I thought that I could relax a bit over the weekend. The fact was that we were a little late going back to my wife's village cause her car was a bit late being ready after the first 1000km service. So we only reached her home quite late and found that her parents were smoking the freshwater tilapias that my sister-in-law took out from her pond that morning. Actually that was supposed to be the reason we went but had to miss it since the elder kid's replacement schoold clashed with the timing. We had initially thought that the fish raising event was supposed to be on Sunday, so no rezeki to participate this time.
Anyway since they were busy smoking the fish, my in-laws asked me to pluck the pulasan's since they were getting overripe on the trees in their backyard since my wife siblings are not returning to get their share. The darn thing was that the normal pole to pluck the fruits was missing, so I had to use the pruning scissors to pick the fruits that was within reach only. So duly armed, I went about grabbing what I could while the kids put those plucked into a plastic bag. From the two trees, I managed to fill a large supermarket bag. Encouraged by this I guess, they then asked me to go pluck the rambutans and pulasans in the orchard.
This we did the next day, and lo and behold there was one tree bending with the yellow rambutans. Again stretching to grab whatever that was within arm's reach, we managed to gather 3 large garbage bags full of the rambutans. Then my father-in-law asked us to pick the pulasans from a tree at the back of the orchard. From far we thought those fruits were already blackened, but on closer inspection it seems that this fruit was of the darker indigo variety instead of the normal blood red. Unfortunately this tree's branches has not been trimmed for a while and it was actually quite bushy. So it was tougher to grab the pulasans than the previous day with many branches poking at us. The worst thing was the good fruits was the one located at the branches closer to the trunk, so it was quite hell to reach for those.
Anyway we managed another bagfull and today I brought one of the bags to the office while my wife another. My sister who is back from London got another bagfull. She was damn happy because she said over there the only rambutans they can get are the canned variety. So it was a nice treat for her that we raided the orchard while she is back home.
Here In My Home - Malaysian Artistes For Unity
Monday, 30 July 2007
Thursday, 26 July 2007
Does that cloud look like a scapegoat?
Man oh man! Once the brain juices starts flowing it can’t stop eh? I really had to smirk when I read a newspaper article quoting an eminent person who said that the recent leak in our hallowed democratic institution was because of the spell of heavy rain in the last few days. Thus global changes in the weather pattern that resulted in the heavier rain are to be blamed for the recent leaks. “Rain is really heavy nowadays, not only here, but throughout the world. (Sic) Like in England, streets are filled with 5ft of water, in America there’s also flood.” was the quote given. This follows the earliest spin given for the cause of the recent Nuri crash as being bad weather even before the aircraft was found and investigation can be conducted. How convenient to blame it on El Nina or is it El Nino now, as even though weather can be named they cannot respond when blamed right! No need to find the real cause, because if the statement is taken hook, line and sinker by the public, no fuss will be raised and the problem can then be explained away, to fade into distant memory. And definitely no need to stamp everything as For Eyes Only! Top Secret! as such documents nowadays seems to have a pesky tendency to be leaked. Let the issue be spinned into oblivion is a better solution, right on! Hello there! At least get better spinmeisterslah! Give reasonable spin with believability factor; give your citizen some credit! An ignoramus lot we are not! We are aiming for Bangsa Terbilang you know, not numbered but outstandingla! Otherwise our days are really numbered.
Anyway you may be wondering why I am being cryptic. Simple la! Malaysian bloggers have been warned that we are not above the law. That is okaylah for those who may be spreading lies and slanders and inciting religious and racial tensions that will cause social unrest, but do not lump those who provide constructive criticism as the same aaaa. Do not be a shrinking willow, getting prickly when touched. When it is said that media should make constructive, objective, fair and factually based criticisms, do not expect that all that is said will smell of roses. Do not forget roses grow amongst thorns; so if you want to smell some, be prepared to get barbed! Enough said.
Anyway you may be wondering why I am being cryptic. Simple la! Malaysian bloggers have been warned that we are not above the law. That is okaylah for those who may be spreading lies and slanders and inciting religious and racial tensions that will cause social unrest, but do not lump those who provide constructive criticism as the same aaaa. Do not be a shrinking willow, getting prickly when touched. When it is said that media should make constructive, objective, fair and factually based criticisms, do not expect that all that is said will smell of roses. Do not forget roses grow amongst thorns; so if you want to smell some, be prepared to get barbed! Enough said.
Apa kejadahnya!
