POW: 7-day mourning period

It's the 7-day mourning period for the people of Johor, with the passing of Almarhum Sultan Iskandar on Saturday, 23rd January 2009, at the age of 77 years old. On Monday morning, I feel like a 'Pejuang Kemerdekaan' wearing shirt, pants and songkok to office. :p

Muslim men have to wear songkok with 2-inch white band. I think the last time I observe this mourning dress code was when I was still a little kid during the passing of Sultan Perak, Almarhum Sultan Idris. And I don't remember I wear anything like this during the passing of Sultan Selangor, Almarhum Sultan Salehuddin.

(pictures taken using BlackBerry Curve 8310, again...)

The antics of Hasbullah Awang

Aku agak semuorang kenal Hasbullah Awang. Kalau tak kenal, tak tau rupa bentuk dia pun, pernah dengar suara dia. Dia ni penyampai/pengulas sukan yang dari aku kecik lagi dah mengulas sukan. Kalau Shebby Singh tu ulas bolasepak je, Hasbullah ni macam-macam sukan dia ulas - bolasepak, renang, badminton, tinju, sepaktakraw, cycling sampaikan ke lumba jalan kaki pun dia ulas.

Cuma lately ni, ketidakrelevanan Hasbullah Awang ni makin menjadi nyata lah. Especially dengan adanya rangkaian sukan astro. At times, bila hanya RTM yang siarkan sesuatu acara sukan secara langsung dan Hasbullah Awang jadi pengulasnya, aku sanggup mute kan tv. Heh! Kadang-kadang tu tak sesuaaaiiiii sungguh apa yang dikomentarnya.

Contoh ulasan Hasbullah Awang yang tak berapa nak 'in' hari ini:

1. "Ya, itu dia, pemain jersi nombor 8 ohh bukan 6, yang sebenarnya seorang pemain midfield tetapi bermain di posisi penyerang untuk Pahang tetapi dia bermain di posisi tengah untuk Malaysia pada hari ini jadi dia agak sesuai untuk bermain di posisi tengah untuk Malaysia"

2. "Walaupun Malaysia kalah tetapi di mata saya, Malaysia tetap menang..."

3. "apa la ertinya vietnam jadi johan sukan sea tetapi bolasepak kalag dgn m'sia" <-- ni Jijoe yang cakap.

4. "yaaa pemain yang makanan kegemarannya adalah nasik goreng itu telah menjaringkan gol buat Malaysia!" <-- ni pak mat po yang cakap.

So, hari Ahad lepas aku sempat laa rakamkan what I called as "The Antics of Hasbullah Awang" - komentar-komentar dia yang meremangkan bulu telinga aku sewaktu final perseorangan lelaki badminto Terbuka Malaysia antara Lee Chong Wei dan Boonsak Ponsana.

1. Perlu meluncur laju untuk mengajak bermain dalam rubber game, pemain berpakaian merah

2. Kali ni cantekkkk!! Oooooo dia berada di kedudukan untuk mencapai kejayaan

3. Hah hah.. satu ketika yang sedikit melucukan apabila bola terkena kepala Wang Xin.

4. Naib juara akan menerima 7,600 ringgit. Ahh bukan Ringgit, US dollar! US dollar!!

5. Dan Wong Pin dari China adalah penjaga garisan" <-- she is the service judge, not line keeper.

6. Keluar! Tapi dalam. Dalam! Di atas garisan bulu tangkis jatuh

7. Oh cantekk! Ouuu... satu smash secara kilas dari Boonsak untuk mengembalikan jarak dua mata kepada Boonsak

8. Kita perhatikan dalam gerak perlahan di manakah bola itu jatuh? Dalam! Di atas garisan, sebelum memantun keluar

9. Lagi satu! Tindakan Chong Wei yang berhasil, di tempat yang sama.

10. Satu pukulan cross court! Tidak menjunam, tapi terapung. Akhirnya jatuh di gelanggang lawan.

11. Di sini! Tapi dia bangun semula. Dan Boonsak ke jaring perginya.

12. 5-0. Situasi tidak melawan ditunjukkan Boonsak di peringkat awal di game kedua ini.

13. Apa terjadi Boonsak? Kendur permainannya!

14. Kehilangan selera Boonsak nampaknya untuk melawan.

Lepas yang ke 14, aku malas dah nak catit, lagipun Chong Wei dah confirm menang time tu dan aku sakit perut jugak sebenarnya time tu nak melepas.

Kesimpulannya, memang antik aaa mamat ni sampaikan sorang twitter friend aku ni kata "Hasbullah Awang to Malaysia is John Madden to the US." Macam cilaka!

