...watching an evolution like an old man and smirking at a good-bye note...

My habits of writing diary started since my secondary school.. owh well of course there were days when your teacher made 'writing dairy' as a homework over weekend, even since primary school but.. my really self-initiated 'diary days', started since, for whatever reason, form 4.

Then the habit ensued -- what changed was the way I write stuff, and the stuff that I write -- until Book #6, I guess, when 'Weblog' was introduced to my posting life.

My first post to my own blog, was titled 'One Quiet Afternoon', when I was typing it in a quiet afternoon, weekend, in my newly-joined workplace in KLCC.

Back then, my blog was simply an english-writing exercise for me. A place for me to brush up my 'Ah-Beng's-standard' english. I still kept writing my diary -- it became a place to write really deep stuff now. Deep, and secretive stuff, in my own mother tongue.

The drama went on. My blogging days started to get on track and my english was slightly improved and I could start to write 'deep' stuff in english. I started to find some sort of dominance or rather, an invasion, happened to my 'usual language' -- my diary started to be flooded by english words, in the middle of my mother-tongued chinese characters; I started to log more about my life on blog than in diary...

BUT I still managed to give a differentiator to classify which stuff to blog and what stuff to seal in my diary -- on my blog, some light toned stories hidden with deep and dark stuff, which were actually nakedly scribbled in my diary, but darker, heavier, up to the point that you don't want to read or write it further..

Try imagine this: my diary posting life, it's dark and deep and desperate -- all of the symptoms of a hopeless drug addict, full of jealousy over the shinny blog posts. Diary, when came to Book #7, started to die...

... as my posting life, officially switched to blogging.

I went crazy about posting in my blog, and alhamdulilah there were a few blog posts that received some attention from other bloggers and we started to make friends. My blog-posting life went on with more and more stylish posts, and virtual glamorous feeling kicking my head every time I received a compliments from my fellow readers.

"It's all about sharing".. I can even see me smirked at my dusty diary.

.. and with my head all overwhelmed by the power of 'sharing', I signed up Facebook.

Very well, you figured out what happened next.

While my 'typical blog posts' are normally full of suspense, hiden with quests and quizes, winding a storyline leading towards revelation of a final twist; Facebook asks a simple question "What's in your mind" and make sure the answer is under a limitation of word counts.

A clash of Gen-Blog and Gen-FB? Haha u think? I don't have the problem. I was happily actively keeping things straight-forward in posting my thoughts on Facebook, while using the power of Facebook as well, to share my long-winding blog post -- what a win-win, I think I'm a genuis.

...until one day, when I sat in front of my Mac and trying to post some thoughts on my blog, I ended up finishing my thought in only 1 sentence. ONE damn sentence. Period. 


Obviously Facebook had done something to me -- it's like there's a conspiracy going on, there's no win-win -- I'm loosing to Facebook, I mean, the blogging-me is loosing to the FB-me. Now my way of writing, of speaking, of expressing, and even of accepting thoughts, are all 'under a limitation of word coutns', so you'd better be direct!

My oh my.

My blog started to get abandoned, getting as dusty as my diary used to be. And when I tried to revive it, what happened was I ended up writing loooooong booooring stuff with zero suspense, zero quests and zero quizes, mouthful of fluffing with a big yawn at the ending.

Defeated -- And thank God Facebook becomes a phenomena and a sensation, at least the blogging-me was not defeated by any Tom, Dick and Harry. Sigh. But the feeling of seeing this 'Karma' stuff going on, I started to see what will happen to the FB-me one day soon..

...or not too soon. There comes 'Instagram'.

Haha. And now you start wondering when will I call it an end. The truth is, I don't think I will. :p

Instagram shares pictures. So you see the trend now -- pen-held writing, cut-short to typing, cut-short to mini sentence posting, now cut short to word-less sharing. Fantastic. I feel like going through a timeline, hopping from generation to generation, watching an evolution taking place.

...and if anyone of you had gone through what I ve been going through, you probably understand what I feel right now -- a clarity.

I just can't wait what will take over the 'Instagram' heat, what form of sharing and expressing can happened in future, what type of media will I be using to share stuff with my son -- I'm writing on behalf of him right now on his blog (www.isaachakimi.posterous.com) and I hope he'll take it over, and take flight from there, to continue sharing his life and his thoughts, using the media or sharing mode of their generation. . .. and Papa will meet you there.

