I'm the Devil. Reincarnated.

Have a Happy Ramadan!

2009-08-27T17:17:00.003+08:00

I ended up doing summer flights for Ramadan.. doing Milan now, and Frankfurt/New York next week..

Not that I'm complaining though.. the money is good.. and considering the fact that I wont be flying for a week during Hari Raya, so the flights come in at a good time..

5 hours to go till buka, and back home, they had buka-ed 2 hrs ago..

Thankfully, there's 2 other Muslim crew on this flight so the three of us lepak together for buka and post-buka conversations..

Came across a Turkish/Kebab restaurant yesterday while looking for a Halal eatery.. and we were invited for free meals, for buka and sahur.. but Sahur is way too early, and I still got some food packed by my dad..

Zahirah and Nadya are down with flu.. just when I was leaving for 2 consecutive long flights.. bad timing.. but at least when Hari Raya comes, they should be strong and healthy again..

And this is gonna be Nadya's FIRST Hari Raya. And as I had mentioned, I would be home for a week for it.. So all u aunts and uncles, get ready the duit raya coz Nadya will come charging soon..

On a sadder note..

I lost my Mont Blanc pen.

Again.

For the second time since I received it as my birthday present 2 years ago from my then-fiancee who was still in secondary school and had to stinge to save up 400 bucks to get that pen for me..

Not that I ever expected her to do that, but its a beautiful Mont Blanc pen and had always been one of the most precious thing to me that I dont leave home without it.. it's always with me when I go to work, and always in my jeans when I'm not working that I dont write with anything else except for that pen.

The first time I lost it was the night before Meraj's wedding when I drove over to his house to spend time with him and the rest of the guys.. I had placed the pen in the pocket of my police uniform, since I was doing some of my reservist duties that day, and when I got home, the pen wasnt there.

It was not till I had to clear my car several months later to sell it away that I found it in the trunk.

And I had taken more care since..

Till a week and a half ago, when I was doing the final packing just before I left home for Melbourne, I thought I packed the pen which was in my jeans, in my suitcase.. but when I arrived in Melbourne, I couldnt find the pen.. and for a week and a half I had been so depressed..

I lost my prized possession.. a gift from my wife when she was still a secondary school student..

I looked everywhere in the house for it but couldnt find it.. seriously, it affected me so badly that I was really depressed for the loss of it..

Till about 20 mins ago.. my wife told me that Nadya found it while playing at my in-laws' in Jurong!

No wonder I couldnt find it in Tampines.. coz it wasnt there..

No words can really express how relieved I am now.. I am so happy.. and this time I'm gonna take MORE care of it.. my track record is bad.. but I'll try..

So, the Mont Blanc incident ended now on a happier note..

Anyway, just a few days after the National Day, I went to watch a football game at the National Stadium with my brother who had a stopover in Singapore en route back from Hiroshima to Melbourne, as part of his study trip for his Masters degree at La Trobe..

Zahirah drudgingly followed after I convinced her that it was a good family bonding session.. watching a soccer match with me and my brother and our 9 months old daughter..

hehe.. not many guys can pull that off eh? but still.. when we're home and she's holding the remote to the cable tv, she'll skip through Channel 27 so quickly that I dont even see the channel name appearing on screen..

but when she knows that there are important games.. or any Manchester United games, she would normally relent and let me watch them..

anyway, back to the game, it was a friendly between Singapore and China.. Singapore scored early in the game, before it was dominated by the Chinese..

even the Chinese fans dominated the stadium, which was like a quarter filled..

The next day, The New Paper reports..

Why No Kallang Roar?

and put it like a blame to the Singaporeans who didnt turn up for the game, and for those who did, that we didnt cheer like the Chinese fans did..

Since they added a small part in the page for us to speak up, I emailed them with my opinion..

here's the letter I sent to TNP sports..

Why no Kallang Roar?

Let me explain to you why. I'm writing here in the defense of the ones who attended the National Day Challenge 2009 between Singapore and China.

The last time I stepped into the National Stadium was in 1994, in support of the Lions back when we were still playing in the Malaysian Cup. Ever since our departure from the M-Cup, along with thousands of other fans, I had lost interest in the local soccer scene. I don't know names of the S-League teams, except for a couple of them who had been around forever. I don't keep track of the players, cause in my stereotypical mind, they are overpaid and overrated. I don't watch the S-league games, cause, again my in stereotypical mind, they are mainly attended by bookies, the players' immediate families and the local WAGs.

I skip the reports on our local games in the papers, choosing only to read the English league and other international game reports. For 15 years, the Singapore soccer scene had been parked right at the back end of my mind, and the interest had never been revived since.

Till yesterday, when my brother, who was visiting from Australia where he had lived for the past 6 years, almost pleaded to me to watch the game with him. He had always had the soft spot for the Singapore team, maybe due to the fact that he missed the country badly. He said that he felt pain everytime Liverpool scored against Singapore and had to walk around to pacify himself.

That's the Singapore die-hard fan for you.

I was an attendee at the game yesterday. I wasn't a fan. Had stopped being one for 15 years. I did not even know about the game till my brother told me about it. And so I thought that it might be a good time to give the National team a chance and to re-ignite my love for them. When the names were mentioned, I couldn't not connect to them as they were literally foreign names to me. When they played from the first kick, they lost me.

It was a good thing that Singapore had scored at the beginning before the Chinese team settled in as the Singapore players were lost in the field for most of the game.

What I saw during the game was a team of mainly lazy players who gave up too many possessions and refused to regain the ball after losing them. They seemed to be contented when they were unable to retrieve the ball, or when they lost the challenge for it.

My brother was too kind to consider them having the skills but not the flair. Too kind. But then again, he is THAT patriotic to the National team as he lives far away from Singapore, and supporting them is one of those things that he can use as reminiscence of the memories of the good old times when he was still living here.

I'm sorry. But the last football match that I had watched live was at Old Trafford. While I certainly do not expect the National team to perform like their English counterparts, they could not even perform close to their predecessors who had don the red jerseys and did us proud for so many years. The Real Lions.

I would have cheered for the team if they could have played better. They might think that they could have played better if we cheered.

I'd rather lose my voice to a team that deserve the cheer. They should not have been given the luxury to choose to underperform due to lack of fan support as it is their responsibility to play, and to play well. We, the attendees, were not obligated to cheer for a team without flair. They could have gotten a fan in me if they could play with more dedication. Besides the National custodian who had a streak of fantastic saves, the rest of the team were just not playing.

I wouldn't blame the National coach when he thought that the team played well. He had just gotten too used to the way these boys play their level of football.

FAS marketed the game badly. Most of my friends who are obvious Lions' fans back in the 90s did not even know that there were such an event yesterday. Not that they bothered too as none were interested in it when I told them about it. They lost the fans when they opted to leave the M-Cup. So what if they had been victimised by the M-Cup organisers? Singaporean fans is a patriotic bunch. By leaving the competition without a proper replacement dismantled our National pride in the team. The S-league could not even come close to it. FAS chose to ignore the fans.

Then again, that's just an opinion.

I'd stick to my standard EPL games and leave the S-league and National games for the WAGs to watch. If they want the Kallang Roar to come back, work hard for it. You don't deserve it just because you were chosen to don the colours due to the fact that everyone else play much worse than you do.

They are not the Lions. We lost them one and a half decade ago.

I was not a fan who attended the game yesterday. I was just another Singaporean who happened to watch the game.

And it hurt me just as bad when I watched in dismay, the dismal performance that they showed us while wearing our National colours.

A few days later, a reporter from TNP called me and told me that they liked my letter and invited me for a dialogue session with 2 other fans who had written in, with the boss of S-League and FAS, Winston Lee..

wah.. so serious like that ah?

But the session was at 6pm that day, and I had to leave for a flight to Delhi at 4pm.. so I had to give it a miss.. I did write in some questions though to the reporter coz he told me to do so for him to relay to FAS.. but for the print, only a single paragraph appeared.. good enough.. but the reply that FAS seemed to give was that they had given what they should and we should accept it the way it is and support the national team and league coz we are expected to..

No thanks, FAS. I'll stick to Channel 27.

3 hrs to go till buka in Milan.

Be My Baby No Matter If You're Black or White..

2009-07-03T16:16:00.002+08:00

"We want to celebrate this black man"

Those are the words of Jamie Foxx two days after the death of Michael Jackson.

Yeps.. this is my tribute entry to King Michael, like millions of other tributes..

When I heard Foxx said those words outside the Shrine Auditorium, at the 2009 BET Awards which was hastily revamped to celebrate the life of Michael Jackson, I went like.. err.. Michael Jackson is a black man mehhhhhhh?? where gotttt???

Be my baby no matter if you're black or white..

Michael Jackson was born a black baby and died a white man. Or raceless, if you prefer to think of it that way..

I had never been a fan of Michael Jackson's songs.. some of them, yeps.. but not most of them.. Its not like its not nice or something.. they were nice songs, but its just not my kinda songs..

Now, more than a week after his death, I'm here sitting at Long John Silver's at Tanglin Halt, at 4.15pm, waiting for Zahirah to finish her class, while Nadya is sleeping through, and still on the radio, a Michael Jackson's song is playing.. a nice one, sang when he was with Jackson Five.
It's true that his songs can cover most of your emotions, and thatz coz the guy got a variety of songs, sad, happy, emo, lovey dovey..

I do feel sad for the passing of Michael Jackson, even though, as I had mentioned, I had never been a fan of most his songs.. I feel sad like most of the ppl in the world.. and the problem with his death is that, even more than a week passed, we still feel sad abt it..

As my wife had mentioned, Farrah Fawcett's death was mentioned in page 24 of the Straits Times, while King Michael's death was published at the front page.. and for the next few days that I was in London, his pictures were still on the front page of the papers for the next few days.. and CNN and BBC and SkyNews kept on reporting up-to-date progress on the autopsies and funeral plans..

King Michael morphed like his Black or White video, from Black to White. The Whites might have liked it coz they dont need to publicly be a fan of a black guy.. coz they might be able to feign ignorance and claim not to realise that King Michael is Black.

The Blacks still celebrate the black man.

Even though, as a non-fan of his music, I dont recall Michael Jackson ever said anything abt himself being a black man.. I might be wrong.. and it might not even matter coz ppl dont need to go around telling others abt their race as its normaly self evident.

But he stopped being black a long time ago. He married two white women. His kids are all white.. they cant claim to be black even if they want to.. they are just as black as Wentworth Miller..
or might be much lesser than Wentworth Miller..

Coz recently the reports said that the 3 kids are not King Michael's.. so there goes their royal blood..

So, a black man who never publicly claim to be black, goes for skin bleaching and surgery to change his featured appearances, married two white women and got 3 white kids cant possibly be black. He's not even an Oreo.. He was a former Oreo who had been dipped in Milk till it loses the color..

But this is not to insult The Black Man.. in fact.. this is a tribute entry.. not on his music coz i know nuts abt it..

I think King Michael had successfully crossed the race boundaries.. Not that he publicly mentioned that he's white anyway.. its just that he's a Person.

Not Black. Not Really White.

I passed by HMV at Picaddilly Circus to take a look at the tributes that the fans had laid down for King Michael, and I saw mainly whites who were there.. saw a white woman crying softly.. and thatz a few days after King Michael died..

I think even some of the members of the Ku Klux Klan might have cried.. heck.. they might even have not known that King Michael is black and some might even had the thought of inviting him into the Klan..

Michael Jackson had surpassed the need to have a race.. might have been the only person in the world who had successfully done that.. and for that feat, it's admirable.. and now, fans all over the world, Blacks and Whites and Yellows and Browns and Everything In Betweens would have cried for the passing of the King.. and i'm pretty sure they cried much more than when they cried for King Elvis.

Thats the tribute that i have about someone that i dont really know whose death did affect me..

But I think it affected my wife much worse..

And Michael Jackson didnt really die anyway.. its a cover-up by the FBI.. just like when they came out with the cover-up story saying that Elvis had died.

Anyway, this blog entry was continued at home the next day, at 3.35am..

Just got back from having an entire day of celebrating my cousin's kids' wedding.. a double wedding for my niece and nephew..

so.. Azmi and Ana, Aishah and Iqbal.. welcome to the club.. hope soon u'll be joining the other club that Zahirah and I got into 8 months ago..

Other updates in my life..

Just got back from London, where there's currently a heatwave.. and the entire London is on SALE..

my brother and his wife and 3 of his 5 kids in Melbourne had just recovered from H1N1..

I got promoted in March.

Nadya had been standing for more than a month.. and soon enough she'll be walking.. and soon after that I'll be running.. which would be a good way to get rid of this belly anyway..

Zahirah is back in school since we got back from Melbourne in April.. and so, for 3 hours on most of the weekdays that I am in Singapore, I'll be having a Father-Daughter Bonding Session.. mostly at one of the cafes in town.. where we'll just sit and chit chat.. just me and Nadya.. and when her Mama finishes her class, the 3 of us would be chilling out in town together..

My Bro/Sis-In-Law are expecting their first kid in 2 months time..

Mom and Dad still the same..

the company I work for still make lots of money..

thatz it for the updates in my life..

Would be around in Singapore for the next week, till my Zurich flight in 7 days time..

and abt the SALE in London..

Singapore is having their own Great Singapore Sale.. but a lot of tourists who came here didnt really bother so much abt it..

I got 5 shirts and a cardigan for Nadya from Zara in London.. and some of the shirts costs £1.99.. That's abt $5..

some of the items on sale at some of the shops goes down to abt 90% off.. and thats a SALE..

try any of the shops participating in GSS.. U might as well go down to Daiso instead.. cheap and good.. GAP in London are going down to 70% off.. of course, just for selected items... but the selected items cover most of the store..

so much of being a GREAT Singapore Sale..

Sometimes, Singaporeans should slap themselves in the face to wake themselves up.. We think that we are so good that everything SHOULD be good if it comes from us..

like the crowd attendance at the Asian Youth Games..

what a disgrace..

eyes too sleepy to continue blogging now so i'm just gonna leave it here..

Michael Jackson had just left the building.

Don't expat too much hor..

2009-05-16T16:46:00.001+08:00

Alone in Raffles City now.. wife is celebrating her birthday with her ex-classmates.. so I thought it would be a good time to meet up with my bandmates.

Was 45 mins late. But no one was here anyway.. so it does not make me late coz theres no one waiting.

Yazid is on the way now. Fiza replied to my msg saying that she's not coming. Azil got stuck in the rain and might not come. Umi uncontactable coz i dont have her number with me. Shida will come at 8. Nas in KL. Din and Hamdy MIA.

There were no seats at Starbucks so I ended up having my lunch in Burger King.

There's an overzealous Sarawakian staff who was mopping the floor and saw some teenagers moving chairs around and he thought that it was his civic Burger King Staff duty to stop them from doing so.

Ordered my meal next to another teenage boy of about 17-18 yrs old who cant talk in tune. He ordered in a single, monotonous tone.

10 CHANGE FRIES TO ONION RINGS

20 CHILLI OR KETCHUP? CHILLI. AND MAYO.

30 MORE CHILLI PLEASE.

40 CLS

50 GOTO 40

Imagine all these orders made with a robotic, monotone voice.

Ahh.. dont you just miss GWBASIC. Days when you thought that programming was easy. Till you came across an alphabet plus plus.

Recently, in the Singapore bashing facebook group, one Aussie woman commented that she cant understand what Singaporeans are talking about.

She should talk to this guy. No one can ever misunderstand what he wanted to say.

Does anyone, besides the Aussies, even understand what the Aussies talk abt anyway? Coming from a place where you speak ONLY English does not make ur command of the language fantastic. I had been to the States and Australia too many times to be able to know THAT for a fact.

Ok. Din just called me to tell me that he is on the way.

As much as I love Australia, London, United States, there are always downsides to everywhere.

Obviously, Singapore is not a perfect place. If u are a Singaporean and you dont like Singapore, move to Johor.

Too bad that they dont allow you to buy a gun in Johor, and yet a huge number of crooks theres own more than just a single gun. Yesterday's papers mentioned that even the Police Chief in Johor was tied up in his house while it was being burgled by 3 fellas.

And if u can't control the crime, blame it on the Indonesians. The Malaysians had the habit of blaming the Bangladeshis several years back for the crime spree.. It's always a foreigner. Never the local.

But then again, I personally know of some ppl who had been robbed by obvious locals.

OK.. This entry was continued at home now..

Yazid came with Ima soon after I wrote the first part of the entry. Din arrived with Lina.

Went down to Singapore Flyer coz they wanted to watch some motorbike stunt show..

The event turned out to be massively attended.. with the attendees turning out to be 95% mats who ooohed and aaahhed at every jump the stunt bikers made..

Some of the mats wore identical shirts.. Spotted one wearing a Singapore Bikers something.. like he belonged to a professional bike clan. heh..

After abt 15 mins, there was a break so we walked a lil bit further out of the crowd to get some drinks.. that was when I saw IT.

IT was a BIG screen showing the Manchester United/ARSEnal game.

I had wanted to watch the game, but since I was out with the band, I thought I could just get the result afterwards.. But God's bigger plan was for me to watch and enjoy the part where Manchester United picked up the Premier League trophy for the third successsive year.

Shida, Umi and Fred met us during half time of the game..

So after the match, walked over to Esplanade, and I went down to Citylink to fetch my wife and daughter, who had gone for a karaoke session at a place where it was Family Friendly.. with songs even for little kids to sing.

Spent a lil bit more time with them before we all headed back home.

So that's it abt my entry, after months and months of not blogging. And when I do, its the typical.

Wife.
Daughter.
Band.
Mats.
Manchester United.
Programming.

And here, back to the stupid Aussie from the Singapore Bashing group.

Seriously, if Singapore is ALL that bad, none of u EXPATRIATES would wanna come over here.

But of course, u do want to, coz Singaporeans put Ang Mohs on such high pedestal that they feel like princes and princesses.

I had a Swiss friend who worked here before.. and he loved being in Singapore.

Coz Singaporean SPGs would throw themselves at him. And he get free drinks, no queues, and extra preferential treatment coz he is a tall, good looking ang moh.

I dont really blame this kinda ang mohs for taking advantage of the situation. Blame the Singaporeans who gave it and whined abt how service staff are discriminative towards Asians.

I am a service staff. I give preferential treatment to anyone who comes. So when u get it, take it with grace and dont whine abt it when u get back to Aussieland.

Most of the ppl worldwide that I had met are nice ppl. But we do come across some asses.

One of my friends was shouted at while she was in a tram in Melbourne. She was sitting down and here comes an Aussie woman who started shouting to her to tell her to give her seat to the REAL Australians.

Till someone else in the tram told the woman that the REAL Australians are the Aboriginals. Not the Ang Mohs who came down on their 10-pound tickets or sent down under for being petty thieves.

And not too long ago, in London underground, a seat was empty in front of me when someone alighted. So graciously, I moved over to let an old ang moh man sit down.

He started shouting at me, saying that I should take the seat coz MY ppl had been doing it in HIS country. We had taken over their jobs and all.. so why not just take the bloody seat too?

I wanted to retaliate, but considering that he is an old man, I let it go. Everyone in the quite congestedly full cabin was staring at me while it happened.

To all Brits who think that we stole something from them by living in the UK.

Firstly, I DONT LIVE IN THE UK. So I didnt steal your job. I am happily employed here, in Singapore.

Secondly, I am a tourist. So I normally wont be there for more than a few days. I dont really have much time to steal your job. Even if I did, it will be just for a few days packing some groceries in Tesco, if they would allow me to. But they dont. So I dont have anything to steal.

Thirdly, my country is better than yours. Coz YOUR ppl love to come here and mingle with our pretty little Asian SPGs. Somehow, YOUR ppl like to come here and work and steal Singaporean jobs coz our country is open enough for anyone to come here and work, no matter where u are from.

Fourthly, our MRT stations dont smell of urine. We dont carry guns, and neither does our crooks. Except for One-Eyed Dragon, but he's caught and killed.

Fifthly, since the old man mentioned, YOUR PPL.. ermz.. I still couldnt figure it out, who does he refer to as MY ppl. OK.. I am an Indian, but I dont look Indian. Malay? There's not that many Malays in the UK who stole their jobs except for Ashley Isham. The rest of the Malays there are either studying or selling Malay food. But I am not a Malay. I am an Indian who doesnt look Indian. I dont look Chinese. The only ones who stole their jobs are the Italians. And theres no way in the weirdest world that I could even look Italian. I am not even so much of a fan of pasta.

So again, to all Brits who think that MY ppl had stolen your jobs.. We didnt. YOUR ppl came over to con the Malay Temenggong to colonise MY country. Thanks ah.. go bully some dumb fella and take his island. Lucky we got smarter hor.. and got back our island.

To all Aussies who think that we speak funny.. if only you would record your own voices. You think Singaporeans speak funny. The rest of the world KNOWS that you speak funny. Enough said, mate.

Ang Mohs like to come to Singapore to work while leaving their wives at Jelita, Holland Village, Serene Centre and Tanglin Mall supermarkets. So they end up talking to some PRC cashier at the tills.

With that and when they found out that their husbands are enjoying the attention of the SPGS more than their EXPATRIATE jobs here, they got bored and angry and ended up in a Singapore Bashing facebook group saying that Singaporeans speak funny.

We dont. Maybe the SPG that your husband was sleeping with speaks funny. But the rest of us dont.

And how in the world did she know that we cant speak our own language well? You can understand Malay meh? or Tamil?

Singlish is not a bad thing. Aussies have their own weird slang. Mates do refer to copulation too.

How ya doin? Mate?

No thanks. I'm married.

Another weird EXPATRIATE that we had was the one who commented on the arrest of Mas Selamat. Got this Ang Moh terrorism expert who mentioned that Mas Selamat might have been planning attacks to some Singaporean icons. Such as the Singapore Flyer, the Merlion. And he mentioned, "Now, that, would be spectacular".

Wahahaha.. attacking the Merlion would be spectacular?

We, the normal Singaporeans, dont even find the Merlion spectacular. Attacking the Merlion would not be spectacular. It would have been DUMB.

Not many except for the poor Bangladeshi workers who had to clean up the mess bothered so much except to laugh it out when the Merlion was struck by lightning.

That's the kinda EXPATRIATE that we need? To come and make some dumb comments thinking that he would know what Singaporeans think of our national "icons"?

Haiyah..

I am more forgiving to the Englishman in the tube coz England has got good football. I dont watch rugby.

Anyway, the blog entry ended the next day, on 17th May at 2.10pm, at home.

Huggies Photo Contest

2009-01-31T01:24:00.002+08:00

VOTE FOR NADYA! CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN.
Click on the photo below and you'll be directed to Huggies website.
Click on vote, and you're done.

THANK YOU!

The best gift of all..

2008-11-06T08:45:00.009+08:00

At last..

After 8 months of waiting from the time we found out that we had conceived her..

After 10 months since the wedding..

After 23 months since we got engaged and dreaming of having a child together..

After 1 1/2 years since we bought her first clothes.. M & Ms baby rompers which looked too cute to pass so we got it for our planned first child..

After months of paranoia and worries throughout the pregnancy..

Our little bundle of joy arrived at 2.43pm on 02nd Nov 2008.

Now comes another years and years of paranoia and worries..

and lots of sleepless nights..

I can remember clearly when I first found out that I am gonna be a daddy..

I had just landed into Brisbane on 04th March 2008. While I was just stepping out of the airport when I felt my phone beeped.. so at the entrance of the airport, while waiting for the rest of the crew, I checked my phone.. and there was this msg from my wife..

"Pls msg me when u land. Make sure u do..."

and..

"I got something very impt to tell u. It's nothing bad. I bet u tt its not bad news"

Obviously, I wasnt gonna msg her. Out of my pure kanchiongness for the "something impt", I called her right at the airport entrance..

And she told me the beautiful news.. that she tested positive using the home-test pregnancy kit..

I froze..

Totally..

I'm gonna be a dad.

I was totally speechless. I forgot at that point of time that I was in Brisbane.. coz for a moment I thought I was in Heaven.

A leading stewardess next to me saw my face changred and asked me right after I put down the phone.. "What happened?"

I couldnt talk for a moment.. I could just smile..

One of the happiest moments of my life..

I was totally crazily happy..

8 months later.. I was crazier and happier..

Of course.. initially it came as a mixed feeling.. from the time my wife had her first contraction that beautiful morning of the 02nd of Nov... I was so excited abt her arrival.. and still hoping that she remains a SHE coz of all the dresses and the pink stuffs we had already bought.. if she turned out to be a HE, we cant possibly let my son wear the dresses.

I saw the pain she had to go through, and felt totally helpless, coz, as a husband.. I could do nothing to ease that pain..

I was just praying that everything will go fine and the labour will be fast and uncomplicated..

She came through at 2.43pm, and the first thing I noticed when she was coming out was.. she started screaming when she was just HALFWAY out of my wife.. no need for butt hitting to get her to cry.. no Ma'am.. this little girl is capable of doing it right from the womb..

That was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard..

The doc placed her right on top of my wife and though I had always pretended to be concerned abt her gender, I was actually more concerned abt her condition and I was scanning for any physical imperfections.. not that we would love her any less if she does.. but at least if she does.. we can be prepared from the beginning to do something abt it..

Our little bundle of perfection remained a little girl and thus became the official owner of the dresses.

Through the pregnancy.. I was so paranoid..

What if I was sick and had passed some sickness to my little baby?

What if I am sick with some deadly sickness and wont be able to see her..

What if I had died before she came and I became a nightly story that her mom tells her on how I could have been a good dad..

What ifs..

Then I realised that I was being too paranoid and I guessed that every father-to-be would go through the same phases of paranoia.. So I decided to be more optimistic and start planning for our lives together..

Right after I cut off her umbilical cord, the one of the nurses took her to the warmer to warm her up.. and was the first to notice and comment.. that my daughter has a deep dimple on her right..

Wow..

And considering the fact that she has a beautiful mom..

I was planning on how to interrogate her upcoming suitors.. the ones who attempts to be my son-in-law.. so I shall list down the criterias one of these days..

Right after I buy a shotgun to place in front of the house to scare them away.

We got EXACTLY what we had prayed for..

We wanted a baby right after we got married.. we didnt.

Coz if we had gotten her during the first month, it would have been impossible for us to do what we did during the honeymoon.. up the mountain, but we wouldnt have been able to ski and snowmobile and all those things we did and my wife will not be feeling good..

So we conceived her during the honeymoon..

We had wanted a girl to be the first baby..

And we got a girl to be our first baby..

My wife had an easy pregnancy.. or rather.. much much easier than I had expected and anticipated.. so it made things so much easier for me as well..

No morning sickness, no moodiness.. just during her 5th month, she felt pain at the tailbone and close to the end of the pregnancy, she was starting to feel the pain at the pelvic when the baby started to move downwards..

She didnt feel the Braxton Hicks.. and felt her very first contraction pain hours after the water bag broke..

The delivery was very very smooth and fast..

I had used up all my annual leave for the wedding and the honeymoon.. so the only available leave that I had was my 7 days matrimonial leave that was to be used within 12 months of the wedding..

So initially, I had wanted to apply for the leave from 10th Nov till 16th Nov, coz the expected due date was the 11th..

So our gynae mentioned that if I would apply for it on the 10th, my daughter would have come out when I come back from flight.. so he told me to apply for the leave a week earlier as it is a trend now that they give birth on the 39th week..

So I applied for my leave from 03rd Nov, and I was off from work from 02nd Nov..

and she came on the 02nd Nov.. right on the date that I was hoping she would arrive.

We wanted her birthdate NOT to coincide with anyone so she can have a birthday party just for herself.. and true enough.. she has her own date.. and it only coincide with Shahrukh Khan but he's not invited for the birthday party.

We chose to have her delivered in a private hospital as compared to KKH coz of some horror stories that we have heard.. so we chose Gleneagles Hospital..

I compare Gleneagles to a rich, pretty girl who has an attitude.. it looked all glam and pretty from the outside, but u have to be patient and swallow ur anger and bear the attitude..

Somehow I think they chose the best of their staff to be at the frontline to present a good front.. but I find the nurses very grumpy and and always in a bad mood.

Not the Filipino nurses coz they are mostly polite and nice.. but the local ones..

But they get most of the things done.. MOST.. not all..

Coz when we informed the nurses that the baby has a discharge on her right eye and asked for some swaps to clean it up, she didnt come back.. had to inform another one and waited for more than half an hour for it..

And so I had to go over to the nursery and blasted at the nursing officer coz all that I wanted was a clean swap so I can clean my baby's eye myself..

I didnt even ask them to do it. I didnt want to delay any longer coz I'm a new dad and I'm paranoid and I wanna make sure that my daughter don't end up having an infected eye.

The second nurse came to us shortly afterwards to apologize coz she was stuck with another patient..

Fine.. but it didnt excuse the first nurse to ignore us anyway..

And the Malay girl at the cashier's, as I headed down in the morning, was so aloof and cold, and abrupt in her manners..

Except in the afternoon when she was attending to some ang mohs, then I saw her smile..

But the counter staff at the admission.. they are not short of fantastic.. very helpful and friendly.. and the admission when we came in was effortless..

The staff at the labour ward was good too.. nice and friendly and took care of my wife as much as I had thought they could afford to..

But we decided to go to Gleneagles coz we knew that the baby will be taken care of.. I spoke to a male nurse somewhere just not too long before my baby's birth that in his experience during the attachment in KKH, he saw a baby who's back was lined with feaces coz they were having too many babies and too little nurses.

And our first time at the polyclinic a day after I came back from Brisbane to confirm the pregnancy before we wailed out to tell the world.. we were hurried out of the clinic by the doctor who was more concerned abt going for lunch even though we arrived at the polyclinic way before lunch time and was delayed by the registration process and the waiting time..

and to compare that to our gynae, Dr KW Lee.. wow..

Of course, there's a price to pay for everything though.. and at the end of the day.. I knew that I had done all I can to make sure that I provided what I can for my wife and daughter during the pregnancy and delivery..

So my little baby princess has officially become a Mother..

And this old man, after almost 36 years of his life.. has officially become a Father..

and I promise u, my little girl.. that I will be the best dad I could ever be for u..

So, my darling.. I present u to the world..

And will guide u through ur life, in which I plan to be a very integral part of, no matter how intrusive and naggy and old fashioned u think I am..

I used to be cool though.. even if u find it hard to believe when u are old enough to read this..

So now, I present to the world..

My little baby girl..

Who's picture I stole from my wife..

Nadya az-Zahra Binte Zulkarnain

Cultures and Counterculture and being Effectively Bilingual.

2008-10-28T15:52:00.005+08:00

Happy Belated Deepavali to my Indian friends and anyone who's Indian (including my wife, my brother, my sis in law and my upcoming daughter) who comes across this posting.

Had to go to work yesterday, despite it being Deepavali.

I dont celebrate it anyway.. not in a sense like a celebration kinda thing.. But I miss Deepavali of those yesteryears.

Sweet cakes, Thosai, Curries..

I dont have that many local Indian friends nowadays that will invite me over for Deepavali. I used to have quite a number of good friends who will invite me over for Deepavali and Chinese New Year and Christmas, and I will invite them over for Hari Raya and my mom will cook her trademark Briyani.

Somehow, besides my wife and my mom and myself in the mirror.. I dont see much of other local Indians around anymore..

Came across an Indian man, somewhere in his 50s in the lift yesterday as I was about to leave for work.. I wished him a Happy Deepavali and asked abt his celebration plans for the day..

So he told me that he was going to the temple and afterwards, heading down with his wife and kids to his parents place to celebrate.

Thatz when I realised..

I dont see or hear much abt that nowadayz..

Locals.

Somehow, I miss them.

Recently, in my futile attempt to repair and clean my Armani specs.. I removed the screws and was unable to fix it in back..

So a few days later.. when I returned to Singapore.. I headed down to Tampines Mart, to an optical shop.. to get it fixed.

