Ampang Puteri Specialist Hospital.

until now i still don't understand where does the word "Puteri" come from. but anyhow.

at around 3.30am on the 30th, i suddenly woke up due to some vertigo, that is feeling like the world is spinning. i stood up for a while, and when everything calmed down a lil' bit, i laid down and suddenly the world... my world that is, started spinning around again. and when i stood up, it went away. so i decided that maybe it's just a temporary thing, thus i went to watch some late night football on telly.

turned out i was asleep while watching Chelsea struggling against Bolton. so i thought okay maybe i can go back to sleep peacefully, without all the headache i had just now. but just as i put my head back on the pillow, the sudden gush of world spinning came back again.

and with that also, i vomited. 2 times, or maybe 3. prompting the parents to suggest going to a clinic or hospital. and at that time of hours, there isn't much choice left. so my mom drove us to Ampang Puteri A&E.

after triage, the GP said something about positional... vertigo? and the ENT specialist will come to attend me later in the day (it was early in the morning remember?). so we waited for a while there at A&E, until i'm admitted to a ward.

and then, the most forgettable part of the whole thing.

it was a damningly boring thing, having to stay in the hospital. first there isn't much to do, other than sleeping. and then, it got worse because i can't lay down due to the vertigo, so all that i got to do was sleeping while sitting. so not cool. trust me.

and it hurt some of my teeth also, due to gravity.

and that continued for one whole day, interrupted by a couple of times the doctor came to do some tests or the nurses came to check the important readings such as blood pressure and pulse rate.

it got slightly better by the evening, whereby my sister came by to accompany, taking over from my parents who went back for dinner (but came back to bring my phone charger). and by night, it got better altogether after a couple round of tablets and medications, and alhamdulillah, i could sleep normally.

okay maybe it was't so normal. interrupted at 2am by a nurse who came to get my blood pressure and pulse rate, and later at 4am by a nurse who gave me more tablets, and at 6am by a nurse who wanted to take my blood sample. then i went back to sleep after subuh prayer, on the chair. and later at 7-something, by a nurse who came and asked me for urine sample, and also gave me more tablets.

the food guy came at around 8 delivering my breakfast. only at 8.30 i was really awake, and had my breakfast, alone. which was a depressing thing, eating hospital food, at the hospital, alone. reminds me of those depressing days alone in Lakeside or during Solo Camping in OBS.

my parents and my sister came not so long after that. salvation.

and the doctor was only free to see me (at his clinic a few floors below my ward) in the afternoon, during friday prayer, which i couldn't attend. but at least he gave me the word that i wanted to hear: DISCHARGE!

and he also told my sister to read about "vestibular neuritis", which is the diagnosis for my illness.

so after 2 hours of more red tapes, i finally got myself out of hospital.

and now... i don't know what to do for the night.

AND. i miss gym. and yes i can't believe i just said that.

Chaperone.

i tried an arranged date just now. with a 'chaperoey'. but there's also another 'party' in it. so in total, there's four in the group.

and there's just one girl.

and i've gotta tell you. i didn't really feel comfortable in that setting. even if we minus out the not-so-wanted fourth wheeler.

the problem (with me) is, i am not really the type who would initiate a conversation. that's just a fact about me. i don't know how to strike a conversation... naturally. what (almost) happened just now was i tried to start doing the talking, until i realized that it's gonna look fake. and the chaperoey, who is a long friend of mine, would notice the fakeness in it as well.

and maybe he wouldn't. but just in case. so i didn't try to initiate anything. and the other party is not doing it also... my chaperone said it could be due to the fourth person. so in the end, the whole thing didn't really work out.

so if you ever thought of hooking me up with someone, it's either there's just the three of us and she does all the talking first, or you leave it to just the two of us so that i can be fake and pretend that i'm talkative and no one will realize that i'm only faking it.

and for all your effort, i shall thank you.

sing-ga-pohhh!

me and my family went to Singapore for a distant relative wedding. quite an interesting country, i have to say. but then again, everywhere i go, i can always find some interesting things about a place i visited. Kelantan, Kota Kinabalu, Johor... same goes to this tiny little city-state-country.

here's some of the observations that we noticed.

1. there are so many greeneries even in the City Centre.

while it's hard to gauge how small/big the country is when we only went there to attend just a wedding, it should suffice to conclude that Singapore is not as small as The Vatican. from Woodlands, it took us another 20 minutes to reach Kampung Melayu, Eunos district. and i'm sure we haven't covered the whole island.

but along the way, there are just so many trees and green areas. a far cry from the image i had in mind about the country: small, crowded, over-populated, concrete jungle. in fact there are even many empty, level fields.

it's like, a garden city.

2. the aren't that many potholes on the road.

well, that's quite self-explanatory, isn't it?

3. all the cars are new!

i mean, we couldn't really find old cars that are due to be scrapped as metal sheets. my brother said the oldest car registration number that he could find is SD* **** *, and most of the cars on the road is SG* or SJ* or something. it's like, 10 years is the cycle of a car in the republic. but i'm yet to do a research (read: google on wiki) on it. but my guess is they really have a policy on the lifespan of the cars in the country, and the disposal of it.

4. they all reverse-park their cars.

another observation by my brother, who was the driver while in the city (i drove for the first 200km... and returned to the cockpit for the final 300km of the 851km return trip). and my first response was, "oh diorang kiasu. nak keluar cepat." when in fact, this is not dissimilar to the Japanese practice of arranging their footwear on the doorstep.

