It’s 5.00 am. I’ve been rolling around for 4 hours. It was dreadful. Even an insomniac tablet can’t help me take off. Urggh, I need to learn to shut my brain. STOP THINKING AND SLEEP! YOU’VE GOT A MEETING AT 9am!

*sandwiched my head with 2 pillows*

I passed out. The last time I checked the clock was 6.05 am. Good 2 more hours of sleep.

25 minutes later, a couple of knocks landed on my door. My lovable-living-alarm-system (mom!) never fail to get me off the bed at 6 30am. Now I can’t sleep anymore, I might as well work or do some light reading drawing.

Current record, 7 hours on the bed and still wide awake.

ps: I need a horse tranquilizer. Anyone here a Vet?

Having said that, I do follow people from Twitter about the game’s progression. It was mainly a live commentary from Abdus.

Although I do favor Kelantan over Negeri Sembilan, there are things that disgust me. Kelantan fans were throwing fireworks (edited: so was Negeri Sembilan)!

Kelantan fans also decided to take the BBQ party indoors. Darn. (from Blowie)

Soon after match was over, they took the finals onto the streets. Again people, it’s JUST football. (By they, I mean both teams).

Even before the match, Kelantan fans were aggressive.  They broke the Gate at Bukit Jalil. (from Yusni Arifin)

I know, they spent hours driving/flying down to KL, get stuck in traffic jams and queued for hours to get a piece of action. In the end, their team failed to shine. I would burn in anger too. But this is no way to face defeat! Take it like a man. Train a little harder and come back next year.

* * * Edited * * *

What happens if they burn down the stadium? Thousands will die. Not to mention those flare thrown,.. Kalau terbakar orang mcm mane?

This isn’t the first time it happened. They even lid fireworks at their own stadium! Ini kerja gile!

To all Kelantan’s aggressive fans, LOSER SIAL.

ps: I personally think these people were never involved in any competitive sports. If they were, they’d be just like the rest of us. Go home and sulk till you fall asleep.

pss: All goals were awesome (except for penalty of course)

It’s not really easy designing a web. The process and technology keeps improving by the minute. Even as experienced as I am, I usually get tangled between codes and designs.

Where did I save this? Where did I save that? Can I make it this way? How bout that way? Does this look good? Is this light enough? Minimalist enough? .. the never ending bucket load of questions never cease to end.

Then the software. “Use this, use that. Eh, this is better, use this.” Also series of recommendations on how to free yourself from designs and codes.

Personally, wearing nothing but a towel is TOTAL FREEDOM.

It’s cheapest solution I know, so far. (Try it, you might like it!)

Oh well. Maybe it’s just a series of bad habits I developed when I was in Uni.

ps: Geek meeting with @bat at Taman Connaught tonight. See yah

Yeah, someone is paying for a Karoake session and bloody hell, I’m up for it! la La LA La la. Voice check. Ok, I’m good to go. About 7.30pm he picked me up. It was rather weird seeing him wearing a jacket. *Malaysia’s hot ok, no need jacket lah*.

“So where are we heading?”, I wasn’t too sure about the road.

“Somewhere you might like”. He continued driving.

“We’re here”, he said.

“Where is here?”

“Just follow-lah”

It was a hall filled with people wearing business suit. I didn’t bring my glasses, it was almost impossible to see the signs.

“Selamat datang ke…” I held the pamphlet and saw.. it was an MLM meeting or some shit. For a minute there I felt like punching my friend in the face. But it’s not worth breaking a sweat over tedious matter.

I sat there, 2 hours listening to “successful stories”. Non of them were inspiring.

“So what do you think bro? You can join under…”

“Bro, don’t ever call me again”, I interrupted and left him dumbfounded.

ps: Yes dude. I really mean it!

Breathe in, breathe out. This is it. This is the time to rise and shine. This is what I’ve been training for, for the last 3 years.

Remember how you used to do 1,500 sit ups per day? Remember how you used to do push up 1,000 per day? Remember all the running, endlessly? Remember that pylometrics move you did earnestly every single day after rugby training? And people usually had to stop you for dinner? Not to mentioned those calling you crazy?

Yes, I do.

“Loosen up a bit”. The coach (more like manager, as I coached myself) shouted from afar. “No pressure”, he added.

Yeah right! If he was next to me, I’d park my foot up his ass.

On your mark! Everyone got on their lane, excessively trying to lock a perfect footing for the startup. I was still starring at my toes, wondering if I could ever pull this through.