.. and being in such a clarity mode, I'm terminating this blog, while pursuing a whole conglomerate of all these somewhere, somewhere to be announced. Thanks!

My augmented future.

2 things recently crossed my life that made me felt the future can be so, so near:

1. Augmented-reality;
2. My son.

The technology of augmented-Reality answers all my childhood fantasies;

The arrival of my son in my life brings me questions about his childhood fantasies.

One is the future of my childhood, another one is the future of his childhood.

Till this moment I'm still -- addictedly and fasinatedly-- playing the augmented-reality game in my iPhone, imagining how this technology will be/had already spilled over from only game application, and then flushed its way into our daily life.

..and at the same moment I am still waiting for my son's rocket to land, imagining how his life is already enhanced with the augmented-reality technology, and how his capacity of imagination will be stretched to a level which is way beyond the vision of my generation.

I simply can't wait.

A typical race day routine of a runner

A typical race day routine of a runner:

You wake up before subuh while everybody is still soundly asleep in the weekend; get a quick bite, a cup of nescafe perhaps, put on the running jersey -- could be your own lucky charm running suit, or the one given by the race organizer.

You are ready to go. You kiss your loved one on her forehead, almost walking on your toe towards the door, cuz' you don't wanna wake anyone up. Their dreams must be the sweetest at the moment, you think.

You hit the road to the race venue. The road is dark, quiet and rather, lonely.

You send out a few text messages to your running buddy, shout out some anticipations, though in that moment, you're only surrounded by a quietness and silence.

Radio is all about pre-recorded tracks. Maybe one or two soft feeling songs will just hit right on the mood of being perfect lonely. You imagine how your car fly through the thick dark ink of chill air, while keeping an eye on the sign board before every junctions.

You drop by a masjid or surau nearby the race venue to perform your subuh prayer. Meet some other runners who are in the same race event tee you're in. Your prayer for subuh this time is a bit different. You pray for a good run, a safe run. You pray for the strength and health to complete the race course. You also pray that your loved ones would stay safe and blessed.

You reach the race venue. The crowd clears the loneliness, replaced by some kind of sense of belonging. These people whom you hardly know, are the same kind of enthusiast you are. You belong to this clan -- a clan of people who left their bed at 4 or 5am, just to run.

Flag off. You run, together with the hundreds or maybe thousands of runners. The thundering sound made by the runners' steps reminds you of the drum beats in an ancient war.

You start talking to yourself -- regardless of what distance you're running for, there's always a point where you start doing this. You imagine how your legs push you through every meters ahead, how your heart pumps doses of adrenaline into your body that perhaps making you feel a bit pain, while locking your focus to not let yourself give in to the laziness.  

You finish your run, finally. You cross the finishing line, grab the finisher medal, the drink you are dying for, and maybe one or two banana. Your body is all drained out, but the satisfaction is maximum.

You feel happy, not really because of the medal or the bananas. Some said it's because of the hormones that your heart pumped into your vein. Whatever.

You share the moment with your running buddies, or with whoever reading your twitter or Facebook wall.

You send an text message to your loved one, a lil bit of wakey-wakey and promise her a heart-warming breakfast is on the way.

You head back.  It's about 8-9am. It's weekend.

While some of your friends are still on the bed, you've already started it with a great feeling.

And you're going to repeat the same routine, again and again.

-- I dedicate this whoever went through the routine and will repeat the routine over and over again in 2012.

PS: Congratulations and many thanks to all runners around me. MMU Puma Run and KL Malakoff last weekend marked the final leg of the running event in 2011 -- I hope you conclude the year well. 


On your mark on 2012, get set -- just to run.  

The leftover..

Life has been fantastic and eventful, and it's packed with so much awesomeness to blog about -- but that's the problem. Too much, becomes too heavy to handle, and in the struggle with the time that flow too swift, he got lost and left out from the train.

..hence, he became a leftover.

**************************

...hence, I got married.

..but getting married is never a fair reason to justify a hiatus in blogging, as out there, there are bloggers who managed to blog along the the way from how they finally decided to get married -- to what they did for their wedding preparations -- until how the wedding went eventually -- and then the honeymooning blog-along -- up to the most current marriage life they are having -- and never even paused a month in blogging.

hence I truly accept the accusation of procrastination.

