Abah.

Actually Mat Salo's recent posting on his relationship with his dad, Doc's comments and Ancient Mariners advice inspired me to examine my relationship with my father. Haven't seen him in quite some time though he is only 20km away. Well, he is still working and only comes home once every two days. That and the fact that I visited my mom perhaps once in a forthnight (if I am not travelling); on a weekend; is perhaps the leading cause of us not meeting. Even when we do, its sort of like the meeting of the cavemen. We just grunt at each other. No such thing as a heart to heart. Can't even remember the last time we actually talked about anything.

We don't seem to speak the same language. Why is that ? Its actually getting worst now. My mom is not well. She is staying with my sister way up in Semenyih. This leave me no reason to visit the old house, hence no chance to meet my father. By right I should do the filial duty thing and make sure that he is well, have food to eat and cloth to wear. Somehow, I just can't bring myself to do that. Not out of meaness but I know that he is doing OK on his own and that my presence or checking up on him will only be an intrusion to his world. I pacify myself further with the fact my younger brother is there to keep an eye on him. They are both grown men who could fend for themselves.

What if I was in his shoes ? Will I expect my son to call on me ? Based on our relationship (me and my son), yes, not all the time, but yes. Ironic or selfish ?

Sungai Kilim.

Yachts in Sungai Kilim. Green, peaceful and pristine.

Insects.

Highly cropped pics..... desperately need a macro lens....

Laundry, Car Grooming & Gifts.

No pictures.

This post is about some close friends who have been brave enough to strike out on their own, foregoing the security of a fixed salary in lieu of setting up their own business. Some of you may be in the vicinity and may require their services. I fully endorse them as I not only know these people personally but have observed the degree of professionality that they bring with them.

Dennis operates a laundry shop in USJ4/6B. He even does delivery for bulky orders. Give him a call for enquiries at 019-3294243.

Suhaimi operates a car grooming centre at USJ7/3A. He is very particular, so much so that a minimum of 40 minutes is required for a car wash. I sent my little scoot and it came back all shiny half a day later. Enquiries at 019-3300110.

Alammi provides all sorts of corporate gifts and promotion materials. He is based in Bandar Tun Hussein Onn. Enquiries at 013-3980686.

Lets support these good people.

Everyday things...NOT.

All three photos depicts everyday things in their own surrounding, space, habitat or whatever you label them. However, these are definitely not things that you see everyday, especially those trapped in the rythm of life in the concrete jungle.

But that is not the main point of todays post. Mat Salo posted a nice comment that sets me thinking. About turning 40, hitting mid life and reminiscing about lost youth, lost friends and such. How true. In the end, that's all you are left with isn't it ? Memories, experiences and lessons learned (or not). Wealth will make it more comfortable and health we always take for granted. So, what else is there ?

As Alan Parsons sings "where do we go from here; now that all of the childrens growing up; where do we go from here".

Back to the photos, the first is wild flower, its tiny and sometimes can be seen by the roadside. The second is mushroom on the trunk of a dead rubber tree and the third is a polyp (I am guessing), soft coral at low tide.

Cowboy ... Boats.

Off Langkawi, a chartered boat filled with fishing tourists or immigrants/smugglers waiting for the coast to be clear ?

A Thai fishing boat making a getaway after leaving its drift net in Malaysian waters. The picture below is of the Star Cruise moored at Porto Malai, Langkawi.

Usually cowboys would be associated with horses, stirrups, stetsons and of course boots. This post will tell you of a particular cowboy on boats instead, well, ships actually but then it doesn't rhyme with boots, anyway they both float on water...

The cowboy in question is one of the more extravagant character that I have met in my life. He was the captain's steward on our first ship, Bunga Tanjung. There was Serious & Blur, Leengam & Dolly and of course me. The five of us fresh out of training in our pristine white uniforms being led to the gangway of what looked like a rust bucket about to be scrapped...

Cowboy is attached to the catering department, in charge to take care of the captain. He is also one of the better dressed stewards that I have encountered at sea. In fact, the only one that wears a bow tie and a towel over his arm when he is on duty.

Officially he seldom deal with us. Off hours is another matter altogether. Following his namesake, he is nuts about anything cowboy and he dresses as one, with boots, hats and a bandana. He has a guitar, harmonica and slightly off character a saxophone which at the time he was trying miserably to learn to play. Most importantly, he is also charged with looking after some plants by the crew. Making sure it is well and alive, moving it around during inspection and harvesting... He took us in as one of the crew. It was huge fun.

The thing that I and am sure those during the time could not forget is when one day he served the captain with a bucket over his head. When asked why, he says that he is just following orders since the captain chewed him up for some mistake or rather and ended the session with "I never want to see your face again". That and of course the swimming frenzy he started by jumping from the boat deck into the Suez Canal which nearly got us all shot by an M16 wielding Arab.

Wonder what he does now ?

Skeletal remains.

In previous post there's dead boats, now its dead bicycles. Anyway, somehow or rather snippets from the movie "Silence of the Lambs" kept coming to mind last night. Its the part where Hannibal asks "What do you covet Clarice ?"...."We covet what we see everyday." Whereupon this leads Clarice to find the maniac in the midst of his insect infested dungeon....

Now why am I thinking of this, perhaps subsconciously my mind keeps trying to understand things that happen around me. I do believe that what Hannibal said is true, as such, especially to Doc and Mat Salo, I will not look at lenses and photographic accessories, not even the FTZ.

