Tale of smashing phones

Tale of smashing phones

Want to take it easy today. Posting something light. Here goes....

Lost in the world for half a day yesterday. Battery of my phone kong-out as I left my charger in the office. Like most people, I'm a slave of my phone. Without it, I'm lost. All sorts of things could happened - missed appointments, lost clients, angry people who tried to contact me, etc.

Pre-handphone life back then was more simple. And I miss it.

Can't remember exactly the last time, I used a public phone. It was probably in London several years ago when I just want to try using the one in that traditional red box for fun.

My first handphone was a second hand Ericsson. I was the last among my friends who don't have a handphone. Someone actually bought it for me because of Anwar Ibrahim. It was at the height of Reformasi. Exciting time and I needed to be connected. I used to carry a spare battery as I was always on the road and the phone battery didn't last too long. The phone lasted for about two years.

Second handphone was a Nokia. The first model without an antenna. It was the only time I actually bought a phone due to its changgih technology. Top of the line at that time. Can go silent mode, vibrate and change the ring tone some more. My most expensive phone at over RM1k.

Next was a Nokia butterfly. My favorite phone ever. Bought it when it was already outdated. Still, I love it very much for a reason I rather keep to myself...it was a happy time. I use it for a very long time until one fine day I got so angry with the person at the other end of the line that I smashed it to the wall beyond repair.

After that I used a few other cheap insignificant phones which model I can't even remember until the person who caused me to smash my Nokia butterfly bought me quite a nice one, also a Nokia, as a replacement. I used it for several years until one fine April morning I smashed that one to the wall too for the same reason like the last time. Sheeesh....

Now, I'm using a Blackberry. Curve - the cheapest one bought with the data package. It's actually more for show than anything else. The internet connection is very slow, that maybe one day I will lose my patient and smash it to the wall too. Well, everyone else have a smartphone these days, at least I have one too. That's what I thought when I bought it. It's perhaps the phone I bought for the most stupid reason of all.

Eh, it's already azan subuh...I better do the necessary and get ready for the day. Crazy me, writing about handphones pagi pagi buta. Never mind lah...I will put some pictures later to make it nicer to read. This old netbook can't do that.

Ok, have a good Friday :-)

A worried heart (with updates)

A worried heart (with updates)

UPDATED 2

Resisted the temptation to call him. He doesn't like me calling him when he is with his friends.

Just send him a text asking whether he was at the demo. He send me a reply - "Nope".  Just that single word. I'm not sure whether to believe him but I have to accept his reply as it was and told him to take care and be safe. Don't want to be the nagging type.

I'm actually still worried. Surfed for more news from KL. Things seems to be quite blur. Blogger Double YY reported that most Chinese demonstrators, who are actually DAP members wearing their yellow "Ubah" t-shirt were at Petaling Streets scaring away the tourists.

I look carefully at the photos and was glad I can't find him among the crowds.

THIS ONE JUST IN VIA NST ALERT at 3.13Pm
"NST 28/4: Police have started firing tear gas and water cannons at Dataran Merdeka after protestors broke through the barricade in the Bersih 3.0 rally."

So, here we go again...I'm really really praying that he was telling me the truth and not in the middle of this madness.

UPDATED

It's past 3am, woken up from my sleep. It's so hot. Took a shower to cool myself. Checking on the latest on what's happening in KL. Saw some news about the commotion near Dataran Merdeka about midnight.  Some of the demonstrators had already tried to breach the security barrier around the place. They even tried to stop a police bus from going into the area.

I immediately worried about him. Felt like calling him but stopped myself as I don't want to disturb him in case he was sleeping.

Anyway, the reports indicated that almost all the demonstrators who seems so eager and cannot wait till tomorrow to have the demo were Malays. A report even stressed that not a single Chinese was seen in the crowd. So, I don't think he was there.

Of course it's a bit sad to note that when it comes to these sorts of nonsense, it's always the Malays who were more advanced than others. They seems to enjoy these sorts of things and see them as a fun thing. I guess Malays have yet to shed their "minda berhibur" (entertainment mentality?). Probably that's why Harian Metro is their number one newspaper.

Wouldn't it be nice if Malays are also the most advance in other fields such as science and technology etc etc?

I bet, during the demo tomorrow, the Malay idiots will be on the front row again. Good also, that means if he is to be stupid enough to go to the rally, he will be at the back with the other smart Chinamen.

