Have a good life

Relief. Sadness. Disappointment. Longing. Acceptance.

Ahh...what a myriad of emotions. Was I being an idiot? Some say, the signs are obvious and are for all to see. Perhaps I was blind. Perhaps I wanted to be blind. Wise people once said, Hope was the worst thing that came out of Pandora's Box. I'm inclined to agree.

Regret. Bitterness. Malice. Anger.

Such pettiness...such idiocy. May I never succumb to those. Given the same choices and opportunities, I'd still do what I did. Maybe I'm just stupid. Maybe I'm just naive.

I'm trying to put on a brave face but I can't deny the truth. I am sad, but I'm not bitter. I am disappointed though I have no regrets. Despite the situation, I'm not angry nor do I have malice in my heart. There is a sense of relief as I'm no longer somewhere in between. I don't think the longing will ever go away completely. Above all though, there is a sense of acceptance. Perhaps this is how it's supposed to be.

Thank you for the memories. Thank you for those moments of happiness. Thank you for making me feel alive.

May happiness envelop this garden of clarity, purity and nobility.

The dice has rolled. The decision has been made. This chapter is now closed. It's time to begin a new one. Have a good life.

Oog...

I've come to this wonderful conclusion. The best drink in the world is water. Plain 'ol H2O. Nothing beats water. It only took 4 trips to the toilet bowl for me to come to this revelation. I'm a fast learner.

Sadly, I'm also a fast forgetter! :P

Graphic novels anyone?

I have a confession. If I see anything with the name Neil Gaiman on it, I tend to buy that stuff without a second thought.

My latest purchase? Neverwhere and Marvel 1602. Both of them are graphic novels and wonderful graphic novels at that! Neverwhere allowed me to re-visit one of my favourite books of all time, in its illustrated glory. If I thought Neverwhere was good, Marvel 1602 blew my mind away. The story and art is simply stupendous! Brilliant! I think it fully deserves winning the 2005 Quill Book Award for Graphic Novels.

Ahh...wonderful stories and wonderful art. I'm happy! :D

6 weird things about me

A friend of mine tagged me to write 6 weird things about me. If you're curious, his blog posting's at http://championloser.blogs.friendster.com/loser_club_president/2007/05/6_weird_things_.html

I can't think really think of any weird things about myself. I'm probably weird in some ways but I just don't know it. As such this list is going to be a list of things about me not many people know. Hopefully that's good enough for you, Zaki!

1. In my profile, I put one of my interests as "books". That may be a slight understatement. I'm an avid reader and I literally devour books. For those who've visited me at my place, one of their first comments are "Wow, you have a lot of books..."
2. I play the guitar. To be honest though, I was never really that interested in music when I was younger. I did take organ lessons when I was much younger but I got bored with it. I wanted to play songs that I heard on radio and my tutor was telling me stuff about a bunch of black dots. Suffice to say that my motivation level to practice organ wasn't very high at that stage. Anyway, when I was Form 2 or Form 3, I took up playing guitar. I was very much in love (hey, we all went through those puppy love stages so cut my some slack) with this girl and wanted to impress her. She had such a beautiful voice. She could sing The Cranberries very well. I decided to take up guitar playing. My first song on the guitar? Zombie. ;)
3. I almost got into a fight in a bar. I was chillin' around Q-Bar quite some time ago when I saw this girl sitting kinda alone at the bar. She was talking with some guys but it didn't look like she was with any of them. She had a sad, wistful smile that sorta tugged the heart strings. Ok, so I have a White Knight complex. Don't worry though, I'm looking for therapy right now. Know anyone good? Anyway, I approached her, we started talking and laughing when suddenly this guy came outta nowhere and started pushing me. I was getting a bit pissed. I'm not a violent person but the temptation to push the fella back was quite strong. He kept saying "What the fuck are you doing? She's my girlfriend!". As for the chick, she was getting a bit hysterical. I swear they did not look like they're a couple. They're not holding hands. They're not touching each other. For god's sake, about the only thing they did was share a cigarette. C'mon, I've done that before with some of my girl friends. That doesn't mean I'm in a relationship with them! Oh yeah, cigarettes. Maybe that's item 4. Heh! Anyway, I decided it wasn't worth it. Well, actually some stranger nearby persuaded me not to. That stranger's words? Something along the lines off "C'mon bro, it's not worth it la. Relax la. Chill!". So I walked away. I gotta admit it was a bit fun glowering at the so called boyfriend while the fella was pushing me. He's shorter than me so I was looking down at him when I was glowering. Sometimes being moderately tall is useful. God...I can be so petty sometimes...
4. I used to smoke. Not anymore though but there's nothing really stopping me from smoking again. I even bought a bunch of cigars from Langkawi which I plan to smoke sometime in the future. Haven't found anything to celebrate yet though so the cigar pack stays unopened. Oh, the main reason I stopped smoking? It gave me a funny feeling at the back of my throat and messed up with my sense of taste. I like food WAY more than I like cigarettes. Heck, I could barely tolerate smoking. Don't really understand why people would wanna smoke...
5. I drink booze. Yes I know it's haram. Yes I know I'm going to go to hell. My reasons for drinking is personal and pretty much none of your business. Of course, I'd also like to point out that I fast, I hardly ever miss Friday prayers, I pay my zakat and I'm completely and utterly faithful to the concept that only Allah is my God and Muhammad is my prophet. I know, I'm a blooming hypocrite. I prefer to refer myself as a wonderful mess of contradictions though. :D
6. I've dated many women, all of them wonderful people. Among the memories I have, some of the best includes ice-skating, eating some weird dessert in the middle of the night somewhere in KL and pizza session in Taman Tun. Of all the women I've dated, I've confessed my feelings to only one person. Shocking, eh? I know, it's the new millennium. I should be expressing my love to everyone. Don't worry, I'm also looking for therapy options on this one.

