Sayu =(

Yesterday midnight I was blasting lagu rayas from my Creative Zen when Beg Mal burst in excitedly into the room, talking on his hp. Beckoning me to lower down the volume, only then it dawned on me that he was on a trunk call with my dad in Mekah.

Bless him, I spoke to Ayah and his voice was tinged with emotion as he heard my voice for the first time in weeks. It's only then that he told me in Mekah it's just been announced that Syawal has arrived, and they're celebrating Aidilfitri one day early, and I could hear the laungan takbir of the masjid in the background. Having experienced Aidilfitri in Mekah once, I could well imagine the atmosphere and emotions my parents were feeling. He was telling me that he was feeling sayu without the presence of his anaks and cucus. Ahhh...

So I sent an sms to Ayah and Ibu wishing them Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Alhamdulillah dapat bertemu Aidilfitri pat Mekah and I woke this up this morning to receive a heart-wrenching sms from Ibu saying that she misses us all so much and that she terbayang² our faces, and that that she was gonna solat Aidilfitri soon. An hour or so later, I received a call from Ibu and a wave of emotion washed over me as I heard Ibu sounding happy and yet at the same time she was cryin saying she's sedih because it's already raya over there and her children are not around to be with her. It really struck me then how much children mean to parents. Despite their children all being adults, and at 22 I'm the youngest, they still see us as their babies, especially to mothers.

I really miss my parents.

Family Buka

Had a CuzzenHencemJambu buka (why does everybody call it iftar?) at Bik Id's home on Sunday. Just as well, we needed to give some happiness to poor Raihan. He's discharged now, and at home, but he's stuck in a wheelchair to move, and he still can't feel his fingers. The poor boy was clearly happy with the presence of us cuzzens there. We potlucked for food, and wow... I ate more then I ever thought possible. Speaking of eating...

As I was standing around talking, Kak Muni approached me. She asked with a look of concern,

"Hikam, did you lose weight?"

"Yeah I did. I lost 4 kgs seh. How'd you know?"

"I can see it. It's very obvious. Why seh? Haven't you been eating?"

"Yeah, I can FEEL it too. I think its because of puasa la. Obvious? Is it because my face more cengkung or something?"

"No, not your face. It's your body. Especially around your chest area. I noticed it as soon as you entered the house. Please eat more..."

*GLUMS* That was the exchange between Kak Muni and me. Admittedly I've lost some kilos, but I didn't know that it was THAT noticeable. I've lost some meat... around my chest area somemore! Trained so hard, now it's deflated. Need to gain back my muscle mass. *DOOM AND GLOOM* That means I need to start stuffing myself once Ramadhan passes by. Hopefully with rendangs and ayam masak merahs and and... HEE. Ish. Healthy foods please.

And oh. As of today, I have

14 WORKING DAYS TO ORD! =D

NOW would you date a footballer?

Found this somewhere... And as a footballer, I whole-heartedly agree! =) Don't ya?

*Top Reasons To Date a Football Player*

1. We have the right touch.
2. We are used to scoring.
3. We can go in soft or hard.
4. We will make you scream for more.
5. Sweating is no problem.
6. Skill is definite.
7. We will play anywhere and anytime.
8. We can go for at least 90 minutes in at least 11 different positions.
9. We have tremendous stamina & endurance.
10. We dive straight in.
11. We are not afraid to get down and dirty.
12. We have good ball skills.
13. The build-up play can either be slow and patient, or fast and adventurous... YOU choose.
14. We know how to take it straight down the middle... and use the left and right too!
15. We slide in and out.
16. We always play with firm balls.
17. We dribble all over the playing field.. and THEN we shoot.
18. Fox in the Box is what we are often called.
19. We never fail to try to get the ball between someone's legs any chance we get.
20. ...And we do all these with just our FEET!

Armoured and Overgrown Rat?

Once again, Tekong never fails to surprise me.

