Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Nameless faces/Faceless names
 Looking at Ross' blog entry which he cleans up his Y!M friends list, I am insipired to do so too. His logic is right, why have lots of names when there's none chatting to you? 5000 is a big number tho. Hope he's just joking. But if he really did have 5000... O_o;; So I did the same too. Well, not to the extent of deleting the names, I just put it on different categories. I don't have 5000 names like him, which gives him justification to delete. Then again, deleting the names seems more humane than compartmentalize it and forget it. Damn, I'm cruel.Again, Ross speaks the truth. Why have names, if they don't chat with you? Looking at my own list, I have 16 names that I don't think I'll ever chat with. Hell, and that was before the clean-up I did just now. Even the category name was changed to a more friendlier version (which alludes that it was a harsh name last time). And frankly, the numbers has more than doubled. But that's what the Nameless Faces are there for. Namelists of people I barely click to chat anymore. People who I used to know in my younger days, who have lost contact with me. Some I have forgotten already, some I don't even care, but most I can't forget about. And why the hell do I still keep it instead of deleting it? Maybe for the fact that I do want to contact them. (and when the hell is that? Your wedding? You're an idealist, brotha. *shakes head*)As for the importante people, they're the people I care about. Ironically, they're never online most of the time. Work, school, anything. But when they're online, they will chat with me, and I will chat with them. That's a must.Sad to say, if we're comparing numbers, Ross has more friends than I? Heh. Granted, this is an ONLINE list. It does not show the true person. Someone once said to me, "friends come and go." (Yes, there's supposed to be more than that, I know.)Contrary to what I showed here, people who are close to me knows that I value friendship very much. I care for my friends, "peha kiri dicubit, peha kanan terasa" kinda guy. My girl knows this, my best friends know this. And I'm fiercely protective of my friendship. I'm the kind of guy who doesn't cross people, and doesn't like people crossing me.In other news, I'm going back to SA tomorrow. Haven't bought the bus tix. Gila. At least I'm looking forward to spend my time with my girl, and studying my ass off again. p.s. It's bleeping hard to work on a screenshot without photoshop installed in the PC...sigh.
[editus rex]
p.p.s. I just found out that I do have photoshop installed, an hour after I posted this. orz. Proceeding to bash head on wall for sheer stupidity.
RLC
Friday, December 23, 2005
"Perpisahan Sementara"
It's those short and simple goodbyes that hurt so much. You know that she has to go. You know that you can reach her anytime by phone. You know that you'll send those lovely smses and she'll recieve them with a smile. You know that she loves you. Ah, the simple goodbyes do hurt. Then again, she showed the solution: "Just close your eyes, and you can already see me. I close my eyes, and I see you already." I'm closing my eyes, sayang.
Can't wait for tomorrow. So I could continue loving her.
RLC
Thursday, December 22, 2005
A swimming pool the size of a town!
  Kangar is knee-deep. In water. Flood happened, that's what.It had been raining for three days straight when I went to Hilmie's place in Alor Star on Saturday. On Sunday morning, my dad called and said that water had reached the front of our porch. Uh-oh...As I remember, it's been a while since a major flood hit Kangar. There's a picture of me when I was just two years old, inside a floating tub. That was the last major flood.I reached Kangar at around 4pm, sunday afternoon. The first indication that the flood was bad was the major roads were closed. Damn. Now where will the bus drop off the passengers? The only dry place was at the Dato' Sheikh Ahmad Stadium.I got off the bus, only to be confronted by a lot of water. I walked back to my home, which is challenging as I had to walk in knee-deep water. All around, flotsam and jetsam. (More pictures coming in a few days. Uploading sucks.)When I reached my house, the water is just inches before entering inside. All that changed by nightfall. First the electricity was cut off. Then we noticed water was slowly creeping inside the house...By 9pm the water was at our ankles. The inevitable has happened: water is in our house. For as long as we lived in this house, water never actually comes in when there's a flood. Now it has. Worse off, we installed permanent carpeting inside the boys' room. The whole night we scrambled to get stuff up from the floor. The next morning I woke up to the sound of water. The water had risen up to about six inches in the night. We were wading in the water on Monday. I took this chance for some photo ops. I went out to town with the camera in tow. Damn, my feet hurt from all that walking in the water.Of course, it was a carnival on the roads. People were wading in the water, kids splashing around. Big vehicles ride through the water. Smaller ones stalled in the water. Heh. motorbikes try to blast through, and most of them failed to get out of the water before the bikes broke down. My own motorbike was on bricks, to avoid water from damaging it. The car was parked somewhere a bit higher, where the water ain't so deep. The house was underwater for about two days. Later, the electricity came back. But the water is still there. There's even some small fishies that swim around the house. We caught them and feed them to our fishies in the aquarium.Around wednesday