My Refridgerator

Another Weird Dream

2009-12-30T11:22:00.002+08:00

Last night I had one of those weird dreams again..weird dreams have been occuring to me like a television series.

I was in a foreign country,probably Thailand,on a holiday with my family. However,it seems to be in the country-side but with a 6-star hotel.That's where we were staying.

One morning,I went for a long jog ~10km along the streets. I saw a lot of beautiful contry-side sights like the mountains,farms and also how the locals live.You couldn't really tell the difference if it's a foreign country and Malaysia.I remebered it was long because I saw a lot of scenaries and I was just too tired to run back the whole of it.So I was walking back home when I saw a mssive accident between a car and bull-cart.I continued walking home.

Once I reached the hotel,I had to enter from the back door.This is because apparently my family and I checked into the residential suite instead of the hotel.The entrance was waaay creepy.In fact the hotel had its own ghost stories.

So after entering the back door,I had to climb a few flight of stairs,where I met a bunch of psychos/ghosts which also appeared ala-movies,in shocking and awe manner,out of nowhere.

Once at the lobby,apparently the Residential Suite and the hotel lobby is separated by a glass wall.The hotel lobby is exquisite,beautifully decorated with original antiques.

Going up in the lift is another horror moment.Apparently first time I go up,the button's not working so the lift was just going up to pick up another passenger and then go down again.The second time around,the lift was just simply going up but never reached its destination.

The dream was too creepy I woke up.

Lifeless and bored

2009-09-21T11:05:00.005+08:00

So seems like I haven't touch my blog for quite some time despite the fact that this should have been my space to vent and flare..hehe.

Yes I've been busy and all but not to the extent I can't at least touch my blog a few times in a week.

I can tell myself to be more consistent but we all know where that will all ends.

I guess I've been searching for the meaning of my existence but still by now,haven't found yet.

I guess life's about living and not so much of searching. But then, what is considered living?

Bla bla bla..by my next posting,I would have my own "thing" goin on. =)

Notes from The Lion City

2009-07-14T13:27:00.004+08:00

I came back after 4 months away. Main reason was of course the family. Other than that, life seems to be on a hand-brake, nothing seems right. My life felt sluggish. I didn't a change of view. I would have gone for a personal holiday but budget was not in my pocket as I just signed off to start both my life and retirement insurance for the future. Other than that, I really had no business coming back to a place I spent most of my first 19 years.

With not much money in pocket, there wasn't anything much I could do in this expensive island. I basically sat at home, but all is not that bad and boredom wasn't that long. Arrived on Saturday evening, already given the rest of the day was to spend with the family.

Sunday morning was a proper lazy Sunday. A weekend morning where hot breakfast was waiting for me. Other than that, it was teh normal silence of the house, except for the ever-reliable Mom, making sure the household runs like a well-oiled engine. Everyday sure has their own thing going on. Gone are the days where weekend morning are meant for hours of cartoons for the family.

Monday was when the boredom starts sinking in.I literally had nothing to do.I would have gone and painted the town red,but budget wasn't in the allowance.I did brought some readings and writing but I never really felt like doing either of them.The only thing I could think of was going to the library and borrowing some books for a quick one day read.

Uninspired

2009-07-04T10:55:00.002+08:00

To be honest, life's not that bad. This must be just one of those days or probably weekends, where I feel kind of down and lonesome, eventhough I have a crowd around me. Crowd as in people I can just call to hangout, fact, my parents are in town.

I really don't feel like exercsing these days, what more diet. Wait, to be honest, I am doing quite alright in the dieting part. I've reduced my intakes and actually stop eating late at night. That should be a good start. Let's take things slow. I know it's not all the healthy food we're supposed to eat but at least I eat the everyday starchy food in moderation. I just don't have the drive/motivation to take it anymore than that.

I'm actually focused on my career. I actually understand the things I'd have to do to get to the next level, though I have to admit, maybe it's the environment of the office, but in a bigger chance, it's probably me, I'm not all fired up though. I mean, I'm doing all the thing required for me to become a better engineer but something pulling my heart chords and I'm quite sure it's not cholestrol. I'm doing them but not in a blazing way, if you catch my drift.

So I guess,in a traditional loser kinda way, I'm there but not really there. I'm doing things but not up to my capability,unless this is my capability, which I hope not. I just feel tired and uninspired. Maybe I just need some rest/vacation but I don't have the budget at the moment. I'll go back home next week.I just have to do this all alone,no distraction.Maybe I'll chill in Pulau Ketam myself come November,hopefully I get the Fraser Hill bungalow in December for my family,then spend some time exploring Penang with my friends.In the meantime,it's crunch time.Keep my purse string tight,focus on my career,try to resurrect my passion for losing weight.

