Friday, July 31, 2009

R.I.P...

While I was hanging around the groundfloor of QueensBay Mall last night, an incoming call alerted my attention.

It was Ah Yong...eager to know about the next badminton meeting. But I'd already cancelled the plan reluctantly...there was some difficulty finding the right number of person to fill up the quorom. Amir was in Kelantan...Shah was due for an outstation commitment in KL...the other usual suspects such as Naser, Darwis, Najid also couldn't make the trip to Paya Terubung, where we usually play on Friday.

After that brief conversation, in a rare circumstances, my handset slipped through the side of my pant's pocket...hitting the floor, bouncing twice and ended up inside a hole! I froze for a moment...murmuring to myself, in disbelief...

"What the hell had happened?"

I could see my handset inside it...but couldn't reach it with my hand. The hole is quite deep.

It's a trickery hole...by the way. Full of sharp edges, I couldn't push my hand deep enough without incurring myself with some sort of injury. But I tried anyway...I love that handset very much, for goodness sake. It was the gift of my sister...pictures, important phone numbers were all stored there.

I guessed I pushed my hand too hard inside that hole...I felt a sharp pain at the back of my palm. The moment I pulled out, there was blood all over it. I tried my luck with my left hand...but worse thing happened. The razor sharp edges slashed my hand indefinitely...leaving it full of blood.

I gave up eventually...there was nothing more I could do. Even if I managed to pull it out, it must have been severely damaged...it was soaked in water far too long. All the beautiful messages, meaningful pictures were gone. The bleeding had stopped, but my hand were full of ugly scars.

Sheikh, looking concerned with my hand's tragic condition, repeatedly asked me to wash it with Dettol to prevent infections.

I did my best to save my handset...I couldn't care much about the handset...it was its contents that were of extreme important to me. Kyra's messages and pictures...as well as Najwa's messages dating back to 2005 were all gone in split seconds. And their numbers too...

Going by the nature of it, it was a weird incident. Maybe it was some sort of sign or signal from the sky for me to stop dwelling on the past, and start concentrating on my future? I wonder...

Monday, July 27, 2009

If you were good in the past...

...can you be better in the future?

Or...you were just...past it?

It was Michael Owen who instilled my passion towards football almost 8 years ago. I became an ardent Liverpool supporter largely because of him.

I still followed his progress during his dismal stay in Madrid, and his injury-hit seasons with Newcastle.

But when he opted to join Man United, it was quite hard for me. Your once favourite player plying his trade in your most despised team? That's too much...

As they say, Form is temporary, Class is permanent. Owen is a class player, no doubt. If he was good in the past, he can be better in the future. He's not past it. Just hoping he'll lost his scoring touch temporarily when Man U meet Liverpool. I'll give my utmost support to him, but not to his new team.

And really glad Mexico gave poor U.S.A a 5-0 drubbing last night. Served them right. How dare they defeated my Spain team 2-0 in the Confederation Cup last two months?

Another Sunday...

1. I was asked by Ah Bee to stay back for work until 6 p.m. It almost ruined my day.

2. I had planned earlier to watch the FAM cup match between USM staff and Tambun Tulang FC. Kamarul was already there by 5 p.m. Shah and company were stretching their muscles inside the squash court...but I'd already told Shah I couldn't make it.

3. Arrived in USM's Stadium around 6.30 p.m. The match was still on...I could only catch few glimpses of the play from afar. Seats inside the stadium were full...the useless cheerleaders were making stupid noises from the main stand. I wondered where were the "boo boys"?

4. Witnessed the first goal. After some comical defending, USM staff conceded the first goal. 1-0 down. I saw some spectators started to leave. I slowly inched towards the squash court. I hope Shah is still there.

5. A rousing roars broke out from the grandstand. A goal was scored...but I didn't see the goal. Shah was watching the match outside the court. He looked surprise to see me. He told me the goal was scored from a direct free kick after a foul on a USM staff player. They levelled the score in less than 5 minutes.

6. The match ended in a stalemate. USM staff have a real chance of being promoted into the Premier League should they avoid defeat against Pos Malaysia next week.

7. Shimie, the third year Pharmacy student and Amar, a freshie first year chemistry student was seen playing squash inside. Malik, the PHD-bound student arrived minutes later with Lah.

8. Shimie is clearly a hardworking player. He will chase every ball right to the end. But he is 'mood-driven'...when his mood isn't right, playing with him would be a pure waste of time.

9. Amar, on the other hand, is a charge-up player. Full of energy and determination, he plays with his heart out. But his battling attitude sometimes drives him to be a bit emotional...he would scream out loud whenever he gained a point against his opponent. It was fine with me, but it irked some people.