So the guy working in the shop, laughed when he saw what I did and showed me how to do it.

There's a trick to fixing it in as the spring in the frame will move the alignment of the holes.. and without using a wire to hold it in place, it's impossible to fix it in.

This is a fella in his 30s, who might probably spot some Ang Kongs somewhere and his natural language is Hokkien.

I like Hokkien speaking Bengs. I have a lot of Hokkien Speaking Beng friends and I am always comfortable with them.

I might be stereotyping on the Ang Kongs.. but I know enough Hokkien speaking Bengs as I had grown up in a neighbourhood who's official language was Hokkien and Tamil.

That's Dover Rd.

How I miss that place.

It's a place where Malays and Indians and Chinese will sit together at the coffeeshop and we are all friends and we'll cover each other's back and everyone who's in a secret society will be in the same one. No matter what race u are.

Not that I was in any. My societies are all not so secret.

I was doing National Service as a policeman back then and I was rest assured that those guys would not allow anything bad to happen in the neighbourhood. In fact, I know them being very anti-drug addicts so we didnt get that kinda problems in the neighbourhood.

They just like to chill at the coffeeshops and drink their tea in the morning and beers in the afternoons till evenings.

Back to my Hokkien-speaking mentor at the shop.

In all friendliness of a Hokkien speaking sales-rep who's attempt to speak Malay to my mom was admirable, he refused payment for the services rendered to me (not that I expected him to charge as it was a trivial matter.. but it was his working time anyway.. he could have if he wanted to though it will be very weird if he would) managed to sell my mom a new pair of specs.

That's how it used to be.

Our locals who used to run the moms-and-pops neighbourhood shops knows enough to create a rapport with the ppl enough to secure their own regulars.

Back in Dover Crescent in the 1990s, there was a shop called Jumbo.

It was a 4-unit minimart ran by this middleage plump, happy looking, always smiling owner, who's known to everyone as Jumbo.

Jumbo will give discounts to everyone for about everything.

Even cigarettes have discounts.

He will waive off anything if he feels like it.

Take a drink which will cost abt 80 cents.

U take it from the fridge and go to the counter..

"Jumbo.. how much ah?"

"80 cents.. aiyah nehmind.. 60 cents sudah"

That's how it was..

Jumbo with his everything got discount.

U dont need GSS to get a sale there.

And he knows a lot of ppl by name. He greets them and was always nice. So he gets a regular stream of customers.. and when they decide to tear down the block, he moved over to the main road and bought a coffeeshop.

And his coffeeshop is the only one there so he makes a lot of money still.. just that Jumbo no longer physically need to run the place so he can just collect money now while ppl work for him.

But I doubt there's anymore discounts since he's no longer there..

So here I am, 20 years later.. whining about the loss of our locals.

Dont get me wrong. I'm not xenophobic.

Never had been. Never will be.

I'm just pissed.

As I had mentioned months and months back.. there was an incident in Coffee Bean where a PRC counter staff asked me to speak in Mandarin, while I was at one of their outlet in Forum Galleria.

If u walk around neighbourhood malls and u come across a sign looking for sales staff, u'll definitely see it with "Able to speak Mandarin"

Open up the classifieds nowadays and u'll see ads with requirements like "Able to speak Mandarin (to liase with Chinese speaking customers)" or "Effectively Bilingual"..

I came across ads nowadays to requires "Malay speaking" and not too long ago.. one which states "Tamil speaking (to liase with Tamil speaking colleagues)"..

now.. that's just weird..

What's Effectively Bilingual?

Can I tell them that I am effectively Bilingual coz I, the Indian Man, can speak English and Malay?

I am DEFINITELY, EFFECTIVELY, BILINGUAL.

But can I get the job?

Nah.. coz Effectively Bilingual means that u must be able to speak Mandarin or any other Chinese Dialects.

I think the government must put a stop to this.

Recently, while walking ard White Sands Shopping Mall in Pasir Ris, I saw an ad looking for sales staff..

Must be cheerful and pleasant.

Must be able to speak Mandarin.

Foreigners Welcomed.

So what does that mean?

It means that any PRC foreigners who wishes to come to work there, can. While I, the local, would not even be given a second thought.

And dont get me wrong..

I dont have anything against foreign talents.

If they come with talents.

But to take them for the sake of taking them? Its really eradicating all the cultures and subcultures that we Singaporeans had built through the decades and decades of assimilating ourselves.

Those childhood textbooks of ours in the 70s and 80s talks abt Ahmad, Peter, Ah Seng and Muthu.

The Olympics itself had shown us on how some ppl can just use us as a platform for themselves and create a joke out of the country. Forever in the history of the Olympics are now etched the facts that Singapore won a medal through a Beijing resident.

My mom became a Singaporean in the 80s.

She had lived in Singapore since the 40s. Grew up here, worked and went to school here, in Telok Paku and TKGS.

I dont have a problem with foreigners who comes here and WANT to be here coz they are in love with the way we are. Everyone here comes from an Immigrant root. Except for the Malay friends of ours of course, but they are mostly quiet so, me, the one who came from three immigrant sides of South Indian, Pakistani and Chinese, is whining.

Foreigners are welcomed. Just that, if u wish to stay, be, feel and think Singaporean. We had gone through so much changes as a society that if we evolve now, we'll be an open pot where ppl can just throw in any ingredients.

Throw in things that wont dissolve and all u get are individual solids that wont merge and at the end of the day, the cauldron will just explode.

So what is it abt being Effectively Bilingual?

Just to liase with Mandarin Speaking Customers?

what about those English speaking Indians and Malays and Eurasians?

Not to whine about things that appear greener on the other side, but any other countries would not tolerate these nonsense.

In Australia and UK, they depend so much on trade with other countries too..

But try to advertise some jobs as a Software Engineer and put there, "Able to speak Mandarin, to liase with Chinese speaking customers"

it doesnt mean that Australia and UK dont make money coz they dont support such a mindset.

Through Wiki.. I came across this statement..

"Australia's largest export markets are Japan, China, the US, South Korea and New Zealand"

China.

They do trade in China, but they dont advertise for jobs that requires a receptionist to be Effectively Bilingual.

How about trading with a Japanese? Shouldnt we look for Japanese Speaking employees to liase with Japanese Speaking clients?

We all know that Japanese ppl are more comfortable in speaking in their own Japanese language.

It is an offence in a lot of countries even to ask a simple question like "Do u speak Italian?" if the job dont call for that language proficiency, like being a translator or a journalist in an Italian newspaper or something like that.

But somehow, even though the government does not condone it, the private companies are taking advantage of the situation.

I miss our locals.

And those immigrants of so many years back who try to be Singaporeans.

Cultures are beautiful. U can keep ur culture while maintaining a distinct Singaporean identity.

Just be Singaporeans when u come over and not expect the rest of Singapore to change to adapt to u.

Being Multi-Racial and Multi-Cultural is nice and colourful. I dont wish Singapore to be any other way. But if we allow ourselves to accept diversity while being diversified, soon enough we'll be just like New York.

While being more talented and artistic due to foreign talents, New York has its own shares of triads which springs from different subcultures. And they have guns. Not what we need for Singapore anyway.

Aiyah.. my brother says that u give up the rights to whine when u dont do something abt the problem. But I'm just a whiner. And I'm just lamenting the loss of our own Singaporean culture.

and I'm still Effectively Bilingual.

Mariska Hargitay!

The Past, Present and the Future..

2008-10-25T23:59:00.000+08:00

I'm in my room in Tokyo now.. or rather.. in Narita.. just outside of Tokyo.

18 days time till the full pregnancy term.. 40th week.. but our gynae mentioned that the baby might come out a week earlier.. so tentatively.. 11 days or so till the arrival of our baby girl..

Had our weekly scans now.. and the baby's position is good.. facing backwards.. though doc said that she might move around a lil bit..

We are first time parents.. so obviously, clueless and kanchiong.. we know whatever that we think we know through books and websites.

Of course u experienced parents of multiple kids would laugh and scoff looking at our naivety..

But its ok.. I'ld rather be kanchiong.

And clueless..

Anyway.. it seems like the rain in Singapore for the past 2 days had followed me to Tokyo.. and I think I am falling sick.. I had been down with a bad case of food poisoning for the past few days and spent my off days in the toilet.

ok.. a recap on what had happened recently..

My past is haunting me.

Ok.. didnt really haunt.. but in all pleasantness.. a lot of ppl of whom I knew when I was much younger reappeared..

First was my sec school classmates.. Norizam, whom I met last year in Funan.. Zahed several months back in Tampines Mall.. Yasser, Norlinda, Anuar, Zuriany on Facebook.. Hawa on my flight to Sydney..

Then my bestfriend, Siti Sohrah.. whom I mentioned just a few days before.. recontacted through Hawa again..

And several days back.. Isriyanti, found my blog.. (btw, Yanti.. my name is Zulkarnain, not Dzulkarnain :)

ok.. so whatz the problem now..

Nothing actually..

This is an entry for my wife..

I have the best wife in the world.. and therez nothing and no one in the world that I would trade her for.

We have the best life we can have..

But now with all my old friends coming back.. i'm just afraid that she'll feel threatened by their presence..

Or not really their presence..

But the fact that there are somethings abt me that she doesnt know..

Like when Siti tells her that I used to draw..

and now Yanti mentioned that too in the comment..

And my former neighbour's kids.. who used to come down to my place to ask me to paint for them.. and we met one of them working at Mothercare..

I dont draw anymore coz I'm not really good at it.

Just like pool..

I used to like to play pool..

Till I met some really really good players who hustle almost for a living..

and i realised how stupid I look when I played.. so I stopped playing..

Now I cant play pool for nuts..

So the same.. I dont draw.. I dont paint. I stopped doing that a long time ago.

And thatz the reason why I didnt mention it to u..

So before u say it..

Or before u can even think abt it..

Let me reassure u, my baby..

That i'm so much in love with you..

I know that u might not even feel threatened.

But i'm saying this just in case u are.. and just to reassure u..

No one in the world wants me except u.

Sorry.. I'm too old.. value oso not much already.

So just to tell u.. Baby.. I love you.

And now, for something thats totally irrelevant..

I dont hate turtles.. not even those flying ones..

Though I do hate them turtles that wear the metal hats and throws axes around..

I love dancing palm trees.. they make me happy..

I smile when I look at them.

I dance along at times..

But something really bothers me..

Smiling clouds.

I just find that smiling clouds are very, very condescending.

The Smartest Person In Singapore

2008-09-21T13:57:00.001+08:00

ok.. before I talk about my Idol of Ultimate Smartness.. just a lil update of everything else..

Been a while since I whined.. seriously, ever since I met her in Nov 2006, I lost all interests in whining.. the world had been such a better place.. but since she had insisted that I keep on whining on my blog.. so I shall..

Was supposed to meet with our gynae, Dr Lee, tomorrow.. but since my roster was disrupted coz of the change of my previous flight, I had been placed on standby tmrw and had been called up for a flight till evening.. so we have to change the appointment for Tues.. just before my reservist meeting..

We always look forward for the appointments.. the only times for now that we get to see our little girl.. of course.. till Nov then we will be looking at her all the time till she's old enough to want to see her friends more than us..

That reminds me.. I'll be buying a shotgun in 13 years time to ward off any males that will attempt to ask her out at that age..

At times, when I look at those little boys running around.. I just wonder.. who among them will be my future son-in-law.. whoever u are, little boy.. remember.. I'll be watching you.. yes.. YOU..

Hari Raya is coming real close.. and this is gonna be our very first time celebrating as husband and wife..

Last year, my parents were in Melbourne, and therefore I spent the 2 weeks before Hari Raya in her parents' house, sleeping on the sofa.. since I was all alone in Tampines.. and we really enjoyed it.. coz it was a precursor to the wedding.. I was initially not at ease coz I wasnt used to it.. but told myself to overcome the paisehness coz they are gonna be my family soon enough.. and now, whatever paisehness that I have with them are all gone..

Next year.. we will be celebrating Hari Raya in our own little family.. the 3 of us.. and therefore, next year, we will DEFINITELY go around with our little girl for u guys to give her the due collection..

How this little girl had changed our lives.. even before she's born.. we had decided on what she's gonna wear for my sis-in-law's wedding even.. bought dresses and lots of other clothes, socks, shoes and everything else..

How things have changed within a short time span..

2 years back, we didnt even know each other..

And now we are married, with a baby on the way in slightly more than a month's time..

I got to know her in Oct 2006, we met in Nov, and i proposed to her on our 3rd date, 2 weeks later, my parents asked for her hand in marriage, and a week after, we got engaged, on 16th Dec 2006.. which is a month after our first date..

see.. I dont really have anything to whine about.. when I talk, I talk about my wife and my upcoming baby.. life is just wonderful.. I cant whine or bitch or have anything bad to talk about anymore..

well.. which brings me back to the topic.. about The Smartest Person In Singapore..

On Thurs, MR TAN KOK ENG wrote in The Straits Times forum:

'I read a Traffic Police reminder which stated that speeding is the No. 1 road killer in Singapore. If that is so, shouldn't the authorities get tough with such offenders instead of penalising them with just demerit points and a fine? Similarly, I wonder why the police treat drink driving more seriously than speeding. Drink-driving offenders who are caught, and are not involved in serious accidents, get their licences revoked, suffer a heavy fine and, if they are repeat offenders, jailed. If speeding is the No. 1 killer, the authorities should start getting tougher against speedsters. Conversely, drink-driving offenders who aren't involved in serious accidents should not be jailed, even if they are repeat offenders.'

Look at the last line..

Don't you just love this guy? We do need to get someone to standup for the small but closely knitted community of drunk drivers..

Since we are at that, why not we legalise guns and marijuana? That'll seem like a whole lot of fun..

Seriously.. where did this guy come from? Is there a different planet where it's populated by peabrains?

Why did The Straits Times even publish this in print? Just to show the world that Singapore is not only populated by smart and hardworking ppl, but we do have some sub-intelligent beings among us?

Melissa

2008-09-18T11:22:00.003+08:00

Its 9.14am on 13th Sep 2008 in Moscow. My 3rd day here in the Russian Capital.

Was supposed to fly up to Houston, Texas this morning but due to the Hurricane Ike, which was rated to be "catastrophic", our flight to Houston was cancelled and we had to stay here in Moscow for 3 more days before flying to Dubai, then back to Singapore.

Sigh..

I was sooo looking forward for Houston for it will be my first time there. But thatz not meant to happen. Maybe it will one day. Hopefully soon enough it would..

Anyway.. here I am in my room, where I had been stuck in for almost the entire 3 days, with the exception of last night where I decided to join the 4 other Muslim crew on my flight for breaking of fast at the hotel restaurant..

and being this long in Moscow.. since I cant possibly spend my time learning how to speak Russian, I had no other choice but to blog.. though I know I wont be able to put it up till I get home.. so this is a reflection of my thoughts and reminiscence of the 80s and my past teenage life while being stuck in my room coz of the continuous rain in Russia..

Been listening to malay songs.. yep.. Malay songs.. me the Indian ska drummer, listening to mostly Malay "slow rock" songs the entire night.. but yeah.. I was a rocker decades ago..

They are mainly lovesongs from the 80s, when I was a teenager.. and the current song I'm listening to is Melissa, by Helter Skelter..

One of my favourite songs.. when I was 15.. extremely slow and mushy song, not recommended for most ppl..

And the reason why I like this song is..

I was 15 back then. One of the ugliest boys in my school.. and mind u.. my school didnt really have that many ugly boys.. I might be the only one..

and so.. having an elder brother who overshadowed me.. he didnt do it on purpose though.. coz he was one of the popular guys in school.. and I was the exact opposite.. and throughout my life since we were kids till EVEN NOW WHEN I AM 35 AND HE IS 36, he still protects me like as if I cant protect myself coz I had always been his younger brother..

I am not complaining though.. my parents and my brother had always been protective of me even at this age of mine.. and I do like it coz I know that they love me.. and on my part, I had always pride myself to be a responsible person.. as a son, brother, uncle, and now as a husband, and very-soon-to-be-father myself..

ok.. back to my story..

Being 15, with raging hormones and my lack-of-confidence and a total lack of good looks.. I had always been lonely..

Though parents are parents.. they are always there.. but they are still parents..
I needed friends.. I needed someone to think that I am, if not attractive, at least, to be interesting..

I can clearly remember an incident.. when I was 13.. and my mom had a stall in a primary school canteen in Telok Blangah selling nasi lemak.. she was a secretary to the President of the Singapore Women's Association, when my aunt, who was the cook of the family, asked for her help to get a canteen stall coz she knew that she cant get it herself, for reasons that I dont know.. I dont even think they have strict criteria to run a school stall.. so my mom ended up trading her pen and paper for pots and pans..

My brother was popular even in that school that my mom sell food in.. coz we normally will help out at the stall before we go to our own school which was like 15 mins away by bus.. and we'll do our homework there at the canteen itself.. imagine, having an afternoon session school that starts at abt 1pm but having to wake up at 5am every morning to go to the canteen.. my dad was a delivery driver for a hampers and gift company, so he gets to bring back the lorry home.. but we were happy doing so and gladly help out coz we knew that our mom had to work extremely hard and it was a blessing just to be able to assist her in our small ways..

We lived in a quarters of the Ministry of Social Affairs.. a single unit, not really so much being divided by 4 so I dunno why we still call it a quarter though.. my uncle (married to my maternal aunt) was a caretaker of that Ministry and therefore he had that "quarter" to live in so he can do the maintenance on that building.. and he had his own apartment house in Bedok.. so me, my brother, great grandma, mom and dad (stepdad, but as usual, I consider him Dad and call my real dad as Real Dad.. my Real Dad and mom had a divorce when I was abt 8, my mom remarried when I was abt 11 or so and my Real Dad died in 2003.. and I love ALL of them dearly..), stayed there..

and so.. we lived in that house coz we aint got nowhere else to live.. and we really lived in poverty.. my mom was running that canteen stall, and had to wake up that early every morning and as soon as she gets to the canteen and start preparing the food, she will take a bus to Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre to buy the stuffs to cook.. and seriously.. she was carrying kilos of foodstuffs up and down the buses and sometimes falling asleep at the busstops.. just to raise 2 kids and to take care of her grandma..

my dad was not earning that much either.. and he has 2 kids of his own that he had to give child support to.. but when he married my mom, he promised us that he will get us out of that house.. the single unit quarters, in which we shared with 9 cats, loads of rats and thousands of cockroaches..

but in fact, that was the place where I harboured most of my childhood memories.. and I am sure my brother does too.. as poor as we were.. we wont go to sleep hungry coz my mom wont allow us to as she will go hungry at night to make sure we have food to eat...
my favourite dish was rice with Maggi chilli sauce and fried egg and I think Abang's fav food was rice with kicap and fried egg.. for snacks, I liked a fried egg with pepper..

We had eggs coz we had chickens.. so we would normally "steal" the eggs when the hen leaves the nest and run as fast as we can to avoid getting pecked for stealing her kids to fry..

We didnt have a radio, not even a transistor radio.. most of u kids wont even know what a transistor radio is anyway.. they are those small portable radios, 3/4 of the size of a paperback with long extendable antennas.. so, with no radio, let alone a TV set.. Abang and I entertained ourselves by telling stories to each other.. mainly by books that we read in the library.. or making up stories of our own.. especially to this character called Encyclopedia Brown.. abt a smart and extremely detailed boy who happened to always come across some weird offences and petty crimes.. itz like a little boy's version of Monk.. minus the paranoia.. they will present a whole lot of clues which u will have to piece together to get the whole incident recreated at the end.. and he ends up helping the police solve the case..

so we normally create our own versions of Encyclopedia Brown and set our own clues in and let the other person guess.. thatz how we used to entertain ourselves before we sleep..

I'll keep my childhood stories for another day if I decide to write another entry..

Anyway.. back to the incident when I was 13.. one day, as I was leaving the primary school where my mom was operating in.. with abang.. and my mom who was going to the wholesale centre.. there was a nurse of that primary school who was leaving the premises with us.. who looked at abang.. and commented to my mom.. "hey.. ur son is good looking.. "

My mom thanked her and just as not to make me feel out of place.. she asked.. thinking that the nurse would be kind enough to make as pleasant a remark for me.. "how's this son?"

The nurse was taken aback coz she didnt expect the question.. and didnt really had to look at me and said.. "errm.. this one is.. err.. ok uhh..."

yeah.. ok.. i'm ok uhh..

I dont really need the stupid remark from the nurse.. but my mom was just trying to protect my feelings.. which backfired coz the dumb nurse just dont know how to pretend to be nice and not hurt a kid..

Both abang and my mom dont recall the incident.. but of course.. I would.. coz the ok uhh kid was the one who got hurt that day.. but they made sure that I feel special every day.. abang will stinge and not eat lunch and spend as little as he can coz he will always save up to get my birthday presents.. and he got me really nice presents every year.. mak will hug us to sleep every night and she made sure that she will tell us how much she loves us every single night..

Thatz how it had always been... they protect me.. coz they see me as being the fragile one..

As it was.. I was extremely small.. had always been the shortest in class.. of course.. no surprise though coz I had lived for almost 36 years being short..

I wore a big pair of specs.. side parted my hair in a way that only nerds would do it.. and I seriously thought I look better that way than any other hairstyle that I could have.. and I walked with a hunch.. coz I will always look at my feet as I dont like to look at people..

I had always wanted my life to be different.. I really really hated my life back then.. not hating being alive coz I have a wonderful family.. but just wanted things to be different for me..

Of course I had my own crushes.. all boys do.. and most of the time, they are not real crushes.. they are just girls who I wish I will be able to like when she likes me.. but no girl would even take a look at my shadow, let alone my self.. so I didnt really get to like any girls..

When I was 13, we moved to a rented house in Ghim Moh.. and behind my block, there was this family with 4 sisters.. 2 really BIG girls who were in their late teens or early 20s back then and 2 younger girls.. one was 12 and the other 13..

I liked the 12 yr old (I was 13 back then so it was OK to like a 12 year old) and my brother relented to like the 13 yr old coz I like the 12 yr old so he wont like the same girl so I could like her though I denied that I ever liked the 12 yr old.. in fact, I didnt really like her.. I just needed someone to like so she was the closest target coz she lives right behind my block, two floors down from us, and were always outside their house, almost facing ours coz they wanted to giggle and wave at my brother.. and so.. I naturally, being 13, needed to like a girl, and the most convenient girl to like was her..

But both sisters liked my brother..

The girls at the school canteen where my mom was operating in liked my brother and my elder cousin who's a year older than me.. who unfortunately died in a motorcycle accident several years later when he was 17..

The girls at the place where we mengaji.. or had our Quran lessons, liked my brother.. and I didnt like it when he asked me to accompany him to meet the girls coz I know that they only want to see him and I would be either left alone observing stains on the concrete table under the block or I end up saying something stupid like how any other nerdy-boys-who-tries-hard-to-say-something-cool would say..

So I became the grumpy one.. coz I knew that they didnt acknowledge my existence anyway.. and with me being a grumpy person, they wont talk to me and therefore if they dont have a second look at me, they wont bother to make observations or even to have any opinions abt me..
But still, opinions they did have.. they called my brother Manis coz of his dimples.. and called me Masam coz they said I never smiled..

I didnt really care.. I stick to my own thoughts and sought refuge in my drawings.. in which I think I was quite good at in those days.. little kids ard my house would come down to my place to ask me to draw.. and some of my schoolmates will ask me to do some paintings for their girlfriends where they will pass off as their own..

And I loved the drums.. but coz I couldnt get lessons coz I was poor and no one would teach a nerd.. I silently observed drummers in my school and when we finally got a radio.. I was listening to music and concentrating on the drums and tried to figure out the sounds and where they came from and how to play them.. thatz how I got hooked into drumming..

Anyway, being in the 80s, the trend those days were malay "slow rock" songs.. from bands like Search, Lefthanded, Wings, Bumiputera Rockers, May, Junction, Bloodshed, Ella and the Boys.. and I could go on and on and on with the names of those bands..

Malay, Chinese and Indian rocker boys will listen to those malay "slow rock" songs.. which are actually mushy songs and the trend for those bands were to have extremely high pitched male voice.. even some of my chinese colleagues now whoz abt my age can sing some songs from them, like Isabella and Sejati..

Those who listened to those bands will also listen to english rock bands like Deep Purple, DIO, Iron Maiden, King Diamond, Rainbow, and so on.. and we'll be wearing to school a pair of hi-cut Double Happiness shoes with a Thai branded bag called Grand Sport, and wear our pants low and pretend to have "steamer" eyes to act like as if we are high though we weren't.. with big combs that we'll file in our technical classes to make it look like a knife and normally with a red or black bandana-like handkerchief, though some other "rock" designs were accepted too.. and most of the stuffs can be bought from Queensway Shopping Centre.. and with a "ding-dong" Hillary Ang's hairstyle.. with bangs.. which we called Bunga..

Off-school uniform trends those days were sort-of male skinny jeans now.. but with weird colors like luminous red or green and "cowboy" shirts.. which we called "baju western"..

I did all that with a nerdy pair of specs and nerdy hair.. no ding dongs and no bunga for me.. I couldnt carry that style cool enough like the rest of the boys so I didnt attempt it..

The other kinda kids were those who listen to A-ha, Wham!, Madonna, Rick Astley and those pop-punk bands like how Hugh Grant was in Music And Lyrics.. and those kids will wear their pants with pleats, wet-look gelled up hair, and long skinny combs..

We normally would bully those "punk" boys coz they were sissies.. though one of my classmates now who was one of THE MOST prominent "sissy" punk boys now has 2 kids..

Some bands from Malaysia came up with the Battle of the Bands album which featured some bands which became popular, and some Singaporean bands got together and came up with Clash Of The Bands..

Helter Skelter was one of those bands that was in Clash Of The Bands..

so.. back to my "i was 15 back then" story..

Helter Skelter singing Melissa.. they were not among my favourite band.. just so so.. especially coz they had a rip-off song from No More Tears.. and they called it "Tiada Lagi Airmata" and denied that they ripped off the song even though the guitar riffs and the drum styles were EXACTLY the same.. but Melissa had an impact on me.. coz the song is about how this guy loves his girlfriend Melissa.. and he sang it to her at the beach.. and how happy they were..

I imagined that I was at that beach and I had a Melissa of my own that I could be happy with and love and sing a song to..

but I didnt..

That's the story of my teenage life.. I didnt like it and still, till now, that was one of the worst phase of my life.. I tried so hard to blend in.. to be acknowledged by someone.. of course I had friends.. and they were good friends, I must say.. but no girls that I would take a liking to would even take a second look at me..

I was easily the loneliest teenager of the 80s..

The closest I had was when I had a good friend on the phone.. her name was Hayati and she was a year younger than me, in the same school.. somehow, I had her number coz I needed to pass a message to her or something like that.. I cant recall.. as it was 21 years ago.. but we started talking on the fone.. and we talked the next day.. and the next day..

And she told me that she enjoyed talking to me on the fone.. but she asked me not to acknowledge her in school as she dont want to be seen to be talking to me coz it will somehow ruin her reputation..

That was how I was.. I could easily jinx out any girl's reputation just by talking to her coz no girls want to be seen to be talking to the ugliest boy in school..

So with that insult, I decided not to call her anymore..

The same year.. in 1987, I got to know this girl.. thru the phone..

Those days, pre-Internet's IRC/MSN/ICQ/Skype, to get to know a girl, if u are not daring enough to ask for her home number when u see her at the bus stop or in the bus, u call her at her home number through a system among the boys that we used to pass around girls' numbers.. so the right thing to do was when u get a girl's number, u gather ur courage and call her.. and if u get her mom picking up the phone, u should quickly hang up and try again 10 mins later.. and if u hear a young girl's voice who picked it up, u say.. "ermz.. boleh kenal kenal?"

The teenage girls will be the one who normally pick up the phone coz they know the chances of that happening are there and they WANT to receive the "boleh kenal kenal" calls.. even the ugly girls get called coz the numbers are just being passed around.. and the ugly boys like me will do the calling too.. everyone does.. and we, the proper gentlemen, pass around the numbers among friends, and the screwed up jerks will write the girls' numbers at the last seat of the buses.. and that one is totally not cool.. totally..

so.. I got to know this girl who's a year younger, Sukinah, through the phone..

Even by the standards of those days, that name is still kampung btw.. but who cares about kampung names if they are nice ppl right?

So this girl was like my first "like-friend" though we had never met.. we talked on the phone every day and she was schooling in Bukit Batok, while I was schooling in New Town.. both in the westside, but those pre-MRT days, a bus ride will take more than an hour to get from one place in the west to the other..

Btw.. when the MRT started in 1987, it plied only through 4 stations, from Yuo Chu Kang to Braddell, Bishan and Ang Mo Kio.. so no MRT for us in the west till months later.. at the end of the year..

So.. I didnt get to meet Sukinah, so we just chatted on phone.. though I saw her pic through a mutual friend of mine, Murni, who was her classmate and my mengaji-mate.. and she was quite pretty.. and I liked her.. though I was silently confident that she wont like me..

One day, she came down to my school for a netball match to represent her school.. and we were excited to meet that day coz it was our first chance to meet..

I saw her from far when she was playing and when the appointed time came for us to meet at the end of the game, she was nowhere to be seen..

A few days later, Murni told me what happened.. Sukinah saw me from a distance.. and she told her friends that she will NEVER go up to meet me coz I was so ugly and I became the butt of their rude jokes coz I was the ugly nerd from New Town who wanted to date the popular chic of Bt Batok..

And so, I decided to stay away from all girls.. and for a period of time, to even my female classmates.. I became a small-sized rebel in school and I hated everything and everyone.. except my family.. which was like the opposite of everyone else who tries to be cool to everyone else and hate their family..

And I really, genuinely, truthfully, disliked girls..

Till one day, one of my classmates, Hawa, passed me a number and asked me to call her friend and said that this girl is a nice girl who just wanted to make friends.. I refused initially, but Hawa insisted almost every single day for reasons I dunno why..

So I called this girl.. Siti Sohrah.. a girl my age from Mei Chin Sec.. which was abt 5 mins away from my school by bus.. and so we talked.. and talked..

And we met for the first time abt a month later when we both wanted to go to the library.. and so we planned to meet...

and we met..

and for the first time in my life.. someone was nice to me.. a girl..

and we became friends.. true friends.. and we hung out together, and met up often.. and she became my first best friend..

and surprisingly, we didnt "like/have-a-crush" on each other, but we became real best friends.. and she was the first person to ever say anything nice to me.. and helped me to groom myself better..

we became such good friends that after she got engaged, and her fiance had to leave for Brunei jungle training, he came personally to my house and asked me to help keep a lookout for his girl..
We remained friends till after they got married and they had a kid and we lost contact soon after.. for reasons I cant recall..

But we had a purely genuine platonic friendship.. and didnt cross our mind to go further than being best friends coz it was good the way it was.. we supported each other through our individual teenage heartbreaks.. though mine was more than hers coz any girls that I talked to will turn to stone.. or lose their capabilities to be nice..

I dunno what happened to Siti and her husband Jamal though.. it had been abt 17 years since we last met..

And as for me.. I grew up..

I managed to break out of my low-confidence nerdy self, ditched the nerdy specs for an Armani and became an over-confident, former metrosexual Flight Attendant. and I met my Melissa for the first time in Nov 2006, got engaged to her in Dec 2006, got married to her in Jan 2008 and we will be getting our first baby in Nov 2008, insya Allah.

My Melissa was born 3 years after the song.. in May 1990.. by the name of Nur Zahirah.

She genuinely liked me, became my confidante, my partner and my better half and had never said anything to hurt me or tell me that I wasnt good enough.

My Melissa is the most sincere and honest and truthful person I had ever met..

