Happy 2nd Anniversary

"The greatest weakness of most humans

is their hesitancy to tell others

how much they love them while they're alive."

Orlando A. Battista

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Ask yourself when was the last time you tell your Mom that you love her.

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It has been a two-year-long journey.

But I just feel as if it was just yesterday that we call ourselves a couple. It was more like a secret between both of us in the beginning, wasn't it? Remember how we were hesitating whether or not we should announce our status to our parents, family and friends? I still remember how you told your Mom that you already had a boyfriend.

"Eh, Mommy, I got a boyfriend already, you know. Although we are on a long-distance relationship, I don't care what you will say about it. I want this."

It was almost like a dictatorial announcement towards your Mom, rather than to listen to her opinion, listen to what she had to say. Mom being her usual self like any other time, it was fortunate that she didn't say this to you in return, "Aiyaaa, you're trying to show off isit?"

You know, in that kind of tone that she always speak to me, in which I'm already expert in imitating that familiar tone since I sorta "praised" her cooking last time haha.

For the second straight year, we couldn't celebrate this day together. Perhaps that is the reason behind the fact that people rarely believe in long-distance-relationship. Being in this kind of relationship, it is almost certain that we would never be able to enjoy, to feel and to understand how is it like to be together, doing what couples do together most of the time. However, we are doing great so far, aren't we?

Nevertheless, reflecting to the times we had gone through so far, I do admit that we sometimes did quite badly during those periods.

Skyping is like a daily routine for us, isn't it?

We sometimes envy those couples who get to have dinner together, kick the ball in the field together, go to pasar malam together, tease and pinch each other, laugh when one of us do some silly stuff, watch a romantic movie together, or go travelling together. Of all these things couples always do together, I guess I know what you envy them the most - that would be none other than to go shopping together.

Please tell me I'm wrong.

Actually, shopping together with you can be fun.

Shopping together with you is just one of the many things I miss doing with you.

# 1 - I miss drawing silly pictures with you, and we would compare whose drawing is better. Never mind, like what we've agreed, we will let KnK judge, okay?

# 2 - I miss giving your free Japanese lesson, and I'm glad you're a fast learner. But the bad thing is, you forget what you've just learned very fast at the same time. I think you have stolen some of my kingyo syndrome haha.

# 3 - I miss webcaming with you at the airport, waiting for your connecting flights.

# 4 - I miss the moment of getting to see you at the arrival hall, waiting for me with your cheerful but a bit blur face.

# 5 - I miss looking at you putting on your make-up, although all I know about make-up is to take the lipstick and randomly draw it on the lips.

# 6- I miss making you say that my cooking is delicious, although the fact is that they really taste nice haha wtf.

# 7- I miss going to the fishing village and we would get your favourite 20 cents red-bean ice-cream, and eat the ice-cream while walking through the streets of the village, much to the weird stares from the half naked uncles and little kids who runs everywhere.

# 8 - I miss riding on the duck boat with you and boasting how beautiful the Lake Garden is. Malacca doesn't have a proper place to jog, does it?

# 9 - I miss looking at how you really concentrate when you're baking. Being "scientific" not only when you are doing your medical stuff, you are still the same even when you bake. Maybe that is the reason why my cake always ended up uncooked because I'm too "unscientific" and random when it comes to baking haha.

# 10 - I miss hopping onto the see-saw and spend the evening together at the playground opposite your house, while counting at the number of crows in the sky haha.

# 11 - I miss the posing session when we were waiting for our orders to be served, and how Vic would look at us from afar and give his trademark annoying face haha. By the way, remember the lady at Secret Recipe kept on staring at us when we camwhore there?

# 12 - I miss welcoming the New Year under the beautiful display of fireworks in the heart of Malacca town.

# 13 - I miss taking Puripura with you, and I will take you to try the more canggih one in Japan one day.

# 14 - I miss your Milk Shakes. Only if Japan has more cows to produce more milk to make more Milk Shakes haha.

# 15 - I miss having a simple birthday celebration with you and your loved ones.

Those are just some of the things I miss doing with you.

