Reverse Mini Triathlon

Aduhai, dah lama aku tak update sampaikan aku hampir lupa password untuk bukak blog ni. Harap-harapnya tak lama lagi aku terus lupa la password aku, supaya aku ada alasan kukuh untuk tak update blog ni. Hehe.

Harini seperti biasa ada spinning class. Spinning class terakhir sebelum masuk tahun baru. Isnin minggu depan gym tutup sebab Christmas eve, Isnin satu lagi pun gym tutup gak sebab new year’s eve. So, first week in 2008 baru ada balik.

Siang hari tadi, aku terasa nak buat benda pelik sikit untuk agenda di gym petang nanti. Kebiasaannya kalau orang buat triathlon, dia akan mula dengan swimming, then cycling, then running. Tapi harini aku buat reverse of triathlon. Oleh kerana aku tak terer triathlon lagi, aku cuba buat reverse triathlon dulu. Mana la tau kot-kot aku ada bakat semula jadi kalau buat reverse triathlon.

Mula-mula, aku lari 5km dalam masa 27minit. Ada orang cakap laju, tapi aku rasa tak laju langsung sebab aku lari statik je kat atas treadmill. Tapi rasa best la, kaki masih rasa kuat lagi. Plus, heart rate didn’t went up too high.

Lepas tu, aku join spinning class lak for 45minit. Yang ni pun aku rasa tak laju, sebab basikal statik, tak gerak ke mana pun. Tapi kaki gerak laju la. By this time baju dah habis basah dek peluh yang bercucuran. Habis air sebotol aku teguk. Pun begitu, harini aku tak ngelat masa spinning.

Lepas habis spinning tu, ada abs workout lak. Workout tu 5 minit je, tapi rasa macam hampir nak kiok urat perut aku. Aku banyak ngelat time ni, sebab memang tak larat dah.

Lastly, aku pergi berenang pulak. Sungguh tak ku sangka, penat gila rupanya nak berenang lepas berlari dan berbasikal ni. Patut la dalam triathlon diorang suruh berenang dulu. Berenang punya berenang, akhirnya ngam-ngam aku buat 500m, life guard cakap kolam renang dah nak tutup, sebab dah pukul 8pm. Nasib baik dia cakap kolam dah nak tutup, ada alasan la aku nak berhenti berenang.

Walaupun harini aku tak rasa macam tak sihat, aku nak pantun sikit. Biasanya time tak sihat je otak aku ligat buat pantun. Terimalah dua rangkap pantun simple sebagai penutup untuk entry harini.

Pucuk pauh delima batu,
Anak sembilang di tapak tangan,
Badanku penat letih dan lesu,
Update blog-ku hanya sekian.

Anak pak lebai sangatlah rajin,
Turun ke laut mencari kerang,
Doakan aku semakin rajin,
Meng-update blog untuk korang.

Aku memang dah nak update…

Aku memang dah ada niat nak update blog sejak beberapa hari lepas, tapi beginilah alkisahnya,

Ahad,
Aku memang dah nak update, tapi aku rasa macam masih demam sikit-sikit. So, aku tak jadi update blog.

Isnin,
Aku memang dah nak update, tapi sebelum spinning class haritu aku lari 3.2km, then aku spinning 45minit, lepas tu aku lari lagi 1km. Bila balik rumah, aku dah rasa penat sangat. So, aku tak jadi update blog.

Selasa,
Aku memang dah nak update, tapi aku syok layan baca buku pasal Lance Armstrong. So, aku tak jadi update blog.

Rabu (harini),
Aku memang dah nak update, so aku update la walaupun seciput ni je.

Janji aku dah update.

Demam

Apa khabar orang di sana,
Orang di sini kurang sihatnya,
Blog tak update sudahlah lama,
Kerana aku demam selsema.

Sudah jatuh ditimpa tangga,
Lepas terhantuk mengaduh pula,
Sejak Rabu sudah terasa,
Bagaikan demam akan melanda.

Kalau tuan pergi ke utara,
Singgah sebentar di Tanjung Malim,
Bila demam amatlah kecewa,
Kerana tak boleh pergi ke gym.

Si tukang kayu bertubuh sasa,
Serba lengkap tukul dan pahat,
Berbanyak syukur pada yang Esa,
Aku dah rasa semakin sihat.

Orang berbudi kita berbahasa,
Adat tradisi bersopan santun,
Sedikit pelik aku terasa,
Asal tak sihat aku berpantun.

Terima kasih daun keladi,
Kunjungmu ke sini tidakku lupa,
Semoga kita bertemu lagi,
Di lain masa di lain ketika.

Friends Forever...

Tiba-tiba aku terjatuh cinta dengan lagu ni. Teringat kat kawan-kawan lama. Hopefully they still remember me too.

Enjoy the song!

Kronologi hidup

Special posting kalini aku buat sempena permintaan khas kawan aku yang maintain blog schoolmates kitorang, Maresmart 9495. Blog dia dah nak cecah entry ke-1000, so dia nak aku contribute something.

For more stories, read here.

Kat sini takde cerita dah untuk harini, modal dah habis. Semua cerita dah tulis kat blog taiping9495.

Lain kali datang lagi sini lagi ye!

Goggles baru!

Dua tiga hari kebelakangan ni, bila dah dekat waktu nak balik keje mesti aku akan rasa macam malas nak pegi gym. Bila dah sampai rumah, tengok aje katil yang mesra alam tu mesti rasa macam nak buat terjun junam kat atas katil tu dan terus menyelam kat bawah selimut.

Buat masa ni, satu benda je yang menyebabkan aku tetap pegi jugak gym walau semalas mana pun aku rasa. Benda yang aku maksudkan itu ialah sebab aku dah bayar USD40 untuk monthly pass for the gym. Kalau sehari aku tak pegi gym, aku rasa macam aku rugi USD1.33, iaitu lebih kurang RM4.60 (dah lepas duit beli nasik lemak standard 2 atau 3 bungkus ni).

Jadi, daripada aku layan menyelam kat bawah selimut ada baiknya aku pegi memenatkan badan kat gym. Walaupun penat, paling tidak aku tak rasa bersalah kat diri sendiri. Bengongkah aku kalau aku berfikiran macam ni?

Semalam dah tergerak hati rasa tak nak pegi gym dan nak berehat kat rumah je. Mungkin sebab hari Isnin tu aku dah terlebih workout sejak aku kantoi instructor aku ngelat masa dia spinning. Ye la, dia ngelat, tapi aku tak ngelat. Semestinya aku lebih penat dari dia. So, semalam aku rasa malas nak lari, rasa nak buat yang ringan-ringan je. So I decided to go for swimming instead. Aisey, ter-speaking London pulak.

Tengah siap-siap nak pegi berenang, aku tak jumpa cari goggles aku. Aduhai, kat mana pulak goggles aku melepak ni. Lain kali kalau nak pegi lepak kat mana-mana, bagitau la aku dulu. Puas aku cari merata tempat kat dalam bilik la, luar bilik la, dalam tandas, kat dalam tong sampah pun aku geledah. Tapi tak jumpa gak. Maybe aku tercicir kat mana-mana kot. Nampak gayanya, ada sebijik alasan kukuh untuk aku beli goggles baru.

On the way nak pegi gym, singgah Walmart dulu pegi beli goggles murahan yang baru. Fuhh, goggles baru ni walaupun murah, tapi power dia kuat wooo. Ada zat tongkat ali kot. Aku berenang pun rasa macam laju sikit daripada sebelum ni. Mungkin perasaan aku je kot. Tak pun mungkin aku je yang perasan sorang-sorang.

Bila aku check timing, rupa-rupanya I did 500m in 10minutes. Itu tak campur waktu aku berhenti rehat di antara laps la. Aku masih berenang lap by lap and stop at every laps to recover breathing. So total of 20 laps la semua sekali. Kalau aku berenang straight non stop for 500m, confirm aku karam-singh-walia kat tengah-tengah perjalanan.

Sekian laporan dari bilik berita enaikay blogspot.

p/s: Tiba-tiba pemberita dah kehabisan modal, tak tau nak tulis apa dah. Next time pulak lah ye!

Ngelat!

Hahahaha, ada benda kelakar yang aku nak cerita harini. Kalau korang rasa tak kelakar pun, aku tak kisah sebab at least aku dah update blog aku harini.

Begini kisahnya. Harini hari Isnin kan, dan seperti biasa aku pegi gym untuk spinning class la. Kebetulan harini aku sampai gym awal sikit, jadi aku pergunakan masa yang ada untuk memanaskan badan dengan berlari kat threadmil sejauh 3.2km. Mula-mula plan nak lari 1.6km je, tapi terbabas lak. Terlebih stamina kot.

Tepat 6.30pm, baru kitorang start spinning class. Rutin harini lebih kurang sama macam minggu lepas punya, 45 minit plus abs workout bila dah habis spinning nanti. Memandangkan minggu lepas adalah cuti Thanksgiving, maka instructor Jill cakap dia pun tak berapa fit sebab dia dah 5 6 hari tak exercise.

Pun begitu, dia cuba gak laksanakan tugas dia sebagai instructor spinning sebaik mungkin. Tapi, boleh nampak gak la dia macam tercungap-cungap sekali sekala. Seperti biasa, ada masa yang dia akan suruh semua orang tambah resistance bila mendaki naik bukit sambil-sambil tangan dia pun pulas tombol spinning machine dia.

Kebetulan lak kali ni aku dok kat spinning machine yang paling hujung, so aku boleh la usha berapa kali dia pusing tombol spinning machine dia untuk naikkan resistance tanpa dia perasan aku tengok kat dia. Nak tau gak la betapa powernya instructor aku ni.

Ku sangka panas sampai ke petang, rupa-rupanya instructor tu pun ngelat jugak. Dia tak pusing pun tombol dia, tapi dia buat-buat macam pusing je pastu buat-buat kayuh macam penat gile.

Kantoiiiiiiii!!!!!!

A week in an entry

Pejam celik pejam celik, dah seminggu aku tak update blog rupanya. Kesian korang yang hari-hari datang jengok blog aku ni, aku mintak maaf lah ye. Bukan aku sengaja tak update blog, tapi aku buat-buat macam tak sengaja.

Memandangkan hari dah larut malam, aku nak cuba buat update tentang apa yang berlaku seminggu yang lepas. Macam recap la ni.

Update yang seminggu lepas ialah masa aku baru beli kasut Adidas tu kan. So, a bit recap here.

Sabtu:
Pegi shopping, beli baju, beli seluar, beli kasut. Balik shopping, pegi gym lari for 5km.

Ahad:
Nothing much to do, so aku pegi gym dan lari lagi another 5km.

