On that memorable field we stood

The very grass we once set foot

The field that fuel our soccer passion

The sport that bridged our relation

Though it was far behind
It was all fresh in my mind

Then, the dew was wet and the grass was fresh

All we need was a ball and not cash

On the grassy land we run

Raining or sunny, it's always fun

Under the sun, the proud eagle watches

Nothing on earth felt better to us

Back then, the grass was lively and vibrant

On the leaves, the sun never left its mark of burnt

The rays of sun gently bounced off the leaves

Likewise we stood, unchangeable, would not shift

The sun never sweats us or burns our skin

Yes, thats how youthful we were feeling

Forty five minutes a round is never enough

Yet, we always have only 2 halves

We play from the sunrise till noon
Never a second or a minute too soon
The vibrant grasses accompanied our game
Celebrating both our greatness and fame

Our anthem was most symphonic
Of cheers, vigor and football tricks

We were ageless and careless and naïve

Like the simple grasses’ green leaves

Time has pass and gone
Those memories still quite fond
The grasses still stood on that fateful field
But our bodies and hearts had lesser yield

Like the grasses, we have dry up and wither

From the time and age that had made us older

The field had turn powdery
And the grasses no longer lively
They are no longer green but brown

Like those leaves, we can never go around

The time of our naivety and careless have past
A sad reminder that time can be so fast
But the memories of our anthem remains

For it’s the few things that keep us sane

In a world of mounting pressure and distress

We could only look back to our past when we needed rest

~Dedicated to all footballers ever set foot on the field of SXi and specially dedicated to my Footie Buddies for our aging....

            I was confused on whether or not to resign. After all, being chased down by dragons and having to face energy balls every day is not something I would called a dream job. I was starting to wonder if I'm right material for such a dangerous job. Previously I was just a waiter and suddenly to escape poverty, I'm in some action packed job. Despite having super power myself, that doesn't make me any lesser of a human to feel fear and diappointment. So I decided to seek out Oz for some advice. Being my squad captain and more experienced, I was hoping he could at least help me to see my options better.
            “You know what is the very first lesson taught in Aviation classes?” Oz began.

            “How to take off,” I wondered out loud.

            “That’s the second lesson actually,” Oz corrected. The very first thing they taught us is this: One who is afraid of falling may never fly.”

            It took me a bit of time to digest what Oz was trying to tell me. Then Oz recount the story of his own flying lesson experience. He was actually quite afraid to fly on his first attempt. Then Oz paused for a little while after his first sentence, as if trying to avoid the embarassing details. On his very first attempt, he was more of levitating than hovering. It took him a few classes alone later to finally able to fly in a circle. Oz’s story came as a surprise to me. I saw him flew during duties and it was as if it was his second nature to be mobile in air. Who could have thought that someone as good as him started out as someone with aerophobia? I could not believe that in his early stage of learning, he was just flying in circles.

            “I was one of the slowest learners in Aviation classes,” Oz confessed.

            I clearly thought that Oz was just cracking a joke to make me feel better but from his denial, I knew he was telling the truth. “But how did you...what did you...?”

            Then he told me the day when he took a look upwards the sky and for a split second he forgotten about his fear. The sky felt so wide and so unlimited. If only he had the guts to reach out to even smell the air there. At the same time, he failed to realise that he was now flying higher and higher towards the sky. When he finally realise that the scenery had completely changed, it was already too high for him. He made a mistake by taking a look down. By looking down, his aerophobia seize him and he lost his concentration. He was 500 meters from ground and falling by free fall. By the time he managed to regain a bit of  concentration and couage to spread his wings, he had only managed to decrease the speed of the fall by just a bit. That however, saved him from a worse injury. Nevertheless, he still end up in the school’s clinic with heavy injuries.

            “I still don’t quite get your point,” I blurted out.

            “OK, let me go on. When I got up from the hospital, I finally realise why I was unable to fly. Whenever I take off, I kept looking at the ground because I was so afraid of falling since crashing cause quite an injury. To be honest with you, I was mostly looking at the ground when I was flying in circles.”

            Part of me lighten up inside. It’s amazing how some of the greatest people you know started out. Hearing this story from Oz, it kind of makes me feel a little more confident in myself. In my case, I was actually better than Oz, at least I have people telling me I’m not the wrong material for my current job. Oz, on the other hand, was late by more than half a month of classes.

“So, you could fly smoothly after that?”

            “No.” Oz smiled. He told me that his second crash landing still hurts. It was his third landing which began to hurt less. As he went on with his story, I was told that it was a while for him before he finally overcame his fear of falling and that his very first lesson in flying came much more later than he should have. By then those who had started the classes with him had been given the permission to fly around the school compound.

Then he turned to me. “Can you imagine what it’s like if I had never looked up to the sky? I would still be afraid of falling, afraid of hurting myself and never made any progress in flying. And all I ever had was my fear of falling and my fear of injury and some minor levitating skill and some longing desire to fly but never the ability to do it. By putting aside my fear of flying, I managed to gain more and learn more. The memories of my first and second crash are still there but at least, now, I have flying skill, the ability to defy gravity and well, memories of my first and second crash.”
             I walked out of Oz's office, trying to absorb what had Oz said to me and how it could apply to my situation. I certainly had a better start compared to Oz. At least in comparison, I was not just flying in a circle. I was flying higher and further. Plus, for my first fall, I had a less crashing fall than Oz.

