Sunday, April 30, 2006

Cheering for Malaysia for the 1st time.

Hmm...from your comments I get the impression that you guys think I'm crapping stories up just to entertain you fellas. Well, sorry to dissapoint you guys. I was and am NOT crapping. I know it's weird and fishy and bullshitty that ridiculous things keep happening to me but hey, it's not my fault if the world wants to find fault with me right?? At least my ridiculousness didn't result in burning my own room down!! (Check out "Fiery experience by Sarawakian's tale)

And NCS, I enjoyed Mitch Albom's books and "The Undomestic Goddess" by Sophie Kinsella. Currently trying to read Dostoyevsky....key word, "trying".

(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)(',)


I'm embarrass to admit that despite being a Malaysian, I've never cheered for Malaysians teams before (for any international sport event) . Well, I don't think I'm the only one...heck, I've even met people who are proud that they've never supported Malaysian team, including some of you readers. Don't blame you guys though...there never was any strong reason to support our team anyway.

HOWEVER.....this wednesday, I'm going to get my chance to redeem myself as a Malaysian. You see, I'm having my 1 week long holiday starting this Wednesday....which is in conjunction with the Thomas Cup quaterfinal. I don't know what the reason is but I'm actually looking forward to see Malaysian shuttlers in action and cheer my lungs out for them. Well, not exactly "I" but a big bunch of us....mainly students who's studying in japan. (Why we all get so worked-up and patriotic only when we are overseas...I don't know) . We gonna meet up in Tokyo and go cheering together. Uhh....umm....how to cheer in Bahasa Malaysia?? Seems to have forgotten....all I know now is "Ganbatte" and last I heard, Wong Choon Han and friends fon't speak Jap.

Of course I'm assuming that Malaysian team advanced to the quaterfinal stage. News says they played England today....although I'm in Japan, I spent my day today polishing asses...(to me it's doingt ASSignments, don't really like doing em' so, refuse to think of any nice word for it) so I am not updated on the results yet. They seemed pretty confident as they said they'll rest the top players and save em' for Indonesia or China.

MALAYSIA BOLEHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Other than being excited about Thomas cup....I'm also looking forward to my friends comments towards me as I don't "generate" crap that fast or frequent anymore....One of my very old friend once commented "Feels a little cold don't you think?? ...No, I'm not talking about the weather." And this is the one comment that bothered me the most. I wonder if I've change for the worse...if I have indeed turned to be cold....if I've changed from being friendly to being stuck up....if I'm feared (mainly japs).
Know what?? I sometimes wonder if by using most of my crap here, I balance myself by not talking so much crap outside. The world DO revolve around "BALANCE" anyway. It's like I've fulfilled myself here so, there's not much desire to crap out there. Hmm...for the first time I think there's actually a need for me to read Joke books to keep up with you guys!!!!


PS: Keep an eye out for the news...soon there'll be a headline "World's Eighth wonder....Ketam studying a joke book"

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

The guy who wouldn't hurt a fly...

The reason I changed my blog title form "a crap's journey in Japan" to Codename M.A.F.I.A is because...well, no one else here calls me ketam, it's as simple as that. BUT...I do have another nickname here....mafia.

I've long suspect the reason behind this nickname is because I wear a pair of glasses that turns dark when exposed to sunlight, thus bringing out the "sunglasses effect". And add that to my body size...most people find me mysterious, dangerous, scary. And don't forget that I don't speak as much as I used to...cold as people say I am, just don't have the feeling to talk much nonsense anymore. I do smile occasionally at people whom I know but otherwise I keep a straight face.

The first time I was called mafia was when I fist get to know the 5th year students here last year. After they got close to me, they told me that they were afraid of me .....heck, some were even afraid to even exchange glances with me!!!

The second case was when attendance taking during P.E. ...My instructor was sitting down when I went to him. He looked up at me and litterally almost fell off the chair!! He thought I was some ...well, some mafia.

But the best of the best cases I ever faced was yesterday. You see, I was at this supermarket wanting to buy some fish. (Yeah, mafia buying fish...funny shit but that's not my story). I was parking my bicycle when two lil' girls, aged 3 and 5, ran outside the supermarket. The 5 year old was chasing her sister yelling ..."Hey! don't go running around or you'll get lost. There's also dangerous people around". She then points at me and says ..."Oh look, a ROBBER is here". The 3 year old take one look at me, shrunk back at her sis and they both ran back inside, blocking the door.

Why on earth are they blocking the door?? I was not there to kidnap kids, I was there to buy my stinking fish!!!

Sigh...well, I may look like a mafia buy they just don't know that I'm the kind of guys that wouldn't hurt a fly.....



PS: Whacking my friends I still might though...hehe

Saturday, April 22, 2006

The passion of photography.

I was god of japanese in Malaysia?? Huh...was I? Wow...never knew that to be. Thanks though. And uhh...for my juniors in japan, don't worry too much ....しょうがねよ、できるだけ頑張ればいいの!!
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Having not using my vidcam for some time (also because of my recent PC prob, my photos and vids got erased) I've somehow lost my passion for photography and videography (this word exist?). I just do not feel like taking any pics at all....nor be taken also.