*************************

... He tried to catch up the train .. but you see, blogging is not only about recapping life, it is about expressing oneself's thought to life. Whatever. Point is, he was overwhelmed by all the confusions and excitements and anxiety and deep thoughts about life and about a change of life. Hence making him a failure to express accurately..

Oh yeah, in this phase, he's a leftover waiting for the next train.

*************************

Leftover is not loser.

But it might be a quit-er, like how I used to seriously think of quitting to blog, deleting all my blog posts and gaining my peace of mind -- oh the dilemma is one of the reasons for the hiatus, if that really helps to justify anyway.

************************

Back to his confusions.

So to think of it, the point is 'expressing' and 'sharing' his thought, better still, 'recapping' the life journey -- what if, he'd got someone whom he can express his thoughts to and share his sentiments with? Better still, that someone he got shared a same life journey all these while, hence there's no need of 'recapping' but 'rejuvenating'?

Better-better still, she was the reason of his expressions in his writings all these while, and now she's the co-pilot of his in the new train.

-- Point is, there's no any necessary anymore to make the lengthy blog, when he has met someone he can talk with, all night long, through out his life. No?

*******************

No.

Please, don't quit. She begged.

When I revealed my decision of deleting this blog, my wife stopped me. Up to that moment, I never thought that she was faithfully reading my blog all these while, or rather, in precise, she was faithfully, and patiently waiting for my update of this blog all these while.

Funny -- who said those couples in love never have miscommunication? :) While I'm worried that I've already bored her with my lengthy story when we are together, she's worried about I'll stop expressing myself through my words and writings.

Hence, I'll keep this blog alive, may not be kicking-ass-alively-alive but it will stay here for my thoughts, my sentiments, and my new dose of passion underneath my affection towards words and life.

---- to my wife,

you'll never be my leftover.

love.

She who cuts my hair...

"Welcome.. hey, long time no see.." She greeted, and was surprised to see the man who stepped in.

"Yeah.. been awhile... how's business?" I sat on the chair she made up for me, realizing I've asked a question which I shouldn't have asked by looking at the emptiness of the salon.

And she did not reply my question. Saved the awkwardness, indeed.

She covered my body with a white cloth with the word 'Schwarzkopf', get the rest of her tool done, looked at me in the mirror,

"So," with a very pleasant smile, she continued,

"Race? or jungle?"

********************************

She's Wendy, my 1st hair stylist when I started working in KL, and unlike the rest of the salon I dropped by to get my hair cut, Wendy's salon made me come back for a few times, for a very interesting reason besides Wendy's being such a cute and pretty girl..

Wendy has been my royal audience to listen to my mountaineering, jungle adventures and of course, my races.

*******************************

I looked back to her in the mirror, "..this one," I put on a serious face expression,"... is for my intensive training.. "

"Wu~~~~~ intensive~~~" she copied my serious face expression and acted on with a pondering gesture, "..sounds tough.. .. how should I cut it? Let me see..... hmmm ..."

.. and not even 10 seconds, we both laughed out loud.

"So, short?" She checked for confirmation.

"Yup, go short, but you know what's wrong with my ear, right?"

"... I know, I always wanted to cut it off.." She started to work on my side-burn, the sound of the razor started to tickle my ear, "so no race for this month? only training?"

"I've just finished 2 races last week... the first one we climbed up KL-Tower..."

The sound of her razor suddenly paused, "... what??" she looked at me in the mirror, "KL Tower? THAT KL Tower?"

I nodded. She showed a 'OK' face expression, switch on her razor and continued her work, "..but you guys ran up to the top of the hill beneath the tower then took the lift up to the top of the tower, I supposed.. .. or you guys finished at the main entrance of the Tower? " she mumbled.

"No.. we ran up to the top of the tower, 2058 stair cases, no lift. "

The sound of razor paused again.

*********************************************************

**********************************

"So how was it?" Wendy the scissor-hand started to show off her skill on my head.

"..yet to receive the official timing.. but I felt better than last year... and I think timing was about the same..."

"What was your timing last year"

"About 20 minutes."

I felt she paused for half a second before she took a deep breath, ".. so big prize you won then, huh?"