Prolounge:
Before I went back to Penang for Deepavali holiday, I decided to use one of my free time to go lepak instead. On my way, on the Metrobus I was struck by a Muse. This is when the inspiration to write something came out smoothly and I have enough inspiration to write start something solid. This is the second time in my life where inspiration came to me in what I can only describe as “struck by a Muse”. The first time I was inspired to write a poem describing my future wife. Yes, it was this weird task I have from my English teacher. Anyone who wants that poem, please send me an MSN message and pray that I could dig that poem out somewhere. This time, the inspiration struck me to write a story, a semi descriptive story about how Death actually picks a soul up after the person died. Like JKRowling who first got the inspiration of Platform 9 ¾ while riding a train, I got my idea from riding a Metrobus. Trust me, I was dumbfound as well by how stubborn the initial idea stuck on me to start writing. I was even surprise that the initial idea was so smooth that I even shocked at myself. However, due to not wanting to commit to more than 3 personal writing projects at once, I decided to file away the idea at the back of my head for the future. Little did I know….

The main story:

A month ago, while I was having my post-Deepavali vacation rest, I received an MSN message from Axnon telling me about a writing contest…or so called contest, that would be held in a day or two’s time. The thought of writing something and submit to the international public was a thrilling idea to me. So, even before I know most of the conditions for joining, my heart was shrilling YES! YES! YES! When I found out the conditions for the event, I was a little discouraged by the seemly impossible situation.

I had to write 50,000 words worth of story within a month’s time and truth is I would win nothing much, just a softcopy certificate. Yes, I get nothing tangible for my hard work in a month’s time. Another condition was that I had to start writing by the 1^st of November and the deadline was end of Nov which was 30^th of Nov, which means I have to write at the average of 1666-1700 words per day and I can’t repeat one paragraph over and over again till I reach the word limit since I don’t really how the word count works. Of course, I could always cheat and just complete some of my incomplete story and then submit the finishing work to claim a softcopy certificate. What’s worse that the main website is down and there’s not much additional information that both of us could get, even registration was a problem since we had to register in less than 24 hours, or so that’s what it seemed to us at first.

Because Axnon sent me that invitation right before my lunch, there was a lot that my brain need to digest and process. I decided to let my lunch fuel my mind first and do the thinking later. After some proper lunch, I decided to go for it and by teatime, the website was already up for registration which I quickly seized my chance to register. In the evening, I was summoned by Kece for another DoTA match. Since I had nothing better to do for myself and to relax before the big marathon begin, I decided to have another sleepover at Kece’s house and use my time there to clear up my thoughts on what to write. By then I’ve already what to write, the idea which I had filed away before my Deepavali holiday begin.

Yes, most of you will say I could just cheat my way through my completing some of my incomplete story and write till it reaches the word limit and just submit it and I could still get a lousy softcopy cert. Well, that is quite true, I don’t deny that. However, the very person who suggested this event to me gave me a piece of advice. It would be wiser not to cheat that way. Since I would actually be emotionally attached to those stories and in turn that might actually slow me down due to constant correction, after reflecting on his words, I feel that he was quite right. So, I decided to start clean, to start writing from a blank white page.

The moment I reached home from the sleepover, I found my first obstacle was already waiting for me: my com was down. Yes, my com crashed an hour before I thought of starting my work of 50,000 words and even before I typed in the first letter. Real bummer here. I immediately took the com to the repair shop and went for lunch. I decided not to let this first obstacles slow me down. So, I went to the stationary shop after that to buy myself an exercise book and some papers to start my work. I would write on the book and use the paper to record the actual obstacles that I faced and the prediction of obstacles to come.  I knew it was impossible for the speed of writing to match the speed of typing and since it was already a weekend afternoon, it’s quite impossible to go to my uni to get computer service. So, instead of just munching on my anger and ranting on my despair, I armed myself with my pencil and wrote my first sentence. So, instead of starting blank, I actually used my personal frustration of the crashing com to serve as the basis of my first chapter and the noisy neighbour’s kids as material to write (though I did not write much on this). Before I know it, the first chapter was ready and the pages were slowly filled up with words. The story is already on its own gears to move; all that mobilized without a computer.

It was only at night that I dare to indulge myself in a little digital relaxation. Even in the cyber café, I did not slack and went on writing the story instead of just merely transferring the story from hardcopy to softcopy because submission requires softcopy. I figure it’s still too early to make a transfer. The next day, the com shop had yet to called me to reclaim my com, with that I came to the conclusion that I still need to work with a pencil. While it was slightly tiring, the mental fatigue and arm-ache did not slow my work, I went on writing. But I was lucky since I already had the first few chapters already ready in my head even before I begin. When night fell, I repeated my routine of going back to CC to relieve my computer-addict and at the same time tried to continue on from where I last stopped writing.

Finally, when the weekends ended, I could finally go to school on Monday to continue writing on a com which could speed up my work considerably. Writing on a com with proper internet connection was pretty much like writing in a CC, distractions come in all sorts of forms, youtube, chat messenger, Wikipedia, none which actually help progressed the story but I went on writing.

Tuesday, I went to school again to resume my work. In the evening, the repair shop finally called me and told me I could collect my com. Delighted, I rushed home and as I’ve expected, this good news is not a blessing since I was too busy reconnecting with com that I did not continue my writing work after I got my com back. The next day I finally managed to continue my work a bit but not enough to be consider proper progress. So it seems that either way the com was starting to become and obstacles and on the second day after the com came back, it proves to be yet another obstacles again: the com had to be sent the shop….again!
So, it’s back to pencil and paper again.

