Paperless

Strange But True

2011-10-13T10:49:00.001+08:00

I must share this experience with you guys.

Just yesterday, I lost my phone while paying for my breakfast at the restaurant pay-counter. I was very sure I put it on the counter right in front of me, on top of the book I was reading. A few guys were just queuing behind me. Without realizing it, someone took my phone while I was busy getting the change and put them into my wallet. As I go off from the counter, a few steps away, I realized my phone was gone. I turned to the cashier and inquired about my phone. She was blank and had no idea. The few guys behind me was gone. She asked the workers and waiters, none aware of it. I knew my phone was stolen. *panicking....

I was in dismay. I was heavily relied on the phone. Lot's of work info, appointments, schedule and others were saved in there. Loosing the phone was like loosing an assistant. Worst still, the phone was a gift from my wife only four months!!!

I called the phone from the office, just to check if it's still on. Normally, if the phone is stolen, the thief would turn the phone off. However, my phone got connected but no one answered. I tried another twenty times or so, it rang but no one picked up. I did the same at noon, and then in the afternoon. Still, no one answered. The thing is, why didn't the person shut the phone off?

This morning, I went to the same restaurant for breakfast. After my meal, I went to the counter to make payment. Then I asked the cashier (not the one I talked to yesterday) about my phone. Surprisingly, she said someone hand in a phone to the cashier yesterday noon, almost 4 hours after i left the restaurant. The person said that the phone was left on the table. By then, there was a change of work-shift and no one knew the morning incident. The cashier locked the phone in the drawer and passed it to the restaurant owner at night. And now, I got my phone back! I would not have got it if I didn't ask the cashier.

The thing is, why was my phone hand to the cashier 4 hours after the incident? Probably the thief was guilt driven? or his conscience was kicking? I have no idea, but I really thank God for this. Lesson learnt. Always put phone into pocket.

The moral of the story, there're still good people out there after all. The indonesian cashier didn't even give it a thought to keep the phone for herself. The person who 'claimed' to saw the phone left on the table pass it to the counter.

God, there're blessings in disguise, and i thank you :-D

Life Begins at Forty?

2011-08-02T19:44:00.002+08:00

Originally, the phrase 'Life Begins at Forty' gave meaning far different from what we comprehend now a days. Well, at least according to this website.

I turned 40 last November, and indeed, tremendous change happened in my life. I began to look at life differently. And just about a week ago, I look at things differently. Via a pair of glasses, that is :-D

But frankly, I was uncomfortable with them and had tried hard to get used to the 'through the glasses' vision. Like it or not, I need them. I find it hard to read nowadays. In my profession, I just can't run away from reading. I read tons of books, articles, journals, and of course, National Geographic Magazine. Reading was a pleasure until recently, when i eye sight begin to deteriorate. A single visit to the optometrist had resulted in getting this pair of glasses.

At least I still look good, even with the glasses. Kan? :-P
I love the humour of Kak Ja when she wrote this in my Facebook status:

bulong kakak tua
hinggap di jendela
ah josh sdh tua
matanya tambah dua..

I got to admit, I'm getting old. But, life begins at forty? I guess it's true. Great things happened when i reached 40. And being able to spend quality time with baby Justin and family at this age is really a blessing too.

Yah, life begins at forty. How many of you had joined this 'club' of forty? :-D

Clearing Up My Accumulated Annual Leaves

2011-06-09T13:53:00.000+08:00

Resignation of my current job requires me to give two month notice. It's kinda long, but it does not matter much to me. Over the years working here, I'd accumulated 54 days of annual leaves. Even if i take leave for the entire two months of resignation notice, it's only 42 days (Rugi tak ambik cuti sebelum ni :-P ). This also imply that I'm already on leave :-D

Though on leave, I'm not in a hurry to look for other job, just yet. Instead, I spent time on things that requires my attention and matters that I enjoy doing. Here're the list:

1. Spending quality time with Justin Boy.

I got the chance to spend more daytime with him and to join him in his daily activities. He explores the house from the moment he awake from his sleep, all the way to the moment he close his eyes as he goes to bed at night. He picked up new words everyday. Now he's under a stringent training program. The potty training :-P (Boy.... it's though to potty train him.)

2. Monitoring the renovation of our new house.
The renovation is due to complete this month. The built in cabinets and the kitchen furnishing is on the way. The water feature is also in the process of completion. Lots of checklist to be completed. But my wife and I are enjoying every single bit of it.

3. Completing the Banana Monograh.

My colleagues and I are in the final stage of completing the banana monograph that we're working on since February 2011. It's a tough job and rather mind exhausting. But we are enjoying the process. Each of us do our part, and we meet up every week to compile and to edit them together. We called ourselves the Banana group, and I'm certainly gonna miss the team members after this. Hopefully we'll have more collaborations in the future.

Beside the activities above, I also do shopping and a bit of cooking. Ahh........ I'm enjoying my life now. Can i be a house husband? :-P

A Decision That May Change My Life

2011-05-31T08:30:00.003+08:00

Though my life seems to be calm and happy, I didn't enjoy working at my current work place after an event that caused me to be in a period of silence last year. I'd promised myself to persevere and stay on until mid of this year, for the sake of my students.

After working in this place for the past 7 years, I'd learnt the value of true friendship and had seen the dark side of people hungry for power and fame. Along this journey, I'd gained many friends and had produced many students that had and still make me very proud. I called this a bitter-sweet journey.

Somehow, there's this strong urge within me to end this journey and move on to a new one. I listened to my inner voice, and prayed to God for guidance. Abraham showed his faith to God and in return He blessed him with a great nation. As I pray for guidance, God said 'have faith in me, just go, and I'll bless you'. With that, I made my decision to end this journey, and walk into a new one. Somehow, I felt calm and comforting as I make this decision even though my future is still uncertain. I think I'd made the right choice.

However, there're some responsibilities and tasks that are still pending. My colleagues and I are in the middle of writing a book. There're still lots of work to be done. I give myself another two months to complete the job.

Meanwhile, Justin Boy is fast growing up. He is more independent now, and would spend time doing things that he enjoy, all by himself. Justin has always been one of the factor that influence my decision making, especially pertaining to my future career.

It's final, I'm gonna hand in my resignation letter today, giving my institution a two-months notice before I leave. Where would I go? It's still an uncertainty.

The Walk Begins

2011-05-02T11:39:00.000+08:00

Two months ago, when Justin boy was 15 months old, prefers crawling then walking. Walking was a great challenge for him. Yet he found walking very fascinating.

And now, 17 months old, he roams the house, walking. Putting on his red backpack is his favourite :-D

Time really flies. Justin boy is learning new things (and practice them) everyday. With the stress at work, coming home to play with him is a good remedy.

Tongue

2011-02-27T13:02:00.000+08:00

Justin Boy is building up his vocabulary very fast. He learnt new words everyday. Recently, papa taught him the word 'tongue'.

Every time papa ask him, "Where's your tongue Justin Boy?", he'll happily stick out his tongue and do this

or this, touching his tongue with two fingers.

Then starts his activities with his tongue out, for as long as he can handle.

So far, the body parts that he can recognise, and understand, include 'head', 'face', 'forehead', 'fingers', 'hand', 'feet/foot', 'leg', 'ears', 'nose', 'mouth', 'eyes', 'thumbs', 'toes', 'tummy' to name a few.

His other vocabs include of that of animals, household utensils, name of books, annotations for all family members, and of course, the name of all his toys.

So, where's your tongue?? :-D

CNY 2011 in Kuching

2011-02-06T12:27:00.000+08:00

My family and I went back to my hometown Kuching for the Chinese New Year celebration. Grandpa and grandma was excited and in great joy to have their grandchildren back home. My second brother's two little girls and our Justin boy. The other grandchildren came back during Christmas and now in their paternal grandparents' home.

As always, Kuchingites like to have their CNY eve in style. Each family put up their very own firework display. I was told some family would spend more then RM30,000 for that single night. Gosh.... i wish they could spend them on needy people.

As for our family, we didn't spend a single cent on that. We chose to sit on nice lazy chairs in our front yard and enjoy the fireworks by the neighbours while sipping some nice tea :-D

And for grandma and grandpa, they're fully occupied by their grandchildren. Baby Justin was literally spoiled rotten by grandma and grandpa. Every single thing that he demanded was gladly fulfilled by grandma and grandpa.

I can foresee our CNY next year when baby Justin will be running around the house and in grandpa's orchard, grandma and grandpa will not have the energy to chase after him while papa and mama will have to do the job of keeping an eye on him.

I better take care of my health and keep fit. Justin need papa and mama in his growing up years.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone.

Yummy Chips

2011-01-31T18:24:00.000+08:00

CNY is just a few days ahead. My best friend dropped by my place two days ago, with a huge bag of arrowhead in his hand. "I got three kilos" he declared happily.

Talk about this arrowhead thingy, it's only available in Malaysia during Chinese New Year. It look like the bulb of the onion, the different is, it look like potato once the skin were peeled off. So the two of us starts our 'mission' of making arrowhead chips by slicing them into thin slices.

Heat the oil, then put the slices in. Fry until the chips are slightly brown.

Removed them from the boiling oil, let them cool down before storing them in a jar.

Ahhh... so yummilicious that I could eat the whole jar if no one stop me. :-D

The chip tasted much better then the potato chips. Really.

Now i have plenty of these chips for CNY.

Happy Chinese New Year everybody :-D

Our 6th Anniversary

2010-12-18T11:53:00.000+08:00

It's been six years. Six wonderful years. With all the ups and downs of a married couple, our relationship had grown stronger. And with God's blessing, He put a gem into our family, our baby Justin.

Years ago, our wedding anniversary was celebrated in style, just the two of us. Some how, baby Justin had changed our lifestyle. We're very contented with moderation nowaday. This year, our anniversary was celebrated at a cheap but yummy restaurant, the Little Penang at Alamanda, Putrajaya.

Our husband-and-wife relationship had grown to another level. We can read each other's mind by merely looking at each other's subtle body language. Cook for our partner his/her favourite dish is just another way of saying 'I love you deeply', beside the usual morning goodbye and evening goodnight kisses. Wedding anniversary is not just a-day-in-a-year celebration, it's a life time celebration since the moment we said 'I do' and pronounced as husband and wife.

Now I got two gems in my heart. My wife, a gem that God had prepared for me, to be the companion of my life, and baby Justin, a gem that God gave to us for the celebration of our love.

Happy anniversary, precious.

A Period of Silence

2010-11-20T13:28:00.002+08:00

My last entry was a month ago. I'd gone through a period of silence in this blog. The truth is, too many things happened within a month and I was completely drown in it.

Thing has turn bad to worse in my work place. It's not about workload, it's not about piles of paperwork and upcoming international event that I got involved in. Many of us are already acclimatized to tight schedules and heavy work load. It's the management and their unethical moves that had tarnished staff's respects toward them. Worst still, many staff had lost their desire to work there. Going to work is like dragging yourself to a place that you hate.

Imagine this:

You're forced to move, you were given many beautiful promises. You moved. No promises ever come true. We persevered. They don't even care.

Then they forced us to merge. No respect shown. Then forced us to move. No mover provided. No support of anything given. No humility shown. We got to get our own boxes, pack by ourself, moved the things all by ourself. Those who don't have the physical strength to carry things by themselves had hired mover, with their own pocket. Those people couldn't care less.

It has been a nightmare for many. I tried my best to stay positive, but failed. I seek refuge under God's arms but I just can't get over with myself. I prayed. I grudged and struggled through.

I was bitter at times, and grudged over what had happened. Somehow, God gave me this advice: 'Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good' (Romans 12:21). This verse stuck in my mind and God have repeatedly telling me this over and over again. I find it difficult to do good to them. Honestly, I hated this feeling. But God had assured me, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.." (Romans 8:28)

I shall persevere. I believe God is preparing something great for me. Amen.

See, light-light!

2010-10-24T15:33:00.002+08:00

Justin turned 11 months old yesterday and papa brought him to i-City. I'd heard so much about the place and had seen tons of photos of this place in FB friends' photo Album. I'd never set my foot on i-City even though i used to work so near to this place.

It's used to be free entry, but we were charged RM10 per car last night. No doubt, the i-City was filled with lights. Light-bulbed artificial trees and giant cactus in various colour were on display. It may seems beautiful but we spent only 15 minutes there. Here're the reasons:

1. To my dismay, the place was over-crowded with limited space to walk. Probably it's weekend.

2. The place was entirely unfriendly to people with baby on stroller, let alone elderly people with difficulties to climb up stairs. My mum-in-law had difficulties, ended up standing on one spot while we hurriedly snapped some photos. Justin's stroller was basically not usable. No ramps or slope, instead, lots of staircases and multi-leveled path.
3. The major attraction was not even properly paved. Un-even pebbles and mud instead of leveled pathways.