"No," I peeked at her quickly, knowing she's going to get shocked again, "with that kind of timing, my position was like 120th."

Zass~~ she just chopped off that little piece of my hair that she clipped with her fingers, ".. so what's the timing for the 1st place?"

".. I don't know.." It is around 13 minutes, but I dare not to get her shacked again as the scissors are still in her hand.

************************************

"Short enough?" She hold my head and lifted a little bit, ensuring me to look straight into the mirror, "huh?"

"hmmm..." I looked at my new hairstyle -- it's my standard type of new haircut -- with my two pieces of astro plate or antenna or wings or wind handles or whatever you want to name it slightly popping out.

"You want shorter?" Wendy seemed to know how to read her customer's mind, ".. you sure? Crew cut might not suit you, you that that right?"

"..then no crew cut for me, just a little bit shorter.. go ahead, for April."

"April? What's with April's training? Like a centralized training type of thing or what? Coool~"

" Nah! Just need to buckle up -- I have to train harder now. I'm not improving.. "

"...hmm... how was your second race? A night race you said?"

"Yup, Energizer Night Race.."

************************************

******************************

"Your team won the 9th place? WOW!" Wendy was impressed by the achievement made by my team 'Run KOMA Run' in 4x10km relay.

"..This is a great team... sometime I think I hadn't given out the best for my team.."

"..but I can't cut any shorter lah bro..." Wendy smiled. I appreciated her sense of humor, something hanging inside me to think of me myself being in the running team with all my running buddies.

Wendy tapped on my shoulder when I fell in deep thought. I looked at her in the mirror, she showed a 'let's get your hair washed' hand sign.

************************************

I was starring at my new image in the mirror while she use a hair dryer to dry my hair. I saw my 2 pieces of astro plate finally popped out from both side of my cheek bone and I felt like looking at a kiddo me, it's just that this one is much more skinnier and pale.

"You should eat more... more handsome if fatter.." Wendy put a non-remarkable remark. I responded with a smile.

"I hope this is short enough to suit your training needs.." she said, "..and don't disappoint your team.." She smiled. I smiled back, thinking that that was another non-remarkable remark that she used to end a conversation with a customer..

..but I was wrong when she continued and said,

"... my senior in our styling team always say this to us, 'believe that you are in a great team and with you in it that make the team greater' ... I hope this also work to a running team.."

She smiled and bid farewell. I waved my hand and left, with a warmth-filled heart.

"Believe that you're in a great team, and with you in it that make the team greater.."

A confession of a broken-hearted photographer...

Yes Datuk, I did not put this in the 'Terms & Conditions' when we made the agreement of me taking photos for your engagement day, and I think I should have mentioned this anyway:

"The photographer shall take the best pictures for the event covering the best lighting, best posing, best angle and best subject composition with his best effort, but the photographer shall also be given the exception should the quality of work is defected by the inner factor such as emotions. Client is advised to consider viewing the pictures as 'another way of expression'. "

-- In this clause, 'another way of expression' is free from the client's expectation, as it's heavily dependent on the mood of the photographer.

In other words, you should not blame me for some weird pictures I've taken which were not up to the standard of Ms Fatma The Ultimate Diva Behind Lens.

OK let put it straight -- If you find the pictures are a little bit gloomy, sorrowful, lonely or perhaps sensing the smell of heart-broken, you should, according to the clause, just accept it, because --

-- well, I hate to say this, you've got one of the finest lady in this world as your fiance.. and my heart was hence broken into pieces just because she's yours now.

Congratulations, heartily from your (heart-already-broken) photographer.

Ps:
1. Wakakakakka... psycho x?
2. Datuk, remember the conversation we talked about photo-editing? These photos are purposely touched up, just because of the ambiance I want -- so, though sometime photo editing is 'kinda' against a photographer's 'integrity', but for the sake of 'expression', feel no guilty.

"Family kat ner?"

I called a cab. I really needed a ride to take me home -- it was almost 1 am. I was supposed to reach KL around 10 pm but due to the the weather condition in KLIA, my flight needed to turned to Johor by the time we were about to touch down.

"Adik dari maner?" The cab driver asked. I must have unintentionally showed a tired face when I sat in.

