When you believe. -- a letter to Prof. Rudy

Dear Prof. Rudy,

Bonjour.

I'm writing this to u after knowing that u actually expressed ur dissappointment towards the not-up-to-100% attitude of us in learning during the final lecture of u. I apologize about that. Sorry sir I just have to admit that, I'm one of those who not giving 100% commitment to ur lecture.

I know skipping lectures is certainly not a good attitude for learning, and I just did, even worse, skipping 2 days of lectures, for a silly reason like climbing up to 4095.2m height and then coming back down.

...but that's what being young and dangerous means, I guess... :>

Remember the small talk between us about Crocker Formation? U said that u believe there are karst holes lie beneath the islands around Mt Kinabalu, like the 'Blue-holes' lie beneath the Bahamas Island -- and then u added that not many people knowing that and only those who held this belief think of exploring and discovering it.

U know what? That remarks impressed me. Yes u're right sir, it is the 'BELIEF' that pushes us to keep on discovering and exploring -- our life, our dream, our world, and ourselves.

... even though sometimes, we need to sacrifice, like skipping 2 days' lectures of carbonate sedimentology. :p

(..and I guess that explained why I decided to set off the journey..)...

I know u were a diver when u were young. So I guess you'll know what's the feeling like at every descent u made downward to the bottom of the sea -- like wise, my journey of climbing-up bears the same significances -- we learn at every stage we are, and we surprised when things around started to change everytime we decide to move on.

I'm not going to share what I'd perceived in this journey of climbing up to the top roof of Southeast Asia. It was like diving right into a secret garden under the sea, and then when you ascend back to the sea surface, you'll just let the feeling of thrilled overwhelming you for a moment, without saying any words -- I know you'll agree with me, cuz u were once a young and dangerous adventurer too who learn from our quest of discovering and exploring.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.


Merci. A Bientot.


Cheers,
Spider

Gambate no, opa-sang!

We all believe that there's always something mystical about mountain. Too many stories and legends about the existence of Gods and Spirits of mountain made people treat mountains respectfully and worshipfully.

This Japanese Opa-sang was dancing and singing in front of me when I was walking alone, trying hardly and tiredly, to get myself every inch closer to Laban Rata where we all would finally have a good rest before pushing ourselves towards the summit of Mt Kinabalu.

I overtook her and she greeted me, with a sunny smile, "slowly, no tired", she said to me, then continued with her humming and dancing.

....and out of all a sudden I was amazed -- no she is not any goddess or angels that fell from heaven -- I felt like I caught a sudden grasp but I didn't figure it out.

The second time I met her, I was exhausted and taking my rest at a point a few meters off from where I first met her. I heard she humming her Japanese song. This time, I walked by her and chatted with her. She told me stories about her hometown Kyoto and her passion for mountain climbing. I stared at her grey hair and a feeling of respect wholly smeared into my heart. At that moment, I knew that I've solved THAT mysterious puzzle in my mind...

I tapped her shoulder and said, "slowly, no tired", it was like answering my own question.

She smiled, "slowly, no tired", in her typical Japenese slang.

"Gambate no," I think this Japanese word was used perfectly in such a timing.

"Arigato gozaimatzu," with her sunny and mercy smile.

I left her. I felt no more tired and exhausted. Meeting this Opa-sang had made me reset my pace. I took out my camera and started to look around. I couldn't imagine how many wonderful things I'd missed before this. Why rushing? Slowly, no tired, and there's so much wonderful things just around me.

Just slow down my pace and enjoy everything that surrounded me, all the huffing and puffing, what for?

We all believe that there's always something mystical about mountains. Too many stories and legends about the existence of Gods and Spirits of mountain made people treat mountains respectfully and worshipfully, but sometimes, we respect mountains because we learn from mountains. The meditation that took place in the heart of a mountain, or the journey climbing up a mountain, people learn from mountains, to be able to see things again after being blinded, and to reset our pace after being rushed.

KL has just got TOOOooo many staircases..

This post, if finaly published, it would be an intro.

I'm here in KL, after a great journey of my life in Sabah. My hp is out of order, partly due to the journey, hence I need to get it repaired before going back to my plate tectonic and sequence stratigraphy's notes. My point is, I didn't actualy get a rest after the tiring journey -- 4095.2m height of climbing, and then coming down (that seriously counts), early flight right next day, and it was Air Asia (ooh that seriously undeniably counts..), then I started my another journey of 'saving private Sony' in KL..

