Victoria Sapientes Elegit the minimalist blog by syarif

Haha, I just realized that a few sentences in my last entry were left hanging- to a point that they didn't make any sense.

Sorry about that mates!

You see, it's very late at night, and I was typing whilst sitting half-awake.

Well, I'm sure all of you out there are smart enough- you can figure out what I was trying to say, right?

Hehe!


Regards,
Syarif Harudin

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Yep, certainly it is.

I have been sick for the last one week plus. The cold, flu, cough viral combo really caught up with me - particularly with my work.

It's so happen the there were super-important meetings, paperwork and not to mention, decisions needed to be made.

Making things worse, I was seen to be "getting back to the older me" where I got a lot of responsibilities on the plate- where I'm not willing to share.

Did I really don't want to share?
Maybe.

Was I too egoistic to let go?
Perhaps.

But most importantly, I was awarded the "Take 4" from the company's top management.

Looking back on what contributed to that, was, my "not-willing-to-share-as-I'm-seriously-taking-care-of-my-responsibilities" attitude.

Again, like I've mentioned in my previous (I can't remember which) that my attitude had become my kryptonite. It gives me power, yet at the same time it weakens me.

I really need to learn how the hell Superman does it.

But hey, not everyday is a misery day.

This week also saw Alice got a foot into BP! Yessiree, just a few more things needed to be done before she gets her offer letter.

And, she got a credit card, with a handsome credit limit. It seems that the Blackberry that she wanted for so long will finally be in her possession; not to mention a hefty amount of other stuff that she wanted.

The week also saw that I finally got the courage to challenge myself in actually speak up and fight for my right in the workplace. And I got the sense of actually think about shifting sideways before moving up the ladder.

And you know what, the week still doesn't end. There are things to go/attend; from a pre-course wedding, to a garden wedding, to Alice's medical checkup, and perhaps a wee bit of shopping spree.

The weekend just started. The next 48 hours will be filled with exciting activities.

This is the week, indeed!


Regards,
Syarif Harudin

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Last weekend, a bunch of us hang out with this British dude at 222. It was Tatty's office mate - whom is due to fly back home in a few days time.

Despite being here for a month or so, he didn't have the chance to fully embrace the true Malaysian 'lepak' culture.

He came to the right group.

We started the night with otak-otak, kuy teow goreng, roti canai and karipaps.

Then a second order of roti canai(s) as well as nasi goreng ayam. Since we were at 222, we decided to order from a few stalls.

Well, the 'lepak' subject for the nite varied from culture to sports to food recipes. But all in all, it was a true Malaysian experience.

And mate, do this thing a couple more times, and you'll find yourself jaywalking, screaming to AF contestants and park indiscreminately - you've become a Malaysian :p


Regards,
Syarif Harudin

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The Saturday has been utterly quiet. No emails, not much sms and just a few phone calls.

What the hell?
I'm finally left alone on the weekend?

Wah lau...


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There are thousands of ways that people can or would do to find the meaning of life.

Some would go high up the mountains and be a hermit.

Some would visit a holy place, and pray as well as hope for some divine signs.

Some would experiment with nature; observing the environment for any crossing fate.

Others would seek help from a learned man - doctors, consultants, shrink or religious workers.

For me, I prefer to find the meaning by just writing (or typing for that matter). Each and everytime I wanted to write something, some other thoughts would come in. For each word being put, my mind flew millions of miles; thinking what can I do better.

These days, I do kinda a lot of copywriting jobs at work. And I like it. It challenges my creative juice and at the same time it gives me power to think beyond what others would see. Seriously, I love it.

Life works in a funny way. When you think that you want something, other things would suddenly follow suit. All I or we need to do now is just choose. One path in this world does not lead to a straight road. It will somehow create a junction.

All you got to do is choose.

Some will go bad.

Others, may make you smile.

Hey, that's life.

When I started writing this piece, I had something else in mind.

But I chose to walk a different path.

Thank God, this time around, it created a good smirk on my face.

That's life.

P/s: I started the entry with a raging emotion; to bitch around about a few things of my day (hence the picture).


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Nothing good ever happens after 2 am.

Well, the statement was not overrated. Because a few minutes back I was skilfully 'tricked' into paying RM36 worth of prepaid airtime credit for an SMS game.

Here's how it happens:
1- I got RM37++ in my phone (not this one that I'm using) - I didn't know what to do with it since the airtimw gonna expire in a couple of days.

2- I decided to browse Digi's mobile web; just for the heck of it. I was thinking perhaps there are things in there that I could use like a bargain-priced game, or a nifty app for the SE phone.

3- But something caught my eyes: LChance to win a VW and 56 MacBooks". This is cool.