Of course, better still if he just sleep off the whole day at home la...

ORIGINAL POSTING

I'm hoping that he is not going to join the rally at Dataran Merdeka tomorrow.

Of course I'm worried about his safety. That sorts of rally can easily turned violent. But I know he will not listen to me one. Stubborn boy. He said he is hanging out with his best friend that fanatical DAP guy in KL this weekend. And that guy came all the way down from Penang to join the rally. So, he will most  likely join him tomorrow.

I actually got all stressed up about this today. He didn't say he is going to join the rally but he didn't deny it either when I asked him. All I can manage was making a sad face. Can't ask too much. He can be quite garang some times.

Sometimes I don't know why I fall for him. Not very handsome, garang, don't love me that much, bully me all the time and always not around. Chinese some more. DAP supporter some more (although he always denies it and scold me whenever I calls him that).

Don't know lah...

All I hope now is for him to be safe and that everything will be alright.

Of course it's not much of a hope because the whole purpose of the rally is to create havoc.

It's not about fair election, or anti-Lynas, or anti-PTPTN.

It's about a show of force and creating a perception that the current government is bad and suppressive. That's all.

Perhaps the only participants of tomorrow's rally whose motive are genuinely what they say to be their's are the LGBT crowd. Unlike the others who use a fake struggle to achive their political aim, the LGBT people are using a fake political aim to achive their struggle, which is the legalisation of free sex.

Well, at least that's how I see it.

Adopting Malacca

Adopting Malacca

It's so hot out there. Just feel like sleeping in this air-conditioned room the whole day.

Don't really feel like going back to JB. This little town in Malacca is such a nice place. Wish can stay here forever. Oh, and his mother was so nice to me, not garang at all as I expected :-)

But, tomorrow, got to go back to work. Packing up later after this posting. Using his little sister's PC. I'm sharing room with her. Sweet girl. She plays football. A striker. Yesterday, watched her and the team played against another school. She scored a hat-trick. It was fantastic.

Spend last night watching football with her till past midnight. We are now best friends. First there was the QPR versus Tottenham match. I support anything with Malaysia on it. The match was a bit kelam kabut but QPR won 1-0, giving them hope to stay in the top flight. Then we watched Real Madrid versus Barcelona. Real Madrid won 2-1. Great match that one. The winning goal was by Ronaldo, but he got it after a beautiful pass from Ozil. My new best friend is in love with Ozil. I don't blame her, the guy is totally cool.

This is really a happy past few days. If all things worked out, I think I will move and settle down here. I may not have to work anymore. Just stay at home and take care of small small things which makes me happy. Taiwan may have to wait.

But first, need to help Johor BN. Hopefully can get the general election over and done with as soon as possible. Once Johor MB Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman retires, I don't think I will be bound to stay in Johor anymore. I am not an Umno member in the first place. I think I will change the theme of this blog into something else after that. Probably movie reviews, music and food. Much more fun to write about those things.

Anyway, BN should be ok. I am quite confident they will win in the coming general election. Just a matter of winning big or small. My sources indicated that they already have up to 120 parliament seats secured. You want to believe or not, is not my problem.

Ok, need to pack up now. Going back to JB after that.

Cheers 

It never heals

It never heals

Was sitting under the bamboo tree just now. Looked up at the clouds and they were so beautiful. Feeling very peaceful.

Nonetheless, deep inside, I know I will never get over it.
It's sad when the one we love is no longer with us. It's most sad when the one we love so much no longer love us.
Just want to get that out of my chest. Sorry...just rambling.

Have a good weekend.

美丽人生

美丽人生

Today is a sunny day. Going to Changi to pick him up. Just feeling very happy :-)

为什么呢？

为什么呢？

寂寞的日子

寂寞的日子

A good friend lost his brother yesterday evening. I'm sorry that I can't be of much help to him. He is a good and sincere person, but of late he is going through a rough patch. I hope he will continue to be strong.

For his arwah brother, Alfatihah.

News such as this passing of my friend's brother always reminds me of my own mortality. How much more time that I have left on this earth? What should I do with that time?

As I had admitted, I'm not a religious person. Nonetheless, as a Muslim, it's a must for me to believe in the afterlife. So, naturally I need to prepare myself for the inevitable.

Sometimes I ask myself, why people want so much from this world while knowing that they will one day have to leave it all behind. The power, the wealth, the beautiful wife/handsome husband, even the children.