Saja aja mencarut fasal aku terkejut melihatkan budaya tomboy atau pengkid ni yang sebelum ni ku fikirkan sebagai amalan remaja pinggiran yang terkeliru akan keinginan mereka, sudah menular kepada golongan pertengahan. Yalah biasanya ku dengar golongan tomboy ni dapat pasangan kerana budak pompuan mentah terkeliru tu kononnya tak sanggup melayan jantan jati kerana risaukan kekasaran seorang lelaki dan percayakan bahawa seorang tomboy lebih memahami kehendak mereka sebagai kaum hawa., jadi mereka rela menjadikan tomboy sebagai teman lelaki. Tapi kalau betul seperti satu kes yang sedang dibicarakan, tomboy pun boleh gomol korang jugak walaupun dia mengaku khunsa. Kalau iblis boleh pesong dia itu sampai dia ada krisis identiti, apa sangat la iblis nak pesongkan supaya melakukan benda yang tak senonoh kan. Baik korang cari mamat lembut untuk jadi pasangan, janji bila keadaan bersesuaian alat dia tetap gagah. Tak ada identiti krisis dan tak melanggar hukum alam maupun mengikut budaya kaum Nabi Lut.
Ini definisi pengkid ni berdasarkan satu website diaorang :
ð Tubuh badan seperti lelaki.
ð Berambut pendek (ada juga yang berambut panjang tetapi mengikut style lelaki)
ð Bergaya seperti lelaki (pakaian,cara bercakap,cara hidup etc)
ð Membengkung payu dara (bind their breast)
ð Amat tertarik dengan wanita yang cantik
ð Menjalinkan hubungan dengan wanita sahaja (homoseksual)
ð Mempunyai ego sangat tinggi (bagi sesetengah pengkid)
ð Sesetengah pengkid tidak dapat menerima hakikat bahawa mereka adalah perempuan.
Yang aku geramkan kan sekarang ni ialah aku ada terserempak dengan satu pasangan tomboy ni di mana kalau korang tengok si Tomboy dan tak perasan dia tu sebenarnya perempuan, sekali imbas mempamerkan imej sebagai ahli korporat lelaki yang berjaya dan bukan lagi boleh digelar pengkid. Perawakan dia memang segak sampai aku terpaksa pusing kepala nak confirm dia tu sebenarnya betina. Nasib baik tetek dia besar sangat sampai tak boleh nak betul-betul cover, jadi nampak jugaklah bengkak di tempat yang sepatutnya. Lagi aku heran pasangan dia pun kalau dilihat adalah wanita aku ulangi wanita bergaya, bukan budak ingusan. Jadi bagi aku masalah ni sudah mula berakar umbi jauh ke dalam masyarakat kita, dan jika dibiarkan berterusan akan mencacatkan masyarakat kita sebagai cara kehidupan alternatif yang sebenarnya racun masyarakat. Kalau takkan diaorang boleh tanya ini bukan satu jenayah seperti yang tertera dalam gambar ni. Maka gamitan salam ku lambaikan buat warga semua jabatan kemajuan agama maupun kementerian wanita dan kemasyarakatan, sedarlah sikit akan kepincangan masyarakat ini dan cuba selesaikan sebaik dan secepat mungkin. Bertindak menangani masalah ini lagi baik daripada korang buang masa mensensasikan isu remeh-temeh. Libatkan masyarakat umum dan sedarkan mereka untuk memerangi gejala ini agar tidak dibiarkan terus berkudis dan bernanah. Kaum wanita adalah tonggak masyarakat, kalau rapuh pasti roboh nanti. Sedarlah!
Why foreign flavours flourish
After hearing and reading about it for so long, my family and I finally had the pleasure to eat at Tony Roma’s recently opened restaurant at Sunway Pyramid, one of two they currently have in Malaysia. We were there because my company held an event at the bowling centre, and taking the opportunity since we rarely go to Sunway nowadays, it was a good chance to try the place out. Located at what used to be the San Francisco Cable Car restaurant the last time we were there, the food we had was certainly far better than the one we had at the aforementioned restaurant. We had fried mushrooms, I took the boneless ribs and fried shrimp combo that only cost a couple bucks extra than a straight dish, and my wife had the pan-fried salmon while the elder kid had the burger and fries from the kids’ menu. Fearing American portions, we held off buying another kid’s meal for the younger kid and it was a wise decision as the older kid could not finish off her burger and the fries actually went abegging, so the sundae that the waitress forgot to serve that came with the kid’s meal was not actually missed as between them they could also not finish their individual milk shakes that was made with ice cream. Must remember to order only one the next time around. Anyway the younger also need not share the burger her sister had as she polished off half the fried mushrooms that came in an enormous portion, far nicer than those served in Outback Restaurant in Bukit Bintang that was delicious enough on their own right. Oh yeah I forgot she helped finished the onion soup in a cup that we also ordered as a starter, another dish that tasted heavenly, another rare find.