4- Read through the FAQ and T&C TWICE and clearly saw the clause saying that they're gonna charge RM3 per sms.

5- One side of me said just go to sleep; whilst the other is literally saying "Bro! It's your chance man! You can finally own a MacBook wei! Forget the VW- you won't have a chance, but the MacBook dude. Go for it!"

6- I did. The questions were super duper easy like: "A state that is famous with Laksa Sarawak; 1- Kangar 2- Kuching". I was laughing all the way!

7- They kept texting me with words of encouragement like "You're a step further from your MacBook!" or "Keep the momentum going! The MacBook is almost yours!".

8- I got 800 points; and have spent RM36. An SMS from Digi notified me that my credit is less than RM2. "Money well spent" I said to myself.

9- I got strucked by the better side of me. "DUDE! You're not the only person playing the game. There're like hundreds of sons and daughters of rich fellas who are also playing it- with the amount of probably 10 times that you did- and still cheaper than the original price of the MacBook anyway. 36 bucks? No chance in hell you're gonna win brah!"

10- Holy crap! I just spent my lunch money for nothing. The worse 36 bucks I had ever spent for the month. Probably for the year. I might as well leave the money on a staircase- at least the guy who finds it can have a pretty good lunch. Aiyyy...

So kids. Remember that nothing good ever happens after 2 am.

I was lucky I got only 37++ in my balance. I wonder how would I feel if it was like 300?

Next time, just tuck in and sleep.

I'm going to do exactly that now.

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The Golden Rule says that "love thy neighbour".

The Platinum Rule says that "never ever ever ever love thy neighbour".

The steps are like so:
1- Attraction
2- Bargaining
3- Submission
4- Perks
5- Tipping Point
6- Purgatory
7- Confrontation
8- Fallout

Note 1: It wasn't a pleasure at all.

Note 2: Nothing good ever happen after 2am. Just go to sleep. And don't write a blog either.

Note 3: Credits for The Platinum Rule (and most of 'Note 2') goes to Barney Stinson - www.barneysblog.com




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Since I was 16, I had this vision that one day I would be living a dream life.

With an arsenal of automobile along with an array of bikes, I would be living in an ultra-modern country house somewhere inside the woods but have the most amazing sea view.

I would have an amazing wife whom during a PTA meeting every mother would envy and every father would want. Yeah, I don't mind that since I'd be the dude that every father would envy and every mother and teacher would want (face it, there are like only 6 male teachers in Malaysia).

I'm not planning to be a lazy bum despite the money and power. Though I have this desire to become a politician, but with that status I could actually be The Godfather, The Don, The Boss. I'll build an empire of niche business like button making or needle manufacturing and just rule everyone through my small yet important product. Apart from that, I'll establish my own chain of cafe and serve to the world the true meaning of food, drink and merry making.

Ahh... That's a fine life. I'll wake up in the weekend, have brunch in Tokyo and dinner in Turkey. My vacation would be in a private island where I could actually go out naked without any soul noticing. In the end of the day, I'll be 45 and still can afford myself well enough to act 20 years younger.

But...

Reality check...

It has been more than 10 years, and I'm not living that life. The truth is, it's quite the opposite.

Every night I beat myself up, trying day in day out to strive for that dream. I work for almost 12 hours a day, and pushing myself to the limit.

Perhaps in terms of salary and experience, I'm one of the most advanced among people my age, and to a certain extend even those who are 10 years older than me. But, I'm not having a wonderful life. There are always a burden attached to my shoulders. The constant pain just wouldn't fly off, and it seriously pushing me down.

I just need to be heard now. I just want things to change. Seriously I don't mind working for it. But I'm asking that there's a clear path being showed to me to the goal.

I've been walking in darkness, just stepping in things that I don't know. I need a guidance.

Hopefully I'll be heard, so that someday I'd be living The Great Syarif Dream.

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Alice gave me this spring-wind cat that she bought in Thailand last year.

Everytime it's winded, the head will move up and down like rapidly.
It never fail to make me laugh.

A good stress reliever!


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I've had a few sleepless night. It has been tolling on my energy level, and the stress- by golly- I really hate it. It made me couldn't stop munching on things.

I'm trying to find comfort. To a certain extend, Alice had given much. But, the things inside is eating me up. "Serves you right" a lot may say.

Well, what can I do? No matter what I do, it'll always be that 'it serves me right'.

When I'm quiet, I'm stepped on. When I open my mouth, I'm being despised. Worse still, if I try to be in the middle, I got stepped on while being despised.

I'm not trying to get sympathy, and heck, I'm not sure where this writing is heading. But one thing for sure, a got a lump of sadness, hatred and disappointment inside me, and I can't throw it out.

I just hope it will not explode.


