Gunung Nuang Run/Hike

Photos first, stories later.

I just returned back from work yesterday and I have more than 180 emails to read and analyze and do something and then feedback the emails. And I'm nowhere near finish yet. So, hope you enjoy the photos first, and I promise will come up with the stories once I got some more free time OK. Thanks for visiting and thanks for your patience.

Supposed to be a stretching session, but two of them did dancing session!

Started off with some light stretching.

Streeettccchhhh...!!!

Going to be used for the first time. Still neat and clean. Shop-smelly (bau kedai daa).

L-R: Shaqi, Daud (Che), Day-O, Ian, myself, Kash & Syah.
[Pre-run/hike photo]

A welcome note at the main entrace.

We began the journey with some brisk walking up the slopes.

When the sweat started to drench out.

Strong blogosthletes in action running up the slopes.

Kash ghost! Ahaha...

Our first breath-catcher quick break.

When running gets tough, you can still walk. No problemo.

At the end of the wide trail track, before we started off into the single trail track where the adventure gets better.

When we started going up rocks like this, I knew something was wrong.

Yup, we got lost in the jungle!

After some side-tracking, we get back to the actual trail by the pipe-line.

Some hiking actions.

More hiking actions.

We made a stop upon reaching the small water-gate for some breather, before continuing the journey to Lolo Camp site.

Quick break at the water-gate.

Reached Lolo camp site, at last!

It was tough even to get to this point. But I'm already having thoughts of going to the peak, some other times.

Group photo at Lolo camp site.

Day-O: "Don't shoot me!"

Strong legs.

Strong ladies. Salute!

I saw an orang asli gathering the rebung buluh.

On our way down, we saw these hard-core MTB-ers cycling up.

Been there, done a little bit of it, and will come here again to conquer more of it.

The 8 names we have to register before going up Gunung Nuang
(except the third name from bottom)

Post run/hike triple-decker sandwich breakfast was served by courtesy of Ian from Corporate Athlete's Fitness Kitchen.

Giving them the much deserved rest.

Eat, eat, eat. Talk, talk, talk. Laugh, laugh, laugh.

Talk, talk, talk. Laugh, laugh, laugh. Eat, eat, eat.

All tummies were filled up.

Post run/hike group photo.

Salam Aidil Fitri

This week is a busy week for me as I have so many things to clear at work before enjoying my one week off for Raya. Perhaps this is why I easily fall asleep right after breaking the fast. Trying to wake up to go do my night training is another challenge by itself. In addition to some sleepless nights, I feel like a zombie now.

Anyway, Raya is coming shortly and with my busy-ness graph going up to the peak, I’d like to take this opportunity to do a short entry, while I still have a little time to spare.

Here are some tips I can think of, when it comes to Raya season:

Safe Driving

1. Don’t drink and drive Batal puasa wei! Unless if you travel at night, you can drink some water or fruit juice to keep your body hydrated. Your brain need to be sharp to focus on the driving. And for those non-Muslim, no alcohol please. If you end up in an accident, you’ll be causing bigger traffic jam. Jangan cari pasal ye!

2. Buckle up dude! Your wind screen and car may be insured, but your head and skull are definitely not.

3. Don’t rush! It’s okay if a car or two squeezed in or overtake in front of you in a traffic jam. The most is that you will only lose few minutes. But if something bad happens, you’ll lose hours. Let’s leave our ‘competitiveness’ spirit to the real triathlon or running races, not when we are driving on the road. Most of us who are used to driving in big cities with traffic jams, we do not realize we’ve actually turned a bit ’kiasu’ when we drive out of the city. It’s okay to be a bit late. It’s Raya time, not a meeting or an interview appointment, right?

4. Don’t tailgate. Whether you are driving slow or fast, observe the distance between the car in front of you. I had an experience having an accident when the car was moving at a mere 20km/hr. How did it happen? I was following the car in front too close (it was in a traffic jam during Raya) that I did not have enough space to brake when the car in front suddenly hit the car in front of it. So, the three of us ended up at the police station and wasted 3 hours there just to settle the police report.