Thankfully the com was back by Saturday and I have some proper entertainment for my weekends but in 24 hours time, the com crash again. Yes, again! But this round, instead of going to school to use the school’s com, I decided to use my housemate’s com to continue the work. But the usual net distraction was there, so I spent half my time for doing proper work to slowly transfer my story from hardcopy to softcopy.

By the time the com had return, work had slowed considerably and it was already week 2 out of my 4 weeks venture. I had to write at about 1700 words per day and by week 2, I was slightly behind that count for each day. It was during this time as well that I started to question myself on the novel I wrote, the purpose behind writing and the motivation behind struggling for a softcopy piece of cert. There are also days when I only have the motivation to write a few hundred words per day and there are even days where no progress were added to the novel.

On week 3, I told myself, it would be impossible to catch up on all the word counts I missed in a single writing. Instead, I reset the average word count per day to 2k words per day from 1.7k words per day. It was tough but my plan worked. I begin to write rubbish which contributed to the word count but not directly to the story. The good side was even though the novel was starting to feel like rubbish, I was nearer to the event’s objective and since story content and grammar are never really the priorities, I say to hell with those. By the end of the third week, I was slightly ahead of the daily word count. In fact, I was ahead by one day. Even though I could take some time to have a small celebration for such an achievement, I did not because I reminded myself, it was actually a net lost because previously I had lost 2-3 days. In the final week, with the upcoming ‘duty’ of tour guiding my friends, I am bound to lose a day or two in total. So, I went on writing what I can even though my spirit was yearning to rest.

During the first and second day of week 4, the final week, I was actually slightly behind the word count. It was already the final week; I was beginning to worry if I could finish in time since I barely had time to write anymore; not because of the deadline which is due soon but because I had to entertain my friends who are currently living in my hometown. So, I tried to do what one of my friends called ‘time compression’. Truth is, it’s actually just cutting down your sleeping time so you have more time to do stuff. The fact that my sister’s com could restart itself on a random whim was an added obstacle. Near the end of the 4^th week, I was down with some stomach problem. Another problem was that my novel had to be completed but thank goodness my hands and my mind still work.

On the 29^th day since I first started, I finally submitted the novel to the main website. When I saw my word count had reach 50k, I wrote my last sentence and submitted my work. The result? I won with 50050 words. ^^ V

Reflection:
A task accomplished when faced with so much obstacles would taste like fine wine or the very least a good can of beer. Yet, to me, the success of this task just felt like soft drink or a very nice glass of fruit juice. When I saw my word count reaching 50k, there was a spark of triumphant in my mind but the spark only lasted till after I went through my “winning prizes”. After going through my “prizes”, that fire of victory died. Usually after a victory in exams or some other task, I would actually play a victory song and make sure I go through the whole song before shutting it off but this time I didn’t.

By the next day, I had this emptiness inside of me. The kind of emptiness that occur directly after an exam is over. The kind that make you never want to admit that exam give a purpose of existence in school. Suddenly my life is free of one task and yet, there was more emptiness inside of me that uplifting emotions of winning and completing.  Maybe cause I came to realise that Warner Bros won’t be printing my book afterall; it was rubbish anyway.
Truth is that what i did is nothing compared to what other participants did. I read a story of a working mother who finished 3 novels in a month and still have time for her family while i managed to finish simply because i was on a school break and had more free time than ever.

All in all, I’m glad I chose this path even though material-wise, it’s not really rewarding but still, it was one whole month of experience and it was not entirely wasted. I did learn a few things about myself and what basic fundamentals of the world and I proved to myself I can talk a lot of nonsense when I have to.

Selamat Hari Raya to all my friends celebrating this festive day…myself included =P

This year, I finally get to serbu Azli’s house again. Well, aside from the ordinary yet wonderful gathering. Something extraordinary happened after I left the Raya open house.

I met up with my tourists which I had ditched in order to go an open house on the second day of my tour guiding. They were eating lok lok at Chulia Street, near my favourite wantan store. Their original plan for dinner was going all the way to Tambun in the mainlands for seafood. Not very fond of seafood and unsure of driving to the mainlands, I declined the offer and asked them to enjoy themselves and was thinking of retreating myself to another round of arcade in Gurney. Well, instead of ditching me, they decided to conform to my preference. Instead of going for seafood, they decided to see what we all could do together. As we were deciding what to do, Carmen striked up a conversation with a westerner who happens to be trying out the lok lok as well. When we finally come to a conclusion of our next stop, both strangers were talking happily already. Just as we’re about to leave, someone forked out the idea of asking the foreigner to join our makan makan tour. Most of us were skeptical at first but in the end, we let Carmen do the first inviting. Much to our surprise, the westerner actually said yes and even wanted to ask his own friends whom he had met during his few days in Peang to join. His friends however refused to join but he happily came along with us.

The westerner all the way from German introduced himself as “Oliver” as much as the ladies wanted him to be in the Kancil that Carmen drove, there was not enough space. So, he had to go on my car which only had me and Michael. Our following stop was a place that allows me to reminiscence one of the best parts of high school, the alley right beside Yasmin (if I got the name correctly), well, to be honest it’s not the type of place I would normally go but priorities goes to my tourist and besides, I remember this spot was the very first spot that I had nasi kandar nearly 10 years ago when Xi Wen introduced this place to us….hmm….i still remember Yan Wai had to sit under the leaking roof….cos it was raining that time.

