Public Transport (T.O.B)

I read a local English newspaper recently that the number of ridership for our public transports have increased in the past year. Though the figures were not that impressive, at least it's a start. So, how do you increase the number of commuters? I have a few suggestions:

1. Increase capacity. The number of coaches and buses should be increase to accommodate more people. More buses means more routes and more importantly more frequencies.
2. Create more car parks at rail stations and transport hub. People need to be able to easily access and park their car at the stations.
3. Provide more shaded bus stops and covered pedestrians walkway. I believe it'll do wonders to the numbers of pedestrians willing to wait for the bus if there's more cover.
4. Increase synergistic schedule by hiring good planners. It's important that timing between different services and lines (whether other bus companies or rails) be more synergistic so that more people can transfer between services at a faster rate, thus making the whole system efficient.
5. Give free public transport. I know what you're thinking, "where's the revenue going to come from to sustains the transport company?" Well, you just subsidised it. All you need to do is pull back some of the fuel subsidies. A 50% savings in fuel subsidies might translate to RM5-6 billions in savings which can be used to buy more coaches and buses, create more car parks, provide more shaded bus stops and covered pedestrians walkway, hire better planners AND give free public transportation.

And that's how suggestions no. 1 - 4 be paid by.

Public Transport (T.O.B)

I'm planning to go to office tomorrow using the bus. I try my best to get at least 2 - 3 days of commuting from home to office using public transport. This not only greatly reduce cost of transportation, but also reduces stress and more 'green' then driving my own car. But as have been mentioned so many times, by so many people, in so many mediums, that our public transportation system (especially the bus)is not really people friendly.

Take for example the bus stops, around Klang Valley. You would noticed that the bus stops consist only of a pole and a sign with a bus picture on it. Malaysia having a tropical rain forest climate(as categorised by Koppen climate classification)gets an average precipitation of around 60mm all year long will undoubtedly require a different kind of thinking when it comes to bus stops. Or it could be, that most planners for these bus stops never actually taken a ride on the bus. Which would reasonably answers a lot of questions with regards to their planning skills.

I would assume that people would prefer standing under cover while it's raining than actually stands in the middle of the rain getting soaked. It isn't that great a leap of logic to think that maybe, just maybe that a small shade over the bus stops would be of great benefits to the public. But of course, I wouldn't expect that kind of thinkings to occur with our planners, merely because whatever gray matters that is still retains within their cranium evaporate each time chemical impulse passes through it.

I Know I Sold Out

Yes, if you noticed, I put 2 Adsense to my blog. I sold out to greed and capitalism. So, sue me. What's life if not about money? or is it love? I kinda confuse sometimes with these things. Anyway, my wife and I bought ourselves a new Sony Handycam at one of those warehouse sale. It's pretty decent if I do say so myself. With the purchase, it opens up new possibilities of creative work to be done.

Anyway, met with one of my ex-office mate in Parliament today. It's nice meeting with a friendly face and not talk about work all the time. We talked about lotsa stuff among others about haiku, so here's one:

Bought a Handycam
Going to be creative
But what to do, eh?

Testing Video Posting

Here's a funny one.

An empty month

Wow!, I nearly miss a whole month of blogging. Unfortunately I have been bogged down by a lot of work and also less free time due to my volunteer work at the museum. Whatever it was, it was an interesting month. We have two street protests, a setting up of a Royal Commission, a change of government in Australia, a military president puts away his uniform, the geese are flying to the south and so much more.

What does it all mean? It means that the whole of the world move on even if I didn't write in this blog. Go figure.

Election Manifesto

Throughout my short adult life, severals of my friends, officemates and family members for unknown reasons suggested that I become a politician. I do not know what they see in me to suggest such thing. Though, if such a chance do happen, I'll be a terrible politician. First of all I'm a natural introvert, I can't stand talking to strangers. The idea of approaching an unknown person and greet him or her fills my heart with fear. Second, I can't really articulate that well and I speak in a direct manner. Third, I read too much fantasy and fictions. Fourth, my personal background is shady, though that is an area that I won't detail out. The list goes on and on really.

But if somehow, you're all unlucky enough to get me as your elected representative (may God have mercy on your souls), this would be some part of my election manifesto :

A) Statehood
1. Upholding the spirit of the Constitution within the context of a free, democratic and liberal nation.
2. Upholding the rule of law and due process.
3. Upholding the principal of the separation of power between the three branch of government.
4. Ensuring the participation of all citizen in the nation dialogue.

