al-Fatihah...

Our deepest condolences to Nurleena and her family on their loss. Aunty Gayah was a wonderful lady who was a cool and sporting mother - judging from the countless times I have visited their home.

Semoga Allah redha ke atas rohnya dan tempatkan Aunty dalam golongan mu'minat, Insya Allah.

syukran

Once in awhile, I get reminders which makes me step back and look at our real purpose on earth. Today I received this e-mail...

Once a financially poor man complained to a wise man of his poverty and expressed sorrows.

The wise man asked him, "Would you like to be blind if you get 10,000 dirhams?" The poor man replied, "I don't like to be blind. I want to be able to see."

The wise man asked him further, "Would you like to become dumb in exchange of 10,000 dirhams?" The poor man said, "No, I want to be able to speak."

Then the wise man asked again, "Would you like that your pair of hands and legs are cut in exchange of 20,000 dirhams?" He said, "Never. I want to be able to touch and walk."

Again, the wise man asked him, "Would you like that you become crazy in exchange of 10,000 dirhams?" He said, "Never."

The wise man finally said, "Should you not feel ashamed to your Creator that He has given you gifts worth more than 50,000 dirhams, but yet you are not expressing gratefulness for those gifts to Him?"


Ya Allah, jadikanlah kami hambaMu yang sentiasa mengingatiMu, yang selalu bersyukur kepadaMu dan yang menyempurnakan ibadah kepadaMu.

me ol' two wheeler

I checked my current bike, Zephyr 750, last evening at the workshop. It seems that the bike needed lotsa work (and lotsa money) to make it perform optimally. The inside of the engine looks horrible!

According to the mechanic that is repairing my bike, with it's current condition, it should only be sold at RM8,000 the most, because there were plenty of parts that need replacement.

After a long discussion with the seller last week, he has promised to pay for the repairs and also return RM1,000 to me to purchase new rear absorbers but his words were useless. Now, he never picks-up my calls nor reply to my sms and has switched off his mobile phone permanently.

I was definitely cheated by the seller - may Allah judge him accordingly. Earlier, I was tempted to bash him up, but that would be very immature and satanic. Thus, I'll leave this matter for Allah's judgement.

Thinking back, I wonder why I sold my ZZR500? I love the bike, it was fast, comfortable and looks really nice. Hmm... menyesal la pulak, sikit2.

To the new owner of WDP 5998, err... can you sell me back the bike? [grin]


At Kuala Kubu dam during my solo Fraser's Hill ride in March 2004.

sundays

Before tying the knot, my weekends are usually filled with activities. I will always have something to do. However, after marriage I've been somewhat 'domesticated'.

Nowadays, my Sundays would usually consist of a hearty breakfast (nasi lemak/tosai/roti canai), then groceries shopping, then...


Favourite Sunday activity - having the TV watch us. Like father, like daughter.

Apart from that, I play with Lyana - like dressing her up... see below.

Alaa, comelnya!

That's the life now of the 'used-to-be-very-active' Azad. Hmmm... that reminds me, I still need to climb that Gunung Ledang. Any takers?

titiwangsa

Yesterday I decided to suprise my wife - take her on a date to watch Titiwangsa at Istana Budaya (IB). I've never taken her to IB before but have taken her to Petronas Philharmonic (PP) twice. Thus, when I told her that she needs to dress-up for this occasion, she immediately guessed that I was going to take her to PP. On the way to KL, she guessed several places that I might take her to, but I kept my lips tight - even when guessed right.

The traffic jam into KL was terrible, probably due to the rain and Friday-night-mambo, but we managed to collect our tickets in time and solat Maghrib as well. Anyway, we got good seats but to our amazements we were the only ones seating in the 'good seats' area. The hall wasn't full and other viewers were siting in the 'cheap' seats.














Then the show started. It was a combination of dance troupe supported by multimedia effects. However, I have to say this about the show...

It is not a dramatari - there's no storyline, no plot, no way of 'pulling' the audiences. It's just an onstage potrayal of Tasik Titiwangsa with it's nature and daily human inhabitants - as seen by its creator and choreographed by Ramli Ibrahim and his motley crew. Yes, we saw him there too.

