February Post

It is nearing the second week of March and after the last blog post I was occupied with some new jobs. I am so thankful. Some of it are proofreading jobs and some are returning printing customers.

Somewhere on the third week I got tooth ache. Probably from food I ate, perhaps hard food or bits of it left in between gaps which eventually created infection. It was painful for three days until I can't no more bare and decided to pull it off at the dentist.

There goes a whole week without runs and rides. I almost thought that the painkiller could have had some minor side effects when I was weak and sleepy most of the time. 

Lucky me, I managed to jog again on the last week. To my surprise, I still have the stamina when it was noticeable the heart rate was steady during the first returning run. That's when I decided to plan some vague training schedule week by week that hopefully fill in for some interesting achievements. In fact I also signed up for the Score Run Centurion Challenge attempting to complete a 60km challenge from 13-March till 18-April 2021. 

SPM started on the third week. Things were a little bit stressful and also hopeful. We tried to make sense out of everything and avoid unnecessary tense. Hence, we brought in this little buddy from our in laws. She was reportedly abandoned by mommy and barely survive until my in laws decided to feed her. 

Cing Cing (my kids call it, but I prefer Grebel which sounds trending), was skinny like Husin. She was weak but totally a different character. She prefers sleeping in the open like the wide carpet, sofa, in the TV room and not besides anyone unlike Husin during little.

The Frangipani Hammock

 Almost a week now housekeeping the contact and social media group. Things that I find to be irrelevant or annoying or popping too frequent boasting lifestyle, achievement or any other craps will go into mute mode or restrict mode or even worse unfollow mode.

I find life is more peaceful now without the need to archive or open and read the unnecessary chats among the irrelevant parties. I make and lead my own now. Any enquiry or chats I decide whether to answer/reply or kept silent. The later may be helpful sometimes.

I can still interact with people, whenever necessary. Don't need to be full time attending to the nonsense. I can still jog or cycle and throw smiles at passers by be it friends or strangers. However I may hold my line and not being too friendly like before because  I don't find it necessary.

Though jobs are less since the MCO 2.0, I find there are other fruitful things that can be done. I managed to transfer the Frangipani from the polybag to the soil. I successfully hung the hammock with a simple hitch knot at the car porch. My next project is to replace the old shabby shoe cabinet. DIY or just purchase one.

Empty Cans

Yesterday I've decided to leave a prominent wasap group. Kinda prominent. Probably way back then, but no more. Probably they still feel and think that it is a prominent group. 

However, the thought of inactively involve in any of its interaction came by me earlier this year when I find the chats were becoming irrelevant. This is especially when throwing marriage jokes around and casting self-claimed compliment sorta proud sons and daughters. The worse ever when everyone wants to be supercool and super knowledgeable. Even worse when boastingly joke about other people. I find it disgusting.

So I muted the notifications. It was calmer...for a while. Besides the rubbish chats, the interaction were slower nowadays. Probably nobody have something to boast about. Eventually, the decision to leave came and no turning back. There's nothing to regret about. In fact there's nothing there except empty cans.

Aku akan cuba post sekerap yang mungkin untuk masa yang terdekat ni. Bila kerap buat, bermakna aku kena sign in hampir setiap hari yang membolehkan aku ingat ID dan password untuk blog ni. 

Pagi ni aku kuatkan semangat untuk kayuh jugak, kononnya dengan harapan cuaca macam semalam...berangin seharian sampai ke malam, best betul kalau berada di luar. Tapi hari ni dah habis angin. Tambah lagi defisit angin bila aku ikut jiran kayuh yang jauh lebih power dari aku. Maka hasilnya hampir 34% kayuhan hari ni berada dalam Zon 4 (Kuning)! Tapi takpe, Garmin kata "You improved your cardio respiratory from this workout."

Terasa juga di kaki setiap kali tekan masa climbing. Hari ni buat figure 8 instead of yang biasa aku pusing2 loop Suakasih. Figure 8 ni bermakna setiap bukit seperti bukit depan Dju dan bukit TNB aku hadap. Kalau dengan jumlah jarak kayuhan 20km bermakna aku hadap bukit-bukit tu 10 kali...kot. 

Aku ambil hari ni sebagai INTERVAL workout sebab aku berada di luar zon selesa pada hampir 80% kayuhan. Bermakna esok aku kena easy workout. Kalau mengembara ke Bukit Enggang best jugak kan? Hmmm...