There you have it. 6 things about me that not many people know.

Daemon?

Hands Down

Wonderful song by Dashboard Confessional.

"Breathe in for luck
Breathe in so deep
The air is blessed
You share with me..."

Let the dice roll...

Savour every moment
of light-hearted laughs.
Savour every moment
of shy gentle smiles.

Let not one moment pass
without fondness in the heart.
Let not one moment pass
without cherishing her soul.

Look for the space
between the heartbeats.
For glimpse of clarity,
purity and nobility.

Let the dice roll
while serenity sets in.
Forever savouring,
cherishing, loving...

Mustafa got married!!

Congratz to Mustafa and Leila! Here's to the two of you getting kids soon (which I hope will look more like Leila since you're an ugly bastard, Mus!).

When we received the wedding invites, we initially planned to take the bus to Singapore for the wedding. After some more discussions though, we decided to go there in 2 cars.

In my car will be me, Shah, Anand and Sulo while in Jeremy's car will be Jeremy and Sangheeta. While we planned to leave at around 2.30 pm, we ended up leaving KL at around 3.30 pm due to someone's amazing grasp of Einstein's theory about time being relative (*cough*Anand*cough*).

It was a nice leisurely drive down to Singapore, which took us about 5 hours or so. Ok, I lied. It wasn't nice and leisurely. The highway was a bit jammed and since I just got my car, I wanted to put it through it's paces. I *may* have driven a little bit faster than normal. Heh heh!

(The car handles exceedingly well at speeds up to 170 kmph. Couldn't really go faster due to the amount of vehicles on the road. Excellent handling and mileage is about the same as my old car.)

Reached Johor Bahru at about 8.30 pm. Jeremy's friend apparently booked us at some hotel but we couldn't bloody find it. In the end, we stayed at this rather dodgy-looking hotel. Later on, we discovered that the place we're staying was actually a brothel!! On the bright side, the room rates were quite cheap. They probably make their profit somewhere else. Hahahahaha!

Still, the beds were decent and the place had an in-compound car park so all in all, the hotel was perfect for our needs (no not *that* needs! sheesh!). Despite our hotel being perfect, Sulo decided to abandon us and stay with her relatives. I mean why would anyone want to sleep anywhere else? Within the same hotel compound is a pub and a 'health' spa! Talk about the perfect holiday getaway. Hehehehehe!

Woke up about 10.30 am the next day because Shah and Anand were basically jumping on me. Guys, don't disturb my sleep! Oh, and keep the damn TV volume down. I woke up to the sounds of a damn infomercial about a magic bullet and the feeling of being crushed by 2 heavy suckers...

Later in the afternoon, Suthesan arrived at the hotel since he'll be following us to Singapore. Macha, my turn is right after yours! Hahahaha!

We left for Singapore at about 4 pm and arrived at Mustafa's wedding venue at around 6.30 pm. It took longer than expected since we took the scenic route (we go lost...).

Mustafa and Leila's wedding had REALLY good food! I really liked the mutton. Damn...I'm thinking about it right now...Anyway, sadly the food was not quite enough for us. While the girls were maintaining decorum, the guys were definitely pigging out. The dishes finished a bit too fast for our liking. Next time round, we plan to spread ourselves around the hall, sitting on different tables. We have 6 men with huge appetites on our table while other tables were generally filled with women eating barely a plate of rice! We're not being greedy. We just don't like to see good food being wasted since other people don't eat as much. We're such thoughtful people.

Mustafa's younger brother, Hamoodi was also eating with us. We all wished it was Mustafa's younger sister, Zena who joined us instead of Hamoodi. Hamoodi eats a lot, leaving less food for all of us to share. That's the only reason why we prefer Zena instead of Hamoodi to join us. I'm serious!

We left Singapore at around 11.30 pm and reached KL around 3.30 am. It was a relatively uneventful drive. I had to stop by for a bit to power-nap since I was too tired but other that, it was uneventful except for one incident. Some idiot driving a VIOS fell asleep on the wheel I think. The car he's driving started drifting into my lane while I'm overtaking him. Arse. Remember, if you can't drive, don't! You'll endanger other people's lives. Not just your own.

With the trip to Singapore, my car has now reached 1000km. Woohoo! First service!

Greetings!

Dear Honda Civic 2.0,

Hey beautiful! Welcome to my life. I'm sure we'll have an excellent time together. :)


Regards,
Amir

Farewell...

Dear Proton Wira 1.5M SE,

I'm really going to miss you. We've had some really good times together and you'll always be in my mind. Have a good life. :)

Regards,
Amir

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Have you ever wished that you could stay a kid forever? As I get older, I do get more wistful about my childhood. Some of my fondest memories as a kid were reading books. My favourite author at that time was Enid Blyton. I think I finished reading the Wishing Chair when I was 8 years old. I LOVED that book. I remember bringing that book everywhere. Each time my family would 'balik kampung' during Raya, I'd somehow managed to find a niche in the luggage to store my book so that I can read it when I arrived at my grandparent's place. The Wishing Chair was a wonderful fairy tale book.

Neil Gaiman's books can often be described as fairytales for adults. It's not quite your typical fantasy ala David Eddings or Robert Jordan. Instead, Neil Gaiman takes our childhood memories of fairy tales and nursery rhymes and somehow incorporates them in a story that is both exciting and enchanting.

Stardust is a story of a young man who is completely besotted by a young woman who doesn't seem to be interested in returning his affections. To prove his worth to her, he journeys into the realm of Faerie to bring back the falling star that they both observed while walking together.

Yes, I know. A little bit cliche. Read it though and I think you'd probably agree with me that Neil Gaiman is one of the best storytellers of our time. I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading it! Among his other books are Neverwhere, American Gods and Anansi Boys. He also wrote a comic or graphic novel called Sandman. Wonderful storylines, all of them. I still rate Neverwhere as one of the best books I've ever read in my life!