4. A small air-cond room filled with white lights was given the name as 'cold-room', with entrance fee RM2. Sucks.
5. Car-park was dusty. The dust raised in smoke as the car passed by.

Nevertheless, Justin was in awe with the lights. We managed to snap some family photos, thanks to our church friends Mr. Wan and family who went together with us.

If you were to ask me if I would go again, my answer is a straight NO, unless improvements are made.

My First Trial Using iMovie

2010-10-12T17:48:00.001+08:00

I'd been using Mac for years but never came into my mind to click the iMovie icon, let alone using the software to create movies of my own. Then one fine day, out of boredom (due to some work place matter, I lost my mood to work :-P) I clicked the icon. I was hooked.

It's kinda fun to create my own movie, really. Just drag the video clip into the box, click here and there, the movie is done.

Justin is growing up fast. Those were the nights when we got to wake up in the middle of the night to feed him every two hours. Now he's a big boy, playing his toys by his own. But that smile remain the same, as charming as ever.

Soon, he'll be running here and there, demanding every bit of your energy to be with him. As the ancient Chinese saying goes, “三岁定八十”, the first three years of a baby will shaped his personality for the entire life. We do always pray and hope that God will grant us more wisdom to raise him up as a gem to the society.

Justin's First Mid-autumn Festival

2010-09-23T10:23:00.000+08:00

It's Mid-autumn Festival (a.k.a Mooncake Festival) yesterday, and Justin turn 10 months old today. For the occasion, mama bought him an electric lantern, though he doesn't even know how to appreciate it.

We invited some close relatives and friends to our house for a dinner and enjoy the mooncake thereafter. Lanterns are compulsory in this festival. Kids love them.

Still unable to stand up on his own, Justin was seated on his baby chair. There he was, holding his lantern, and anticipated excitedly as the rest squatted around him lighting up the lanterns and the candles. Nampak macam Tauke. hehehehehehe

We hanged over two dozens of lanterns in our garden, and the children were excited. Justin loved the environment.

This photo shows Justin with his favourite auntie, Auntie Helen. He grabbed the lantern firmly but never even stare at his own lantern. Hahahahaha....

It's a memorable night.

Surprises Everyday

2010-09-11T13:11:00.001+08:00

Everyone love pleasant surprises, but nothing beat the surprises that Baby Justin gave to mama and papa. At only nine months old, he surprised mama by climbing up the staircase even before he know how to stand up straight. A week later, he started to clap hands, thanks to the educational video that he watch every now and then. And a few days later, of all the words that we taught him, he chose 'mum mum' to be his first words while we gave him his favourite biscuit.

The Raya holiday gave me chance to snap more picture of his 'daily life'. He gave me more surprises. While still struggling to walk and constantly demanding to be 'freed', he would roam around the house by himself, refuses anyone to carry him. He's constantly active. Then papa took him to the garden, and let him sit on the grass. To my surprises, he started to examine every little details of the grasses, leaves, and small creatures that came along his way.

Justin love gardens. I think he loves greenery like his papa. Everytime when he refuses to eat at the dining table, we would take him out to the garden and he would finish up the bowl of porridge in no time, grinning.

Today, he decided to scrawl under the dining table and chairs. I let him. Then I grabbed my camera, ready to get some shots of him crawling. Suddenly, he grabbed the grill of the window, stood up and started making sound..'oooo, oooooo..... ooooooo.....' Apparently there was a cat out side.

Suddenly, he grabbed the grill firmly, lift his right leg, wanting to climb up the window. Ooooooo NO, no time for photo snapping. I quickly got behind him and said 'Becareful Justin'. He grinned, stepped down and hugged me. That's another surprise. His feet are not strong enough to stand up by himself just yet.

Well, the holiday is spent entirely at home. But it's definitely a well spent one.

:-D

Half Naked at Icy Cold Waterfall!

2010-09-02T10:17:00.001+08:00

Well, I reckon the title would attract some attention. hahahaha....

One activity that was so memorable to me during my last visit to Kota Kinabalu recently was the day trip to Mahua Waterfall. The fact is, I haven't been to any waterfall nor mandi-manda at streams for ages. The last time was probably twenty years ago, during my varsity days. Thanks to Dr. Shah and Abg Yazid, my sweet memories of splashing and swimming at streams was rekindled.

The journey to this waterfall from KK took us approximately one and a half hours. But the one and a half hours drive was not boring at all, as we passed by many scenic views of the mountains and valleys, like this one.

Together with our blogger friend Wahaza Extra, and Dr. Shah's friend Iskandar, the drive was filled with laughters.

One was required to hike for about 30 minutes from the entrance (RM3 was charged per person per entry) of the area to this magnificent waterfall. No, the hike was not tiring at all, as the park was filled with wonders of God's creation. Huge trees, shady path, interestingly unique ferns, serene view.... ahh.... I would love to spend hours there again if i got the chance.

The fall was approximately 20m in height, and the water was ICY COLD! It's like taking a dip in a pool of water that had just retrieved from the fridge! I would say it's around 10 degree Celcius or lower. The roar of the waterfall was hypnotizing. I love the view.

Then we took off our shirts (err.... only two of us), and I put on my sexy and tiny triangular-shaped swimming trunk before dipping into the cold water. Ooooooo.......it was cold! We spent roughly 10 minutes in the pool before some starts to shiver.

The trip was memorable. Thanks to Dr. Shah's water-proof camera, we took tons of sexy photos. hahahahaha....

Justin and Compact Camera

2010-08-16T12:41:00.000+08:00

Since papa love photography, baby Justin might got interested too. So papa decided to put baby Justin into a simple test by giving him a compact camera.

Oh well, Justin seems to get more interested with the camera instead. His instinct tells him to put it into his mouth and taste it. Maybe it's too early. Shall test him again when he turned one. Hehehe....

Kasih Sayang

2010-08-14T19:49:00.002+08:00

I'd heard about this resort many times, and had seen the magnificent view of this place from Dr. Shah and Beruang Madu's blog. Didn't expect to set foot on this place during my visit to KK last week. To my delight, Dr. Shah and Beruang Madu decided to bring me there :-D

We were lucky, Mount Kinabalu was clearly visible from the entrance of the resort. Yeaayyy!

As expected, the view from the resort was breathtaking. The resort itself had so many thing to offer. Comfortable dining area with great view, cozy rooms to spend a night or two, spa facilities and sauna were also provided. Wow.

There's only one thought in my mind after I'd checked out all their facilities: A nice place for honeymoon!

Since it's late evening, we had our dinner there. It's necessary to highlight here that the meal portion is HUGE and sufficient to feed two stomach for a single order.

The sunset was beautiful and hypnotizing. The lights illuminate Kota Kinabalu city beautifully. Another WOW...

This resort is definite a good choice for relaxation and romantic stuff :-D

Fascinating Kota Kinabalu

2010-08-09T21:46:00.003+08:00

I went to Kota Kinabalu (KK) last year and spent three days there. Since KK got so much to offer, three days was not enough. This year, I extended it to four days. I stayed in Tang Dynasty Hotel for the first two days, working on day time, and stroll along KK waterfront at night (Awesome!) and two days at my dear friends Dr. Shah and Beruang Madu's place.

I spent two hours at the Water Front on the first evening and found it fascinating, and went there again on the next evening.

The view from the Water Front was breathtaking, and very relaxing. I could sit there for hours, meditating while breath in the ocean air. Observing the locals was fun. Naive children picking up 'treasures' on the beach. Cheerful boy sitting at the tip end of the boat while the father maneuver the boat. A stocky father embracing his sweet daughter while she touches her father's face. We just can't find those moments if we walk by hurriedly.

Strolling in the wet market behind the Philippine Market had made me realised that there're tons of new things yet to be registered in my mind. The seafood was excitingly cheap here.

"Dua ringgit! Dua ringgit! Dua ringgit!" the sellers chanted, informing the buyers that the fishes were only two ringgit per kilogram. Gossh.... if only they can offer such price in KL.

The fishes were all very fresh. The they were still in their vibrant colours. We can't get those in KL.

O, wait, this was something new to me. The spanner crab as the locals called them, were like the alien found in the movie. I was told their flesh's texture and taste were somewhat between that of the prawn and crab. But beware, the price could burst the veins of your heart.

Barbecued or grilled seafood were plentiful. Be reminded to ask for the price before you take them. Barbecued chicken wings were tasty! I had four as appetizer before I went for my sumptuous dinner :-P

Goshhh!!! They got wild durians!! The flesh were vibrant red or striking orange. I used to have them when i was very, very, very young. Hard to find them now a days. The red flesh one tasted bitter, while the orange one tasted rather sweet. Both with pungent smell.

Best of all, i met my long-time-ago's lab mate Miss Evenni. We last met in 1996. We had dinner at one of the famous tourist-infested restaurant while mesmerizing the good old days when we were, errr, young :-P

Yah, KK is fascinating.

Coming up, exciting activities at the outskirts of KK and nearby.

Angry Again >:-(

2010-08-07T10:07:00.005+08:00

After the short trip to KB, i flew across the South China Sea to my next destination, Kota Kinabalu.

I strolled along the KK waterfront one evening, and was excited to find a local night market bursting with activities. Lots of interesting stuff on display. My excitement dampened when i saw these shells on display for sale.

To my relieve, there're only two stalls selling these shells. It's the appetite of human for destruction that hurts me deeply. Removing these shells from their natural habitat means that other creatures heavily depend on these shells will be unable to survive. This will disturb the ecosystem in the long run. As more people harvest these shells to meet the appetite of those buying these as their home decor, the destruction to the ecosystem continues.

Even small broken shells from the beach should not be removed from their natural habitat as they're a part of the ecosystem that enable the habitat to remain stable and sustainable.

Yes, i was angry seeing these shells for sale. Thought it's beautiful and may look good in my living room, I detest those proudly display them in their home without the sense of guilt (hehehe... a bit over).

So, stop buying these shell, and stop collecting shells from the beach. That's the least you can do to save our earth. Are you with me?

Update: I was told that there're plenty of such stalls in Gaya Street & Philippine market. Aiyooooo............

Angry >:(

2010-08-04T16:40:00.005+08:00

My trip to Kota Bahru last weekend was fun, until I saw these when I strolled inside Pasar Siti Khadijah to buy some souvenirs.

It just got into my nerve to see this people happily selling of the eggs of near-extinct turtles. Reports by our locally known expert Prof. Chan can be found here "Extinction Threat" The WWF Malaysia also reported such threat here "Turtles" My observation shows that there were as many as 6 stalls selling turtle eggs, each with a basin full, or two. Gosshhh.....

I can tolerate many things, but this was just too much for me to bear. As a conservationist and a nature lover, I want my son Justin to enjoy the nature as much as I do now. Unfortunately, with such inhumane practice, and the disgusting appetite of those who want to purchase and consume these eggs, I'm afraid baby Justin will not be able to enjoy such pleasure when he grow up.

Arrrgggghhhhh!!!!! YES, I AM STILL ANGRY!

Poor Blue-blue :-P

2010-07-12T12:16:00.004+08:00

Last week was a devastating week for papa and mama. Justin fall sick for the first time. As if coughing was not severe enough, Justin was also down with severe flu and high fever.

The most heart-breaking moment came when I was about to go to work at 6.45am, and there he was, crying his lung out in mama's arm, with mucus flowing from his nostrils and interrupted with phlegmy coughs. Haiyooo..... I cried.

But with lots of prayer from friends and tender loving care from mama and Auntie Yolly (maid), he got better in a few days. The paediatrician had to prescribe him with antibiotics due to throat infection. The fever had only lasted for two days. Thank God.

Now that he's recovering (still with cough and flu), he's getting active again. We put him in his walker, and he played with his Blue-blue.

*Poor Blue-blue kena campak dua kali. :-P

Note: Thousand thanks to those who cared and prayed for Justin's speedy recovery. You know who you are.

New Office.... Hmm.....

2010-06-22T12:29:00.005+08:00

Finally, our office had shifted to a new location, far from home. The new office may look nicer, but frankly, it does not make me happier.

Somehow, things had changed. Even the attitude of some of my colleagues had changed. Some had turned to be overly selfish while some took the advantage to sneak away during office hour. This very project of shifting the office had successfully pushed certain people to manifest their true ugly colours. The unity of the staff was compromised.

With such stresses at work, and the long-hour driving, the exhaustion at the end of each working day was immense. Luckily, there's something so special that would cheer me up when I reach home. The gesture of excitements and the angelic smile that baby Justin gave me as i reach home were the best anti-stress and anti-exhaustion treatments.

At seven months old, Justin is constantly active and everything excites him. He'd started to roll over when he turned six months old. Within two weeks, he started to crawl. And now, he spent hours exploring the house by himself, with close supervision from mama of course.

Spending hours talking to him and playing with him is what i enjoyed most. However, he sleeps at 9.30pm. That would have left me one hour to spend with him daily. That's not enough for me, and not fare for him.

