Gawai is Upon Us

I'm off to friend's house tomorrow for Gawai. And I'll try to not, not come back home drunk. Rest assured. Perhaps there will be girls!

Sunny Rain Means Tragedy

Ah, after so long we are once again visited by the sunny rain in Kuching. The common saying among Malays is 'sunny rain means tragedy'. I have not yet encountered anything to prove this, however, three funerals where it was raining while the sky above is clear is a sign - of something. All are of my close relatives, and countless hours of genealogy and listening to senior citizens indicate there is a royal line somewhere.

Today's rain is a little bit different from the usual (aside from being sunny) in the sense that it came with thunders and all. Hmm... and to think that Saturday was scorching hot at 9 a.m. when I went to Kuching International.



Then again, maybe it's just my feelings.

Farewell to the Mouse

The day inevitably came. The mouse that have served me well for years succumbed to hiccups. One left click translates into a double click. The blame is on me for dropping it...

'twas manufactured in Mexico. In service from 1995 to 2005 (a record of 10 years). PS/2 with serial port converter and accompanying Inttelimouse 2.0 software (a failure in my opinion) It saw my first attempt at using a computer, my first game... A nostalgic feeling, if you ask me.

Status: Retired. Will be called into service when needed. In the meantime, I'll be singing He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother by the Hollies.

Walking Back Home - Petra Jaya

(Warning: Graphic heavy. 56k users' discretion is advised.)

Just like Kenny's, mine is not a typical day. It's Friday, and of all the days, the school chose Friday, where people are itching to get home early, Friday prayers, limited time, holiday coming et al. We had our Teacher's Day celebration today, and it all ended early thanks to the absence of the principal. Looking at the time (10:40) and having a camera in hand, I decided to go home on foot. Sounds simple enough, but consider the following factors: straight distance is 1 kilometer, walking distance is 5 kilometers; the sun is blazing hot (33 degrees Celcius is my estimation) and I'm WEARING A COAT. Gah.

On to the pictures!

Down the hill from my school. I'm walking alone...well, I know that a certain girl I have a crush on is looking at me from behind (she's waiting for her ride home)


This signboard reminds me of the Nazca lines. You know, the big bird?


Yes, that's the Penang flag. The governor is on a visit here. In the background is the State Legislative Assembly.


Thick tree cover + no tropical seeds = short grass, which is beautiful in my opinion.


If you think this road name is long, you ain't seen nothing yet!


The Court (judges, lawyer and all). Side view.


Awfully sorry, I forgot to rotate this one... This is Wisma Bapa Malaysia, housing a number of government offices and state ministries.

I got back home, removed my shoes and saw that the veins on my feets were swollen three times their size. To top it off, I have no key and have to wait for over an hour until my mother returned (who was waiting for me at the school...the irony).

Yeah, we have alot of round abouts in Sarawak and most of them are really, really big.

Minus One Mistress, Wait...

Thunderstorm started at 4:30 a.m. yesterday. If it's the raining season there is a rule of thumb: if it doesn't rain in the morning, it will in the evening. The weather today was a bit unusual, in a sense that it got very cloudy in the afternoon. The teachers are all in a meeting, so my classmates decided to hit the road before it rained. A few of us were left in class, and feeling very, very bored, I went to the library with my friend from another class and his mistress (hey, he called her that and she seemed to like it).

I am the type that can never study in a library (being a bibliophile, yeah). While I was there, I managed to finish The Red Badge of Courage. Heard the title before, but never knew that it was about a soldier in the [American] Civil War. Had I known, I would have picked up the book earlier. The time was 1:40, and seeing the angry black clouds with winds howlin', we decided to scram as parents are only allowed to pick up their children outside the gate, and there is no roof between the gate and the nearest cover (a distance of 200 metres)

My friend and his sister went back quickly as their father are already waiting for them. That left me and her mistress still waiting for our ride back home. Don't get any weird ideas, ya! The rain was already falling heavily, the winds threatening to tear the zinc roofs of the village houses outside. I rushed first to a covered bus stop nearby, while she lags behind.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew and with a crashing sound, a branch that probably weighs 20 kilograms and having a length of 2 metres came crashing down from the trees above, narrowly missing her by a split second. She was startled, turned her head round, saw the branch and started to walk at a faster pace towards the bus stop. The incident was also witnessed by other students there as well.