During the nasi kandar eating session, Oliver revealed a bit more about himself. He is 25 and a working in the Marketing department in his company and for this trip, he’s saving since his college days. Cool!
For our next stop, we originally decided to go for Firewood Pizza in Macalister Road. Although the stall was open, we had to wait for an hour before we can get the pizza, even with booking. We decided to drop the idea and Carmen suggested to take the tourist to Batu Ferringhi
=S
Well, I complied. I did have the urge to ask Azli to come down to join us a bit for the tour but did not give in to that urge.

After showing them the actual “The Ship”, the real deal, we tried to rush back to my place to get the fried oysters I’ve been tempting Yan Yan with since before the tour. I was a bit nervous that they might find the fried oyster to be so so but thankfully, most of them loved the fried oyster except for Pauline since she doesn’t like the soaky feel of the oyster flesh…u can tell she’s not really a seafood lover but that doesn’t stop her from enjoying either while Michael and Joyce, both being seafood lovers LUV the oysters. I had to order the second serving of fried oysters, the largest plate. Fried oyster was not the only thing we had, we had fried rice, char koay teow with duck egg (yah u heard me), mutton satay, some chicken organ thingy. Pauline was commenting what a lucky brat I was becos nothing was so-so there. That pretty much the end of the first day. We asked Oliver to join us for the second seeing that he doesn’t really have much of plan.

On the second day, the tourists were down from 7 to 4. Michael joined us for the morning eating since he’s taking the afternoon bus back. Joyce had to go back to Uni while Carmen had to go back to work. After meeting our new friend from German, I took Oliver and Michael to this roti canai place that Suat Yen introduce to me on my very first time tour guiding. When Oliver was told that there was roti bakar which loosely translates to ‘toast’, he ordered that instead of roti canai. Me and Michael on the other ordered roti telur. When our respective orders arrived, I was awed by the roti bakar cos it had liquid egg on it. Luckily for me, Oliver dared not consume eggs that are less than 50% solid, so we traded our plates.
Next we went to Chowrasta market to have a look at what local markets look like. He seemed to have a rough idea on how things were like. Michael treated to a stick of you cha kueh while Oliver himself bought himself a bachang.
After our little walk in the market, I took Michael to get tau sar pneah from Him Heang in Burmah Road. While waiting for his product, I took our friend to the apong stall which is just across the road. Michael treated him to a bowl of wantan waiting for the stall owner to make around 50 apongs. Yes, 50.

Next, we went to pick up the girls and have our third round of eating, but first round for the girls. I found a place for lor mee and hokkien mee using Maggi noodles. During the eating, we learn a bit more about our bagpacker’s home country.

After the eating, I dropped Michael and went to Queen’s Bay to use their toilet. Plus, our new friend needed to get a new battery. I took the rest to get battery while Pauline was still busy in the toilet. We’re supposed to discuss the next destination base the map that Pauline has marked but she forgotten to take it down from my car. So, Yan Yan volunteered to get the map instead. I was more nervous to communicate with him than to take him around but it turn out it wasn’t so hard except the part where I took him to the handphone shop. Due to my limited technology vocabs, I have to simplify the meaning of ‘a.p’ hardware to “pirated”. After the stop at the handphone stall, I took our new friend to meet up with the girls. On our way, Oliver decided to try out Auntie Anne’s Pretzel and it was pretty disappointing for him, he offered his leftovers to me and I took all of it after tasting: It was good (and Pauline agreed with me) but since he’s disappointed, I can only imagine how good Pretzel tasted in German.

Our next stop: P. Ramlee House. Seriously I have no idea where that is. So, I blend my luck with my knowledge. And it turns out it wasn’t that hard to find.  It turns out that I always pass the alley that leads into the P.Ramlee House whenever I need to visit Chris. We spend a bit of time photographing things here and there.

After the P. Ramlee house, I took my tourist to get tau sar pneah. Well, I din really wanna take Oliver to the same place again but he did the job of introducing the shop to the girls the same way I did it to earlier this morning when I brought Michael there. Unfortunately for the girls, the trademark biscuitcake ball is sold out. So, next makan destination then since the girls were a bit hungry already.

Next eating station: Bangkok Lane mee goreng!!! Almost 2 sem breaks din eat that already. But the noodles are still disappointing ‘coz I reach during peak hour again. In spite of my disappointment, my tourists are once again amazed. This is one place where I always find the disappointment while my tourist find contentment. When Yan Yan said that she din have enough of the mee, Oliver gladly offered his share since he was not that hungry.

So, dessert next: Chendul. Where else? Hehehehe. Penang Road la. Luckily, I managed to get a parking spot. I was amazed by the taste of the chendul
but then again, it’s my first time as well =P
While enjoying the dessert, Pauline overheard some KL youngsters talking about laksa. Curious, we went in to the shop right beside the chendul store to try out. We ordered one bowl to share among 4 people. The laksa was good, on par with the one under Kek Lok Si. Well, if u like diluted soup, then go for Kek Lok Si, if u like less diluted soup, go for Penang Road.