I didnt jinx her and she had never stopped being nice since the day I met her..
and my Melissa loves me unconditionally..

And now I can sing my songs to her..

Honey, I shrunk the moon.

2008-04-01T01:13:00.013+08:00

Hello World!

ok.. now.. for the much delayed entry..

I started this entry in Abu Dhabi while on flight.. didn't get it completed coz my laptop konked out on me.. so here goes..

Marriage life is seriously fantastic.

If I would have known it, I would have gotten married 10 years ago.

But that puts my wife in Pri 2.. so I guess I really have no choice but to wait.. and we met when the conditions were perfect..

So now.. she's turning 18, and a perfect wife..

And as I had promised her..

I promised her a proper engagement..

and a proper engagement period that lasted 12 months and 2 weeks.

a proper dowry..

a proper wedding..

and a proper marriage..

And here's the details of our proper honeymoon..

its really gonna be detailed coz itz my journal for the honeymoon.. and not so much being a blog entry.. so itz chronological, dry and long.. but at least, 20 yrz from now, my children can read abt their parents' honeymoon..

but anyway, me being me, I'm always long winded..

We left for our honeymoon a month after our wedding, on 9th Feb, a day after I returned from Ahmedabad.

And this is what happened after I came back from Ahmedabad.

8th Feb 2008

I received a call from my mom, saying that my eldest brother, Zainuddin, was in the hospital, in a coma. Apparently, the night before, he started throwing up, and refused to see the doctor. His wife was with him, and she saw blood stains in the toilet after he left.

He threw up again the next morning, and his wife said that he threw up a pail full of blood. He slipped into a coma and she called the ambulance.

He never regained consciousness.

At 2am on 9th Feb, my eldest brother passed away in Changi General Hospital.

9th Feb 2008

Departing for Vancouver

At 7am, I had to be at the airport to leave for Vancouver. The timing this time wasn't good coz of the fact that I had just lost my brother a few hours before.. but the trip had been confirmed and paid for and my leave had started and therefore there's no way we could push the trip even a day further..

My parents, Mother-in-law and Sis-In-Law Sayida sent us to the airport. And so, it started my wife's first trip out of Singapore on an international flight.

We all had breakfast together at Ya Kun at T3.. Sayida blanja us all except for my wife who looked too nervous abt the flight to care for breakfast. At 8am, we made our way to the gate at A21, right at the end of the terminal.

Took a flight from Singapore to transit in Incheon Airport, Seoul. The first leg of the flight was uneventful.. except for the take-off, in which my wife managed to get over her fear of flying within minutes.. There was a Canadian fella seated next to us on that sector. And 6 hrs after, my wife set foot on Korean soil..

We had a short transit, where we had some drinks to finish up whatever Korean Won that I had with me from my previous Seoul flight. The flight from Seoul to Vancouver was pretty light, so we got a change of seats while we were on transit to get the seats right at the back of the aircraft.

It was so light that my wife managed to get a 3-seat to lie down and sleep thru the flight. Anyway, itz always good when u have friends working and somehow I had friends working on all 3 sectors of our honeymoon..

Arriving into Canada

On 9th Feb, at 11am, my bride set foot on the Northern American continent, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was nice and bright, with a slight drizzle at abt 8 degrees.

We went to the pre-booked car rental at Thrifty at the Vancouver Airport, and she got her first taste of Canadian hospitality thru the first interactions with the Thrifty Car Rental staff by the name of Brian.. Brian gave us directions to the city where we were heading to, to go to the hotel.. and to the shopping mall, which was the second largest in Canada, Metropolis at Metrotown, for us to buy a pair of boots for her.

The mall was abt 45 minutes away from the airport, a lil bit to the east towards the direction to the city.. so we decided that we should go buy the boots before going into the city itself..

Spotted some Canadian Idol hopefuls abt to audition at the mall..

So, after more than an hour of scouting, we found a nice pair of white boots.. which looks perfect for the snowy weather ahead..

And of all ppl that we met in that big mall, which was 45 mins drive away in the big city of Vancouver in the big state of British Columbia in the big country of Canada.. we saw the same guy that was seated next to us in the plane from Singapore to Seoul, in the same shop that we were in, buying a pair of shoes.

now.. THATS creepy for the three of us..

Anyway, we bought food supplies for our upcoming week stay in Canada in a Chinese supermarket called T & T, and drove to the city to check-in into the Sutton Place hotel.

I had stayed in that hotel several times before.. and the service in that hotel had never fallen below fantastic. We had a night stay there as the motel that we were supposed to stay in Whistler's were booked for that day and will only be available on the next day.

Spent the rest of the day, which wasn't much to be left with, in the city.. we went for a walk along the city street and had dinner at a Thai restaurant along Robson Street.. itz at about 5 degrees and as usual, it was raining in Vancouver..

So I used my supertraveller power as a Cabin Crew to show my wife around the city streets.. including, and especially the almost-famous Starbucks cafes located diagonally across each other along Robson St and Thurlow St..

It was raining, wet and dark.. and therefore, not much of a sight left of the fantastic city..

We shared chocolate crepes and walked ard a lil bit more and bought some nice bubble bath soap before retiring for the first night of our honeymoon..

10th Feb 2008

Woke up early the next day coz we had to check-out of the hotel to make our way to Whistler's.. we stopped over at the IGA Marketplace along Burrard St, just next to the hotel.. to get more foodstuffs for our trip..

And itz damn hard to get a full cream milk in Vancouver. almost everyone that we see are 1 to 3% fat.. and i'ld drink water rather than that.

Soon after, we made our way to Whistler's Mountain.. where the trip actually begins..

Rain.. as we were driving over the Lion's Gate Bridge..

It rains all the time anyway, so it was pretty heavy by the time we made our way out of the city..

It took us abt 3 hrs to drive up to Whistler's.. and this time, I didn't lose my way like the previous trips I had to Whistler's.. and even when I did the previous times.. it wasn't really that bad.. it was more like some missed turns and lost junctions.. nothing major.. but everything went fine on this trip..

We had our lunch in a McDonald's restaurant along the way.. and somehow, the really short time we spent there was really beautiful.. perfect cold weather.. perfect day.. perfect girl.

The perfect girl..

We made our way after McDonald's and a little candy-shopping spree at the 7-11 next door for the remaining part of the drive..

We drove pass beautiful landscapes and sceneries and a really huge rainbow that really ended next to where we were driving.. but therez no leprechauns or pots of gold.. coz I think most of them had gone back to Ireland to prepare for St Patricks day..

As I had highlighted to my wife.. the part where it tells u that u are close to Whistler is when.. the rain stops, and the snow begins..

And not too long after the McDonald's stop, the snow really began..

After 3 hrs, and a little wrong turn, we arrived at the hotel we booked.. Whistler Resort and Club.. located abt 5 mins walk away from the Creekside.. and abt 5 mins drive to the Whistler's Village..

We checked in into the hotel.. a small and modest one.. but with an extremely nice and friendly group of staff.. and went out to walk to the Creekside, to get to Village..

Her first snow..

Well.. that was what we planned anyway.. not knowing that the Creekside was not really a walking distance to the Village..

We walked around a lil bit at the Creekside, which was already closed coz it had gotten dark.. and soon after, went back to the hotel to get the car to drive to the Upper Village of Whistler's..

At the Creekside..

At the Village..

We walked for abt 1 1/2 hrz at the Village.. to enjoy the cold and the night scenery and to do the booking for the skiing lesson, and went back to our room soon after to have dinner and sleep..

At the window of our room..

Due to the tight bookings that they had in the hotel, we were not able to secure a room with a kitchen area, fireplace and fridge.. and so, thru my wife's suggestion, we actually chilled our milk and ice cream thru the days right outside our window.. by throwing it into the huge pile of snow..

Just like that..

I actually had to use a cookpot to cook dinner.. my limited-ingredient Nasi Lemak with a bottled Sambal Iikan Bilis we got from the supermarket at Metropolis, and sardines the next day, with some chilli flakes..

We actually had more food than we can consume..

11th Feb 2008

The next day, we rose up early to go up the mountain to ski..

The whole process of registration and getting the equipments took abt half an hour.. and we joined the group that was already waiting for us.. made up of mainly an Indian family from England.. and so there we were, an Indian couple from Singapore.. adding to the total number of Indians up the mountain..

On the way up the mountain.. on the gondola that brings us up to the ski area..

It was a whole day affair, from 8.45am till 3pm, with a lunch break in between.. in which I really cant tahan so I took off my ski boots coz I could almost hear my feet scream in pain.. and not long after I did, at the cafeteria.. a woman with ski boots on stepped on my bare feet.. taking off some skin from my little toe on my left feet.

GAWDDAMMIT.

tell u.. the pain was worse than circumcision multiplied by a thousand.

ok.. nemind.. I tried to ignore the pain thru the entire day and went back skiing..

My little Winter Olympian..

Us.. on top of a mountain..

And my wife.. who turned out to be a pretty talented first time skier (I was too.. minus the pretty and the talented.. just being a first time skier) didn't even fall while skiing thru the entire long lesson..

But she fell twice on the lift.. sort of like a travellator.. coz rather than standing still and watching where it was heading.. she was always bz doing everything else and talking to me who would normally be behind her..

That's the lift.. and that's her, looking back, and not forward..

I think she's the only one who have the tendency to fall on the lift..

After the lesson, we stayed on a little bit till they closed the mountain, went back down and walked and shopped a little bit at the village.. and booked a snowmobile tour for the next day..

And after the tiring day.. we headed back to the hotel and rested..

12th Feb 2008

The next morning.. we headed back to the Village for the snowmobile tour.. we set off quite early and were in the same group with several other ppl, including a lone Japanese girl who walks around with socks and crocs and an American couple from Washington State, who had been married for abt 2 centuries..

ok.. I think they had been married for abt 40 or 50 years.. I cant remember.. but itz really THAT long..

And we went on the snowmobile trip up and down the mountain for really breathtaking sights..

REALLY BEAUTIFUL..

The good thing abt Whistler's is that, itz a tourist place.. almost run by tourists..

A huge number of the ppl who works there are tourists.. I guess the kind that came and don't wanna leave.. and everyone here is really just too nice..

The place is full of friendliness and warmth despite the cold.. and thats the reason why I chose this place for my honeymoon.. and I knew that when I changed my honeymoon plans from Switzerland to Canada, my wife was disappointed.. but she saw the reason behind that as soon as she arrived there..

She didn't wanna leave..

Itz just too perfect.. and this is the only place in the world that I had been to.. and I had really been to a LOT of places.. but the only one that I felt like I wanted to quit my job immediately and move there..

So for those of you who have not planned for ur honeymoon yet.. go to beautiful Canada..

After the tour.. we walked around a little bit more and shopped a little bit more and had a romantic dessert at a nice little restaurant..

And again, after a tiring day, we went back and retired for the nite..

13th Feb 2008

We checked out the next day, to head back to Vancouver Airport.. which was kinda sad coz we had a wonderful time at Whistler's.. and all good trips have to come to an end else u are migrating there..

Our rental car.. a red Yaris.. nice and economical, but not a good choice if u have a lot of luggages..

We had a 3 hrz drive back, stopping over for a burger lunch again at the same McDonald's we stopped by on the way up..

This time, halfway thru the meal, we managed to sit right in front of the fireplace in the McDonald's, to make up of the lack of fireplace in our accommodation in Whistler.. beautiful sight, beautiful girl.

All nice meals have to end too.. so we made our way back to the city, to head back to the airport..

But then again.. before we got to the airport.. we stopped for a while to take some pics through the journey..

At Alice Lake.. but nothing much to be seen now coz the place is just full of snow..

A beautiful stopover at the highway..

We decided to stop over in the city to top up the gas for the car so we don't need to pay the excess to the car rental company.. and therefore, ended up at a gas station near Marina Drive.. and therez an extremely tourist-unfriendly law in British Columbia that states that from 1st Feb 2008, all fuel must be pre-paid 24 hrs in advanced.

That means that if you want to get some gas for the car today, you must have paid for it yesterday.

If u didn't.. too bad.

Before my frustration sets in, the cashier decided to give some leverage to me and allowed me to top up the gas.. for reasons I shall withhold..

We drove back to the airport and returned back the car to Thrifty.. and checked in for an Air Canada flight to cross the country for a 4 1/2 hrz flight across to the east coast.. to the city of Toronto, Ontario.

She just can't resist to take a pic of this guy..

Arriving into Toronto

We arrived in Toronto at abt 1am, after being delayed for almost an hour out of Vancouver..

Well.. itz Air Canada and not the world's #1 airline from Singapore anyway.. and got out to be greeted by my aunt and uncle who lives there..

They migrated to Toronto close to 40 years ago.. my aunt was a former Malaysian who lived in Singapore and met my uncle who was from Guyana, and travelled to Singapore with the British Army for the Indonesian Confrontation..

Anyway, we got a newfound addiction in Toronto..

Tim Horton's..

Itz not just the bagels with poppy seeds and sesame and cream cheese, and the hot chocolate and French Vanilla Latte.. itz the place itself.. the ambiance, color, lights.. so, for the entire duration of the trip.. we were hooked to Timmy's..

14th Feb 2008

We spent the day at home, and the later part of it just around the city of Brampton, where my aunt stays.. at the mall nearby called Bramelea City Centre and had our dinner there at Popeye's.. and to Walmart, where my wife had one of her dreams fulfilled.. to shop in Walmart..

ok.. it might not mean so much to u American fellas.. but we don't have Walmart here.. just Mustafa Centre..

Which is better than Walmart, btw..

Didn't do much else on that day though...

15th Feb 2008

We went off to visit my uncle at his workplace, which is an Islamic Cultural Centre in Toronto, called Noor Centre.. which was founded by the Lakhani family.. we did our Friday prayers there and spent the rest of the evening and money shopping in Yorkdale mall..

Where she got to go to this place..

And this..

And this.. not just La Senza..

Had our dinner at the foodcourt there and went back home..

We had our Bourne trilogy marathon in Toronto, with the first two installments on the first two nights..

16th Feb 2008

Started our day quite early to drive from Brampton to Niagara to view the natural wonder of the world.. Niagara Falls..

I had seen pictures of it since I was a kid thru the pictures that my mom showed me when she went there for 3 months in 1981.. and Toronto had ever since been my dream destination.. so it was a dream come true for me to get to go to Toronto, finally.. and with my beautiful bride during my honeymoon.. it just cant get any better..

I had seen clips of Niagara Falls from the movie Superman II since I was a kid too..

And viewing it in real life is totally different from what I had always envisioned..

Coz it was all frozen..

it was freezing cold in Niagara.. and it was reflected in the glaciers that we saw..

Imagine MASSIVE volume of water from the top, crashing down to the river.. and being frozen almost immediately as they reached the bottom..

The American falls looked so small and cute compared to the Canadian Niagara.. and it was really a breathtaking sight..

And it was freezing cold where we were too so we had to cut short the view and leave.. to head down to my cousin's place at Kitchener..

My cousin, Kamal, lives with his wife and two beautiful babies, Malek and Nala.. Malek being the intuitive one with good memory and DAMN GOOD KNOWLEDGE OF CARS at abt 5 yrz old.. and 3 yr old Nala, who is the epitome of feminineness.. and have a passion for ballet..

Nala and Malek.

Us.. with the kids..

We stayed over for the night in their beautiful home.. and not only that.. the couple gave up their bedroom for us..

Thatz so touchingly unbelievable coz we never expected that from them and didn't ask for it. We would have been comfortable in the basement, and they insisted that we take their bed and they sleep in the basement..

It was a beautiful basement though.. with a big kickass HDTV, in which we stayed up for several hours watching the last of the Bourne trilogy..

Clockwise from top left.. Me, Kamal, Tracy, Nala, My Aunt Asmah, Malek, and my beautiful bride..

17th Feb 2008

Went out with my cousin to the St Jacob's village, to go to a marketplace where the Mennonites trade..

Mennonites are like the Amish.. they don't use electricity or phones, and no cars either.. so they are still with horses and carriages..

Unfortunately, maybe due to the cold weather or the fact that it was a Sunday so they might be in church, we didn't get to see any of them.. so we ended up at St Jacob's factory outlet mall.. and got quite a number of good stuffs..

like Levi's jeans for 21 bucks?

And 3-piece Samsonite bags for $200? which normally would be selling at abt $400 to $500?

After that short shopping trip, we got back to Kamal's place and soon enough, went back to my aunt's place in Brampton.. with a short dinner stopover at Bramelea..

A novelty hair salon for kids called MelonHead..

That night, we all had some rough work to do..

My uncle had to remove the ice from the windscreen for the trip the next day..

I had to clear some choke in the toilet..

And my wife was just about to shovel the snow for the entire neighbourhood.. but the snow just had to fall again..

Well.. anyway.. we spent a lil time outside at the driveway shovelling snow, and my wife collected some snow to pack it back home..

Before we left Vancouver, she actually had wondered whether were there any snow in Toronto..

18th Feb 2008

The next day.. we took at subway train out to the city.. hitched a ride from my aunt to Bramelea, and took a bus to Yorkdale.. had some bagels at Tim Horton's and then we switched to the subway to the city..

In the subway..

We spent a lil bit of the day walking around the city of Toronto.. going a lil bit here and there at Eaton Centre, the Old and New City Halls and viewing the CN Tower from the street..

Actually.. this pic was taken 2 days before that when we drove pass the tower..

Old City Hall.. and this pic too.. taken a few days before..

Nothing much that we could do there coz the place is closed due to a public holiday called Family Day.. the first of such a holiday in Canada which coincide with the American President's day..

Some kids ice skating in the city..

And a squirrel posing for a pic..

We left soon after to go back to my aunt's place coz we were invited for dinner at Aunt Venrah's place.. who is a friend of my aunt who came over and stayed at my place for a couple of weeks in December for her holiday.. she didn't get to attend our wedding, so I brought my bride there for Aunt Venrah to meet her for the first time as my wife instead of my fiancee..

After dinner, we went back to my aunt's place and packed for our flight the next day..

19th Feb 2008

We started very early in the morning to head down to Buffalo.. which is across the border in United States coz the flight tickets from Buffalo to JFK Airport was like $200 cheaper per person, compared to Toronto's Pearson Airport.. so my aunt and uncle had to drive us down to the States.. which they were definitely not excited abt coz, as my uncle put it.. u get anything u want in Canada.. so there's no reason to go to there..

Which is true anyway.. except for Disneyland.. u don't get Disneyland in Canada.. and I think thatz it..

Hanging Traffic Lights out of Toronto to Buffalo..

So we said goodbye to Canada.. after a week long stay in the beautiful country, with the beautiful ppl, my beautiful family on the second half of the week, beautiful bagels in beautiful Timmy's.. to head down to the place which is of the exact opposite.. New York City..

Arriving in New York City

The hour-long flight from Buffalo to John F Kennedy Airport in New York City on JetBlue was quite uneventful.. except that they serve naturally blue colored potato chips..

weird..

We had to take the AirTrain to Jamaica station to get to the city.. and initially, we got on the wrong side of the track and ended up elsewhere, moved back to the terminal, and finally, after asking the reception and an hour pushing and pulling the bags, we got to the NYC subway station..

Took the subway to head down to our hotel at Park Central, and almost crashed as soon as we arrived..

After checking in, we walked around a lil bit, and my wife, who had gotten used to the extreme Canadian weather by then, underestimated the cold in NYC.. with the draft blowing in between the buildings, it can get really dreadfully chilly..

Brought my wife to Abercrombie & Fitch's flagship store at 5th Ave, and she saw the Trump Tower nearby.. and walked around the street where she saw the rest of the places.. Broadway, Rockefeller Center, Times Square and the New York Public Library where Peter Parker's uncle got shot..

Rockefeller Center..

Well.. we didn't plan to park here anyway..

A mounted policeman..

And there's more where that came from..

And for those who didn't get to mount horses..

Times Square..

We walked down the street till we get to 34th Street @ Broadway.. and for her to shop at Victoria's Secrets store itself..

Too bad that on this trip, we didn't get to watch any plays at Broadway.. not that I had ever watched any plays at all anyway..

20th Feb 2008

Woke up slightly late coz of the exhaustion, and went over to 49th street's Teriyaki Boy for lunch.. which is basically a cheap Japanese restaurant.. took the train to Battery Park and a ferry ride to Liberty Island..

The Brooklyn Bridge.. from the ferry on the way to Liberty Island..

Ellis Island..

And presenting..

The Lady Liberty herself

We walked around a lil bit at Liberty Island, before heading back to Manhattan..

And to take a tour of the Financial Centre of the world..

The Charging Bull near Wall Street..

Right is for work.. left is for play..

A stretched limo..

And soon after.. we headed down to the other Wonder in NYC.. Century 21.. which is the place that no one should miss if u are ever going to NYC.. and had always been one of my favourite places.. where u can really get real branded stuffs really cheap..

No need to bargain one.. and real some more.. not bedek ones..

After several hours of shopping, we left and walked around WTC Ground Zero, which is nothing spectacular now.. no tourist attractions, memorials.. just a construction area..

Ground Zero..

Soon after that, we went off to Times Square and got halal pizza and brought it back to the room and didn't really get to eat it coz we were too exhausted.

The Pizza Man..

And the little girl eating the huge pizza..

21st Feb 2008

Another day of shopping.. brought my wife for a bus trip to New Jersey.. to an outlet mall called Jersey Gardens.. another place with REALLY GOOD CHEAP STUFFS.. though I cant write here what we bought.. just that we did buy a number of nice things..

After that lil shopping spree, we head back to NYC, stopping over at Times Square..

REAL NYPD..

And we took a lil bit of time to visit some of our friends..

Like Samuel Jackson..

Some notty communist friend of ours..

Some patriotic ones..

Sorry Hill.. as much as we like Bill.. and we like you too... but we Singaporean Democrats are rooting for Obama..

And let me present you.. someone.. who is..

Sexier than Tina Turner..

And prettier than Michael Jackson..

Formerly from Spice Girls..

And the only girl in N'Sync..

As critical as Simon..

once again..

Let me present you..

the American Idol!

Nur Zahirah!

ok.. while she was busy entertaining the crowd.. I had my fair share too..

I met up with Gandhi..

Sang with Bob..

Counted Mick Jagger's bunny teeth..

Chill out with the Osbornes..

And sang with James Brown..

That was a tiring night..

but that was the last nite of our honeymoon..

We spent the rest of the night walking around a lil bit, looking around and bringing my wife to the Grand Central Station and a view of Madison Square Garden from the outside, and to look for food and ended up at Sbarro Pizza between 44th and 45th street..

On the streets of Manhattan, with Chrysler Building in the background..

And soon after, retired back in our room and started packing..

We started with a single luggage, a laptop bag and a cabin bag..

We ended with 2 luggage cargo bags, 2 cabin bags and 2 laptop bags..

And lots and lots of shopping..

22nd Feb 2008

Since our flight back was on a subload ticket, which means, we could only get seats if there were any left.. we had to get to the airport early.. we checked out at 12 noon, and placed our luggages at the concierge..

Went for another lunch at Teriyaki Boy and walked around a lil to look for some typical NYC souvenirs..

There was a snowstorm that morning, and even till noon the snowfall was still very heavy, and the airports had been closed..

Newark Airport, where we were to take our flight back from had been closed for 6 hrs..

The snowstorm..

The aftermath..

So we got our bags, took a private taxi and left for the airport at 4pm.. and our flight was supposed to be at 11pm that night.. but we just couldn't take any chances of getting stuck on the road without being abt to get to the airport at all.. so we became a lil bit kanchong spider to go there early and just sat there for a drink and sandwiches..

We got there at 4.30pm..

But it was ok anyway.. lots of time means that we are safe.. and the counter was open at 7pm.. we got our tickets, and waited for the flight.. and bought coffee and hot chocolate from a rude woman from a makeshift cafe within the gate area..

Damn.. we miss Tim Horton's..

Whistler's was romantic.. Toronto was sweet and family oriented.. New York was exhausting..

And we miss it.. more than Tim Horton's..

The flight back was quite light too.. a direct flight from Newark to Singapore, for 18 hours.. and we had wonderful crew on board again.. but then again.. what else can u expect from Singapore Airlines rite.. itz always wonderful.. and if I ever quit and be a paying pax, I'ld fly with Singapore Airlines too..

My wife, who had a fear of flying.. or rather.. fear for the fast speed that the aircraft takes off with, had 5 flights within 2 weeks, on 3 airlines.. and she got out of that fear within minutes of our first flight out from Singapore to Seoul..

And managed to compare the airlines.. Singapore Airlines, Air Canada and JetBlue.

And the verdict was really no brainer..

heh.. no wonder we are #1..

And so.. on 24th Feb 2008, we arrived in Singapore.. at the end of our honeymoon..

and the outcome of it all?

Our very own 1cm Pakistani fella, with a heartbeat of 149bpm..

That's a LOT of work for a lil kid..

With This Ring I Thee Wed..

2008-01-17T02:44:00.000+08:00

Itz 17th jan 2008 now. 12.45am, and I'm in my hotel room in Seoul.

My first flight since I got married.

Itz 17th January 2008. my 2 weeks wedding anniversary.

I'm married.

I'm married.

I'm REALLY married.

I had been married for 2 weeks.

2 beautiful weeks.

Nothing is better at night than to kiss a gorgeous girl before u go to sleep.

And nothing is better in the morning then to wake up and see a beautiful face next to you.

We had spent 11 days being together for 24 hrs every day. and my first night being alone in my hotel room is not going on too well.

American Idol 7 on Star World now is making it worse. Last yr, we watched most of the episodes of AI6 together while singing the AI theme Ahh-Ahhhh whenever the commercial ends.. and rooting for Melinda Doolittle and watching The Dance Floor and rooting for Vas and Pris and the group of the funny Malay hip hop dancers (i cant remember the group name though)..

ok... I was singing the Ahh-Ahhhh and was rooting for Melinda.. she was rooting for whoever I was rooting for coz she loves me.

I'm alone now and I'm missing my wife badly.

2 weeks ago, on the 3rd of January 2008, marked the most important day of my life.

No matter how long u had to prepare for that day, no matter how much u psyched urself up, nothing can be more daunting yet exhilaratingly bipolar than the real thing..

Trust me. Its nothing short of being SCARY.

I had 12 and a half months to prepare myself mentally and it all boils down to a single date.

03rd Jan 2008..

And approximately 9.40pm, I became a married man. She became my wife.

Its the fear of the process. The process that takes a few seconds for me to utter the words..

And I made it!

Just once.. thatz all it took. If u screw it up, thatz it. Forever ppl will talk abt it when they talk abt ur wedding..

Do you remember Zul? The fella who had to repeat his vows twice?

ermz..

thatz *NOT* gonna happen..

Thank God they wont talk like that when they talk abt *MY* wedding vows..

And after that few seconds were over, and I said my oath for my husbandly responsibilities, I went into the room to meet my princess as my wife for the very first time..

The very first kiss

The moment that changed my entire life

We went thru some picture takings and congratulatory wishes from so many ppl.. and I went back to my cousin's place that night, while my wife stayed over at her place.. and we spent our first night being husband and wife being apart.

Itz just a tradition kinda thing that they asked from us whether could we just wait for a few more days before we live together..

On Friday afternoon, we spent our first day together as husband and wife walking around Jurong Point..

On Saturday night, we had a dinner reception at Lagun Sari Indonesian Restaurant.. we paid abt $11,000 for 300 pax and printed cards with RSVP requests..

ok.. here's how it goes.. abt Wedding Invitations..

Dinner for abt $35 per person.

My parents were given the priority for invitations.. I took the rest after inviting most of my friends for the Sunday's reception.. I didnt really have time to prepare the invitation listing too and ended up having to invite some of my friends thru sms and online coz I couldnt get their contact numbers on time.

Out of those invited, 1 RSVP-ed saying that he will come.

He didnt.

Out of those invited, abt 40% replied to my sms saying that they could not make it..

Thatz a day before the reception.

Abt 20% didnt reply.

And therefore, on the very day of the reception, I was left with almost 50 seats empty.

Thatz abt a pro-rated $1750 worth of empty seats..

I didnt really invite that much cabin crew and pilots coz of our work schedule.. but some made it..

And those who dont fly for a living told me a day before that they are not even in Singapore..

U'ld be surprise on how many of ur non-cabin crew friends are in England on the day that they tell u that they will attend ur wedding. Seriously, 4 ppl told me that.. and 1 in Petaling Jaya.

These are the ppl who asked to be invited.. and some of those whom I met during my reservist and when they found out that I was getting married.. they said.. jangan sombong eh.. kawin mesti invite..

So I put my arrogance aside and invited them..

Répondez s'il-vous-plaît

Thats what RSVP means..

It means.. Please Respond.

ok.. fine.. I know that my wedding is not really that much of a priority, but my advise to u, my dear friends.. when u receive an invitation, do RSVP.. so at least we know what to do with the remaining seats when we have time to do something abt it..

Especially when u asked to be invited..

My mom and brother became my miracle workers and filled up the entire hall within a short span of time.. so it was still a full wedding nevertheless.

ok.. the post-mortem of Lagun Sari's wedding receptions..

It is so simple in theory for these wedding planners.. u have the place and u have the manpower and contacts.. most of the stuffs are outsourced and u have everything all in place.. itz a matter of ordering fresh flowers and cakes and food..

So.. after hearing what was proposed and promised, we settled on a simple gold & white themed wedding, which is, with white table layouts with gold trimmings and individual bouquet of flowers for every table, a 6-tier cheesecake, a white and gold dais, a dance performance and a good MC.

These are what we got..

Gold and white dais and a good dance performance by malay dancers who probably does it every week, and a good video cameraman..

Those are the ONLY things that turned out proper.

The table ended up being white. and single stalks of roses with petals scattered. Cheaply done.

The table arrangements were so bad that some of the tables were hidden behinds walls.

The Mak Andam that was assigned to us was bad. The choice of gowns were so limited and we ended up renting another gown from the another Mak Andam..

Its a wonder how different ppl do things differently when both have the same options and priorities..

Our costume fittings which was done several weeks before were done badly.. And coz she didnt really get in details, we thought she knew what she was doing coz she seemed experienced..

And the end result? it was so screwed that my wife's sleeves were short and my jacket made me look like spongebob.

It was bad and atrociously horrendous.

We didnt really have a choice coz when the frustrations sets in coz it was within 2 hours of the event.

We were set to meet up at Lagun Sari at 5pm, and she called at 1pm to say that she wants us to be there at 4.

HEEELOOOOOOO? I live in Tampines. my wife was in Jurong. my brother Azman who was driving us lives in Toa Payoh and I have a best man and a bridesmaid to fetch. And u tell us 3 hours before that I had to drop every other preparations coz u took up another appointment just before my reception?

She left us within half an hour and another woman who we had never met before became the Mak Andam and having to take all my frustrations and shoutings and became the target of my anger on my wedding day.

The dinner was ok.. the food was good.. or thatz what we were told coz we didnt get to eat anything coz we were rushed for time..

Then we went up to change for the cake cutting ceremony..

The 6-tier cheesecake turned out to be a 2-piece fruit cake, and 3 pieces dummy cakes.

Ang mohs have champagne. so they wanted to simulate that.. but the least they could do was to give us a fruit punch or something.. and what did they really give us to drink?

Plain water in wine glasses.

What the $%#&^@?

A few weeks before the wedding, we heard really bad stories abt Lagun Sari and the wedding planner, Mr Sonato. Stories abt him not fulfilling what he promised..

There were even some stories from ppl who had been outsourced before about him not paying them on time or not even being paid at all.

When we confronted him before the wedding abt the complaints against him and Lagun Sari on the web, he assured us that the complaints were anonymously made and therefore itz not fair to penalise him and we decided that we are gonna give him a chance when he assured us that he will do his best.

So whatz the result of his best?

CRAP.

So, my advise to those who wants to hold their wedding at Lagun Sari is DONT.

