Rejuvenation

I might wanna resuscitate this blog..see how long can I maintain to update this blog.

Will try to update more often if I have time.

But the main news: I AM FINALLY GOING BACK TO MALAYSIAAAAAA THIS AUGUSTTTTT

Well..

...maybe I'm not ready for a comeback with this blog yet. Malas ler mau tulihhh..

23 days to go..

.......before I'm due to becoming a father.

GULP!

Paris field Trip and other updates

Yes, I am still alive and well. Been a while though since the last time that I even opened my own blog page. And since I am not doing anything this afternoon (I am in the studios at uni, supposed to have a tutorial but I dont really have anything to present so I'm just keeping quiet, like I normally do hehe) I felt like writing for a bit.

Just came back from Paris on Saturday night, after about a week there for my uni field trip. Quite nice though, although I have just been there in March with my parent, this one is different. I didn't even get neat to most of the main attractions, and I only catch one glimpse of the Eiffel Tower on the last day and didnt even get close to it. This time round I went to see the other parts of Paris, where people lived rather than where the tourists go.

We arrived on Monday, and stayed in the Montmartre area, just north of Gare Du Nord near to where Sacre Coeur is. It is probably easier to just say that its close to Moulin Rouge area.



So on the first night I went for a walk around the area, walked up to the top of the hill to the Sacre Coeur. Sketched for a bit, went to Moulin Rouge to find dinner (General rule to finding halal foods anywhere in Europe - find the dodgy area where the sex shops are, and you'll find the halal shops - quite a weird theory, but its works). And went back to the hotel to sleep after a long day of travelling.


Next day, the Lost project. We were supposed to walk the whole morning without the aide of a map, and are supposed to disorientate ourselves. Started walking at 9am, and record any decisions of why we turn right or left. At 1pm, locate where we are on the map and met up with the others at an architecture centre.


Ah, this is getting too long now for a comeback.


I went to the Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier in Poissy, just outside of Paris. Quite nice I think. Very interesting building to see for an architect, but not sure I would be worth the trip for the others though.




We also went to the La Villette Architecture School, the biggest in France I think. They have around 2000 architectural student, in comparison to about 350 that we have in UWE which makes us quite small to them. Seeing how they study architecture, it seem quite vague to me because they dont do much analysis to their site like we do in UK, and my lecturers share the same view when I spoke to them. We also went to an architects office called the Fischet Architectes, who do very interesting buildings and mostly are won though competitions. It is quite funny though, becauce while most of their buildings are really good and impressive architecturally, it doesnt really work. An example is the gymnasium they built in 2007, looks really impressive with the orange colour scheme, timber louvre and everything, but one of the student in our class who has actually played in it said I doesnt work because of the light and glare that comes through the slits on the wall. Imagine playing badminton, hitting the cock into the air, and suddenly lose sight of it mid-air due to the glare of the sun. Sucks, dont it?

The other place was the Catacombs. In the end of 18th Century, plagues and diseases were spreading from the cemeteries in Paris, especially the Saint Innocents Cemetery. So the decision was to move all the bodies from all the cemeteries in Paris underground, where the undergrond mining used to take place. About 6 million bodies were moved there, piled up together and made into a really interesting display. The length of the tunnels are about 1.7km long, and about 20 meters from the ground, which is lower than the Paris Metro system.





Well enough of the boring stuff. You might not be interested. Not even sure who opens this blog anymore anyway.




Some of the sketches I've done on the trip

For those of you who didnt know, I am expecting a baby in a month's time. Shu is due to give birth on the 13th of December, and her parents and siblings (6 of them!) is coming over to help out. It will be interesting times ahead of me.

Oh and I finally own a BMW, albeit an old one ('98 E36), but at least I will know the tricks before I buy a much later one before I go back to Malaysia when I'm done here.

Which could be a long time from now.

I can't wait to go back to Malaysia, where the friends and family are.

More Pictures

My car

Mini Europe, Brussels

Keukenhof

Brugge

Ish boleh tahan bengong gak blogger nih. Susahnyer la nak upload gambar. Senget la takleh nak selang la. hish.