5. Inspect your car condition. Inflate your tires, and also your spare tire. Make sure you have the jack and know how to change the tire in a case of flat (Google up if you don’t know). Check your brake lights, reverse lights, indicator lights (front and back, and sides) and front lights. Also, make your intentions known to other drivers. Put on indicator lights when changing lane or turning.

6. ABS. ABS stands for Anti-lock Braking System. If your car has this, nothing much to worry about. But if you have a car without it, don’t jam or lock the brake when you want to do an emergency stop. If you jerk and jam the brake, your tires will be locked and your car will glide on the road uncontrollably. You can’t steer or maneuver to avoid hitting something in front. Instead, what you should do is to “pump” on the brake repeatedly. This will simulate the ABS system. Some info here as a start. Plenty more on the internet, help yourself.

7. Stay focus! Majority of accidents happen when the driver is distracted. If you need to answer to a phone call, please please please.. use the hands-free kit. The best is not to answer any phone call at all, if you can. And another big sinners are those who read/do text messages, i.e. SMS while driving. Aiyooh, ini paling bahaya dol! I sometimes do this too and I will try my best not to do it anymore.

8. Be considerate. Yeah, we know you own expensive cars and pay huge amount of money for your road taxes. But we are all road users for God’s sake! What makes you think you can give high beams to the car in front of you when he/she is overtaking someone else by being on the third lane of the highways? Especially when YOU are the one who is going faster than the speed limit. I hate this kind of selfish people, really really hate them!

9. Oh, if you have a second car that you will leave at home for few days or a week, you can plug-off the negative terminal of the battery so that when you return back from kampung, your car battery won’t be dried up, i.e. battery gets weak. As a substitute for the safety for not having an alarm system activated (when you plug-off the battery), you can use the steering lock or gear lock. This is optional, as new brand cars have good power management system that the car battery won’t go dry (in terms or its energy) even if the car is idle for few weeks.

10. Don’t forget to recite the ‘doa naik kenderaan’, say ‘Bismillah’ and tawakkal. At the end, our lives are at the hands of the Almighty.

Safety at home

1. Leave the minimum amount of fresh food inside your refrigerator. You never know when black-outs will happen. Imagine coming back from kampung and once you enter your house, you get this pungent smell coming from the kitchen and you have the entire refrigerator to clean up.

2. Throw all rubbish from the bin. You don’t want your house to be a breeding ground for flies, do you?

3. Make sure all doors and windows are securely shut and locked. Also make sure all electrical goods are being unplugged. If you have a timer, you may use it to lit up your house during night times while you are away. Also, don't forget to shut the main water pipe line.

4. Do you know that you can make a report to the police station saying that you won’t be at home for Raya? By doing so, you can ask the police officer to make rounds at your housing area during the holidays. Ask your neighbors to do the same, as the more people reported their home vacancy, the higher the chance that the police will do more rounds at your housing area. Please go and ask at the police station nearby you. I got this info while listening to a tazkirah keselamatan during tarawih given by a police inspector in Bangi.

5. Once again, when you lock the doors and gates, recite ‘Bismillah’ and tawakkal, and pray for the safety of our beloved properties.

Let's choose to be safe!

Last but not least, I would like to take this opportunity to wish every reader a very best of safety during the holiday. My practices during Ramadhan this year is not as good as I first anticipated, and I hope I will live for another Ramadhan next year, insyaAllah.

Thanks again for visiting this blog, I appreciate it very much. I’m happy to read any comments left on this blog too. It makes my little effort to keep on writing, worth it!

Raya picture of 2008

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI
MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN

Lagu Raya

I believe many of you still remember the infamous raya song by Saloma which are being aired more than often nowadays, with Aidil Fitri being around the corner. If you don't, fret not as we have YouTube.

Taking up the same mood, I'd like to dedicate this song which I have modified, especially to my fellow triathlete and runner friends.

Come on and let's sing along!

