Another day, another meeting. Woke up feeling slightly groggy. Heard an interesting fact over the radio. Today, 29 October, is the birthday of the internet! Happy Birthday Mr or is it Miss Internet. Just being careful not to be labelled as having gender bias or even politically incorrect.
On this day, 40 years ago in 1969 at 10.30 pm the first recorded internet message was sent. What was the first message? “LO”. LO you wonder? Yeah it was a simple word “LO”. Actually, according to well documented account, the message was suppose to be “LOG” which was sent letter by letter from UCLA to Stanford Research Institute with the people involved also connected over the telephone. “L” and “O” reached safely. But when “G” was sent, the system crashed. Imagine how little the computing power back then. Compare that to the power of even the simple desktop home use computer. It is like comparing “injin sigal” with and F1 car.
As advance as the computing power and computer modelling the world has now, it is not powerful nor advance enough to model something as complex as climate system our planet. If we can, at least we can get clear answers to the “big problem” facing the human race i.e. the rapid climate change. Some may ask why worry after all the climate of the planet has gone through natural cycles of warming up and cooling down over its life. The statistics look grim. Over the next 100 years the global warming is likely to be 3 to 10 times more than the figures in the 20th century. The serious effect of the global warming is no longer an issue. How it develops, its effects and detection are now the issues. Can we cope? How can we cope? Some may not be bothered at all. After all, it will happen beyond their life time.
To combat the global warming, the world comes up with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992 to reduce greenhouse gases emissions such as Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide and CFCs. To my knowledge and understanding, this Convention at the very least recognised or shall we say admitted there is a problem, set some objectives and time frame. Next step, in 1997 comes the Kyoto Protocol. More or less same objectives as the Convention but legally binding with targets to be reset by 2012. I am sure if you have been following the current affairs lately, you would have noticed Copenhagen 2009 mentioned many times. Copenhagen this, Copenhagen that. Copenhagen is where the United Nation Climate Change Conference will be held in December this year. This conference is significant as it is the dateline whereby a new target will be set. As usual things will go down to the wire. The outlook for an agreement is not good. Well, we can hope, must have hope. With no hope, might as well stop all the negotiations. But if I am a betting me, which I am not, I will put all my bet on No Agreement. Almost as sure as the buah dadu of Ibrahim Pendek in the Ali Baba Bujang Lapuk movie.
All this global thing is well and truly good. But what does it mean to our small country? Well we have one of the highest per capita carbon dioxide emission, in the top ten. We must do our bit to reduce our emissions. Remember we live on the same planet. Whatever happens in the other side of the world will affect us. Rain pattern will change. We have seen some weird weather affecting us lately, unsesonal rain, strong “uprooting trees and roof” winds. We must do our bid to save the planet. Go green, not wear green but live green with green lifestyle.
LOG ... Lifestyle of the Greens .........
P.S.
Reduce, Reuse, RECYCLE .......
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Snippets again...
It has been a while. Here I am sitting in a meeting. Fascinating as it is, I am slowly but surely moving into “dozing off” mode. Blame it on the phenomenon of can’t sleep properly on strange bed.
A lot had happened. The obvious hot one is the zakat story. Many people has written and commented about it. Many more has started to fill in the forms. With any luck these people can own brand new cars, phones, just anything that take their fancy. My take on this is simple. Zakat is to help the needy. The authority is there to ensure the recipients are the worthy ones as required by Islam. The applicants and eventual recipients MUST be truthful. If any unworthy recipients got their hands on the zakat money, as the saying goes, “dosa tanggung sendiri”. May be they can put this warning on the zakat forms. Then again, in anything, it is not easy to get 100% correct. As long the percentage of the unworthy recipients is small, maybe it is acceptable. But what percentage will be small enough to be acceptable?
Another hot stuff was the “banning” of DPMMFC from completing their S-League Fixtures. To me, this is not the main issue. The main issue is how to revive the “legal” football in Brunei. By international law, as far as I understand it, nobody can organise any football unless under the umbrella of FIFA affiliated local organisation. Taking this to the extreme, even local kampong league may be illegal. The solution? Like it or not, hard to swallow may be, BAFA has to be reinstated as FIFA wished it to be. Once reinstated, we can all work together to ensure past mistakes, if any, are not repeated. Lucky not being a member FIFA is not a requirement to watch football. If not, there would be a high probability of riot by the football mad supporters of the Premier League starved of football.
Talking about premier league, to all Man United supporters, enough of all the excuses. Face it, your team lost. That is a fact and that’s what matters. Three defeat in a row......
P.S.
“Positive Thinking” in our local context equates to “Macam Si Tahi”, my boss recently shared.
A lot had happened. The obvious hot one is the zakat story. Many people has written and commented about it. Many more has started to fill in the forms. With any luck these people can own brand new cars, phones, just anything that take their fancy. My take on this is simple. Zakat is to help the needy. The authority is there to ensure the recipients are the worthy ones as required by Islam. The applicants and eventual recipients MUST be truthful. If any unworthy recipients got their hands on the zakat money, as the saying goes, “dosa tanggung sendiri”. May be they can put this warning on the zakat forms. Then again, in anything, it is not easy to get 100% correct. As long the percentage of the unworthy recipients is small, maybe it is acceptable. But what percentage will be small enough to be acceptable?
Another hot stuff was the “banning” of DPMMFC from completing their S-League Fixtures. To me, this is not the main issue. The main issue is how to revive the “legal” football in Brunei. By international law, as far as I understand it, nobody can organise any football unless under the umbrella of FIFA affiliated local organisation. Taking this to the extreme, even local kampong league may be illegal. The solution? Like it or not, hard to swallow may be, BAFA has to be reinstated as FIFA wished it to be. Once reinstated, we can all work together to ensure past mistakes, if any, are not repeated. Lucky not being a member FIFA is not a requirement to watch football. If not, there would be a high probability of riot by the football mad supporters of the Premier League starved of football.
Talking about premier league, to all Man United supporters, enough of all the excuses. Face it, your team lost. That is a fact and that’s what matters. Three defeat in a row......
P.S.
“Positive Thinking” in our local context equates to “Macam Si Tahi”, my boss recently shared.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Jokes & Theories.....
I love jokes especially funny ones. Well, I am sure nobody likes unfunny jokes. While I love jokes, for the life of me I can’t tell a joke even if a gun is pointed at me. Punch lines fizzle coming from my mouth. Laughter blurted well in advance of the punch lines. Not remembering how the punch line goes is another one shortcoming of mine. All in all I don’t qualify as a joker nor a stand up comedian. I am sure the audience will be laughing their heads off. Not at my not funny jokes but at how silly I look standing in front of them on the stage. Who knows that is one way for me to strike gold? Here I go again, me and my endless digression.
Back to the jokes. This morning I heard a funny yet so true joke from my boss. I hope I can repeat it here and do justice to the joke. It is about a crazy man who has a theory about where the ear of a spider is located. He theorised spiders have their ears at the end of their legs. One day to prove his theory, he gathered a group of people around a spider. After placing the spider on the floor he then commanded the spider to walk. It duly obliged. Then he took the same spider and removed all its legs. Repeating the same step, he placed the spider on the floor and commanded it to walk. The spider did not move even a single millimetre. On seeing this, the man with great pride told the group of people the reason the spider did not walk was because it could not hear the instruction as he had removed all its ears..... To him his theory is proven.
In the real world, we can come up with many theories to explain the phenomenon and happenings we came across. We can even come up with reasons, explanations to promote and lobby for an idea or a cause. Some are true, some are plausible. There are some totally absurd ones. Yet we come up with it. Some believe it, some do not. Throughout history, again and again theories and hypothesis are proven and disproven. Like a yo yo. But whatever we theorised; the key is to be truthful eventhough sometimes the truth hurts, be professional. Surely you can sell your theory.
PS
A friend theorised eating durian instead of rice helps in weight reduction.....
Back to the jokes. This morning I heard a funny yet so true joke from my boss. I hope I can repeat it here and do justice to the joke. It is about a crazy man who has a theory about where the ear of a spider is located. He theorised spiders have their ears at the end of their legs. One day to prove his theory, he gathered a group of people around a spider. After placing the spider on the floor he then commanded the spider to walk. It duly obliged. Then he took the same spider and removed all its legs. Repeating the same step, he placed the spider on the floor and commanded it to walk. The spider did not move even a single millimetre. On seeing this, the man with great pride told the group of people the reason the spider did not walk was because it could not hear the instruction as he had removed all its ears..... To him his theory is proven.
In the real world, we can come up with many theories to explain the phenomenon and happenings we came across. We can even come up with reasons, explanations to promote and lobby for an idea or a cause. Some are true, some are plausible. There are some totally absurd ones. Yet we come up with it. Some believe it, some do not. Throughout history, again and again theories and hypothesis are proven and disproven. Like a yo yo. But whatever we theorised; the key is to be truthful eventhough sometimes the truth hurts, be professional. Surely you can sell your theory.
PS
A friend theorised eating durian instead of rice helps in weight reduction.....
Monday, September 21, 2009
Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri...
Today is 1 Syawal, better known as Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Is it “Aidilfitri” one word or is it two words “Aidil Fitri”? I have seen both versions in both the official and unofficial documents. I suppose it does not really matter as long as we meant it the way we are suppose to meant it. And what’s important is our sincerity, KEIKHLASAN.
To the readers of this blog, there must be a few, very few may be, as the counter keeps ticking even without me visiting it, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir dan Batin. Please forgive me if there are parts of my ramblings that may have offended any of you. As I had said in my earlier entries, I meant well. I did not mean any harm to anybody, anyone or any soul.
This year’s Hari Raya will be a bit odd. No Istana open house due to the H1N1 situation will be the most significant. To many people, even to foreigners and tourists, Istana Open House is the main event of Hari Raya. To Government Officers, by tradition, most will be heading to Istana on the first day back at work. The highlight of personally greeting His Majesty and the Royal Family is something to look forward too. Add to that the sumptuous spread of food served. Offices will be almost deserted. Strangely for the whole day. So this year we will see the office with a bit more people. No more taking the opportunity of “escaping” from work after Istana visit. Still, no Istana open house will be making this Hari Raya less exciting to most people.
