Sudden Poem

Dreaming of you 
Thinking about us
Is this feeling true?
Heavenly I trust?

Being together
Do nothing much
Just sitting near
Feelings gush

You are the apple of my eye
The fountain in my garden
The oasis of my desert
The pearl of my ocean
The sun in my sky
The diadem of my heart
The best mistake ever
The perfect decision

The love of my life...


(5 minutes to make)

The Weeks in Pictures

It's the rainy season, until October. It rained every day, and I like it very much because I prefer the cold. This is taken at 730 am in the morning, when the school was about to start. My plants get more than enough water and the weed grew like, oh well, weed. Have to pay somebody to have them cut soon... 

The bane of them all.... Science presentation. I took the month off teaching and forced my students to do it instead. The result? TERRIBLE. But they appreciate me a lot more when they understand how difficult it was to make people understand, making the complicated, simpler i.e. be a teacher.

(Most presentation were show-and-tell. They read from texts and were not able to describe the process clearly, or even methodically)

I am teaching again as usual, after warning them to never ever get in my way again while teaching. 

They agreed, readily. Lesson learned.

Students at the assembly square.... on a Friday.

My multi coloured chili plant. I love this plant, as it flowers and produced chilies everyday.  My thai basil and mint are doing ok. But my basil plant died of fungus infection (damn it!). I may want to but some flowering plants soon.

I love sunflowers, but was not able to grow some. 

This was taken during a fire drill sometime ago. The firemen talked about how to extinguish certain type of fire, using two types of fire extinguishers. I was chosen as the teacher representative to extinguish the petrol-fueled fire in the picture.

It's a 'meh' experience. (Arson was a childhood hobby).

Me and my niece at a wedding reception. I drove my mom here, her friend's son had this ceremony at a new university hall.

My niece Qasrina is having ice cream as dessert. When I was her age, we couldn't get any ice cream., because it was never part of the menu. But as weddings got bigger and more exorbitant, the menu and decor reflect thus.

People eating in the hall, wedding reception.

The place where the bride and groom shall take their place for the guest to admire, see. This is also called sitting-in-state ceremony @ 'bersanding'. 

The set up in this picture in typical for a big wedding, where smaller weddings may have 1/3 of this size.

The ultra luxury weddings may even have living flowers and armies of followers to company the newlyweds on stage.

(I rarely wait for the bride and groom, I like to leave early before the rush) 

The food. Typical high cholesterol, glorious blood clotting food!

Fat is flavour!

And lastly, some of my students accompanying me to eat at some nearby food shop. I do this sometimes when I stayed in school as warden for the day.

To answer why I am infamous to some people.... it is mostly my own fault. I was a fiery teacher who spewed profanity whenever I don't get my way, even in class. Not only my words were harsh, I ruled all my classes with an iron fist.

Students tolerate me, hate me, or whatever.

And these students will tell their parents, and their parents will contact the people above - why is this monster teaching our children?!!

I don't know where you come from.... But if a teacher cannot scold you for anything... what will you end up being? Spare the rod and ruin the children.

But no worry. The new Government, with the new Education Minister is accelerating the rot by restricting teachers a lot. "The students cannot be harmed emotionally. The students cannot be scolded. No punishment will ever meted. etc "

Don't worry, it was the end of Fiery Ramzu. Well Hello Docile Discipline Teacher!   

Introvert Me, Retrovert You

I remembered when I was in primary school, I was a really shy and silent boy. I even stuttered, and the problem lengthened way to secondary school, and made me speak rather fast in presentations to hide this embarrassing flaw.

I have no problem standing in front of any rows, mainly because I have less fear than many, yet I didn't call attention to myself by being too brilliant or very very stupid.

I found that I am more reckless nowadays. I talk louder and sometimes criticizing my superiors. I became relentless...

What happen to that quiet guy who don't make waves?

Recently in a district teachers gathering, I grabbed the mike and spoke for 20 minutes about the future of education, my own experiences and other grievances I can think of.
They were entertained.
I was drunk with power, ahahahahaha! 

Now those high and mighty in the Department know my name. Oops! (Was already infamous with reports of my radical mouth in class and school).

Why am I always envisioning that I will die in a huge fiery blast?

