katakata

UNTITLED

2009-03-14T19:16:00.002+08:00

I have no idea to write at all, but it seems like I haven't been writing for quite some time.

So here are some words...

GOD I MISS MY LIFE IN 2006 SO MUCH!!!!
Getting around with my wife (of course she wasn't my wife yet until end of 2006).
Working whole heartedly with this company (not anymore now).
Sending beautiful SMSes to each other with my loved one.
Having a good nasi lemak and coffee at Jinho with friends around.

Oh boy, life HAS to go on.

A BETTER HALF, A BETTER TOMORROW

2008-11-23T09:29:00.008+08:00

It was slightly raining, but that didn't stop these two souls from merging their hearts together, witnessed by relatives and friends, secured by a piece of ring and a beautiful masterpiece of gold bracelete.
Decision was made, and the better half has been chosen to complete the tide of the upcoming life and challenges.
This mosque is so beautiful with colors. Congratulations buddy, take care of your wife and be sure to have kids after I have mine :) .

Para Pelakon Utama:
Sang Kacak
Sang Jelita
Tok Imam...dan beberapa pelakon tambahan...

Tok Imam: "Kita suruh dia baca Al-Baqarah skali, ok?

Sang Kacak: "Aduh, Al-Baqarah dibantainya. Nih majlis nikah ke majlis khatam Quran?"

Tok Imam: "Ko jangan nak ngada tokok tambah, baca je kad kat bawah tuh..."

Tok Imam: "Aih, bukan main sejuk tangan...Ko sakit ke nak?"

Sang Jelita: "Mintak2 abang jangan la pengsan yek..."

Pelakon Tambahan: "Dia tumbang je, aku snap! Memang dah ready dah nih..."

Sang Kacak: "Wuhuuu....Tak pengsan...Amiiiiiinnnnn!!!!"

Sang Jelita: "Syukur alhamdulillah, abangku memang seorang yang cool. Saya mesti pilih!"

Pakcik Oren: "Tok Imam nih baca doa ke baca buku teks sejarah? Panjang betul, dah longlai dah gua nih..."

Sang Kacak: "Nah, ambik frame nih, kasik taruk gambar abang. Ko taruk gambar laki lain, aku nikah lagi satu."

Sang Jelita: "Baik bang...I promise..."

Sang Jelita: "Aik bang, sebelah je? Yang sebelah kiri nih sape lak nak belikan?"

Sang Kacak: "Ah ko nih...Yela2, tunggu bonus abang ujung tahun nih...."

Sang Jelita: "Selamat hari raya, bang. Ampunkan salah silap saya. Mintak halal makan minum."

Sang Kacak: "Oi..oi...Salah majlis nih...kita baru lepas nikah la, pehal lak raya..."

Sang Jelita: "Eh yeke?"

Makcik Di Sebalik Tabir: "Cium dahi je yek...Yang lain2 simpan balik umah karang..."

Sang Jelita: "Ai bang, sakan nampak..."

Sang Kacak: "Gile ko, tadi masa salam ngan Tok Imam tadi makan banyak tenaga tuh...Kenala cover balik. Nikah, nikah gak. Makan mana bleh serender..."

Shukri & Qis: "Selamat datang ke Persatuan Ku Bukan Lagi Sorang Bujang Cawangan Pantai Timur"

Selamat Pengantin Baru

Shahril Azlan & Nor Azliana

"Hai sekelian manusia, bertaqwalah kepada Tuhanmu yang telah menciptakan kamu dari diri yang satu, daripadanya pula Allah menciptakan pasangannya, dan dari keduanya dikembangkan laki-laki dan wanita-wanita yang ramai. Dan bertaqwalah kepada Allah dengan (menggunakan) nama-Nya kamu saling meminta satu sama lain; dan (peliharalah) hubungan silaturrahim. Sesungguhnya Allah sentiasa mengawasi kamu." (An-Nisa': 1)

OPEN HOUSE

2008-11-18T15:38:00.007+08:00

This is an outdated update on the open house we had during last Eid. It was tiring, yet so much fun and smiles.

We'll definitely do this again next time, surely.

Nasi ayam, kuetiau goreng, kuih raya...

Raya nowadays.... TV is compulsory.

Not sure whether they are waiting for anything or just being plain shy to get the food first.

And again, TV rules the raya, even for the grown ups.

Newlyweds Shahril & Lina...err.. 'future newlyweds' I mean. Reception will be on 22nd Nov 2008.

MARI MANDI!

2008-07-27T10:26:00.003+08:00

Look at that, my beauty is having a good shower.

Next, target. Mercedes Benz E200K.

E200K? Should've join Barisan Nasional Terengganu.

"Lower maintenance cost maaa....."

GOD BLESS YOU

2008-07-10T15:09:00.002+08:00

To whom it may concerned,

I know you will be here again, and read this. Just a quick note to say congratulations as you managed to finish up your degree in architecture, far away there in UK. God bless, in anything you do, and do let me know whenever you're home, so that I can arrange my family to greet you. Kang merajuk susah, macam pompuan nak kena pujuk....

p/s: My 2 cents: Work hard, build up your career there in UK, earn good money, and don't come back home, except when you want to celebrate Eid or just missing your family and friends too much. Malaysia is not suitable for a person like you. Sucks, and too many political complications. The G left us with no choice but to curse them. Stupid.

Regards to Ariff Abadan and Mohd Shauqi.

LET US PONDER UPON THIS!

2008-06-15T11:03:00.004+08:00

I've got this article, forwarded to me by my wife, forwarded to her by who knows... Wherever it came from, it sure as hell gives good vision and respectively near-perfect accuracy of facts, although we, as the citizen, barely know about all the country's financial details. Even so, this article below is written based on real time fact and the number figures are closed enough to the figures we always see in the newspapers or TV.

