1Malaysia Conti-Sime Hunt 2009 | Penang Route

Wow...just got the questions and answers for the Penang route of the hunt. Would like to thank bro Salleh for his assistance in providing me the info. At the first glance it does seem tougher than the PJ route. Let me know what you guys think:

1.COOL VAN. DAH LARI BERSELERAK
Ans: VOLCANO

2.A JAY SAW DIFFERENTLY
Ans; AWS Jaya Sdn Bhd

3.HATI-HATI, AYAM MELINTAS DARI KANAN ANDA
Ans: Maya Manufacturing

4.ATAS BAWAH MEMANG TAK BOLEH. HANYA KIRI KANAN YANG BOLEH DISAMAKAN
Ans: STETS Sdn Bhd

5.NO HEAL WHEN MIXED
Ans: LEANHO Electrical Sdn Bhd

6.RE-ALIGN ALIGN. APA KE MENDE NI?
Ans: LIGAN Motor

7.WHY HAS TO BE TEE? COZ HE WANTS TO BE IN THE PRINCE OF DENMARK TRAGEDY, WRITTEN BY SHAKESPEARE
Ans: HAMLEY Music Centre

8.DUA-DUANYA RATUS
Ans: ABAD CENTURY

9.48 TO 2
Ans: 112 Auto (ONE ONE TWO Auto Sdn Bhd)

10.CAFÉ, HARDWARE & MINIMARKET. WE HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON
Ans: Big A ( Café Big A, Hardware Big A, Pasar Mini Big A)

11.AS OATH IN CRAZY TERM
Ans: ASOTHA Trading

12.ALIAS STALLONE
Ans: RAMBO Motor Service Sdn Bhd

13.TUN AJE LA GANTI LELAKI UNTUK JADI TUNANGAN SUDIN
Ans: ZAIMAN Communications

14.A CAP THAT KIWI PUT TOPSY-TURVY
Ans: WATIKAH CIPTA

15.ATAS DI BELAKANG UNTUK JADI KUMPULAN IDAMAN
Ans: ZZ Idaman

16.BERTARUH DALAM MATA
Ans: MABETTA Sdn Bhd

17.HUJUNG AWAL SAYA DAN AKU
Ans: ZAINI Workshop

18.DI MANA GEE? DI HATI LA, MANA LAGI?
Ans: MAGNA

19.BIG µ
Ans: MU Car Wash

20.ALOUD HEAD OF MUSTAMA KAMAL’S AGELESS
Ans: EMKAY Klasik Restoran

21.LEGEND WITHOUT HORATIO CAINE
Ans:MYT

22.D10. DURIAN LA TU!!
Ans: DEE TEN

23.HOT PEA MADNESS
Ans: TEA POH

24.FROM DUBLIN, BONO, THE EDGE, ADAM & LARRY
Ans: U2 Teleshop

25.MASA ENGKAU RABA, BIAR OM KEGELIAN. TAPI BUAT MASA MULA AJE!!
Ans: Beras MERBOK

26.SOUNDS LIKE WE FEEL THE SAME
Ans: VEERASA Enterprise

27.DENGARNYA XY TIDAK MAKAN DI SINI
Ans: Warung MAN

28.LAUT SELATAN
Ans: HAINAN

29.AN ICEBERG DISORDERLY
Ans: RACING BEE

30.GUA AGAK NENAS LU ADA DIJUAL DISINI LA
Ans: LEAN SUN Trading

31.RUMIT PATET DARI JEPUN
Ans: TETAP TIMUR Automobil

32.BUNYI MACAM LUCAH AJE
Ans: KOK LONG Kedai Runcit

33.ONE WAY TICKET, ONE WAY TICKET…… BONEY M
Ans: CHOO CHOO Train Bday Care

34.ANNE SENTIASA MERAH BILA BUKAN MALAM
Ans: SIANG Trading

35.GREEK DEMIGOD, SON OF JUPITER
Ans: HERCULES

36.COSY ME, I’M DIZZY
Ans: YES COM

37.HIS KARMA LIVE CHAOTICALLY
Ans: TAMAN MIRKASAH

38.ADOLESCENT TRAPPED IN THE HEART OF AMERICAN AIRLINES
Ans: Restoran ATEENA

39.RICARDO ZECSON DOS SANTOS LEITE PUN ADA BISNES DISINI LA
Ans: KAKA Ba Kut Teg

40.ASAL JANDA ENGKAU FIKIR ITU
Ans: JEFI

41.SEBELAS DALAM PENERBANGAN KITA
Ans: maxis

42.100
Ans: After NINE NINE CAFÉ

43.DISINILAH ITIK BERSIUL SIUL KECIL BERMASTAUTIN
Ans: Taman Belibis

44.GEMBAKU DOME. WHERE?
Ans: HIROSHIMA Auto

45.KUTUB UTARA RUPANYA ADA DI DALAM SHAH ALAM
Ans: SARTIKA

46.MAK WHO?
Ans: MOHAWK

47.WITH STARR FOR BEATLES
Ans: Kedai Kek RINGO

48.MALAYSIAN HOSPITALITY, CALM
Ans: MH Cool

49.RIGOBERT ADALAH KE-3 SELEPAS SATU DUA
Ans: ONE TWO SONG Music Centre

50.DON’T TELL ME THAT YOU MAIL YOUR FLOWER POT
Ans: MAIL PASU BUNGA

51.HABIT AS BEING HELTER-SKELTER
Ans: BATISHA

52.HARLEY BIKERS IN REVERSE
Ans: GOH Enterprise

53.MS GEE LEBIH SESUAI DARI MR PEE UNTUK JADI PERISIK
Ans: KPB Enterprise

54.BEFORE QING AFTER YUAN
Ans: MING Motor

55.AILING AH BUN IS ALWAYS CHAOTIC
Ans: BUAH LI NIANG

56.ASS OFF FOR A SENIOR NURSE
Ans: MASTRON

57.BE A RAJA WITHOUT 2ND VOWEL
Ans: KEING Kar Center

Wow! Tough questions, huh? And a lot more than the PJ route...!

On to the next hunt!

1Malaysia Conti-Sime Hunt 2009 | Anagrams Galore!

I wasn't with my regular team, Macam-Macam Adaaaa; went into the hunt with one of 2 of my company's teams: Westports Malaysia. Out the 8 of us, I was the only regular/experienced hunter.

Here are the questions and answers to the treasure hunt. Let me know if there are any errors. There are tons of anagram questions in there, so it was a good practice for me to break all the 49 questions, as my team mates are mostly novices. But despite that we did well in the end, finishing 7th out of about 55 teams.

1.AN EXPLODING STAR IN THE HEART OF INGENIEUR
ans: INOVAR Floor

2.PERHAPS IT IS A DRY ONE
ans: Ryoden (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd

3.HOSTED BY PAT SAJAK & VANNA WHITE. IT'S FORTUNE
ans: WHEELS Car Alarm System

4.BB
ans: TWINBEE Autoparts (KL) Sdn Bhd

5.DENONATED (sic; DETONATED) CRIB FOR TOE
ans: ORBIT FORCE

6.GEE & I WILL MAKE IT BEGINNING
ans: Peralatan Bilik Mandi ORIN

7.PC KHAI NI ROSAK. CUBA BAIKI
ans: KINPACHI Japanese Restaurant

8.EE, SEPARUH AJE !!
ans: HAFELE

9.SEMUA INGAT SAYA MAU ANGKAT ANGIN UNTUK TAMPAR ORANG. ITUPUN KALAU DIMULAKAN
ans: SISMA AUTO

10.AN ALGEBRAIC PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
ans: ALGO®

11.ANNI-FRID, BJORN, BENNY & AGNETHA
ans: ABBA @ Pemborong Alat Tulis

12.@ ALCATRAZ
ans: The Rock

13.MASA ENGKAU RABA, BIAR OM KEGELIAN, TAPI BUAT MASA MULA AJE !!
ans: Beras MERBOK @ Kedai Runcit TT Mart

14.MAU KAH JUAL BELI?
Ans: KAM HUA Trading

15.SUKU, SUKU, SUKU, SUKU. JADI GANTANG.
Ans: CUPAK Kafe Restoran

16.ALIAS ASHARI MUHAMAD, AL-AQRAM
ans: Pasar Mini Ehsan Tijarah ABUYA

17.IRON MIKE KEHILANGAN ANAK LELAKI
ans: TY Used Car

18.SHORT OF 40 TO BE A GROUP
ans: U.B. Rubber Sdn Bhd

19.PLACE YOUR BET AT THE END FOR A-Z
ans: ALPHA Tiles @ Yee Lee Tiles Trading Co.