Must blog on.... Oh God give me the STRENGTH to go on! (Dramatic stance)

It has been almost a week and i have wondered off the trail again. Sniffing the wonderful scent of wild flowers (procrastination) and catching beautiful sparkly butterflies (idiot stuff) by the shadowy meadows of my mind (aka lots of sleep).

I am listening to music using my Bluetooth headphone, in the staff room, while waiting for a class in 30 minutes time. Ehem, I am actually doing teacher's work here, even though unrelated to the subject I am teaching, which is Science. Some students actually read my articles here, though they have a mighty hard time understanding as I don't really use 'simple words' (and they rarely use dictionaries nowadays...) And understandably, none will leave a comment as I will face and comment on them later in school, face to face. The power of fear, eh? Now let's photo - blog!

This is the school field at 650 in the morning. The warden house, next to the hostel has this view and as I have to wake up early to see the students off to school, I might as well snap a few pictures of the sun NOT rising yet. I sleep in school like once or twice a week.

My cat, Nabilah @ Kiki. A domestic long hair. The cat in the previous post belonged to my housemate. Cats are very clingy when you leave them for long hours. I was almost knocked down a few times when the kitties ran between my legs. Had some urges to slap them but come to think of it... that is one of the few ways they could show their love.

She will sit on the floor like this in front of me as I watch the television or play my games.

And this is the way up to school from the hostels. It's 720 and my prefects in blue are ready to take the names of latecomers. Everybody (except teachers) must walk up the hill, and those with transports have to leave them by the hostel parking lot. 

Come to think of it, this is about the ONLY proper exercise these students do on a daily basis.

This is a class of mine (14 years old), in the laboratory.

Since last month, I decided to take the backbench literally and made them teach to me and the rest of the class. All classes I teach are affected by this radical change; Sir Ramzu will no longer teach and tell. I will tell you why, soon.

And lastly, introducing my latest hobby! Stand-gardening! (Or standing while gardening, because I do not wish to have a back ache) or please rename this properly for me.

I use the place next to my gate to put some pots with plants at chest high. 

The one you see now is a chilli plant, a thai basil, a stevia, a mint, one bulbous and a mulberry. I should relocate the mulberry to a larger pot, as advised by a friend if I want it to bear fruits. I had to put my other basil plant inside the house because the Malaysian sun is just too harsh on it. Now it stays next to the kitchen sink (picture pending).

Yay! Another post done! Will do my rounds on your blogs soon enough.

My class is about to start soon :)  

Long Time No Siege... (Fav Age of Empires meme)

It has been ages since I blogged.
I used to blog because I love to write about stuff and maybe I also love to have people commenting on my article.
And I blog to increase my proficiency in English... as nobody around me talk the language (they understand, but they don't have the drive).
Sometimes I impose on my students, by talking or asking questions in English, which they rarely reply back in the same language...

Oh well.

The rise of technology makes people lazy (except to those who use the tech for money of course). I have buckets of books that I haven't read, which I religiously bought at the book-fairs.

I used to read 2 thick books a month. Now hardly so!

So ashamed of myself...

I am VERY BUSY yet I have TIME to PLAY?!

Last week I have finished marking 88 copies of Science paper, integral to the evaluation of 15 years old for the entire country. Each paper has 36 pages (no objective questions whatsoever) so I ended up leafing and marking through 3 168 pages of pure agony. I love teaching, but marking is a great bane of my life. Thirteen years of teaching and still I don't find any joy plowing through stacks of paper. But I have ways to make things go easier for me...

This is my housemate cat, Putra or 'Prince' in English. He has a female sibling, somewhere in the house, named Bayu or 'Breeze'. (Hey, I don't give these animals their names ok!) Here, the tomcat is seen being adorable by my stack of exam paper. (I still miss my faithful cat Kiki. Learning from my mistake, I will keep short hairs only now.) 

These two cats residing in my home doesn't belong to me, but my housemate. But I paid for their kibble and cat-sand. I don't do the feeding and changing the litter-box though. Putra is a huge cat from standard as the playful thing eats a lot more than his sister. I may buy more premium cat food to see how big he can grow.  

Malaysia is going through the rainy season until January next year. For now, it almost rained everyday, and I like it! This photo was taken at 715 in the morning next to the school buildings. Heavy mist, where dinosaurs or a King Kong or two may lurk...

