14th February; a very special day

This is a very special day for me. It was 6pm in the cold Oregon winter back in 2005. Just as I was about to log-off from my office, an IM came in from a friend; “Mariam dah takde” (“Mariam is gone”).

I just froze. Mariam was my 2yr old baby, whom I missed so much during my travel, and was just 1 wk away until I’m back in M’sia. I broke down terribly. I took the first flight out but it was a long 36hr journey back home. The load was made heavier as 3-quarter of my luggage was nothing else but the clothes and shoes I bought for Mariam. These stuff, I’d lay them down all over my hotel's room, every single night and smiled to myself, imagining just how cute Mariam would look like in it. It was a long tough journey.

Back in M’sia, it was early morning of 15th February. Sara had a motherly instinct and decided not go to work. And when Mariam peacefully departed, she was in her mother's loving cuddle. Hundreds of people came moments later, only to find Mariam, still in Sara’s cuddle. It was hard to let go. And it was Tuesday. The day I was born.

I reached Malaysia on Thursday morning. Sara fetched me at the airport, with only 3mth old Marsha to keep her company. She didn’t want anyone else to be there. And when we met, it was our moment. We just hugged and did not speak a word. At that moment, deep inside, I still had a tint of denial. I still wish this whole thing was a dream. That was 3 years ago. And we still miss her terribly.

We love you so much.

Buffalaxed!

Check out Buffalax's vids over in Youtube (just do a search on 'Buffalax'). All the while, it was English, duh!

2008... and still blogging actively...

OK, maybe not as 'active' as some people, but in comparison to >80% of bloggers who mysteriously went AWOL after 2 posts, I'm doing great. It's hard to believe that, in the world where there's no such thing as a 'free lunch', Blogger has let me use their space for free for more than 2 years. Thank you, Mr Blogger. I'm very sure Mr Blogger despises me. I'd probably be the kid with the black tee and torn jeans. What Mr Blogger doesnt know is that, I'm the good guy. My blogs are clean and boring. Blogs like these must always be kept free. It'll make people stop reading blogs and get back to work. ......

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR, sincerely from me, me wife and me kid! May 2008 brings better luck to you. *pls ignore Marsha's angry expression, inside, she's happy, really*

One Liners

We noticed that Marsha is tall now. She can now reach the medicine box in the fridge. We noticed this when she said "eee, ubat pink tak shedaapppp".

I just realized that I look very gay in my Skype profile pic. That explains the IMs from strangers.

I'm updating these one-liners coz I got calls for not updating my blog. There, it's updated now.

Satisfying 60,000 Fans

Last Tuesday's match between Arsenal and Slavia Prague will definitely go down in my book as a 'very special' match. Though Arsenal demolished the travelling opponent by 7 goal margin, all 60,000 fans, both Arsenal and Prague, in the stadium, went back home in a special magical disbelief and emotional state of mind - they all know that they've just witnessed the best football match of the year, or for many more years to come.

Well, don't just take my word for it, read on...
http://blogs.reuters.com/soccer/2007/10/24/awesome-arsenal-restore-faith-in-beautiful-game/

Space, Gravity, Mars & Malaysian Astronouts

As we are enjoying our self-greed to pollute Earth and bring it to its death, a simple solution for life’s continuity is simply to pack-up and head for Earth 2.0. And with Mars being the perfect match to earth’s geology, a hijra’ must be planned. But it’s a long journey, about 200 years of travel, hyperspace or not. And naturally, the list of ‘things to do’ needs to be prepared.

First of, can we live for 200yrs without Gravity?

Gravity is THE most important thing on earth. Water, fire, earth and wind mean nothing without gravity. Our muscles, brain development and 5 senses are all developed in existence with gravity.

Astronauts lost huge masses of muscle when in G zero. By the 4th year in G0, the bones get so brittle; it’ll break into pieces as soon it hit gravity. So, list of ‘things to do’ #1 – emulate gravity in the mother ship.

Now, can we give birth without gravity? They tried with quail eggs. It didn’t hatch in space. So, for a journey where we’d expect our children’s children to make it to Mars, this is not looking good. Then they tried with mice too. Took the pregnant ones into space for few weeks, bring it back to earth for delivery – and guess what – the little newbie mice’s brain could not recognize orientation. So, even if we could find a way to deliver babies in G0, we gotta fix this, mainly to avoid our offsprings from failing the Martian’s sobriety test. So, that’s “things to do” #2.

Hmm, the list goes on and on; like the space suits, cosmic radiation, psychological effects, human conflicts and etc… but just the 2 items above already causing the brainiacs in MIT headaches.

Anyway, hip-hip hurrah for our Malaysian astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar. Note to your grandchildren: Next stop; Mars.

http://www.angkasawan.com.my/blog/

Darth Federer

The Roddick-Federer game was just mind-boggling. There was Roddick; obviously on juiced-up steroids, serving at Mach 5 and putting his best performance ever. And there was ice-cold Federer; dressed all black aka Darth Federer, soaking the pressure with ease and simple changed gear to close the game. I remember telling myself at that moment; “this is just unreal”. And finally, I found an article (URL below) that unfolds the flabbergastation: Federer is not human.

Read it here (http://tennisworld.typepad.com/tennisworld)

Four current top 10 players -- Fernando Gonzalez, James Blake, Tommy Robredo and Nikolay Davydenko (Federer's semifinal opponent) -- are a combined 0-34 against Federer.

Wednesday, Roddick tried landing 71% of his first serves for the match and a remarkable 81% in the second set. He tried committing zero double faults and just 24 unforced errors over three sets. He tried holding serve and avoiding even a single break point through the first two sets. He tried taking good, calculated chances at the net and hitting as crisp and authoritative a backhand as we've seen from him. He even tried wearing black.

Hail, maybe this "Federer" started out as an idea in the mind of some Sega Genesis game designer, but the algorythms just got out of hand and he leaped across the Great Divide like some character out of a Philip K. Dick novel.

Beyond that, do you ever notice that this so-called "Roger Federer" has perfect hair that never seems to get mussed or out-of-place - the dude looks like one of those pictures your local barber has tacked up all around his mirror, hoping you'll be hoodwinked into dropping an extra Jackson on the full "I want to look like I'm in a boy band!" look.