20.NOTICE CHAOTICALY
ans: ETONIC Garment Manufacturing Sdn Bhd

21.3 ZEROES & AN ACE. ORANGE, GREEN, WHITE & YELLOW. OTHERS, I DON'T CARE
ans: COLOUR CREATIONS @ Sin Lian Hap & Sanitarywares Sdn Bhd

22.BETUL KA ROSA HALAU TREN?
Ans: RESTORAN ALUHA

23.MAY BE COS IN HELTER-SKELTER
ans: SYEBACOM Enterprise

24.MOI MERAH, SEMUT HITAM
ans: MANTOI Car Wash

25.NASIK TAIPAN BERSELERAKAN
ans: KANSAI PAINT @ Wan Joo Heng Co

26.INITIALLY THIS CURRENT ACCOUNT IS IN PEACE
ans: DA MA CAI

27.KEDENGARAN SEPERTI SEBUAH JAMBATAN KECIL
ans: Pasaraya TT

28.SEBELAS DALAM PENERBANGAN KITA
ans: maxis @ Rakan Niaga Eksklusif Maxis

29.LET'S JUMBLE A NAKED PLAT
ans: TEKAD LAPAN Sdn Bhd

30.HAD NI AZIS SAJA YANG BOLEH UNDUR
ans: SIZA INDAH

31.DAH KECOH DIA DILAMAR OLEH HAJI BAKHIL BIN LEBAI KEDEKUT. DENGAR-DENGAR AJE.
Ans: Kedai Makanan dan Minuman MORNI

32.SHY GUNMEN? MUNGKIN DAH KENE BANYAK TODI
ans: SUN MY HENG

33.TIAP-TIAP HARI DATANG
ans: Restoran Makanan Laut TIEN TIEN LAI

34.MADAME JAY NU IS ALAWAYS GET CONFUSED
ans: DAYAMEN MAJU

35.I IN MILLION
ans: Restoran JUITA

36.PADA MULANYA AMERIKASYARIKAT BERADA DI DALAM INDIA. INI SEJARAH BARU !!
ans: INDASIA Security Services Sdn Bhd

37.1000 FOR THE FAMOUS MARUTHUR GOPALAN RAMACHANDRAN
ans: G.R. Auto Part Trading

38.GANG AN ENDS, REALLY?
Ans: DA SENG NGAN Temple

39.WITH 12TH FOR THE FAMOUS TWIN
ans: KCC @ Perniagaan Barangan Yen Leong

40.WHO NIK?? LET'S FIGURE IT OUT
ans: KIN WOH Machinery Sdn Bhd

41.WHITE PEAK
ans: SNOW MOUNTAIN Refrigeration Sales & Services

42.RAN AMOK INTO SI
ans: SINARIS

43.GAIN AN INCH KALAU DIKOCOK
ans: Pasar Mini Chinnagani

44.LOOK UP FOR HAI NAM HAR
ans: Restoran RAHMANIAH

45.A WILD PARTY MOM
ans: Restoran PR TOMYAM

46.KELUAR BERTABURAN, MANA HILANGNYA RODA DI DEPAN?
Ans: KAULE Aluminium

47.DI HATI JIT² XIN
ans: Midea Kedai Letrik A.S. Tan Enterprise

48.SAYA JAJA KEBINGUNGAN
ans: JAAS JAYA Enterprise

49.THEY SHARE, THEY SEE, THEY CHEW. APA YANG MEREKA KONGSI?
Ans: SIN @ SIN Kongsi, SIN Vision, SIN Ah Chew

From my count we dropped 5 questions in total and got 1 out of 6 of the treasure wrong. So not that bad, huh? :)

On to the next hunt!

Batik Hunt 2009 | Lake Garden

Finally, finally...some updates on treasure hunting...the most recent one is the Batik Hunt held at the Lake Garden. It's a walk hunt...around the Lake Garden...and yes, it was tiring...but yes, it was fun...!

Questions weren't that difficult, most of it are spotting / observational questions. The only thing though, you have to know what you're looking for. Half of the questions were on batik-related things. Although it was tiring towards the end, we did manage to have a goofy good time.

I'm not gonna write more, coz I've got errands to do, here's some pictures of us during the hunt...and yes, I wore batik throughout the hunt, thankyouverymuch...*winks*





Oh, and we ended up in 4th place. Sam Rahman and team won the hunt; excellent performance from them! Congrats...!

On to the next hunt...!

Wakaf Che Yeh, Kota Bharu

Went back to KB last weekend. Dad needed to do some repairs on the house, which is a lot since we didn't have time to look after it for quite some time with a lot of things going on. It's the monsoon season, so I didn't get to see the sun at all during the whole week. We did went around tasting the Kelantan delicacies around town, so that was really2 fun.

For shopping, the only place we manage to go to within our limited time there (and due to weather condition) was Wakaf Che Yeh. This place is popular with the local residents as well as local and foreign tourists as a hawkers' market, operating all day long. In the mornings we would usually see the pasar tani and during nights we would see small stalls mushrooming around the area selling "imported" goods, fruits, vegetables and people can even enjoy some of Kelantan famous (and yummy!) food here.

Here are some pictures I took, which IMHO (hehe...) is not that bad. For more pictures, head on down to my flickr here.












For more pictures on my travels, click here.

In The Land of Cik Siti Wan Kembang

Spending the weekend in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. It's the monsoon season, so I expect less of the sun (which I haven't seen since I got here) and a lot of rain. On our way here, I saw some places under a few feet of water, but I do hope that it doesn't get worse than it is despite advance warnings of floods from the authorities.

We left PJ at 9pm exactly, with my dad driving first. He wanted to give driving a go while he was fresh and see how far it took him. We switched in Raub, so he went quite a distance before he couldn't continue. Not that he slept a wink when I drove after that, I think he felt obligated to keep me awake all the way thru KB. There wasn't that many cars as I would have expected, since 1. we drove at night and 2. it's the monsoon season, so I doubt people would want to come over here despite the holiday season. There was however, quite a number of lorries on the road, and that was what kept me awake: trying to overtake them lorries one at a time. It was fun though, since there's not that many cars on the road, so the road was quite clear. The lorry drivers were helpful in assisting safe overtaking, when they see the road ahead is clear and safe to overtake, they turn on the left hand signal to indicate that it's safe to overtake them.

We reached KB safely by 3.45am, although I think it would have been earlier if I hadn't taken off my foot of the gas and slowed down considerably towards the end of the journey. We weren't in a rush anyway.

Anyway, the house needed some repairs, and that's why my dad wants to come back here regularly. He's been coming back here every month or so to keep an eye on the house and do the repairs. Hopefully this would become a regular thing for us, this house brings back a lot of memories for us as a family. I missed living here, and I hope I can come back and settle down here in the future.

Okay, let's hope the rain doesn't get any heavier than it is, because I do have some plans to go around town and take pictures.

Till next time...!

At the movies - 2012

What was supposed to be a time away from work related headaches turned out to be a big group gathering. And it all turned out like that because of the simple reason being that neither of us could get a ticket for the movie. And hence the search was expanded, and in the end we ended up watching the movie 2012 at the Alamanda Putrajaya.