Isnin:
Seperti biasa, ada spinning class. Kalini, aku gembira sebab akhirnya aku ingat siapa nama instructor tu. Nama dia Jill. Tiba-tiba aku teringat kat kerepek ubi Jack n Jill.

Spinning class kalini kejap aje, sebab Jill ada hal. Biasanya sejam, tapi kali ni 45minit je. Walaupun masanya singkat, tapi penderaannya tak sesingkat yang dijangka. Teruk macam biasa jugak kena siksa atas spinning machine tu. Tapi nasib baik kali ni takde push ups, cuma ada abs workout – a 4 minutes non-stop torture of abs workout yang memeritkan urat saraf perutku yang dah tak berapa boroi ni.

Selasa:
Aku lupa apa aku buat, tapi yang aku ingat aku pegi gym macam biasa untuk berlari. Kali ni cuma larat lari 3.2km je.

Rabu:
Harini last day sebelum thanksgiving holidays. Asalnya memang rasa malas gile nak pegi gym, malas campur ngantuk. Tapi, aku pegi jugak. Mula-mula plan nak lari 5km, tapi tiba-tiba bila kat mileage 3km aku rasa ngantuk dan malas nak lari dah. So, aku bungkus barang-barang dan balik rumah masak, makan dan gedebush tido terbungkang.

Khamis:
Haa, hari Khamis ialah hari Thanksgiving kat seluruh States ni. Company bagi cuti dua hari, Khamis dan Jumaat. Ada sorang colleague kat tempat keje ajak pegi makan ayam belanda panggang kat rumah dia. Kebetulan gym tak bukak harini, so aku pegi je la kat rumah dia. Here are some photos masa kat rumah dia. Sorry guys, rambut aku dah tak nampak tobek sangat sebab dah panjang sikit dah, hehehe.

Tengah melepak kat luar rumah yang sejuk menggigil-gigil.

Tuan rumah berbaju biru dan jirannya sedang bertungkus lumus memanggang ayam belanda yang besar gile. Meleleh air liur aku tengok.

Camera aku ada self timer dan kebetulan aku bawak mini tripod, so boleh la layan posing sorang-sorang.

Posing lagi sekali.

Biasanya time Thanksgiving ni diorang masak ayam belanda, i.e. turkey. Nampak lazat kan? Toksah tanya aku la apa rasa dia, sebab aku tak makan. Camne aku nak makan kalau takde cop HALAL kat bontot ayam belanda tu? Aku cuma makan mashed potato je la sambil telan air liur tengok orang lain melantak ayam belanda panggang tu.

"Posing, posing! Mari kita posing ramai-ramai"

Lagi gambar jejaka-jejaka perasan hensem. Perasan tak aku pakai sweater lain? Itu sebab dah sejuk sangat, aku balik rumah kejap tukar sweater yang tebal sikit. Rumah aku dengan rumah dia dekat je, tak sampai 3 minit naik kereta.

Isn't she cute? I mean, budak kecik tu la.. bukan mak dia.

Jumaat:
Harini cuti lagi. Tak buat apa sangat harini. Petang, pegi gym berenang. Dah lama tak berenang. Punyalah syok dok berendam dalam swimming pool yang hangat tu. Temperature kat luar sekarang dah sejuk gile, almost freezing dah. At the end, aku berenang for 500m aje. Berenang ulang alik 20 laps campur berehat untuk sedut nafas di antara laps, in total I spent half an hour in the water that day. 20 laps x 25m = 500m. Err, betul ke calculations aku ni. Kalau tak betul, korang kira sendiri lah.

Sabtu:
Sabtu yang boring, siang hari takde cerita best kat tv, pastu takde idea nak update blog. At last, aku pegi gym lagi untuk berlari. Harini ok sikit sebab aku boleh lari 5km under 30minit, or actually in 29minit 20saat. Ok la tu kan, masih tak berapa bedesup lagi.

Ahad:
Ahad pun boring gak, so aku pegi gym lagi sekali untuk berenang pulak. Kali ni pun aku berenang 500m. sambil-sambil berenang aku dok senyum-senyum tengok budak-budak dok buat terjun tiruk dari papan anjal kat swimming pool tu. Macam best je, tapi aku segan nak join sebab aku budak besar, depa budak kecik. Nanti kalau aku buat terjun gaya macam nangka busuk jatuh dalam sungai kang, depa gelak guling-guling pulak.

Begitulah ringkasan tentang apa yang berlaku sepanjang seminggu yang lepas. Fuhh, penat jugak nak buat recap seminggu ni. Mungkin kali ni je aku buat recap seminggu macam ni sebab aku ada rasa bersalah sikit-sikit sebab lama tak update. Next time, forget it!

Kreativiti Seluas Angkasa

Pada suatu hari, ada sorang kawan baik aku ni dia tanya samada aku ada gambar yang cun gile ke tak. Aku jawab, nanti aku cari kat dalam bilik simpanan gambar-gambar peribadi aku. Cari punya cari punya cari, aku terjumpa la sekeping gambar yang aku cukup suka. Bukan sebab gambar aku tu cun gile dan bukan sebab aku tengah gile kat pompuan cun, tapi sebab pemandangan kat belakang gambar tu cukup indah, cukup syahdu, cukup menenangkan. Kalau tak caya, cuba tengok gambar asal kat bawah ni.

Macho tak gambar model ski tu? Sebenarnya gambar di atas ni diambil masa aku kat Jepun, bulan Disember 2002. Masa tu aku pegi main ski for the first time, ada sorang colleague Japanese ajar aku main ski. It was like a dream comes true.

Anyway, aku tak nak cerita lagi pasal aku main ski ni. InsyaAllah next time kalau aku ada mood aku buat satu entry khas pasal aku main ski, ada kisah menarik di sebaliknya. Tapi kalini, aku nak citer pasal bagaimana kreativiti seorang sahabat ni menyebabkan gambar aku kat atas tu jadi banner yang indah permai macam kat bawah ni.

Aku memang tau sahabat aku ni memang amatlah kreatif. Maka beliau dengan berbesar hati telah menghadiahkan banner ni kat aku, dia suruh aku letak kat blog aku supaya berseri-seri sikit. At least ceria sikit blog aku walaupun aku malas update. Hahaha.

Kepada Fajar Seluas Angkasa, jasamu amat ku hargai!
(Psst, nanti aku bagi gambar cun-cun lagi ye)

AdiZero LT2

Masa zaman aku di sekolah menengah dulu, aku selalu main volleyball. Hampir tiap-tiap petang aku main volleyball, hujan ke panas ke semua aku belasah. Macam yang pernah aku ceritakan dulu, aku minat jugak nak main tennis tapi terpaksa batalkan niat suci tu atas beberapa sebab. Salah satu sebab ialah kerana court tennis tu berada betul-betul di sebelah dorm budak perempuan, dan aku takleh concentrate main tennis sebab aku asyik dengar “feewit, feewwwwiiiiitttt”, pekik sorak penyokong dari belakang langsir dorm diorang.

Ada sekali tu, aku pukul bola tak kena, pastu aku dengar budak-budak pompuan dok gelak terguling-guling dari dalam dorm, terus aku angkat barang-barang dan bagitau member aku, “Wei, jom balik jom, hujan dah turun la”. Member aku tengok langit yang terang benderang masa tu sambil buat muka pelik kat aku. Aku jalan cepat-cepat keluar dari court tennis tu sambil buat-buat tak dengar suara budak-budak pompuan dok gelak.

Sebab tulah aku beralih kepada sukan volleyball, sebab court volleyball jauh dari dorm perempuan. Tapi berbaloi jugak aku main volleyball, sebab aku dilantik jadi kapten pasukan sekolah.

Sebenarnya, aku nak cerita pasal kasut, macamana boleh melencong pasal citer dorm perempuan lak aku pun tak pasti. Ok, masa main volleyball kat sekolah menengah dulu, aku cuma pakai kasut Pallas Jazz je. Kasut tu best, sebab ia ringan, dan murah, dan tak cantik sangat menyebabkan takde orang berminat nak kebas. Sampai koyak-koyak aku pakai kasut tu. Kalau waktu pendidikan jasmani pun, kasut tu jugaklah yang aku pakai. Kiranya kasut Pallas Jazz tu jadi kasut sukan aku la.

Masa zaman universiti, aku tak bersukan sangat maka takde la kasut sukan sepanjang zaman tu. Lepas tu, masa zaman mula-mula kerja aku ada join diorang main badminton. So, aku beli la sepasang kasut badminton ni, kalau tak salah aku jenama Carlton. Setahun sekali, company akan adakan pesta sukan antara jabatan. Inilah peluang aku untuk main volleyball lagi. Tapi, zaman ni dah tak berapa best main volleyball, sebab stamina dah lingkup dan jugak perut boroi tidak mengizinkan aku lompat tinggi-tinggi. Pun begitu, kasut badminton tu jugaklah yang aku pakai untuk main volleyball.

Masa nak datang States ni, aku ada beli sepasang kasut sukan jenama Power. Tak sampai 3 minggu aku pakai untuk berjalan-jalan, tapak dia dah nak tercabut. Terpaksala aku beli kasut sukan lain kat sini. Aku beli jenis yang murah-murah je, sebab aku tak focus untuk sebarang jenis sukan. Just a general type of running shoes yang aku boleh pakai untuk pegi gym, kayuh basikal, jogging dan driving kereta.

Pada hari Sabtu yang lepas, aku pegi shopping. Niat asal nak window shopping je, tapi akhirnya aku terpaksa tenyeh jugak credit card aku sebab aku beli macam-macam pakaian sukan. Shorts Nike sepasang, sweater dua pasang, baju dry fit dua pasang, sepasang Reebok dan sepasang Nike tapi dua-dua kaler hitam, dan yang paling aku tak sangka aku akan beli ialah sepasang kasut running brand Adidas, the AdiZero LT2. Lebih kurang macam dalam gambar di bawah ni la. Tapi kasut yang aku beli ni pun kaler hitam, with yellow stripes.

Punyalah aku seronok dapat beli kasut ni dengan harga yang amatlah murah. Walaupun perit rasa di hati bila mengenangkan betapa banyaknya nilai yang aku dah gores-dan-menang kat credit card aku tu, tapi mulut aku masih mampu tersenyum sebab happy dapat beli running shoes.

Sampai je rumah, aku tukar sports attire dan pakai kasut AdiZero baru tu, terus pegi gym. Dan aku test power kasut baru tu dengan berlari sejauh 3.1miles (5km) dalam masa lebih kurang 30minit sambil tersenyum kambing.

Harini pun, aku pegi gym sekali lagi sebab nak test power kasut baru tu. Mana tau kot-kot harini lebih power dari semalam. Tapi, aku cuma boleh lari another 3.1miles with same timing as the day before. Still very slow, but I’m happy because at last I could run 5km non-stop.

