Do you guys see who’s the victim here? With that kind of reaction, it eases me a bit, nooooo….. I don’t think I’m the first one, hihi.

Actually there’s a liquid containing wax inside the toothbrush, but who cares? We have to see the dentist one way or another, and I know it wouldn’t get my teeth shinier than now, haha.

O yeah…. about that someone…it wasn’t me ;-)

The Jester

Ok, done, except for the photo part.......ermmmmm.....seems there's a lot to do, but nevermind, I'll take it one at a time. I'm in my office anyway, busy preparing "stuff", hihihi. It's ME in the month of Ramadhan for crying out loud, what do you expect :-) ? I can't focus right now....sleepppyyyy.....sleepppppyyyyy.

Anyhow, I would like to tell you about The Jester. What was it? What makes it so special for me to put it right on top of this page? My Idol? My ex?( Yeah right.... her), My frens????

Well, none of the above.......nothing special, not an idol or something and definitely not my ex, in reality, I despise them (Jester) .....Clowns! O God!! Clowns. I can't remember when or where or why, but it's there. The feelings was like your heart being vibrated by a pair of invisible hand, and no, it's no fun either.

In other word, clowns scared the shit out of me....period. Well, there's nothing wrong with their face or something....and no, I have this feeling even before I saw Pennywise, so don't blame him for no reason, ai?

I even wrote a short story about them, dedicated to the thing I'm scared the most, although it never been published anywhere, I've satisfied myself to put aside my fear of them, and once again, I managed to dedicate something to my fear...and here it is.

BTW.....did I ever mention I'm afraid of balloons too, hihi.

First Day, First Light

At last, dawn of a new era of my life has begun......I've created my own blog! Yeah, yeah, nothing to shout about, I could be the how many zero was it number person to have created a blog. But I don't care, it's mine (at last). You know, its not that cool to be on other person blog, I mean, to be a guest writer, commentator or whatever (though it is cool to have someone asking you for it, I guess), but at least they credit you for it.

So here it is.....hmmmmm.....what should I do next??? O yeah...the profile...now.....what should I put? Errr.....guys?? Will you excuse me for a sec? Be back soon ;-)