As I received/heard mixed reviews on this movie, I went in without any expectations whatsoever. My main focus was to enjoy the night out with the gang and especially just immerse myself in the fun activity that we call "movie watching experience". Popcorns, ice lemon tea, a cold and dark theatre, and you almost have everything in hand.

Unfortunately, the naysayers won the day that night. The movie was way below what was expected or a disaster movie, much less a Hollywood movie with a big budget. And this is coming from me, who has no expectations whatsoever of the movie (!) There was plenty of plot holes that I could list down, but since this is a big budgeted Hollywood movie, that is expected.

But I was more disappointed with John Cusack's performance in the movie, he seems almost lazy throughout and did not come out as believable as the reluctant hero-cum-doting father-cum-ex husband still in love with ex wife guy. In short his performance in the movie was below par as what is usually expected of him.

The other actors fare worse, although Woody Harrelson almost (almost...) saved the movie with his antics. He looked like he was having fun in an otherwise drab movie and I just wished he was on screen longer. At least that might have stifle more yawns out of me.

The action sequences were interrupted with scenes about family bonding, more so about the father and son relationship. One or two characters is okay, but all the main characters have that type of scenes, playing over and over again throughout the movie, interrupting what should have been a good action sequences put together. Well, when you think about it, the trailer is wayyyy better than the movie. The action sequences never stopped in the trailer. The guy that did the trailer must be applauded.

Then there's this whole end of the world thing. Gosh, I think we just got duped. I really thought that it's gonna be the movie that give us something to think about for our future, but it looks as if the movie makers just wimped out towards the end of the movie and decided not to destroy the world. After building up all that "world is going to end" crap and "we told you it's coming" sh*t in the previews, marketing and adverts, the movie just fell flat on the face. And at the end of the movie I really wish they would have done a better finale.

But, the graphics are good. I really applaud the Hollywood film makers for this. the graphics just blew me away...That's about all that's good in the movie.

The box office performance is quite good, so I doubt the film makers will care what the film critics or anyone who came out of the movie not liking the movie will say. I heard that they're developing a tv series based on the survivors' stories. And they would recoup back the millions that was invested in the movie. I just wish I could get back my RM10 from the cinema for a very poor movie...

Now, let's go back to YouTube to check out the trailer again...it's even more fun...:)

My flickr's most popular upload

Che Yu | Photo Outing, originally uploaded by W.K.Azlan.

At the moment this picture has generated 40 views...the highest number so far among my uploads...very popular apparently among the flickr browsers... :)

It's true what Din Arshad said during the fotoInspirasi seminar I went to earlier this year: "pretty girls sell pictures"... ;)

Thanx Che Yu...:)

Islamic Monument | Replica

Islamic Monument | Replica, originally uploaded by W.K.Azlan.

How do you travel around the world in 3 hours?

Try visiting the Taman Tamaddun Islam in Terengganu to see 21 Islamic Monuments around the world.:)

Since I haven't gotten around to my dream of travelling around the world just yet, this is as close as it can be for now. The replicas of the monuments really took my breath away (literally that is, the park is quite huge and it was a hot day when I went there). Some of the monument replicas houses theaters which showcases some historical artifacts and videos showing history of the buildings.

I've uploaded pictures that I took of some of the monuments, so come on down to my flickr and savour the beautiful captures that I took (IMHO that is...haha)

Sun Hunt 2009

Just a little jot on the biggest hunt event of the year as I take a break from doing my appraisals today.

Just would like to say congratulations to our Macam2 Adaaaa team for a good job this year. We finished at 22nd place, winning ourselves a Samsung MP4 player worth RM299 each....Ok la, berbaloi gak...although we did miss out on our target: the flat screen tv...the mp4 also has a flat screen to watch videos, albeit on a much much smaller scale...hahahaha...

Overall, we had fun in the hunt...and that's what we aimed for in every hunt. No use going to lots of treasure hunts but did not enjoy ourselves, right? And this is the biggest event of the year...rugi kalau x enjoy.

A lil bit on the hunt itself: I think TOS made a marked improvement this year in terms of dispersing the teams throughout the hunt sectors. There were 270 plus teams (?) in the open category, so it was quite a challenge to handle all of us. But they did good, where they break us off into 2 sectors in leg 1 at the beginning of the hunt itself. We improved a little bit on time management, but still lost out some time due to a couple of wrong turns and the traffic. Oh, and don't forget the famous M2A4 moment at the beginning of each hunt: D'uh...? What was question 1 again? hehehe...took awhile for us to start our brains in the hunt...

Hope we will do better next year, and the hunts to come. There's a lot of encouragements from the regular hunters and some of the masters out there, we would like to express our thanks for them for believing in us. We are steadily (but slowly) improving ourselves in each hunt.

In 2007, we finished 88th; in 2008, we finished 42nd and this year we finished 22nd place...what does 2010 holds for us, I wonder? *winks*

For the full results of the hunt, check Michael Pang's blog here. Congratulations to all the winners!

Oh, and if the F1 1Malaysia team is still looking for a driver for their team, drop me an email and I'll give you the contact details for Aini Fazlin (this woman can drive fast!)...the car seat still has marks of Farid's fingers from him gripping the seats so hard(!)...hahahaha...

On to the next hunt!

Before I go to sleep...

Let me just do a little update before I 'try' to go to sleep...am having problems sleeping lately,and it's still continuing...

Anyways, we went for the Family Hunt today, organized by Take a Break events... Not a fan of missions and challenges during hunts, but that's what's TaB is famous for. And given 4hours in total didn't help much with our time keeping, not that we are good time keepers to begin with...ahaha!

We did well in the 1st leg, scoring perfect points, although we did have that M2A4 moment,i.e. we started with a blur and we can't answer the 1st few questions in any hunt. We took a deep breath, and went around again to have a look, and lo and behold the answers are right in front of us. Although we thought that we have enough time for the hunt, we somehow found out that we did not have that much time for the 2nd leg. One of the missions took us out from the route of the hunt and at around 11am - 12pm on a Saturday, traffic is a killer. Which I hate actually, because treasure hunts always manages to bring us to places with high traffic and congested places...sigh...

In the end, we managed to finish 7th with a time penalty of 6 points, dropping 3 questions in the 2nd leg and er, some points in the missions...

Tomorrow's the big hunt, and everyone is speculating on who will be the top 3 in this year's open hunt. I do have my predictions, but I won't name the teams...let's just say that people should see how a team has performed for the year for a more accurate prediction; and a quick check of the team members' names will reveal some eligible masters are hunting in the open category and that will give you the top 3...*winks*

Yeah, yeah...the M2A4 team is in the favourites list also...outsiders je la...but we'll go for the win for sure...hey, aim for the stars,right? U might get the moon at least...or maybe the International Space Station...haha...

On to the next hunt!

Top Gear Treasure Hunt

It was the first time that we are going for our “new configuration”, as DQ and I switch roles with her being the driver and me being the lookout together with Farid. My wifey remains as the navigator, as let's face it - she's the best multitasker among us. The starting point was at APD, Subang Jaya and it was a long hunt, 9.5 hours for us to reach Awana Kijal.

The most time consuming sector was the Bentong stretch where there were too many cars and lorries to count; I had a few close encounters with some lorries as I was looking for answers. No fault on their side or mine, I did stand out of the way from traffic, but the lorries just needed to “eat” into that space to avoid other vehicles strewn all along the road. And in that sector, we just lost track of time – big mistake. And to add injury to insult, we managed to overlook the answers to the questions…Billy the goat came to mind and being bad means literally bad…

Overall, though I would say that it was a good hunt, I managed to crack one of the “masters” questions virtually on my own, although this is after much prodding from my team mates: why? why? why? is always the correct question to ask when you’re cracking a question in a treasure hunt, and having a very inquisitive person as a team member (and wife) helps as well. I was a bit disappointed not to have cracked another similar question that requires the same technique, so it was a mixed feeling overall in retrospect. Must brush up more on that.

In the end, we ended up in 12th placing, the same position we did last year, albeit this year with no masters team around. Yes, there are a few master hunters in this hunt just “hiding” within the regulars, but still I thought we can do better.