10. It was decided among us to have another squash session tomorrow. Ah Teng had invited me yesterday to join his dad for badminton tomorrow from 7 p.m- 9 p.m...I don't think I could make it now. Earlier this evening, Darwis personally invited me and Shah to join them in Bayan Baru tomorrow...a marathon 3 hours badminton game until midnight.

11. Hafiz managed to nick the runner-up placing on his debut badminton tournament in Butterworth. He used my racket...I should claimed some of the credits then.

12. And now for the Gold Cup final...I'll support Mexico!

Monday, July 20, 2009

That "One small step for a man...

...One giant leap for mankind"

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the biggest achievement in humankind history, the landing on the moon. I just watched the ultra high revolution photos of that historic moments...it was breathtaking. It was like watching history unveils in front of your very own eyes.

Thanks to NASA, who is currently streaming the original mission audio on its website in real time. I remember spending extra time on the net in the past trying to rebutt all hoax-claimers who refused to believe that we already landed on the moon. The most popular question (after all the other scientific questions posed were easily rebutted by a team of science enthuasiasts) was

"If it (the moon landing) could be done in the past, why didn't they repeat the same feat now?"

The sole reason is economy...I guess. To send a manned spacelight in this era of economic difficulty to the moon is akin to send our hard-earned money into incinerators. It is a very costly affair. We used to have Concorde, the famed supersonic passenger airliner, in service for nearly 27 years. But Concorde no longer can afford to lose money...and it ceased operations about six years ago.

No Concorde traiblazing the sky of Atlantic ocean nowadays doesn't mean we never had Concorde in the past. The same argument can be applies on human achievements in the form of past monuments...such as pyramids, Taj Mahal, and The Great Wall of China. It is my personal belief that all these historic megastructures could be reconstructed by our modern method...but we still don't have the modern version of Taj Mahal or pyramids. Failure to do so now doesn't mean we never did that in the past.

We have achieved so much...and we want more. I hope Mars landing would become a reality in my lifetime. When I was a small child, I wanted to become an astronomer. But now that dream is out of my reach...I hope one day I'll get the chance to lay freely on meadow overseeing the night sky scattered with stars. That was my ultimate childhood dreams...and I want to fulfill it...

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Another passing day...

1. Arrived very early for work today. Felt rather disappointed to find out no nasi lemak on offer. Took roti bakar instead.

2. Another boring day at work. No workload that requires urgent attention for now. Read The Sun to pass the time.

3. A piece of advertisement at the back page of The Sun caught my eyes. It splashed the Sports Toto draw results. I asked AD what "4+1", "6/52" and all sorts were really about. These things have puzzled me for ages.

4. AD pleasantly took some of his busy time off to provide me with some simple explanations. According to him, "4+1" means 4 digits followed by another number. "6/52" on the other hand means we need to pick up 6 digits out of 52. If Lady Luck was to be on our side, the right combinations could land us the jackpot, which offers the total sum payment of up to RM 5 million.

5. By this time, Su Si and Lai Kuan had already joined us. With a witty smile carved on her face, Su Si took out a piece of paper and began writing a sequence of numbers, starting from 1 to 52. She then cut each of them into tiny pieces and folded it before putting them into a small box.

6. In a rather relaxed manner, Su Si continued her eccentric act. She shook the box gracefully, and randomly picked up the number that came up on top. This was repeated by Lai Kuan and AD. I was amused by all this...they can't be serious. But I was wrong. They were indeed...serious.

7. Finally, they got three different combinations. I was tasked to give the numbers a "blessing" with my "ong" (due to my "baldness" condition, I was considered a lucky charm. Some even called me "monk"...particularly Sabri. But I took all this lightly. I found out Ah Keong had followed my action of going bald)

8. Lai Kuan placed another bet on 4D. In this stringent economic climate, any breath of hope for extra money can drive someone's imagination wild. No way they could land the prize money...they have a greater possibility of being struck by a lightning than hitting the jackpot.

9. Shah asked me for badminton together. I agreed...my off day tomorrow was retracted earlier in the afternoon. So I can't join them tomorrow.

10. There were five of us. We played in Dewan Jubli...located just across the Sungai Nibong Bus Terminal. Shah developed a bruised ankle...this greatly restricted his movements and reduced his agility. But overall it was a fun game.

11. Received a rare phone call from Miri...it was Amir. He just arrived in town. He was posted deep into secluded jungle of Borneo...only accessible by air or by a tiring 8 hours 4-wheels drive. Life was extremely hard for a battling teacher like him.

12. I missed Kyra. I hope she breezed well through her new environment. As for Najwa, I hope she copes well with her new challenge as a teacher.

13. As for my life, it's on a rough patch...and a bit tricky. But it's okay, I'm used to it...

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

2.30 a.m

Now it's half past two in the morning...

I miss something...and I miss somebody...