Pesta Babulang 2010

Pesta Babulang is a traditional Bisaya Festival, celebrated right after the Gawai Dayak. Bisayas from all over the country would congregate in Batu Danau, some 25km from Limbang Town. Now that its a big hit, the celebration spans for 3 days. I was there on the morning of the 2nd day. It was a mistake wearing shorts and flip flops, it was burning out there! Here are some moments to share, courtesy of yours truly.

May Day

I like the depiction of the photo above. On the right you see a modern 4 story block, while in the middle, the corner section, you have one of the oldest building in town. It was supposed to be demolished and form part of the new commercial block but the owner rejected the deal. So this is how it all finally ended. I also bangga because I took this photo :p

It's been a lazy blogging year. Almost the middle of the year and my blog posts for 2010 is still in single digit.

It's a humid Saturday afternoon. Had the gotong royong sempena Hari Guru thingy this morning. Kontrak the Bilik Kemahiran Hidup with Ustaz Suwardi, Aziz and Nordin.It maybe just one room, but it was alot of work. On the way home, stopped at the Plaza to get something for our Teacher's Day gift exchange on Monday. The deal was anything above RM10. I bought a stationery holder, cost RM11.90. I hope I get one on Monday, as I don't have one myself.

About 2 weeks ago, I had my interview for my lantikan into service. I was asked questions regarding school environment, problems in T&L, how I solve/attempt to solve the problems, usage of ICT in T&L. Those, I did well. Then I was asked to recite the FPN, which I did flawlessly. It was the next 2 questions that troubled me. The interviewer asked about EIC and NKRA. I guess my answers were average to say the most. Could have elaborated more on NKRA as I've done my homework on that, but don't know why I just gave a general explanation.

The staff have been playing football friendlies every Thursday for 3 weeks now. We're fortunate to have 2 new male teachers posted to our school this year, plus Suwardi has returned from his year long course. So we have enough bodies to play the game. Last Thursday however I ended up injured, had bruised ribs. Haven't been sleeping well since, although the past couple of nights have been better. It's an annoying injury to have. You can't laugh. Cough. Or even burp. It will hurt! Despite carrying that injury, I still played on Thursday, but not as goalie. Ada alasan because my injury does not permit alot of upper body movement.

Tomorrow is the 16th. My birthday. If it's not a problem for ya'll, I would love to have a Canon EF-S 18-135mm IS lens, or better still if you love me lots, an EF-S 18-200mm IS. I promise you I will use them to do good.

Operation Brunei

I was over the border today, in Brunei. It was an outing with my 2 colleagues, Aziz and Nordin. While there were missed and wrong turns, it was still a fun outing, better than expected even.

After a brief breakfast in town, we drove to the border and straight on to Bandar Seri Begawan. I decided to park the car at the Yayasan Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and make it our 'center of operations'. Took some snaps in front of the large picturesque mosque. Then to cool off, we 'toured' the Hua Ho Departmental Store, before our next stop, the waterfront.

The waterfront or riverside was buzzing with speedboats. We ended up taking a ride in one. The boat owner took us along the river until we reached a spot where we could see part of the Palace. Then he proceeded to take us on a tour of Kampong Ayer. It was an interesting boat ride. We passed hundreds of houses over water. Every now and then we get a friendly wave and peace sign from kids and school students, with our cameras it was obvious we were 'tourists'. It was interesting to learn that there are more than 10 schools in the water village!

The boat ride took about 40 minutes. The boat owner quoted us a total fare of B$25 (RM 60) for the tour. I guess it was quite reasonable, RM20 per person. The 'official' boats for sightseeing of the water village would have been more costly. Here are a couple of snaps to share.

First For 2010

Wow, it has been weeks, months since I last made a post here. First it was due to the fact that my laptop decided to die after over 2 years together. I was hesitant, or felt less cool blogging on laptop hak kerajaan Malaysia or my Mum's eyesight challenging 12 inch laptop.

So I finally got hold of my new desktop pc on the 13th of January. So I thought, the plan was to continue blogging after getting the new rig, but I really enjoyed having my new awesome baby that blogging was forgotten.

But here I am. Thanks to a comment that I need to approve or reject.

Today is the 1st day of February. The first day of the second month of the year. Time really flies this year as compared to the previous. In a fortnight, it will be Chinese New Year. I've learnt not to make new year resolutions, so this year I've made a simple one, which is to work harder. I guess so far I've worked harder than I did this time last year. But I found out, hardwork alone is insufficient if your time management/planning is bollocks. Well, we all learn from mistakes.

I've been very ill the past couple of days. My dad has been telling me to go to the doctor but I just shrugged his advice off. That was until lastnight. After the Arsenal - United match, I went off to bed. I had 3 precious hours to get some sleep before I needed to get up for work. All I got last night/this morning were at most 30 minutes of 'sleep'. I was coughing all night long. Sort of a dry cough. That really sucked. So this afternoon, right after work I went to one of the clinics. I have probably mentioned before that I dislike going to the docs. But the thought of having sleepless nights really bothered me. Plus it's just past payday, so I can afford the private clinic.

Turned out I probably have something related to asthma or some sort, while not the exact thing. So I took the meds and it had an almost immediate effect. I could enjoy an hour of afternoon nap before I started to cough repeatedly again. I'm hoping the second intake of meds tonight will do more wonders. Oh, and I almost lost my voice again. Though at times it will break up a few times during a conversation, which made me sound funny.

I wanted to install some tint on my car's windows, but again I had to call it off. Unless the shop accepts credit card, I might reconsider. To end, here are some pics.

Before the unboxing.

After the unboxing and installation.

Facebook-ing, Yahoo Messenger-ing and watching an episode of Southpark without
opening and closing windows :D .

That Thing

My students keep asking me if I was married or not. Everytime they asked, I gave them different answers, because they keep asking. Usually I'll get replies such as 'Tipu lah', 'Benar kah'. Just the other day, a couple of my students from my class came to the staff room to pay some fees.

I was writing some stuff then, so I told them to wait. While waiting, one the 8 year olds asked me if I was married.

Without looking up and still doing my work, I answered,'Yes'.

If yes, then where is your wedding ring?

Still occupied I blurted, 'No ring'.

But if you don't have a ring, ladies will think you are not married, and they will like you!

Now that she got my attention, 'Really?'. I found that really amusing, and almost laughed. But I just put on a serious front.

Yes! So you better get a ring quickly.

How do I do that?

How do I know, I'm just a little kid.

Oh, now she says that.

Today I got free advice on the time for one (a guy) to get married. This time from a guy. All year long, I've been listening to my female colleagues pestering me about marriagedom. So today, it was a dude to dude thingy. He's actually a longtime friend of my Dad. A retired teacher who is on temporary contract in my school. Some of the guys were hanging around my table during recess and the topic of me+marriage came up. The guys were telling me almost the same thing I got from the womenfolk. But my Dad's buddy had different opinions. This is what he told me.

No doubt your age is ripe for marriage. But it is not wrong or a bad decision for you to wait a little longer. Because then, you will be a more experienced person in life, being more prepared thus being a very good prospect of a husband. You will be worth so much more than you are now.

Wise words. How can you not be convinced when someone with his hair totally white tells you this. My grandmother told me I should save money for the time when I have a wedding reception. What if I told her, I'm saving money...for an iPod Touch :D LOL