Capish!

Recovering the blog

Wow! For the last few weeks I've been trying to recover my blog back but I can't seemed to get the email and password correct after numerous times. It was somehow disappointing, especially when you have something to blog about.

I thought I remember writing somewhere the email and password in my notebook but failed to find it. But today it was fortunate. I found it after patiently browsing every page of the notebook. Actually, the email address that I key in was incorrect. Sigh!

I was thinking to compile all my blog posts and keep it somewhere else, like Google Cloud. There are 550 blog posted and I don't know how to transfer it in the simplest way instead of copying and pasting one at a time. I'll find the best way.

I kept too many memories in this blog especially memories long ago when I was actively running and cycling and joining events. Those were probably 10 years back which may seemed like a short while ago but it's precious. 

In the mean time, I started Tweeting a year ago. Twitter allows me to post short posts faster which I can do it few times a day. Whatever I can think off besides being handy from the mobile phone. The only thing is, if I require lengthy post, I need to Tweet a few times. Basically it will look like paragraphs. 

Ciao!

PKPB 1 Bulan

PKP dah jadi PKPB sejak 4 Mei 2020. Bermakna dah hampir sebulan PKPB dan dah masuk 4 bulan PKP. Normal baharu dah kena jadikan kebiasaan bila keluar rumah kena pakai topeng dan sanitizer selain penjarakan sosial. Lepas tu nak shopping pun dah kena biasakan online aje. Berbaris di kashier boleh merisaukan bila lama sangat berada di tempat awam. Tambahan lagi bila ada pengesahan KKM pasal pembawa virus yang tiada simptom. Bahaya.

Sepanjang PKPB dan selesai projek jualan t-shirt dua edisi iaitu LOCKDOWN Dan THE NEW NORMAL, Aku ada modal sikit untuk lengkapkan beberapa projek tertunggak.

Asalnya motor aku bocor. Mula² ingatkan tayar yang baru tukar sehari sebelum PKP Ada masalah. Pergi balik kedai tak selesai. Aku terpaksa refer kat Yus. Rupa²nya rim berlubang. Halus. Jeff jual rim 2nd hand dia tapi hub dah goyang. Modified selit aluminium foil pada bearing. Boleh bertahan hingga aku pi tukar set rantai kat kedai. Pomen pasang balik tapi bearing longgar semula. Beli gam 3 tan kat Mr DIY, Yus tampal rim lama. Alhamdulillah 🤲 steady.

Lepas tu aku tukar balik bearing baru. Unfortunately bush dan shaft pulak dah sompek. Last² tukar semua baru hari ni. Doa² moga selesai masalah secara total.

Laptop pulak sehari dua kembali dengan masalah tak boleh connect ke WiFi. Berpuluh kali restart baru dapat. Bila nak esoknya, jadi lagi. Kembali refer kat Yus. Sambil² repair motor. Kami suspek problem hardware iaitu PCI card. Install driver Aztech beberapa kali baru OK. Kalau jadi lagi, last option ialah Beli dongle external antenna untuk capture WiFi.

Ujian² kecil macam ni tetap aku kembali kepada yang Pemberi ujian sebagai peringatan untuk aku sentiasa sedar atas tingkahlaku sendiri.

InsyaaAllah dalam minggu ni aku akan launch edisi ke-3 t-shirt DKJ ARTIZEN dengan konsep Sujood. Sekarang tengah dapatkan feedback Dari family members untuk pilih design paling disukai. 

Dett

Hari ni 30 April birthday kawan baik aku. Itu pun sebab Nonie bagitau. Dett berumur 48 tahun, muda setahun dari aku. Dulu² aku & Det tak pernah pun ambil kisah pasal birth date masing² sebab setiap detik kami bersahabat sudah cukup istimewa untuk buatkan hidup kami menarik dan memorable.

Honestly, aku jarang nak recall berbagai moment persahabatan kami sebab secara tak langsung akan membuatkan tekak aku jadi susah nak telan air liur dan mata aku mula berair. Walaupun sekali sekala out of nowhere Allah akan ingatkan aku pada Dett. Ya masa tu kadang² aku akan tersenyum sendiri. Adakala juga aku boleh tergelak kecil.