Religion-wise,I've been great compared to the past few months.Religion's personal,it's between me and the big Guy up there so I shan't elaborate further.

Chicks-wise,I'm doing ok,or better than ok. I don't have any now but I got a few great company (as in people to hang out with) and I salute myself for having the courage to ask one of my crush out and though it didn't worked out,I know I tried.And the maturity over the years just shows cause I'm not frustrated or disappointed due to the results,fact I think at least now we're better friends. I'm already looking at the second target but with due respecdt to her, maybe I'll give some leeway time before I do anything. If not, what am I? Just jumping from one target to the other?

Where the hell is everyone in my MSN list. Can't be that they're all still asleep. It's almost noon now.

How to make Fire from ice

2009-06-13T15:49:00.002+08:00

In reference to one of my previous post that starts off with a quote from the movie The Edge, below is the follow up (taken from the website artofmanliness.com):

Fire from ice isn’t just some dumb cliché used for high school prom themes. You can actually make fire from a piece of ice. All you need to do is form the ice into a lens shape and then use it as you would when starting a fire with any other lens. This method can be particularly handy for wintertime camping.

Get clear water. For this to work, the ice must be clear. If it’s cloudy or has other impurities, it’s not going to work. The best way to get a clear ice block is to fill up a bowl, cup, or a container made out of foil with clear lake or pond water or melted snow. Let it freeze until it forms ice.

Your block should be about 2 inches thick for this to work.

Form your lens. Use your knife to shape the ice into a lens. Remember a lens shape is thicker in the middle and narrower near the edges.

Polish your lens. After you get the rough shape of a lens, finish the shaping of it by polishing it with your hands. The heat from your hands will melt the ice enough so you get a nice smooth surface.

Start a fire. Angle your ice lens towards the sun just as you would any other lens. Focus the light on your tinder nest and watch as you make a once stupid cliché come to life.

5 Qualities of a Pencil We can Relate to

2009-06-12T16:16:00.000+08:00

"We are all giants, raised by pygmies, who have learned to walk with perpetual mental crouch." - Robert Anton Wilson

The following is an excerpt from Paulo Coelho’s book, Like the Flowing River. I believe there will be many more paragraphs, poems, sentences from this book , just like his other books, that will inspire me, and thus be placed here in my blog as a reminder for myself.
1) We are capable of great things, buy we must never forget that there is a hand guiding our steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.
2) Now and then, a pencil will have to stop writing and sharpened. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, it’s much sharper. So we, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make us a better person.
3) The pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.
4) What really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside us.
5) The pencil always leaves a mark. In just the same way, we should know that everything we do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in our every action.

Why Thailand was never a Sovereign Country

2009-06-11T16:11:00.000+08:00

"Screw the government!" - Legends of the Fall

"Screw the middle class!" - Evita

I was never good at History, eventhough I am fascinated by the stories/legends/myths that is being told in the textbooks. I guess reading and studying are two totally different issues.

However, that does not stop me from speculating why Thailand has remained the only country in the world that is never been conquered, even during World War II. Again, coming from not a History buff, readers should check my facts with their History books/encyclopedia. If it haven't rung a bell yet, I am freestyling crapping here. I am quite sure Siam was not always a peaceful place to be, they tried to kick some sweet Cambodian, Burmese, Laos and even Malaya's ass as far I could vaguely remembered.

Upon visiting Phuket last year and Pattaya this recent April, I honestly find the people very friendly, unassuming and kind. It got me thinking, If these are the attributes that meet the conquerers back then, who would want to take over this country? Furthermore, all these stressed up soldiers would be met up by
1) Massage sir?
2) Tuk2?
3) Suits for you sir?
4) Show, show, tiger show?
5) etc
Imagine if you were a soldier and you land in a country where the locals welcome you like a tourist with all these "services", would you a) feel more motivated and angry and start attacking? or b) feel surprisingly relax and surrender to this unassuming crowd and get pampered?

Thats what I thought. Thus, my submitted thesis/paper for Why Thailand was never a Sovereign Country.

Dignifying the Malay Language

2009-05-31T16:14:00.002+08:00

"All that we are is the result of all that we have thought. It is founded on thought. It is based on thought." - Buddha, The Dhammapada

As much as to fully understand the Al-Quran we need to be able to comprehend the Arabic language.

