How Do You Look?

Tadaa, how do I look?

So I saw this program last week on Diva, hosted by Sazzy Falak. I heard that this was an adaptation of a similar program by the Americans. 

Well, I never like to be so negative on anything that is not related to me or anything, but this kind of show, to me, is insulting and "syok sendiri". Looking at the so-called fashion forward by the producer, the host, is funny, because the host was not dressing well either. In fact, the person whom they called with fashion disaster, dressed better. 

To me, dressing is subjective. There is no right or wrong. If he or she feels comfortable in it, he or she feels good in it, why not? Don't expect others to feel the same as what you think is beautiful. Beauty does not necessarily defined when you show more skins and figures. 

Plus, when you are a Muslim, that is wrong. We have aurat for us to think about.

So Sazzy Falak, stop showing your 'Eewww' face to what others think is beautiful, because what you wear in the show, is 'Ewww' to me.

Takraw For Dum'me'

Being close to Syam brought to me to somewhere I never thought I would ever, ever be. 

First, he made me play Clash of Clans, which at first I thought, was a waste of time, but it turned out to be good distraction from work.

Then, he made me helped him with his Takraw Team, which is a game of sport I never knew a single rule of, but later I found it very technically interesting.

Now, he made me wear three quarter pants, when managing the Takraw Team during Sukan PBT, which was totally againts my unwritten rules of clothing. "NO THREE QUARTER PANTS!" but it turned out to be comfortable.

Syamsul Istar...

Sepak Takraw. If I turned into a TV Channel with that on it, I would spend not even a single second, before I turned into another channel. I never knew the game. When I was in school, there was no one playing that game, even during Pendidikan Jasmani, no takraw. The first time I watched Takraw was 2 years back during DPA, and that is simply because I felt that I need to cheer for our team, and still, I never tried to understand the game.

So now, with Syam managing our Ministry's Takraw Team, which we called Libas SUK Perak, and myself, co-managing, I feel obligated to get to know the game well. Takkan nak terkebil-kebil tengok game tak paham mende when you are the manager of the team. So not cool. 

Ok, let's learn a little bit about the game.

1. What is the meaning of 'Takraw' and where does it came from? 

Takraw in Thai, is a woven ball. So with it's name of Sepak Takraw, I believe the game, obviously is from Southeast Asia, either in Malaysia, Thailand or Indonesia.

2. How many players in the court at a time?

There are 3 players per team. They are called Tekong, Feeder and Killer, depends on their position. 

Tekong is the one who will serve the ball to the opponent, either sending the ball straight to the opponent with high speed or serving a drop ball. 

Killer is the striker of the team, executing the ball to the opponents. Killer is also responsible to block any incoming ball from the opponent. 

Feeder is one who controls the ball, if the team manage to get the first ball right from the opponent. Feeder will then set the ball to the killer to strike back to the opponent, and that makes him important so that the Killer could perform a clean strike.

3. The attire of the players?

I never knew attire is so important until Sukan PBT. Well, according to the international rules, the number on the jersey of each player must only be between 1 to 15. Players must wear the same number on each game to avoid confusion of actual players. The captain of the team must also wear an armband.

4. Warming Up. 

Each team will be given 2 minutes before the game starts for warming up.

5. Explain the service?

I only got to know this after watching a couple of training sessions. Players of the serving regu will alternate as Tekong each time it has won a point from the previous serve until the receiving team manages to get a point. 

6. How many points needed to win the game?

21 points are required for a team to win a set, and there will be 2 sets, minimum. If it comes to a tie after 2 sets, then the third set will be the deciding set. Like badminton, the winning team needs 2 extra point to win.

7. How many time break given per team?

Well, time break will be requested by the manager of the team, and one time off is given to each team per set. Only 5 persons, max, is allowed at the back of the court during time off. But in the international rule, only 4 persons are allowed, and that is after the 8th points.

8. How many substitution allowed?

For each set, a team is allowed to nominated 1 reserved player, and make 2 substitutions per set.

So now, you are ready to co-manage!

I will post something on our journey to Sukan PBT next....

#libassukperak

Big Hero 6

(Cuci sawang, cuci sawang, cuci sawang)

Lama gedabak aku tak tulis menulis. Erm, sebenarnya ada tulis, cuma button publish tu agak berat untuk ditekan berbanding tanda X kat hujung chrome ni. Melihatkan kawan-kawan pun semakin kurang aktif, semangat untuk mempublish post pon sangatlah ketara berkurangan.