However, if there is one thing I wish I'd I hope I won't have to go through again, that would be the agony of bidding farewell at the airport. Like I've said before, I have a love-hate relationship with the place they call airport. It has always been me leaving you behind; but you know what, I am almost certain that the feeling of walking into the departure hall and not having you coming together with me, is as hard as you seeing me disappearing out of your sight.

I have a simple wish; that is we would not have to go on separate ways again the next time we are in the airport. I have no idea when will that happen; of course I hope it will be as soon as possible but that is not something for us to decide.

As I'm typing this entry, you just called me, telling me that you are at the mall waiting for the bus. You sounded so excited. See, like I just said earlier, there won't be anything as exciting as shopping to you, right? Not even me, no?

I don't plan to crap too much in this entry because if I were to write everything what I wanna tell you, this will turn into an endless entry. I hope you will like this short entry, to mark our second anniversary. Thanks to the function that allows me to edit the mistake made in each entries, you won't find any "fivety"-kind-of spelling error (an inside joke) in this entry haha. Don't have to scroll up and to confirm it, because I have done it several times.

Stay cheerful as always and take good care of yourself in my absence, my lovable hamster.

With love,

Your blur bunny

P/S: Now that you've finished reading this entry, go stalk Michelle's blog for her entry on our second anniversary.

We Will Miss You, Kak Min

"she's dead!! "

message I got

from KH at 0149 hours

This is the one news that I'd wish I didn't live to hear.

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I was getting myself ready to go to bed late last night, and I received that message from Kok Hong on my mobile phone. The moment I got that message, I knew it was referring to our one and only Yasmin Ahmad. It took me a few seconds to make myself digest the fact that she is gone. Yasmin Ahmad has left us just before midnight yesterday. I didn't shed any tears or what; I guess I was just too gobsmacked when I got the news of her passing.

I first got the news of her last Thursday evening, when people were spreading rumours at Facebook and forums that she had passed away. It was later found out that it was merely some mis-communication; she suffered stroke and brain haemorrhage and didn't pass away as what was reported earlier.

I saw a glimpse of hope when the doctors said that she successfully underwent a brain surgery on the same night; but it took a turn of fortune two days later when it was reported that her condition had deteriorated. Praying and hoping that she will hang on and her condition will improve for the last several days, only to get such a tragic news is indeed a hard one to take.

"Funeral" is a new TV commercial which looks at relationships in a different light, through a woman at her husband's funeral.

Malaysia today has lost a true Malaysian; a genius who has captured our hearts as well as our soul with her simple, yet meaningful works. Yasmin is a brilliant talent who believes love and forgiveness are among the most important essence of live.

"I am optimistic and sentimental to the point of being annoying, especially to people who think that being cynical and cold is cool. Everyday, I thank Allah for everyday things like the ability to breathe, the ability to love, the ability to laugh, and the ability to eat and drink." - taken from Yasmin's blog.

Quoting from what actress Fatimah Abu Bakar, a close friend of Yasmin said about her, "We would come cross a few great people in our time on earth. Yasmin was one of them."

I couldn't disagree anymore.

 

"Tan Hong Ming In Love" - Race doesn't matter when we are young, so why does it matter when we are older?

To me, the passing of Yasmin is much bigger than the King of Pop recently. That is perhaps I have lived and grown up watching the wonderful works done by Yasmin all these years. Malaysians enjoy her films and advertisements which never fail to make us touched, or even to the extend of shedding our tears, mainly because they are something we can relate to ourselves. Her diversity touch in her advertisements each year never made us think that we are Indian, Malay or Chinese; instead she made it look like we are one whole big family in a harmony community, regardless of our skin colour, background, class or beliefs.

However, her daring approach in her works often pisses most conservative filmmakers off, as well as religious authorities and also the censorship board members. Never mind Yasmin, let them critise you as much as they want, because you know we Malaysians appreciate your efforts. Perhaps they just don't know how to appreciate true talents like what outsiders are heaping praise on your works.

