It's Christmas Eve everyone

It's christmas eve and I have to work!!!

Here I am getting ready for work and all. But the weather is just too nice for me to continue sleeping. Oh well, 2009 is nearing and I just can't wait for my pay to come in. Therefore, I have no choice but to work. It's just so disappointing to go through this festive season with a 'black hole' in my pocket. It just sucks in whatever I put in. So sale or no sale, it does not really make a difference to me.

Ok... here's a quick update on what had I been doing from the day after Zoukout till now.

1. Working my ass off to pay off any debt I still owe.

2. Chilling out with Adik and Syaz.

3. Busy conducting meetings for my NUSSU Bash in 2009.

So yup, that's all I have to say for now. Merry Christmas everyone!

Zoukout 2008

Zoukout Rulz!!!

Well, I just recovered from my high fatique level after one whole non-stop night of partying at Zoukout 2008. I have to admit that i had loads of fun with all my Attractions department family members. Everyone was just crazy but most of them just got tired and bored very easily. And because of this, people began drifting away from the group (including myself) and did their own things... Haha. Ershad, Amalina & Ashari, don't think I don't know what you guys did at 7-eleven huh. I wanted to party with my once big brother but he always went MIA with some of the rest. So I decided to just give up and party with whoever who still had the energy to party.

After the event, I began feeling very very exhausted and fell asleep at my workplace immediately after a hot shower. Thankfully, I did not get myself drunk that night.

Mak, cepat sembuh ye?

On the eve of Hari Raya Haji...

My father called me to tell me that my most beloved grandmother (Mak), who is only 66 years old now, was diagnosed with Breast Cancer Stage 4. At first, I did not know what the stage level means. When I went to find out about it, I was informed that Stage 4 of a cancer is considered to be very very serious. I immediately felt very very devastated and just so lost. For that moment, I just felt that how I wish that I wasn't born to go through this feeling. My grandmother has been going through so many obstacles, such as having to go through my cousin's death and all the other family problems, and had been very patient about all of these nonsense. So why must she been thrown with the biggest obstacle in her life right now?

Mak? Halim nak Mak sentiasa bersabar dan sentiasa kuat kan semangat ye? Halim akan sentiasa berdoa kepada Allah s.w.t. supaya Mak cepat cepat sembuh ye? Halim sentiasa sayang pada Mak sampai akhir hayat Halim.

Ya Allah, Kau cepat sembuhkan Mak supaya umur dia dipanjangkan. Kau ringankanlah cubaan cubaan yang Mak aku sedang lalui pada waktu ini. Amin.

HRE Appreciation Carnival @ Ficus Point

HRE Appreciation Carnival on 4 December 2008.

Some of my fellow colleagues, mostly HREs, went for this event on that day. It was to acknowledge all of the part-timers who contributed more than 60 working hours per month. Well, of course, some of our full-time staff came to show their support for us as well.

My lil bro Basirun and myself

The Attractions Hunks

The Attractions Babes

Liana and me in one of the stage games.

(I think she's in pain... Muahaha!)

Our full-timers came down to show their supports.

The Attractions Family!

Exams? Finally Over!

Yes!!! End of Year 2 Semester 1...

It was the last day of exams yesterday! It was on Classical Mechanics and gosh, you would not wanna know the kind of rubbish I scribbled onto my exams scripts. But all that aside, I just wanted to celebrate after that.

The first thing I did was to go to my island home Sentosa for a swim and a sun tan. So I went to Tanjong Beach. But it did not take long when the clouds began rolling in and began pouring right after the lighting siren began wailing. I was thinking to myself, 'Darn, what a day to swim and tan.'

In the late afternoon, my lil bro Hazlan and myself went for window shopping at Vivocity until our legs 'gave way'. Tt's when we decieded to go to the Sky Park for a chill. However, upon reaching the park, we saw this white ship docking in front of Vivocity. It's called the Doulos ship. Ape lagi, both of us naik la explore kapal tu.

And so that was how I spent my day celebrating the end of my exams.

Hazlan's & Ershad's Last Day as Attractions Hosts

Thank you & all the best guys!

30 November 2008 marks de last day for my lil bro Hazlan, together along with Ershad as Attractions Hosts. However, both of them will be heading towards better opportunities w.e.f. 1 December 2008. They will be joining the Artistes! So I would like to wish the both of them all the best when working in the artiste line.

To everyone else who are close to both Hazlan and Ershad, I hope you will all give your fullest support to the both of them alright? Please do not see the two of them as traitors or whatever nonsense. It's just a job after all.

To Hazlan:

Adik jangan sedih2 k? Always look on the bright side of life. Abang will always support you no matter what. I just hope that history would not repeat itself for me. Be good alright!

To Ershad:

Kantoi!!! Jadi artiste jangan lupe kite orang bro. Take care of yourself too alright? Dah kaya nanti boleh la belanja kite semua k.

Regards,

Abang / Along

Rooky is gone

Rooky is gone!!!