Aku rasa malam ni baik aku tido sambil pakai kasut tu, supaya power dia boleh menyerap masuk kaki aku banyak-banyak.

p/s: Aduhai, bila la gaji nak masuk ni??

Setahun Jagung

Kadang-kadang, ada kenalan yang cakap macam ni kat aku,

“Eh Nik, best eh kau boleh pegi keje kat oversea. Pegi Jepun la, pegi States la. Mesti seronok dapat pergi negara orang kan? Jeles aku”.

Begitulah kata-kata kebanyakan orang. Tiada apa yang salah dengan apa yang diorang cakap tu. Kalau pada hari-hari biasa, selalunya aku akan jawab macam ni,

“Best ke? Takde la best sangat. Biasa-biasa je, dah terpaksa.”

Tapi, pada hari Jumaat lepas, aku tengok ada satu memo terpampar kat skrin Nokia 6280 aku: “Nov. 16th, Nurin’s 1st Birthday”.

Dan pada hari Jumaat yang lepas, aku masih berada di States dan Nurin berada di Malaysia.

Pada hari itu, kalau ada orang tanya aku samada best ke tak boleh keje kat oversea lama-lama, mungkin ni jawapan aku,

“Best ke kalau kau takleh berada bersama anak pertama kau untuk menyambut hari lahirnya yang pertama?”

p/s: Happy 1st Birthday Nurin, daddy loves you so much!

2 x 2

Kadang-kadang, apa yang kita rancang kita tak dapat. Kadangkala juga, apa yang kita tak rancang itulah yang kita dapat.

Ada orang kata, usaha tangga kejayaan. Ada juga yang kata, mahu seribu daya tak mahu seribu dalih.

Ish, poyo sungguh! Sesungguhnya aku tak pandai buat penulisan berpoyo-poyo di khayalak ramai ni.

Sebenarnya nak habaq mai, harini aku gumbira. Kegembiraan ni bermula sejak semalam. Apa yang gembira sangat ni? Gembira sebab semalam dan hari ni, buat pertama kalinya aku berjaya lari 2 miles tanpa henti selama dua hari berturut-turut. Sebab tu la tajuk entry harini 2 x 2 (literally means 2 miles for 2 consecutive days, non stop). Pada aku, kalau aku boleh lari 2 miles (3.2km) tanpa henti dalam masa 20minit ni kira dah cukup bagus la buat masa permulaan ni. Harapnya lepas ni boleh increase mileage dan improve timing lagi. Sebab dulu, paling hebat yang aku pernah buat pun ialah lari tanpa henti sejauh 1.5 miles (2.4km) je, itu pun sekali je dan dah rasa semput macam siput sedut. This is a positive improvement for myself. Target aku bukannya tinggi sangat pun, cuma kalau boleh aku teringin nak ajak Superman lumba lari dengan aku, itu je.

Masa aku sekolah dulu, aku suka bersukan. Tapi, sukan-sukan yang aku join semua jenis sukan yang dimainkan kat dalam gelanggang atau padang. Contohnya seperti sukan bola tampar, hoki, ping pong, tenis, handball, dan sukan video games. Masa bersukan beramai-ramai ni, kadang-kadang kita tak sedar yang kita penat, sebab riuh rendah dan jugak jenis sukan-sukan macam ni ada banyak iklan. Kejap-kejap time out la, bola keluar gelanggang la, tali kasut tercabut la, seluar terlondeh la, tak pun kena kad merah dan kena keluar padang sebab mencarut kat pengadil.

Tapi, kalau dalam pertandingan sukan berlari, tak sempatnya nak iklan-iklan. Penat ke tak penat ke, kena lari jugak. Kalau tak lari, kita akan samada jadi kalah, atau jadi tak menang. Pilihlah yang mana hendak.

Pastu pulak, kita berlari ni sorang-sorang je. Kalau masa sukaneka sekolah rendah tu boleh la lari beramai-ramai guna terompah gajah tu. Sebab tu lah walaupun sukan berlari ni nampak macam mudah sebab tak perlukan apa-apa special skills, tapi ramai yang tak sanggup nak buat sukan berlari ni.

Satu lagi, sukan berlari ni ialah jenis sukan endurance, kecuali kalau kita specialize dalam acara lari pecut atau lari jarak pendek. Itu lain cerita la. Bukan senang nak dapatkan kekuatan endurance. Kena praktis sampai berbulan-bulan dengan penuh disiplin. Kalau setakat lari tak sampai 10 minit pastu lencong pegi lepak kedai mamak setengah jam sambil pekena teh tarik dengan roti canai, memang salah strategy la. Kalau hari-hari buat macam tu, tak lama lagi nanti ada orang hantar sms “Welcome to Boroi Club”.

Tiba-tiba aku rasa aku sendiri pun blur dengan apa yang aku tulis harini. Sebenarnya niat aku ialah nak cetus minat korang untuk mulakan kehidupan yang sihat dengan bersukan. Tak kiralah sukan apa pun yang korang nak buat, asalkan bersukan. Dan salah satu sukan paling senang yang mungkin korang boleh cuba ialah sukan berlari. Mula sikit-sikit dan pelan-pelan dulu, bila badan dah rasa mantap baru la korang boleh ajak Superman lumba lari.

Walaupun haritu aku kecewa sebab rambut aku sedikit tobek, tapi harini aku gembira sebab aku rasa stamina aku bukan sahaja dah semakin pulih malah semakin meningkat. Harap-harapnya, satu hari nanti aku boleh lari dengan lebih jauh, lebih laju, lebih kerap, dan lebih penat!

P/s: Korang rasa Superman baca tak blog ni?

One step further

Oleh kerana semalam aku terkesima disebabkan rambut tobek, aku terlupa nak cerita kisah dan pengalaman aku join spinning class untuk kali kedua sebelum pegi potong rambut tu. So, beginilah lebih kurang cerita yang berlaku pada hari Isnin semalam.

Seperti biasa, pukul 6.30ptg spinning class tu akan bermula. Masa aku sampai kat gym tu, semua orang biasa dah ada, instructor pun dah ada. Aku strech kaki dan peha lebih kurang, adjust ketinggian saddle spinning machine tu dan aku terus panjat naik. Time for warm up.

Setting resistance on flat road condition, then kayuh sederhana laju untuk hampir 10 minit. Peluh mula keluar dah sikit-sikit. Genap-genap 10 minit instructor tu suruh tinggikan resistance dan start acara memanjat bukit yang memang aku tak nanti-nantikan langsung. Hampeh.

Lepas kayuh gaya panjat bukit sambil terjelir-jelir lidah selama 5 minit gitu, baru lah boleh lepak kejap. Bukannya lepak macam lepak kat kedai mamak tu. Tapi maksud lepak di sini ialah kayuh sederhana laju dalam keadaan flat road resistance je. Bertuah la kalau boleh pegi lepak kat kedai mamak, boleh pekena teh tarik dulu. Tapi apakan daya, apa yang boleh dibuat waktu tu cuma teguk air kosong sikit, basahkan tekak yang tengah kemarau tu.

Nampaknya, workout spinning harini ada kelainan sikit. By this time, kitorang dah berkayuh selama 15minit lebih dah. Tiba-tiba, instructor tu cakap yang maksudnya berbunyi, “Mari kita buat workout push up pulak. Mari, mari, jangan segan-segan. Buat macam rumah sendiri”.

“Eh, apa lak ni?” aku buat-buat tanya diri sendiri. Padahal memang aku dah tau kena buat workout push ups sebab sebenarnya memang instructor tu dah cakap awal-awal yang spinning class harini ada mix dengan workout push up dgn workout abs.

Mula-mula ingat kena push up sikit-sikit je. At first, sorang kena buat 15 kali push ups. Ok la lagi, rasa selambe je. Lepas tu, dia tambah lagi suruh buat another 15 push ups. Mampus! Time ni dah rasa menggigil-gigil dah tangan. Dah habis 15 kali, dia suruh rehat kejap untuk bernafas. Lepas tu dia tambah lagi suruh buat 10 push ups.

Instructor: “Come on guys, I know you can do it. Come on!”

Ye la, kitorang je yang kena buat segala push ups tu. Dia tak buat semua pun push ups, tunjuk sikit-sikit je. Boleh la dia nak cakap “come on” la, “come off” la.

Nak je aku cakap, “I don’t want to come anymore”, boleh tak?

Dah settle segala push ups tu, back to spinning machine. Masa untuk berkayuh lagi. Kali ni, torture panjat bukit. Starting from easy hill, then naik ke medium hill, akhir sekali buat difficult hill. Time ni dah berkayuh sambil berdiri la, memang tak larat nak kayuh kalau duduk atas saddle. Heart beat mencanak-canak naik. Aku control je la, tak kayuh kuat-kuat sangat pun, sebab takut jantung aku tercabut skru. Malam-malam ni susah nak kena pegi cari workshop pinjam screw driver.

Dah selesai 15 minit kayuh panjat bukit, relax kejap. Lepas tu, kena buat workout push ups sekali lagi. Muka aku dah toye dah, rasa macam nak give up je. Terbayang kena buat lagi 30 kali push ups.

Instructor: “Ok guys, let’s do this again. We’ve done it before, we can do it again! Come on, give your best shot”.

Aku: “Baiklahhhh”, aku cakap sambil buat suara macam ala-ala Doraemon gitu. Tapi, aku cakap dalam hati je la. Takkan nak cakap betul-betul kot. Nak mampus?

Dah sudah workout push up kali kedua tu, sambung spinning balik. Kali ni buat speed work pulak. Bergilir-gilir, kejap spinning sambil duduk, kejap spinning sambil berdiri. Kayuh laju-laju macam nak kejar mat rempit yang tengah buat lumba haram. Aku dah tak larat gile dah, kaki dah penat sebab kayuh lama, tangan lak dah menggigil-gigil sebab penat dek penangan kena buat push ups yang beribu-ribu lemon tu. Tepat jam 7.30pm, baru la instructor tu suruh stop.

Tak habis kat situ, kena pulak buat workout abdomen. Instructor tu tunjuk sikit lebih kurang macamana nak buat. Hmm, nampak dia buat macam easy peasy je. Tapi bila aku yang buat, rasa nak terkeluar air mata sebab muscle abdomen aku rasa macam nak terkoyak. Itu bermakna workout tu berkesan.

Bila dah nak bersurai tu, instructor tu tanya la aku apa pendapat aku tentang workout harini. Secara tak sengaja mulut aku jadi gatal dan cakap “Well, I like the abs workout. And I think it’s great to do this kind of mix workout, for upper body and lower body.”

“Good, we can do it again for next session then. See you next week!”, instructor tu cakap.