I first come to know about Yasmin six years ago through her first film - Rabun. Back then, I didn't know who Yasmin was, neither did I know who was the director behind the film. What I knew was that it's a film one of its own, and this is something you would find very rare among the Malaysian films in the local entertainment industry. Somehow, it just had that extra something in that film, about an elderly couple who moved out of the city to a village, but this exuberant and affectionate pair find that life in the countryside isn't all that pleasant after all.

Along the line, Yasmin put in some humourous and the reality of life in the film. It is the same thing in all of her other works, where we would laugh and cry at the same time, a quality that has been missing from Malaysian movies all these years.

 

The movie that people started to notice who Yasmin Ahmas is - "Sepet" (2004)

From then on, I have only managed to see her next film - Sepet. The more I watched it, the more I found myself falling in love with her articulate touches. Too bad that her next four films were released when I was no longer in Malaysia, and I missed seeing all of them.

The advertisements she directed are no less exuberant than her films. Who wouldn't know her powerful Petronas advertisements come every festive seasons. The messages and ideas conveyed through these advertisements reflect the true spirit of Malaysia which we all shall carry and cherish to eternity.

I first mentioned her in my blog early this year through her advertisements for the Chinese New Year this year. Never in my wildest imagination that she would leave us exactly six months after that entry. It was also from watching her works that inspired me to produce a video in conjunction of the National Day celebration last year.

 

Her last work - "Talentime" (2009)

Another comments I saw at 15Malaysia page at Facebook reads, "Bright stars never leave. They die, yes, but remnants of greatness trail behind them, scarring the dark universe with light."

Yasmin has shown us the ways make life a better place through her works, and I believe we shall let that inspire us to do the same to our life and nation. Yasmin's works will never be forgotten and I doubt we would have somebody having such vision and persistence in proving her ideology like her ever again.

My deepest condolences to Mak Inom and Pak Atan, her husband, relatives, and friends. May the peace rest with you, Yasmin and you will live in everyone of us.

Al-Fatihah.

My Kindergarten Years

Short note: This entry was written almost one year ago. Can you even believe that? But I never posted this up because there were too many pending posts all this while. Since it is a busy couple of weeks for me preparing for my final at the moment, this entry would be a filler post to buy some time.

Ever wondered where I studied before I stepped into my primary school?

Cheng Kung Kindergarten.

Here is where I started to learn to recognise letters and alphabets, doing basic calculations, drawing and many other interesting stuffs. It was actually an unplanned thing for me to be enrolled into this kindergarten, simply because my mum was not sure which kindergarten she should send me to back then. My uncle suggested this kindergarten to both of my parents apparently because he knew there is a kindergarten there and the place is not bad, which prompted both of my parents to send me there.

The kindergarten is located within the compound of Taiping Buddhist Society. That is why every morning before our classes start, we would sing Negaraku and some short Buddhist chanting, which is tuned for it to sound more like a song. I used to sing it even when I went back home that time, but as the years pass by, I am no longer able to recall the lines. At the same time, I am so sure whether that practice still remain until today.

Back then, I took a school bus daily to the kindergarten as I was staying over at my grandma's place. I used to be a quiet boy at school and that actually remained until I was in my secondary years, although it got slowly lesser and lesser. I still remember that there was one girl, who used to take the same school bus with me every day to the kindergarten. Even though we would usually wave to each other whenever I got down when the bus drop me at my grandma's house, I had never exchanged a single word with her, not even her name. We were still so young and innocent that time, however I wouldn't disagree if you say she was my first crush. I doubt she will be reading this, but I wonder where and how is she doing right now.

Cheng Kung Kindergarten occupies the first floor of one of the building there, just above a huge hall used for religious ceremony. The classes are separated by beige walls and each class usually comprises between twenty to twenty-five kids. They are named after fruit's name, for example - Orange class, Apple class, Durian class and so on. Mine was Pineapple class.

However, they have dropped that name since several years ago and replaced with some other fruit.

Strawberry class.

One of the classes, decorated with colourful pictures and drawings.