B) Governance
1. Reemphasizing accountability, transparency and good governance as the core principal of governance.
2. Restructuring the Cabinet and government machinery to be leaner and more efficient.
3. Creating an official shadow Cabinet to check the actual Cabinet.
4. Creating the office of Ombudsman elected by Parliament. And reposition the Attorney - General to be under the ambit of Parliament.
5. Reintroduce election at local government.

C) Socio-economy
1. To provide a safe and secure environment for all citizen to live in.
2. To provide free and quality health care for all citizens.
3. To provide free and quality education for all citizens from primary until tertiary level.
4. Recognizing Malaysia as a free market with a liberal approach to policy making.
5. Introduce a Subsidy Reduction Policy that will reduce the nation dependence on subsidies.

I'll add some more and elaborate later.

lifecanbeunfairmostofthetimes

ireadthenewspapermostlyeveryday. andmostoftheheadlinesnowadaysareaboutcrimesbeingcommitted, rape, accident, naturaldisaster, deathandsomuchmore. lifeasweknowitisslowlydetorioratingevenasyoureadthis. whenyou'redownlifewillbeatyoutoapulpandthrowyouintoamudhole.

A Terrible Start For The Day

It was a terrible morning today. I arrived early at the bus station, but have to wait nearly an hour for the bus to arrive. Not only that the route to my office was congested due to an accident earlier. And unfortunately, we pass through the scene of the accident. I can tell you it's not pretty. Not pretty at all. A lorry crash onto a motorcycle...completely obliterating the motorcyclist into pieces of meat. The pieces were all over the road. It was nightmarish! Fortunately the police arrived to cover bigger chunks with plastics. But you can see the helmet is still attached to the head which is attached to a portion of the upper torso.

There's a lesson here for those of you (me included!) that travels a lot. Be careful on the roads! You don't want to be in a fatal accident where your body is decimated into thousand of pieces of meat and pools of blood!

The Saffron Tide

Lo!,
the storm is clearing,
light passes through clouds,
stairways to heaven,
bringing hope,
a chance of prayer,
on the wings of cherubs,
building unto choirs,
the chanting of the pure,
the bravery of saffron hued,

Alas!,
the storm is coming back,
the gathering darkness,
the chill of autumn,
the thunder of wraths,
the saffron tide turns,
the dissipating warmth of red,

Where is salvation?

My birthday was yesterday

Well, 16th Sept went past without me noticing it so much. Did some work around the house. Manage to do some gardening (if you can consider changing pots as gardening). Read a book by Steven Erickson I just bought 2 weeks back. All in all not a bad day really. Quite relaxing for a fasting month.

50th Merdeka Series (3)

When it comes to the issue of patriotism for this lovely nation of ours, I'm too passionate to the point of being argumentative about it. Heh!.. Here is a list of 10 patriotic things that you can do that do not involve putting up flags, wearing flags, drawing flags or anything that is even remotely related to flags.

1) Read and understand the Federal Constitution. This is the pillar of the nation, folks! This is where all the important statements of our nation resides. This is the reason for our nations being. Without the Constitutions, we wouldn't have this nation.

2) Understand how the government functions. This is related to the above and also no. 3. Knowing how the mechanism of government works will let you all be able to govern the nation properly. Yes you read me right. ALL OF YOU have the rights to govern this nations!

3) For those that have reached the age of 21, go and register yourselves with the Election Commissions (EC). When the time comes for you to elect your representative, choose properly, pick the one that you believe will make a positive change to this country.

4) Earn a living and pay taxes. This is the least contribution you can do to propel this country to greatness. Also by paying taxes, you can now hold the government accountable to your money. A very important step to no. 5.

5) Be involve with the socio-political situations of our nation. Be part of the debates to define and change this country for the better. Be part of the polity. Use your rights of speech to point out what is good and what is bad for this nation. Advice and reprimand the government should you believe they have erred.

6) Read on the history of this nation. In simple term, "Knowing Malaysia is to Love Malaysia". This is related to no.1 and 2.

7) Obey the law and rules that is in place. If you don't agree with it then go back to no. 5.

8) Smile. It will do wonders!...If all 26 + millions of Malaysian citizen smiles just imagine the impact towards our Malaysian attitude!

9) Save resources and follow the 3 R's. We have the responsibility to ensure that our future generations will be able to have a livable place to stay!

10) Make a list of 10 patriotic things that you can do that does not involve flags and the above list!

