Thursday, December 27, 2007

PMR 2007

Results are out today.

It's the best ever in terms of the no. of people getting 8As.

98 people got 8As, 12 7As, 6 6As, 3 5As and 1 3As; giving an 82% straight As results (only second time in history if I am not mistaken koleq has surpassed the 80% mark).

All As for BM and Kemahiran Hidup, congratulations to Cikgu Umi aka Ibu Arini (nama manja the debaters called her ha ha). A near miss for English as all save one person obtained A result.

So far all the debaters and hockey players from 0509 got 8As.

Another excuse for holding a party! Weeeeeee heeeeee (the boys have already SMSed asking for all the sort of treats I owe them now. Shit)

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Sukantara 2008: When Karaoke Takes Over








Masa kat Prep School jarang dapat turn on
Mungkin sebab Common Room nya penangan
Hari tu ada buat meeting konon
Banyak laa jugak yang ditaichi kiri kanan

Ada jambu sorang nama dia Faiz suara serak-serak
Tapi ha ha rambut ala ala aku je la ni
Semua orang serius macam nak rak
Giler speret buat2 hal reunion ni

Jambu dorm aku MirJ dulu yang fancynya Ja
Tapi diorang ni sebab ada Auzir jadi bagai punggok merindu bulan
Sampai sekarang semua komiti dok sibuk buat kerja
Tapi aku punya haram berjalan

Kalau nak tengok budak tu jambu pure ke tak datang pagi2
Then baru kau tahu setengah yang jambu tu sebenornya kuini
Reunion actually nya tinggal sebulan je lagi
Waaaaa so much tak buat lagi ni

Apa-apa pun Radin punya kisah laaa lagenda maut
Bersama-sama pagi petang siang malam sana sini
Aku dah nak start freak out
Sebab tak pernah aku rasa aku manage reunion cacamerba macam ni

Ha ha kat koleq la aku paling banyak pakai kain
[Nampak sangat aku dah habis modal nak siapkan pantun ni]
Hari tu lepas makan-makan dan main-main
Last-last yang stay back dok pi karaoke jugak

Kat Miss Sherry sampai sekrang Mpro tak habis rindu
Walaupun tak happy ever after dia tak pernah sesal :-p
Mpro balik lambat sanggup tunggu
Bila kena pujuk ngan fadli punya pasal :-p

Peristiwa Bobo kena londeh seluar ngan Azizam kat pondok jaga
Sampai bila2 dalam memory it remain
Emil anak Abahnya dah ikut ex-betik abah dia
Once dapat mic hampeh tak nak bagi kat orang lain!

Berjiwang kat koleq kadang2 bahagia kadang2 sakit
So adik2 tak yah la sibuk2 pening kepala jer
Just now borak ngan Epit
Dia tanya sebab apa suara aku miserable giler

Kalau lah lantai kat koleq tu semua pakai marble
Tiap2 hari form 1 kena polish sampai kilat nyer
Memang laaa suara aku miserable
Sebab aku memang miserable giler (ha ha)*

Ha ha dalam batch kitorang binatang yang taboo adalah gagak
Tapi joke2 berkenaan gagak jugak lah yang paling kekal dalam memori
So come what may Sukantara kena jalan jugak
Kalau tak aku kena buang batch lagi…..

* yang ni tak masuk ritma


NOTE
This is dedicated to the most dedicated, ablest and tireless group of people who always remind me what a blessing I have been given to be amongst all of you – that despite the woes of the world, we can always come together for a short night and all will be washed away. The greatest blessing that I was given is not whatever I possess with me now – but the gift of the people around me whom God has given me so far.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

What? Can Check Blog From Office Again Maaaa

Ha ha ha I guess either:

1) My employer realised blocking access to blogs adds up to stress level; or

2) The IT service provider is in such a big trouble; or

3) The big bosses actually check blogs or have blogs of their own; or

any combination of the above - it doesn't really matter but blogs are accessible from office server again! Weeeee heeeeeeee.

So I can post when I am bored again!

3 overdue posts:

1) Mesyuarat Penyimpan Mohor Yang Besar Bagi Reunion Sukantara

2) Debaters' Camping @ Teluk Senangin, Lumut

3) USM Open 2007 for MigDuck kids

4) Reflection of "kehidupan seorang form 2"

5) Jiwang Karat ala Koleq zaman kini

(ok laaa it's 5 overdue posts, I know I know I know)

Ha ha ha simple things in life - I am so elated and it makes my day that I can access blog from office again; it feels a lot better than getting a big fat bonus cheque (because for the latter, you have to suffer for 17 hours a day in office for months before you actually get it; but free access to blogs - it's like sex without condom!)

