Tuberculosis, Duck Faces and Mega Coffee

It has been sometime I lost contact with a good friend of mine who lives in the next state (two months I think). And last week I found out that he had been admitted into the hospital because of tuberculosis, that severe lung infection. With the school recently open, I was unable to set some time to meet him (I would be too tired to drive far after a tiring day at work).

Today, a few friends and I promised to give him a visit.

A couple of my friends who spent the night in my living room. I have a guest room, with a spare bed at the back of my house, but they prefer to sleep in the front. Witness how my teddy bear was choked during sleep. This is already 8 a.m. in the morning.  

 I was surprised when my sick friend instructed us to wear masks when in the same room as him. Then I remembered that tuberculosis (T.B) is a highly infectious disease. So everybody wears a mask. See the masks... they looked like duck beaks! I wore mine for five minutes and took it off because I could not breathe easily. My friends kept wearing theirs though... 

 This is my sick friend. He was very very ill before, and is way better now. In fact, days ago he was unconscious and in a very bad place. We are very happy that he is recovering well. At the time we arrived, he was about to start eating his hospital lunch, which is rather unappetizing for me (boiled vegetables and a boiled egg with some gravy). 

 We bought him some sweetened bread and he said he cannot eat them. So I took half of them back. We left after an hour an a half, me still not wearing the mask. We were required to wash our hands with soap or disinfectants outside his room.

I am so sorry that we cannot come much earlier. I am so sad that a friend had to be too ill to contact his loved ones. Hope you recover soon Noorfairul Faizal :)

We will walk and talk together soon.

I have to include this picture of the biggest cup I ever seen and bought. On our way back, we stopped at a food court and I saw a small stall selling hazelnut coffee milk. While my other friends had their lunch, I only have this to sip / drink / quaff. This cup is almost 4 times bigger than Starbucks' and 3 times cheaper! Yay to enterprising new businesses!! 

And a friend is generous enough to give us 28 grams of Calvisius caviar to take home. We finished the entire stuff in one seating, with rice! Hahaha!

p.s. - I don't post pics of my own face this time because there were none that are worth posting. pity me :(

To the Seaside With Friends

Living in a small diverse state has many advantages for me. I can go anywhere from the mall to the mountains in a short period of travelling time. Heck, we can go shopping at Parksons and then be at the foot of the highest peak in less than two hours! But this post is not about malls or mountains... 

 I love the beach. But I stopped swimming in the sea for a very very long time, mainly because I hate the heat and the sand. (So why the heck you are there in the first place?!)

I go there to unwind with friend(s). We just sit under the trees, take in the scenery and enjoying the sea breeze. Oh, and do some people watching too.

Above is a friend who insist me take his picture with the small banner-thingy soccer fans bring to the matches (I am SO not into football). 'Pahang' is his home state, some 200 km away from here.  

What else we do by the beach? Mostly we talk, while NURSING to our own smartphones. (I hate this, sometimes I asked them to put down their phones and look at ME).

What we talk about? Anything. from local crime to why-is-he-wearing-such-an-ugly-pair-of-shorts-to-the-beach?

In this photo, it was about 6.45 pm, and the sun set at 7.05 pm (info from my smart phone). There were still people swimming and doing activities by the beach. The place was not sparkling clean, but ok. If I come to the beach in the afternoon, I can witness some municipal workers cleaning up the beach, and they do this daily, methinks. 

The sun is setting...  and behind clouds. There were still people. And my friends were cranky because they were hungry. We only stay at the beach for an hour, and rarely more than that. Usually after, we may seek food at the nearest restaurants. Some of the best dishes I know are from these eating places by the sea. But this is NOT a food blog :)

I had something minor done to my kitchen and will blog about it soon. I was unable to cook for a few days because of this, it made me miss my own cooking, ha!

The Case of The New Bookcase and Missing Books

This bookcase is actually a combination of four cheap plywood cabinets I glued together with some strong adhesive. That was 3-4 years ago. 

I've read all of these books and put my action figures / robots / Transformers above them for display. Too cheap to buy a glass case :P 

 Recently I bought this ultra light 5x3 from the supermarket and built it up myself. The materials are only plastic fasteners, steel rods and canvas. It took me more than an hour to finish, although I could ask for help from my two friends who were only watching with much amusement.