But this afternoon, I somehow relighted my desire for picture taking. You see, just this afternoon, me, my college's friends together with Izyan and Ili went to a nearby park to see tulips. It's mid-spring now and tulips are blooming proudly to take over the once prided, but fallen sakuras. Like a typical picnic, we all brought food with us and had a great lunch there, we had bee hoon goreng, keropok, meatball, cheese cake(probably the best stuff there)....I brought along Cengkodok pisang that i made myself but too bad it was a lil' too salty(probably the worst stuff).....all in all it was a great gathering. Done with stuffing ourselves, we went on to do what we went there for, enjoy the tulips.

At first I was..." Nah, it's just flowers...no reason to fuss with a camera" but as I tread my way through the flower beds.....the forgotten beauty of flowers overwhelmed me.
The innocent pink.....
The pure and elegant white...
Vibrant yellow...
Burning red....
There's even purple one with white edges, just like it was made up with lipstick....

And then for the first time in many months....I felt like taking photos. I mean, I really had a strong urge to push the "snap" button. Wanted soo badly to preserve what beauty I was witnessing. I could actually imagine myself standing there taking still pics....what angles I would take them, how much close up, sunlight effect...Never had i ever felt so restless before.

Then again.....never did I knew flowers would hold such an effect on me!

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Language Handicaps...

Yeah, just as i was bragging away at being "God of English" ... i forgotten the fact that I'm still a handicap when it comes to Japanese Language.

Just this afternoon, during my last lecture of the day, my lecturer gave us a "hand-in-or-you- ain't- going-back" kind of assignment. My assignment was about ropes@cables used in various fields...from elevators to constuction. We were suppose to read our text books and compare different kinds of ropes@cables listed. Class officially ends at 4.40 p.m. but since most of my classmates finished their assignments fast, they get to go back early. As for me, I was in the class until 5.00 p.m .

Damn....I can barely understand the text written!!! And I had to pick this day of all days to forget my electronic dictionary. Thus, I was struggling my ass off....finnally finishing it with help from one of my classmate. And then this thought occured to me...

"What's the point of being worshipped for English when I have to live by Japanese language!!!".

Speaking of which, my junior, a guy from Ipoh, is also struggling here. He suffers not understanding what lects write and speak. And worse still, he's not confident enough of his Japanese to ask around. Seeing how much he struggles, I actually admire myself for being able to survive the last year. W-O-W.....

Well, guess I still have a loooong way to go in Japan. お互いに頑張ろう!!!


PS: That means all the best to myself.....more or less.

Friday, April 14, 2006

PC: Problematic Crap

Haha....yeah, old me being a teacher. Anyway, yes Kelly, you do get treated like god when you utter one simple, harmless word in english. Here in my college, lesturers have especially low self confidence when it comes to speaking scientific terms in english. They, full grown men with wrinkles on their forehead and grey hair, would say one english term and then look at me with big, shiny, watery eyes....along with quivering eyebrows (ya know, just like when a lil' cute girl ask her mom for a candy) until I nod my head in approvement of their pronunciation. And now that i'm in my 4th year, it's gotten worse. Lects now thinks that I know everything, just like the Oracle in the Matrix. Sigh....another year of worshipness in Japan.

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PC...most people would say that it's "Personal Computer". Well, I beg to differ.....to me, it's Problematic Contraption....or just plain Crap.

You see, I brought with me Windows XP Professional SP2 from Malaysia back to Japan. And so I tried upgrading my PC from SP1 to SP2 . Well, after i loaded my cd, it failed to fully detect my hard disk drive (HDD). My hard disk is 250 Gbyte....but it detected only 130 Gbyte. And so i lost all my recorded video clips and photos....all those pics and movies that I've treasured soooo much. All those funny pics and vids. All my masterpieces.......
I then tried to load my old SP1 cd...guess what? That ciplak Malaysian CD did something to the HDD...and I had to reformat everything!! And there goes my songs...all of it.

Then at that moment of non-chemical, non-preservative, pure frustation, I was enlightened. I realised that as globally used as English is, it have not yet created enough words for me to curse at my PC at my moment of frustating frustation. This could be my shortest entry yet, The End.


PS: To say that i would go for the original from now onwards, nah..... RM10 Cds are just to temtpting to deny.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Kelas diri....SELAMAT PAGI CIKGU!!

If you guys thought my craziness' is at max level, DEAD WRONG!!

Just as I myself thought I couldn't do anymore crazy stuff, I did. I manage to get myself hired as an English Teacher. Yep...you are not suffering from reading disorder. An English Teacher. HAH!!! Someone should tell Audrey about this. For those who don't know Audrey, she's the God of English back in high school. She's soooo good in english that we actually had a shrine worshipping her. My english is ..uhh....okay-la, boleh pakai la....but hey, look who's teaching english now!!