On H1N1, the health authorities advised everyone to be vigilant. Provide sanitisers or at least hand washing facilities. Good advice indeed. On the flip side, hand sanitisers whose price are already exorbitant, will now rocket up. I am sure nobody will hesitate to shake hands berziarah. If we follow our own religion’s advice, we are asked to wash our hands before eating. Stick to that, insyallah we will be alright. Worst case scenario, which is not impossible, we come across someone who will wash his or her hand every few handshakes, carrying with him or her a portable sanitiser. The pocket must be bulging with the sanitisers adding to the things already in the pocket, wallet, keys, phones etc. What’s important is to be vigilant, keep high personal hygiene to avoid hesitancy in berziarah.
SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI, MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN....
P.S.
Over the years, the number of Hari Raya cards had been on a rapid decline. Short Messaging Service, SMS and emails had taken over the role of cards. This year, the numbers will decline further, even SMS greetings are expected to be lower as Facebook and other social networking services provides a faster and easier platform to send greetings. A simple posting on the Wall is all it takes to greet every single person in our friends list. Less tasking for the fingers clicking when sending SMS greetings. Wonder what will be the future medium will be. May be just thinking of sending greetings is enough to send it to the recipient. But until now nothing beats the feeling of getting Hari Raya Cards......
To the readers of this blog, there must be a few, very few may be, as the counter keeps ticking even without me visiting it, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir dan Batin. Please forgive me if there are parts of my ramblings that may have offended any of you. As I had said in my earlier entries, I meant well. I did not mean any harm to anybody, anyone or any soul.
This year’s Hari Raya will be a bit odd. No Istana open house due to the H1N1 situation will be the most significant. To many people, even to foreigners and tourists, Istana Open House is the main event of Hari Raya. To Government Officers, by tradition, most will be heading to Istana on the first day back at work. The highlight of personally greeting His Majesty and the Royal Family is something to look forward too. Add to that the sumptuous spread of food served. Offices will be almost deserted. Strangely for the whole day. So this year we will see the office with a bit more people. No more taking the opportunity of “escaping” from work after Istana visit. Still, no Istana open house will be making this Hari Raya less exciting to most people.
On H1N1, the health authorities advised everyone to be vigilant. Provide sanitisers or at least hand washing facilities. Good advice indeed. On the flip side, hand sanitisers whose price are already exorbitant, will now rocket up. I am sure nobody will hesitate to shake hands berziarah. If we follow our own religion’s advice, we are asked to wash our hands before eating. Stick to that, insyallah we will be alright. Worst case scenario, which is not impossible, we come across someone who will wash his or her hand every few handshakes, carrying with him or her a portable sanitiser. The pocket must be bulging with the sanitisers adding to the things already in the pocket, wallet, keys, phones etc. What’s important is to be vigilant, keep high personal hygiene to avoid hesitancy in berziarah.
SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI, MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN....
P.S.
Over the years, the number of Hari Raya cards had been on a rapid decline. Short Messaging Service, SMS and emails had taken over the role of cards. This year, the numbers will decline further, even SMS greetings are expected to be lower as Facebook and other social networking services provides a faster and easier platform to send greetings. A simple posting on the Wall is all it takes to greet every single person in our friends list. Less tasking for the fingers clicking when sending SMS greetings. Wonder what will be the future medium will be. May be just thinking of sending greetings is enough to send it to the recipient. But until now nothing beats the feeling of getting Hari Raya Cards......
Sunday, September 06, 2009
History....
History is not everyone’s favourite subject. Back then, during the schooldays, history seemed to be remembering obscure names and dates. Endless dates. Not dates with the favourite girl in school but dates of historical events. Most of us could not understand what use all those history lessons were to us apart from it was another subject, another brain draining exam to pass, especially for those who wants to score straight As. No choice. Must do history. To make things worse, we had history teachers who made the lessons more conducive to journey into the dreamland. Secondary students nowadays are lucky. It seems history is an elective subject, not a compulsory one.
Over the years, as the gray hairs slowly appearing, as the music taste change from the fast beat to more mellow easy listening songs, history has grown more meaningful. Not obsessed with it but more of a curiosity. Not a history buff, but more of taking a keen interest.
People says we study history so that we will not repeat the mistakes of the past. Some says everything has cycles and by studying the past will help us prepare for the future. Some study history to gain knowledge. Knowledge of what happened, why it happened, the environment it happened so they can appreciate it more. Reasons may vary but all points to one thing, it is important to learn, to know history. Not just to pass the exams. Hopefully, this will be stressed more to the students unlike during our time where we were puzzled what good history was to us.
One part of history that always interests me is how science had developed. Science always pride itself in doing things the Scientific Method. With an engineering background, looking at things the scientific way is built in. The scientific method is simply making observation, state the problem, formulate a hypothesis (assumptions), experiments to test the hypothesis, analysis of results, interpret data and formulate conclusion then publish the findings. By all accounts, the pioneer of the Scientific Method is an Islamic scholar, Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham, better known as al-Haytham or AlHazen. History has shown the Islamic World contributed massively to the science world by laying foundations to many of today’s sciences.
Back to the scientific method, it will be a good thing if each and every one of us make it a habit to think in a scientific way. Think based on real facts. Know all the facts. Not just jump to baseless conclusions. Do not assume unless we have proven our assumptions, unless we have the evidence. Determine first if there is really a problem before sitting down to solve it. Addressing the wrong questions may lead to the wrong solutions, no matter how wonderful such solutions seemed to be. Ending up with a complete waste of everyone’s time. To quote the youngsters, “BUANG KARAN SAJA!”
P.S.
Here are some quotations on what History is all about:
Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. – George Santayana
The past is useless. That explains why it is past. - Wright Morris
Only a good-for-nothing is not interested in his past. - Sigmund Freud
What experience and history teach is this-that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.- G. W. F. Hegel
History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are. - David C. McCullough
History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. – Karl Marx
One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say. – Will Durrant
Over the years, as the gray hairs slowly appearing, as the music taste change from the fast beat to more mellow easy listening songs, history has grown more meaningful. Not obsessed with it but more of a curiosity. Not a history buff, but more of taking a keen interest.
People says we study history so that we will not repeat the mistakes of the past. Some says everything has cycles and by studying the past will help us prepare for the future. Some study history to gain knowledge. Knowledge of what happened, why it happened, the environment it happened so they can appreciate it more. Reasons may vary but all points to one thing, it is important to learn, to know history. Not just to pass the exams. Hopefully, this will be stressed more to the students unlike during our time where we were puzzled what good history was to us.
One part of history that always interests me is how science had developed. Science always pride itself in doing things the Scientific Method. With an engineering background, looking at things the scientific way is built in. The scientific method is simply making observation, state the problem, formulate a hypothesis (assumptions), experiments to test the hypothesis, analysis of results, interpret data and formulate conclusion then publish the findings. By all accounts, the pioneer of the Scientific Method is an Islamic scholar, Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham, better known as al-Haytham or AlHazen. History has shown the Islamic World contributed massively to the science world by laying foundations to many of today’s sciences.
Back to the scientific method, it will be a good thing if each and every one of us make it a habit to think in a scientific way. Think based on real facts. Know all the facts. Not just jump to baseless conclusions. Do not assume unless we have proven our assumptions, unless we have the evidence. Determine first if there is really a problem before sitting down to solve it. Addressing the wrong questions may lead to the wrong solutions, no matter how wonderful such solutions seemed to be. Ending up with a complete waste of everyone’s time. To quote the youngsters, “BUANG KARAN SAJA!”
P.S.
Here are some quotations on what History is all about:
Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. – George Santayana
The past is useless. That explains why it is past. - Wright Morris
Only a good-for-nothing is not interested in his past. - Sigmund Freud
What experience and history teach is this-that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.- G. W. F. Hegel
History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are. - David C. McCullough
History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. – Karl Marx
One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say. – Will Durrant
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Thinker .... Doer.....
Simple is beautiful. Most if not all architects believed that. Economics, albeit a very complex subject, keep to simple models in trying to explain everyday life. Many people, I am sure, like things simple too. Who want all the stress, the headaches, the fear, the scare and all those not so nice feelings complicated things bring with them. Men, especially, like to keep things simple despite some of their actions complicate their lives. Partly due to, some says, easily loses his head, the big head and the heart is overwhelmingly controlled by the smaller head. As for the ladies, the jury is still out there. Mix signals from them. Who in the right mind would make an already beautifully designed piece of fabric and turned it into complicated lines and lines of sparkling beads? Unless they want the dress to get the full attention rather than the person. Distractions from those red pouting lips and perky cheeks, botox assisted in some cases. Opppps! Here I go again, digressing. Better be careful with what I am saying about the female species. I may end up being labelled a lady basher. Let me get back on track.
As a habit, looking at things in a simplistic way had become a tendency. Remember when we were kids? Our maths teacher used to say, simplify the equations before solving it? Apply that to life, it is still the same. No matter how complicated things are, break it down to little pieces. The solution is out there. Admittedly, it is not easy. There are times, a lot actually, the mind goes overdrive. Instead of simplifying things, more and more branches are added. What is a small thin lean tree of a problem will end up with a tree with a blown up afro look complete with hanging messy beards. Oh no! Digression No.2.
Well, here it is. Over the years, out of observations, some in passing, some ogling, with no reference to any academic publications, at least to my knowledge, if any it is purely incidental, everyone, in its simplest form has two sides when it comes to approaching a problem or an assignment. On one side is our “THINKER” part, on another is our “DOER” part. Sounds familiar? Both parts have good and bad things associated with it. These two exists in each and every one of us but in different composition. Some with the Thinker part as the majority shareholder; some the Doer part, with different effects.
The Thinker tend to be creative, brilliant, refreshing, enthusiastic, but at the same time individualistic, eccentric (this can be good too!), disorganised, may not be a team player and think too much ending up with no work being done. They can think up just anything, any solution but may lose interest and stubborn especially if their suggestions are not chosen. In short, exciting but risky.
On the other hand the Doer in most cases will stick to standard, tried and tested solutions. Not giving it too much thought, just bulldozing it and get things done. Most will tend to be formal but good team player and more organised as he is less distracted by too much thinking. In short boring but safe.
In an organisation, in a team, observed carefully enough, we can suss out who the thinker and who the doer is. A balanced mixture promises better outcomes. But, as in everything, there are always challenges to be faced and questions to be answered. Who is the ideal leader of the pack? The Thinker? The Doer? How do we reward? The thinking part or the doing part? Same remuneration packages for both? Same career scheme and development for both? Do we treat them equally or as different entities? I am sure if a study is done, there will be cases where the Doer gets all the credit for the Thinker creative solutions, and there will be cases the Thinker gets all the credit for all the hard work of the Doer. Both sides will want fairness.