I moved the books from the old bookcase to the new one the next morning. I put my favourite books by the late author Sir Terry Pratchett on the highest shelves; and the rest of the fantasy stuff according to their respective authors; Salvatore, Tolkien, Terry Brooks, Eddings etc.

And I realized I LOST FOUR BOOKS!

They are the first three of the Chronicles of Narnia; 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe', 'Prince Caspian' and 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader' by C. S. Lewis. The fourth book is the third volume of The Dragonlance Tales 'Love and War.'

This come as a surprise for me because those books were buried deep BEHIND the rest and who would took them? My friends and immediate family do not read English fantasy books for fun.

p.s. - I did some thinking.... who would inherit my books one day? None of my relatives enjoy what I do and I am not someone who easily donate my stuff elsewhere. I might ask to have all my worldly stuff burned in my will someday.... 

Time Wasted and Wasting People

Yesterday a friend wanted me to drive him to town for some errands. He wanted me to pick him up at 4.00 pm, and graciously I said OK.


And then at almost 4.00 pm, he texted me and said if I can come much later, say 4.20 pm because he had to meet some people who owed him money. And again I said, OK.


Came 4.20 and I was already at the designated spot, he texted me again to wait until he arrived because the people who promised to meet him didn't show up yet.


This time I didn't say OK, and you can say I was royally pissed.


I hate waiting for people. Because all my life, very few people waited for me.
WHY?
Because I am ALWAYS on time.

Classy people are rarely late, and as I literally have CLASS(es) (as a teacher), I am not known to be late. That's why I secretly look down upon tardiness, no matter who you are. That hundred ringgit worth of watch on your wrist is not only a fashion statement, it also tells time.

Once a long long time ago, a dear friend made me appreciate my very own personal time. He had me waiting for him 5 hours, while he was sleeping away the afternoon, and I only knew about this when his mother picked up the phone and told me his son had just woke up, and was still lazing around the house, when he called me much earlier saying he was already halfway to see me.

It really broke my heart.... (and this guy never see me again)

After that, I made it a personal agenda to tell my friends and (fewer) new friends how I HATE waiting. You make me wait, better have a very valid reason WITH proof. And I lost some friends this way.... but hell, its much better this way. You don't respect me, and I don't have to keep you as a friend.

p.s. - I was not angry with my earlier friend as he KNOWS my wrath is akin to Smaug, the Dragon. I told him to waste his friends, saying if they owed money from you, you have actual power over them, not the other way around. (Lessons over money lending soon....)



We, Teachers are under Attack! (because of the bloody haze!)

This godawful haze, originated from Indonesia has created many problems for the neighbouring countries. The rise in respiratory illnesses spiked this time of the year. A lot of outdoor events, some major and important are also cancelled because of the worsening air quality.

And schools were closed for days too..... People should stay indoors for health reasons.

This created a new problem, for parents at least. When schools are closed, where do you put your children for care? Most parents cannot bring their children to work, and the hyper active ones will bring major headaches without supervision.

So where do the parents go to vent their anger and frustration? The Internet, especially FACEBOOK.
Who they blamed? The TEACHERS for closing schools.

The war between these narrow minded parents and teachers online has gone critically viral these couple of weeks.

I must make this very clear; The decision to close school was made by the Ministry of Education, not us lowly teachers. A directive was issued for the schools to be closed for certain times in certain areas. And the schools were closed not by whim, but to save a great many children from travelling to school in hazardous situation. (So why blame the teachers? We don't create the haze to close schools for pleasure). 

Some of the comments by these frustrated parents are dangerously scathing. Other than blaming the teachers for closing schools, they accused most teachers to be improperly trained  and not really serious about the well being and education of their children.

And some comments are seriously not proper to be typed here.

Teachers retaliated (including yours truly) by pointing how narrow minded these adults were. We teachers ARE NOT glorified nannies, to care for your children while they work.
We educate and improve minds and body. A school is NOT a daycare centre.

(My actual nuclear bomb; If you cannot care for your own children for a couple of days without us, you have no business whatsoever to breed!)