Thus as much as to understand the knowledge around the world these days, English would be the obvious choice. We cannot expect somebody to translate subjects from English to Malay everytime. What if the subject is not a popular one yet among the Malay-speaking community, like psychology and nuclear physics? This attitude will leave our community far behind. Knowledge, like computer advancement, evolves at an almost light speed rate. If we don't keep up today, we will be lost tomorrow.

But why English? This is because, somehow over the past few decades, English has been the chosen language as a lingua-franca, language used for business communication and education. This is not generally true but at least in major parts of the world. If in the future, the lingua-franca turns out to be Mandarin, then trust you me, it's Mandarin we will have to learn then.

But other countries still maintain their language and yet still remain advanced? This is because in their country alone, they are very much interested in these subjects. The Malay-speaking community generally speaking are not that into research studies and our community is not that educated to start with. So we have a lot more to learn from others compared to what they ned to learn from us. From such interests in subjects, they research, study and in fact, learn from other societies/countries, even if it takes to learn their language.

From all these, here are, in my opinions how we can dignify the Malay language:

1) Translate as much books from other language to Malay

2) Translate as much Malay books to other language

3) Get our people to be fluent in at least another language other than their Mother Tongue and English

4) Promote Malaysians writing, with that, encourage writers to produce books, in Malay, preferably in a technical subject/topic. If ever we have a well-written thesis or textbook on a certain subject matter, wouldn't others would be interested to understand/research the content of the book and that would require translation on their part?

5) Arts & Culture, Movies & Theatres, Writing Competitions & Tourism.

Requiring other races to be fluent in our beloved language while we do not take interest in other language is a passive manner to spread the beauty of the Malay language. As they say in business, you got to spend a dime to a make a dime, I think the same goes with getting people interested in any language. With that, I totally understand and agree, it is easier said than done, bit not impossible.

Poem for Thought

2009-05-22T15:25:00.000+08:00

If somebody would be my guest, shall we discuss the beautiful song/poem below. I am not one who appreaciate poems that much, but upon reading this, I simply find it intriguing. What is he talking about? Did his lover died? Are they fighting for a cause? As you can see, I don’t really understand it, though I really aprreaciate it.

Srikandi Cintaku – M.Nasir
Dingin malam tirai kenanganku
Menyerlahkan sekurun ingatan
Terciptalah rimba kehidupan
Pencintaan dalam perjuangan

Kesetiaan sebagai bekalan
Bisikanmu penuh pengharapan
Tiada garis dapat memisahkan
Segalanya kudratmu Tuhan

Alam bagai mengerti
Segala yang terjadi
Embun minitis panas simpati
Pertemuan tiada awal akhir

Perutusan berdarah kuterima
Gugur kuntum di tengah halaman
Medan ini kurasakan sepi
Terpaku pilu

Kan ku usung oh jenazah cinta
Semadikan insan kasih suci
Semangat mu tetap bersamaku
Selama pasti

Kusemaikan pepohon kemboja
Yang bunganya adalah hatiku
Semadilah dalam kedamaian
Semangatmu tetap bersamaku

Debu malam merangkup kenangan
Menyedarkan dari lamunanku
Percintaan dalam perjuanagan
Kau abadi srikandi cintaku

Like the Flowing River

2009-05-19T12:42:00.001+08:00

Be like the flowing river,
Silent in the night.
Be not afraid of the dark.
If there are stars in the sky, reflect them back.
If there are clouds in the sky,
Remember, clouds, like the river, are water,
So, gladly reflect them too,
In your own tranquil depths.
-Manuel Bandeira

Toilet Managment

2009-03-23T12:14:00.000+08:00

"Did you know you can make fire out of ice? You can, you know. Fire out of ice. Think about it. Fire out of ice. Think. Think." - Movie, The Edge