morning the water slowly recedes. The comes the clean up. The whole floor was covered in soot and crap. Of course, the worst is the boys' room. Imagine the smell of the carpet...Now, the house is back to normal. Well, the furniture's still all whacked out and disoriented. But the clean up will go on.Today, it's started to rain again. There are fears that the water will rise again. But all of them are rumors. We just brush the rumors off. Rumors can get people crazy. I mean, there's been panicky phonecalls about the dam's burst, or water coming in big time, etc etc. Sigh. That's why we shouldn't believe in rumors so much.Well, I guess that's the story. Maybe I missed some. Maybe you guys have some questions. Feel free to ask. Also, enjoy the photos that I took.Oh, I don't know when exactly will I go back to Shah Alam. Hopefully a bit late, but I don't know these university types...RLC
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Langkawi Squared
Going to a holiday island is an exciting endavour, but going there twice in the span of two days is murder.The story goes like this: The first was LIMA. it was on saturday, the tenth. It was a single-day affair. Go there, go see the exhibits, go see the planes, go see the aerial shows, get back home. Like always, it sounds easy on paper, but it was hell, in terms of energy spent. The weather was blazingly hot that day, a complete opposite from what we heard from the weather forecast on that very morning. We got a nice tan, alright.The show itself was fun. Though it lacked the Sukhoi SU-30 acrobatics, we were entertained by the RMAF's MiG-29 showcase. The weather was apologetic to us today, thank God. And we were tired as hell by the end of the day.Sunday was more like Dullday. The only highlight was the news that a relative from Johor was to come on Monday. Housekeeping mode was initiated, as protocol was initiated.The relatives came, and we got to talking. My uncle threw some ideas for their vacation, and considering I got some knowledge about Langkawi, he roped me in as his tour guide, and take his family for a vacation there.I thought he was joking.He didn't. So off we go again. Tuesday morning, I found myself at the Jetty again, barely two days since I was last there.I guess I was a pretty good guide for my uncle's family. We avoided the regular tourist traps that could easily swallow my uncle's family. They're first-timers to Langkawi too. Only the wife has been to Langkawi, and that was twenty years ago. Basically the family of six (3 sons and a doughter) are Langkawi virgins, and it's up to me to show them the good places.One of the traps is the car rental trap at the jetty. Throngs of people come out from the belly of the ferry, just to be greeted by hecklers who peddle rental car services. It is easy for any newbie tourists to fall for this obvious trap: they're a tired from the boat trip, and they don't want to struggle with the hassle of going to the car rental booths outside, so let's just get a damn car from one of these people.I know this scam. I'd experienced this once, and I know how to bypass this scam: just ignore them and go straight to the counters outside. My uncle dutifully followed me and we got ourselves a van, together with the reciept and other paperwork. This proved to be a right move later that night.We checked in into a motel, and later, we went to the Cable car at Mat Cincang Mountain. That's my second time there. As like any other Langkawi spots, there's a trick for everything. There are two stations on the mountain peak. The cable car will reach the first station and then continue it's way to the 2nd station, which is higher at the peak. Then the car will make a U-turn and then return to the first station and then back down to the base station.The trick is that we don't get off at the first station. That station is small and unimpressive. The best is at the top station. It's larger, higher, and has the impressive cable bridge. So there we are, admiring God's creation at 700m above sea level.That was the highlight. The low point happened in the night. We went back to the motel and freshen up for dinner. When we were ready to go, the van was missing.So there we were, going crazy. To cut things short, the van was retrieved half an hour later. It was a big case of misunderstanding. The "thief" mistook our van was his, and that the van was easily accesible. I saw someone use his motorcycle key to start the van. Go figure.The next day I brought the family to Pasir Tengkorak beach. It's another secret of Langkawi. Get there early, and you get your own private beach, clean and unspoilt. I also rented a motorbike. It's a Jaguh, and I had fun riding it. I wanted to take the bike to the beach that morning, but was hampered by a burst tire less than halfway to the beach. Dammit. And the road leading to the beach was great. And I missed the chance to ride a bike there. Chiss.Nevermind la. So we had a great day, and by noon, we are ready to leave the island. I thought my role as tour guide was over once we got back, but my dad gave this great idea to take the family to Padang Besar, a shopping mecca over here. Oh great. We officially ended the day at 6pm as we reached home. And I had to send Emec to the bus station later that night. I sent him with sand still stuck between my toes. So there you have it. Langkawi Squared. Yes, I had fun being a tour guide. I had fun that I went to Langkawi TWICE. But it wasn't all fun, cos I'm missing someone. Thankfully she's always in my mind...As of the time of this entry, my legs are still sore. Arh...
(uploaded pics from LIMA)
RLC
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Guess what?