Now on to the next hunt!

p/s: hope to post some pictures of our hunt later on...

In The Land of The Turtles...

Yeps...still here...took extra leave to get my mind of work. Right after the grueling 9.5 hours Top Gear Treasure Hunt. I hope to post some pictures here soon just to share my experiences in the treasure hunt. How well did we do? Well, we ended up at the same position as last year's hunt, and this year there are no masters team...so, it has it's positive and negative sides of it. I wouldn't want to say much as I would like to concentrate on to the next hunt. (Just a nice way of hoping that no curse words will come out of my mouth! hahaha...)

Overall, we did have fun in the hunt, and we are continuing the fun in Terengganu...the land of the turtles!...which reminds me, haven't seen them turtles yet...

Pulau Ketam 2009 | Snapshots

Pulau Ketam 2009 | Snapshots, originally uploaded by W.K.Azlan.

Finally, I've managed to upload shots that I took during the photo outing to Pulau Ketam in July (!). Yeah, it took awhile...but I thought better late than never...do come visit my flickr to see pretty awesome pictures (well, in my humble opinion...ahaks!) that I took...

The return to Treasure Hunts - Lexis Nexis

It's been few and far between for my treasure hunt activities this year. As a team, we have been unable to be regularly involved in the hunting season this year, and I personally am going through a very hard time this year.

But as human, life goes on and we soldier on, and to get back on track (in treasure hunting sense), the Macam2 Adaaaa team will be joining the Lexis Nexis Treasure Hunt this Sunday. Yeay to us! Err...actually, the team did join an earlier hunt (KL Walk Hunt) but due to time limitation, I wasn't able to join in the fun (sorry, Mike!).

Anyways, today we went for the briefing for the Lexis Nexis hunt. And we did make the right choice to choose the LRT as the mode of transportation as it rained this evening. And when it rains, you know what happens to KL. Some of the teams got stuck in the traffic jam, and I saw Mike on our way out and according to him, he was stuck for an hour just to get to the place.

But for us we were happy we chose the LRT and add to that, we found out that Wisma Kraftangan was right beside the Masjid Jamek station, nuff said.

Here's what the t-shirt looks like:


Disclaimer: that's a XXL U.S. sized t-shirt, and yes...my wife is a bit on the small size side... ahaks, *winks*

As usual, tons of goodies were given with the briefing notes and hunting gear for each team, that's why I love TOS and the Lexis Nexis hunt...so many freebies...

The only thing left to do is to actually wake up for the hunt on Sunday, and hopefully we can answer the questions given.

Fingers crossed!

Being busy makes things easy...really?

Yea yea yea...I haven't updated my blog for a long time. I haven't been a regular blogger for quite some time. I haven't been "regular" in a lot of things lately. My treasure hunting activities is almost non existent. Haven't practiced my photography and editing for quite some time too. Haven't been to the gym for so long, I've put on weight...a lot of weight actually. Not a regular at most things lately.

Basically, it's my new job that's taking up my time. Not at a new place, the same work place but different tasks. Previously I was working shifts, now I'm on "normal" hours. I got my weekends back (yeay to me!). Unfortunately though it comes with lot of heavy workload. Basically what we do (me and the team) is servicing the customers. What was supposed to be "you guys just handle operations" now turns to a whole different ball game. Not only do we have to handle operations issues, we now handle commercial issues, finance, waivals, claims and whatever comes into our view. Jack of all trades, master of none...

I don't mind the challenge actually, I welcome challenges in my working life because it keeps me going. And I actually learn a lot of things as I go along doing my new tasks. What I have issues with is the fact that everyone seems to dump everything on us and washed their hands off it. That really rubs me the wrong way. In one instance, I even got a guy who giggled viciously as he dumped a job that was supposed to be his duty, with the passing remark of : "eh, u kan account champion for this customer kannnn...." eh eh, mat...sukanye hati kau...

I don't complain a lot at work, I would rather have my actions speak on behalf of me. I just put my head down, and do the job at hand. Whatever needs to be done, I will do, no matter how difficult it is. It's not about me, it's about the team, the company as a whole. I wouldn't want to be the weak link in the chain.

And hey, if you can work shift for years and years, you can do anything... :)

Back to reality...

Well, we're back in Malaysia after 4 days of holiday in Bali. Hopefully in several future posts, I'll update on where we went to around the island. It was a wonderful experience for me to just have some time off from a difficult and challenging year so far. And to do that with a person I'm in love with meant so much more. I wish we could spend more time together like this, and hopefully in the future we will.

Anyways, on the way back home, we met the doctor that gave us the flu jab before we went to Bali. He was on the same flight and was surprised that we remembered him. He had brought his young family for holiday and I think he felt the same way we did at the end of the holiday. He summed up things pretty accurately :"well, now it's back to reality..."

We're in Bali...!

Alhamdullilah...we made it to Bali,safe and sound... We're staying at Legian Village Hotel, one of the cheap hotels we found on the internet. Looks okay from the outside, and the live band is playing some decent music at the moment.

If you must know, we're still waiting to get to our rooms...25 minutes after we checked in...oh dear, another delay? Oh gosh, hurry up please...we're hungry and in need of food!

Leaving for Bali...

We're leaving for Bali for a lil bit of vacation. After almost a year of planning and waiting,we're finally going! Haha... As the flight is delayed, as expected (u can't expect much from AirAsia), I thought I might jot down a few things while waiting.
LCCT has improved a lot, I think Malaysia Airports has done a good job at sprucing up this low cost terminal. Despite the many people around, I don't feel cramped or crowded by them. There's a lot of duty free shops, so there's always something that will catch my wife's eyes...hahaha...
The only thing AirAsia needs to improve on their side, for now at least, are their flights' punctuality. The otherwise good service from seemingly endless friendly people on their team is being ruined by flight delays. I don't have experience in managing flights, but I do know enough that something should be done to reduce the delays, and customers do not appreciate time wasted waiting in the boarding lounge.
Otherwise, they might want to change their tagline to "every flight is delayed"...

A tribute to my Iron Lady

My mum was born and raised in a poor family. She used to sell vegetables at the roadside to help the family with some money. She lost her parents at an early age. Throughout her life, she has faced challenges upon challenges, but doesn’t seem to faze her at all. She struggled to bring us up as a family. Among us all, I believe she’s the strongest.

Throughout her life she made a lot of sacrifices; more so for her own family, and her children. And raising one of the naughtiest boy as her son, (that’s me by the way), really tested her resolve. There’s nothing mischievous left undone after I’m through with it, but Mak was always so patient with me.

In her career, she made sacrifices to follow my father’s footsteps around Malaysia, as he was posted to various jobs in the government. The last posting was in Sarawak, where Mak decided it best to follow my dad and look after my younger sister, resulting in her relinquishing a plush post in the ministry.

When she was diagnosed with cancer 7 years ago, she virtually took it in her stride, looking for treatments wherever possible, whenever available, and whatever the options. Modern medicine, herbal medication, you name it, she tried it. There was no stone left unturned.

In all of this, her mind is always focused on the family and not herself. Her determination to battle the cancer was not because she wants it for herself. She wants it so that she is well enough to take care of the family and my dad. She even took “time off” from her treatment a few years back, so that my dad could go ahead with his heart surgery. She pulled me aside this one day, and told me: “don’t tell Ayah, I want him to go for the surgery so that he can be healthy again…my cancer…well, it’s still there…”

Every single day, she would tell us to take care of each other, take care of the family, and take care of my dad. We are a close knit family, and she’s the glue that kept us together.

Her courage in the face of diversity is an inspiration to me in my own life. Despite all her health problems, she would always find the strength to give a piece of advice and encouragement daily to her naughtiest child. Her love, tenderness and warm spirit touched not only me, but others around her as well.

My mum…Mak…Datin Hajjah Kamariah Jalil passed away on 25th June 2009. After a long, brave battle against cancer, she is finally at peace, God bless her soul.