I started having flatulence since last Thursday. Probably due to spending quite some time on the ‘inspiration chair’, I actually thought up of the following management analogy to the maintainence of toilet bowls.
For those concerned, the flatulence is over starting around 7:30 PM, Monday today. After days of uncomfortable and slightly painful bloated stomach, and having some ginger ale, teh sarbat or what the people here call teh halia and finally on Saturday, bought a medicine from the pharmacy, it finally works. I thought flatulence affects only babies.
Nevertheless, back to the management philosophy, I had the luck of a chicken in a slaughter-house last Thursday when I decided to use the Executive Toilet. The difference between an Executive Toilet and the Normal Toilet is that executive toilet is much smaller and thus have less toilet bowls, urinals and sink compared to the normal one. Thus, at any time, there would not be that much users in the executive toilet. On the other hand, we could always see it in a way that the equipments in the executive toilet has been much “shared” compared to the other one.
To add to my fortunes, I could not really release myself due to the flatulence. It took a lot of effort to lay those pile of shit that I did last Thrusday. I think I spent half of last Thursday hanging out in the toilet.
When I was done with my business, I tried to flush. I still had not the chance to wash myself yet. To my horror, instead of the waste going down with the flush into the toilet, the whole level in the toilet bowl started to rise!! Eeepp! I stopped flsuhing. Thank God I realised that the toilet bowl was spoiled or the waste would spill all over my shoes if not on my pants pulled down half-way down my legs. The smell was just plastic-cy. A strong one too.
The level in the toilet bowl of a brownish metallic plastic-cy smell mixture started to slowly goes down. It couldn’t go down any faster. I just waited. There was a moment of panic when at the bottleneck of the toilet bowl, when the waste starts to accumulate and the water has simply washed down to the sewer. It seems that the waste could explode back in recoil and some might just splatter on my clothes, if not my head. The pattern above repeated about 3 times. Of course, in that heat of the moment, deep in my head, I was cursing the management. Then it struck me. How would any management handle an issue like this? It would take a screwup like what was going on, filled up with shit, then management would have to take action like it or not.
Imagine this. The toilet bowl is clean, since its every users just mainly pee into it and eventhough the flush doesn’t really work that well, it basically manages to dilute out the pees. Comes to a time, one responsible user reports what he sees to the management. Management comes and sees that there’s nothing wrong with the toilet bowl eventhough enough explaination has been displayed by the ineffectiveness of the flush. Thus, it would take an incident like mine until management would have to take proper and stern action to rectify the shitty situation, which would have not occured had the management listened to the early tell tales. That if, somebody bothered to report.
Now, after three cycles of trying to flush down what used to live my inside, I decided that the only way to tell the managment that there’s something worng woth the toilet is to let and leave behind a strong sign and signal, my floating crap.

My Trainings

2009-01-18T21:26:00.001+08:00

The more I train, the more I realize that I'm weak.If the words seem familiar, it's probably because it is from "The more I learn, the more I realized I don't know". Or this reminds me a verse from one of the UB-40 song, which I'm sure is not Red Wine. It's another of their hit, which goes like "The more I learn, the more I know more than before." D-uh!

Nevertheless, the first sentence just rings in my mind during gym training this morning. Today is Sunday. Every Sunday, swim training is mainly land training which consists of first, warm up by probably running around the Bukit Jalil National Aquatic Centre say, 6 times. I'd give it an approximate of 200m/round. Then followed by 3 times, 30m of duck walk, frog jump and leap frog. Never fails to kill every dying hope in my thighs. I can be assured the pain would linger way into Monday's lunch. Then comes the abs core training/conditioning. To be honest I don't know the difference but it just sounds good. Basically, this is where you'd exercise your core muscles, which is your abs. Again, sometimes I swear I could hear my abs crying for help. It was during that moment this morning that I realize, crap, I'm turning 27 this year soon, I can't do a proper sit-up, chin-ups and even do that well in the pool. Honestly, I thought land workouts are the ones that I could outdo the kids. Kids? Yeah, my classmates are made up of kids, but more on that later. For abs, we'll do bridge, side bridge on each side and leg bridge, also for each leg. After that, we'll do this workout called "Superman", whereby you lay flat on your stomach and raise your legs and arms for an amount of time decided by the coaches. We do them 3 times in a circuit manner. Just now, the coaches opt for a longer bridge and bypass the others except "Superman." I think I almost cried. Metaphorically speaking.

Then comes the gym for those considered grown-up enough. Hohoho, compared to the rest, I'm way past grown-up. Even during gym, I couldn't maintain myself to carry-out some of the workouts. This again got me thinking, maybe I should start some gym training for myself. I am clearly lacking power and endurance in my muscle, even for my swimming sessions. Fine, I'm bigger than the kids but I guess the power and endurance ratio of their muscle to their body-weight is better than mine.