She made it to the bus stop. I said,
"You're a lucky girl."
"Almost got a heart attack there."
"I'll tell [my friend] tomorrow. Close shave, luckily you were one second faster."

I'm going to tell my friend tomorrow how close he came to losing her mistress.

You must be really bored to be reading this...oh, and I might not be available until Saturday.

When routine isn't exactly worshipping the ground that she blogs on

Read this, then this.

Enjoy yourselves,

A Lot of Paperwork

Currently buried under the paperwork for this Friday's Teacher's Day celebration, school level. Why so late, you ask? The students all finish their exams on Thursday. Why Friday? Blame it on the principal.

I fail to see the logic in holding it on Friday. The programme is schedueled to start at 7.10 and finish at 9.35. That is the assembly (performances, speeches) part only, not including the buffet whatsoever. By 11 am, the teachers are getting edgy and will not stay -- even to eat. And since Friday is the last day of school, the turnout is expected to be extremely low -- don't blame us if the hall is empy.

To top it off, I am given this paperwork that needs to be submitted tomorrow. I feel that someone is sucking up to someone, and we underlings are the one getting the heat. When Hishamuddin said you are not burdened with administrative tasks, he does not mean that you can lump it on us.

A Talk with the Queen

Skyped HS Queen.

For the Disabled

By now you should have noticed a new, small banner in the sidebar. I call upon all of you, Malaysian bloggers, to help Peter and Mack in their campaign.

You might get involved in an accident and as a result, be temporarily disabled. What if disaster strike? Even though you live in a single-storey building, think of people living in high-rise and flats.

We demand a systemised building evacuation for the disabled.

NATO phonetic alphabet

India Lima Oscar Victor Echo Echo Lima Echo Alpha Romeo November Oscar Romeo

What Should I Do?

Fellow bloggers, I came to you with a dilemma in my mind.

To start with, there is a girl in school that I am interested in (I can hear the sound of people sighing as they read this). I started to notice her in 2003, three years ago. Time passed and I got to know her name. Aside from that, there is no other contact, but whenever I saw her a peaceful feeling passed over me. She is two years junior than me. Three years passed and now she is in Form Five and I am in Upper Six. I would like to make use of the time remaining before I finished school.

What should I do? Should I, a stranger, confess my love to her?

Edit: She is the 校花.

Happy Wesak Day

... to all Buddhists and Malaysians.

Trivia: NTV7 broadcasted Attack of the Clones on Saturday.

Freaked Out (Sort Of)

Someone came to this blog, read 29 posts and stayed for 1 hour 14 minutes 25 seconds. Then another IP came, also read 29 posts and stayed for 44 minutes and 34 seconds.

Couldn't possibly be a bot. But what did I write is so interesting to the mysterious reader?

Or stalker?

Reminder to Self

Get a Sarawak keychain for:
an00bis
riku kingdom hearts
krossfire

MUET Mid-Year Ended

Today we had our MUET oral test.

This ends the MUET tests for mid-year. I'm hoping for a good result so that I wouldn't have to re-take it at the end of the year.

Update 21/7: Check your results here!

On... (Ahmad Harizal)

I disagree.

I disagree with what had been done to Ahmad Harizal. For an introduction, I am one of many that was eligible to be chosen (by the computer) for the first National Service, that is for 2003. I was, and still not enthuastic about the National Service (from hereon referred to as "NS"). "They" said that it is necessary for national intergration and harmony. It seems to me that "they" had not been on the field, in their constituency. Also known as the real world.

Being eligible to be chosen for the first batch, me and my friends are enthuastic about it at first, as we have heard that this will be a military service. As reality approaches (with SPM), we found out that the length of the service is short, there will be no military training whatsoever (visiting a Navy ship and unarmed combat is not military training). I believe that it would have been better if they are trained in skills (electronic, carpentry, secretaryship) during training, they will, for once, really have an edge over others. Do potential employers look at the NS card? It seems (and it's true) that they are paid RM 300 for three months having fun, engaging in brawls while at the same time taxpayers money are being spent.

