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The Sonnet And The Sunset

William Shakespeare

Early last evening, My eldest daughter Hana, asked me to help her write a sonnet. She is now learning Shakespearean sonnet and was asked to write one her own by her English Literature teacher. Apparently she was not taught what a sonnet is, or how it is being written, apart from learning what Quartrains and Couplets are.

A sonnet is a little song, and depending on which sonnet you do, will have to end in rhyme, and will have to conform to the type of sonnet you write. In this case, it is a Shakespearean sonnet; so it has to have 14 lines in all: 3 Quartrains (each with four lines) and a Couplet (with only two lines). A sonnet is also written in iambic pentameter: therefore it should ideally have ten syllables per line. A Shakespearean sonnet would have to rhyme in such a way:

a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g

But of course, I make my own rules.

I wrote a sonnet for Honey via SMS as I drove just now:

Alone again I wish I am not,
and you are back dancing in my thought;
disappearing from my reality,
existing only in virtuality.

You are my favourite waste of time,
being together is of course our best crime;
I know that we’ll be together again soon,
for now I’ll be like an owl waiting for the moon.

I am going to miss you I cannot lie,
please do not ask the reason why.
I love doing nothing with you,
as I love doing everything too.

For now I shall just wait for you my dear,
Until again you and I are near.

Not a perfect sonnet, but she liked it.

Just call me Billy Shakes His Spear.

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Happy Birthday, Del

Adel and I on the Kaleebso at Jarak

Happy birthday, Del!

Hehehe…sorry I have not been blogging for the past 2 days or less I think.

Up there is a picture of Del and I on the Kaleebso when we went on a trip to Pulau Jarak. Del is now in Melbourne pursuing something; so she has her lovely hubby, Nazim, to babysit the kids (Nazim is now looking for someone to replace him and is willing to pay RM3K plus makan, minum, tidur, berak – just look after the kids).

Oh, after the above picture of Del and I were taken only did she want to take photo with the hubby…sheesh!

Del and Nazim

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Soldiers First

A medical personnel and an infantryman during a peacekeeping mission in Timor Leste
A medical personnel and an infantryman during a peacekeeping mission in Timor Leste

Metalized asked in his blog if an ustaz from the Kor Agama Angkatan Tentera (KAGAT) is purely an ustaz, or is he a soldier with an ustaz qualification? Metalized was in his AOO (area of operaations) recently with the usual attachments-under-command of personnel from KAGAT, UBAT (medics) and the KPA (Kor Perkhidmatan Am) drivers. When he made them do guarding duties, the medical personnel complained to their Battalion Commanding Officer (Bn CO) about having to do duties beyond what they specialise in…which to them seemed an ultra vires act by Metalized to order them so.

If you look at the photo above, you can see a medic going about doing his duty as a medical personnel during a peacekeeping mission in Timor Leste. If you notice, he even has a Steyr AUG assault rifle slung from his right shoulder. That shows that in a combat situation, he is first and foremost, a soldier.

A soldier is always trained as a soldier first – breaking his/her mould as a civilian and turning him/her into an effective, albeit second-line, soldier. Whether he is a soldier-turned-driver 2nd class (or 1st class), or an qualified ustaz turned into a soldier later. He/she is a soldier first, and other things later.

Let us look at it this way. Back in the early 1990s when at 11pm some sadist bastard decided that the whole Air Force had to go on PERSOPS (Persediaan Operasi – Operational Readiness Test), we had to make sure that the airbase strength is at 98% readiness, all aircraft prepped, armed and refueled in less than an hour. During the ‘O’ Group for all Officers Commanding (OC) the various departments, I, as the person in charge of total security and defence of the base, put up a roster of guards to be made out of non-critical officers and personnel from each department. Clerks, medic admin, second-line engineers, off-duty cooks – all to dig foxholes and man the general purpose machineguns emplacements. The very senior OC of the Engineering protested saying his men are not meant for combat. I replied something to this effect:

“Tuan, your men are soldiers. When all the aircraft from this base have been shot down, they will have nothing to tinker their tools with. They will be required to defend their lives and this base from an enemy attack. If you insist that they are engineers and not soldiers, get them out of their uniforms and become just like those sissy civilian bastards who sleep while we weep. I have a war to handle and unless the Panglima (GOC – General Officer Commanding) says otherwise, your ass and that of your men, are mine, Tuan.”

The CO (Commanding Officer) concured (although he said later that I could have worded my statement in a nicer way to an old man).

As Ebenezer Scrooge would say, “Bah! Humbug!” Nice words, my foot!

So, Metalized, you did the right thing.

A soldier is a soldier first.

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Marigold Sky

I listened to this song on Hazyr’s blog and it brought back memories of 1997. I was single again, and alone. And this song was then a hit. I used to meet up with my friend Shamsulkamar (Sam) who is now an airline pilot, and we’d play the guitars. This was one of the songs we’d play.