I started joining this class last late October. One of goals of all time is to see myself having a 6-pecs, and indirectly points towards losing some (lots) weight. Fuelled by ultimate boredom on weekends back then, which mainly consists of waking up late and watching TV all throughout the weekend, I always thought I should go swimming. Somehow I did get the idea if there's competitive training class, I should join. Firstly, because I love sports and have always respected the discipline and dedication of sports person around the world. Secondly, a class would probably motivate me coming back to the class rather than coming and doing workouts on my own week-in week-out and soon enough I'd trailed off into the abyss.Thus I start researching for Olympic-sized swimming pool in KL. In fact I started this research since mid- last year. That time, I hadn't got the idea of doing swimming classes, just looking for a place to do my workouts. I'd figured I can swim, it's sure to waste it by not doing or practicing it. I had in mind to build up my capability of doing a 100 laps again as I could do when I was 14. The only one that I found out to be at least swimmable is Bukit Jalil. Man, that's far! Thus my research continues on and off for around half a year onwards. It was only on that fateful weekend before the last weekend on October that the final straw was dropped on my mental health. I know I am lazy but I'm just not the type that lie around all day. I need to do something, something fun and challenging and if its help me achieve some of my goals, that would just be smashing.I remembered on that fateful Saturday I told myself that I'd just checkout Bukit Jalil to gauge just how freaking far is it. Funnily, despite that, I still didn't do it. Lazy and just doesn't make sense. To be honest, I've long told myself to just checkout that damn place. Who knows I might even find some classes offered there despite the fact all my research online has brought me nothing so far. So I sat around lazing that Saturday and by nightfall, it drove me crazy. I finally did get my ass of to Bukit Jalil the next morning.

Surprise, surprise, it is far and to my utter disbelief, there are classes offered. A few in fact. They were just simple banners outside the Aquatic Centre. I took the details down and I was so excited at the prospect that I went to a cybercafe that evening to checkout their website, instead of just waiting for the next day to use the internet connection in the office.Long story short, I start attending the classes. I still remember I had cramps during my first few classes. These days, I just use that excuse to give myself more rest in between sprints. You have no idea how crazy the classes are. Fine the kids can do it better than me but I just can't handle it. Nevertheless, I promise myself to be honest and complete everything given to me even if it means I'll be last one out of the pool.When I first contacted the Coaches, they warned me that the classes are filled with kids and if I don't mind, sure they don't mind having me around. I told them that as long as the kids, coaches and the parents don't mind, I'm in. I was really set for a proper workout after such a long time. Even then, I knew and understood these kids and coaches are at least semi-pro, yes, they're going to beat my ass off in training, but all that's important is the workout. I am ready to be humbled. (I have no idea that they were that good. I was expected to be beaten up just nicely but they really beat me up good doing the laps in the pool. Still, my humility got me far until today) Even the distance doesn't matter anymore. What would I need all those time at home for anyway? I'm not doing anything! I might as well waste it, if it is a waste of time, hanging around kids and working out.

So far, I'd have to say, it hasn't been an ounce of time wasted on all the classes. I also thought out that these are kids. It's probably not necessary but I thought if I were one of the parents, I wouldn't feel comfortable if a grown-up man gets too close with their kids. Thus I sort of made an agreement with myself that'll I'll stay out as much as possible of the social circle.Last time, when I used to attend swimming classes during my primary and early secondary school years, they were only once a week and for an hour. The classes this time around are 6 times a week, 2 hour a session. I was given the option to come 3 times a week which I thought was and is a better idea. I'm not planning to be a semi-pro swimmer at this age, just melt away enough fats so that I could see my 6-pecs.Alas now I have something to wake up to every Saturday and Sunday morning, and after work on Monday. They are all very tiring but I always feel satisfied after the class, even if I don't think I performed to my maximum that day. The muscle ache and the coldness of the water seems to be worth it. Of course, during earlier days, it was always demotivating to have to wake up and take a long journey and then torture yourself for two hours in humiliation as parents watch this grownup guy being beaten by their sons and daughters. But I always feel good about myself after the class despite the tiredness. Of course, there were just some classes I just had to miss due to laziness. But after some time, you'd realize my day would just be better and worth it when I go training and the results also speak for themselves. I do feel good about myself and now I'm thinking on how I can upgrade my trainings, and now trying to start up my gym sessions back again.

I want to be better. In the end, I just want to be a better person.It does helps me in other aspects of my life/game. My badminton improves tremendously. I seem to enjoy running around the court and become more alert of the shuttlecocks whereabout.In conclusion, my workout timetable would look like:

Monday: Swim
Tuesday: Badminton
Wednesday: Gym
Thursday Badminton
Friday: Gym
Saturday: Swim
Sunday: Gym/Swim

Too much? Overdoing it? To be honest, I'm still bored on most of the time on the weekends. I think I should have at least one more badminton session and maybe add in a futsal game. Now to control my food/nutrition intake.