Besides just learning basic stuff like reading, writing and calculating, we were exposed to a lot other activities, especially whenever festive seasons are around the corner. When it is Chinese New Year, we would be taught how to make firecrackers from cardboards, folding fishes and lanterns from red packets; and when the Mooncake Festival is around the corner, we learned how to make paper lanterns. That aside, we had outdoor school trips to museums, zoo, lake gardens and many other places around Taiping once every few months.

It was fun for us, but conversely the teachers would have huge headaches, as they had to look after each and every one of us to make sure nobody is lost during the trip.

The board in which we marked our attendance.

The first thing we would have to do every morning is to take our own attendance. Yes, we do that ourselves, instead of waiting for our teacher to take our attendance. The system is one of a kind, which I think it made it more convenient for the teachers, and the kids love it a lot. Basically, there will be a cardboard, divided into five columns for the five days in a week. A layer of wire which has a lot of holes are placed on top of it, and we would find our name card on the teacher's table, and then slip the name card it on the cardboard.

Another thing which I always looked forward would be the recess time. We did not have a canteen there, and food are served to every classes when it is recess time. One of my favourite menu was fried noodle and usually, we would try to go for a second round as the noodles are served in a big round steel plate and there would be assistant there to help out our teacher to scoop the noodles for us. But most of the time, unless we were fast enough, there would not be a chance for us to go for a second round. Hence, most of the time, even though we were eating, we would keep a busy sight at the food tray at the same time, to see if there is any extra food remaining haha. After every one got their food, our class teacher will eat together with us in the class. At times, we even sing some songs together while eating.

Although there is a playground outside, we hardly got the opportunity to play there. Whenever we got to play there, we still worried about getting caught by the fierce school principal, the person whom all of us were afraid of. She is the only teacher who walked around classes with a long-rattan cane almost every day, and we always tried to avoid her. We only went to the playground and played the slides and swing after school hours, when we were waiting for the school bus.

What we used to play with.

The kids are more fortunate that they get more stuff to play at the playground today.

They used to organise birthday parties every month for us. The birthday boys and birthday girls would get their photo taken in front of the cake and most of the time, these kids would come in nice attire. The boys would come with smart t-shirt, nice jeans and shoes. As for the girls, they would wear colourful dresses or skirts, and some even spend that extra time to put on some make-up.

So small also want to wear branded (fake one though) stuff already haha.

When it was my month, I did not know that they would be organising that party on that day, and I just went there wearing a long-sleeved Nike t-shirt. Not an original one, of course. It was raining that day, and my mum was worried that I might get caught cold that she made me wear that shirt. I must say that I used to be quite blur and unsure of what the teacher tells us at times, mainly because most of the time, they will use Mandarin to make any announcement. Prior to entering this kindergarten, I never spoke a single word of Mandarin and God knows how tough it was for me back then.

After spending almost a year there, we finally graduated from that kindergarten. That was my first time wearing a mortar board, and you do not have to graduate from an university in order to get the chance of wearing it.

Haha, stop laughing. I know I look damn pure and innocent. So kuai chai, no?

Just like any other year, we have our graduation-cum-concert ceremony towards the end of the year. I received two trophy - one small and another a taller one. The tall one is for getting excellent results in our exams, while the smaller one is for students with neat writing. Haha, I know this prize is quite lame but anyone who knows me well enough should be aware that I have nice and neat handwriting, be it in alphabets, Chinese characters or Japanese characters.

I am not trying to boast around, but in the Mathematics paper in my college in Japan last year, my Japanese lecturer decided to photocopy my answer sheet after the exam to be distributed to the whole class for reference. At first, he asked me whether it is okay for him to use my answer sheet, as he would not have to do another one himself already.

I replied my lecturer, "How if I say cannot ler??"

Haha, crazy-meh; of course I wasn't that bad to give him such a cheeky reply. When my other classmates saw it, "Sugehh!!", "Yabeiii" came out as usual. One of my classmate told me something, that I find it funny; "Hey, you can make money with this ler."

Huh?

One of the rare times when I put on make-ups. I am the one with the green hat, just in case you cannot spot me.