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In my last entry I talked about how I wish that the Friday would be a good day that would settle all my problems, make me smile, etc.

Well, I found out later that the Friday is literally a 'Good Friday' as in the Christian celebration day. So, in a way my wish came true as it was a 'Good Friday'. D'oh!

But, what I was truly wishing for didn't come true. Perhaps I need to make a new (more specific one). Here goes...

Please I wish that by Easter- before the day ends I would have all the funds that I need to settle all my debts, all the answers that I need to solve all my questions, and the emotions that I need to make everyone feel happy and comfortable with me.

I'm not asking for much, but, seriously if for some celestial or divine reasons that the wish(es) can't be granted, I'd rather re-live Easter 2010 over and over again. I just don't want Monday to come...

Please...



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Some people truly believe in religion - the God and other celestial being within, and the men/women of preach. They would hope for a divine bliss.

Some believe in God, but don't believe in the rest part of the religion. These people would hope for a miracle.

Some believe in God and everything inside a religion- but opt to worship devil. They would hope for a miracle also from their supreme being.

Some just believe in pure coincidences- with no celestial interventions whatsoever.

But all those people are hoping for something at the end of the day. Whether an eternal life in heaven, to become the army of darkness or just to have a beautiful life and peaceful death, whatever it is, all of them are 'hoping' for something.

Most of the time as a human, we cannot run from the fact that there are a piece of our lives (here or hereafter- depending on our believes) thet we want to make it better.

And more than ever, I am one of them. I'm not really sure which is the one I need, but either a divine bliss, a miracle or just a simple coincidence, I'm truly hoping that tomorrow would be a good, happy day. I'm hoping that tomorrow all my problems are settled and I can at least go to work with a lighter chest and a big fat smile.

Or, just make tomorrow disappear. The pressure is so tensed, I feel like puking and screaming at the same time.

Please, just one of those 'intervention' is what I need.

I humbly request for one...


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The subject of this entry was inspired by the song Angel of Music from the Phantom of the Opera.

Nice song it was. The Phantom - acted as an Angel of Music for Christine - reveals himself grandly by appearing in a mirror - whilst all this while he was only talking to her "from far".

But apart from that, the Phantom wanted to tell Christine something: that you can see everything about you through a mirror- and him being in there tells that the Phantom is 'in' Christine.

Cuing from that, I've been trying to see the guy in the mirror. More like trying to search actually. But, the more I look, the more I'm finding a stranger. It's hard to explain, and, maybe; just maybe, that I may am just being paranoid.

But seriously, I don't know who am I looking at anymore.

Despite his good looks, and marvellous hair (wink), the dude in the mirror is a stranger. Yes, there's warmth and slight tingle each time I look at him, but, he is still a complete stranger.

Perhaps that's why it's hard for Christine to fall in love with the Phantom.

You have a perception of who you are. But when you finally see the real thing, you loathe - unwilling to except that you are indeed- unique.

Hmm... Now getting back to my wonder of who's the dude inside the mirror, should I just continue this path of life, or should I make a detour?

Or maybe; just maybe, that I need just to roll down the curtain?


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I yelled again.
I hate my feelings now...

Sorry, but this sucks.


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As you can see in the picture, tonnes of paperwork are on my desk. A few projects and a few office admins were some of my the things I needed to tick off last week.

But hey, observe carefully, and you'll see FB's Farmville game is on my laptop screen. Yep, I play the game, but mostly either very early in the morning (before office hour) or very late in the evening (after office hour). There are times that I skip lunch and play the game.

Anyway, Farmville is not the main essence of my thought today. Noseree.

But I'm more in the mood of talking about the balance of work and play.

Up until now, I couldn't find the perfect balance. Most of the time I feel like the hours I have in a day is shortening - as I'm struggling more and more to meet deadlines. But at the same time I'm mentally challenged to make all the thinking and decisions (the cure for that is usually a good 'play' to release the steam).

What happen is now I'm tired by the end of the week and just sleep through the weekend (when I have any, of course). Yes, though I'm somewhat bright and fresh on Mondays, but it made my routine becomes a repetoire. Boring. Stagnant.

Thus I need to find that balance. I need to work with all the energy on weekdays and still conserve some for the weekends.

I guess everyone should find it.

Well, this entry doesn't make much sense, but hey, that's me! :D



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Death? Certainly.
Near? Maybe.
Willing? Unlikely.

Why is it such a sweet sorrow?



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There are a lot of choices for any human being to pick when it comes to handling stress.

Some sing.

Some eat.

Some go around and yell at people.

Some throw things.

Some resolve to violence.

I used to pick the choices above.
Besides singing, I have vowed to stay away from those choices. It was one of my silent resolution.