The clever thing was that Tony Roma’s had a similar concept like Mississippi Slim’s had before (how I miss this joint), where they served various barbeque sauces to accompany the entrees. They ingeniously served a sauce taster by making a smiley face out of the various sauces, reminding me of the sauce palette that Mississippi used to offer as their sauce taster as they had more sauces than Tony’s four, and the blue mountain won hands down as the favourite. And they are not stingy with the sauces too, as they left the sauce bottles bin on the table. As for the entrees, my ribs was great but I think I want it on the bone next time, as the syiok factor is less as I suspect some connecting fat was trimmed off so it was like having steak instead, while the butterflied prawns fried with a breadcrumb coating was nice and plump, and duly polished off by my elder daughter instead of me. The salmon my wife had was duly mutually agreed to be the best we had so far, though well coated with sesame seeds and black pepper it was not overwhelmed and had a nice pinkish centre, retaining the lushness of the sweet fatty fresh flesh of salmon. There is nothing better than a well prepared salmon dish, and certainly erased the bitter memories of dry Cajun fried salmon of its predecessor. Though I loathe to leave leftovers when we dine out, this time we had no choice as the welcome bread was hardly touched and some of the side dishes to the entrees was half eatened as we were already stuffed. And the icing on the cake is that we received a RM35 voucher for the next visit, so we are surely to make a return visit soon. Tony Roma’s certainly join my list of favourite barbeque joints, right up there with Chilli’s and Jake’s. I can’t wait for their Bukit Bintang and Mid Valley outlets to open, as this would give me easier access.
And yes, I also finally managed to try out Papa Beard’s cream puffs in Mid Valley that had me salivating when I read their blog reviews, and I must say that they deserve their accolades. I would not say that theirs are overly fantastic, but well made and faithful to the original taste. By not being stingy with their ingredients, their cream puffs retained the fluffiness and their fillings retained their scrumptiousness, the same taste as the delicious cream puffs I touched on in one of my previous blog entry, of those I had oh so long ago. This made me remarked to the wife why does it need a foreign franchise to repopularise something what the locals could do as good before, charging a higher price at that. I challenge the local bakeries to emulate their kopitiam brethren that are giving the foreign branded cafes a run for their money. We know the local tastes, so charge a fair price for a quality product as good as it was made so long ago, and I dare say that people will flock to your doors. I still believe that we Malaysians still have good taste buds, and not necessarily gourmets are looking for a good meal. I for one am not one, but delight in savouring delicious food. So keep making me eat my words, as long as you keep serving good food as I have had long ago. And Papa Beard, though you are not local, I thank thee for bringing back great cream puffs to the local shores and showing we Malaysians how they should taste like, less no one longer remembers, and for that I salute you.
And lastly to those international restaurants opening up locally, please do consider making your outlets halal, or making certain outlets at least pork-free, as otherwise you are depriving a large segment of market the chance to patronize you. Do not forget, not only we have a large Moslem population but we are now a top Moslem tourist destination as can be seen with the influx of middle easterners tourists, and I am sure they would love to eat halal international food that they cannot try even if they visit your home countries. As such I would like to thank the proprietors of the Little Vietnam group of restaurants, for daring to open halal Vietnamese restaurants though their food are so pork based. It is now so hard to find good halal Vietnamese food after the one in Sogo closed, and it is great to be able to eat Vietnamese dishes again though too bad your coffee is bitter instead of the normal smooth taste, as otherwise I would have bought a packet to start up the filter
The clever thing was that Tony Roma’s had a similar concept like Mississippi Slim’s had before (how I miss this joint), where they served various barbeque sauces to accompany the entrees. They ingeniously served a sauce taster by making a smiley face out of the various sauces, reminding me of the sauce palette that Mississippi used to offer as their sauce taster as they had more sauces than Tony’s four, and the blue mountain won hands down as the favourite. And they are not stingy with the sauces too, as they left the sauce bottles bin on the table. As for the entrees, my ribs was great but I think I want it on the bone next time, as the syiok factor is less as I suspect some connecting fat was trimmed off so it was like having steak instead, while the butterflied prawns fried with a breadcrumb coating was nice and plump, and duly polished off by my elder daughter instead of me. The salmon my wife had was duly mutually agreed to be the best we had so far, though well coated with sesame seeds and black pepper it was not overwhelmed and had a nice pinkish centre, retaining the lushness of the sweet fatty fresh flesh of salmon. There is nothing better than a well prepared salmon dish, and certainly erased the bitter memories of dry Cajun fried salmon of its predecessor. Though I loathe to leave leftovers when we dine out, this time we had no choice as the welcome bread was hardly touched and some of the side dishes to the entrees was half eatened as we were already stuffed. And the icing on the cake is that we received a RM35 voucher for the next visit, so we are surely to make a return visit soon. Tony Roma’s certainly join my list of favourite barbeque joints, right up there with Chilli’s and Jake’s. I can’t wait for their Bukit Bintang and Mid Valley outlets to open, as this would give me easier access.