My point of all my points is, I'm so damn tired. Pain on my calves and thights remind me on how 'de-energized' I am, but yet it also remind me on how proud I am to reach the top peak of Malaysia.

Well I certainly have a lot of stories to tell, as I mentioned earlier this is just an intro. A wise intro should be served as a perfect appetizer. I hope this one would not be too far from that standard.

Oh yeah BTW, pain on my calves and thights got me realized something while walking in KL -- It's not that I'm becoming staircasephobic after Mt. KK -- KL has just got too many staircases..

Part of it: PGCE.2006

I know I should've posted an entry bout PGCE.2006 before the thing becomes expired like today, but trust me, I have drafted something bout it but busy days delayed everything and there's another reason that held me back...--

--what I drafted was somehow experimental for my blogging style --

--I put all the SMS's, emails and YahooMessenger's conversations together, to sort of complete the puzzle of the whole story about "How I finally got a chance to finally joinned back PGCE's committee after quiting it for my Master programme".. and "How weird things happened and how I finally pissed-off and decided to skip one class and stay with PGCE's family"...

However, as what I said, the composition was rather experimental and I just afraid those who read it won't get any clue of what I'm trying to say -- and it would be the longest post I've ever had if it was finally posted -- nobody will have the patience to read all the sms's and emails and messages between somebody else and some-other-body else, those are simply crapping!

Anyway, people like to look at pictures.. I believe Aza who said she couldn't wait to read my entry about PGCE was actually saying that she couldn't see her pictures during PGCE appeared in my blog.. (eh-hem..) .. So.. I got a little Tabblo with the pictures of our celebration after PGCE.2006 to cater the appetite of all picture lovers.

Sorry for those who really want to read something bout PGCE, but is there any allien like this out there? I doubt it....

If you don't feel satisfied by just looking at the small pictures tabblo at the right, click here to enter its larger version (I would certainly love to see your comments left here instead of Tabblo -- u might be asked to register in Tabblo if u insist on leaving comment over there .

Introducing... Brad.

Oh yeah my little specky dog featuring in my last entry names Wellington. Many of my readers found it cuter than his master.. duh.. those people are simply too caring to try to compare a human with a huggy animal -- THAT'S NOT FAIR -- of course human being is always uglier!

Ok now I introduce to you another heavenly CUTE huggy creature -- Brad. I bet Wellington won't like him but Brad, with his full-of-curiousity-big-eye on his little face, would xtremely love Wellington and scratch him and kiss him and hug him..

I met Brad in one wonderful morning and I believe meeting Brad made the wonderfulness fully complete the rest of my entire day. Brad names Brad just because Brad is naughty and playful. Unlike Wellington. Wellington is quiet and matured and smart.

Well I'm not going to describe how cute Brad is and how naughty he is. Obviously this entry is posted for the sake of killing time while waiting for my friends to finish their Friday Prayer, and also to grant the wish of my friends to show Brad's photos online so that they can see him and maybe kiss him thru the screen of their PC, like Brad tried to seduce me through my camera lens when posing in front of me.

The way you look tonight .. with a spec on..

I wouldn't say I am not used to have a pair of spectacles hanging on my nose... I just wanted to say I am not QUITE used to have a pair of created-by-Louis-Koo high-trimmed-high-price ZERO-X luxury hanging on my nose..

Well the ZeroX will be only used to, mainly and supposedly, help me filtering all the radiation coming from PC screen.. (certainly not to make me look any bit like LouisKoo..)....

...but the fact is, with this ZeroX bought, I'm gonna postpone my plan of buying a Canon EOS DSLR, cancel my will of having Chevrolet Optra5, reconsider my diving trip in Cebu Island or Sipadan -- What? How much does this ZeroX exactly cost? Hmmm, not that much actually, but it used up my budget to buy a set of dinner suit to attend my dearest sis's wedding, and the budget to get equiped for my year-end mountain climbing plan.

So? I thought I was saying something about drawing in my horns? What are those dinner suit and mountain climbing plan about? sigh.. don't tell my mum. At least don't let her knows that I'm now wearing my created-by-Louis-Koo high-trimmed-high-price in front of my Fujitsu and typing this non-sense instead of getting an early sleep.