There I was at 0545 am watching them botaks do 5BX, when all of a sudden the COS walked past the bootwashing point (scene of the the torture of a poor rat last week) and exclaimed excitedly. I had a feeling of dread wash over me, as I thought yet another rat was to make its unfortunate appearance. Looking underneath the grill of the drain, the size of what I saw shocked me. That's one big honkin' rat! Yet, the scaly texture and the flat tail meant something was amiss. That's no rat! That's a freaking ARMADILLO!

(You can tell it's a boy)

Fella was not that big for an armadillo I guess, and it was just ambling about minding its own business and alarming the recruits in the process and such. So freaking cute uh. Who would have thought an armadillo would wander about into our building?

Berjuang

Labbaikallahumalabbaik. Labbaikala shari kalakalabbaik. Innalhamda. Wanni'mata. Lakawalmulk. Laashariikalaa.

That few ayats will forever be instilled in my heart. And I look forward to the day I get to recite them again, on a journey, on a quest... on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

It's been 7 years now since I last visited the Holy Land, and 12 years since I first did. And that's far too long. And yet Alhamdulillah I'm VERY fortunate to have gone on Umrah the 1st time and managed to kiss the Hajjar Aswad, and on the 2nd trip there I managed to go Umrah akhir-Ramadhan and got to experience fasting in Mecca and celebrate 'Aidilfitri there in front of the Ka'bah.

Now, my parents have gone once more to berjuang for their ibadah, to answer God's call again, and to do another Umrah. My dad once told me he plans to try go on Umrah at least once every 2 years, and having done the Hajj once, Alhamdulillah so far he's managed to achieve exactly that. And Alhamdulillah my parents have reached Mecca safely, and are now in the midst of their Umrah... and will once more celebrate the 1st day of 'Aidilfitri there, before returning home. And as my elder bro recited the Azan before we stepped out of the house to send them off, my heart was heavy at the prospect of seeing my parents go, even though its for the sake of God.

So that's it then, a new Syawal is on the horizon, and this time, it's going to be just slightly different. Both my eldest bro and my sis are married now with their own families, and doubtless they will be spending at least the start of the day with their respective families. That leaves only Me and Beg Mal, the singletons, to start off Raya together. So I guess its just me-tenung-at-him, and he-tenung-at-me for the pre-sembahyang Hari Raya meal. Heh.

Here's to the safe return of my parents and the successful completion of their Umrah.

'Selamat pergi, Selamat beribadah, Selamat pulang'.

Amin.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my sis!

Ur 26 now. And a mother. Hope you're not gonna be a makcik² yet.

That's why I bought that handbag for you. Hope its not makcik-makciky.

Stay a young and funky mama.

Ikam.

Kohesion Kebabai

Times like these I ask myself,

"Whattheheck am I doing here???"

I'm referring to of course, walking along East Coast Park at 0630 am in the morning. And to answer your question, I'm attending my unit's 'cohesion' activity. 'Come join us!' they said. 'Everyone is strongly encouraged to come and participate!' they said. 'A day of fun and games!' they said. 'Better attend or else you kena extra!' my Encik said. WTF.

So I had to grudgingly make my way to the meeting point. And what's on the itenary? A 6km run, followed by games. As usual. I really had no intention of running, but the presence of a bunch of CSMs and Warrant Officers sweeping the back meant that I had to run, like it or not. So I ran at walking pace, and when the opportunity arose, Asri and me skedaddled off and took a short-cut U-turn. Hahah!

After that it was games. I was selected as part of the soccer team. But the complete lack of interest to play was evident for all see, we wanted to lose so that everything could end fast, and we could go home fast. And that's saying something, for someone like ME not to be interested in a game of football. Anyway, what's the point of making people play football on sand when a nice grassy patch on which a good game of football could be played had been demarcated for people to play Frisbee instead??? Ye Gads!

After which, there was the celebration of September babies birthdays and we Muslims had to watch them consume this big honking chocolate cake. Geez.

I don't see the point of this whole 'cohesion' activity thing. From how I see it, its not making people very 'cohesive'. Because

1) Why the heck would anyone wanna gather at 0730 am in the morning at East Coast on our off/rest day when we've been seeing each other's faces everyday? If anything we need a break from seeing each other!

