About a week ago I went to a petrol station to fill my car’s empty fuel tank. I filled it to the brim. I reset the meter to zero like I usually do but the fuel gauge pointed to half.
“Heh, it must need a few moments while the engine runs to fully erect” I thought.
Several kilometers went by but the gauge was still halfway. So I went at variable speeds, did a few sudden brakes, jerked my ride and drove uphill and down. Nothing happened.
“Damn! It’s stuck!” and I even tried knocking on it.
“Damn! It’s still stuck!”
It stayed that way for days and days. “Oh geez! Just what I need! My car’s first faulty instrument. Should I be expecting this? It’s not even three years old yet. I wonder how much it would cost to get fixed, or worse, replaced! Looks like I have to rely on the meter to estimate how much fuel I have left, for now.”
For diagnostic reasons, I planned to let the fuel run low, very low. Maybe, just maybe, thirst would bring it back to its senses.
Then yesterday morning as I was halfway to work, I glanced at the meter which indicated that I have about 50 kilometers to go before my next pit stop.
“How I wish the fuel gauge’s working” I sighed and checked the fuel level. I took another good look because the needle seemed to be pointing to ‘E’! Good Lord! I have never been so glad to see my fuel indicator show empty before.
“Hey! You’re back!” I exclaimed in joy and smiled all the way to work.
On my way home that evening I refueled my tank to one third and the gauge responded nicely. Maybe it choked when I last refueled; maybe it’s just playing with me.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
All decked up!
25 December falls on Monday this year. Wish it would fall on Sunday so we Malaysians could use Monday to recuperate after a long and hard Christmas party. All ready and willing for work on Tuesday. Those fortunate enough to get leaves days after that, rejoice.
But whatever.
Hear me cheer.
Bring all your merry bells out and jingle them all about!
Christmas’ right on time this year, can you hear the red nose reindeer?
Some dream of white, others have a blue, but you know what? I don’t have a clue.
See I’m running out of schnapps, and I’m too old (and heavy) for Santa’s lap
So all I want for Christmas is to do whatever I want to do.
Be it dim, be it bright, it sure won't be a silent night.
As for a holy night, well, you go'head'n decide.
While you’re at it, add to this bit by bit, just don’t give me any sh*t.
It's Christmas y'all.
But whatever.
Hear me cheer.
Bring all your merry bells out and jingle them all about!
Christmas’ right on time this year, can you hear the red nose reindeer?
Some dream of white, others have a blue, but you know what? I don’t have a clue.
See I’m running out of schnapps, and I’m too old (and heavy) for Santa’s lap
So all I want for Christmas is to do whatever I want to do.
Be it dim, be it bright, it sure won't be a silent night.
As for a holy night, well, you go'head'n decide.
While you’re at it, add to this bit by bit, just don’t give me any sh*t.
It's Christmas y'all.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Sealed...
One week after I was grounded by AirAsia, I flew to Kuching on Wednesday. This time, nothing unfortunate happened on my cheap fare flight. Besides, it was four days ahead of the deadline. I was on my way to my best friend’s wedding reception, scheduled on Saturday, 2nd December 2006. No, it’s nothing like Julia Robert’s.
Many months before the wedding date, after he announced his wedding intentions, I shamelessly told him “I want to be your best man”
And he said “Trust me, you’ll be the first one I’ll ask”
“Great! Just tell me the date in advance so I could get cheap airfare. You know how AirAsia works… tickets are usually cheaper months before flight date”
But things change and plans get reworked.
He e-mailed in March, “…This a top secret project (if you tell anyone I’d have to kill you). We (you know who) is planning the ‘BIG DAY’ maybe early December. One item in the checklist is emcee of the night. Since the guests would be multi-racial, if possible, the emcee must be able to speak Iban+English+Malay (Bidayuh also can). There are professional emcees but they are $$$$$$$. So I thought about you (how nice of me). Do you think you can handle the crowd, throw in a few jokes, do what emcee normally does?? You would be famous, well at least for that night. And if you are lucky you might grab the attention of pretty (or not so pretty) chicks (or aunty). Give it a thought and let me know.”
I replied;
“YES! I DO! Ehehe.
Tell me the date and I’ll kill to make myself available.
It is extremely delightful reading your mail. Not the ordinary forwarded stuff.
I’ll be your emcee alright. I’ll have a good exposure during my brother’s wedding in a longhouse in Bintulu. He’s marrying an Iban girl. Scheduled 3rd June. Time to brush up on my Iban then. And, I’ll be ready to go for your wedding. As for the crowd, I’ll work them like dough. Oh no, does that mean I’m not your best man? Anyway, if I have to choose, emcee is more exciting and involved”
Finally December came and I was excited to attend the wedding, despite being not quite ready with the emcee job. Work and socializing took much of my preparation time. Well, that’s just an excuse. But I was determined nonetheless.