Konon-kononya nak bermanis mulut la cakap itu bagus la ini bagus la. Betul lah apa yang orang cakap, “kerana mulut badan binasa”. Padan muka aku!

Next week, aku kena bawak ubat gatal letak kat mulut aku.

Tobek!

Orang kata, kalau kita ni keje sebagai seorang yang professional, kita kena ada imej yang kemas. Baju kena kemas, seluar pun kena kemas, kasut kena pakai yang sesuai, dan tak lupa juga rambut kena kemas, sebolehnya berambut pendek.

Oleh sebab yang demikian, berbekalkan USD15 aku pegi ke kedai gunting rambut yang aku rasa agak murah la. Kalau kat kedai lain, mungkin kena ada USD25 baru boleh gunting rambut. Lepas balik dari gym tadi, dalam keadaan yang penat aku pegi ke salon tu dengan berbekalkan hasrat untuk potong rambut bagi nampak kemas. Dah 2 bulan setengah aku tak potong rambut, maka bayangkanlah rambut aku dah jadi macam rambut Lion King. Mengerbang tak ingat dunia. Kalau lagi seminggu aku tak potong rambut, confirm ada lebah akan datang berkampung kat dalam rambut aku.

Sampai kat salon tu, aku cakap nak potong rambut. Datanglah sorang pekerja kat situ, dia suruh aku duduk. Dan berlakulah dialog drama swasta seperti berikut:

Barber: "So sir, how do you want your hair cut to be this time?"

Me: "Hmm, just make it thin on the sides and at the back please. And just take off a little bit from the top. I don’t want the top part to be very short because I have a hard hair and it will all stand up if it gets very short."

Barber: "Aha, ok."

Pastu, dia pun start la ambik gunting dengan sikat. Sebaik dia start gunting rambut aku tu, aku dah rasa semacam je. Rasa macam minah ni tak berapa pandai potong rambut orang lelaki. Oh ya, lupa nak bagitau, masa aku sampai ke salon tu, ada dua orang je tukang gunting, dua-dua minah saleh. Aku memang dah pernah datang ke salon ni, tapi tukang gunting yang pernah gunting rambut aku dulu dah balik kot, ye lah sebab dah malam. Mungkin syif dia dah habis.

Ok, back to the story. Mula-mula potong tu aku dah rasa tak sedap hati. Tapi takpe, aku biarkan dia teruskan keje dia. Tak lama tu, dah start jadi senget sebelah.

Me: "Oh, can you make it balance on this side as well? Make it like this." (Sambil aku tunjuk-tunjuk lebih kurang macamana aku nak rambut aku dipotong).

Barber: "Aha, ok."

Dia potong lagi, lepas tu jadi terpendek kat belah sini pulak. Aduss, camne ni.

Me: "Err, I think you better make it thinner a bit here."

Barber: "Aha, ok."

Zup zap zup zap dia potong, akhirnya jadi tobek!!! Ya ampunnn mak datuk nenek kebayan!! Habis tobek rambut aku. Oh tidaakkk!!

Aku rasa geram gile macam nak je aku ambik mesin potong rambut tu, pastu aku nak botak-botakkan rambut minah tu yang berwarna warni macam warna aiskrim Paddle Pop. Nasib baik tahap kesabaran aku masih berada di zon berjaga-jaga, belum lagi masuk zon merbahaya.

Aku pun heran. Adakah minah tu tak paham aku punya English, ataupun dia ingat aku cakap bahasa Iban tapi bunyi macam English, ataupun perkataan “Aha, ok” tu ialah jawapan rasmi dia untuk semua jenis soalan yang customer tanya tak kiralah samada dia paham ke tak paham apa yang customer nak.

Apa yang aku paling pasti, aku punya azam untuk tahun 2008 ialah aku tak nak pegi potong rambut dengan minah tu lagi. Biarlah rambut aku jadi macam Lion King atau jadi sarang lebah ke, asalkan rambut aku tak tobek sudah. Lagipun, kalau rambut aku jadi sarang lebah, boleh jugak aku rasa madu lebah free.

Aku rasa macam nak ambik gambar rambut aku yang tobek ni dan publish kat blog, tapi camera aku pun dah mogok sebab tak sanggup nak tengok rambut aku yg tobek ni.

Besok, mungkin aku kena pakai tudung nak pegi keje.

Atama ga itai!*

Dua tiga kucing berjalan,
Sambil berjalan tersepak batu,
Harini aku tak pegi bersukan,
Kerana ada sebab tertentu.

Budak-budak bermain kotak,
Bermain kotak terhenjut-henjut,
Pergi bersukan memanglah hendak,
Tetapi kepala berdenyut-denyut.

Sumur di ladang tersedia ada,
Ramai musafir menumpang mandi,
Sejak di pejabat sudah terasa,
Bagaikan migraine menyerang lagi.

Kalau roboh kota Melaka,
Papan di Jawa saya dirikan,
Bila migraine menyerang kepala,
Aku hanya sekadar bertahan.

Buah cempedak di luar pagar,
Galah yang panjang dihulur-hulur,
Balik keje aku terdampar,
Di atas sofa aku tertidur.

Puas sudah ku letak baja,
Harum kemboja tak kunjung tiba,
Sesudah tidur aku terjaga,
Sakit kepala sudahpun reda.

Haruslah kita bersopan santun,
Pertahankan adat tradisi Melayu,
Tak sangka pula aku berpantun,
Walaupun mata sudahpun layu.

Tuai padi antara masak,
Esok jangan layu-layuan,
Intai blog ini biarlah nampak,
Esok jangan rindu-rinduan.

Bertemu kekasih di tepi telaga,
Bergelak ketawa tersenyum ceria,
Tanpa ku sangka tanpa ku duga,
Akhirnya blog ini terupdate jua.

Kalau terjumpa jarum peniti,
Lekas disimpan di dalam peti,
Terima kasih daun keladi,
Besok lusa datanglah lagi.

*Atama ga itai (Japanese) = Sakit kepala!

Mim alif lam alif sin

Sesapa yang suka tido dalam kelas masa subjek bahasa jawi time sekolah rendah dulu, confirm tak paham apa tajuk entry harini. Dan kalau sesapa yang tertido bila baca blog aku ni, aku nak pesan la sikit.

“Jangan la macam tu kawan, terasa hina tau kalau korang baca blog ni sampai tertido. Aku tau la blog ni tak best macam buku cerita Harry Porter”.

Lepas balik keje harini, aku layan melentok jap kat atas sofa sambil tengok tv dan sambil nak tunggu masuk waktu Maghrib. Mata dah rasa kuyu semacam je, terus terdetik rasa malas nak pegi gym harini. “Aahhh…. Layan buat taik mata best gak ni”, aku berkata di dalam diriku. Chewah, macam drama swasta la pulak dialog ni.

Kejap pejam, kejap celik. Then, kejap je celik, pejam lama-lama sikit. Lepas tu, terus aku pejam mata. Tapi dalam hati masih dok fikir samada nak pegi gym atau nak teruskan production taik mata. Memang rasa malas gila.

Tiba-tiba, aku teringat pesan seorang kawan. Dia cakap, “Kalau kau tak nak jadi malas, kau buat-buat la rajin”. Mula-mula tu aku rasa macam kelakar pulak pesanan penaja tu. Tapi, bila aku perah otak dan fikir betul-betul, ada betulnya jugak.

Untuk membuktikannya, maka mata yang baru tengah syok terpejam tu aku bukak balik luas-luas macam mata puntianak-harum-sebab-banyak-pakai-bedak. Aku masuk bilik, settlekan apa-apa yang patut, zoom aku keluar pegi gym.

Sesampai kat gym, aku buat spinning setengah jam, lepas tu aku lari pulak kat treadmill 10 minit, lepas tu aku bertungkus-lumus pulak buat abdomen workout untuk break down one big pack to become six smaller packs on my tummy. Tak tau la bila boleh nampak result. Rasa macam nak terkeluar air mata buat workout untuk abdomen ni. Dalam hati sempat gak aku fikir, “Kalau susah sangat nak dapatkan six packs ni, baik aku pegi kedai beli pen marker kaler brown then aku lukis je gambar six packs kat perut aku ni. Habis cerita”.

Rupa-rupanya berkesan jugak pesanan kawan aku tu. Aku buat-buat je rajin nak pegi gym, at last aku pegi jugak gym walaupun rasa malas.

Dan sebenarnya aku rasa malas nak update blog harini. Sebab pertama ialah aku takde idea (alasan sebenarnya malas), sebab kedua ialah aku penat (alasan sebenarnya ialah malas). Tapi aku buat-buat jugak macam orang yang rajin update blog. Hasilnya, terupdate jugak blog aku harini. Niat asal nak tulis satu perenggan je, tengok-tengok dah lebih 120 patah perkataan. Kalau masa PMR dulu dah boleh submit dah karangan ni kat cikgu, sebab dah lebih 120 patah perkataan.

Wei, korang toksah kira la. Memang confirm dah lebih 120 patah perkataan. Kalau tak caya, kira la! Hahaha…

P/s: Mesti ada yang berkata "macam siut je".

Satu rumah, dua iklim

Kalau kita sebut pasal Greenhouse, ramai yang dah tau apa itu Greenhouse. Secara ringkasnya, Greenhouse ni diperbuat daripada kaca dan fungsinya ialah untuk memerangkap haba supaya pokok-pokok yang jenis tak tahan sejuk dan selalu menggigil boleh hidup di dalamnya dengan aman dan damai tanpa sebarang perang saudara sesama mereka. Biasanya, Greenhouse dibina di negara-negara beriklim sejuk. Dengan erti kata lain, kat luar Greenhouse tu sejuk gile, kat dalam Greenhouse tu suam-suam kuku la. Kalau panas sangat, “die hard” (mati keras) la pulak pokok-pokok kat dalam tu. Takde maknanye.

Pun begitu, apartment yang aku duduk kat States ni aku tak tau nak letak nama kaler apa. Kalau nak dikategorikan sebagai Greenhouse, takleh. Sebabnya, apartment cabuk di bandar koboi ni walaupun agak ketinggalan zaman, namun ia ada ciri-ciri canggih yang aku baru discover sejak musim panas haritu. Ciri-ciri canggih yang aku maksudkan itu ialah, kat dalam apartment ni ada dua jenis iklim yang berbeza yang wujud pada waktu yang sama.

Pelik? Atau canggih? Atau, aku saja je buat cerita tipu supaya korang tengok blog aku selalu ada update?