Dapat! Dapat!

Yes! Yes!! Yes!!! Dah dapat!

And the thought that it's going to be a looongggg wait is finally over when I received 'the' call yesterday. Although, it's not as great as I expected but it's enough to put more weight to my decision to go. So, I don't bother to discuss what is it like, how much, bla bla bla... but seriously, I'm still having the hangover from yesterday, couldn't believe that they buy all the things I bluffed and 'goreng'ed. Kencing kuat ke aku ni?! Ekekekek...

I still haven't seen the whole stack of documents they're sending to my Shah Alam address but generally I already know what I'm going to see when I go back this weekend. And this travel shall be my few last travels. Heheheh...

Oh well, actually I'm still deciding and will not make any decisions until I see the whole documents and get some feedback from close and trusted friends. (kalau aku tak tanya korang tu, anggaplah korang bukan either close or trusted friend ye! korang can be close but not trusted or either way or even neither way. hahahah!)

I've not even told my parents about it because I know once my father said something, I can't make any other decision against his. So, better for me to decide first then tell him my decision because he wouldn't make a decision against a my decided decision. Paham? But it still doesn't stop me thinking what mode of transportation shall I take comes May. LRT? Car? Motorcycle? Or combination of any two? Hehehe...

Ok back to work, rajin ni! cececece....

18th to 24th

Last week ended with a sad sad news for all citizens, in particular the rakyat of Johor with the passing of Sultan Johor, Almarhum Sultan Iskandar at 77 years of age on Friday, 7.08pm. The news of the Sultan's death has been circulated around the internet since Friday morning but only officially confirmed by the MB Office at around 11.30pm that night. The mourning period of 7 days began on Saturday and I had to go around places to find the 2-inch white band to fix to my songkok.

Sultan Iskandar ruled Johor for 29 years and was the 8th Agong between 1984-1989. One of the most unforgettable moments when he was the King is during the National Day parade when he stopped a big bike motorcade and rode on one of them. And just before the burial of Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, a new Sultan was installed - Sultan Ibrahim Ismail, who is 51 years old.

May Allah bless the soul of Almarhum Sultan Iskandar.

Earlier last week, I received an email from yet another person from the Emerald company saying that I have been successful with the interviews and is placed among the potential candidates and they will contact me for placement if there's any vacancy based on my qualification and experience. The email also mentioned thath if I don't hear anything from them within 6 months, I should consider the application is unsuccessful.

I don't know if this is a standard reply to all who attended their interview or they really consider me for any job there. But I'll just wait, if there's good news I'd be happy and if there isn't, it's not the end of the world. I also heard rumors that this year's bonus payout for my company is going to be more than last year. I'd be more than happy even if they pay the same quantum as last year's.

Apart from that, I attended two weddings on the weekend. One in Felda Nitar near Mersing and one in JB itself. I haven't been to Mersing for many many years! I guess the last time I was in Mersing was in 1999. From the days they don't have KFC until what I saw last weekend. Wow! They've been progressed a lot!! And until today, I still believe Mersing is the first town in Malaysia to have that ala-Hollywood signage planted on top of a hill!

My running - it wasn't a productive week. I only had two workouts at the gym. On Monday I only did 4.85km but better that on Wednesday with 7.64km. With all the muttons and briyani on Saturday, it was so painful for my Sunday morning run with only 3km. Damn! and in the afternoon I only managed around 4.2km. Need to bulk up with less than 2 weeks before the run.

That's all bout last week. Til then!

POW - Kluang RailCoffee

Aku nak try buat Picture of the Week (POW) entries lah every Friday. Antara sebabnya ialah nak upload gambar lagi senang dari nak tulis anything kan? I may not be using a complicated, nice, expensive camera so bear with me if the pictures are not of the highest quality. :-)

Ok, my first POW is....

Kluang RailCoffee
(pictures taken using BlackBerry Curve 8310)



It was my first time in Kluang and in the coffee shop last weekend. The coffee and toast was awesome, really great and really kaw! I heard it has opened more branches but the one next to Kluang KTM Station is the original shop. It opens daily except on Thursday from 7am to 12pm and 2.30pm to 6.00pm. And don't forget to buy and bring home their coffee, their specialty 'kaya' and even souvenir t-shirt.

Women at the cashiers

Not just that they like to waste time shopping or worse still, window shopping for hours and hours and come home empty handed. They also like to waste time while paying for things at a cashier, it can be at grocery stores, shopping malls, or food outlets.