Why must we fight so hard for all those things?

Well, I know that everyone need to survive and secure the future of their beloved. But do we really need to go to the extent of lying and cheating and slandering others to get what we want? Do we need to hurt others to get what we crave for?

In all honesty, do we need all those hypocrisies to survive?

On top of that, why do we need to be so arrogant once we reach a higher station in life, whatever that really is? Is that really necessary? Can't we remember, that maybe we achieve all that with the help of people who now we look down at with disdain? Is our conscience clear on that?

Is it necessary to break the heart of others? Promise them  things like eternal love and then chuck them out once we get what we want out of them. Why do we need to be so cruel?

One day, all of us will be going through those final days of our life. I believe that at that time, we would reflect on our life and remember our deeds and misdeeds. Especially, the misdeeds which we wish we had not committed. How we will wish we could undo the harm that we had done. How we wish we could apologize to those whose heart we broke, whose life we wrecked.

Of course, by that time it would be all too late for us. We will just be an old person that no one really care about.

 We could really end up being the sad lonely old person in an old folks home. Just sitting there, day by day, remembering those we love who don't really love us anymore and those who truly love us but whose love we forsake for one reason or another.
We will sit there on the reclining chair outside the old folks home and remember everything.

Yes, for now we are young, and would say that we will not regret anything. But when we are old and lonely, we would not be so arrogant anymore. We will indeed remember and regret...all those lies, all those abuses, all those damages we inflict on others, all those broken hearts etc etc.

Even the big men have their regrets later on in life. Dr Mahathir regrets that he never managed to change the Malay laid back mindset, Lee Kwan Yew regrets destroying the Chinese school system in Singapore....for some others, I think they will regret having too much fun with those cute foreign prostitutes, handsome coffee boys, other people's wife etc etc.

Ok, enough la of this. Before I write more and make people angry, I better stop and go wash my car. Need to clean up it's inside. Look like garbage bin lah. Even saw a little cockroach running around yesterday.

A lonely solo drive

A lonely solo drive

I'm planning to go on a drive.

It's a good route with many stories to tell along the way. I had send my very old car for service as it is going to be quite a long drive.

I'm going to start from down town JB along the Skudai road. The recently completed Coastal highway is nice with scenic view of the Tebrau Straits. The several new interchanges make the drive smooth. Not bad compared to a few years back when the stretch was always jammed. Much thanks to the Iskandar Malaysia project which had enabled the development of the road.

I will exit the Skudai road at the Perling interchange and head towards Pasir Gudang. This is all part of the Pulai parliamentary area. It's MP is that Javanese Teow Chew handsome chubby boy Nur Jazlan Mohamed, a possible future MB of Johor. Honestly, I prefer him to be at the Federal level as he could do well to help PM DS Najib Razak in pushing his moderate policies and 1Malaysia initiatives. Here, he would probably be butchered to death by all those Umno warlords. Anyway,  Jazlan should be good working under Najib's wing. He can manage a bit of Mandarin which should go down well with the Chinese community. He succeeded in doing just that in his constituency. He, however need to cool off a bit his relations with former Pak Lah's people. It's one of those baggage he is still carrying,

Onwards, I never really like driving along the Pasir Gudang Highway. It's always jammed with heavy vehicles coming and going from the ports of Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat. Najib, however had recently announced a huge allocation to widen the highway, which is equivalent to the Federal Highway of the Klang Valley. That will be a really good thing for those living and working along the stretch.

I will exit the Pasir Gudang Highway and join the Jalan Tebrau heading towards Kota Tinggi. At this point, I will be in Tebrau. It's MP is Teng Boon Soon of MCA. Tebrau is one of the Johor DAP targets in the coming general election. I heard DAP had "transferred" several thousands of its supporters to the constituency. MCA there are back paddling, but I am sure Tiram assemblyman Maulizan Bujang and Puteri Wangsa assemblyman Halim Sulaiman would do their best to help Teng. Maulizan and Halim are known not to be the best of friends, but typical of Johor Umno people, when their areas are under threat, they will get together to fight a common enemy.

Jalan Tebrau is now a much better road after several upgrades over the past years. It is wider and has proper interchanges. At one point, I may exit to the new Senai-Desaru Highway which cut down traveling time to the Desaru resort area by more than an hour. It would also take one to the most exciting development area of Pengerang where a mammoth petroleum hub will be build. The Pakatan people are trying to make an issue out of the project but I think the people of Pengerang will not buy it. They would want their area to be developed and that south eastern tip of Johor be transformed from its backwater image.

