Too Fast

Time flies a little too fast. It's almost December already.

I consume very little now. My weight has gone down to only 65 kilos. I lost 1 inch in the waist. Even when I pulled my belt all the way to the last button it still feels a bit loose. Maybe my pants have grown bigger.

Early Monday morning I picked up my passport. Tuesday I was out sick. It's the fourth consecutive time I got sick in 4 consecutive weeks. Actually it started late Monday evening right after I drove back from work. I crashed right away, rolled myself under the comforter and shuddered. Mom literally dragged me to see the doctor because I didn't for the last three times I got sick. A friend went, "Now, you think you're such a wolverine?"

Wednesday I went to work as normal. So many things happened and not so many things happened. My conference trip to Singapore was canceled. What a bummer. But it's all right. There's a reason for it.

Sheer volume.

Staying Calm

It was like driving a car when you knew that the brake wouldn't work. But you drove it anyway. I'm not too sure how to elaborate this further. Try driving a car without the brake. Then you'll understand.

But then again, it was a good question to ask - what if you get something that you've always wanted for so long? I'm not too sure if this is rhetorical or one that is specifically structured for me. All I know is sometimes dreams do come true. And sometimes, it's too good to be true. When it seems like it's too good to be true, it most likely is. My question is - does that come at a price? Am I losing a big one in getting this? Do I deserve it all? Am I the rightful person?

A Sunday to remember. (Thanks to Liza, Intan, and Wahyu).

Not Expected

I'm already a round peg in a square hole at work sometimes and obviously I don't want that to spill outside of work. That'll make me unfit full time. But you can't help it when you're feeling that way, yeah? It does feel awkward especially when you have very, very close people around. All I did was just trying to be myself. And if that didn't work, maybe that's just the way things are? Or perhaps, the definition of close is contrastingly defined.

I am psychologically and mentally challenged. :-)

Super Queue

Hey, I managed to skip the queue! But that was just the official queue. I still had to line up at the immigration office since 6.30AM in the morning because that seemed to be what everyone else was doing. It also costed me 1.25 hour of work time which I have to re-produce sometime later.

To pick up the passport on Monday. Done deal.

The Sky Dinner

Last night I attended the sky anniversary dinner. 4 people in our group reached the milestones of career in multiples of fives. Yeah, makes me want to count my achievements by the day.

But my mind was somewhere else though. I couldn't help it.

6 Years Coming

It was just a day without any word. I exchanged some words but towards the end of the day, I was simply speechless. Maybe six/seven years are just too long.

Maybe I should dedicate a song instead. The third last.

Knee Ligament Follow-up

Frustrated by the Immigration Office's deficiency to renew my passport, I spent the rest of the half-day off waiting for the knee-specialist. Fortunately, I was able to pick up the form from the counter, a greenish paper for a whopping RM1.00. There were simply too many people lining up since morning.

The specialist who treated 2 and a half months ago appeared to come in a bit a late. He also had to attend to a seriously injured patient right before I went in. The good news was I got what I came in for. The bad news was I lost half a day without gaining a passport. =p

Support for Alya

Sunday Sunday. I was still recovering but it felt better towards the end of the day. As usual, we had another visit to Kolam Ayer to wish Alya the best for her SPM. All the best, Alya! I'm sure she will do well. She's been working so hard for the last couple of months.

I shouldn't flip-flop while making a decision. Meaning, not thinking out loud and presuming the decision while the thinking process is still in progress. Let the thinking process flows first, and then decide.

Recovery

Yesterday morning's attempt of jogging had its cost. The fever came back again, going unbelievably high towards the evening. Mom had to wipe me down with cold water and I recovered slowly around midnight. That was the worst fever I've had in years.

But it was a good progress though. The movement was evidently fluid. Maybe my body was just adjusting.

Three in Three Weeks

Fever again. Headache here and there. Ehhem.

Doing a Simple Job

The laziness of the postman to deliver the letters straight to our door is jeopardizing the integrity of the mail. Unwilling to ride all the way down to our residence, which is slightly downhill of the main road, the postman inserted letters and parcels in between the grill of our neighbor's ex-home gate besides the main road, exposing the entire thing to the weather.

How do you do a simple job well? Where is the accountability?

Visually Impaired

Without my glasses, I am practically blind. In an incident roughly about an hour before work time ended, I snapped the titanium frame while wiping the glasses clean. Nope, no Clark-Kent-stunt was involved.

Double Whammy

Not even 24-hour had elapsed since the Airport return, huge discharging clouds struck again. I am desperately in need of the item below.

The Root of Tree

It's amazing how you remember your teachers, especially the ones you remember what they taught. Yesterday during Ashbi's award event, I took the liberty to have a little chat with Ustaz Nazri and Ustazah Zawiyah (picture) who were fundamentals in starting me up for recitals, teaching me Tajwid and Imla'|Jawi respectively. I also had a chance to talk to Ustazah Tahirah, the ex principal.