And unlike what was claimed by him previously, I dont make the complains anonymously. Feel free to email me and we will give u our contact number, IC number and whatever identification to make a non-anonymous review by a couple who just had their wedding dinner at Lagun Sari.

And from what we gathered from the guests, the service crew did a terrible job too.

Lagun Sari is a bad choice for ur wedding reception. If any of u had planned to have it there, please please please change it.

On Sunday, we had the wedding lunch at my wife's side.. and this time, the mak andam is this girl called Yatee from Lyanaz.. itz her own business and itz obvious from how she works that she has the passion for it.. she pays attention to details.. REALLY CLOSE ATTENTION. and she works so precisely and everything just works.

Her selection of clothings are like tenfold of what the other mak andam has, and she is pleasant and does a very good job despite being young. so, if u are looking for a Mak Andam for ur wedding, call Yatee. Feel free to email me to get her contacts.

We got the bridal gown for the Lagun Sari dinner from her as well..

Another example of how she works..

We requested for a white lenggha and kurta for our nikah day.

She dont have any.

She said that she might be able to borrow from someone.

She didnt.

She bought a totally new pair just to give us what we ask for.. and it was beautiful.

Sunday was a nice day for the wedding, besides the fact that the leader of the kompang group died suddenly a few days after our wedding due to a massive heart attack.

I swear I didnt have anything to do with it.

I spent the next 3 days staying over at my in-laws, despite the initial plan of a week coz my sis-in-law had to sleep in the living room to accomodate me sleeping over.. so after 3 days, we left and on the 12th Jan, we had another wedding reception in Johore for our Malaysian relatives who are unable to attend the Singapore wedding receptions.

As what was done by my wife.. I hereby thank the following ppl..
(if its too long, scroll down quickly)

My Parents, Mr Mohamed & Mdm Zaiton

My Parents In Law, Mr Syed Hamid & Mdm Wahida

My Sister In Law, Sayidatun Nur who doubled up as the Mak Andam for our Johore reception..

My Brothers In Law, Syed Najib, Syed Mohd Syafiq and Mohd Firdaus

Azman & Wife who diligently drove me to anywhere I wanted and belanja me makan..

Azlan & Wife who made some beautiful gifts for my wife..

My sister, Suryati and my niece Ameerah.

My Best Man, Firdaus..

Zahirah's Bridesmaid, my niece Aisha

My Cousin Mr Nordin and wife, Mdm Zaiton and their family..

My Cousin Mr Samsudin and wife, Mdm Jamaliah..

My Cousin Mdm Fadhilla and husband, Mr Kamuri and their family..

My Aunt who flew in from Canada, Mdm Asmah..

My wife's Aunt, Mdm Esah, and husband, Mr Hussein who's cooking I would not recommend to anyone.. coz once u eat her cooking, u'll be so addicted and u wont settle for anything less.. Mami Esah cooked for our nikah and lunch..

My wife's grandfather, Mr Sani..

My wife's other uncles and aunts and cousins..

My relatives.

My wife's relatives.

Mistaken Pirates.. I'm so glad u guys could make it.. my true friends..

My groomsmen.. who had been my buddies for ages.. namely, Meraj, Alfan, Yazid who couldnt make it for the ceremonies but spent the night helping me calm my nerves, Manazil, yang sampai kena hang dengan budak kecik, Maizie & cat, Yazeid from Psychedelic 4 who came down to wish me the night before my nikah..

Erwin

Ili Rozana

My wife's schoolmates from Boon Lay Sec

Yatee, our Mak Andam from Lyanaz

Nizam, our perfectionist photographer from Theme Photography who guided us thru the things we should do

Kamal, our videographer from Lagun Sari, who helped us through our dinner reception

My Pageboys

My flowergirl with her secret dress and noisy shoes

All our guests who turned up that night

And in the day

And in Johore

My brother, Zulfikar and sister in law, Shireen who spent all the time, money and lots of risks to be with me.. and got us a cheesecake in Johore for us to cut coz they knew how disappointed we were with the Lagun Sari wedding cake

And to our distinguished guests..

Chief Minister of Sarawak & Wife

Dato' Dr Ngoi and Wife

Governor of Medan & Wife and their family..

4 tiring events..

But I got the girl in the end and that makes it all worth it.

This girl

Race you till the end..

2007-12-11T04:35:00.000+08:00

OK.. I wanna talk abt a damn sensitive issue..

But this is a damn boring and long issue too.. so for those who are not into longwinded and whiny entries, click on the X at the top right hand corner of ur window..

I just need to whine, as usual.. and I have not blogged for a long time coz I didnt have anything to whine abt..

but before I go on.. lemme just say that itz not about race. itz not abt discrimination of ppl who come from any particular country. itz just abt attitude of some of those who came here.. and those who had been here..

If this can piss the authorities off, i'd suggest that they take a hard look at the situation with an angle of view coming from a minority layman.. i'm not trying to stir the hornets' nest here but just hoping that it can be an eye opener to whoever who have the capabilities to make a change.

Recently, there had been a spate of letters in the papers regarding the employment of foreign workers here.. from domestic helpers to expatriates..

Singapore had been having foreign workers as long as we had been in existence.. in fact, besides the Malays, all the rest of our ancestors are foreigners who had localised themselves thru the hundred years or so..

There had always been a social stigma and stereotyping of foreigners here..

Filipinas and Indonesians and Sri Langkans are maids.

Filipinos are musicians.

Thai males are construction workers

Thai females are formerly males

Indians are software engineers

Bangladeshis do everything that everyone else dont want to do..

Ang Mohs are good looking

Ang Mohs are smarter than we are

Ang Mohs are superior beings

Ang Mohs can fly, run faster than a train and wear their underwear outside.

China ppl play ping pong

and so on and so forth..

but of course.. there are Filipinas who are company directors, Indonesian tai tais, Filipino engineers, Indian contract workers, Bangladeshi supermodels, China nationals who works at coffee bean and Ang Mohs who are jobless and pretend to be handicapped and rent their maids out to others.

but we still stereotype.. and we look at the bad side of any given race except for the Ang Mohs..

There was a guy who wrote to the papers citing that when he was working in Australia, he was warmly welcomed and was wondering why Singaporeans treat foreign workers differently..

and i'm pretty sure that he was NOT referring to our Bangladeshi friends who help make Singapore move so precisely like the ticking of a damn expensive rolex watch..

He might be referring to why we cant accept our China national friends who work at coffee bean and cant speak English and the Ang Mohs who are the expatriate bosses of the expensive investment companies..

or maybe he wasnt..

But are we really that transparent that we dont look thru races as differences?

dont get me wrong.. I love the diversity of races that we have here and I dont have problems with foreigners as much as I have problems with the locals.. different ppl of different colours make up an interesting world as long as we dont succumb to supremacists..

again, as I had alwayssssssss mentioned, i'm an Indian man with a Chinese paternal grandmother and I have a lot of Malay friends..

so I'm really quite indifferent abt skin color as long as they are not green and with antennas on top of their heads..

but Singaporeans are not really color blind.. if the Government have not stopped companies from recruiting Chinese and Mandarin speaking ONLY candidates for jobs, Malays will all become footballers and chauffeurs and Indians become condominum security guards..

but thankfully the authorities had put a stop to it and now we all can sit in offices to work for our Ang Moh bosses..

Even then, still some places are openly racist abt job candidates..

Yesterday, while walking around Eastpoint in Simei, I spotted a shop that was looking for shop assistants, and the candidate must be able to converse with Chinese customers..

So what happens if a Non-English speaking Chinese national apply for the job?

might as well put my picture outside the shop and write NO INDIAN CUSTOMERS ALLOWED

coz i'm sure as hell I cant understand Mandarin except for wo pu che tao.

Recently, while at Coffee Bean in Forum Galleria, I was ordering some drinks and wanted to borrow a pair of scissors from the girl at the counter who was taking my order, to cut a packaging from something I just bought..

she went.. huh?

I went again.. can I borrow a pair of scissors?

huh?

sccciissooorss.. and I made a cutting motion with my two fingers..

and she asked me in Chinese whether can I speak Mandarin..

what the hell?!

I assumed that that was the question coz she said something that ends in Hua Yi and I'm pretty sure she wasnt talking abt a secondary school..

I'm an Indian man, for goodness sake.. and we are in Singapore.. I would understand that the situation would warrant it if I am in Shanghai or Beijing.. but here? in Singapore? where I had been living for the past 35 years and have a perfect Singaporean slang.. I'm expected to speak Mandarin?

I dont really care if she cant understand Singaporean accents coz she must... if I am working in New York and I cant understand the New Yorkers heavy accent, should I ask them to speak in Malay coz thatz the only other language that I know?

ok.. so now.. what would happen if I go down to the shop in Simei and wanted to buy something? and I dont speak Mandarin.. hmm.. an outcast in my own country.. dammit.. now I feel so foreign..

or issit a must now that I do learn Mandarin? what if I dont wish to? isnt it my personal rights NOT to learn to speak Mandarin?

or maybe coz itz HER personal right not to want to learn to speak English in Singapore..

My mom related to me once before abt an incident before at her old workplace where a Chinese man called in and spoke in Mandarin..

She asked him to speak in English coz she didnt understand him.. and itz not like as if he couldnt speak English.. coz he went like this..

"Why you dont know how to speak Chinese? you are in Singapore. the Government wants you to speak Mandarin"

She replied.. "no.. thatz only for the Chinese who speaks so many other different dialects. in Singapore we speak English"

and he insisted and got frustrated and asked to speak to her supervisor to complain abt her not being able to speak Mandarin.. so my mom had to transfer his call to herself.

The poor Indian woman had to be harrased by an a sub-intelligent human.

Several months ago, there had been several cases of road accidents involving Chinese nationals who got hit while crossing roads and The New Paper published their sad story abt how they came to Singapore in search of a dream and got it all shattered in the middle of the road..

I do feel sad for them.. but they should have been educated more abt how we are in Singapore..

WE HAVE TRAFFIC RULES.

Which is unfortunate for those who came from China coz the pedestrians dont comprehend the meaning of RULES.

If any of u had the chance to go to China, please do find out for urselves..

If u cant go to China, take a slow drive in the evenings at the junction of Upper Changi Road East and TPE, leading towards Tampines and see the number of Chinese workers cycling along the expressway..

I hereby suggest that foreigners who come to Singapore must be educated in our traffic rules, especially those concerning pedestrian crossings.

Those who intend to work here must be educated in our spoken English and understand that Mandarin is *NOT* the national language.

And btw, my beloved grandmother was a China-born Chinese. and she's VERY Chinese and she didnt get hit by cars.

She died of old age.

My condolences to the family of the dead China nationals but to prevent further accidents, do not cross the road while a vehicle is approaching towards ur direction, even though u might assume that the vehicle have brakes.

now come the Ang Mohs..

i'm not an anti-SPG or anti Ang Mohs coz when they marry our local girls, they produce Pan-Asian supermodels that we can be proud of.

an Ang Moh friend of mine used to say that he loves being in Singapore coz of the preferential treatment that he gets here and in surrounding Asian countries coz we treat the Ang Mohs like kings.. we cant really blame them for liking it coz if u have a privilege, u'ld take it right?

so blame who?

Ourselves lor..

or if u dont want to blame urself for putting them on such high pedestals, dont whine when they take ur girlfriends away.

I have to reiterate the fact that I am neither xenophobic or racist, but merely stating an opinion. and if God had created so many races, who are we to hate them?

letz whine abt something else.. some geeky stuffs..

HP.

I sent my laptop for repair in late October coz it just konked out on me one day..

Waited for 8 days and still no call from them to even give me a quotation. So I called them..

Took another 3 days for the engineer/technician/whoever-the-servicing-fella-might-be to call me and gave me a quotation..

Took them abt 3 weeks to change a stupid motherboard..

they waived a $95 service charge coz I told them that their service sucks so they shouldnt charge for it..

All the 4 ppl who attended to me at the HP Service Centre were abrupt and unfriendly, even though they had a poster stating that if we catch them unsmiling while attending to us, we'll get a surprise gift.. but looking at the faces of those unfriendly ppl.. i'm almost pretty sure that the gift can surprisingly explode and their mission was to kill their customers.

so of course, being me, I told them that they should remove the posters.

But being them, they didnt understand sacarsms..

After making a complaint to the SERVICE QUALITY girl, she told me that she takes it VERY seriously and she will look into it and will email me within 3 days. even after I told her that I cant be bothered abt the reason behind the stupid delays as long as I get back my laptop, she insisted that "it's her job and she will definitely investigate and get back to me by monday"..

hah!

it had been TWO FREAKING WEEKS AND STILL NOTHING.

so apparently, complaints that goes thru to the HP SQU are taken VERY VERY LIGHTLY and they might be sitting inside the office laughing their asses off talking abt how crappy the complaints that their customers have..

Service Quality... but they didnt say Good Quality or Bad Quality..

so in that sense, they are not really wrong. It's just me being petty. They were merely trying to upkeep Bad Quality Service.

poor HP people.

And when I brought back the laptop with the change of motherboard, the DVD drive couldnt be detected even though it can be physically accessed (open/close/read) .. and the CMOS does not include an option for the IDE settings so the DVD was listed as Unknown Hard Drive in Windows..

So it was obvious that the drive was not set to be auto detected in the CMOS and we cant change it.

And for two weeks I had to bear with it till I had the time to go back to HP Service Centre and met up with another SQU fella.. or rather.. SQU SPECIALIST by the name of Haizam.. and the girl who attended to me was mysteriously missing even though my case sheet had her name on it..

My unit was sent in again and a few hours later an engineer/technician/whoever-the-servicing-fella-might-be called me and told me that my DVD drive had always been working and suggested that they could FORMAT my hard drive for me..

FORMAT MY HARD DRIVE FOR WHAT?!

Stupid fella.. I asked u to just set the CMOS setting and u want to format the drive and talked to me like as if I am so stupid.. I could just hit his stupid head with a book full of 8086 instruction codes.

Aiya.. u think I dunno that u had set the IDE settings before calling me meh?

HP SERVICE SUCKS BIG TIME.

Next time I'll buy a Mac.

yeah.

right.

ok.. end of whining..

now letz talk abt the good times.. :)

things are almost all prepared for the wedding.. and now we hear bad reviews abt the wedding planner at Lagun Sari..

dammit.

time to take out my whip to whip anyone who screw up my wedding plans..

3 weeks to go before we become legal. and itz so seriously exciting.. things between me and my wife-in-3-weeks-time is fantastic and now the stress of planning for a honeymoon.. met the Mak Andam to choose the costumes that we want and finally managed to get for her bridal gowns that are beautiful.. so we can forgo the one given by the Mak Andam contracted by Lagun Sari..

and seriously serious.. she look gorgeous in those gowns..

but then again, she always look gorgeous.

I love you, Nur Zahirah.

It had been a looonngg time..

2007-12-02T16:14:00.002+08:00

Yepz.. too long.. almost a year since I last blogged that I almost forgot how to do it..

a lot have changed. and a lot have not.

I'm still engaged. Sadly.. coz it feels too long.. Counting down the days to the wedding..

I WANNA BE MARRIED.

For a man who refused matrimony.. yepz.. the irony.. coz I ate my own words in the end..

a month to go then she'll be my wife.

Seriously.. for those of u who think u know me and for those who thinks that itz just another mushy entry by another fella.. lemme tell u that as much as I love being engaged, I do wanna get married.. for real.

when u find that someone, it just works..

Sure.. we do have our share of arguments... but itz not that much, itz not long and never serious.

the kissing and making up is always beautiful.

I had never been so much in love.. and this time, I would never get out of love.

For you, my beautiful wife-to-be-in-a-month-time, I promise you that I will take care of you and love you forever.

I had never wanted to be married.. never believed in matrimony, never wanted anyone too close to me.

but I proposed to you several days after we met.

and it had been more than a year now, and if I have a chance to rethink abt my decision to have you as my wife, I would not even need think twice..

of course, she's beautiful.. for those who thinks that she's not, please.. take ur sour grapes and envy elsewhere and eat them privately.. but therez more to her than just her beauty.. she's the most wonderful person who had ever entered my life.. and I'm not saying it coz she's reading it..

I have a choice to leave if I want to throughout the entire engagement coz we had been engaged for almost a year. She have the choice to leave if she wanted to.

But after 11 1/2 months of engagement, I have to admit that I'm totally in love, and having the time of my life.. Our relationship is like a permanent date. especially now coz her exams are over.. we can spend our time on my off days just relaxing and enjoying ourselves..

and in a month time, we can start our date when we open our eyes in the morning..

We had remained together thru the 11 1/2 months without any problems. maybe some ppl might think that u need challenges in a relationship to test it.. but who cares abt testing and if u think u need challenges in a relationship, have it in ur own.. ours is nicely untested and we dont wish to test it and we are satisfied with the way it is, thank you..

Hopefully, after the wedding we gonna start making babies.. if I am not shooting blanks..

but of course.. some ppl speculated that she's pregnant.. and thatz one of the two reasons why I wanted the engagement to be for a year.. the other was for the fact that we wanted her to complete her exams first..

For those friends of mine who had been influenced by my negative thoughts abt marriage.. ermz.. sorry ah.. itz really nice being engaged and I'm really looking forward for a beautiful marriage.. so those of u who had been influenced, go get married.

I had promised her a proper engagement ceremony - done.

I promised her a proper engagement - done.

I promised her a proper dowry - done.

I promised her a proper wedding - on the way.. we are just completing the little details now.

and I promised her a proper marriage and a proper family..

For you, my beautiful wife-to-be-in-a-month-time, I do promise you that.

It had been 9 months since I quit smoking.. something that I never thought I would do.. being a heavy smoker who had been smoking for the past 24 years.. and after 9 months.. I had lost all cravings for it..

I do think abt smoking once in a while.. but just thinking.. thatz it.. not wanting it.. I never want to restart smoking.. and thatz for my beautiful bride. she's the reason why I quit and I dont regret it.

For you, my beautiful wife, I love you.

I'm sending out my invitations soon. If you have not heard from me, please email me.

If I dont respond, it means that u are not invited.

ok.. anyway.. the rest of the previous entries are not gonna be published till it had been edited to a point that my kids can read it. so for the upcoming entries, therez not gonna be vulgarities or negative influences.

ok.. now for the current events..

like everyone else.. letz talk abt the top PSLE student.. the girl with the stailo milo name..

I'm proud of her..

coz her mother was a stewardess. yey.

But she's malay.. and suddenly, coz of her, everyone is claiming to be malays.

ermz.. those ppl whom when I gave them the dayung sampan joke* started to tell me all kind of family history that deny them from being pure malays.. those like.. my dad was an indian, my grandmother is a russian, my mom is javanese, I'm indonesian kinda shit.

some really wak kang faced ppl even claim to be of Dutch origin tau.. mana tah datang tu Dutch..

* (courtesy of an arab friend of mine whoz name shall not be mentioned so he dont get killed by the malays who have the capabilities to run amok)

BTW.. if u are an Indonesian or Javanese or Boyanese or Bugis or whatever, it means that u are a Malay. Coz ur heritage comes within the malay archipelago.

And I'm marrying a hindustani.

Hindustani tau.. tu pasal dia jambu.

A top PSLE student being Malay does not make all Malays smart.. and coz u guys suddenly claim to be Malays now does not make u Natasha Nabila..

releks dok.. lu masih boleh lepak.. takde orang paksa korang blajar.

somehow, the Malays have another hobby besides claiming to be Natasha Nabila.. besides Tammy.. I think most of the 3gp local porn videos are from mats and minahs..

kesian papa.. papa jahat sangat tu..

so the malays still got a lot more to prove.. either u should prevent the mats and minahs from distributing their homemade toilet gangbang videos or u should start making them speak english in those upcoming episodes so it'll be harder to distinguish..

whatever it is.. papa masih jahat tau..

Restart

2007-02-03T05:12:00.000+08:00

ok.. my hands shivered coz I didnt blog.. but then again.. I dont think I shall be blogging often.. just as and when I feel like it..

time to update abt my life..

I'm happily engaged now.. to the most beautiful girl in the world, Nur Zahirah..

and not only she's beautiful.. SHE'S INDIAN!

yeyness..

and for those who have read my previous postings abt my views abt life and marriages.. as I have said before, I would rather be single and happy than married but miserable..

and now I had finally found someone whom I can love wholeheartedly, without any boundaries, and someone whom I wish to spend the rest of my life with.. and someone whom I wanna make LOTS of babies with, and someone whom I know I will take care of with my own life..

and for you, my beautiful fiancee.. I promise u that I will take care of u with my life, and love you with my heart and soul..

herez some of the pics from our engagement..

My baby Fiancee..

our engagement ring that I use to handcuff her.. sorry eh.. now u are untouchable already..

with our mothers..

and my beautiful fiancee again..

and having a young wife means that she can really give me LOTS of babies.. :)

I'm preparing myself to be a perfect husband for her.. and to be a perfect dad for our upcoming kids.. in which we wanna start by the end of this yr, right after the wedding.. and if I am not shooting blanks.. we should be getting a baby by Sept next yr..

another yeyness..

and darling.. I really appreciate ur efforts tau.. and from the first time I tasted ur cooking, I know that u'll make me even fatter than I already am..

I'm in Zurich right now, in the crew lounge, a few doors away from my room.. right in the middle of winter.. and itz cold and snowing outside that I cant really be bothered abt going out of the hotel..

Switzerland.. ahh.. where my baby is gonna be created in 2008..

an elderly passenger of mine had invited and insisted that we visit her during our honeymoon here if we do decide to come here for it..

of course.. if that is ok with u k Sayang?

ok.. for the other updates in life..

Sad news at the end of 2006.. one of my old time friends passed away on 31st Dec.. Ayu a.k.a DINDA a.k.a Dindayu, an IRC chatter in #melayu2 abt 5 or 6 yrz ago, died of heart failure after 2 yrz battling with respiratory problems..

I was reading her blog where in her last posting, abt a month or so before she died, she mentioned that she dont think she can live long..

and according to Hainie.. during Hari Raya Aidil Adha, when she did a korban, she mentioned that she herself will be korban..

I guess itz true that ppl can sometime feel when they are leaving..

either that or she felt really sick..

so, for Ayu.. I wish u a blissful journey to the other side..

the band had gone on a hiatus now.. and so far, since the last gig, I have met them only once at Esplanade..

and my online life is zero, except to read up on some programming stuffs that I had been working on..

and for those who wants to know.. Lazarus rocks.. though I still love Delphi, a code-compatible Object Pascal, which cross compiles to other platforms, like ARM and Lintel, is a breather.. and definitely much easier to use compared to Kylix coz the Kylix widgets are too platform specific..

to compile in Lazarus, u just need to change the targeted processor.. THAT EASY.. and thatz it..

just that for now, Lazarus binaries are much bigger than Delphi, so if u can afford that trade off, then go ahead.. so far, it works well for me..

that aside.. as for myself now, I'm preparing myself for the upcoming wedding in 315 days time.. but as it is, I'm not as excited abt the wedding itself compared to the life after the wedding with her..

and yepz.. my fiancee is 18 yrz younger than I am..

I know of some ppl with attempted hits and misses and reaching their 20s without anything in sight..

unfortunately, it still stand true that when girls reach their mid 20s, and no possible suitors, u'll be very close to be left on the shelves..

as for my own baby, I know that I will take care of you.. and by the time u reach that age, we'll be scurrying back and forth sending our kids to school k?

The End

2006-12-24T10:59:00.001+08:00

This blog is now closed.

Thanks to those who had been nice enough to leave comments and tags and those who regularly visits this blog.

And I didnt get any hate tags till the end of the blog. To the two poor idiots, unfortunately, with as much conscience that I have, in which, being very close to NONE, I'd still tell u to go fuck urself.

OK.. maybe not the one with the nick GAL, coz I think u tagged with good intentions for someone.. but the one with the nick ANOTHER. hope u'll have fun.

but then again, I have a strong feeling that u are one poor Malay girl who lost her sampan..

I'll tell u in a way that u will understand then..

Relek xua.. u sound like one sad vagina who was fucked and left.

too fucking bad.

I'm closing this blog coz I'm too tired to post anything. but for the moment, I'll let it stand as it is so that those of u who wish to go for a holiday can see some of the places that I had been to, and those Malays who wishes to be Mats and Minahs can think twice.

and those who likes anonymous tagging can go get a dildo.

To my dearest Malay friends..

2006-11-17T22:13:00.001+08:00

I shall not piss u guys off anymore..

No more jokes of Dayung Sampans and stuffs like that..

coz I know better now.

I was stupid and silly, and my sincere apologies..

Please do not kill me.

ok.. disclaimer..

If any of my further Malay and Mats and Minahs jokes will piss u off in future.. please remember that itz not me who wrote it..

I was somehow possessed by an Indian spirit causing temporary dementia which made me create jokes about Malays.

I love Malays k..

ok ok..

for the explanation of my current fear of the Malays..

Was wiki-ing.. and came across a definition of Amok..

herez a snippet of the definition..

[snip]
Amok, sometimes spelled amuck and often used as "running amok," is a Malay word which, in that language, means to be out of control.
[end snip]

[snip again]
Some sources have identified Malays as having a particular tendency to run amok, making this an example of a culture-bound syndrome, but they are by no means the only people to do so. For example, W. W. Skeat writes in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica: "A Malay will suddenly and apparently without reason rush into the street armed with a kris or other weapons, and slash and cut at everybody he meets till he is killed. These frenzies were formerly regarded as due to sudden insanity. It is now, however, certain that the typical amok is the result of circumstances, such as domestic jealousy or gambling losses, which render a Malay desperate and weary of his life. It is, in fact, the Malay equivalent of suicide.
[end snip]

OMFG..

u guys are CRAZY..

lol..

PAKISTAN ZINDABAD!

yey..

ok ok...

anyway..

therez a song by the band Wings... for those who doesnt know the band, LU TAK ROCK.. RELEK XUA..

ok.. from the song.. Inspirasi Taming Sari..

for the uninformed..

Taming Sari is the kris, or a Malay dagger, worn by Hang Tuah, a legendary Malaccan warrior in the 15th Century.. who won it in a duel in Majapahit with a warrior of that name.. and is said to have magical powers that will protect its owner by having a life of its own..

Hang Tuah had been said to have thrown away the kris before disappearing after failing to secure a marriage proposal by the crazy Sultan who wanted to marry every pretty girl he had heard of..

so Wings said in that song..

Tapi kini tiada lagi
Taming Sari sudah hilang dari mata..

ermz..

and I had really thought, all along, that Taming Sari is really gone..

till, thru the power bestowed upon me by Wikipedia.. I found out (though millions had found out before me.. but I found out BEFORE Wings who still thinks that Taming Sari sudah hilang dari mata)..

that Taming Sari still exists!

dammit..

all these years of making it seems so mystical..

Taming Sari had always been in Perak, and the current owner of it is Sultan Azlan Shah.. and it had always been worn as a regalia (official royal outfit) for the Sultan of Perak..

so if Taming Sari is all so powerful..

how come Perak cant defeat the Israelis ah?

Iran dont need to build nuclear weapons..

Saddam will call upon Sultan of Perak and say sorry for every person he killed..

Bush will say sorry to the Sultan for every bomb he dropped..

so, as mystical as Taming Sari is.. itz just another piece of metal whos power had been overrated..

if the Boyanese ppl had always been so powerful with their tuju tuju and their ilmu and so on.. how come they never did conquer the world ah?

they never conquered anything else besides Pulau Bawean anyway..

as far as I know.. Boyanese girls are pretty. and thatz more important than any tuju tuju powers..

unless their dads want to send some flying eggs in my direction ah..

so ok.. my Malay friends.

when some Malay boys are caught rioting, and populate Changi Prison, RTC and Boys Home.. itz perfectly normal..

coz Malays have the tendencies to Amok..

If Hang Tuah, Hang Jebat, Hang Kasturi, Hang Lekir and Hang Lekiu were still alive.. they might be some Matrep lepakking at a Malaccan MacDonald's..

and what kinda name is Lekiu anyway..

ok.. Tuah, Jebat, Lekir might be Matreps..

Kasturi might be a sissy little gay..

Le-Q might be into rap and hiphop and some RnB shitz..

but dont try to piss that gay coz he have the tendency to run Amok anyway..

I'm fearful for my life now since now I know my Malay friends likes to run amok and be very suicidal..

I'm not surprised that W. W. Skeat is a racist anyway.. 1911 is just during the time of the British occupation of Singapore.. and therefore itz not surprising if he would put some demeaning remarks against ppl that they ruled coz they treated ppl like cattles..

anyway, as far as I know.. besides being Mats and Minahs, the Malays dont have the tendencies to be irritating.. and they definitely dont run Amok..

I like my Malay friends..

awww..

*big hug*

someone should shoot Skeat in the ass.

and anyway... I'm in Bombay now.. in the hotel room..

didnt go out at all.. so no pics this time..

I took quite a few pics on my last trip to Bombay anyway..

leaving tonite.. so I'll be home tmrw, then off to Johore to celebrate my birthday with the rest of the November babies in my family..

and my birthday is on Sunday!

yey..

tengkiu.. tengkiu..

I'll be 34 yrz old..

and retiring from Ska at 35..

I wanna be playing jazz and swing after 35.. :)

and what better way to celebrate a birthday than to jam for 3 hours with the band..

and btw.. we'll still be playing on 25th Nov at GasHaus..

tickets are up on sale now, at $10 presale..

I have 40 tickets with me now.. so for those who wanna get it from me, msg me on msn k?

Happy Birthday To Me..

Theatre Of Dreams

2006-11-11T03:52:00.001+08:00

Glory Glory Man United
Glory Glory Man United
Glory Glory Man United

And The Reds Go Marching On! On! On!

ah..

yep yep..

Just got back from Manchester.. home to the best football club in the world..

But not best football team ah.

That one goes to Southend..

geram siak..

For the benefit of those who didnt watch the Carling Cup the other day.. Man Utd, who's a defending Champion, were kicked out of the Cup by the team whoz at the bottom of the Coca Cola League.. Southend..

but cannot blame them also lah.. Southend played like a top Premier League team that nite..

ok.. nvm.. Man United is still at the top of the EPL table.. 3 points ahead of Chelsea.. *YEAH*

ok.. anyway.. weather in Manchester was a lil bit too chilly.. abt 5 degrees in midday..

I dread the start of the season.. coz it means that itz gonna be months and months of Winter.. till we get back the sun in March.. and every other flight is gonna be a Winter flight..

but then again.. I'm still excited abt Milan in December.. :)

spent the first day with the crew.. Melvyn, Queenie and Sharon.. and 2 of the pilots.. Lionel and Loy..

Had a late lunch and then just walked around town..

The next day.. woke up in the morning and headed to the Theatre Of Dreams.. The Old Trafford Stadium..

and for the uninformed.. thatz the Manchester United stadium..

I had watched several Manchester United games before.. but only one at the Old Trafford.. abt 8 yrz back.. with Cantona, Keane, Beckham and Peter Schmeikel still in the squad..

Got back to Singapore then and got the game ticket laminated..

and it turned totally black afterwards coz of the laminating heat..

argghh..

ok.. anyway.. the memories remain.. cheh..

itz a must.. and a pilrimage for any Manchester United fan to go watch a match at the Old Trafford..

so I'm Haji Zulkarnain coz I had done my pilrimage there..

yep yep.. Right is definitely the way to go..

which would bring us to..

ah.. Manchester United.. the BEST team in the world.. yeah.. ok.. I changed my mind.. Southend is better only to Chelsea, Liverfool and ARSEnal.

and here it is.. the stadium from a distance..

We came in thru this one.. the North Stand.. just a random pic je..

During match days.. the players are to come to the stadium abt 3 hours before the game.. in which they will have a low carb meal at one of the 22 dining areas, with high energy drinks and juices.. no alcohol 2 days prior and a day after the games..