She is my Iron Lady…and I miss her…so very much…

It has been that long...hasn't it...?

I've finally logged into my blog...It has been quite some time since the last I updated anything on this pages...I would probably write more...soon, I just need to get my head and heart right first. I'll have something to update soon...if not later...

What a day Monday...

Well, there I was...stuck in KESAS, KM21.7E. The car overheated, and I had to stop to let the engine cool and call for help. Actually it's half of the story, for others it didn't seem that serious when I talked about it. I'll just let you know some of the things that happened:

I was coming off from midnight shift, which ended at 0800hrs, it was a tiring night actually. I attended a meeting at 0830hrs, which lasted till 1000hrs, and it was tough enough keeping myself awake in the meeting and focused on the matters discussed. As I reached the parking lot at 1030hrs, I called my wife to say that I'm going back. She asked me to have some breakfast first, to which I replied a resounding "no", thinking that it might be better to eat after I reach home. My reasoning is that on a full stomach, I might been even more sleepier than I was at the moment and it'll be even more dangerous to drive.

Off I went at about 1040hrs, hoping to find some grub before I hit the bed. During the 1st few minutes of the drive I noticed that the aircond wasn't cool, it got hotter by the minute, to which I thought to myself: "must send to the workshop again since they did ask me to check if the aircond is working properly or not"...

By the time I realize that it wasn't the aircond, the temperature gauge was showing the needle had reached the red-mark - cue squeezing in between 2 lorries to get to the road shoulders (!). Thank God the driver of the lorry behind me was driving slow and gave me enough room to squeeze in front of him.

Phew! Made it, switched off the engine just in time, and a quick check before I popped the hood ensured that there was no smoke coming out from the engine. In between calls to my wife and checking the engine, I noticed that the coolant had dried, there's a lot of coolant outside the bottle and on the engine, and worse shock of all was the hose that connects the radiator to the engine had came off - cue horror gasp (!)

I poured whatever water that I have in the car into the radiator and drove off, with the hope that I can reach the next gas station to top up the coolant. I barely made it before the temperature started rising again. By this time it was so hot I can feel my skin burning and I wished that I had something to eat before I drove. Anyways, upon reaching the car back I realized that I didn't remember to grab something off the shelf at the gas station to eat. Arrrgghh, to cross back to the station would be suicidal I thought, as the number of lorries and cars are rising by the minute. I decided to top up the coolant and water, re-check the hose again and drove off.

It wasn't that far when the temperature rose again, when I checked some of the coolant is leaking out of the hose, the hose is either defective or is not properly tighten. I think there was a couple more stop-start to my journey before I finally reached the KESAS SOS phone. After calling them, I decided to take a rest while waiting for the peronda to arrive. It didn't take long for them to arrive, about 15 minutes but the advise they gave was the same thing I did before: top up your water, stop if the temperature goes up and get to the nearest workshop. They helped with the hose, they tried to tighten the screws, but none of the tools in the car fit, and I wonder why they don't have tools of their own.

By this time I think the combination of the heat, the tiredness and the dehydration really got to me, I don't think I have the energy to ask for anymore advise or ask stupid annoying questions. Off I drove for a few more stop-start drives until I reached my house and just collapsed in exhaustion.

It'll take another week for the car to be repaired; after this I think I must do some mandi bunga for the car lah...aiyo, so many problems (and I do believe it's because of that stupid monkey!)

Ah...The 1st shift...

It's 4.30am Saturday.

Yes, you read that right. I'm at the port, on duty for the most hated shift of all : the 1st shift as it's known officially, the midnight shift as it's called by most people or the graveyard shift as it's known overseas. I call it the zombie shift sometimes, as that's how I feel during the shift - I'm not operating at my fullest capacity and I'm half asleep most of the time. Heh...

I don't have the luxury of sleeping in my own bed for the next 5 nights. Added to that, it's the weekends, so I don't get the chance to go out or spend much time with my wife or family since I would be unconscious when I get back home, knocked out from the energy-sapping shift.

During these next 5 working days, I'll be awake at night, and sleep during the day... Eh, sounds more like a vampire la...

fotoINSPIRASI: Summary

Well, I had a great time listening to the speakers. It's just an inspiring moment just listening to them sharing their experiences, and some tips and tricks of the trade. Here's some summary of what I got from the speakers.

Din Arshad (Advertising) - Communication and Direction
You want your shot? Talk to your subject. Even the most experienced models would not know what you think unless you tell them. Knowing what you want for your shot is one of the most important thing for a photographer. Heh... (note to self: talk more weih...)

Shamsarin Shamsudin (Photojournalism) - 5W and 1H
What, When, Where, Who, Why and How...know what is the story behind the pictures you're taking. And be prepared with all the necessary gears, even if it doesn't seem remotely important - e.g. between getting yourself or the camera wet, what would be your decision? Heh... (note to self: love thy camera, dude...)

Bustmamam Mokhtar (Fashion) : Lights!
Get your lights right, you want to show the beauty of your shots, you have to light up your subjects. Although some art directors like a shadow here and there, but lighting is the most important thing to get right before you click to take the picture. (note to self: read more on lights!)

Ikram Ismail (Wedding) : Get that moment
You have got to capture that moment. People spend thousands on the wedding, and it's a precious moment. Your job is to capture it and immortalize it forever. Do that right, and your clients will not be only be grateful to you, they don't mind paying you thousands as well! (kehkehkeh...) And when all else fails...go B&W! (note to self: practice, practice, practice)

fotoINSPIRASI: The End...

It's the end...the highest number of questions came in the session with Ikram Ismail,one of the top wedding photographers. I think it's the most anticipated session among the photographers,as some have done wedding photographies before. Getting tips from one of the best is priceless.

fotoINSPIRASI : Lights please...

Get your lights right...Bustamam Mokhtar went all out to show us what it takes to make it in fashion photography. Not only did he set up a mini studio up there on stage, we get to see him in action shooting a model...3 times. Just watching him set up everything and direct the shots was amazing...I was just blown away...and that's just a simple set up!

fotoINSPIRASI: Lunch...

Burp...good lunch, good company too. Shamshahrin Shamsudin presented his side of photography before lunch, one of the most intriguing for me, i.e. photojournalism. His experiences excites me even more and I think this is one branch of photography I would like to explore.

fotoINSPIRASI - Break!

Break time...queuing up for tea break. Din Arshad started things off. His pix are excellent...meleleh. He even had time to do a quickie photoshoot to show us how things are done...excellent! And the model is nice looking too...hehehe.

fotoINSPIRASI

I made it...! After weeks of waiting with anxious anticipation, i'm finally here at this event. My 2nd event with fototeacher and the biggest so far. I was supposed to have my "partner in crime" with me, but alas today i'm flying solo. First impressions? Lots of young kids...everyone calling me 'abang'..1 even mistook me for a facilitator...

eheh,i feel my age catching up...

Friday Prayers

One of the good things about working here is that there's a surau located at the tower block for us. With the surau certified by JAIS to hold Friday prayers, it's a blessing for the Muslim staff here. We used to drive to the pulau for Friday prayers, which is about 10mins away (the journey to and from takes up 20 minutes of your time...). Not an issue for the normal hours people, but for operations staff is another matter where time is of the essence. Now, it only takes a minute or 2 to reach the surau for Friday prayers. Not that much reason to ponteng anymore... Hehehe.

New uniforms

Finally...new uniforms. Fortunately, the new uniforms is the same design with the ones I have now. So in total I have 6 shirts which would be easier for me to change and wash it throughout the week. We even got 3 pants this time, as compared to 2 pants previously. The quality looks good too.

My only complaint? My full name emblazoned on the chest. Panjangnye nama...Heh...

The wait at the service centre

Finally managed to find time to send my brother's car for servicing. Actually calling the Santa Fe a car doesn't do it justice. The more correct term is SUV, sports utility vehicle. Drove it to port for this week, and had lots of fun with it. It's quite fast for a big vehicle; and other cars, even lorries move out of the way to stay clear from it. Hee...sekali sekala got respect from the lorries quite fun also. Heh.