But Ahmad Harizal couldn't afford that. He have a family to support. Three months in camp versus three months working, which is more rewarding for him? Does defending the nation means anything for him if his local representative did nothing for him? Yet "they" are the ones that claimed glory, basking in the media limelight in the aftermath of this issue. Soon Ahmad Harizal will be forgotten. I'll remind myself to drop by at his place next time I'm in Perlis (as I've been to Perlis twice).

"They" said 'justice knows no social status' (keadilan tidak mengenal kaya atau miskin). The irony as this applies only for the poor. I do not understand the Attorney-General's decision to prosecute Ahmad Harizal first as there are many big fishes swimming out there. Perhaps for the simple reason that his name is on top of the alphabetical list. I sincerely hope that the future will be brighter for Ahmad Harizal, and not being martyrialised by certain groups, including "them".

I'm going to join Askar Wataniah in uni later, God willing.

P/S: Remind self to write petition to Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim to make available souvenirs of Perlis. I went back empty handed. Not even t-shirts or keychains! No souvenirs are sold!

EDIT: Logically, can someone who quit school in Form 2 can think of the consequences for breaking the law? Does he know that it is mandatory? Can he draft a letter asking for exemption? Was he represented by a lawyer at the proceedings?

The Funeral

It was a very hot day. I was watching NatGeo's Afghanistan Revealed when the news came.

"Mona died," my father said. I can hear the sound of a hoe biting into the ground. My mother was digging the grave in the cat cemetery.

Digging the grave.


Burial shroud. Mona lies inside.


The dug grave, a foot deep.


Placing her inside the grave.


A friend paying his last respects.


Someone else's femur. Dad dug a small hole near the grave and I placed it inside.


A simple stone for a grave marker.


Heavy rain.
A thunderstorm followed later, with heavy rain.

In Memory of Mona
With Us For 10 Years
Leaving Behind Boy (son) and Timah (daughter)
To Mourn Her Passing

Life Imitating Commercial

'Made in China' Leather gloves: RM 16

Italian leather jacket: $$$$$

German helmet from border town of Serikin: RM 13

Malaysian Army Boots: Free

Not having a bike: Priceless.

There are things that money can't buy [yet]. For everything else, there's blogging.

Well, got to have a source of income first. Can't leech my parents, right? Using my hard-earned money for one of those...is my dream.

Someday.

Help! Laptop Keyboard Problem (NumLock)

The symptoms:

-'Numlock' turned off = Keyboard's tertiary function activated ('Page down' using 'l', for example.)
-'Numlock' turned on = Keyboard's primary function activated

Now, 'Numlock' is supposed to activate the secondary function, not something else. Conse[kyu]ently, I have a lot of problem typing. Darn! Have to switch on 'Numlock' to type normally. Any pointers?

P/S: 'Del' key unusable. Unable to type [kyu].

Yes, 'NumLock' IS off.

Kuala Krai as I Remember It

At the Kuala Krain train station, 1987.

The blogger, aged 7 months, in blue shirt and shorts.

I love to go back, to 'return' to Kuala Krai. As I was there before I could remember anything, there isn't anything much to remember about it. There is a warm, familiar feeling whenever I think about Kuala Krai. Inspired by Cikgu Lee.

Today, 8th of May is V-E Day. Me, being a history buff remembers this instead of something else: Mother's Day. But as I was visiting blogs all over the Net, I was reminded of it.

Here's to you mom. Happy Mother's Day.

On Friday...

Our Mathematics teacher asked us if we are interested in joining the ping-pong club. Being bored with no co-curriculum activities (Form 6 students in our schools are often sidelined from them) the whole male population in my class joined. She asked us to pass the form around and when it got back to her, the following dialogue happened:

Maths. Teacher: 'Race: Kedayan'...is it Kadazan plus Kayan?

Class: *LOL*

A few minutes later...

Maths. Teacher: Rajiv, are you an Indian?

Class: *ROTFLOAO*

Condolences to Kenny

Let us have a moment of silence for Kenny Sia's father who passed away to day.

In other news:
-Got too deep playing Hearts of Iron II.
-Price of petrol and diesel increases, 10 cents for petrol, 20 cents for diesel. Starts tomorrow (5th of May) at 0000.