OK now I know why they block access in the first place...

Later; I owe 5 posts by end of this week. And then starting next week - it's a series of liputan langsung musim perkahwinan, starting with Sharap's, Jita's then Auzir's; plus MigDucks' first training for the year.

Waaaaaa so much going on; aku dah excited gle.....

Hit me.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Lagha....

Will post soon, thought for once I'll try to be cheeky - but later (now too busy with many things).

In the mean time, I would like to come clean and take full responsibility for the state of lagha-ness in our batch, as the seed started in koleq right under my watchful (or rather unwatching) eyes as president of BRU. Oo God leave some room for redemption for me, for it was not my choice that I was cursed with friends who drag me towards benda-benda lagha.



Monday, November 19, 2007

Pulau Pandan Jauh Ke Tengah

Once in a while in the span of our lifetime, we are shaken by events that take us completely by surprise.

In a matter of 24 hours, events that took years to build up unfolded within hours.

Most of the time, when faced by such events, we have to do what our gut feeling tell us to do. Hopefully we are guided by our values and principles. But most importantly, we must pray to Allah that our conscience is guided by Allah all the time, that we always do what is right.

We can never be sure that we do the right thing - only time can tell.

I do not know why certain things must happen; but I am sure things always happen for a reason. Whether it's a good reason or bad reason, remains to be seen.

I am still confused whether I did the right thing or not. But then, as always it's between us and Allah - and Pulau Pandan after all, always jauh ke tengah.

To some people who read this, take comfort. Be at peace. Peace comes from within. So seek within.

Monday, November 05, 2007

Mighty Ducks Cup 2007








MigDucks Cup in Manjong was smashing! It was one of the few moments this year that I so enjoyed myself and all the big things that had happened in the past one year were put behind temporarily.

No doubt all of us Bapak Itiks (Bapak Itik, Itik Lucah, Itik Gempal, Itik Boroi, Itik Kiasu, Itik Berkira, Itik Lawak & isteri and Itik Lemak kot for Syed Asruruuuu) felt like we were 15 again.
But it was not without drama and scares in spite of all the most careful planning we had had for a Mighty Ducks program so far. After the hiccup of the last training session in the last school break (where we were literally stood up by the juniors ha ha), we wanted to make sure all grounds were covered so the planning started right after the school break and was micromanaged at the lowest level – with everyone so minutely guarding their KPIs; otherwise there would be another long thread in the MigDucks mailing list cursing at each other.






But what is MigDuck without dramas, I come to accept that it is the drama that makes it so memorable (and satisfying when we pull it off).

The short-listed nominations for MigDuck drama of the year from this event are as follows (drum roll):



  • “.. mintak maap tapi kami nasihatkan cancel saja”

    A week before the tournament was supposed to happen, I received an SMS from koleq, advising me to call off the event since no teacher was available to accompany the boys on the bus from KK to Manjong. Though it was understandable that at the end of the school term, most teachers were occupied with either personal plans or post-exam commitments – I actually went straight off through the roof to the point that I told the teacher in charge (who has become so close to us) that if the tournament was called off, we would pack up and never return again.

    The suspense went on for a few days as the teacher went around frantically to persuade a teacher to sacrifice a day for the boys but to no avail.

    I finally had to break our code of not going to the superiors and SMS the HM, asking his help to assign a teacher for the tournament. It was not really a nice thing to do as some of the teachers definitely had been scolded but it did get the job done.

    But I’ll be careful where I park my car next when I am in koleq he he.


  • “.. encik bawak berapa orang pompuan?”

    Epit, Mpro, Idzam and Syed Asrul took one day off on Friday to be there for the final preparation before the game. I guess Epit wanted to make sure everything was perfect since he was the project manager for the tournament (and Epit needed this tournament to deflect any criticism of his commitment to Mighty Ducks since he had to take a backseat all this while due to a professional commitment he had to complete).

    So to prepare for their reconnaissance mission last Friday, Mpro had booked an accommodation (a large air-conditioned dormitory with a four star facility as advertised on the net) at a local Inn (whose name I have forgotten).

    The four of them had been planning what to do to enjoy themselves in Manjong while waiting for us to arrive (and a good time off from the family too) in the last one month that when they found out the actual condition of the room, all life was taken from them.