50th Merdeka Series (2)

Well... a lot have been said about that boy who sang a rap song with some National anthem lyrics thrown into it. I have to admit I haven't yet seen the video so I can't comment much about it. What I can comment is about the reaction that people have on that action though.

It's funny that an action by a young man somewhere in taiwan can affect us like this in Malaysia. All because of a song. Granted that he added some part of the national anthem into his song. He was even reported to say some bad things about Islam and Malaysia (I can't verify this). And of course, the normal reaction to this by some part of Malaysian society is extremely predictable.

Accusations of being unpatriotic is the least of it. Some even brand him a traitor, there are even calls for him to be a "persona non grata".

For the part of being unpatriotic, first we have to try and define what is being patriotic in Malaysia all about. To be patriotic in Malaysia is simple enough, it's all got to do with the Malaysian flag. The bigger the flag the more patriotic we are. That is a simple enough equation. In this sense, I am not as patriotic as some of the people I saw that attached the flag on to the hood of his car. Kudos to that guy!. All I have is a small Malaysian flag on an atlas, the SAME size with all other flags of other nations!*GASP*. Worse still is that old guy in tattered clothings and worn out sandals that was rummaging through some garbage bin... I assume he don't have a flag and thus not patriotic.

For the guy with the flag on his hood of his car. At least the covered part will be cleaner and dust free compared to other part of the car.

So, what's your definitions of patriotism?

50th Merdeka Series (1)

Sorry for not updating last month...been too busy.

Anyway, as you all know...this month is the National Independence month of Malaysia. And as all good citizen, I am sure you're all just couldn't wait to celebrate it by counting down the seconds to twelve on the eve of the 31st.

Anyway, I thought I might fill this month blog with nothing but merdeka related topics.

So to start small I go for a simple introduction to the events of Merdeka.

This year we celebrate our National Independence for the 50th time. Next year for the 51st.

This year motto or slogan for National Independence is "Malaysiaku Gemilang". Literal meaning "My shining Malaysia". And we will celebrate it in Kuala Lumpur..yay!

Well...that's the basic of it.

A Lesson from Juggling

It came to be that the are 2 stress ball in my house taken from hotels. One black another yellow. And so, one day a week ago I have nothing better to do and started to try to juggle those two balls with one hand.

First I throw I ball in the air with my right hand and than catch it with my left, one ball at a time. I did that several times and it was not so difficult. But that didn't achieve my target of juggling with one hand.

Then I started to throw both balls in the air between the hands and catch it simultaneously. I repeat that again for several times and that was so difficult to do either. But again that didn't achieve my target of juggling with one hand.

And so, with both balls in my hand I started to throw one in the air, as soon as the first ball started to fall, I throw the other ball in the air and catch the one falling with the same hand. At first I only manage to do that three times consecutively. The most I can do was 6 times and no matter how many times I tried I can't make it past that.

So I started to change the rhythm of throwing and catching. First I tried a faster pace, later I tried a slower pace. Well suffice to say I still can't get the hang of juggling 2 balls with one hand (i sounds so easy!!) but now at least I can manage 10 consecutive throws consistently.

So, what's the point of this whole article? Well it's up to you to decide really.

The Environment

It's been nearly a month since I last posted. Sorry bout that, my internet at home was down and didn't have the time and energy to fix it.

Anyway, yesterday was all about the World Environment Day. Nearly all English dailies have at least an article on the environment. Layman, celebrities, politicians, NGO's and others have given their pledge to do something "Green" on that particular day. Even an established property developer stopped work at one of their site yesterday. Anyways I too have a few "Green" pledge to make.

One. To use public transport as often as possible at the price of punctuality.
Two. To use less air-conditioning at home and be terribly uncomfortable and probably be sleepless all night.
Three. To plant more trees (though in the pot) though it will reduce my already "area deficient" apartment.
Four. To use less water by washing my car only once every two months. (Currently, I only wash my car once a month).

Well that's about all that I can pledge now. I'll think of other ways to help the environment and make my life more intolerable.

About Barriers, Dividers and Walls

I was reading an article in the NST this morning about the wall that divided Baghdad erected by the Americans. This is just another example of how callous and indifferent the occupying forces can be when it comes to other nations. How easily for them to divide a nation just like that. It seems history repeat itself. From the Berlin Wall, to the Palestinian Barriers, to the Baghdad Wall. All a form of repression.