But I admit that I have lost it, particularly the throwing and yelling part. Honestly I can't remember when was the last time I throw things out of stress and/or anger, but I'm pretty sure that I did in the past 12 months.

Yelling, somehow I can't help it. I lost it last February, on the least day, and to the least person that I wanted it to happen. I'm very sorry. I still have issues with myself and I'm struggling my arse off to solve it.

Just now, I almost do that again. Perhaps my voice did rise a bit, but thank god it was not actually "yelling".

But please, as much as I want to please everyone, I do want to make myself happy too. Sometimes not talking about things would be much better. I know I'm like the most difficult person to talk to. I know I'm the most stubborn people in 6000 miles radius. But, hey, give me a break. I can't afford a shrink to help me. I'm doing it solely with self-help pep talk.

Along the lines perhaps it may sound truly unfair, but I am changing myself. I want to change.
In order for me to avoid conflict (at least for now) I prefer just to stay utter silent. I would prefer just to mum the word.

Thanks.

P/s: I noticed that I may react better when I write or type. Perhaps that's the better way to talk to me when I'm stressed or when you think the topic that's gonna be brought up is stressful.

God bless everyone.


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Somebody told me that my blog is lengthy and has too much words, very less picture.

Lads, here's my explanation:

1- the reason I WRITE a blog is to express myself. Sometimes it can be in form of pictures, sometimes words and sometimes a combination of both. However most of the time it'll happen just like that and I'll just type away- along with all my arguments. As I'm using a handphone to make an entry, it's rather hard (and annoying) to look for pictures then do the copy and paste just to make the entry looks nice. I'll just leave the pictures to your imagination. That's the beauty of it- you can decide.

2- if I'm putting more pictures (or too much pictures) then it'll become a PLOG. Flickr will be much better. And it defeats the purpose of a BLOG.

3- if I were to use less character, I won't use it here. I have an account on twitter (which is a microblogging in case you still don't get what the hell twitter is for); thus whomever wants to read about me nagging, just send a request to follow me, aight? And just a wee reminder to those who use tweetlonger (or is it twitlonger?) to make a tweet more than 160 characters, you have just defeated the true purpose of twitter. Why? Just look up for the term "microblogging" on Google. You'll get it.

Thanks for reading.
Cheerio all!



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More often than not I can't choose which one is better. I love coffee for the good 'kick' it offers. I like tea for the subtle taste and thirst quenching experience.

Cham Ais would be my choice if I can't figure out which one I needed the most at a particular time. Huhu!

Oh, look at the time, it's time for an iced-cold coffee! Or maybe tea... Ah, shucks!


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Theres an age old question in choosing one of those. Should a leader protect the nation's economy or improve the national education? Of course choosing both is the ultimate option. However, in reality, there are things that we need to sacrifice.
 
Imagine that you're in the position of power, where assuming that you can only choose ONE, which will it be?
 
I myself am struggling with the answer. Well, it's not that I'm running the country (yet), but I am in the position in providing about the same option to my own boss and/or my clients (and potential clients).
 
I'm a training manager. Education is the key to my work. And like many other company directors, keeping the company alive is the key task.
 
Now, back to the question.
 
Education is; for lack of better words; pain in the ass. Seriously, it takes time to plan, it takes time to execute and it takes really really really long for us to see the results. Take language for example, Malaysian students will learn Bahasa Malaysia (or Bahasa Melayu to a certain expert) for AT LEAST 10 years. Since Standard One where pupils learn the basics until Form Five where they learn the intermediate level. Those who opt for Kesusasteraan Bahasa Melayu in varsities will explore the advanced level. But with that, what is the result? Some of us can't differentiate between "degil" and "nakal", and some really thought that "motorsikal" is the correct spelling.
 
Some would say that language is something that changes all the time. We have seen the revolution of spellings (from "habes" to "habis") also the revolution of language rules; i.e. "Perdana Menteri" and "Arus Perdana" is using the same "Hukum DM" – BUT the "Perdana Menteri" is given an exception.
 
 However it's the same with almost every other subject in the world. We take Marketing for instance. From it was started, the concept of marketing is only 'location, location, location'. Then it began to evolve to 4P – product, price, place, promotion. Then more revolutions came in with to become 7P – and eventually, 11P and the latest one it has become 14P; where things like people, processes, packaging and 'purple cow' were added.
 
All that marks that everything in the world is evolving from the things we take for granted like language to something that we use to drive our business like marketing. Education or learning is a lifetime process.
 
Taking for that cue, it strengthens the fact that education is something that takes time to execute and more often than not, it's ages till we see the results.
 