Life is not that simple after all ....................
P.S.
It’s the assessment season again. Our challenge is for each of us to identify which part of us, thinker or doer, is stronger, utilise it to the maximum, at the same time strengthens the weak part. A perfect marriage of thinking and doing is the end zone.
As a habit, looking at things in a simplistic way had become a tendency. Remember when we were kids? Our maths teacher used to say, simplify the equations before solving it? Apply that to life, it is still the same. No matter how complicated things are, break it down to little pieces. The solution is out there. Admittedly, it is not easy. There are times, a lot actually, the mind goes overdrive. Instead of simplifying things, more and more branches are added. What is a small thin lean tree of a problem will end up with a tree with a blown up afro look complete with hanging messy beards. Oh no! Digression No.2.
Well, here it is. Over the years, out of observations, some in passing, some ogling, with no reference to any academic publications, at least to my knowledge, if any it is purely incidental, everyone, in its simplest form has two sides when it comes to approaching a problem or an assignment. On one side is our “THINKER” part, on another is our “DOER” part. Sounds familiar? Both parts have good and bad things associated with it. These two exists in each and every one of us but in different composition. Some with the Thinker part as the majority shareholder; some the Doer part, with different effects.
The Thinker tend to be creative, brilliant, refreshing, enthusiastic, but at the same time individualistic, eccentric (this can be good too!), disorganised, may not be a team player and think too much ending up with no work being done. They can think up just anything, any solution but may lose interest and stubborn especially if their suggestions are not chosen. In short, exciting but risky.
On the other hand the Doer in most cases will stick to standard, tried and tested solutions. Not giving it too much thought, just bulldozing it and get things done. Most will tend to be formal but good team player and more organised as he is less distracted by too much thinking. In short boring but safe.
In an organisation, in a team, observed carefully enough, we can suss out who the thinker and who the doer is. A balanced mixture promises better outcomes. But, as in everything, there are always challenges to be faced and questions to be answered. Who is the ideal leader of the pack? The Thinker? The Doer? How do we reward? The thinking part or the doing part? Same remuneration packages for both? Same career scheme and development for both? Do we treat them equally or as different entities? I am sure if a study is done, there will be cases where the Doer gets all the credit for the Thinker creative solutions, and there will be cases the Thinker gets all the credit for all the hard work of the Doer. Both sides will want fairness.
Life is not that simple after all ....................
P.S.
It’s the assessment season again. Our challenge is for each of us to identify which part of us, thinker or doer, is stronger, utilise it to the maximum, at the same time strengthens the weak part. A perfect marriage of thinking and doing is the end zone.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Gift......
5 days leave courtesy of the Health Authorities! Even better, starting from my wedding anniversary. I did not know whether to laugh or cry. Laugh because so happy to get some time off. Cry as it was very stressing and worrying especially in today’s environment of H1N1 scare. It was indeed a troubling and agonising experience. But an eye opener and reassuring one. A case of two extremes situation.
Not wanting to pinpoint what or where the cause and start of it all but a few days earlier, together with a friend, went to the Gerai Ramadhan at the Stadium to get some pesungkaian. This was after a couple of years not bothering to go there. Got the normal stuff. Nothing exotic. When it comes to food, I am not that adventurous. I should have heeded the warning signs after the first visit. The tummy started to grumble more often. As often as the thunders that accompanied the heavy rains we got frequently lately despite everyone predicting prolonged dry weather. The urge to look for one particular gerai made me went for the second visit. Then the trouble really started.
Grumblings becoming louder and louder. Visits to the small room got more frequent. Still manageable and even went out and about until realising my body temperature had shot up to well above the normal range. The worry got worse after noticing the mini poster about H1N1 hanging just outside the small room. Not wanting to take any risk, off to RIPAS I went.
Upon arrival, walking through the unmanned thermal screening, I could see my infrared self on the screen. If someone was there, they would have thought Thermo Man was making an appearance. I was on fire. May be even a candidate to be one of the hottest men there that night. After the normal filling in the form, another surprised awaited me. Not so much the waiting time, but seeing how the heart rate or rather pulse rate rocketing up. Panic mode but fortunately one of the doctors explained it must be the effect of my hotness. A couple of paracetamol gulped to lower the body temperature.
With my travel history, the well above normal body temperature and the tummy grumblings aka diarrhoea, I was referred to the Flu Screening Centre after a wait of over almost an hour. This wait, with hindsight was a good one. It provided ample time for the body temperature to go normal and the heart rate stabilised. After the interview and becoming another number in the H1N1 statistics, a lady doctor attended to me. Prepared for some swab samples to be taken but was pleasantly surprised when they did not ask me to. Been hearing stories of how painful it was to take the samples. Luckily I did not have the chance to verify this story. Saved by the lack of cough and some other symptoms. On the other hand, Brunei has moved on to the next stage of H1N1 fight, the Protect and Treat Phase where the emphasis is more on protecting the vulnerable group and not so much on reporting of every single case. So not every single suspect will be tested. Before going off, was given a few “bata” or take home stuff. The standard but effective paracetamol, something for the diarrhoea and most importantly the antiviral Tamiflu.
Over the next 36 hours, visits to the small room more and more frequent. If there is a customer loyalty programme, I would have got some air miles, may be even a free ticket to some exotic destination. Endless checking and monitoring of the pulse rate and especially the body temperature which was yo yoing. The digital ear thermometer shouted red alert most of the time when the readings were well above normal. To make matters worse, Tamiflu had a nice side effect. Nausea and vomiting. Imagine feeling like to vomit most of the time. It was definitely a case of exit both at the top and the bottom. Not the normal enter at the top, exit at the bottom scenario.
Allhamdulillah, after 36 hours or so, things had stabilised. Everything seems to be heading to normal except for the side effect which hopefully will be gone soon. This experience was indeed an eye opener on how blessed we are to have a first class health service and organisation. Despite some criticisms, justified or not, played up by the media, mostly in the internet chatters, all I saw and experience was total professionalism and care. True, the waiting time still needs to be improved, but what is a little wait. Compare to what is happening in our neighbouring countries where based on the news report, are facing mounting challenges from H1N1. All in all, we must be grateful to the health authorities here for their responsible, swift, professional and caring actions. Thank you for job well done, thank you for the 5 days leave ...........
P.S.
Talking about anniversaries, I am sure most Bruneian Malays has the choice of two different dates to celebrate their wedding anniversaries. One is nikah day, the other is actual bersanding day which in majority if not all are two different dates. Some celebrate the nikah day for the obvious reason that is the day they are officially and legally husband and wife. Some celebrate the actual bersanding day. I dare not ask the logic behind this. I can only insinuate it’s because it is the actual day the marriage is consummated. To be on the safe side, celebrate both. But make sure you negotiate well in advance, just one present for both dates. 2 in 1 ............
Not wanting to pinpoint what or where the cause and start of it all but a few days earlier, together with a friend, went to the Gerai Ramadhan at the Stadium to get some pesungkaian. This was after a couple of years not bothering to go there. Got the normal stuff. Nothing exotic. When it comes to food, I am not that adventurous. I should have heeded the warning signs after the first visit. The tummy started to grumble more often. As often as the thunders that accompanied the heavy rains we got frequently lately despite everyone predicting prolonged dry weather. The urge to look for one particular gerai made me went for the second visit. Then the trouble really started.
Grumblings becoming louder and louder. Visits to the small room got more frequent. Still manageable and even went out and about until realising my body temperature had shot up to well above the normal range. The worry got worse after noticing the mini poster about H1N1 hanging just outside the small room. Not wanting to take any risk, off to RIPAS I went.
Upon arrival, walking through the unmanned thermal screening, I could see my infrared self on the screen. If someone was there, they would have thought Thermo Man was making an appearance. I was on fire. May be even a candidate to be one of the hottest men there that night. After the normal filling in the form, another surprised awaited me. Not so much the waiting time, but seeing how the heart rate or rather pulse rate rocketing up. Panic mode but fortunately one of the doctors explained it must be the effect of my hotness. A couple of paracetamol gulped to lower the body temperature.
With my travel history, the well above normal body temperature and the tummy grumblings aka diarrhoea, I was referred to the Flu Screening Centre after a wait of over almost an hour. This wait, with hindsight was a good one. It provided ample time for the body temperature to go normal and the heart rate stabilised. After the interview and becoming another number in the H1N1 statistics, a lady doctor attended to me. Prepared for some swab samples to be taken but was pleasantly surprised when they did not ask me to. Been hearing stories of how painful it was to take the samples. Luckily I did not have the chance to verify this story. Saved by the lack of cough and some other symptoms. On the other hand, Brunei has moved on to the next stage of H1N1 fight, the Protect and Treat Phase where the emphasis is more on protecting the vulnerable group and not so much on reporting of every single case. So not every single suspect will be tested. Before going off, was given a few “bata” or take home stuff. The standard but effective paracetamol, something for the diarrhoea and most importantly the antiviral Tamiflu.
Over the next 36 hours, visits to the small room more and more frequent. If there is a customer loyalty programme, I would have got some air miles, may be even a free ticket to some exotic destination. Endless checking and monitoring of the pulse rate and especially the body temperature which was yo yoing. The digital ear thermometer shouted red alert most of the time when the readings were well above normal. To make matters worse, Tamiflu had a nice side effect. Nausea and vomiting. Imagine feeling like to vomit most of the time. It was definitely a case of exit both at the top and the bottom. Not the normal enter at the top, exit at the bottom scenario.
Allhamdulillah, after 36 hours or so, things had stabilised. Everything seems to be heading to normal except for the side effect which hopefully will be gone soon. This experience was indeed an eye opener on how blessed we are to have a first class health service and organisation. Despite some criticisms, justified or not, played up by the media, mostly in the internet chatters, all I saw and experience was total professionalism and care. True, the waiting time still needs to be improved, but what is a little wait. Compare to what is happening in our neighbouring countries where based on the news report, are facing mounting challenges from H1N1. All in all, we must be grateful to the health authorities here for their responsible, swift, professional and caring actions. Thank you for job well done, thank you for the 5 days leave ...........
P.S.