About the level of education of teachers, those of us with high levels would seek these misguided parents in their Facebook domain, challenging them to see whose education is higher. (Mind you, we teachers got so many university grads and even PhDs. ) After heavy fire, many FB accounts of said victimized parents were terminated by the owners.

It maybe petty and bullying. but WAR IS WAR.

There are still a great many parents who thanked us teachers during these hours. A lot of the people understand, and are still happy to send their children to school, trusting us with the education and growth. For this kind of parents, we teachers are very happy to accept the responsibility.

Now picture time; (something to show that a teacher is not only good in class, and I already posted this in my FB account to prove)

This is me calmingly waiting for something....

Here, in a hospital ward, at midnight...... (seriously, after midnight)

For this student of mine, who had his foot stitched because of an accident at the hostel room. 

We are TEACHERS, and We do Serve.

But We are NOT your damn NANNIES!

p.s.
- Facebook can be a very very bad place to be when people with limited intellect decided to share their piece of mind :P

Needful Things and Wanting Stuff

I have just started a new hobby four months ago.... which is collecting MONEY. (You may also call it saving, you boring people you).

Usually by almost the end of every month, I would have some cash to spare and always ended up spending it all up before payday. I know its a very very bad habit, and I did waste thousands upon thousands on the little things that amused me.... but still, I think they were well spent. I am going to be 40 soon and it would be stabbing on my own proverbial back if I don't save some for the rainy days....

(I actually LOVE rain and the cold weather, mind you).

So since four months ago I set aside quite a significant amount of money (in fact, I transferred it to another bank for NOT ease of use). The amount I set aside monthly is always the same, for me to remember. And still at the end of every month, I still have some surplus.... (what the hell have I spent on before this?!)

And now I wondered.... if I started saving YEARS ago, I might be as rich as Scrooge McDuck or Toupee Trump!

Yesterday my mom gave me a lot of cash money, my small share from the sale of one of our houses. I immediately put the money into my collection bank! A few friends who know my new hobby said I should put it in some trust fund for maximum profit. I think I will do it later next year.

For now.... other than new PS4 games (fortunately the titles I really like are very few in between) I don't want anything else. But I NEED to repair the gates, and my house sink. That will not cost an arm or a leg :)

If I work much harder, I can accumulate more money... That's why I don't hate rich people because I know most of them work hard for it. I am just lazy, and only make so and so.

p.s. - I was thinking what to post earlier as I was browsing through your blogs.... :)

Almost A Year Without Blogging....

Facebook kills blogging.....

I used to blog frequently once. And made it a point to post a few entries every month without fail. I met many good people here, read their blogs and commenting on their posts. And they did the same with mine too.

Then enter Facebook.... (I don't do any Instagram, Tweeter etc as I see no point in having more social accounts.) Snapping a picture and updating it online is SO easy with my mobile phone. Updating a status anytime, anywhere and anyhow is a breeze, with some clicks on the digital keyboard.

I was enthralled, like the millions of people all over the planet.

Facebook is king. Everybody must have an account. Everybody must be connected there. There is no escape.

Once upon a time I believed that e-mail @ the internet killed snail mail. I had some penpals all over the globe and we wrote religiously to each other MONTHLY. As the age of the internet peaked in the late 90s, I found it was tedious to write long, descriptive pages. This sentiments must be shared by my penpals as we all drifted from each other.... and I have none left.

All this for the sake of progress (?)

Now I think I should start blogging all over again. (Yes yes I know some of you have heard this before). I will try to limit my time on Facebook, and give blogging a go once again.

May the Force be with me. Yay!

Fist bump.... Fa la la la la!

I will be 36 this coming 3rd of December.

36.... still cannot believe I am approaching the BIG 40. I still remembered when I was in my mid 20s and wished to live forever. It seems like yesterday....

Anyhow. Life has its ups and downs. I am sorry I wasn't able to blog it all here, mainly because I found that Facebook is so much easier to use. (Click on the blue F icon and hey presto!) I feel so guilty of leaving my blog for so long.

Blogging was once a passion. And if a passion dies, usually because it was replaced by something else altogether. But I think to let blogging off just like that is kind of impossible.
I spent too much time on it before, typed thousands of words and uploaded dozens of pictures. I got some major memories etched here, and those will refuse to go away in the middle of the night.