It was the Men’s 100m Final (district level). On my right was the Perak runner, left was the runner-up. I’m sandwiched between two giants. I felt so small. At times like these, I wished they added IQ test on top of sprinting. Unfortunately, it’s a race of the fittest and fastest.

Locking my foot carefully, not to get tied to the staring block. I double checked just to be sure, trying my best to delay the start and pile the pressure on my neighbors.

Get set… The sweet serenity of Kuala Kangsar’s air suddenly became dense. The sky went dark, the crowds were at the edge of their seats.

POW! The gun went off.

Everything shuts down, except for my medulla oblangata. Adrenaline rushed in and out of my muscles. The next second, I was leading the pack. If only it was a 10 meter race, I would’ve been wearing the gold medal by then. Unfortunately Eddie, the race has just begun.

Slowly yet surely, both left and right runner were out-pacing me. No thanks to their genes (and maybe luck).

Half way down the lane, the three of us were side by side, shoulder to shoulder. (More like shoulder to neck, I am a little shorter than them). We were already at top speed. Everything went by so fast. It was pure ecstasy. If you ask any 100m runner, what is the hardest thing to do? It’ll definitely be maintaining top-speed. Yes, I too struggled at that time, so were my competitions.

This meter they took the lead, the next I snatched from the them. It was like 3 kids fighting over the same candy.

80m mark. We were still head to head. Having to run 100m for the past 3 years, I have developed an ultimate plan, or mind set. This is where you imagine something precious is falling and you need to catch it before it hits the ground. I imagined my mom.

At the end of the line, I dived. Plunging myself through the air and into the ground and pretty much smashed my face. I had nothing left to give and that pretty much was the last push of the day.

Laying down, looking at the sky, I know and I admitted, I lost. I finished forth.

Still laying down, I crossed my feet, tucked my palms under my head, just like a mat-salleh enjoying his last day of summer and closed my eyes. I wanted to burst in tears but some part of my anatomy told me not to. It wasn’t ego. It was empathy. Of wanting others to excel before you.

I knew it there and then, I wasn’t the only one giving my best. I’m sure the rest did.

As I dragged my feet across the hall to my dormitory, a few batch mates asked about the result. “Kenape tak bole menang bro?” they fired a difficult question. Still exhausted and moody, I replied,”sebab aku yang lari, bukan kau. Kalau kau lari mesti menang!“. Pun, very much intended.

* * *

A few months later, I learned the gold and silver medalist won state’s level. No surprise really, because that day, I clocked 11.03 secs. It was my personal best.

Quote: Reasoning won’t help you win.

To this day, whenever I lost something, be it business opportunity, turned down job offer or having girl troubles, I’d recall this painful memory. And you have to admit, some things are just meant to be.

ps: Thanks AzmanIshak sebab lepak pastu belanje aku teh-tarik. Khamis ni Qiilans87 plak blanje MekDi. Bestnye buat theme free!

When you’re down flat on your back, you want to write something, but instead you prioritize your sleep. For me, sleep comes first because feeling sleepy is not something that comes by easily. (The usual is 2 days awake, 1 day sleep.)

Thanks to Dr. KJL, he gave me 10 insomniac tablets.  Time to correct my biological clock people.

ps: Sorry Ain for not helping your puncture tyre. Thankfully everything went well.

Designed for those who loves to LiveBlog from mobile phone via email to flickr. Also suitable for photoblog or portfolio. There are 6 widgets area. It’s only a matter of drag and drop. Main page, one column style. Single page, 2 columns with sidebar on the left right. Tested and worked with standard WP plugins. 100% CSS and introduced some CSS3 Elements. Can be seen on Firefox (Gecko) and Chrome & Safari (Webkit).

2 days from scratch. Not bad for an old man huh?

Hopefully when weekend arrives, I’ll be able to complete the full blown coding. I’ll probably throw in some jQuery stuff and something I picked up very recently. Let’s just hope it’s not much of a hassle.

As far as I’m concerned, everything is order. Till then, good night!

Interested in using the theme? Subscribe to LiteTheme’s twitter and I’ll keep you posted. Comments are very much welcome.

Mirror download.
Features

1. There are 6 Widget ready area. 1 for advertisement, 1 for right bar, 4 for the bottom row.
2. Automatically extracts the first image from your post. No need to manually update excerpt.
3. Very light. Minus the unused graphic, it should stand below 80kb.
4. Specifically designed for Live Bloggers who uses Flickr to update their blog.