I love lazy Sundays. They're simply perfect for enjoying a good book. I wonder what I'll be reading next Sunday. :D

FA Cup

Based on an earlier arrangement, me and Kenny were planning to watch the football match at Laundry Bar. Then another colleague, Kheng Loon was supposed to join us.

Due to some weird circumstances, me and yet another colleague, David ended up at TGIF to watch the match. We have no idea where Kheng Loon disappeared to but at TGIF we met another colleague, Sharon and her husband, both also watching football. Kenny arrived late, somehow manages to find a table at Laundry despite my and David's best efforts to find one earlier and then tells us that we won't be able to join him because he's with his friends and the table's for only 4 people. There's no more space for us to join him. Our reply to him?

"Dude, if you don't want to intro your girl friends to us, just say so la!" Hahahahaha!

Anyway, Kenny goes back to his (girl) friends at Laundry while the group at TGIF is joined by another person, my ex-colleague Gerald. Hence, the group at TGIF consists of the following:

Me - Barcelona and Juventus fan, supporting Chelsea to spite David but ended up cheering for Man Utd 'cos their playing style is nicer.
David - Man Utd fan, hoping that every Chelsea players suffers a broken leg that night.
Sharon's husband (whom I didn't get his name) - Chelsea fan.
Sharon - Apparently supporting Man Utd just to give her husband some competition but ended up cheering for Chelsea.
Gerald - Found the entire game boring 'cos there are no goals until the 116th minute.

We got a spot at the bar in TGIF. While the match was on a WAY smaller screen compared to Laundry, since we're at the bar it was WAY easier to order drinks and food. Anyone who's been to Laundry knows that the service there is pretty much crap. You'd order a drink there and if you're lucky, it'll arrive 45 minutes later. Of course, to grab the attention of the waiters there, you'd need to wave your hand up in the air for at least 15 minutes. All in all, about 60 minutes of wait for a bloody drink if you're lucky. Unlucky means the drink never gets to you, you give up waiting after 2 hours and go home.

Munchies for the night were 2 orders of chicken nachos, 1 regular size and 1 large size. I had a Jim Beam with coke and banana milkshake, David had 2 vodka limes while Gerald had a mudslide. We all had ice water to wash it all down. Sharon also passed us a slice of cheesecake but I'm ashamed to say that between me, David and Gerald, we only managed to finish 1/3 of that slice of cheesecake. I know! 3 virile men, renowned for their tremendous appetite in food (and other stuff!), couldn't even finish a bloody slice of cheesecake! We will forever remember this day in shame...

All in all, a pretty good night out. The game was decent enough (no penalties!), the food great and the company excellent! A slight let down about Man Utd losing since I thought they were the better side but Chelsea somehow managed to squeeze in a winner. Still, I'm more interested in the Champions League Finals this Thursday morning at 3 am. Any cup finals with Liverpool in it is bound to be a classic!

Metropolitan car thingy

Ahh...Saturday! Words cannot even begin to describe how much I love you!

Woke up at 1.00 pm today. Vaguely remembered that Sulo called me earlier in the morning. Had to call her back since I can't bloody remember what we were talking about. Heh!

At around 3 pm, my stomach complained of hunger. I was hunting for a late lunch kaki when Shah suggested that I drop by Metropolitan College to check out some car exhibition thingy.

Me: "Any food over there, Shah?"
Shah: "Sure, some mamak stuff."
Me: "On my way!"

When I arrived there, I'm a bit impressed. While it's not a really big exhibition, it seems to be quite well organized. Decent sound system, decent decorations and some really nice selection of vehicles! Most of my drooling was reserved for the Nissan Fairlady 350z. That is one SWEET car!! I also saw a Honda Civic with Mugen bodykit. Very beautiful! Mugen equipment costs a lot though...

The exhibition also featured some booth babes. They're quite pleasing to the eyes but I find them to be a bit on the thin side. While some guys like the stick thin look, I kinda prefer women with a little bit more flesh. Mmm....yummy...ok, enough of that mental image! Back to blogging!

While checking out the exhibition after having my lunch (which consists of a nasi goreng kampung, 2 roti canai, 1 milo ais, 1 teh 'o' ais and 1 ais kosong), I
found a booth selling magazines. Was browsing them for a while when I realized that booth was also selling Archie comics quite cheap. I *may* been a bit overzealous here. I bought 12 comics. The booth people were quite pleased with my patronage. Hahahahahaha!

Besides the comics, my purchase also includes 2 Red Bull drinks. I'm not really a big fan of Red Bull but Shah said it's for charity so what the heck. Red Bull booth was manned (womaned?) by a rather pretty girl but she was busy with something so I got served by 2 guys standing nearby. Ah well, there's always next year's exhibition!

Left Metropolitan College at about 6 pm. It was a rather fruitful outing! KKLau's booth gave me some ideas for my ICE (In Car Entertainment) while a stop at Magnum's booth makes me definitely want to get their safety and security film. To top it all off, I've got 12 new Archie comics!

Live Music @ Laundry!!

Don't miss it!

http://laundrybar.blogspot.com/2007/05/volume2-this-saturday.html

See ya all there!

A pause for thought...

While I was chilling after dinner with my mom and bro yesterday, something my mom said got me to re-evaluate my life. At the very least, it got me to realize what an ungrateful bastard I am.

My mom was buying stuff at the wet market. While she was choosing some fresh fish, another person next to her was also choosing stuff. Then my mom realized something. That person was choosing the smaller crabs. After making selecting those crabs, that person asked for the price. Hearing the price, that person then returned back those crabs and moved on.

The price? 9 bucks. 9 bloody bucks and that person returned back the crabs. Shit...

I feel like such a bastard. I spent almost 500 bucks on booze while in Langkawi and this person returned back crabs that costs 9 bucks. That just doesn't seem right...

Karrimor!