5. the Malay community, if not the majority of them, is suffering from major identity crisis.

i went there for the sole reason to attend a wedding, which can be the most traditional thing that can happen to a person with any cultural background... you get what i mean? but yeah, from what i saw...

... not many people really passed even the most lenient "syariah compliant" tests. and this goes to all people across age and gender. call me judgmental... but i'm just observing what's on the surface.

but perhaps the definition of 'malay' has to be a muslim is limited only to our Malaysian Constitution. but then again, the thing that i questioned was their shariah compliance, not their ethnicity. but maybe i got the wrong persons. maybe they are malay, but not muslim? i don't know.

6. there are a lot more non-malays attended the wedding.

this, i think, can be explained by the fact that the Malays are the minority in the republic... so regardless in any situations, the non-malays can have quite a big number in any occasions. i mean, from my eyes, i can see the unity among the Malays, being the minority. very much like the Malaysian communities experience in the UK. but the integration is much more... i dunno, seamless? it looks more natural. like 1Singapore. but better. haha.

7. i can't see anyone pretty.

while it's no secret about my 'favouritism' towards The Orientals, i really couldn't see any beautiful, pretty Malay girls there at the wedding. it's not because there wasn't any, or i wasn't looking, or i am too 'strict' with my criteria. i just couldn't find any. it's like, my 2nd cousin's daughters, who are both still just kids, are way cuter than anyone that i saw yesterday. seriously.

it's now like, i can cross out "singaporeans" from my "to-look-at" list. "Bruneians" is next on the list :D

anyway. of course there are other things that can be highlighted, like the strict level of enforcements, or the cleanliness etc. but those are what they are already famed for. i'm just providing some alternative observations, if you can say so. heh.

best friend.

i absolutely hate myself when a friend is in trouble, but i couldn't detect it. even if he/she is very good in hiding it... and has the best reason in the world not to tell me about it.

but i don't know. it's just... not right to me. not the act of not telling me. but the fact that i can't tell that there's something wrong. that there's some kind of trouble. eventhough to the person in question, it is not really an issue.

to echo nina's comment a few months back... ("there's a reason why people update their facebook status...), we friends should be more aware of it".

bad history.

i have a bad record in instant messaging.

it's like, in it, i'm a totally different person. nothing malicious, but the bad thing is i can be annoying.

whereas in reality, i'm... me. i can't remember anybody said anything bad about me directly.

i do not know which one is the real me. but it scares me a lot when i got some seems-like-pissed-off replies from fellow IM chatters. because i never intended to piss anyone off. ever.

to whom it may concern, i'm sorry.

Ultima: Dream.

i was in the middle of writing a post when, midway, my mom called for Isya', and after performing the prayer, i was not in the mood to write again. even after writing quite a long post already.

when i realized, actually i don't need to write that long.

that's the thing. when i write, i love to include all the other unnecessary things into my writings. it's unnecessary, but it adds some sense of... i dunno. a sense of me? who loves to look at things from a very wide perspective, hence would also write about all the other things that's related (or not) to the very thing that i want to write about.

actually i'm already doing it this time, in this post. all those words i wrote above. i could've made do with just going straight to the main point, like i'm going to do right now:

one of my biggest dreams is to become like Jamie Oliver.

i dream of having my own cooking show.

i dream of becoming a cook (not a chef) who, in my own show, would portray that cooking is a cool thing.

i dream of wanting to show that cooking a very delicious dish can be very simple and easy.

i dream of showing that we can cook the most western-ly dishes yet they're halal to eat, that all the ingredients that most people think are not available or not halal are easily substitutable.

i dream of doing a show like Oliver's Twist, where it shows how i cook for friends (and having that massive old-skool refrigerator in my kitchen!)

i dream of doing a show like The Naked Chef, where i would cook for my friends and family for events or just for fun.

i dream of conveying the message to the masses that guys should be doing a lot of cookings as we like to go out often for all kinds of activities, say for rock-climbing or go-karting, but we can bring packed foods, home-cooked, by ourselves, guys instead of eating out.

i dream of having a sidekick, maybe a female, who would probably be doing the baking part, which i'm not really fond of somehow, for some parts of the show.

i dream of having many young, male followers who would embrace their culinary side, and am not afraid to flaunt it to the benefits of many a tastebuds.

i dream of having a partnership/sponsorship with Tefal for my kitchen equipments, with Teka for my kitchen concept (but not for my fridge... i want that white old-skool fridge from Oliver's Twist!!), with IJM Land for a unit of house as shooting location, and with Cold Storage or Jaya Grocer as supermarket partner, to shop for ingredients.

i dream of having couple followers, married or whatever, who think that my show (by me and my female sidekick) helps them to bond with their partners with extra fun activities in the kitchen.

and last not but not least, i dream of becoming a very shy celebrity. because in the end, i only cook in front of the small camera crew, and i cook for my close friends and family only. so there's no reason for me to be... i dunno. i'm not sure i can become Chef Wan's rival. i'm sure not THAT talkative.

just in case i do not persevere that long with this ambition of mind, feel free to ask me if you want to continue with this idea. if it's not me, i would love to see someone in Malaysia does it. and i would love a little bit of royalty too, if Jamie Oliver doesn't think that i copy a lot of his concepts. heh.

so, any taker for the sidekick position? audition opens right now.

The Weekend.

it was a whole lot of things. all mixed up in a kitchenaid mixer. let's do this chronologically. much easier.