So, here we go again (for the third time).

In need of inspiration...

Cici from Liquid Mind, Sanguine Soul replied to my comment on her blog thusly;

"Always good to hear from you. How are you doing? Still have same roommate? Still in the same house? How is the job?"

I feel bad about my mood swings to blog. I used to enjoy blogging so much, I'd blog almost everyday a few years ago. Life is not that boring, yet I the fire to tell everyone via long words is almost diminished.

I blame Facebook for this!

I haven't opened my email for quite sometime, mainly because there is nobody (interesting) to correspond with. So when I saw Madam Cici's message.... I say what the heck, let's put this in an entry.

"How are you doing?"

Truthfully, this is the saddest week I had this year. One of my three ferrets died suddenly. Please do not ask why, if it was because of my negligence or was it truly his time. I had him since he was 2 months old in September 2009. Disco (his name, a male sable) was a bit poorly for a young ferret, yet when he had grown, was more active than his normal mate, Kaos (another male sable). I will miss the hyper guy greatly...

This picture is of the two of them in 2009. Disco is on the left, Kaos on the right. They were a few months old then.

"Still have same roommate? Still in the same house?"

:) Yes. I still live with the same housemate, in the same house I bought for my ex-wife a long time ago. He is now working as a registration officer for a local university, a huge leap from his previous post as a front desk officer at a holiday resort.

I do love my house, but I hate to clean the bit of land it has around it. Two night ago, I burned some empty boxes on a spot where the weeds were too high for my liking. I poured on some petrol, light it up with a lighter and whoosh! I burnt a bit of the hair on my leg from that stunt.
Fortunately I didn't burn any hair or eyebrows, ha! (Notice to myself; petrol is not your friend to start a fire).

I might gain a new housemate in 4 months time. But that is a news for the future :) 

"How is the job?"

For those people who is new to me, or simply have forgotten, I am a Science Teacher by trade.
Life is NOT GOOD for teachers this new century it seems.... Every fault that can be found in a students can be blamed at the school or the teachers. 

Your child is stupid. Blame the teachers for not teaching well. Your child is rude. Blame the teachers for not telling them off. Your child is depressed. Blame the teachers for pressuring the students with homework etc. Your child plays a lot. Blame the teachers for not handling the class well enough. Your child is caught for a misconduct. Hell, no, its not my child fault, it is you who didn't monitor your students well. And it goes on and on.

Sometimes I wonder what is the POINT to have parents?

I love my job, yes, teaching. But sometimes I wondered why people do these things they do.

No wonder why they say a teacher's job is next to sainthood (a good teacher anyway).

----------------------------------------------------

I wish you a good afternoon. Now i will continue my day wondering what to do this happy school holiday. (Yes, I am at home, not working, and bored!) Thanks for reading :)

A Year of Not Blogging at All...

My Asus notebook computer died on me a year and a half after purchase... I was unable to do my teaching reports, so I borrowed a friend's netbook computer.

But said netbook computer was painfully slow. And it took 5 hours of my time to delete, clean everything and streamline the files.... yet it only improved marginally and that was not good enough for me.

So yesterday I went out to buy a new computer.... Just to do work with because I already have my iPad and phone for fun and the internet. To make the story short, I bought a netbook instead of a laptop computer. I already knew that netbooks are not as powerful as laptops, but what the heck, I was feeling cheap. And it was PINK too. Oh yes, I have no problem sporting pink to the masses :)

And now, I think it is proper to start blogging again. My new computer is rather light, (and PINK!) so I may take it around places soon. My iPad is next to useless for blogging and my smartphone is darn to small to properly blog on with.

I should blog a lot more and do less Facebooking.... urm.....

Murderous carnivorous me

This only happened some few hours before;

The bandit leered from under his curved horned helmet. A miasma of unholy stench could almost be seen emanating from his unwashed body. In his arms, swinging lazily under expert control, was a huge broadsword. Every bit as ugly as its master.

"You are unarmed, boy. And alone. Tis a most wonderful opportunity to strip you clean of any valuables. And then mebbe we let you go unharmed, boy," Mr Smelly said, walking unconcerned towards me with the huge, huge meatcleaver of his.