W00t! I've finally gotten myself a proper backpack. I'm now a proud owner of a Karrimor 75 litre backpack. Talked to a few friends and they recommended either a Deuter or a Karrimor. I couldn't find any shops selling Deuter so I went ahead with the Karrimor. No regrets though. A little bit pricey but hey, I doubt I'm gonna buy anymore bags anytime in the next 10 years or so. It's a worthwhile investment, I think. It's also a motivation for me to work harder, make more money and go traveling more! =D

I <3>

Angry

I'm still pissed off. Must think of happy thoughts...

Honesty

Of all the principles that I value in life, honesty probably ranks the the highest. Honesty builds upon the foundation in which trust can occur. Without honesty, there is no trust. Without trust, there is no real friendship.

Some people prefer not to know things. Knowing certain things could make life complicated and less perfect. I respect that. Everyone should have their own say in how they want to live their lives.

Not me though. I want the truth. If it's bad, then it's bad. Nothing much you can do about it. If it's good, then wonderful! At the end though, it must be the truth. I did not choose the words in my friendster profile description because it sounds nice. I am a seeker of truth. I can deal with the truth. What I can't deal with is living in a lie.

Langkawi, here I come!

W00t! I'm off to Langkawi! 3 days 2 nights of escape from the world. Heh, these days I look for whatever break I can find!

Will be back Monday, 30th April 2007.

A break between the storms, a moment of contentment

It was a long, tiring and stressful day at work today. I have to admit I didn't exactly manage to keep my coolness. Raised my voice a bit occasionally today and was swearing at the network a coupla times too. Must remember to keep my emotions in check. Sigh, damned fiery passion's getting the better of me! Typical Aries... Don't get me wrong. There were no shouting matches or anything like that but there there ain't no sea of calm too! Again, don't get me wrong. I might swear at the network but the core packet backbone network (my responsibility) hasn't been the culprit for any service disruptions yet. It's *my* network and by the time I hand it over to the network management team, it's gonna be bloody clean, easy to maintain and has no single point of failure. That's my Aries pride speaking, I guess... I really should be more humble. I can be such an arrogant bastard sometimes. Heh!

Reached home about 8 pm again. Was checking the news when I discovered that Kurt Vonnegut passed away yesterday, 11 April 2007. For those who don't know him, Kurt Vonnegut is widely regarded as one of the greatest authors in the 20th century. His famous books include "Cat's Cradle" and "Slaughterhouse-Five". He's one of the authors I keep hearing about but never read...until today. I guess when I heard that he passed away, I felt that I should at least *know* him by reading his works. I actually heard about him a few years ago when during a discussion about books and authors, one of my friends mentioned his name and gave a glowing recommendation to try out Vonnegut's works.

Hence, after dinner I went on the net to check out some of his works. I managed to grab a copy of "Cat's Cradle" and MAN! I was amazed by his writing! Brilliant prose! It's kinda hard to describe his style. It combines wit, satire and black humour. I'm looking forward to finding the time to read more of his works. I need to check with my bookstore owner cousin. I wonder if the store has Vonnegut's works... I plan to buy them all! :D

I'm a bookworm. Reading less in terms of quantity these days due to ever increasing work load but I'd like to think I'm reading more in terms of quality. My last books were Trudi Canavan's "Black Magician" trilogy and before that were the four books of George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire". All in all, a pretty decent read though I enjoyed "A Song of Ice and Fire" over "Black Magician". "A Song of Ice and Fire" has a more gripping storyline and plot twists!

"Cat's Cradle" is an excellent book. I practically devoured the book. Finished it in about 3 hours! Ahh...it's been a while since I've read such an excellent book! After I finished the book, I felt relaxed and at peace. Heh, one of those rare moments of contentment. It's been a while. I'm ready to face the world again. :)

As a tribute to this great author, let me end this blog posting with a poem about 'religion' by Kurt Vonnegut. All hail Bokononism!

I wanted all things
To seem to make some sense,
So we could all be happy, yes,
Instead of tense.
And I made up lies
So that they all fit nice,
And I made this sad world
A par-a-dise.

YES!! I'm back!

After serving faithfully for the past 4 years or so, my computer died on Monday earlier this week. Well, to be more precise, it's either my motherboard or video card that died. I'm still not sure which. Doesn't really matter though. My computer's old and spare parts are very difficult to find sp I decided to buy new video card, processor, motherboard and RAM.

Ladies and gentlemen! Feast your eyes on the (important!) specs of my gaming machine!!

2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processor
2 GB RAM
Nvidia Geforce 7950 GT

Please excuse me while I laugh maniacally in pleasure. :D

Besides oozing with pure g4m1ng l33tn355, I'm now connected to the Global Village (ie. da Internet!) again thanks to this baby! W00t! More pr0n and warez! Uh, I mean more 'educational' stuff and 'intellectual' growth and all that. ;)

On a totally unrelated subject, don't forget! Speedzone Tour 2007 rave party is on Saturday evening 07/04/2007 at KL Tower. The next evening is Kanye West concert at the National Stadium. See ya there!

Migration crapness

I'm generally an easy going sucker. I don't think I get angry very easily, though I admit that I can get from being happy to being angry in an instant. Becoming angry happens rather rarely though.

Anyway, about 2 days ago I was involved in a network migration. From a single network, the traffic will be split into 2 networks, each handling a different role. Obviously there'll be network topology changes, with configuration being done on the firewalls, switches and routers. Arrived onsite to do pre-migration checking at around 3 pm. Final design documents arrived at 5.17 pm and migration begins at 9 pm. Fun! Sure, it'll be a bit challenging but nothing me and my colleague can't handle. Hell, if shit really happens, we could rebuild the entire network if we need to. We're THAT good! Well...ok, maybe not me. I'm barely average but my colleague's really REALLY good. He's the Jedi Master while I'm just the Padawan. Heh!