I woke up in the morning to see that Rooky is no longer outside my house. I searched and searched the whole place but still could not find it. I immediately went to ask my grandfather if he saw the kitten and guess what, he said that he gave it away as he thought that it was some abandoned kitten left outside our house. Can you imagine how devastated I was when I heard what he said?

Rooky, wherever you are or whoever is looking after you now, I always pray that you will be in good hands alright? I'm very very sad right now... Farewell and take care Rooky.

Rooky the Kitten

An abondoned kitten was found today!

Syaz and I were strolling along Bugis Street when we stumbled upon a cute little kitten. It was very very adorable. We wanted to touch it but were afraid that it's mother might not recognize its smell. So we just observed it from a distance.

As the kitten was moving about, I noticed that it was actually moving without any sense of direction. As we looked closer, we noticed that it's eyes were covered with a pile of dirt (more like some pile of shit). It walked towards a group of 'Ah Bengs' and hit one of the Ah Beng's foot. When they saw the kitten, they treated it like a mini ball and were 'foot-passing' it to one another. We could not bear the sight of it and so we decided to carry the kitten to one side. As I looked at the kitten, I could actually sense its pain and sorrow. I could also see that it was actually in an abandoned state. It was smelly and had fleas crawling all over it. It was a very pitiful sight for me so we decided to bring the kitten to my home. We found a box, placed the kitten in it and decided to take a cab home. While waiting for a cab, both of us had a discussion on a name for the kitten. Syaz decided to call it Puss the second and I thought that it was disgusting. That's when I decided on the name Rooky and both of us agreed on it. so, the three of us (Syaz, myself and Rooky) took a cab over to my place before Syaz continued her journey home.

After ensuring that everyone is asleep, I quietly brought Rooky to the toilet straight and gave it a good scrub. I started off by slowly wetting Rooky's face and peeling off the pile of dirt from it's eyes as that was the most awful sight for Rooky. I even tried to remove the fleas from its body. Can you believe that I was actually sweating while bathing Rooky? After bathing Rooky, I towel-dried it. I also made a make-shift sleeping place for Rooky and cuddled it with a blanket and stroke its back. It did not take long before Rooky actually fell asleep in my hands.

So here's presenting to you... Rooky!

Rooky and me

To Syaz, welcome back to Singapore once again! Hope you will not lose your way around after being away in Sydney for more than 5 months. A million thanks for all of your gifts too! Love them lots. Cheers!

Half the battle fought

Woohoo!!! Completed 2 of my 4 exam papers!

Now slacking at vivocity with Hasri while waiting for the rest of the SOS crews to knock off from their shifts (what is taking them so long?). I think my stress level is now reduced to half its original level. Haha. Thank goodness.

Both of us are munching on our double-cheese durgers as we watch over the awful construction site on the supposed peaceful island of Sentosa. Feeling very sleepy right now cos I had spent my last night mugging till this morning just for my exams.

Yawn!!!

My lil bro's HP finally found!

YEAH! Hazlan's HP found!

It was yesterday when Amir, Ershad, Anna, Hazlan and myself left our beloved island after our shift at Songs of the Sea. Went to Seah Im Food Centre to meet up with Hasri and the rest to have our supper and a little talk cock session as well. After that, we all went straight home.

When I got home and turned on my msn, Hasri told me that Hazlan had lost his HP!!! You would not want to imagine that panic feeling I was having yesterday. I immediately tried to contact Hazlan thru msn and interrogated him on his lost hp. I also called Sentosa Hotline (which was later linked to the Rangers) and made a report on his lost HP when I was told that Amir had actually reported on it earlier before me. So all I could do was pray and hope that someone nice would return the phone to Hazlan.

When I was getting ready to go to work this afternoon, Hazlan called to tell me that someone had actually found his HP. It was one of the security guards at Tourism Academy. When we knocked off from work today, Amir, Hazlan, Marican, Insyirah, Farhainy and myself went to TA to retrieve the phone back from the security guard who found it. A little token of appreciation was also given to the guard for being honest in returning the HP back to Hazlan. Yeah!!!

Hazlan, kalau Hazlan hilang benda lagi Abg beli rantai kapal dan ikat semua barang2 Hazlan kat rantai tu dan belit kan rantai kat badan Hazlan okie?

Cheers!

Taman Negara Reflections

Taman Negara Rox!

It's been a few days since I came back from Taman Negara. the duration of my trip was from the 13th to the 17th of November. This is actually my 2nd time there but it was with a bigger group of people. The gang involved were my brothers Amir, Eng Kee, Stanley, Hasri, Irfan and my two lil ones Hazlan and Basirun. We started off with a 7hr train ride from Johore Bahru to Jerantut. It was really a boring ride as i seriously felt restless after 3 hours in it.