Changelog

Version 1.0

1. Completed. Looking forward to add some javascript to spice up the theme
2. IE 7, Firefox 3, Chrome and Safari compatible (thankfully doesn’t require me to pull my hair out!)
3. Needs Option Page. Will explore a little more on that soon.

ps: As part of my ongoing effort to kill IE 6, I will NOT waste my time to troubleshoot the lazy outdated browser. Come on guys, it’s time to upgrade.

This is probably the coolest grandma on Youtube. I know, I subscribed her the minute @bongkersz RT her

Grandma Mary Ho is 73 years old. She picked up her first acoustic guitar when she was 60. And this granny isn’t far from us, she’s from Singapore! Like me any guitar maniacs, she idolizes Carlos Santana!

So you see, you can achieve almost anything if you channel your passion correctly. Rock on Grandma!

It was raining heavily, coupled with strong winds and thunderous clouds. The visibility was almost close to zero. We were heading down south back to our home from Penang. There was my newly wed brother and his wife, my youngest brother and me, riding in the car, ridiculing the possibilities of the ‘WTF’ car plate number. (Seriously, there are, maybe soon.)

I’ve never liked the ESP built into Mercedes. In fact, I’ve wrote about it before. But there were pot holes everywhere, a perfect culprit for Hydro Planing, I had no choice but to turn it on.

As we strolled along the highway, things got pretty worst. The wind was blowing in our direction. Raindrops were knocking on the windscreen, making infinite annoying thumping sound. Even the wiper couldn’t keep up wiping the screen. I decided to slow down and cruise at 80kmh on the fastest lane.

A Toyota Altis was following our trail, roughly 15 meters behind.

We ran into a huge pot hole, thanks to ESP, the car’s computer calculated and stabilized us almost instantaneously. I knew, I saw and felt it but I was dead sure the car behind couldn’t endure the hydro planing.

I looked at my rear view mirror and saw something terrible. The Altis spunned 900° degrees ( that’s two and a half spin) whilst bouncing and knocking the road divider. The Altis ended up facing the traffic flow on the fastest lane! Shit! It was a critical moment. I certainly don’t want to see other cars run into that Altis, what more see someone die before my eyes.

I pulled over immediately and asked my sis in law to call for help, while my brother and I rushed to the victim. We grabbed an umbrella and ran as fast as we could, barging into the heavy pours.

There were 3 passengers in the Altis, Driver – slightly aged, his wife and young adult son. The car looked completely wrecked. Fortunately, they had airbags. But still, that doesn’t solve what’s coming next, incoming cars.

“Boy, help them to get out while I go slow down the traffic”, I had to shout to my brother, the sound of rain knocking the ground pretty much blocked our hearing. I ran about 50 meters down the road.

Thankfully, the umbrella we had was yellow, which made it easier to see and signal people to slow down. There I was, on the fastest lane, waving the umbrella up and down, not knowing what’s coming next. Will incoming cars see me? Will they slow down? Worst, will they run me over? I have to admit my balls pretty much shrunk to the size of peanuts. But I toughen it out, we’re dealing with lives here, rest aside fears and be brave!

(For a moment there, I felt like Mary Poppins, but that’s a different story altogether. )

Our call for help came was minutes later. A police car and a highway patrol arrived. They pulled out Orange safety cones and flags. My job here is done. Next is to get the passengers somewhere safe, i.e. on the roadside.

Fortunately, the passengers were ok. No broken bones nor tragic condition, only bruises and gushes and most definitely, traumatized. (Who wouldn’t after staring death straight in the face?)

We made it safely on the road side few seconds later.

As I was heading back to the car, I looked back and saw the driver, soaked and drenched in the rain (his wife and son shared their only umbrella). I walked back to him and handed mine, knowing that he’ll be standing there, looking at his car, replaying the incident for a while longer. And it certainly breaks my heart to see that  slight bald aged man mourning over his loss or thinking what might’ve happened.

When all this is done with, police reports has been lodged, insurance has been claimed and everyone sitting at the comfort of their home, that man will look at the yellow Michelin umbrella and remembers, that 2 courageous strangers helped him. And I hope one day, he returns the favor, Act of Random Kindness.

ps: Luckily dad didn’t scold us for soaking his Mercedes CLK

pss: Thinking of buying a Superbike with WTF 9600 plate number. My car is WMY 9600 XD

psss: Thankfully, I didn’t panic. It’s times like these critical thinking becomes a necessity.

He climbed onto the bed, next to his wife, accidentally waking her up. The wife couldn’t bear his disgusting odor, the liquor nor the sweat. She tried waking him up, wanting him to sleep on the sofa. Unfortunately, non of her efforts was worth the trouble. Sleepy as she was, the wife decided to sleep on the sofa instead.