But, education is not cheap. A simple public seminar on how to bake an orange sponge cake will cost you at least RM100. That's for ONE person, for ONE type of cookie – where you can find the recipes all over internet for free. Imagine that you want to learn something a bit complex. Like baking a triple layered moist chocolate cake a la soufflé (no, I'm not making it up) – the cost to learn can shoot up to RM 1,200 – 12 times from the basic sponge cake.
 
What I'm trying to say is that to learn something 'complex' or perhaps 'un-orthodox' or maybe 'new' can be really expensive. For a company to send 30 of their staff for a computer class can expect a 5-figure amount of expenses. And it may be not enough.
 
Thus, a company director will usually either:
1- take the cheapest bidder in the market (where in training industry would mean a free-lance computer geek who most probably not a certified trainer, who knows how to use PowerPoint but not in a way to "present to people" and copy all his notes from internet). This is just to show that he IS doing something for the company.
 
2- send 3 staff to go and assign them to teach the other 9 (which will translate to lack of enthusiasm, do for the sake of doing it, and most importantly incomplete transfer of knowledge). This is based on facts that usually a worker will only carry back 30% (max) of the things that have been presented during training.
 
3- just don't bother.
 
If you have noticed, each of the choices above will translate into 1 thing. Money. Which is pretty much related to the economic conditions of the company.
 
Tell me lads, if the company only have enough capability to sustain the staff and other overheads, where the hell are they going to fork out money to pay for training (or staff development)?
 
But we know that if somehow they do have the capability to improve staff, then there are greater chance the company would do better in the long run. But the subsequent question would be: When?
 
Now we can see how hard it is to make that decision is to be made. One cannot sacrifice the other without losing some. If they opt to do the learning, the economy might suffer, and vice versa.
 
Going back to the earlier context, if you're running the company, which one will you choose?
 
Personally, I would go for education. Not just to uphold my position now, but also that we're in deep economic turmoil – thank god it's not a breakdown yet. Since a lot of people are so goddamn stupid – not just academically but also in terms of common sense. Mass public education (or propaganda some might call it) as well as school education (perhaps to a certain extend I will hand-pick the teachers, and ultimately revamp the whole teaching profession). I will import teachers where necessary as theres no point a bunch of stupid buggers teaching the children.
 
Malaysian teachers ESPECIALLY the young ones, please be offended. I am reflecting much about you. Do not say anything to counter my thoughts, as if you do not notice until now, I'm that dude who did the RSE training. One thing I found after training almost 21,000 of you is that 20,000 always have excuses to TEACH LESS. An educator should not have that kind of thinking.
 
A bit sidetracked, I know. But heck. Ja!

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On the way for dinner earlier today, I was listening to a traffic report on radio. There was a traffic light on a stretch of road in Penang that was broken, making it jam packed with vehicles. One reminder given by the reporter was for pedestrians was to "look left, right, and left again before crossing".

Now I'm not complaining to the fact that the reminder was given to the wrong crowd as most pedestrians prefer mp3 players - most probably without a radio tuner (note: and I absolutely would not encourage any pedestrian to walk and fill their ears with earphones while walking).

However I would like to address the crossing technique that the announcer had given. Look left, right and left again is not totally wrong. But it's an American concept that might not be as safe to be used here than in the US.

These are the safer crossing technique that I would like to share; the 5 Steps to Cross the Road.

First, STOP. Everyone needs time to properly scan the traffic before crossing. The most effective way to do it is by simply halting yourself first. Preferably, give yourself about 1 step away from the edge of the kerb or the road.

Second, LOOK. It's safer to look right first. As in Malaysia, the closest direction of vehicles (the closest lane) to you would be from your right (unless you're on a one-way street). Thus it's advisable to look to your right first, then left, then right again. If you're crossing near an intersection or roundabout for that matter, don't forget to look to your back. Vehicles could come out from the intersection unexpectedly.

Third is to LISTEN. This may be done with LOOK. Open up your ears for any signs of oncoming vehicles. Sometimes our eyes couldn't catch everything (peripheral vision limitations). So at least with our ears focused, hopefully we could catch some unexpected vehicles.

Fourth is to THINK whether it is save to cross or not. Most adult would do this together with LOOK and LISTEN. No problem there. So long that you USE your effing brains to select the proper crossing gap. Remember, when you haste, that's when crashes happen. Think properly before you cross.

And the last one; the fifth is to cross with coution. Remember that we're pedestrian. We're slower and have the least visibility factor to other road users. Most pedestrian related road crash happens when a pedestrian tries to cross a street- with hope that everyone can see him. You're wrong when you think that. Drivers have set their minds to lookout for vehicles. The limitations of our focus makes it too easy for pedestrians to be out of the picture. That's why there are also (a lot) of cases where pedestrians were knocked down on an empty street, in a broad daylight.