Friday, evening.

eppy called me for some tennis after asar, which i heavy-heartedly went, despite the heavy rain from this side of the world, hoping and hoping that, unlike the last time he played weather forecaster, it's not raining in PJ, where we're supposed to play. however, throughout my journey, i never switched off my windscreen wiper.

found him sitting in the car waiting for me, the late arrival. a few moments later, he knocked my door, and this came out from his mouth. "i swear when i first arrived it wasn't (raining heavily) like this."

guys, when it comes to saying sorry to another guy.

so we endured, after some time wiping dry the court, before the rain came back, heavier this time. i have no idea why eppy enjoyed playing in the rain, which is not a pleasant experience at all. not something that tennis players would do anyway. anyhow i persisted as long as i can, and by 6 (we arrived at around 5), i decided to stop.

and eppy suggested we should play table-tennis instead. and somehow recalling on some two times we played, and i was defeated the both times. which i'm pretty sure he fabricated it. first, i only played table-tennis with mad (firdaus wahab), bonzer, faiz katik, wani fatkhi, and khairul azuan plus nathanael (and sometimes mr vroege, and mr ravi) back in kyuem. never with eppy. ever. i have no idea where he got that imagination from.

so we played, at the nearby sports complex. initially i wanted to set the records straight, by having a match with him. during the warm-up, there were clear signs to prove the fabrication. but just when i thought i could nail him in the sports that i'm most good at, some other staff from the sports complex joined us for some doubles matches.

i think we played the whole of the staff roster from the UM sports complex, including even the security guard, whose service eppy couldn't return. and i think we only lost the final match, in the best-of-three format. as usual, i'm not that good when it comes to competitive matches. i'm fine, if not very good, with drills and training though. but we were okay for a scratch pair.

and we played for a good 2 hours, i think. then i left to bangi, for supposedly a mini reunion futsal among my serting friends. turned out the attendance was really 'mini', just 5 people attended: me, zikril, fariq, salleh, plus pi'e the organizer, just barely enough to form a futsal team. we played for an hour, me as a goalie, after such a long time off football. true enough, i conceded a few sloppy goals (thru the legs or by the near post), but redeemed self with a few more decent stops as the game went on.

and the day ended with a long journey back from bangi. i reached home close to midnight. saturday is a day to look forward to.

Saturday. early morning.

i wrote the last post, first thing in the morning.

somewhere in between, faris texted me to have breakfast with joey. faris came to my place, a rarity in our long relationship (but to be fair that goes to all of my friends... i don't have that many visitors) to pick me up for the breakfast. we fetched joey at rgen's, with izwan tagging along. we made our way to kelfood, where much later we were joined by pau and neddy.

i haven't seen neddy for...ever, to be honest. so long that i can't remember when was the last time. and like with so many other people, i would've thought that there would be some awkwardness, like how i thought when dann came back a few weeks back. but, also like with so many other people who were close to me, it's like we've never been departed for that long. seems like ... just yesterday.

but pau dah kurus kot. kegigihan. i really should find a motivation equivalent to hers lah. but anyhow.

then, noticing that we were far behind the schedule, we had to say goodbye, eventhough pau and neddy had just been with us for less than 30 mins or so. there's apak to fetch, and pengkebumian at Bentong to catch.

we only reached there at 1pm, at which time Abn had been on his way back to KL dah pun. we couldn't see a big group doing talkin or the sort. instead, we saw a small group of people reciting du'a near a freshly buried grave. unarmed with any 'tools' appropriate for the occasion, i decided to just join them for the prayer.

turned out, among the group of people, were Azad, whom i last met 2 weeks ago, and Ustaz Nisar, whom i last met 2 years ago (or probably more). the last time i saw the latter was when he inherited the Ford Mondeo when i left the UK. today, he was in an E240. turned out he just came back (cik Sarah pun tak tahu) around October, and brought back 2 kids (when i first knew him, he was still a 'single' in Leicestershire) and 2 cars, a Honda Stream together with the E-class.

see how beautiful God plans things. despite the sadness revolving around the 'departure', there's also happiness in seeing old friends re-united. i seriously missed those days in Midlands. the postgraduates there really helped me settled in the very foreign country. suddenly i miss Dr. Shahrul. eventhough he works nearby, in IJN.

after a short catching-up with Dr (insya Allah) Nisar, we made our way back to catch Al's Big Day. Faris couldn't make it, so Apak and me made it just in time before the supposedly finishing time at 3.30pm. but actually there were still guests coming at that time. at that time, there were Hazman+Mai+baby, Mr. Amran and wife, Dzar, Im Koyube, Hazwan Aziz, and Bonzer. saw Taj and Kak Ijah too. and ada orang menyorok belakang pintu all the time i was there.