Dalam bulan Ogos yang lepas, kat sini musim panas. Pernah sekali dua suhu kat sini cecah dekat-dekat 40 Celcius. So, paham-paham ajelah kalau kat luar rumah pun dah panas macam tu, kat dalam rumah yang terkurung ni boleh diibaratkan macam oven yang menunggu kuih raya untuk dibakar la. Nak menjadikan cerita ni lebih lemak berkrim disukai ramai, kat dalam apartment ni cuma ada satu je aircond/heater yang dipasang di living hall rumah ni. Rumah ni ada dua bilik, tapi dalam tiap-tiap bilik apa pun tarak. Nasib baik ada lampu, katil dan almari baju.

Masa musim panas haritu, aku belasah je la pasang aircond tu full blast tak ingat dunia. Kat living hall terasa sejuk macam winter la, tapi sedikit habuk pun tak terasa sejuk kat dalam bilik aku walaupun aku dah bukak pintu bilik luas terkangkang. Tapi aku tido takde la terkangkang. Kalau tido malam-malam tu siap berpeluh lagi. Nak tak nak, terpaksa la pegi jumpa Encik Walmart Superstore untuk beli kipas angin untuk letak kat dalam bilik.

Sekarang ni dah masuk musim sejuk pulak. Kalau waktu pagi, suhu tu selambe je mencecah 5 Celcius. Kalau waktu malam, buat masa sekarang ni purata suhu lebih kurang 15 Celcius gitu la. Maka, aircond yang ada kat living hall ni, konon-kononnya boleh bertukar macam transformers menjadi heater la. Tapi, agaknya transformer ni terencat akal gamaknya, tak berapa panas sangat angin yang keluar. Sekadar menghangat-hangatkan-taik-ayam je kat living hall ni. Tapi kat dalam bilik, rasa macam nyaris-nyaris nak turun salji dah. Punyalah sejuk.

Oleh sebab yang sedemikian, maka baru sekejap tadi sekali lagi aku terpaksa pegi jumpa member lama, iaitu Encik Walmart Superstore untuk beli sebijik portable heater fan yang cute supaya aku dah tak terketar-ketar kat dalam bilik macam orang kena sawan. Tapi, bila tengok diri sendiri terketar-ketar kat dalam cermin, rasa macam nak tergelak pun ada.

Sebab tu lah aku cakap apartment aku kat sini ni canggih, sebab ada dua musim dalam satu masa.

Masa musim panas, kat living hall jadi macam iklim winter sonata sebab pasang aircond full blast, dalam bilik masih panas macam oven.

Masa musim sejuk pulak, kat living hall rasa macam iklim hangat-segan-sejuk-tak-mau sebab pasang heater, tapi kat dalam bilik rasa macam tempat tidur beruang kutub je.

Aku dah penat

Aku rasa macam dah takde semangat nak update blog ni. Mungkin sebab penat nak fikir idea untuk update dalam English kot. So, mulai hari ni, aku nak jual rojak. Mintak maaflah kepada mana-mana pencinta bahasa, kerana bukan niatku nak jadikan blog ni tempat belajar bahasa. Dan sesungguhnya, murid-murid yang nak belajar bahasa tak sepatutnya tengok blog banyak sangat, sebab buat perabih boreh jo belanja duit buat beli buku teks sekolah. So, kalau sesapa ada rasa nak komplen tu, simpan dalam hati ajelah ye. Terima kasih.

Mungkin jugak aku rasa penat nak update blog sebab takde aktiviti menarik yang berlaku. Tapi, sejak awal minggu ni, aku dah start lari-lari sikit kat jalanraya, pastu semalam aku dah korbankan duit sikit untuk melayakkan aku masuk ke pintu fitness centre kat sini dengan gaya selamba sambil tersenyum kambing walaupun takde sapa pun kat fitness centre tu kenal aku. Poodachit!

Semalam (Isnin), hari pertama masuk gym balik selepas hampir dua bulan tak buat apa-apa aktiviti sihat. Dengan secara tak sengajanya, aku join sama itu spinning class.

Me: Excuse me, can I join this spinning class? (Amboi, sopan santun lemah gemalainya aku. Mentang-mentang instructor tu pompuan)

Instructor: Oh yeah, no problem. Feel free to join. What is your name?

Me: My name is Nik. Nice to meet you.

Instructor: I’m *** (Alamak, macamana aku boleh lupa la nama dia ni?). Nice to meet you too. So, have you ever used the spinning machine? Do you know how to do the settings?

Me: Yeah, I’ve used it before. I think I know how to set it up. (Sambil aku teraba-raba nak cari tombol mana yang aku patut pulas untuk naikkan tempat duduk menda alah tu)

Tak lama lepas tu, instructor tu pasang lagu kuat yg amat dengan radio dia yang diletak kat sebelah spinning machine aku. Ntah lagu disco apa la yang dia pasang aku pun tak tau. Dia cakap, spinning class ni 1 jam, dan dia cakap objektif kelas kali ni ialah untuk memenatkan kaki kita. Aku fikir, ada ke objektif lain selain dari memenatkan kaki? Kalau letak objektif untuk berlatih berlakon buat-buat penat macam gaya orang tengah lumba Le Tour de France takleh ke?

10 minit pertama, warming up. Kayuh sederhana laju sambil membayangkan tengah kayuh beskal on flat road. Tiba-tiba aku terbayang ada seekor lembu nak lintas jalan daaa, nasib baik aku sempat brek. Kalau tak, kenduri gulai lembu la jawabnya.

Lepas tu, instructor tu dah start suruh naikkan resistance. Biar kayuh rasa berat, rasa macam kayuh time panjat bukit. Aku dah takleh nak bayangkan bukit ke apa ke, aku terbayang nak cakap “bye-bye” je kat diorang semua dan berambus dari situ. Tapi, nak jaga standard punya pasal aku teruskan kayuh jugak la.

Lama gak kena kayuh ala-ala climbing ni. Kejap kayuh sambil duduk, kejap dia suruh kayuh sambil menonggeng tapi tak boleh goyang bontot, lepas tu suruh kayuh sambil berdiri pulak. Aku dah rasa macam nak terkentut je asyik layan dia kayuh climbing ni. Rasa macam terbakar je otot-otot peha aku.

Lepas habis acara climbing, dia suruh pulak buat speed work, iaitu kayuh laju gile tak ingat dunia akhirat.

Instructor: Are you ready for it? Ready, set, GO!!!

Aku tengok semua orang kayuh laju-laju. Aku pun buat jugak la. Kayuh laju macam gaya pro cyclist selama lebih kurang 15 saat. Then aku slow down dan buat gaya lidah terjelir pulak sebagai menandakan aku dah penat nak mampus sambil tengok diorang kayuh macam orang hilang akal.

Second last sebelum betul-betul last, climbing pulak lagi sekali. Time ni, instructor suruh naikkan resistance setinggi yang boleh, final climb la katakan. Tapi, aku buat-buat pusing je tombol resistance tu, tapi sebenarnya tak pusing pun. Maka, aku pun teruskan berkayuh dengan gaya orang climbing dan muka buat-buat macam tengah struggle. Tapi hakikatnya, aku tersenyum girang di dalam hati. Hahaha, tipu diri sendiri.

Tak lama lepas tu, cooling down. Akhirnya berjaya jugak aku memenatkan kaki dan meng-kebas-kan punggung. Lepas tu, jalan macam sedikit terkangkang-kankang macam orang tak betul je. Maklum ajelah, dah dekat dua bulan tak kayuh basikal. Skill kayuh basikal aku pun dah nyaris-nyaris nak jadi basi dah.

Anyway, I survived! (dengan bontot yang kesakitan)

I don’t know, but…

In working life, we used to be asked lots of questions by our managers, colleagues, customers and also suppliers. Some of those questions might be straight forward and we could give the answers straight forward. But, what if the questions are those which you have totally no idea what are the answers should be.

So, how do you answer?

The most common answer I frequently heard is, “Sorry, I don’t know.” Period.

Imagine you are the questioner. What do you feel when you get this kind of answer? Definitely, you’ll feel disappointed, wouldn’t you?

And now, imagine that you are the one who had to give such an answer. How do you feel? Don’t you feel bad? It may have given the impression to the questioner that you know nothing much.

When I started working with a western company, I realised something is different in the way they give the answer for a question which they do not know the answer.

“Sorry, I don’t know. But, I will find the answer for you.”

Or,

“I don’t know, but I know someone who does know the answer to your question.”

To some, this may not have any significant difference at all. But for me, there’s a huge different between saying only “I don’t know” and saying “I don’t know, but…”

Previously, I used to only say I don’t know this I don’t know that. My answers ended there. It made me feels like I’m not professional enough for my job. It made me looks stupid.

However, after I changed the way I answer, I feel more positive as well as it gives me extra push to be more proactive in work. As a human being, it is impossible for us to know everything in the world at one single point of time. But, God gave us such a brain that can absorb lots of things, depending on how much effort you put to feed your brain. We also have plenty of friends or colleagues who may know the answers that we don’t. Why hesitate to ask?

We shouldn't stop ourself when we can always go further to find the answers.

Don’t limit your challenges, challenge your limits!

I've Been Tagged!

This is the first time I've been tagged by somebody. This one is in Malay language, and here it goes.

Ape nama blog kamu?
Apa punya soalan daa. Kalau dah baca tag ni kat sini, ini la nama blog nya. Sudah gaharu cendana pula, ketiak berbulu buat-buat tak tahu pula.

Sejak tahun bile kamu memblog?
2007

Kamu ingat lagi tak tarikh hari pertama kamu buat entry?
Sunday, 15 July 2007, 17:33 CT (American Central Time)

Siape yang mempengaruhi/mendorong kamu berblog?
Pengaruh pertama datang dari fajar seluas angkasa, dia antara yang terawal di kalangan kitorang yg buat blog. Lepas tu, jadi part time blogger untuk taiping9495.blogspot pulak. Masa tu la belajar sikit-sikit macamana nak manage blog. Then, masa dah bosan bila mula-mula dok kat States ni, rasa terdorong nak buat blog sendiri yang lebih kurang sama macam blog Ramblings by Aini the triathlete.

Family kamu tahu tak kamu memblog?
Ntah lah belalang, lupa lak nak interview diorang. Diorang tau kot.

Kamu ketagih tak dengan blog?
Takde la ketagih sangat, sikit-sikit tu ada la.

Kamu rase seronok tak memblog ni?
Bergantung kepada idea. Kalau hari yang ada banyak idea untuk update blog, seronok gak la. Waktu yang paling seronok ialah masa baca komen-komen dari pembaca. Ada komen-komen yang kelakar, ada yang sedikit kureng asam tapi kelakar, ada yang serius tapi kelakar, dan ada yang nampak macam kelakar tapi tak kelakar langsung.