And yes, I also finally managed to try out Papa Beard’s cream puffs in Mid Valley that had me salivating when I read their blog reviews, and I must say that they deserve their accolades. I would not say that theirs are overly fantastic, but well made and faithful to the original taste. By not being stingy with their ingredients, their cream puffs retained the fluffiness and their fillings retained their scrumptiousness, the same taste as the delicious cream puffs I touched on in one of my previous blog entry, of those I had oh so long ago. This made me remarked to the wife why does it need a foreign franchise to repopularise something what the locals could do as good before, charging a higher price at that. I challenge the local bakeries to emulate their kopitiam brethren that are giving the foreign branded cafes a run for their money. We know the local tastes, so charge a fair price for a quality product as good as it was made so long ago, and I dare say that people will flock to your doors. I still believe that we Malaysians still have good taste buds, and not necessarily gourmets are looking for a good meal. I for one am not one, but delight in savouring delicious food. So keep making me eat my words, as long as you keep serving good food as I have had long ago. And Papa Beard, though you are not local, I thank thee for bringing back great cream puffs to the local shores and showing we Malaysians how they should taste like, less no one longer remembers, and for that I salute you.
And lastly to those international restaurants opening up locally, please do consider making your outlets halal, or making certain outlets at least pork-free, as otherwise you are depriving a large segment of market the chance to patronize you. Do not forget, not only we have a large Moslem population but we are now a top Moslem tourist destination as can be seen with the influx of middle easterners tourists, and I am sure they would love to eat halal international food that they cannot try even if they visit your home countries. As such I would like to thank the proprietors of the Little Vietnam group of restaurants, for daring to open halal Vietnamese restaurants though their food are so pork based. It is now so hard to find good halal Vietnamese food after the one in Sogo closed, and it is great to be able to eat Vietnamese dishes again though too bad your coffee is bitter instead of the normal smooth taste, as otherwise I would have bought a packet to start up the filter
Tuesday, 24 July 2007
blarrrrggghhhhh!!!!!!!!
Don't know wat to write la...finally found some good malay cakoi in kl at taman len seng but don't want to write about it until i take some photos of the stall...come to think of it, i should also write on the new chicken rice i located at desa tasek where they use double barbequed chicken and beef as the accompaniment instead of the usual steamed, fried or roast chicken. Those gangstas of mine who i know at least read this stuff of mine has to wait for a while before they salivate over the pictures.
On the Nuri replacement front, I am beginning to suspect that they are going to use the already planned CSAR heli program as a cover story to show their doing something to replace the Nuris based on the sound bites that has appeared over the past few days. So it looks like the transport role heli replacement is still up in the air. Nothing changes it seems. Hello there! Can you tell us of one incident when the Nuri went down during a CSAR mission. It is the transport missions that are taking the toll on the Nuris. Enough said.
On the work front, my laziness seems to overcome me. The boss meanwhile has gone on medical for two days leaving me unsupervised. He seems to be underwhelmed by work too. When the cat is not around, the mice will play eh! So let's be mice and enjoy the respite as it is. Good day to you all.
I just want to sign off by reminiscing on the roles the Nuris has played all this while taken from a Berita Harian article.
Thursday, 19 July 2007
The Sky Is Falling!
Heh!Heh!Heh! Just when I said this in jest I received advanced info that the Cabinet had decided to replace the Nuri's and this news has been splashed across today's newspapers and announced in yesterday's news shows. But the info I received in any case was that this will be a two year exercise and the earliest the new helicopters will be delivered is stil three to four years from now.