Road Trip

Been a while without an update. I dont think this one would be much anyway. Just been back from Amsterdam driving from Bristol and covered 1030miles in 4 days with my car without any problems. Me, Dug, Yan, Syira and Anis went to Brugge, Brussels and Amsterdam and I would say that its a very successful, fun and picturesque trip. And too much jumping! See this:

Brugge

Brugge

Amsterdam

Keukenhof

Zaanse Schans

And all these taken with the camera timer on tripod! Imagine how hard to get the timing absolutely right to the second.

I'll upload some more pictures (that doesnt include jumping) afterwards. At the moment it seems impossible to add some more pictures into this website. Maybe heavy internet traffic at the server.

When? How?

This one is currently up for sale on eBay for GBP21,995. Damn its hot for a five years car! I wonder when would I get one and how would i actually gonna be able to pay for it. Dream on, the price of the car is one thing, but the BMW M3 is actually on the top of the insurance group here in the UK, which is Group 20. The most expensive insurance group which means you'd have to pay a fortune for the insurance as well. Mine now is only on Group 5. Cheap hehe.

I'd settte for a regular (regular??) BMW 320i instead. A 320Ci (Coupe version) with 2 doors would be nice and more sporty but that would sacrifice the practicality coz I like to pick up and give people a lift. I could pick a decent one up for around GBP5000 now if I have the money. I used to own a two door car before (rest in peace, maybe already recycled to be forks and spoons now) and I know how its like. Its not so bad.

Well I got another 4 years before I go back to Malaysia for good. Hope I have one by then.

Man I gotta stop dreaming about these BMWs.

Happy Birthday My Dear Wife!

Still breathing and well

Woooohoooooo passed most of the hurdles! Now just gotta finish that design work this weekend and on Monday morning I'm leaving for Copenhagen for a week for my studio field trip!

Good news this afternoon. Got an extra week off after Copenhagen as well. Apparently those lecturers that are involved with allocating us for a 6 week placement didnt quite finish their job in time. Its nice not having to go to classes for 8 weeks. But then, 9 to 5? Might be as bad, or most probably worse for me than classes. Oh well..

Copenhagen, here I come!

DEADline

I'm on the verge of psychotic breakdown. Period.

Tatkala bosan membuat assignment

Teka-teki yang perlu diberi penampar

1) Minyak ape yang disukai oleh lelaki?
Answer: MINYAKsikan pertandingan bolasepak Liga-M

2) Kuih ape yang bungkusnya di dalam, isinya di luar?
Answer: Kuih salah bikin.

3) Binatang ape power Karate?
Answer: Kuda belang.cube kira brape black belt dia ade.

4) Siape yang menemukan dompet kulit?
Answer: Yang menemukan dompet kulit tersebut tolong pulangkan kepada saye.

5) Pintu ape yang walaupun dengan 10 org pun tak leh nak tolak?
Answer: Pintu yang ade tulis 'TARIK'

6) Saya ade 3 kepala, 4 tangan dan 5 kaki...siapakah saya?
Answer: Pembohong...

7) Apa dia 'Jauh di mata, dekat di hati'?
Answer: Usus

8) Binatang ape yang seluruh anggota tubuhnya kat kepala?
Answer: Kutu rambut

9) Nenek sape jalannya meloncat-loncat?
Answer: Neneknye si katak

10) Knape lelaki jarang kene penyakit anjing gila?
Answer: Sbb lelaki ni kan 'buaya'

11) Ape beza sekretari baik ngan sekretari kurang baik?
Answer: Sekretari baik..................'Selamat pagi tuan'
Sekretari kurang baik...........'Dah pagi ni tuan'

12) Ape persamaan Michael Jordan ngan Michael Jackson?
Answer: Dua-dua tak kenal korang...hehe

13) Tukang ape yang kalau dipanggil, die menjenguk ke atas?
Answer: Tukang gali kubur

14) Nak mencari sikit punye susah, bile dah dapat buang, ape bendanya?
Answer: Tahi hidung

15) Ape persamaan kain jemuran ngan telefon?
Answer: Dua-dua kalau dah 'kringgg' bole diangkat...