"Oh come on Bobo, just get over with the kid." The bandit had a woman partner, who stayed further back, near the rock crops of this fantastic scenery. Unlike Bobo, who was heavily armoured like a rhino, the woman only wore leathers, with a cruel bow ready in her hands, a dagger at her hips, and quivers ready.

She may stood further aback to avoid smelling her fragrant partner, but I knew better, she was ready to support Mr Bobo with her arrows if the victim got creative....

"So what shall it be, boy? Put down everything you own and as I am feeling rather charitable today, we shall let you go. We are feeling charitable today, eh Agnes?" the big boorish man nodded to his partner over his shoulder.

"Yeah, whatever Bobo," Agnes put her right leg upon a rock as she un-notched her readied arrow and put it back into the quiver. Easy target, me.

I unhitched my backpack from behind, but I refused to let it drop to the ground. Bobo the Smelly Bandit was not impressed with with this silent bravery. Agnes shifted her legs and waited with arms crossed further behind the advancing bandit.

"Now lookit here boy... We can do this the hard way if you want."

I dropped the bag.

"Good boy. Now...."

And Mr Bobo was slammed backwards by a double dose of fire and lightning from my outstreched hands.

"I am not your BOY, Bobo!" as a larger gout of flame erupted from my left palm. And for good measure a deadly slew of sparks from my right electrified the bandit's armor. He lit up like a Christmas tree.

It only took seconds to turn the bandit into a pile of ashes and molten steel.

Agnes screamed and turned to run.

"Battle mage. NO!"

A petrification spell hit her hard on the back, lifted her well of the ground for a couple of feet, before crashing among the bushes."

I dragged the late Bobo's broadsword to where Agnes lay unmoving. Her eyes were wide with horror, pleading me for mercy.

"I bet you that I don't feel so charitable today, eh Agnes?"

I swung the black sword towards her neck.


---------------------------------------- end.

So you may guess that I spent a lot of time with my games, and you are right. Games are being horrificly more real these days, to the chagrin of many parents and responsible adults. But heck, I thank the people who made dreams come true to many guys out there. It's an outlet, you see?

Or you prefer me out there with a machete, cutting people for money (after school)? :P

Anyway, just got back from Tesco, and bought myself a few kilograms of beef. I have my freezer stocked full with meat. I love my veges, but cannot suppress the T-Rex inside of me.

I love meat. Yum.

p.s. - Sorry for neglecting to visit your blogs dear friends. I promise to remedy this soon.

My English Is Rotten.

The first time I chat on the internet was with this American guy, in 1998. I was still in the university, and he said my English was even better than anyone he knew around him. That was high compliment, coming from a person from an English speaking country.

Then I got to know a few penpals, from Germany, Papua New Guinea and Canada. We exchanged letters (yes, that's what penpals do, this unfortunately extinct hobby) and we have no problem understanding each other because we use proper English in our correspondences.

I lost them all when emails became the next best thing....

I read excessively. Sometimes walking and reading at the same time. (I walked everywhere because my dad thought it would be dangerous for me, even to ride a bicycle in the city). I stopped reading books for fun in the national language since I was 14. To me, the description and expression in English seems far superior.... Or it was just me.

Anyway, I write BETTER than I speak. Nobody is quite willing to strike a full English conversation with me, to my regret. Even chatrooms nowadays are filled with short-handed words that will make any honourable English teacher cry. (Like today, I just learnt that NSFW means 'not suitable for work').

Oh, and I used to stutter when I was very young.

I feel like my grasp of the language is slowly slipping. I don't have much time to read properly now, and I really hope I can finish all the ebooks I downloaded recently. Being here, reading all your blogs helps a lot.

So sorry if my recent entries are without pictures. I am not sure how to add them using this iPad of mine....

The Rarest Sight In Town...

This morning, my housemate asked me to accompany him to the bank to ask for a loan. As I have nothing to do at home, I obliged and took a book with me (David Eddings' The Tamuli Trilogy, all 485 pages), knowing that I'll get bored waiting for him at the bank. I didn't want to use my iPad @ Paddington because... some might say it would be SO pretentious :P And I just got it, didn't wish it to get stolen yet...