Selamat Aidilfitri
Kepada triathletes dan runners di sini
Setahun hanya sekali
Kita jarang turun training hari-hari

Di masa bulan Ramadhan
Training tak sampai 6 kali sebulan
Pabila Syawal menjelma
Kita carboloading tak ingat dunia

Miskin kaya memakai baju baru warna warni
Running shoes dah lama dalam almari
Sungguh hebat pemandangan di hari raya ini
Perut besar tembam makin berisi

Marilah bergembira
Tak payah training terasa nikmatnya
Mintak mak kuih sepotong
Bila nak race confirm akan kena potong

Maafkanlah jika ada terlanjur perkataan
Kalau lawak ni korang tak berkenan
Ku berdoa semoga panjang umur murah rezeki
Semoga lepas ni boleh race lagi

Selamat hari raya
Lepas raya janganlah buat lupa
Selamat kami ucapkan
Sambung training untuk events tahun depan

Selamat Hari Raaayaaaaaa…!!!!

U-NIK

Whenever I received a phone call from those random salesperson wanted to give me some kind of insurance or new credit cards offers, or from someone unknown to me saying that they know my phone number through a banking or credit card agency, and that I have won something via some competition that I never took part, or I will get something if I say “YES” to their weird offers, the starting conversation would be like something as follows:

Caller: ”Hello, may I speak to Mr. Nik Faaa…. errmm… Nik Fahsu… err. Nik Fashussnnn… ehmm… Nik Fazusa…. Ermm.. Nik Fashuzana?”

Me: ”It’s FA-HUS-NA-ZA. Just call me Nik. That will be easier.”

I don’t know about you guys, but I never had any trouble pronouncing my name. Ahahaha.

Here are among the names that I’ve heard people mistakenly call (or try to mention) my name for the first time, without causing their tongue to get twisted.

NIK FASHUZANA
NIK FAUZANA
NIK FASHUSNASA
NIK FA.. (a small silence) NAZA
NIK NAZA RIA (just kidding)
NIK NASA.. (Houston we have a problem!)

When I was in standard six, when the school dentist’s nurse came to my classroom to call for students to go get our teeth checked, she addressed me with BINTI, instead of BIN. In fact, she has that shocked looking face when a boy (me laa) but not a girl, stood up and followed her to the dentist room downstairs. The weird thing is, when I looked at my dentist card, my name was spelled with BIN in the middle. So, I wonder what makes she read my name on the card with BINTI. Did she get influenced to think that somebody might have wrongly written my name with BIN?

Well, I don’t blame them.

I know I have a unique name. And I know the origin of my name when my parents told me that, and I’m so proud of having this name.

And there are about 340 results match today when you Google up ‘fahusnaza’. Almost 100% of that will direct you to me, and no one else!

Most of the times, I find it entertaining when people have difficulties in pronouncing or writing my name. Never that I felt embarrassed or disappointed. But one of the latest trends of incidence related to this is when some friends or relatives mistakenly called me or sent me text messages, while who they actually wanted to call or send the message was to some other NIK on their phone number list.

I can’t help but to share with you one series of SMS that I got very recently from a friend of mine. However I have modified the actually wordings (but the story line is still there) as I can’t really remember every single words, and mainly to protect some privacy.

Sender: ”Nik, let’s join us for the gathering tonight! Meet you at *somewhere in KL* @ 9.30pm. C ya!”
(*actual location has to be made confidential here.. hehe)

Thinking that the SMS was really meant for me, I replied,

Me: ”Sorry, tonight cannot la. I have a gym session to do. Thanks for inviting though. Maybe next time. Have fun!”.

Sender: ”Alaa, come join us la. You can do gym session some other times what… this gathering is once in a while only. Come laa.”

Starting to feel weird, I continued my reply…

Me: ”My friend, I believe I’ve told you that I’m working in JB, right? You forget or you don’t remember?”

Sender: ”Alamak, sorry!!! I actually wanted to SMS to another NIK laa. Sorry ek, hahaha.”

It was so funny

But hang on, the story didn’t end there. A few hours later on (I assume they have just finished with the gathering), I received yet another SMS from the same sender.

Sender: ”Hey Nik, thanks for coming. It was nice meeting everyone again. Keep in touch ya!”

“Oh My God!” I said to myself upon reading the SMS on my phone. And I was laughing when I replied the message,

Me: ”You are welcome. But actually I didn’t come and I think you got the wrong NIK again!”

Instantly the ‘sender’ called me and said sorry and we then broke into big laughs.

Hahahaha.

What a good way to end the day.

How do I look?

Some people are more concerned about how they appear on the outlook, on the physical body shape and size, regardless how fit or healthy they are, and regardless what they stuff inside the tummy.