I'm currently looking for job else where. Though i had a few offers, they're not to my liking. Yes, I do know that my students will be in despair and that's the only thing that had been holding me from leaving my current job. However, i had made up my decision. I'll leave this place as soon as I get a better offer.

Serenity in Kimchiland

2010-06-06T16:36:00.004+08:00

Some must be wondering why i didn't update my blog as frequent as before. The fact is, I was pretty down and stressed out for the past month. The pressures and the stresses at my work place hiked up unnoticed. Lets put it this way, you're forced to shift to a new house without your consent, and the new house is far from completion with incomplete facilities. To add salt to the wound, your opinion, concerns and expertise were never taken into consideration. You were treated like a bunch of factory operators even though you've got a PhD degree and generating new knowledges for the next generation. That's how we felt. Sucks.

I had this plan months ago, to go visit the Kimchiland ~ Korea with my church members. It so happen that this trip comes in during the height of my stress. I guess God is listening to my prayers :-D

In Kimchiland, we had been served with kimchi in every meal we had. On top of that, the food were yummy!

Two of my favourites are the hotpot, and barbecue beef.

But the main purpose of going there was not to jalan-jalan cari makan but to experience the evangelism explosion in Korea and to witness how the Korean hold to their faith in times of difficulty. We stayed in Bupyeong Methodist Church with 5 star accomodation.

It was during the stay here that i found serenity in life. We woke up at 4.30am and attended their morning prayer meeting, accompanied by hundreds of other local christians. Our days was filled with various lectures, sharing, testimonies, fellowship and visits to other churches. The best moment came when we visited this well-known Prayer Mountain in Seoul. We got ourselves a small room, and i spent hours of quiet moment in that tiny enclosure.

Now, back to 'reality', I'm ready to heed the challenges ahead. Cause I'm energized now :-D

Justin and The Pooh

2010-05-10T17:54:00.004+08:00

Some update about Justin. He's 5 1/2 months old now. Still active as ever but sometimes refuse to drink milk and don't want to sleep. We really need experienced mum to give advice on this.

Justin learnt how to flip over at the age of 4 1/2 months. Since then, a small mattress is insufficient for him to crawl around. We bought him a queen size latex rubber mattress topper. Wife bought some fabrics and made him the topper cover.

Now the Pooh will keep him company when mum and dad are working :-D

Yeaaayyy..... he'd even posed like the Pooh. hehehe

One thing we noticed about Justin's eyes. He seems to have crossed eyes since birth. We were very concerned and worried that it might be strabismus. The pediatrician we'd consulted said it's perfectly normal for newborn to have crossed eyes as they're not good in focusing yet. However, it's already 5 months. I'd searched through the internet and most said that if babies' eyes are still crossed at the age of 4 months old, they should consult the pediatric ophthalmologist for further treatment. Still, some friends said that their children had the same problem but the crossed eyes were gone when they reach the age of 1 year old. Hm.... who to believe?

Anyway, Justin remain cheerful and playful. Those smiles and cute laughters always melt our heart. If you're an experienced mum or an experienced nanny, or had come across baby problem below, please share your thoughts with us:
1. Baby refuses to drink milk.
2. Baby refuses to sleep.
3. Crossed eyes syndrome.
Ah Josh and wife need your advices :-D

Enjoy Tea After a Sumptuous Dinner

2010-05-03T15:07:00.004+08:00

I had dinner with a bunch of great friends recently. Budlee suggested to try out this restaurant in Kajang. Po' Sen was the name. Situated in a quiet neighborhood, we find this place quite nice and cosy.

I can't remember when was the last time i had great dinner with fellow blogger friends. I can't find time to spend with friends in such manner after baby Justin's birth. Somehow, i got the chance to be 'bujang sementara' recently and i too the chance to meet up with these friends.

Abg Bear, me, Hairie, Budlee and Arel.

Abg Bear suggested to chill out at my place after the dinner. All agreed.

I was honoured, and was more then happy to serve them the finest tea available in my house. Knowing that they dislike bitter or 'payau' tea, I served them flower tea instead. And they all took turn to enjoy the massage on the massage chair, while others enjoying their tea.

I like it this way, spending time with friends in a quiet and peaceful environment. :-D

Perhaps i should organise a pot-luck dinner on my 'bujang sementara' chance. hehehehe

Note: 'Bujang sementara' refers to me staying home alone while wife went oversea for work and baby Justin with the maid were sent to my brother-in-law's place for a few days.

Steamed Stuffed Bitter Gourd

2010-04-25T12:33:00.004+08:00

I got this sudden crave for a special dish of my mum. I immediately went off to buy the ingredients for the dish ~ Steamed Stuffed Bitter Gourd.

Firstly, i cut the bitter gourd transversely into segments about 2 cm thick. The seeds were dug out and cleansed properly.

To some, the bitter gourd might be a bit too bitter. To reduce the bitterness, just pop them into boiling water and allow to boil until the gourd turned soft. If one preferred it to be more bitter, this step can be omitted. I love the bitter taste but my wife and mother-in-law were otherwise.

At the mean time, prepare the stuff. Mince the meat of your preference, and add in some carrots, water chest nuts (or sengkuang), spring onion, a bit of corn flour and an egg. Add in some salt for taste too.

Mix the ingredient well and stuff them into the hallow of the segments. At the mean time, bring the water to boil.

Steam the bitter gourd for about 10 mintues, then pour in eggs beaten together with water at the ratio of 1:1.

Steam another 3 minutes and tadaaaa..........

Yummy.......

Suddenly i miss my mum and dad. Got to call them, after finishing the bitter gourd :-P

Junction ~ the dilemma

2010-04-19T13:32:00.008+08:00

I knew it. Sooner or later this thing will come again. It happened two years ago and was not materialized. February this year, the wave came again, wanting our office to be moved to a far-away-land. To our dismay, three months had passed, yet not much had been done by 'them'. The future of our office is yet to be certain. Thus, i'm getting nearer to the Junction of dilemma.

Today, traveling to work takes up two hours of my day. If the shifting is certain, commuting from home to office will take 2 and a half hours. Five hours out of my 24 hours will be spent on the road. I leave my office around 7.00pm almost everyday, due to the tons of work waiting to be completed. If i were to work at the new place, I might reach home after 9pm. Definitely not the kind of life i wanted to have.

Shift my home nearer to workplace? Out of the story. If i were to choose between family and work, family is definitely my priority. Period.

Leave this workplace and find a greener pasture? Possible. In fact, i had received some offers. However, my heart is still with my current workplace. I love my colleagues. I love my students.

Somehow i'll have to make my choice, for my future, and the future of my family.

Oh God, grant me a heart with humility and the wisdom to make the right choice. Amen.

Apple and Laughter

2010-04-09T11:44:00.003+08:00

With inconsistency in bowel movements, the pediatrician advised us to feed baby Justin some fruits. She suggested red apples. We cut the apple into half, and scrapped the fruit flesh with a teaspoon. We feed him two to three teaspoons a day for a start. Baby Justin loved it.

That was two weeks ago. Now, baby Justin enjoyed half an apple a day. He's healthier now, and very cheerful. A very happy boy he is.

Ever since he turned 4 months old, he refused to lie down on his crib most of the time. Instead, he demanded to to seated or to be carried upright. But since he's still too young to sit up-right for too long, we put him on the seat instead. He would use his best 'weapon' to attract your attention. Not screams, not cries, not noises either, but his sweetest charming smile. Even grandma (my mother-in-law) couldn't resist to spend some time with him.

We constantly look up to God our heavenly Father with prayers of thanksgiving. Indeed Justin is the best gift He had given us so far. The constant attention demanded and the interrupted sleeps at night mean nothing when compared to the joy of having this gem in our life.

More challenges of baby up-bringing coming up. We do pray for wisdom and strength from Him. Justin, papa and mama love you.

Playful Justin

2010-03-31T16:29:00.007+08:00

Justin turn 4 months old on 23 March. Being a cheerful and happy boy, he would charm you to play with him. In return, he would give you the world most radiant smile and sweetest baby laughters. Without fail, mummy would play with him every day after his morning shower and milk feeding.

Beside being playful, he's rather 'talkative' too. He would coo and make noises when we talk to him. However, he got this habit that most baby have. Sucking hands, fingers, and any object that come close to his mouth.

Even Blue-blue the doggy also fall victim into his sucking habit. Aiyoooooo

Being cheerful and happy is obviously inherited from his parents, tapi tang sucking hands to comes natural takyah ajar. Kan?

Fengsui??

2010-03-21T11:22:00.002+08:00

I sent my car for some washing and vacuuming recently. Nothing much to do while waiting, so i walked around the centre.

This fish net thingy caught my attention. The owner hanged it high on the wall, with the little opening of the net facing the main entrance.

I got curious. Cantik kerj?? Close examination of the net reveals that it's actually a common fish catching device used by kampung folks. The fish would enter from the small opening and got caught inside.

"For fengsui ah Tauke??"

"Ya maaa, money come in, cannot go out!"

Aaah.....it's confirmed now. It's fengsui. But i wonder if such fengsui work if the owner is not a diligent person?

Honey Laling's Wedding Banquet

2010-03-15T11:39:00.005+08:00

Our dear friend Honey Laling got married recently and we were invited to an extravagant wedding banquet at a famous Japanese Restaurant at One World Hotel, the Kura Restaurant.

Name of guests were specifically labelled with two ferrero Rochers as appetizer. :-D

Actually, the japanese restaurant was not designed for banquet. It contain various private rooms with different decoration. They'd never done any wedding banquet and would not do any in the future, but since the manager is the bride's brother, they'd loosen up their stringent regulations. Though the wedding couple were worried about the space and the in-availability of hall, the dinner turned out to be very nice and extra-ordinary.

The newly wed couple made their grand entrance with simplicity. Nicely done.

The guests were all excited with great anticipation. All seated anxiously to wait for the surprises. After all, no one had held wedding banquet under such setting before. Judging from the facial expressions and radiant smiles of all who'd turned up, i guess the dinner was excellent and memorable.

To my delight, a few of my favourites were served in the dinner. The unagi sushi and sushi with avocado toppings were so yummilicious that I had 6 pieces in a go!

I was told that this plate of sushi was not cheap. I checked the price on the menu outside, it was a shocking RM68. Gasps...

The special chawanmushi was so delicious that I wish they would serve two helpings per person. The price was RM20 per cup. Gasps again..... no wonder they serve one cup only :-P

The cold mini soba was one of the best i'd ever had. Beautifully done with smooth soba cooked to perfection. Yummy.....

Aahhhh..... this was what I'd waited for the whole night! Their famous stuffed strawberry ice-cream with green tea ice-cream. Yoooooooooooooooooo!! so slurpy yummy super duper delicious that i'd actually asked for a second helping, and they responded to my request with smile. Yeaaay.

The dinner was definitely memorable. The food was super delicious, the decor was fun and mood lifting, and the entire wedding banquet was full with surprises.

Happy and blessed wedding to Honey Laling and her Darling. May God bless you both abundantly and your family fill with joy and grace.

Chit-chatting with Justin

2010-03-08T15:50:00.003+08:00

I have always looking forward to weekends, especially Saturday. It's the only day that i can allow myself to goleking in bed until 8.30 or 9.00am. The rest of the days requires me to wake up by 6.45am.

Anyway, it's not the goleking that i look forward to on Saturdays. Rather it's the only time i can lazying on the bed with Justin and wife. You see, Justin is always in good mood in the morning after a good night rest. He would respond to our speeches with various sounds as if we're chit-chatting. Lets watch the video below:

Well, it's priceless. I enjoyed every single moment of it. That's the joy of fatherhood.

Justin is Three Months Old

2010-03-02T15:20:00.004+08:00

Time flies, Justin is three months old now. He'd grown much, from 2.95kg during birth, to 6.5kg. From 2 oz of milk per feeding, to 4.5 oz.

And to my delight, he starts to laugh out loud every time we play with him.

Awwww....... that laughter is the best 'cure' for the immense amount of pressure and stress I'm having for now. :-D

Something Different About This CNY

2010-02-21T11:57:00.002+08:00

With a blink of the eyes, CNY for 2010 was already over.

We had our usual family re-union dinner, with the usual 'lou-sang' and family get together.

The CNY eve midnight fireworks was as noisy and colourful as usual. The whole family stayed awake till midnight and watched the splendor of our neighbours' firework display without paying a single cent, as usual.

Relatives and friends came and visited us and we counter visit them as any other previous CNY. Updates and gossips were exchanged.

The activities were like any other CNY, filled with colour, joy and get-together. But there's something different about this CNY. Nothing big, nothing extravagant, but Dad and Mum can tell alright. It's the presence of Justin in the family. Our family was filled with Justin's laughter, Justin's cooing, and also his mid-night cry.