2) NOBODY... and I mean, NOBODY, wants to attend it. They're making us come back on our OFF day for goodness sakes. So why bother arranging for it in the first place? It only serves to menyusahkan the conducting company, who have to organize an outing for people highly unwilling to take part in.

3) It's the same old thing every 'cohesion'. A run, followed by games. Wow. Cohesivenyer. And for some reason there's ALWAYS a run. Whattheheck...

The hypocrisy of it all. 'Cohesion activity'. 'Strongly encouraged to come'. 'Fun and games and prizes'. And at the end of the cohesion activity, there's always a closing message saying something like 'thanks for attending and making this outing a success'. But we don't have a choice, because if we don't attend, or even come late, we're punished and awarded extra duties.

This only happens in ****. A check with my brother who was a police regular shows that even police don't have such occurences. Only **** practises this.

And talk about timing. Holding it during our fasting month and making us Muslims run and having an abundance of food and drinks in the meeting area, while we can only watch as the non-Muslims consume these. Sometimes I wonder if these people have brains.

Kohesion Kebabai indeed.

Am I an Accomplice...?

I'm an upset man.

I just watched my fellow colleagues... and humans... torture an animal. And I failed to stop them.

One of my colleagues managed to catch a rat (Tekong's infested with them) and soon enough there was a commotion. One by one they were fooling around with it, throwing it into a black rubbish bin and using air guns to spray at it and hose it down with water pipes, while at the same time excitedly discussing how to torture the rat.

I'm not a fan of rats either, they spread diseases and are dirty little animals, but to torture the animal? How F****N' sick is that?

The rat was terrified, its already lost part of its tail and was bleeding, and them sick colleagues of mine decided to drown the critter in the black rubbish bin with water that has been laced with industrial-grade Permathrine, a heavy-duty insect repellant we use to soak our uniforms in before going outfield. I tried my best to stop them, but I might as well have been trying to reason with a mob crowd, 'cos that's what they were, those f*****s. I couldn't stand it anymore, I left the place, I couldn't bear to hear or witness what they were gonna do to the creature.

Some 2 hours later when they were all busy playing PS2 in the company office, I decided to seek out the rat in the bin, and what I saw truly saddened me. The bin was 3/4 full of insecticide-laced water, and I saw poking out of the water a snout, the rat still alive after 2 hours of trying to keep itself afloat and breathing. Without anyone seeing, I poured out the water, letting the rat free, but unfortunately the rat was by now blinded and possibly poisoned. Instead of scampering off, it limped away from the sunlight indoors towards the other end of the wall. I tried to get it unsuccessfully get it to run away, but its too damaged to run or even escape. Eventually Encik's probing caused me to leave the rat, and I had hoped that no one would notice it hidden behind the bin. This was not to be, in the end the clerk found it, and caused another commotion, and last I heard they were torturing it with a lighter. I hope for its own sake the rat died. I couldn't bear seeing the kind of condition it was in after the soak in Permathrine, much less after being tortured with fire.

WHATTHEF*CK's WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?! So what if it's a rat, reptile or insect, why do you guys like to torture every single creature you see? From burning worms and caterpillars, to trying to drown the rat in f*ckin' Permathrine, how could you guys be so heartless? So what if it's a rat, it's not its fault it was born a rat, it's just f*ckin' trying to live as how God created it! Why couldn't you guys just catch it and let it go, or even if you have to kill it, make it a quick one, so the animal doesn't have to suffer. Maybe you could say I'm being too sensitive. Or maybe it's because I've kept hamsters before and they might resemble a rat to people for all they care. But the fact is we're humans! We've been created with the power of reasoning, with compassion, and here I see my colleagues drunk with excitement, and giddy with laughter... at what? At the prospect of torturing a rat.

And you know what saddens me the most? The people most excited about torturing the animal were my fellow Muslims. They showed a complete lack of respect to the month of Ramadhan, a complete disregard to the fact that they were fasting (though some weren't) ,a complete lack of respect for God's teachings, and a complete lack of respect for a life that God created.

Curse you all. Nauzubillahiminzalik.