Sigh.. don't tell my mum...

Defining sadness

Being irreverent is what makes me feel like being myself, sometimes.

..but sometimes else, It makes me floundered.

... ... ... ...

A kite craves for freedom, but kite knows well enough that the boy holding the string is happily having him in the hand, and kite also knows, that it is the boy who flew him high.

Kite would be happier if he is detached from the string, but kite knows that the boy will certainly cry if he lost his kite. Kite will also feel sad for sure, if the boy cries.

Kite hence chooses to keep on flying high, dances in a way that people from the ground will see and believe that kite is flying great, flying gracefully. "Nothing to be worried about," people on the ground tell the boy, boy smiles, kite cries.

Those triumphs of youth.. .. departed?

Realizing you're getting old is NOT the same with realizing you're achieving adulthood by seeing some physical changes of puberty. The latter is some kind of witnessing -- u witnessed, but then u found it hard to handle..

.. but the former, is some kind of feeling, and perceiving. It's like when u wear ur favourite T-shirt and walk by a mirror in the middle of the street, u suddenly see urself wearing something really weird and not suitable -- maybe the shirt is too tight, maybe the colour is too bright -- and u finally realize what u're wearing WAS ur favourite T-shirt, but not anymore now, at this stAGE of life.

... this is exactly what I felt before meeting up 3 coolest freinds of mine in KL last weekend. ..and to cut the story short and to really deny (or further approve) all these aging myths, after the movie "The Departed", we entered this funfair in OneUtama.

Lucky enough, funfair is nothing like T-shirt -- we can "demote" our favourite T-shirt due to taste/age factor, but we're not going to do that to funfair. Funfaire is everybody's all-time favourite.

Hence the story goes.. we had fun -- I mean in term of 'recaping' or 'refreshing' childhood memories, yup we did good. Merry-go-round, Save-a-duck, darts game, Wheel Chair, ice-cream yada yada yada -- Yahya, Fiza and Sue, these three old men really enjoyed proving their aging process. Ahaks!

Well my point is, NONE of them even wanted to try the 360 degrees vertical spinning "Top-Gun" or the vigorous swaying "Challenger". So I did -- cuz I was the one who had hints and clues kept reminding me about the age throughout the day -- I needed to do something to persuade myself that those things lied.

Well I'm not going to share the longest 5 min in my life sitting in the capsule of "Top Gun". I cursed a lot while I was defying gravity and I was in up-side-down position when my capsule was at the point of twelve-o-clock. That was fun. I mean the duration was long enough for me to flash back all my life, and to feel the mechanism of my body on how it handle "nervous", "frightened", "regret", "excited", "adreline rush" and "to shiver or not to shiver"... ...

The bottom line is, I made it, and proved myself that I wasn't THAT old (u kidding me? I'm still on my way to give bungee jumping a try!!!). However, I chose to try wheel-chair next instead of "Challenger" (c'mon, soldier needs rest..).

The conclusion of the hang-outing:

1. when we enjoyed watching the ever dragging "The Departed", it showed we appreciate "deep" things and THAT IS MATURED;

2. change of taste towards wearing indicates WE HAVE BETTER FASHION SENSE;

3. our age tells us WE ARE YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG LADIES;

4. having fun in fun-fair simply proved WE ARE STILL KIDS..

..So? Pardon me, what did u say? OLD? Did I mention the 'O-L-D' word in my conclusion?

My kindegarten level of entomology notes

I'm having a weird feeling of nervous and worried..(again?) right now.. I know it's due to my wrong-timing of blogging -- I should be sitting in front of my study desk right now, lashing myself to keep on digging into my notes of 'formation evaluation' and 'seismic acquisition & data processing' yada yada yada...

2nd reason, is about this post. Well ladies and gentlemen, I'm about to compose something which is entirely out of my knowledge and understanding, but don't worry, I got a few terminologies to help me to get my stuff looks ..erm.. professional.

Here we go. My entomology notes on ecdysis/moulting of a grasshopper.