Dad was grinning from ear to ear all the time, having his grandchild in his arm almost the whole day (Great, now Justin demands us to carry him every single moment in between his two hours sleep).

Mum was excited too, to see her two-and-a-half months old grandchild able to coo and responded to her voice. Again, Justin was either at grandpa's arm or grandma's. He's a gem to them. Justin is not the only grandchild in the family, but mum and dad was extra happy to have Justin, after waiting for 5 years on our marriage.

To Justin's dad. It's another different story. It's about Angpow. :-P
My wife and I used to give away angpow on every CNY. This year, we received (or rather it's Justin) angpow, lots of them.... One hundred... two hundred.... three.... four...... seven.... eight..... and still going up (another 8 days to go before CNY ends)...

Yah, it's different now. Justin's presence changed our life, and our family's too. But it's a very much welcomed change.

Aaaauuuuuwwwww............

2010-02-11T11:23:00.002+08:00

I sang a song to Justin one early morning. To my amazement, he responded rather amusingly, hitting the right note at the right time.

Good morning, good morning, good morning to you,
Good morning, good morning, good morning to you.

"Aaauuuuuuwwwww......."

Now THAT is PRICELESS. That auuww drew smiles on my face for days, and even now. :-D

Bigger, Bigger!

2010-02-03T18:21:00.005+08:00

I'd shifted to a bigger room recently. Yah, it's nice to have a bigger room, but somehow it doesn't matter much to me. I still love my much smaller room, where i can grab whatever documents i need by simply extending my hands, without leaving my seat :-D

The bigger the room, the bigger the responsibilities that comes along. I'd been loaded with piles of managerial work. I don't mind doing those works, but because of that i got to let go things that i enjoy much: lecturing, communicating with people, swabbing ideas with students, indulge in research, etc....

My work had taken too much of my time, really. With wife and baby Justin at home, sometimes i felt sorry for them. I reach home around 8pm almost everyday. Hm... I'm grunting again :-P . Perhaps this is yet another training for me, to prepare me for greater challenges. It's about time for me to pick up some management books and start reading them. Perhaps it's also time for me to be more disciplined and take good care of my health, so that i can be more alert, more focus and more enthuse with my work.

Well, at least now that I got baby Justin as my another source of strength, I'll try my best, for our future.

Justin, papa loves you so much.

Silver Penny From Uncle Dan

2010-01-31T11:40:00.003+08:00

Justin received this mail from UK two weeks ago. It's a special card with a Silver Penny inside.

The silver penny was enclosed in a cute bag, placed inside the card. Uncle Dan wants Justin to be a healthy and happy baby boy.

Indeed Justin is a happy boy. He would smile sweetly when we talked to him, or stroke him gently.

Dah letih Justin tunggu. Bila Uncle Dan nak balik tengok Justin nih?

Traditional Remedy for Baby Rashes

2010-01-22T18:35:00.003+08:00

Justin got rashes on and off ever since he was born. The rashes were especially obvious around his neck and his back. Being new in parenthood, relatives and friends gave us many opinion and advices. I find it particularly interesting to use herbs as remedy.

I got no idea what species is this plant, but it's a common herb among kampung folks. The fruits of this herb look like lantern. I remember playing with this plant while i was very young.

Beside this plant, some even suggest to use bitter gourd plant. Just dry them under the sun so that we can keep them. When we want to use it, just boil them in water for about half an hour. Wait until the extract to cool down, then use it to bath the baby.

Indeed it was quite effective. The rashes were gone in a day or two. As the rashes re-occur, just bath the baby with the extract again. Interesting isn't it?

Thanks to my mother-in-law, we got all sort of traditional knowledge on parenting.

Meeting, workshop, meeting, workshop....

2010-01-07T22:51:00.004+08:00

I'd just came back from a workshop at Genting. Nothing fancy about the stay, it's Seri Malaysia at Gotong Jaya... sigh... (hehehe). The three days two night workshop had flooded my brain with too many things. What follows will be night mares for me: more paper work, more documentation, more administrative work.....

This is the view i got when i open my hotel room's window.

Nothing much to show during the workshop. Fifty odd people were 'imprisoned' in a seminar room to crack their head and hopefully, squeeze some juice out from their brain. So, lets see some jalan-jalan pics instead. Actually, we didn't really have much free time. We had a couple of hours of free time and we took the chance to leave our foot prints on top of the hill. We spent an hour there. Here's a shot with Puan F, in front of a merry-go-round.

I 'merajuk'ed as we got to wait for the cable car, 15 minutes standing. hahahahahaha....

I was reluctant to attend the workshop in the beginning. My wife can't seems to be able to cope with the house work and taking care of Justin all by herself. Luckily mother-in-law came and stay with us. Still, i felt sorry for being unable to be there when she need extra helping hands. I miss Justin too.

Back to my work, the fact is, doing admin work is never my preference. I love research and teaching instead. The promotion 6 months ago had changed my career path tremendously. I'm contemplating to resign from the post.

Lullaby to Justin

2009-12-28T17:28:00.004+08:00

I sang 'Silent Night' to Justin on the night of Christmas Eve. I had to sing for almost 30 minutes to help him gain the sleepy mood.

It's not easy to be parents. Lots of sacrifices needed. Sleepless nights are common. Changing yuckifying daipers are routine. But my wife and I are enjoying every single second of it! :-D

Justin's Full Moon

2009-12-24T12:08:00.006+08:00

Time flies. Justin is one month old already. To the Chinese, it's customary for the parents to held a full moon get together for relatives and friends. Or at least give away some goodies (red eggs, traditional chinese kueh, cakes or roasted chicken) to relatives and friends.

I was advised to cut Justin's hair (a bit) just as many other daddy do during full moon. It was kinda difficult so we waited until he's fast asleep.

We didn't have the time to send the goodies from house to house, so we had organised a Full Moon Thanksgiving on 20th December at church instead.

We were overwhelmed with joy when more then 180 guests turned up that night. Indeed there were so many things worth thanksgiving. God is gracious and kind.

Justin was quietly sleeping in mummy's arms throughout the service. It was his first 'out door' trip.

A simple dinner was served after the service. We were truly thankful for our friends, relatives and church members' supports.

Mum flew in from Kuching just for the occasion. And mum was in great joy to see her grandson. And baby Justin slept soundly after the service as mum sang him lullaby.

Over the pass month, relatives and friends came over for a visit and had a glimpse of Justin. Each visit had added up the gifts that had occupied much of our small house's space. Thanks for the gifts my friends.

Hmm.... what am i gonna do with those gifts??

Justin Sunbathing, Naked

2009-12-07T22:16:00.004+08:00

Baby Justin was jaundiced on the forth day of his birth. Jaundice is a common yellow discolouration among newborn, due to the newborn liver's inability to break down bilirubin fast enough. More info about jaundice for newborn can be found here.

Some simple treatments can be done by parents. Among the treatments are encouraging the baby to drink more (so that the bilirubin level in the body can be reduced via urination) or sunbath them. So, we stripped him naked, put on my chest, and let him enjoy the morning (8~10am) sunbath beside the window for roughly about 10 minutes. :-D

The fact is, Justin's prolonged jaundice worries us. But after thorough readings, only to find that breastfed babies tend to take longer time to subside. However, as a precaution, we took him to the pediatrician for some check up (including blood test). We prayed to God, hopefully nothing serious.

Other then jaundice, Justin is growing healthily. Older generation strongly recommends that we should protect Justin's hand with glove. But after reading some informative articles, experts were actually recommending not to wear them too frequent to allow the baby's hand to develop the sense of touch faster. Indeed, it works. Justin learnt how to grab within a week. He'd even tried to explore with his hands by touching, grabbing or even swinging actively. That brought smiles to our face. :-D

Our life had changed. Everything is about our son Justin for now. May God give us strength and wisdom to bring him up to become a healthy and fine gentleman.

The Best Birthday Present Ever!

2009-11-26T21:28:00.007+08:00

My wife felt the labour pain on 22nd Nov night. We thought it's just a normal contraction. We went to the gynae to do simple check. The gynae adviced my wife to be warded for observation. Since the due date is still another three weeks to go, we didn't even suspect anything and 'checked in' together. We stayed in a suite with a patient bed and a queen size guest bed (for me! hehehe). The nurse checked my wife's pelvic opening, it was merely 1cm. For delivery, the opening need to be around 8 to 9cm.

At 5.00am of 23rd Nov, the nurse came and checked the pelvic opening again. It's 4cm. Huh?? Panicked, we eagerly asked the nurse whether the baby was ready for delivery. The nurse replied matter-of-factly, "Yes, in another few hours". Aiyooo.... lagi la panic.

At 7.00am... opening expended to 8cm. Aiyoooo.... so fast one! My wife was immediately moved to labour room for delivery. At 8.00am, the contraction was very frequent and intensed. It's TIME!!!

At 8.33am... Our baby boy was born.

I was at the labour room with my wife, and had witnessed the greatest pain a human could ever bear! But because of the women instinct and motherly love, my wife braved through the pain rather courageously (that's why women are great). At one hand, I was trying to comfort her by holding her hand, and on the other hand, trying to snap photos of the whole process of delivery... I can't hold my tears of joy the moment the baby was pulled out from my wife's womb. I cried...

Holding his tiny hand while the nurse cleaning up the baby, I praised God with thanksgiving. The joy was overwhelming, I cried again, and again... and again.

Coincidently, there were another 5 babies were born within that 24 hours. The specialist centre was so MERIAH with babies.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Justin, our beloved baby boy.

My birthday is only another couple of days to go, and Justin has been the best birthday present for me, ever. With that, I wanna thanks my wife. I love you so much, honey.

We didn't expect to have normal delivery. Due to my wife's age, and other factors, we were told to get ready for Ceaserian (operation) by early December. Instead, God listened to our prayer and allow my wife to give birth normally. The labour pain was very intensed, yet short. We spent another night at the ward before discharged the next day.

Our baby Justin gave us a beautiful smile when we arrived home.

We'd truly witnessed God grace and love. Thus giving our baby the name "Great grace" in Chinese. And as for the English name, it's Justin, a person with justness.

Thanks and praises be to our God.

Anytime From Now

2009-11-22T13:56:00.004+08:00

The anxiety is mounting.... Years of prayer, nine months of waiting... The time has come. Anytime from now, my wife will give birth to our baby.

But....

But......

Because of my busy schedule and lack of time, I'd neglected something...
I'd abandoned my garden. It's in a mess now. Didn't do weeding for almost a month. Pruning was rare, and even the fertilizing was infrequent.

Hm..... I need a gardener. Anyone??

Like Spring Winded Too Tightly

2009-11-11T10:37:00.002+08:00

My work has been piling up for the past couple of months. My expansion of responsibilities seems to be never ending. I used to spend time at the gym after work. But that was already passed. I can't afford to go to gym nowadays. Leaving home at 7am every morning and reaching home at 8pm every evening had left me three hours to spend at home with my wife. Minus the time for shower, clean-up, and preparation for the next day, quality time with wife was narrowed down to about one hour.

I'd been wondering, is this healthy?

My wife will give birth to our first baby in a month. By then, I'll have to allocate time to our prince. I'd failed to be a good husband by not spending enough time with my wife, will i be a good father then?

Should I change my job? If so, it's only to prove that I've got poor time management and that I'm not fit enough to take such small challenge. Should I resign from my post and be an ordinary staff? If so, it's seems to be rather difficult as many would disagree. Hmmm........ I guess seeking God's guidance is the only way for now God had been so gracious to me, allowed me to experience various ups and downs just to strengthen me. I believes that another wave is coming....

Like a spring winded too tightly, if the tension and pressure were not to be remedied, I might break.

"Knock, and the door will be open unto you. Seek, and you'll find." That's God's promise. I shall be strong. :-D

P/s: No I'm not sad nor disheartened. I'm still strong. Don't speculate ya :-D.

What Plant is This??

2009-10-27T15:46:00.003+08:00

Two weeks ago, my neighbour Uncle Lee gave me this pot of 'medicinal' plant.

Knowing that I'm interested with medicinal plants, he told me that this plant is good to treat cancer. I got excited so I asked him more questions, like, "which part of the plant is good for cancer treatment?", " what's the name of the plant?", "They boil it or eat it raw?" and more.. Too bad, he can answer none of the above.

So kawan-kawan, sila tunjuk ajar. What plant is this??

Three Nieces

2009-10-17T21:41:00.004+08:00

By now I'm sure most of you readers who frequent my blog would know that I used to spend time with my 3 nieces. I got more nieces actually, but they're too far away: Three in Singapore, two in Labuan and one in Kuching. Hmm..... boys are rare in my family.

We had dinner together recently, minus their parents :-P

The youngest, Miss R. Used to be very quiet but getting more and more out spoken ever since she started going to child care centre.

The second sister, Miss H. Used to be very chicky and hyperactive but getting more and more 'decent' now a day :-D

And the eldest, Miss A. Used to be an ugly duckling (just joking, hehehe) but getting prettier and prettier now.