Back to my kindergarten story, besides just prize giving ceremony, there were performances in between. My class performed two kind of dances that evening, and we were given the chance to choose what dance we wanted to do. I rejected the rock and roll dance because I was too shy to use plastic guitar and dance around. So I joined another dance - twist dance, which I think is equally embarrassing haha.

We were given a green shiny mask to wear during our performance, just like the picture below.

Spot me!

Just like anywhere, be it at kindergarten, primary school or secondary school, we had our class picture taken. Here is a class photo of mine.

I am the easiest to spot.

Fifteen years later, I revisited my kindergarten during my summer holidays last year and I find my class teacher still look exactly the same.

That is Mrs Liang, who has taught there for thirty years.

The Dark Side Of Facebook

Short note: It is a public holiday here in Japan today, as they celebrate the Marine Day or Umi-no Hi. Two years back on this day, I experienced my first ever earthquake, and what a huge one it was on that morning of July 16th, 2007.

I was Skyping with my mom last night as usual, and she told me something which shocked me. A mother of my youngest sister's classmate went to the school and looked for my sister to interrogate her. The class teacher saw it from afar and the mother was talking while using her hands to gesture about what's happening. Apparently, the daughter went back and complained to her mom that my sister took her (the daughter) stuff and brought them back home. Sounds pretty serious, isn't it? I never know that my little sister is such a thief all this while.

Apparently, my sister went into her friend's house and shifted all of her things to her (my sister) house, and in the end, there were nothing else left. So, that girl was so sad that she cried and complained to her mom. It got ever worse that the mother of that girl called my house phone and coincidentally, my mom was the one who picked up the phone. So, to clear up things, my mom asked her to explain the situation once again. The conversation was something like this.

Mom: Yea, so what's wrong?

Aunty: You know-arh, my daughter came back yesterday. Then she complained to me. She said your daughter curi all her stuff already.

Mom: Harh? What stuff?

Aunty: I also dunno-lah. My daughter said your daughter carried all the stuff from her house to your daughter's house. Now, my daughter's house got nothing already; all empty-liao.

Mom: You sure or not? My daughter also didn't go to your house, how to curi the stuff wor?

Aunty: Dunno-lah. She said she's playing some game; at dunno what Facebook or something like that-lah. So, now she wants your daughter to return all her stuff to her-lah. You tell you daughter faster return those stuff lah. My daughter here say all her stuff kena curi already, then some more every day cry, I very fan-lah.

Mom: Oooo... game only isit? I thought really one. =.= Okay, okay, I tell my daughter afterwards.

Aunty: Yea-lah, you dunno meh nowadays. They play these games every day one. Some games some more can open restaurant one, some can buy land, some can plant vegetables, some can own a farm, then sell the plants some more. Haih, kids nowdays... Macam macam-lah...

The moment my mom finished telling me the story, I couldn't stop laughing haha. Damn stupid, right? I thought my sister really went to her friend's house and steal some stuff from there. Mana tau, it was only a game at Facebook. So, I told my mom maybe it's the Pet Society game, in which I play occasionally as well.

Talking about Pet Society, I started playing it after being forced for so long by my sister.

When she saw me started playing the game, she sent me a message: "woah, you finally play pet society hor. see, told you liao, nice kan? and btw, your calbit so kesihan lah. why let him naked one. go get something for him to wear lah. later he cold lah"

I think I can never keep a pet. Even a virtual one is abandoned already haha. Dah-lah naked, smelly some more haha. Just look at the flies on Calbit's body lol.

Kids nowadays. During our childhood time last time, where got such games one. But now, you can do nothing but spend the whole day at Facebook, by playing at the tons of applications there, especially the games. Tell you what, some people can really get addicted to a great extend. Take my aunt for example. She told me the other day that she was back to my grandma's house and there was no Internet connection there. So, she had no choice but to call her colleague to harvest the plants at her farm.

Memang confirmed game addict already haha.