Well I consider myself as 'being quite lucky' cuz I managed to witness a grasshopper moulting. My little sister and I caught some grasshoppers last Monday for her cruel-inhumane-biological experiment and we found out one of them looked like being suffered from body-cramp and we thought this fella was dying.. but came to our very surprised this fella was actually doing his meditation to mourn the passing of 'old-him' while celebrating his own rebirth. I KNEW this when I started to see him shedding his outer skin, or to say it ENTOMOLOGICALLY, this fella was shedding its exoskeleton. ..yes, you pronounced it right: e-xo-skeleton... but I prefer to call it 'suit of Satria Baja Hitam'.. longer, but catchier.

Well I must consider myself as 'being quite lucky' when I thought that was the end of the 'peeling old skin wearing new skin' story but in fact I was wrong. Yes I managed to see the sequel of the story: adolescene. Our young fella was reaching his adulthood from a nymph. He finally gained his own wings and even started to show it off. Yeah maybe it was his way of stretching his new sized body but I still couldn't stand his arrogance. Know what, I believed I heard somebody was soaring "I believe I can fly~~" at the moment, which sounded so ironic for me cuz I knew the next day before he could really fly, he was going to be soaked into a smelly chemical liquid called yada yada yada... (sorry I almost failed my Chemistry in secondary school..).

OK I still believe I am 'being quite lucky' for the reason I won't have the chance to see his execution. ..and in fact I am LUCKY when talking about experiencng these hidden moments of our tiny friends of nature. I once witness a little fish called 'rainbow fish' gave birth to her 'rainbow babies' when I was in standard four; then I used to see dragonflies mating in the air, and also flies; then I saw grasshoppers 'ecdysising'; and the latest one was, I accidentally caught a pregnant grasshopper and she gave birth to her baby on the next day of her friend reaching adulthood.

Well maybe I'm going to witness how a spider teach his son to build a web.. huhuhu.. who knows? But before that, I hope all my good-luck will work during my becoming exams.. nah, don't show me the spider lectures on that day, save it.

"Bye-bye baby dun be long, I worry bout u while u're gone.."

1st of all, I need to thank y'all for giving me priceless moral supports towards my normal 'abnormal' decision during the month of Ramadhan. I am still so much hyped up by the comments left in my previous post. Thank you.

This morning after Sahur with Faizal and Harris in my room, I was annoyed by some kind of worries and made me did not really manage to catch a short nap before starting another day of 9-5 lecture.

One question: If there are 12 subjects to study, which one of educational systems you prefer?
A. 1 month 1 subject, or maybe 2, focus, thourough and intensive, then exam, finish the subject, then move on to next one; or
B. All 12 subjects going on simultaneously throughout one whole year, slowly and steadily, then end of the year you will be examined on all those subjects, then finish. ..;

Which one you prefer?

Type 'B' is certainly the typical Malaysian, or maybe Asian countries' educational system, which has been adapted for many many years, regardless of its efficiency, and in fact as we all are well aware, unflexible type 'B' is boooooring and it 'carelessly' produces boooooooring students and a booooooring society. Please be notes that I said 'carelessly', means there are some wise ones wisely escaped from the trend.

While type 'A', from what I heard, is what the western countries apply. Only few subjects to focus in a duration of study, students study intensively and thoroughly on the subjects, then finish the paper, put the text book aside, move on to the next subject.

...and type 'A', is what I'm doing now in this MSc. programme since the programme is entirely transfered from France.

As an education enthusiast who had been going through Type 'B' educational system of Malaysia for more than 20 years, what I encountered now is really something fresh and exciting yet worrying. Yes no doubt, Type 'A' is fresh, much much more insightful and focus. It puts the students on a track of 'think and learn and think', but will the knowledge perceived lasts long?

I really wish to find out the answer cuz so far, my coursemates and I are the very first batch for this MSc. programme, and I believe we are also among the first few batches of 'Used-To-TypeB' students who put ourselves to try the Type 'A' effectiveness.

However, my worry is still hanging. When you're gaining something real precious like knowledges and skills (which you're sure you perceived them by heart) and there's a possibility saying that you are going to lose it anyway in the future, will you not worry like me?

This is an endurance test -- I'm in.

This is not something special and new. Indeed, this is something really normal as I've practised it 4 years straight. In another word, when thing is as normal as daily teeth-brushing task, it shouldn't be mentioned in a blog like this.. but the question is, why am I starting to compose an entry about it?