Akmal Amri came a bit later after us. with his siblings.

despite the gloom aura, i managed to detach myself from it and celebrate Al and Maddy's Big Day. heartiest congratulations to Al, a fellow friend who's hard to find (so far and deep in Manjung national power station), but like neddy earlier, so easy to warm up back as if we've departed for just yesterday. it's also probably a good thing that we came very late, at least we got to be entertained personally by the pengantin (lelaki... the bride was not on our radar, at all, for some reason). after Hazman and Bonzer left, Al was really our saviour. we stayed there for quite a long time, chatting with him. we only left because they were supposed to have an extra photograph session... heh.

and they both look lovely also. in a very light make up (Al macam pakai blusher je kot... or was that just him?), and (rather) simple attire, not overly complicated, but still look elegant.

and i like their 'love story' :D Hazman's answer to Mr. Amran's question was very accurate. never thought he would tell the truth :P [the question: ni (both of them) masa kolej ke, after kolej?]

i came back home after that, not able to take eppy's invitation to play tennis for the day. the rest of the day i stayed home, and went to back quite early, at around 10pm. and Malaysia went through to the final of the AFF Suzuki Cup after beating defending champions Vietnam on aggregate.

the early bed time is also to compensate for early plan for Sunday's breakfast. that probably needs another separate post.

i slept like a log after a long day of workout yesterday. the daily alarm at 6.15am rang and woke me up, on reflex, as usual. there are 2 texts and a missed call registered on my phone. i completely missed them out.

the call was from a private number. one of the text is from a +44 number i.e. from the UK. another is from Abn. both bearing the same devastating news.

Mas Afzal Masaruddin has just passed away.

i performed Subuh, mind completely couldn't focus, and here i am writing this.

i'll be monologuing later.

Sabah Day 2.

i think i've just busted my triceps. anyhoo.

before you guys were confused, i think i should better clarify that, eventhough i put the title as "Sabah Trip", truth is we only covered Kota Kinabalu, and a tiny part of Karambunai. and everything in between the two. so it should actually be called "KK Trip". but that doesn't sound so fancy. anyhoo lagi.

the day started quite early, since subuh was around an hour earlier here in East Malaysia than the Peninsular, but we all got back to bed since we were so tired from last night and also because we all slept late, with me the latest. and also because it was raining, so that makes staying on the bed under the blanket a more favourable option, even when we're on holiday.

we properly woke up at around 9, only because we feared that we might miss the complimentary breakfast, which finishes at 10.30am. the rain was stop-go all the time we were having breakfast by the poolside, as we saw people in swimming attire made their way to the pool from the raging sea, red flag on the pole by the beach. by the time we finished breakfast, which was surprisingly limited in options for a supposedly posh resort, the rain became heavier, making us to re-plan entirely our plans.

the plan initially was to fully utilize the many facilities and attractions there are in Nexus Karambunai, such as the magical beach and lagoon, or maybe the spa service, to have a massage by the beach (a thing to die for, according to Zaril). all those, because by the next day, we would have to check out already hence won't be eligible to use all those stuff for Nexus' customers. however, with the weather not doing us a favour, making it impossible to enjoy anything offered by Nexus, we decided to leave the resort and head to the City Centre to find anything interesting.

but there isn't any. i just realized that my garmin mobile doesn't have maps of Sabah and Sarawak (it has Labuan tho), so for a while i lost my (assisted) sense of direction, until i remembered Nokia Maps, which is now usable since i have unlimited data plan. dropped by the shuttle bus at Plaza Warisan or something, we tried to make our way to the nearest Tourism Kiosk, but it was closed. boleh? on a weekend, which supposedly have more tourists in the city.

then we made our way to some of the tourist spots that Zaril knew of, namely Filipino Market... and that's about it, i think. even that place was disappointing, at least to me. they sell mainly tourist-y stuff, namely accessories mainly for women such as the pearls, which is what Sabah is quite famous for. but none of us found the place interesting.

after zuhur prayer, at around noon, we decided that the next thing to do is perhaps to make our way to the island, since it's now sunny and the rain has stopped. so we walked, kinda blindly, to find some island tour agency that we could find. on our way from the market to Jesselton Jetty, we found one at Wisma Sabah, and made our way into it. apparently, Wisma Sabah is the place where many tour operators are located at. island tour, holiday tour, adventure tour, all kinds of things that a tourist need. you can also find some car rental companies here. quite convenient, to be honest.

so the three of us separated, and did a survey of the many operators housed inside the building, to find out more about "island hopping", which we hoped to do that day while it's still bright and sunny, as there's no way to guarantee the weather for the next day. turned out, most of the packages by all operators are no longer available for the day, since usually the last boat/ferry to the islands depart at 12pm. and also, the sea was a little bit dangerous for that day, many operators cancelled their trips for the day.

but each of us has something useful to report on after our individual research. Zaril was told by an operator to try to find something cheaper by going to the jetty ourselves... which is a good advice, because usually (though not always) operators will con us into joining their own package, which is usually marked up. Faris found a small, friendly (as they turned out to be) company called Beach Bums Borneo which, by the look of it, offers very cheap packages. and i went to an operator that has satellite images of the sky, and was told that though the weather has been miserable for almost a week, tomorrow is forecasted to be sunny.

so, compiling all of our useful information, we made our way to the jetty, and went to Beach Bums counter (the second from the entrance), and booked ourselves a trip to island-hop across Sapi-Manukan-Mamutik islands for the next day, which is supposed to be a fine day. and it is cheap, because we did not buy a package, instead we buy things separately i.e. we only buy things that we want to, such as boat trips, snorkelling equipments, and sea park ticket fee. everything else, and we can always buy them ourselves, such as banana boat ride, or scuba-doo dive.

happy that at least we have done something since we arrived, we then went out of the jetty, only to find that the sky is darkening again. and by that time, i have had blisters around my feet for wearing a very cheap flipflops, provided by the hotel for the bathroom. so we decided to do some light shopping at nearby Suria Sabah, Faris was looking for Watsons, and i am looking for a good pair of flipflops, if any. but both of us couldn't find what we were looking for there at Parkson, so we moved on.