So there you have it. Just remember:
-Stop
-Look (right, left, right, behind)
-Listen
-Think
-Caution (while crossing)

More than 600 pedestrians are killed in Malaysia yearly.

Cross properly. Don't be in the statistics.

And of course USE THE EFFING CROSSING FACILITIES! They're there for good reasons. Drivers, please RESPECT the pedestrians. When the pelican light is green, your traffic light would be red. It's MANDATORY for you to stop.

No one has the greater rights on the road. Those that we have heard before are totally urban legends, except for police, emergency vehicles and a few other authorities.

Other than that, we're sharing the road. Be kind to one another.

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Particularly in the last 1-2 weeks, the term social media really hit the Malaysian public. It was highlighted grandly in the 2008 GE that the opposition managed to capture quite a number of seats in the house through viral marketing and social media campaigns, but somehow recently the wave grew bigger.

Starting with the remarks from our beloved Rais Yatim; advising Malaysians not to "get in too deep" with the information received from FB or Myspace, the online societies of Malaysian replied to that notion with a nefty hashtag of #yorais - stating how ancient he is. Then on Saturday Star Metro featured the hashtag #klrb stating that twitter users share information on the whereabouts of police road blocks all over Klang Valley.

I agree with most social media fans out there that it is the "new" news paper. More often than not I receive breaking news for just about anything much faster than the RM5 The Star Newspaper SMS service; by just updating my twitter timeline. And of course by constantly refreshing my FB "news feed" and "status updates" columns.

However, although #yorais is so ancient (as what the "tweeple" put him as); he has a good point in his speech a couple of weeks back. Not everything in social media is as concrete as in the news paper.

Social media, like most things available on the net, is created by a single and is virally spreaded through a medium of sharing (ie twitter, FB, myspace). And, like a lot of things online, we are prone to pranksters, liars and all kinds of human. Chances are whatever we see online is not 100% real. One good example is the case where somebody created rumours that Johnny Depp was dead - which was later found out totally untrue. Or perhaps the local case where this dude claimed to be indirectly involved with the church arson case recently- which was later found out that he was just pulling everyone's leg.

News paper in the other hand has a social responsibility to report the truth, as it is written and published (that's why you need a licence to operate a news and/or any kind of publications for that matter). But there are always loopholes to the system. The truth can be bended. Apart from that I have seen countless times that certain news were not reported or not fully reported to protect certain interest. For instance, there are cases in Sarawak where the Penan girls were raped by the workers of Bakun project- but were only reported in the newspaper of that state, but never reached to the readers in West Malaysia. Why? Words on the street is that it's to keep the "stronger voice" unaware of the situation so that it won't jeopardize the project.

So, which one should you pick?

Honestly if you ask me, I will prefer social media for the unfiltered, unbias and most importantly super fast information. However, I will (and I would strongly suggest everyone to) just counter check it with the good 'ol newspaper (online of course) toverify the truth.

In this world where everyone is trying to protect their own interest, it is rather hard to know which information is true. But at least if the underground and the main stream medias are saying the same thing, we can be sure that there are some truth in it.

Uff, I might have wrote it confusingly just now. What I'm trying to say is be like Hannah Montana, get the best of the both world. Reas social media news all you want, but keep the main stream media information, for just in case.

And I hope that the government would understand by now that social networking is the thing of the present, and most likely for years to come. Wake up, bulk up, step up and rise up, if they ever wish to hear the true heart of the rakyat.

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I can't really tell where I got this as the money has been in my wallet for quite sometime.

But I realized it this morning and just wondering, is this a counterfeit money, or we have produced a low quality bank note?

Either way, I won't be able to use this anytime soon, unless I make the trip to a bank to change it.

Itupun kalau bukan duit palsu la...

Shoot!


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Today was a different day. One of office director suddenly invited myself and Jamil for a game of golf at a driving range near the office.

Without hesitation we accepted, and the next thing we know, we were swinging irons for an hour!

I've never fancied golfing before, despite have tried the game a few times. But somehow today, I kinda like it!

Perhaps it was the guidance from the director, and the fact that there were no one watching my bad swings, 100 balls, shared with 3 people, seems not enough!

Perhaps, I'll try it another day, since it's just RM10 for 100 balls :D



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As per my last entry, I was yapping about the platoon vs platoon of the original bootcamp. Yes, it was tiring, but man, I have never felt so glad that I attended the event!

Well the day started very early when I woke up around 4.30-ish to prep myself. After a major err... "dump", I had coffee and a few smokes. Armed with minimal gear and mixed state of mind, I braved through the morning chill to the meeting point at Taman Metropolitan Kepong.

Along the journey, I tried as much as I can to relax and just stay clear off anything negative. I rolled down the windshield and just breathe in the cool Sunday morning air.