1st of course 4 years back I din have a blog to talk about this normal 'abnormal' thing (?); 2nd, I've encountered too many 'why' asking about my choice and my decision and my determination and earnestness.. (yeah, I've been interviewed by a Wawa TV Station, Majalah Minda, Princess Channel and 'Jambu!' teen magazine.... and same 1st question from them: WHY?).. ..

Why? Why do I poso skali?

I oftenly smiled this question off when friends of mine seeing me fast seriously in muslim's Bulan Ramdhan. Yes I do have an untold reason, but I prefer to let it unexplained. On the other hand, I seriously wanted to capture Malaysian's mentality about a non-muslim joining a so called Islamic way of life. ..

My question is, why do most of the people tend to see things from religious and racial perspective, while lots of things in our life can be as simple as a personal choice due to some straightforward reasons regarding health, social and etc? .. orait I have to admit that there was a reason for me to start fasting in Ramadhan, but there are more reasons for me to keep this habit going on till this year, especially after realizing that self-discipline is a very valuable quality that I should brush-up on.

Doing push-up 150 times per day needs self-discipline, I'm cutting it down to 100 times every 3-4 days..; jogging weekly needs self-discipline, and so far, erm.., so good..; struggling in working environment needs self-discipline, struggling in this Master programme needs extreme level of self-discipline, ...

...achieving my dreams of owning Chevrolet OPTRA5 and Canon EOS DSLR, achieiving my family's hope on me, making my family proud of me, following all the words in Rudyard Kipling's poem "If", getting true success in life, getting dreams-come-true of traveling all around the world...

...all of these, bear the same drive for fasting throughout one whole month, need self-discipline.

So I think this is my answer to all the 'WHY's .. : WHY NOT?

Month of Ramadhan bears a lot of wonderful meanings. I am certainly not in the position to tell it, but personally I see one valuable meaning of Ramadhan: it is a month of endurance test, and I'm in.

"Go there, and make us proud.."

I was sipping mamee slrrp in my room while Taylor Hicks' DO I MAKE YOU PROUD started playing through my headphone.

"...I've never been the one to raise my hand, that was not me and now that's who I am..."

..all of a sudden, I felt like I was in the video clip of the song, describing the struggle of a young man, having mamee slrrp instead of a proper dinner, on his way pursuing his dream... (ahaks!)

..in fact, all of a sudden, I realized the change of time..

Which sparks in this universe triggered all the changes in my life and brought me here today? I always wonder.. but deep inside of me I always believe that someone out there (or up there) is monitoring me and doing all the arrangement to fit my future..

..who is that 'someone'? I think I know...

In spite of that, there are people I meet throughout my life till today, that I truely believe are part of the factors that molded me into the shape I am today. And sometimes I do relate all these people to the condition I face at one particular moment..

"... I guess I've learned, to question is to grow, that you still have faith, is all I need to know; I've learned to love, myself in spite of me, and I've learned to walk, the road that I believe..."

I still remember the words that my Big Boss Mr Effendy spoke to me right before I left my office and came here to pursue my further study. In fact till today, I dun really think that Mr Effendy agreed to let me go, but still, the words he gave was kinda injecting a warm feeling like a father's advice to his son:

"Go there, and make PRAM proud." PRAM, is my division in PETRONAS.

I knew I have another mission the moment I nodded earnestly.

... Coincidentally, there's a friend of mine who wrote the same thing to me on Yahoo Messenger when I first checked-in to the university of my Msc programme..

She said, "Study hard, make us proud.".. 'us', refers to my three wonderful friends whom I hung out with most of the time in KL.

... and there's a respectful old man who recently wrote this to me and really smeared a soft-touched feeling deep in my heart..

He wrote,"..if I could ever pick a son, one would be you.."... this old man, I call him Papa, is my coach.

... ... I know I simply have more reasons to keep faith in that 'someone' I mentioned before. As what I questioned before, "which sparks in the universe triggered all the changes in my life and brought me here today?", well maybe I can't give myself an answer, but I can stand without getting any answers for it. That 'someone' is the star in this universe that arranged all highs and lows in my life, as well as all the people I meet and I encounter with, for some particular unforseen reasons.

"...This is what we dream about, but the only question with me now, is do I make you proud? .."