The youngest and the eldest got some similarities. Just look at this pic. U can spot them day-dreaming almost everyday, everywhere. Hahahaha..

When talked about our baby, we asked them whether they want a baby boy or a baby girl. They answered 'GIRRRLLL' in unison and i gave them a raise-one-eye-brow look sort of like telling them "Are u kidding? i had enough with u girls, i need a break" hahahaha.... just kidding.

Will take them to a nice dinner and a movie next week. Yah, I love them very much.

Kura Restaurant @ One World Hotel

2009-10-09T22:12:00.005+08:00

Our friend Honey Larling invited us to a Japanese restaurant for dinner recently. Nah, it's too expensive for her to belanja us, we go Dutch :-D

Kura Restaurant is located within the One World Hotel next to One Utama shopping Complex. For Japanese food lover, this is a must-try restaurant for you! I was told that almost all of their food are imported directly from Japan, and their executive chef is also 'imported' from Japan.

I would like to high light a few 'Must-try' dishes:
1. Yam balls in special miso sauce, garnished with thinly shredded fish. The yam balls were soft and yummy.

2. Fried prawn sushi with avocado slices as topping, and garnished with ebiko (my favourite). It's so fragrant and creamy that you would definitely tempted to go for second helping!

3. They claimed that the garlic rice is their hot seller. Indeed it was very true, the fried rice was so fragrant and surprisingly non-greasy.

4. Their ice-cream!!! The display of this dessert was so captivating. We spent 5 minutes just gazing at the beautiful arrangement and 'sayang' to dig in. hehehe..

The strawberry ice-cream was definitely one if it's kind! the whole strawberry was frozen. Once we take a bite... behold.....

The stawberries were stuffed with smooth, creamy and delicious ice-cream!!! It was so delicious!! very, very delicious!!

Thanks to Honey Larling for introducing us to this place. We had a great time and enjoyed the food very much.

And we were honoured to be able to meet up with their Executive Chef Mr. Hideaki. A very down-to-earth and friendly Japanese chap.

The setting was very unique too. The manager of the restaurant Mr. Jack Lau was kind enough to show us around. Apparently, I was told that the counter was the favourite place for regulars and distinguished guests, as they were able to interact with the Chef while enjoying their food.

This room caught my attention. The floor was basically made of glass and we can see the lovely pebbles beneath them.

To our surprise, the price was very affordable!! Of course, with the 'help' of Honey Larling, the manager and the Chef charged cheap. That's because the manager is Honey Larling's brother. hehehehehe

But then, the price of the food were very reasonble. Was amazed to see dishes at the price of RM12, RM16 and so on in such unique restaurant. Where can u find such prices?? However, certain dishes are expensive simply because the materials were exotic. One point i got to high light: If you intend to fix your budget, say RM50 per person, you can always inform the manager before hand, telling him that you got 6 person dining with budget of RM50, and he and the executive chef will design a meal to suit to your budget. You don't even have to look at the menu, just sit tight, and enjoy the surprises.

You can always call the manager Mr. Jack Lau to make a booking. Go ahead, try this restaurant!

Raya @ Office

2009-10-04T11:40:00.006+08:00

An Aidilfitri celebration was held at office last week. This annual event is the only time for the ladies to showcase their best Malays attire in office, and great food for the guys (ye ke?). While for me, the only day of the year that you can see me in Baju Melayu.

The day began with preparations by the Jamuan team.

Then kita semua makan dulu sebelum tetamu sampai. Some prefers to fill themselves with food to the brim.

While the guys playing with their toys.

And of course, it was these gediking girls that the guys were busying with their cameras.

Erm... more gediking girls. Penyeri majlis orang kata.

While others, concentrating of what they do best. Eat, and pose for the camera.

And the gossip girls got into their gossip mode.

Then the guests came. Salam-bersalaman with warm and radiant smile.

The guests enjoying their food. Lots up news were exchanged.

Lastly, the rare species of the office gathered for this memorable shot. Out of forty plus staff, these are all the guys we got.

This year, my Baju Melayu attire is complete. Got songkok. :-P

Selamat Hari Raya kawan-kawan.

Perut Membesar

2009-09-30T17:57:00.007+08:00

With all the makan-makan events during raya holiday, one would definitely look at his/her own tummy at the end of the day and thought, "Gosh... it's getting bigger".

And what follows would be series of rather useless or unnecessary solutions:
1. Kena kurang makan lah (still, raya-ing from house to house and gulped in tons of lemang, rendang or even lontong).
2. Nak gi gym lah (still, takde masa, ada kawan jemput gi raya kat rumah).
3. Jaga diet lah, kurangkan yang berlemak (as if u can resist those wonderful greasy and fattening cookings).

For your info, I lost 2 kg over the month of Ramadhan. Kalo Josh kata diet masa bulan puasa, dietlah maksudnya. But then, my wife was the other way round. She gulped in tons of food. In the end she gained weight and her waist increased double to her previous measurement. See, i can't beat the size of my wife's belly.

But the thing is, I'm sooooooooo happy she'd gained weight. And I'm sooooooooooooo happy to see her getting bigger :-D

She's 7 months pregnant. Yah, I did something to her. hahahahaha. Our baby is normal and growing healthily albeit the worries and sleepless nights in the beginning. Reaching and beyond 40s, our age is no longer young. The chances of having abnormalities is high. But God is graceful, our baby is gaining weight according to the normal curve. Frequent checkups confirming that the baby is healthy.

I'll be officially a daddy by the end of the year, if everything goes smoothly. We want to give thanks to our fellow Christian brothers and sisters for their constant supports and prayers. Most of all, We give all the thanks and praises to our God.

I'm a happy man. Grinning with radiant smile.

Raya Breakaway

2009-09-28T22:03:00.006+08:00

Last week's raya holiday had gave my wife and I a chance to have a much needed breakaway to a cool and quiet place in Malaysia: The Fraser's Hill. To avoid the noisy crowd, we'd chosen this exclusive place: The Ye Olde Smokehouse.

The weather was beautiful. The air was fresh and cool. The colonial structures of the smokehouse had elevated our mood to relax. Upon arrival, we were served with the best scone and afternoon tea we'd ever had.

Many visitors (not in-house guests) travelled to this place just to enjoy their famous afternoon tea and home-made freshly baked scone.

Not only that the exterior (and the garden) was beautiful, their in-door decor was also captivating. The old English style decor had made the place cosy and relaxing.

Lots of sofa for the guests to relax, either to just sip some coffee or just to enjoy reading books at your leasure.

We stayed in a suite. The Room was huge, furnished with canopy bed, two single sofas, a fire place, a basket of fresh fruits, and a writing table. Of course, the attached bathroom was equipped with hot water supply and a bath tub.

The view from our room's window was spectacular!

Though it was a short two days one night stay, this trip was good enough to energize us. The quiet and peaceful moment we'd had was worth all the money spent.

I'll definitely be back here again whenever I need to be energized.

Sekinchan Trip

2009-09-24T17:29:00.006+08:00

Making use of the last Raya holiday, my wife and I had decided to bring my mother-in-law to Sekinchan to meet up with her younger sister. MIL is recovering well after her operation on her left hip. Since knowing that a few of our friends were also interested to join us, we called them up and went there with three cars.

Actually, there's a long story behind the meeting up of my MIL and her younger sister. They were adopted by two different families and were brought up separately. After years of searching, they managed to get united last year. Since then, we tried our best to keep in touch and let them meet up as frequent as possible.

Though visiting the relatives was our main objective, a trip to Sekinchan won't be complete without trying their fresh, cheap and delicious seafood (that's the exact reason our friends got interested to join us). Here're some highlights of the food:
Steam hot-and-sour fish with charcoal. The unique feature of this dish was the heating method. Unlike many restaurants using dry fuel now a day, they used charcoal. That had added aroma to the dish!!

The spicy mantis prawn with petal. YUMMY!!!! The prawn was lightly battered, fried to golden brown and stir fried again with thai sause and petal. VERY APPETIZING!

This one was the children's favourite: Mantis prawn with salted egg yolk. The prawn was very crispy and the aroma of the salted egg was just inviting! The children (of my friends) had their great time.

Sekinchan is uniquely known for it's dual-core activities: Paddy planting and fisheries. The sight of the green paddy field was awesome. In about three months, the field will turn to golden brown, ready for harvest. Perhaps I should come here again.

We thought of going to the wharf to purchase some freshly caught seafood, but was told that the fishermen were having their raya holiday too. Most of the fishermen are Chinese but they celebrate the festive season together with their muslim counterparts.

The trip was fun and the food was so nice and cheap there!!

Footnote: I was down with sinus in the afternoon of the trip, thanks to some incense and joss tick burning... spoilt my mood. Aiyooo.....

Expensive Supplement

2009-09-16T17:35:00.004+08:00

My sinus problem got worse two months ago and the ENT specialist said i might have to go through an operation to remove some tissue. That simple procedure would cost me a fortune, RM8,000 to be exact.

Since many friends and relative keep on advising me to take Cordyceps sinensis (which I try not to because of it's shocking price), I thought I might as well spent some money on this instead of spending it on an operation.

Its name in Chinese 'dong chong xia cao' (冬虫夏草) means "winter worm, summer grass". For the western world, they're known as Caterpillar Fungus.

Basically, it's the root of a kind of shrub, where the caterpillar burrow inside the root and feeds on it. The Cordyceps or the fungus attacked on the caterpillar and mummified the caterpillar within the root.

The 'dong chong xia cao' are rather small in size, ranging from 1 to 2 cm normally. But behold, that little box my wife bought costed us RM800! aiyoooooo..... very the expensive one.

My wife would boil them with some ginseng and serve them as a cup of drink, very expensive cup of drink! Ever since i started taking this supplement, the frequency of the occurrence of my sinus problem seems to drop. A good sign.

For those that are no familiar with the Cordyceps sinensis, you can read more here.

Hypertension!!

2009-09-09T12:18:00.002+08:00

Eversince I was given a new position two months ago, my daily routine changed tremendously.

meeting, meeting, meeting,
discussions, discussions, discussions,
monitoring, monitoring, monitorin,
supervising, supervising, supervising,
meeting, meeting, meeting,

erm.. still meeting, meeting, meeting.

Oh God, grant me wisdom and strength.

One Boomed, Another One To Go

2009-09-04T08:53:00.004+08:00

These two Mak Buyungs used to do 'Mesyuarat Pintu' right at my office door. These photos were taken two weeks ago.

Puan Tod-tod boomed last week and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Without her around for a month, the office gonna be a bit quiet.

While Puan Lala on the right, is currently on leave, waiting to boom anytime.

One boomed, another one to go. Then the cycle continue. On the other hand, I thought mine would boom at the end of the year but the puasa month had forced me to go on diet. Dah kempis pun perut, tak jadilah boom.

Foot note: Aisey..... kempis laaa wallet nak beli hadiah untuk baby.

International Greasy Rice

2009-08-27T17:51:00.006+08:00

This event happened quite some time back, before the month of Ramadhan. A few bachelors and a married man went to New Village (Kampung Baru) in Kuala Lumpur in search of International Greasy Rice (Nasi lemak antarabangsa). They considered lucky because they went there quite early and the crowd was not that heavy.

These two guys Arel and Hairie were late, because someone wanted to balik mandi wangi-wangi before meeting us. :-D

Since Yaz had just shifted to KL and had been quite lonely (ye ker?), we decided to bring him out for dinner.

While having our nasi lemak dinner, we exchanged updates. We had chosen this place to be our meeting point as someone among us mengidam (craving) for the nasi lemak. Kaaaan Danial?

The nasi lemak was rather expensive. A scoop of coconut milk rice with a chunk of rendang, some ikan bilis and sambals may cost u RM8 easily. I chose sambal sotong instead. They charged me RM8.50. Right after we're done with our nasi lemak, Hairie gave us a treat by buying us grilled sweet corn. Believe me, it's ssoooooooo yummy!!
Yaz makan macam harimau, mengaum dia makan.

Budlee makan sambil jeling-jeling.

Errr.... Wawa in his usual wacky style, taught us a better way to eat jagung. Angkat-jilat-genggam kuat-gigit. The jilating thingy was actually to lick off the sweet juices which would eventually flow onto our hand if we didn't lick it.

The gathering was short but fun. I don't know about the ladies, but for guys, having a hearty meal with friends is one of the best way to spend time together. Not so much of gossiping like the ladies (psssst, but lot's of hu-ha).

Kota Kinabalu (Part 2) - Sweat, sweat, sweat!

2009-08-21T09:30:00.008+08:00

Managed to set foot on two cultural places in Kota Kinabalu during my short stay. KK is rather hot during this dry season. Visiting these two places really requires good toleration of heat. To counter to the problem, one should visit these places either early in the morning or late afternoon. However, the fun and excitements were way surplus the hot weather.