we moved on back to Wisma Sabah, because we figured out that we will need to get a car, because the island trip that we have booked departed at 9am, and that is also the time the first shuttle bus from our hotel departs. and economically also, it makes much more sense, because the shuttle bus is RM24 return per person, and taxi is RM70 per trip. so by renting a kancil, for RM90 per day plus RM20/hour after the 24 hour limit, we could go wherever we want to.

so at 3pm, we got our car for RM150. and the first thing that we did? switched on the windscreen wipers. it's already raining, again.

then our first trip with the car is to 1Borneo shopping centre. we planned to watch movie later tonight, and that's one of the few places (another is at Suria Sabah) that have a cinema in K.K. and we also haven't had our lunch. so after buying tickets to watch The Social Network later at around 9.20pm, we went to a Pizza Hut for some chicken wings. after all those, it's already dark so we went back to our hotel.

back in the hotel, still determined that we really need to at least utilize something at the resort, we decided to have some splash in the swimming pool, eventhough time is not really on our side, due to the movie appointment. yeah we had some fun time in the pool... haha. more so since there were just the three of us in it... understandable since it's dinner time, and the hotel's restaurant by the pool was quite full with customers when we were walking to the pool. but who cares. we paid for the stay, so we have all the rights to do whatever we're entitled to do. heh.

when i noticed that we really should get going, i just went back to the room, followed by the rest. we left the hotel at around 8, reached City Centre around 20 mins later. quite a feat in a 660cc kancil, when usually it takes 30 mins. with the help of my Nokia Maps, we made our way to Kampung Air, also known as SEDCO Square to some. Zaril noticed this on the tourist map we got from one of the tour operators we went in the afternoon, and Gil, the girl from the car rental company, also recommended this place.

IT IS SEAFOOD HEAVEN!!! due to budget constraint, we didn't try lobster or abalone, the latter maybe takde. but it has all kinds of seafood kot. and they're all LIVE, as in still alive, kept in glass tanks. you just go to any aquariums that have the stuff that you like, and they'll catch it there and then, and straight away cook it. super freshness.

and the service is super quick too. we didn't wait long before we were served our 6 (+2 free) tiger prawns, 2 (giant) crabs, and a couple of groupers... or were they snappers? ikan la basically. and don't get it wrong... it may be just 3 types of dishes. but they were the awesomest... butter prawns, ketam masak cili, and ikan 3 rasa. i think it's the best seafood dishes i've ever had throughout my whole life. not only were they fresh, but they also taste very good. Zaril thinks it's the quick way that they cook it... preserve some freshness, but also done just nice. like medium rare.

so, yeah, if you by any chance drop by Kota Kinabalu, DO NOT forget to go here for dinner (because it's only open at 3pm... but until late).

we didn't care anymore about our movie as we savoured the delicacies. we were almost 30 mins late when we reached the cinema. we probably missed some of the crucial parts in the beginning of The Social Network, but we still enjoyed it. the only thing we probably didn't get is the reason why Erica Albright was so pissed off with Mark Zuckerberg.

we came back to the hotel dead tired, after half-day on foot, and constantly on the move for the whole day.

and there's still Sunday, forecasted to be sunny, to look forward too :D

it's probably one of the best evenings that i can remember.

Sabah Day 1.

or i should say, Night 1? you know, like those 2 days 11 nights trips some tour companies are offering?

because our flight from LCCT Sepang was on Friday evening, the last flight to Kota Kinabalu for the day. there were some drama even before departure, with Zaril arriving late at KL Sentral.

our flight is at 9.25pm, and usually the check-in deadline would be around 45-55 mins before departure. so that makes the check-in counter closed at, what, 8.35pm, the latest? so in order to reach there comfortably, we should leave KL Sentral at 7pm, via SkyBus or KLIA Transit, the latter is only 10 mins faster than the 1 hour journey needed by the bus. but Zaril arrived at 7.08pm, missing both the 7pm and 7.02pm departures for bus and train respectively.

so in the end decision had to be made on which mode of transportation to take for the next trip at 7.30pm. we settled on the bus because Zaril didn't know anything about the KLIA Transit, which is KLIA Express sibling, but a bit slower, yet it goes to LCCT tho indirectly. the bus attendant said it will take 1 hour. and true to his word, we did arrive in 1 hour. except the bus didn't leave at 7.30, but 10 mins later, waiting for some late-comers.

drama kan? upon arrival, Zaril walked so fast i didn't bother to catch up for several reasons, 1) i would be all sweaty even by the slightest workout such as fast-walk, and 2) my shoelaces were not tied properly, and 3) faris was already there at the counter trying to talk the check-in lady into stretching the deadline to include us all in. oh btw, faris sampai dulu sebab ada orang hantar dia. tak aci.

we got to the check-in counter literally a minute before it closed. faris has been harassed so much by the girl he just wanted us to get it done quickly so that he doesn't have to see her face ever again. [harassment: the girl requested faris to take her picture and upload it on his profile. scary tak?]

so after all the drama, we managed to land our bums on the seats of the aircraft, and we made our way to Kota Kinabalu on board an AirAsia fleet. i tried to be smart by having Burger King dinner earlier, bought at KL Sentral hence normal retail price. Zaril probably outsmarted me by buying a pack of nasi lemak for around RM4 at the terminal before boarding the flight, because AirAsia cafe sold one for, what, RM10? (but they were sold out for the last flight of the day).