I post 10 prefects around the school building to help teachers bring stuff to the staff-room. And they do this everyday in the weekday morning from 700 till 730 am. 

A student sleeping during an examination.

(You may think this picture is characteristically universal, but people don't fall asleep during exam in Japan, China etc) This is taken on the last day of the final exam. If it is really up to me, I let them sleep after finishing, and even while they were actually in the middle of answering questions.

You are responsible for your actions. Regret is not a luxury if you see it is fit to sleep in class and the exam hall.

And this is how I quickly get results from the stacks of paper. I make them attend a class with me, sometime late at night and we discuss and everybody marks their own damn paper. (Some teachers and parents are strongly against this, but I have my own reasons). 

This is a two pronged spear. First, during marking, the students and I displayed every possible answers (wrong or right) and by listening to the discussion, EVERYBODY learns something from the mistakes made, or questions well answered. I entertained every questions and telling them the correct way to mark their own papers (and I purposely ask them not to have ambitions to be teachers, noticing how hard it is to be one now).

The second reason is even simpler. TIME. We can finish marking the whole lot in one sitting (about 2 hours). If I did the honest thing and mark everything myself, it would take me more than a week, and I am the one learning multiple times from marking the same copy over and over again, while the students might not even bat an eye for any corrections when they get back their copy.

Oh, and I may spend almost 8 hours discussing the same paper THRICE to three classrooms. 

(Tell me if you agree or not with me).

If you are worried about the integrity of the results, and doubting the honesty of the students, I am way ahead of you. I only do these mass-marking by students for tests and NEVER major examination (like I mention above. 3 000++ pages remember?)    

And this is me (holding the camera) and my two BFF having a Korean bbq dinner after me finishing the papers. The price was expensive and it was worth every cent (in my opinion, Koreans make the best bbq and steamboat sets ever). We spent two hours eating, mostly in silence because the food was really tasty. Both of them went for prawns and mollusk and I am more of a meat guy (beef, lamb and mutton). I don't see why we need to touch chicken when there are more expensive things to eat. 

I am leaving for a minor pilgrimage @ umrah (to Mecca) this 7th December. And will be there for 14 days. My mom paid for everything and she wants all her sons to join her on the pilgrimage. I have mixed feelings for this journey, but I will not tell about it here.  

Ok, now time to visit your blogs. I believe many may assume me dead or missing or both from the blogosphere. Wait for your turn folks.

The Last Week of School

School makes me forgot to blog. I SWEAR!

I am swamped with paperwork (which I despise), marking (ditto) and general yelling at the kids as many teachers are absent for various reasons.

The admins purposely put me and another female teacher on duty this week, this very last week of school this year. Why? As the Malay proverb would describe us as "chained tigers", very very fierce individuals. (I actually like to be labelled as thus). Together we deter chaos in school by being extremely bossy and general unpleasantness.

I am busy, will do much more later. See you all soon.

What I Have Been Doing October 2016

It has been some time and I was quite busy leading my life as a teacher. We are approaching the end of the year, hence school holiday is looming not far away. So everything must be documented, filed, frowned upon, shaken all about, maybe with some panicky screaming and sometimes a few sobs.

My students had finished sitting for their final exam and I must admit, on behalf of all the teachers on this planet or beyond, dead or alive, this century and before that...

WE HATE MARKING PAPERS!

This is my lab, which was fortunately devoid of students. So I can take naps and maybe play some online game with my new phone (oh yes I can. No more class as everybody has finished their final exam). Observe the pristine white tables (benches?). I had them all wipe, scrub and polish the entirety of the lab when I found out there were some writing on my table surface two weeks ago. I hate vandals. They should be kicked ceremoniously by the whole community as a warning to all. 

My table in the staffroom yet again... I only sit here for the air-conditioning, or when the rest of the teachers mumbled about how antisocial I was, staying quietly inside the lab. For the record, I don't consider myself to be socially inapt, I just treasure my alone time a lot more.

So much paper to mark... (they are not on my table still). 

My nightlife nowadays consist of playing games, watching tv or go outside for dinner / supper. Heck, when I was way younger I did go to the disco or any other inappropriate establishments. But I had decided that such places had no hold over me, and remember, I like to be alone by myself.