Waiting for the train @ Johore Bahru train station

Hasri, Stanley & myself posing in the train

Upon reaching Jerantut (that was about 0230hrs) , we got ourselves to repack our backpacks at the nearby NKS hotel. After repacking, we took a short nap and woke up at about 0730hrs to get ourselves ready for our adventure. All in all, we spent half an hour of van ride and 3 hours of boat ride to Kuala Tahan (Taman Negara's Visitor Arrival Centre). When we arrived there at 1230hrs we waited for our guide who later brought us to Gua Telinga (Ear Cave) for some cave exploration. I tell you.... there were lots of bats in there! Cool or what! We later went to visit one of the homes of the orang asli. I wonder if those houses can withstand harsh weather conditions.

My big brother & I on the boat ride

My lil brother and I outside Gua Telinga

Bats hanging over the ceiling of the cave

See how close I was to all those bats!

Outside one of the homes of the orang asli

After visiting the cave an the orang asli, we took a boat to Kuala Terrengan and that was where our 2km trek to Bumbung Kumbang began. Bumbung Kumbang is one of the few hides built in the middle of Taman Negara's jungle for trekkers to spend their nights in as pitching of tents are strongly discouraged. This is to prevent any wild animals' attacks. After 45mins of trekking, we finally reached the hide. We took the opportunity to remove all the leeches that were stuck to our bodies during the trek. We also went to a nearby stream to bathe as there was no water in the hide's toilet (Eng Kee and Basirun used up all the collected rain water!!!!). By then it was already about 1930hrs and all of us were very very hungry. So we took out our mess tins and our maggi instant noodles and began cooking. Some went to rest after eating while the rest of us tried to stay awake to observe any night creatures of the jungle. However, Amir, Basirun, Irfan and myself found a gecko in our hide. And guess what, Stanley actually freaked out when he saw that little dinosaur. We spent the rest of our active part of the night singing till we fell asleep (Hasri was actually covering his ears while sleeping... Haha!).

The models of Taman Negara!!!

Stanley and me cooking our instant noodles

We woke up very early on the morning of 15 November and got ourselves ready for the longest trek of our whole trip. If I calculated correctly, the distance whole trek back to Kuala Tahan (the visitor arrival centre) was about 12km. Well. I would say that the trek was physically demanding because of the undulating terrain of the route we took. However, I had my fair share of fun because we got to stop by Bukit Indah for a very majestic view of the dense vegetation (Errr, Eng Kee, Stanley, Irfan and Basirun did not follow us to the peak bacause they were actually very worn out.). We also stopped at the canopy walk but did not manage to enter the attraction because it was already closed for the day. So, we decided to take a short break there. That was actually our final rest point before we head back to Kuala Tahan. Upon reaching Kuala Tahan, I felt this sense of achievement in me and applauded everyone for a great job. My lil bro Hazlan was our best camper as he had been motivating and supporting our 'old man' Eng Kee throughout the trek! Syabas bro! When Amir had booked a chalet for all of us, we all checked in and took turns to use the toilets and got ourselves cleaned up. We later went for a well-deserved dinner at one of the nearby floating restaurants. However, when we got back to the chalet, my stomach began to growl again and so Amir, Basirun and myself decided to cook our left-over rations. Thank goodness I still have some rations left. Hehe.

At the peak of Bukit Indah

My lil bro Hazlan and myself drenched after bathing in the nearby river

A 'sense of completion' for all!!!

On the morning of 16 November at 0800hrs, I was awoken by Amir to get ready to leave Taman Negara. How I wish I could just continue sleeping and not wake up that early. However, we did not have a choice as our boat departs Kuala Tahan at 0900hrs. So, we headed for the jetty and boarded the boat and that marks the end of our Taman Negara adventure. However, our trip was not quite over because we actually manage to go to Kuala Lumpur for a little sight-seeing and 'express shopping' (When I say 'express' I really mean 'express'.). We went to KLCC for a few photo sessions and Petaling Street for some quick shopping. I did not expect ourselves to get into a '1+1' trip package... Hehe. After our little adventure around KL itself, we began to head home on the 2330hrs coach and arrived back in Singapore at 0430hrs.

On the boat back to Tembeling Jetty

KLCC Models? More like KLCC Apek & Mat Reps

To all my brothers who went for this trip, I hope that you had an unforgettable experience. What a memorable adventure guys!!!

Cheers,

Halim (Abg / Along)

What is Tabula Rasa?

Tabula Rasa?

If you are wondering what Tabula Rasa means, it is defined as a blank slate. And if you are looking at my blog now, you can see that I really live up to this name man.

So here I would like to give my full credits to my very very true and bestest friend (more like an irritating one all the time) for helping me create this special blog of mine. Syaz, you are the best!!! She not only created this blog but also gave me this title for she knows that I will be just too lazy in updating this blog.

But don't you all worry ok... I tell u... I will keep this blank slate as 'unblank' as possible alright?

Hello!

Hi all,

This is my first entry for my blog. So I just want to say hello to all of you who's reading this so called 'blank slate'.

Cheers!!!