This is a movie I've watched the latest, Big Hero 6. Yer yer, aku tau, cite ni dah lama, aku tengok pun bukan kat wayang, tengok kat rumah je. Tu pun adik aku paksa tengok, rasa macam tak cool je tajuknye, teringat cerite Fantastic 4 yang mengecewakan. 

This movie is an animation obviously, about Hiro and his brother's robot companion, Baymax. Like his brother, Hiro is a robot inventor genius, some sort la. But something unfortunate happened when his brother was killed in a fire, and from there it all started, the action and friendship. Baymax was initially created to take care of people's health, but having Hiro the genius himself, he manipulated the program of Baymax and add him as an action hero instead to find the killer of his brother.

I don't need to explain much, you can read the plot on Wikipedia.

From all the previous posts on movies review, boleh aku conclude di sini, aku suka cerita yang ada jiwa, yang ada perasaan, yang hidup. And Big Hero 6 is definitely one of them. Even one of the main character is only a robot without any emotion, yet the way the story line was arranged seems otherwise. It's brilliant.

Rate: 9.5/10

Defining You.

I remember when I had this little argument with a childhood friend of mine, and she told me "You've changed...". And then, being that hot temper guy that I was, I told her "What? I never changed, and never will!" Well, that was what I thought at that time. 

People change. Every year, every week, every day, every minute, maybe not every second. Hehe. But, we change. Everyone does. There is a saying that we will eventually become the person whom we are closed with. It's like when the group of people we always hang out with change, then we will change as well. Maybe it won't be so notable at that moment, but as time goes by, maybe we ourselves will notice it, or maybe the people whom we were closed with will. 

We are influenced by the people around us. The person I am today is because of the people I met along the way. And believe me, in 10 years to come, I may not be the person I am today. I hope I am a better person compare to previous years, and hopefully better than today in the future. And I am lucky enough, my path always crossed with friends who are kind with good hearts, and that I should be so grateful of.

Bak di dalam Riwayat Ahmad, "Seseorang itu dikenali berdasarkan sahabatnya, maka berwaspadalah dalam memilih sahabat".

So to my friends, thank you. I hope I define you good too.

Wallahua'lam...

The Two Brothers

Another book on the shelf. Yes. Two Brothers, by Ben Elton.

From chapter to chapter, this book managed to bring me back to the early years of World War 2. It never fails to touch, and sometime breaks my heart on how this family of four was treated and separated back then during the Nazis. It would be impossible for us to know on how Jews were treated back then. And this family, who are jews were never exempted. 

It happens to be that one of the twin, actually was adopted, and he was never a jew. 

And when it comes to the end of the line, the parents have no other choice but to let the non-jew son go, by telling all the truths. From there, they were separated, but it didn't hold the brothers to meet up at some points. To make it even more complicated, the 'twins' love the same girl, a jew girl where they both put their life in danger for her. To me personally, the girl was the evil plot in the book. She used the boys for her own survival interest. Never in my mind thought that she loved either one of the boys.

As a whole, this book never fails to play with emotions. And that is what I looked in a book. A book that convince me. Reading how family go through with life, how the non-jew brother survive and how he tried so hard to protect his family by all means. It's all about family, relationship, love and trusts. 

I hope that I will come across a book of how the Palestinians were treated, written with such emotions that will show the world, how same the Zionists are with the Nazis.

Peace.

Happy Teacher's Day.

Fuh, gila berhabuk aku punya blog.

 It feels like forever since my last post.

So yesterday was Teacher's Day. I might as well post something related.

When I was in Form 4, there was this 1 teacher whom I particularly remember. She taught me Modern Mathematics, but I took her tuition class on Add Maths in the evening. Her way of teaching was unique I guess, she made me remember all the methods, easily. 

But it is not the way she taught me that make her stick on my head, but it's the confidence she had in me. Modern Maths, was ok I guess. But I always thought Add Maths will be horrible. 

There was 1 day though, when we were doing add maths exercises during the tuition class, she told me personally, "Jaff, I know you will score at least A2 for Add Maths, I only want you to study hard now to score A1."  In my head, it's just WOW. She had this belief which I even don't have on myself. But knowing someone does believe in me, I eventually put in my mind, I am good in maths. I am good in maths. Yeah. I can do it, can't I? 

And yeah, I did it. I scored A1 in Add Maths. 

But sadly, as far as I remember, I never had this chance to meet her in person after school to thank her for the belief she had in me. 

I received a gift from her during my wedding, but still, didn't have the chance to meet her.

So, Puan Ding,

Selamat Hari Guru.

Thank you so much for believing in me.

Sabar.