First, the wait for the cashier to finish totaling up the amount due, then they look at the cashier machine display. Sometimes, they even ask the cashier again what is the amount due, "Berapa?" sometimes they ask twice. Then, they place the handbag they hang around their arms on the cashier counter, unzip/unbutton their handbags, look for their purse, take out their purse, unzip/unbutton the purse, look for notes, count notes. Look again at the cashier machine display for the amount due.

Look for coins. They sometimes look for exact change even the total amount due is $XX.95. Damn! Then, they shake shake their purse, looking for the 5-cent coins, before they hand the money to the cashier. Then, they look at the cashier counting the money, accept any balance, rearrange the notes so that the face are facing the same direction, put them in their purse, zip/button the purse, put the purse inside their handbag, zip/button the handbag, lift the handbag off the cahsier counter and put them around the arm, before they leave the cashier counter.

Damn! That's a lot of things to make payment! I suggest they can skip the whole process after receiving the balance due to them, by just putting them in their bras. That will save at least 20 seconds dude! But please ensure the 'money clip' in the bras can clip well!

#yorais

“Malaysians, especially Muslims, must avoid being totally immersed in the internet culture, especially Facebook and Twitter. Facilities like internet could not be accepted wholly because it was a form of business introduced by the West and “Malaysians were just users".”

This quote came from no other than our own Minister of Information Communications and Culture Minister, Rais Yatim. Read here

First of all, what it has got to do with religious? For example, is it wrong if I use facebook and twitter to remind my fellow muslim followers to recite the Hijrah New Year doa? And if Rais wants to get religious involved, does he think entertainment programs in RTM abide to Islamic laws and/or practices?

Secondly, he's the Communications Minister who's also the minister in charge of broadband, multimedia, Telekom Malaysia, Packet One, all the telcos, Multimedia and Communications Commissions and the likes. And dont forget, TM and the Government are currently working on the High-Speed Broadband Project under a Private-Public Partnership.

And, recently TV3 announced that their program, the Anugerah Juara Lagu 24 became one of the most successful (if not the most successful) programs in South East Asia with 20 thousand people watching it through streaming over the internet, 25 thousand followers in facebook and 3 thousand followers in twitter. And that just happened in 3 hours! I wonder what would Rais statement be following this statistics? And no wonder, RTM is waaaaaayyyyyyyy behind, maybe even more boring than Laos' TV.

So, yesterday and still running, twitterers in Malaysia came up with this #yorais hashtag and start posting, mostly on why is Rais so ancient. Guess what? #yorais came at number 3 in the trending topics last night, behind #nowplaying and #haiti. Even #merdeka couldn't achieve this feat last August.

And one of my favorite posts was "#yorais is so ancient, when asked about ‘good ol’ days’, he replies, “BC or AD?”" (read more on The Zestful Icednyior).

I'm not excluded, I posted several tweets, like "#yorais is so ancient he still think Hashim Embi is RTM news anchor." Anyone still remember Hashim Embi? And another one "#yorais is so ancient he still think Nurherman Majis is nation's top hurdler".

All in all, another Minister talking shit after Shabery Cheek, Ismail Sabry, Nazri Aziz. Who will follow next? And sadly, they are all from the rotten UMNO!

Tak reti berterima kasih

Aku update entry ni semalam dari loby Clark Hatch. Mula-mula ingat nak workout sikit tapi ankle aku ada sikit sakit. Aku agak waktu aku lari hari Sabtu lepas, ada satu kereta parking kat pavement untuk pejalan kaki of which aku kena elak kereta tu.

Bila aku sidestep, pijak kat bahagian rumput, tanah situ macam tak rata dan terasa ada sikit twist kat ankle aku. Dan awek kat kaunter tu kata, locker semua habis. Hmm... agaknya azam tahun baru nak keep fit semua orang ni, tu yang penuh tu.

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Ok, ni cerita pasal ada sorang mamat kat ofis aku yang perangai macam p**im*k cakap berdegar-degar, cerita macam bagus, kena orang besar sana-sini. Lepas tu dok cerita pasal bapak, ex-boss, current boss, sepupu dan tah sape lagi punya pengalaman kat MCKK. Pastu dok highlight dia punya biggest regret of not accepting the offer to study in MCKK. Porahhh!

Ada satu hari tu aku lunch dekat dengan restoran dekat ofis aku. Hari tu tah macam tak ramai orang kerja, so aku pun makan sorang. Aku duduk kat meja di luar restoran tu. Lagi beberapa suap makanan aku nak habis, mamat ni datang, dia tanya boleh join tak? Aku kata, join je lah, aku tak kisah temankan dia makan.

