Never Truly Realised....

It struck me the other day that while I was busy building my career, achieving my goals in life yadaa yadaa yadaa... along with it I am also growing older... but then I never truly realised that my parents were growing older just like me... Only thing is, they are much older...
I think I have always taken it for granted that my parents were invincible and there will always be there the same way as they have always been....
Little telltale signs of aging were creeping up... It probably has started creeping much earlier on but I just never realised... Like the sudden lack of memory... (those from the yester years are remembered clearly, but recent ones are easily forgotten...), they start to repeat things they have said, they start walking slower, reflexes are not quite what they were... eyesight too... they have shorter temper and tend to nag a bit more repeatedly... Of course not forgetting the health deterioration.... They start having more frequent doctors visits....
I used to think my mother carried logs when she was younger... (I was extremely young when I thought that... coz she told me she used to work in a logging company and she sometimes transported logs here and there... I was a innocent little 3 year old when I thought that...:P ) Nowadays, even walking or standing for a long period of time is straining on her knees... and yet, regardless of all that she still continues to be the parent I have always remembered her to be... she continues on with the chores she has always done despite the pain... she continues to wake up at the crack of dawn to start the day off early... My dad continues to work everyday (and even on weekends) eventhought he is 63... I wonder whether when I come to such an age would I be as selfless as they have been throughout the years....
My parents are quite wonderful when you sit down and think about it... Absolutely the bestest you can ever find... :) Although I dont tell them that often but I do know I am one heck of a lucky person to have what I have... :)
Well, time for me to complain less and appreciate more....

Happy Birthday Papa!!

Happy Birthday Papa!!

My dad turns 63 today..... How quick time passes us by....

Your present is with Ai May, so be patient ya...;)

Love you, papa!!! :)

Haiz... Susah nye nak cuti-cuti Malaysia....

Hmm.... how do I start? Well the title itself says it all actually... While our government is promoting heavily on cuti-cuti Malaysia, apparently it seems only directed to foreigners and not us the locals.... Although I do remember some radio advertisement some time ago encouraging us Malaysians to spend our holidays in Malaysia... but in the end, I found out that we Malaysians are apparently the "smaller than small fries" in this scheme to boost our Malaysian Tourism.....
My fren and I have been planning to climb Mount Kinabalu since somewhere mid last year when we managed to book some cheap Air Asia tickets to KK.... But since the climb was only mid 2008, no early bookings in 2007 was allowed so we waited for 2008 to come before we started trying to book.. being Malaysians, I would have thought it would be easy to plan the entire trip ourselves and basically do everything free and easy... Book the rooms, book the guide, pay the climbing fees etc... it was fairly simple as we can get ourselves around to whichever destinations we wanted to get to... by bus, taxi or etc....

But lo behold... apparently we couldnt.... Why? Coz everything has been packaged... "3D2N Mount KK Climb" it says... even the official website told all and sunshine that it is now impossible to plan and book the whole trip yourselves... You needed to go through an agent... As a Malaysian I think i have the right and the ability to plan a trip within Malaysia without the need for a travel agent right? it is not as if I am foreign... Jeez!!! Of course i agree that there should be such packages around for foreigners or locals who doesnt want the hassle and got money to burn... but the option of doing everything ourselves should not be taken away from us.. This is just plain unfair.. Why must we be slaughtered in our own home country when on a normal basis if we were to go travel to another country, the packages are always cheaper than if you were to plan and book everything separately.. but in Malaysia, it is always the opposite.. it always becomes more expensive... why is this so? This is so unfair!!!! Why do we allow ourselves to be conned off our own hard earn money to travel within our own country... if that is the case, I might as well just go overseas for my holidays... at least it is more worth it and I do have the option of planning the entire trip myself...

Look at it this way.... if I could go all the way across the world and travel on my own itinerary and book everything separately from accomodations to entrance tickets to rental vehicles... and all that done in a foreign country... why can I not do the same in my own country? Is it that I cannot converse well enought in Malay? I dont think so... Is it coz I dont know my way around? I also dont think so... Then Why?!!!