16) Knape pokok kelapa kat depan rumah harus ditebang?
Answer: Mestilah kene tebang, sape nak cabut pokok kelapa ...gile ape...

17) Gajah terbang dengan ape?
Answer: dgn susah payah

hohohoohhh

*si jonet seperti biasa cuba menyelesaikan kerja rumahnya di saat-saat akhir tarikh penghantaran.

An Interesting Article From Utusan Malaysia

AS hukum Saddam

Sebenarnya bukan kerajaan Iraq, sebaliknya Amerika Syarikat (AS) yang memilih untuk menjatuhkan hukuman ke atas Saddam Hussein secara terburu-buru sebaik sahaja hukuman ke atasnya disahkan, sekali gus menidakkan semua perbicaraan yang sedang menantinya.

Kerajaan Iraq yang ada sekarang tidak mempunyai apa-apa untuk disembunyikan jika perbicaraan-perbicaraan itu diteruskan, tetapi AS mempunyai sebab untuk berasa bimbang.

Bagi memahami dan mengetahui susur-galur sebenar, perkara yang perlu adalah mengimbas semula pencerobohan AS ke atas Iraq pada Mac 2003.

Alasan pencerobohan AS pada ketika itu adalah Iraq mempunyai senjata pemusnah dan langsung tidak terlintas untuk membawa demokrasi kepada rakyat Iraq.

Bagi meyakinkan seluruh dunia bahawa senjata pemusnah besar-besaran (WMD) Saddam merupakan ancaman kepada seluruh dunia, maka didedahkan betapa jahat dan buruknya perangai Saddam termasuk “sanggup meracun rakyat sendiri.”

Malangnya sehingga hari ini senjata pemusnah itu terbukti tidak ada ada, menyebabkan skrip pencerobohan AS diubah, iaitu membawa demokrasi kepada penduduk Iraq.

Bagaimanapun dalil itu memerlukan Saddam tampil sebagai gergasi ganas dan pendedahan itu pula memerlukan cerita-cerita sokongan yang penuh dramatik bagaimana beliau membunuh rakyatnya sendiri, seperti melancarkan serangan gas beracun ke atas pemberontak Kurdis pada 1988, dan beliau akan dihukum gantung akibat “kejahatan itu.”

Memang perkara yang menarik apabila perbicaraan kes serangan gas itu sudah bermula beberapa bulan yang lalu, dengan perbicaraan membabitkan pemberontakan Kurdis pada 1988 dan penentangan Syiah pada 1991 dijangka bermula tahun ini. Malangnya, semua perbicaraan itu tidak menjadi kenyataan kerana terbatal dengan sendiri apabila Saddam menjalani hukuman gantung atas kesalahan membunuh 144 penduduk Dujail yang didakwa terbabit dalam komplot membunuh beliau pada 1982.

Mengapa Dujail? Bayangkan bahawa beliau muncul dalam tampuk kekuasaan pada lewat 1960-an dengan menyingkirkan semua kepimpinan Parti Komunis Iraq (kebanyakannya puak Syiah) daripada kekuasaan, melancarkan perang ke atas Iran pada 1980 yang menyebabkan setengah juta orang terbunuh, membunuh penduduk Kurdis pada 1987- 1988 apabila kebanyakan pemimpin puak ini menyebelahi Iran, menyerang Kuwait pada 1990 dan membunuh penduduk Syiah pada 1991 apabila mereka menentang pemerintahannya selepas berakhirnya perang.

Mereka menggantung Saddam kerana Dujail. Kenapa?

Ia sama seperti jika Adolf Hitler ditangkap pada 1945 tetapi kesalahannya mencetuskan Perang Dunia Kedua dan membunuh lebih enam juta orang Yahudi dibiarkan begitu sahaja, sebaliknya dibicarakan kerana membunuh orang yang disyaki terbabit dalam komplot melakukan serangan bom ke atasnya pada Julai 1944.