Being more scientific than artistic, I find several scenes hard to fathom, both me and Yanti were trying to figure what they were trying to portray. Unlike, Petronas Performing Arts shows, they produce write-ups of the storyline, detailing each scene and every act for viewers like me to read before the show so that we can understand better.

Further, many of the scenes were acted too long and draggy, which gets tiringly boring. There's no climax or highlight either - just a sudden death ending. Very not the good la this one. Well, that explains why the hall was only about 50% to capacity.

After the show, we had tomyam with daging masak merah, telur bungkus, kangkung, sotong tepung and teh ais dua, near Hospital KL. All that for RM23.4o - murah & sedap. As we dined, we had Matrix on TV - 10 times better than Titiwangsa.

In summary, if you have intentions to watch it, don't waste your money.

Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed my date with Yanti. ;)

candat sotong and jadi sotong

Finally the long overdue story and pictures of wannabe fishermen, or more accurately sotongmen, on our seafaring journey to put food on the table. Read on...

We arrived at Kuantan at about 6.00pm, after riding for 4 hours in my boss' Volvo S40 averaging 140km/h. After picking some equipment at Jasmi's house, we headed to Kuala Kemaman jetty where we boarded the hired boat. We gathered at the jetty just before Maghrib and waited for the others who will ride the boat with us.

Halim, macam wartawan Majalah 3... explaining about the sea condition and the boat at Kuala Kemaman jetty.

Front of the fishing boat.

Rear of the fishing boat.


Jasmi, loading our stuff onto the boat. That's all that we see of him. He was so seasicked that he slept the whole trip.

After loading stuff onto the blue wooden fishing boat and boarding it, we solat Maghrib & Isya' jamak taqdim before leaving. On deck was myself, Ruslan, Halim, Jasmi, Mizan, Nasir, Zainuddin, Maru, Farok, Pak Ku (boat Captain) and his attendant.


Ruslan, explaining his childhood seafaring exploits - oh, what a hero! ;)


Me, with life-jacket strapped - not wanting to take chances.

Soon, we left for the open sea on high tide with the chugging sound of an old lorry engine in the background with the smell of burnt diesel coming out from the exhaust mounted on the roof of the boat. I went to the bow of the boat to avoid the smog and was enjoying the cool breeze and watching the edge of the sun set into the horizon.

After about 10 minutes sail, the boat is out of the enclave and into the open sea. Never wondered that the cool breeze we were enjoying soon elevated to a gale. The sea gradually became rough and the boat was rising and trashing. It was roller coaster on water for us. We cheered at the joy ride but soon things started to get scarry! We were told, the angin Tenggara blowing in the east coast was causing the huge swells! We were actually holding on to whatever we can and was getting wet from the splashings. Ruslan couldn't take the rough ride anymore so he went to the back of the boat. It seems it is less bumpy at the back - which is actually true. After awhile I can't take it either - my ass was already hurting due to the constant bumping and it got my self drenched from the splashings.

Nasir's aching in the butt due to the rough ride.

So, holding onto dear life, I crawled to the back of the boat. Not long after that, Halim got seasick and started vomitting into the sea - fish food! Ruslan has turned blue and I saw cold sweat coming down his face. "Pening kepala aku, Azad" he said shaking his head. My stomach started to feel quesy too but thankfully I have no headache.

Halim feeding his lunch to the fishes - yes, complete with sound. Ruslan said he should try biting the rims of the boat to ease the seasickness. Looks like he's actually doing it, you think so? ;)

After about 45 minutes, the boat anchored in the rough sea and the candat starts. Ruslan was already pouring the content of his lunch by now and I followed suit next to him. Hahaha! Nasir, Jasmi, Maru & Zainuddin 'collapsed' too.

Pak Din - sotong kering. (hehe.. jangan marah ye)

It was not all rough sailing, though since we did catch quite a number of sotongs, to say the least. We even caught huge ones. I just realised that the sotongs were actually clear in colour when they were freshly caught. When they were brought on deck, they have this amazing ability to change their body/flesh to match the colour of the surroundings to camouflage - i.e. they turned from clear to brown to match the boat deck colour. Amazing!