Prophet Muhammad's Last Sermon

2008-10-01T11:14:00.003+08:00

I came across this article after Aidilfitri prayers this morning, and I thought it was very touching.

Audhu billahe minishaitan Ar-rajim(I seek refuge in Allah from the rejected Satan.)

Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim(In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.)

The Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) Last Sermon This sermon was delivered on the Ninth Day of Dhul Hijjah, 10 A.H. in the 'Uranah valley of Mount Arafat' (in Mecca). After praising, and thanking Allah the Prophet (pbuh) said:
"O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and TAKE THESE WORDS TO THOSE WHO COULD NOT BE PRESENT HERE TODAY.
O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your LORD, and that HE will indeed reckon your deeds. ALLAH has forbidden you to take usury (interest), therefore all interest obligation shall henceforth be waived. Your capital, however, is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer any inequity. Allah has Judged that there shall be no interest and that all the interest due to Abbas ibn 'Abd'al Muttalib (Prophet's uncle) shall henceforth be waived...
Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things.
O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have rights over you. Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under Allah's trust and with His permission. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers. And it is your right that they do not make friends with any one of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste.
O People, listen to me in earnest, worship ALLAH, say your five daily prayers (Salah), fast during the month of Ramadan, and give your wealth in Zakat. Perform Hajj if you can afford to.
All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.
Remember, one day you will appear before ALLAH and answer your deeds. So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.
O People, NO PROPHET OR APOSTLE WILL COME AFTER ME AND NO NEW FAITH WILL BE BORN. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the QURAN and my example, the SUNNAH and if you follow these you will never go astray.
All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness, O ALLAH, that I have conveyed your message to your people".

The Pot at the End of the Rainbow

2008-09-30T13:29:00.002+08:00

"A man with Nothing, has EVERYTHING to fight for." - Anonymous

It takes 1 week for a complete cycle
3 to get used to it
4 to finally feel some changes
6 to see them
8 to get half-way there
10 is the professional duration
12 for second-nature

Language Education Part I

2008-09-29T05:39:00.005+08:00

I believe education don't make you rich, it just makes you a better person. What you do with that education can make you rich. Thus, quality education makes quality residents.

With the current Malaysian education system, I don't think having other races studying Malay, if that's what we're doing (note: studying and learning Malay are two different things altogether, but hopefully they both come hand in hand), is a good thing altogether for the Malays in the first place. It is good for the nation, probably for the language itself but I think it gives the Malays a disadvantage compared to other races, mainly the Chinese and Indian.

The initiation of other races to pick up the Malay language in history was probably a good idea, or might even be stated noble. Malaysians at that time needed a language to unify themselves and Malay, I'd probably guess, was the simplest one to learn. Imagine a whole cauldron of the local Malays and immigrants from China, India and others in Malaysia trying to communicate with each other. Furthermore, it was the land of the Malays. It was also only logical for the other races to pick up the language of the locals. As they say, in Rome, do as the Romans do. (Whose they?) Or as the Malay idiom states, When in a chicken coop; cluck, when in a goat's den; bleat.

Fast forward 5o odd years later, the Indians and Chinese knows their Mother Tounge, Malay and some of them, English. The Malays knows only Malay and some of us, English. What gives? I'm speaking in general here. Of course there's kind souls out there who just knows every language possible that they could learn. (i.e People who knows other languages that they need not know of, more impressive if they also know some dialects.) I'm referring to the general mass here. And of course there are just some individuals who refuse to learn anything else outside their Mother Tounge. Those who grew up learning English alone have another problem in hand.

Firstly, marketibility. The Indians and Chinese who knows Malay, English and Mother Tounge are able to do business in the Malay Archipelago, Western World and countries that have English as their communcation language, and of course the two most populated countries in the world, India and China respectively. The Malays on the hand, plans to mainly survive in the Malay Archipelago and the English-speaking nation. I understand that we're just missing out on the two countries only at this time, which if I may add, their economy and growth are just predicted to be mercurial over the next few years. However, take note, half of the Malays right now are just reluctant enough to learn English, backed up by certain NGOs that is trying to hold on to the old ideas that knowing Malay alone is enough to live through. On the hand, they're right, we can live through life knowing Malay alone but our scope of life would then be limited. As I state above, the more education we know, the better person we are.

As much as a lot of education can be translated in other language, how else can you learn about a culture than in its own language. Language IS culture. Personally, I just think it's sexy for a person to know a few languages and the culture behind them.