They are to finish their meal at least 2 1/2 hours prior to the game, and then head down to the lounge..

ah.. letz go there now..

On the wall, therez the names of the former and current British players who had served their countries in international games..

Beckham's name is still there too.. but the international tally has not been calculated till he retires..

In here, the wives and kids of the players will come thru another door to the lounge and get some juices or other non-alcoholic drinks..

Therez even a creche with nannies to take care of their babies..

See the sign on the door?

The babies are not allowed to smoke.. poor fellas.. such discrimination..

The wives and kids will remain there till the time that they need to head down to the stands to watch the game, and the players will then go down to the changing room to get prepared for the game..

ah.. come.. letz take a look at the changing room..

Even Ferguson got his own hanger there.. but I wonder what does he need to change to..

bukan dia ada pakai jersey.

Maybe they hang some strips of chewing gum for him..

Anyway.. he will only reveal the names of the selected players for the game here, abt 30 mins before the game begins..

Where the legendary tactical decisions are made..

I think a lot of girls would like to be here..

The shower room is similar to the ones in our NS camps.. a long stretch of showers without any partitions..

Just dont drop a soap.. man.. but then again.. I dont think therez any gay professional soccer players..

It just dont work that way..

A jacuzzi for after match relieves..

During half time, this is where they will be served refreshments and some high energy Jaffa cakes.. and where Alex Ferguson will throw some boots to some players' heads..

Some random pics in the changing room.. reminders for the Players just before the game..

Anyway...

To think of it..

Isnt it obscene for a person who dont need to go to school to succeed get more than $60,000 PER FREAKING WEEK.

about $240,000 per month for an average player..

Isnt it worse for a whole group of 25 ppl to get that?

And they come down to be pampered and to run around and kick around some balls in their Ferraris, Lamboghinis and in their spare Porsche cars..

But nevermind lah.. they are still the BEST football club team in the world.. second only to any Brazilian teams..

I think ah.. any Brazilian school team is better than Chelsea, ARSEnal and Liverfool..

Chelsea on wins thru Abramovich.. and since his wife is gonna divorce him soon and taking half of his assets, which means, probably about 10 Chelsea players and substitutes will go to his wife too..

These lucky ppl of the Manchester United squad seems to get anything they want..

They dont even need to wash their own boots.. after every game, they can dump their jerseys and boots and someone will come and collect them and during match days, a fresh jersey will be hung at the changing room and their boots lined up for them to collect..

Right after changing.. come the run down to the field.. where the world will shout cheers to the BEST football club team in the world.. and jeers to Chelsea..

and ARSEnal and Liverfool, whoz positions are even lower than Bolton and Portsmouth..

ah.. The Old Trafford..

As it had been said.. the Theatre Of Dreams..

At the Home Team side of the stands..

There are specific seatings for everyone.. and the seats for the officials of the two teams are RECARO bucket seats man.. nothing else..

gosh..

Macam nak kebas satu pair letak dalam kereta..

And after the game.. traditionally, the Press Room, where the managers will do a press briefing..

but since Ferguson dont do it, so most of the time only the opponent team manager and players will be there..

And previously, players are signed to the Manchester United team in this room too.. and the last player to be signed here was Teddy Sheringham..

the Busby Babes with an Indian man holding the trophy for them..

Thatz it for the stadium..

Went back to town afterwards, and back to the hotel to watch the Carling Cup match between Manchester United and Southend United..

The captain of the squad that nite was Wes Brown.. so.. what happened to Gary Neville then?

HE WAS FREAKING WALKING AROUND THE CITY!

macam siak!

The worse thing that can happen to a football fan is that.. one of ur favourite players is spotted in public, a few metres away from a friend of urs who dont even recognise him.. and they dont even bother to approach!

Why does the non-fans always get to meet the heroes ah?

On one flight several years back.. a friend of mine had the entire Brazilian soccer team travelling on her flight.. and in the cabin that she was serving..

And she wasnt even impressed..

Coz she oso dunno them..

WTF.

Another girl had Santana on her flight, just before he rose back into popularity for the second time.. and he was heading down to Jakarta for a concert.. gave her a VIP ticket and a backstage pass..

And she threw away the ticket coz she was too lazy to go..

God.. next time ah.. give these things to me can? I can appreciate it better..

ok..

Some pics of the city itself..

A ferris wheel.. what else..

I have heard that Singapore is gonna build a huge ferris wheel just like the London Eye..

But then.. on the London Eye, u can see the city of London..

The ferris wheel in Paris gives a magnificent view of the city of Paris..

And a huge ferris wheel in Singapore?

we'll end up looking at Johore and Batam..

I have no idea what this place is.. maybe a mall or something.. but I took the pic for the reflection of the ferris wheel..

Hard Rock Cafe, Manchester..

After walking around town.. we headed down to an Irish pub.. which looks extremely small and quiet from the outside..

But with several levels downwards.. and totally packed..

Cheers to the Best Club Football Team in the World.. Manchester United..

Chelsea, Liverfool and ARSEnal players should come and help clean up the Man United boots..

One Life

2006-11-03T14:24:00.001+08:00

There's only one life..

so I dont wish to fuck up that one life with the wrong choices..

simple as that..

I do things that pleases me..

and if it happens that I end up being a bachelor all my life, so be it.. I'd rather die single and happy rather than married but miserable..

or Divorced.

so if it happens that I come to a point of time when I feel that I *WANT* to get married.. so be it..

but for now, I'd rather not plan for anything and live life one day at a time..

we have one life.. and one life to utilise or to screw it up.

sure, I'm a heavy smoker.. and I do enjoy doing things that I do..

I play in a band, travel the world, slack and chill out with my bachelor friends.. just that I fucked up on the religion part..

when the time comes, and *IF* therez enough time for me to repent.. I'ld do it someday..

If I die before that.. ermz.. TFB.. I'ld be losing the Russian Roulette that I play and I'll burn in hell with most of u guys too..

so.. One Life.. and if u fuck it up, basically, thatz it.. u wont get another chance..

dont get me wrong though.. I do love the religion.. I remained with my faith coz of choice..

Was watching a documentary recently while I was outstation somewhere.. cant remember when...

Abt mercy killing..

Should u pull the plug out from someone whoz alive but without a chance for recovery?

Is it ethical to kill someone whoz critically wounded or in chronic pain just to save him from the pain?

Letting him go is better than to see him suffer?

well.. probably..

If u are a Hindu or Buddhist.. mercy killing is merciful..

then the fella can die and get reincarnated..

If u are a Muslim or Christian or Catholic or Jew.. pulling the plug means u are pushing him to the other side..

If u are an Atheist.. u are pushing him to decomposition..

And if u are Tom Cruise.. worse still.. u might prolly end up with antennas over ur head in some weird planet with all the other aliens..

For a person in critical pain.. and has abt 5 mins of life.. that 5 mins would translate to the last 5 mins that he can feel human pain, EVER.

in which, after the 5 mins, u cant even feel it even if u want to.. so why deprive them of being human for that 5 mins?

So if I am ever gonna suffer mortal pain, lemme enjoy it..

Pull the plug on me and I'll come back to suck ur blood.. I swear..

So.. with a lot of options in the world, how do one fucked their life up..

Recently.. a close family friend..

A makcik who used to stay at my place when she had problems with her two son-in-laws.. so got kicked out and no place to stay..

She has 2 daughters, both married with kids.. and 3 sons, of which, one is still in his late teens..

Her first husband died abt 10 yrz back.

After which she remarried.. several yrz later.. when she was 50..

And the new husband was 25.

he died 2 yrz later in an accident..

Her 2nd daughter is going thru a divorce now.. and her 2nd last son was just released from prison.

The youngest son is now 18 and awaiting to be called up for his National Slavery..

and just got married coz his gf got pregnant.. and gave birth recently..

She's 16.. and so she's working while he stays at home and whine abt not being able to get a job coz he have not served NS..

though I doubt he will work even if he can..

His mom called my mom to tell her abt the good news and finds it cute that her son calls the elder sister to ask for diapers and milk powder..

So, u not only fuck up ur own life.. u fuck up ur gf's life, and ur kids.. with ur Midas touch.. anything u touch turns to Fucked.

and the mother would still find it cute..

If I end up in an old folk's home.. I'd spend my time gardening and playing music or write some software for old folks home automation..

My plans if my life inadvertently got screwed by somethings thatz beyond my control..

If I ever lose my sense of sight, I'd brush up on my guitar playing..

If I even lose my sense of hearing, I'll be a Computer Programmer..

If I lose both, I'll be Helen Keller..

If I lose my legs, both guitar and programming..

If I lose my hands, I'd figure out a way to do programming with my toes and a stick in my mouth and prolly try to spend my entire lifetime trying to figure out the theory of a time machine..

If I get paralysed below the neck, I'll figure out a way to amuse myself by shaking my head..

If I remain the same, I'll still be a Flight Attendant for the next few years, do programming, play drums and chill out with my bandmates at Esplanade..

If I end up being vegetative.. I might be entertaining myself somewhere in my head.. dont u dare pull out the plug on me..

If u do, I'll come back and haunt u.

So anywayyy..

If u wanna have fun in ur life.. go ahead.. by all means.. just as long as it does not impose ur responsibilities on others..

If u are not ready for responsibilities, dont tread on it..

But then again, ur mom might still find it cute..

I had been on course for the past few days.. and saw the new products to be launched by the company..

WOW..

u guys will read abt it in the papers soon I guess..

but itz a WOW.

and for those who doesnt know.. I'm working with the world's best airline.. :)

going off to Manchester on Sunday.. and dammit.. therez no games at the Old Trafford thru the entire freaking week that I'll be there..

dammit..

I had seen the Red Devils play several times before though.. a Pilrimage for any Manchester United fans..

and the new roster is out.. YEY..

and for those who didnt see my MSN nick... I'M GOING TO MILAN!!

ok ok.. thatz an excitement after so long for a destination besides Melbourne..

just that Milan is a new place for us.. and so this is gonna be the first time I go down to Spain..

reminds me.. several yrz back.. I wanted to form a metal band with the musicians wearing Prada.. but play a totally freaked out metal core band..

but it didnt work though.. we were all too bz to get the time together to jam..

so I play ska..

and I love ska anyway..

Pirates will be playing at GasHaus on 25th Nov..

for more details, go to our blog.. link is at the side of this page.

borrowing words from Kaz from Comic Strip..

I swear I'll still be playing ska till I die..

Imagine several old men in an Old Folks Home wearing sunglasses and pork pie, and some cute little 60 yr old rudegirls skanking..

Overdue Raya Posting

2006-10-31T02:32:00.001+08:00

Selamat Belated Hari Raya.

Happy Belated Deepa'Oli..

I had fun beraya-ing this yr..

yey..

Had 5 days off, 2 days prior, and 2 days after raya.. but had to change away my London to get the off days though.. which means that celebrating the raya cost me abt a thousand bucks extra..

but takpe.. dapat raya..

Puasa tak nak.. raya je nak.. standard..

Anyway... here are the pics from my Nagoya flight, which I did just before raya..

Got out of the hotel at abt 7pm for dinner alone.. and walked abt 20 mins to get to the 100 Yen shop..

And the horror of horrors..

The whole freaking building was closed to be demolished!

aaaaaaaarrggggggghhh..

MY BELOVED 100 YEN SHOP IS GONE!

Didnt have time to walk to the other 100 Yen shop coz it was a lil too late and if I attempted to go there, I wont even be able to make it in time... so I walked and walked and walked around the city..

the streets of Nagoya..

and another street of Nagoya..

this is called the Koban.. a Police Post.. a typically Japanese concept..

Singapore's Neighbourhood Police Posts are modelled after this Koban system..

Anyway, Japanese police officers are so so so much respected that parents will gladly marry their daughters off to a Policeman..

in Singapore, if u marry a policeman.. ur dad will reject coz it will mean that he would have to support u still..

and ur husband..

and ur kids..

one of those things that I like about Japan are the restaurants..

Even the simplest restaurant are managed with pride.. and most restaurants have a display of their food, made of plastic.. and it looked freaking real..

some Singaporean Japanese restaurants had recently caught up with this idea.. but in Japan, itz everywhere..

and it really look so freaking real..

see?

and of course..

Japan..

the country of Weirdness..

where they sell iPods at 7-11..

and in Singapore, they only sell cup noodles...

here u can even get porn magazines..

gerek kan?

ok.. thatz it abt Japan..

On Hari Raya eve, went out to Geylang Bazaar with Yuliez.. my old neighbour girl whoz flying for Emirates now, whom I had known since she was 6 and I was 13.. her brother, and her close friend, Faizal.. and came back at abt 6am the next morning..

Bazaar open till that late xia.. I didnt know that.. ni orang suma tak tau nak raya ke?

And as soon as I got home.. changed and continued baking some scones.. *ahem.. I now can baked tauuu.. and so far no one had died*..

And my first customer of the day.. my eldest brother who came at 7.30am..

mana ada orang datang raya kol 7.30 pagi dah.. dia sorang je..

Slept till abt 3.. and layan the streaming guests till the last ones, my buddy Wily, and my 3 foreign neighbours from India.. all 3 are new stewardesses.. and we chatted till abt 1.30am..

on the 2nd day of raya.. went out to my brother's place.. Azlan.. and his wife, Yanti..

Yanti.. btw.. I meant it.. u have a nice house.. pandai jugak adik ipar aku ni decorate.. I really doubt that Azlan played a part in the design.. heh.. we guys are not cut out for that..

And that nite, went over to my sister's place.. and to my cousin's place.. one that I have not seen since I was a kid.. from my dad's side of the family..

So basically, thatz it.. I went to Shanghai on the 4th day of raya.. and basically, didnt do anything there coz the traffic from the airport to the hotel was bad and by the time we got there, it was dark..

and went off to Johore right after I landed from flight on Saturday.. to celebrate jalan jalan raya there and visit my Malaysian relatives.. being in 3 countries in a single day.. China, Singapore and Malaysia..

thatz us..

and no.. my nieces are not available.. so u males with raging hormones, dont even attempt to ask..

I'm a hypocryte.. anak sedara aku sendiri korang tak ley tekel.. anak sedara orang lain takpe..

basically.. thatz it.. I had a lot of things to whine abt but coz this is a Raya posting, I shall not whine tonite..

tmrw shall be the whiny day..

Selamat Belated Hari Raya Aidil Fitri..

kuih dah abis baru nak wish..

*P/S: Therez no vulgarity in this entire posting.

Atom Ant

2006-10-17T07:38:00.001+08:00

ah.. ok..

me back. me blog now. me got whinings about the world.

As usual lor..

ok.. firstly.. I would have to say that whatever that I blog, came off the top of my head..

so, please.. when I come up with my own opinions, dont ask for statistics..

when I come up with my own statistics, dont take it for real..

THEY ARE JUST FUCKING WHININGS.

*ahem*

kan abang dah marah tu..

coz I was suddenly reminded abt a silly girl who asked me for statistics when I talked abt women and feminism..

if u wanna get real facts, go read the Encyclopedia.. dont even Wiki.. silly girl..

and yeah..

I blog whatever that comes to mind.. so thatz another reason why I always jump from one topic to another.. and whatever that I write, is how I feel.. so for those who wants to get hurt, then too bad lor..

I used to hide things so that ppl dont get hurt.. but since I'm back to my carefree days again.. I dont have such obligations..

ok dah..

letz whine abt other things..

Was reading an article in the papers.. abt the volunteer group, Crime Library, being allowed to pin up their posters at MRT stations and some bus interchanges..

LTA approached SMRT, NEL and SBS to ask them to allow these nice ppl who wants to help families with missing persons, especially kids.. to put up the posters so that more families can have their loved ones back..

SMRT said OK..

NEL said OK..

SBS said NO.

WTF?

They said that they would rather work with the Police to find missing ppl..

In the first place.. how the fuck does a bus company work with the Police to find missing ppl?

Now their Bus Inspectors go around looking for missing ppl? then what? Report to Bus Captains?

Or they call the Police every week to find out whether can they help to locate some missing ppl?

So basically, itz hypocrisy.. they just dont want to help..

so hopefully, the next missing person would be from one of their families, if it was to happen again in Singapore..

But then again.. Singapore is so safe anyway.. no missing Singaporeans get killed..

Maybe some ppl just dont realise this.. our good Police Officers can't do much abt missing ppl.. unless there had been a crime committed and some evidence had been lifted from the scene or some witnesses came up with information, or the missing person is a child..

If u have a sister who is 16 yrz old, and she left home just like that.. therez nothing that the Police Force can do for u except for the fact that they inform u the last whereabouts that she was seen in.. and if she's above 17, TFB.. they dont have the rights to tell u that..

If ur old grandfather lost his way home and ended up in a ditch.. therez nothing that they can do except to cordon the scene while waiting for the hearse to come to send him for autopsy for the cause of death..

Crime Library was trying out to do something good for everyone with someone to love.. then again.. some ppl just have to be assholes..

ok..

next whining..

was watching Miss Vasantham yesterday.. and the question posed to individual contestants was..

Name 2 other contestants that you think should be eliminated..

another WTF..

Obviously.. some of them refused to name names..

Some did.. and basically.. thatz the first step to backstabbing in the media world..

The judges seemed to provoke them further.. and humiliated them further by asking them, why they think they are so good that they dont have the poor traits reflected by the 2 they named..

Some contestants got defensive.. and even one of the judges got defensive..

And one particular girl refused to name any, so one of the judges named 2 contestants that had named her, putting it in a way that it was said with malice and basically, tried to fire up a sense of anger and hatred..

Must do that meh?

Just coz we Indians are nice ppl have to do that to our race ah?

But then again.. 3 of the 4 judges were Indians..

the other is Najib..

I'd rather hear meaningless comments from Jacintha..

ok.. btw... in the last posting.. I forgot to upload 2 pics from a nice place that I stopped by on the drive back from Whistlers Mountain..

We stopped over at a rather deserted, but well maintained lake within a forest area, called Alice Lake..

So somehow.. with the darkness that was falling within the woods.. it looks kinda creepy.. though the serenity made it beautiful..

Alice Lake..

Alice was supposed to be the first White Woman that was there or something.. the lake reminds me of the show Friday The 13th.. where Jason jumped out of the water.. rather a stupid show.. but I was a kid when I watched it so it was scary back then..

And how come they didnt name the lake after the first Native woman eh?

The Woods.. creepy rite?

my tagboard had been changed coz tag-board.com fucked up on me..

and my new roster is out..

the YEYness of the new roster would be MANCHESTER!

hopefully can catch some games from the BEST FOOTBALL TEAM IN THE WORLD..

*NOT* Manchester City k..

ok.. now.. for the ultimate point of blogging today..

I got back from Melbourne yesterday.. and spent time with my brother, sis-in-law.. AND THE KIDSSSS..

YEY!

and of course.. not to forget, my goodest friend.. Radiah Alsagoff..

YEY!

goodest sey..

My bro traded phones with me since he have an extra phone.. he took my O2 XDA II Mini and gave me a brand new $1.4k O2 Atom..

YEYYYYYY..

with built-in wireless and loads of other functions..

and itz nicer to look at.. sleek and black..

just that Atom crashes more than XDAs, but that is expected of Windows anyway.. DOPODs crashes often too.. but I need this platform to write programs for the Windows Mobile..

but the worst thing abt the Atom is the battery life.. itz really draining even though I switched off all unnecessary functions.. just the usage of the PDA will suck out the electrons like.. like dunno what lar..

my beautiful favourite-gadget-of-the-moment..

but of course.. since itz given by my brother.. itz always gonna be my fav..

orait.. Picture Time..

hereeeeeeee..

Miss Radiah and Shasha!

YEY..

Here are the Gap Boys..

My precious nephews..

Yayat, Nain, Mukmin and Wawa..

fitting nicely into the Gap sweaters that I got for them from Seattle..

*phew*

and they fit nicely into the Baju Raya that we bought for them from Singapore.. kalau tak muat macam mana nak tukar eh Zainah eh.. lepas raya boleh?

but they did..

My precious first nephew.. Yayat..

Me and Nain

The two Zulkarnain..

Dedek time bangun sahur..

Wawa

this is Wawa Saifullah..

but of course.. as usual.. my Princess always get more pics.. coz she girl mah..

and so I put her thru a rigorous modelling session..

Shasha with her Gap dress that I bought from Seattle.. and a tweety handbag given by Zainah and Radiah..

Shasha with a white dress, cardigan and even a scrunchie..

for now itz a lil bit big.. so I think they will wait for abt 6 more months for her to fit nicely into it..

but takpe.. to me my Princess is the most beautiful girl in the world..

Shasha with yet another dress.. ShaSha's Spring Collection..

Shasha as Anak Makcik.. siapa bilang gadis Pakistani tak menawan? tak menarik hati? tiada memikat?

my beautiful Shasha with her tudung..

and Shasha with her ice-cream

but of course..

the ultimate pic..

Harimau Shasha

Takut tak?

Bowling For Soup

2006-10-09T09:09:00.001+08:00

Was in the crew bus just now heading to the airport in Seoul, and was listening to the song Girl All The Bad Guys Want.. and one line caught my attention..

I normally think that the line is funny..

but for now it makes sense..

[snip]

She broke my heart
I wanna be sedated
All I wanted was to see her naked

[end snip]

for the benefit of those of u who have not heard of that song that came out several years back..

Itz a funny song abt this guy who likes this rocker chic who likes tough guys.. and she dont even recognizes his existence and that basically pissed him off coz he's supposedly a goody lil idiot and he tried to change his ways to make her notice him..

and what does he wants out of it?

LOVE?

wahahhaa... hell no..

He just wanted to screw her..

The Girl All The Bad Guys Want..

Some of my friends falls for girls according to seasonal change.. and they will fall badly..

the girl gives him the attention.. the girl demands attention.. the girl decides that she dont want his attention.. he gets heartbroken.. he sulk.. he gets depressed.. he meet another nice sweet girl and that girl turns to do the exact same thing as her Predecessor..

for girls that complains that guys are Bastards..

Sometimes u have to realize that some guys turned that way coz of the previous girls in his lives..

If girls have the options to choose from the guys that bid their attention and love.. well.. the same goes to guys..

We have the options of remaining after we get THE screw.

We love the chase.. not knowing whether we would get the girl or not..

And some girls, I dare not say MOST coz obviously I had never been a girl.. some girls love the chase coz of the attention that they received..

So from the suitors that she has, she chooses the best man for her and dumps the rest..

The rest of the guys that had wanted to shower her with love (this happens at the naive stage of their life) will get heartbroken and therefore goes thru the cycle one more time.. putting their head into another lioness mouth just to realise that he'll be eaten alive again..

Some guys at certain point will be *THE* Best Man and live happily ever after..

Some dont.. and they goes into a pool in which the female society labelled them as Players/Playboys, Tryers, Casanova and whatever else coz they end up being the ones that had their head being eaten a lil bit too many times..

Of course some of them are like that coz they are damn good looking and therefore they can have a reversed role being the chased ones by the females.. but for most of us.. we are not that lucky..

I grew up being ugly.

I was the ugliest fella in school and no girls would even give me the time of day unless she tells me coz she's in my class and I pestered her coz I dont have a watch at that time..

I used to wonder why the other guys have it so lucky.. they are so stylo milo and here I am.. a nerd.. and having a brother that was good looking didnt help too.. coz he was in the same school as I was and he was so popular among the girls..

The girls that I used to like, have crushes on him..

I had such low self-esteem and walked with my head down.. as in REALLY walked with my head down..

When I was in sec 3, got to know this girl from a friend.. so we chatted on the fone every night and she told me that she loved me...

wahahhaa... now.. that was funny..

But of course at that time I was elated.. we had never met.. just talked on the phone.. and I got a pic of her from a mutual friend, her schoolmate who so happened to go mengaji with me..

And she was beautiful..

And I was CRAZY about her..

One day, she came down to my school for a netball tournament.. and we were excited to get to meet for the first time..

Saw her from far, but after a while, she disappeared.. and we didnt meet at all thru the day..

Got to know from that mutual friend of ours that she said that I was ugly..

ok lor.. another ugly comment.. I just added that to my collection of insults..

When I was in Sec 4.. I started to talk to this schoolmate of mine.. a year younger.. and we chatted on the phone.. and obviously she knows how I look like.. and we got closer every day for the months that we talked daily on the fone..

now I wonder how the hell did I get so much things to talk abt on the fone..

We talked till we both fell asleep so many times..

and finally.. after abt 5 months, I told her that I like her..

And that was the last time she ever talked to me..

ok lor. another one..

So it goes on and on and on..

And finally.. I grew out of that shell.. and became more confident and then over confident..

And therefore was recruited to the pool of Bastards like any other guys..

Subsequently.. thru my life, I dont have much patience for The Chase.

I'd say that I truly had Chased someone since then, only once.. to this girl who subsequently became my gf.. who used to be schooling in Yishun.. *name undisclosed to protect the identity*

so basically.. that was the only real Chase I had done for a girl after my secondary school life..

I had another girl who was schooling in SIM after that.. and she had told me that she had crush on me for ages.. and that started the courting.. but after 2 months, she posed so much problems for me coz of her ex and her parents and all that I lost interest in the relationship and followed thru the course till The Breakup.

And now, I had been dating a girl from RP for a year.. and she didnt seem to plan to give me headaches from the beginning, so I'm happy with that.. coz I dont feel the need to give her headaches too..

I hate The Chase.. when itz unwarranted..

The Yishun Girl got it coz she was L'Oréal.. She's Worth It..

RP Girl didnt give me time to chase coz we like each other already liao..

but for most of all.. I hate The Chase.. so I have a very very very short attention span with girls..

If I ask a girl out, and she said no, that will be the end of it..

If she said.. sorry.. I cant go out with u at this day blablabla.. that will be the end of it..

If she said.. sorry I cant go out with u at this day blablabla.. but maybe we could meet up next week?

then next week it shall be..

I dont spend more than 2 days courting.. and if I dont see signals by then, I move on to the next girl that I intend to ask out..

I dont chase.. coz it think itz a waste of time.. so if u dont mind going out with me, then ok.. if u want a chase.. go get it from someone who hasnt been thru the lioness mouth..

If a girl shows that she wants attention and take it away soon after.. I'll chase for as soon as I get to sleep with her, I'll delete her number..

And if she's a nice girl, I'll call her the next day.. and prolly the next. and prolly the next.

So basically.. we in the Pool of Bastards were not really bad ppl to start off with.. just that it so happened that u girls got it a lil bit too late after ur predecessors had jilted us..

Not so much of being a Payback to the female society.. but just that it had been an evolution of character..

I think I was a really sweet guy when I was 16..*ahem*

but too bad.. time had changed and taught me lessons and therefore I dont intend to be made a fool of anymore.. and my patience level for girls dropped to being close to zero.

if I had asked u out several times before and got rejected, and still asked again, it might mean that I just want to see u naked.

itz a challenge to get the Girl All The Bad Guys Want..

ok.. anyway.. got back from Seoul 6 hours ago..

basically.. went for a 9 days trip to Seoul and Vancouver..

itz a holiday season in Korea now, called the Chusok Festival, or the Korean Thanksgiving.. so most of the shops were preparing to close for several days..

therez a celebration though before the actual holiday-weekend.. and there were lots of ppl flocking to the shopping areas of Seoul..

at Myung Dong..

and the view at night..

at Itaewon, prior going down to Myung Dong..

somehow, according to my Korean friend, local girls dont go to Itaewon coz the place is shit..

therez too many American soldiers there that cause problems, and there had been cases of the local girls being sexually attacked by them..

So only us foreigners go there coz we dont know any better..

Anyway.. so far no one wants to sexually assault me leh..

I hate poverty..

I really do..

Maybe coz it stemmed from the fact that I had gone thru it during my childhood days.. we didnt beg, but we had gone thru days without food..

Somehow, the beggars in Seoul seems to be the worst that I had seen.. in terms of their conditions.. coz a lot of them are limbless and they move around like the poor man in this pic..

One of the non-professional opinions of some of my friends were that these poor souls might have been kidnapped when they were kids and had their limbs cut off so they look more pathetic and can beg.. and a huge number of these kids were killed after they had passed their dues..

Sad isnt it..

Somehow, even in Singapore, we get ppl living in poverty..

not talking abt ppl living below poverty lines like what the National Census states.. but like those old folks who had to go around the hawker centres collecting empty cans from tables.. and some of them are definitely above the age of 80..

like the old lady who collects the cans at Bedok North St 3 hawker centre..

or the old man on a wheelchair at Bukit Merah View hawker centre..

Somehow these ppl were missed by the Census ppl.. and what kinda society will make them work till they are so close to their expired age?

hmm.. the more we look around, the more we can find.. and it seems that therez nothing that we can do about it..

Unless u ppl got ideas lor..

ok.. anyway.. back to the flight..

My Lonely Maple Leaf, pic taken at Whistlers..

went up to Vancouver, Canada 2 days after arriving in Seoul.. and spent 3 days there..

and somehow, now I prefer the Americans compared to the Canadians..

Dunno why.. but they look more genuine.. even when they dont like u they are more genuine in that.. but they try not to like everyone else too..

maybe coz I dunno much Canadians and those that I met in Vancouver the past days wasnt impressive.. which is surprising, considering the fact that Vancouver had been voted for years to be The Most Liveable City In The World, till last yr when they lost to Melbourne, Australia..

Rented 2 cars for us to drive up to Seattle, across the border in United States.. to go to the Boeing plant, at Everette..

For those who doesnt know.. Boeing is the biggest aircraft manufacturer in the world.. the ones that made the 747 Jumbo jet planes..

The other one would be the European one, Airbus, which is making the A380.. the biggest plane in the world, when it finally come out..

wasnt my luck at the beginning of that day though when I got into a stupid minor accident, which in the end, left me with S$360 poorer and a broken side mirror..

And my camera dropped and the lens was totally unretractable and I was so devastated coz it had been my handy companion for so long..

The new 777-300 Extended Range, 2 of them.. painted with the beautiful White Blue and Gold colors of the Best Airline In The World.. for real u know..

*MY* company tau..

Outside the Boeing company.. this is the last pic that I took before my camera fell and went KAPOOOOOOOOT..

damn..

inside Boeing.. pic now taken with my O2 phone..

sad rite..

Anyway, we couldnt take any pics inside the manufacturing plant anyway coz all electronic equipments are banned from there.. so no camera then wasnt that bad after all..

I didnt go thru cold turkey at that time..

Saw how they made aeroplanes there.. can see development stages from the beginning till the end.. and they are preparing to build the B787 Dreamliner.. another impressive plane when it finally gets built..

yadayadayada..

After the tour, drove down several miles back to a factory outlet at a place called Marysville.. called Tulalip..

One word to describe it

FANTASTIC..

damn.. the outlets were really GODDAMNED CHEAP..

a pair of GAP jeans that I got there cost abt S$30, while the same one cost abt S$80 in downtown Vancouver..

I bought 3 .NET books from Borders at US$15.. thatz US$5 per book.

And the amount of shops they have there.. goodness..

therez Gap, Calvin Klein, Coach, Burberry, blablablablablablabla..

except Abercrombie..

Tulalip.. pic taken with O2.. :(

but ok lar.. luckily still got my trusty handphone..

ok.. anyway.. got back to the hotel at abt 11pm that nite.. coz the distance between Vancouver to Seattle is like from here to KL.. so we drove up and down the same day..

Set off early the next morning to go to the mountains..

My favourite place in the world.. Whistlers Mountain..

This is the place that when I first came here several years back.. I felt like giving up everything I have and just live there..

And seriously.. given a chance, I might just do that someday..

beautiful Whistlers.. on an Autumn day..

The view of the mountain from across..

The river that cuts in between the two mountains.. Whistlers and Blackcomb.. from the Lost Lake..

Maple Trees.. BEAUTIFUL RITE??

my 3 Kimchi friends..

heh..