Some are only obsessed with the numbers showing on the weighing scale, regardless how much or less cholesterol are building up in their arteries. They might choose certain diet programs, or might also sign up at those instant slimming centers. Some might end up being a runner just to maintain a good number on the weighing scale.

But I believe there are also some people who are more concerned with their fitness and health level, regardless how they look, and regardless how much they weigh.

I was once in the first category. I would feel good if I can keep using the pants or jeans which I’ve been using previously (size wise). I did a little bit of sports though during school. Mainly volleyball, as a mean of making full use of the evening hours, playing with friends, sweating myself out.

It has been 14 years since I left my school. Many of those occasions where we had gatherings, my ex-schoolmates would be comparing each others’ body sizes. How much each of us has ‘grew’ or ‘shrunk’ since we left the school. And I normally end up in the category of those who “did not change at all”.

Unfortunately, there’s no award for that category. Or else I would work harder to be at the top of the list, and hold the title for as long as I could.

I know I have lost few kilos since I actively involved in multisport. At one point, almost everybody who occasionally sees me will give a comment that I looked thinner or getting too thin. I see myself everyday, so I don’t notice if there’s any change.

Hmm. That makes me wonder. I do not keep many photos of myself along the way, and I can’t tell how much I have shrunk, or gained. So I went on searching on how do I look externally, with respect to my Body Mass Index (BMI).

Click here for some article, and here to check your own BMI

My BMI is at 21~22.
Glad to be in the normal weight grouping.

Does it makes me look, too thin?

I feel like I’m in the ”yang sedang-sedang aja” category, don’t you think so?

Cloud 9

Last time I posted the 123456789.

Today is yet another special 'number' day.
It is now:

09:09:09 09/09/09

(9:09:09am, on September 9, 2009)

DNS

I signed up for it, and have put all my intentions to do it better than the last time.
It should occur every morning for a whole month, during Ramadhan especially.
I’ve been at it without any miss so far.

Until this morning, where I DNS for the first time.

I just hope the DNS incident this morning will treat me just fine for the remaining of today, so that I won’t end up DNF.

Foot note:
DNS – Did Not Sahur
DNF – Did Not Fast

P/s: This is maybe the after effect of over training at the gym last night. Phew, arms are still sore.
Hope I can still run tonight, as planned.

I don’t care

First, YOU wanted me, and I wanted YOU.

YOU told me what you wanted from me, and YOU also told me what I will get in return. Many sweet promises came out from your mouth. So sweet that I can’t afford to even think of saying no.

Anyway, I gave it a good thought. And though not fully and completely satisfied with every single thing, we finally ended up together. I didn’t have many options back then. I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to smile again, after so long time without any.

Yes, I chose to be with YOU. With the hope to make myself better, in a way or another.

Initially, I had fun being with YOU. I had lots of pleasures while serving YOU. I got many things that I wanted from YOU. I can feel that YOU appreciated my presence, near or far.

I also appreciated it when YOU saw the potential in me, and when you gave your trust in me. I have tried my best with my very own strengths and weaknesses, to make YOU happy. YOU even promised to guide me with my journey whenever I needed.

But, as with any relationships, there will be some ups and downs, conflicts, tough times, arguments, misunderstandings, miscommunications, promises not kept, over expectations, things kept untold, small issues not solved, heart and feelings were taken for granted.

When those ugly internal things where YOU can control arose, you didn’t take the advantage to manage and solve them properly. And when the out of control external factors crept in, YOU said it’s beyond your control and nothing much YOU can do. YOU said we have to be patience and try to live with it. YOU said we have to sacrifice first, before we can taste the sweetness of a nectar from a flower.

But in the end, when things were not in your favor, I was the one YOU blamed. YOU did not even take note of the actual situations I had to deal with, even though I have mentioned to you many times before. YOU ignored my difficulties, and yet YOU still dare to say I was the one who did not come to YOU to seek help. YOU only cared about your expectations, but not mine. YOU failed to listen. YOU and your ego, urghh!

If only YOU gave me a second chance and some helping hands, YOU’ll be proud of what I can do for YOU. I’ll be more than happy to improve my weakness.

