YAYS...I'm back in Limbang. Well it sucks actually that I will be leaving in a few more hours. Planning to leave by 8.30 in the morning later. Before leaving I desire to indulge myself with the best Wantan Mee in Limbang, and probably in the nation.

Arrived here late Friday afternoon from Miri. Tagged along with my classmate Fiona, so I saved some bucks. With the petrol price hike, the van sapu could have cost me 60 bucks. Came home to take mum's Kancil. No, my mother does not have a mousedeer pet. My search for a cheap car rental in Miri have been futile. So Dad suggested or offered that I use the Kancil instead. The reason I need a car is because I will be starting my 3 months teaching practicum on Monday. The school where I am assigned to is quite far from my place. And I need a car so I would not have to be dependent on others, which is very important during practicum.

Well, it will be tough for my parents to go back to the days of sharing 1 car. I feel bad about that really. Hopefully they could cope for 3 months LOL. On the bright side, they'll be sharing petrol costs for only 1 car now, so they'll be saving some. I'll also be chipping in for the Kancil's monthly payment. Speaking about payment, I hope we'll see an increase in our allowances. I've heard from my friend that a trainee from another institute said they received a RM 200+ increase in the allowance. I am hoping I will see that next week.

The past 2 weeks in the institute has been nice. My schedule was relax/rest-friendly. Assignments are over. Some classes' credit hours have been completed. It was like college days all over again. All in all it was a great settling in period after a long break.

We had a mini sports last weekend. I entered the shot putt event. It was fun. There were guys of all sizes. Some bigger than me, and mostly smaller. I guess most of us did not really have any training. This was evident during the course of the event when we witnessed various styles from the contestants, some funny, some weird. I can safely say that out of at least 15 contestants, only 3 had experienced in that sport, excluding myself. Well, I made it to the final 8, but just wasn't strong enough to challenge for the medals.

I guess I should be going to bed now. Get a few hours of sleep before the journey tomorrow.

One more thing, I will miss the weather here in Limbang. It has been scorching hot in Miri ever since I returned from the semester break.

PS: Wish the Rabbit luck!

Men are arseholes... I'm proud to be a man!

I came across something in an issue of Reader's Digest that made me realize something. Advice columns. I can't recall reading an advice column written by a guy. I mean, in the papers and stuff you will normally see "Dear Abbie", "Dear Stella", and all those female names. But you don't see a "Dear Tom", "Dear Kassim" etc. Guys just do not write these stuff! And the piece I read in Reader's Digest probably best explained why:

Dear Steve,

I hope you can help me here. The other day I set offfor work leaving my husband in the house watching the TV as usual. I hadn't gone more than a mile down the road when my engine conked out and the car shuddered to a halt. I walked back home to get my husband's help.

When I got home I couldn't believe my eyes. He was in our bedroom with theneighbor lady. I am 32, my husband is 34, and we have been married for 12 years. When I confronted him, he broke down and admitted that they had been having an affair for the past 6 months. I told him to stop or I would leave him.

He was let go from his job six months ago, and he says he has been feeling increasingly depressed and worthless. I love him very much, but eversince I gave him the ultimatum he has become increasingly distant. He won't go to counseling and I'm afraid I can't get through to him anymore. Can you please help?

Sincerely,

Maria

Dear Maria,

A car stalling after being driven a short distance can be caused by a variety of faults with the engine. Start by checking that there is no debris in the fuel line. If it is clear, check the vacuum pipes and hoses on the intake manifold and also check all grounding wires. If none of these approaches solves the problem, it could be that the fuel pumpitself is faulty, causing low delivery pressure to the carburetor float chamber. I hope this helps.

Steve

I'm back in good ol' Limbang. Been home for the past week. All I've done is sleep, sleep and sleep. It's like sleeping's a new found sensation. Other than that, done nothing much, not even eating. I guess I need to start stretching my legs for the remainder of my break.

I'm broke, but it's alright because I'm home, and I'll also be getting my allowance by next week. But I won't be able to spend much as I've got lotsa payables to settle. They say we are lucky to receive fat allowances, but they just don't understand how much we have to settle our dues. Some trainees are husbands, and even fathers, so I guess they have more dues to worry about. Every month, after deducting all my payables and "fixed costs", there's about 300 bucks left. There's not even enough for me to save. Been wanting to get a new digital camera for months now. AARRGGHHHH!!!

Anyhows, last month, my classmates gave me a surprise on my birthday. I disappointedly went to the classroom where we were supposed to have a replacement lecture, which should have been a free time for us to go out have lunch and still time to enjoy an afternoon nap. So in the class, I waited for the lecturer together with most of my classmates. I had my laptop on, trying to get online, and b*tching about the lecturer being late. Then we moved to another room as we were told that the class would be held there instead. So I grudgingly packed my laptop and stuff and b*tched again on why we should change rooms as we were the only poor souls to have lectures that time. When I entered the other room, went to the back and got my laptop on again and wondered aloud why the heck is the lecturer taking a long time.

Then my mates started to sing happy birthday and they brought the cake with candles and stuff. It was weird. I was pissed because of the long wait and then the surprise. So the change of emotions was, I don't know. Haha. But I was touched, I've never had a surprise birthday before. Those bloody people, and I mean this in an affectionate manner, they really got me. They played the whole replacement lecture thing really good. It was so good that after gobbling up the cake, I had to ask if we really did not have a replacement lecture.

It was very sensitive of them not to put up all 27 candles. HaHa. The cake was delicious, I must admit I wanted to have more. Ah, sik malunye aku!

"Dengan ini saya merasmikan..."

What I got myself for my birthday. Skateboarding shoes. I don't skate. But one thing I like about skate shoes is the comfort they offer.