Merry Christmas 2008

Well, 2008 is coming to an end and it seems that I'm still alive! I've been absent for a while in updating this blog so much so that the tag-board is spammed till I have to delete all the posts. Since I've been inactive for quite some time, I will hence put down some of the questions you will probably ask.

• What have I been doing?
  Well, I've been busy pretty much with work. Been going back around 8+ lately fixing up issues after issues in my workplace. As for entertainment side, I had the priviledge of watching Heroes and Top Gear S12 for the past few weeks but since Heroes is on a break, I guess I finally found some time to update this.
  


• What did I do for Christmas?
  I slept past the church morning Christmas celebration as I had a late night playing computer. I only woke up at about 12+ to have my lunch and then went to Sheraton Imperial in KL with my family as they had a free stay there. After watching Vantage Point with my parents, we headed for a buffet dinner at the hotel. I came home after that while my parents continued staying there as I had work tomorrow.
  


• How have I been?
  I'm pretty OK. Although work is tiring at times, it is expected and with the current economic situation, it is best to continue to perform my best to avoid being last and getting fired (if it happens). I bought myself a new computer not too long ago which enabled me to play the hottest latest games around without any frills. This also contributed in my lack of posting in this blog.
  


• Any new hobbies / interests?
  Other than my growing interests for tech / gadget stuff, the new thing which I might pick up next is cycling. Several colleagues have pursuaded me to pick it back up and although my first attempt did not go too well, it's nevertheless something which I could see myself do in the future. I am now contemplating in acquiring a bike to further the interest/hobby.
  


• First Attempt? Didn't go too well?
  Last weekend, I attended the Putrajaya Critical Mass cycling event thingy with 2 of my colleagues. Seeing that I had no bike or helmet, I hastily borrowed them from my friends. As I mentally prepared myself for the event, in my mind I thought it will be easy with little uphill and just go for the 20+KM route. Funny thing is that I forgot to take into account that 20+KM is a very long distance and hence did not fully prepare for it. My water supply was limited and my energy consumption was a little too high at the start. At about 6-8KM in the route, I found myself extremely tired and exhausted. I pushed a little further to continue but eventually my muscles cried out and then refused to move.
  
  I parked the bike at the side and then immediately had a cram on both my calves and was then no longer able to continue. The support cars and everyone else was too far ahead and was not able to return to get me. My colleague continued on to try to get to the car fast and then come and get me. It took about 30 minutes for them to reach their car and another 30 minutes to find me somewhere in the middle of Putrajaya. Being stuck in the middle of the highway with no landmarks, unable to walk and a almost dead phone battery was quite scary. In all I waited for about 1 hour before they found me on the opposite side of the road.
  
  The experience was definitely unpleasant as every slow moving motorbike looks like a snatch theif or something. But for some funny reason, I found myself passing the time somewhat quickly by playing with a ant nest I found nearby. I spent minutes just staring at the ants moving back and forth on the ground and occasionally place obstacles like rocks and sand on their path to see how they recover or unburrow themselves.
  
  Eventually I was rescued and I was unable to walk normally till about 2 days after where the pain finally eases and I was able to walk up and down the stairs easily. Despite the setback, I think I will continue to attend that monthly event and continue to train myself to be able to complete the event and take the wonderful pictures around Putrajaya.
  


• Am I seeing someone?
  If you mean by girlfriend, the answer is no. There may be a few interests but we'll see how it goes. Am not actively pursuing but rather taking a normal steady approach and see how it unravels. If it is meant to be, so much the better. If not, at least I'm not head over heels yet. One thing for sure, i'll keep my vulnerability in check constantly taking a 3rd person view of things to make sure that I don't do anything stupid that could potentially ruin anything/everything.
  

Malaysian International Fireworks Competition 2008

As the title suggests, I was priviledged to attend the event twice. Once on 24th (Team Spain) and another on the 29th (Team Australia). It was my first attempt at taking fireworks with my compact so I thought maybe I could learn a little before moving on to a D-SLR. I borrowed a tripod and head off to the event. It was quite embarassing when I arrived there because every tripod had a DSLR attached to it and I have a small compact on it. I was actually surprised when I looked at the pictures taken cause the pictures actually turned out pretty well.