Segalanya rezeki persahabatan kami bermula dalam gelap subuh sebelum flagoff Malakoff run di Taman Lembah Kiara. Nizam cuit aku, dan jari menunjuk ke arah Dett yang nampak sibuk stretching di celah-celah kelompok peserta lain.

"Jiran kita tu. Dia duduk Suakasih gak. Aku selalu nampak dia jogging area Suakasih."

"Betul. Aku pun perasan. Bulan puasa pun dia lari gak beb. Power brader ni."

"Aku kenal dia masa dia kat Maybank dulu."

"Jom! Jom! Kita pi tegur dia."

Kami broke the ice sebaik perjabatan salam pertama. Tiada kekok mahupun janggal walaupun pertama kali berjumpa dan berbual. Ibarat seperti sudah lama kenal dan kasual. Rupa-rupanya anggapan aku salah sama sekali! Persahabatan lebih dari kukuh disebabkan karakter masing² saling menerima. Tambahan lagi dengan sikap istimewa Det yang sentiasa menyokong dan bertolak ansur.

Dari minat sukan berlari yang sama, kami mula meneroka lebih ke sukan ni. Kami masuk banyak acara dan buat lebih ramai kawan. Ke mana saja kami berlari dan masuk acara, mesti kenal ramai. Ini disebabkan watak Dett yang mudah mesra dan Low profile.

Tahun 2009 aku ajak kawan-kawan yang dah giat berlari untuk cuba buat Marathon. Group latihan kami akan berjumpa di Lake Garden setiap petang selepas kerja dan berlari bersama. Dett antara yang paling rajin. Selain dia memang suka berlari, aku rasa dia suka sangat dengan camarederie group kami yang berbagai gelagat dan lawak bodoh. Selama 3 bulan kami berlatih bersama. Satu masa yang aku fikir sangat istimewa terutama bila dalam satu kumpulan kawan-kawan.

Sehari sebelum larian Marathon pertama dalam hidup kami, semua sudah mula terasa panik. Serba serbi tak kena. Walaupun aku kongsikan macam-macam tips pada semua untuk bersedia menempuh 'race day' tapi dengan aku sekali tak tenang. Paling aku tak boleh lupa, saat aku dah letak kepala atas bantal jam 1.00 pagi Dett mesej aku ajak 'kok-bok'.

"Kau gila ke bai? Dah kul berapa ni weiii. Kul 3.30 jap lagi dah nak kena gerak pi Dataran. Tinggal 2 jam aje nak tido."

"Wa tak leh tido siot. Suspen siot. Tadi wa dah belasah pasta 2 round. Takut bonk je esok."

Macam tu lah watak Dett paling lawak aku akan ingat sampai bila-bila. Itu lah jugak bahan aku mengusik dia. Kami berjaya habiskan Marathon pertama kami tahun tu. Dan tahun² berikutnya juga. Kami juga pernah berlari di Singapura Sundown Marathon.

Dah puas berlari, aku ajak Dett kayuh basikal pulak. Merata kami kayuh. Kami buat Century Ride pertama pun sama-sama. Kalau dikira bilangan kami 'bonk' bersama pun memang banyak. Dett pernah jatuh dalam longkang besar tepi jalan selepas SAMTEN sebab tayar depan terlanggar lubang cangkuk aku rapat sangat. Aku tak boleh bayangkan dia selamat tanpa cedera. Dett jugak pernah jatuh basikal dan patah bahu sebab mengelak anak anjing di jalan rumah dia. Kami sepatutnya kayuh sama petang tu sebab kononnya nak 'brick training' untuk Powerman. Bila jumpa di pondok pengawal, muka Dett dah menyengat tahan sakit. Aku nampak ada luka² kecil. Lepas pi klinik, sah patah bahu. 3 bulan Dett MC tapi aku nampak setiap pagi dia akan berjalan kaki keliling Suakasih. Bosan katanya duk rumah.

Lepas lari dan kayuh, kami buat aktiviti masuk hutan pulak. Habis hutan belakang Suakasih kami masuk. Lepas tu kami ke Bukit Apek pulak. Cuma Det dan aku. Sekali sekala ada kawan lain ikut. Lepas tu ke Gunung Nuang. Sampailah ke peringkat wujudnya group Suakasih Outdoor Quest dan pengembaraan kami jauh hingga ke Gunung Kinabalu dan Gunung Rinjani.