But, YOU dumped me into the ditch. The ditch that was full with lots of craps. All those craps which were created by YOU. YOU did not even give me a second chance to make things better. YOU just dumped me. Yeah, I know what has been going on your mind. I know your game plan. I’m not a school boy anymore and I can think too.

But, you know what? I didn’t even cry when YOU dumped me. In fact, in my sadness of what had happened – I smiled. I can feel the big sense of relief after YOU dumped me. If I had a little sense of respect towards you, I would have even thanked YOU for dumping me. How ironic.

Being by myself, I changed a lot. I changed in many ways. I have a better control of myself now. I may not be as happy as what I expected before, but I am happy in my own personal ways. It’s good to be in control of my own happiness.

What I used to care about YOU, I don’t care about it anymore. No need to tell me, because I know YOU care less about me too.

I didn’t mind about it at all. As I said, I know your game plan.

But out of a sudden, today morning, YOU called me and said you want me back.

What do you expect for me to answer?
What has happened to your game plan?
Failed?

I know the answer to that question, but I won’t let YOU know.

Do YOU think I still care?

P/s: Today is Monday. And in conjunction with Monday blues, I came up with something blue-ish entry like above to reflect a little bit of glance or a quick summary of what I experience at my current workplace.

Broken

Putus sudah kasih sayang... uwaaaaa...

My beloved Timex Ironman wrist watch gave way at last. At least, it is still with me, and not ended up at the end of Desaru or PD or Lake Kenyir's bed.

P/s: Anybody has any contact info of Timex representative in Malaysia? Thinking of getting the replacement strap. Thanks.

Addict

An SMS dialogue last night, with one of the cycling buddy here in JB;

HIM: “Kayoh?” (He’s already at the usual meeting point)
ME: ”Ramai ke turun? Aku mcm kureng la mlm ni.. Sapa lagi turun?”
HIM: ”Tkde sape. Lg 10 min kalo tkde org, aku balek.”
ME: ”Sorry bro, aku terkena penyakit malas la mlm ni…”

Yes, I was that lazy to go out and cycle last night. On Tuesday night, I initially had the plan to cycle on the trainer after terawih, but I ended up doing nothing at all.

So last night, in order not to surrender myself to the ‘M’ bug, I hooked up my bike on the trainer and started spinning for a good 1hr 15min.

Well, it was not as good as I expected. I didn’t sweat as much as I normally do. I have no idea why. But it felt weird not to sweat much where I normally would be wetting the floor after the workout. Maybe because of the cool weather (it was raining earlier).

Last week Friday – no training.
The whole Merdeka weekend – no training either. I didn’t count the shopping time I spent as a training OK.

So, only after 5 days of not doing any training, I felt fidgety. To be honest, I even dreamt of doing a triathlon race one of the nights. I thought it was a nightmare!

Is this what people say, addicted to sports?

I hope yes. And I hope it will do good to me.

The question is, does the addiction to sports same as addiction to smoking?

No, I don’t smoke. But I sometimes wonder why people started smoking, and continued smoking. Here are some of what I can randomly think at this moment.

Some boys may have started ‘learning’ how to smoke during school time. Perhaps as early as 12 or 15 years old? But, why?

- To look cool among peers who also smoke? Following ‘trend’?
- To have a taste of being an ‘adult’?
- To ‘try’?

And lately, I see lots of females also join the smoking community. Mainly those young and outgoing ones, not forgetting some university students may also have started smoking nowadays. And again, why?

- To follow the current ‘trend’ where urban girls should smoke to look cool within the society?
- To ‘try’?
- I can’t think of anything else…

My wife (she’s in bio-medic background) once told me that a lady, even though not smoking, is already prone to lots of natural diseases. Smoking will just attract the diseases to go to them even faster, unknowingly to them of course.

If we ask those who smoke on the reasons why they smoke, we’ll be hearing reasons like these:

”If I don’t smoke aah, my brain not working leh. Sure cannot think one!”

“Hey, my father smokes. My brothers also smoke. So, why can’t I smoke? If my cat knows how to smoke aah, sure it also smoke you know.”

“Come on la, you are a sissy la if you don’t smoke, you know?”