Talking about anniversaries, I am sure most Bruneian Malays has the choice of two different dates to celebrate their wedding anniversaries. One is nikah day, the other is actual bersanding day which in majority if not all are two different dates. Some celebrate the nikah day for the obvious reason that is the day they are officially and legally husband and wife. Some celebrate the actual bersanding day. I dare not ask the logic behind this. I can only insinuate it’s because it is the actual day the marriage is consummated. To be on the safe side, celebrate both. But make sure you negotiate well in advance, just one present for both dates. 2 in 1 ............
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Ramadhan.....
It’s Ramadhan again. Time to focus more on good deeds and amal ibadat. Time the devil aka iblis is incaserated. Time to fast or better known as puasa. Refraining from food, drinks and all the “prohibited” things from dawn till dusk, the hardest for some is not so much the food and drinks, but not to pick their noses all day long. If we are observant enough, we can see all sorts of antics, tactics and actions devised to meet the demand of itchy noses.
It is also the time more people will remember prayer times for Maghrib and Suboh, if not for prayers, it’s the time we can eat, drink and to certain extend being “extra friendly” with our spouses. Maghrib, the starting whistle blows. Suboh, Imsyak to be precise, the finishing line. That seems to be how some people think of Ramadhan. Sungkai feast offerings here and there. Eateries offering Sahur spreads. In short, Maghrib to Suboh is the time for personal pleasurable indulgement.
To some, the numbers are not that many, Ramadhan is just something they have to go through before the much anticipated, awaited Hari Raya. To them, fasting or not is irrelevant. What is important is Hari Raya. Time to have fun. Time for new clothes. Time to eat, eat, eat. And off course the Hari Raya, open houses, gatherings and parties. Not realising, or may be just acting ignorant, what Hari Raya Aidilfitri is really for and for whom is Hari Raya for.
Fortunately, thankfully, more and more people, are aware of the significance of Ramadhan and Hari Raya Aidilfitri from Islam point of view. More and more are knowledgeable on the amal ibadat, wajib or sunat encouraged in this month of doing good deeds. Mosques are also seeing increase in attendance, especially at night for terawih prayers. The numbers seem to peak in the first week, stabilising in the second week, slow downward trend in the third week followed by drastic nose dive in the fourth and final week.
In short, it seems, admittedly not scientifically deduced nor backed by hard statistics, just by simple observations, as we go through Ramadhan, some of us are heading in the opposite direction to what Ramadhan is all about. More indulgement instead of more sacrifices.........
P.S.
Today’s khutbah on the jokes made about sighting of the new moon is timely. We all love jokes and the jokes on the failure to sight the new moon are hilarious and original. With the theme around the “out of order” aka “rosak” telescopes. But in reality, sighting of the new moon is a serious matter and comes with big responsibility. A decision affecting all the Muslims in this country. Everyone involves are giving their best, backed by experts and high tech equipment. Failure of sightings is not for lack of trying and equipment. All by God’s will...... Selamat Beramadhan in everysense... everyway.....
It is also the time more people will remember prayer times for Maghrib and Suboh, if not for prayers, it’s the time we can eat, drink and to certain extend being “extra friendly” with our spouses. Maghrib, the starting whistle blows. Suboh, Imsyak to be precise, the finishing line. That seems to be how some people think of Ramadhan. Sungkai feast offerings here and there. Eateries offering Sahur spreads. In short, Maghrib to Suboh is the time for personal pleasurable indulgement.
To some, the numbers are not that many, Ramadhan is just something they have to go through before the much anticipated, awaited Hari Raya. To them, fasting or not is irrelevant. What is important is Hari Raya. Time to have fun. Time for new clothes. Time to eat, eat, eat. And off course the Hari Raya, open houses, gatherings and parties. Not realising, or may be just acting ignorant, what Hari Raya Aidilfitri is really for and for whom is Hari Raya for.
Fortunately, thankfully, more and more people, are aware of the significance of Ramadhan and Hari Raya Aidilfitri from Islam point of view. More and more are knowledgeable on the amal ibadat, wajib or sunat encouraged in this month of doing good deeds. Mosques are also seeing increase in attendance, especially at night for terawih prayers. The numbers seem to peak in the first week, stabilising in the second week, slow downward trend in the third week followed by drastic nose dive in the fourth and final week.
In short, it seems, admittedly not scientifically deduced nor backed by hard statistics, just by simple observations, as we go through Ramadhan, some of us are heading in the opposite direction to what Ramadhan is all about. More indulgement instead of more sacrifices.........
P.S.
Today’s khutbah on the jokes made about sighting of the new moon is timely. We all love jokes and the jokes on the failure to sight the new moon are hilarious and original. With the theme around the “out of order” aka “rosak” telescopes. But in reality, sighting of the new moon is a serious matter and comes with big responsibility. A decision affecting all the Muslims in this country. Everyone involves are giving their best, backed by experts and high tech equipment. Failure of sightings is not for lack of trying and equipment. All by God’s will...... Selamat Beramadhan in everysense... everyway.....
Friday, August 14, 2009
Change or else.....
One of my early entries was about how it was raining, flooding here and there yet taps were dry. Prolonged disruptions to the water supply. Now, today, the last few months until who knows when but if we believe the forecast as early as September or may be longer, we are in the dry season made worse by our not so good friend Mrs El-Nino. Prefer to call it Mrs, the female gender as weather phenomenon especially tropical storms, typhoons, cyclones, initially were named after the female species. Wonder why this is? Anything to do with the female kind ability to brew up storms out of nothing? But in 1979, some people who wants to be politically correct and seems to be too serious at all things changed this. They said this practice was sexist. Spoil sport! Now the males are also associated with it!
El-Nino increases surface temperature, induced forest fires, amplify haze and brings prolonged drought. Up to 40% reduction from the normal rainfall is predicted. This figure is worrying. It is already supposed to be dry, now 40% drier? Why should we worry some may ask. We still get some rain, water is plentiful, stored in tanks, rivers, dams, etc. True, as a country we are blessed with natural water source. True we have dams to store water. True we are blessed with a government who provides excellent water infrastructure. But with our current usage of water, among the highest in the world, this will catch up with us, we will run out of water, cheap water that is. Water can always be produced but at what cost? Do we want to be in the situation where the cost to produce water is so high, uneconomically high? Ask the Saudis, Singaporeans and other not so blessed countries, how many times more it cost them to produce a litre of water compare to us in this blessed country. Do we want to pay more for our water? Increase our water bills? Reduce the portion of our hard earned income we can spend on our houses, clothings, shoes, bags, food, cars, bikes, TVs, home cinemas, karaoke sets, mobile phones, gadgets, spa treatments, facials, pedicure, manicure, hair treatment, traveling, shopping trips, hobbies, all the pleasurable albeit some are useless things and also our savings? Do we really want that? Hope we will not take this fact for granted.
Let´s all CHANGE, use LESS WATER now! Not just during this dry season, but all the time. Change or else ....
PS
If my sources are correct, I believed they are, they are the professionals, the experts, at the current rate of usage and in the event of prolong dry season, our storages can only last us between 6 months to a year. Worrying indeed and the water levels are beginning to drop. Boh doi!
El-Nino increases surface temperature, induced forest fires, amplify haze and brings prolonged drought. Up to 40% reduction from the normal rainfall is predicted. This figure is worrying. It is already supposed to be dry, now 40% drier? Why should we worry some may ask. We still get some rain, water is plentiful, stored in tanks, rivers, dams, etc. True, as a country we are blessed with natural water source. True we have dams to store water. True we are blessed with a government who provides excellent water infrastructure. But with our current usage of water, among the highest in the world, this will catch up with us, we will run out of water, cheap water that is. Water can always be produced but at what cost? Do we want to be in the situation where the cost to produce water is so high, uneconomically high? Ask the Saudis, Singaporeans and other not so blessed countries, how many times more it cost them to produce a litre of water compare to us in this blessed country. Do we want to pay more for our water? Increase our water bills? Reduce the portion of our hard earned income we can spend on our houses, clothings, shoes, bags, food, cars, bikes, TVs, home cinemas, karaoke sets, mobile phones, gadgets, spa treatments, facials, pedicure, manicure, hair treatment, traveling, shopping trips, hobbies, all the pleasurable albeit some are useless things and also our savings? Do we really want that? Hope we will not take this fact for granted.
Let´s all CHANGE, use LESS WATER now! Not just during this dry season, but all the time. Change or else ....
PS
If my sources are correct, I believed they are, they are the professionals, the experts, at the current rate of usage and in the event of prolong dry season, our storages can only last us between 6 months to a year. Worrying indeed and the water levels are beginning to drop. Boh doi!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Being Critical ....
“To me the sign of a great nation – and a great citizen – is pride in the country coupled with the ability to recognise what needs to be improved” wrote Philip Merry, CEO of the Global Leadership Academy in the Straits Times.
Definitely something to ponder, contemplate and reflect as we grow as a country and a nation. I am sure every citizen, every resident in this country of unexpected treasures, negara bertuah, feel blessed to live in one of the best places in the world. A wonderful place. The best place to lead a balanced lifestyle one of my bosses said before. In fact a friend used to say, albeit jokingly, which if you think about it, have some truth in it, you can find everything here. Good, bad, legal, illegal, over the table, under the table, halal, haram and so on. Semua ada as in the Doraemon front pocket / pouch where all sorts of things, gadgets and tools can be magically produced.
As much as we are proud of our beloved country, I for one do not wish to live in another country even if I am forced at gun point, we must be able to be critical, not in a senseless way, to make this great country even greater. To be critical we must be civilise, able to discuss rationally, objectively with constructive criticism at the same time understanding the issues, getting the full true facts and most important of all is our good intention to see this beloved country grow even greater and able to provide the best for her people. For the good of everyone. All for one and one for all as the Musketeers used to say......
P.S.
Doraemon’s front pocket is called yojigen-pocket, or 4-dimensional pocket. Although he can hear perfectly well, Doraemon has no ears: his robotic ears were eaten by a mouse, giving him a phobia of the creatures. I once read Doraemon stories contain a lot of moral lessons regarding values such as integrity, perseverance, courage, family and respect. May be our kids are not wasting their time watching this blue and white creature from the future up to his antics. May be they did learn something.............
Definitely something to ponder, contemplate and reflect as we grow as a country and a nation. I am sure every citizen, every resident in this country of unexpected treasures, negara bertuah, feel blessed to live in one of the best places in the world. A wonderful place. The best place to lead a balanced lifestyle one of my bosses said before. In fact a friend used to say, albeit jokingly, which if you think about it, have some truth in it, you can find everything here. Good, bad, legal, illegal, over the table, under the table, halal, haram and so on. Semua ada as in the Doraemon front pocket / pouch where all sorts of things, gadgets and tools can be magically produced.