Sebegitu banyak jenayah yang dilakukan oleh Saddam, mengapa beliau digantung disebabkan tindakan pembunuhan ke atas komplot Dujail?

Jawapannya, AS terbabit secara langsung dalam semua jenayah, kecuali di Dujail. AS terbabit dalam pembunuhan ke atas anggota Parti Komunis Iraq, dengan Agensi Risikan Pusat (CIA) memberikan senarai keanggotaan kepada Saddam.

AS juga yang menyuruh Saddam melancarkan serangan ke atas Iran sehingga kepada tahap membekalkan senjata kimia, data perisikan satelit dan AWACS mengenai sasaran di Iran, selain menempatkan penterjemah foto Tentera Udara AS bagi melukis peta lengkap mengenai bentuk muka bumi Iran dan menyemburkannya dengan gas beracun.

Jangan lupa bahawa pentadbiran Reagan menghalang Kongres daripada mengecam Saddam kerana menggunakan gas beracun dan Jabatan Negara pula melindungi Saddam apabila beliau menyerang penduduk Kurdis menggunakan gas beracun pada 1988 di Halabja serta menyebarkan cerita bahawa Iran yang bertanggungjawab menyembur senjata kimia tersebut.

Bukan rahsia juga bahawa tentera laut AS yang memberikan perlindungan kepada kapal tangki yang membawa minyak dari negara-negara Teluk sementara pesawat pejuang Iraq bebas menyerang kapal-kapal tangki yang datang dari pelabuhan Iran.

Malah AS menutup mata apabila pesawat pejuang Iraq tersilap membedil kapal pemusnah AS pada 1987, menyebabkan 37 anak kapal terbunuh.

Dan bapa kepada Presiden George W. Bush sendiri yang bertanggungjawab menggesa penduduk Syiah dan Kurdis memberontak sebaik sahaja tentera Iraq diusir keluar dari Kuwait pada 1991, tetapi gagal menggunakan kekuatan tentera udara untuk melindungi penduduk Syiah selepas mereka melancarkan pemberontakan.

Sebenarnya AS terlibat secara langsung dalam semua jenayah-jenayah besar yang dilakukan oleh Saddam dan disebabkan itu juga perbicaraan yang dijalankan tidak membenarkan sama-sekali maklumat terperinci dikeluarkan dalam keterangan.

Sebaliknya para perancang dalam pentadbiran Bush sekarang telah menjadikan kes di Dujail sebagai pemula dalam perbicaraan Saddam sementara jenayah-jenayah yang lebih besar dibicarakan kemudian, kerana mereka tahu, hukuman mati akibat kesalahan di Dujail akan menutup semua jenayah-jenayah lain.

Sebab itu juga, lelaki yang dihukum gantung pada awal pagi Sabtu lalu bukan sahaja menjalani perbicaraan sandiwara di mahkamah kanggaru, tetapi turut dibunuh atas jenayah yang salah.

– Agensi

Death of An Arab Hero

Innalillah...Saddam Hussein was finally executed on the early morning of Eid ul-Adha, at approximately 6.00am local time of 30th December 2006 by hanging as many Iraqis began celebrating the holy day. There goes one Arab who could stand and fight against the US and its allies all these years.

The execution was seen as the first sacrifice for the Eid. This angries many Iraqis as it has sadden the day that was supposed to be a happy and holy day. But the new government of Iraq has seen the date of execution as essential, and a big step forward in moving on.

I was sad when I first learned about this on the news last night, as I could remember during school we used to talk about how brave Saddam was in standing up against the Americans. It was funny how at first, it was the Americans who supported Saddam during the First Gulf War of 1980-88. In 1982 with Iranian success on the battlefield, the U.S. made its backing of Iraq more pronounced, supplying it with intelligence, economic aid, normalizing relations with the government and also supplying weapons. The American President Ronald Reagan decided that the United States "could not afford to allow Iraq to lose the war to Iran", and that the United States "would do whatever was necessary and legal to prevent Iraq from losing the war with Iran." And now it was the Persians who helped the Americans capture the country and Saddam himself. I guess thats how the world's politics goes. (NB: I just found out that it was the Americans that helped to create the Vietcong in Vietnam, in order to drive out the French from Vietnam soil, but then turned against them)