Have a good read. I'm not influencing any of you to be on the other side of the G, but as always, the decision is yours to make. I will always go against the G, no matter what they do...even giving me a cash money of RM625 yearly. RM625??? What a good laughing material.

How true, read on.

Today Tenaga stock rose by about MYR1.00. Volume traded in excess of 35 million units. Yesterday Tenaga stock was suspended. Put these points together.

1. If you know that an announcement would be made on Wednesday that TNB rates will be revised upwards you would surely buy Tenaga shares on Tuesday.
2. If you own an investment bank or have sufficient credit line with an Investment Bank you would have bought as much as you could knowing that the price will surely go up.
3. Since you have to pay within 3 days (T+3 rule), you would have planned to sell on Friday. So you could have bought 1Million Tenaga shares on Tuesday and sold it today for a cool MYR1Million profit without paying any money (perhaps some borrowing costs for 2-3 days).
4. Of course none of us are privy to the announcement of the fuel hike, but the family of the PM are privy to it.
5. Of course none of us have a large credit line with an Investment Bank but the family of the PM owns an investment bank.
6. Why the surprise announcement on 05 June when the PM has said that it would be in August? Well you can only make a big and quick profit if you control the timings and surprise others.
7. For those in the know (the powers that be and their cronies) this has been one hugely profitable week buying and shorting the related shares. The poor rakyat had to queue just to fill up their tanks and perhaps save between MYR20-MYR100.

Now read below.....

Need those in know of the basic economics of crude, fuel etc to comment.WHAT IS NEVER MENTIONED IN Mainstream Media like NST/TheStar/Utusan/BH are these facts....Malaysian Per Capita Income USD 5000 VS Singaporean Per Capita Income USD 25000. Further The Star made a comparison of prices in Thailand , Singapore and Indonesia . For Thailand it is quoted at RM3.90/liter, however are they aware that in Thailand new cars are cheaper than Malaysia by RM10,000? They pay only one life time for their driving license? No renewal fee after that? Also that goes for road tax as well? And do TheStar also aware that you can drive all the way from Hadtyai to Bangkok on a six lane highway without paying any Tolls ??!!Whereas here in Malaysia you have to pay yearly renewal for road tax , driving license and TOLLS, TOLLS, TOLLS!!!

For Singapore how can you quote RM 5.20 ? Please quote in Singapore Dollars because they are earning in Singapore Dollars. You might as well say Europeans are paying RM10/liter. RM5.20/liter = Sing $ 2.20/liter, still cheaper than Malaysia in view of fact that Singapore is not a crude oil exporter. Are you saying that you fill up petrol in Singapore by paying Ringgit?

In economy, dollar to dollar must be compared as apple to apple. Not comparing like durian in M'sia is much cheaper than durian in Japan!! Of course, Japan is not durian producer!!! Comparing Malaysian durian with Thailand durian make more sense!!

For Indonesia we might say is cheaper there at RM2.07/liter but compare that to their level of income!Now, let us compare the price with OIL PRODUCING countries:

UAE – RM1.19/litre
Eygpt – RM1.03/litre
Bahrain – RM0.87/litre
Qatar – RM0.68/litre
Kuwait – RM0.67/litre
Saudi Arabia – RM0.38/litre
Iran – RM0.35/litre
Nigeria – RM0.32/litre
Turkmenistan – RM0.25/litre
Venezuela – RM0.16/litre
MALAYSIA – RM2.70/litre!RM 2.70!!!

Individual perspective:As of last month a Toyota Vios would 'cause a damage' of about RM 89,000.In the international market, a Toyota Vios is about USD 19,000USD 19,000 = RM 62,700 (using the indicative rates of USD 1 = RM 3.30). That makes Malaysian Vios owners pay an extra RM 26,300.This RM 26,300 should be cost of operations, profit and tax because the transportation costs have been factored in to the USD 19,000.RM 26,300/ RM625 petrol rebate per year translates to a Vios being used for 42.08 years. I do understand that the RM 625 is a rebate given by the government, but it also means that one has to use the Vios for 42.08 years just to make back the amount paid in taxes for the usage of a foreign car. Would anyone use any kind of car for that long?Now with these numbers in front of us, does the subsidy sound like a subsidy or does it sound like a penalty? This just seems to be a heavy increment in our daily cost of living as we are not only charged with high car taxes but also with a drastic increase in fuel price.

With all the numbers listed out, I urge all Malaysians to join me in analyzing the situation further.Car taxation is government profit, fuel sales is Petronas' (GLC) profit which also translates into government profit. The government may ridicule us Malaysians by saying look at the world market and fuel price world wide. Please, we are Malaysians, we fought of the British, had a international port in the early centuries (Malacca), home to a racially mixed nation and WE ARE NOT STUPID!!!

We know the international rates are above the USD 130/barrel. We understand the fact that the fuel prices are increasing worldwide and we also know that major scientist are still contradicting on why this phenomenon is happening. Some blame Bush and his plunders around the world and some blame climate change and there are others which say petroleum 'wells' are getting scarce.