On the other end of the spectrum, we still have the tribal mentality, whereby we're proud and happy when people would like to learn our language and culture, and at the same time telling our children how negative other people's cultures are.

The Malays would agree in order to fully appreaciate the Al-Quran, one would need to master the Arabic language first. Then isn't it logical in order to understand most of the subjects and ongoings of the world, to learn English at least? English is not the natural derivation of most of the education today. Most of the philosophies, ideas and sciences today came in the form of Greeks, Latin, Arabic, etc when they were first introduced. English just happen to be the language of, for a reason or another, the mass to translate these subjects and ideas into. Then people would bring up; what about the French? The French safeguard their language, are very proud of their language and would consider anyone talking to them in any other language than French in their country as being rude and insensitive. Can we ever achieve that? Can be raise the Malay standards up to a level the French regards theirs?

Listen

2008-09-28T13:58:00.009+08:00

I think one of the world's or society's biggest problem these days is that nobody listens anymore. Everybody hears something, but nobody listens. This is probably why psychotherapists/psychiatrists are getting popular these days. It hasn't catchup on this side of the world yet but I think soon, soon enough. By the way, influenced after half-way reading Dr M Scott Peck's "The Road Less Travelled", I feel compelled of getting myself into one too.

Back to the main topic, when was the last time we listen to out friend/colleague/family without being ready to jump to reply/offer advice/wishing they would just go away? I think there are a lot of instances where people actually just want to be listened out and they would and could solve their problems themselves. Instead, we were so ready to jump to give our 2 cents worth of advice/experience that we made the whole situation worse. Firstly, the speaker would not have been able to release his/her venting. Secondly, if the advice is not what the person is looking for or not up to his/her experience, a debate would break-out or a bigger confusion follows. Come to think of it, when did we ever really understand the other person's situation before we open our own gaps?

So friends, starting from now on, can't we just sit down, smile and listen when somebody needs our ears? Then we response accordingly. =)

F1 and Tong

2008-09-27T22:41:00.003+08:00

So Tong was in town just now and I always love to show my friends around town. He used to be based in the same office, Menara AA, but now have moved on to the JB Yard site office. Cool guy, always chill, never seem to have a wretched time. I guess that's kinda why us guys like to pull his legs much often than not. Always the victim on whatever jokes that anyone could think of.

He was supposed to be in town with some of his colleagues anyway today but they pulled out on the last minute. I offered to show him around instead. On the contrary, I was supposed to hangout at his JB place, which is Bluewave Hotel/Service Aparments. I just thought next time would be a better time to hangout in JB as it's fasting month this time around. We could do much better and much more fun the next time around.

So we just basically catch up on stuffs since he has moved on to JB, which was just 3 weeks ago which now seemed a long time ago. Basically we just walked around Suntec/City Hall/Bugis area as we talked before we finally settle at Plaza Singapura and watch House Bunny because we were just getting tired of walking and I was getting dehydrated and there's so much two guys can talk and walk at the same time before it all gets too gay to turn back. Hahaha.

The movie was goooood and definitely recommend for everyone to watch it. We hit the train to Lavendar and I intended to let him try some food which can only be found in Singapore, which also be set to coincide with my breaking of fast. So I ordered Sup Tulang and Kuey Teow Goreng.Somehow, we were just in time to get good seats because five minutes after we sat, the whole of Golden Mile Food Court got packed. Was glad that Tong found the food different and delicious. Him, being quite an ON type, he actually pressed to try the Kuey Teow Goreng when I had forgotten to order it. It was funny cause he hadn't obtain the skill to eat the Tulangs yet as he couldn't get the sum-sum out and couldn't clean the meats of the bone, but he was a good sport in trying the food.

So after that we just get our way back home, me being glad Pasir Ris is not that far from Lavendar while he had to go to Kranji, pass through both customs and then take a cab back to his hotel/servced apartment. Oh, he did tell me that he thinks his resident has a kinky massage parlour below. Hahaha, good for you Tong! Dream come true eh?

What I Just Learned over the Past Few Days

2008-09-26T09:22:00.003+08:00

I have been reading "The Road Less Travelled" by Dr M.Scott Peck. He defines discipline as:

Delaying gratification
Acceptance of responsibility
Dedication to truth
Balancing

There are two types of disorders in a human being, neurosis and character. We all have them to a certain extent, some more than the other. Those in need of professional help are those that have one overbalancing the other or have just too much of one.

"Put most simply, these two conditions are disorders of responsibility and as such they are opposite styles of relating to the world and its problems."