As much as we are proud of our beloved country, I for one do not wish to live in another country even if I am forced at gun point, we must be able to be critical, not in a senseless way, to make this great country even greater. To be critical we must be civilise, able to discuss rationally, objectively with constructive criticism at the same time understanding the issues, getting the full true facts and most important of all is our good intention to see this beloved country grow even greater and able to provide the best for her people. For the good of everyone. All for one and one for all as the Musketeers used to say......
P.S.
Doraemon’s front pocket is called yojigen-pocket, or 4-dimensional pocket. Although he can hear perfectly well, Doraemon has no ears: his robotic ears were eaten by a mouse, giving him a phobia of the creatures. I once read Doraemon stories contain a lot of moral lessons regarding values such as integrity, perseverance, courage, family and respect. May be our kids are not wasting their time watching this blue and white creature from the future up to his antics. May be they did learn something.............
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Breastfeeding ....
It’s the end of the first week of August. The last day of the World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) which this year falls from 1st to 7th August. By all accounts breastfeeding is good for the baby as well as the mom. Among the objectives of the WBW 2009 is to draw attention to the vital role that breastfeeding plays in emergencies worldwide. According to the WBW website, “ Children are the most vulnerable in emergencies – child mortality can soar from 2 to 70 times higher than average due to diarrhoea, respiratory illness and malnutrition. Breastfeeding is a life saving intervention and protection is greatest for the youngest infants. Even in non-emergency settings, non-breastfed babies under 2 months of age are six times more likely to die.”
Our local health authorities have a policy of encouraging breastfeeding as soon as giving birth, exclusively for six months and to continue breastfeeding up to 2 years. The fliers they distributed also stated among the advantages are the baby will have higher IQ, lower risk of obesity, antibody against diarrhoea, lower risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and reduce risk of orthodontic and dental problems. As for the mom, breastfeeding helps the mom's body return to its pre-pregnancy state faster, helps delay return of fertility and to space subsequent pregnancies, develops a special emotional relationship and bonding with her child and helps the uterus contract after birth to control postpartum bleeding.
That takes care of the mom and the baby. How about the daddy? To date, haven’t seen any fliers telling what benefits breastfeeding brings to the daddy. Some will say, having healthier wife and baby is benefit enough. But guys being guys, I am sure will want to know what other advantages they will get out of it. Remember, if the mom breastfeeds the baby for at least two years, that will be two years of refraining from some pleasurable activity for the daddy. So they must be thinking “I better get something out of this”. Hope the health authorities can look into this.
In the absence of such fliers, on top of the head, we can see some obvious benefits. First, to the wallet. Milk formula tends to be costly. Breastfeeding definitely will help in reducing the household expenses. The money saved can be used on other things or be used as seed money to open up the baby’s account. Over two years, the figure can be around $1000 which will worth double when the baby turns 18. A second advantage will be to the eyes and better night sleep. No more worries about waking up and mixing the milk formula with half eyes closed in the middle of the night. Better sleep means the daddy can get up early and be at work on time. No time loss at work and the boss will be happier.
I am sure if we put our head into it, we can conjure up more imaginative benefits to the daddy. A not so obvious advantage, according to one website, the stool of a baby on breastfeeding has a butter-milk smell. Any volunteers to check on this? If it smells like the butter milk fish/beef/chicken, pretty sure changing diapers will be a more pleasant experience. We may even want to savour the moment, take in the smell, may even feel hungry, not trying to get it done as fast as we can.
Being a daddy, I support wholeheartedly the breastfeeding drive. Don’t be surprised to see the following slogan on my car bumper.... “Support breastfeeding, excellent for the baby, good for the mom and the daddy too.”
PS:
As in anything, if you ask any guys, breastfeeding has its “disadvantages” . Feeling left out, less bond with the child, just to name a few. Some may feel resentment towards the baby who has "come between" him and the mom. We often hear jokes how the daddy may compete with the baby.But I am sure, we in this muslim country, would do all we can to avoid being grouped into the “sesusuan” category.....
Our local health authorities have a policy of encouraging breastfeeding as soon as giving birth, exclusively for six months and to continue breastfeeding up to 2 years. The fliers they distributed also stated among the advantages are the baby will have higher IQ, lower risk of obesity, antibody against diarrhoea, lower risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and reduce risk of orthodontic and dental problems. As for the mom, breastfeeding helps the mom's body return to its pre-pregnancy state faster, helps delay return of fertility and to space subsequent pregnancies, develops a special emotional relationship and bonding with her child and helps the uterus contract after birth to control postpartum bleeding.
That takes care of the mom and the baby. How about the daddy? To date, haven’t seen any fliers telling what benefits breastfeeding brings to the daddy. Some will say, having healthier wife and baby is benefit enough. But guys being guys, I am sure will want to know what other advantages they will get out of it. Remember, if the mom breastfeeds the baby for at least two years, that will be two years of refraining from some pleasurable activity for the daddy. So they must be thinking “I better get something out of this”. Hope the health authorities can look into this.
In the absence of such fliers, on top of the head, we can see some obvious benefits. First, to the wallet. Milk formula tends to be costly. Breastfeeding definitely will help in reducing the household expenses. The money saved can be used on other things or be used as seed money to open up the baby’s account. Over two years, the figure can be around $1000 which will worth double when the baby turns 18. A second advantage will be to the eyes and better night sleep. No more worries about waking up and mixing the milk formula with half eyes closed in the middle of the night. Better sleep means the daddy can get up early and be at work on time. No time loss at work and the boss will be happier.
I am sure if we put our head into it, we can conjure up more imaginative benefits to the daddy. A not so obvious advantage, according to one website, the stool of a baby on breastfeeding has a butter-milk smell. Any volunteers to check on this? If it smells like the butter milk fish/beef/chicken, pretty sure changing diapers will be a more pleasant experience. We may even want to savour the moment, take in the smell, may even feel hungry, not trying to get it done as fast as we can.
Being a daddy, I support wholeheartedly the breastfeeding drive. Don’t be surprised to see the following slogan on my car bumper.... “Support breastfeeding, excellent for the baby, good for the mom and the daddy too.”
PS:
As in anything, if you ask any guys, breastfeeding has its “disadvantages” . Feeling left out, less bond with the child, just to name a few. Some may feel resentment towards the baby who has "come between" him and the mom. We often hear jokes how the daddy may compete with the baby.But I am sure, we in this muslim country, would do all we can to avoid being grouped into the “sesusuan” category.....
Monday, August 03, 2009
Happy Birthday....
~~~ Happy Birthday To You ... Happy Birthday To You... Happy Birthday... Happy Birthday.... Happy Birthday to You ...~~~ Happy Birthday To You ... Happy Birthday To You... Happy Birthday... Happy Birthday.... Happy Birthday to You ...~~
My cheeky brainy fourth son has been telling me to sing it regularly lately. He asked me to sing it TWICE in a row every time I wash my hand with soap. Didn’t give it much thought initially. Really thought he was having me on. Got the cheek to play a prank on me.
Apparently, to my wonderful surprise, to make sure our hands are really clean, we need to wash our hands for at least 20 seconds. That’s about the same time it takes for us to sing the Happy Birthday song twice. Thank you son. You taught your ignorant dad something. Who says the we can’t learn anything from the young. Definitely comes in handy in this time where we need to wash our hands regularly. Touch anything, we wash. Sneeze, we wash. Cough, we wash. Shake hands, we wash. Wash, wash, wash. Wet tissues, hand soaps gone in no time.
Singing Happy Birthday song can also bring smile to our face. Remind us of the birthdays of the people around us, the people who means a lot to us. Have them in mind when we sing it, advance, current, belated. Those gifted with wonderful voice will bring cheers to people around. Those not so gifted, with suara katak, with any luck may just scare those bacteria and viruses off our hands for good......
P.S.
Reader’s Digest August Edition gave an alternative, albeit costly. We can ask our kids to use a soap dispenser which shoots a small black ink (vegetable dye) along with soap. Kids need to thoroughly wash for 20 seconds to get the dye off. Well, we may have clean hands but may also end up with artistic abstract looking stain splattered all over their uniforms....
My cheeky brainy fourth son has been telling me to sing it regularly lately. He asked me to sing it TWICE in a row every time I wash my hand with soap. Didn’t give it much thought initially. Really thought he was having me on. Got the cheek to play a prank on me.
Apparently, to my wonderful surprise, to make sure our hands are really clean, we need to wash our hands for at least 20 seconds. That’s about the same time it takes for us to sing the Happy Birthday song twice. Thank you son. You taught your ignorant dad something. Who says the we can’t learn anything from the young. Definitely comes in handy in this time where we need to wash our hands regularly. Touch anything, we wash. Sneeze, we wash. Cough, we wash. Shake hands, we wash. Wash, wash, wash. Wet tissues, hand soaps gone in no time.
Singing Happy Birthday song can also bring smile to our face. Remind us of the birthdays of the people around us, the people who means a lot to us. Have them in mind when we sing it, advance, current, belated. Those gifted with wonderful voice will bring cheers to people around. Those not so gifted, with suara katak, with any luck may just scare those bacteria and viruses off our hands for good......
P.S.
Reader’s Digest August Edition gave an alternative, albeit costly. We can ask our kids to use a soap dispenser which shoots a small black ink (vegetable dye) along with soap. Kids need to thoroughly wash for 20 seconds to get the dye off. Well, we may have clean hands but may also end up with artistic abstract looking stain splattered all over their uniforms....
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Time to Kill...
It’s the first day of August. It’s a Saturday. It’s my off day. Well normally it’s my working day. But for some very special and joyous reason, it’s my off day. “Time to kill a lot I have” as Yoda would have said it. Quite where in the Star Wars series he said it, please do not ask me.
What do I do with a lot of time to kill? I can choose from watch TV, read, trying to catch up with some sleep, cruising around aimlessly, window shopping, house chores, baby sitting etc. The list goes on and on. One of the killing time activities is surfing. Before you start thinking of beach bums with bermuda shorts, delicious behind with tanned six pack torso, with surf board in hand, this is not the surfing not on the beach kind. It’s the kind of surfing used to be for the nerds of this world but now it seems everyone bar the few still in the dark ages, nerd or no nerd are into surfing. Surfing the internet seems to be one of the most favourite past time nowadays. On the PC, on the notebooks or on the smart phones and to certain extend not so smart phones, everyone is surfing the cyber world, the world wide web, the internet.