I was also assigned with the video camera for the Church blessing in the Morning and the photography session at the Taman Sahabat park thereafter. Everything went well and as planned. Here are the morning pictures, starting with the make-up session at the bridal studio.
The groom in the background
While the bride was getting made, we took advantage of the various interesting sets and props at the studio.
The groom with the father and brother in law, and a friend.
The bride with the make up artist and the bridal's coordinator
At the altar.
After the church blessing ceremony.
Photo session at church. This went on for well over an hour. Too many cameras and guests, too little time (and patience; well, it's a once in a lifetime occasion after all.).
The married couple with two of the groom's highschool buddies (we're housemates).
The photo session tour at the park late that morning. I swear, everyone got unnecessarily tanned, especially at the forehead.
One of the many oriental themed structures at Taman Sahabat, Kuching.
These couples look cute. Cats and all.
Ok, make enough benches like this and one idiot is bound to get weird ideas. Foolish enough to post it here even. And you know what, I think this marriage is sealed solid, with a kiss!
Many months before the wedding date, after he announced his wedding intentions, I shamelessly told him “I want to be your best man”
And he said “Trust me, you’ll be the first one I’ll ask”
“Great! Just tell me the date in advance so I could get cheap airfare. You know how AirAsia works… tickets are usually cheaper months before flight date”
But things change and plans get reworked.
He e-mailed in March, “…This a top secret project (if you tell anyone I’d have to kill you). We (you know who) is planning the ‘BIG DAY’ maybe early December. One item in the checklist is emcee of the night. Since the guests would be multi-racial, if possible, the emcee must be able to speak Iban+English+Malay (Bidayuh also can). There are professional emcees but they are $$$$$$$. So I thought about you (how nice of me). Do you think you can handle the crowd, throw in a few jokes, do what emcee normally does?? You would be famous, well at least for that night. And if you are lucky you might grab the attention of pretty (or not so pretty) chicks (or aunty). Give it a thought and let me know.”
I replied;
“YES! I DO! Ehehe.
Tell me the date and I’ll kill to make myself available.
It is extremely delightful reading your mail. Not the ordinary forwarded stuff.
I’ll be your emcee alright. I’ll have a good exposure during my brother’s wedding in a longhouse in Bintulu. He’s marrying an Iban girl. Scheduled 3rd June. Time to brush up on my Iban then. And, I’ll be ready to go for your wedding. As for the crowd, I’ll work them like dough. Oh no, does that mean I’m not your best man? Anyway, if I have to choose, emcee is more exciting and involved”
Finally December came and I was excited to attend the wedding, despite being not quite ready with the emcee job. Work and socializing took much of my preparation time. Well, that’s just an excuse. But I was determined nonetheless.
I was also assigned with the video camera for the Church blessing in the Morning and the photography session at the Taman Sahabat park thereafter. Everything went well and as planned. Here are the morning pictures, starting with the make-up session at the bridal studio.
The groom in the background
While the bride was getting made, we took advantage of the various interesting sets and props at the studio.
The groom with the father and brother in law, and a friend.
The bride with the make up artist and the bridal's coordinator
At the altar.
After the church blessing ceremony.
Photo session at church. This went on for well over an hour. Too many cameras and guests, too little time (and patience; well, it's a once in a lifetime occasion after all.).
The married couple with two of the groom's highschool buddies (we're housemates).
The photo session tour at the park late that morning. I swear, everyone got unnecessarily tanned, especially at the forehead.
One of the many oriental themed structures at Taman Sahabat, Kuching.
These couples look cute. Cats and all.
Ok, make enough benches like this and one idiot is bound to get weird ideas. Foolish enough to post it here even. And you know what, I think this marriage is sealed solid, with a kiss!.
.
Wedding reception pictures and story to follow soon.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Grounded
Less than three weeks ago, I had to make an urgent hand delivery for a tender submission to Miri. It was rather unexpected since we planned to send the package via courier. However, since we didn’t receive the relevant information in time (2 days before deadline), the only option was for me to hand carry it there. The submission time was Thursday, before 3pm. So I bought tickets to board the low fare airline, AirAsia, to Miri, departing at 7.20am. Arriving at 9.20 that Thursday morning should give me enough time to deliver the package and meet our clients the rest of the day.
The normal air fare would be around RM1000 by Malaysia Airlines but my return flight with AirAsia cost only RM500++. I figured I could help save company’s money this way. Plus, an uncertain tender submission should not cost so much.
I arrived at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal as scheduled. The cabin was only half full so I managed to get a private seat by the window at the right wing portion. I tried to catch a nap as the aircrafts around mine make their way to the runway. The high volume of morning air traffic dragged the flight’s take off time to 8am.