Anyway, we completed our configuration about 2 am or so. After that was the network verification part. Initially we had some problems with voice calls, video calls and sms but it was all sorted out in the end. Remember my colleague? Well he's the one who sorted it out. Me, I can handle the packet-switched networks pretty decent, I guess. Him, he's way more than decent at handling packet-switched network, circuit-switched network and radio access network. I have a looooooong way to go...

Once we verified the core network services, we proceed with verifying the value added services. Sure, there are some hiccups here and there but it was all resolved in the end. All in all, the migration was a success!

Of course, no good deed goes unpunished. Apparently connection to the billing domain wasn't up. They had some issues with connecting and running services to some of the network nodes. We've been working more or less non-stop for the past 24 hours so understandably we're all rather tired and worn out. For this issue, which is probably a minor routing problem, I asked another of my colleague to take a look at it. Despite my best efforts, I didn't really managed to get much rest. Sigh...too many phone calls from work.

Next day, I woke up late. Didn't go to work in the morning since I've got another night of activity later on anyway. Logged on to work from home and checked my email. All the feel-good factor of a successful migration disappeared in an instant. Imagine getting an email with title like "IMPORTANT: ALL NODES DOWN!! (CRITICAL)", and that email is cc'ed to practically the whole world. Bloody fuck!! It's only a minor routing issue which was resolved in about 2 hours anyway. Issue was raised around 12.30 pm yesterday, connectivity was restored around 2 pm. For God's sake, it's not even a LIVE network! Ok, fine. Just someone making a mountain out of a molehill.

Normally, I'd laugh this off but the part that REALLY pisses me off is the person who sent out that email. This is the same sucker whom when he needs help in resolving some networking issues, he comes straight to me. No emails, just a "Hi! We're having some connection problems. Can you assist us?". Now in this particular situation, he shoots of an email informing everyone that "all nodes down". Bastard!! When it's his problem, he wants to keep it quiet and approaches engineers directly. When it's other people's problem (in this case, mine), he shoots out email informing EVERYONE in the project.

Fucking hell!! Bloody two-faced bastard!! Grr... It's not like this is gonna reflect badly on me anyway. My scope was to migrate the network and make sure that the core and value added services are working as expected. Billing is not part of that scope. Dammit, I'm still pissed. From now on, no more charity work. If my routing, switching and firewall policies are fine, billing people can sort out their network themselves. I'm not going to do any traces or do any analysis on THEIR network. Let them do it themselves, assuming they even know how!

Down with the sickness, a reunion and fortune cookie strangeness!

Ugh...I hate getting sick. I always know when I'm gonna get sick when I get this strange crappy feeling at the back of my throat. Woke up on Friday with that lousy throat and by the time I got back from work that day, I was already having a fever. Argh...crapness!

To make matters worse, I was due to chill at my friend's place on Saturday night. I was really looking forward to it and getting sick threatened to derail my plans! Fortunately though, I was feeling better by Saturday evening so the chillin' part went on as planned. Hmm...I suspect I got sick by eating too much keropok lekor. I had 2 huge plates of it on Wednesday night so that's probably it. I think the last time I got sick was because of over-eating keropok lekor too. Dammit...I hope I'm not allegic to it or something. Keropok lekor is probably one of my favorite food! Must remember not to overdo it with the keropok lekor next time...

Anyway, on Saturday night I went to Jeremy's place. Sulo was kind enough to drive me there so I didn't have to drive to OUG in my current sick condition. As for my return trip, Joe sent me back. Thanks a lot, you two!! The turnout for our chillin' session was pretty good! Most of the usual gang I hung out in college were there. Heh, despite graduating more than 3 years ago, we're all pretty much the same suckers. Haven't met up with a lot of them for quite some time so it was really cool to catch up with each other's lives!

One of the items on the menu for that night were fortune cookies. Apparently they come in two flavors, orange and strawberries. I can't seem to find any strawberry flavored ones though so I had to settle for orange. It's pretty decent I guess but then, I think fortune cookies are the same everywhere. My fortune? "Stop searching forever. Happiness is right next to you." My friends' reactions? Oh, nothing much. As if choreographed, they all burst out laughing at the same! Yeesh...thanks a lot, you all! Interestingly enough, I got the same damned fortune 3 times that night. While I don't put much stock into those kinda stuff, I could do with a little less wisecracks!

We also played 21 that night. Me personally, I don't gamble as a matter of principle. If it's a game of chance, I'm not interested. Of course, under my own personal definition, poker is a game of skill and not of chance. Don't believe me? Go watch Casino Royale! Anyway, Jeremy managed to persuade me to join in by passing me his money. Hence, if I win, the money goes back to him. Since he's also the banker, if he wins the money STILL goes back to him. It sounds reasonable enough so I agreed. I think at the end of the night, I got a profit of 10 sen (which of course went to Jeremy). Heh, our bet per round is almost always 10 sen so I guess the value of my win is not that much. Then again, I started out with 1 buck so looking at it in perspective, I gained a 10% profit! Woohoo! Hahahahahaha!

I think we all went back home at around 3 something. It was an excellent night. I managed to meet up with a few of the old gang which I haven't seen for ages! It was really cool chillin' together again! It was excellent to see ya all, Shah, Niradj, Anand, Joe, Jeremy, Sangeeta, Ummi, Sulo and Deebha! Oh, and a thank you to our special guests, Murni, Azmiel, Hamdan and Dyana! Cheers!

Disturbed...

Been in a slightly pissed off mood lately. Y'know sometimes you feel like you're one with the world, that you are in the 'zone' and can feel the heartbeat of the universe? When it's during one of those moments where everything feels right and you feel good? Well, what I'm feeling right now it pretty much the complete opposite from what I've just described.