Korean stewardesses on my flight.. very very pleasant girls..

Iris, Yvette and Kylie..

Kylie is pretty lar.. just that she was hungry..

Got back to the hotel at abt 9pm.. and the drive was like 2 hrz each way..

And went off to Seoul the next day..

Didnt do much on the way back.. coz I changed my plans from going to the theme park Everland coz of the overspending due to the stupid accident.. but ok lar.. I spent another $300 for stuffs for the kids in Melbourne.. when I was in Vancouver.. including a dress for the Princess... yey..

Melbourne..

just a few days away..

and I'll get some kids to bite.. yey..

Billionaire Taximan

2006-09-22T02:26:00.001+08:00

Hello.. I'm Sgt Zulkarnain.

This blog entry is not gonna be funny..

itz a Tribute..

I'm back from 2 weeks of Reservist duties.. for the IMF/World Bank event..

for that 2 weeks, I forgot that I'm actually a Flight Steward..

It was a non-stop work for 12 days straight.. practically without any off-days.. and 12 hrz each day.. except for the first day.. which was 18 hrz..

and I'd crash on my bed in exhaustion every night.. dreaming of basements and carparks and having to rush through this and that..

and on the first nite.. I couldnt even lift up my hand to eat the nasi briyani that my mom bought for me..

Ammalia said that Police Reservists are lazy..

yepz.. normally we are.. and we take pride in being lazy..

but not this time tauuu.. I think whatever laziness we have are being paid back with the IMF duties..

itz like this..

when we get enlisted as a National Service Policeman.. we are si-beh on..

when we ROD (or ORD as u guys call it now).. we come back for Reservist.. thinking that we will be Super Damn-On still..

then u join the old fellas coz u aint got no choice..

and if u are Super On.. u kana bilis.. nobody wants to talk or work with u..

coz Police Reservist is supposed to be a holiday..

so u end up Relek Slowjack..

then u get old.. become laochao..

the newbies come in oso want to try to be Super On..

u tell them.. relek lar brudder.. apa mau On.. lu Reservist siak..

ok.. and so the cycle goes on.. the new fella gets old and he becomes like that too..

but not this time man..

itz Police Payback time..

everyone become Super Damn On..

and come to think of it.. I like it much better this way..

everyone who came in did their part.. and more..

one of my Reservist mates said to me just now.. it feels weird not having to Fall-in and withdraw arms..

and I felt weird just now walking ard without a gun at my side..

not that I like guns though.. thatz one of those things abt being a policeman that I hated most..

I started the Reservist being in a bad mood.. coz of something that screwed up and I ended up not doing what I was trained for..

put it this way.. I was overtrained for the duties..

so I was pissed coz my time and money was wasted coz of the extra trainings..

then came the deployment..

and we went to our locations and the troop started working..

and the more I saw the way they worked.. the more pride I had to be able to work with them..

and especially coz I started off the duties being so so extremely freaking negative.. I have to say that this is the best Reservist that I had done.. and the men were the best I came across with..

and the working relationships between the Reservist officers and the Regulars were fantastic..

Here are the guys (and a girl)

Clockwise.. from top-left.. the fellas that, to me, are the best of Reservist officers..

Including 4 fantastic regular Police Officers..

my tribute to them..

ASP Mustafa, Insp Patrick, Sgt Lam, Cpl Chin, Cpl Foo, Cpl Jeffry, Sgt Taufick, Cpl Azman, SC Jerry Boy, Cpl Muliadi, Cpl Shamsir, WSgt Fionie, SC Benneth, Sgt Tew, SC Gafur, Insp Leslie, Sgt Weihan, SC Benjamin, Sgt Wee, SC Ng, me, Cpl Peter, Sgt Weiliang, Sgt Ali, SC Faruk..

Middle from left.. Cpl Chong, Sgt Amin..

Clockwise, from left..

Taufick, Foo, Ali, Me, Weiliang, Insp Leslie..

and so.. yesterday.. even though we were looking forward to the end of the stint.. I think all of us were sad that the event ended and we dont get to work with each other anymore..

and to the best Senior Officer I had ever had the chance to work with.. I salute ASP Mustafa.. with all his thoughts and care and concern for his men.. and the tremendous workload that I saw him doing personally.. and still diligently doing all other policing duties.. and I know that for a fact, on his watch.. the place where we were guarding were one of the safest place u could ever be in..

went for coffee and supper after the end of the final duty yesterday at Adam Rd with most of the troop..

and left at 2am..

and got home at 4am..

it took me 2 hours to get home.. in a cab..

I didnt fall asleep.. at least.. not during the journey..

and the taxi driver didnt lose his way..

but it took 2 freaking long hours..

coz the Taximan talked and talked and talked and talked non-stop..

We said goodbyes and shook hands 3 times..

and a second later, he continued talking..

He told me.. he's going to be a Billionaire..

yep yep.. that was what he said..

and I made the mistake of asking him of his plans..

He told me he wanna write a book.. abt driving..

the techniques of proper driving..

And he explained to me things that I had known..

and even drew diagrams..

I prevented myself from falling asleep by biting my tongue..

on and on and on and on..

And he told me that I'm the second best driver he had seen..

and he had never even seen me driving..

and I told him that he was wrong.. even so to prove to him by telling him that I had been charged in court before and was given 12 demerit points..

but still.. I'm the second best..

He said that he can teach a person driving better than Schumacher..

and he kept on saying that he's the best in this and that..

no wonder I'm the second best..

that should make Schumacher the 3rd best driver..

I didnt hear most of the stuffs he said coz my mind was already asleep by then.. just that my eyes were open and my head went on auto-agreeing nodding mode..

I couldnt even cut thru his sentences to tell him that I'm gonna go off..

then again, I didnt want to be demoralising coz he was so excited abt what he's gonna do.. and he was actually a nice person.. just that my sleep means to me more than nice ppl do..

2 freaking hours..

He could have started making the first forty of his billions of dollars if he had taken other passengers to their destinations..

But then again.. what is forty bucks from the 2 hrz he wasted compared to the billions he's gonna make anyway..

I'd be happy for him though if he make it through.. and I do hope that he makes at least a hundred grand with his plans..

even Kiyosaki was broke and slept in his car before he started making his millions..

my new roster is out.. and yeyyyyyy.. I have a Melbourne coming up..

time to see the 4 boys and the Princess!

and so.. I'm gonna be back flying from Sunday onwards..

Signing Off..

Flight Steward Zulkarnain.

Of Ghosts and Other Ghastly Stories..

2006-09-08T03:30:00.001+08:00

Kum Kum..

boleh tumpang sembahyang?

ok.. had a chat with Nur abt ghosts recently.. and as promised, Nur.. my opinions abt it..

anyway.. as far as I remember.. Kum Kum stories circulated wayyyyy back... when I was in secondary school..

so my personal opinion is.. Kum Kum was the creation of some parents..

so.. as the urban legends go.. She's supposed to be a woman who was so conscious of her looks..

but then again.. that sounds like any other women..

ok.. anyway.. in her pursuit of better looks, she and Anakin Skywalker had turned to the Dark Side.. and things had turned horribly wrong.. and both of them had turned ugly..

for Kum Kum.. there was salvation.. if she could suck the blood of young virgins.. and since she was cursed, she cant say the full Islamic greeting.. Assalamualaikum.. and ended up just by pretending to greet in a rhyme.. Kum Kum..

not much of a poet, I must say..

anywayyyyyyy.. so far no one that I had ever known had seen Kum Kum personally.. not that anyone wanted to..

and no virgins that I know.. had gone missing or died mysteriously..

Kum Kum's legends had started in Malaysia.. and brought over to Singapore in 1987.. before the introduction of Biometrics passport..

I wonder how she crossed the Causeway still..

If she had taken her picture before she turned ugly.. wouldnt she had been arrested by the Immigration authorities?

so.. my opinion remains..

the ideas of some Parents..

or prolly it was even the Police..

some Parents might have been pissed with their daughter's late nite activities.. back in the Disco era.. the 80s.. and so they created a myth..

There is a cursed ugly woman who goes around sucking the blood of Virgins..

so then.. the Virgins stayed at home coz they were too scared to take the risk of getting their blood sucked..

and the Non-Virgins stayed at home coz they didnt want anyone to know that they are not virgins..

so the guys stayed at home coz therez no girls to go out with..

no late night activities..

crime rate dropped..

sale of alcohol went down..

cigarette taxes went up..

simple economics..

not that I dont believe in spirits and ghosts..

I do..

not many of us guys can go thru 2 1/2 yrz of National Service without having to experience it at least once..

I was in the Police Force.. so we had to go out at nite patrolling while most of u were asleep.. so we definitely would have stories to tell..

my mom saw a Penanggal when she was living in her old kampung in Changi..

thatz the fella who had black magic and could dislodge his head and intestines from his body.. for whatever reasons, I wouldnt know..

that happened a lot in the old kampung days, where therez no cable TV and no Internet.. so my theory would be that these fellas were really damn bored to do such a thing..

last yr.. in Melbourne, when I was outside the house smoking.. at abt 10pm.. my then-4-yr-old nephew, Wawa came out to me and asked me why do I go out of the house when there's a hantu looking at us..

he pointed to some shrubs and even mimicked the outstretched hands of the hantu.. like Jiang-Shi.. the Chinese Vampire..

I dunno whether he really saw it or prolly just replaying what he saw on TV.. but it did freaked me out and I had quit smoking ever since..

yeah rite..

Toyols are famous in Malaysia especially.. but itz sometimes hard to distinct whether u lose money coz of Toyol or coz ur brother is high on crack..

the Pontianak is a Vampire.. the only Malay one made by Lestat..

in Islam.. there are Jins and Shaithans..

Ghosts are basically made up of these fellas.. and not some souls of dead ppl.. coz Islam does not support the theory of purgatory.. once u are dead, u remain in barzakh till Judgement Day.. and there's no way u can come out of the other world to haunt ur former mates..

why would a former human want to come back to haunt anyway.. if they could come back again, shouldnt they be chilling out at some cafes like the rest of us?

so basically.. ghosts do exist.. just that itz best not to bother them.. and just hope that they stay out of ur way..

let the unseen and unheard remain that way..

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named..

anyway.. I just moved in to my brother's place.. and this house is known to be haunted.. and I had personally experienced some things here..

and the entire area around this blocks are known to be haunted..

and this blog was written in the same room that I was teased by HWMNBN.

The opinions expressed here are my own and in no way whatsoever represents the opinion of anyone else..

No ghosts or souls were harmed in the production of this blog..

Just got back from Taipei just now.. and while I was there, caught a show on Star Movies.. called Murder in the Hamptons..

A True Story..

It was abt this fella.. good looking, young and filthy rich.. got involved with this ordinary (meaning.. not rich.. like the rest of us) woman who was a real estate agent..

They fell in love and got married.. and she basically moved from being a housing agent to being a tai-tai..

He was handsome.. she was beautiful.. (or at least, the actress who portrayed her, was)

She was a perfectionist.. and so totally OBSESSED.. so badly that she restricts her husband from doing everything else.. even to have business makan meetings.. and dictated things that she wants him to do at home at at work..

so this poor soul.. who was a happily divorced FUCKING RICH (est at US$150 million) born-again bachelor had to go thru years and years of having a woman dictating him..

What I dont understand is..

why cant the women dictate just themselves? set on ur own goals and work towards ur own goal..

why impose it on the men?

Especially when u cross over to their lives.. and they dont control u.. so whatz the big fuss abt u wanting them to do things that YOU think is appropriate?

this poor idiot.. Ted Ammon.. was filthy rich.. so the wife got no reason to say that she wants him to do things perfectly so that he can be successful..

He was already successful..

And she was spending HIS money..

so basically.. the wife was a psycho..

Unfortunately.. therez a lot of girls who are like that.. and they dont realise it that they want the guys to do things that THEY want.. not what HE wants..

Some guys like to be dominated.. God bless their souls..

so be it..

but for most of us.. I think we guys have our own things to plan out.. and things to do.. and mistakes to make so we can learn from it on our own and not coz someone had cautioned us of the repercussions and therefore steer us away from doing it..

Girls.. live ur own life.. there are a lot of other ways to show care and concern rather than to try to dominate someone else's..

I'd rather die alone than live with a control freak..

That, by far.. is scarier than any ghosts..

and btw.. I didnt quit smoking..

and Ted Ammon was murdered.. by the new boyfriend of his wife after he filed for divorce..

and the Bitch died of cancer soon after..

Bad Hair Day

2006-09-05T05:51:00.001+08:00

I have a problem with hairdressers..

or hairstylists as they would rather be called..

I'm very particular abt choosing hairstylists and when I come across a good one.. I'll patronize them regularly..

I get for them gifts from my flights.. coz itz hard to get a good hairstylist..

Abt 7 yrz back.. when I was in Far East Plaza.. and needed a haircut.. and when most of the hairdressers were full.. there was one which was empty..

Totally no customer.. and the place was hidden right at the 5th floor, at a corner where no one would see..

and the place was called Hair Explosion..

WTF?

Whoz hair exploded?

ok.. anyway.. I went in since there wasnt anyone there and I'm not patient enough to wait for a hairdresser anywhere else..

There was this Kakak, sitting.. looking bored, inside.. reading magazines..

and so.. she cut my hair..

and dammit.. my first favourite hairstylist!

yey..

Ok.. anyway.. out of a sudden.. after 2 yrz.. she closed shop.. and I had never seen her anywhere else after that..

So I went around looking for another hairstylist..

and came across one fella from Reds at Tampines.. Ivan..

so for 2 yrz i looked for Ivan.. who become my kaki in discussing about modified cars.. he got his VTi installed with a CR-V engine.. a rear wheel drive with a 4-wheel shaft..

ok.. nvm..

and one day.. Ivan left Reds..

dammit..

lost without a hairdresser again..

and I found Winnie at Reds at Plaza Singapura..

and for almost a year.. till Winnie left recently..

dammit..

I think I have this bad luck for Hairstylists.. they always leave the place..

but then again.. I have her number this time.. hehe.. so I can stalk my hairdresser at whichever salon she's at now and get her to cut my hair...

We became friends already anyway..

yeyyyyy..

ok ok.. so.. I didnt really have a bad hair day..

I just hate bad service at hair Salons..

was at Far East Plaza just now..

I went in to the first salon I saw.. SuperCuts..

whatever lar.. I thought if Hair Explosion can be good... so can this one..

asked the Malay girl at the counter whether would I have to wait or do they have a hairstylist free..

she told me that I didnt have to wait.. so I went inside and had my hair washed.. and waited..

and waited..

and waited..

for 45 mins..

coz the hairstylist is busy cutting another SEVERAL customer's hair at the same time..

MIGHT AS WELL TELL ME TO COME BACK IN 45 MINS RIGHT????

luckily the hairstylist was apologetic enough and did quite a good job lar.. old woman mah.. so I guess she have a lot of experience..

so after my hair was snipped to an extremely short hairstyle fit for a police officer.. I went to the counter to pay..

and the Malay girl was on the fone.. looking down on the table as she was talking.. prolly for some enquiries or something lar..

but dont tell me that she cant notice someone standing in front of her?

I timed her this time.. it took 7 mins of waiting.. just standing at the counter waiting for her to finish her call or for her to look up..

and several minutes later, another customer stood beside me.. waiting for her too..

so after 7 mins of my time wasted in front of the counter, the same hairstylist came.. and told her off.. quite sarcastically, I must say..

WTF?

You on the fone with someone that requires all ur brain power that you cant even do simple transactions meh?

and I thought girls pride themselves as being able to multitask?

of course.. we are talking abt hardworking girls lar..

*sigh*

Itz hard to get nice hair salons..

Reds is good..

but itz always full..

and I'm not awake early enough to go for a haircut during the non peak period..

there was once.. in Tampines Mall.. Reds was full.. so I went a few doors away to Hair Mechanics..

I swear.. the next time I'll visit the mechanics would be for my car engine.. not for my hair..

dammit..

there wasnt much customers inside.. so I thought.. ok lar..

while cutting my hair.. the hairstylist told me that my hair could do some treatment with some tonic..

I said.. ermz.. ok.. noted.. but I dont have time to do it..

and dunno what he did.. it took so long..

when I was about to pay.. I was shocked to see that the bill came up to $120

for a $30 haircut?

WTF?

I enquired.. and apparently this fella had given me the hair tonic treatment..

WTFTFTFTF?

I didnt say YES to *THAT*

wasted my bloody time and money.. I didnt even want ur tonic.. and till now I dont see a difference in my hair..

And the tonic was $80..

and that means that the haircut was $40??

He told me coz that he's the director of the place.. I received a DIRECTOR'S CUT..

oh wow.. like I'm soooooooooo fucking impressed..

I paid and left.. and never will go there again..

another place where I wont go to anymore even if itz the last salon in Singapore.. and I'd rather go to Sri Dewa..

The salon at the 3rd floor at Eastpoint..

the hairstylist is an old gay man..

not that I have problems with gay ppl.. just that it makes him outstands a lil bit lar.. I thought gay ppl should be better in these kinda thing.. and old means experienced mah..

dammit.. he turned my head left right centre like as if I am on anesthetics and got no feelings in my neck one..

felt like I'm in those 70s mamak barber shops where they would even shave ur moustache for u..

rough..

and those places are better.. coz they give u a back massage after the haircut tau..

*sigh*

gone are the days of the mamak barbers..

but back to the story.. the fella was so rough.. I'm thankful that I'm not gay and had to be *HIS* partner..

erkz..

and after the haircut..

I ended up looking like an alien..

so.. never again..

SuperCuts weren't that bad lar.. just that the Malay receptionist girl was so incompetent..

so for that I shall avoid that place..

anyway.. I'm back from Amsterdam...

didnt do much on that flight..

and chatted with Desmond, the other steward.. till abt 4am.. abt nerdy stuffs..

itz nice to have a nerd on the flight too.. when u can talk abt processors and logic gates and transistors and memory allocations..

I'll be doing one more flight to Taipei on Wednesday, then off for Reservist for 2 weeks..

I'm looking forward for that though.. to slack ard for 2 weeks..

just that I think I'm allergic to Police uniform coz I get sleepy whenever I don it..

To Serve and To Protect..

cheh.. like real..

was at Riaz yesterday with Wily.. and at the next table, there was this family with some family friends..

they looked depressed..

I dont think they are depressed.. just that they have that kinda look..

Even the friend who was with them.. a girl in her late teens or early 20s.. looked bored and depressed.. and they were sitting down staring at each other, smoking and looking depressed..

even the baby looked depressed..

some ppl just have that kinda look..

I have a stern look if I dont smile..

but if I do, I look fat..

so I'd rather look stern..

anyway.. was at Riaz with Wily again just now.. nerd talks again..

and anyone here have experience with DMA on UART chips?

any hackers and nerds around?

if u do.. call me.. let'z make lots of money.. legally..

Evil Skanival..

2006-08-25T08:28:00.001+08:00

Hear Ye Hear Ye..

I'm updating my blog now..

ermz.. ok

firstly..

SINGAPORE IDOL SUCKS..

how did Nurul Maideen get kicked out while Joakim Gomez and Paul Twohill remained?

I had never been a Singapore Idol fan.. didnt watch the first season.. didnt watch the second till just now.. and the clips that I saw were all from youtube..

AND I SERIOUSLY THINK THAT JOAKIM GOMEZ AND PAUL TWOHILL CANT SING FOR NUTS..

even if u put a gun on their heads and force them to sing a tune.. they cant..

by having the two of them this far is seriously a joke to Singaporean talent.. it shows that we are *THAT* desperate for contestants..

how did Mathilda get kicked out anyway?

and the Idol *IS* abt vocal talents.. not about looks.. how else did Kurt "The Hobbit" Nilsen had gone from Middle Earth Idol to win the World Idol?

*sigh*

watever lah.. I'll be listening to Ska anyway..

but itz ok though.. as long as Hady Mirza wins in the end..

a random pic from last week.. at Yishun Dam..

and kids.. please.. dont try this at home..

Manazil riding hands free on a GSX 1000cc..

but of course.. the bike wasnt moving.. he didnt even have the key to it..

I just got back from Johannesburg, South Africa, abt 24 hrs ago.. but this time, not much pics were taken.. coz I didnt do much during the stay..

so for those of u who wants to see pictures of South Africa, click . here . for those taken on my previous trip there..

I had the perception before I first step to Africa years back, that itz a place full of wild animals.. and it was hot and dusty..

ermz.. itz 5 degrees low and 20 degrees at max in midday..

so itz not hot.. not at all..

and it was freezing at nite.. itz turning into Spring soon in South Africa.. with a reversed season like Australia..

and therez no wild animals, unless u head down to the Safari..

and itz not even close to being dusty..

in fact.. South Africa is so modern and so clean and so beautiful that u cant make it look bad even if u try to..

here's a snapshot of the view from my hotel room..

too bad that itz one of the most dangerous places in the world..

a world of irony..

u get beautiful cars.. beautiful houses.. surrounded by electrically-charged fences to prevent ppl from climbing into the premises..

such a waste.. beauty with so little security..

caught a preview of a car show at the mall..

Modena 360.. Porsches..

S2000.. this is a beauty..

and a Lotus Elise.. displayed right where it belongs.. at Proton..

basically thatz it abt Johannesburg.. I spent the day walking ard the mall with Faisal and watching Pirates of the Carribean at the movies..

here's the pics from the Skanival gig at GasHaus @ Bugis, on 13th August..

we didnt really confirmed on playing for the gig till the very last minute.. coz I didnt get to change my flight to get an off day for it.. so I finally managed to utilise my annual leave for a day.. just to play in that gig..

effort tau..

but not as much as Bee from Peas and Oats.. coz she came back from London just a few hours before the gig.. and she looked so stoned as if she drank a barrel of beer..

but her voice was fantastic..

Bee The Singing Stewardess with Peas and Oats..

and u know whatz the suckiest thing?

besides StillRivers, I think this is the only other good band that sounded professional.. and no one responded to them..

*sigh*

but then again.. I didnt really watch any other bands coz I was busy slacking outside the pub..

reminds me of another gig in Kolam Ayer CC several months back..

even Full Pledged Munkees had that kinda ovation..

which was none..

everyone was sitting down staring at the stage while FPM played!?

WTF?

that's as close to being a blasphemy!

the new generation of gig goers..

*sigh*

but then again.. if they can keep Gomez and Twohill in the Idol competition.. and Sylvester till the finals of the previous.. it shows the kinda sounds that Singaporeans like..

they like ppl who cant sing..

but then again.. StillRivers rocked!

We had a jamming session prior to the gig at Beat Merchant studio..

nice equipments and spacious room.. just that i'm not keen on playing the drums barefooted..

this is what happen during Mistaken Pirates jamming sessions..

ermz.. ok.. only Hamdy has this habit of doing weird things..

Pirates @ Zam Zam Restaurant after the jamming session.. just before the gig..

and btw.. if u want good Briyani Dam.. try Ramiza at either Changi Village or along New Upper Changi Rd, at the new Muslim coffeeshop at Hotel 81.. just across the road from Mak's Place..

just dont go into the hotel coz all the Pakciks hanging around the coffeeshop can see u..

wear a wig if u really need to..

or go wank somewhere..

like inside the Bird Sanctuary at East Coast Park..

can u believe it that some ppl do that in public anyway?

a friend of mine, Elizabeth.. who lives in Marine Parade said that she had spotted some ppl wanking inside the Bird Sanctuary.. and they wank even harder when a girl pass by..

WTH?

Bird Sanctuaries are for REAL BIRDS. the ones with FEATHERS and WINGS.

damn..

anyway.. we screwed up thru the gig.. but ok lar.. considering the fact that we didnt gig since January.. and since then had jammed only twice till a couple of days before this gig..

but I seriously had fun..

there wasnt any crowd.. I think I have more family members than therez an audience at Skanival..

Yazid tripped over my ride cymbal several times and it fell onto the floor tom.. and it was a good thing that Ogy from Full Pledged Munkees came up on stage to put it back..

Din didnt memorise the lyrics to the songs and still Ogy FPM and the Comic Strip drummer held up the lyrics for him to read while he sang..

the not-so-many ppl in the crowd moshed and banged into Shida and Umi and into the music stand that they used to hold the horn notes..

and for us trying to tangkap the Skalariak song Solo Vivir just a day before the gig didnt help.. and Din sang differently from the verse and I totally forgot how the song went after the chorus..

so the song stopped halfway..

and we didnt even realise that it was our last song till we stopped the song..

but we sure did have fun anyway.. I enjoyed this set more than the Skafests at Paradigm..

someone mentioned that I played like I was about to break the drum kit..

I guess I really did..

Yours, Truly..

Mr Kotai

our Horny section..

Mr Din and Mr Yazid

a bird's eye view..

Mr Manazil

Mr Yazid muka step lepas langgar cymbal.

and caught red handed trying to steal a mike stand..

Ogy from Full Pledged Munkees..

nampak tu muka bersalah..

Shark Attack..

2006-08-11T06:06:00.001+08:00

I'm back.. to blogging..

as I had said to Nurizz.. I should just start blogging once a year.. since I dont feel like blogging much..

there had not been much to say recently anyway..

and she said that I suffer from Blogger's Fatigue..

heh..

thanx Nurizz for making it sounds so scientific..

but the real reason is..

MALAS..

ok.. I had included a comments tag at the bottom of the postings.. if it doesnt work, I'll remove it..

went jamming with the Pirates just now..

yey...

after so long.. we had a fantastic session just now..

I miss the band xia..

we had fun just now.. really had fun..

yey..

Pirates will be playing in a gig on Sunday at GasHaus.. tickets selling at $10 at the door..

the other bands that'll be playing on that day would be StillRivers and Peas And Oats..

the rest of the bands I dont recognise/cant remember.

Peas and Oats vocalist is in London now.. Bee, the Singing Stewardess..

and she's gonna land in Singapore on Sunday itself.. and going to the gig after that.. I just hope that she dont fall asleep while singing..

effort sey..

ok.. anyway... I just got back from Paris two days ago..

I remembered the first time I stepped into France.. my first words to myself..

I'm in The Land Of Eric Cantona..

and yeah.. Paris.. France.. the land of Eric Cantona, Zidane, and Alizee..

of course, Alizee is the most attractive and the best of the three..

for those who doesnt know who this gorgeous girl is.. click here

it's summer time in Europe right now.. and come next month when the fasting month starts.. itz a bad idea to do flights there..

Sahur will prolly ends at 3am..

and Maghrib will prolly come at 9pm..

this is the pic that I took outside my room window at 8.30pm..

I didnt do much in Paris except for lunch in Champs Elysees and went down to The Louvre..

Jezz, Me, Joleen and my Leading Stewardess, Azarina..

Joleen and Rina are leaving the team.. after 1 1/2 yrz together.. itz quite a sad flight to do knowing that it'll be their last flight with us..

the view from INSIDE the glass pyramid..

those of u who have heard of The Louvre would know that the glass pyramid is the most prominent mark of the Museum from the outside..

the Inverted Glass Pyramid from the inside..

if u dont know the significance of this, read Dan Brown's Da Vinci's Code..

the displays inside the museum.. we didnt go to see most of the exhibits.. just visited the necessary ones this time..

anyway.. I had covered all the wings in The Louvre several years ago...

a random pic of one of the statues.. Isis.

for those that doesnt know who she is..

she's the mystical Egyptian queen.. married to her BROTHER.. King Osiris.. during the times when incests were cool..

their mother was named Nut.. so u should know why the siblings end up getting married to each other..

Osiris was said to have been possessed by a playful, evil spirit.. and the only way to save the world, and his soul, was to cut him up into lots of pieces and scatter the body..

Isis went out in the middle of the night looking for the body parts of her brother-husband and sew them back together.. and found every part, except for one..

u go figure which part that is..

and according to the depiction by Anne Rice.. Isis and Osiris were later known as Akasha and Enkil.. the first vampires.. and the failure to find *THAT* important part of Osiris/Enkil leads to the fact that the remaining vampires have no human sexual desires..

blablabla..

ok..

back to The Louvre..

the IMPORTANT and famous residents of the museum..

The Winged Victory of Samothrace..

The Aphrodite.. Venus de Milo..

Greek's Goddess of Love..

the room where the Goddess now stands in..

the THE most important resident of all..

the MOST prominent mark of The Louvre from the inside..

an ugly looking woman called Mona Lisa..

sorry lar.. if she's real, and not a feminine self potrait of Da Vinci.. she's really an ugly woman..

photography is banned in the area.. and I managed to snap this pic before I was told that I cant.. and this is the best pic that I could get of her anyway..

after walking around the Louvre.. we walked along the Paris Beach..

the beach was featured in the Straits Times recently where they mentioned abt the authorities telling the French not to tan in the nude or be topless there anymore..

we couldnt see any nude or topless girls.. damn.. coz it was raining..

I think on a perfect hot Saturday afternoon, u could still get to see it.. telling the French not to tan in the nude would be like telling Singaporeans to stop eating chicken rice.

anyway.. this is the real pic of the "beach"..

itz not a real beach.. the Mayor decided to have this place 4 yrz ago for the Parisians who cant afford a holiday..

a Politician who thinks abt his ppl.. interesting..

rare.

maybe it was an election year..

it takes them 6 days to bring in the sand and to set this place up, and 48 hrz to remove it all..

and only for a month.. during August..

so they put in the sand, palm trees in pots, big umbrellas, shower points.. just to give it a sense of the real thing, just next to the river bank that runs across Paris..

after that, we headed down to Notre Dame.. again.. coz it was Jezz's first time to Paris..

basically.. thatz it abt Paris..

I was at my cousin's place in Johore last Saturday for my niece's wedding.. (not ShaSha.. she's only 2 1/2 yrz old.. but this is my cousin's 21 yr old daughter)..

so that makes 3 weddings in a month that I attended.. and I'm having a headache..

too many relatives at that wedding and too many ppl trying to matchmake me with someone they know..

I should just declare to them that I'm gay so they can stop all these nonsense..

but I didnt.. coz dowwan to spoil my mom's waterface mah..

and for the record.. I'm straight.

the weddings held in Malaysia is different xia.. u can see the neighbours of so many different races coming together and help..

real kampung style..

gotong royong still exist there.. in Singapore.. even ur own first cousins have to have an invitation card.

the Bride and Groom..

the groom is a nice fella.. had chilled out with me quite a number of times.. and a former skinhead turned nice guy..

I'd say that he's a soft spoken ex-skinhead..

one of the kompang fellas started the silat ceremony.. I have not seen this for ages coz I dont attend weddings..

and to think that I have another 2 more weddings to attend soon.. my ex-gf's wedding.. Noreen.. who asked me to come down before 2.30 coz her future husband is damn jealous of me coz we were together for a long time and coz I used to be very close to her family..

and the other wedding is Noris'..

Congratulations Noris!

now everyone is getting married and I'm still gay.

my 12 yr old nephew Arham (another cousin's son)

and this one is damn cute..

the Imam from the surau nearby..

Bulat siak..

and at one point of time he accidentally hit his specs while silatting.. and it went halfway across his face..

but his silat was good though.. just that I dont think it will do much during a real pendekar punya fight..

but he's a nice guy anyway.. so tak baik kutuk.. ish..

ok..

Random thoughts time..

things that I recently liked..

CROCS!

yey.. I love my Crocs.. coz they are DAMNED comfortable.. I dont care that u guys think that they look ugly and big and whatever..

itz really nice xia!

after wearing crocs, I can walk and walk and walk and walk and walk and walk and walk......

I feel like a walking Superman..

ok.. somemore..

my O2 XDA II mini.. 2nd hand.. but nice.. just that I have to get a separate wireless card.. but it works well now..

ok.. somemore..

my newly found favourite local band!