The restaurant above is near my house and we call it the 'purple' shop. The place has blue and purple lighting and chairs. The waiters, I admit to be a bit dumb (hey, I am a teacher. So when I acknowledge someone to be dumb, he is!) but the food was ok,

(My housemate was the one who labelled the waiter as an idiot when he forgot our order twice.)  

And this other restaurant is the one I frequented when I am on warden duty at school. The place is rather huge but not crowded, which I like. All the time I would bring a few of my students to have very late supper with me here (1100 pm upwards). Oh, and as you see in the photo, it is a seafood restaurant. But I refrain from ordering the seafood items because they are costly and maybe not even fresh (this place is far from the sea).

Do you have a favourite restaurant?  

And the picture above is of a typical Malay wedding community dining. Huge tents (or for those who can afford , huge banquet halls) are filled with people for a free meal, celebrating the wedding. Food nowadays are served buffet-style, for the great convenient of the host (less dishes to wash) and guests (no need to wait to be served). But I do remember when I was younger when people serve your meals at the table while attending a wedding ceremony. Good old days...

 Oh, and the wedding above was of my Vice Principal of Students Affair's son.

You can say most of the adults you see in the picture are all teachers or related to the call.

This is the other part of the wedding ceremony in the hall. The bride and bridegroom were on the stage, but surrounded by wellwishers and family members. Usually the tables near to the stage are special because they cater to the close family members of both party.

So non relations like me and sundry just keep to ourselves at the tents...

(MY own wedding was way bigger than this :P) 

I was in the city for two days, attending a science course for teachers. So during my break time, I wander around in my car killing time, and not people, mind you.

This is BSN, Bank Simpanan Nasional (or National Savings Bank). I snapped this pic after extracting my pay from its ATM. Several years ago this was the National Bank of Malaysia, Melaka branch, so the building was understandingly huge.

  The National Bank withdrew its business and BSN took over. This building is actually in the middle of the city centre. But hey! Where are the skyscrapers?!

We only have a few, so they do not matter much.

As Halloween is upon us already, how about a bit of spookiness?

Yep, above is an ancient Chinese tomb. They were a few of these tombs next to the General Hospital and I chose this one because it was in a open space for lighting.

[My Chinese friend told me that it was quite unacceptable to take photographs of cemeteries and my reply was thus.... This cemetery is exactly next to a VERY busy street. People can shout, scold, scream or even shoot at me if they want. But they didn't. And I believe the ghosts would feel pretty proud that someone is showing interest in their grave site.

My friend laughed at this]. 

Two stone lions...

There is a stone with a wad of paper above this gravestone. 

I am wise enough to let them alone.

(Have watched enough horror films about touching stuff you are not supposed to...

And some people said you never learn anything from horror flicks...).

They are two stone elephants. So I took a picture of one.

Another stone lion. Bigger. 

The old Chinese style depicted this lion to be roaring, but as you can see, it was almost like the thing is smiling. I don't find this creepy though. Even looks like a friendly puppy.

Only those with great riches and power put statues of noble animals at their grave.

(That's why I believe these graves were untouched, even by the city council). 

And here is Melaka Sentral.... my state central hub of public transportation, bus and taxis. This building have two wings, like an airport, one for domestic and the other for out of state travel.

I have stopped travelling on buses since I got my own car.

This palce is great for people watching though.

And last and not least. I bought a Zippo lighter today! 

For what you say?

I am not a frequent smoker, in fact I rarely smoke. But I can smoke like a locomotive if I want to, preferably if someone else is paying for it.

I just love metal stuffs, and this one is burnished copper, but not too shiny as I would be unhappy if it is scratched. Oh and did I ever told you good people I like to play with fire?

Mwahahahahahaha! I do like to see things burn :P

(Ok, enough of the pyromaniac confession).

Camera o Phone-camera!

This post is filled with pictures taken from my new phone. It takes amazing pictures, and if you see any inferiority, well, that's my fault. Unlike some of you good people who actually travel to find beautiful scenery to snap, I just take the pictures of things around me. I had a decent small Sony DSLR (8 megapix) and used it extensively during my travelling days. Took many amazing photos of rivers and the jungles.... and alas, I lost ALL of the pictures when I neglected to back them up.

Moral of the story; back up your files for peace of mind. 