On a makan makan trip, what u do after ur done with one place of makan? U go makan again….hehehe….Swatow Lane ais kacang next. Pauline ordered pasembur thinking that she will get KL  version of rojak. But it wasn’t that bad to be honest. While waiting for dinner time and also for Carmen’s confirmation on whether or not she could join us, we sit down and chatted.

I took them to Esplanade after Swatow Lane to have a stroll and to pass time. We started our little stroll at Fort Cornwallis. Upon discovering that the fort has already close, we decided to walk around instead. Just as we walked out of the Fort a little, a bird decided to deposit his refuse on my arm. Thank God there’s a toilet in the area. We made our way to the Clock Tower where Pauline tried to get Oliver to decipher the French info written on the information board. No, we didn’t understand much in the end since Oliver can read French as well as me reading Chinese….albeit a bit better. What we did next was pretty much the slowest thing we did for the whole tour, we just sat by the seasides and took pictures and talked a little but most of all, we’re just sitting there enjoying the seabreeze.
After all those sitting around, we decided to walk abit and as we’re doing that, we come across Dewan Sri Pinang. With all those grand lightings and bright welcoming mood, our curiosity got the better of us and we decided to see what the scene was about. It turns out that it was a quasi-modern Malay wedding. The time we arrived couldn’t be better because the couple is just about to walk through the isle. We stayed around for some camera actions. Eager to see what it’s like inside, we edged around the entrance to take a peek, the mother of the bride mistakening us for guests welcome us into the wedding for some bites. A little taken aback, we told the woman that we’re just passerbys. Yet, the mother still continued to welcome us and told us it was ok to go in.
We went inside to take a look around. One of the bride’s cousins greeted us and talked to us abit, thinking that we’re her colleagues. We left the wedding with a entrance souvenir each in our hands and moved to our last stop for the day and trip.

For dinner, I took my tourist for firewood pizza which they missed the day before. Thank God the place was open but as usual we had to wait some time for the pizza. In the mean time, Oliver showed us his songs collections in his iPod. He allowed us to write in his journal, something like a memento of his travels from the people and places he saw. We left him our address, both digital address and real home address to him. I left him a poem as well. The firewood pizza again amazed my tourists and myself. So much so that they ordered a second helping and were willing to wait for another hour for the second one. While waiting for the second one, our bagpacker friend showed us pictures of his Thai and Laos travels before his friends went back home.

I dropped off our German friend in front of his guest house before dropping the girls. Before parting, he gave each of us hug as a token of the wonderful experience that we shared.

The memorable stuff:
I get to bring a foreigner around
Sound effects can be a good tool of communication
9 meals a day for the first day
Found a better place for laksa….no, cos its just nearer to reach only..
My tourist gets a taste of what Malaysian should be like; quoting from Pauline: We get to see Chinese  flipping Ramlee burgers, Indians speaking fluent Hokkien
Penang food still taste as good
Going back to the very first place I had Nasi Kandar
Walking around Chowrasta market in the early morning
2 servings of firewood pizza
Goodbye hugs

 
Achievement:
Manage to get 911’s Party People song….finally!
Introducing Penang food to my tourist
Learning of a few great places more for food
Getting to know a bagpacker
Leaving a poem on  a bagpacker’s journal

The disappointment:
No cheesy chicken cordon bleu this round….and also Hokkien Mee near my house and also Chulia Street wantan mee
Did not take much photos

What I’ve learn:
it’s not that hard to talk to people
new experience can be wonderful
“jauh perjalanan, luas pemandangan”….did I get that right?
adventure comes in all kind of forms
friendship arise under the most extraordinary circumstances
tour guiding (in fact, any guiding exp for the matter) is a 2 way-experience
language is not that big a barrier
Malaysia ain’t that bad as country

…….inspire by a casual chit chat in real life…

This is an article  of me picturing my current uni friends how on a gathering would be like when some of us are parents by that time. (X years later, whereby X= number of years u imagine our friends being parents). So, its a gathering of uni friends who are already parents and still keep in touch with each others. After so long of not meeting each other face to face, we finally get to meet face to face…..and those of us who are parents would definitely bring the babies along with them.

 Myself, since I can’t picture myself being a parent anytime soon…. if there’s a gathering, most probably I would volunteer to be the vid-cam man since I love to vid-cam and I dun have to get involved with baby-centric topics.
Let’s start with 2 of the people who inspire this imaginative article(since I can’t find a better word for it):

ah Beh and Janice…and just to make it interesting, let’s throw in CJ:

It will be pretty much on those usual updates and confirmation on things that they have chatted before online and through other means and also exchanging of parenting experience……..until someone starts to comment on one of the babies. Then it will like this:

Beh: CJ, ur baby ah, a lot like you la, very noisy.
CJ   : Eh, takkan like you, right or not, Janice.
Janice: Eh, what has to do with me?
Beh: My baby is healthy like me, ok? Doctor say never see a healthier baby before.
CJ: The doctor say or u say?
Beh: Takkan the doctor tell me nonsense meh?
Janice: Maybe the doctor is just consoling you.
Beh: What? Let me show you the picture a few hours after delivery.

[after looking at photo]

Janice: OH MY GOD!! Very cute leh…the face very round, rounder than yours!!
CJ: Eh, u should see my one after 1 day after delivery still cute. [ask wife to show off the picture and u dun see the wife get involved in the conversation after that]

Beh: Of cos mine still cute and the face of cos round la…takkan the face is triangle meh?
Janice: But hor, ur baby got thinner since that time. You din feed him properly, is it?
CJ: Of cos din feed properly la…he only know how to feed himself..