I don't think I could afford one myself,though. Especially not at the current economic climate. The advise I got from most people is to live within my means. Watch what is being spent on, buy what I need, and less on what I want. So since I don't need an SUV...yet, I'm not buying one. But I do want to add to my collection of camera gears...hmm, must check my duit tabung then. Hehehe.

Back home in BP

Here's the street where my house is. Most of my neighbours are asleep at this time.Only a few of us keeps an odd hours working life, so it does get lonely when you don't get to see the neighbours around. I've to park a bit far away from the house this week; as you can see the road is fully occupied on both sides. Plus, I'm driving my brother's Santa Fe, while he tours Europe for 2 weeks, so there's no place left to park beside my house. The Santa Fe is the biggest car I've driven so far by the way, so it's quite a challenge judging the area around the parking spaces, heh...

Looking at the cars lining up the road, I don't think it can be squeezed inside there anymore, do you? Hehe...

The babies Chronicles:Aragorn & Gimly

A while back, I promised to post some pix of the new babies of Horny. There was a delay because:
1. I was still recovering from Shaggy's MIA that looking at another kitten's pix was torture.
2. One of the babies died, probably because one of the adult cats killed him.
3. Horny ran away with the 2 remaining babies,only to pop up behind the house.

After much thought, I decided to let them roam free at the back and give them food when they're hungry. The babies really like that small carpet...it's where they fall asleep when they're full (or as we always say:kenyang kebuntat!).

More to come...

Mobile blogging...

This is sent from my Sony Ericsson hp...I'm just giving this mobile blogging a try to see if this work.Didn't work at first with my other phone,though...ishk.Thinx would work better with a qwerty keypad handphone (yes,Linda...Ur phone has qwerty keypad).Since I don't have one, I'll make use of what i have lah.Hehe.Fingers crossed...

Weight Watch

I've been struggling with my weight for the last...hmmm, let me see now - I'm 33 this year, so it would be 13 years...yeps, been having weight issues for the past 13 years. Actually it's not my weight I'm worried about, it's just the flabs all over my body that's a wee bit disturbing to me. I just feel uncomfortable with the "spare tire" I'm carrying around my waist. Heh.

I've been generally a wee bit on the skinny side throughout my childhood, putting on a little bit of weight when I finished school but eventually losing it when I entered college. I'm skinny with not much muscle definition though, so people usually consider me a lightweight. When I went to UK for studies, the 1st year there I lost even more weight which alarmed my mother when she saw me during a visit. It's nothing serious, I just don't know how to cook actually. Heh. A diet of instant noodles would do that for you. Hah!

In the 2nd year, after some collection of recipes from my mum and a crash course in basic cooking from my brother, I managed to honed my cooking skills. Which basically involves throwing everything into the pan and fry it to perfection! Hehe. If I have people over, I would either cook spaghetti or roasted chicken (or chicken bake as my soon to be wife would call it). And as you guessed it, there's a lot of cheese involved in those spaghetti meals and a lot of meaty portions in them chicken bake. I ballooned to double my size in year 1, that when I landed back in Malaysia, my mum couldn't recognize me! Hehe.

Over the years, I've tried to lose weight, made a lot of resolutions; tried a lot of methods: jogging, lifting weights, kickboxing. My weight would yo-yo between these periods, sometimes I would lose weight only to put it on a few months later. I did however, manage to lose enough weight so that I could look good during my wedding. :-) Marriage has been blessed in a sense that my meals are taken care of by my wife (thanx ayang!) and for me, everything she cooked is delicious! So my weight again ballooned up to uncontrollable proportions. Shirts and pants kept on being too small for me, so I kept on buying bigger clothes. The last straw was the fact that I tore my favorite jeans because it couldn't handle my size and the punishment I meted out to the fabric.

I'm lucky in a sense that a gym was opened at the workplace by this time, and hence started my journey to lose weight and basically try to maintain a healthy looking body. It was a tough challenge. The most successful period so far was between August 2007 to March 2008. In March 2007, I weighed my heaviest (officially), which is 98kg (216pounds). I do believe that I've weighed significantly more than this, but this is the official weight recorded by the gym trainer. Throughout the time, I made a pact with myself that I would try to maintain my attendance to the gym, control what I eat and basically just live a healthy lifestyle. It wasn't easy though, nothing happened for the first few months. So, the trainer suggested lowering my rice intake, to lower my carbs intake. Within 2 months of doing that, while maintaining my gym attendance, I managed to lose 20kg (44pounds). My lowest recorded weight so far is 78kg (171pounds), which is still a few steps away from my ideal weight.

But I lost the rhythm, I'm not so sure why, but my schedule just went haywire mid 2008. What was supposed to be the next step to build a better body, became a "war" to just keep myself motivated to come to the gym. I've put on weight, lose it again, and put it back on throughout this time, up until now. I now weighed 85kg (187pounds) and have been maintaining that for the last few months. I must have hit a plateau, as the trainer predicted, and I have to find a way to keep myself motivated to come to the gym. I don't think my greatest challenge is coming to the gym, since it's located at my workplace and since I spent most of the time here, I'm sure I can drop by the gym anytime during weekdays. The greatest challenge so far has been to keep eating healthy food! And it's so hard to find those here (yeah, yeah...excuses, excuses) but I'm determined to find a way to eat healthy!

People wonder why I go to the gym regularly...it's not because I want to become a body builder, I just want a healthier lean body. And to feel comfortable with it, and not to be out of breath when climbing up the stairs (!). I feel uncomfortable with the flabbiness, and I need to burn it off. My target is not for everyone; as long as you feel comfortable with your body, there's nothing other people can say otherwise. I don't feel comfortable with my body, so I need to do something about it.

Let's hope for the best, and keep your fingers crossed!

Pekerjaan anda yang sepatutnya quiz

I took a funny quiz on facebook the other day...funny in a sense that within 8 questions, the quiz was supposed to give the answer to our dreams. "Pekerjaan anda yang sepatutnya" quiz gave me an even funnier answer: Pelakon (actor). I laughed out hard when it came out. But the description of why the result came out gave me room for thought:

Pelakon: Anda memang suka berlakon.Kawan kawan memang tak tahu watak sebenar anda kerana anda kerap berubah mengikut situasi.kadang kadang anda boleh ketawa tapi dalam masa yang sama menangis.

Roughly translated, it said "Actor: You like to act. Your friends do not know your actual/real character as you change with situations. Sometimes you laugh but at the same time you cry."

When I told my wife about the result, her reply was : "doesn't that sums you up perfectly, ayang?" I scratched my head at that reply...wasn't so sure I wanted to believe a simple quiz and vague answer. But looking back at the answer...yes, it does sum me up a bit. Not the actor part (!), just the parts where it said I change my character with the situations. And the part where it said I laugh but cry at the same time.

I've got a broad range of friends, from all sorts of different backgrounds, which sometimes astound people. I have friends which are polar opposites of each other, could never mix with each other but friends with me. There are times I'm the messenger or middle man between these polar opposites (!). It's hard to explain it, but I guess I'm used to adapt myself to different sorts of people and I am a very, very tolerant person. :-)

Yes, I do hide my feelings. What I am thinking, what's in my mind, my thoughts I put it out most of the time. But my feelings, I hide it underneath. There's no specific reasons, I've never thought about it so much, but my best guess is because of my upbringing. For me, I feel that even when I have problems, no matter how big or small, my problems are insignificant or trivial as compared to others. No matter how I feel, I believe that my feelings are not as important as the feelings of others, which I try very much not to hurt. I know I hurt people's feelings sometimes (I'm not perfect), but I give it a try...always.

And hence, the "mask"...the acting part. I believe people enjoy my company because I make them feel good, and that makes them happy. No matter how down or unhappy I am, I would give it my best to keep others happy. In a sense, I guess, there's that hope in me that when other people are happy, those happiness will rub on me and I could feel the happiness and lessen those negative feelings that I would have. Hey, it's like what they say about karma - what goes around, comes around. Or as they say about the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Cheerios!