They also squirted black ink at us as another defensive mechanism. If the sotongs were in the water, the ink would darken the water around them to cloud predators and ease their escape. Subhanallah.


A sotong caught. See it's flesh is clear.


Ruslan holding up a huge sotong he 'caught'... (yeah, he wish). hehehe..


I caught this fish using a sauk (hand net) after seeing it trail the starboard of the boat. Taste nice too - I fried it.

As sotong after sotong was brought onto the boat, most of us became 'sotong' ourselves. Halim was already sprawled on the boat deck - too seasicked to care about anything. Kesian.

At 1.00am we headed back to the jetty. Due to the many human 'sotongs', apparently only 3 people who actually did the candat - so tak banyak dapat sotong, as we expected. Only a bucket full of sotong, maybe about 8 kilograms aje. Back to land, the next morning we went to the pasar and bought more sotongs - defeats the purpose of candat sotong in first place, isn't it? Hahaha...


Jasmi & Pak Ku - back on land. (Night vision mode)


Well, better luck next time - we'll make sure the sea is calmer first. :)

Its a BOY!

Alhamdulillah... Yesterday, 9 July 2005 at about 3.3opm, Kak Anne has safely delivered a baby boy weighing 3.55kg at Damansara Damai Medical Center.

Kak Anne & Abang Nazri has not named their son yet but I'm sure he will have "Amir" as one of his name, just like his brother, Amir Ariff.

Congratulations Kak Anne, Abang Nazri, Amira Atiqah & Amir Ariff. Lots of love from us.


Kak Anne's son - comel. :)

nak beli motor... nak beli motor...

Well, the wait is over... after pondering, I decided to get something in between a sportsbike and a commuter scooter - thus I pick a touring bike in the form of a Kawasaki Zephyr 750. It is a used fella, 1991 bike and already had 5 owners before me. The engine note sounds great and it is a macho looking bike.

The Zephyr has a 748cc engine capable of 70bhp and tuned for torque, which translates into good acceleration at 0-100km/h in 5.5 seconds and capable of achieving a top speed of 200km/h - comparatively less than my previous ZZR500 (0-100km/h in 4.5sec and top speed of 230km/h) .

But the bike still needs some repairing and maintenance:
1. The crank gear needs replacement - it sounds like the engine is trying to jump out of the casing;
2. The carburation needs calibration - it keeps misfiring and causes small explosions on the right side of the exhaust due to unburnt fuel;
3. The rear absorbers need tuning or possibly replacement - it got a bit hairy when I tried to corner at high speed;
4. The front forks need tuning or maybe replacement too - same problem when cornering fast;
5. The speedometer needs a new cable - its not showing my speed.
6. The fuel gauge needs repair - it shows "E" when its full and vice-versa... heheh.. pelik!

Additions to do:
1. Would add a windscreen to reduce pressure on my chest and head when riding fast;
2. Install a cargo box at the back to carry stuff and to put my helmet, jacket and glove in when parking;
3. Add more cushion on the seat to make it more comfy for the missus - she said it's comfortable already but I think another layer of cushion would make her smile wider. ;)

So if you see a red bike like this with registration number WCG 1937, that would most probably be me on it.

My used Kawasaki Zephyr 750.


My car and my bike. Yup, still manage to keep my car. :)

our baby - scanned

Last week we went to Darul Ehsan Medical Center to have our baby scanned. They have this 3D imaging which provides quite clear picture of our child. Alhamdulillah, the baby is fine and healthy. :)

We still don't know the gender - dia kepit peha. It seems that our child is malu dengan kemaluannya. :D

giler babs banyak kerja

This will be short... for the last 4 days, I've been leaving from work at midnight. Ni semua budget calculation for submission to Petronas punya pasal. Banyak giler kerja - sampai nak muntah tengok numbers. Sampai tak sempat nak jumpa anak bini - balik2 semua dah tido. Dah la miss my only exercise session - the Tuesday badminton session.

When I'm more free, I will blog further - especially the overdue candat sotong story & pics. This weekend ada MBA seminars, so tak sempat juga this week.