The take off wasn’t quite as smooth but we were fast ascending in mid air nonetheless. There were several notable irregular sounds coming from the engine and wing segment. One was a rather loud mechanical gear sound and the other sounded like someone blowing into a microphone at a constant 30 seconds interval; except it wasn’t coming from the speaker above. It was transmitted through the body of the plane and it seemed to originate from the wing segment. That went on throughout the ascend.
I was so sleepy and dying to start my hibernating process that I didn’t give the sounds much thought.
[intercom *ding…]
“…please fasten your seatbelt, put your seat upright and stow you table to its original position.”
The announcement woke me up, ‘Oh great, bad weather. Just what I need’ I thought.
Heck, I’ve been through a few notoriously rough plane rides to hate this situation. 8.15am was the time on my watch and I went ‘yup, we’re not in the right altitude to dodge these nasty clouds’
Another five minutes passed before I heard the pilot say ‘Cabin Crew, please be seated for the landing’
What the ….. we’re landing? Now? How long have I been asleep? It’s only twenty minutes after take off. We can’t be landing now? We must still be above KL!!!
I looked out the window and saw a familiar sight; the runway I saw 25 minutes ago. Hey, there’s LCCT, AGAIN!
[Tires screeching, jet engine buzzing violently] “Welcome to LCC Terminal, Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Please remain seated until the seatbelt sign is switched off. Please make sure all electronic devices; especially your cell phones are switched off until you are in the terminal building. Please bring all your hand luggage with you when leaving the aircraft and wait in the departure hall for further notice” came the announcement.
‘Ok, we’re really back where we started 30 minutes ago. What the hell happened. Why is everybody so calm and not curious at all? Clearly I’m the only one missing the vital info’ I thought.
As I approached the exit door I asked the flight attendant “Uhm, excuse me. I missed the announcement earlier, but what happened?”
“Hydraulics problem” she said calmly, conveniently smiled and turned the other way.
“Oh, ok” I replied. The answer was simple and precise enough for my tired and sleepy brain so I left it at that.
Walking down the stairs slowly got me out of daze. I looked back toward the plane as everybody was making their way to the departure hall.
‘How bizarre is this?’ I asked myself.
I gazed up at the crimson morning sky and these words rang in my ears ‘there and back again’
As soon as everyone was in the terminal building, the engineers opened up the plane’s belly and started fixing God-knows-what. Here’s a thought: What if they caused another problem while trying to fix the faulty hydraulics? Don’t they have spare planes for situations like this? It’s not exactly a bicycle which can be used right after it’s fixed, or is this AirAsia’s idea of a bicycle?
Of all the planes parked here that morning, all took off without a glitch but mine.
Chronologically,
9.30am : They announced that they were still unable to determine the flight departure time. After waiting for an hour, that was the best they can tell us.
9.31am: We were made to wait indefinitely.
10.30am : They finally announced that departure was scheduled at 11.45am. It was a temporary relief since that would enable me to deliver the package less than 15 minutes before closing time, 3pm, tentatively of course. Provided there are no more unknown glitches surfacing.
10:45am: They distributed 500ml of mineral water, small packs of Swiss roll cake and a bun with traces of sardine paste in the middle; rationed like butter during World War II.
11.30am: We boarded the plane.
11.50am: Take off.
Everything went as per ammended schedule, after more than four hours' delay, with an uncertain flight's fate. Praying mode: 'ON'
Soon after we were at cruising altitude, the flight attendants were out with snacks to be purchased. They’re basically instant noodles, sandwiches and packet drinks sold three times the normal price. Things do get increasingly pricy with altitude. They should really teach that in school.
I was tempted to say “No thanks. I’m not buying another crap from AirAsia, not today”.
I kept quiet instead.
NOW EVERYONE CAN FLY KITE
The normal air fare would be around RM1000 by Malaysia Airlines but my return flight with AirAsia cost only RM500++. I figured I could help save company’s money this way. Plus, an uncertain tender submission should not cost so much.
I arrived at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal as scheduled. The cabin was only half full so I managed to get a private seat by the window at the right wing portion. I tried to catch a nap as the aircrafts around mine make their way to the runway. The high volume of morning air traffic dragged the flight’s take off time to 8am.
The take off wasn’t quite as smooth but we were fast ascending in mid air nonetheless. There were several notable irregular sounds coming from the engine and wing segment. One was a rather loud mechanical gear sound and the other sounded like someone blowing into a microphone at a constant 30 seconds interval; except it wasn’t coming from the speaker above. It was transmitted through the body of the plane and it seemed to originate from the wing segment. That went on throughout the ascend.
I was so sleepy and dying to start my hibernating process that I didn’t give the sounds much thought.
[intercom *ding…]
“…please fasten your seatbelt, put your seat upright and stow you table to its original position.”