There is a video of the execution on the net, and could be found easily if you search it. The one I watched is an amatuer video taken with a mobile phone, but there was also a cencored footage taken by a videographer. The amateur video shows the entire execution process, and includes the moment when the platform was dropped and Saddam falls into it. He has recited the shahadah and was finishing it again when the platform dropped. I looked into the Wikipedia page on the article about the execution last night, and was surprised that they 'could not' determine what his last words were, but from the video of the execution it could be clearly heard that he was reciting the shahadah. I tried to edit the page, and put down that his last words are the shahadah and that it could be clearly heard from the amateur footage. But this only lasts 2 or 3 minutes as somebody else deleted it and put back 'he made some other remarks up to the hanging but this could not be determined.' I was furious that somebody did not want the truth to be known to the public and edited the article a few time before I finally gave up and went to sleep. When i woke up this morning, somebody already edited it and put down the truth to be heard. There was also a funny entry in the article which was removed later - somebody put down "Saddam, as he is sentenced to death by butt sex hanging." Vandals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_Saddam_Hussein

I put the entry as 'Death of An Arab Hero' because thats how I see him. Maybe he was wrong with all the killings, but I think with the main three sects of his country, the Sunni, the Shi'ite and the Kurds who kept on fighting each other as long as the world can remember, the dictatorship was essential and he was successful in uniting Iraq and also successful in moderning it before the wars.

I maybe dont really know them, but from a recent personal experience of the Kurds people, I now could understand why Saddam did it. As one of my Arab friend states, 'The Kurds people are hard people, fraudulent, no wonder Saddam gassed them.' And referring to my own personal experience, he added "He is lucky he's here, if he's in Iraq Saddam would have gassed his asses off". What a guy.

Finally able to use the damn phone again

Lost a couple of my O2 simcards back in early October. Then, from a former experience, I specifically told O2 that I just lost the sims when I called to report it lost, NOT the phones and asked them to block only the sim cards and not the phone itself, before I could get new ones. Then, as stupid as O2 gets, they blocked the IMEI of my Nokia 8800 phone, although the phone was not registered or associated with the lost sims. I got the phone with another contract. Their excuse was, the phone was blocked because it was last used with the sims - somehow they got the IMEI number of the phone whenever you restart the phone with a sim and then got associated.

That was the start of a three-months battle to get my phone usable again. FYI, there's a centralised system in the UK, where, when a phone reported stolen or lost, the IMEI number of the phone was entered into the system and then blocked across all networks in the country. This is also widely known as 'Blacklisting'. Then, whats gonna happen is, the next morning you'll wake up next to your unusable phone which appears to not receive any signals. If you restart the phone, it will display "Sim Card Registration Failed". For a Motorola phone, it will appear as "Unregistered Sim" (Yes, has happened to me before) No calls can be made in or out, except emergency calls only, of course.

Thats what happens if you report your phone lost or stolen here in the UK. If you're gonna fraudulently report your phone lost, and claim the insurance to get a new one, send the old phone back to Malaysia where it should be able to be used again (applicable to Malaysians who 'sometimes' like this option). Such system does not exist yet in Malaysia. Kalau phone kena ragut ngan Mat Rempit tu, redha je la. But thats maybe not for long, because there are talks that they gonna try to centralise the system across the world. But I really doubt thats gonna happen anyway.

Okay, to my story then. Since the first day that I discovered that my phone was blocked, I have been calling 02 to try to unblock it. Every time I called they say they have sent forms to the network department that deals with blacklisting, and says that its gonna be resolved in 3 to 5 days. Then 5 days passed and still nothing happens. I called them again. Same thing promised but still Im waiting for nothing to happen. But I kept on calling, never gave up, after all this is my Nokia 8800 which I waited for nearly a year for its price to come down before I could buy it. It must have been over 20 calls or more, week after week, and I felt like calling them family now. haha. Empty promises goes on, until last week, which was 3 months later.

