Where have I been again now?

YEs where has the fitnessdesigncoach been? Elusive as he appeared and then he disappeared.

I been here most of the time. Had a short trip to Bintan for a holiday with my family and it was a great time. It was quiet, beautiful, scenic, ahhh... and it's only an hour's ferry trip away. I want to go there and feel the warm water again. It was a short getaway but a deserving one.

Apart from work and life, I wish to share with those who are still reading my blog that I have found a special someone in my life. Yes, FDC is in love. :) He has found a beautiful girl. When the time is appropriate I will show our photos together hehehe...

So apart from love, life and work what has been happening the past year? Well my poster design won third place in the 'Safety Starts With Me' Competition. Yeah I was proud that they showcased my work. Spent weekends trying to do it. Needless to say I didn't spend enough time for myself because of that poster. :P But I won third, so at least I know I still got that design touch.

WOrk now is still hectic as usual, you goota be quick and smart on how to handle difficult situations and find ways to resolve it. ALthough I really wish with a change in new management soon that there will be much a lesser load and more ppl on board to help out with the tons of work piling each day. I guess time management is essential but a good team is very important to get things done right. Although I wish I had more time to sleep... heheh...

I am currently studying also. Doing night classes. 3 times a week and I am nearing my term break. Phew.... It is like running a marathon, so much to do, so little time as I rush to finish off my assignments as much as I can. It is not easy since I been getting a lack of sleep lately. But the colleagues have been really helpful and so far I am doing ok.

So am I going to disappear again for another year? Probably not, just that I may not update as often. I do miss blogging, it is where you pen your thoughts into the servers and showcase it to the world to see that you are still living and well. :)

So as much as I would like to write I must end my sentences here. But I will be back soon.

Something to share, while I was thinking the other day:
"Understand your limitations, reevaluate your expectations"

The lady who taught me how to read time

Back when I was a little kid, I wasn't the brightest in class but I was pretty inquisitive. At the same time I was pretty much timid also. It kinda hindered me to learn more in class. It took me a while for me to gain my courage and voice out my questions in class.

I was about seven years old then. Just entered primary school education. I wasn't good with learning all these new alphabets and numbers. Actually, previously I received Arabic education in my kindergarten days. English wasn't much spoken in class. Most of the time, the class was conducted in Malay and I learned some basic Arabic sentences. So it was pretty scary for me seeing these new letters and numbers.

A significant time in my life I remembered when I was given homework to do. It was a bright sunny afternoon, and I was sitting in the living room floor, trying to figure out how to read the time on my math exercise book.

It had pictures of clocks with the minute and hour hand, pointing in different directions. Needless to say I was puzzled. Not that the teacher didn't teach me, she did but like I mentioned before, I was a timid boy then. I knew the 'short' hand points to the hour of the day but I couldn't figure out how to read the 'long' hand when it points to a certain number.

My grandma, whom I guess saw my 'plight', came over and assisted me. She pointed to the clock in our living room and slowly explained that each visible numbers (1 to 12) is in multiples of 5. I was still puzzled as to why it is so.

She further explained that there are 60 minutes in an hour. And every big number (1 to 12) is in multiples of 5 minutes. So 5 mins x 1 equals 5 mins, 5 mins x 2 equals 10 mins and so on.

By this time I was pretty excited about this time reading thing. I started to exclaimed to her "So, if the long hand points to 6 it means its 30 mins!"

"Clever!" she said.

After figuring out this "amazing time reading ability", I was doing my homework effortlessly. I was writing down the time of each clock picture and I was quite happy for myself. Of course, my grandma was always there, looking over to see that I was doing it right.

After finishing my homework, I spent my time reading the TV programmes section of the newspapers and naturally I learned how many hours and minutes left before a show begins on TV. I would tell her what time her shows starts, and what time it ends. Yes, I was excited. Because now I can read time.


Twenty years on, the lady who taught me how to read time have passed away. My grandma passed away at her home last Friday.

Many moments in my life, when I have failed and others thought badly of me, she was there to console and encourage me to do better. She used to say "Amy belajar pandai-pandai, belajar tinggi-tinggi. Nanti esok Amy hidup senang. Takpe, sekarang memang susah nanti dah besar nanti hidup senang." She calls me Amy. Sounds like a girlish name(which I found out later in primary school) but actually it's a guy's name too. (just for your info people)

It's nice to hear that someone believes in you and gives you hope. It was an encouragement that pushed me to learn and make use of time to gain knowledge whenever I can.

Thank you Grandma. For everything.

Movie Review: Rendition

Tagline: When if some one you love.. just disappeared?

I think the tagline should have been more different, more powerful perhaps. The current tagline sounds like an alien abduction and doesn't justify the amazing story of this film.

The last time I saw Jake Gyllenhaal and Peter Scarsgaard together in a film was Jarhead. That movie had a catchy tagline: Welcome to suck; but the movie I think should have had more action, that movie ending was kinda of an anti-climax for me. Just imagine sitting down watching through the movie seeing them both train to be the best snipers and when they are called onto the Gulf War, neither fired a single shot at the enemy. Yeah it definitely was 'Welcome to suck'!

Anyway, Rendition is a movie about an Egyptian born man who has a family in the US, is being caught suspected of being an accomplice to a recent terrorist attack, thrown into a secret detention facility outside US and being interrogated mercilessly. Somehow this act is legal under the US constitution ever since the ammendment after 911.

Now I know some of you may have seen this kind of plot before, man got caught because he is a suspect of a terrorist attack/plot, he gets interrogated with unorthodox methods, some radical group starts attacking and how everything starts to get into a direction of chaos.

Well this movie is something like that, but trust me, it is much more. There is love involved in this movie, brotherhood, death, the usual terrorist and infidel accusations. The cinematography is pretty good, acting was pretty ok, but the story line is amazing. I don't want to spoil it for you, but the ending would just really leave you shocked, puzzled. It is one of those not so famous movies that is really good to watch.

There were some slow parts which I think should have been kept short or maybe be taken out. Nevertheless the storyline like I said before was amazing. After watching this movie, I feel like watching it again because I felt fooled at the end. I remember watching one guy in the cinema just shocked and probably angry that the movie fooled him. But in the end you really appreciate th movie direction of thsi film.

Basically, what you think you know in the film, is not what you think.

Go watch it.

4 stars out of 5.