    Greeted by a front man who was more fit to man a laundry shop than a hotel (this description is my very own), they were shown to an empty room full of graffiti. A semblance of a hotel room was given by a stack of old mattresses, a few packed soaps and a few toilet rolls lumped together by the mattresses.

    To top it all, the front man also enquired how many women (read: prostitutes) they were bringing with them.

    They thought they were spending the night in a four star accommodation; they ended up in a one star prostitute den!

    I was told that Syed Asrul profusely told them that had I been around, it would have been such an issue so they had to change room.

    They finally moved to a much better hotel (so good for value and nice too) called Orchard Inn nearer to Manjong town.


  • “.. errr epit kenapa ada budak2 pompuan sekolah rendah kat turf ni”

    The boys left late on the day itself because the driver was late. The Bapak Itiks who were already there then took their sweet time that Canoe and I (who left at 4 am Saturday morning from KL) arrived first at the astroturf stadium in Manjong.

    We made a tour first and realised the stadium was occupied by a group of primary school girls. I then went to check with the teacher in charge and found out that the turf was booked by a school – and they had a receipt to prove it.

    So you can imagine the panic that I had – after all the trouble getting people scolded to get the boys from KK to Manjong, where the hell would we have the tournament now that the stadium was booked by someone else.

    A short phone call later to Epit sent everyone to panic as well because a good weekend was about to be spoilt by my rather infamous tantrum and bitchiness. But Epit calmly (he he well he wasn’t really calm to tell the truth, he was panicking like hell too) checked with the officers in charge, only to find out that the clerk who took the booking – took a double booking. That clerk is none other than a son of the familiar Pak Syed whose house near the train station was often frequented by budak koleq from the kampong batches.

    There was no point to argue with the teacher because both of us were victims of a careless job by the clerk – so Epit negotiated that they cut short the training, which they agreed (and my about to explode temper vanished just like that).

    The boys arrived half an hour before the pitch was cleared. We took the time for the briefing and all other administrative matters.

    The girls were too happy to relinquish the pitch as they stayed on to admire these “abangs” from MCKK (and along the way had crushes here and there).

    So all worked out well, to Epit’s great relief.

Pacing the turf when the panic set in



  • “.. rain or shine (but never be late)”

    Badut and Red were the last one to arrive. Badut’s task was on the medals and the trophy – so we were getting anxious to see the medals and trophy.

    Badut on the other hand, was anxious not to show the medals and the trophy to us, because frankly speaking they were the truest testimony of cheap skate culture. The medals especially looked so cheap the karipap served in our meetings must have cost more (ha ha).

    While waiting for Badut to arrive (and in the midst of the turf fiasco with the primary school girls), a few of us made some SMS to Badut to warn him that I was about to explode (though later on we found out Mpro had already notified Badut that “kemarahan sekarang sudah beralih kepada Epit” hence why Badut took his sweet time to arrive).

    Though my jaw did drop when Badut showed me the medals, I thought it should not be a big deal because the whole point of the tournament was to make it fun and provided the boys with an experience they could share among themselves as they grow up. It was more of a team building exercise in nature, not a real competitive tournament. Besides, we have many other prizes lined up for them.

    (Well the actual reason why I settled for the cheaper-than-karipap medals was because I was the one who set the budget at RM300 for all the medals and trophy, so Badut kept hinting that he delivered his KPI as agreed – basically I had a part to play in the cheaper-than-karipap sham. But then again, that’s what happens when you leave two accountants to decide on prizes)

    Despite all this, Badut had to contend with the joke that the motto for the hockey team would be modified to “Rain or Shine (but never be late)” as a reminder to his lateness that morning (suspected due to an unplanned morning exercise in the room).

    But when the tournament did take off, it was so fun. I cannot describe how proud and happy we were to see the kids in full spirit playing hockey, how competitive they were and to see them just being kids. The F1s and F2s impressed us with their game and sportsmanship, after all 3 months ago we had to bribe them and bought them the sticks for them to play.

    I was especially happy to see the F3s to come back to the team after a year’s disappearance – now that they had no excuse not to come down for the training. The F3s captain – Holland – was in full spirit and just like the first time we met him; he had this “AKU TAK NAK BUAT APA BUT NAK MAIN HOKI JE KAT KOLEQ” written on his forehead.