I can't really put my finger to it. Looking at it in a completely factual manner, life has never been better! After about a year and a half in my current company, I'm no longer the FNG ('effing new guy for the completely clueless) and amazingly enough they trust me to fiddle around with live mobile networks and build from ground up a totally new mobile network. I know! What the heck were they thinking, eh? Haha! I've been going out way more than before too, whether clubbing or just hanging out. Ok, been getting a bit more intoxicated too but hey, it's fun! I'm also more active in my hobbies, reading more books and regularly going to gym. It looks like a balanced lifestyle but somehow I don't feel balanced.

Crap, I have no idea why I feel so restless. I need to chill...Heh, I've been listening to Disturbed quite often lately. Their music probably fits my mood the best right now. It's been a while since I've listened to metal/hard rock music. I think I'm going back to my rocker roots, at least for the time being. Last time I listened to anything this heavy, it was Metallica! Whoa, that was in secondary school!

One particular phrase keeps ringing in my head from a Disturbed song.

"Quivering now, shivering now, withering..."
- Want by Disturbed

PS: Check out the song and the band. Excellent music! It has a lot of anger, making it an excellent song to de-stress and also as gym music. I've already updated the MP3 playlist in my phone to play this band.

Really LAME jokes

What's the difference between a dog and a switch? One goes arf while the other goes ARP!
Why is RIP like a woman? 'Cos they both talk all the time!
Have you heard of OSPF women? They come in stubby, not so stubby and not stubby sizes!
Why is the Linux box very friendly with the Windows box? 'Cos they both do the samba!
What did one daemon say to the other when they're both fighting? Fork you!!
Why are the relationship between DNS servers considered kinky? 'Cos they practice a master-slave relationship!
What do the police and hard disks have in common? They both do RAIDs.

For the clincher, here's the lamest of them all!

What do switch ports and women have in common? When they're empty, they are "ready" and when they're filled, they are "active"!

PS: This blog post is dedicated to all engineers, who at one point in time or another, had to spend their night(s) stuck in a room with temperatures barely above freezing instead of hanging out with chicks. ;)

Clubbing oddity

On Saturday night, a friend of mine was having her birthday celebration at her place. The plan was to gorge ourselves on delicious food, then head out to Heritage Road for some fun. The food was very very good! Perfectly cooked beryani rice, mutton curry and stir-fried vegetables. I have to admit that I over indulged on the food...slightly! ;)

Anyway, after food we all headed to Bed, this club opposite Loft on Heritage Road. I have to admit, I've never heard of that place before. Turns out, Bed is a pretty decent place. I think Loft is more happening though. I dropped by Loft for a moment and the party was in full swing! While Bed is quite nice, it was a little bit sad when on the dance floor, the guys outnumber the girls. Next time it's a Saturday night and I feel like clubbing, I'm heading to Loft! They have better guy to girl ratio. ;)

Anyway, while chilling out at Bed I noticed that my friend managed to grab this Mat Salleh's attention. They were talking and dancing on the dance floor when outta the blue, I noticed that they seem to be gesturing to each other a lot. I was wondering, what the heck was going on but since she didn't seem to need any help, I let them be. Later, when I was at the dance floor, out of the blue she asked me who do I think is gonna win the Champions League. Was it Barcelona or Real Madrid? Of course, I answered Barcelona with no hesitation. Heh! I have to admit though that normally on the dance floor, those are not the sort of conversation I'd expect to be having!

Later on during the mamak session after clubbing,I got my curiosity satisfied. Apparently while dancing together, my friend and her Mat Salleh friend got into an argument about football, of all things! The dude was apparently a Spanish who's a staunch supporter of Barcelona while my friend is a Real Madrid supporter. Yeesh! Of all the things a guy and a girl can do on the dance floor, arguing about football was probably the last thing I'd expect them to do. This gets my vote as the oddest thing 2 people of the opposite gender can do while clubbing! Hahahahahahaha!

Boyz II Men Concert

As some of you might know, Boyz II Men came down to Malaysia to perform for 2 nights in Genting's Arena of Stars. Since we're quite big fans, me and some friends decided to watch them live on Saturday night.

So here we are, me, Anand and Murni all raring to go. We all agreed to meet at my place since I'm the designated driver.

Agreed meeting time = 3 pm
Actual arrival time = 5 pm

Heh, Malaysian timing! =)

The drive up the Genting slopes was rather uneventful, the peace only broken by the occasional moan of pain from Anand. Heh, the dude gets carsick! Hahahahaha! Sorry bro, just had to share your pain with the world. Next time, we should try some crazy roller-coasters! ;)

We reached Genting at about 6.30 pm, I think. The way up was a bit slow. Moments like this increases my desire for a sports car! I was driving a Wira 1.5 and the car was carrying 2 big fellas and 1 little lady. I'm 75 kg while Anand is between 85 to 90 kg. Murni's weight? She'd kill me if I post it here. Heh!

Man...Genting is HUGE! Each time I go there, I keep getting lost...When I was checking on the status of our concert tickets, I actually walked one giant circle! If I took a right turn instead of a left turn, the ticket counter was actually about 10 metres away. Sigh...I need to get a bloody map for this place!

Anyway, after a quick dinner at KFC, we're picked up our tickets at the Arena of Stars itself and got to our seats. As I looked around, there was a lot of people! The venue was closed to full. Only the really crappy seats to the far left and far right of the stage was empty. No way in hell am I gonna embarrass myself so I planned to act cool and distinctly nonchalant when Boyz II Men were performing.

