Salam Aidilfitri

Hari Raya's just around the corner. I sent out an email to all my Muslim colleagues to wish them and I did that by composing a simple pantun for them. Boy, it sure started a whole barrage of pantun emails. After I shot out mine, one-by-one my colleagues just started replying in pantuns, and it went on and on for quite a while :-)

Here's what I sent out to them in the first instance:

Kalau berpeluang pergi ke Kelantan,
Singgahlah sebentar di Kubang Kerian,
Sepatah dua ingin Colin ucapkan,
Sepantun dua ku sampaikan untuk kalian.

Ke sana ke sini merentasi benua,
Kalau sudi bercutilah di Tasik Bera,
SELAMAT HARI RAYA diucapkan kepada semua,
Semoga anda diberkati sejahtera.

I wish I could post up my colleagues' subsequent pantuns as well, but there are too many of them. From Raya greetings, we proceeded to pantun about Raya cookies, Malaysia's first astronaut, even about nationalism :P

Speaking of which, it's great that we have our first Malaysian in space! Let's pray that Dr SMS will have a good outing and a safe trip. I hope this will be the beginning of a lot of good for this country, instead of just another thing we do to get attention or respect. Space exploration holds potentially unknown benefits for our nation and mankind as a whole if followed-up and worked on properly. For instance, from previous space explorations by NASA in the US, we've had space technology transferred to benefits such as insulating materials, more advanced firefighter suits, shock-absorbing sports shoes, scratch-resistant coatings on eyeglasses & watches, implantable heart pump, etc....the list goes on.

To all my Muslim friends, Selamat Hari Raya, and happy holidays to all! I'm off to Tioman in the meantime... :-)

Ka Ora

Against all odds, it happened: the two great southern hemispheric rugby nations of the world lost to their respective northern hemispheric quarterfinal opponents. The 2007 Rugby World Cup quarterfinal results read:

Australia 10 England 12
New Zealand 18 France 20

Interestingly, both the Wallabies and the All Blacks lost by the same margin.

(digression: if the matches were fixed and the whole world finds out, wouldn't that have some serious repercussions in the sport? And in ALL sports? :P )

I studied in Australia, so naturally I tend to root for the Wallabies. This is a doubly painful loss for the Aussies, given the fact that it was also England who beat them 4 years ago in the World Cup final then. Ouch ouch. Wanted to stay up to watch the delayed telecast late on Saturday night but I was too zoinked that night after a whole day taking parents out and supper with friends.

The mighty All Blacks tamed. Wow. France must have put up a brave fight. In fact, they came back from 13-3 down to win the game. When the All Blacks did their pre-game Haka dance, the French team even deliberately stood just inches in front of the All Blacks to "face up" to them.

And so the All Blacks-slaying France will take on the Wallabies-conquering Lions in the semifinals, while the Springboks face-off with the Pumas.

Such is life: one can never be 100% sure about anything. There's always that element of uncertainty. Some blame bad timing while others blame an "off-form" moment. Some call it fate. Some call it luck.

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." (Proverbs 16:9, NIV Bible)

In honour of the two great rugby nations, I give you...the Haka:

Ka mate, ka mate, ka ora, ka ora,
Ka mate, ka mate, ka ora, ka ora,
Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru,
Nana i tiki mai whakawhiti te ra,
Upane upane, upane kaupane,
Whiti te ra!

Translation:
It is death, it is death, it is life, it is life,
It is death, it is death, it is life, it is life,
This is the hairy man,
Who caused the sun to shine again for me,
Up the ladder, up the ladder, up to the top,
The sun shines!

It's Been A While...

I've left this place dormant for a very long time...in view of ongoing reconciling efforts, this is where i'll be blogging from now on.

Blog...weblog...a log on the web to log my ramblings on everything under the sun and stars...which hopefully will be beneficial in some way to readers...

So what's been happening lately? I've shaved my head :) Some of the responses i've been getting:

1. "Waaahhhhh...you going to Myanmar to support the monks ah?"

2. "I hope this has nothing to do with a change of faith."

3. "Wahhhh...is this the style nowadays ah?"

4. "Is everything ok? Are you ok??"

5. "Wahhh....ya lah, nowadays very hot la."

6. "Yerrrrrr....not nice la."

7. "You have a nice head shape."

8. "This is what I call a close shave!"

9. *blank...wide-mouthed*

And things have been overwhelming...crime rate in Malaysia, questionable judiciary, major discrepencies in handling of public funds which have been going on for so long and brought up time and time again but nothing's done about it, progressing industry/technology-wise but digressing in humanity & morality, brutality against the innocent, poverty & the seemingly insatiable needs everywhere...AC Milan doing badly in the league... :P

Nonetheless, if I may borrow a hymn's verse, "This is my Father's world, o help me never forget, that though the wrong seems oft wrong, God is the ruler yet..." Just offer my 5 loaves & 2 fish worth and let God do His thing. Live upright & godly. And battles need to be fought on our knees.

And I'm diving Tioman next weekend...can hardly wait :)

Malaysia mana boleh...

Sigh....

Just as i feared. We let slip a 2-1 advantage by losing 4-1 in yesterday's 2nd leg. Aggregate 5-3.

What happened? Well, let's see....we were up 1-0....by the 2nd half, the Indonesians changed tactics while we remained stagnant. Could that be the reason?
Or was it that our players were all "pancit" in the 2nd half?

Well, we let slip a 2-1 advantage and lost....not surprisingly, possible for Malaysia....Malaysia boleh, apa pun boleh.....

MALAYSIA MESTI BOLEH!!!

Tonight, Malaysia takes on Indonesia in the 2nd leg of the semifinal for the Tiger Cup Tournament (a South East Asia football tournament), in our own backyard. Malaysia holds a 2-1 advantage.

Hopefully, we don't be typical Malaysian sportsmen and screw up that advantage. Go Malaysian football team!!! The rakyat are behind you all the way....let's steamroll past Indonesia, and bulldoze Singapore in the finals!!!

"Semboyan telah berbunyi, menuju medan bakti!!!"