The next morning, he woke up.

His clothe was properly pressed and neatly hung at the corner of the bed. So was his socks, pants and under garment.

The husband rushed out his bedroom hoping to catch a glance of his wife. He saw his only kin, having breakfast, prepared by the faithful wife before she left.

With a massive hangover, he sat next to his son, trying to compute the wife’s good deed. As he recalled, he was far off from sanity when he got back. He wanted to apologize for what he has done, although it wasn’t the only time he got home with a bottle of liquor in his hand.

He gathered his guts and asked his son, “Did you see mom?”

“Yes. She was awfully joyful when she left the house”, replied the son.

He was dead sure the wife had something up her sleeve. Could it be another man? Does she want a divorce? The thought of his wife leaving brought tears in his eyes. She was the only woman he ever loved. His imagination never stretched to the point of separation. He regretted his action.

He tried reaching her cellphone, unfortunately she was out of coverage. His guilt grew bigger.

“Dad, mom wants you to me send school”, his son handed him a scribbled note, intercepting his train of thought.

It reads:

Honey,
I have to prepare for an early morning meeting so I left before you woke up. I’ve prepared your cloth and breakfast. All you need to do is send Allen to school.
Loving you always,
Susan.

In disbelief, he asked his son, what actually happened?

“When you got home drunk, mom was angry. She was scared that you might’ve woken up the neighbours”

“She tried waking you up and numerous time you replied “HEY BITCH, DON’T TOUCH ME, I’M MARRIED LAH!”. So she left you sleeping on the bed.”

“When she asked what shirt do you want to wear, you said, “HELLO LENG LUI, DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH MY CLOTH.” So she hung them at the corner of your bed.”

“Mom was cooking then suddenly I heard you shouted from the bedroom, “HOI, HOW MANY TIMES I’VE TOLD YOU, I’M MARRIED! SO LEAVE THIS F*CKING HOUSE ALREADY!” ”

The husband cried an endless tear. He swore to himself he would never do that again to his wife.

* * *

The next week, his colleague got promoted and called for celebration. He could never say no to free booze, so the cycle went on again, and again, and again.

ps: Moral of the story, No BLOODY idea. Why don’t you tell me?

pss: The story was told to me verbally ages ago and was slightly different. I rewrote everything in my context. Credit goes to whoever thought of the story

From afar, I saw him waving, wanting me to walk his way.

“Dude, apsal kuning gile baju ko?“. I believe “Ape kabar” or “how are you” is still the latest trend to greet people. WTH, get on with it.

“What’s wrong with my shirt?”

“It’s old la. It’s faded.”

“Yeah.. so?”

“Buat malu je jalan dengan ko”

“Oh..”

“Why don’t we stop by G2000 and get you new ones?”

“No thanks. I don’t wear them often”

“Ok. Just want to let you know, burok syial baju ko”

Deep in my dark subconscious mind, I replied, “Suke hati aku la, nak bogel ke nak pakai ape pon!”

ps: I don’t really give a damn about what I wear. Shorts, purple, white, pink, dusty, rusty or what ever apparel is on this oddly proportioned body, just as long as it’s clean. I don’t need to wear a designer’s label to prove my-self-worthiness.

I wanted to play some touch rugby, I don’t know where I left my socks.

I wanted to jog, I don’t which car I left my shoes.

I wanted to play PS2, darn, I’ve completed every single game.

I need to socialize. I need to get out. I rang Syam and Azman, they’re both up for it. It’s very uncommon for an urban boy to fly kite. I was excited more than ever!

Our rendezvous was Shell near Karak’s exit.

The park. Clear blue sky with a hint that it might shower.

It wasn’t very windy, but it’s enough to get the kite in the air.

This kid’s expression says it all, “How do I get my kite up there?”

Let Abg Azman show you. He could even sweet talk his girl while flying it! (Note to Employer: This is the kind of guy you want, a multi-tasker)

I had no idea how I got this color.

Azman and his trademark, thick and furry mustache.

After several attempts, I managed to fly.. solo.. wohoo!

Syam annoyingly said, “Kite ade layang-layang, awak takde…”

“Wey! Aku suruh lompat! Bukan angkat kaki!” – eddie

“Allow me to show you how to pose with a kite”, – eddie.

This is HOW you jump, with a beam highlighting my.. ehem interesting part? LoL! (Cool lens glare don’t do you think?)

Who the hell flew this kite and hit me in the head? I’m gonna screw your brain out!

Even saturation can’t save the boy from Doomsday. Takut kan? Oleh it, smyg!