Nevertheless one of the forumers cautioned that this may be just using the coming announcement of CSAR helicopters procurement as a short-cut to show the government is doing something to replace the Nuris while the main exercise to procure new helicopters for the transport role may still be up in the air. However I still hope that this announcement is for the replacement of transport helicopter roles and I do not care if this project will be for the RMAF or Army Air Unit, as long as the Nuris are replaced. We have seen the experience of MI-17 to be supplied under Airod being rejected by the Armed Forces and causing the project being stuck in no man's land. So I hope this time the International Tender will be swiftly conducted and awarded, as I am sure all the paperwork and specifications and requirements for the helicopter requirement has already been prepared, so no need to delay the exercise. Our servicemen need such quick action to avoid further unnecessary deaths in case more Nuri crashes. As was featured in TV3's news last night, an ex-serviceman wrote in to say do not wait until our people prefers to walk out of the jungle than to risk martyrdom flying in the 'flying coffin' that the Nuri has become to most people. What's the fuss, replace the oldest and most unairworthy first, nobody is asking for en-bloc replacement as I am sure the six units selected for auto-hovering is the most airworthy units and should be at least flyable for the next 15 years as per what RMAF keeps saying. These can be kept until such time as warranted. Let the replacement exercise be a win-win situation for everybody. Malaysia deserves this.
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
Sheesh, Darn and Yum!
Last Saturday went to Leisure Mall for my birthday makan treat. Wanted to eat at Swensen's but it seems to have closed down there and taken over by a chinese restaurant. Anyway had the meal at Secret Recipe instead and the food at that branch was better than normal. The thing I wanted to say here is that outlet seems to be a hanging out place for couples to have their romantic rendezvous. Nothing wrong with that right but what got my goat that day was this malay couple. What already made me wanted to barf was the fact they shared a glass of drink and a plate of spaghetti ala the Lady and the Tramp but the thing that really grossed me out was the fact that the girl was the one groping the boy between the legs. It got me so worked up since my kids was around watching that I blurted out to the couple, if both of you wants to make a scene ala Paris Hilton, go find a private place and I told off the girl that she better take off her tudung as even the westerners in my foreign forays don't do what they are doing in public...sheesh....anyway they got the message and vacated the place soon after. Well after this incident we went for a walk around the mall and after entering a watch shop over there, we finally found our wedding anniversary watch. Nice looking pair, aren't they.
Darn it another one bit the dust. Another of our Nuris or Sea King Helicopters has gone down with all crew perished and the media spinning has started in earnest. Don't want to get into the blame and speculate game but just want to comment we cannot afford to go losing good people like this. You can blame the pilots, you can blame the weather or wahtever but the fact is the helis are old, with the first few units older than me. So replace the worst off units immediately, and you do not have to wait until LIMA 2007 to announce that the NH-90 has been selected to take over the CSAR role of the Nuri as what I am hearing now. This is good but the quantity mentioned is not enough to relieve the old war horses. The replacement of Nuris as transport is the more pressing requirement as you can see from the crash track records, transport was usually the role being carried out when the crashes occured and I am sure we have enough money to do so. As it is we have enough white livery aircraft already and money seems to be always available to procure these VVIP birds, so money should also be made available to buy transports for our servicemen. The litany now seems to be to call on the VIPs to fly on the Nuris to give them a taste of this bitter medicine, but I am sure this will not happen. But who knows, the sky may fall tomorrow and this accident will finally realises an announcement that the Nuri will be replaced. At least something good comes out of this but I am not holding my breath.
Finally to end this post on a delicious note, on my business trip to Penang on Monday finally managed to try what is called siput duri in Malay or what I understand is conch in English. I had these steamed and the taste was delicious though it must be eaten hot. The taste is like keropok ikan or fish crackers and surprisingly there is no taste of bitterness or slime as I what I initially expected since it looked like siput sedut or river escargot after digging the flesh out of the shells. next time I am in Penang, will bring the family to try out this delicacy. Many thanks to Laxamana for introducing the siput duri. A new dish to savour from now on. As what my driver told me after eating this, we should try out such new stuff as it will widen our food options, how true. Yum! Yum! And before I forget, finally managed to buy some markisa or passion fruit juice at the Chowrasta market. Man that place is a real gold mine for rare food items.