Again we go back to numbers to be more straight fwd 1 barrel = 159 liters x RM2.70/liter = RM 429 or USD 134 On 1 hand, we are paying the full cost of 1 barrel of crude oil with RM2.70 per liter but on the other hand the crude oil only produces 46% of fuel. Malaysia sells crude oil per barrel at USD130, buys back fuel per barrel at USD134. And not forgetting, every barrel of fuel is produced with 2 barrels of crude oil. 1 barrel crude oil = produce 46% fuel (or half of crude oil), therefore 2 barrel crude oil = approximately 1 barrel fuel. In other words, each time we sell 2 barrels of crude oil, equivalently we will buy back 1 barrel of fuel. Financially, Malaysia sell 2 barrel crude oil @ USD 130/barrel = USD 260 = RM 858. Then, Malaysia will buy back fuel @ USD 134/barrel = RM 442/barrel. Thus, Malaysia earn net extra USD 126 = RM 416 for each 2 barrel of crude sold/exported vs imported 1 barrel of fuel !!!(USD 260-134 = USD 126 = RM416). So where this extra USD 126/barrel income is channeled to by Malaysian Govt????????? Another analysis: 1 barrel crude oil = 159 liters. 46-47% of a barrel of crude oil = fuel that we use in our vehicles. 46% of 159 = 73.14 liters.@ RM 2.70/liter x 73.14 liter = RM197.48 of fuel per barrel of crude oil. This is only 46% of the barrel, mind you. Using RM 3.30 = USD 1, we get that a barrel of crude oil produces USD 59.84 worth of petrol fuel (46% of 1barrel). USD 59.84 of USD 130/barrel turns out to be 46% of a barrel as well.Another 54% = bitumen, kerosene, and natural gases and so many more. And this makes a balance of USD 70.16 that has not been accounted for. So this is where I got curious. Where is the subsidy if we are paying 46% of the price of a barrel of crude oil when the production of petrol/barrel of crude oil is still only 46%? In actual fact, we still pay for this as they are charged in the forms of fuel surcharge by airlines and road taxes for the building of road (because they use the tar/bitumen) and many more excuse charging us but let us just leave all that out of our calculations.

As far as I know, only the politicians who live in Putrajaya and come for their Parliament meetings in Kuala Lumpur (approximately 60+ km) are the ones to gain as they claim their fuel and toll charges from the money of the RAKYAT's TAX. It is so disappointing to see this happen time and time again to the Malaysian public, where they are deceived by the propaganda held by the politicians and the controls they have over the press. Which stupid idiot economist equates rebates for rich or poor with the cc of the vehicles? An average office clerk may own a second hand 1300cc proton Iswara costing $7,000 (rebate = $625) while the Datuk's children can own a fleet of 10 new cars of BMW, Audi and Volvo all less than 2000cc costing $2 millions and get a total rebate of $625 x 10 = $6,250! Wow what kind of economists we are keeping in Malaysia...wonder which phD certificate that they bought from...

Misleading concept of Subsidy: The word 'subsidy' has been brandished by the government as if it has so generously helped the rakyat and in doing so incurred losses. This simple example will help to explain the fallacy:

Example: Ahmad is a fisherman. He sells a fish to you at $10 which is below the market value of $15. Let's assume that he caught the fish from the abundance of the sea at little or no cost. Ahmad claims that since the market value of the fish is $15 and he sold you the fish for $10, he had subsidised you $5 and therefore made a loss of $5.

Question : Did Ahmad actually make a profit of $10 or loss of $5 which he claimed is the subsidy?

Answer: Ahmad makes a profit of $10 which is the difference of the selling price ($10) minus the cost price ($0 since the fish was caught from the abundance of the sea). There is no subsidy as claimed by Ahmad. The government claims that it is a subsidy because the oil is kept and treated as somebody else's property (you know who). By right, the oil belongs to all citizens of the country and the government is a trustee for the citizens. So as in the above simple example, the government cannot claim that it has subsidised the citizen!

Let us all ponder…

DEADLY HIKE!

2008-06-05T03:59:00.002+08:00

The G had officially made the 'most unwanted' announcement, a hike of about 40% in petrol price for the Malaysian all time favourite RON97 fuel, from RM1.92/l to RM2.70/l. Worse case for those who drive a diesel powered vehicles where the increment is close to 65%, from RM1.58 to RM2.58.

Let me be honest with you now.

When the fuel price was RM1.92/l, I had to spend about RM75 to fill up my baby's tank, and it will last for about 40okm (it's a naturally aspirated carburetor engine since 1991, what do you expect?). I have to send my wife to her office every morning, which is about 5km away from home, and I have to travel another 22km from her office to get to my office. Simpler said, for one whole day, I actually travel 54km, just for work only. Plus lunch and other miscellanious movement, I would put a total of 65km of travel a day, which means a full tank of my Civic can hold up to 6 days at most. There are 30 days in a month, minus 8 days for 4 weekends, it should count of 22 days. As a total, i have to fill up my tank about 4 times a month, which comes to a total fuel consumption of RM300 per month. It sums up to RM3600 for a whole year, excluding balik kampung consumption, going to market every week, going pasar malam, going around Kuantan for shopping, going to JPJ for tax and insurance renewal, going for overtime work when on-call...the list goes on. Believe me, last year I spent almost RM6000 a year just for fuel.

Try to calculate that after 40% increment of fuel charge. It goes up to RM8400, an RM2400 increment per year. So what can the additional subsidy of RM625 per year do to help me?

Exactly. Nothing at all.

Truthfuly, I earn a basic of RM4500, and it can reach up to RM6000 or RM7000 per month. My wife earns lesser than me, but more than enough to support me with her RM3000 paycheck every month. Minus all the house, land, car and bills and other things, we still manage to have about RM3000 extra for a month, and yet, we still feel the pain of this fuel price hike. So imagine how those people who catch fish or plant paddy or taking care of a cow farm, feel about this. Imagine those people who earns less than a grand a month. They need to feed both their family and their vehicle, now it seems like the money distributed between them is almost equal in value.