Now this is a student of mine I let him use my phone for a selfie. (Last night there was a discussion on talk tv about the dangers of selfies. They concluded that people who frequently selfie has a mental problem! Really?!) As I don't have a face that can stop traffic, I refrain myself to take and post selfies on social media. (Damn those beautiful people...) 

Anyway the boy's skin is spotty a bit because he has gluten intolerance. 

And this is of the same boy with the BEAUTIFY function on. (Most new smartphones have this function). Notice the difference? The phone has a beautify scale from 1 to 10 and this picture is taken only on 5. I tried 10 once and my face looked pasted with make up foundation an inch thick. It was flawless and also horrifically artificial to look. Oh the terrors of modern technology is a sight to behold (or not). 

This is Qasrina Sofea once again. She accompanied me and my brothers to get shots from the clinic. We are going to travel overseas this middle of December, hence the shots to avoid catching diseases. I will tell you where soon.

And this is the contents of my black leather bag. From the top (clockwise) is my leather wallet, a smaller version as the previous one was too big for a sane man to carry. Then my white power-bank (which I confiscated from a student in school, no gadgets policy). My red Sony headphones (because why you want to use earphones when you can go bigger for a statement?) My compact mirror, I bought from a travelling Chinese salesman. A small bottle of scented oil for my skin (I get it why the Evil Witch melted by Dorothy... If my skin got too clean, it goes dry and flaky). My car and house keys, with the Doraemon keychain. Some candy (I am diabetic, the sweets are sugar free) because I like them. And my yellow aluminum bank-cards holder. 

This was taken last week when a friend invited us for a barbeque meal. He has finally cleaned up his yard and house and is happy to invite guests now. In the picture you can see my housemate (in purple) sitting under a grove of bamboos. My friend had just started to light the charcoal by the small pond. I like that pond. I had my feet in it the entirety of the cooking process.  

The pieces of chicken over the charcoal.... My housemate had to pitch in as I am almost useless in this kind of job. They didn't use longer thongs so there were lots of ouchs and owws. They barbecued two chickens that evening and they tasted great, burned bits and all. 

This is the front of my house (yes, I have a request for this pic). Nope, it's not pretty. The gates are rusty and the grass is not brown because of lack of water...  They were dully poisoned by my housemate who had enough of using the grass whacker every month. He even accidentally killed some of the flowering and fruit plants with the poison. As he was the one who planted them, I have no reason to be angry (I'd go ballistic if they are mine).

This is the left side of my house. The yard is quite big and the rest of the homes here had already used theirs for expansions and renovations. I don't have a reason to use mine other than growing weed :) The Japanese rose bush on the left has sweet smelling flowers, almost vanilla like. Again, notice the brown patches... Weed and grass have finally won and they have started to conquer my lawn once again (and I believe my housemate shall poison them once again soon). 

I think I should update something more serious.... But people rarely like me when I am serious.

I always get my way and I will always win...

Heck, so we shall continue on fluff pieces...

It's almost 11 PM, and I Should Blog Something

Tomorrow is a school day and I should sleep early. But I had spent this afternoon napping for hours and I don't feel sleepy quite yet. You see, before the nap I went out and bought myself a new smartphone to replace my still usable (innocent) one. I need a bigger internal memory for a phone and my old HTC 816 measly 8 gig is too small for convenience. The new Huawei Honor 8 has 64 gig memory and I added 36 gig more externally. And the double camera is amazing.

So I tested the new phone camera tonight... 

This is my betta fish I keep in a mason jar on the table. I called him Justin, and yes, he is male. Justin cost me thrice the usual price because he got metallic scales, which is quite prized by betta lovers. Once I had a betta fish twice the price of Justin and gosh! He was BEAUTIFUL. (Betta males have more colourful scales and bigger 'sails' than females. They can live up to 5 years).

I was cleaning my leather bags and wallet earlier this evening and the stuff are still lying on the floor. I just adore good quality leather goods. But I will not waste money to buy exclusive brands like Louis Vuitton and Coach mainly because.... there are a tremendous amount of pirated items out there, there is no need to feel that special swagging your Prada when a 'Prado' cost 90% less.

Oh, and I put my bank cards inside the yellow aluminium case. Sometimes I only carry this to shop and leave my wallet in the car.