Neurotic disorder:Assumes too much responsibility. E.g: Everything wrong in this person's life/world is due to him/her. (The team lost again, I must train harder.)

Character Disorder:Does not assume enough responsibility. E.g: Eveything wrong in this person's life/world is due to everyone/everything else. (The team lost again, this coach is lousy!)

Life

2008-09-16T08:50:00.000+08:00

There's something about this life that I feel something is definitely missing. I can't really put a finger on it or maybe this is just the way we're suppose to live. Being me, I guess that's what I'm trying to find out when I probably should just focus live life as it is. My recent plan is to go back to my grandparents village back in Indonesia..konon macam going back to my roots la..like finding who the hell am I? But on a tourists basis, I don't want those weird, awkward moments when a distance family member plays host to you when you hardly know each other.

That'll probably explains why I'm always seeking for stuffs that tries to define or explains life. I recently was looking high and low for this movie called "I Heart Huckabees", which I somehow still remembered my buddy, Ravi, recommended a few years back. I finally settled watching it online from sidereel.com. It is like a "B" grade movie with Dustin Hoffman playing one of the leads. Below are the "words of wisdom" I managed to extract from the movie. It somehow doesn't have the same awe effect like Love Actually or Click. Click? Click, Anis? I know, I know, go watch it and you'll understand what I mean.

The Universe is a infinious sphere,with the centres everywhere and the circumference nowhere.

My identity is an illusion.

Whatever I'm supposed to do and be.I've already done and am.

The Three Rules of the Universe
1)Your mind is always going to be filled up,it might as well be with something helpful
2)There's no such thing as You and Me
3)There's no such thing as nothing.

There is no remainder in the mathematics of infinity.

(I dont know why but my vocabulary, conversation English is simply getting ridiculous these past few weeks. Am I getting retarded? So much for a retardsrule email) I actually brought back my dictionary back to my KL home when I went back home in Singapore recently.

My English and writing skills is getting crappy. You'll forgive me for my words structure here and now. This should be a good start to get back to loving writing back all over again. I shall try to commit writing my blog once in two days.

"Still looking out for that life-changing moment"

Sketch

2008-08-09T11:10:00.004+08:00

A Beautiful Lie

2008-08-04T09:14:00.001+08:00

It’s a beautiful lie
It’s the perfect denial
Such a beautiful lie to believe in
So beautiful, beautiful that it makes me….

Everyone’s looking at me
I’m running round in circles, baby
A quiet desperation building higher
I’ve got to remember this is just a game
-30 seconds to Mars; A Beautiful Lie.

Deflowering

2008-08-01T15:42:00.002+08:00

My first post in my blog has been long overdue.On other hand,everytime I get into this blog,I'd get writer's blog or I'll get fussed up about the music on my blog,I'd be too tired to put down anything.So here goes,let's see where to start.

Is it me or has recently breaking up people have been something hip or cool.I'm talking about the recent songs that has been hitting the airwaves.It started with Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend",then followed by Jesse Mccartney's "Leavin' " and recently I discovered an uber-sexy song by The Roots "Breaking You Off" and I have just used the word uber without really understanding what it means.The Roots have been known to mix-match hip-hop,jazz and other genres and being eclectic.I don't understand the meaning of eclectic either so off I went to dictionary.com and I think the thrid meaning out of the five results is the desired meaning which is;

not following any one system, as of philosophy, medicine, etc., but selecting and using what are considered the best elements of all systems.

Ooo,so they don't follow any particular genre!How cool is that?In fact,it's sassy,sexy,it's so turning me on,it's getting a bit chilly in here....oowh,where are my clothes?!

Yeah,I thought I'm feeling a bit serious today,thus the previous paragraph.Work's been great but I think it's due time for a proper break.I promised myself a few months ago that I need to get out of KL every two months at least to keep myself sane.No,this experiment is still ongoing.I said I am going to take a short break alternately with a proper long break every month.Thus if this month I'd go off for a long break,then next month I should take a short break somewhere.Somehow I feel that's not enough cause I went to Langkawi end of last month and I'm still feeling drained now.I'm just looking forward to chill with the fam' next week,yerp that's right,I'm going back to Singapore after the previous which was back in April!!Anak durhaka betul!!It's going to be exciting as Fadhilla is getting married,the first of the cuz's to get married.There,first time I'm going to miss my Creative Writing Class.

That class is kinda cool,great crowd,very therapeutic,and as everyone finds out,it could get addictive.See,now I can't stop writing and it has branched out to whatever crap I'm thinking and it all started with songs that's suppose to break people up.