….ok, if I keep typing this might get a bit too long…lets move on to the next parent….
[to outsiders reading, dun worry, this kinda bickering is just their way of bonding and communicating, no harm done] and seriously, this kinda situation will only take place if they completely remain unchanged even after being parents.

Next, lets’ move on to Wai San and 肥佬 (fei lo)。Not to comment on anything, but I picture fei lo would be the one carrying the baby most of the time but Wai San would be the one who fusses over things.

WS: The extra diapers?
FL: In the pink bag here.
WS: Just now, the 2pm feeding, u handle already ah?
FL: Baby drink already 3 quarter only. Diapers I din change, still dry the last time I check.
WS: Haiyo, told u to let Baby must finish the whole bottle already lo. What happen if Baby get hungry earlier. How much diapers you bring?
FL: Enough to last until today midnight la…even after the supply when we reach home also prepare at home already la.
WS: The milk powder pulak I bring 2 containers, you think enough ah?
FL: Aiyo, gathering only la, not vacation la…no need bring so much one la….wasting

….and when it comes to exchange parenting experience, Wai San would be doing most of the talking regardless of who did the most parenting.

Next couple: Suat Yen and Kok Leei

Is it just me or I just keep picturing Kok Leei carrying the baby more than Suat Yen..

Leei: Let me carry Baby la….just now I was driving cannot carry.
SY: U were playing with Baby the whole morning before we got onto the car.
Leei: Aiyo, just let me carry la. [SY pass over the baby and Leei proceeds to make funny faces to the baby]
SY frowning: Like I don’t exist after the baby is born  (:S)
Lee Fang: [laughing] Men are like this one la….


Next: Kiven…….for some reasons, prove me wrong, Kiv, I feel that Kiven would be the one doing more of the parenting.

Kiven: Baby hungry already la, dear.
Wife: I get the milk. Where u put the milk powder ah?
Kiven: Turquoise bag’s inner compartment.
Wife: Napkin leh?
Kiven: Same bag at the right side pocket. I do the feeding this time.

[feeding halfway]
 Kiven: Baby need change of diaper.
Wife: Where you put the diapers?
Kiven: In the car, black bag, backseat there.

Next one: David….

David: 2 nights ago…bla bla bla…I heard Baby say “papa”…..bla bla bla bla…..knows how to recognize me already….bla bla bla……Baby can carry own bottle already…bla  bla bla bla…..wanna vid-cam Baby carrying own bottle one but no vid-cam available at that time. Bla bla  bla bla……should bring the pictures to show you…

Next couple: Wen Ying and her husband..

WY: Eh, next year, we get one baby lo…
Hubby: U can take care ah?
WY: Got u mah as daddy mah[giggle]

Well, tats about how much that crosses my mind at the moment….if I can come up with the situation how its like when your child is older, I will write it out and publish on my blog….hahaha

And just to end this nicely….

“Wong ah, it’s time to start your own family already la”

someone would surely say this…..if I’m the last one to get marry. And to reply:

“You think get marry so easy meh? Fathering a child so easy meh?”