Cultural Experience (1) ~ Kampung Warisan (Heritage Village)

This fascinating cultural village is only two stone-throws away from Dr. Shah's place. RM2 per entrance. The place is beautiful and I love the lily pond very much!

Houses of various ethnics are on display here. Many of them are very similar to those of Iban longhouse and others found in Sarawak.

We particularly love this house, the Murut Longhouse. Lots of handicraft were on sales in the longhouse. And behold, a huge wooden 'trampoline' was found within the longhouse. The 'trampoline' was made of wooden planks joint together and placed on top of three very long tree trunks serve as spring.

One would have to jump on the board and try to touch the decor above. Hairie tried, can't reach. Saya yang lagi rendah lagi lah tak dapat cecah. Instead, I gedik for the camera. hahahaha.

Some of the handicrafts were made on the spot. They're so beautiful, i bought a few.

The Sabah Muzium and the Heritage Village were situated side-by-side. But since we ran out of time, I resolved to snap a shot in front of the Muzium entrance, just to 'prove' that I was there :-P

Cultural Experience (2) ~ Monsopiad Cultural Village

Monsopiad is the name of a famous warrior and head hunter of the Kadazandusun tribe. This cultural village housed a spacious performance stage, a few huts with artifacts and crafts, the House of The Skulls, and some fun traditional games. First of all, we were welcomed with various traditional dances performed by the in-house troop.

Abg bear was invited on-stage to perform the sumpit blowing.

While Hairie and I volunteered to try the bamboo dance. It was FUN!!!

And we got the privilege to take photos with the performers. I love this photo very much!

We moved on to the House of the Skulls. Creepy.

The guide lead us to a play ground and showed us various traditional games. Dr. Shah and I tried walking on stilts. FAILED. (ooops).

Abg Bear tried his 'lastik' skill. Not bad!

Everyone tried the sumpit. Again, I was proven unskilful. Gaya je ada.

Oooo... this one is interesting. Sago worm race! The two sago worms were actually racing, swirling through the spaces between the nails. Abg Bear was gelified. hahahhaa.

Finally, we crossed the river via this suspension bridge. Kinda fun as it sway left to right as we walked across.

More info about this cultural village is available in their official website.

From this cultural village we headed straight to the airport so that i can catch my flight at 6.00pm. Tired and sweaty, i was praying hard that the person seated beside me during the flight would not complain or be disgusted. Both slept soundly throughout the flight. I guess I wasn't smelly..... or too smelly until they fainted??

Kota Kinabalu (Part 1) - Eat, eat, eat!

2009-08-18T11:10:00.006+08:00

After spending a night at Keningau, I travelled to Kota Kinabalu the next day. My stay in Kota Kinabalu was short too, 26 hours to be exact. But the short stay was packed with various activities. To start with, FOOD!

Makan-makan 1: Afternoon snacks ~ Lokan Panggang
The stall was just situated by the roadside. Nothing fancy about the stall. No clear signage or what so ever and one would easily missed it. But behold, interesting (and yummy) food awaits. The lokan panggang. The kakak grilled the fresh lokans until the shell split open. Then she removed the upper shell and continued grilling.

I don't know about the rest, but i was anxious and eager to taste the much-talked-about lokan panggang. While waiting, we ordered young coconut drinks. The BBQed coconut drink was specifically fragrant.

Generous amount of chili paste (sambal) was garnished on top of the grilled lokans and tadaaaaaaaaa.....

Slurps, i would love to have more. Just a reminder if you wanna taste this seafood, do choose the medium or smaller size as the bigger ones were a bit tough.

Makan-makan 2: Heavy Dinner ~ Gayang Seafood Restaurant
Right after having lokan panggang, we headed to Gayang Seafood Restaurant for dinner. It's situated at the estuary of a river.

Kononnya dah kenyang dan tanak order banyak-banyak, tapi sekali order..... Mak Aiiii.......we ordered eight dishes in all. Here's the list: Steam prawn with chili sauce, stir-fried pucuk manis, crispy fried chicken, fu-yong egg, ginger onion scallops, mixed seasonal vegetables, steam fish nonya style, and spicy crabs.

This dish was my favourite, the ginger onion scallops. So tender and sweet!!

Two local friends joined in a bit later: Mail and Jiji (if I got their name correctly).

Boy, the dinner was heavy. We headed to Dr. Shah and Beruang Madu's apartment and had some rest before ronggenging to a karaoke nearby for some lalaking activity.

We sang, err.. they sang and i listened till 2am. Pengsan terus bila sampai rumah.

Makan-makan 3: Breakfast ~ local noodles
My local friend cum ex-church member Mr. Lau called early in the morning. i dragged myself up at 7.15am and went for a sumptuous breakfast with him. We ordered TomYam Kung KK style: they added some curry into the tomyam. Tasted unique and very appetizing.

The Tuaran noodle, only known for the local Chinese, were hand made, boiled, decanted and mixed with fragrant sauce. Yummy!

Oh yah, I joined Dr. Shah, Hairie and his mum and Arnabgumuk for another round of breakfast, nasi lemak.

Buurrrps...

P/S. Too much of makan-makan, so the reduce the accumulated fat, more fun activities in my next entry ~ sweat sweat sweat!

Keningau and Satay Buntut Ayam

2009-08-14T09:51:00.005+08:00

From Tenom I travelled to Keningau, another small town in the inland of Sabah. On the way to Keningau, the taxi driver brought me to this place:

The Murut Cultural Center of Tenom is situated just by the roadside of Tenom-Keningau road. The place was huge and the architecture of the building was magnificent! With all the pillars made from single tree trunks, one can imagine how difficult the construction can be and finding enough huge and straight tree trunks to be used as pillars.

Sadly, due to low number of visitors, the artifacts and displays of the center had been reduced to minimal and the buildings were basically way under-utilised. I was the only visitor at the centre that morning, yet they welcomed me with gong beating and traditional musics. After spending an hour there, we continued our journey to Keningau. First stop: Keningau Restaurant, for lunch.

It's just like any other nasi campur restaurant with vast choices of dishes to choose from. I was compelled to taste these two vegetables:
The petai. Not as any petai but sprouted petai. Interestingly, the owner said its the way the local take the petai. The petai will have to be sprouted for about a week before cooking them into various dishes. Erm... i think it's a bit to chewy but still love the taste.

And the pucuk labu. Can be found in Cameron Highland but it's kinda common here. Nice too, sweet.

Keningau is just like Kajang but a bit smaller. I stayed at the tallest hotel, which is also the tallest building in town. Standing at 11 storeys, the Hotel Juta was clearly visible from any direction.

I was lucky to have stayed there as the night food stalls were just beside the hotel. At 5.30pm, as the sky was just about to turn dark (Keningau is completely dark at around 7pm), i strolled through the place and found a few irresistible food.

Beside beef noodles, bakso, and some local delicacies, I favoured this stall: the BBQ stall.

They got the famous Satay Sayap or BBQ chicken wing!!! The sweet aroma was so strong that you can smell it at the other end of the stall stretches. I bought 4. Ooops.

And these cute looking love-shaped 'satay' was not just any 'satay', but the famous satay buntut ayam (literally translated as BBQed skewed chicken butt, hahaha). I bought one only. Too fatty for me. The taste? MARVELOUS!

Since i don't think it's appropriate to eat my food while 'cangkung' at the roadside, I enjoyed them in my hotel room.

Simply delicious!! My stay at Keningau was short too, and I continued my journey to KK the next day.

Coming up next... KK, eat-eat-eat.

Tenom and The Coffee

2009-08-10T16:03:00.006+08:00

I was away again last week. My destination was Tenom and Keningau of Sabah. As soon as I got to know that I'll be evaluating students in these two places, I googled and found out that they are very far inland. Both are situated along the Crockers Ranch of Sabah, and driving to these places take 3 to four hours, depend on your driving skill. My first meal here in Sabah, a quick lunch at Papar, a small town along the way to Tenom. I had Nasi Ayam Rica-rica: fried chicken with hot and sour belancan sauce. Nice.

I intended to rent a car and drive myself but was strongly opposed by local friends, as the road was too windy and hilly for those who're not familiar with the road. With the help of a friend, he managed to get me a taxi for three days two night at RM600, including visit to interesting places. En. Masdir was his name.

Basically Tenom is a very small town. It took me a mere 10 minutes to cover the whole town by foot.

This is a statue of a well known warrior, Ontoros Antanom.

The lifestyles of the people here are pretty laybacked.

The was the best hotel in town. I put a night there at only RM44 per night. Huge room, king-sized bed, hot shower, air-conditioned and TV were provided.

At night, the town was really quiet. This was the only place with human activities: the restaurants. At 9.00pm, the town is dead.

With nothing much to do, I tried their coffee at various shops.

Tenom is known for it's aromatic coffee. With majority of the farmers planting coffee, coffee powder production company can be found easily. But the famous coffee were from only two major company. This was one of them.

To get fresh and good quality powder, my taxi driver took me to a factory. Vast choice of coffee powder were available. Since many friends and colleagues texted me to get them Tenom coffee, i bought a box full of coffee. The tauke was grinning from ear to ear.

Strangely, a small and plain looking berry like these are capable of making people crazy world wide. A sniff of these aromatic drinks would drive a person to heaven, literally.

I was told that Tenom is also known for the white water rafting activities. Too bad that I could only spend a night there. I headed to Keningau the next day.

Interesting Food at KB

2009-08-01T21:36:00.006+08:00

My buddy Nik brought me to Pasar Besar Siti Khadijah and some warung makanan for some interesting food (especially cakes and desserts) which can only be found in the east coast.

Not that I have not been to Kota Bharu, in fact I'd been there twice before this, but without a good tour guide, those food are alien to me. Thanks to Nik, and his descriptive explaination, now I know.

First to introduce: Etak. Hm.... I thought they were raw. But then Nik told me that these bivalves were either sun dried, or grilled. My colleagues Puan Susu and Puan Tod-tod who're also from Kelantan, told me that some are boiled and dried. Too bad, I was too full to try any when we encounter these bivalves.

Next, the 'Tahi Itik' or duck manure. Well, the name was given because of the appearance. Nik told me that it's main ingredient is egg white. I tasted one, it's sweet, with subtle egg smell.

The 'Nasi Tumpang', as featured in my previous entry. A unique way to pack a meal.

This is the 'Sukun Bersira' or breadfruit with sugar syrup.

Two kuih made with egg yolks: the 'Jala Emas' on the left, and 'Kuih Buah Tanjung' on the right. Sweet too, with rather strong egg yold smell. I figure they must be nutritious.

The 'Kuah Apom' (kot, betul ke Nik?), very similar to the 'apam balik' but this one softer and fluffier.

The 'Kuih topi'.

We strolled around the food stalls there and saw these big and inviting prawns. I took one. But don't ask me the price, Nik paid for it. ;-D

For those who are not so adventurous or faint hearted, stop reading. Hehehehe..
This one is the satay perut ayam. The chicken intestine were thoroughly cleaned, skewed onto a bamboo stick and BBQed to perfection, then sprinkled with fragrant peanut sauce. YUMMMMYYYYYY!!!!

Erm.... I didn't try these. Saw these after my lunch. :-P

There're interesting. Aren't they?? I should have stay longer. But i'd booked my flight way in advance.

Nak gi KB lagi lah!

Memorable Kota Bharu Trip

2009-07-28T22:12:00.006+08:00

Part of my job requires me to travel to various places, either to do some road shows (yah, road show), meetings, exhibitions and even students evaluations. I was in Kota Bharu to do some evaluation and my trip was planned in advance. What was my plan? To arrange my schedule and get a friend to show me good foods in Kota Bharu!! hehehehe...

Introducing my buddy, and my tour guide Nik.

True to his blog's name 'Pakcik Kopi', Nik is an avid coffee lover. He writes great Malay poems too.

Since he'd just got himself a DSLR, we spent time exchanging ideas, useful tips and what not.

Thanks to my tour guide, i was literally stuffed with food, from the moment i stepped into his car, brought me to various eateries, all the way to the return to my hotel room. I gained 2 kg in two days! hahahaha..

Pictures speaks louder then words. Here're some photos of the wonderful food i had:
Solok ikan. First time trying this one. The flesh of the fish was minced, added with grated coconut and spices before sticking back to the fish head and deep fried. Tasted superb!

Nasi Kerabu, my all time favourite!!! Goes well with the solok and the ayam percik. Well, usually the rice is blue but this one is white. I love the raw vegie!!

Another favourite of mine, the Ayam Percik. In fact, i love all the 'percik' thingy. Ikan percik, perut ayam percik, you name it.

The Solok Lada. Chili stuffed with fish meat and spices. The chili was interestingly crunchy.

First time in hearing and tasting Nasi Tumpang. Interestingly, it tasted like nasi impit with various 'goodies' inside, layer by layer. Must try if you haven't try it.