7 till Dawn..

saw the Alternatives band playing at Esplanade several months back, but couldnt catch the name of the band coz we arrived halfway thru the set.. but the vocalist was damn good..

and I had been trying to find out the name of the band ever since.. their originals were fantastic too..

one of the bands that I'd spend my money buying their CDs if they come out with an album..

and turned out to be that the vox also sings for Yazeid's band whom we came to support at Scape during the Tapestry gigs..

ok.. 7 Till Dawn.. if u guys get a chance to watch this band.. go.. they are really good..

my current favourite non-local band.. Alter Bridge..

a regrouped Creed with a new vocalist.. though they denied that they are a regrouped Creed..

and my favourite hangout place now..

Riaz Relax Corner at Eunos!

yey..

this place got a BIG yellow box and they close at 4.30pm.. and got Sheesha some more.. and a variety of food.. and the coffee is good..

yey..

ok..

for the things that I hate..

PARIS HILTON SINGING STARS ARE BLIND!

Dammit..

she should steer away from ska/reggae..

yucks..

made my hair stand..

ok..

for another bigger reason to hate..

overcharging Malay Lawyers..

I already hate lawyers.. now the Malay ones made it even worse..

my brother had migrated to Melbourne several years ago.. and now it comes to a time where we have to sell his house here in singapore.. so I had to sign as Power Of Attorney..

meaning, I take the responsibility of selling the house, signing the documents and so on.. though my mom is the real person doing it lah.. I just sign only..

so last yr, we went down to his Malay lawyer friend lah.. coz friend friend can at least not overcharge u, even if they dont give discount rite?

so we were charged $360 for him preparing the official documents to appoint me in the Power Of Attorney..

so after signing last yr, we didnt get to sell the house, but the only other copy of the document was given to HDB..

so now we are trying to sell the place again, and we needed the copy from him..

and he said that he had misplaced it.. cant find it in his office..

what the hell?

we went to another Malay lawyer, who quoted $350 for a new set of documents.. $10 dollars cheaper..

so, another person recommended this Chinese lawyer..

he charged us $180..

what the heck?

sometimes u want to help the Muslim professionals also no use.. end up the Malay lawyers like to live thru their reputation of being sharks..

and not like as if we pay more we get better service mah..

He misplaced the goddammned documents a year after.. and looking at the state of his office, itz not really so much of a wonder how it could happen..

u can misplace an entire 747 plane inside his office..

so.. the moral of the story is..

relek xua.. aku mama.

I think Indians make the best lawyers..

damn u John Grisham for making lawyers look so capable.

To Serve And To Protect..

2006-07-24T00:52:00.001+08:00

ermz.. I'm back..

and as the topic goes.. I'm on Reservist right now.. on training.. so I spent the entire week trying to stay awake in class..

cant complain though.. coz my friends who served in the army had it much worse..

anyway.. I got back from Tokyo and Los Angeles on 17th, reached home at close to 3am.. and got ready to go for my reservist at 6am..

hmm.. things that I do for my country..

*sigh*

and still they dont allow me to smoke at Coffee Bean..

*another sigh*

must put a yellow box somemore.. ridiculously small.. end up looking like some cattle within a fence when everyone tries to cramp inside to smoke..

spent the past few days with the Pirates..

yey..

and we had a full band jamming today!

after so so so long..

I miss the band.. dammit.. and I think all of them felt the same way..

chilled out at Yishun Dam several nights ago.. and saw a Hayabusa which skidded off the road.. and on the other side, across the centre kerb.. therez another car badly damaged..

which means that the rider had skidded and thrown across the road and got hit by the car..

hope he survived.. though I really doubt that he did..

and before I continue this post.. I just wanna apologise to Noris for not being able to get the stuffs that she asked for.. yet.. coz I didnt get to pass by the stores as I was caught up in Los Angeles..

I'll try to get it before ur wedding k?

so.. Los Angeles.. the beautiful.. sunny Los Angeles..

let's see how it looks like..

ermz..

thatz just abt 5 mins away from the hotel that we stay in..

and the number of homeless ppl.. hmm..

thatz a common sight in the United States..

actually.. this is just a short distance away from a place called Toy District.. or Toyland..

itz not really a fun place to be in.. no Santas giving presents.. no Toys R Us..

but Toyland has one of the highest concentration of homeless ppl.. and it was said that if u walk thru it, u might not even get out alive..

not that homeless ppl are bad though.. just that we should stay away from the place.. for good reasons..

but of course.. there ARE lots of fun places in Los Angeles..

Like Disneyland/Disney California Adventure, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Knotts Berry Farm.. where I think the rides are scarier than Magic Mountain.. and of course.. Universal Studios..

thatz where we went to.. me, Lawrence and Alicia..

started the day by going thru Hollywood coz the two new crew had never been there before.. so.. being the nice tour guide that I am.. *ahem*.. I brought them there..

the Hollywood sign from Kodak Centre.. again..

ok.. and right after that.. we headed down to..

Universal Studios!

yey!

I had been to the vicinity and shops around Universal.. but didnt go in coz we got there in the evening, and it wasnt worth spending just a couple of hours in..

it cost USD$59 to get in if u buy the tickets at the entrance.. which I think is abt SGD$85.. but coz we got our tickets from a counter in the city, we saved abt USD$20.. at USD$39 per person..

which means a LOT of discount..

ok.. and so.. Universal Studios.. is a FAKE place..

dammit..

but I love it..

how the heck do they make it look so real in the movies.. and yet most of it are confined to a small space in Hollywood..

yeah.. thatz Hollywood.. they can really do wonders..

they can make Aliens destroy the world..

from the set of War Of The Worlds..

they destroyed a real Boeing 747 Jumbo aircraft..

and placed debris all over..

destroyed cars..

just next to the Wild Wild West..

we were told that a lot of the cowboy movies were shot here..

they can change whatever parts that they want in the scene to make it fit to what they want..

itz all a matter of rearranging the parts around..

and some of the buildings are not real buildings.. they are just facades..

meaning, only the outer part looks like a real building.. with walls made of foam so they can change it as and when they want..

they can have a tunnel bridge cutting thru a river..

and shoot it from the side if they need a broken, run-down one..

have a fake house.. where fake families live in..

with a fake lake..

or a fake Subway station in fake San Francisco..

and a fake shark..

ermz.. with real fire..

thatz from Jaws.. obviously..

in a fake town called Amity..

they really can recreate the entire world.. or even a fake universe here in Hollywood..

therez a lot of Stages.. which looks like big warehouses.. where the set are created and the scenes are shot indoors..

I managed to shoot just a lil portion of an Ark in one of those stages.. the indoor version of what is supposedly to be something like the Noah's Ark.. from Evan Almighty which is currently in production.. the sequel to Bruce Almighty.. minus Jim Carrey..

talking abt Jim Carrey..

this is from How The Grinch Stole Christmas..

itz a wonder how they built a set next to one another.. so close, and yet a world apart..

the real Bates Motel.. from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho..

and I saw...

THE CARS FROM FAST AND FURIOUS!

yey!

I couldnt get a nice angle of the Skyline though.. so I decided not to post the pics here.. but I saw it nevertheless..

the Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder..

Jack Slap's Toyota Supra..

and the 1970 Dodge Charger..

and talking abt cars..

nothing beats the Deloreon from Back To The Future!

in Universal.. u can feel safe..

real safe..

coz there are Superheroes riding around taking care of everyone and fighting evil..

evil fellas like the Green Goblin..

but he's being chased by none other than..

Spiderman!

but I think he's too busy posing for pics..

but itz ok..

really..

coz there's always..

Captain America!

yey!

but he's too busy scratching his groin..

but its still okay..

coz..

therez Storm and Wolverine!

Wolverine looks bored though..

there's King Kong too.. but I dont think anyone could fit in *THAT* costume..

anything smaller he'll look like just another ordinary angry monkey..

and therez a silly dancing bird called Woody Woodpecker..

ok.. now for random pics..

ermz.. itz not really scary.. the rides were too short.. the excitement came too fast and gone too fast..

I'd stick with Disneyland's Space Mountain..

or the Ghostrider in Knotts Berry Farm..

THAT'S scary..

or the Batman or the Riddler's Revenge or the Viper in Magic Mountain..

they have better rides there..

the rides in Universal is not made to be scary..

itz more for..

Nickelodeon..

and The Flintstones..

only Lawrence got scared of the Rex..

this was one of the first thing I noticed when we took the tour of Universal..

Jah Idol!

Bob Marley Avenue..

just a random pic.. of Coke-sponsored area..

with Angelina Jolie-inspired lips..

and a view of the lower level of the Universal Studio..

thatz how big the recreation area is.. thatz not even inclusive of the place where the stars shoot their movies and TV shows..

thatz it abt Los Angeles..

and for the guys..

stop reading here..

if u wish to continue..

DISCLAIMER:

I'm not gonna take responsibilities of whatever headaches that u might incur from looking at the upcoming pics..

I had a severe one after spending an entire day looking at PINK..

headed back to Tokyo after Los Angeles..

and spent a day in the Hello Kitty's answer to Disney..

Sanrio Puroland..

there'z even a Town Map located outside the train station.. the nearest would be the Tama Centre station, abt 15 minutes walk from the Hello Kitty Land..

and if u cant understand the map..

therez an entire legend made of Hello Kitty and Friends..

inside the Puroland..

a random pic of girls in Kimono..

dunno why.. therez a lot of girls wearing Kimonos suddenly..

maybe coz it summer..

or maybe coz itz just Japan..

the store within the Puroland.. selling Hello Kitty stuffs..

and ermz.. no.. I didnt buy anything.. I had enough of Hello Kitty and friends coz one of my Ex-Gf, Noreen, was a Hello Kitty addict..

so much so that she made me carry some Bad Badtz Maru stuffed toys for my flights..

*gulp*

ok ok.. when I was with her.. I did it willingly..

and I memorised most of the names of the characters..

and I queued up for a total of 37 hours in front of MacDonald's..

ok.. I did it.. so shoot me..

Purin and Bad Badtz Maru..

Little Twin Stars..

a weird family..

My Melody, on the second floor.. waving at the fans..

Hello Kitty and Bad Badtz Maru dancing on stage..

Kitty got her own house..

with weird Kitty living room set..

I didnt go in for good reasons.. so the interior pics were taken by the 3 stewardesses with me.. Alicia, and my two teamgirls.. Joleen and Jezz..

Alicia with Hello Kitty..

I cant imagine Joleen going for flight like this..

and Jezz messing up Hello Kitty's bed..

and a random pic.. of an Ice Cream Machine..

a real one..

I think the average age of the population that visits Puroland is 3..

small little 3 yr old girls..

and some act-cute teenage girls too..

thatz it..

and what happened to the guys then?

thatz what they do..

End of my constitutional rights..

2006-07-04T05:55:00.001+08:00

I am not an angry person.

I think I have quite a relatively even temper.. and for most parts, I'm able to control it very well..

the times that my anger had flared had mostly been with a purpose to deny someone from attempting to intrude into my personal space.

yes.. Personal Space again..

I'm crazy about personal space.

my own personal freedom.

I remembered some previous girlfriends who attempted to control my life.

I dont think anyone ever succeeded..

Intrude in my space and I'll walk away.

I can't imagine being married.

having someone next to me when I wake up.. on my own bed..

I might go crazy..

probably wishing that I'm alone..

I wake up alone all the time now.. and I love the privacy that I have..

but then again, if I am married, it will be a totally different environment..

who carez.. I'm not even planning on it..

somehow, I think my anger flared greatly after a long long long time..

and no, I didnt do anything when I get mad..

I just get mad and that's it.

If I get angry and tell someone off, it means that I am not really angry.. I just need to have some visual effects for that person to leave me alone.

If I slam down the phone when I'm angry, it doesnt mean that I want to continue the conversation. It means that I wanna end the conversation.

Some of my previous girlfriends had thought that it was ok to pick up the phone to continue the argument, probably hoping that I would have to listen to how they want me to lead MY life..

sorry babe.. it wont work that way..

I lead my life the way that I wanna lead my life..

that's said.. here's the reason why I got mad today..

I was at Coffee Bean in Century Square.. and bought our drinks and proceeded outside to sit and drink..

and..

WHAT THE FUCK?

the smoking zone was a small box enough for 4 tables cramped together, and was already full of ppl..

so the remaining tables are for the non-smokers?

ok.. fair enough..

there are some non-smokers who prefers to sit outside to enjoy the warmth and humidity of Singapore..

so now the rest of the smokers have to quit.

but obviously, in certain areas, like Tampines Coffee Bean, the number of smokers far exceed the non-smokers..

so now the non-smokers can gleefully laugh at the majority smokers coz we are the suckers..

they won, we lost.

I'd like to sit within the box one of these days and blow the smoke on the face of a non-smoker who is seated next to me, right outside the box.

if u wish to sit next to the smoking zone, so be it.

so I ended up throwing away the drinks and going down to Starbucks where they have more smoking seats.

20% allocated to smokers?

why couldnt they allocated a CERTAIN number of seats which can be extended if the amount of smokers exceed the allocation?

I'm sure the establishments would gladly do it rather than losing customers.

but then again, I'm sure they have heard the complaints and whinings and a lot of ppl had rant and rant and of course nothing will be done..

they will still laugh at us and say that we aint got no choice man..

ok.. so thatz just whinings..

like every other smokers who had been affected by this stupid rule..

but what I dont understand is that.. why the hell are they doing this?

there are non-smoking seats available inside the cafe..

the outdoor seats are scattered.. and I dont think there's any non-smokers who had complained abt the areas outside coffee bean being polluted with smoke..

coz their own GodDamned friends smoke.

how about small children and families? they will be affected by the smoke!

OMFG!

SMALL KIDS WILL BE CHOKED WITH THE SMOKE POLLUTING THE OUTDOOR AREA OF COFFEE BEANS AND STARBUCKS AT NIGHT!

what the hell are the kids doing there at night anyway..

and please..

for fuck sake..

in the daytime, itz almost empty.

indoor.

outdoor.

whatever doors.

sit wherever u wanna sit and u'll only choke on the smoke from the vehicles on the road.

and clubs and pubs?

they gonna ban smoking in clubs?

itz a good thing that they do this anyway..

so one day..

one fine day..

when I decide that I'm leaving this place..

I wont miss it.

take away my rights.

since when did my dad told the Government to educate me whether I should smoke or not before he died?

thatz my own personal rights.

and if I wanna smoke, I should be able to smoke.

I take considerations of not smoking if there are children around me..

I dont blow the smoke towards a non-smoker..

or even a smoker..

so now.. since they took away my rights..

if I am within a smoking zone

and therez a non-smoker nearby..

I'd blow it right where it will cause them lung diseases, strokes and heart attacks..

take away my rights.. and I'd utilise every other rights that I have..

surprisingly.. none of the cities that I had visited had implemented this..

in States, u cant smoke anywhere inside a commercial building..

but outdoors? itz up to you..

in Japan, they dont like ppl to walk and smoke..

so they created smoking zones abt 2 mins walk apart from each other so smokers-cum-walkers just stop and smoke before continuing their journey..

in Europe, where itz too cold to smoke outside the restaurants, they created smoking zones in a certain part of the establishment, far from the non-smokers..

if itz full.. u can always go out..

but of course not in Singapore.. u cant go out and smoke..

coz they wont allow you too..

they are your parents now..

I wonder whatz up with the big hoohaa abt cigarettes..

where most countries are concerned abt drugs and weapons, our Customs authorities are more concerned about the one unopened packet of cigarettes in your bag..

and they go thru great length to try to catch someone with that one unopened packet..

goodness..

are they *THAT* free?

of course not.. so now they need to find more ppl to help them locate more ppl with unopened packet of cigarette.. and they employ the services of the CISCO officers.

I think if they dont really bother abt all these miniscule stuffs, the amount of money they save from employing less customs and CISCO officers will be greater than the approximately 500% tax that they are trying to gain from the packet of cigarette..

but of course.. unemployment rates will go up..

so why not deploy the officers to the booths where they stamp our passports so we dont have 2 hrz traffic congestions every Saturday?

whatever lah..

point is..

itz damn lame.

i'm whining..

jeez..

but at least, i'm not as silly as some ppl..

lemme post up a letter from a forum page of The New Paper on 21st June 2006, by Mr Andy Tang.

Police Car Parked Illegally

On 8 Jun at 12.30pm, my two friends and I drove to Bishan for lunch. We were looking for a parking lot at the carpark behind Block 513, Bishan Street 13.

We noticed a police car reverse-parked on a double-yellow line in an area where no parking lot was marked. Wasn't it parked illegally? It's hazard lights were on.

As we were leavng the carpark later, we saw a police officer approach the car and he did not seem to be on official duty

I have a few questions:

1.Are police officers subject to the same traffic rules as other motorists?

2.If they are, will they be fined for violating traffic rules?

3.Are police officers allowed to use the police car for non-official purposes?

I hope the relevant authorities can shed some light on the above matter

- Andy Tang

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?

Typically a Singaporean.. just coz he kena saman for it, he hopes that everyone else kena saman..

Why not live and just let live?

jeez..

and for my non-smoking friends, dont chill out with me no more coz we aint from the same mindset..

I'd blow the smoke at you if you do..

and please.. reserve the smoking seats for the smokers. stay out of the yellow box so more smokers can sit there and not having some non-smokers taking our seats too..

Good boys go to Heaven. Bad boys go to Amsterdam.

2006-07-02T23:15:00.001+08:00

yep yep..

aint that nice..

I just got back from Amsterdam, Netherlands this morning..

ahhh.. Amsterdam.. how I missed this place..

not coz of all the bad things thatz legal here.. but itz just a nice place.. and nice ppl..

I had been around the cities surrounding Amsterdam before, travelling alone, and while getting to the destination that i'm heading to, all the ppl that I stopped to ask for directions would help me out politely..

so, thatz nice..

anyway, one of the pilots on this flight, Clarence, had his first flight to Amsterdam, so we brought him around town to show him what the real stuffs are made of..

and no matter how many times I had been to Amsterdam.. I always get lost.. I dunno why.. not like itz so complicated.. but maybe coz the route is so easy that I never keep track..

our hotel is located in the middle of the city. abt 3 minutes walk from Leiseplein.. which is the main shopping street..

and therez a tram that goes around the city..

so if u get lost, just follow the tram tracks that will bring u back to the heart of the city..

running thru the city are rows and rows of Canals that keeps Amsterdam dry.. Netherlands is somehow below the sea water level, previously a marshland, hence the name Nether-land.. which means low-lying land..

anyway.. the Netherlands are also widely known as Holland.. which is not really accurate as Holland is a province, one of the many that makes up the Netherlands.. located right next to Ghim Moh, at Buona Vista MRT station.

* Disclaimer to those who came across this blog thru a search engine entry of Holland.. therez no Ghim Moh in Europe. go Wiki.

the ppl living in the Netherlands are known as Dutch.. and they speak Dutch.. which is a Germanic language..

btw.. Germany is actually known as Deutschland.. so they are basically interrelated..

when the initial Dutch stepped foot onto the marshlands where no one else wanted to go, they faced the problem of having the land really unusable coz of itz low lying areas... so they invented the wooden clogs, which basically comes with 2 kinda tips..

the rounded tips are for the farmers, and the sharp tips are for the fishermen, to aid them in hooking up the nets with the tips of their clogs..

they started building the canals for the water to flow, and dikes surrounding the country to prevent sea water from wasting their land further..

and the Netherlands are famous for their windmills and tulips too.. but of course, now, they are famous for other more interesting things, which i will mention later..

and itz not the season for tulips in summer.. though windmills dont wither in the heat..

the slim buildings and houses thatz lined along the canal.. if u notice, one of the buildings is crooked..

thatz it for the description of the place and ppl for now..

so after lunch, walked ard town with the some of the crew before me and Clarence headed down to where every visitors to Amsterdam must make his pilgrimage..

Dam Square..

the other view of the Dam Square..

another interesting thing abt the Netherlands, not specific to just Amsterdam.. everyone rides a bicycle..

a Dutch friend of mine who lives in Veenendaal told me that everyone in the Netherlands own a bicycle.. itz like a must-have..

imagine thousands of bicycles along Orchard Rd..

hmmm..

I'd rather pay the ERP and enjoy the pollution..

the closer u get to the Square, the more interesting things get..

there are shops selling Bongs..

Bongs that are big..

Bongs that are small..

some sells things to cultivate in order to put ur Bongs in good use..

let's take a closer look at it..

Dutch Cannabis Seed Starter Kit

Includes Cannabis Seeds, Compost, User Manual with Growing Instructions..

a User Manual for Cannabis?

wahahhaa.. I think we all possess natural talents.. I dont think any manual will be necessary..

ok.. probably the Growing Instructions are kinda interesting.. lets see how much Cannabis u can cultivate in tropical weather..

If the Jamaicans can do it, so can we.

so.. a starter Kit..

at EU$4.50?!

damn.. thatz only NINE DOLLARS.

for a lifetime of pleasure..

but of course.. since we cant do this in Singapore, all of u, my dear doped, screwed up friends.. FORGET abt asking me to get them for u..

Say No To Drugs.

*ahem*

God Made Weed. Man Made Booze. Who would YOU trust?

ok.. corny.. nvm..

and of course.. it gets more interesting as we walk further up from the Square..

for an anti-climax.. we stopped for a while at a Chinese restaurant to have..

what else...

Roasted Duck Rice..

yey..

with chilli oil..

nothing beats a good, roasted Donald.

ok.. to build up to the climax of the day.. we stopped over at..

The SexMuseum

Over a hundred years of sex history..

heh..

who the hell needs history..

itz cheap anyway.. at EUD3 (SGD6).. so we went in.. and took a look at pics of ppl having sex.. since the 1890s, when Canon just released their Canon Digital IXUS version 1.

damn.. most of the pics are disgusting..

I think shavers have not been invented in the 1890s.. all thru to the 1960s..

70s aint that bad coz Gillete came out with pink razors..

I cant post up the pics here coz I dont want my blog to be deemed pornographic and be banned by SafeSurf..

anyway.. for the pleasure of ur next meal, therez no need to view those pics..

and so.. we walked and walked to the place where the calling was so strong that resistance is futile..

the Amsterdam Red-Light District..

anyway.. this pic was taken at 10.15pm.. and the sun was still up.. and similar to at abt 5 in the evening in Singapore..

this place is a tourist attraction spot.. so dont think that all the ppl that u see walking ard are men on Viagra.. most of them are tourists.. but be careful if u start taking out ur cameras.. dont point directly at the girls coz they might get pissed..

Live Shows
Live Couples

Air Conditioned

Bondage/SM/Homo/Teen/Animal-Sex

only in Amsterdam man.. only in Amsterdam..

and of course.. the highlight of Amsterdam.. as EVERYONE in the world knows it..

The Girls.

the working girls of the Amsterdam Red Light District..

To walk ard here ogling at the girls are widely known as going window shopping.. but as what a female friend of mine said.. it seems so sad that the girls had no choice but to get involved in doing the flesh trade..

but then again.. I was told by a local that there are a number of the girls there who are actually students looking for fast money..

it happens here in Singapore anyway.. itz not like as if they are so poor that they couldnt afford the latest Nokia..

and they said the girls in Utrecht Red Light District are better..

thatz the oldest profession in the world.. if itz really really so so sad.. billions of girls in the world thru thousands of years would not have gotten involved in doing it..

true.. the sad situation where monsters are involved in trading the girls exists.. and these sad women and girls are innocent victims.. but I think that there are a number of girls who does it coz they wanna do it.. and in places where itz culturally acceptable, like in Thailand and Amsterdam.. they could..

I'm not saying that I condone prostitution.. but I think we should give sympathy where itz due..

and I think pimps should be castrated.

some Study Mamas from China who comes here works at a massage parlour..

some entertain old men in Geylang..

some works in MacDonald's and Shell Petrol Kiosks..

guess who survives?

sometimes, WANTS exceeds the NEEDS and when that happens, ppl resort to so many different things..

of course the guys cant do the flesh trade coz therez a quota to gigolos.. so they end up committing crimes which, by far, is more disgusting to force ppl to submit then using ur own assets to do what u want by ur own freewill..

and I think that if men are as wanted as the girls, there would be a lot of men who would be flashing their wares at the Red Light District..

but then again.. coz no one wants to see that, no men would wanna hang around..

heh.. hang around.. ermz..

if Male Prostitution are as lucrative as Female ones, I think the girls would be screaming for equal rights coz they'd say that the men would get more money..

again.. I emphasize the fact that I'm not a male chauvinist neither am I interested in their thoughts and ideas..

neither am I interested in the thoughts of the Female Chauvinists who hides under the the banner of the Fight For Female Rights..

If there's something to fight for, please.. go ahead.. fight for your rights..

most of the females have more rights than men anyway.. there are charters and constitutions that protects the females.. and laws ensuring that they have equal opportunities in work and studies..

in those countries where the glass ceiling exists for females in a male dominated industry, or inequalities just coz u are female... fine.. they have all the rights to fight..

even if they think that the wanna take out the AK-47 and start shooting their bosses.. who carez..

but of course.. itz very unfeminine to get bloodstains on ur dress..

girls earn as much as the guys nowadayz..

if u dont, and if ur pay depends on ur performance.. try to figure out other reasons than to be quick to regard it as sexual discrimination..

but of course.. if the best female worker in ur company still dont get paid as much as a mediocre male.. then itz time to whip out the AK-47..

ermz..

another DISCLAIMER: please do not kill, injure or maim anyone after reading this entry.

if u do, dont tell me. coz I dont wanna know..

and.. with all said and done.. I had never visited the prostitutes.. so dont assume that I'm writing this to say that itz ok to do it..

most of us who are not held at gunpoints have a choice in life.. so, as it is.. save ur sympathy to those who wants it..

and everyone has a sad story.. like a lil rich girl whoz cant go out coz she's restricted yet mollycoddled all thru her life..

and I'm sure Prince William wished that he is a commoner so that he can walk around anywhere he wants without his bodyguards and butlers and paparazzis and girls screaming his name..

ermz.. or maybe he doesnt..

so, for the girls who earns as much as ur male partners.. why complain so much when ur boyfriend wants to pay for ur meal?

just accept it lah.. keep ur own money for ur shopping expenses.. thatz the cycle of dating life..

we pay for u.

u save ur money from paying for the meal.

u buy make up and nice dresses.

and dress up for us.

we try to get under your skirt.

ultimately, the initial investment that we put in for paying for ur meals are paid off.. but of course, not in all instances do we get the R.O.I.

we dont treat u nice and pay for u coz we think we are better than u.

we just want to get under your skirt.

thatz it. plain and simple.

of course.. if u dont like it, say no.

for the guys, read the last part of my previous posting.

and back to Amsterdam..

the Dutch are socially tolerant ppl.. they dont really care abt u whether u are black or white or yellow or brown, or whether u are gay or straight, or even be bothered that u do whatever u wanna do as long as u dont intrude in their space..

in fact.. Amsterdam is *THE* gay capital of the world.. not coz the Dutch are gays genetically.. but coz they dont judge u thru ur sexual preferences, u are free to get married to another man, or woman, if u wish to..

if u wanna get high? head down to the coffeeshops..

the coffeeshops somehow dont serve just coffee.. I dont think they are even a part of the main menu..

a famous coffeeshop in Leiseplein.. The Bulldog..

looking thru the menu, most of the grades are sold at EU12.. or abt $24.. thatz good for a pack of 4 joints..

Cannabis, Marijuana, Jamaican Ganja, Weed, Pot, Hashish..

heh.. so many names from the same plant.. so many different grades..

anyway.. for those who suddenly found a greater interest to save money to head up to Amsterdam..

something for u to note..

it is still illegal to consume any kinda drugs no matter where u are.. so if u do, and traces of it are found in ur body, u'ld still get arrested..

Say No To Drugs.

Support Local. Drink Tiger.

thatz it for the night.. and we headed back to the hotel.. and I chilled out with one of the stewards, Raviy..

the next day.. headed down to Leiseplein again for lunch, and accompanied Clarence to the Hard Rock Cafe, which is abt 5 mins away from the hotel..

Hard Rock Amsterdam..

anyway, for those u Mats and Minahs who love to club at HRC.. sorry man.. I think the other other HRC that u can club in would be either in KL or Taipei.. even HRC in Bali is not really that fantastic.. though the Hard Rock Hotel is nice..

most of the rest of the HRCs in the world are just restaurants and merchandise stores..

and no.. I dont have the time or interest to go get some HRC souveniors for anyone.. so dont even think of asking..

go order something online if u really want it..

some fellas playing Chess outside the store..

that reminds me that I just lost playing MSN checkers with the 13 yr old Sofia a few days ago..

heh..

damn..

I'd stick to Chess..

not that I'm any good in it.. but most ppl cant play it so I can look smart by pretending that I do..

headed down to our normal hangout restaurant, Cafe de Klos.. for some steak and escargots..

for those of u who doesnt know what they are.. escargots are snails..

yepz.. we dip 'em and eat 'em..

itz a French delicacy..

not that I'm French..

I'm just a snail-eating Pakistani..

same like the fact that by eating Roasted Duck doesnt make me Cantonese..

and so.. for those who had heard of it but have not seen it..

cooked in olive oil and garlic butter..

spent the rest of the day watching football in a pub.. but headed down to the hotel pub at halftime..

itz better there anyway.. coz the pubs outside are full of German supporters..

so.. the Germans won.. jeez..

and though I think Ukraine played better than the Italians, though they screwed on their finishing.. I am somewhat glad that the Italians won..

and considering the fact that Brazil lost.. ermz.. which is a fact that I have not fully swallowed.. I dont have any favourites to win the World Cup anymore..

dammit Brazil.. why did u have to lose..

of all the places that I had visited thru the years.. the only place that I had always wanted to go.. and had never had the chance to.. is Brazil.. somehow I fell in love with the name..

and the Coffee..

and I used to have a beautiful Brazilian friend, whom I had lost contact with ages back..

but itz ok.. therez always another World Cup.. where Brazil will win.. and another triple EPL/FA Cup/Champions that Manchester United will win..

yey.

for now, considering the bad things that had been happening to the Italian football.. I somewhat want them to win this time..

Viva La Brasil!

I dont know what that means but it sounds cool anyway..

Once upon a long long time ago.. In a land far far away..

2006-06-21T04:23:00.001+08:00

called Kluktukluktokukutoop..

or maybe thatz what they used to call it last time.. when they started building this thing abt 5000 years ago..

that, my dear friends, is one of the remaining Ancient Wonders of the World..

The Stonehenge..

I dont think the English language was even invented back then.. so Kluktukluktokukutoop in the Kluk language might sound just as much as England would sound now..

so.. yepz.. I just got back from London..

and Kluktukluktokukutoop is my opinion of what they might have called the place now known as England..

dont take my word for it though.. i dont speak the Kluk language..

and I took a trip down with two of the crew, Rachel and Maylene, to Stonehenge, which is located in Wiltshire, Wessex, in Southern England.. or abt close to 2 hours drive from Central London..

woke up in the morning and headed to the hotel Concierge, who drudgingly obliged to book a car for us to rent.. so he called Hertz and coz itz a weekend, they dont have a delivery service for the car.. and so I had to take a tube down to Victoria.. abt 20 mins away and a good 10 mins walk from the tube station..

good thing that the weather was perfect, though.. it was at 23 degrees, and the sun was bright enough not to make it too chilled..

when I arrived at Hertz.. I saw that the ppl manning the counters were nice and friendly.. and after a 15 minutes queue, I went to the available counter..

and so.. when the fella attended to this Asian fella, the smiles were all gone and he became so impatient..