Only reason I can think of is that.... at the end of the day... we are not the ones most welcomes to travel around our own country... It is the foreigners they want.. or more specifically, it is the foreigner's money that they want.... I am clearly quite unhappy bout this scenario... How can the industry be so selfish and so self centered.... :(

Meetings?!!!

Saw another interesting thing a couple of days back.... The thing itself was not interesting coz it was just a calendar.. but the contents caught my eye... haha!! It was a calendar of scheduled meetings...!!! So serious!!! I mean a group of ppl just sat down at the end of the year and plotted out the entire meeting schedule for the next year!! So there will be no excuses of not being informed earlier and that you are busy coz you had a full year to plan... the schedule even dictates the time of the meeting and type of meeting... haha!! Check it out!! All the coloured boxes indicate a meeting....

My Gosh!! So many meetings!!!

Doesnt it look daunting? Imagine the first day you get this sheet and you find out the amount of meetings you have to attend... I would immediate apply for leave... haha!! With so many meetings scheduled, where do you find time to do any actual work... you will be spending your days reporting or explaining bout things you dont know or havent done yet... haha!! the irony of it... so sometimes you really cant blame some managers for being ignorant... but then again I suppose where there is a will there is a way... Coz i spoke to the manager of this company and I asked him where does he find his time? He says he comes in an hour early and leaves 3-4 hours later... just so that he has the time to do his actual work which doesnt revolve around meetings... I salute such dedication... :)

Cute Little Robot!!

I just saw the damnest thing yesterday... This cute little robot which was used to pull or transfer goods from one location to another.... It this small little pink fella who is just battery operated.. albeit a car battery but still battery operated... and I repeat it is PINK!! haha!! okay, so it has another partner in crime that was yellow but still...the one I saw was PINK!! so cute!!

Isnt it cute!! so small!!

But dont be deceived by it's minute size... it is one strong little fella.. it can pull up to 200kg of goods.... all by itself!! It is not remote control operated... it moves using a sensor which senses a silver reflective line on the ground. So basically, it can do all it's work itself effectively cutting down the need for manpower to make the delivery... cool right?!! It is also equipped with proximity sensors which will sense if there is obstruction in it's way and it will stop and start it's caution beeping until the obstruction is removed.. smart little fella.. what more.... it sings a happy tune while it moves... so cute... I cant help myself.. I just think it is so cute... how many happy workers can you find out there that would sing and do their job?

The mighty little fella pulling it's load effortlessly....

Listen to the little fella sing... hehe!!

Down and Dirty.... Rolling with the boys....

Yesterday I once again went for paintball... was invited to join mocha and his MUW (Malaysian Under Water) frens for a paintball session.... yippee... have been wanting to play again for sometime.... But the turn-up was fuiyoh!!! so many ppl... haha!!! 38 players... 10 photographers... and God knows how many visitors... they are one tight group... some just came to say hi, chit chat a bit and left... Nice.... :)

Didnt bring my camera actually coz I knew that amongst them was some serious photographers so better not embarassed myself with my Ixus 500... paiseh... haha!! Wasnt even planning to blog since so many of those who went also have their blogs... was just planning to link them all but then think think again.. I want to give my take on it as well... hehe!! so here we go!!!

Welcome to Kem Isi Rimba...

Not so warm welcome at the reception....

We got there bout 0830 hrs or so after breakfast but only started the game bout 1100 hrs... haha!! too many ppl to wait on and group plus there was need of passing YUEN lorengs all around... getting ourselves camouflaged as much as possible... After all the dressing up (80% wore camouflage clothing...one turned in to a tree!! haha!!) we were ready to shoot... we were first divided into 4 teams... Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta... too many ppl and not enough markers.. so we needed to split!!

Getting advice....

Off we went Team Bravo into the jungle for our first session... it was seriously very much a jungle except for a path to a hut built in the middle and footprints by fellow paintballers... So first game ming, anas and me went by the right flank for our forward attack.. we had to literally trudge through mud.. at one point my foot got stuck calve deep in the mud and needed the aid of a tree to pluck the leg out... (my mum is going to whack me for having mud all over me...)... I found it so difficult to maneuver myself amongst the fallen tree and shrubs (all thanks to my short legs... ) that when I finally got into position to start shooting properly (could hardly see the opponent amongst the trees... all too well camouflaged) the game was over and my team had won... Yippee!! Yaay!! We had a good strategy... our opponents were nowhere near the flag.... muahahaha!!!