Another first time: Pulut Ikan Kering. Glutinous rice served with salted grated coconut and deep fried fish. It may look simple, but it tasted awesome!

Me eating away with hand. The blue coloured nasi kerabu was yummy.

I'm salivating as I write this entry.... My thousand thanks to my dear friend Nik that not only he stuffed me with food, he brought me to various interesting places in KB too. Not to mention having thick and aromatic coffee at kopitiam around 1.00am. Hahahaha... Nik, thanks again!

More 'interesting food of KB' coming up.

Preview

2009-07-26T11:40:00.002+08:00

Hi readers, sorry for the infrequent update. Been busy and was away for days.

This is a preview of what would be next...

Jeng jeng.......

Cryopreservation Gurus.

2009-07-20T12:05:00.004+08:00

It's cryo-preservation. 'Cryo' simply means ultra-low temperature. The cryopreservation is the technique employed to conserve genetic resources under very low temperature, usually at -196 degree Celcius in liquid nitrogen. It's the same technique applied in sperm banks, ovum banks and seed banks to preserve the target materials in viable and good conditions for a very long time, hundreds of years and more.

End of lecture. Class dismiss. :-P

I was privileged to be able to meet up with my old friends, the cryopreservation experts. They were my great gurus and still is.
Prof. C (second from right) is a prominent figure in this field world wide. I was honoured to be able to learn from him for years. At the age of 70s, he is still very active.
I last met Dr. E from France in person some 15 years ago, when i was still, erm.. very young. His publications and writings had always inspire me.

And of course, i was delighted to be able to meet up with my fellow friends too. We did research in the same lab.

My busy schedule had stopped me from updating this blog frequently. But i'm very thankful to my blog readers for the support.

Putrajaya Night Market

2009-07-13T12:45:00.000+08:00

I didn't expect Putrajaya to have a night market (pasar malam) right in the middle of the concrete jungle of government offices until i saw it with my own eyes. To my surprise, it was a big one! Not only it's well organised, it's also very clean, with spacious walkways and friendly vendors.

Since my wife was attending discussion at church, my two good friends and I decided to check this place out and do some night photography. It was around 9.30pm when we reached there and the market was bustling with activities. Young and not-so-young, tall and short, big and small, all came to buy some stuff and fill their empty tummy.

Lots of fresh vegetables.

Great variety of seafood to be purchased.

Even an awesome number of potted plants were available at good price.

I was surprised to see this whole 'ekor' of roasted lamb! And the abang was shy-shy-cat when our lenses were pointing at him.

Our favourite kind of stall: The fruit stalls.

We stopped here. I bought 3 kilos of freshly plucked mangosteen for RM10 only. Ah Hock the flamingo (far right) and his 'un-identical twin' bought kilos of mangosteen and pulasan.

Tadaaaa....... sata is available here!! Now i don't have to travel all the way to the east coast to enjoy this delicacy!

For those of you who haven't been there, go! go! go! It's situated right in front of the Ministry of Finance building.

Chakri Xpress

2009-07-08T09:26:00.009+08:00

Four good friends gathered and went out for dinner together. They went to a Thai restaurant, ordered 29 dishes (yes, it's TWENTY NINE), 3 desserts, and a cup of Thai pandan tea. They went crazy, stuffing themselves with these yummilicious Thai cuisines.

That's what happened last week.

Situated in Alamanda, Chakri Xpress is located near to the fountain, facing the garden.

We started off our dinner with the appetizer Mieng Kam. My all time favourite!!

Next was everyone's favourite: kerabu mangga! We ordered three types, including somtam.

Then some seafood (mostly squids and prawn). The squids tasted better. Prawn were not that fresh, but tasted good! The lala was ordinary. (note: Puan Lala, ni bukan rujuk kepada Puan Lala yer, sebab Puan Lala EXTRA ordinary ;-P)

Then the curry: We ordered roasted duck curry, green curry, fish green curry.... and many more.

Other dishes that we'd ordered were tomyam kung, mixed tomyam, mixed vegie, stir fried kailan with roasted duck, Thai style bean curds, black pepper beef, stir fried venison, fish.... many more......

And for the dessert, we ordered this one that I'd forgotten it's hard-to-remember Thai name. We ordered agar-agar too.

And of course the famous mango with glutinous rice topped with creamy sauce. WOW!!!! SPLENDID!!

The grin on our faces said it all! Four hungry ghosts were heavily fed! hehehe

And the bill............ Priced at RM19++ per person. It's ALL YOU CAN EAT! With four of us, it's only RM93.85, that's RM23.50 per person. Good deal?? INDEED!

Honey larling was satisfied, and was gladly posing to promote this wonderful offer!

Joom!! jooooom!!!

Note: The Manager Mr. Mohd Affandy was very nice, the services was good.

Love Birds in My Garden

2009-07-03T12:14:00.007+08:00

My garden was blooming with flowers recently when this pair of love birds decided to build their love nest in my garden. I spotted them in the morning and late evening almost everyday.

After surveying for a few days, they decided to build their love nest on my potted palm, a mere 5 feet away from the main door of the house. It's kinda strange why they choose the spot as me and my wife would pass by so frequently everyday going out and coming in to the house. I guess they feel secured with our presence.

Sometimes they would rest at the brim of this lily pot, and had some drink.

Otherwise, they would spend their time eating the fruits of melastoma.

The male was always watchful.

And on one fine morning around 7am, right before i leave home for work, the female stroke a beautiful pose on the branch. I quickly grabbed my camera and shot these picture. Simply beautiful.

A week later, the laid their eggs. And in another couple of weeks, the chicks flew away with their parents. Such is the life of birds. The freedom that God gave them was clearly demonstrated. We, precious in God's eye, should shine bright in our life.

Chronic Sinusitis

2009-06-29T08:22:00.003+08:00

I was diagnosed to have chronic maxillary sinusitis about two decades ago. And since then operations were done, a septum was removed, and numerous nasal cleaning was done. To this day, the pain and discomfort of this chronic sinusitis still haunt me.

I was down with severe sore-throat and nasal congestion a week and a half ago. Went to our home doc. Medicines and antibiotics were prescribed. Yet the symptom turned worst. Then i turned to the specialist. A different set of medicine was prescribed. Augmentin (antibiotic) was given. And now, after a week, I'd finished up the course of antibiotic. But the symptoms persisted: Sore-throat, nasal congestion, thick yellow mucus discharge....

I begin to get worried. The pain and discomfort affected my job performance. I can't focus. I'll have to go to the specialist again, and might end up with operation. Sigh....

More information about chronic sinusitis is available at this website.

Kak Ja's Future Son-in-law

2009-06-23T17:45:00.008+08:00

Two little boys texting each other:

" Hey bro, since you're in KL, shall we meet up?"

"I'm staying at XYZ Hotel, possible to meet up tomorrow?"

"That's great! But i got something on at KLCC-CC till 5.00pm. Why don't we meet up for early dinner after the event?"

"Sure, i can catch u at KLCC then. I'll be wearing a pink short and purple t-shirt. hahahahaha.."

"Hahahah... I'll try my best to spot you."

And at 5.45pm the next day, the little boy from Kajang and another little boy who'd just got back from UK for his holiday met up with the little Kelantanese boy who'd just came back from Amsterdam. They met at the Dome, KLCC. Since that was their first meeting, everybody was well behaved. Seated straight, self-controlled and fake smiles...

Then off the three boys to Sakae Sushi for some yummilicious Japanese cuisines.

They had tons of stuff. But their favourite dish was the soft shell crab. Soft shell crab temaki, soft shell crab sushi, freshly fried soft shell crab...

As if They didn't get enough with the soft shell crab, so they ordered more. More and more soft shell crab.. so much so that....erm... they eventually acted like crab, and became crappy. ;-P
Note how they try to imitate the 'penyepit ketam'??

Oh ya, the little Amsterdam boy gave me two Amsterdam souvenirs. I was delighted. Thanks bro!!

And before they say good bye to each other, they had a photo. Kinda strange that the Kajang little boy and the UK little boy look so alike, even though their body size are totally different.

Here's the report to Kak Ja:
Kak Ja, confirm little Amsterdam boy tu BOLEH dijadikan menantu yang baik! Bersopan-satun, berbudi-bahasa, berpengetahuan yang luas, very humble, pandai lawak, tau ambik hati mak mertua!! CEPAT Kak Ja, buat booking!!

Foot note:
Kajang boy = Ah Josh
Amsterdam boy = Azizi
UK boy = Danial

Farewell Dinner

2009-06-18T18:17:00.005+08:00

Two of our dear friends will be leaving KL, to a greener pasture. I was honoured to be invited to their farewell dinner, a small gathering to cherish to moment we have. Of all the places, we chose Riverview Restaurant of Kuala Selangor as our venue.

Our friends Dr. Shah and Abg Bear will be leaving to KK soon. We would certainly miss them. I was glad to be able to meet up with Dr. Hamdi too. His presence and witty acts had made the gathering merrier.

As for the food, we ordered a lot, now i really mean A LOT! What is shown here is only a SMALL portion of what we had (for more details, read Dr. Shah's blog).

But my favourite would be this dish. The steamed Thai style hot and sour fish! The gravy was superb!! Hot, sourish, a bit sweet, and the aroma was tantalizing.

Great food and great company. The dinner was fun and was certainly an occasion to be remembered.

Even the sky was rejoicing over our friendship with great display of colour and pattern. For a moment the sunset was blueish red, and it turned into striking red in after a minute or two.

To Dr. Shah and Beruang Madu, all the best to you both. We gonna miss u both.

What I Did Last Weekend

2009-06-14T11:29:00.003+08:00

Date: 6~7 June 2009
Venue: Excel Training Resort, Lenggeng, Semenyih
Event: ELM Family Camp

Young and not-so-young, gathered in this place to enjoy the fellowship. It was a camp organised by our church, for the English Speaking congregation. Picture speaks louder then words, so here goes.

I was busy with this camp for the past few weeks. And now that it's over, i am relieved. The camp was held successfully, the objectives were met, and everyone was happy.

Parent's visit ~ Genting Highland Trip

2009-06-10T10:32:00.005+08:00

Mum and Dad have not been to Genting Highland for ages. We visited Cameron Highland when they were here last year. Since they like cooler place, we decided to visit Genting Highland instead.

Genting Highland is not that far away, and had only taken us 1 hour plus to reach our destination, the Awana Genting Resort. The resort is situated near Gotong Jaya and the Skyway Cable Car station.

Though it's not at the top of hill, Awana offers cool environment with nice surrounding. The two room apartment we took was big. The master bedroom had even furnished with jacuzzi!

Genting Hihgland had changed alot. So many new buildings and new wings of theme park have been erected. To be frank, we're kinda lost in this concrete jungle.

Genting offers two choices, either you go for the casino (which I don't even bother to go in) or the theme part (great excitement for children, youngsters and young adults). But for my parents, these 'entertainment' meant nothing to them. They dislike gambling, and the games in the theme park are just too 'aggressive' for them. With nothing much to do, we decided to have some coffee at Coffee Beans instead. I love their cheese cake!

We spent some time at the garden behing Highland Hotel enjoying the cool sensation of the cloudy breeze. Ahh...... very refreshing.

On our way home, mum blurted, "Nothing much lah in Genting, Cameron Better."
Yah, I agree. At their age, Genting is just a place for young and healthy people. My parents are aging. Both have knee problem. Walking from one place to another at Genting had been a 'huge task' to them. I shall bring them to Fraser's Hill for some good rest next time.

Parent's visit ~ Melaka Trip

2009-06-08T10:36:00.005+08:00

My parents were here last weekend. I took a few days off just to be with them.

On the first day, we drove 2 hours down south to my 2nd brother's place at Melaka. Mum and Dad were excited to meet their grandchild, my 2nd brother's daughter. She'd grown taller and more active yet still quiet and well behaved. Uncle Josh ajar dia A B C.

Together with brother's family, we all went to a few tourist spots in Melaka.

We stopped by a food court in the evening. I LOVVEEE this food court! Lot's of yummy food! Mum and dad had some soup.

Though the trip is tiring, but we're happy to see our parents happy.

p/s Tak sempat makan asam pedas nyonya yang sedap tu... Dad sakit tekat dan tanak makan makanan pedas.... lain kali je lah gi makan.

Bird Nest Soup

2009-06-05T17:53:00.003+08:00

I had not been well recently. Probably due to the hectic schedule, the work stress, or may be the hot weather. I often suffer sinusitis pain nowadays. Sore-throat was unavoidable.

Because of that, my wife boiled some bird nest soup for both of us. Bird nest soup is actually made of hardened swift saliva boiled with rock sugar. The soup is known to be able to improve skin complexion (for my wife), to strengthen lung function and to sooth sore-throat (for me).