Team Spain

Team Australia (Finale)

In conclusion, the sight of countless fireworks going off one bye one is just simply breathtaking. There is no way of saying it except that it's an event one should not miss. I'll surely look forward to next year's event and hopefully it will be better than this year.

No I didn't die in KK

Haha! It's been so long since I last blogged. You guys might have thought that I have died in KK. Haha! Well I didn't but was kind of close to it when I succumbed to the cold and failed to reach the peak! GAGH!

But nevertheless, I attempted and reached the height of 3668m out of 4095m. It was quite a view even from up there. And when you're back down, you just cannot believe that you were up there less than 24 hours ago. Anyway, below are some of the pictures of the climb.

This is near the beginning where everyone is still OK

The road is long and steep

Top of the world

Actually, I think it is not that hard to reach the summit. The key points are, practice and exercise before the event and equipment. For me, I had neither as my head lamp decided to fail the minute before the climb. Left without a light, I had to follow other people's pace and hence had to use more energy to climb blindly and not knowing which step has the least inclination. I only had 4 practices prior to engaging Mount Kinabalu and that too I think is a contributing factor to my downfall. In addition to that, the coldness actually got a hold of me and broke me. I succumbed to the cold wind of 2-3 degrees celcius and after trying to hold it, my body gave up and at then, the battle is over. All I wanted was to head down and sleep.

But after thinking through it over and over and over again, I think it is possible to reach the summit if I've taken the proper steps and if everything goes to plan. I would like to attempt it again if given the opportunity and would definitely try my best to make it to the top. Do contact me, if you're going in the near future.

A tough challenge ahead

About a month ago, I made a decision which would very much stretch me to the limit in every way. The following picture will help show you what the challenge is.

That's right guys! I'm going to climb Mount Kinabalu. The problem is that for an unfit guy to climb up, they normally require an intensive training of at least 3 months to be fully trained before going up. I only have 4 weeks and only the weekends to prepare. Is it enough? I sure hope so but initial trainings has proved that I have a problem with dehydration, low stamina and quite heavy to pull my own weight up.

Over the course of 2 weeks, I've been training at Bukit Jalil Park for the staircases, Pak San / Bukit Wangsa / Bukit Puteh for the trail hikes and Bukit Kiara for building up my stamina and cardiovascular systems. I'm supposed to go to Batu Caves today, but due to an unforseen circumstances in work, I have to come to office to work in the morning thus ceasing a chance to train myself.

I hope I'll be able to make it all the way to the top and back in one piece. I'll try to get the pictures up here once I'm back. Till then, keep me in prayer and do join for my trainings if you would like to.

The idea of sharing...

It's a rather cheesy topic to talk about but a recent event prompted me to pen this down. Many of you all would know that I do not like to share my things. I like to have my own snacks, my own drinks, my own PC, gadgets and all. The only thing I seem to share is my collection of avi's. Anyway, to cut the long sotry short, I'd like to ask your opinion on sharing based on a scenario I've recently observed.

I recently visited a family whose parents had young children. The kid was playing his own toys all to himself. After a few minutes, another family came to visit. A kid of similar age joined in. The father of the first kid asked that he shared his toys with the new comer. He was a little upset as the other kid does not know what or how it's supposed to be played and end up throwing the toys just to hear and see how the toys react when its thrown. After a couple of times the new kid threw the toys, the parents stopped him and later went home after their visit.

The incident got me thinking. Why risk share something you have set up nicely to someone who don't know what you've been doing? Supposed it's a Lego and you've aseembled yourself an impressive object only to be thrown or torn into pieces? This also raises a question, why is it that when someone visits your place, you are asked to share your toys / PC / things with others? And why is it that when you visit someone's place, you are asked to allow the host to let you play? If i've let them play with my things, why can't I have straight access to other people's stuff too?

Am I to sacrifice the stuff I care to let others play and vandalize it? Am I to let other people take advantage over me? Supposed a really dominating person were to always take advantage of our kind offering to allow them to play something and we wait patiently for our turn but we never get it, what are we to do? Nothing? Are we to do anything to stop them from being like that? Do nice people always finish last by allowing others to domninate and take advantage of us?

Let me know.