The leader and all his 'knights of the sick-annoying-bloody-arse round table' will never feel this pain, as they earn tens of thousands of money every month, and their allowances bla bla bla can reach up to more than 6 digits. They won't feel anything even though the petrol price reaches RM50 per litre.

And yet, our fuel price is still one of the cheapest in Asia. B******t! They always want to compare the fuel price, but they certainly forgot to also compare the car prices with our neighbours. Ask them how much difference the cost of a 2007 Toyota Camry in Thailand compared to us? Ask them how much difference the price of a Honda Jazz in Indonesia compared to us?

Let's put it this way. Before this, the country was willing to cover almost 60% of the fuel price (which is called the subsidy). Yet, all of vehicle owners in Malaysia have already 'paid' the subsidy themselves by purchasing non-national cars, paying a freaking high duty charges.

And I still want to say, Malaysian G is craving for hell by lying to all people. 800% of fuel price hike since the 90s, and they claimed that they did so well to maintain the price all this long, yet they forgot that most of us know the fact that when world oil price rise, our country is one of those who enjoy the benefits as we sell our low-carbon and low-sulphur contamination oil with high price, and purchase a lower price fuel from outside.

People of G, you guys suck!

Fuel price in Venezuela is RM0.04 per litre. 2000 got injured or dead when the price went up to RM0.06. Do you want our country to be like that? Do you want somebody get hurt or die first, then think of how to handle this? Do you want to walk around your own beloved country inside a bulletproof container, just so the snipers or Kamikaze fighters who hate you can't get you bleed?

Think again.

A WEEK IN ABU DHABI

2008-05-18T17:13:00.005+08:00

I flew here to Abu Dhabi on the 10th of May, for a course arranged by my company. I was looking forward to see the culture and lifestyle of the people around here, not so much interested in the course actually. In the end, it turned out that this course is probably one of the most interesting courses I have ever attended.

Let's not go through all the details of this course, or it will take a few weeks to complete this article.

It was 42 degree the day I arrived. Yeap, hot as hell. It seemed like a bad sign, why on earth did I signed up for this course here. On the brighter side, I felt that I am lucky to be borned in such a nice country (I used to curse Malaysia has such a hot and crazy atmosphere). Nevertheless, the hot temperature here is the only bad thing about this place I guess.

This picture was taken on the Marina Island. The other side is the Abu Dhabi city.

Abu Dhabi is an extremely safe place to stay. One of the taxi driver I met here said that this town has an approximate population of 4 million people, more than three quarter of them are Indians, Philippins, Indonesians and some from Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Only about eight hundred thousands are the local citizens. Imagine all the shops are all occupied with these immigrants, even the taxi drivers and megastores casual labors. Infact, you will see one original Arabian after seeing ten to fifteen immigrants as you walk down the pedestrian walkway.

They must really making good fortune in this country, as I heard that the cheapest house rent is about 3000AED (multiply with 0.85 to get into Malaysian Ringgit) a month, and the cheapest hotel is about 600AED per night stay. Even with this extremely high pays they have to afford monthly, you can still see them around texting with Nokia N91 or Sony Ericsson w960i, with iPods earbud inside their ears.

A friend of mine, a Brazilian, went to Dubai on the last weekend (it takes about two hours to get there by taxi). He came back with an explosive story that the cost of a can of Coke costed him 22AED, and he had lunch there with three of his friends at about 600AED. Another friend of mine suggested that we should go to Dubai and have a look around at the Burj Al Arab, the 7 stars hotel where you can find a hotel room that costs you a mere 50000AED a night. Luckily I thought that it wasn't a good idea to go Dubai on the weekend as time is a major factor which stops us from having a nice sightseeing around the westernized-urban Dubai. If I agree with him, I will have to pay about 200AED just to get into the lobby and look around.

Back to Abu Dhabi.

Me on the far left, with Bill and Nick.

As a whole, this big city is a nice place to take your family on a vacation trip, but make sure you come on winter, as summer here will get your skin burnt with almost 55 degree centigrade heat. But it will be better if your company or whoever gives you a full sponsorship on accomodations as the hotels and apartments here aren't easy to get, and quite pricey. For shoppaholics and tech brats, this place can be a good spend-my-money destination. Goodies here are slightly cheaper than in Malaysia, and electronic appliances can be really cheap. You can get a Sony DSC-H50 500AED cheaper than the outdated Sony DSC-H9 in Malaysia.

Marina Mall, the biggest shooping mall in Abu Dhabi. It is situated on an artificial island made up just for the mall itself, with Ikea and a watersport center around it.

Overall, everyone is most welcome to come here. It surely is a nice place to spend your quality family time.

Disastrous Home

2008-03-14T15:49:00.004+08:00

Hehe...to whom it may concerned, this is not to humiliate anyone (hence, no names will be mentioned). Just to share the fun of having friends living in such an extreme mess. Hey, I used to stay in that house for few months before I got married, mate. It's just so interesting that after I left, things went totally out of control...Hahaha...I guess you guys just missed me there!

These pictures were taken when they were moving to a new house, so it might look worse than what it used to look like. But...well...not really different though. By the way, they have moved to a better house. A brilliant one I guess, nice looking and pretty much equipped with all the basic needs.

Good luck over there with your new life in the new house, and please, don't destroy the beauty of it hahaha...

Episode 3 - NEW HOME

2008-03-14T15:06:00.005+08:00

I know it has been long since the last time i wrote an article for my own blog here. I've been busy, that's all I can come with if you ask me why. By the way, as promised, this is the update for my house.

Honestly, I love my house. And I think I love it more when I'm here, 250km away from shore. Geesh~

Oh boy! Now I realized that I have so few pictures of my completed house. I have a lot of pictures on all the process of upgrading and equipping my house. Geesh, I'll update again later on.