Pejabat Dett menjadi tempat persinggahan aku bila² selesai tugasan luar pejabat. Kedai mamak di hujung barisan pejabat Dett jadi tempat kami lepak bersembang. Dett seorang pendengar. Aku selalu kongsi macam² idea dan cerita. Tak pernah sekali pun dia beri pandangan sebaliknya. Semua dia sokong. Malah kami boleh bersembang pasal apa jua topik tanpa ada prejudis.

Ada sekali aku tumpang solat di pejabat Dett. Ruang solat di dalam bilik server. Bukan main sejuk aircond. Dett gelakkan aku sebab kurus sangat takde lemak. Lepas tu dia bercerita pasal kerja pasaran saham dia sambil ditunjuk pada skrin komputer ratusan nombor berkelip-kelip. Sampai sekarang, bila aku lalu di Seputeh, memori aku akan dibawa ke sini.

Persahabatan kami ibarat tak pernah cukup. Dah jumpa lunch atau di pejabat Dett, petang jumpa lagi masa jogging. Malam jumpa di surau. Lepas tu di mamak. Nama Dett dah biasa Fida dengar sampaikan dia mengusik sama ada aku ada apa² ke dengan Dett? Aku pun akan jual nama Dett kalau ada nak pergi mana².

Tarikh paling sedih tanggal 2017 Dett pergi, aku betul² bersama dia pada hembusan nafas terakhir. Kami sepatutnya kayuh Broga Loop sebab nak 'training' untuk Kayuhan Raub. Seminggu sebelum tu, Dett ada cerita dada kurang selesa. Kami suruh dia beli dan telan Gaviscon. Masa tu macam biasa di Restoran Al-Sahil. Dett tak pernah makan Gaviscon. Kami gelak mengusik bila dia telan dan keliling mulut dia putih. Pada malam sebelum kayuhan, Dett mesej kata gigi sakit tapi dia dah telan 'pain killer'.

Aku buntu masa di tepi jalan menunggu bersama Dett. Aku bisik pada Dett untuk dia bangun, sedar semula. Nafas Dett agak berat dan sekali sekala hilang. Aku nak buat CPR tapi ditegah oleh salah seorang brader yang ada di situ. Dia bertugas di Hospital Kajang katanya. Aku percaya. Tapi aku tiada kuasa untuk ambil tindakan lain untuk bantu Dett masa tu kecuali memaklumkan berkenaan musibah yang terjadi kepada kawan-kawan lain melalui wasap. Honestly, bila sesiapa kongsikan tentang CPR aku akan terasa bersalah dan sometimes offended menganggap ianya ibarat menuding jari pada aku kerana kehilangan Dett.

Walaupun persahabatan kami singkat tidak genap 10 tahun tetapi kami rasakan tempoh masa tu seperti eternal. Beberapa hari selepas Dett pergi pun, kadang-kadang aku tanya dia kenapa mesti dia pergi cepat sangat? Kita belum puas buat banyak benda lagi. Tapi aku yakin Dett akan tunggu aku. Kami akan sambung persahabatan istimewa kami nanti. Menyambung semula berbagai aktiviti dan senda gurau yang terhenti seketika. Aku doakan moga Allah pelihara kau sebaiknya dan Allah juga pelihara aku supaya jadi insan baik macam kau.

Al-Fatihah.

MCO Lost Count

And the MCO days keep counting though honestly, I lost count. I just know that we are into the 3rd MCO Phase. They just announced it last Friday on the 1st day of Ramadhan 1441H. Such a historic Ramadhan this is. 

I've been busy for most of the days since the day He granted me blessings. Occupied myself with new t-shirt orders, Qur'an Terjemahan orders, Rempeyek orders and helping friends with their business advertisement poster. 

Right after our PM gave his speech, I was chasing around for design ideas for the next t-shirt edition. And the word NEW NORMAL rang a bell. However, that doesn't come in straight line. I still have to think how to present it on the t-shirt. 

Hence I compiled all hashtags during this pendamic & put in some icons resembling the hashtags. Alhamdulillah 🤲 managed to complete it in 2 days. However I still need to get Mr Print's opinion whether it's printable or not. I plan to start this next edition project somewhere next weekend. And the targeted market will be outside BTHO which includes JB as well. 

Today, all 50 packs of rempeyek arrived. It's time for delivery. I only managed domestic orders since delivery outside for fragile items can be difficult.