All those macho plans went out of the window once Boyz II Men started their performance with "On Bended Knees". Oh MAN! As soon as I heard the opening melody to that song, I was on my feet, cheering like a mad man with a huge grin on my face! Ahh...those music sure brings back nostalgia. I was listening to them when I'm in my secondary school! That's like more than 10 years ago! I have to admit I behave shamelessly like a little kid. I don't think I sat down much during the show. My throat was hoarse from all the shouting and my hands were a little numb from all the clapping. Heh, the show was REALLY good! I thoroughly enjoyed all the 1 hour and 30 minutes the concert! :D

The Boyz II Men ended their show with the song "End of the Road". It's an excellent song and a rather appropriate ending to an excellent show. Of course, when they left the stage after that song, none of the audience were ready to go back yet. We were all shouting for an encore! Being wonderful people that they are, they obliged with an excellent funky number. I have no idea what's the title to the song. Heck, maybe it was just some jamming but the effect was electrifying! Put a funky dance song and a HUGE audience who's out to enjoy themselves together and you'll get one MASSIVE party! Everyone was grooving to the music. It was EXCELLENT! I was very satisfied with the 100-odd bucks I spent for the tickets. :D

The drive back from Genting was rather tricky though. It was drizzling so the roads were a quite wet. Coupled with some thick fog and the fact that it's already night-time, driving down was way more challenging than driving up. Visibility was so bad, I think I could only see about 5 metres in front of me, max! For the next 30 minutes or so, I think I was only driving using the 2nd gear with a max speed of about 40 kmph. This time though, no moans from Anand since he was sleeping while we're all heading down the twisting road of Genting Highlands. Heh, smart fella!

We all reached my place at about 12.00 am, bringing back some really wonderful memories of a truly magnificent performance by Boyz II Men. :)

Heavenly objects!

God is truly the greatest artist. As we move through our daily lives, we are blessed with visions of one of God's greatest masterpieces, women! ;)

Of course, that's a story for another time! Heh heh! When I mentioned heavenly objects, I'm referring to celestial ones, not the angels (and devils!) on Earth.

Tonight as I came back from dinner with my cousins, the sky was rather clear above my house. Not missing this opportunity, I dumped my gym bag in my room and proceed to chill at my balcony. I dunno about you all but stargazing is actually one of my hobbies. I'm forever fascinated by the possibilities presented by the stars.

The size of the universe boggles the mind. I find the concept that Earth is the only place supporting life in our universe to be rather ridiculous. To me, that sounds like a massive waste of space! Somewhere out there, I bet there are sentient beings just like us looking at the stars and wondering who else is out there. While it'll never happen during my lifetime, I keep dreaming that one day the human race will initiate peaceful contact with another sentient race. Blame the Star Trek fanboy in me, I guess!

Star gazing also gives me a sense of connection with humanity's ancestors. The stars we see tonight are the same stars that Muhammad, Isa, Abraham, Moses, Buddha and many others gazed at during their quiet moments of contemplation. These are the same stars that the Polynesians used as a map while they guide their rickety boat of weeds across oceans, the same stars that the Chinese used as they explored the entire planet. These are the same stars that populated the skies as the human race left the African continent and ventured outwards, populating deserts and tundra, tropical forests and temperate forests. These are the stars that bore witness while the dinosaurs reign supreme during the age of reptiles. Finally, this are the very same stars that our very first ancestor (Adam and Eve or some evolved monkey, depending on your beliefs!) gazed upon in wonder as they claim this world as their own.

If the stars could talk, imagine what stories they would tell!

Whew...

Man, I had a close one today!

Earlier this evening, I went to gym for a bit of workout. Heh, part of my new year's resolution to get a Baywatch body by the end of the year! ;)

Anyway, arrived at gym at around 7 pm or so. Did my usual routine of stretching, cardio, stretching and weights. I finished about 9 pm or so and headed to the showers. After changing back my normal clothes, I discovered that my wallet and car keys were NOT in my locker. Ever had that sinking feeling in your stomach when you realized that you're totally screwed? Well, that feeling washed over me during that time. Earlier on when I arrived, I was using a different locker but I found out that I can't seem to lock that locker. I then moved my stuff to a different locker. However, I apparently forgot to also move my wallet and my car keys to that new locker. Argh!!

My mind was already running through the list of stuff I have to do. Cancel credit cards, report lost IC and driving license, report lost company tag, get a new access card to customer site, apply for new bonuslink...ugh, the list was endless!

With not much hope, I approached the gym counter to see if they found any wallet and car keys. Amazingly enough, some guy DID find my stuff and passed them to the wonderful gym people at the counter! Man, I was ready to treat the fella to a drink but the people there just told me the person who returned it was just some honest gym member. Well, to whoever you are, I'll be donating to some charity or something in your name! Since tomorrow's Friday, I'll also be praying for your long and healthy life, great happiness and whatever good things I can think off during Friday prayers! Thanks a lot!

Damn! I was sure away from office for a LONG time!

My presence was so rare in the office for the past 4 months, some of my colleagues actually thought I left the company! Hahahahahahahahahaha!

WoW stuff

Recently I was at Zaki's place for some free food (his sister's b'day actually). As usual, meeting the sucker will always involve him telling me WoW rox and asking me to join. Anyway, during our conversation he mentioned the following which made me double-up in laughter! :D

"Amir, I've created a new guild! Name of guild - DownDiagonalFront Punch. Name of guildmaster - Hadouken. It rocks, man! Hahahaha!"

PS: Only people who played Street Fighter will understand this one. ;)

Wonderful...

Ahh...what a way to start the year! Ladies and gentlemen, let me now inform you that me and a close friend of mine has something new in common. Hmm...how shall I start?

For the past 2 years or so, I've been seeing this girl. Well, not continuously for the entire 2 years. It's more of an on and off kinda thing. She's into rock music and japanese anime, which was what got my attention initially. Heh, I guess I have a slight weakness for rocker chicks. Start talking about rock music and I'd probably worship the ground that the girl walks on! :P

Anyway, this girl I'm seeing keeps giving me inconsistent signals. She blows hot and cold. I mean, ok. It happens all the time for every single guy out there. Women are weird creatures, no? But in this particular instance, it's so extremely hot and cold, it's beyond normal women behaviour range! This is also the main reason for the on and off thing between us.