“Why you bother? I buy cigs with my money, not your money. And it’s my lungs la, not yours”

Yes, people are free to give whatever responses they wanted to. Mainly they will turn into a self defense mode, and come out with whatever logics that are on their sides. Let’s not judge them yet.

Anyway, it’s too bad. Bad for their own body and health, and to others too.

I know, smoking is addictive (from reading). It’s the nicotine inside it. I don’t know how addictive it is in the real smoking situation, and I may not be able to even imagine it. But my interest is on how one can change the habit, or ‘kill’ the addiction.

For me, I think, everything is inside the brain. It’s the mind who will have the final say.

Like in doing triathlon or other multisports, from nothing, we started off with having the mindset (to do it), and proceeded with some actions (training continuously), and finally we’ll feel the beauty and sensation of crossing the finishing line, whatever our ‘numbers’ would be.

Same as for someone who wants to quit smoking. The mindset has to be right at the first place. Make a firm decision to totally quit smoking, and follow that with the commitment to take all necessary actions, and one day, sooner or later, you will have the power to even reject cigarette offers from friends.

Furthermore, if my guess is right, that many people smoke because they want to follow the current trend, than this will be even simpler.

The issue is, do you WANT to smoke?

Or, do you HAVE to smoke?

If you can answer this question sincerely, you’ll be one step closer to having the right mindset towards quitting smoking.

And if I can do my guessing game again, I would say majority will choose to answer that they WANT to smoke, for whatever reasons they may have.

“WANT” is a desire.

“HAVE” is a necessity, an obligation.

So, how to fight the smoking desire, the addiction?

Easy. Fight it with an obligation.

Tell yourself it’s the time that you HAVE to stop smoking. Set it as a self obligation to start a better lifestyle, a smoking free lifestyle. And follow it with the proper actions, with your utmost commitment to achieve the target.

Many have succeeded, and so can you. Just believe in yourself, and don’t be bothered with what the society may say. You control yourself, you control your success.

"There Will Be No Success Without Discipline & Sacrifice. To Be, Or Not To Be..."

Showing Humanity

[Source: Forwarded email]

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:

"When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. "I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child."

Then he told the following story:

Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.

In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.

The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.

As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.

Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates.

Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!"

Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.

He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"

Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.

By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball . the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!"

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, "Shay, run home! Run home!"

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

"That day", said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world".

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

Whuzzappenning?

I wanted to check whether the Putrajaya OD triathlon event will be on or not at the Triathlon Malaysia website, and this is what appeared on my screen:

The domain name has expired? How come? Someone 'merajuk' meh?

P/s: Luckily blogspot is free. Or else, the same thing might happen to enaikay dot blogspot too...

Sounds familiar?

[Source: Forwarded emails]

First, we survived with mothers who had no maids. They cooked/cleaned while taking care of us at the same time.

They took aspirin, candies floss, fizzy drinks, shaved ice with syrups and diabetes were rare. Salt added to Pepsi or Coke was remedy for fever.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.

As children, we would ride with our parents on bicycles/motorcycles for 2 or 3.
Richer ones in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a private taxi was a special treat.

We drank water from the tap and NOT from a bottle.

We would spend hours on the fields under bright sunlight flying our kites, without worrying about the UV ray which never seem to affect us.

We go to jungle to catch spiders without worries of Aedes mosquitoes.

With mere 5 pebbles (stones) would be a endless game. With a ball (tennis ball best) we boys would ran like crazy for hours.

We catch guppy in drains/canals and when it rain we swim there.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually worry about being unhygenic.

We ate salty, very sweet & oily food, candies,bread and real butter and drank very sweet soft sweet coffee/ tea, ice kacang, but we weren't overweight because, WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, till streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. AND WE DONT HAVE HANDPHONE S TO BUG US. And we were O.K. AND WE ARE SAFE.

We would spend hours repairing our old bicycles and wooden scooters out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem .

We did not have Playstations, X-boxes, Nintendo's, multiple channels on cable TV, DVD movies, no surround sound, no phones, no personal computers, no Internet. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still continued the stunts.

We never had birthdays parties till we are 21.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and just yelled for them!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

Yet this generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 30 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!
CONGRATULATIONS!

Yes, YOU! Those who were born in the 60's & '70s...