it was torture. 2 and a half hour flight, on board a budget flight. terrible degree of inclination for the seats, and the lights were not dimmed, even when it was the last flight of the day. the working people (zaril and faris) managed to shut their eyes, but i couldn't. although Zaril was not working for the day, and Faris after a very long conversation with fellow passenger who thought that he was an Orang Dusun for dressing very shabbily for a supposedly tourist staying in Nexus Karambunai Resort.

aahh, our accommodation, yes. Nexus Karambunai Resort. Some Say It's Heaven. i was not so convinced. proof no.1: after-midnight rate for airport taxi to the resort is an astronomical RM113, while the normal day-rate is RM75. when City Centre was just around RM20 the most. i'll tell you more about the reasons to not like Nexus Karambunai later as we go on with this Sabah Diary. but for now let's continue.

so we paid, and made our way to our hotel. it's around 30 minutes away from the airport, which is not so far from the city centre. the airport, i mean. Karambunai is far. and it was raining when the plane touched down, and even until we reached our room, with the potter sending us to our room with a car (but we didn't give him any tips). and it rained throughout the night, but i could only sleep at 2 or 3. i have a feeling it's due to the fact that there's 3 of us sharing the King-size bed. but i couldn't confirm.

tomorrow is waiting. it should be the real deal, The Next Day.

get ripped.

i have a secret diet blog. if you really have nothing better to do in the world and would like to read it, just drop a line and i'll send you an invitation to read it.

i'm drafting a Sabah Trip entries at the moment. yeah i know it's already 2 days since i came back from the weekend trip. Red Alert 3 and exhaustion are the reasons for that.

see you soon!

the near future.

so i have registered for the subject(s) that i'm gonna retake next year. and here's how my timetable gonna look like:

Monday: Pengajian Malaysia 12-3pm

Tuesday: Life Contingencies Lecture 11am-12pm, Tutorial 6-7pm.

Wednesday: none.

Thursday: Life Con Lecture 9-11am.

Friday: none.

notes:

1. i've done Pengajian Malaysia years ago, during my A-Levels. so by right i should be exempted. the reason why i still haven't done that during my uni years was because i missed a deadline for exemption during my first year, and during my 3rd year i ran out of free credit hours. so after a couple of weeks i should have Mondays off.

2. depending on who the lecturer/tutor is, i can take some time off classes i.e. skip lessons. of course this is partially suicidal... partially because 1) this is a subject that i failed once, and 2) this is a subject that i have learned before. so the timetable is not permanent.

3. there are 2 tutorial sessions, the one that i'm registered, and another an hour earlier. also depending on the tutor, i may as well join the earlier class. that way i'll finish earlier, and am free to do something else after that.

anyway. as you can see, after solving the equations, i'm left with 4 or less hours to attend a week. and that's far less than the UK universities system. so there's plenty of time there, for other non-academic things to do. you know, stuff like working part time etc.

etc? well i should include self-revision in my weekly schedule. and i am going to do that. roughly, for 14 weeks next year, this is what i plan to do:

after wake-up: gym to 9.

9am - 2pm: self-revision + lectures.

2-4pm: nap? and lunch. istirehat, katanya.

5-7pm: tennis (monday/thursday) and table-tennis (tuesday/wednesday)

8pm-late: night-shift work (?)

of course, this is just a rough plan. first, because i still haven't found a part-time job that satisfies my preferences. such as the night shift; really part-TIME part-time as compared to full-TIME but lesser pay, simply because i don't want to commit to the job for a longer period (14 weeks still not that long?); and, and this is the toughest criteria, a job that suits me naturally, whatever that means.

naturally suitable meaning a job that i could like, something that i would enjoy eventually, like the tennis volunteering thing that i did. the hours were taxing, from 9am to 12am, but i thoroughly enjoyed the experience. or something that's fun to do. perhaps something unordinary. like being a tour guide, or ... i dunno. a kitchen helper at some bakery maybe. or being a taxi driver. or even a helper at FroyoDeli!

i won't have much qualms about the pay... okay maybe i do. i'm expecting somewhere around 400 to 600. the minimum barrier is to cover for the essentials, such as my gym fees, fuel, phone bills, social life, and a tiny bit for savings, which should be enough for 400. but i don't think there's such thing in KL, such low pay. maybe it comes with only few hours of working, but who on earth needs employees to work for such a short period a day?

so it's gonna be quite a tough task to find the suitable job. but i don't need to rush to get one. i'm gonna take my time finding the right job for extra income. remember, it's just for some SIDE income. of course i won't complain if i could get more.

but ultimately, the thing that's most important to me is that i must get at least 5 hours of uninterrupted studying everyday. okay maybe not at least, but should aim for that. according to the rough timetable, i already plan just that, 5 hours a day. that may sound too much, especially when you're doing just one subject. which means it's 5 hours of the same thing. but hey this is maths. and this subject's calculation usually requires long and winding solution. so that should justify the long hours, daily!

so, no matter what type of job that i found eventually, it must fit that criteria in. if i can't, i might as well not work at all.

so, yeah... any idea on what i should be doing?

one-handed backhand.

tennis, anyone?

today i realized one thing: my backhand motion is not natural anymore, hence not working. then i remembered that, actually, i haven't learned a single thing about that particular shot. the single-handed backhand.

well it's not that i've had lessons on other aspects of tennis... i do have some 'tips' given from my fellow tennis-playing friends, but most of the time they're just some words that maybe fine-tuned the aspects of my tennis. but primarily, my 'teachers' are tennis matches shown on tv, and my knowledge in table tennis that i adapted into this game, especially for my backhand.