Ade pendapat yg mengatakan, majoriti bloggers ni lebih ke arah "syok sendiri". Ape pendapat kamu?
Pendapat sapa ni? Sungguh kurang sopan pendapatan dia. Nak cakap syok sendiri pun, mungkin kurang tepat la. Sebab, setiap pembaca blog akan pilih untuk baca blog-blog yang diorang syok baca aje. So, sama-sama syok la. Blogger pun syok, blog readers pun syok gak. Begitulah pendapatan saya yang tak seberapa ni.

Ape laman web/blog yang kamu suke lawat? Berikan 3.
Allo kawan, 3 mana cukup!
(i) website company – tak suka sebenarnya, tapi terpaksa lawat tiap-tiap hari
(ii) semestinya blog tepen 9495 batch 4 pkp la
(iii) blog kawan-kawan

Berapa kerap kamu lawat ketiga-tiga web/blog tu dalam sehari?
Sekerap mungkin. Eh, getah sekerap berapa RM sekilo sekarang ye?

Dalam banyak-banyak entry kamu, entry ape yang kamu rase paling:
(i) Thrilling?
Yet to come.

(ii) Kontroversi?
Tak main la kontroversi-kontroversi ni. Ini bukan blog celebrity.

(ii) Bahagia?
Setiap entry yang membuat pembaca tersengih atau terkekek-kekek sendirian kat depan komputer diorang. Ada ke entry macam tu so far kat dalam blog ni, rasa macam takde je?

(ii) Down to earth?
Takde kot.

(iii) Sedih ya amat?
Benda yang sedih-sedih tu, simpan dalam hati je la. Tak nak kepoh-kepoh.

Kamu pernah tak rase nak stop dari terus memblog?
Ada, semalam dah nyaris-nyaris rasa macam nak buat sembahyang jenazah kat blog ni sebab dah takde semangat nak update blog. Nasib baik ada orang tag. Seronok gak buat tag ni rupanya. Tapi, kalau hari-hari kena buat tag tak syok aaa.

Kamu nak 'Tag' soalan ni pade sape? Berikan nama 5 rakan bloggers kamu.
Agak-agak, kalau bagi tag ni kat webmaster website Berita Harian ke Utusan Malaysia Online ke, diorang letak kat suratkhabar diorang tak?

Prime @ 26/10

During the old school days, I remember we used to learn about prime number, or in Malay nombor perdana. Prime numbers are numbers which can only be divided by 1 or by itself to give a round number. Maybe some of you have forgotten about this, so let’s review some of the numbers which I have given my own taste of meanings.

1 – “Qul hu Allahu Ahad” [Qur’an: Al-Ikhlas, verse 1]

2 – God created lots of things in pairs. Male and female, right and left, front and back, heaven and hell, good and bad. If you think deeply, there are lots of hidden meanings behind each of them.

3 – When we talk about geometrics or engineering, number 3 proves to be the simplest stable fix structure, and quite strong as well. For example, tripod that we used to stand cameras and triangular structures. I wonder why they created triathlon. Maybe it’s because of the stability and balance of doing all three sports discipline which are swimming, biking and running.

5 – As a Moslem, we are obliged to perform prayers 5 times a day. Jangan buat-buat lupa, jangan buat-buat tak tau dan jangan buat-buat tak nak buat. Dan yang paling penting, jangan tak buat-buat langsung!

7 – This is my favourite number. Don’t ask me why, but I like this number.

11, 13, 17, and 19 – I have nothing to say about these prime numbers.

23 – I get married at this age.

27 – 27 miles was the first long distance which I covered here with a road bike when I first started my biking. The next long distance was 63 miles (101km).

29 – Ahaa, this is the most important and special prime number for today out of all. Because today, ngam-ngam on the dot is the day when my age turned to be a PRIME AGE of 29 years old. Gosh, I feel old.

Anyway, alhamdulillah.

Note to self: “Dear EnAikAY, Happy Birthday!”

Un-sangka-rable

Greetings from Skudai!

Alhamdulillah, I safely landed at KLIA on last Sunday afternoon. And after iftar I drove down to my new working place at Skudai town in Johor. Fortunate enough I didn't get terrible jet lag from the long journey.

I have lots of things I would like to share with you all, regarding my journey back from the States to Malaysia. I've taken some photos too. However, I haven't got the ample time to finalize the story yet. InsyaAllah, one day.

Anyway, I am back to start some special assignments for the new facility here. Totally new kind of things. Things that I've never imagined of doing. Plenty of things to be done to set up this new facility. I have to work with some consultants, vendors, contractors, people from locals Johor and also people from the States.

Being responsible for this kind of assignments, requires me to work extra hours. During day time, I work with local people in Malaysia. During night time, it's time to make conference calls to people at the States.

Very un-sangka-rably busy now, day in and day out. But I'm enjoying it.

The BIG Surprise!

Well, well, well. Finally the day has come for me to announce my little surprise as I promised before. But, before we go further, let’s take a look at some of the photos below. You can directly guess what the thing that I want to tell you is all about.

Yes, I’m going back to my home country today, on this first Friday of Ramadhan. In about 10 hours time from now, I will begin the journey by car and jet planes, crossing half of the globe from Duncan, to Oklahoma, to Los Angeles, to Taipei, to Kuala Lumpur, and lastly to Johor Bahru. This whole journey will be about 40 hours in total (kalau buat Ironman triathlon, dah boleh buat dua round ni). I never thought of this opportunity to come, but this is what I believe a rezeki, alhamduliLlah. It is not inside our original training plan to go back by this time. Everything just came up in a very short noticed manner.

This journey is not going to be permanent. I mean, after a few weeks of working at Johor I have to return to the States to resume my training until I complete one full year. And this trip back to home county is definitely not for holiday. The reason why we get to go back now is because we have to support the launching operation of the newly built facility, as well as to attend a two-days training.

It is going to be a hectic period for me, on how well I can manage the time for my work, my family, for travelling, and time for my self to do what I like to do. Too many things I want and have to do in too little time. If I were to make a wish list now, it may turn out to be more than 30 items on what I wish to do, where I wish to go, and who I wish to meet.

The best part of all, I get to celebrate Aidilfitri in Malaysia!!! Isn’t it wonderful? It’s like a dream comes true.

Dear friends, please pray for my safety during this journey okay! Thanks.

P/s: Entry hari ni poyo semacam je sebab kepala tengah di serang migraine, takde idea kreatif nak tulis.

P/s: Kepada sesiapa yang berjaya meneka surprise ni dengan betul, tahniah di ucapkan. Anda memang saiko! Kalau nak hadiah, sila pegi beli sendiri, pastu bayar dengan duit sendiri. Hihihi.

Shout Responsibly

Latest picture of a happy man "poyo-ly" posing in front of a Hummer

Alhamdulillah… I’m so happy today. Somehow I managed to put a shoutbox on my blog. Before that I was struggling to think of an idea to write for tonight. Thanks to [i] for your advice!

I will be more than happy if any of you would like to say something through the shoutbox, or at the comments area as usual (easy to trace based on blog entry). You may either put your nicknames, actual names, or if you prefer you may be totally anonymous to me. Since all of you are grown up people, I assume you all know what is proper and what is not. Let’s make full use of this small little technology called shoutbox in a positive and harmony ways, okay. Thanks.

I'd love to read your comments, the more the merrier. It is fun!

Last but not least, Shout Responsibly.

p/s: Ahlan wa sahlan Ramadhan al-Mubaarak!

Energy Savings

Can I say that I’m saving my energy for the upcoming Ramadhan by not putting up any updates in my blog for few days? I know I can’t.

Actually, the reason why it has been few days since I last updated my blog is due to the fact that I didn’t get to do much fitness training. Somehow I felt a bit disappointed. When I didn’t do fitness training, I got nothing interesting to put up on my blog, and when I cannot update blog, I get a bit disappointed. I don’t want to let any reader of my blog to fall asleep while reading my boring stories, so I have to come up with something interesting as an appreciation for those readers who frequently visited my blog day and night from around the globe (Cheh, returning visitors tak sampai 5 orang sebulan pun nak belagak, hehe).

After the run on last Thursday, I felt pain in both thighs as expected. So, I did no running on Friday. Came Saturday, I went for window shopping again. There were no interesting movies to watch, so I just spent most of the times watching tennis US Open on the TV.

On Sunday, I went to the gym for some workout. But to my surprise, they didn't allow me to enter the gym since my temporary 3 months membership has finished. If I want to continue the membership, I have to pay about US25/month. But, I don’t think I will be going to the gym during Ramadhan. So, I said I will only continue membership in October. Luckily for me, they allowed me to enter the gym on Sunday for free, just for that particular day.

So, I spent roughly 1.5hrs doing some weight training to tone up some upper body muscles while trying not to overwork them again. I think, that will be the last time I go to the gym so far, the next time I go there shall be from next October onwards, after Aidilfitri and what not.

Ish, boringnya entry blog harini. Takpelah, at least I can say I frequently update my blog, hahaha.

I can’t wait for weekend to come, something BIG is approaching soon.

Syyy… takleh bagitau lagi. Kena tunggu until Friday baru boleh reveal. Harap bersabar ye tuan-tuan dan puan-puan.

Run – Day 7

Wow! The last time I ran was on August 10th, almost a month ago.

Today, I went to the gym to run. No big target for today, I just wanted to run to ease off lots of tiny-miny problems which are circling around my brain lately. While running on the indoor track, I kept on searching for a lucky number in my mind. This time, it turned out to be number 21.

Why number 21? Let’s do some maths, shall we?

21 laps x 0.1 mi/lap x 1.6 km/mi = approximately 3.4km.

I managed to run slowly and steadily for 3.4km non stop today, without any stretching that was. I forgot to stretch. Seriously, no kidding, I really forgot. I was thinking to continue running until 30 laps but I had to stop as I got side stitch. And I have the feelings that my thighs will start to feel the pain when I wake up tomorrow morning. But, I hope it won’t happen or else I can’t run tomorrow.

Result of Run Day 7 (Thursday)
Distance: 3.4km (2.1miles)
Time: 23min 30sec

I’m feeling sad right now because my friend is in trouble. I need to find a way to help.

I Miss You...

My dear sweethearts,

It’s been almost one complete full moon since I last met you. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you when you needed me that much. I got hung up with some other unavoidable stuff. Please don’t misunderstand me, you are still very important to me, always are.

Actually I had made some plans to meet you on last weekend, but I did some silly things that had caused me to not being able to go there to see you. I regretted it so much. I’m still feeling the pain now. Few days of restless nights have also started to give me the dizziness. I don’t know how much longer I have to wait. I know I've made a mistake, and I’ve learnt a lot from it. I promise I won’t let it happen again between us.

Day in and day out, time is running out so fast. Soon enough I won’t have the pleasure to spend tremendous amount of time with you as what we normally had previously in our previous dates. As you may know, Ramadhan is coming soon and definitely you know we can’t see each other that much during fasting month. I’m feeling miserable now.