The March That Never Was

What am I talking about?

So's me and Redzwan (the other Spec detailed to do re-24km) were all set and ready to march off from the starting point at Tekong Stadium (we somehow managed to convince the supervising officer to go 60 rounds around the 400m track instead of to and fro Ladang and Rocky Hill) when the rain started falling...slowly. I volunteered to do the 1st ten rounds because I didn't wanna get caught in the heavier rain later on.

So I walked on, with my Creative Zen Vision hidden inside one of my pouches and borrowed black-coloured earphones from Redzwan for tactical purposes (mine is white... sungguh non-tact) all set to complete my 10 rounds before switching with him. The rain started pouring heavily now and I was absolotely freezing, this was no joke, Tekong Stadium faces the open sea, and the surrounding grandstand and buildings acted like a valley for the sea air to flow through. So I managed to go through 1 round when suddenly all of us were pulled over to the granstand only to be told that the 24 km was being postponed due to Cat 1 (lightning-risk weather).

Redzwan was laughing at me, all soaked and drenched while he was happy as bird, sitting on the grandstand SMS-ing his girlfriend. Argh. I was biding my time, tolerating it all because I was confident that he'll get drenched once Cat 1 is lifted and the 24km march resumes. However, soon it was declared that Cat 1 was extended til 2300 hrs and so the march was cancelled totally! ARGH!!! Me and my semangat volunteer to march first. Geez.

So in the end, me and Redzwan ended up playing RISK with Asri while I blasted Hari Raya songs from my MP4 player in the company office. And we ended up playing and not sleeping the entire night! No wonder till now I'm feeling 'high'... light-headed more like.

Tomorrow I'm on off! =)

Smite 'Em All!

ARGHHH. Why is my luck so rotten??? Just when I thought I've walked my last-ever 24km, my 2IC said there's a re-24km to be held for them botaks who missed it, and 2 commanders must escort them. And guess what? MY NAME was arrowed. WHATTHEHELL. Usually ORD personnel are cut some slack, but it seems the nearer I get to ORD the more arrows keep flying my way. As it is I've already did the re-16km. Now I'm doing re-24km. Whatthe... Smite all them arrowing colleagues of mine! Smite them recruits who missed the 24km and caused this re-24km! Smite 'em all! And guess what. It's to be held tomorrow NIGHT at 2100hrs, all the way to an ETA of 0700am SUNDAY morning la sia. That means I'll most probably have to rush through buka, miss my Maghrib, miss my Isyak, miss my Terawih, sahur while on the move, and miss my Subuh ALL BECAUSE OF SOME STUPID FLYING ARROWS HEADED MY WAY.

Ni dah bukan arrow lagi, ni dah MISSLE la sak. A big, figgin' Inter-Continental Ballistic Missle (ICBM).

Buat bertenang Hikam, mengucap, kau tu tengah puasa, bersabarlah.

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Mgngmnmgngmnmgngn. ghafilash.

Lengit la sey, LENGIT

Gahhh. It's quite THE chore to wake up for sahur today I tell you.

24km yesterday ended something like 1230 am after some 10 hours on foot, so zapzupzapzup gedebak-gedebuk send in my rifle, mandi qada' 4x waktu sembahyang + terawih all by the time I went to bed it was 0100+.

AND 0430 AM is the time to wake up!!! That plus the weight I had to carry while marching explains why it was extremely lengit for me to wakeup for sahur today -_- '".

Goddarndoublebongoky Encik of mine decided to unilaterally strike off one day off from us, regardless of whether we actually went for the off or not, and THAT is pain, my friend. That explains why I find myself at home on a Tuesday afternoon, don't wanna waste the off. And he's gonna potong one day off despite the fact all of us were too shagged to wake up and left on the 11oo am ferry! That should be like only minus a half-day off uh! Mgnmgnmgnghafilash.

Had a very interesting phone chat with Nis just now. How incredible is it that almost every single person she knows is a friend/relative/acquantaince of mine in some way. What a small, small world. Makes me wonder just what else is in store for me...

Gonna buka soon. Selamat Berpuasa to all!!! =)