If you ask me to choose between Barn Buddy or Farm Ville, I would prefer Barn Buddy; well, because at Barn Buddy, you can steal people's vege and fruits haha. But sometimes you gotta be careful 'coz there is a dog at some people's farm. So, there is a chance that you may get bitten by that dog. However, it is not all the time, because sometimes the dog can be pretty stupid and you can steal all the ready-to-be-harvested veges and fruits at the farm haha.

Nevertheless, Michelle used to be the one who managed my farm at Farm Ville because I was sort of made to play that game. Honestly, I don't really fancy that game since I can't steal stuff from other people's farm haha. But if I play the game, she would be able to receive gifts from me, so I started playing it although most of the time, she will be the one who manages my farm, like doing the planting, harvesting and expending the farm.

The only thing I do is to play with the animals I rear at my farm. Playing with the animals as in arranging them properly and neatly. However, Michelle has been complaining to me that my arrangement of the animals looks really wrong, and younger kids like my youngest sister might visit my farm and how should I explain to them if they ask me why my animals are in such positions.

Can't get a clear view?

Here is a closer-shot.

So, I told Michelle that I will just tell them: "Ohh, the animals are just lining-up; you know, like during perhimpunan at school haha!"

Life Is Like A Cup of Coffee

"Life Is Like A Cup of Coffee"

author unknown

(and greatly appreciated)

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Take a look at this inspirational video. It will only take less than four minutes of your time, but it could give you some thoughts to ponder upon.

A group of alumni, highly established in the careers, got together to visit their old professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, he professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups – porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal; some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite.

He told his guests to help themselves to the coffee. After everyone had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups have been taken up leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress."

"Be assured that the cup adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases, it is just more expensive, and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup. But you consciously went for the best cups. And then you began eyeing each other’s cups to see who had the best one."

"Now consider this. Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain LIFE and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee."

Savour the coffee, not the cups!

The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.

Live simply.

Speak kindly.

Care deeply.

Love generously.

********************

I'm not sure about you guys out there, but this message is certainly an awakening call for me personally. I guess I sometimes put too much attention to unimportant and insignificant stuff, that I failed to enjoy things which I could have had. Perhaps it is still not too late for me to rediscover myself from now onwards, and learn how to appreciate the simplest things around me.

I do not want to end up one day, at the later stage of my life, asking myself this question: "What if ... ?"

Can You Guess These Things?

Short note: I went to see my lecturer this evening because I didn't get back my report. He tried looking everywhere in his room but couldn't find my report; so, I just said that is alright. Just a few minutes ago, he called me privately, through my mobile phone and greeted me with "Yoshino desu~~!!". Yea-lah, his name is Yoshino, but the way he greeted me reminds me of Hard Gay haha. So, he told me he went to our classroom and apparently, some students didn't distribute the report to everybody. But for him to make all the effort to walk all the way to my classroom, search for my report under the students' desk and place it on my table really makes me paiseh-lah. One thing for sure, will you ever hear such thing happening in Malaysia?

Finals will be in less than two weeks' time. Not that I am really busy because for that; I think I am procrastinating so much lately. How could I not, when the summer holiday is just less than one month away. I guess my recent posts have been too heavy for most of you, that I bet nobody even bothers to read them, even until the end of the first paragraph haha. So, this one will be another simple and short post.

Like I have said, it's very simple. Just make your guess of these two pictures and tell me your answer in the comment's box. The first one is quite simple.

People who went to Kanazawa trip are not allowed to guess hor.

The second one might be a little bit tricky, but I think it is not impossible to get it right.

Jeng, jeng, jeng, I wonder what is this.

Winner(s) with both correct answers will get an all-expenses-paid trip to ...... my house haha.

Plastic Bag From The Future

Can somebody tell me what does this message mean?

It seems that the plastic can sell itself.

Based on the recent announcement, I'm not surprise if our grandchildren's' English will turn like this in thirty years' time.

We Played Balls Together

Short note: We had a lecture in which we had to translate research papers written in English into Japanese last week. There was one sentence: "Remembering that α, β are real ..." and guess how my Japanese classmate translated it? His translated sentence was: "α, β が実数を覚えてください". That is like saying something like, "Please remember that α, β are real ...". Everyone, including the lecturer burst into laughter the moment he read his funny Japanese-translated version and I think he was a little bit offended when we made fun of him haha. He insisted that he went to the English lecturer to help him on the translation and that was what the lecturer told him. Haha, poor little boy.