It's a jungle out there....

Can you spot the man? Or Tree-man?

Team Charlie & Team Delta...

Next round, it was war.... kill all!! Give no mercy!! haha!! no more capturing the flag... we were out to draw blood (not literally...) this time round, I was on the hill side and was suppose to climb the hill to attack from a higher vantage point... Ming climbed first and once again short legs got in my way of following... so I took an alternative route up... was expecting our opponents to use the hill as well but no one came from the opposite direction until I heard a twig snapped and I turned to shoot... luckily I didnt shoot immediately.. it was Yusmar aka Leafbug behind me taking photos of those in action up on the hills.... (really shows how gungho all these photographers are just for a good shot!!) ... So off I went further forward... spotted Ming and Sheik... they were gunning down the opponent's general... Once again team Bravo won... haha!!

Trio up in the hills....
That's me!!

Fuiyoo... look at the smoke....

Climbing downhill after our second consecutive win...

Chilling out...

After 4 games of jungle warfare there was still a lot of pellets leftover... I suppose when you cant really see your opponents there is less opportunity to shoot.... Anyhow... we were then given the option to play speedball which was on open ground with just bunkers as protection and blocks... this time round, the teams were downsize to 5 per side.... Ming, Tan, Anthony, Derrick and I formed a team... 3/5 are actual army officers... hahah!! obviously we had the upper hand... muahahaha!!!

Just before speedball... our team is the 5 in the centre...

First round... we eliminated the enemy in less than 2 minutes.. all the enemies were down and none of us shot... Second round... 2 of us were shot (paiseh... I was one of them...) and the rest ran out of ammo... so we lost by default... :( We could have won...
All in all it was a great paintball session... Hope the orgynizers will orgynize one more... hehe!! Had loads of fun!! Met loads of ppl... can't remember most their names... all had 2 names... haha!! difficult to remember...

Photos courtesy of mocha, cindy+tan, leafbug, atuk and rocket (sorry ya.. didnt ask permission actually... heheh!! pakai curi only...)

Other blogs to read:

1. mocha

2. cindy+tan

My First Achievement for 2008

Check it out!!! Check it out!! Hahah!!! My first achievement of 2008!!! heheh!!!

My very own Goods Driving License (GDL)... hehe!! I am officially a lorry driver... haha!! you wouldnt have thought that it is something to be proud of right? But I am.... I even had to sit for an exam to get it... scored 46/50 for it... hehe!!! Yaay!! So now, I can drive this....

Plus other lorries of similar size... as long as the BDM is below 3000kgs... so watch out for the writings on the lorries's side.. if it says BDM with anything below 3000kgs... I can drive that!!! heheh!!!

One achievement down... plenty more to go!!! Here I come 2008!!! hehe!!!

Happy New Year.....!!!!!!

2008 is here!!! How time flies... another year has gone by and a new one has crept up upon us... This year brings much hope for better year... At least I have hopes...
My new year resolution? Hmmm.... actually I have not though about it.... So many things I am about to embarked on so I suppose my resolution is to do my best in everything that I endevour to do.... Planning to start my MBA course.... (hopefully this comes through... still searching for the right one... ) .... Planning to climb Mount KK (hopefully it doesnt clash with my MBA classes... )..... Planning to pick up rock climbing (went climbing in genting and thought it was fun.... ).... Planning to get a big bonus and increment (but this one out of my hands... boss needs to decide... ) ...... Planning to go to Taiwan.... (again hope it doenst clash with my classes.....and hopefully the plan before this comes true so that got money to go...) hahaha!! Looks like all my plans comes with clauses.... haha!!! hmmm....

Well lets sum it all as I am looking forward to 2008 and whatever it brings with it!!!

Wishing all my family and friends the very best of everything in 2008....