Eid Al-Fitr

A quick satisfying Raya, maybe a perfect launchpad till another Ramadhan. Not surprisingly, I’m just being lazy on the second day. No grand misunderstanding and subsequent fallout set the stage right without the mix of anger and lust for a better day. High on the steam scale - as far as I’m concerned -  I look forward to seeing what is coming until the next Ramadhan.

 

Penyu Menangis (Siapa Tahu)

Anak muda berlagu sayang
Di Batu Remis melepas rindu
Adik ketawa di Rantau Abang
Penyu menangis siapalah tahu
Penyu menangis siapalah tahu

Sesak nafasnya sesak
(Tak tahu adik tak tahu)
Sebak dadanya sebak
(Tak tahu adik tak tahu)

Bengkak jantungnya bengkak
(Tak tahu adik tak tahu)
Retak hatinya retak
(Tak tahu adik tak tahu)

Lenyap ditelan derauan ombak
Telur penawar hatinya lebur
Tumpah airmatanya melimpah ruah
Agar terhibur adik terhibur

Anak muda berlagu sayang
Di Batu Remis melepas rindu
Adik ketawa di Rantau Abang
Penyu menangis siapalah tahu
Penyu menangis siapalah tahu

Kelabu matanya kelabu
(Tak tahu adik tak tahu)
Sendu tangisnya sendu
(Tak tahu adik tak tahu)
Sayu jiwanya sayu
(Tak tahu adik tak tahu)
Layu langkahnya layu
(Tak tahu abang pun tak tahu)

Sesak nafasnya sesak
(Tak tahu adik tak tahu)
Sebak dadanya sebak
(Tak tahu adik tak tahu)

Bengkak jantungnya bengkak
(Tak tahu adik tak tahu)
Retak hatinya retak
(Tak tahu adik tak tahu)

Kelabu matanya kelabu
(Tak tahu adik tak tahu)
Sendu tangisnya sendu
(Tak tahu adik tak tahu)
Sayu jiwanya sayu

My Riding Videos

Apart from photography, my passion is riding bicycles. Here are some of the videos from my previous rides.

With my children Kodiang - Megat Dewa - Bukit Hantu - Kodiang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrjWHqvELq0


With my children Kuala Jerlun - Kuala Kuar - Kuala Jerlun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5by_ram5J4


Saturday Morning Ride behind Kedah Sukma Team during training (9/1/2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yz182mueKs


Kuala Besut - Cherating Coast to Coast Monsoon Ride  (Dec 2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17NDhGHJToQ

Out of my depth of field

I was brought up to tackle problems head on - not to bury my head in the sand - instead power on and face obstacles. This is pretty much how I’ve always lived my life. There were times when I felt that I was faced with more obstacles than I could cope with. I felt so out of my depth, I didn’t know which way to turn. That has always been the time to be kind to myself, I am probably doing better than l realized.

Following my dreams

I am following my dreams and passions around me. I don't need to worry about what I need to follow in life to become happy. If I like the look of nature in the morning, I'll go for a walk. Seriously, it is that simple.
I am moving  right now. It doesn't matter which direction I go, just pick one and start moving that way. If I want to lose weight then I pick up a tennis racket and a ball and start wrecking the wall.

All images were registered this morning with 7D | 50mm

Crying out for some soothing rain

High and dry in a long hot day
Crying out for some soothing rain

The weather remains hot in Kedah

It is late February and we only had brief rainfall this year. NST reported that The Kedah Education Department has instructed all schools in the state to stop co-curricular and outdoor activities effective today due to the current hot and dry spell that has hit the country.
State Education director Datin Azuyah Hassan said following the directive, headmasters and principals in Kedah will be issued a notice on when to resume the outdoor activities.
“Hot weather with high temperatures can pose a danger to the health of students, therefore, all schools need to ensure all co-curricular and outdoor activities are not held in open areas,” she said in a statement, here today.
The Meteorological Department director-general Datuk Che Gayah Ismail today said the hot and dry spell in many areas was in the final phase of the monsoon season which is expected to abate by the end of March.

 March is just around the corner :-)

A different kind of boredom

With my wife at work and children in school, I was somewhat bored and started tweaking with my dusty lappy.  I had a short time before getting down with hardcore working stuff and there are snaps in my camera needing some attention. 

The happy faces of the children during 2014  KUMON Advanced Students Honor Roll (ASHR) are irresistible and I have ended up making making 100 over prints of their shots.

I took all the shots without having to stand up from my seat with one fixed lens but their faces made my day. I was so happy , I even made a web-album of the occasion.

It has been raining almost every day here up north but yesterday's morning was blessed with a bit of sunshine. I was all over the small state of Perlis, from the highland to the shore with my friends driving around doing nothing with occasional stops for pictures.

This dead-wood fungus was captured in Bukit Bintang, Bintong, Perlis. If the boredom continues - who knows, I might want to capture the world tomorrow.