The song "Do I Make You Proud" is not my favourite song, but it kinda express my concern to all the people I met, all the people I know, all the people that believe in me, and to that special 'someone' who will always answer my prayer when I look up..

Love is in the air....

If this entry is finaly aired, it will be my 1st blog entry to talk about love.. I know it's kinda weird, yes it's certainly the weirdest thing a pious rocker does on his blog, but.. let's admit this, it was the rain that got me into this mood of tenderness....

My big sister officially married to Dave yesterday; on the same day, my dearest brother Pesa officially had the 1st date with his girl; the day before it, KakLin and Zul received the most precious gift of love from God as Lin gave birth to a baby boy Ameerul Adly bin Zulhaimi; Yahya and Fiza is going to get engaged next week; plus the wonderful marriage of Penn and Tini last week and also today (..not to forget wedding of the year seeing Malaysian Diva Siti marrying Datuk K...) ...well, love is in the air...

.. I congrated my sister and Dave, I shared the excitement with Pesa, I can't wait to see and touch little Ameerul Adly, I said Alhamdulilah to Zul and Lin, I hope I can witness the engagement of Yahya and Fiza, I expressed my best blessing to Penn and Tini, and I witnessed the wedding of Siti and Datuk K through live broadcasting...

... hence I felt love, didn't I? ... ... did I?

Surprisingly I still miss the girl who shared the tenderness of raining days with me once upon a time.. I said 'surprisingly' cuz I know I am the most cold-hearted creature on this planet. She's my kind of rain, but I'm just too mucky to get her to rain on me..

..don't worry, I'll end here.

My best blessing to Penn & Tini...

Ok lah atah permntaan ramai...

After SJ&Mai, now it's Tini&Penn -- my 2nd time to be appointed, to be given trust to be their wedding photographer.. ..

This time I still did not find any confidence in myself.. but yes I did learn something from my 1st photoshooting experience in Penang and Baling (SJ& Mai's wedding..), and there are some other few factors that allowed me to refine my photography works for this 'Tini&Penn Wedding Project'..

1-- lesson learnt from 1st time experience;
2-- I now have my own machine..(laptop lah tu..) that allows me to concentrate on photo editing..
3-- some new photo editorial knowledge I explored recently..
4-- some supporting website like Tabblo..
5-- I met some shutterbug friends in UTP here like Idris, Rahmani, Poon & Ubik..
6-- tercabar and geram sbb takde SLR lagi..

Ok.. cut all the crap.. layaaan..

... See this large in spider's Tabblo;

A peace of mind.. in a non-peaceful struggle...

I unplugged my head from the great depth of drowning before I finaly sunk and drifted in the sea full of theories and concepts of strategic mangement ...

I needed to get some fresh air to stay alert, in order to not get emotionally conquered by misery of exam season. Hence I looked out of my window.

My eyeview suddenly switched from lines and paragraphs of words into a peaceful scene where bottom half of the scene is fullfilled with green grassy slope and the other half is painted with blue cloudless sky, decorated with trees and a streetlamp.., sometimes students walking, or riding into the pictures...

Hence I got a moment of peace of mind...

I always know that a borderless view like ocean, padi field and sky is where I can find calmness and really get my randomly-flying chaotic emotional particles settling down..; but, I've never knew that my craving of borderless and botherless state of mind is somehow reflected in most of my photography works...

I was looking back at the photograpraphs I took since I owned this Olympus Camedia C-760 back to year 2004. ...and I've never realized that there are actualy something in common in the pictures I took..

(well of course, yes, one of it is, all are taken by me..) ..

----- Blue sky.

...and to be more specific, those blue skies were only taken during my any trips that took me so far far away from the land that has been ruling me since young...

There were blue sky taken form Bali Island, from oil rig Naga-1, from Phuket Island, from Malacca, from Brunei and from Selangau (a remote area where my Ibanese family lives)... I was quite surprised by this 'Common-Blue-Sky' discovery... but I was rather sad when realizing the inclination that lies behind those pictures..

I am still stranded in where I was.... The blue blue sky is only somewhere that can indulge my whim...

Hence, I can still steal a slight moment of peace of mind by looking at broad wide field or borderless bluey or starry sky, or by looking at that little green grassy slope framed by the window of my room right now in UTP...

...when i just ignore and indulge, all my fantasies will bring me to the paeceful, free, calm, borderless and botherless world of mine...