When I arrived, it was roughly 5.30am. The first thing that I noticed was the KL Team. My god, they were scary weh! With their red bandanas and black war-pain ala Samoan, they were singing their war cry; their lungs out! I was petrified by that moment. Huhu!

Then I walked over the PJ side. Not much significant noise. I can see in almost everyone's face that there's this scary feeling. The situation is a lot like the silence before a storm. Serene and calm. Most of us looked half dead. Well, it might just be that most of us were awake like 30 minutes before that. And I can seriously bet my leg that the majority of us didn't take any shower; and literal breakfast for that matter. What I can conclude was, we were the absolute THE under dogs.

By that time I wanted to quit. I don't want to be the guy who made my team lose even lower. But somehow the team mates, upon roll call that morning- began to have high spirit. Out of sudden, laughter burst, people were screaming - the PJ - the ASTAKA Warriors suddenly becomes alive! My heart said leave, but my guts said stay.

So I stayed.

And thank god I did!

It's hard for me to describe why. But perhaps one of the task that I needed to do for my team was to carry a big rope with another 4 team mates. We were asked to set the pace. Proudly I can say that we set the pace so high, we had to do a slow jog to wait for the others! My confident boosted really high, that I started to run up and down the file to motivate the others :D

Then comes the bazooka, rifles and tyres to add things to the challenge.

Sadly, after roughly 2.5km of the circuit, we noticed that we were lost. Honestly, at that time we really thought that we were leading, as we can't see any other teams in front or anywhere near us! Hahaha! It was a funny situation, I can tell you!

We arrived at the last point roughly at 7.40am - with the knowledge that we missed a few checkpoints.

Obviously, with that notion, it can be seen that the PJ would lose this pl v pl.

But I can gladly say that I believe we have won even at the first station (ini kata-kata orang dah kalah la... :p).

Seriously, like in my Bravo team, most of us don't really know each other and I met most of them the first time minutes before the event started. But, we all manage to do things as a team, communicate as one voice, and move with one mind. As an experienced trainer, it is quite a feat to see that number of people could just click and help each other without any disputes.

And as the last team to arrive, RJ, one of my team member, suggested that we do grunts, in good spirit of OBC.

And for the first time ever, I agreed to the motion with a smile.

I actually said yes to the grunts, as you can see in the butt-sticking-up picture of mine :p

Guys, to get more pictures and full details regarding this OBC Platoon vs Platoon, kindly visit http://arminbaniaz.com, under the subject "PLATOON VERSUS PLATOON... Amazing Race".
(Armin, I hope you don't mind)

To get more info about OBC kindly visit www.bootcamp.com.my

Or perhaps just visit the FB Group: ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP - Malaysia (open to public).

Guys, it was not easy. But it sure was a good workout. Hooyah!

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In the spirit of 1OBC, the bootcamp is organizing a platoon vs platoon telematch this coming Sunday. One of the main reason for this event is to actually build the rapport between the current 2 platoons of OBC Malaysia; the PJ Platoon and the KL Platoon. Despite having communicated in FB page, there are quite a number of recruits have never met each other- even in the platoon itself.

This is the chance.

And to make things more, err, interesting, there will be a donation drive during the day that will be submitted 100% to a charity body (which I seriously couldn't recall now).

Well honestly I'm not worried with meeting strangers and I absolutely have nothing against a charity drive. As you guys might have noticed, the abovesaid event is actually 6 hours away from the time I'm writing this entry. You see, roughly 16 hours ago, I just finished an OBC session at Padang Utara PJ. I have only 3 hours of sleep the night before, and about 4 hours left before tomorrow.

That's what worrying me. I signed up last friday in a wide hope that I could sleep soundly tonight. But the newly acquired PSP games made me wide awake since this morning, despite having sleep deprivation.

And to add spices to the situation, there were not many recruits from PJ signed up for the event. Making this handful of blokes the only hope to make PJ proud. The term ASTAKA Warriors (Padang Utara = Padang Astaka) have made the KL Kiasu (yes, the KL Platoon) all psyched and ready to combat sharp at 5.45 am.

I'm under pressured and overtired. Oh, to make things worse, it's raining now in PJ. Making the battlefield (Tmn Metropolitan Kepong near FRIM) would be a muddy arena. Darn...

Well, at least there will be sandwiches. I could now only pray that it's not as demanding as normal OBC session.

Sadly, I've heard rumours that it's going to be like Hell's Week. A bloody (literally) 2 hours of pain.

Aiyyyyyyy.......



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I woke up this morning with not so high spirit; as I know I'm gonna get tired for the OBC. But it was lifted to a great extend just after the warm up session, as (as usual) we need to do grunts as penalty for the AWOLs. Somehow I managed to do 20 without the need for the 5 second break. Maybe it didn't sound much, but it was a great feat for me.