Everyone has their highs and lows, especially at work. Well, syukur at the moment the life I went through at work is all well. But I remember last time with the previous work I had, it was tough I must say. Although I was happy with all the friends and colleagues, but the process, the tense, was very difficult.

Sometimes when we lost our mind, we tend to do things which is beyond limit. Like for instance, shouting, blaming, cursing, with all the dramas and that. But think for a second, where will it get you? Will you be happy for doing that? Puas hati? Nah. You won't, believe me. All that actions will only give you guilts and regrets.

So what I would suggest, to you and myself, stay calm, sabar. If you have to defend yourself, do it in a good way. When someone do bad things to you, it is not a ticket for you to the same to him, or her. Diamkan aje, pasal biasanya orang yang diam tu adalah orang yang menang.

Life is short. So be happy. Be wise.

Where is that 'Hot Milo'?

Whoa, It's been like forever since my last post eh? I've been writing if you must know, but I kept them all as drafts, waiting for my lazy finger to click that publish button. Duh. I wanted to post something actually, but I really don't know which post to start with. So now I decided to write a new one. 

This post is about how I was back then, and how I am today.

I remember almost 15 years ago, a girl in school labelled me as the 'Hot Milo'. I have this bad temper which was widely known among my close friends. That comes the term 'hot'. But that 'Milo' comes maybe because, as temper as I could be, I guess somehow I was still likable to some people. :-)

That 'Hot Milo' remained in me for years, until there was one event in school where I really had lost the sense of logic, I yelled to one of my close friend in front of a crowd. And the reason was stupid. I don't remember it though, but I am for sure, it was stupid. After that seconds of yelling, my friend startled. Everyone around us was too, they were shocked. That was the peak of my stupidity and inconsiderate anger. I realized that was too much. I left the place at once and sat somewhere far alone. I heard later that my friend was so upset that she cried. As much as it hurt her, it hurt me more I guess. I never like seeing my friend cries, especially because of me.

Yes, I did apologized later. But that was the event that set me back.

I decided, this 'Hot Milo' had to be gone. Far away that no one could ever called it back. From day to day, the 'Hot Milo' had somehow become the 'Ice Milo'. There was not much emotion that I could show. My heart was numb I guess. I kept it all inside. Far inside my heart. The good thing is though, the bad temper I had, it was gone. It became hard and difficult for me even to get upset. The fire of anger that crossed me was all kept inside my heart, until it was forgiven, and the flame was put to rest. The worst I could do is only to keep quite, diam seribu bahasa. My friends would call that merajuk. But to me, being quite helps to just forget everything, and forgive. And as time goes by, I will be back to normal. Just the cheerful self that I am. 

This 'Ice Milo' apologized more. This 'Ice Milo' smiles to everything. 

After many years, I really like 'Ice Milo'. 

This past few weeks however, I was wondering. What happen to 'Hot Milo'? Could I ask him to come for a visit sometime and help me release all the anger and tension that I have been keeping. I know, there was no flame. But the ashes remained. Could he come and clean it all? It's just that, if he ever make a come back, will he stay? Because I don't want him to...

As much as I wish that 'Hot Milo' could make a return, 'Ice Milo' has turned me into a better man, I guess. I really like 'Ice Milo' now. But as cool as it could be, please don't take him for granted. Because that could be the exact chance that it will turned into that 'Hot Milo' once again, and stay in me forever. 

klia2.

I remember the time I went to Ho Chi Minh with Pakciks when our tour guide, Hung said to Nazul and I how modern and big their airport is. I was looking at Nazul, he looked back at me. Is this guy serious? How could he compare our KLIA with Ho Chi Minh Airport? But seconds after that we realized that he was talking about our LCCT. Ok. Angkat tangan. Surrender. Our LCCT is seriously out of the league with Vietnamese Airport kan. 

There is one article I read on the internet that listed LCCT as one of the worst airport in Asia. But on the good side, we're not that bad compared to some countries' main airports. (Source: http://www.sleepinginairports.net/2012/worst-airports-asia.htm) 

Contrarily, in 2014 the World Airport Awards ranked LCCT at the 5th position behind Stansted, Berlin, Luton and Brussels for Best Low Cost Airport Category. Somehow, being there couples of times, LCCT is very much basic terminal and overly crowded. But I do understand that LCCT was initially built to cater about 10 million passengers, whereby today the total passengers using it are about 25 million.

On the other hand, KLIA was listed one of the best airport in the world, ranked 2nd for World's Best Airport serving 40-50 million passengers per year, that is behind South Korean's. However, there are a lot of improvements which could be done in KLIA, such as 24-hours dining restaurants and limousine services. Located about half an hour drive to Kuala Lumpur, logistic is very much important to passengers. With poor management in limousine and taxi, I am afraid that our tourists' satisfaction will be affected, especially at this year's Visit Malaysia Year 2014. However, I still have the feeling everytime I reach home in KLIA, the proud moment seeing our premium facilities that welcome everyone to Malaysian's gate.