Though repression can come in many guises whether it's physical or non-physical in nature. Looking back at American histories, you can see full well the repression of the Americans first upon the natives of the land, later upon the African slaves brought to America (this repression lasted for more than 200 years) . If we look further back in European history, the feudal system is also a form of repression, where the conditions of the serfs were no better than slaves.

Nearing the present time, another form of repression exist within the South African Apartheid regime, not to mention the Israel apartheid policy (I'll state my position clear on this one, the Israeli government is no better if not worst then the South African Apartheid regime, their whole nation state existence is base on the perceived rights of the Jewish race upon the land of Palestine).

A more subtle form of repressions is through education. By denying certain portion of history or skewing the facts of history thought in schools, some government repressed not only the right of children to judge by themselves according to the facts, but also those involved in the events. Examples are the Japanese text book omitting the facts of WWII and also the lack of references on the Communist participations in WWII in Malaya within school text.

There will always be a group of people who will try to repress others, whether through strength of arms, political and economical superiority, mass media and even education. Because of that it is not enough that we must always guard ourselves from the myopic view and flawed reasoning of these kind of people but we must also resist and fight all kind of repression. Only than can we emancipate our mind, free our souls and achieve understanding that transcend boundaries.

Taking the day off

Just came back from Kota Baru, Kelantan. The weather there was hot, extremely hot. Went there for a meeting in the morning and came back that very afternoon. Already not feeling well then. This morning, I got up and realized that I have a headache. I hate headaches..And I'm also feeling exhausted. I'm sure it's not enough rest. Since I've started studying by myself, I slept very late, around 12.30 am to 1.00 am. Still have to wake up early the next morning.

Well, I need my rest today. I have to go to Penang tomorrow.

Opportunities in Self-Improvement

So, it's been several days now that I started studying back again my programming. As luck would have it, I have to be fully dependent on the Internet for sources and references. Indeed the Net open up countless opportunities for you to improve yourselves. The question is whether or not you have the will to do it. Everybody can do it. Provided they have Net access.

What about those that have not access to the internet?. Well they can always try to find books to buy and broaden their knowledge or perhaps register with some institutions for part time learning. Oh!, before I forget, all of the above requires some amount of cash, which as usual the poor is without. Some of you would say that, the government have given a lot of incentives especially income tax deductions, for people to pursue the so called "life long learning". Well unfortunately the poor do not have enough income to start paying income taxes. Those that qualifies is pretty rich enough to buy lots of books. The rich can also deduct from their income taxes monies spent on furthering their studies. Wow ain't that great all those incentives for the wealthy.

Meanwhile the poor can continue being poor.

Learning the ropes again

It's been quite a number of years since I stopped tinkering with programming. One of my most hated subject was C Programming. We are talking about basic C here, not the C+,C++ of the later years. It was horrible, I barely managed to write a proper function. And worse still, the tutors and lecturers can't properly instruct. They just mumbled something in front and scribble the white board. It doesn't help that I seem to be sitting way behind the class most of the time. Suffice to say, that I nearly flunk my C Programming.

But now, due to several factors that I'll not divulge now (I'm purposely making it more mysterious!;)) I'm back learning how to write programming. I'll do a basic HTML script first, then I'll go for Applets, later I plan to learn ASP, C++ and eventually other more complicated programming languages. Quite ambitious I know. But hey! you've got to start somewhere.

The worst part of it all, is trying to force my brain to relearn all the skills and knowledge that I used to remember and understand. I've left the world of structured learning to that of learning by experience. It's a terrible struggle to achieve really. Now I can really appreciate the effort of those who took their diplomas/degrees after they started working. Anyway, I hope I'll be able to make it.

Added A Link To My Friend's Blog

Added a link to my friend's blog. Only one for the time being... Yes, I'm pretty picky on which blog that I'll add....And before you ask, I have a few other friends...

Virginia Tech Shootings

It was a terrible news to hear. 32 dead with the shooter committed suicide. And as usual the first question ask will always be "who did it?". The next would be "why he did it?" And slowly but surely the shooter's background and history revealed. The professional profilers says it is a classic text book case of a mass murderer. But if that is the case then why did this so called classic case not identified in the beginning. At the same time, the issue of lax of firearm laws make the round. Next the issue of immigrants crops up. Later after his background have been put under magnifying glass, the issue of the shooter being bullied when he was young will take stand.