Darn it another one bit the dust. Another of our Nuris or Sea King Helicopters has gone down with all crew perished and the media spinning has started in earnest. Don't want to get into the blame and speculate game but just want to comment we cannot afford to go losing good people like this. You can blame the pilots, you can blame the weather or wahtever but the fact is the helis are old, with the first few units older than me. So replace the worst off units immediately, and you do not have to wait until LIMA 2007 to announce that the NH-90 has been selected to take over the CSAR role of the Nuri as what I am hearing now. This is good but the quantity mentioned is not enough to relieve the old war horses. The replacement of Nuris as transport is the more pressing requirement as you can see from the crash track records, transport was usually the role being carried out when the crashes occured and I am sure we have enough money to do so. As it is we have enough white livery aircraft already and money seems to be always available to procure these VVIP birds, so money should also be made available to buy transports for our servicemen. The litany now seems to be to call on the VIPs to fly on the Nuris to give them a taste of this bitter medicine, but I am sure this will not happen. But who knows, the sky may fall tomorrow and this accident will finally realises an announcement that the Nuri will be replaced. At least something good comes out of this but I am not holding my breath.
Finally to end this post on a delicious note, on my business trip to Penang on Monday finally managed to try what is called siput duri in Malay or what I understand is conch in English. I had these steamed and the taste was delicious though it must be eaten hot. The taste is like keropok ikan or fish crackers and surprisingly there is no taste of bitterness or slime as I what I initially expected since it looked like siput sedut or river escargot after digging the flesh out of the shells. next time I am in Penang, will bring the family to try out this delicacy. Many thanks to Laxamana for introducing the siput duri. A new dish to savour from now on. As what my driver told me after eating this, we should try out such new stuff as it will widen our food options, how true. Yum! Yum! And before I forget, finally managed to buy some markisa or passion fruit juice at the Chowrasta market. Man that place is a real gold mine for rare food items.
Friday, 13 July 2007
Islam as reminded by a Convert Ustaz
Last night caught the tail end of an Islamic religious Program whereby the discussion was on the current practise of Islam. What caught my interest was what a Convert Ustaz said in the program. He was talking about how Islam these days is being practised on the extreme side and no longer as fundamental as it should be. Yup! Fundamental Islam is not the way the Western Civilisation is trying to paint it, that is actually extreme or radical Islam. This is shown by the shallow practise of not allowing a Moslem to practise even good manners, like when the Ustaz said he entered a church to give last respects to his friend, he was ostracized as if he did something fundamentally wrong. The fact is fundamental Islam allows such visits and in fact encourages it, in order to broaden a Moslem's views and show neighbourliness, as Fundamental Islam is a social religion rather than a shallow and callow one. The Ustaz said that if he follows these shallow thinking, if any unconverted relatives of his dies, he cannot visit the dead. What utter nonsense!
Real fundamental Islam is the middle path as espoused by our Nabi S.A.W., a tolerant and social religion that is never shallow in thinking and implementation. Why should anybody follow other thinking even if this was espoused by a Khalifah as in Wahhabism that is the root of radical Islam as it stands nowadays. Who understands Islam better, the Prophet S.A.W who brings the religion to his ummat or a later day Interpreter. As the Ustaz finally said, return to the fundamental and all will be well, as Islam is a beautiful religion so do not attach unnecessary notoriery to it. Well sometimes it takes someone from outside to see the real side of something, as even though you may be born a Moslem, you may still be a callow Moslem, that is an immature and naive Moslem. Think about it as to me you are free to disagree with me, but that does not mean you can on the other hand impose your views on me. Assalamualaikum! May you continously receive hidayah from Allah S.W.T!
Real fundamental Islam is the middle path as espoused by our Nabi S.A.W., a tolerant and social religion that is never shallow in thinking and implementation. Why should anybody follow other thinking even if this was espoused by a Khalifah as in Wahhabism that is the root of radical Islam as it stands nowadays. Who understands Islam better, the Prophet S.A.W who brings the religion to his ummat or a later day Interpreter. As the Ustaz finally said, return to the fundamental and all will be well, as Islam is a beautiful religion so do not attach unnecessary notoriery to it. Well sometimes it takes someone from outside to see the real side of something, as even though you may be born a Moslem, you may still be a callow Moslem, that is an immature and naive Moslem. Think about it as to me you are free to disagree with me, but that does not mean you can on the other hand impose your views on me. Assalamualaikum! May you continously receive hidayah from Allah S.W.T!
Thursday, 12 July 2007
Happy Birthday To Me
Huh! Today am getting closer to the big 40. Is it time for me to think of which little red sports car should I buy when I hit my mid-life crisis ;>). Nah got better things to do than that. It is still another 17 years (that long huh) before I hit retirement age and be free of this salaried bondage. Until then has to think of what the hell I am gonna do for the rest of my working life.