And the morning got better as I took a light breakfast, good coffee and arrived to work early. Cracked a lot of jokes the minute the clock turns 9, and seriously, I really felt like a million bucks.

But all that turned into despair when I heard the bloody news towards lunch time. Well, to save everyone's breath in this story, let's just say that it's involving money and budget from all sides.

I have tried for the past years to save on the expenses of ALL departments. Proposal after proposal after proposal have been submitted. All were accepted, but never executed.

But now when the finance screams that less expenses must be made in order for us to sustain in the next 5 years, all eyes were on me.

The worst part is, they were talking behind my back (as per what my informant told me), that I have done a terrible job in managing all that.

Hey! I'm just the messenger. I proposed, but things were never executed. What can I do? I'm just delivering the information la!

Well, I guess it's human nature. We've seen in all cultures and we've seen in a lot of movies (i.e 300, The Gladiator and even LOTR 3) that all messengers were killed.

And don't get me started on what are they saying about my life behind me. Yes, I'm not a good man. And not the best Muslim in the world, but hey, who do you look up for when you need something to be done? Bloody hell it's me! ME!

And I'm always glad to do it.

Haih... No point already. Things had happened. What can I do?

Perhaps just go with the flow.

Perhaps.



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Well, the glass is empty. But you can see at the back of it, one of my fav drinks here: the Mixed Fruit Tea Cocktail.

Rather refreshing and somewhat energizing!


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Bitter heart, bitter heart, tries to keep it all inside.

Bitter heart, bitter heart of mine...


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I managed to gather my strength anyway for this morning. Roughly with 3.5 hours of sleep, the crankiness I had this morning was utterly annoying- even to myself.

As I have expected, I arrived 4 minutes late for the roll call. But good enough, as I was on time when the sergeants yelled out my name- thus no AWOL was marked. (But Alice, I think you need to contact the sergeant to inform that you were not absent- just in case).

Anyway, with so many people arrived late, and quite a number of AWOL's, we were punished with 70 grunts.

A grunt is when you drop down squatting, pushing your legs out to your back (like in a push up position), pull it back in to squatting position, then jump up to standing position. That's one time.

Like I mentioned, 70 times were 'awarded' to us at the start of the session.

Then we went on the circuit. With rope slapping, shoulder push ups, rifle slant, sandbag squat, 'mountain climbing', sandbag sit ups and star jumps, 40 minutes just pass by.

It was a good sweat though.

And now, at home, cursing my ass off the pains, and shall get ready for work. It'll be a long day today in the office, but that story will be reserved for another day.

Well, anyway, I need to find a way to pull myself together the night before Bootcamp sessions to makee it a better, motivating session.

Or perhaps I'll just leave it like that, just to keep my expectations low, and push myself the next morning?

Not sure.

But whatever it is, I need to keep on going.

Going.


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Seriously, if I stared the day with a caffeine boost, I'm gonna be cranky for the rest of the day.

Of course, I would prefer I nice hot black coffee, but this is the best; with reasonably good price; around the office. Hehe!

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These pass few days I have joined a fitness program under the banner of 'The Original Bootcamp'. Seriously, it's no fun at all.

Well it started roughly a week ago where myself and Alice had to wake up around 5am to arrive at Padang Utara, PJ before 5.45am. It wasn't an easy thing for me particularly, as I just a loooooong weekend before that, and my standard sleeping time was 9am.

But I forced myself to sleep.

Then comes the day.

Started with a simple roll-call, the 10 minute warm up session told me everything: this thing ain't gonna be easy mate!

To keep my cool (and arrogance; for that matter) I braved myself for the second session- a fitness test.

With push ups, grunts and sit ups, plus 400 metres round, for three rounds, it's easier said than done.

I'm lost for words to say how grueling it was for me that morning, but let's just say I have befriended with people with various ethnic background, and they all have taught me nasty words in their languages. I chanted them all.

After all that, it's the 1-mile run. Sounds ok in my full energy, but that morning it took me more than 15 bloody minutes. Damn!

But anyway, after that, the session was ended, with muscles all over my body aching like hell.

That night, I was seriously considering on going for the second day...

That, I shall regail later.

Alice seems high spirited in continuing the course- perhaps until she got her desired weight. Seriously, I wish I got the same enthusiasm.

Somehow the roll calls and the scream of encouragement reminded me a lot to scout roll call days.

And also The Biggest Loser show on telly.

Either which, it's not the most cheerful situation I had in mind.

Aiyyy... There's another session coming up in 6 hours, and I have 5 hours of sleep more.

I'm wide awake. Darn!

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