Everything, anything in this real world can be found in the internet. Useful information, useless information, trivial matters, serious ones, long lost family members, forgotten friends, new love, old love, gossips, facts, PG rated, X-rated. It goes on and on. Basically everything you can think off. Google it, it will be there. Sometime ago, a friend said one way of measuring how popular you are is by goggling your name. Imagine his horror when he goggled his name, no entry appeared. He was obviously very popular.. NOT!
Freedom of information some people call it. But as in everything, freedom does not necessarily mean a totally good thing. No regulation on what is put on the internet. No way of telling if it is a fact or a lie. One thing we can do, is not to trust the internet 100%. Take the information with a pinch of salt. An example of this is how readily available information on health and symptoms of any disease is. Before you go to the doctor, you somehow manage to come up with the diagnosis and even the prognosis. Some may even doubt what the real life doctor says and prescribed. It seems a few minutes surfing on the internet made us a well qualified doctor compared to someone who had gone through at least 7 years of medical training and many many years of professional training and experience. The internet seems to be taken too seriously and taken as the truth. In actual fact, the internet is only a very useful tool to disseminate knowledge and extend our network and source of information. For expert and professional advice, trust should and must still be given to the right professionals of the real world.
Back to my surfing. Came across a very interesting albeit to many people useless site. With a domain name of thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com, it definitely attracts attention. This particular site has a collection of facts and trivia about things that are the longest of their kind in the world. Useless but some are hilarious.
The longest name of a country? With 74 characters with spaces and 63 characters without, Al Jumahiriyah al Arabiyah al Libiyah ash Shabiyah al Ishtirakiyah al Uzma holds the record. It is more widely known as Libya. Imagine how twisted tongued the newsreader will be!
Another, the world's longest abbreviation containing 56 letters: NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT
Which stands for Laboratory for Shuttering, Reinforcement, Concrete and Ferroconcrete Operations for Composite-monolithic and Monolithic Constructions of the Department of Technology of Building Assembly Operations of the Scientific Research Institute of the Organization for Building Mechanization and Technical Aid of the Academy of Building and Architecture of the USSR. Do they even understand what abbreviation means? And who in the world would give something such a long winded name. No wonder the USSR is no longer around.
You can try the website for more. Have fun ...
PS:
Only do this if you have plenty of time to kill. You have already wasted enough of your valuable time reading this useless entry. Ha ha ha ....
What do I do with a lot of time to kill? I can choose from watch TV, read, trying to catch up with some sleep, cruising around aimlessly, window shopping, house chores, baby sitting etc. The list goes on and on. One of the killing time activities is surfing. Before you start thinking of beach bums with bermuda shorts, delicious behind with tanned six pack torso, with surf board in hand, this is not the surfing not on the beach kind. It’s the kind of surfing used to be for the nerds of this world but now it seems everyone bar the few still in the dark ages, nerd or no nerd are into surfing. Surfing the internet seems to be one of the most favourite past time nowadays. On the PC, on the notebooks or on the smart phones and to certain extend not so smart phones, everyone is surfing the cyber world, the world wide web, the internet.
Everything, anything in this real world can be found in the internet. Useful information, useless information, trivial matters, serious ones, long lost family members, forgotten friends, new love, old love, gossips, facts, PG rated, X-rated. It goes on and on. Basically everything you can think off. Google it, it will be there. Sometime ago, a friend said one way of measuring how popular you are is by goggling your name. Imagine his horror when he goggled his name, no entry appeared. He was obviously very popular.. NOT!
Freedom of information some people call it. But as in everything, freedom does not necessarily mean a totally good thing. No regulation on what is put on the internet. No way of telling if it is a fact or a lie. One thing we can do, is not to trust the internet 100%. Take the information with a pinch of salt. An example of this is how readily available information on health and symptoms of any disease is. Before you go to the doctor, you somehow manage to come up with the diagnosis and even the prognosis. Some may even doubt what the real life doctor says and prescribed. It seems a few minutes surfing on the internet made us a well qualified doctor compared to someone who had gone through at least 7 years of medical training and many many years of professional training and experience. The internet seems to be taken too seriously and taken as the truth. In actual fact, the internet is only a very useful tool to disseminate knowledge and extend our network and source of information. For expert and professional advice, trust should and must still be given to the right professionals of the real world.
Back to my surfing. Came across a very interesting albeit to many people useless site. With a domain name of thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com, it definitely attracts attention. This particular site has a collection of facts and trivia about things that are the longest of their kind in the world. Useless but some are hilarious.
The longest name of a country? With 74 characters with spaces and 63 characters without, Al Jumahiriyah al Arabiyah al Libiyah ash Shabiyah al Ishtirakiyah al Uzma holds the record. It is more widely known as Libya. Imagine how twisted tongued the newsreader will be!
Another, the world's longest abbreviation containing 56 letters: NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT
Which stands for Laboratory for Shuttering, Reinforcement, Concrete and Ferroconcrete Operations for Composite-monolithic and Monolithic Constructions of the Department of Technology of Building Assembly Operations of the Scientific Research Institute of the Organization for Building Mechanization and Technical Aid of the Academy of Building and Architecture of the USSR. Do they even understand what abbreviation means? And who in the world would give something such a long winded name. No wonder the USSR is no longer around.
You can try the website for more. Have fun ...
PS:
Only do this if you have plenty of time to kill. You have already wasted enough of your valuable time reading this useless entry. Ha ha ha ....
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Big Yawn ...
Read in the August edition of the Reader’s Digest:
“..... Researchers say our brains burn up to 33% of the calories we consume - and generate heat. Yawning cools brain cells, thus making them more efficient. The researchers also found that yawning increases blood flow and helps maintain optimum levels of functioning. And they suggest we´re biologically hard-wired to yawn to stay alert and protect ourselves from danger...."
The next time you see somebody yawning nonstop in a meeting or a presentation, be rest assured he or she is the most alert one. The one who will take in most if not all what is being discussed or presented.
No wonder I yawn a lot when reading a book. No wonder so many men yawn during khutbah on Fridays . No wonder husbands yawn when the wives pour their hearts out. Come to think of it, men yawn more than women. Now we know why... Men seems to be the more alert species... the more thoughtful...
P.S.
for better career prospect, next time make sure you yawn a lot in front of your boss. If he asked what is wrong with you, give him a copy of this article. He will definitely appreciate how alert you are and how your brain is functioning at the optimum level..... Guaranteed top management material.... Promotion will follow very very soon....
“..... Researchers say our brains burn up to 33% of the calories we consume - and generate heat. Yawning cools brain cells, thus making them more efficient. The researchers also found that yawning increases blood flow and helps maintain optimum levels of functioning. And they suggest we´re biologically hard-wired to yawn to stay alert and protect ourselves from danger...."
The next time you see somebody yawning nonstop in a meeting or a presentation, be rest assured he or she is the most alert one. The one who will take in most if not all what is being discussed or presented.
No wonder I yawn a lot when reading a book. No wonder so many men yawn during khutbah on Fridays . No wonder husbands yawn when the wives pour their hearts out. Come to think of it, men yawn more than women. Now we know why... Men seems to be the more alert species... the more thoughtful...
P.S.
for better career prospect, next time make sure you yawn a lot in front of your boss. If he asked what is wrong with you, give him a copy of this article. He will definitely appreciate how alert you are and how your brain is functioning at the optimum level..... Guaranteed top management material.... Promotion will follow very very soon....
Monday, July 27, 2009
@$#!&* ....
The clock struck 530pm. Newsreader started the news rolling. This and that. Bla bla bla ....
Out of the blue, Arghhh! I am so gerigitan. Words can´t describe what went through my head. They are at it again. How many times? Will they ever learn? Did anybody tell them? You can call me bibiran on this. I don’t care. Is it just me being so fussy? Nobody else see or hear what I heard and saw? And they announced it to the whole world. Some will say they meant well, they are just doing their work. I am not disputing that. In fact I salute them for all their hard work in keeping our country safe. I really do. Tunjuk langit kind of truth!
But why oh why in the world do they have to say they are undertaking their operations "sempena" or in conjunction with His Majesty´s Birthday? Are they saying more criminal elements appear during this joyful occasion? May be statistics can and will show it is true more crimes do happen. But isn´t that suppose to be the case? Crowds will always attract unsavoury elements. Just like sugar will attract ants. Just like ladies will attract guy´s attention. It´s a fact of life how sad it may sound.
There must be better ways to tell the whole world about what they are doing. Isn´t it better just to say they are doing their duty to keep us safer during this joyous occasion. But definitely and surely not in conjunction! As if it´s part of the official celebration. The last time I checked, I did not recall seeing the operation listed anywhere in the programme book.
I am sorry and sincerely apologised if this seemed to be repeat broadcast of my entry before. Just can´t help it. I am just so gerigitan and geram at the way this piece of news item is being handled again and again. Geram berabis. Some people says KE OTAK....
PS: singing Geram Jangan Engkau Geram as famously sang by Black Dog Bone....
Out of the blue, Arghhh! I am so gerigitan. Words can´t describe what went through my head. They are at it again. How many times? Will they ever learn? Did anybody tell them? You can call me bibiran on this. I don’t care. Is it just me being so fussy? Nobody else see or hear what I heard and saw? And they announced it to the whole world. Some will say they meant well, they are just doing their work. I am not disputing that. In fact I salute them for all their hard work in keeping our country safe. I really do. Tunjuk langit kind of truth!
But why oh why in the world do they have to say they are undertaking their operations "sempena" or in conjunction with His Majesty´s Birthday? Are they saying more criminal elements appear during this joyful occasion? May be statistics can and will show it is true more crimes do happen. But isn´t that suppose to be the case? Crowds will always attract unsavoury elements. Just like sugar will attract ants. Just like ladies will attract guy´s attention. It´s a fact of life how sad it may sound.
There must be better ways to tell the whole world about what they are doing. Isn´t it better just to say they are doing their duty to keep us safer during this joyous occasion. But definitely and surely not in conjunction! As if it´s part of the official celebration. The last time I checked, I did not recall seeing the operation listed anywhere in the programme book.
I am sorry and sincerely apologised if this seemed to be repeat broadcast of my entry before. Just can´t help it. I am just so gerigitan and geram at the way this piece of news item is being handled again and again. Geram berabis. Some people says KE OTAK....