....dedicated to my all my friends

                Wrath sighed and took another sip of Cold Juice. Resting his hand over the railing, he looked out into the horizons overlooking the city sceneries. Releasing another sigh, he lifted his free hand and brushed away his blood red hair and rubbed his ridge. Teaching and instructing was never really his forte but it was part of his job to train the new recruits, specially his own squad. After a few more sighing and a few more criticizing of his fresh recruits in his head, he decided to head to the cafeteria. Rather than using the teleportation pod, he decided to simply walked up to the cafeteria from the station’s garden. “At least I get to utilize my break than rushing straight to lunch,” he thought to himself as he walked towards the cafeteria.
                At the threshold of the cafeteria, he bumped into his Commissioner. He greeted him and in turn, his Commissioner invited him to lunch together. Seeing that he might get an opportunity to get his mind off his frustration, he took the Commissioner’s offer.
                “What’s frustrating you?” Commissioner Chain asked, a bit after they started on their lunch. Wrath hesitated, should he disclose his frustration to his Commissioner or should he not.
                As if able to read his mind – which Chain can’t- Chain added “Don’t worry, it’s lunch time now. We are just 2 friends eating together.” Wrath hesitated again but decided to let his guard down but just enough to let some of his frustration out and not showing his weakness at the same time.
                Then Wrath began to relay his frustration about training his new recruits: how ignorant and foolhardy some could be, how cowardly and withdrawn some were, how uncooperative some had been and a lot of other frustrations which were mostly expressed as negative comments aside from a few good comments from a few freshies. Despite his initial plans of not wanting to blurt too much out, Wrath ended up disclosing almost everything about his frustration.
                “Would you cut my wage after talking so much to you?” Wrath wondered aloud after he was done talking. Chain who had been listening with only the occasional questions during Wrath’s story telling just gave a simple chuckle. “No worries about that.”
                “I think that these newbies should be given a chance. That’s what I believe,” Chain continued.
                “How? They can’t seemed to learn anything properly, can’t take instructions, some can’t even take a step forward in field duty, some refuse to cooperate with the team,” Wrath countered.
                Chain smiled gently not intending any threat and revealed that he knew about Wrath’s situation before joining his current station.
                “That I was under depression for a few months before I could continue my job?”
                “It’s the part where you were just a waiter before you had your first field duty.”
                Wrath was shocked for a moment. His eyes shot open with surprise before he calmed down with a smile. “I guess rumours do run around faster than Cleaning Lava.”
                “Were you afraid when you had to face that wurm alone on your very first field duty?” Chain asked.
                “It was actually a dragon: a White Fang; and yes, I was afraid. I even thought of changing my job directly after that,” Wrath smiled wryly.
                “Well, look at you now. You’re a captain with your own squad.”
               “That was because I’m lucky to be able to stick to my job,” Wrath sighed for the thirteenth time since the Cold Juice.
                 “I don’t think it has much to do with luck,” Chain chuckled again. Wrath looked at Chain questioningly, knowing that his Commissioner has more to say.
                “ I believe you simply given the right chance to prove yourself. It might not be just a single chance that given to you.”
                Wrath looked at Chain with puzzled eyes. It was like hearing obvious about your past that you’re not aware of. Then Chain went on, “It was not unheard of that inexperienced members were recruited into the SWaRM force but it was almost unheard of that a member with no prior experience could stay so long and be promoted twice, not to mention surviving so much depressing situations in his line of this dangerous and life-threatening job.”
                Wrath blushed a little, never knowing his own reputation amongst the SWaRM force.
                Chain continued, “If you’re saying you’re here because of your luck, then I must say, it has long passed. Your luck did get you into the SWaRM force in the first place but it was not because of your luck that you’re still here. Our line of work is a very dangerous one; news of members’ death is just as common to us as customer complains. Our capabilities are the measure of how well we can stay in this job, not our HyperMage abilities (mutant powers) or our history. It’s how well we handled what is being thrown at us, not how many fireballs that one can throw. These young recruits managed to make it for a reason and many of them may not recruit for the same reason but I believe that they are recruited for a good reason. In life, not all of us grow at the same rate. Some of us are early bloomers, some of us are late bloomers, some of us need to be cracked like a throny-hard-shelled fruit. Often times, the late bloomers are discarded because people made early conclusions which are wrong about them, sometimes, people simply fails to believe in them or even want to see them; or worse, nobody bother to check whether they bloom late or needs to be crack. Just because people don’t see certain things, it does not mean those ‘certain things’ are not there. That’s one of the things with talent. Sometimes they need to be crack open. You of all of the available squad captains, should know these.”
                “Me?” asked the puzzled Wrath.
                “A couple of meetings ago, I receive news that the ‘Insane’ squad captain proposed this program of giving the new recruits practical training during their probation stage, so that the newbies have a good idea what they are about to face in their actual field duties. New recruits would be given a hand-ons on real situation and should they pass this probation stage, they shall be recognized a SWaRM force member and should they fail, they will be given a second chance before their own captain have a proper say in whether or not to drop them from the force. Psyche, the vice-captain of ‘Insane’ squad was rather against it but his co-captain…,” the Commissioner looked straight at Wrath and went on “…his co-captain was very firm on it. I find that this idea was plausible. So, I approved the proposal without hesitation.”
                The ‘Insane’ captain could laugh ironically at that story.
                “It was a better filtering system than the one we had before because the previous system was being slightly judgmental. Coming back to you, it’s like I say, you’re still here not because of your luck but because of your own capability…..however…” Chain paused. Wrath kept his silence, waiting for his boss to continue. “Have you ever imagined what it would be like if during your training stage, you were rejected even before your first field duty? I dare say your success might come later…..or at least come in a different form; though that might be a good thing. Imagine, if you were rejected after your first duty or even before that, what will happen?”
                The Commissioner stopped his speech, apparently waiting to see if his subordinate could see absorb anything. Wrath’s eyes did not turn away but instead says that he was waiting for his superior to continue.
                “I heard you’re a waiter before that, if you had been rejected, you might struggling with money and still be job hunting and chances are you might be wandering from job to job given the country’s policy of hiring HyperMage(mutant). Not that I see you as the type who drift from job to job,” Chain added calmly.
                “Not to mention, living a boring life,” Wrath chipped in and peppered his statement with a laugh to his emphasis on his phrase. Chain smiled and ended their lunch because he needed to be on his way for the meeting with the Mayor. His subordinate bid him farewell but continued to sit at their lunch table reflecting on his words.
                All of his life, things were more or less smooth sailing for him with the occasional tidal wave but all in all, his life was not that terrible. He thought back of his early days as a SWaRM force member. He realized that he could have been fired but there he was, now at a higher position. He began to understand that his former squad leaders had been kind and rather forgiving to him despite his myriads of colourful mistakes. He realized that people around him believed in him and were endlessly giving him chance to prove himself rather than just drop him. Had his former leaders been stricter, he would have been in another field by now. His current success was partially owed to his former squad leaders for giving him the opportunity to shine. He may have the capabilities for the job but his luxury to shine came from the kindness of the people who given him the opportunities and the necessary push.
                His very first day as a SWaRM member, he may have walked in alone but his old friends were waiting for him inside his new work place. He realized that some of the new recruits were really alone and that might contribute to their unwillingness to cooperate. Reflecting back on his first day, he realize that he join this field without high hopes which allows him to be have a clearer mind on the job but the same can’t be said about some of his foolhardy recruits; not ‘foolhardy’, ‘eager to prove’, he corrected himself. Downing his drink, he walked back to his squad’s room.
                He instructed his vice-captain, Psyche to take over the squad for the day while he will take over the training session for newbies for the night. Psyche of course, did not really comprehend what was in his captain’s head. As such, he decided to follow his captain to the briefing of their squad’s newbies. The newbies gathered unhappily (most of them at least) in front of their captain who were blasting unkind words at them hours ago.
                “First of all, I would like to apologize to all of you,” Wrath began. “You all may be aware that this job is not easy job. Like myself, all of you have your own expectation and I know most of our opinions do not match well at the moment. I know how disappointed one can feel when one’s reality does not match up to one’s expectation. Everyone here has seen how disappointed I was. I’m sorry for venting my anger on all of you. This is my fault on my part. Like all of you here, I’m still at the process of learning myself: learning how to be a better teacher, learning how to be a more capable captain, learning how to be a more reliable leader and learning how to be a trustable friend. I’m sorry for I’m ignorant of all your feelings and your expectations. Truth is, I should be grateful to have such an opportunity to learn myself and to guide others. But alas, I am but a human with his own faults and feelings. For my own ignorance, I was blinded to your capabilities and talents. Perhaps, this training is not just a learning experience for one side but for both the parties, leaders and freshies. Perhaps these training sessions can see to it that my behavior and wisdom improved. And to show my most humble apologies, all of you maybe leave work early today. Again, I hope that you guys can forgive me for unkind behavior earlier. I cannot promise the anger will not return in the future but I can promise that I will be cooler to handle them in the future,”
                “Woah, how come I never hear say damn speeches when you’re angry at us?” Psyche whispered.
                “Shut up,” Wrath hissed.
                The newbies stood rooted to their position not sure whether to leave or to speak to their captain. Aware of their confused reaction, Wrath went on with another speech, “How bout a dinner? All of us together, just me and you guys? It’s about time that we get to know each other.”
                “What happen if something comes up during dinner?” Psyche hissed.
                “That’s what you’re here for.” Wrath whispered back.
                “How is this part of the training?” Pscyhe looked at him angrily.
                “Building teamwork?” Wrath replied as in it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
                Reese, one of the young guys stepped forward and announced, “I’m going.”
                “I shall go too,” Adelynn joined in.
                The captain smiled and declared “Dinner’s on me then!” before leading his freshies to the teleportation hall, not for duty but for a night out to get to know his new potential new members better and perhaps fix past mistakes.