So he parked his car a few hundreds meter from the bank and we continued on foot. As we were crossing the road, something hit me... Here am I, walking to the bank holding something that I've never seen anyone carrying in public, ever! Not this town, this district, even the big city. A story book!

This made me laugh out hard, in the middle of the busy road. (Yes, I do that sometimes, suddenly laughing at hidden jokes)

My housemate asked me why and I told him. He had no comment on this.

I love books. And I envied those of you who lived near good bookstores and huge public libraries. I'd hate you even more if you got SO MUCH money to buy every book you desire.

Books (that I want) are quite expensive here.... Cheap local books, mainly with tales of love and crappy matters are of no interest to me. Well, one man's poison might be another's bread eh?

I've seen people who read EVERYWHERE on tv, at the bus stand, waiting for their turn at the bank, picnic etc. A culture which reads is a great culture. 

The first verse in the Holy Quran ever dispatched by Gabriel to the Prophet begin as thus; "Read! In the Name of your Lord, Who has created all that exists." This shows that even God has a very high opinion to the culture of reading...

Ah, this is me rambling again.... Maybe the book owners of Malaysia read their books exclusively INDOORS, in the private safety of home or whatever. ebooks are not really popular here because they are so hard to get for the less computer savvy people.

Out of 10 youngsters here, 4-5 would have mobile phones in their hands... The age of MTV had killed radio stars. Cell phones had replaced books for the role of mobile amusement.

What a world we live in...

p.s. - anyway, the bank was CLOSED as the 1st of January fell on Sunday. We forgot about this and spent the rest of the morning amusing ourselves at the nearest Tesco...

Needful Things

I already have a laptop computer, but I am using my housemate's because it is the more powerful to play games with. I do not see the need to buy a better computer.

I already have a car. It's big, dusty, battered and not as shiny as it used to. Some people asked me why I didn't buy a new car. I don't see the point to owe more money from the bank.

I have clothes that might be a decade old, yet I still wear them. Why throw away good garments as long as they aren't torn? I RARELY go shopping for clothes, even for any festivities.

I love my boots. I wear construction boots to school. I started to wear boots when I was first posted in the backwaters of Borneo. That was 8 years ago... I gave away that first pair of boots to a favourite student of mine and bought another one in 2007 (brown). I am still using the same pair, but usually I wear the black pair, the one I got for my wedding in 2008.... Years of wear. Gosh, they ARE durable.

The thing is.... why we need to be so wasteful? The last time I met my youngest brother (last week), I saw he had a new pair of shoes, a new backpack, some rather expensive clothes and toiletries that I would think twice before buying. And he has not finished his study yet (insert 'parasitic organism' here). My mom paid for all that. This is sad because if I had a say in this, he would get a single penny from Mom.

Be grateful with what we have. I do not need that wonderful tablet computer because my ol laptop is still working. I don't need a new cat because I already have one and three ferrets (two ferrets were given to me by desperate owners with problems). I don't need those shiny set of pots and woks because my steel pan is still great in fry ups. And of course, just because you have a bad-ass sound system you think I'll run crying back to Mommy.

It's nice to have new, expensive stuff. Everybody wants them. But do we really have the NEED?

...........

Oh OK, I might buy a new PlayStation 3 soon. But I NEED it! It has been a year since my ol PS3 was not in working order, and the games in the laptop were rather sketchy because of the average machine.

Oh, and I might NEED that train set I had my eyes on...

And those collars for my cat. She NEEDS it.

Tra la la la la.

p.s. - That's me sitting on the carpet. We have chairs in this house but I always prefer to sit on the floor while watching tv, playing computer games, eating, heck, almost everything. See? Save the wear and tear of my sofas and dining table set :P

Post Midnight Musings....

It's 12.26 am in a hot and balmy night.
A tea candle burning in an IKEA glass thingy next to me.... just because I enjoy the flame.
Why I was absent for 4 months?
Was it the infamous writer's block? Swallowed by the dastardly Void? Or just plain lazy?
I don't know, but I gave a reason like 'bad internet connection' to some friends / people.
Which is COMPLETELY true.