I hope I can get out from this heartbreaking situation of pain as soon as possible and make full use of the available time to meet you.

I miss you all so much my rides, runs and swims. And I know you miss me too. I promise I will meet one of you soon, as soon as I could.

Love,
EnAikAY

P/s: Baca je, jangan gelak-gelak...

Tennis

It is now US Open tennis tournament season over here so I have the opportunity to see top tennis players competing against each other almost every night on TV. My entry for today for sure has something to do with tennis.

When I was a charming (ehem ehem) 13 years old boy, I was selected to join the Kelantan youth tennis squad, or Tunas Remaja Tenis MSSK (Majlis Sukan Sekolah-Sekolah Kelantan) as it was called back then. I cannot remember how I was chosen, but I still remember about the tough trainings we had to undertake for 3 days per week. Students from all over Kota Bharu were chosen for this squad, partially sponsored by the MSSK.

My father was a good tennis player. He used to win lots of tournaments within his working career life. He rarely came home without any medals. I was so proud of him. Not only tennis, but he also used to play many other sports like soccer, rugby, hockey, ping pong and badminton, and he was good at those sports.

So, when I told him that I was chosen for the youth tennis squad, he gave me his tennis racket. At that time, he already stopped playing tennis. He was happy that I continued the legacy in the family to play tennis.

As for the training, it was not an easy one as far as I can remember. We started with some basic stretching for upper and lower body, and then we had to run close to 2km for the warm up. After that came the stamina and strength training. One of the things I still remember is that we had to sprint for 10 laps from base line to the net and back to base line again after which we have to check our pulse recovery rate for every 30 seconds intervals. The coach said that whoever can reduce the pulse rate faster, that means you have better stamina. He further told us that we can reduce pulse rate faster by walking.

Next training was hand skills and legs positioning, or to make it simple, the body postures. The coach thought us how to hold the racket, how to do forehand swing, how to do backhand swing, how to serve, how to do valley, etc. One of the training was to throw the ball into the air as you do when you do overhead serve. We had to put our racket on the court in front of our legs, and the ball that we threw into the air must land on the racket repeatedly. When you throw the ball, you were not allowed to look at the racket. Just look up into the air and throw the ball. Can you imagine how difficult it was? If you can’t prove to the coach that you can throw the ball properly, you cannot proceed with service training. Because if we cannot throw the ball correctly, that means we will not be able to make a good service.

Unfortunately, I didn’t continue the training for long time since I had difficulties with transportation to get from my hostel to the training court. Normally I had to take public bus to get to the sports centre, which was situated about 5km away from my hostel. Sometimes I used to walk back to hostel after we finished training, it was so tiring. After few months, I stopped. So, it all ended there. I didn’t finish the full training which was supposed to be one year, or else I might have been a tennis player by now. I somehow regretted my immature retirement from the squad. Maybe it was not my fate to become a tennis player.

Nowadays, I still play tennis occasionally when somebody asked me to play with. But, to tell you a little secret, I really suck at servicing.

Let me know if any of you would like to play tennis but no partners to play with, I might be interested to accompany you. I’d love to play tennis.

Almost Alone Again

I just came back from watching a movie entitled No Reservations. I almost watch it “alone” again today. While I was sitting there watching the trailer by myself, my brain was so active and started to think of writing another entry about watching movie alone like I did last time. But, when the movie just about to start, few couples came into the theatre.

I never make any kind of movie review or comments or what so ever but today I’d like to try to make one. Perhaps those who haven’t watch it may be angry with me now for telling them about the story before they watch it. Well, the story was overall nice and easy to follow. Pretty relaxing, some romantic comedy quality inside it, and some scenes really touched my heart.

Gosh, I think I’m really a crap at making comments or review about something openly. I wanted to make some comments but I don’t know how to put it into words. Anyway, let’s give it a try.

1. Sometimes I like to cook, and this movie has something to do about cooking and daily routine as a cook/chef. Unfortunately, I couldn’t smell what they are cooking inside the movie but the foods look extremely delicious though.

2. Imagine yourself being an 8 years old girl who just lost a mother in a car accident and you are left alone with your aunt. You don’t know who your father is, and you have to live with your aunt who is a chef. At certain point you missed your mother really badly but the only thing you can do is cry.

3. It is sometimes true what people said, “You may one day fall in love with someone who you hated most initially”. Maybe it is also true that to love someone is to first know that person. First impression may sometimes be so misleading.

4. We normally see that parents usually scold or scream at their children when the children do not listen to them. But, if you are a child, do you like to be scolded or screamed at? Everyone has feelings rite? Even children have feelings. Parents have feelings too, but why do they easily lost it to their anger and impatient? Why must parents scream or scold their children on daily basis? Will that not ruin the children’s mind and emotions, especially when they are being scolded in front of public? Being patient is very difficult, unless you train yourself hard. Do you think it is easy for children to accept the concept of “parents scold their children because they love them”? I don’t think so, not until they get matured, or when they have their own children.

5. I like to watch happy ending romantic comedy movies, just like this one. So, will I watch it again? Oh yes, if someone belanja me la. Hahaha.

Silly Me

Since exam has finished, that means I have plenty of free time to do exercise. Yes, time is there but my mood is not there yet. Laziness has overshadowed everything. I felt lazy to put on my running shoes, lazy to pump my bicycle tyres and start cycling, and lazy to even go to the gym.

On last Friday evening after I returned from window shopping, I was thinking to start doing some exercise. And being lazy to go to the gym, I just did some push-ups and sit-ups in my room. I never thought my body is very heavy until I felt pain in my triceps and pectoralis major muscles after doing few reps of push ups. It seriously hurts a lot! I still feel the pain until now, all due to the overworked push ups which had surely caused muscle soreness. Silly me! What was I thinking?

And having so much pain in the triceps and pectoralis major, it feels like the whole upper body is in pain. It is still painful to make major movement with the arms now. Well, looks like I have to cancel my plan to swim during the weekend.

Not being able to do other exercises, I became couch potato for the whole day of Saturday.

Potato, potato, potato! Mari-mari, sapa mau makan potato…!

– The End –

The final calculation exam started as early as 7am on last Friday. The night before that, I didn’t study at all. I was watching TV. Bukan sebab nak tunjuk terer, but simply because I felt tired of studying anymore.

I woke up much earlier on Friday morning, rushed to the training place to grab some express breakfast before entering the training room. At 7am sharp, we began answering 3 questions. Time allocated was 4 hours. Each questions consisted of 5 to 7 sub-questions. Some of which were pretty tricky.

I spent a mere 2 hours to finish answering all questions, but I didn’t submit the answer immediately. I waited at my seat and review my answers while looking at other people’s behaviour. The room was filled with high tense faces. Ada yang garu kepala, ada yang korek telinga, ada yang terangguk-angguk kepala, dan ramai yang geleng kepala. Luckily I did review my answers before submitting it, because I found two mistakes which I overlooked earlier.

After about 3 hours I can see few people started submitting their answers. I kept calm at my place. At the end of the long 4 hours, we all have to submit our answers. And it’s time to wait for the results. We chit chat with each others, taking email addresses, taking some photos. We all have to score above 80% in order to pass this class. Such a high target, huh?

Finally, the instructor announced the final result which also consisted of all other small tests results that were done in earlier days. You want to know what I get? Ish, segan la nak bagitau. I will just say that I passed the exam with very colourful flying colours, and I was in the top 5. Such a relief when everything has ended. No more study and no more homework, for this moment at least.

By lunch time, we were all free to go. I straight went back home for a short rest. Then I went out to go window shopping, alone this time. At night, my housemate and I went to watch movie, Balls of Fury. Regret! Biggest regret so far (as far as watching movie is concerned). Buang karen betul. I don’t even feel want to share anything about the movie with you at all, I just disliked everything about it. In spite of the big promo and ads on the TV, for me the movie was totally “swinging-bowl” punya cerita. Menyesal, menyesal. Luckily I was not the only one watching it.

I Hate Exams

By the time most Malaysians were enjoying the fireworks show in their neighbourhood, I was cracking my head to answer test questions in the classroom. They have finished teaching us everything they planned to, and now it’s time for test, and test, and test.

We started with 1st test in the morning at around 9am. The question was pretty simple, 1 question consisting of 12 sub-questions. Midway doing it, I found out that some of the sub-questions were starting to get crooked. Weird numbers and answers started to came to surface. After a good 20 minutes putting all the drawing, numbers, calculations and answers in 3 sheets of paper, I was done. The others were still struggling. I handed in my answers to the tutor.

From far, I could see the tutor was cursing when he looked at my answers. He flipped through my answers, and then he looked at the question paper. His face showed that he really stressed up. After a while, more students handed in their answers to the tutor. And I saw his face was like he totally lost his mind.

At 10am, when almost everybody finished with the 1st test, the tutor asked everybody to hand in whatever they have in hand, complete or not.

Then he said, “Ok guys, let’s forget about the first test. Because the question was wrong, non-logical and you won’t get any good and sensible answers from it. I didn’t realised that the question was f***ed up, my apologies. Anyway, let’s just forget about it, I will throw everything away.”

“What?” The students went upside down. “So we don’t have to do anymore test, sir?”

Then the tutor said, “Ok, the last question was useless. Sorry, it was my bad. So, I have come up with a good question and let us all do Test 2.”

“What the …?”

The second question was same like the first, only that some numbers in the question were changed to make it more logical. But this time, instead of 12 sub-questions, we got 13 sub-questions.

You see, that’s why I hate exams.

p/s: As I’m writing this entry, I was just done with my second test. Waiting for lunch time now. And after lunch, I’ll be having big exam part 1. Big exam part 2 will be tomorrow morning.

Happy Merdeka Day!

Few days ago, I got this email from my HR manager in Malaysia.

"Hi all,

Pleased be informed that 31st Aug 2007 Friday is a gazetted public holiday in conjunction with Malaysia National Day.

Happy National Day and happy holiday to all of you.

p/s: Employees who are in overseas on this date will observe local public holiday instead."

Did you noticed what she mentioned in the p/s? Uwaaaa, I cannot celebrate Merdeka holiday because im at oversea now. Even worse, I will be having final exam for my training on Aug 31st.

I'm soooooooo stressed up!!! Dah la harini homework banyak.

Tapi takpe, Sept 3rd nanti aku cuti, sempena Labor Day in America!

And starting next week, it's about time for me to resume my fitness training. I got two weeks before Ramadhan. Many things to do in very limited time. I mean, lots of fats to get rid off my six-minus-five pack tummy. Time to start some "secret trainings".

Happy Merdeka Day to all Malaysians!

I'm in love...