Sorry for the title which sound a bit salah.

It was a holiday in our college last Thursday, because we had a ball game competition. Sorry-hor, I know the term doesn't sound natural, but that was what written in my dictionary. I know I have blogged about this event for the past couple for years, but this would be my third and final year here to blog on this event. Furthermore, there is a new team formed this year unlike the previous years - Team Chikyu Lab, which mainly comprises of the international students in our college.

Our presence in such events often strikes a sense of fear to the oppositions because they always assume that our team are strong and at the same time, unknown, as in our playing style. The very first time we had such team during the sports day last year, our tug-of-war team went all the way until the semi-finals.

Futsal team of 5th Year Mechanical Engineering, just before our first game; me touching my butt for some luck maybe haha.

Will the #8 jersey bring me any luck?

There are four main sports during this ball game competition - futsal, basketball, dodge ball and volleyball. The first two were played in the first gymnasium while the last two were held as the second gymnasium. Of the four sports, I played in every of them for the international students' team. Besides that, I also played in the futsal game for my class in which we lost in the very first game to the 3rd Year Civil Engineering class by a solitary soft goal. In that game, I hardly get to move around freely because they had one player to mark me so tightly throughout the game. You know, when you got marked all the time, it's really frustrating. Anyway, that didn't bother me as much as last year because I was more concentrated on helping the Chikyu Lab team to progress as far as possible in all four competitions.

The first futsal game was against 4th Year Material Engineering class and we thought it would just be a breeze for us before the game.

The futsal team of Chikyu Lab: Hong Yao, Arogo (partly hidden), Calvin, Azie, Ridzuan and Syah the captain.

In the end, it needed a lucky goal for us to win the game by a single goal. The opposition's goalkeeper somehow mistakenly threw the ball on Syah's direction and he just slotted the ball into the net on a one-on-one situation. The next game was against Arogo's class, and he decided to betray the team and play for his class instead. No matter how much I tried to persuade him to stay in our team, he insisted to playing for his team.

Since he seemed to be firm in his decision, I tried to bribe him by telling him to concede own goal for his class to give our team some advantage. He laughed off at my suggestion haha wtf. So, the game began and guess what happened in the end? Team Chikyu Lab who was the firm favourites, lost the game 0-1 to an own goal and you guess that right; I was the culprit who conceeded the own goal to the opposition, off a corner kick. I don't know why my left foot was so itchy to hit the ball into the empty net. Haha, I think the bad karma just returned to haunt me for trying to bribe Arogo before the game.

Volleyball game.

After the futsal team crashed out from the competition, Chikyu Lab team was left with three other competition - volleyball, dodgeball and basketball. We won the first game of the volleyball without much difficulties. Well, maybe because it was against a team comprising of all females using a rubber ball, which look more like a beach ball. But in the second game, we didn't have such luck and I got the news that our team had crashed out to 5th Year Electronics Control Engineering team when I was on my way to join them.

Dodge ball was nothing much different because we crashed out, also in our second game. It was against the lecturers and staffs' team and their team outnumbered us by twice. We had only seven players and they had fourteen. The only consolation we can take from the game is that we lost by only one player in the end. Yet, we still lost the game.

Dodgeball game.

Personally, it was my first time playing this game and I didn't know the rules of the game at all. That didn't bother me and I just looked and tried learning the rules of the game as I play haha. During the game against the lecturers and staffs, I think there were no less than five times when I got hit the moment I returned to my team's corner. My hypothesis is that my body area is much bigger than other people and that increases my probability for the people to hit me with the ball haha.

After the Chikyu Lab team lost in three competitions, all in the second game, we were left with only basketball. It was rather a disappointing result so far for us because we have had higher targets; we thought we could at least progress into the semi-finals for each competition but it didn't happen. So, the basketball competition began. There are five players in each team and we had Yan Kuang, Sodo, Wei Shen and Hong Yao in our team. But that's only four and guess who was the fifth player?