I told him that the hotel Concierge had booked for me..

and lo and behold.. actually.. ermz.. as I had expected..

there were no reservations made by the Concierge..

no records, zilch, nothing, nil, kosong..

so our friend here tended to me like as if it was a disruption from his daily smiles and nice greetings and made it as fast as he could to get it over and done with so he can smile to the next Caucasian customer..

ok lor.. u Ang Moh mah.. i'm Indian.. u win.. ur country is bigger than mine..

only when I returned the car the next day that I realised that he didnt offer me everything on the set and just put DECLINED on everything.. like a standard fuel purchase, so I dont need to top up the gas if we used up the whole tank.. in which I knew that we would coz we were travelling far..

the drive back to the hotel took a good one hour, instead of a standard 10 mins drive coz it happened to be the Queen's birthday.. so with the horse processions and road closures, a lot of the roads were detoured..

and London has a lot of one-way streets.. so what u see on the map might not be so straightforward..

by the time we left the hotel to drive to Wiltshire, it was already 1.30pm..

arrived at The Stonehenge at abt 3pm.. and at the first sight of it..

I was like..

wahhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

*THE* stonehenge..

it was built in 3 stages.. through a period of more than a THOUSAND years..

FIVE FREAKING THOUSAND YEARS AGO.

by so many hundreds of generations..

which, to me.. is quite far-fetched..

the mainstream belief is that itz made as a place of prayers, of sun worshipping.. or solar projections for calculations of seasons and days..

some stories said that it was built by the pre-historic Englishmen..

they might had been so bored that they dragged down hundreds of tons of stones from Ireland..

that is what u get from the Englishmen if u dont give them football..

others mentioned abt the Stonehenge being built by Druids and Merlin and even the Devil himself..

yeah rite..

i'd prefer the stories abt it being built by aliens..

thatz more like it..

a religious place of prayers?

that spanned for more than a thousand years?

being continued by their descendants?

wahaha.. no way..

even in 50 years, religions can evolve drastically..

so Aliens it is..

itz really breathtaking.. knowing that the structure that u see is even older than the first Pyramids..

and trust me.. Pyramids are really awe-inspiring.. itz another one of those places that made me go WOW..

Me, Rachel and Maylene in front of the Stonehenge..

a closer view of the stones..

the Plains surrounding the Stonehenge..

these are the breathtaking sights as u drive down the A303 down to Wiltshire..

and therefore.. after spending abt an hour and a half looking at funny-looking rocks built by the ancestors of David Beckham, we decided to drive down to Salisbury, abt 15 mins away.. a change from going to Bath coz the Temple at Bath were closed at 5pm..

itz an interesting place.. really..

quiet.. peaceful..

a lil bit boring though..

but still.. quiet.. peaceful..

itz a medieval town.. very interesting..

a sign of the medieval town.. a gantry in Salisbury..

Salisbury town..

this is the Salisbury Cathedral.. built in 1220, ancient English Gothic style.. and has the tallest spire in the whole of Britain..

we had our dinner at one of the pubs.. while watching Ghana beat Czech..

the good thing abt watching the World Cup in Europe is that the timing is always good.. dont need to wait up early in the morning coz the games in London are being telecast at 2, 5 and 8pm..

got back to the city at abt 11pm at night.. and headed down to Bayswater for another dinner..

Siew Ngap Fun..

yey.. my fav food..

everytime I see a London in the roster.. the first thing that comes to my mind would be..

Roasted Duck Rice.. again..

and as it is.. the entire city was still partying coz they were celebrating the Queens Birthday..

though i think the Queen might had been asleep hours and hours earlier and would be wondering why the heck are those drunk ppl making so much noise outside her house..

or.. ok.. outside her Palace..

whatever..

but then again.. yeah.. i think they are just looking for another excuse to get drunk..

coz most of the ppl who were partying are not English anyway.. they talked in foreign languages and funny accents mah..

so, those are the tourists who are just looking for any excuses to get drunk and pretend to be English..

Bayswater, at midnight.. still busy partying..

I love London..

I really do..

one of the coolest places on earth..

and one of those places where I would be excited to go to whenever I am rostered for it..

not only coz of the Siew Ngap..

but therez so many cool things to do in London..

they have nice clubs..

or u could just head down to the stretch between Picadilly's and Covent Garden to watch talented bands busking on the streets..

really really talented..

or in the tube stations..

the gloomy London..

where it always rains..

somehow, the smell of the air.. the ambience, the weather.. all adds to the coolness of the place..

and u have to go there and experience it on ur own to know it..

even the tube.. itz an experience to take it..

I dont know why.. but it just is..

I love taking the tube.. Mind The Gap.. and I still cant explain why..

not like as if the stations are beautiful..

or the trains are fantastic..

but itz just London..

just Mind The Gap..

or even at the gas station, the fellas would just hang "Sorry, Not In Use" to every pump, including the one that u have in ur hand.. with the nozzle already in the hatch..

dammit.. u could at least come to me and say sorry.. but we dont have anymore gas rather than just hang it and leave..

macam siak punya bangla..

but nevermind..

the rest of London is still cool..

there it is.. a typical walkway in the tube station..

for a good view of London.. try watching American Werewolf in London.. it even shows u the gloominess in the tube stations..

but u dont feel the sense of danger here.. not like in the United States..

u dont get robbed in the stations..

but of course.. u might get shot by police officers if u have a beard..

or bombed by some bearded freaks..

and another reason why London is cool is..

coz they have condom machines in the toilets..

All's Well That Ends Well

2006-06-13T02:45:00.001+08:00

Ofi forwarded an email.. something abt friend friend kinda thing..

but something caught my eye and made me ponder..

something that had been in my mind recently..

but.. before I comment on it, a *DISCLAIMER*..

I'm not a pessimist.. on the contrary, I'm quite optimistic abt life.. I dont have a traumatic childhood neither am I a product of a sad life.. I lead quite a happy life, I must say..

that reminds me..

recently, someone on the Net wanted to psycho-analyse me..

thinking that the reason why I chose to be single and overprotective of my freedom was coz I have had a bad experience in life..

sorry dude..

I didnt..

and with that.. i'm commenting on this..

as I've said.. in the email.. lots of friend friend kinda thing..

but.. a line..

Everything is okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end.

hmm..

for young readers, stop reading here..

when I was serving my National Service, I was attached to a Police Post near my house..

I had fun..

I enjoyed working so much that on my last day of my service, I felt like I was sacked from my job.. it was a perfect team that I worked with.. we didnt have politics, and among the 4 of us in the team, we were good friends..

I had a good Officer in Charge who took care of us protectively...

but he said something in the midst of the good times..

Everything must come to an end one day..

may it be good or bad..

if u suffer from depression coz of any reasons.. remember.. nothing last forever.. the problems that u are facing will end one day..

unless of course the problem is either AIDS or cancer..

or u are on a death row for some shit u did..

if u are having a good life..

nothing last forever too..

u will die one day and that life will end..

thatz what he said..

Everything is okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end.

somehow, itz not entirely true..

life does not come to a full circle, even if we do wish that it does..

u dont go thru downs to prepare u for the ups..

or vice versa..

and therefore, life is not entirely fair..

for that, I have a theory..

itz called TFB..

most of my close friends know what TFB means..

if u face something bad that u cant change, Too Fucking Bad.

it happens..

Everything is okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end.

how abt those kids who were born in famine-strickened Africa?

or those who were born from parents who are HIV positive?

life dont end well for them..

how abt those ppl who went thru blood transfusion and got infected with a deadly virus, thru no fault of theirs?

or those careful pedestrians who became paralysed coz of some distracted motorist?

how abt those whoz life became so unfair for them that they ended up committing suicide?

life does not come to a full circle..

some ppl have it good..

some ppl just end up having a fucked up life..

TFB..

some ppl are lucky to be born rich and good looking..

some are poor and ugly..

some are born with good parents..

some are born to drug addicts, and they grow up to be Mats and Minahs..

and everyone knowz that *THAT* is the worst curse..

dont brood over ur sad life and be hopeful that it will end and good times will come..

coz it rarely does..

unless u take ur time to solve each and every problems that comes ur way..

and solve each problem to a point that the problem will not reappear..

and make good use of every moment that u have..

carpedium!

one of my friends on my last flight said something a few days ago..

If u get lost in a jungle, whatz the first thing u should do?

Sit down, relax, fix urself a cup of coffee, and have a smoke..

if u are not in a good state of mind, therez nothing that u can do..

what if u dont have coffee and cigarettes..

well.. so now u know.. pack urself some coffee and cigarettes before u step into any jungles..

if u really dont have any of those..

then itz a good time to panic..

Everything is okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end.

not every life turns out to be perfect..

there had been ppl who had been executed for some crimes that they didnt commit, only to be cleared posthumous..

and worse still, if the person who was executed was an abandoned kid, who lived on the streets, and suffered thru his life.. and got hanged coz he was at the wrong place at the wrong time..

so, the moral of my story is.. dont be too optimistic for no reason.. dont wish ur problems will go away coz itz supposed to go away..

if u have problems, solve it..

if u have AIDS, start praying..

if u have terminal cancer, start smoking, it makes no difference at this time..

ok. thatz the closest to pessimism that I can think of.. but then again, I'm an optimistic person..

I received a phone call from a credit card marketer this morning..

when she found out that I am a Flight Attendant, and that I like to shop, she asked me..

why not go Thailand?!

ermz... why should I?

then she started talking abt this place and that place, in States, Bali, blablabla..

word of advice to my dear friends here..

dont brag abt travelling to so many places to a Flight Attendant, Pilots or Sailors..

coz we dont really care that u had been to so many different countries..

we've been there..

brag to someone who told u that they had never stepped on a plane before..

if u wanna talk nicely without bragging, then itz ok lor.. if u wanna brag, honest to God, we wont be impressed..

lemme list down the places that I had been to so far.. this list is for those who wish to brag.. avoid bragging to me if the place u visited is within this list..

All the States in Peninsular Malaysia
Adelaide,Australia
Auckland,New Zealand
Brisbane, Australia
Christchurch, New Zealand
Melbourne,Australia
Perth, Australia
Sydney, Australia
Tasmania, Australia
Los Angeles, California, United States
New York, United States
San Francisco, California, United States
Anaheim/Orange County, California, United States
Vancouver, Canada
Tijuana, Mexico
Athens, Greece
Brussels, Belgium
Calais, France
Paris, France
Copenhagen, Denmark
Rome, Italy
Vatican City, Italy
Frankfurt, Germany
Wunenberg, Germany
HeidelBerg, Germany
Cologne, Germany
London, England
Manchester, England
Birmingham, England
Louborough, England
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Veenedaal/Utrecht, The Netherlands
Zurich, Switzerland
Lucerne, Switzerland
Lichtenstein, Switzerland
Innsbruck, Austria
Vienna, Austria
Beijing, China
Hong Kong, China
Shanghai, China
Taipei, PRC
Fukuoka, Japan
Osaka, Japan
Nagoya, Japan
Tokyo, Japan
Hiroshima, Japan
Mumbai, India
Delhi, India
Amritsar, Punjab, India
Kathmandu, Nepal
Maldives Islands
Mauritius
Bangkok, Thailand
Haadyai/Songkhla, Thailand
Jakarta, Indonesia
Bali, Indonesia
Seoul, South Korea
Manila, Philippines
Cairo, Egypt
Cape Town, South Africa
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Istanbul, Turkey
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Johannesburg, South Africa

I know I had missed out quite a number of cities that I had been to.. I'll add to this list when I remember..

this list is also for those of u who wants to go somewhere for a holiday but cant make up ur mind..

It's All About Choice, Part 2

2006-06-10T06:26:00.001+08:00

I love my freedom..

I have had choices that i have made in life..

I smoke, coz i love smoking..

So now.. itz a choice that we make..

I dont smoke when there are kids ard.. i move away from crowds when i smoke.. and i stand near to some bins to extinguish my cigarette..

I smoke in my car coz itz my personal space..

and now some idiots wrote to the papers coz they think that smoking in ur car is dangerous?

ok.. first few letters said that it was dangerous to smoke and drive coz if the cigarette falls onto ur lap then u will lose control of ur car..

fair enough..

I dropped my cigarette several times before.. and all those times when the car was parked.. coz i hit it against something..

when I drive and smoke, I have the stick in a position that it remains there while i'm not puffing.. but I cant say much abt every other smoker in every other car..

but therez someone who wrote to the press abt smokers getting stuck in a traffic jam.. she said that itz a danger coz a motorcyclist can wheeze thru and hit the cigarette if the smokers put the cigarette out of the window..

now now..

I had never seen a smoker in a car who stretches out his hand while smoking..

I had never seen a smoker anywhere stretching out while smoking..

and if the smoker DOES NOT stretch out, and if a motorcyclist comes that close, i think he deserves it..

if the smoker DO stretch out, and if a motorcyclist hits his arm, i think the smoker deserves to have his arm broken..

my car is my freaking personal space..

itz my second closet..

itz my second room..

itz my second house..

itz my second bed..

I do whatever I like in the car..

coz itz *MY* car..

and some freaking idiot have to come up with the silliest of points to talk abt smokers stretching out their hand while smoking?

what if a smoker stretches out his hand while smoking and walking? what happens if he hits against a non-smoking walker?

how abt banning ppl from drinking and driving? and i'm not talking abt alcoholic drinks..

imagine dropping ur coffee onto ur lap while driving..

and make it illegal for ppl to wind down their windows while driving.. especially if they rest their arm on the window..

or worse still.. what happens if a piece of paper flew out and hitz the visor of a motorcyclist behind you?

what happens if the flyers thatz stuck to ur windscreen that u forgot to remove fly while u are driving on the highway and hitz the poor fella?

letz ban ppl from putting flyers onto car windscreens..

remove all the ashtrays and the cigarette lighter and the cup holders in the car..

and make it illegal for ppl to squirt water to clean the windscreen while driving coz it will definitely hit the vehicle behind them..

when Henry Ford invented his car.. he didnt put in a radio.. coz he said that the radio has no place in a serious business like driving.. itz a distraction..

so remove the freaking radio..

dont even think of installing that iPod transmitter..

so now, i cant smoke when i'm driving..

and i cant smoke when i'm stuck in a traffic jam?

so why not make it that i cant smoke when the car is parked?

for some kids who are shorter than the height of the window might pass by and hit against my cigarette too..

so let's see whether would Singapore be the first country to ban smoking in the car after banning chewing gum..

till now, foreigners tell me that itz one of the first few things they remembered abt Singapore.. even if they had never been to Singapore and some of them, those locals in the countries that i go to, dont even know where Singapore is..

but they know u cant chew gum in Singapore..

and they laugh at it..

ok ok.. so.. it makes Singapore a lil cleaner and saves a lot of money rather than cleaning up the streets of the gums.. and u dont have to worry abt having gum on the seat of the MRT or under it..

i dont really care.. coz i dont chew gum anyway..

but i smoke.. and now some idiots still have to think abt proposing laws to ban smoking in my personal space..

i dont pollute ur air when i smoke in my own freaking car.

if u are a non smoker and u dont like me smoking in my car, i would just not invite u in..

take the bus.. ppl dont smoke in the bus..

unless they own the bus..

some Singaporeans think that they own everything in Singapore.. they have to be in control of every single thing..

a police officer told me recently that times had really changed..

last time, ppl used to be afraid of the police..

now the police are afraid of the ppl..

coz some Singaporeans who cant sleep at night will just wake up and think abt something to complain abt police officers..

I dont complain abt police officers.. i dont really care..

as long as they keep our streets safe at nite.. do whatever they wanna do as long as they dont commit crime and they are not corrupted..

but nooooooo.. Singaporeans think that they OWN the police force.. and they think they own everything that every one else own.. my car is their car too..

that might stem from the fact that we live in pigeon holes that dont even belong to us..

u dont even own a freehold condo.. if u buy one, after 25 yrz ur block will be deemed to be too old and en-bloc, and u will be relocated somewhere else and u will start paying the difference in amount coz the new pigeon hole is 25 grand more expensive..

so u own everything else that everyone else bought..

i wonder why Singaporeans cant just live and let live.. mind ur own affairs and let others mind theirs..

anyway, i just got back from Tokyo a few hours ago..

and i just found out that they sell iPods in every 7-11..

Tokyo had recently started discouraging smokers to walk and smoke.. sounds familiar..

but they created a smoking point at every street corner with proper stands and bins.. so smokers can congregate there and not irritate everyone else..

fair enough.. i think if u are a smoking Japanese living in Tokyo, itz a good place to mingle and get to know each other.. they are not short of cute girls smoking there too..

i wanted to take a pic of the smoking point but i didnt bring my camera with me..

anyway..

come to another point..

abt having no choice..

u have no choice to whatever race u are being born into..

if u are not white, u cant be white..

if u are not Jamaican, u cant be Jamaican no matter how much weed u smoke and how much Reggae u listen to..

dont even think of praying to Ras Tafari.. they wont even accept u into their religion..

i am a Pakistani..

and I mix ard with the Malays..

and I speak the language..

that doesnt make me a Malay..

but i do love the Malays.. no matter how much racist jokes i give them abt the Mats and the Minahs and the Dayong Sampans, courtesy of my Arab friend for whose name i shall not mention for his own personal safety.. I still love them coz they had been nice to me..

and they know itz a joke..

but whenever i make these kinda racist jokes, they would suddenly claim to be mixed.. and claim to be Indians or Eurasian or whatever..

ermz.. my great grandma was a Eurasian.. my granddad was a Chinese.. my stepmother is an alien.. all those, besides claiming to be a Malay..

or Chinese or Indians or whatever race they are from.. just that i dont dare to make racist remarks against the Chinese and Indians coz I am not racist.. and i dont want to be misinterpreted to be one..

but i know the Malays well enough to know who to tell and what to say..

u are whatever thatz stated in ur IC..

if ur race falls under the races thatz native to the Malay Archipelago, you are a Malay..

all of us are linked genetically to the Africans.. so why not we all claim to be Africans?

and so... like what Zainah mentioned.. some ppl have Arabtitis.. thinking that by smoking Sheesha and hanging out with the Arabs make them Arabs..

it doesnt.

an incident several months back.. at Starbucks, Siglap.. i met up with Suhaila Abdat.. and with her, some other Arab and Indian friends of hers, some of those whom I know.. and there was this Malay guy who was obviously Malay.. but when we were talking abt races, he's supposedly a Malay but one of his grandparents are Eurasian..

wtf?

Dok.. lu Mat lar.. apa mau cakap belit belit..

be proud of what u are.. u have no choice in that..

and those who wanna know abt Dayong Sampan, pi Dayong pelan pelan..

It's All About Choice

2006-06-06T20:58:00.001+08:00

i forgot that i have a blog..

anyway, thanks to all those who tagged and those anonymous visitors who appeared in the blogpatrol counter..

i'm now in my hotel room in Los Angeles.. my 2nd Californian trip in 2 weeks.. not many things had happened since the last entry, but one of those not many things that happened is a big event in my family.. my youngest brother's wedding..

yeah.. the baby boy is married.. heh.. now.. THAT'S funny.. coz no matter how old ur youngest brother can be, he is still a baby in ur eyes.. so when i look at him and his wife on the pelamin.. it looks like two kids trying to get hitched.. but they are actually all grown-up alright..

i'll post up pics and comments later in this entry..

other things that had happened recently..

i was in Sydney..

i was in Hong Kong..

i was in San Francisco..

i was in Beijing..

i was in Tokyo..

and now i'm in Los Angeles.. going back to Tokyo tomorrow..

i saw a group of 5 helicopters in the skies together.. hovering near to Griffith's Park.. so somehow i had a sense that something had happened..

found out on TV that itz one of the daily high speed chases on the highway.. ended when the motorcycle overturned upwards and the rider being thrown backwards..

ok.. thatz it abt my flights now..

somehow.. i'm reminiscing my childhood days now..

i grew up being a delinquent..

and those days, it was quite unheard of for mothers to go to work, and those kids whoz parents are both working, and come home to an empty house, kids having their own set of house keys, were called Latch-Key kids..

the term now is gone coz everyone is Latch-Key nowadays..

i was a latch-key kid.. just that my parents were divorced when i was 8.. and only 3 yrz later my mom remarried to my stepdad, who i love dearly coz he had never treated me like a stepson.. my brother and i had always been like his own kids..

my real dad, who passed away due to cancer abt 3 yrz back had other responsibilities and it was quite rare for me to get to see him.. though when we did, he'll shower us with all the protectiveness of a dad.. and it was something that we treasured when we have it.. but after that several days with him, we will go back to our real lives and for months and months we will go without seeing each other..

i miss my dad though.. and his death is something that i still have yet to be able to come to terms with..

nowadays, kids are more independent that they know what to do and where to go.. back in the 70s and 80s, Singapore was very much different than how it is now.. there were no MRTs and the bus services sucks.. there were only SBS, and a dumb looking small bus that plies in the city, called CSS and the rest were private buses which charge cheaper than the Govt ones. all buses comes with a conductor who will recognise u if u take the same route 3 days in a row..

most families didnt have cars.. coz most families cant afford cars..

back in those days, a 2 hr bus ride is normal.. that is definitely not inclusive of the feeder services and the walk to and from the polluted bus interchanges.. just the freaking journey to anywhere takes 2 hrz..

Singapore those days somehow were painted dull.. i dunno why.. itz like the colours that u see on the 70s tv shows.. though psychedelic were born during that period, the disco eras and ppl started to paint their afro hair red and green, the buildings were still dull..

and the air was polluted from the lorries and buses and cars whoz transmission is not regulated and it was dusty and dirty.. airconditioners came about in the early 80s, replacing the rotating fans that were placed in shopping centres.. and somehow, the shopping centres seemed to be very gloomy and dark and with a stale smell of the new airconditioners which were fitted in buildings without proper ventilation..

the word Mall have not even been invented yet back then.. or prolly never caught on in Singapore..

at least.. those were from my eyes.. as a kid back then..

it was kinda of a rough city to live in.. if u happen to walk at the wrong side of town, and right in the middle of an estate where the homeboys rule.. be prepared to be beaten and robbed.. just by crossing their turf, u would have committed the biggest crime and u have to be prepared to face the fair judicial system.. by giving them everything they want..

of course, the term HomeBoys didnt exist back then.. but we had our share of ghettos..

almost every estate would have their ruling party.. and itz race dependant..

Bedok has a group of Malay Government called Black Coffin..

another group of rival Government owning the same turf would be the Chinese Sa La Kao..

Brickworks has another group of Malay Govt called Black Sondol.. and the Chinese Govt Sio Di Hoe..

somehow the Malays like to put Black in their Govt names.. just like the Black Metal group in Malaysia..

Alexandra has a Chinese Govt called Graveyard, Teban Gardens with a Malay Govt called Mafia..

Clementi has Jit Si that covers downwards towards Buona Vista..

one of the Clementi Jit Si bosses were shot dead by police detectives when they pounced on him when he was withdrawing his own gun to shoot at them at a coffee shop..

the Indians rule Woodlands and Yishun and probably have names that i cant pronounce.. if they had named their groups anyway..

every estate would have their own Ruling Government..

somehow.. these homies are now the pakciks and the ah peks and mamak that we see at the coffeeshops.. chilling out..

some would probably have grown out of it and open up their own shops..

some would probably have changed citizenship to permanently live in the prison..

some became police officers, some became real estate agents and some became businessmen..

some got killed and some died of cancer..

some had retired and now playing with their grandkids..

so.. point is.. to be a kid in the 70s and 80s has itz own challenges.. u need to be tough or u'll just be food for the crows and vultures..

i started smoking at the age of 10.. with my 2 cousins, one who died 6 yrz later when he was 17, and the other is now married with 2 kids after spending some stints in the drug rehabilitation centres..

i somehow played around with some of those drugs available back then, like marijuana, Roche, Erimin 5, Upjohn.. i think most kids back then will have them as their toys anyway.. i grew up just a lil bit later than the LSD phase.. so i wasnt caught up in that wave..

got hooked to drumming when i was 14.. banging to Deep Purple and Iron Maiden and Scorpions and King Diamond and Anthrax..

still hooked to drumming now.. but my choice of music had evolved from Metal to Grunge to Post-Grunge to Alternatives to NU-Metal.. and weirdly.. to Ska..

i had my fair share of being in gangs and fights.. though i refrained to commit sins involving money.. like stealing and extortion and gambling..

lessons in life..

to think of it.. i had never regretted doing what i did.. it was a part of growing up.. and somehow it gave me good insights of how things in the underworld works while i did my stint in the Police Force during my National Service.. and somehow, most ruffians that i had known when i was a kid ended up being good police officers till now..

and itz a good thing that i never got addicted to those stuffs.. except for smoking though..

reminiscing the old days..

and a good thing was that i had never been arrested for those kiddie sins and somehow learnt from it by growing up..

the economy was bad, and most of us didnt have any money.. so without that, comes a totalitarian way of life where other ppl decides what u should do..

so.. i'm gonna rant abt whatz in my mind now.. CHOICE..

it's all about choice..

something that most of us have not even thought of..

coz we grew up without a choice..

we lived without a choice.. we were born without a choice..

a whole life of ppl telling us what to do and what to say..

how to dress and how to talk and how to walk..

thru my growing up years, i have had ppl "advising" me on how i should behave and how i should think.. and these ppl arent even qualified coz their own personal lives sucks..

i grew up rebelling against whatever that they advised me on.. i was given a freewill to do what i wanna do.. and thatz what i chosed..

itz interesting to see how ppl live in other parts of the world.. in United States especially.. where everyone has a right to everything.. u cant impose somethings to some ppl and depriving them of their rights..

i was at a mall at Glendales this morning, and stated on every entrance are warnings abt chemicals that are used in those buildings.. those chemicals are present in most buildings everywhere else.. but here, u are given a choice whether u wanna come in or not.

if u do, then u cant sue them if u suffer from misfits from inhaling the air..

the ads on TV shows some FDA-approved medications that can help u with sleeping disorders and enhance ur sex life and for heartburn and etc etc.. but with all the ads, it will also state the conditions and the known side-effects and about consulting ur doctors..

they are trying to sell it, but they have a responsibility of informing u so u cant sue them if anything happens.. so, itz ur choice..

our lives are being dictated from the time we were born.. when u are in primary school, they decide on the path of studies u are supposed to take.. back in the 70s and 80s, most of us get into the Normal stream in primary school.. if u are a lil bit dumb, u get into Extended and spend 7 yrz instead of 6.. and most of these kids survive.. if u are totally dumb, u get into the Monolingual stream, and take up 3 subjects instead of 4, and natural progression of most of these kids were to go to VITB (currently called ITE), and they end up in prison for robbing old ladies..

i'm generalising and stereotyping.. but who cares.. it happens anyway..

i have a cousin though, formerly from Mono stream whoz currently pursuing his degree in RMIT.. and a friend who ended up in Extended and quitting school at 14, and currently holds a MSc and is one of the directors in a Japanese MNC..

but most of them didnt make it thru this way.. they didnt have a choice..

somehow, some ppl get a great sense of satisfaction when they get to control someone else's life.. they'll try to dictate ur every movements and every decisions that u should make..

some girls think itz their rights to decide when their boyfriends can go out to meet his friends..

some guys think itz their rights to decide whether or not their girlfriends can go down to the freaking shop..

i remembered a girl telling me that she have to ask for her bf's permission if she wants to go out to buy something from the shop under the block..

wtf?

and a guy who got pissed when he tried to call his gf but her phone was off?

insecurities will tell him that his gf was having sex with someone else.. probably a dog living next door coz he dont allow her to go down to the shop..

but couldnt it be that her battery just went flat?

or it was inadvertently switched off?

who cares? unless it was really a life and death matter, doncha think that u could call them back later? or leave an sms or a voice mail or whatever to tell them that u tried to call them just to say hi?

if ur bf leaves home without telling u.. would u blame him for not calling? what difference does it make? would u say no? is it ur rights to say no? couldnt u just pick up the phone to call him when u think that u wanna talk to him and hear his voice? or must he actually have called u out of "respect" to tell u that he's going out?

respect of what? of ur "decision" on whether he should or should not go out?

if somehow they were not informed about it, they'll throw a tantrum coz their RIGHTS to decide for someone else was taken away..

Guy: i'm going out..

Girlfriend: when?

Guy: now..

Girlfriend: u mean, u have planned it since just now and u didnt even inform me? u didnt even ASK me?

Guy: ermz.. yepz.. i'm chilling with my friends..

Girlfriend: when will u be back?

Guy: ermz.. i dunno.. i have not even gone out of my house.. i'm CHILLING out with my friends.. so therez no specific time.. if itz interesting, i'll stay on, if itz boring, i'll do something else..

Girlfriend: *bangs down the phone*

ermz.. it happened..

itz not like the guy had cancelled his plans to meet up with the girl just coz he wanted to chill out with his friends.. she was at home anyway.. whether or not he goes out..

i had been thru several relationships before where the girl decides to be a Dictator.. and from the first sense of it, i'll leave..

i am a bachelor by choice..

i make it clear to the girls that i started to date that i treasure my freedom very much.. and i wont let anyone take that away from me..

freedom of choice..

if i ever get married one day.. then i'll have to give it up and start compromising.. but in no way i'll ever let my family get dictated by someone else.. itz a matter of being able to choose together.. and itz still a matter of ur personal choice as a family..

i was being raised by my mom to make my own decisions.. whenever she needs to influence my decisions, she'll put it in a way that *I* had decided to do it that way.. ever since i was a kid..

of course.. my misdemenours were kept as secrets from her.. just not to let her get worried..

but she had never said no to any legitimate decisions that i made.. just that she will be there to troubleshoot those wrong decisions when it comes to a point where i wanna give it up and do something else.. she'll take the consequences in and solve it for me.. and that happened so often..

and with this.. lemme just put up some pics of the choice that 2 ppl had recently made..

My dearest baby brother, Azlan and his new bride, Yanti.. and i think he made a perfectly good choice in getting a wife..

My relatives..

Nervous.. just before the nikah.. but i think the father of the bride was more nervous..

My brother Azman with his son, Me, my Mom, my Stepmother and Azman's daughter, with the Bride and Groom..

my friends, Alfan and Wily attended the solemnisation in the afternoon.. and in the evening, met some of the old chatters that i have not seen for abt 5 yrz or so.. like Andre and Paiman.. along with some others of my friends, Maizie, Hainie, Ayu, and of course, Andrew..

after the wedding ceremony, i headed down to Johore with my mom and my elder sister and her 9 yr old daughter, to meet my elder brother who flew to Malaysia from Melbourne for a conference in KL..

and later that night, Maizie and his wife, and Meraj and Wati and Alfan came down for a surprise visit to my brother, whom they have not met for years..

Maizie, Me, My Brother, Meraj and Alfan..

ok.. some pics from the previous flights..

in San Francisco..

Market Street.. with a homeless with a yellow picket.. this is a common sight in any big cities in the United States.. somehow i think they can make a lil bit of money walking around with a sign saying that Jesus Christ Loves You.. not bad at all..

Union Square, taken from the balcony at Cheesecake Factory, at the top floor of Macy's..

Victoria's Secrets on the left.. the one with cars and yellow cabs in front of it.. a Disney store at the corner across the road just above it.. SAKS, and Tiffany's..

that's downtown San Francisco..

Cheesecake Factory.. where we had our dinner..

a stretched limousine.. which is another common sight in United States.. i wonder why we dont have it in Singapore.. might require a Class 4 driver though..

when it opens, i saw a plasma TV and a fridge with wine glasses inside..

i had lunch in an AUTHENTIC Indian restaurant.. as authentic as it is, the cook and staff there were Mexicans..

but not bad.. it tasted Indian..

and i had a Japanese Bento set just now at Glendale's.. and still.. cooked by Mexicans.. and it tasted Japanese..

the Mexicans here can cook AUTHENTIC anything..

and now in Hong Kong..

went down to the night market with my teammate, Azarina.. at Temple Street.. quite disappointing coz it rained just before and a lot of the shops were closed..

Temple Street..

Bright Bright Hong Kong..

basically.. thatz it for the flights..

to Yanti.. with lots of love, welcome to the family..