CINTA? MUNGKIN...

2008-01-02T15:38:00.000+08:00

I would like to express my deepest congratulations to a friend of mine who managed to keep himself in one piece when he said "Sudikah awak jadi teman hidup saya?" to his girlfriend, after quite some time.

Bagus, bro (to whom it may concerned)! Keep up the good work!

Episode 2 - NEW HOME

2007-12-09T11:39:00.000+08:00

Now the grills are up, which means I can start installing all the lamps, fans, airconds etc. The pokok liar outside the house had been cleared, except for the grass. My mother said "Racun je..." and that is exactly what am I going to do. Already bought a bottle of 1 liter herbicide and its sprayer bottle, but yet to do it since it's been raining most of the time.

Before and after

Well, looks like prison to me. But what more can be done, safety first!

Anyways, did I mention that for RM163000, the house is equipped with alarm system and remote controlled gate system? That. is another story.

Till we meet again.

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY

2007-12-09T09:44:00.000+08:00

I would like to introduce my new family members, Karim and Kasim. Memang ganas!!!

JUST DRIVE CAREFULLY GUYS

2007-12-09T09:29:00.000+08:00

The title says it all. Happy driving!

p.s: This happened about a kilometer from my house.

BERLAGAK!

2007-12-06T13:51:00.000+08:00

Saja nak menunjuk, since this is the first time I bought couple pairs of watches...and they are Seikos. hehehe....

But the pictures...oh well, I was drving at that time...

Biar blur, janji Seiko...hahaha

Episode 1 - NEW HOME

2007-12-06T13:11:00.000+08:00

It's been awhile.

Anyways, as I said in one of my post before this that I have bought my own house. Well, actually it's our own house, together with my wife. Why did I buy a house in Terengganu even though there is no plan living forever here? Because I just don't like the idea of spending RM600 a month for the Rantau house. That's all. It's not a waste pon beli rumah, as the price will go up instead of go down like buying cars.

So here are some shots of our house. No quality on the pictures but the house is definitely excellent, considering the price tag of RM163000 for our end lot semi detached house.

These pictures were taken before anything has been done. The lalang and pokok pelik2 were everywhere as you can see. But don't worry, I will update this in the next episode of 'NEW HOME'.

OH HERE WE GO AGAIN !

2007-10-28T00:47:00.000+08:00

Again, here I am. Stuck in the middle of the sea. Doing everything close to nothing. Leaving my young, beautiful and lovely wife at home, which worries me all the time that something might happen to her while I'm who can do nothing at all to help. My car, at this shouldn't-be-this-way point, broke down. The starter went down, adding some more aji-no-moto to our,my wife and I, gloomy days. And we just lost our most beloved companion at home (you may get the story of this in the previously published words in this site).

Oh Lord, Allah the Most Gracious Almighty. Lead us. Show us the path. Lit your candle of truth so that we can see in this painful darkness.

Again, I would like to address this pain to "them", who disallowed my departure home. They still trying their best to make sure that these shits the brought in be kept away from their nose so that they don't have to suffer from the bloody smell of the shit. And somehow, in order to do that, they have to place the shitty stuff to someone else. I don't put the blame on all of you, but "some" of you, to whom it may concern.

Few more days. Hisham and Richard were always there to motivate me, to keep me strong on my own feet, to make me walk with beautiful balance along the hairline bridge. I keep their words nicely, somewhere on top of my logic and analytical side of my brain, so that I can keep myself standing up whenever I might feel down. But not now. Hell no. I'm giving them few more days. And if these things don't get any better, then that's it. I have to stand strong for myself. I have to stand strong for my wife.

To my radiantly wonderful wife,

I will always love you. Please, keep in your mind that whatever happens, it only makes my love to you stronger. Never weaker. Not even a single drop of dust. Wait for me at home, and when I'm there in front of you soon, I will do nothing, unless I've given you the tightest hug you always dream for, so tight that even a tiny piece of light couldn't ever get through between us.

I promise.

JUST FOR YOU, MAY...

2007-10-28T00:43:00.000+08:00

Dear May,

I still remember the first time my mother brought you to us. You were very small. Your orange fur was pale, but you had a pair of bright bluish eyes.

As you grew up with us around you, we tried hard to make ourselves comfortable with your presence. We had June earlier than you, but you somehow managed to get along with him pretty well. I guess it was just your nature. You could get along with anyone without any hesitation.

You were very naughty. You bite everything. You were always there when we were having our meals. You would try to apply your slick tactics just to get close to our food. That was why you would always be left alone in the toilet, locked inside until we finish. Hehe...that was really funny, as you would pull inside the toilet's doormat using your tiny leg.

I will never forget the time when we played together. Remember that you once jumped over me when I lied down, so high that you looked like flying? I still have the video of it in my phone, and I even sent it out to my dad, trying to tell him how crazy you were when you play.

You never knew the meaning of exhausted. You played like hell. You ran here and there. You jumped everywhere. You enjoyed yourself teasing June, which was 4 or 5 times bigger than you. You just didn't care, as long as you have someone plays with you.

I took you for a bath one day, and you never looked so funny. You fur was totally wet, and it exposed how small you were. You were scared as hell. You fought all the way, but hey, you were just a kitten. You could never fight a man...hehe.

You did bad things too, despite your cuteness when you play. You pissed on our bed several times. You pissed on the newspapers and magazines. You even pissed on my travel bags. Worse, you even dumped your dung sometimes around the house, even though we bought you a nice pack of sand and container for you on that purpose.