Hazyr, I know what this song means to you, and why. To me, I just sang it as a symbol of an unrequited love.

Enjoy.

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Happy Birthday, Nisaa

Nisaa - 2 months old
A 2-month old Nisaa

My dearest darling Nisaa is 3 today. She speaks now like an adult, clear and straight to the point. She is very observant and very inquisitive. She has the qualities of both her elder sisters. She can be as serious and as stern as her eldest sister, Hana; and can be as caring as her other sister, Fazira.

And she’s a big girl today:

Nisaa - 4 month old
A 4-month old Nisaa

Nisaa-7 month old
A 7-month old Nisaa (left) happily trying to steal away her brother’s pacifier

Nisaa - 1 year old
Nisaa on her first birthday

Nisaa - 2 yrs old
3-days short of her 2nd birthday

Nisaa on Hari Raya
Nisaa during last Aidil Fitri before I left for Perhentian the same day

Happy birthday, my dearest Chicha; Ayah loves you very much

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Lazy Sunday

She finally rolled over and faced me.

“Hi Honey,” she smiled. “Did you nap at all?”

I smiled back at her and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “No, I did not. I was reading about conversion lenses for my camera’s underwater housing.”

“How’s the shoulder?” she asked, rubbing the shoulder I injured at the gym yesterday evening.

“It’s okay. Just as long as I don’t lift anything heavy. What shall we do tonight?” I asked.

“R&R,” she replied.

“That stands for rest and recreation, Honey,” I said. “We’ve been resting all day, what kind of recreation should we be doing?”

She climbed on top of me and smiled. “Ah, you’re always good at providing the recreation.”

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Hi SeaDemon

I received this private message two days ago (but only read it yesterday):

Hi SeaDemon
« Sent to: SeaDemon on: January 18, 2008, 03:14:28 PM »

——————————————————————————–
I just want to let u know that I like reading your postings in forum. You can be very factual, witty, funny n sometimes naughty as well. Really a unique character. No wonder they call u ‘The Forum Legend’. Keep up the good work! I’m your fan.

SeaDemon is a character that is very much like me in real life, only that SeaDemon can be more harsh than the real person. I get a lot of PM’s and E-mails like this one. So much so people often wondered if there was a SeaDemon Fan Club during the last MIDE (Malaysian International Dive Exhibition) because people would be asking for me wanting to take photos with me. One is now an avid reader of this blog but has yet to leave any comments. Many read this blog silently.

When it comes to diving, I can be a disciplinarian (I never was until I took up technical diving, because if you get complacent, you die). In the forum, I can be very witty, giving smart remarks; but if you get cocky with me, you get double the dose back. When I whack, I whack without fear, and definitely without favour.

If you don’t have discipline, then diving is NOT for you.

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For Your Monday Blues

For all you people who slave for others daily to make them rich, here is a cure for your Monday blues:

Fukitol

I took one two years ago.

I’m a lot happier than I was then.

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With The Forthcoming General Elections – I Bring My Chainsaw Out To Cut Down The Trees

The general elections is around the corner. And like before the previous one, I have been approached again to conduct a course in political intelligence and political motivation for vote canvassers and elections staff to be held sometime next week.

I can still remember how hectic it was during the 2004 General Elections. Everyday my colleagues and I (four ex-military Captains) had to cover Selangor, Pahang and Kedah; so much so that my daily routine for those last ten days were like: morning – office, 5pm – political discussions (am not at liberty to say what), 7pm – off to either Pahang or Kedah, or several places in Selangor to guide the fieldworks and campaigns. Then, it was back home for a short nap and then back into office at my prescribed time of work: anytime after 10am. There were several of us in the office who were working for various parties on either side of the political fence; but come lunchtime, we’d all sit and joke and eat together.

It was fun: suffice to say, I enjoyed all that. All that hard work was translated into two meanings: positive and negative. Positive – all the hard work paid off well; Negative – certain characters in the party saw me as a threat.

That was the time I was stationed in Langkawi. I had had no intentions to run for political office, but because certain characters wanted to see my immediate political demise, I took the situation as a challenge, and I had to prove my point.

My father once said to his friend, Mr Jeganathan, at his office in Wisma Genting 9 years ago:

“If you ask my son to jump off this building now, he would do so without hesitation. Never challenge him.”

I was handicapped, I could not go down to meet the potential voters. In the end my campaign was reduced to just sending text messages to the grassroot asking them to support my cause which really was: PROTEST, with some intelligence groundwork done for me by some friends. Apart from sending SMSes, I did not have to go around buying teh tarik for people, or promise them petrol and/or parking money (terms used to mask money politics, which in turn is a politically-correct but wrongful-deed term for bribery).

I won: both as Branch Head and as a Division Committee member.

This is 2008: the year for the next Malaysian General Elections, and elections for certain political parties.

I have one message for voters for these elections:

No more monkeys

Now, I wonder if I have enough time to do a one-night visit to Krungthep before next weekend…hmm…