Yes, it's me (again) haha.

The second game in which I got hugged the whole game haha.

Just in case you don't know, I do not play basketball; or should I rephrase, I sucks in that game haha. But the team needs another player to make a complete team, so I was called into the team a.l.a. bidan terjun style haha. We got a bye in our first game, and our second game was against 2nd Year Mechanical Engineering team. The moment the game started, I realised they made their tallest player to stick to me all the time. Not only that, he was grabbing my all over my body as if he's gonna molest me haha wtf. So, as a gesture of appreciation, I returned his favour by hugging them haha.

You see, I wouldn't have started the rough play if they didn't do it first.

Saw the guy with the #5 jersey?

He was the one who sticked to me throughout the game without fail.

Having a sixty-seconds halftime break and we could still crack some jokes.

During the match, I overheard that guy who marked me telling his teammate: "Wei, this guy is far too huge for me-lah". I think my presence there was enough to cause headaches to them. Unlike Yao Ming who gets injured so easily, I wasn't there to get injured but to injure people haha.

We won our next game and found ourselves in the semi-final already, all thanks to my stupid acts in the court haha. But to win against our opponents in the semi-final match is next to impossible; it was my class, which comprises of all the school players, including the captain. And just in case you are wondering how strong is our school team, they were the champions of the Kanto region last year.

The last four teams remaining in the basketball competition.

Nobody gave us any hopes of winning the match; in fact we already know what the result will be. So, we merely went into the game, and decided to enjoy the game. I know the opposition wasn't playing at their best level because it would make the final score too unbalance. Unlike the matches in the earlier rounds, the twos semi-finals and final matches were played in full court. Since the prize-giving ceremony will be held immediately after the final match, people began to fill the gymnasium when the semi-finals games were held.

It felt nervy to have so many people watching the favourite team playing against the international students' team. But like I said, we treated it as a friendly game and played the game without any pressure.

You will probably make this kind of stupid move when you are merely having fun haha.

Everyone was anticipating for the final game.

The final game was between 5th Year Mechanical Engineering and 3rd Year Electrical and Electronics Engineering. It was indeed a fascinating game and everyone in the gymnasium truly enjoyed the game. My bet was on my class to win the match and they took a commanding lead early in the game, only for the opposition to level up things.

Then came final few moments which was as dramatic as any professional matches you often watch. The score was levelled at 14-14 and the time shows that there's only tens seconds remaining. My insticnt somehow told me that the captain will pulled something out in the final moments and I wasn't left disappointed. It was the final attact from my class and from the left side of the court, the captain pulled out a magical throw with his right hand and got the winning points, with only 0.1 seconds remaining.

How can it get any more dramatic than this?

The final score.

The rest of my classmates who was seated at the opposite end with my class teacher, immediately ran into the court and celebrate the win, to the dismay of the opposition. Even though they were really unlucky to lose in the final second of the game, credit have to be given to them for showing the fighting spirit like they did when nobody gave them any chances againsts my class. But I am sure next year onwards, they will be the team to beat.

What happened in that final second of the game also reminds us not to give up until the end in whatever we do because we would never know what could happen during the last few moments, until something is really decided for certain.

A group picture with my classmates of 5th Year Mechanical Engineering.

See what our class teacher did on the next day; he framed both certs and placed it on top of the blackboard in our class haha.

By the way, my class was won the dodgeball competition as well and it was a double-double celebration for us because we also won both competition last year. And guess what, after the class monitor went to received the prizes, our class teacher Kondo Sensei asked him over and we saw him handing him a note. I didn't see it clearly, but apparently, it was a 10,000 yen (RM350) note and all of us shouted, "Is that a bribe??!" haha.

As for the Chikyu Lab team, it was just a third placing finish in basketball.

The basketball team with the winning certificate and Mr Haga.

Sorry-lah Aki, you were sleeping when this picture was taken xD

Remember the widely discussed boyband we formed some distance back? Now, with the numbers we have here, we can form a football team already haha.