I did a lot of interesting things these past few months....
Might talk about it here, if people are still interested. If not? Ah, that's so metaphysical.

Am now watching several guppies swimming in a Japanese-made aquarium (small, yet very functional).
Love guppies, as they are so interesting to watch - colours and dynamics.
My love set this up for me this afternoon. :)

I am bored....
I'll wake my ferrets up to accompany me for a while.
By poking at their tummies, really.
They sleep like logs.
Oh, and I have another ferret, a female.
Will post their pic soon. :)

I might be back soon enough.

Wait for it.

I'm Bloody Beautiful and There's Nothing You Can Do About It

Teaching percent : 67 %
Viciousness level : Minimum [feeling nice. An overall wonderful day :) ]

This morning, we had a photography session for the school magazine. I had forgotten all about it, even though we were told about it last Friday. Fortunately I was presentable, with my maroon shirt, black tie and Dockers trousers. But I stood out still....

You see; I was wearing a white belt with a red stripe. Male teachers are supposed to wear dark coloured belts, of leather or whatever.

I tried to be inconspicuous, but a colleague handed me a digital camera and asked to take all the pictures with him! Meaning; I was out right at the front of EVERYBODY. I saw tongues wagged and even the Principal gave me a puzzled look. Bugger.

Later that morning, as I hung out with a colleague, she said;
"You looked very gay today."
"And why is that?"
"The way you dress these days, and what's with the white belt?"
"Does a belt makes somebody gay? I do look good now than way before right?"
"I admit, you look much better now. You used to be quite scruffy."
"Scruffy.... right...."  
These women... I know they have heard of metrosexual men, but decided not to acknowledge it.

And I even pretended to be 'stupid' much much later in the staff room by asking some female teachers about make-ups and face foundations. They did answer my questions, while giving me queer glances which I was really used to - being a weird person from the start. They even told me examples of cosmetics they are using.... oh the things you must hear in the name of curiosity.
"Do you wear make up now?" one of them asked.
"No, and still I have flawless skin than most people here."
A conceited reply, yes. But it is the unchallenged truth. Narcissistic me 8)

Anyway Technobabe still finds it hard to believe I wear construction boots to school :) And here's my two pairs of boots. I usually wear the black pair (aptly named Black Hammer) while the brown leather (Men's Club) was neglected by me for almost half a year. But I wore them to school today! FYI, Black Hammer was one of my wedding dowry from almost 3 years ago.

Reasons for wearing them? Indestructible. Once I literally kicked through a wooden door with Black Hammer (in a fit of rage, in class, something to remember eh?). Sometimes, unlucky students were kicked too. Secondly, they hear me coming clearly - even from afar. I walk like a tank, a student once said. :fire

Hello There People, I am Back!!

It is good to be back and thanks for your kind words in the previous post. :)  I am well, and feel a lot better after spending some quality time with my friends and pets these few days :party  :mj

Me and one of the very few best friends I have. I visit the beach now and then, just because I love a windy place to go people watching :) Don't let the purple shirt misguide you, he is actually a very nice guy. I always persuade him to throw away the offending piece of clothing but he refused - it attracts attention, he says :v

The Stars of the show - my mega ferrets!! Big, cuddly and ferociously searching for affection. Now I am able to bring BOTH ferrets to the beach when I finally got another harness, second hand it was. Kaos and Disco has very different temperament each, but still they attract huge amount of onlookers. If the kiddies got to close, we just let the harness slack so my ferrets can chase them away :P The sight of my ferrets baring their teeth and running towards them always make children run - but for ferrets owners, that is NOT aggressive behavior, the ferrets are actually SMILING and wanna play with you! [sadly, the lack of knowledge builds great walls against understanding]

This is an experimental shot taken with my digital camera. I call this pic 'Turn Left, Turn Right', after a romantic movie with the same tittle. My friend Firdaus has a snapshot camera, and he took some nice Lomography pictures with it. I was a model in some of them :) and gosh, I do LOOK GOOD! ha ha ha! :k I will try to scan some of his pics soon with his permission here.