Yes, I know. Sometimes we've been very hard on you. Especially me. Sometimes I thougt I was too hard on you. I hit your ears most of the time. I slapped your head hard enough to make you scared of me (well, for few minutes only). We were very angry when you took your leak as if the house is a huge toilet bowl. We were very angry too when you just didn't want to understand that we don't want to be bothered when we were eating. We gave you nice and expensive food, but you still wanted what we were eating. Chicken, rice, ice cream, buah kurma...everything. What kind of cat were you?

But hey, we do love you. We always do. I was far away from you when you left. When Mama told me that you were gone, I tried hard not to think of the memories we had together, because it will only bring tears to my eyes. I was there when you were happy. I was there when you were sick. I was there when you grew up and blossomed. But I wasn't there when you die.

Thank you, for everything. For taking care of Mama when I wasn't home. For being a great companion to us, and also to June. Now he's going to be alone. The doctor said he was crying and looking for you, that makes me feel so sad when thinking about it.

You were very naughty, but we loved you.You were scarily playful, but we loved you.You were bad at times, but we loved you.No matter what, we really loved you, and we still do even when you were gone.

Take care of yourself in the next life.

May you rest in peace.

p/s: I really hope that you could read this, so that you'd know how much we love you.

With love,
Papa & Mama

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI

2007-10-20T16:48:00.000+08:00

I hope it is not to late for me to wish all of you a wonderful Eid Mubarak.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI
MAAF ZAHIR BATIN

p/s: I'm currently at the sea now, somewhere near the border of Malaysia-Thailand, so the activity of writing is kinda restricted

BLAST OFF!

2007-10-10T21:22:00.000+08:00

Congratulations, Dr. Sheikh Muszafar.

To hell, Malaysia.

How much did you spend for this space program? Somewhere close to a figure with 10 zeros at the back?

Oh wow! Yes, I always agree that our nation is in need of technology development. But I will never agree when you (the G) have to spend so much money to send a single person out of the orbit. Oh yes, that doctor will keep in his mind forever on his experience right now, but don't forget, we still have poverty issues around our beloved country.

By the way, have you guys ever heard about Tan Sri Hassan Marican's interview, saying that Petronas is so much capable of distributing to each Malaysian an amount of RM3000 but they didn't do so as they have to hand over 77% of their profit to the G?

Well, I'll definitely write about this, but not now. We will meet again some other time.

SELAMAT BERPUASA

2007-10-02T15:43:00.000+08:00

Oh syahdunya puasa. Penat. Lapar. Dan paling penting, tekak dah kering!

Orang kata puasa ni bagus. Boleh mengurangkan berat badan (kepada orang yang mempunyai berat yang tak sepatutnya). Boleh juga merehatkan organ-organ dalaman badan yang kerja tak berhenti-henti sepanjang tahun. Boleh juga menguji sejauh mana ketahanan mental dan fizikal. Boleh kurangkan belanja dengan mengurangkan belian barang makanan harian, kecuali la kalau jenis buka puasa makan macam 765 tahun tak makan. Memang peniaga pasar Ramadhan tersengih lebar la kalau nampak muka yang macam tu.

Semua benda berkurang. Kecuali satu. Beban kerja.

Yeah, I know. I've been mumbling about this over and over again. And yes, I want to stop complaining about it. But before I stop, let me say a few words as closing.

Schlumberger, I hate you.

Friends of Schlumberger, don't worry. I don't mean that to you guys. Just to those "certain people".

Sekian, terima kasih.

2007-09-18T01:19:00.000+08:00

KATA CINTA BUATMU

Gemersik halus suaramu

Mengherdik nista mengundang rindu

Terbit kasih terpucuk rayu

Lahirku kata cinta padamu

Runcing riak lirik senyuman

Hati luka bagai berteman

Jiwa suci tiada tercemar

Kabus hatiku kian samar

Wahai cinta pelitup dusta

Wahai kekasih intan permata

Jika digenggam hancur jiwa dan raga

Saat sebelum kututup mata

Akan kuucap kata cinta

Takkan terhapus untuk selamanya

Abang rindukanmu, isteriku sayang...

A COMPLETE DISASTER

2007-09-17T00:51:00.000+08:00

I've been here for more than a week now. It shouldn't be this long, but shit happens. I left my wife all alone at home, accompanied by only two kittens. She has to start her Ramadhan cooking, sahuring and buka-puasa-ing alone at home, in front of the Samsung ( ingat abg tatau ke hehe)... Such a shameful hubby I am, leaving a young and beautiful life partner because of the lust and hunger for carrier achievement. Well, I wouldn't put it that way actually. I love this job because of its end of every month benefits. Bayar mahal weh... But then, whats the point swimming in the sea of Ringgit Malaysia or US Dollars if there is no existence of happiness, or less quality time consumption with your loved one?

And yes, I am still here. Not knowing what to do. Everything fails. I got shit from those people of Carigali Hess. I got bigger shit from the biggest man in Carigali, the Drilling Superintendant himself...

Adoila...mampuih aku camni... It was a complete disaster. The logging unit mobilized here was taken somewhere from Iran, or India, I'm not so sure. The management people of my company, especially the sales engineer, uttered the sweetest words to the client, saying that the unit is in good condition ( I think he said excellent...). The reality? That stupid logging unit is actually a piece of crap, ready to be junked by the Iranians, but my manager brought it here, thinking that we can turn the reality into fantasy, assuming the unit will be perfectly operational within two weeks.