But this writing is not about all of those issues. It is about humanity. No doubt, the shooter bears the burden of responsibility. There is no shred of doubt that the shooter is guilty. Some would even brand him evil and used him as proof that there should be greater rights to bear firearms. Others would hold up banner demanding stricter immigration law. Another group would question the school system for the bullying. But again this is not about those issues. It is about humanity.

It is about us reaching out to another fellow human being and say "How are you?". It is about us smiling to another fellow human being and say "Lets be friend!". It is about us embracing another fellow human being and say "Thank you". It is about being a decent human being that loves and respect another human being. It is about humanity. And unfortunately the lack of it.

T.O.B. (T.O.B.)

A couple of days back I was having a discussion with my lovely wife about the concept of thinking outside the box. I was suggesting that rather than thinking outside the box why not we make the box bigger. Of course she being more smarter and wiser than me counter proposed that there is no such thing as boxes in the first place.

And I would say that this is one of the most important revelations for me this year. That there is no such thing as boxes. The reason why, we always say think outside the box is because we unconsciously put a limit on our mental capability. And unfortunately such sayings only reinforce the idea into our very psyche.

Our mind is capable of unlimited potential. The limit of it can be liken to that of the horizon, that it'll continue to move as we move towards it. And even that limit is still possible to be expanded upon. How? By having more inputs, be more aware, learn more new things, express more of yourselves, experiences different culture and so on. Such pursuit of knowledge is like stepping on a ladder or better yet, like flying. The more you know, the higher you go. The higher you go the further the horizon will be. And that is the truth of things.

Holiday in Fraser's Hill

Me and my family just spend the weekend in Fraser's Hill. It's a quaint little township around 4000 ft above sea level. The weather is not that hot in the afternoon and cool in the evening. I'm guessing the population of the town to be around 600 to 800 people.

There are a few attractions in Fraser's Hill amongst them are the Jeriau Waterfall, Allen's Water and the Paddock. On top of that there are also British style houses, and a few outdoor activities such as golfing, archery and horse riding. And not to forget the jungle tracking and also bird watching for the enthusiasts.

Unfortunately, most of the attractions are not properly maintain which leads to a very poor perception of how serious the Goverment is willing to go to attract tourist. But most importantly, this reflect how the lackadaisical attitude of our population towards protecting the environment and maintaining public places and amenities.

I do hope that should I go for any more holiday to Fraser's Hill the situation will have improve for the better, if not for the sake of the population's pride at least for the camera lens of the tourist.

Thiniking Outside The Box (Integrated Property Development)

I know, I know...the title is long winded. I'm after all trying to support our great PM's call for the people to think outside the box. So, after this there will be a series of Thinking Outside the Box (TOB) writings that I'll be doing on and off.

To get things started here is an idea I had after driving 6 hours continuously from Kuantan to Putrajaya to KL (after having faced with a long journey, I have to face long congestions) . I was with a friend of mine that I have not meet for nearly 9 years. So as usual after hours of talking we the topics range from all sort of things until finally it arrived at this topic: "Integrated Property Development". Of course this idea came from facing such a long, boring and dreary congestion in KL!!

While in the traffic, I was discussing with my friend how to reduce time in traffic. The answer is fairly easy, that is not to drive into traffic. In order to achieve that, I have to stay at an area where everything is provided for. Ranging from workplace, health clinics, shops, schools etc. At first, the solution to get this done is by putting all this in a central position surrounded by houses (I call this group of development as IDC (Integrated Development Clusters) . All of this should be within walking distance (20-30 minutes) from one point another. But after thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that such a model is not feasible due to the fact that my employers might not be willing to move office for the sake of my well being!

But I'm thinking that the idea is sound, since we already have buildings concept such as SoHo, Planned township etc. But unfortunately, in my honest opinion, this concepts are not holistic, including my idea. So I need to tweaked a bit this idea of mine to make it at least plausible to do.

First, we need to have a working environment where work can be done beyond office. This is already possible by having mobile technologies, and already people are using it for home office and such. But not all employees can work properly in the comfort of their own house. So what we need is a place where employees can go to one place where they are not in the office, nearby his house and still be able to do work. If you have 300 to 400 employees from different organization doing this at a central area, then you'll have the Universal Productivity Area (UPA), a truly open office concept where people from different organization can work together at the same place. UPA will have the necessary hardware and software capabilities to enable people to work. (I.e. working area, unassigned desks, coffee corner, LAN, WiFi etc)

Around the UPA should be provided facilities for health clinics, schools, banking institutions, public services counters/machines, security points (police beat or station), retails units (such as shopping mall). All of this will be the Core of IDC.

