Your Opinion Does Not Matter
Will it?
It saddens me…
The dark skies, the falling rain
a reflection of my heart and its pain
the tired waves lapping at the sand
the sad state of an empty hand
everything is just wet and windless
as my heart is empty as it is lifeless
I can only pray for her to return
for it is for her that my heart yearns
I miss, love, and need you.
It is as if Perhentian does not want me to go back to heartaches and uncertainties…
It rains in Perhentian now as it does in my heart…
While most Malaysian Muslims will be busy celebrating Hari Raya, I shall be busy packing my dive gear to return to the sea. The sea has always been where I seek solace and sanity. Tranquility is where the beach is soft and white, the sea crystal blue, the waves lap gently against the shore.
It is where I run to to escape the madness of this world, the heartaches of life, the rat race of the city…
The sea is my paradise…
Expedition 16’s Energia rocket firing as the towers retract
In 32 hours, Expedition 16’s Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft will dock with the ISS. Right now they are orbiting Earth, chasing the ISS to align with it. Docking procedures should take about an hour or so.
I’m sure Dr SMS would have lots of photos taken by now.
If only I have RM80 million now.
I need to find a Sugar Granny.
Malaysia’s first Angkasawan, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, has blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9.22pm Malaysian time last night, and is now in orbit on the way to the International Space Station. He, alongside fellow Expedition 16 crew members, Peggy Whitson (Expedition Commander) and Yuri Malenchenko (Flight Engineer), are now inside a Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft.
They are due to dock at the ISS’s Zarya module at 10.52pm Malaysian time this Friday.
The current members of Expedition 15, have prepared the Zvedza module for Dr Sheikh Muszaphar to conduct experiments over nine days.
Expedition 16 blasts off from Baikonur Cosmodrome – NASA image
I envy the guy. I still remember watching our black and white television of the lunar landing back in 1969, and the subsequent Apollo 12 mission. I took an interest in spaceflights. I remember the final mission to the moon of the Apollo 17. I remember the fiery re-entry of the US Space Station “Skylab” where most of the remnants crashed onto Australian soil near Kalgoorlie and Esperance in Western Australia, 2 days after my 13th birthday in 1979. Then the first space shuttle flight by the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1981.
Now, Sheikh Muszaphar is up there. Some 300km away from Earth. Whatever his role may be up there, let us hope one day in the near future, a Malaysian Angkasawan will actually fly into space in a Malaysian-built vehicle.
Let us hope this is not a one-off thing.
Peggy Whitson (right) and Yuri Malenchenko during the climb to orbit in the Soyuz TMA-11 – NASA Image
Look carefully at the photos.
I initially wanted to post the enlarged version. Then I decided not to as some of you would still be fasting.
Let me tell you how depressing it is on the morning of Aidil Fitri at a graveyard. Here you are in a sombre mood, paying respect to the dead, when the silence is being broken by muffled cries, prayers and so on. You see 6-7 burials taking place, and almost always the white shroud turns red at places, as they lower the body of the accident victims into their grave. Then you look around and see more freshly dugged grave plots – a sign that more have died on the way balik kampung.
They balik kampung for good.
So if you drive to balik kampung, drive carefully.
Make sure your loved ones do not celebrate Hari Raya Korban on Aidil Fitri.
SELAMAT BERHARI RAYA AIDIL FITRI.
* ps: Hazyr…yes, I’m going diving. Raya is for Ribena kids.
This is a classic. I remember driving down the road towards Winslow to see Jonathan Goosey, my coursemate. It was towards the end of summer, sun was still shining bright. Playing on the radio was this song by The Cars called Drive.
It’s a nice and haunting song, made famous a year later when they performed it during the Live Aid concert with images of Ethiopian starving refugees playing in the background.
Then when I watched Transformers, this song was featured again in one of the scenes where Sam Witwicky was trying to get Mikaela Banes into his car (Bumblebee). There is a certain memory attached to this movie. I shall not divulge that information here.
Here it is, people, The Cars with Drive:
Who’s gonna tell you when
It’s too late
Who’s gonna tell you things
Aren’t so great
You can’t go on
Thinking nothing’s wrong
Who’s gonna drive you home tonightWho’s gonna pick you up
When you fall
Who’s gonna hang it up
When you call
Who’s gonna pay attention
To your dreams
Who’s gonna plug their ears
When you screamYou can’t go on
Thinking nothing’s wrong
Who’s gonna drive you home tonightWho’s gonna hold you down
When you shake
Who’s gonna come around
When you breakYou can’t go on
Thinking nothing’s wrong
Who’s gonna drive you home tonightNo you can’t go on
Thinking nothing’s wrong
Who’s gonna drive you home tonight
Datuk Dr Sam Abraham, a well-known paediatrician and social activist passed away at the age of 78 last Tuesday after a short battle with leukaemia. He served in the government sector for 30 years before opening up his own clinic.
Dr Abraham was the man who looked after me from when I was two, through when I was in my early primary school age. The last time I went to see him was when I obtained a medical history on myself prior to being admitted to secondary school, as I had to enter residential school. I was so impressed with the report (apart from the fact it showed that I was a sickly child) that in that Internet-less age, I made it a personal crusade to learn more about my illnesses. Of course, during Biology class, I was more interested in the ‘reproduction‘ topic that made the lab assistant an object of (carnal) desire. Notwithstanding that, the report gave me an understanding and interest in the field of medicine.
Anyway, another regular commentator here, PAJ, was also one of the late Dr Abraham’s charges.
Small world.
Farewell, Dr Abraham. Rest well in peace.
I found this classic by brothers Asanee and Wasan Chotikul (?????-?????? ???????) while looking for another music video of them called “Rak Tur Semer” (Love You Always).
This video reminds me of how it used to be played at every single stall at the local Nat in Kedah, especially in towns bordering Thailand from Padang Sanai to Khuan Mai Dam (Bukit Kayu Hitam in Malay) during the early 1990s.
Damn, I miss Thailand. Khid theung meuang Thai…yak ja rong hai!
This is called “Yin Dee Mai Mee Pan Ha” (??????????????? Happy No Problem). Enjoy:
I remember those days…at least until about 15-16 years ago.
I miss those kampung moments when it comes to Haris Raya.
Those were the days we would converge upon our late grandparents’ house in Kampung Jerangsang on the Benta-Jerantut road. We would all be there about two to three days before Hari Raya and would get our hands dirty with all the preparations. The women-folk would be in the kitchen, while the men would be outside doing the lemang and rendang and dodol. For two to three days we would toil the makeshift kitchen: cousins, uncles, aunts.
This year, I shall be spending Hari Raya alone. Hana and Fazira will be going back to Kedah to be with their mother; Farhan and Nisaa will be in Klang with their mother. I won’t be with my mother because of reasons I have written a few months back unless my “step-mother” Jazzy can spare me some bariyani gam from her last buka puasa the day before Hari Raya.
This Hari Raya is going to be boring. Everyone’s blog is going to be silent for about a week. So for a week I shall post in my own blog and make my own comments.
Damn…the prospect of spending one boring Hari Raya alone is scary…
SeaDemon Says 
You must be logged in to post a comment.