Ok, here it is. Number one, back here in Malaysia base, we normally use the conventional unit, more than 50% of the structure are driven by mechanical and hydraulic system, 15% of electro-pneumatic system and the rest, the electrical and electronic take places. The workload of performing maintenance and breakdown troubleshootings are crazy, but acceptable, as it usually requires physical energy rather than brain-sizzling efforts. But the unit that they brought here from Iran that I mention before is totally different. 30% of mechanicals, hydraulics and pneumatics. The rest? Electronics.With this unit, we need to deliver our physical strength together with squeezing our brains macam perah susu lembu kat kandang. Actually, these electronics appliances were created to make the life of its users easier than few years back. Yes, I said the USERS, not to those who need to maintain its credibility and accuracy of collecting variable oil well data.

Number two, hell. We know nothing at all about this unit. We took the whole week to study how it works and how the systems are. We got a blur picture, but we basically understand the unit pretty well. But that was the problem. We spent a week already, and all we had is just another week to repair it (as I said earlier, this unit is a piece of junk...major repairs needed badly...)

Number three, again, it's a piece of junk. The aircond didn't work. The presurrization blower was down. The Control Safety Panel was turned upside down. The programmable logic control was somehow, non-understandable. The power distribution panel wasn't really friendly to the technicians as it was to the engineers (the users of course...) and the list goes one....endless...

Now it's here. At Tioman T-10, standing like a robotic-zombie, just few feets away from the well head. It can be run, but that unit will heat you up like hell when you work inside it. And there is no existence of pressure differential between the outside and inside of the unit due to its failed blower, so you might have to risk your life breathing freaky gases that exist in the air around the wells.

I've been working here day and night to solve the problems. Tapi aku hanya insan biasa. The limit has been reached. Nothing much can be done here. Otak pon dah nak pecah. Sakit badan. Rindu bini lagi....

Oh Tuhan, dalam bulanMu yang suci ini, peliharalah aku dari anasir yang bertentangan denganMu serta permudahkanlah jalan bagiku. Kau jauhilah segala cacat cela, segala niat buruk, segala hasutan syaitan, segala ciri kejahatan dan segala kemungkinan keburukan dari isteriku. Jika takdirMu tertulis bala akan tertimpa dirinya, bawalah segala malang itu kepadaku, agar dirinya sentiasa terpelihara. Amin.

Aku nak balik!!!

THEY...

2007-08-23T17:36:00.000+08:00

There has to be something that is really wrong, somewhere...but I'm not sure what and where. It has been awhile, and for quite some time of thinking and future planning, I still couldn't find what is it.

I like what I'm doing now. But sometimes, when there is an involvement of certain personnel, it makes me sick. We have the same skin color (not exactly, but nearly), we share the same traditions, we enjoy the same taste of delicacies, we went through our childhood life playing everything but Playstation 2 (not available at that time) and we even speak the same language which is Malay, even though at some particular parts of our life, we use English. But somehow, these dogshits I'm talking about never seem to realize who they are.

They forgot the rules of respects. They speak as if they are the invaders and I am the intruder. They yell like Pharaoh, and I am a Badwi. They swear like they have no other things to say except f%^&, s$#@, a*%h#$@! and the list goes on. They give instructions and orders, not asking for help.

Who do they think they are? A king? A Prime Minister? A merciless warrior? An honorable master of human being?

Go to hell!

They are just typical Malays. Like me. A Malaysian malay. But when they have a hold of positions like engineers or any professional positions, they feel like they are the best. No, no. Actually, they are the beast. The destroyers of Malay's politeness and humble appearance. They are destroying the language, the traditions, the delicious food, the cultures, the everything.

They are the ******** engineers!

TEMBAK KEPALA!

2007-08-20T17:07:00.000+08:00

Aku rasa macam nak tembak je kepala ni...

Sapa-sapa ada pistol? Senapang ke?

BADMINTON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS---BUMMER AT HOME!

2007-08-20T09:27:00.000+08:00

It was home ground. There were thousands of home crowd, even though the ticket price was crazy. It was home climate. It was our nation's most excellent and practically consistent game. And yet, the semi-final was the furthest we could get.

Our gold doubles thrashed out during quarter-finals, against JAPAN (in badminton, who the hell are they?). Our proud single, seeded second in the World Championships, ranked 2 in the world, went down to an Indonesian veteran in the third round. Others, since there was an involvement of the opposite sex, didn't destroy our hope that much. History tells that Malaysian male shuttlers are far more dominant than the females. The best of all, our veteran men's doubles, who brought back a pair of bronze home.

After FAM's boys humiliated Malaysia, now the shuttlers. Although it was not as bad as the national 'ass' football, it still shows that Malaysia, in many ways, is a kindergarten-kid in international sports (this doesn't go to you, Ms. Nicol).

Just a question. Why not anyone else? Why not someone who has more experience in sports? Why not someone who has passion in sports? WHY AZALINA?

Maybe next time, we may want to consider those who can really carry out their responsibility, not just those who can speak well, and never lack of ideas in giving excuses.

RM 115,980 O-T-R !

2007-08-16T09:59:00.000+08:00

Oh boy... Just can't resist it!

What about this? Care for the half-priced from the above?

Or maybe...a little ambitous?

*images courtesy : www.paultan.org

KIDDIES IN THE HOUSE

2007-08-15T15:33:00.000+08:00

I moved from a rumah bujang into a much better home, when my wife has been officially transferred to Petronas Carigali in Kerteh. It is a bungalow in Rantau Laut which has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. It's big. Huge, considering that it's just gonna be my wife and I who will stay in it.

A few weeks after we moved in, we realized that it's pretty quiet in that house. We need something to put some colors on the canvas. Anak? Belum ada rezeki lagi. Since my wife loves cats so much, we decided to get one. I like pets too, so there is no harm bringing in one. We already have three absolutely beautiful Siamese Fighting fishes (Faiz, Faisal and Farouk), but they don't make noises. They don't run around in the house (they swim, obviously!). They don't play with us at all. Worst of all, they are not as adorable as cats are.