"Sabah." I had a 1-week geological field trip in Sabah. Suddenly I remembered the comment that Nany left in my Facebook:

"Jalan sakan jer mamat nih!" This guy never stop traveling.

I must agree with her. Since Cape Town, I had't really got my rest.

****************************************************************

The day my Cape Town South Africa-Changi Singapore-KLIA Malaysia flight finaly touched down at around 11 am Malaysian time, I rushed back home and tried to get a quick nap to tune my 6 hours jet lag back to normal --

-- because few hours after that, I needed to head to Genting HIghland for the Genting Trailblazer Race. It was a 10 km cross mountain run and I needed to make sure my body and mind were ready.

It was a race that got me learned in a hard way.

I got a serious pain on my right knee, I got my body drained out, I got a full load of heavy strain all over my muscles;

I received a medal which only honour those who managed to finish the race, I disappointed Daus my partner in the race for not reaching top 10 but the 14th, I started to doubt my fitness level, I realized it's much more painful to let somebody down than to let your knee got injured..

..and I learned something precious about being modest and humble, and about working hard and giving out the best..

***************************************************************

"Tak penat ker ko nih?" Nurita asked me when I just came down from one outcrop and ready to climb up the next. Sometimes in a geological field trip, we as geoscientists need to look close-up to features that engraved on the rocks by nature. Look close-up here means, if the geological features or even fossils are expected to be exist up on a hill, you just need to climb.

She knew that I've been going out for a few hiking trips before.

Tired? I smiled, at the same time I was thankful that the outcrops in Sabah, though requires so hiking and climbing, are not as high as a hill, or mountain for God's sake.

...and I also realized that, my pain on my right knee miracolusly disappeared after I entered Sabah. It was still there the day before my flight to Sabah, when I was in the midst of the forest on Gunung Nuang.

******************************************************************

The becoming weekend right after the race in Trailblazer Genting, we went up to Gunung Nuang and camped there.

My muscle pains carried forward from the race was fully recovered, but not yet me knee. To be very frank my knee pain was really worrying and I was advised to see a physio and NOT to proced with any outdoor activities.

But HELLO~~~ it was a hiking PLUS camping outing on Gunung Nuang, with Abang Fariz, Daus, Kak Yus, Amie, Nurin, Zana, Ijoi, Amir, Kak Ruby, Zayin and Sabarin!!

---I just don't see the knee pain was any more important that this outing!!

********************************************************************

The cab driver was mumbling on something about Sabah, I wasn't paying attention.

I texted Kak Yus, asking for the plan for our outing the next day -- err -- the same day, in a few hours.

"7 a.m. kumpul kt KLCC." She replied, and expressing her worries about my tiredness.

I sat back, looked at my watch. 1 a.m. Thinking I still could get an ample rest before waking up at 6 a.m., and then I realized I hadn't done any packing yet. So minus half hour of sleeping time.

The cab driver had finaly kept quiet, leaving a peaceful moment for me, listening to the retro rock kapak played on the radio. The radio DJ was about to end her slot after the song because she's wishing everyone a good night and a good weekend ahead.

"Semoga anda semua dapat berehat bersama keluarga anda dan juga insan tersayang pada hujung minggu ini.." Hope you have a nice weekend with your family and your loved ones. She said.

******************************************************************

7 a.m I reached KLCC and met Kak Yus and Ikha, then Coco then Huda then Ijoi then Suhaina then Uyun then Tess. Then we met up with the rest of the gang in R&R.

Jai and CK finally managed to join us this time and I was so happy about that. I hugged both of them the moment I saw them.

Yup, Cape Town -- Trailblazer -- Gunung Nuang -- Sabah Geological Field Trip, I quickly followed up the 'back-to-back Jalan Sakan' list with Whitewater Rafting in Sungai Gopeng, then caving in Gua Tempurong the next day, with this one whole bunch of fun people.


********************************************************************

The cab was driving through a sleeping KL when the radio DJ ended her slot.

"Semoga anda semua dapat berehat bersama keluarga anda dan juga insan tersayang pada hujung minggu ini.."

Her wishes really gave me a strike.

"Tak balik kampung ker?" The driver asked, and I knew from where he thought of this question. Blame the radio DJ.

"Tak." No I hadn't gone back to my hometown for quite some time, and I'm feeling guilty about that.