And this last picture I took at our school's field is for you readers to think about.... Two workers were diligently cutting grass using petrol-consuming machines in the afternoon heat. And they took forever!! [FYI, they finished it in 2 days]. Where I was studying in 1990's, our school got THREE HUGE fields (not counting the netball courts) and only one gardener to do the job. So he rode a motorized lawn mower and finish the job in less than 2 hours! (Really, I was watching him, as I was sitting idly by the fields one afternoon a long long time ago).
The moral of the story; Bad economics at work here. The job can be done faster, cheaper and with fewer manpower with a bit of investment. But why it cannot be done? Because for the sake of HUMANITY. Let's give some luckless people jobs, the poor poor sods.
I call this an IMMENSE waste of time, energy and money. And also an insult to the thinking mind.
Do please tell if you disagree. :angel  

Happy Independence Day Malaysia!

I consider myself as a bloody patriot, easily goes to flame when hearing / witnessing any insult against the country or what it stood for. If it was up to me, SEVERAL individuals would be deported out of the country, their assets seized and many many more thrown into jail with the key conveniently tossed into the Straits of Malacca.

History is the best teacher. The fall of mighty empires always started from within. I hope the rest of the good citizens of Malaysia realized this. And the foolish bastards who created chaos and discord among the people, I hope you lot rot in Hell, and your names printed in our school history books as traitors to the Motherland.

See, I just set myself on fire again. :)

Tomorrow, the 31st August is the 52nd Independence Day. Malaysia Boleh!

Musings Near Midnight

I always consider myself to be a morbid and heartless person. So I can imagine killing people I hate in real life and not feeling bad about it later. I don't believe in the crap that murdering can tarnish your soul. Or something even more foolish; Killing can tear the soul into two (from the Harry Potter series).

But this post is not about ending lives (before the rest of you run screaming to the nearest police stations). This is only a self study of me by my ownself. If I was born during the Middle Ages, I never see myself as a great king of people. I'd rather be someone behind the throne, preferably a Duke's or even a lowly baron's. [Working for royalty can be hazardous for the health, and the lowly nobles do appreciate their people better because they cannot spare any].

And what shall I do around the place? Of course I am the bloody executioner! Oh and the Inquisitor too! Two very unpopular jobs in any castle, any country, any century. [Thus they wore masks to avoid being recognized. It's very hard to go to the local market for a plum bun when everybody ran away from you].

Bah, I am rambling... lack of fresh air in this humid room.

Eh, come to think of it... Lawyers and tax gatherers are more hated by the people. Urm.

Anyway, back to chopping heads and torturing people. I think death by hanging is SO BORING. But people like to watch a bit of some hemp fandango of the dying man. I think as there was no tv back then, a hanging must be prime entertainment for the peasants. Beheading is much more interesting. We can lay bets on how far the fountain of blood goes. :)

Cutting people's body parts off bit by bit is somewhat I learn from the many mafia movies I watch. It will do you wonders having your own fingers in your shirt pocket WITHOUT the hands in it. I can always make people sing like a canary (if I can get away with the process).

I think the iron maiden is so cool. The torture device, not the girl, ok?

Wha? wha? Who wrote this??!! (in mock horror!!) I swear I didn't type this at all.

Of Ice Cream and Brain's Hypothalamus

These past few weeks I've been making a habit of driving to any convenience shop and buy myself an ice-cream on a stick. I used to buy ice-cream cones but lately I found out that the sticks taste better and have more variety. For now, I am in love with anything with vanilla in it. Cherry and mango with vanilla, it might sound strange but surely taste delicious!

As I am losing interest in food (as I expressed in the previous post) my attraction to cold drinks and dessert is as strong as ever. My thirst-centre, somewhere in the brain hypothalamus is somewhat malfunctioned since I was in my younger 20s. So I have this constant thirst and would down a huge jug of water in less the time you would finish a cup of tea.

It's a curse yes, to be thirsty all the time.

I am a person with a higher than normal temperature. Literally a hot person - excuse the pun. So I drink cold and iced beverages to quench the unquenchable thirst most of the time. I am the person with the highest visiting frequency to the refrigerator at any day. I like cold places and love rainy days. (We don't have snow here, but I can still wish).

Back to the ice creams... A comfort food for me, now more than ever. :) I don't buy ice cream in tubs anymore for no apparent reasons. Maybe I am too bad a person to share.