I'm teaching not at a tuition center but at a NPO (Non-profit org). My first class was this afternoon actually.....Met up with the president of that org, had lunch..then began my class. My students were two elderly people at their sixties. Mr. Takahashi and Mrs. Ueno. I taught them how to give a proper self introduction, taught them how to engage a simple conversation (hobbies and stuff). but most importantly.....I taught them how to crap! Damn....my boss was sooooo impressed by their crap that she hired me on the spot!!!

Having done my first lesson, I found myself enjoying it very much. I felt a certain pride in me when they gave their perfect self intro in english. Well yeah, it don't sound all too perfect but it is to me. Seeing their proud smiles on their faces gave me this....this...sense of self satisfaction that I've never felt before in my life. I never knew that being a teacher is actually one of life's hidden miracles (ehem....given that student is not someone like me of course. If i ever have to teach someone like me, Damn! it'll be hell!!). Now, I understand why our teachers loves us so much. Speaking of which, an old friend of mine, Egbert, is in training to become a teacher. For the fact that i'm on an engineer's path, I actually envy him a lot.

I uhmm....like to take back my word about doing something crazy. Being a teacher is different. Man, am I looking forward to my next lesson!!!

Friday, April 07, 2006

My "Visit" to Malaysia.

Yep, visit. I chosed to use the word "visit" instead of "homecoming" because that's exactly how i felt during my visit back home.

Don't get me wrong though, going back was great. As a matter of fact it's the best time i've ever had the last 12 months. First of all, it was great meeting up with my old folks. Ya know....I purposely did another braid right before i got home. My parents must have missed me a lot since they did not strangle me on the spot after they saw my braided hair and especially after i told them it cost me RM200. Haha....you can say that i was "Challenging" my old folks. Well, didn't last long though. You see, my mum started nagging at me after a week at home. It started with :
"Randy, why don't you cut your hair?"
"Randy, to be honest, your braid's not nice"
"Randy, don't want to cut your hair ah?"
"Randy, long hair don't suit you, you know..."
"Randy..."

OKAY!! Let's get a haircut shall we? Sigh...mothers...


Then there was meeting my old buddies....I must be lucky because I got to meet up most of my friends. Those already in Melaka, Danny...he got a new girlfriend whom i'd like to refer as The Energizer Bunny, no offence though, fun girl to chat too. Samson, well, he's got the hots for a girl who plays squash..hmm, seems like he have a liking for girls who's "good with hands" (Are you thinking what i'm thinking? wink* wink* ) Then there's Olive...she brought back 10 kg of books from India. There's Kulvinder...still slim and pretty as ever. I went out for dinner with her once and a bunch of STSD' ians (it's my highschool name) thought we were couples...haha, if only I was that lucky. then there's Ai Jun...non-stop blaring about Irish guys, Irish hunks, Irish gentlement. Last when I saw her pic, i prepared myself with a long list of fat jokes but...she wasn't as fat as I thought...still fat, but not fat enough. Fat jokes was also aimed at Ern Suey but...I was also fat at that time so....Also, met up with Lemak (Lim Kian Min)...fat as hell. Ah Zhuang's still as spontaneous and funny as usual. Oh, went up to KL to see Hang Seng and Shao Yin. Hang Seng's still Hang Seng....no change or what-so-ever. Shao Yin's got a new boyfriend...you should have seen them together, nerd's dream come true.
And not forgetting..Kenny. I didn't see him..just wanted to. Really didn't have the time for it. Sorry dude.


So how I spent my time? Like I said in my previous blog, C-H-E-W. Ate soooo much that there's this one time, I was wearing one of my usual pants. I sat down, let go a sigh, and my button POP! Damn, I was shocked as hell at that time. You know...like when you seat down and suddenly your pants button come flying at you. . . . . . . . . . Okay, I get it I'm fat. So what? Lemak's been fat since forever....i could handle one month being fat. hmm, I wonder what's for dinner....

ANYWAY....I'm Randy. My life's not so simple as "Eat and get fat". I'm not Kian Min. I managed to drag my fat ass to Pulau Lang Tengah in Terengganu. WOW, that is a beautiful place. Went there with P.I.C Jeremy and P.I.C Fook Hee and another Jap guy. Was there for 3D 2N, went snorkelling for two days straight and manage to get a sun burn (Now I'm fat and black..what next?). At the island, we met with a bunch of Singaporean, 5 of em' actually. Let's see...umm...they are Jeremy (Singapore version), Eddie, Kai ling, Antoina and Charlene. Jeremy and Fook Hee both like Charlene as she's the cutest in the group. Fook Hee's saying it out in the open all the time but P.I.C Jeremy's denying all the time. Hah, deny all you want P.I.C Jeremy, I caught you stealing glances a few times!!

And then.....and then I got bored. I actually felt like going back to Japan already!! I don't know why but I just feels that way. Felt like I need to get back and actually do some work. Relaxing and playing too much already. Now that I'm back in my room in Japan...I actually feel good about it. Never knew that I can get restless after only a month in Malaysia!!