    It was really a mini carnival – with a lot of packed food, songs from the radio, the boys’ iPod (connected to the laptop and speaker we brought with us) and KNO’s collection of MP3s. We gave each one of them a free t-shirt – I don’t know what they feel about the design but nobody seemed to complain about it.

    It was liberating for us to be away from the drowning atmosphere of KL (what with the never ending work commitments) and for the boys to be away from koleq.



    We had so much fun that I bought a complete set of new shoes, socks and 3-quarter track bottom (the only piece of cloth not new is the boxer) to play in a show-match game against the kids at the end (although in normal circumstances, when I was rational I would not had consented to fooling myself in public like that).

    Even the game was fun – Bapak Itiks won 1-0. Initially Epit and I were the forwards, my guess was Badut was aiming for a draw (by putting all the hockey players at the centre and defence) but I was too hopeless trying to become “curi ayam” that in the second half I switched position with Mpro.

    Which worked well too because the kids were really careful in attacking that a slight body contact with me sent them apologizing as if they had just hit me in the face! (For the record, I did hit the ball a few times in the game)

    I can go on about the results, the players awards etc. but I thought the videos here can tell the stories better.

    It will definitely become an annual event in Manjong! Mighty Ducks Cup 2008 – here we come!



    FOOTNOTE

    I will not do justice if I don’t thank my batchmates who had answered the call for contributions and as always too willing to give your cash for the kids. I know you don’t want your names published here – but last weekend wouldn’t have been possible without you guys. Thank you very much and we owe you a lot, so the least we could do is to make sure Sukanterer Reunion is smashing too!

    Thank you too to the group of ex-hockey players who were generous to contribute money for Mighty Ducks. Hopefully the boys will do justice to your hope and contribution.




      POST SCRIPT

      Even as I am writing this blog, I am too aware that Shahrol had only left us for a mere 2 weeks. It was a struggle initially to focus on Mighty Ducks Cup (and all the other activities with the kids we had planned for) because I really felt guilty to enjoy myself. It’s the inner thought that as and when I enjoy myself, it is as if I stop mourning and have moved on.

      On the other hand, Shahrol would have enjoyed this tournament more than anyone of us if he was around. He would have wanted the boys to really enjoy the tournament. He would have wanted us the Bapak Itiks to be there with the boys and make the best of it.

      Shahrol once offered me his help for Mighty Ducks when we started out in January this year, because I had never carried out any project without his involvement. But I told him flatly that I needed him for the debaters and I wanted him to spend more time with his family – hence why he wasn’t involved with Mighty Ducks.

      When I made a posting 2-3 weeks ago asking for contribution for the tournament, he called me and wanted to give a few hundreds ringgit. I told him I needed his money for the debaters, so I will call him before the debaters camping in December.

      I guess that will never happen now.

      But Shahrol would have been the happiest if he was with us in Mighty Ducks and if he was there in Manjong last weekend.









      KNO had posted more than 200+ photos from the tournament here.

      Monday, October 29, 2007

      Allahyarham Shahrol Nizam Yusoff II












      Alhamdulillah we had a simple tahlil for Shahrol tonight. Everyone had started leaving around 10+ but Izrin, Izzat and Bean stayed behind to help me clean the place.

      There were those who were his acquaintance and close friends before he left us, there were those who had difficulty remembering which one was Shahrol. I showed them videos and photos to remind everyone - and usually the common response was "laaa budak ni memang baik dulu".

      I hope whatever small ibadah that we do will lessen his burden a bit. Also to make sure those who were close to him remember him well.

      I was also touched by the generosity and compassion shown by many of my batchmates - after all, only Wong, Allen, myself and Pejal whom can be considered close to Shahrol, as we always pray and drink together. But the outpouring of contribution as well as messages of condolence gave me comfort that we all have grown up - that it is not about someone you know or your batchmates, it is about a fellow Muslim brother and his soon to be 4 anak yatim and his grieving widow.

      I take comfort that when my time comes and these fellas are around, Insya Allah they will arrange the necessary and will remember me well.

      Thanks to all who came tonight, and those who sent messages and wanted to come but couldn't. May in our death, we too be remembered and blessed with friends who care and pray for us.

      Attendance:

      Class of 94
      Allen
      Jita
      Chamat
      Wong
      Ezrin (Imam)
      Zaman
      La'ba
      Aiwa
      Tungkid
      Sharap
      Idzam
      Harrie
      Pejal

      Class of 93
      Canoe

      Class of 91
      Faiz Hussin

      Class of 2000
      Izrin

      Class of 2004
      Izzat
      Bean