As I approached the township of Ulu Tiram, the traffic should be smooth as the new flyover across the town had solved what used to be a major traffic congestion at the old junction in the middle of the town. Ulu Tiram is now a rapidly developing township complete with a huge shopping complex and hypermarkets.

On towards Kota Tinggi, the recently upgraded four-lane road should be smooth, almost as good as any proper highway. I guess the JKR people who were responsible for the upgrade have caught on with the good works of their counterparts in Iskandar Malaysia.



I will bypass the Kota Tinggi town as the main trunk road do not pass through it. Kota Tinggi has Syed Hamid Albar as its MP. Personally, I think the guy should be replaced as he has been there for too long and he had made some bad bo bo when he was a minister. However, Syed Hamid is a good Umno division leader. He take cares of things and make sure his people do not make too much of a mess out of things. So, to tell him to go, one need to be diplomatic lah. I think he would want to go out in a good way too. Oh, by the way, there is nothing to worry about Pakatan people in Kota Tinggi and Pengerang. Support for BN is more or less very solid there.

My drive will proceed to Mersing. Here, the road will become the trunk road of yesteryear. Winding and rather lonely. Not much traffic. I always avoid driving at night from Kota Tinggi northward. The road cuts through several patches of jungle. So at night it will be very dark. I'm always scared that I may ran into a wild boar or other such wildlife. There is also that worry of something going wrong with my old car. There are also of course some ghost stories about the stretch....hehehehe....I don't really believe in ghosts, but still, scary leh.

Nonetheless, I think I will enjoy the rather adventurous drive with funny corners and undulating topography. I would like to take a detour to Pulau Sibu along the way. Never been to that resort island not far off the coast. But that will take too much time.

So, on to Mersing. Will pass the sleepy settlement of Jemaluang. I always wonder how the mostly Chinese residents there survive the boredom of living in such a quiet place.

As I reach Mersing, the traffic will be quite hectic again. The town have not developed by very much. Ok lah, there are some new buildings and shop-houses, but the atmosphere is still the same. The big writing of Mersing on top of the hill near the main round-about which look a bit like the Hollywood one has been there for ages.

I remember it the way it was when my late father took me to the town when I was a kid. I remember him holding my hand as we walk from the bus station to some government buildings at the edge of the town. Yes, the small town atmosphere is still the same.

Things will however change for the town once the RM22 billion Mersing Laguna resort project kicked off. They said the whole thing will transform Mersing into something like Bali. I guess the people of Mersing should be very excited about it. Well, I'm excited. Maybe I can get a job there....as a traditional dancer probably. :-)

I would like to pause in Mersing for awhile and look across the sea from there. I miss the beautiful Pulau Rawa so much. I haven't fulfilled my promise to return there. I will return there, really.. Hopefully those coins are still there between the cracks of wood at the jetty....

Oh, I think the winding road to Mersing would most likely be straightened and upgraded to accommodate the expected influx of tourists in the years to come. So, no more me pretending to be an F1 driver when driving along the winding road.

Mersing MP Dr Latiff, another potential Johor MB must be very happy with all these development. Anyway, Mersing is another constituency where the Pakatan people do not stand a ghost of a chance to penetrate. Mersing Umno, despite some internal squabbles is still too strong there. Ok, there are some Kelantanese residing in nearby Endau who were said to be Pas supporters, but I don't see them giving much trouble to Latiff.

Onward up north from the Mersing town, I will pass through the beach of Air Papan.

 It's the first beach I have been to when I was a kid. My big brother, just came back from his studies in Australia at that time. I remember that he rented a Mitsubishi Gallant and took us brothers and sisters for a two hour drive from our home to the beach. I can still remember the fresh smell of sea on that day. My siblings and me went around collecting seashells and had a little picnic there. Really miss those days when we were young and life being less complicated.

The road to the Endau town is as winding as the one between Kota Tinggi and Mersing. It is mostly jungle by the road side all the way there. I will stop just before crossing the bridge over Sungai Endau in the middle of the small town. That's the Pahang border.

 If I have my way, I would want to drive across the bridge and go on northward and never turn back. But my works here in Johor apparently have not yet been completed. Just a short while more, I guess. Need to be patient for a while more. Soon....I will tell myself. With that I will have to turn and head back to JB.