However, I did not have the opportunity to meet again Ustazah Hamidah (Tauhid), Ustazah Munirah (Fiqh), Ustaz Mazlan (Akhlak), Ustazah Norhayati (Arabic, also Ustaz Nazri's wife), Ustazah Fathurah (Khat), Ustaz Shukri (Fiqh), and Ustaz Rizmi (Al-Qur'an). I might have missed one or two but I will surely recognize them if we meet face to face. It's me that they won't probably recognize because I look very different.

Ustaz: Hamboi, mcm bapak orghang. (wow, like someone's father)
Ustazah: Eh, Zidni kan. (hey, Zidni isn't it)

Migraine Part Deux

It struck again most noticeably after coming out air-conditioned environment. The throbbing sensation knocked the back of my head at around 2 or 3 concentrated areas. The back of my neck most certainly didn't feel right.

Standing Ground

Imagine this. You were at a relative’s open house when all the other guests you have never met poured in. The first group that arrived after yours did not bother to greet you at all, but you took it graciously by going over to where they sit and offered the greetings. Many more arrived later, so you tended to finish the food quickly and gave up the seats because you're done eating. Then you stood outside because there was no more seat inside. You tried to talk to some of the folks but they didn’t seem to want to have anything to do with you at all. You asked two open-ended questions and after two short answers, zero eye contact, and no return questions at all from the other end, you realized how accurately your first instinct was.

Outside, several guests were smoking all the time. Your company, comprised of the other two uncles of your niece (14, 11), and your niece (2), whose mother was somewhere inside and nowhere to be seen, was directly exposed to an obviously hazardous condition. It was raining further out, so you could not explore than option unless you wanted your host to think you were escaping or leaving without excusing yourself first. There was no sign of non-smoking area or anything and obviously no alternative place for smoking except for – outside – so there was nothing else you could do but standing in one corner. So you were just standing there taking turns to embrace your niece hoping for a miracle.

Finally you got to be inside again after a portion of the guest had left. Then you were waiting for some food to bring home as the host gesture. Much later you found out that it wasn’t as good since the food expired as soon as you reached home 2 hours later, but you know it was nobody’s fault. Then you excused yourself and called it a good day because hey, how bad could it be?

Heat radiation

I'm radiating heat. It feels cold. I had migraine again. And then fever. Bye bye for a while.

Sundry

A. Abbreviated Nippon Sangyo, Nissan, had merged Datsun around 1983.
B. Ashbi is becoming proficient in chess. I can only expect a draw against him.
C. Is finding me wife my parents' responsibility or mine? A little bit of both?
D. I forgot my PS2 is also a DVD player.

***

I'm spoiled. Says who? No bills, no kids, no debts, no credit card, no membership, no annual fees, no commitment, earning a third of beginning of 5-digit-income and yet complaining about work.

Excuse me, I've been away, dragged, pushed, stepped on, left behind, pulled over, starved, many many thousand miles away, ever since I was 13. Now is good time to enjoy the comfy of home under mom's care. :P

Meru, Klang

There was a super traffic jam in Meru earlier today. A trailer clipped over to a side of a junction leaving only 1 lane left. Rainy day. Dark. I'm not too sure why some of these truck drivers just needed to hurry on Saturday.

It slowed us about an hour to get to K.Ngah & Abg.Ngah sister's wedding. It slowed us two hours to get back. Plus all the journey time and break for prayer in the middle, we started off at 1.30PM and reached home around 9.

Self Propensity

When I was browsing through my files and folders, I found this primary school record:

Kecenderungan: propensity
(outdoor/mechanical/computation/scientific/persuasion/ arts/literary/music/social science)

Teacher input: (what my teachers seemed to observe of me)
B/B/A/A/B/C/C/C/B
- clearly not of Al-Farabi, Shakespeare or Bach type. :P

Student input: (what I expected of myself then)
B/C/A/A/D/D/D/D/C
- ironically, I was offered to present the school in singing but I completely rejected the idea :P
- however, I did represent my class and the school to a drawing competition in UKM - consolation only :P

What I'm thinking of myself now (after 10 years):
B/B/A/A/A/A/B/B/C
- which profession do you think I should indulge in?

***
By the way, the no.1 of the company came and I completed some of the calculation-inclusions I started when I joined. With close to 1.5 years experience, I am surprised at how much I have learned already. But that's equal to only scratching the surface - there's a lot more coming.

Mom & dad went to Alya's Solat Hajat so I had to babysit Asri away from event but not too far that he would cry-call mom. Joining it towards the end was a.w.k.w.a.r.d. Full stop.

Raya at Work

Yeah, makan2 (feasts) at work.