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.