(Hence, although I have a severe time-insufficiency problem to actually prepare for the final exam tomorrow, my still can see me indulging myself in my little mumbling blogging world...)

(Damn... I am so dead...)

11 chapters, 4 case studies, 3 presentations, 2 reports, 2 weeks, 1 final exam, 18 survivals... half dead..

My forehead is tightly locked as there's pressure squeezing my head..; Sunder and I cursed and swore a bunch of 'F*ck' and 'Sh*t' out of ..; Harris of next door is firing, counter-striking violently and crazily in his pc as if he is firing all the pressures with his AK47...; Faizal and PuOn asked me out for a stroll in sport complex as we all really need a break to get fresh oxygen for our head...;...

After it officially started its lecture..(..by Tun Mahathir, in a mean..), today is the 2nd day of my so called 'non-conventional' Petroleum Geoscience MSc. Programme.. and also in today, I heard about the word 'non-conventional' from our lecture in describing the format of our very first batch of Petroleum Geoscience Msc. Programme, and also within today, I realized how 'non-conventional' the course is...

Our first module is about Strategic Planning, nothing to do with petroleum geoscience, but the knowledge plays big role in oil & gas bussiness.. .. and as the choosen ones from PETRONAS to be the first batch students to learn this knowledge, we got to have big endurance to bear with its non-technical, full-of-managerial-crap, and senior-manager-level-toughness, to ensure we really 'deserve' to be the choosen benchmarker, instead of a-bench -of -sucker..

Well the figures have all say: 2 weeks of time for 1 module; 11 chapters to swallow; 4 case studies to complete; 3 presentations to prepare; 2 managerial reports to submit; 60% 'carrie'-marks (do care...) to bear; 1 final exam after 10 days from today; 18 survivals; half dead on the 2nd day..

I know I'm sort of complaining... .. and I shouldn't. I still believe this is the opportunity for me to buckle myself up will all kind of quality needed to strive in my career and my personal development; ..and the intention of writing an new entry like this is actualy to get me a space to upload some pictures of my coursemates during our last field trip..

.... and you know what, having them as my comrades is one of the reason I shouldn't complain about what I'm facing now..

ps... well, I know I know, I should have spent my time doing my assignments and reports or working on presentation slides instead of writing a blog entry.. .. Cau!

Back to those green green school days

Ok this is going to be short.. for a few reasons:

1. This post is a warming-up post for me to eventually, hopefully, pick-up the habit of blogging back again;

2. I'm really lacking of ideas to write a new post..This post is simply a promise granted to my two little new readers Farah and Dani as I've promised them to show some 'good' pictures during our recent geological field trip in East Malaysia.;

3. Student's life: study comes first---- yup LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I'm now officially a master student of Petroleum Geoscience of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS.. Being one of the first batch students, the responsibility of benchmarking the standard is SO critical..(c'mon for God's sake, kill me please...)..so, in other words, less blogging and mumbling..;

4. 'Short' is a promise to myself for not to start mumbling with my mouthful of sentimental stuff... although I know the definition of 'short' is kinda uncertain so far..

5. My new laptop cannot enter the photobucket website.. and this is frustrating since all my blog's pictures are uploaded from photobucket.. no photobucket, I feel like loosing a tool; no tool, no fine work. ..;

...and the last reason, 6.. this post is going to be short cuz I only have SIX reasons to get excused.

I'll be back with more serious and not-so-playful post.


ps... the pictures loaded here were taken during we had our lunch break at Tanjung Layang-Layang, Labuan on the 4th day of our geological field trip. .. and they are not uploaded via PHOTOBUCKET (damn!).

pss.. to Farah and Dani, imagine what will this post turn into if I loaded all the outcrops and fossils and rocks into this post.. hehe, so better don't, right?

Jiwang philosophy

I deleted 'Welcome to CP13', a new blog's post that I recently composed in rememberance of my first eco-game marshaling job in Nomad Adventure's Eco-XCapade at Hulu Langat.

Why? cuz' suddenly I really agreed to what Eja told me.. my blog entries-- jiwang karat la~~

When I looked back what I've written in 'Welcome to CP13', I knew that was simply too-too, too much sentimental; likewise, I wasn't very proud of my previous post 'Let the colors tell the story..' when I realized that there was just overfilled with rust of jiwang..