Dugaan...

It hasn't been the best of times these past few weeks. Bad news keep cropping up every now and then. Let me just list some of it, so that I can at least lessen the burden in my head and heart by writing it down.

No.1 - My mum & cancer
FYI, my mum has been battling cancer for the past 6 years plus, going in and out of the hospital for as long as that time. Surgeries, biopsies, radiotherapy, chemotherapy etc...I've lost count of how many of these treatments she's gone through for all those years, there were so many (!). And don't start with the amount of medication that she's taking - every time she comes back from the hospital it seems as if she had just gone grocery shopping with the amount of plastic bags she brought back.

The 1st week of March, I brought her to the eye hospital after she complained that she can't see certain things at certain angle. The doctor said there's nothing wrong with the eye, and must have been something wrong with the nerves in her brain. I fear for the worse. She was scheduled to see the oncologist 2 weeks after that and she brought the eye doctor's report with her. They did a brain scan on her, and found some cancer cells at the base of her brain. Cue emergency radiotherapy on the brain.

After 5 rounds of the emergency treatment, she's now back home, to return for another scan in about 3 weeks time. She came back with bags of medication, of which there was some confusion as to what was to be taken when, because there were too many. On top of all that, for the past few months she lost most of her weight since she has little to no appetite. She weighs about 35kg now. That's less than half of my weight (!)

No.2 My wife & chicken pox
Yeps...you read that right. My wife contracted chicken pox a few days before my mum was admitted to hospital. She never had it before when she was a child, so it was only a matter of time that she's gonna get it. It just happened to be on the week my mum was hospitalized. My in laws who happened to be in Putrajaya that weekend decided to bring my wife back for treatment and recovery, which I am thankful. If she had stayed with me in Shah Alam, no one would be able to take care of her if I go to work. It's been almost 2 weeks that she's away from me.

I miss her. A whole lot.

No. 3 The Neo & the suicidal monkey
Okay...here's where it gets very frustrating...on my way to a photography assignment (my very first one)...I hit a monkey. With my wife's Neo. Adehs.

Here's the summary: I was on my way back from Melaka, after visiting my wife (there, up there...I told you kan she got chicken pox) and heading towards Cyberjaya. I took the Elite highway since it's the safest route I know. Safest meaning that's the junction I know I won't get lost. Heh. Anyways, after the Cyberjaya toll gate, as I was celebrating the fact that I'm still keeping a good time schedule that day, I saw a monkey jumping on the divider. As soon as I thought "hey, monkey!"...he jumped in front of the car. In a split second I swerved, narrowly missing the divider (I was driving on the right lane) and heard a loud thump in front of the car. As I looked in the rear view mirror, I saw the lifeless body of the monkey rolling along the road.

When I came down to check the car, the bumper was badly damaged (yes, Proton engineers take note: them bumpers ain't that strong - buck up your ideas). I can hear something leaking, but as I checked it was not the radiator and I suspected that it was the A/C. Figuring that I couldn't do anything about it until later in the day, I continued on my journey to my assignment, shaken but still managed to get a few shots.

And for those wondering how much the repair costs...let's just say I won't be adding to my camera gears' collection anytime soon.

Summary
Despite all that, I've managed to keep myself busy. Work is a pain in the ass, though. But photography is what's keeping me sane these days. At least I've got the chance to go to one of my first photography workshop. Short but fun. I hope I can go to more of these, it's not just the facilitator that's good, the other participants are not that bad too.

I've been shuttling myself between going to work and the workshop; visiting my mum in hospital and my wife in Melaka; house in Shah Alam and parents' house in PJ for the last week or so. It has been a busy week but a lonely one at that since I'm used to having my wife around with me. And I need her with me, now than ever.

My mum has always been strong. She's the strongest person I know, the strongest amongst us. The doctors are still amazed at how she is able to stave off the cancer for this long despite it's mutations and spread throughout her body. It has been a long and courageous battle, and only God knows how painful it is for her. It may have weaken her body, but not her spirit. At least, until now... As I was having dinner with her on Tuesday night, she turned to me, looked me in the eyes and said " I don't think I have 3 weeks..."

My heart sank.

Photoshoot: Putrajaya - Taman Botani

My very first photo shoot with a model! Well, not really a professional model, since this is her first time and have never modeled before. This is also the first time I went out with my friends for a model photo shoot, and the first time I have someone other than my wife to be the model. It was nerve wrecking since I have no idea what to do actually. Thank God we have someone to guide us, and he was very patient in showing us what to do.

One of the major things I learned was that the photographer has to know what he/she wants. i.e. settings, props, backgrounds, composition, and most importantly what type of poses. Well, you can't just have the model stand there like the Buckingham Palace guards, can you? It'll look like you're shooting a mannequin.

For props, I borrowed one of my boys' guitar...gitar kapok...as they called it, and which they reluctantly lend it to me. "Tak nak gitar elektrik ke, bang Wan? Gitar ni dah lama..." Yes, there were spider cobwebs on it (which is partly my fault since I forgot to clean it up a bit) and 2 very cute lil stickers on one end...hehe. The other prop, was (proud to say this) my red Kurnia Insurans umbrella. Well, they did only say: "bring a red umbrella!"...and that's the only red one I have...heh.

The model is Linda's (thanx Linda!) sister in law: Che Yu. She got into the groove of things pretty quickly despite the fact that she's never modeled before and basically is not familiar with the other photographers including myself (with the exception of Linda, obviously). It helps that she's patient with us struggling around (well, we did roll around on the ground to get some of the shots, which made her laugh). After a while, I too had Che Yu doing some poses that was in my head, which must have worked at some point...we did get the shots, yes? Jay Manuel - eat your heart out... :p

I love every minute of it, and I want to do more shoots. Practice, practice, practice.

These are some of my favorite pictures from the photo shoot:

Check out more in my flickr...

3rd Shift - 4th Day...

The slowest, felt the longest, but less stressful of the shift among the other shifts. The 3rd shift starts from 1600 hours (4pm) and ends at 0001 hours (midnight). I believe that I feel this is the longest shift because of the fact that I started the shift during daylight (when the sun is still up), and ends it in darkness (when night falls). It's just the mind playing tricks actually since it's still 8 hours shift that we're working in.

However, in truth we do spend longer hours than the stipulated 8 hour shift. There's still the take-over of duties that needs to be done. And we need to be ready for the work ahead of the start of the shift, so all the vital information needs to be handed over to the incoming shift. For most of the operation staff, we are here an hour before shift starts at the very least. Reason why is that after parking our vehicles outside the terminal, we have to take the shuttle bus into the terminal. As buses schedule go, no matter what the rectification to the timing they did, there's always a waiting time for the bus to come. It's a 5-10 minutes ride from the bus stop to the marshaling center, where all the operations staff get down. But the waiting time adds to this.

For the guys that work in the control tower, like me (!), we have to take another shuttle to go to the other end of the terminal. And hence, more waiting time. Due to the lesser amount of people travelling to the control tower, they've provided us with either a Toyota Hiace van or a lorry (lori ikan as i call it...heh). Going back is the same thing, in reverse. So there's a lot of waiting time for the travelling to and from the bus stops. And yeah, it's a big company but nothing we do here is that glamorous...hahaha...but the company is a vital part in the country's economy, so at least I know I'm doing my part to serve the country and it's economy, albeit with a private company.

One thing good about this shift (yes, there's always a positive thing here) is that within an hour plus of the start of the shift, most of the normal hours people which include the HOS, HOD and senior managers would be going back home. So less meetings, phone calls and emails from them for me to answer. Although for some of them that have Blackberry in hand, they still send emails about work from home. Talk about working hard, eh!

The thing I hate most about this shift is that I don't get to "see" my wife during the week. It's either she's asleep after I get back, or I'm too groggy to send her off to work when she wakes up at 6am. And she misses me a lot, because we love spending time together talking about random stuff, reading newspaper and just channel surfing on the t.v. when we're at home.