One step at a time. Today just lay back and bask in the congratulations received of achieving another milestone to my grave (credits to Mat Toro for that). Already did lunch with my unit, finally managing to have the gridled fish near Mindef. The taste was okay, nothing to write home about although the preparation was a little different than usual, using a tumeric baste instead of the usual chilly baste.
Then we will see what awaits me at home, maybe there is a cake waiting?Am sure the missus will prepare something good for dinner although the actual birthday treat will be done during the weekend. What food shall I have then. But once you hit this age you no longer think of gifts or presents eh, so might as well think about the little sports car right! Maybe a Toyota MR2 Spyder is in the works! Well you can dream, can't you! A recondioned unit should be good enough to drive around in, especially with the roof down. That should paint the neighbourhood red! And leave many faces green with envy!
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
Going On The Road - Literally
Sheesh! I am getting too old for this. It looks like I will be going on a business trip next week, to Penang. No big deal right! But the bummer is instead of taking a nice MAS flight I will be going by car just because the boss hates flying since he cannot smoke on board. So if it is within the peninsular, he prefers we go on road trips instead of flying. Alamakla boss...sakit pinggangla driving just to cater to your smoking habits. Why not try smoking something else instead. There are so many things you can do to pass your time la.
Well we might as well make a good thing out of this. For sure after checking in, I will ask the driver to go down to Chowrasta Market and we will be buying stuff to take home. At least this time we will get a square meal and good hotel stay in comparison to the last road trip we made to Malacca. Owch! That is something I don't want to remember.
Tuesday, 3 July 2007
The Little One is sulking
Hmmmm...yesterday evening the little one made a boo-boo near maghrib prayers so i blew up at her....her character is that she cannot be scolded otherwise she cries her eyes out...so the whole night till this morning she is still sulky with me...nevermindlah lets see if she is still sulking this evening when i return home..but she is really following my character and in that case she should have cooled down by that time.
Well that is the life when you have a kid that is long minded..their brains are so crafty in thinking up of things to do..nonetheless you have to make boundaries, otherwise they will get spoilt, and that will be another different story altogether..
Well that is the life when you have a kid that is long minded..their brains are so crafty in thinking up of things to do..nonetheless you have to make boundaries, otherwise they will get spoilt, and that will be another different story altogether..
Monday, 2 July 2007
Transformers @ IMAX - One Bang-up Show ZOWIE!!!
Last Saturday treated my family to the Transformers Movie at IMAX, where for an extra 5 ringgit over normal Cineplex tickets you get the real immersion experience of watching a movie on on 5 storey screen with an outta of the world sound system. Bigger than life movies like King Kong and Transformers deserve to be watched at IMAX and I do not regret taking the family to see Transformers there. And for those of you in the rest of the world who has to wait until 4th of July to watch this, I recommend you to see it on IMAX if available.
The thing that surprised me though was the crowd. I initially thought of catching the 2 pm show but surprise! surprise! even though I arrived at the ticket counter at 11:30a.m the show was already sold out so we had to settle for the 5 p.m show. The bugger in this was I asked for middle row seats but I don't know if the ticket counter chick was high or sumtin but she gave us seats three rows from the front that surprised us to heck. Especially since the family had to go in first coz I had to join the long queue at the snacks concession and when I asked the usher where my row was, I was amazed to find the row to be so in front.
But all's well that end's well, as I had mentioned to the Cari forumers that if they wanted to enjoy the movie they might as well see it at IMAX for the immersion experience, and I can tell you that sitting in the third row was really immersion. It fact it was information overload as your sensors could not totally catch up with what is happening on the screen. Imagine watching this scene not only infront of you but over your head and you are actually at ground level of the scene, cranning your necks all around watching the action roll around you. But it was a pity for the little one as she slept through the middle part that was actually a slow moving intermission between the great start and the last battle. I initially thought she was afraid of all the sound and thunder going on but since we took the later show, she actually just had to have her afternoon nap, just like when we watched King Kong!
Anyway the detail we got on screen was great, up to all the blemishes on the actors and actresses skins. I can safely say the IMAX screen was not so kind to Megan Fox who played the heroine. Definitely not as great looking as the pix on the left when on IMAX babe. Anywy about the movie itself, it was a good mix for both the adults and kids as it was not a cheesy screenplay makeover of the cartoon series. Some shades of ID4 but at least not so much chest-thumping jingoism this time as it was not so much the Yanks againts the rest of the world but man surviving by working with machines againts alien technology.