Lepas dia order, dia mintak excuse nak masuk dalam gi toilet. Pastu dia tersangkut kat satu meja sebelah dalam restoran dengan ex-colleagues dia. Aku ni dah habis makan dah, baca paper lah sementara tunggu dia yang nak ke toilet kononnya tu. Tak lama lepas tu, waiter hantar makanan yang dia order. Dia tak keluar-keluar lagi, aku tunggu lagi.

Dah nak habis paper aku baca, waiter tadi datang meja aku tu, amik makanan dia, pergi hantar kat meja sebelah dalam tempat mamat tu dengan ex-colleagues dia duduk. P**im*k habis kan? Macam lah dia tak boleh jumpa aku cakap, "ehh bro, kau dah habis ni, kau naik dulu lah, aku makan dengan diorang kat dalam." Tak boleh ke? Dia ingat lancau dia gred Super A ke? Ingat dia anak sultan ke?

Sejak dari tu, memang aku tak banyak communicate dengan dia. Kalau aku tengah makan dengan kawan-kawan aku, then nampak dia datang, aku mintak excuse. Tapi tengahari semalam, time aku nak makan, dia call aku. Dia mintak aku sms nombor sepupu dia yang budak MCKK tu, satu batch dengan aku.

Aku pun yang 'baik' lah ni kan, fikir alaa setakat nak sms je apa susahnya, kan? Aku stop makan, lookup for the number dan aku sms dia. I took less than 2 minutes to do that. And guess what? Not even a thank you sms from him. Memang p**im*k kan mamat tu?

11th to 17th

Halo gang (bukan gang! gang! gang!)!

Ok, last week nothing much interesting things happened at the beginning of the week, all about work, going through traffic jam, gymming. Then on Tuesday night, I had to drive back to Shah Alam to attend meetings in KL on Wednesday and drove back to Johor Bahru that Wednesday afternoon after having coffee with Ombak. As usual, it was always fun with Ombak and it seems there were too much to talk about with so little time.

Oh, on that afternoon too, I met an old friend (age-wise, he's old too!), who is my colleague in Proton. Not just a colleague at work but he was also the President of Proton Sports Club while I was the Secretary. He confirmed the rumors that he'll be joining one of Iskandar outfits starting in February, and he'll be one of the big bosses. All I can say is that he'll be the No. 2 man in the outfit.

Friday was all about the evaluation of 2009 performance. I was supposed to meet my boss for the challenge session after prayer but he moved it earlier to 12pm. It took less than 30 minutes and I'm happy with the review (although I'll not get my promotion yet) and agree on certain things moving forward, etc.

That morning also, an HR person from the Emerald company called me up requesting me to clarify my work experience, salary expectation and notice period. Hmmm... but she did not elaborate further like whether I'm in or what. But from my google search, this is a normal practice by the Emerald, i.e. Chit-chat session which also acts as the Technical Evaluation session followed by Structured Interview and if successful, a call from HR to negotiate salary and finally placement which the employment offer letter will be sent out. But it may take moons from one stage to another. Just wish me luck.

Last weekend, tried to put lots of effort into my running towards the Putrajaya Run in early February. On Saturday morning, managed to do 6.3km under 41 minutes and on Sunday morning, I did 8.4km under 55 minutes. I was totally satisfied with the effort, my preseverence, how my body takes and react to it although the time is a bit slow. Anyway, it is good enough to go under 80 minutes qualifying time for 7.7km in Putrajaya. Will try to go faster next weekend! With that, I think I am ready to sign up for the 10km Energizer Run in Cyberjaya in March. Woohoo!

Went movie-ing, for the second consecutive weekend since deactivating my facebook account. Watched "Adnan Sempit", which I can't believe myself why am I watching that movie, blame it on my housemate. Anyway, it is a light, romance-comedy movie, with some humorous scenes that make you laugh really loud. Seriously! If you really want to watch this movie, go with open mind, don't expect sci-fi, hi-tech CGI, crafty storyline, bla, bla, bla. The movie is like eating kuaci, you'll not get full eating kuaci, they're not tasty also and some people may think you're like hamster who eat kuaci. Get it?

But thumbs up to David Teo who used the airtime he got/bought with all the "Behind the Scene" scenes that you're poisoned to go watch the movie in cinema. Amazingly, he successfully get kids to influence their parents to bring them to cinema although it's not really a movie for kids (well, it's romance, rempit movie) , i.e. Senario, etc. And, oh, I just loved the roles played by the supporting actors/actresses in the movie, e.g. Bobby (Along-Cham Raja Lawak), Macha (Cat Farish), they're so funny!

And had lunch in Tanjung Adang, Gelang Patah. Very nice food, we ate crabs, squids and enjoyed the scenery.