Dedicated to all the people i've angered in my quest for learning and to all the people i have the pleasure and pressure of working with. Specially dedicated to those who gave me the chance to learn and explore, without them, I might not be who i am today.

Would u do that? In life, u can hide from almost anything. From the crimes of killing and etc, but truth is the only thing u will do the moment u start hiding is avoiding problems and continue to find more creative ways to hide. So, it's like the moment u start hiding to avoid ur problems, that will the only thing that u will eventually be doing, hiding.

Of cos, what is the ultimate way of hiding? In a coffin. Yes, tats the ultimate way of hiding and running away from ur problem, cos the idea is that Death allows you to escape everything but in turn, u can't escape from Death itself...the ultimate guy who allows you to hide from everything does not allow u to hide form him. Most would say its a fair trade. But trust me, honey, the past ain't thru yet. Sleeping in a coffin doesn't mean that ur clean of ur past. Ever heard of people still bad mouthing a dead?

When u do bad mouth someone, occasionally, you would throw in some lies to spice things up. Thats probably the best parts about bad mouthing people, you can be whoever you choose to be, the victim, the bypasser, another one of those innocent receivers of the stories you will be spreading. Lies, despite the nastiness in it, people still dish it out. This on its own reflects the tragicness of lies and it's a capital tragedy, to be honest.

Back to the subject of death. Death is almost synonymous with funeral in the human culture. In all cultures, funeral serves a farewell to the departed ones but trusted me not all funerals are sad ones. Sometimes funeral is a very good and beautiful reason for you to meet friends whom long ago in the distance past that u have been partying with and a funeral, a burying ceremony which is supposed to be a mourning session becomes a happy blissful reunion for old friends. And guess what, there might a some quiet gathering of old friends who will be partying right after the funeral is over. Why is that? Probably those buggers haven't met up for like 8 f**king years. So, instead of going to pay a respect to the dead, a bunch of old friends might gonna have to pay the bartender for some nice old drinks, nice, imagine how would the dead feel about his participants of his funeral walking away.

Sounds pretty low, huh? Well, it does happen. You might be shocked that this could be one of those unspoken truth in the real world. Is this suppose to be some sort of show for greatness or grandeur? Well, to be honest, i'm not pretty thrilled either. If u wanna be love, please do something else rather than walking away from a funeral. Try to be a banshee there, u might get more attention.

Something like those attitude of monkeying around in school and never absorbing anything that you're suppose to hear. Who knows? Maybe acting monkey might get people to listen to you and people might listen to ur problems. Perhaps, they might even listen to those cool stuff which had been done by the listener before those stuff become cool. Kinda 'cool', huh?

Well, if you do think about killing ur friends, u might wanna think it through. U might not be able to take them so easily......hehehe, whoever ur after have the right to try to stay alive and do whatever it takes to survive.

Anyway, after talking so much, i know most of you won't have any idea what i'm talking about. Well, listen to My Chemical Romance's Kill All Your Friends.