This post is however not about KLIA. It's about klia2. I got the chance to visit klia2 last week. klia2 is our new low cost airport, replacing LCCT since May 1st. 5 airlines are operating here, of course, our AirAsia and Malindo Air, Cebu Pacific, Lion Air and Tiger Air. This airport is designed to cater 45 millions passengers per year with 250,000 sqm, 60 gates, 80 aerobridges, which is absolutely MASSIVE, compared to LCCT.

Being there the first time, I honestly have to say that I was impressed. It still have a 'little' look being the lost cost airport, but klia2 is clean, spacious space and there are many 'Ask Me' people around the huge airport to help passengers or visitors the get around. I could still see crowds, but I guess they must be the visitors to look around the new airport.

I was informed klia2 has the biggest shopping mall in the world, with 70,000 sqm of retail space, with 225 outlets. klia2 has its own shopping complex, deng! With 4 levels of retails space, there are relaxation zone, transportation stores, dining restaurants and retail stores. This building that consists them all is called the Gateway. 

Located next to KLIA, there are many ways for you to get here. Just like KLIA, there are KLIA express, KLIA transit where you can get here directly from Kuala Lumpur Sentral. Besides, there are many busses, shuttles, KL Monorail and taxis for you to get around. But unfortunately I have not got the opportunity to try one, hopefully one day. As this is the low cost terminal, I hope that the transportation services available here would not cost as much as KLIA, especially the rate of limousine or taxis. At the moment, there are 6 hotels located in the airport, or maybe just right next to it. So, being the advantage here that can overcome the cons of LCCT which is the transportation services.

Having the new lost cost terminal with world class facilities is great for the image of the country. One day, I believe that the airport will overcome our main premium airport in term of passengers as there are many tourists who now prefer to travel cheap, and that is low cost airlines. Hopefully one day when I return home from overseas, in klia2, I will feel as proud as I was when I touched down in KLIA. 

A letter to myself.

20/6/2013

To my dear self,

I was asked to write this letter to myself which the letter will be posted back to me in 6 months. It's like a time capsule, only with a short period of time. Eh, kejap. Why should I explain this to you? You were here. Cet ptuih. I am so sorry my handwriting is as bad as Amirul's but as you know, I have no proper equipment and stationery here.

I think you have not been blogging for a period of time, so I guess you should put this letter on your blogs as one your post.

I am now in the middle of the jungle, camping here, alone for 1 night. This is part of the course that I am going through at the moment, which is at the Outward Bound School (OBS). I've spent 5 nights at OBS, and I will be going to the next course the day after tomorrow.

OBS is one in a lifetime experience which I will never forget. It was tough I must say, and you're pushed to your limit to complete the task that was given. The last 2 days, me and my teammates, Watch Ledang went for a hiking in Pangkor. I think that should not be a problem as I was quite used to it. But I was wrong! We were asked to carry a heavy bag, filled with our stuffs, food and belongings which be used later for camping.

On the 1st day, we spent about 6 hours, hiking. As that is a group task, we need to help each other, sharing all the weight and burden. The biggest challenge for us was not the distance, but it was the weight of the bag. We tried to exchange stuffs along the way though when some of us could not 'tahan' already.

As time goes by, when many of us were already exhausted, some of us were falling into the negative valley. But fortunately, the other half pulled them back on track and carry on. the next day was the same. Oh, it was worse! We got lost! :-( We spend about 6 hours when actually we were only suppose to spend about half of that time. We were going up and down the hill many times, and it was for sure tough especially to the ladies. But we managed to get ourselves out.

I was proud of myself for completing the task. Seriously, it was super duper tough when you're going in a group, but these people are the one who actually keep me going. And I am so proud too with my teammates who keep on going, even some of them think they could not go on, but they did. We did it guys!

As I said previously, OBS is one of the experience that I won't forget. Even some of us said that they won't ever repeat the OBS, but I am sure that each and everyone of us will remember this week as one of the most memorable ones that we will laugh together years upfront. No handphone, no connection with the outside world, television, family and friends, for 1 week. I don't know if I could do that I am forced to. However, being back to basic taught me more about the value of talking instead of typing or texting, and OBS definitely push my limit to a new upper level, my confidence and of course my patience. Thank you everyone!

p.s. Jaffrey, you are awesome. Keep it up! :-)

Jaffrey