PS: singing Geram Jangan Engkau Geram as famously sang by Black Dog Bone....
Sunday, July 26, 2009
In a blink....
Time really flies. The week seemed to have gone pass with only a blink of an eye. Sunday to another Sunday to another Sunday here we are almost 70% of the year gone. Wonder how much we have achieved the targets we set at the beginning of the year. 70%? 50%? 30%? Or worse 0%? Are going to quantify it in terms of numbers? Or we do it qualitatively?
Soon, in less than a month will be Ramadhan. The month of ibadat. Month to get in touch with our inner self. Month to do good things good deeds. Well aren´t we suppose to be like that 247 365? (366 in a leap year ....)
Bulan puasa is also famous for being the month of food. All sorts will turn up everywhere. All kind of offers to tempt us. Not just for sungkai and sahur. Catalogues, lists, forms for kek raya flying here and there. All sorts of cakes, kek rolls, biscuits some with strange names like kek lapis Siti Nurhaliza and Dato K as if Siti Nurhaliza can make kek lapis.
As soon as puasa starts, preparation for hari raya will start. Offices having meetings to discuss hari raya celebrations. Shops offering hard to believe sales playing raya songs from day 1 of puasa. Opening hours extended. Midnight crazy sales offered. Shoes walking away. Shirts and pants apart from the size S ones gone. Tailors on 24 hours shift. Sets and sets of new sofas on the road. Crates and crates of soft drinks fronting entrances to shops. Hampers taller than most people who got them walking about. Flowers blooming albeit plastic ones. TVs, large ones appearing in many living rooms. Rolls and rolls of cucul of all sorts of colours and blinks unfurled. Yards and metres of curtain hang. Buckets of paint splattered. New car registrations jumps up. Sounds of air bombs louder by the day. Pawn shops on overtime. Loan sharks having field day. Banks giving out loans in myriad of names but all the same it is still hutang. Credit cards well ironed and swiped with eventual thicker than usual statement waiting.
Off course the ladies started well well in advance. Some as soon as Syawal ends. Or else they will end up with baju raya from the past. That wouldn´t look good in the photo albums. Even more so now in the age of Facebook where old raya albums are uploaded. Guys can get away with it. Baju melayu is still baju melayu. Apart from the odd one or two people with baju melayu bekatok, all look the same. Even for those who favours the handkerchief hanging on the front style. Add to that saloons offering all sorts of treatment. Lose kilos before raya. I bet those kilos are the weight of the dollars we have to pay for it. All sorts of perms. Afro look used to be the hits in raya pasts. Rebonding. You name it. Whatever you want to do with your hair, they will do it. Even for guys. But if you want to do the kojak look, save your money. Don´t go to the saloon. Just go to the Indian barber. $4 and your hair will be gone in a blink! Massage and head slapping thrown in for free!
About the only thing that seems to be in decline is the attendance for terawih as Ramadhan passes by.....
P.S.
What am I doing talking about puasa and raya? First thing first, we are in Sya´aban. The month for Rasulullah. The month for puasa sunat even if it is only just a day. I won’t go into detail about it. I m no ustaz. Just another guy with "tuhur" level of knowledge in ugama matters. But let’s remind ourselves of Nisfu Sya´aban, the night of 15 Sya’aban. We are encouraged to do sembahyang sunat and recites Surah Yaasiin three times with doa in between. Doa for panjang umur, murah rezeki and ditetapkan iman. Amin ..... Insyallah this year Nisfu Sya’aban will be on the evening of Wednesday 5 August.
Soon, in less than a month will be Ramadhan. The month of ibadat. Month to get in touch with our inner self. Month to do good things good deeds. Well aren´t we suppose to be like that 247 365? (366 in a leap year ....)
Bulan puasa is also famous for being the month of food. All sorts will turn up everywhere. All kind of offers to tempt us. Not just for sungkai and sahur. Catalogues, lists, forms for kek raya flying here and there. All sorts of cakes, kek rolls, biscuits some with strange names like kek lapis Siti Nurhaliza and Dato K as if Siti Nurhaliza can make kek lapis.
As soon as puasa starts, preparation for hari raya will start. Offices having meetings to discuss hari raya celebrations. Shops offering hard to believe sales playing raya songs from day 1 of puasa. Opening hours extended. Midnight crazy sales offered. Shoes walking away. Shirts and pants apart from the size S ones gone. Tailors on 24 hours shift. Sets and sets of new sofas on the road. Crates and crates of soft drinks fronting entrances to shops. Hampers taller than most people who got them walking about. Flowers blooming albeit plastic ones. TVs, large ones appearing in many living rooms. Rolls and rolls of cucul of all sorts of colours and blinks unfurled. Yards and metres of curtain hang. Buckets of paint splattered. New car registrations jumps up. Sounds of air bombs louder by the day. Pawn shops on overtime. Loan sharks having field day. Banks giving out loans in myriad of names but all the same it is still hutang. Credit cards well ironed and swiped with eventual thicker than usual statement waiting.
Off course the ladies started well well in advance. Some as soon as Syawal ends. Or else they will end up with baju raya from the past. That wouldn´t look good in the photo albums. Even more so now in the age of Facebook where old raya albums are uploaded. Guys can get away with it. Baju melayu is still baju melayu. Apart from the odd one or two people with baju melayu bekatok, all look the same. Even for those who favours the handkerchief hanging on the front style. Add to that saloons offering all sorts of treatment. Lose kilos before raya. I bet those kilos are the weight of the dollars we have to pay for it. All sorts of perms. Afro look used to be the hits in raya pasts. Rebonding. You name it. Whatever you want to do with your hair, they will do it. Even for guys. But if you want to do the kojak look, save your money. Don´t go to the saloon. Just go to the Indian barber. $4 and your hair will be gone in a blink! Massage and head slapping thrown in for free!
About the only thing that seems to be in decline is the attendance for terawih as Ramadhan passes by.....
P.S.
What am I doing talking about puasa and raya? First thing first, we are in Sya´aban. The month for Rasulullah. The month for puasa sunat even if it is only just a day. I won’t go into detail about it. I m no ustaz. Just another guy with "tuhur" level of knowledge in ugama matters. But let’s remind ourselves of Nisfu Sya´aban, the night of 15 Sya’aban. We are encouraged to do sembahyang sunat and recites Surah Yaasiin three times with doa in between. Doa for panjang umur, murah rezeki and ditetapkan iman. Amin ..... Insyallah this year Nisfu Sya’aban will be on the evening of Wednesday 5 August.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Food.. Food... Food
Recently, a friend asked me why I think of food all the time. My reply.. everything we do goes back to food. Food is among the basic things in life. Abraham Maslow, in his hierarchy of needs theory published in 1943, identified food as one of the basic human needs. He categorised food together with water, air, shelter, clothing and few others including sex as "deficiency needs" which if not met, will cause the individual feels anxious and tense.
It is no different here. On average, each household spent almost 30% of its income on food. The biggest portion of spending. Well ahead of other form of spending
Improving quality of life of the people was and still one of the main objectives of this country. Self-sufficiency in food especially rice has became an obsession. Like it or not, as a country, we have to strive for this. Our over reliance on food import is one of our main strategic challenges. It is not impossible to be self sufficient or near to be self sufficient. We have already one success story in the local eggs production which has more or less managed to meet the local demand. Based on Agriculture Department’s statistics, all of use consumed around 123.66 millions of eggs. That’s about 311 eggs per year for each of us, almost one egg a day. Around 123.21 millions of eggs are produced locally. That’s a self-sufficiency rate of 99.6%! I still can recall, clearly, the years where we imported most of our eggs. It will arrive in wooden crates. During weddings, where eggs wrapped in napkin or handkerchief was the common door gifts, we can see these timber crates closely. There were even instances of egg shortages especially during festive seasons. Now we hardly have these shortages.
Compare to other countries, the figure of 311 eggs per year per person is reasonable. In the Philippines, it is around 94, in Thailand 145, Malaysia 305 and in the USA is around 257. We are indeed an egg consuming nation which is good for the agriculture industry. All those kek lapis, kek batik, kueh makmur, biscuits which required trays after trays of eggs especially near to Hari Raya which is just over two months away is definitely welcome.
What! Is Hari Raya that soon? I haven’t bought any kain yet for my baju melayu. Shortly, all the tailors will be fully booked with baju melayu orders. Here I am thinking of hari raya when it’s not even puasa yet. Should be thinking of puasa more , how to improve ibadat etc etc rather than new baju melayus, sinjangs, new sofas etc.
Talking about food and my encounters with food , there are many memorable, wonderful, funny, and delicious stories. I am sure everyone has their own stories. One of my earliest recollections was with kueh malaya. One stall in the old tamu at Padang Besar sold the best, the meanest kueh malaya. A favourite indeed. A relative joked, it was not because the kueh malaya was any good, but the daughter of the owner was pretty! Well, what did a 6 year old know about pretty girl. Not much! So it must be the kueh malaya. Next to be encountered was the talor dadar (egg omelette) taken together with lauk goreng cacah with the Brunei chilli sauce (nowadays it is in the familiar yellow cap to differentiate it with the Singapore ones). The ever favourite is my nini’s fish curry. Out of this world!
Another that stuck in the mind is the kebab in Manchester. Abdul Kebab to be precise. It was so deliciously hot, we were sweating in the middle of winter by the kebab. The briyani was also fingerlickingly delicious. But beware! Consume at the risk of regular trips to the small thinking room more famously known as the toilet. Must be all the spices. The trick was to consume it only when we were safely at home and with no plans to go out after that.
Talking about briyani, more precisely nasi bukhara, we used to bring back boxes and boxes of the supa dupa delicious bukhara from a particular place in Kuala Lumpur. Once we took back more than 10 big boxes, the custom people did not believe us. They thought hidden among the bukharas were some contraband stuff!
Food industry is definitely growing here. Restaurants, cafes, gerais mushrooming everywhere some with catchy names. All sorts of food. Local, ambuyats, western, chinese, indian, french, italian, fast food, slow food and many more including the popular nasi katoks. All the best to them but what’s important, they must be halal and must maintain high standard of hygiene.
PS: Today, passed by a new row of shops and saw a well known food chain in Kuala Lumpur famous for it’s supposed to be secret recipes, opening an outlet here. Good luck to them. Hope they can keep up with the established ones such as CA Mohammad, Chop Jing Chew, Thien Thien..............