Silence ensued, before he asked the question that made me smiled.

"Family kat ner?"

****************************************************************

"Penat? tak lagi kuut." I still remembered the moment I answered Nurita's question, I was feeling some kind of heart-warmth inside.

Of course this back-to-back outings were kinda draining me out, but alhamdulilah I was still feeling energetic to ride on it -- People say you wouldn't feel tired if you enjoy doing things that you're doing. I believe so, but now I think it is more than that--

-- you just wouldn't feel tired if you enjoy doing things that you're doing, and doing it with the people you love -- a bunch of people that you really really really love and care about.

These people are my other family besides the one with my parents and my sisters; they are my family that taught me so many things in life, revealed so much lights and insights of life; a family that I hang out with in almost every weekends, inside forests, mountains, and urban;

A family that embraces me as Aiman and calls me Aiman; 

A family that will certainly laugh at me for being sentimental but then give me a hug;

A family that we call ourselves: ",".

Yes, koma.

ps.. "Family kat ner?" Where's my family? we are planning to go to Gunung Buah Bunga after white water rafting in Sg Gopeng, caving in Tempurung Cave, steps-running at Batu Cave, roller skating at FRIM, waterfall hunting at Sg. Pisang, KaraOk-ing, futsal, bowling.. -- to answer the question of where's my family, I would answer --

-- out there.

A Robot named Wasabi Koma

Remember those cartoons featuring the robotic knights (like POWER RANGERS) with different strengths and they can eventually combine into ONE giant robot to fight the giant monster?

By the end of the Shah Alam Xciting Race yesterday, I sort of see this analogy between a Robot wand my team -- Wasabi Koma. .. -- Well, OK, MINUS the 'Robotic knights with different strengths' part.

I don't know how would my teammate think about this, but I really saw a ROBOT was rushing around throughout the whole race course -- A robot that composed by 4 members (NO, I DO NOT say we're robotic knights here..) namely Fariz, Zana, Coco, and myself; a robot that functioned well and did not have any major hiccups, a robot that enjoyed the race course passionately, a robot named Wasabi Koma, a robot that finally ranked the 6th out of other 34 teams in the same category.

How Wasabi Koma robot worked?

AbangFariz, first of all, is the soul and the master mind of the robot. Experienced, composed, strong and steady. If you manage to recall the robotic cartoons I mentioned earlier, Fariz is the knight in RED colour, who always sit in the heart of the giant robot, in charge of the main control of the whole operation towards the mission.

Next, Zana. The knight in PINK or YELLOW because of the feminine factor, but that doesn't mean she is relatively weak. Zana, I would say, is the eye and the brain of the Wasabi Koma robot. Clever, fine-hearted and sharp-eyed, when you need accuracy and precision to be done, she's the one to be called. Elastic striking, paintball shooting, sodoku, quiz, weaving... she'll handle them like eating nuts!

.. Chop. Back to the robotic knights or rangers cartoons, you should have noticed that besides some smart and steady and reliable characters in the team, there must also have 1 or 2 troublesome but aggressive character who always lost their way and lost their cool, and always be scolded by their team leader... -- Here come Coco and I..

Coco and I are like the arms and legs of the robot, which, I think, we couldn't function efficiently without Fariz and Zana -- Hey, wake up! How could your arms and legs function if your brain and your heart do not tell them what to hold and where to go? Considering that both of us are the youngest (hey, I am!) and 'supposed to be' the most energetic duo in the team, we always run and swim and climb and ... erm..catch ikan belacak , as quick as we could. If you still accept us as knights or rangers here, I'd say both of us maybe the rangers in BLUE or GREEN or BLACK colour.

Although there were, due to my reckless and brainless action, several incidents that had been quite frustrating (like running around Shah Alam Garden like a headless fly and causing Fariz and Zana shouted like hell...) or even ALMOST ended up like a disaster (like jumping off from a kayak and ALMOST capsizing it and then get Fariz drowned in Shah Alam Lake.... huhu..*phew*..), I still hope that nobody among our team would think that there's a big tail on the Wasabi Koma robot's body, because --

-- the official statistic proved that Wasabi Koma performed so efficiently at almost every task, and we lost our race time only because we're playing the game decently and we raced with sportsmanship.