Arrrggghh...must change profession lah!

1st Shift : End of the week

As I write this, I'm preparing to go back home from office. As other "normal" people out there is only starting their day, my day is ending. For today at least, it's the end of a very long week - as this has been the 5 days of working midnight shift. Or as we call it here the 1st shift, but better known for other people as the graveyard shift.

This shift is one of the things I hate about working shifts (yes, there are some benefits - but let's talk about the negative first, I need to let out some pent-up aggression/frustration for a bit). During what is supposed to be the time when human beings sleep, I work and during the time when people work, I sleep. And despite telling my friends that trying to get some rest and sleep during the day is not the same as sleeping at night, majority of them do not understand.

During the 1st shift, personally I think we operate at about 50% of our normal capacity. At least I do. I just can't think straight most of the time. Most of what I do during this shift are automatic, meaning I operate at a subconscious (did I spell that right?) level, semi-conscious would be more exact...hahaha. Most of the things that we do are repeated, albeit on different days, times, different vessels, situations. All of this automatic things that I do comes from years of experience and training, and mostly because it's already ingrained in the back of my mind, hence the sub/semi conscious level of operating.

The usual challenge that all shift workers have to face during this is sleepiness. I'm glad actually that I work basically in the office - with a little bit of out-field work throw in here and there; because the most challenging job a person face during this time is operating an equipment. And yes, I'm working right smack in the middle of it, which is quite dangerous. And no, I don't tell either my parents or my wife about the dangers of working in a port. As far as my mum is concerned, I work safely in an office faraway from all those big equipments. I'll post some pictures later to give you an idea of where I work, if I can find where I put those pix...hahaha.

And no, we can't sleep during the shift. If we do, we would be given show-cause letter as it amounts to sleeping on duty. Those times you guys take a nap during lunch time? We don't have that, we have to stay awake no matter what. It's an even bigger challenge for the managers like myself, as I can't be caught sleeping - how am I going to manage the guys and show a good example, if I can't maintain my own discipline?

However, there are times when some guys do fall asleep, they just can't keep their eyes open. We have people falling asleep standing or sitting, even while doing work or talking to each other. So there are several poses that I found quite funny while managing my guys. One of it is dozing off in front of the computer while doing your work - one hand is on the keyboard, the other is on the mouse. From the back it looks like you're working, but in reality you're out! And you don't even realize you've dozed off until someone pokes you...hahaha...

I'm just rambling on at the end there, might as well stop here. Okay, until next time...Adios!

Hey, I'm back...!

It's been over a month since my last post, eh? Might as well put a few words in...otherwise all these inner thoughts will really make my head explode. A lot of things have been happening over the past 4 weeks:

1. Shaggy didn't turn up, so we said our goodbyes to the lil dude in our own way;

2. My wife went for treatment, and this has knock her off her feet for a few weeks...what treatment? Fertility - for those who don't know, we have been trying to have a baby of our own for the last 7 years. For those who still don't know yet - fertility treatment is biased, usually it's the women who has to go through all those poking, medication and injection. Usually the men have to sit down, wait and scratch our heads thinking of what we should do next. As for me, after seeking advice from the doctors; I have taken and am still taking some herbal, and some modern medication to help with the treatment - I just hate sitting around and doing nothing.

3. Treasure hunting activities on hold - unofficially, until at least my wife gets back on her feet. With her down, our treasure hunting team is 50% "injured" - I'm not sure what to do until I know what's what in the next week or so;

4. Shaggy's mum is prodcutive - we may have lost him, but gained 3 new lil kittens. I'll post some pix soon - I just have to figure out what to do with them, I've banned my wife from handling them so she watches them from far - but they are just too small to be left alone without supervision. For those who don't know, the mother is a "hot-babe" cat - always with a boyfriend around so she tends to leave the lil kittens alone. Adoi.

I'll be back. Hopefully soon.

Chronicles of Shaggy...M.I.A.

I wish I had some good news...and I've actually waited a few days just to be sure. But alas, no good news and I am sure. Shaggy's gone. The lil dude went out some time during Tuesday night, and never came back.

For my wife, it was heartbreaking. She loved the lil dude so much, she cried for days praying that he comes back, at the very least be safe and have food to eat out there. I could still feel the tears dropping on my arms as she wept for the lil dude. For me, I wished I hadn't made the decision to give him a chance to venture outside. He had so much fun running around that our house is too small for him. So, I decided to let him out once in awhile. On that fateful night he went out, and didn't come back.

My colleagues and staff had several theories when I told them this, the worse I won't mentioned but the most hopeful (but heartbreaking) is that someone found Shaggy so cute that they just could not resist to cat-nap him. If that is the case, my hope is that they will take care and love him as much as we do.

I've looked everywhere around the park and around the area at our neighbourhood, but there's no sign of him. My wife searched high and low for him as well, but the only thing we agreed on was that all the other known neighbourhood cats are around, but there's no Shaggy.

I like to write more on this, but I feel tears coming out from my eyes. He touched everyone's hearts with his antics, more so my wife who he likes to play around with. As for me, well...he'll always be that lil wet kitten who yelled at me when I was saving him from the brink of death...

Shaggy, we miss you...

At the movies - REC

My wife and I love the movies, ever since we knew each other - that's the main thing for us to do whenever we go out. "What's new at the movies?" would always be the question whenever we go out. Usually it'll be a Hollywood movie, with the action oriented movies the choice and only once or twice did we go and see a romantic/chick flick movie. My wife and I would always try to make a choice that we agree on, and most of the time since we have the same taste in movies, we would pick a movie we both agree on.

A few days back, however we went against the odds and went to catch the movie REC. Now, REC is a Spanish movie. Neither one of us (including DQ & Farid) knew Spanish, but I've read the reviews on the movie, which was generally positive and was curious about why the movie was a success that it is. For your information, REC was remade into a Hollywood movie titled Quarantine. Since we missed Quarantine, added to it the sense of curiosity and adventure (we've never seen a Spanish language movie), we went ahead and chose the movie.

Let me just clarify here, that I'm a fan of horror movies, but I'm scared to watch it alone. I would usually hide behind my wife whenever we see one (okay, not so manly...but I always assume that my wife is braver than me, hehe...), but could never get enough of being spooked by one. REC could become one of the best horror movies I've seen in my lifetime (some of the other good ones that still gives me the chills are Exorcist, Poltergeist and Ju-On, to name a few).

REC started very "innocently", the calm before the storm so to speak. The 1st 10-12 minutes of the movie is only the introduction of the characters: the reporter (Angela), the cameraman (Pablo), the firefighters, and the rest of the cast. The movie is shot "television" style, to portray the television show aspect that the reporter is presenting. With the shaky camera style in place, we also have a touch of realism in the movie.

When the sh*t hit the roof, at first it looks as if it's the usual normal zombie movie, people get infected - infected people bite people - people bitten become infected. All very "normal" of a horror movie, lots of screaming, lots of blood, lots of people shouting to each other - people get trapped & the survival instinct kicks in. All "normal" stuff. But there's a turning point which scared the pants off me. I'm not gonna reveal which part, because it still gives me the chills. You guys can check the movie itself, and I bet there's plenty of reviews out there already. But the way the creators of the movie kept the suspense at the highest level possible makes you want even more. Okay, I have to admit that I hid part of my face underneath my wife's pashmina (as i said: not so manly attribute of me...hahaha), but I just wanted more of it. In the end, we came out quite impressed that a Spanish movie is that good and we enjoyed it. Thank God for the properly presented subtitles, otherwise we wouldn't know how to interpret all those lines in Spanish. (Holla...Vamos...Rapido!...is still etched in my mind..heee).

Now I wish locally made movies can aspire to produce this type of movie (not just of horror genre, but others as well). At least reduce the number of slapstick comedies or sappy romance flick on show...can we have more quality, please?