These are actually women's brooches. I bought them from my sister's boutique shop and they were imported from Korea. I used to have tarantulas and scorpions as pets (but never snakes) and I pinned them to my messenger bag and sling bag, both black leather.

As for the time being, NOBODY commented that I shouldn't wear women jewelry. Some female colleague s asked if my sister sells 'cuter' brooches, and I said yes.

Crystals.... I have many crystal bracelets. But I don't think guys my age can wear crystal bangles anymore :(

I snapped this outside my home after locking the gates. Looks ominous doesn't it?   

Same place, but with my flash on. Now you can see a bit of my front yard. On the further right in the gloom you may see my pomegranate tree. I love this tree, not only because it produced huge fruits, both my pet ferrets and Kiki, my cat were entombed underneath it.

And no, I don't eat the fruits. Here, people plant pomegranate trees for aesthetics and luck.

A heavily laden tree is considered very auspicious.

Well, that's all folks. Time to hit the sack (1131 pm now).

To The Movies We Will Go.

I'd like to share you some pictures of me doing one of my favourite hobbies (other than gaming, eating and sleep). So bear with me and wait till I visit the blogs of you lot to comment. My update is SO LONG overdue and I feel like kicking myself, neglecting to write. I blame the new PS4 games I religiously play everyday and the added school workload, reaching the end of the year.   

Well, this is on top of my dashboard. A plastic Doraemon, the Japanese cat-like robot (I happen to love and collect Doraemon stuff. My students also give me lots during Teacher's Day). The rubber salamander is a leftover from a Teacher's Day game, this year. 

(A few teachers here do call Doraemon, and I don't really mind. The students are aware of my liking to the character but they are not crazy enough to call me to my face. Do your friends call you a nickname from any cartoons?)

I hate traffic jam. Fortunately after the state upgraded the roads to double lanes, the way to the city is now wider and faster. Still I prefer to go during weekdays to avoid the rush on weekends. When I was younger, I'd ride the bus to go and watch a movie. 

It was really a pain as the public transportation here is not really dependable. But you do excruciating things for the stuff you love eh?

And we have a meal before we do the shopping / movie. If I am feeling generous, I'd go to somewhere fancier but nowadays that kind of money-burning intent has somewhat lessen. (Maybe because of my brand new hobby - saving money in the bank!)

Here you see my housemate (Yes, he lives with me) with a pizza, and I am having an orange brioche (mighty expensive, the pastry, but oh so good!). Usually I do sushi, but the kind I like best was sold out.

And this is us waiting for the movie to start. Usually we arrive two hours earlier so we can do some shopping and eat. I prefer to go back directly after the movie. I am predictable that way. 

The front of the cinema... I use the right entrance, for online purchases. A few years back I had a card for another cinema, and used the card to buy tickets from a machine situated in front of said cinema. When a newer cinema opened (pic) I finally experienced the joy of online purchases.

Sometimes I bought tickets a week in advance. 

This was taken around 1100 pm, after the cinema, on our way to the car. See the cars? The cinema is always full of people. 

I don't park inside the shopping complex area anymore to save money and to avoid the traffic jam of going out of the tight compound. We have to walk further a bit as I parked my car in a nearer shop lots. (This particular shopping mall has the cheapest parking rate ever, RM 1 the whole day, but I am a cheapskate after all.) 

And this unrelated picture is of the spread my sister and I had for our mother. No, it wasn't her birthday or what, sometimes we do stuff like this to amuse ourselves. Usually my sisters do the mommy-entertaining stuff, but as I ordered the whole catalog for dimsum from a friend, I said what the hell, let's do a party. The dimsum was awesome!

That's my niece, Qasrina Sofea. She modeled stuff (jewelry and clothes) for her mom's boutique shop. 

Oh, and I bought the steamboat pot and induction cooker especially for this. I am also an impulsive buyer. (complex me).  

I had this Tefal electric grill for years (I found the brand to be very exceptional, if you buy the premium stuff). Grilling is done outside of course. I do have an actual grilling set at home, and it was such a chore to clean after use :P Having meal with people you love should be a frequent thing. "Do not be stingy when it comes to food with family and friends" I read this earlier this year. How true. 

p.s.

- We watched Ben Hur (the remake) and I was not impressed