Guess what I saw this morning when I made breakfast?In my frying pan, as I cooked burgers, I saw a four-leaved clover.Guess what I put in my breakfast this morning?Tomato ketchup.Guess what I saw this morning when I went to fetch Emec early in the morning?The eastern sky lighting up, the first light of dawn. Which means Sabah is already bright.Guess what will I do today when I visit LIMA?Thinking of you.RLC.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Maxis, Celcom and Digi
Malaysia has these three major cell-phone providers. Granted, they all have their strengths and weaknesses. But I'll try to avoid mentioning it now, 'cause what I really wanted is to talk about the cell providers and their direct relation with my relationship with my Princess. As you all may know, my official line is Celcom. I never shut it off, although I know that there'll be nobody calling over this line. This is because most of the people use Maxis as their preferred line. And they ask me, "why don't you use Maxis?" And I hate explaining to them, and I definitely hate explaining it over here. Then there's Digi. Oh, Digi. yes, I had a digi line once. It's an okay service when I was in SA, but it stinks when I'm in Kangar. Frankly, Digi has the best rates of all three, but when it comes to service... Uh, next.Maxis by far is 'the' cell provider. With its consumer base of over 7 million, it's supposed to be the best. And frankly, I find Hotlink is the best prepaid, but the rates are somewhat disappointing.If we were in a idealistic world, I'd say that we would have a cell service that has good rates like Digi, excellent coverage like celcom, and good service like maxis. A fool's paradise, eh?What does all this have to do with my relation ship with my Princess? Well, as we are separated by that shitty South China Sea, our only connection is through the phone. Of course, an easy way for her to keep in contact is through the use of phonecards and phonebooths. But as she can't leave the bedside too long, the only way is by cellphone. So i bought her a Maxis simcard, as do I. Why not Digi? Why not Celcom? She said that celcom sucks in Sabah. Well, okay then. As for Digi, it sucks in Kangar. Now that we have two cell services that cancel out each other, all that's left is Maxis. It doesn't suck at both places. That's good to know.And she got herself a second phone too. Granted, it's used, but hey. At least it doesn't intrude on the Digi phone. And that digi phone is her official phone. (Two people who love each other but have different official provider?! Gila! That's why I bought the two maxis lines, so it's our direct hotline to each other.)By the looks of it, it seems that we're okay, kan? Maxis is okay over here, it's okay over there. Both of us have a secondary phone. Problem solved, kan? We can leave these two lovebirds to do their thang, right?Not.It turns out that her secondary phone has a slight problem, what she calls a "line drop." The signal will automatically go away from her phone. And to get it back, she has to switch it off and on again. This would be okay if we're SMSing, as the system is asynchronous (thank God for that). But that slight problem turns to %&#$&@! when I try to call her. The phone will dutifully kill the call when we're well into a conversation. And that sucks. It's very stressful to know that: 1) your call will be cut off anytime, and 2) it gets cut off when you're well deep into your conversation. The longest conversation I had was 8 minutes before the line finally cut off, and that was a fluke. Usually it's in the range of two minutes before we got rudely cut off. And frankly, when you're in love, single-digit minutes ain't gonna cut it. Sigh.At least I'm okay with SMS. Although it can't replace my voice, but at least I can communicate without the stress. And I'm very impressed with Maxis. If it weren't for the phone's fault, I'd talk to her all the time. Now that Maxis' line is kinda shitty by the fault of phone, the next thing is by her Digi phone. But I'd rather die than call to her digi line from a non-digi line. Another one of the idealistic dreams is that we have cheap rates for between-services call. But noo...Now i'm thinking of buying a digi simcard again. the first card, i technically threw away, but my princess asked me to hand it over to her. I did, and now it's in her posession. So if I buy another digi card, I will face low call rates, but with annoying service problems over here. Then there's the unexpected challenger. The Landline. I could call her using my house phone, or she could call me by using the phonebooth. As stated earlier, she cannot leave the bedside for too long, and there's no bleeping phone booth in a hospital ward. As for me, well, it's the bills...The landline is a good alternative, but it has its weaknesses too. Glaringly big weakness at that. Hell, all of them has weaknesses and strengths. And all of them are meant for one thing: to prevent us from actually having a good communication. Bleep you.Thank God our love is strong. We don't need no frickin' phones to know that.RLC.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Staring at the sun too long
I'm writing this as I'm waiting for Emec to come pick me up. We're going places, yo.Sometimes when I try to recall her image, I get a 404. that means I couldn't see her face. And that's scary. I don't want to lose her image. So I go and look at her pictures.At least looking at her pictures brings the smiles to me. The times we were together when I took those pics, God, she looks beautiful. She is beautiful.Then, it hurts so much inside. Yes, I'm seeing her face, but now I yearn for her touch, her laugh, her spirit. It hurts so much looking at her pics, I had to keep it away.At least I know that this hurt is easily cured by actually seeing her in the flesh. That'll dispell any longing or pain. I can see her face, her expressions. I can touch her, feel her. And I can smile, and she smiles with me.That day will come.RLC.
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