you see, usually, in these days, there are more tennis players using double-handed backhand instead of single-handed backhand. we can take forever to talk about the reasons behind that, but that is the fact. i guess it has something to do with the coaching. but with me not having any type of coaching prior to start playing tennis, and also having a solid backhand in table tennis -which is played one-handed-, the first time i stepped onto a tennis court, naturally, my first backhand shot was single-handed.

and my tennis peers said that it is naturally good also, my backhand shot. so all this while, i just 'perasan' that my backhand is good enough, when it doesn't work, it's probably due to lack of focus (resulted in 'timing lari') or bad bounce or anything that's not my own fault. also because it has been quite reliable also, eventhough never solid. occasionally it resulted in some federer-like shots, but just occasionally.

but today... everything about my backhand just went horribly wrong. every-thing. timing, posture, hitting motion, follow thru etc. in short, it's the weakness for the day, i always have to either return a slice shot or do some extra footwork to take it on my forehand on what should be a backhand shot.

i know i have to do something about it, before the next time i play tennis. so i googled. and here's some quick results.

gasquet's backhand analysis in photos

to me, in the world of tennis, as for who has the best one-handed backhand shot in the world, it should be a tie between Justine Henin, and Richard Gasquet. maybe Richard has a slight upperhand, because Justine likes to mix in slice shot in his backhand rally, whereas Richard usually does it (backhand shot) with constant power and even heavy topspin. but they are the best in that department, hence some people, who probably don't have other better things to do, doing a careful analysis of his shot.

but i don't think it's right to think that you can straight away have the best backhand in the world by just watching those photos. it may help, but it's not the way to do it. i realized that i've never had any proper lesson on this particular shot, not even from youtube or something, like what i did when i wanted to learn how to serve. so i googled again, for some videos. and here's what i got.

tutorial video - single-handed backhand

and i think i didn't do any of the steps that the 'coach' in the video taught. i wonder how it worked all this while... when it worked. now of course i know why it didn't work.

so, what are you waiting for? let's hit the court!

Wedding Bells.

this is "on demand". he asked for it.

to those of you who still do not know, i'm now in kinda a limbo... i'm neither working nor studying. i'm not an employee, nor a student.

this is what was supposed to happen:

i finished my final exams of my final uni semester last September, and get my final results on October, then report straight back to PNB mid-October or November, and start on a Management Training programme, before being confirmed in a department six-months -or less- later.

however, this was what happened... and will happen.

i finished my final exams of my (supposedly) final uni semester last September, and on October i got my results and it says that i failed one paper, and i have to repeat that just one paper in order to finish my study. hence i will do just that one paper starting from January next year, and the exams will be somewhere in late April or early May, the results will be a few weeks after, and i'll head straight to PNB to report for duty once i -finally- got my positive results, insya Allah.

most probably i'll be posted to a random department for a few months before i'll be joining Izat's (ky batch 9?) batch for Management Training in September. perhaps with Azmir too, and others who have come to the end of their deferment period. a couple of months of classes and four months of rotations later, i'll have to undergo a final interview, and by the power bestowed by the Heads of Department, i'll get a tiny cubicle in a department in PNB and will get a business card with my name and my post as an Exec, with my personalized email on @pnb domain, and a decent fresh graduate salary. which will be less than what Azmir's gonna get because he has a professional qualification already.

so... yeah. and speaking of Azmir Jani, last two weekends were his wedding... Nikah on last-last Friday, bride's side reception on the next day, then last Saturday, all the way on the most southern-tip of Asia, was the groom's reception in Pontian. which i... did NOT attend.

yes we (we? siapa lagi? haha) have made a promise long time ago, and really i have planned a whole lot of things, but... things happened. namely, an unwanted drama, and my mom's veto power come into play. and a few other circumstances.

but, "janji mesti ditunai"... though not necessarily "ditepati". i only came, together with my parents, to Teratak Jani (suka-suki letak nama hahaha) a day after the feast. the host pointed out rather accurately... "kalau tak, tak dapat dilayan oleh pengantin". haha.

another 'good' thing about coming a day after is that, otherwise, i wouldn't have got you two a wedding gift. haha. since coming to the wedding -on the right day- is supposedly enough of a 'gift' one can give to a married couple. but since i couldn't be there... i made myself to Midvalley only the night before, after another journey accompanying my parents to 2 kenduri's at Bahau and Bangi on Saturday, to get the said wedding gift. there can be some issues about the gift that you may want to pick on, haha, but hey it's the thought that counts :D

as for 10000th... i'll get back to you on that later, since now macam kena 10000th times 2. haha.

and heartiest congratulations.

p/s: exactly how do i address your wife? heh.