Surrounding this Core will be residential units of around 300 - 400 houses. All should be walking distances (10 - 20 minutes) from the Core. People working in the UPA is encourage through various incentives to stay in this residential areas.

The next step would be to create more IDCs that is connected to one another to form an IDC Township.

Of toll concession and immigrants

I was reading the news the other day about the issue of whether or not the toll concession agreement should be made public. It would seem that the venerable Work Minister put forward his suggestion to the Cabinet, that perhaps it would be best if the public be able to see the documents and judge for themselves the merit of such documents. In an unrelated news, the exalted IGP suggested that immigrants be confined or restricted to their work premises so that it would be easier to monitor their movement. The suggestion was based on the assumption that such restriction will reduce the number of crimes being committed in this country.

Again both of these events seem unrelated, on the surface at least. But if we ponder deeper on these issues, we will realized that such issues touches the very basic of our nations principals. Both issues have its roots in the basic principal of democracy and human rights. The concessions issue touches on the freedom of informations, for which without such freedom the public will have literally no ability to decide properly the course of the nation. Whereas the immigrants issue, touches on the freedom of movement, for which without such freedom, I can barely imagine the consequence.

So, after 50 years of Merdeka, 50 years of nation building we still have amongst our top officials those who do not seem to grasp the basic notion of a free and democratic nation. It is fortunate that our beloved Prime Minister seems to be the wiser man in both of these events. I believe he have commented the best way possible for a person in his position and hopefully, just hopefully a greater freedom as enshrined within our Constitution shall prevailed in the end.

Not another Monday!

Sigh!...it's officially Monday.

I still remember years back when I started work, that I cannot wait for Monday so that I can do my work. Of course back then, I was all fired up to serve the public. To give all my best to the people. But later, slowly the realities of life starts to get to me. Or rather the realities of government entropy finally eating my passion from inside. I used to believe to stand up for what is right, even though I have to speak up to my superiors. But now, the stability of government career plus all other worldly responsibilities doused that fire within my heart.

But I can see that the government is slowly changing. Will it be for the better? Only time would tell. But in the mean time, I suppose I have to remind myself now and then that the smallest of effort to serve the people better is better than no effort at all.

Well maybe this is what they call the Monday blues. I hope in the morning I can light up a bit of my smoldering passion back to life for another week.

The coming weather

They say when you have no idea what to talk about, you can talk about the weather. It's quite safe and will not incite great passion in most people, not unless you're talking with those in the meteorological department or the weatherman. But now days, weather seems to be in the news headline in most local and even international paper.

Recently the unpredictable weather, cause concerns over the supply of water in the country. Before that, the severe flood in the southern part of the country dominated the news. In the international front, the paper presented by scientist in France under the purview of UN on climate change highlighted the cause of global warming. And the revelation that mankind are at fault for the rising global temperature doesn't seem to shock a lot of people.

The point is really about the change of perception on weather by the masses. More and more, we see the catastrophic effect of extreme weather, be it financial losses or worst still, lives. People is beginning to realized that weather is not just another side topic to be brought up when there are nothing else to talk about. The ups and downs of the weather patterns effect us all, whether they be politicians, businessmen, gardener, rich or poor.

It's time for all of us to sit up and pay a bit more attention when somebody is talking about the weather.

Going at it again

Well, I am at it again. My first blog was nearly 2 years back, but due to unavoidable "technical fault", read here as lazy, I am unable to update the blog as frequent as possible. Hopefully this second time will exist longer if not permanent.

A lot have change since then. I've been transfered to another department, I've moved houses, I've changed car, heck, I have even got married. I'm now older in terms of biological age and also I perceived myself to be more mature if not wiser than before.

I find myself at a stage where, I look back through the lens of time to my youth and camaraderie with my schoolmates, and miss all the carefree days where all you have to think about was how to skip class. Not that I skip class and also not to accuse that all students thinks of skipping classes, just giving a romantic simile. Alas, such carefree time shall be no more and unfortunately be relegated to the back of the memory, whatever small amount of it that I still have.

But I realized that, now I am more at peace with myself, having found my life companion next to me. My sweet, beautiful wife, she is the star that guides me in the dark of night, the hand that grasp me when I am weak, the voice that sing melodies in my ear when I am lonely, this and more she is to me.

On that note, I hope to write more post in the future.