Anyway talking about technology I don't know what the image that the US Armed Forces was hoping to gain from this movie. The impression I got was that their warriors are delinquent as they managed to allow one measly Decepticon to land within their base and trash it the hell out, supposedly without survivors no less even when they had F-22 Raptors on call, trigger happy as they escalated aggression against potential adversary countries without knowing who was responsible for the carnage and dumb as their SEAL do not seem to know there is an emergency telephone number to call on the cellular network instead of going through the call centre and needing credit card numbers if you need to call in an emergency. A jokey moment is a jokey moment but sheesh you dumbassed your own military man. And talking about the Raptors, it is not as if there are so many of them that Starscream can hide out as an extra Raptor in the squadron but the most laughable bit is seeing the multibillion fighters being shot down like flies by Starscream over the city. Man what happened to all the sensors and sitrep of the pilots that you do not know an impostor is screaming down your back to kill you. They should have stuck with the Eagle for Starscream alternative mode as it would have made better sense.
Anyway all in all it was a good movie and most probably we will see it again on IMAX after the heat is off. Hopefully by that time the crowd will be less and we will get better seats so that we can get a better picture of what is happening on screen. The kids like it and it was a great introduction to them to start liking the series. So much that they are fighting who should be Bumblebee and who is Optimus Prime. Anyway cannot wait for the sequel as openly hinted by the ending scene where Optimus Prime called on other Autobots to join them on Earth. Until then to end this on a cheesy note. AUTOBOTS TRANSFORM!
The thing that surprised me though was the crowd. I initially thought of catching the 2 pm show but surprise! surprise! even though I arrived at the ticket counter at 11:30a.m the show was already sold out so we had to settle for the 5 p.m show. The bugger in this was I asked for middle row seats but I don't know if the ticket counter chick was high or sumtin but she gave us seats three rows from the front that surprised us to heck. Especially since the family had to go in first coz I had to join the long queue at the snacks concession and when I asked the usher where my row was, I was amazed to find the row to be so in front.
But all's well that end's well, as I had mentioned to the Cari forumers that if they wanted to enjoy the movie they might as well see it at IMAX for the immersion experience, and I can tell you that sitting in the third row was really immersion. It fact it was information overload as your sensors could not totally catch up with what is happening on the screen. Imagine watching this scene not only infront of you but over your head and you are actually at ground level of the scene, cranning your necks all around watching the action roll around you. But it was a pity for the little one as she slept through the middle part that was actually a slow moving intermission between the great start and the last battle. I initially thought she was afraid of all the sound and thunder going on but since we took the later show, she actually just had to have her afternoon nap, just like when we watched King Kong!
Anyway the detail we got on screen was great, up to all the blemishes on the actors and actresses skins. I can safely say the IMAX screen was not so kind to Megan Fox who played the heroine. Definitely not as great looking as the pix on the left when on IMAX babe. Anywy about the movie itself, it was a good mix for both the adults and kids as it was not a cheesy screenplay makeover of the cartoon series. Some shades of ID4 but at least not so much chest-thumping jingoism this time as it was not so much the Yanks againts the rest of the world but man surviving by working with machines againts alien technology.
Anyway talking about technology I don't know what the image that the US Armed Forces was hoping to gain from this movie. The impression I got was that their warriors are delinquent as they managed to allow one measly Decepticon to land within their base and trash it the hell out, supposedly without survivors no less even when they had F-22 Raptors on call, trigger happy as they escalated aggression against potential adversary countries without knowing who was responsible for the carnage and dumb as their SEAL do not seem to know there is an emergency telephone number to call on the cellular network instead of going through the call centre and needing credit card numbers if you need to call in an emergency. A jokey moment is a jokey moment but sheesh you dumbassed your own military man. And talking about the Raptors, it is not as if there are so many of them that Starscream can hide out as an extra Raptor in the squadron but the most laughable bit is seeing the multibillion fighters being shot down like flies by Starscream over the city. Man what happened to all the sensors and sitrep of the pilots that you do not know an impostor is screaming down your back to kill you. They should have stuck with the Eagle for Starscream alternative mode as it would have made better sense.
Anyway all in all it was a good movie and most probably we will see it again on IMAX after the heat is off. Hopefully by that time the crowd will be less and we will get better seats so that we can get a better picture of what is happening on screen. The kids like it and it was a great introduction to them to start liking the series. So much that they are fighting who should be Bumblebee and who is Optimus Prime. Anyway cannot wait for the sequel as openly hinted by the ending scene where Optimus Prime called on other Autobots to join them on Earth. Until then to end this on a cheesy note. AUTOBOTS TRANSFORM!
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