Alhamdulillah 🤲 He still guide me with sunat prayers before Sahur and gave me strength to perform Dhuha as well as the istiqomah to recide 4 pages 5 times a day. 

Besides the ongoing tasks, I also managed to give a bit of touch to my workstation atmosphere. I've put up some photo frames on the wall. It will be a slow & steady pace project. Insyaa-Allah 😊🤘

Thankful on His Blessings

The day I last posted here, I was dumbstruck with ways to move forward for my source of income. When printing businesses are close the options are narrowing down on all parties involve in the industry.

That night I prayed hard. Miracle happened. He heard my prayers. I checked my account that particular night and LHDN have refunded by overpaid taxes. I was so glad and thankful to Him. A substantial amount is good enough for me to survive throughout Ramadhan and many more months if managed efficiently.

I decided to not forget to be thankful from then onwards. I woke up early for the sunat prayers and I am determined to never miss it as my thankfulness to Him. I carefully put my time for extra thankful wirid and zikir.

The gift didn't stop there and there. The next day, a neighbor asked me if I could produce a limited edition LOCKDOWN t-shirt. I contacted Mr Print my regular t-shirt printer. He told me it shouldn't any problem as long as I can arrange my own delivery from the t-shirt supplier. Allah gave me blessing the supplier is open and all orders can be online. Again I was relieved. I registered as a member to get member's price. I called Ridhwan to get his Grab service to transport the t-shirts to print and delivered to me upon completion.

I've arranged with my neighbor to do marketing. Alhamdulillah 🤲 we managed to get 168 orders. That is a huge bang on the on the sales volume. InsyaaAllah with his blessings the t-shirt will be supplied on the first week of Ramadhan.

And the blessings continued. I proceeded with our surau's Ramadhan t-shirt that was stucked due to MCO. Again another job will be completed. So was the custom sublimation t-shirt for Medic Aid. They managed to come up with the deposit to proceed. Alhamdulillah 🤲.

The following day, I posted in close groups to sell the all time favourite Ramadhan Rempeyek. Alhamdulillah 🤲 23 orders collected and Kak Leha agreed to have it delivered with some delivery charges.

Today Unifi called and offered me 30% discount on my outstanding bills. I've decided to take that offer and pay them before 25th April for RM510 from the original amount RM700+. Alhamdulillah 🤲.

I will also call RHB to get their MCO offer for my hire purchase. InsyaaAllah 🤲.

Things are going my way with his blessings. I pray hard that I will keep on be thankful to Him. 

MCO Extended

Jumaat, 10 April 2020

Hampir mengakhiri Fasa Kedua MCO dan hari ni orang Malaysia menunggu pengumuman PM pada jam 4.00 petang tentang perancangan seterusnya. Semua tunggu depan TV dan sosial media LIVE streaming ibarat macam tunggu pengumuman hari raya.

Kerajaan decided untuk extend MCO sampai 28-April memandangkan pattern Covid-19 masih belum meyakinkan. Tambahan lagi dengan kemunculan bulan Ramadhan dan Hari Raya tak lama lagi. Langkah terbaik untuk kawal semua bentuk perhimpunan ialan extend MCO. Dengan MCO, undang-undang berkuatkuasa. Ini aku agree. Walaupun nampak macam menahan hak kebebasan bergerak tapi perlu lihat pada matlamat iaitu untuk memutuskan rantaian Covid-19 supaya jangkitan tidak berpanjangan sekaligus menghalang berbagai aktiviti lain seperti aktiviti ekonomi terutamanya.

Setelah sekian lama, mungkin tahun ni kita perlu mengalami perubahan dari keadaan biasa. Bulan puasa tanpa pasar Ramadhan, solat tarawih hanya di rumah, dan mungkin juga solat Aidil Fitri. Tiada iftar di masjid, surau atau buffet hotel. Tiada shopping baju raya, tiada kesesakan trafik kerana shopping tapi masih boleh shopping online cuma kena tambah homework sikit dengan ilmu online shopping. Perbelanjaan untuk perayaan mungkin berkurang disebabkan tiada keperluan selain baju raya, open house juga tiada. 

Dari segi income, dah perlu fikirkan pengurusan perniagaan tanpa perlu ke sana ke sini berurusan dengan supplier dan lain-lain. Dah kena guna courier service yang maybe akan mengambil sedikit masa. Takpe, yang penting ada job dan income.Atau perlu cari supplier dan printer yang sudah beroperasi.