(all pictures taken using BlackBerry Curve 8310)

Update-ku

Aku akan update jika ada benda-benda menarik yang berlaku ke atas diri aku je, seperti dapat kerja baru, menang peraduan dapat gi tengok World Cup kat Germany dan benda-benda lain seangkatan dengannya.

Kalau setakat benda harian macam hari ni makan laksa, esok makan mi kari, lusa makan pulut kuning, hari ni gi jalan ke Batu Pahat, esok jalan ke Muar, lusa aku duduk rumah tak buat apa, ataupun weekend lepas aku tengok movie back-to-back ataupun weekend depan aku nak perap kat rumah je tengok dvd korea dari malam Jumaat hingga malam Ahad, tu semua tak payah laa aku update kat sini kan? Kalau ada pun, kat twitter je.

Dan aku pun dah tutup facebook account aku. Aku rasa mengarut sangat lah facebook sekarang ni. Front page facebook dah penuh dengan updates tentang games daripada status. Yang aku peliknya, setakat naik level pun nak publish status? Expand farm/cafe pun nak publish? Worse still, jual ikan/crops, beli ikan/masak new dish semua tu pun nak publish. Rasa gampang gila je.

Bila aku dah deactivate facebook account aku, aku rasa I got all my time back. Sempoy gile... sebelum tidur dah tak payah log-on komputer dan takde lah aku tertidur sambil mengadap komputer aku lagi. Dan takde lah payah aku nak terkejar-kejar masa terfikir-fikir makanan/crops dah hangus ke apa ke? Stress siot! So, aku rasa my life is back to normal! Sampaikan tak tahu nak buat apa, Ahad lepas aku dok staring at my blackberry screen je tunggu twitter updates ataupun emails, etc. Ha ha haa...

Dan sekarang ni aku tengah pulun training untuk aku punya 7.7km Putrajaya Night Run. So far, on treadmill aku dah buat 6.96km under 50 minutes (baru pagi tadi buat that time). Masalahnya, on the road, aku baru buat sekali je last Sunday. I did 4.2km in 26 minutes. Dah tak boleh pergi dah, rasa nak lerai lutut dan sendi aku semua. Jantung aku pun rasa macam nak explode je. Lepas ni, I'll go for more road trainings than in gym. Dalam gym just nak get the rhythm and pacing je.

And Insyaallah I;ll sign up for Energizer Night Race kat Cyberjaya in March. Masaelahnya, shortest distance for this race is 10km. Perghhh.... tengok lah dulu.

Ok that's all for now, chiao!

Buckeyes deny Ducks at Rose Bowl

*I am stil devastated with the lost*

(by Rob Moseley for The Register Guard)
A disputed face-mask penalty. A killer fumble. A near sack that ended disastrously. And a missed field goal that was the final blow to Oregon’s hopes in a 26-17 loss to the Buckeyes before 93,963 fans on Friday.

“The whole night, we were just a little off,” UO quarterback Jeremiah Masoli said.

The Buckeyes defied convention, putting the game in the hands — or rather, on the throwing shoulder — of their gifted but still maturing quarterback, Terrelle Pryor. The former UO recruit took a big step in his development, completing 23-of-37 passes for 266 yards and two touchdowns.

Oregon’s stars, meanwhile, got nowhere against the fifth-ranked Ohio State defense. James ran for 70 yards on 15 carries, and Masoli had just nine yards and six carries, as the Buckeyes keyed on him in Oregon’s option attack. All-Pac-10 tight end Ed Dickson did not have a catch, and UO wideouts accounted for just four receptions.

Oregon losts to Ohio State 17-26.

That’s a valuable lesson for a team that loses few key players to graduation. Just minutes after losing one Rose Bowl on Friday, the Ducks were already talking about a return trip.

Video highlights:

Part 1


Part 2


I better shrug off this devastating feeling. Well, at least I got my brothers to wake up at 6 a.m. on Saturday and root for the Ducks. Hopefully we'll get to see Oregon Ducks again in Rose Bowl in 2011 or even in Glendale, Arizona for the national championship game.

Live from Rose Bowl, Pasadena

Ohio State has waited 13 years. Oregon for 15 years. Big Ten champions for the fifth straight season, the No. 8 Buckeyes will carry a five-game winning streak into Pasadena to face a seventh-ranked Ducks team that overcame early season adversity to claim its first Pac-10 title since 2001.



The Pac-10 Champion, Oregon, will play the Big 10 Champion, Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, Pasadena on 1st January 2010. Fans in Malaysia can watch the game live on Astro Star Sports, 2nd January 2010 starting at 6am.

Go Ducks!