Anyway, I haven't heard from her for quite some time and was happily enjoying my less complicated but duller life when I met up with that close friend of mine for lunch about two days back. Anyway, after talking crap for a bit, the topic veered and we started talking about my love life. We couldn't really talk about his since he's a married sucker. Heh! Anyway, the conversation was something like this (relevent parts only!):

"Eh Amir, remember ?"
"Sure. Man...she's weird. I could never figure out what the heck was going on..."
"Yeah well, during that time she was a very confused person."
I look at him blankly. "Huh?"
"Anyway, she's now fine. No longer confused. She has a significant other."
"Oh, good for her! Lucky guy, I guess."
"Girl..."
"WTF!?"

An interesting start to the year, eh? If this is any indicator on what this coming year's gonna bring, at least I'll be laughing as much as I'm crying. Heh heh!

PS: No offense meant to all alternative lifestyle people out there. I don't really give damn which direction you all swing. It'll be nice if you could decide before hand which direction you wanna swing though. It'll save people like me from unnecessary headaches! ;)

A new year, a new beginning.

Woohoo!! New year! Actually, maybe I shouldn't be celebrating too much. Last year was a pretty decent one for me. I mean it could be better but then, every one of them for the past 26 years of my life could be, eh? Still, last year wasn't so bad. I've had worse!

Here's some summary of last year:

Proudest Achievement - I'm WAY more fit now than beginning of last year. When I first joined gym, my stamina was SO bad that I lasted for only 4 minutes on the treadmill at gradient 0 and speed 4. It was THAT bad. I'm seriously not joking! These days though, I'm doing speed 8 to 10, with gradient varying between 3 to 6. I do those for at least 15 minutes non-stop and generally continue up to 30 minutes.

Saddest Moment - My cat passed away late last year. Heh, I really loved that cat. Been a constant companion for me (and the entire family) for the past 17 years. Some might ridicule the feelings people have for an animal but that cat shared a helluva lot of history with me. Rest in peace, cat. We'll meet again in the next life.

Best Purchase - A bluetooth headset which I connect to my handphone. Allows me to listen to MP3s while jogging and also acts as a handsfree for my phone. Simply terrific!

Worst Purchase - Signing up for a personal trainer at the gym. The gym has excellent facilities and the personal trainer is very professional. The only stumbling block is that I HATE being tied to some schedule and I prefer to go to gym when I feel like it, not because I have an appointment with my personal trainer. I need to do something about this though since I still have TONS of sessions left in my contract...

With all those behind now, I guess I do have some changes I wanna make for the coming year (sorted based on how difficult I think it'll be).

Not so difficult/Doable with a little bit of effort

I plan to watch more plays at theatres, go for more concert and attend more rave parties. Theatrical plays for the *ahem* cultural growth, concerts to feed my great love for good music (NO DANGDUT!!) and rave parties for the chicks wearing bikinis (oh, the music's pretty good too)! Oh yeah, I should add going to the MPO into the list too. Some of the classical music by those long dead composers are quite good and MPO has an excellent orchestra! Hmm...I might need to cut down the clubbing part a bit to balance my accounts if I do all this though. Besides, traveling all the way to KL is kinda tiring and I keep getting lost coming back home after clubbing!

Next on the list is to get even more fit. I plan to go to gym very regularly. I'm hoping to reach a pulse rate of low 70s or high 60s at rest by end of this year (very ambitious but doable, I think). It's true about what people say. The healthier and fitter you are, the more prepared you are to face life's challenges. While it's true that my line of work doesn't really require strong muscles and amazing stamina, a fit body keeps the mind alert. With the coming year, I think I'll definitely need an alert mind. As I grow with my current organization, I suspect more responsibilities and challenges will be coming my way and I plan to be prepared when that happens.

Moderately difficult/Might need a bit of luck

This coming year, I plan to prove myself beyond any doubt on my abilities as an engineer and reach for the coveted title of Senior Engineer. Ericsson don't hand out those titles easily and the Senior Engineers in my department are all REALLY good! Not sure whether I'd achieve it or not but I'm really gonna give it a go. That means no more muddling around. It also means that when it comes to my competence area, I know what's the issue. "I think I know" will not cut it. I must really know my area, inside out, backwards and forwards. Not only that, I must also really know not just my current competence area, but also another area such as radio networks or transmission. My technical knowledge must not only be deep, it must be broad as well. I'm still not sure about this part so I guess I probably need to talk to my manager about my path. Beyond the required technical competence, I must also demonstrate sufficient leadership qualities since Senior Engineers are expected to lead and mentor other engineers. A heavy responsibility, but one which I'm aiming for.

Next on the list is probably getting to know my religion a bit better. By better, I mean a helluva lot better. Nope, I don't plan to be those sanctimonious bastards who are purer than pure and whiter than white. To be honest, I think I've got better things to do than to go around telling other people how to live their lives. I've got my own personal demons to deal with anyway. By getting to know my religion better, I plan to focus on knowledge. Some people do Bible study. Me? I plan to do some Quran and Hadith study. There are many reasons for this being one of my plans for the new year. Partly, I've always been curious about the world around me, both in the physical and metaphysical sense. Secondly, there seems to be too many idiots calling themselves religious leaders and spouting nonsense about the faith. I hate those people and I plan to arm myself with the correct knowledge to avoid being misled by stupid propaganda and also present a more accurate interpretation of Islam during any discussions. Thirdly, if I continue going around screwing up my responsibilities as a Muslim, I might as well find out exactly what I'm screwing up at. Heh! Nope, the plan does not include me being a better Muslim. If that was part of my new year's resolution, I'd put this plan in the category below. :)

Very difficult/Needs divine intervention or a miracle

I need to be more honest with myself and start dealing with certain issues that I've been purposely ignoring/avoiding ...Y'know? I don't think I'm ready to write this part of my blog posting. Maybe some other time.

Happy new year 2007, y'all! :D