we declare Your Perfection above and beyond all: we have no knowledge whatsoever except what You have taught us. No doubt it is You, and You alone that is all Knowledgeable and all Wise. (al-Baqarah, 32)

Saturday, October 31, 2009

I fridge you so much

The Refrigerator.

Most would just take it as it is, but the way I see it, the machine is much more than meets the eye. It is a magnificent invention that has more potential aside from the obvious.

1. The fridge is a makeshift air-conditioner
Not everyone could afford to install an air-conditioner. I know I can't. But I do have a fridge, and at any moment where I am in want of an air-conditioning, I could just open the fridge and sit in front of the thing for a while.

2. The fridge is the safest place (probably)
If by any chance your town got attacked by an air-raid and there's just no bomb shelter nearby, run for the fridge. Did you watch Indiana Jones? He survived an explosion which destroyed an entire town by, you guessed it, hiding in a fridge.

3. And the fridge's best kept secret...
Think about it. The fridge allows you to bring to the future stuff that, without the presence of the fridge, would've never lasted that long. It's so obvious. The fridge is essentially a time-machine!

And that is just some of the things about the fridge that most people might have never even realized about.



Okay, so maybe I got a little over-excited about finally having a fridge to call my own. First fridge is the coolest, after all =)

Saturday, October 24, 2009

A piece of the future...

So we moved to new place a few days ago.

Didn't care much about the old place. It was small, cramped, and not to mention is an over-sized microwave oven!

But...

It was also the first place I lived with my beloved wife. Our first 4 month of being husband and wife was spent there.

You know, when I was smaller, my parents would show me pictures and tell stories about houses they had lived in, the places they've been, people they've met..

And it occurred to me today, that maybe some day, maybe in 15 years or so, I would be showing pictures like these to my children, telling them stories of their parents' past

"Lookie here, mom and dad once lived in a really small house"

or

"This beach was right in front of our house when we were younger!"

We are all always carrying a piece of the future with us. Everything that happens in the past and the present are things that, if we were to live long enough, will be woven into a tale for us to tell in the future.

p/s: going snorkeling again tomorrow. Huzzah!! =D

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Moving over!

picture snatched from www.thechefinstead.ca

Yup, that's right. The wife and I have finally successfully moved out from our previous, miniature box into yet another box, only a much more spacious box. Compared to the old box, our current abode is a Goliath! Whereas our previous box was merely David's baby brother. Honestly, I'd put a comparison shot instead, but I can't find the transfer cable amidst those heaps of bags and boxes.

So, how fares our newly acquired abode? It is, as I've mentioned earlier, bigger, to be sure. However, the size, and the 4 star hotel-quality bed and pillows are the only true redeeming qualities. There are cracks all over the wall, the toilet needs serious repair, and there's only a thin wall of two pieces of plywood between our room and the next one. There's hundreds of giant bats making the trees in front of our house their habitat (it's around the place where this happened). The building looks a 12 years long rundown building which was only recently repaired to a bare minimum. Oh right, it's exactly that.

There's a substantially long list of negative qualities about the place but in the end, size does matter.

On the flip side, the place has a pretty nice view. Situated right in front of the beach, you can see the boats and yachts sail gracefully on the open seas. The only thing that stands between the building and the clear blue water is....a recently constructed public toilet. I know, GREAT view, right?

It isn't exactly ideal, but so was out old place, and I suspect that I will warm up to this place in due time just as I had with the last one. Afterall, teachers can't be choosers.


P/S: saw a kitten which looks almost identical to Eton sleeping at my doorsteps this morning! =D

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Oh Crap!

We had a picnic at the beach this morning. Eager to test the my wife's new pair of goggles out for a spin, I almost immediately jumped into the sea the moment we got there. The goggles were only slightly more expensive than mine, but it feels much more comfortable.

I took my time enjoying the underwater view, the rainbow coloured fishes dancing around, and the soothing cold water I'm swimming in. Ok, goggle test drive was a pass! So I went out of the water to grab a quick munch. We were, afterall, having a picnic.

It was then that I realized... I haven't taken out my house key from my side pocket! Luckily it was still there. I was about to jump into the water again when I felt that there's one small thing that I forgot... my wallet in my back pocket.

Oh crap!

The wallet was soaked, along with everything in there. Every single card, and every single RM note.

It wasn't too bad. I mean, its not like they dissolve in water or anything, but its a sucky situation none the less.

On the way back home, we walked under some shades. Suddenly I saw something very quickly fell out of the sky right in front of my face and not a second later, a "splat" and a squishy sensation on my right foot.

Oh crap! Literally.

So what could've been a fantastic day turn out a little er..crappy, thanks to some little piece of crap which had his crap crapped on my foot.

Crap.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Little big adventure in small Tioman

When life throws you onto an island, go explore it! Okay, I lied, the truth is, since we've already been thrown into this inescapable exile called teaching on this hunk of rock, we really needed some sort of escapism. But then again, I think going deep into the jungle hardly qualifies as an escapism...

We had originally planned on going swimming at the Marine Park. It was as a 20 minute-ish journey on foot from our..er.. 'hut', so to speak. But then somewhere along the way we (and a couple of other teachers from Tioman) ended up having to lead a bunch of school kids from the mainland deep into the mystical hilly jungles of Tioman (confession: I just added that 'mystical' bit to spice things up).



It was my first time to that part of the jungle, and it was Sofya's first time trekking on the island. I really can't describe the jungle in detail because it was all like green, green, and green. And then there's MORE green. Okay, there's some brown too.

[Too small for you? Click them pictures]




The 60 minutes of trekking and hiking wasn't a cake walk. We climbed up uncountable steps - some cemented, some just plain ol rocks formations, traversed plant-laden path few have trodden, performed death-defying leaps (not), survived encounters with terrifyingly savage beasts (again, not), and at the end of it, rewarded only by the fact that we have most definitely shaved a few cals off!

Like the point I made earlier, the view wasn't much different regardless where we were, but I gotta admit though, being in the heart of nature feels very different. The air is in a totally difference level of fresh, the ambiance is relaxing, and not to mention the denizens there! Well, they're sort of creepy like...


They're even creepier up close

The path down the mountain was much faster, but its toll towards our poor legs also significantly higher. We went out the jungle with shaky knees and blistered soles. A word of advice: never ever try trekking with your walking slippers! That, however, wasn't the end of our weekend escape. We had after all, planned to go the sea, and I was dead set on going there.



Swimming at the marine park is great fun. The water isn't exactly crystal clear, but it's pretty darn near that quality. The wave isn't strong there so it's particularly easy for people like me, who's just starting to get his bearings with swimming. There's some great view to be seen there too, though it definitely isn't the best that the island has to offer. I'm really into snorkeling since. Might even make it a weekly routine if possible.

All told, we had a lot of fun and it was a good diversion from our same old daily routine. The only downer is that the wife was down with fever for 2 days after the adventure - she's doing much better at the time of this writing though =)
 
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