Again, thousand thanks and thousand sorry, and as well thousand KUDOS to WASABI KOMA, for making the 6th place and raising our teammate-ship to another level! Love u lah!

p/s: Coco has a very descriptive and detailed story on the race, in his newly created blog. Drop by there and leave messages to him!

Lesson-learnt guaranteed

Ok.. let's talk about lessons that we pick up from what we do in our life. Sometimes when we give up and give in, the lessons rewarded are always far better to be remembered.

Here's a list of what happened in last 2 weeks -- a fully packed 2-week of back-to-back activities that guaranteed some lessons-learnt.

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1. Hiking up Gunung Dato (15th June)

Briefly: I forgot to mention in my last post, that I was kinda cautious during the night sk8 in Putrajaya as I had another plan of mountaineering on the next day, I mean I needed to save my energy.

Give-in & give-up: A leisure and relaxing Sunday and good rest before my 1-week volley ball intensive training came the next day.

Result: I had great fun and great sweating climbing up the top of Gunung Dato.

Lesson-learnt: No matter how busy and how packed your schedule is, always look for time to go to nature, because you'd never know how much satisfaction nature would give you in return!

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2. Malacca half day trip (15th June)

Briefly: Right after the Gunung Dato we headed to Malacca, aiming for dinner served with grilled seafood like ikan bakar, but ended up we spent most of the time looking for the correct routes and taking pictures in Studthuys and China Town.

Give-in & give-up: We could have choosen to have a slow and leisure ride home right after 8 hours of hiking up and coming down from Gunung Dato and enjoyed the rest of our Sunday.... but we did not take that.

Result: I found my sense of photography came alive in Malacca. The feeling was simply so-right! Check out more pictures in my Flickr and Tabblo below.

See my Tabblo

Lesson-learnt: A revisit to a place doesn't mean to be boring! A wonderful place can wake up our long lost inner sense of wonderfulness, I just experienced it!

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3. PETRONAS Family Carnival Sport Game: Training & Matches & Carnival (16 - 28th June)

Briefly: It was the very first time I joined PETRONAS Family Carnival despite of years of working in the company, and I kinda glad to join in as a sport player of one of the contingent which allowed me to participate with greater spirit and enthusiasm.

Give-in & give-up: Did I give up anything for joining this? Let me think... hmm... oh yeah, away from my workss in office for almost 2 weeks time to play sport that I love -- that's a huge giving up and giving in! *smirk*. Plus, I got deep tan for training under the sun, twice, daily, although I kinda like my tanned look now.. *smirk & wink*.

Result: Well I got tanned; I got annoyed from calls and sms from office; I felt guilty, somehow, for ignoring the works; We lost MOST of our games and only managed to get the 6th place out of 8.. but I got to play, I got to learned the right skill to play volley ball, I got new friends, I got fun.

Lesson-learnt: Learning the right way to play volleyball, checked; learning the right attitude of sportsmanship, checked; learning what does 'a penny of effort gains a penny' really mean, checked; learning to become a better player next time, checked.

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4. Promotional photo-shooting session for PGCE2009 (29th June)

Briefly: This was the 2nd time of photo-shooting session for the same purposes (check 'Who has the Ultimate Superpower' for some hint about the 1st session), and like wise, our models were still kiddos, which meant both fun and painful elements came side by side. Nevertheless, Lina and I were more prepared this time. We had a stronger concept, less cliche, more interesting probes like snails and bubble blower etc.

Give-in & give-up: Due to the tight schedule, I had to skip a dinner with mum and my sisters at a night before; and I couldn't attend the Grand Finale Night of PETRONAS Family Carnival as I needed to look for snails in the evening; I had to give up a real rest after the tiring 2 weeks of huff and puff during Family Carnival, so that I could finalize the concept of the photographs we need.

Result: More interesting pictures and another fun outing having fun times with super duper cuties like bubbly Dennis, pretty pinky Shasha and owh-he-got-such-a-big-eye-but-bad-temper Adly.

Lesson-learnt: Never work last minute although sometime last-minute works spark surprises and more fun! Never under-estimate kiddos cuz' you'd never know how much surprises and talents they would show. And last but not least, NEVER UNDER-ESTIMATE snails, they might be slow but they are good at hide and seek -- and you need to spent some time to find them out!

End of list. Alas!