My wife put the hardened swift saliva (processed, and cleansed) into a bowl of hot water, boil them in slow cooker for hours. Add some chinese dates, dried longan, ginseng and rock sugar. And tadaaa.......

Not cheap though. This bowl can cost easily RM50. Aiyaaa.... we are not rich people, so, can have this once in a blue moon only.

Work vs Family

2009-06-04T10:16:00.004+08:00

I'd purchased the air tickets for my parents to fly over from Kuching about two months ago. To ensure smooth running of my holiday with my parents, arrangements were made and hotels were booked. Necessary payment were done. Itenerary was planned. My wife did her own planning and had allocated the week for our very own family holiday. I was excited.

However, just about a week before my parents arrive, I received a letter from the management requiring me to attend an important meeting and training which coincide with my holiday itinerary. The management deem the meeting to be very important and was made compulsory to all senior staff. I was in dilemma.

I was repeatedly reminded to attend the meeting. But after a deep thought, i had decided to choose my family. The management was unhappy. Questions were asked. I stood firm on my decision.

It's not the money that i concerned, though thousands of ringgit for the tickets and arrangement were already paid. It's what I treasure in my life. Work will never end, but parents and wife will not be with us forever. My parents are aging. Dad is 79, while mum is 71. I would do anything to make them happy, and spending my hard earn money to have them with us in our holiday is just priceless.

So i chose my family, my parents and my wife. Work will have to be brushed aside.

Gift From Inah

2009-05-28T10:24:00.004+08:00

Fellow blogger Inah the micronucleus girls was back in town for her short holiday recently. And i got the chance to meet up with her together with fellow blogger Lily and her husband Nurman over a satay dinner. Blogger Danial Ma was there too.

The dinner was sort of like a 'kill two birds with one stone' thingy. The gathering was meant as a meet-up, and for me to pass the gift to Lily and Nurman for their wedding. They got married a couple of months ago but I couldn't present myself there then. The wedding gift was long prepared, kept in my store room, waiting for the time to meet up so that i can pass it to them.

Inah got me some souvenirs from down under. Thanks Inah!

For more details of the gathering, please click on to Lily's entry HERE.

Oh ya, one thing worth mention, Lily still got her newly-wed glow, sweet as ever. And Nurman seems to be 'bigger' nowaday (Good job, Lily).

Alor Star and Nazzman

2009-05-27T08:00:00.004+08:00

I was on an official trip to Alor Star last week. To Kangar and Alor Star to be exact. I'd been to these two places several times, but never really explore them. This time round I got a tour guide ;-D

Nazzman our fellow blogger was kind enough to travel from Gurun to bring me around. I didn't have much time actually, and was only free for a morning. So Nazzman brought me to nearby places of interest. We visited the Galeri Seni, Museum DiRaja, and Pekan Rabu to name a few.

While in the hotel lobby, I caught Nazz termenung... agaknyer dia tengah pikir.."Naper lah Putu takde adik yer...??" .. " Biler lah Nazz dapat kawin..??".

And the following photo was specifically requested by Nazz to be shown here, ditujukan khas kepada Cikgu AJ dengan caption "AJ, Nazz tak boroi macam AJ yerr!"

I managed to give some photography tips to Nazz. He picked up really fast, and put them to practice. The photo below was taken after the tips were given. Hensem tak?

Thank you Nazzman sebab sudi bawa Josh gi jalan-jalan. Lain kali datang KL Josh bawa Nazz jalan-jalan pulak yer.

Sushiiiiiiiii !

2009-05-26T10:37:00.003+08:00

Our best friend is back. Honey larling was excited and we organised a get-together dinner. Since all of us love Japanese food, decision on where to dine was simple. Sushi King was nominated unanimously. Four of us (Danial, Honey Larling, me and my wife) went in a car.

As usual, Danial was busy with his camera. And that was the first time i tried out my new camera. Awesome!! It produces crystal clear pictures even at low light. I was actually craving for yasai itame (vegie noodle) but was informed that they had removed this dish from their menu. Sighh.... why like that??

Here're some of my favourites: Unagi (grilled eel) sushi), soft shell crab roll, and ebiko (fish roe). Yummy......

To convey our message on how good the food was, take a look at these photos of Honey larling and me.

New Toy

2009-05-22T15:26:00.003+08:00

Finally, after months and months of survey, I'd made my decision and purchased this toy two weeks ago.

I'd been using Canon SLR since teenage. When digital photography started to bloom in the market 10 years ago, i shifted to Sony cybershot, a compact and simple digital camera. And a few years later, I switched back to SLR camera and purchased my first DSLR Sony alpha 100. But then, Canon I'm still very much attached to Canon cameras, thus prompted me to buy this beautiful baby, Canon 50D.

I bought two lenses. One Sigma 70-300mm telelens with macro function at 200-300, meaning to say, macro shots are possible at close range when switched to 200~300mm. I'm excited.

I opted for the 18-200mm kit lens, due to it's flexibility and reliability. Now I don't have to change my lens everytime i need to snap shots of different ranges. This lens come with Image Stabilizer, capable of stabilizing lens to capture photos at low light to avoid blurriness.

And of course, a good camera can't go without a good camera bag, and a good flash. I got myself a sling camera bag. The external flash is cool!

Looking forward to have free time to try out this toy! Jom jom!

Josh & Yaz

2009-05-17T22:00:00.004+08:00

Jumaat lepas sempat Josh jumpa dengan Yaz kat Putrajaya. Dengan baju melayunya, siap dengan sampin dan songkok, Yaz nampak macam baru je bertunang. hehehe.

Kita jumpa pun sekejap je. Sempat la kita minum-minum sambil bercerita tentang kehidupan Yaz kat KL selama sebulan nih. Banding dengan gambar, Yaz in real life lebih 'gagah perkasa'! Gelak ketawanya TETAP MENGGEGARKAN. Tak lama lagi Yaz akan pindah dekat rumah Josh. Boleh lah kita gi makan-makan, minum-minum, lepak-lepak kat kopitiam yer Yaz.

Sempat Josh snap gambar dengan Yaz sebelum hantar dia ke ERL station. Entah kenapa, beberapa kali Josh snap gambar, Yaz tetap nampak macam Zorro dengan matanya kena cahaya matahari.

Pastu pusing-pusing sikit keta, tukar-tukar sikit posisi, baru lah Yaz nampak macam manusia. ;-P

Nice meeting you Yaz! All the best for your future. Harap-harap dapat tempat yang baik dan sesuai dengan citarasa Yaz.

Psst... kawan-kawan semua, Josh rasa Yaz dah tembam sikit. Betul tak? Josh x berani tegur haritu, takut kena tumbuk. Maklumlah, Yaz kan gagah perkasa.

Makan Laksam

2009-05-14T16:38:00.004+08:00

Somehow, I'm kinda fond of east coast food. Nasi kerabu, nasi daging and not to forget laksam. To have these yummy dishes, i always like to go to this particular restaurant not far away from my work place. Not too crowded, and not too stuffy. And the staff are friendly.

Laksam... the taste of the thick fish gravy is indescribable. The 'ulam' or raw vegie, finely chopped.

But sadly, this restaurant had shifted to a new premise, far away from the office, to a not so 'nice' environment. aiyaaaa.... Now I got to hunt for new shops nearby, if they have these dishes.

Josh, Pak Uda, Izat

2009-05-11T13:42:00.003+08:00

Cikgu AJ a.k.a. Pak Uda texted my last Friday, informing that he'll be in Kajang on Saturday. So we immediately arranged our 'date'. On Saturday noon, we met each other for the first time, after knowing each other via blog for quite some time. Ada sorang budak Pak Uda bawa, ingat anak dia... rupa-rupanyer anak saudara.

Cikgu AJ was rather malu-malu tapi mau. Very friendly and pleasant looking. His nephew, Izat, was playful yet very shy. We had a few cups of coffee.

Cuba tengok betul-betul dua gambar kat bawah. Cuba teka perbezaannyer.

Jawapannya: Gambar 1, Pak Uda lupa mintak Izat duduk atas riba dia..... terbongkarlah rahsia kebuncitannya.
Gambar 2: Cepat-cepat Pak Uda tangkap Izat, paksa Izat duduk atas riba.... Tertutup lah perut tu....

Kan Cikgu? Kan?

Australian Scallop

2009-05-08T09:30:00.005+08:00

Oh boy... I'm drooling as i type this entry...the fantastically succulent and aromatic scallops i cooked a few days ago still lingers in my memory.

My precious wife summoned me to the kitchen, showed me these scallops and said bluntly, "I bought these Australian scallop, it's only RM13 each (my gosh...my wife is rich). And I don't know how to cook. You cook lah, for our dinner."

They're a bit larger then my palm. First time seeing scallop in such 'giant' size. Luckily, being a skillful cook (chewaaah), i knew exactly what i should do. I cracked open the shell with a knife, push open the shell wide enough to allow clear vision of the adductor muscle (that's what we normally called scallop), cut it off from the shell before opening up the shell fully.

The scallop is entirely edible, but two major parts are preferred: the adductor muscle (round, white and meaty) and the roe (the orangish eggs).

Fuyooo.... i was excited.

Before we cook them, the internal organs got to be removed. Marinate them with a bit of white wine and minced young ginger.

To cook them, I heated up the pan, and sauteed the scallops with butter for three to four minutes. It cannot be overcooked or it will be tough and chewy. Seconds after the scallops turned from translucent to whitish, it's cooked.

To serve, put them back to the shells which we'd thoroughly washed and boiled. Garnish them with greens from my garden. And Tadaaaaaa............. butter sauteed scallops.

Oooooo...... salivating..... But i don't think i can afford to have these often. But don't know lah, my 'rich' wife may buy some more.

Sarawak Laksa Again

2009-05-05T13:58:00.006+08:00

Three dishes stand out when we talk about Sarawak food. The famous mee kolok, the irresistable (to some) ikan terubuk masin, and the mouth watering Laksa Sarawak. To reflect my origin and that i'm a proud Sarawakian, my wife and i cooked Sarawak Laksa last Saturday. A few church members were invited. Namely Mr. Wan and family, Mr. Lau and famaily, and our young pastor Desmond. I blogged about the cooking of Sarawak Laksa early last year.

My wife bought some bean sprout in the morning and soaked them in the water. Interestingly, they continued their growth and caught my attention. I snapped this photo right before we shower them with boiling water.

The ingredients were served separately. One need to mix them together according to one's own taste and preference. The usual condiments are fried eggs sliced in thin shreds, bean sprout, shredded chicken, shelled prawns, lime and sambal udang.

It's the first time for Pastor Desmond, and the laksa had managed to 'squeeze' out huge amount of sweat off him. Too hot. hahaha...

It's our normal weekend inviting friends to come over for a meal, and catching up on each other's latest news. Sorry folks, i was not in the pic. No one really know how to handle my DSLR correctly.

Jom Sarawak Laksa! Slurps..

Appreciated

2009-04-30T17:53:00.007+08:00

In academic line, it is very heartwarming to know that all the hard work and commitments to your work are appreciated. It's towards the end of the semester, and some of the final year students will be sending off for industrial training for three months before their graduation in November.

Within these few days, I had received many thank-you cards and presents. All not to bribe, but to express their sincere thanks towards me. I felt appreciated.

Not that I love to receive cards, good words or gifts, but these simple gesture of appreciation had boosted up my passion towards my profession. Perhaps it's the way i deliver my lecture, or perhaps it's my yankee-slang Englsih, they found my lectures easy to be understood, light to be digested.

Some of them decided to give little gifts. Gifts that will only reminds me to work harder and to do better.

While some, decided to give awards. Hahahahah...I pray to God for strength, that I will be able to do better, so that I will be able to give my students the best I could.

Oh well, it's all because I had an apple a day. An apple a day, keep you smile always. hehehe

Frankly, the proudest moment come only when they're on the stage receiving their graduation scroll. And the greatest gift of all, is to see them excel in their future and remembers this 'old man' as their friend.

'Do Not Disturb'

2009-04-27T10:42:00.007+08:00

It's 'Musim Jangan Kacau' again.

All sorts of paperwork seems to pile up at the end of each semester. And all datelines seems to be too soon. These datelines had left many of us with no choice but to put up the 'Do Not Disturb' sign. On top of these paperwork, other tasks and responsibilities were also expected to be fulfilled.

Got chance to invigilate together with Puan Lala. As usual, with her 'muka menyampah dengan mamat yang ambil gambar ni'. ;-D

I'd noticed this guy's interesting character in exam hall since his first year. One dozen of black ball pens and one dozen of sharpened 2B pencils during every single paper, without fail. Fuyoooo.......

My eye-sight used to be perfect or near perfect all these years. But my work had somehow 'jeopardized' this pride of mine. If I were to start wearing glasses, blame on these that some came with torturous hand writtings...

Jangan Kacau! Tapi kalo nak ajak makan, silakan.