That morning, I restarted my phone and then 'O2-UK' appears! Finally.

NB: Ape daa anti-klimaks nyer citer. hampeh. Tp tensen tgh tunggu gaji masuk nih. Penat baru balik keje. malas nak type dah.

Moral of the story: dont get ur phone blacklisted - it'll get to ur nerves, a damn nuisance.

How Steady Are Your Hands?

http://www.winterrowd.com/maze/

Try playing this to test how steady your hands are. Great for boring nights.

Rip Off Again - 18SX

Honeymoon Postcard

A mother had 3 daughters. They were all getting married within a short time period. Because mom was a bit worried about how their sex lives would get started, she made them all promise to send a postcard from the honeymoon with a few words on how marital sex felt.

The first girl sent a card from Hawaii two days after the wedding. The card said nothing but "Nescafe." Mom was puzzled at first, but then went to the kitchen and got out the Nescafe jar. It said: "Good till the last drop." Mom blushed, but was pleased for her daughter.

The second girl sent the card from Vermont a week after the wedding, and the card read: "Benson & Hedges." Mom now knew to go straight to her husband's cigarettes, and she read from the Benson & Hedges pack: "Extra Long. King Size." She was again slightly embarrased but still happy for her daughter.

The third girl left for her honeymoon in the Caribbean. Mom waited for a week, nothing. Another week went by, and still nothing. Then after a whole month, a card finally arrived. Written on it with shaky handwriting were the words: "British Airways." Mom took out her latest Harper's Bazaar magazine, flipped through the pages fearing the worst, and finally found the ad for the airline. The ad said: "Three times a day, seven days a week, both ways." Mom fainted.

Ripped it off somebody - not my own

Got this story from somebody else's blog. Should I reference it? haha. Essay writing mode.

So the story goes..

A Very Good Husband

Robin wakes up at home with a huge hangover. He forces himself to open his eyes, and the first thing he sees is a couple of aspirins and a glass of water on the side table. He sits down and sees his clothing in front of him, all clean and pressed. Robin looks around the room and sees that it is in perfect order, spotless, clean. So is the rest of the house. He takes the aspirins and notices a note on the table. "Honey, breakfast is on the stove, I left early to go shopping. Love You!"

So he goes to the kitchen and sure enough there is a hot breakfast and the morning newspaper. His son is also at the table, eating. Robin asks, "Son, what happened last night?" His son says, "Well, you came home around 3 AM, drunk and delirious. Broke some furniture, puked in the hallway, and gave yourself a black eye when you tumbled into the door". Confused, Robin asks, "So, why is everything in order and so clean, and breakfast is on the table waiting for me? I should expect a big quarrel with her!"

His son replies, Mom dragged you to the bedroom, and when she tried to take your clothes and shoes off, you said, "Lady leave me alone! I'm married!"

Cleaning The Car

Thats something that hasn't been done for a very, very long time. Need to do it soon. The condition is deteriorating. Fast.

Done watching Dexter. Now back to work. Work. Work.

Perhaps this is not a blog. More like a photoblog. Hmm..

Holiday

Cuti. Cuti Cuti.

Tapi..

banyak kerja. banyak kerja. banyak kerja.

Tapi..

dok melepak. dok melepak. dok melepak.

Kena..

buat kerja. buat kerja. buat kerja.

Jangan..

main poker. main poker. main poker.

Duit..

tarak. tarak. tarak..


Hope it'll all become fine before i myself know it. Damn.

Feeding Birds in Venice

Me feeding birds in Venice during Hari Raya 2005.
Notice that I've ran out of bird food and went on to buy a new pack from one of the birdfood seller that was selling right beside me. There's also that boy in the green jacket who tried to 'steal my thunder'. One of my classmates, when I showed this video to her, screamed "Its all over you! How could you play with these pigeons! They are like rats, with wings!!" Its good fun anyway.

Been to Venice twice now. But I'd like to go there again sometime soon. My favourite place in Europe over any other places that i've seen and been. The best.

We'll go there together soon eh, Ayang? hehe.