Pertandingan Persembahan Koir MSS-Daerah Ohio Barat-Tengah.

i was already on my bed, guling-guling for an hour, when i came to a conclusion that i just couldn't sleep. there's a girl behind that... not on the bed, you idiot. i am saying that, partially, it was due to a girl i kept on thinking in my mind. but mostly i think it's just because today i didn't do much thing to get tire that easily. eventhough it's now already 2.10 a.m.

so i think i'm just going to do a review of the Sectionals. and any other things that just come up into mind.

in my previous post, went up just a couple of hours ago, i did mention about how the performance by the house of the elderly (or something) was so magnificent the crowd gave them a standing ovation. that was not just a drama element in a drama series. they truly did perform greatly. maybe the movement was not that great. but that's what you would expect from people their age.

next on the line is Dalton Academy's The Warblerz. readers of this blog must have remembered how i just fell in love with their rendition of "Teenage Dream". they did it again this time, with Train's "Hey, Soul Sister". which was just AWESOME!

but stop it right there, mister. because they really did the exact same thing again, from the last time we saw them performed on Glee. what i really love about The Warblers is their vocal. the audio aspect of their performance. Blaine, the lead singer, needs no introduction. but the rest of the team, the harmony, the beatbox-ers, the flatters (people who sing with a flat tone), and everyone else who contributes vocally, and distinctly to one another. they all mixed in perfectly, resulting in a very very VERY nice tune to the ears.

but there's one thing that disappoints me. their moves. or rather, the lack of it. and this is the part where i said earlier to not get carried away about them, and the thing where they did exactly the same thing as "Teenage Dream": no spectacular moves. to me right now, with that kind of moves, they're no better than a nasyid group. you know, nice vocals, and some body swaying, but that's about it.

if you remember "Teenage Dream", the only time where the body really moves is when they did a full 360 twist during the part where they sang "don't ever look back". while this time (sectionals) the feet even did some walking, but it's still minimal compared to what New Direction is going to present. or presented in last year's Regionals. i mean, i can't see how The Warblers can win against Vocal Adrenaline, who showed last year that they lived up not just to their names, but with some crazy dances as well.

it's like, The Warblers completed only half of what's required from "show choir"; they get full marks from me for their 'choir', but so-so for 'show'manship.

as for New Directions, well... also like last year, they're just superbly awesome.

ok as a sidenote. they first sang a ballad of "Time of Our Lives", and me being a dummy in classical musics (or at least not from before the 90s... Dirty Dancing was released in 1987, the year i was born), i thought they were doing Black Eyed Peas' latest single that has a snippet of that song in it. haha. anyway.

the ballad part was boring to me. but by borrowing parts of "Dirty Dancing", they have some power incorporated in their dance moves, and that excites me a little, eventhough that was still not enough for me to beat Bohemian Rhapsody's choreography. but it's nice to hear some new and fresh voices in Sam and Quinn leading the pack as solos. (then) Miss Pillsbury has a good point, every single member of the Glee Club is talented. so whenever there are people other than Rachel and Finn doing the lead singing, it's still a very good show, and very much likeable.

so when Santana was given the lead in the other part the the medley doing "Valerie"... everything explodes. i'm being biased right now, being a big fan of dancing. because if i were to judge this fairly with The Warblers earlier, this song is just okay and maybe just slightly 'worse' than "Hey, Soul Sister" just now. but they 'paper the crack' with some marvellous dance moves by their two greatest dancers, Mike Chang and Brittany. and with that, i'm in love with their whole performance. because Santana also nailed her first solo among the team with a great vocal.

but i just couldn't figure out the final result of the competition. i mean, to me New Directions is clearly better than The Warblers. and that was when everything was so disoriented within the team. like, so tipu! but, oh well. it's a drama series.

by the way, Brittany is so cute in this episode, especially during the drama in the green room and later on the backstage. it's just appropriate that she hogged the stage throughout. she truly deserves it.

okay i think i'm finally sleepy... yes, i think. lemme try to go back to bed and see what happens. hopefully i'll fall straight away to sleep. and dream about being Mike Chang in Sectionals. heh.

Frozen Yoghurt.

i was at Azyan's page, when it suddenly occurred to me that there's something peculiar on it.

the live traffic feed.

you know, the stuff that, in a very creepy way, can tell who visited your blog, and all that. yes, the counter (or whatever you call it) can really tell who you are: it says, "a VISITOR from *insert name of place you live* viewed *insert blog name* 23 hours ago".

so i'm just wondering. since it can detect that you're a visitor, can it also tell if you're not a visitor? like, a passer-by. or a hacker. or a spammer.

just, wondering.

by the way, if you're reading this azyan. if there really is a need to migrate, then try wordpress. personally, as an editor (cewah), i don't like wordpress. but i like to read a blog hosted by it. heh. usually they're very neat and tidy. like everything is all organized. not that yours currently is not, but just saying wordpress' plus points... which can be too rigid at times it annoys you.

otherwise, just make a part 2 or something on blogspot. you can always put a link to connect them two in each of them.

and finally, on an unrelated note. again, please watch Glee Season 2: Sectionals. even the elderly presenting brought the crowd to their feet, and New Directions plus The Warblerz (i thought it's The Wobblers... haha) were even better than them. so expect some fireworks. not literally.

a friend.

remember Suhana Alia Sidek? yes, that Alia Sidek. and yes, the link with her name used to be working.

but to be honest, right now i can't remember how our paths first crossed. there must be a record of it somewhere in the archives, but at the time of writing, i have only some vague memories of it. ones that involved noden, and an old blog. i think it's the blogs.

anyway. i'm writing here to inform that there is a new link i put on the side. found it by pure chance: joey's photos, a comment, and the blog. and i just fall in love with the blog... well, when one has nowhere else to go to other than Azyan's, one finds simple pleasure from seeing a blog with frequent postings.

and the blog has a lot of very interesting writings. and very well written too. well basically there are many reasons to like the blog. to me, i like the personal touch in it (like i always do with blogs). hence, the share.

to the blog's owner, this blog is the blog that asked, via joey, for your permission to be linked. and thanks for the approval. heh.