Last Friday was great, I had the class until lunch time then we had to sit for one small test after lunch break. Time allocated for the test was 2 hours, but I finished that single question in almost 1 hour. Then, I was free to go home at 2.30pm. Plus, the instructor didn’t give any homework for the whole weekend. Yabudubudu, boleh joli katak! Balik rumah terus gedebush atas katil… tidur macam beruang!

I was thinking to go watch movie on Friday night when I realised there weren’t good movie worth spending the money and time to watch. So, I just watch whatever being displayed on the 21” TV at my apartment.

On Saturday, we (my housemate and I) went to Oklahoma City for shopping (which at the end turned out to be just window shopping). I went to three bicycle shops over there and I fell in love with both of these. I don't know which one to choose to be my new awek.

This is Giant OCR 2. Nice, but slightly over my budget.

Trek has already came out with Pilot 1.2 model year 2008. Not as nice as Giant OCR 2, but my wallet won't be crying too loud if I buy this one.

Senangnya dalam hati, kalau ber-awek dua,
Seakan dunia, analah yang punyaaaaaaaaa....
Lalalalalalalalalaaaa

Writing Without Idea

Let see, what shall I write today? I totally have no specific idea or subject on what to write. Some of them said that triathlon competition season for 2007 have ended. No more races. And in about 3 weeks from now it will be Ramadhan.

When I was working with my previous company, I used to join them play badminton at night. 2 hours per session, 3 sessions per week. There were about 6 to 10 people who normally turned out to play. But when Ramadhan came, we stopped playing. It took pretty long to resume the session after Hari Raya, normally after Syawal finished only they restart.

What am I trying to say? Honestly, I don’t know. Just ignore it, don’t bother to guess what I was thinking. It was totally crap. I think this is my worst blog entry so far.

Maybe my brain is already dead tired after whole day doing calculations at the classroom. Plus, I just finished doing my homework. Same as yesterday, today we get total of 3 questions and my answers turned out to be in 9 pages. Lots of calculations. My hand and calculator almost get cramped, haha. But, I noticed my speed of doing homework has increased. Yesterday I completed homework in 4 hours time but today I did it in sub 3.5hrs.

Aiseyman, buat homework pun nak kena tengok speed jugak ke? Ni yang susah kalau kepala otak asyik dok fikir pasal triathlon je ni.

Sebenarnya tengah tak senang duduk ni. Kaki dah gatal nak start running balik, tapi masa dan keadaan sekarang amat tidak mengizinkan. Homework hari-hari kena buat. Tambahan pulak, menu makan malam makin hari makin sedap. Takkan nak let-go kot, tak patut la kan…hehehe.

Sneak Preview

Due to pure boringness and laziness and tiredness, I don't have any good articles to come up for today's update. Just to give you some sneak preview of what I was doing most of the time tonight. Same situation was for yesterday, and will be going to be the same for another 1.5 weeks time.

Eh, sapa pulak ambik gambar orang tengah buat homework ni. Kacau konsentrasi betul la.

Homework for today: 3 soalan aje. Tapi jawapan dia boleh cecah 9 muka surat woo. Kalau macam ni hari-hari, cukup dua minggu dah boleh buat mini-thesis dah ni.

Now, after looking at me having to spend 4 hours of my night time after the daily working hours, laying on my bed doing this tedious and difficult homework, anybody still feel interested to follow my footsteps?

P/s: Menjadi jugak lakonan aku buat muka poyo kononnya tengah struggle buat homework. Padahal time ambik gambar ni homework dah siap dah. Hehehee...

Another Plan Ruined

I was hoping that once I start my 2 weeks class I will get more free times in the evenings for my fitness training. But looking at how they’ve arranged for the first class today, I know I will have to postpone my running training for another 2 weeks at least. Boy, oh boy. Long break like this is doing no good to my muscles and fitness level. Will be tough to recover it later, it’ll be like starting all over again.

The class I am having now consists of full time 8am to 5pm, 5 days per week for two weeks. Not only we have to stay focus and alert with the lecturer teaching all the theories, calculations and formulas and what not, plus we also have to do homework at home – everyday! That is really %$#^@!!

Habis, tercemar kesucian blog aku.

Ok stop, I don’t want to spread negative things inside my blog, or start cursing for nothing. This blog should be portraying only good and positive and inspiring thoughts or activities.

Apart from that, we are served with free breakfast, lunch and dinner. The foods are superb, really high class, like eating at a hotel (they serve halal food too). But the thing is, dinner is only served from 5.30pm onwards which is normally when I start my fitness training. And by the time I finished taking my dinner it’s already 6.15pm, and I don’t think I will be able to run with full stomach. It’s too dangerous and unhealthy. So, I had to make a big decision whether to skip the marvellous meals and go for my routine exercise, or go for exercise and have to spend another hour to cook my own dinner at home.

Aah, exercise bila-bila boleh buat, tapi makan sedap yang free ni bukan selalu boleh dapat woo…!!!

Lagipun orang kata "makan untuk hidup & hidup untuk makan". Takde pun perkataan "eksesais" kat situ. Hehehehe.

So, you surely know what happened after I said that.

Shall I start putting updates on what I eat everyday? Hahahaha.

I Did It!!!

As promised, here I am again with the first update of the blog after one week of berpura-pura kerja keras nak mampus study macam budak nak ambik SPM. All praise to Allah, alhamdulillah. I’ve passed the exam!

Yahhuuuu, yabedabeduuu, mari kita makan buduuuuu…!!!

I did it!

I felt so relieved. Though the exam was not as difficult as doing a PhD, but being able to pass an exam is such a big achievement for me. Why? Because, I hate exams.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to learn especially learning about new things. But if I have to sit for any kind of exams, that’s where I start to get the knee-shaking. I just don’t like to be tested. And that’s the reason why I do not further my study after having a degree. I had a bad experience when I took my final year exams. Not going to tell you about that.

So, I will be starting a 2 weeks lesson (lecture) from tomorrow onwards, learning more advance knowledge regarding my job. Hopefully there’ll be no exam at the end of the day.

Same goes to my training, I plan to resume with some running again tomorrow. I don’t want to expect much from my one-week-rested-legs, I just want to run.

Forced to Rest

Dear respected readers,

I’m sorry to inform that this blog will not be updated for this whole week due to the fact that the author has gone slightly mad and partially crazy with the desperation to complete his self-study and successfully pass an exam at the end of this week. Exam is coming on this Friday. Oh my God! Nervous break down, nervous break down...

Kalau tak pass exam kali ni maka ia akan memberi imej yang buruk terhadap rakyat Malaysia yang bekerja di luar negara. Bagi memartabatkan maruah bangsa dan negara maka penulis terpaksa berhenti (buat sementara) menulis blog dan menggunakan segala masa yang ada untuk pulun study bagai nak rak supaya masa exam nanti tak payah tengok jawapan kat belakang buku teks.

Yang lebih menyedihkan, aktiviti-aktiviti bersukan juga terpaksa dihentikan buat seketika. Sebab kalau dah terlebih penat bersukan time petang macamana nak study di waktu malam. Pastu nak kena masak lagi, makan lagi, pastu nak tengok tv kejap, nak update blog lagi, pastu nak layan tengok blog kawan-kawan lagi. Mana cukup masa nak study? Kat ofis dah sibuk dengan keje. Kalau boleh study dalam mimpi senang la sikit.

Anyway, please do come and visit this blog again next week, okay.
Thanks.

Next week kita belasaaahhhh… !!!

Yours truly,
..::EnAikAY::..

Very Contemplating

Should I buy a road bike here or wait and buy it in Malaysia next year?

If I buy it here, I have to also buy a bike carrier to fit into flight cargo when I bring it back to Malaysia. Though, I think the bike itself is slightly cheaper over here.

If I buy it in Malaysia, the price will be slightly expensive, but no hassle with the bike carrier thingy which will only be used once.

So, to buy here or to buy in Malaysia?

At this moment I’m targeting a Trek 1000 road bike. I’m still a beginner maa. Kalau beli Cervelo kang, ada “orang” kat Malaysia upah kidnapper culik beskal aku lak.

Fuh, buat keje kat ofis lagi senang daripada nak fikir pasal beli basikal ni.

Should I buy, or should I wait?
Should I, or shouldn’t I?

It’s already past my bedtime now, but I can't sleep.
Should I sleep, or should I buy bicycle??

Tido malam ni sah mimpi kayuh beskal.

Orang kata, "Dreams may come true". So I should start dreaming lah nampaknya...

Swim – Day 2

It has been about 10 days since I did my first swim. Yesterday was my second day. I went to the gym at around 6pm with the hope that there will be not so many people in the pool. I thought wrong. They only opened 3 swimming lanes, and there were three people including me in my swimming lane. At the other two lanes, two people at each lane. Kacau daun sungguh. If I am a good swimmer ok la jugak, I can think of it as triathlon simulation ke apa ke.

By the way, my arms were not feeling so strong for the swim. I could only do freestyle for 200m, and the rest just do the normal breaststroke. My triceps and shoulders were very the weak. Looks like I did not do balance workout between upper and lower body. Kesian saya.

Or maybe because I didn’t have sufficient energy for the swim since I only had a bowl of cereal + milk for lunch. Breakfast was unintentionally skipped. You know what I mean, hehehe. Lepas swimming balik rumah belasah makan spaghetti with chicken cooked in alfredo sauce. Superb!

Result of Swim Day 2 (Saturday)
Distance: 500m
Time: 12min 44sec

At night after dinner I went out with my housemate to watch Rush Hour 3. I like Jackie Chan’s movie, so this one is not to be missed. The movie was awesome, lots of fights and tricky moves from Jackie, and many jokes too. He is really flexible, tough and fast. More than half of the movie was shot in Paris with the beautiful scenic at the Eiffel Tower. Macam biasalah, at last hero yang menang.

It reminds me a lot when I went to Paris in 1997. Some of the university students arranged a trip to Disneyland Paris, so we joined them. We took a bus from Leicester to Dover, and then crossed the English Channel with ferry to Calais, France. From there, continued our journey with bus to Disneyland Paris. I had lots of fun there. I rode almost all of the roller coasters. But, not so many photos due to the fact I was walking alone most of the times. The other friends of mine were not so keen to do all the rides, they preferred the slow walk jalan-jalan makan angin at the park. It was fun.

We went out from Disneyland at around 6pm if I’m not mistaken. The ferry from Calais back to Dover was scheduled at 1am the next morning. So, they decided to let us lepak at Eiffel Tower until midnight. I couldn’t believe myself that I was standing right underneath the huge steel tower. It was an amazing experience, being in such a romantic city at one of the most famous place in the world. But too bad, I had no girlfriend at that time to share the wonderful moments in life.

Opocot, ter-emotional la pulak. I better stop now. Hehehe.