We went to the only pet shop in Kemaman (which is also a vet clinic), and brought back a five month old Junior, or as we called him, June. He was big, more like a 2-year old adult rather than 5-month old kitten, yet he still eat kittens food, that costs me RM62 for a 3.6kg pack. Lagi mahal dari beras yang tuan dia makan. Busut betul.

June is brilliant. But one thing we don't like about him is he's not as adorable as we thought all cats are. Arrogant perhaps. He won't stay not even 3 seconds if we place him on top of our laps, like most of the cat lovers do with their cats. Other than that, he's awesome. Makan banyak tak ingat, banyak cantik betul muka dia. Dahla mahal. My wife loves him so much. So does my mum. She even quoted June as "tall, dark and handsome" (eleh...macamla aku tak pernah baca Barbara Cartland's. Ciplak!).

We have another kitten, my mum brought her in when they came to our house. She's two months younger than June, and way off the scale of him. Macam bapak dengan anak. But then, they get along pretty well, like brother and sister. She's a Persian, but I'm not sure what breed is June. Ekor kembang macam bulu ayam mak aku.

After few months, it seems that June grew up very well, but not May (that's what we call our female kitten). She doesn't eat as much as June, even much lesser than any other kitten at her age. She gets skinnier everyday, and she plays like hell. She never stop playing. Not even a single second, except when she sleeps. It pretty much worries us. She was so cute like Dakota Fanning when she was small, but now she looks like Victoria Beckham. Or maybe there is a Persian breed that supposed to be skinny? Anyone?

For both of them, I have to spend RM124 for a month supply of food, RM90 for their litter granules, RM32 each for their scheduled ubat cacing every two months and RM120 for their annual vaccination. If my mathematics is still accurate as I was in school, then the figure of RM3072 is what I have to spend every year for both of them, and that excludes the medication fees, in case if they get sick.

Baik aku ambik anak angkat je...

MY IDOL, MY STAR, MY FRIEND---MACHE!

2007-08-15T10:57:00.000+08:00

I went for a drink at NZ few weeks back, met with few 9600 pals and had a chat for a while, together with my wife. Fadli and Eddie had been very nice to pick me up at my wife's aunt's house, since my car suddenly didn't seem to be a good friend as it always had. The headlights went off. Maybe it was the fuse. I don't give a taik as it happened at a very wrong time whereby it was 2200hrs and I just got in KL all the way from Kerteh.

Fadli had warned me earlier in the car while we were moving to NZ that do not be surprised if I see Mache, the fatty friend of mine during school days. Well, I honestly thought that if Mache were to lose weight, it would be no more than few kilograms, say 6 or 7 short.

To my great surprise, Mache was totally out of his previous shape that I could recall the last time we met (maybe 1 or 2 months before...or maybe 3..couldn't really remember though). He was (at that time, not recently...maybe he is much sexier today..) really slim, rather than he was before, few years back when the 'timbang 20sen at a pasaraya' would scream if Mache expresses his intention to get on top of it and weigh himself. He was, from my point of view, more than a 100 kilos at that time (..convert it to metric tan, it's 0.1MT...can you see how bad is that?). And now he is more a John Cena than a Big Show.

I can't really imagine how he did it, but somehow, the story of Mache has motivate me to lose weight (haha it sounds sooo girlish...losing weight, dieting, bla bla...). I asked a few questions on how he managed to get the figure every fatty dreams to have, and all I could remember is to jog everyday (to sweat everyday to be exact...not necessarily jog...anything that sweats you up will do) and the phrase "food from hell".

Guess what? The next day, my wife and I went to Midvalley, and I bought myself a pair of Nike Bowerman Series running shoes that costed me a mere RM399.90 (at that time, I suddenly recalled what Mache said if I want to motivate myself to jog everyday..."beli kasut yang mahal gile untuk jogging, so nanti kalau ko tak pakai kasut tu, ko rasa menyesal..."). I know it was just a joke, but somehow, it does motivate me until today to run around everytime I am free.

These are somebody else's legs, but the shoes in the ad are the same as mine, except mine are yellow.

So here I go. I jog everyday and go to the Awana gym every Saturday (I didn't know Rantau has one until Eddie told me). It was pretty bad earlier. I had backpain, my knees suffered, my legs felt like hell and I couldn't even jog for more than 10 minutes. I would breathe like a horse if I push myself more than 10minutes, and if I push up to 15minutes, I would feel like dying. But it gets better. Now I jog for 15 minutes everyday, and do some workouts after that, especially sit-ups (my 'spare tyre' is the main reason why am I doing all this!).

So far, I am happy. If I feel like malas nak jogging, a half-hour badminton at my backyard with my wife will do just fine. Thanks to my lovely wife. Dia marah gile sebab aku nak beli a pair of Asics Gel which will cost me a crazy RM599.90. She said the limit is RM400. That was not bad at all. Nike is not a bad choice pun kan? By the way, I browsed through http://www.nikerunning.com/ and it's pretty cool. There are sports gears for those who like to run, tips on running and many more. I like!

So, let see how long will it lasts. So far, I've been doing this for two weeks, and I lost a silly 2 kilos, but hey, it's getting better. My goal is to swap the figure of 95kg with something around 85kg, before Merdeka Day. And my primary target is to get below the line of 75kg, and stay there forever...Tah bila la nak dapat, tapi usaha tangga kejayaan!

Selamat Hari Merdeka!

A TEST

2007-07-12T11:37:00.000+08:00

This is just a test, to see how will this blog look like. Everybody seems to be enjoying themselves blogging all the time, so I guess it's not unworthy at all to have a blog of my own. Hey, it's free! Why would I hesitate to try?