XAgraphy

 

I am still amazed withe these little cameras (XA/XA2)

You can see more HERE

Dead Meters

 Olympus OM-2n | 55/1.2 | Scanned negative

I am planning to take off all the batteries in my cameras this weekend. Some of them were left with batteries in them way too long. Hopefully, I'll be shooting with dead meters mechanical cameras till I get bored. OM2/XA/XA2/F3 will be resting for a while :-)

Hello FM/M6/OM1/Trip35/PenEE/Zorki and the likes!

Unfolding Conclusion

Leica M6 | Summicron 50/2 | Scanned negative

Although the weather does not seem to matter for many of us, there are people who are in high spirits when the sun shines whereas others seem happier when it rains.

My Cup of Tea

Olympus OM-2n | 55/1.2 | Scanned negative

"But there is a difference between a cup of tea and life. When we brew tea ourselves, we can put it aside or throw it away if it's not to our liking. That's not so with life's cup of tea. We have to drink it. How we go about swallowing those difficult cups of life depends upon what we know and believe about the nature of our life's "tea strainer."

by Kathy Helvey

Taming the wild soul

Olympus OM-2n | 55/1.2 | Scanned negative

Generally, when someone is asked what their character defects are they say “well, I have a bit of a short temper sometimes, but other than that I’m a great person.” No one will say, “I am a terrible person filled with bad characteristics” because the ego hides our defects so that we won’t work on ourselves. The wisdom of following a spiritual guide is that they have walked the path and purified themselves of these defects. They know all of the defects, and they know how to treat those defects - just like a doctor knows how to diagnose and treat a patient.

Contradictions

Nikon F3 | 50mm | Scanned negative

My life is full of contradictions.

People say they want health food, but stalls flavored their food with MSG still makes billions of dollars each year. People say they want to work satisfying jobs, but end up chasing after the biggest paycheck. People say they want news on world affairs, but tune into trash on Astro. I’m no different (except that I don't have TV at home). I have plenty of contradictions between what I truly believe and how I behave. And I think anyone who says they don’t is lying to themselves. Practicing what you preach isn’t easy. It may be impossible to do it completely. But even if you can’t escape the contradictions of modern living, you can lessen their impact. You can consult what you know to be true, and use that to guide you, instead of rationalizing your behavior and living a lie. Personal conflicts is one thing but pushing out to the masses is altogether a different story.

There was this seminar about inculcating integrity among Malaysian. Most dictionaries define integrity as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. I was early at the registration counter as the program was supposed to start at 8.00am. By 7:55am, the hall was filled with crowd anticipating the coming agenda. 15 minutes after eight, the crowd started getting restless and at 8:30, the announcer called for patience in the audience as the seminar would commence in another 10 minutes. Words came to my ears that the VIPs and presenters were still having their breakfast at that time.

It is not uncommon to be experiencing the same situation in our community. I was amazed on why was the programmed fixed as such. If social breakfast is something really important prior to any event, then the program should start at nine or ten. Why do people has little respect for others’ time. I have no objection with anyone wasting their own time but if they are wasting my time, I have little tolerance towards that.I left the place immediately after the announcement. I was looking inside the gift bag with neatly written words on integrity in pamphlets and publication. If only those words were put into real practice.

If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys :-)

7D | 50mm | f2

Growing up in a remote small village, I remembered how smart children picked up on things that their peers didn't at a very young age, and since they didn't know any better, they expected their peers to understand what the we're talking about. Their peers, however, did not understand and in order to avoid embarrassment, would avoid intelligent children, or, out of jealousy, bully them. This lead smart kids to grow up resenting their less intelligent peers, and to some extent disliking social contact. 

Now, towards the end of my working life, I've noticed that any time there's a smart person around, everyone else gets nervous, so the smart hide, and don't breed. In many organizations, I got the feeling that the administrators don’t feel comfortable when there are smart people around. Smart people are often misunderstood and misconstrued by the aggregate. I myself don't claim to be smart but I do know the difference between duck from a doe, and it costs me to some extent. 

Being bright is more of a handicap in school these days when they're trying to make everyone equal by lowering down public education quality. Anyone in secondary schools in the 70s can confirm this just by comparing the Science and Mathematics curriculum then and now. Now, what used to be 'average' is considered advanced, what was below average is now acceptable. 

I wouldn't necessarily say that society hates smart people. It's human nature to envy those smarter than themselves, but in any good society, those attributes are encouraged and the lesser strive to improve themselves. The problem that I see is that the bosses hate smart people. The people in power hate smart people. It's easier to keep a stupid, uneducated populace in check, because they won't question their authority. It's in the bosses' best interests to dumb down their workers, to encourage the breeding of the stupidest and weakest members of an organization. That way, monkeys are happy with peanuts.

:-)

Birds around me.

Thanks for viewing!

The train has left without me

Nikon F3 | 50/1.4 Ai | Scanned negative

The train has left without me. I was like a little boy standing on the corner watching the train back home from my boarding school disappeared down the track, hearing the shouts and laughter of my friends grow fainter and fainter until I was left alone in silence.