It is no different here. On average, each household spent almost 30% of its income on food. The biggest portion of spending. Well ahead of other form of spending
Improving quality of life of the people was and still one of the main objectives of this country. Self-sufficiency in food especially rice has became an obsession. Like it or not, as a country, we have to strive for this. Our over reliance on food import is one of our main strategic challenges. It is not impossible to be self sufficient or near to be self sufficient. We have already one success story in the local eggs production which has more or less managed to meet the local demand. Based on Agriculture Department’s statistics, all of use consumed around 123.66 millions of eggs. That’s about 311 eggs per year for each of us, almost one egg a day. Around 123.21 millions of eggs are produced locally. That’s a self-sufficiency rate of 99.6%! I still can recall, clearly, the years where we imported most of our eggs. It will arrive in wooden crates. During weddings, where eggs wrapped in napkin or handkerchief was the common door gifts, we can see these timber crates closely. There were even instances of egg shortages especially during festive seasons. Now we hardly have these shortages.
Compare to other countries, the figure of 311 eggs per year per person is reasonable. In the Philippines, it is around 94, in Thailand 145, Malaysia 305 and in the USA is around 257. We are indeed an egg consuming nation which is good for the agriculture industry. All those kek lapis, kek batik, kueh makmur, biscuits which required trays after trays of eggs especially near to Hari Raya which is just over two months away is definitely welcome.
What! Is Hari Raya that soon? I haven’t bought any kain yet for my baju melayu. Shortly, all the tailors will be fully booked with baju melayu orders. Here I am thinking of hari raya when it’s not even puasa yet. Should be thinking of puasa more , how to improve ibadat etc etc rather than new baju melayus, sinjangs, new sofas etc.
Talking about food and my encounters with food , there are many memorable, wonderful, funny, and delicious stories. I am sure everyone has their own stories. One of my earliest recollections was with kueh malaya. One stall in the old tamu at Padang Besar sold the best, the meanest kueh malaya. A favourite indeed. A relative joked, it was not because the kueh malaya was any good, but the daughter of the owner was pretty! Well, what did a 6 year old know about pretty girl. Not much! So it must be the kueh malaya. Next to be encountered was the talor dadar (egg omelette) taken together with lauk goreng cacah with the Brunei chilli sauce (nowadays it is in the familiar yellow cap to differentiate it with the Singapore ones). The ever favourite is my nini’s fish curry. Out of this world!
Another that stuck in the mind is the kebab in Manchester. Abdul Kebab to be precise. It was so deliciously hot, we were sweating in the middle of winter by the kebab. The briyani was also fingerlickingly delicious. But beware! Consume at the risk of regular trips to the small thinking room more famously known as the toilet. Must be all the spices. The trick was to consume it only when we were safely at home and with no plans to go out after that.
Talking about briyani, more precisely nasi bukhara, we used to bring back boxes and boxes of the supa dupa delicious bukhara from a particular place in Kuala Lumpur. Once we took back more than 10 big boxes, the custom people did not believe us. They thought hidden among the bukharas were some contraband stuff!
Food industry is definitely growing here. Restaurants, cafes, gerais mushrooming everywhere some with catchy names. All sorts of food. Local, ambuyats, western, chinese, indian, french, italian, fast food, slow food and many more including the popular nasi katoks. All the best to them but what’s important, they must be halal and must maintain high standard of hygiene.
PS: Today, passed by a new row of shops and saw a well known food chain in Kuala Lumpur famous for it’s supposed to be secret recipes, opening an outlet here. Good luck to them. Hope they can keep up with the established ones such as CA Mohammad, Chop Jing Chew, Thien Thien..............
Friday, July 17, 2009
Playing Catch Up ...
Finally able to catch up on my readings, especially newspapers, which I had neglected for the past week or so for many reasons. Luckily these are just papers... if not I would have gotten some yellow card for abandoning my duties... worst I can be charged for desertion.
In one article I came across an interesting result from a survey which polled almost 1,000 people across Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. When asked what are the worst attributes of the opposite sex, men think women are materialistic and difficult to please, always dissatisfied and always complaining. The women think men are indecisive and difficult to please, always dissatisfied and always complaining. So what’s new? It took 1,000 people to state the obvious. It took three countries wide survey to confirm that men and women are the same. Both are difficult to please, always dissatisfied and always complaining. Ha ha ha ..... Well, for the single ones, who according to this survey rates finding it hard to meet someone who shares their values or interests as one of the top three reasons to remain single, at least being difficult to please, always dissatisfied and always complaining is a good start to having a common interest. Interest in complaining ha ha ha ... Statistics indeed paint many pictures depending from which angle you see it. This reminded me of a famous quote attributed to one Aaron Levenstein ... “Statistics are like bikinis, what they reveal is suggestive but what they conceal is vital.”
On another note, the new Harry Potter ( I always thought all this while it’s Porter not Potter) movie, the so called Harry Potter 6, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is finally here. Being avid fans and reader of the novel, obviously the kids have been waiting for this. I don’t know much about Harry Potter apart from it spans over seven books which are thick enough to be my paperweight. At least the kids are into reading. That’s what matters. Reading is important. Very important. It keeps the mind, the brain alert. On top of that we can gain something useful such as knowledge. The boss at work has been bugging us, again and again stressing how important reading is. To the extend just read anything, novels, papers, comics, magazines etc. A friend, when asked, what book he is reading now, answers FACEBOOK. Good one!
PS: I am struggling to finish the Jeremy Clarkson series of books. As interesting as the stories are, they are very interesting and very funny, often made me laugh out loud when reading them on the bed at night some may think I am having some sort of extra pleasurable strenuous activities, lately the eyes still manage to shut effortlessly.
In one article I came across an interesting result from a survey which polled almost 1,000 people across Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. When asked what are the worst attributes of the opposite sex, men think women are materialistic and difficult to please, always dissatisfied and always complaining. The women think men are indecisive and difficult to please, always dissatisfied and always complaining. So what’s new? It took 1,000 people to state the obvious. It took three countries wide survey to confirm that men and women are the same. Both are difficult to please, always dissatisfied and always complaining. Ha ha ha ..... Well, for the single ones, who according to this survey rates finding it hard to meet someone who shares their values or interests as one of the top three reasons to remain single, at least being difficult to please, always dissatisfied and always complaining is a good start to having a common interest. Interest in complaining ha ha ha ... Statistics indeed paint many pictures depending from which angle you see it. This reminded me of a famous quote attributed to one Aaron Levenstein ... “Statistics are like bikinis, what they reveal is suggestive but what they conceal is vital.”
On another note, the new Harry Potter ( I always thought all this while it’s Porter not Potter) movie, the so called Harry Potter 6, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is finally here. Being avid fans and reader of the novel, obviously the kids have been waiting for this. I don’t know much about Harry Potter apart from it spans over seven books which are thick enough to be my paperweight. At least the kids are into reading. That’s what matters. Reading is important. Very important. It keeps the mind, the brain alert. On top of that we can gain something useful such as knowledge. The boss at work has been bugging us, again and again stressing how important reading is. To the extend just read anything, novels, papers, comics, magazines etc. A friend, when asked, what book he is reading now, answers FACEBOOK. Good one!
PS: I am struggling to finish the Jeremy Clarkson series of books. As interesting as the stories are, they are very interesting and very funny, often made me laugh out loud when reading them on the bed at night some may think I am having some sort of extra pleasurable strenuous activities, lately the eyes still manage to shut effortlessly.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Surreal ....
Wowed! Proud! Inspired! Moved! Stirred! Some of the words to describe the reactions to today’s Titah from His Majesty. No need for me to repeat what was said. I am sure all eyes were glued to the TV and all ears tuned to the radio. Some even commented RTB got their biggest ever audience for the 8 o’clock news. It’s the hottest thing in town and will be in the foreseeable future. Some are looking forward to the Titah on 15 July.
In the cyber space, on Facebooks, Twitters, in Blogs, forums, people are talking about it. Commenting, suggesting, letting out how they feel. Some are serious, some are funny, some are sarcastic. It will not be complete without some commenting along the lines of “I told you so”; “Baru ia tau ...”; “Padan mua...”. But in all, one common message that came across clearly, visibly, undoubtedly, is the people’s awe and love to His Majesty. All in all, today’s event seemed surreal .... dreamlike.
Whatever and however we feel, we all can talk endlessly on how to react and what to do, all of us have our responsibility. To borrow from a famous phrase from a well known brand, lets JUST DO IT!
PS: Happy Birthday His Majesty ........
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Weekend Ramblings .....
Not much happening this weekend. Pretty uneventful. I suppose the last few weekends had been uneventful too. Even more so now with the H1N1 scare. Only out for essential matters.
Surfing the net, checking the latest cricket score (beginning to regret not subscribing to the cricket on the only legal satellite TV provider here), Facebooking, listening to the news at the same time, suddenly overheard the newsreader saying something about “Kumpulan Belia Lasak”. Involuntarily, I burst into big laughter. Flashing through my mind is a group of “Bald Youngsters” running around. I am sure most people, if not all, local Bruneians at least, knows what “lasak” is in our local cakap Brunei. Lasak in short means bald. Other words associated with lasak are “gondol” and “botak”. “Kojak” is another, the origin I was made to understand, was from the popular American television series starring Telly Savalas (he is bald) way back in the 70s. So popular the series was, the word Kojak is synonym with being bald, especially if totally bald (botak licin). Parents, family members and friends even gave nicknames to boys with no or little hair. We ended up with many “Si-Kojak”, a few I know personally. One interesting about Kojak, he was famous for sucking on lollipops as a substitute for smoking. Smokers may follow this.. suck lollipops to stop smoking!
Talking about nicknames, another popular one is “Si-Kanon”, associated with overweight boys. Again, another popular 70s TV series was the influence. Cannon was a detective series about an overweight private detective Frank Cannon, who had resigned from the LAPD and become a private detective. He was indeed shaped like a cannon ball! I am sure a lot of us know of “Si-Kanon” here and there.
Coming back to the “Kumpulan Belia Lasak”, it is actually a group of active, all action youngsters on a mission of doing good deeds. Definitely an initiative to be given full support and backing from all of us. I just wish the people naming the group were extra careful in naming the group ........
PS: this is how boring this weekend has been... the mind even had the time to wander on such trivial things as “Si-Kojak” and “Si-Kanon” ............
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