The announcement woke me up, ‘Oh great, bad weather. Just what I need’ I thought.
Heck, I’ve been through a few notoriously rough plane rides to hate this situation. 8.15am was the time on my watch and I went ‘yup, we’re not in the right altitude to dodge these nasty clouds’
Another five minutes passed before I heard the pilot say ‘Cabin Crew, please be seated for the landing’
What the ….. we’re landing? Now? How long have I been asleep? It’s only twenty minutes after take off. We can’t be landing now? We must still be above KL!!!
I looked out the window and saw a familiar sight; the runway I saw 25 minutes ago. Hey, there’s LCCT, AGAIN!
[Tires screeching, jet engine buzzing violently] “Welcome to LCC Terminal, Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Please remain seated until the seatbelt sign is switched off. Please make sure all electronic devices; especially your cell phones are switched off until you are in the terminal building. Please bring all your hand luggage with you when leaving the aircraft and wait in the departure hall for further notice” came the announcement.
‘Ok, we’re really back where we started 30 minutes ago. What the hell happened. Why is everybody so calm and not curious at all? Clearly I’m the only one missing the vital info’ I thought.
As I approached the exit door I asked the flight attendant “Uhm, excuse me. I missed the announcement earlier, but what happened?”
“Hydraulics problem” she said calmly, conveniently smiled and turned the other way.
“Oh, ok” I replied. The answer was simple and precise enough for my tired and sleepy brain so I left it at that.
Walking down the stairs slowly got me out of daze. I looked back toward the plane as everybody was making their way to the departure hall.
‘How bizarre is this?’ I asked myself.
I gazed up at the crimson morning sky and these words rang in my ears ‘there and back again’
As soon as everyone was in the terminal building, the engineers opened up the plane’s belly and started fixing God-knows-what. Here’s a thought: What if they caused another problem while trying to fix the faulty hydraulics? Don’t they have spare planes for situations like this? It’s not exactly a bicycle which can be used right after it’s fixed, or is this AirAsia’s idea of a bicycle?
Of all the planes parked here that morning, all took off without a glitch but mine.Chronologically,
9.30am : They announced that they were still unable to determine the flight departure time. After waiting for an hour, that was the best they can tell us.
9.31am: We were made to wait indefinitely.
10.30am : They finally announced that departure was scheduled at 11.45am. It was a temporary relief since that would enable me to deliver the package less than 15 minutes before closing time, 3pm, tentatively of course. Provided there are no more unknown glitches surfacing.
10:45am: They distributed 500ml of mineral water, small packs of Swiss roll cake and a bun with traces of sardine paste in the middle; rationed like butter during World War II.
11.30am: We boarded the plane.
11.50am: Take off.
Everything went as per ammended schedule, after more than four hours' delay, with an uncertain flight's fate. Praying mode: 'ON'
Soon after we were at cruising altitude, the flight attendants were out with snacks to be purchased. They’re basically instant noodles, sandwiches and packet drinks sold three times the normal price. Things do get increasingly pricy with altitude. They should really teach that in school.
I was tempted to say “No thanks. I’m not buying another crap from AirAsia, not today”.
I kept quiet instead.
NOW EVERYONE CAN FLY KITEThursday, December 07, 2006
How you doin'
For a long while this space has shown ‘Jealous and insecure’ without any hint of a refreshing change. What a statement to leave eh…
The past month has been filled with all sorts of interesting events, from bizarre work-related flight delay right through a beautiful wedding. Gosh, I really need to document them before I lose all the details and emotions worthy of posting. There’s one magical word which describes the way things went all this while. It conveniently explains everything and it says ‘Busy’.
But this post is not about an apology (neither is it necessary). I’m just giving myself (and those who still visit) advance notice of the things I should see here. Sometimes I do ask myself ‘I wonder what I’ve been up to these days’. Because lately things happen so fast that I could barely keep track. It’s almost Christmas and pretty soon it will be two thousand seven!
Meanwhile, the fun keeps on coming!
Come next weekend I will be in Kapit for another round of my best friend’s wedding reception. All in good times.
The past month has been filled with all sorts of interesting events, from bizarre work-related flight delay right through a beautiful wedding. Gosh, I really need to document them before I lose all the details and emotions worthy of posting. There’s one magical word which describes the way things went all this while. It conveniently explains everything and it says ‘Busy’.
But this post is not about an apology (neither is it necessary). I’m just giving myself (and those who still visit) advance notice of the things I should see here. Sometimes I do ask myself ‘I wonder what I’ve been up to these days’. Because lately things happen so fast that I could barely keep track. It’s almost Christmas and pretty soon it will be two thousand seven!
Meanwhile, the fun keeps on coming!
Come next weekend I will be in Kapit for another round of my best friend’s wedding reception. All in good times.
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