Don’t be fooled by the colors, it’s fake.

As the sun touches the ground, Yam (life4hire), Sae (callister) and some friends arrived with a basket. Sweet! My tummy started growling, I knew there had to be a roll of sandwich in that basket.

Turns out, a basket for the kitty. Alahaii…

Just for the sake of letting it out of my head.

via my flick

ps: I had fun. Flying the kite, snapping photos and most importantly, editing it!

pss: Should I take photography seriously? You tell me!

I love this attitude and action. Everyone had their own agenda.

Wan asked out loud,”bunga telur ni bole bawak balik?” .. sure you can Wan! Comel!

Often people asks me, “Eddie, I didn’t know you had a sister”.. That’s my mom-lah!

While I do floss regularly, I don’t exactly carry them everywhere. Sorry Ain.

I don’t know what’s playing in her head but I’m guessing it’s a song from the All American Rejects – Dirty Little Secret or maybe something from Korn.

Dude, you’re already married!

Ehem.. KLCC is the other way around.

Of course I could never escape the Makcik-makcik’s ultimate question, “Adek kamu sudah, kamu bile?” Fortunately, I have a playlist for that, as below

1. Sabar, malam masih mude.
2. Makcik carikan lah (easily countered with, Makcik ade kawan…)
3. Weekend nanti (not specified which weekend)
4. Die (adek) lagi matang dari saye.
5. Bile sampai waktunye, sampailah kad kahwin saya.
6. Eh.. Abah panggil saya (running away from reality)
7. Janganlah tanye lagi, terguris hati saya. (Most Favorable)

The last answer would always earn me a pat on the back. No warm-hearted person could resist such sympathetic excuse. Sorry I capitalized on that

(via flickr)

If anyone was wondering who reversed the BMW like The Transporter (furiously fast and accurate), that would be the guy in Baju Melayu and Jeans.

He’s also the kindred spirit brother, noob photographer and a crazy web developer.

ps: I wore jeans not because of style, but because the pants that goes along the Baju Melayu doesn’t fit, rather too tight. Swear to God I will never make my Baju Melayu there anymore. (it’s for 29 waist, I’m at 31)

pss: I hate the pictures I took, not enough and always out of focus

psws: Now I know why they charge thousands for wedding photography. It’s tiring like hell!

I did not have time to go online and if I did, I’d probably be checking emails from clients and rectifying the errors. I discarded external annoyance like flings or scandals. I even ditched friends along the way. Most people tout me as being emo or in ‘merajuk’ mood, but I assure you, not.

What were my responsibilities that kept me occupied?

For a start, dad renovates the house and I am being left in charged of the progress. Like I wrote before, 3 spanking new rooms, which involves water works, electrical, deco, tiles, curtains etc. It was a handful, fun and sometimes frustrating.

Next is the garden. Since we (all 4 brothers) pledge that our wedding will be at our house (no matter how VVIP were the guests), we had to keep our lawn clean. It doesn’t help with workers hanging their smelly cloth on our trees, pouring sands and cements on grass and destroying previous landscape we had. It was a slower progress during fasting months. But, it was worthwhile once the greenery kicks in (minus the mosquitoes).

Wedding deco. It was unsightful to see mother doing all the handcrafting herself. I lent a hand, also forced my younger brothers to help out too. There’s about 800 goodie bags, 100 bunga telur, not to mention the things that goes along with everything else.  Although there are ready made ones, making it ourselves saved us some huge bucks.

Aspiring photographer. I was appointed as the photographer. Clueless and newbie as I am, I had to crawl my way into photography. It was a pretty steep curve but it was worth it. I had to bring the 3kg dSLR everywhere I go, hoping to learn something new, what more, familiarize with the settings. The end result however disgust me (although some say otherwise), it was too average for me.

Cousins and Guest. Since we’re all pumped for the big day, we had visits day in day out from family friends and cousins helping us out. Now, I can’t exactly alienate myself in my room can I? That will surely dictate my religious responsibility, i.e. to be a good host.

By the end of the day, we’re all flat on the floor, drooling over our pillows.

Now, I’m (almost) free… Thank GOD!

Throughout the process, I learned a valuable lesson. Don’t Be Too Detailed! It’s tiring. Sadly, we all come in packages and the quest for perfection is something I can’t discard at my leisure.

ps: Will be writing funny stories about the wedding. Look forward

If you’re planning to come, you can roger @azmanishak or @qiilans7, or call me at 012 213 3155 (I hope I have my phone with me). Wedding starts at 1 PM but you can come earlier

This is my official invitation. See you there.