..and I decided not to put any pictures in this blog just because of the same reason/same worry.. Pictures, for me, sometimes helplessly triggered the sense of being sentimental in me..

Hence this is my first time to delete a blog's post of mine; it's my first time to not have any pictures in my blog's entry..; and it's my first time to confront my severe jiwang karat syndrome.

...ah BTW, a footnote about jiwang philosophy before I end babbling:

Cambridge Dictionary defines sentimental as "...strongly influenced by emotional feelings, rather than careful thought and judgment based on facts.."

So....one question... have you ever seen man with testosterone getting so emotional-connected and really go out of norm and go crazy for something?

Think WORLD CUP FEVER.

That's a solid and undeniable proof, that shows man or mamat, going SO SO SO---SO sentimental about something that we are passionate about.

...and it's globally. :>

Let the colors tell the story...

Apparently, Malacca's historical value has blanketed its color.

Malacca is not famed with its color or colorfulness. .. erm, put this in another word, Malacca is not colorful enough, but, a trip to Malacca made me believed that, it IS a traveller's excitement that extracts colors of this historic city, outshines under the sunny and glorious sky.

Fiza took a piture of three of us posing in front of the red wall of Studthuys. Well, here's the issue: if she did not intentionally snap the picture in the way she just did, then trust me for God's sake, Fiza must be bearing a hidden gem-like artistic vision.

She captured the picture right straight, perpendicular to us and the wall. Meaning? The red color of Stadthuys' wall was purely absorbed, no toned-up nor toned-down due to different angles and and sun light.

I had no idea why I was so hyped-up by her work with just a simple click on the button (according to her..), but all my inspirations about the color of Malacca were just triggered after seeing the picture.

And you know what? Right this moment a name just crossed my mind: Vincent Van Gogh. I do not know much about this most controversial artist and his masterpieces, but I do know one true thing about him, that his works demonstrated his personality and his mentality.

Like wise, the simple straight forward picture demonstrated the way Fiza treats her simple life: SIMPLICITY. She did not think about the angles she did not think about the posing she did not think about the brightness, she just simply click the camera to shoot the picture; just like what she is, she doesn't think about... hmmm... too much.. (smile..),

she just loves.

Sue finally turned her 'not-so-on-for-vacation' mood into the vibes that made she swung happily and cheery when four of us arrived Malacca from Port Dickson. She was like a bird, a pink bird to be exact, dancing and singing and swinging freely and blissfully, in the middle of Malacca's reddish road.

OF COURSE she was in pink. Well, we should have a song for her that sounds 'Pinky Sue wears a pinky suit, dancing in the rain in her pinky boots...' ...yeah, at least something like that... but one thing for sure, this girl, she got flare.

She likes to pose she likes to be in photos she enjoys admiration she turns people's head while walking on the street..... normally, this KIND of girl is so much predictable for a guy, but what comes to my surprise is, Sue's not.

Sue works HELL hard as if she is so ugly and useless that only 'working-hard' is her only quality to get her survive; Sue laughed her modelling opportunity off and continued to get herself inspired by Donald Trump and Dan Brown instead of Amber Chia or Tyra Banks; Sue sometimes late just because of works or meetings, not putting on her make-up nor picking which shirt to wear; ...

Sue sang 'Happy Together' in such a not-so-happy tone that confused me to think of whether there is really a not-so-happy thing inside her or just simply a not-so-precise pitching stuck on her voice (smile..)...

.... but that's Sue, the pinky Sue. Not eye-piercing red not pale white but is a mixture of both exciting red and ingenuous white.

Do not expect any story of my first visit to Malacca (I know that sounds unbelievable, after 25 years staying in Malaysia..) in this entry... I'm not good in describing wonderfulness. Malacca is certainly a nice place to visit, and I prefer to let the brown walls of A'famosa tell you their story, let the red bricks of Stadthuys tell you their story, let the white statue of of St Paul tells you his story, let the clear blue sky of Malacca tells you their story...

ps... to Yahya my buddy, I'm NOT running out of idea to talk about you.. this lengthy story full of sentimental touch is dedicated to ladies only.. I can give put some testosterone into my next entry if you want, just to hope that it won't turn into the rugged and brutal look that you posed in most of our pictures in Malacca.