Now back to these dead bicycles, I am pretty certain that at least one of them use to belong to my dear departed grandfather. It was fun when he allowed me to accompany him. Sitting astride the broad rear carrier is painful but the journey was always sweet. He was a tower of strength and patience especially with me being the little devil that I am. There are days when I miss him, his presence actually, as he is a man of very few words. The sight of him sitting under the rambutan tree in front of the house, slowly puffing his cigarettes is enough to give me the strength and support I need. All I need to do was just go and sit quietly beside him. No need for words and all will be well. Al-Fatihah and may Allah bless him.

Only twice he got mad at me, so much so that he chased me with a cane. Once, when I nearly burned down the house on the pretext of gathering honey from the trunk of a durian tree and second when I practically destroyed the sieve he use to process latex when I use it to catch fighting fish in the paddy fields.

Ugly.

My son had one of his biggest disappointment yesterday. It was painful just watching and listening to him recounting it. His swim team was disqualified.

He has been practising for quite a while and yesterday was "D" day at Shah Alam Aquatic Center. It was a relay race. He was on the first relay, his team was doing quite well. They were shouting and cheering with the propect of at least getting on the podium. Sadly, the last member of his team, stopped about 5 meters from the end, hence the team was disqualified. If that boy was to swim to the end, they would have at least finished the race. That was the main contention of my sons disappointment.

Can't blame the poor boy though as he says that he really could not do it, no more energy to be expanded to carry him to the end. He was crying, perhaps also feeling terrible for letting his team down.

I wished I could take all of their pain away, but then that will not help would it ? I realise that these boys will have to learn to face such situation and hope that it will make them stronger. I was also seriously contemplating to go and get the Playstation that my son have been asking for as a way of consoling him, but the practical side stops me as his exams is just around the corner...

He might not know this now, but I bear his pain equally if not more and there is just nothing that I could do about it. That is the ugliest part.

Green.

Pepper, fern and fungus. Pepper from Linggi, fern from SS5 and the fungus from RRI Sungai Buloh. Odd mix, yet beautiful... to my eye at least.

A day for love.

Lets not get religious or political but February 14th is the day for lovers. Take it as that only, and here I give the beautiful creation of god to those I love, those that have loved and those that will one day find their love.

MTB RRI.

For the past couple of weeks, I have resumed my MTB activities. Finding the time has not been easy but I think that its worth it. Apart from working out a sweat, the peace and quiet afforded some thinking space and much needed solitude.

To those who are interested to give this a try, get in touch. I normally do this on the morning of an off day, evening too, sometimes. The whole thing takes just a couple hours. Start at about 0730 or 0800 and finish by 1100 including recharge via some nasi lemak or teh tarik. So that family time is not affected too much.

For newbies, the only danger is being swarmed by mosquitoes. Unless of course, if they would like to engage in hunting for snakes...

Behind Subang Airport.

These are some scenes from my MTB playground. Rather tame really, more estate biking rather than mountain biking. The most challenging bit of the route would be the small climb in picture no. 3. The rest are just rolling tracks with some incline and a lot of flats under shady trees. But its great for getting away from traffic and to get some really fresh air into my lungs.

Sadly, more and more of the area has been taken over by development.

Fruits.

Bunches of langsat on the tree in Linggi.

Buah delima or pomegrenate from the front lawn of the rented house in SS5.

Belimbing besi budding on its tree at the corner of the old wood fired kitchen in Linggi. I just love the colours and tones of these. Perhaps Doc is right, I may just have to get the 105 VR Macro one of these days. Mat Salo, jom beli sesama....

The obligatory dragonfly....

I call it obligatory as most aspiring photographers interested in macro's will inevitably want to photograph these elusive creature. Rightly so too, as they are beautiful and quite mystical.

Recent random pics.

Just some photos to grace todays rant. Last Friday, I went to the KLCC mosque for Friday prayers. As usual the place is packed. The most striking thing was that the sermon or khutbah was delivered in English. Not just a smattering of English but totally in English, apart from quotes of verses from the holy Quran and hadith. This is good considering the number of foreigners praying there.

What is not good, and please don't arrest or sue me for this for I am only voicing my personal opinion.

The content is more or less crap if you put it in context. The writer of the sermon seems insistent on promoting the federal territory day, how it began, how it was celebrated separately by the territories, how it is now celebrated jointly and bla bla bla. People should pray to ensure that gods grace will be with us to maintain this harmonious and prosperous cosmopolitan city and bla bla bla. Look, what we should all be praying for is guidance and salvation. If prosperity and harmony is what you asked for, that is all that you will get. Don't these people believe in the hereafter anymore ? To be fair, the khatib also mentioned that we should pray so that this cosmopolitan city does not turn into a sex destination or for other vices (no kidding, that is what I heard), hmmm now why do you think he mentioned that ?

Come on, those are for tourist brochures, MAS inflight magazines and media advertisement. I came to the mosque hoping for spiritual healing not to be bombarded with propaganda. I truly felt like walking out but respect for the hour of god kept me in my seat.

When even the last bastion of peace and spirituality has been hijacked, no wonder then, that at least 1 in 5 Malaysian is under stress and going koo koo. I totally agree with my dear frind the Ancient Mariner, "we truly deserve the government that we have".

Langkawi Cable Car.

This is my current favourite attraction in Langkawi. The views are breath taking and the climb is so steep that you can feel the change in temperature as you ascent. Worth the RM15 ticket price (for Malaysian with MyKad). Definitely not to be missed.