The-Dusun-Aroma

Express Pizza by wifey

2011-07-13T15:58:00.006+08:00

Finally..
a bread that won my lust :D

Express topping on a piece of bread :
tomato sauce
mixed veggies
sliced cheese sausage
cheese spread

oven baked

&

walaaa..

not just me.. but the children loves it too

~Danisa Angel

~Lady Melania

~Dian Maria

~Thank you mama~

Sapi Island - Test Diving

2011-07-11T09:45:00.029+08:00

Today - Saturday 9th July 2011. I wake up at 6.00 am with help from wifey. I was having a weird dream and it gives me lazy body.

We went out early today to avoid the expected roadblocks due to the highly anticipated BERSIH illegal rally. On the road there were definitely more police personnel than usual. I realized I was wearing yellow body fit t shirt which is the dress code for BERSIH. Very soon cop's eyes was uneasy on me. To avoid unnecessary problems, I put on another shirt for cover.

We ordered the usual fried mee and konlow mee with pork at Gaya Street for breakfast. After breakfast wife continues to drive to her office while I head for Jesselton jetty. It was about 7.20am, pretty early for a weekend in Kota Kinabalu. On my way to the jetty, varieties works of arts on the pillars of a ruined building just before the jetty invites me to snap some photos. Some of the murals was extraordinary and very details, even on the toilet space!

Jeselton jetty looks pretty well and neat, it is the main jetty used to transfer tourists and personnel form the mainland to the 5 islands of the state National Park - Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. These 5 islands are: Gaya, Mamutik, Sapi, Sulug and Manukan.

I was sitting alone among the all empty seats on the jetty when I received message with bad news from one of my buddy - Alexius Korom @ kaputan. Apparently he went out a bit late and now gritting his teeth in the beginning to be massive traffic jam. Hmm we gonna waste a lot of time here.. sigh.

Another friend - Luluq was also jammed, she send me the Dive Instructor's mobile no. so that I may contact the person and proceed to check in my self. All participant were required to fill in registration form and also a disclaimer form which after reading it thoroughly gives me a second thought about the whole thing. Basically it says "if anything bad happen to you during the course, it's your own fault and you agreed not to blame nor to claim anything from us ha ha ha".

Anyway I just signed it after convincing myself - "how bad it can be? everyone is signing the same thing anyway" and recites myself a little prayer.

After 2 hours boringly waited, finally all remaining participants arrived. I couldn't help but being nice joking and cursing my friends who were late.. grrr. I'm a lecturer for tourism subject, quality services such as punctuality is a fatwa I preach to instill into my students, there's no good feeling when it happened unnecessarily to me. But then - think positive Val- there might be blessing in disguise for their lateness.. and I do understand this particular friend, 'very late' is her trademark, and she's getting better on it.

Anyway, we were on the boat at last and 'on the way' to Sapi Island. Boat journey took approximately 15-20 minutes. Pulau Sapi is rather a small island compared to its' siblings. From a far it looks as if it is just another part of the much much larger Gaya island. Once reached the island jetty I notice that Sapi and Gaya is actually very close to each other and it looks that one may be able to just walk form one island to the other. There is almost a sand bar in between.

The beach is definitely attractive. White sandy beach, clear water (at least seen from our boat). No wonder flocks of tourist comes here everyday for snorkeling, diving or just to hang out on the beach enjoying the view and the breeze. One of the instructor says that Sapi island is quite famous with topless tourist. The boys on boat were quick to google but unfortunate for us there were none except many many topless male.

We were given a quick briefing on the basic must know techniques in diving. I

felt sorry for the nervous instructor, I mean his hands were shaking vigorously and his words were freezing. Perhaps due to the presence of his boss and other senior colleagues. I asked a few questions (just so to kick away the awkward moment). We were divided into pairs. Each pairs were assigned under 1 instructor. Ours was Mr. Robert Hastie - looks pretty serious but turn out to be very gentle and funny. He is somehow familiar to me.

Once everyone is in the water, the instructor guided us and ensure everyone pass the basic diving techniques. Although it was my 1st time, it was pretty easy for me, :) did everything without any problems. Being a kampung boy who plays in the river almost everyday do pays :). My partner - Sylvin was a bit sluggish, perhaps lacking of confident and/or uncomfortable to be underwater.. typical city dwellers :P or was it just because is a she?

Done with the basic, now it's time to apply it on the real diving sites, which is just about 100 meters away actually, ceh..

Everyone's excited except for Alexius who complained dizziness. On the actual site we were thought and required to do a different technique to dive from the boat to the sea, it looks similar to what we usually saw on tv and was much fun actually. Before my turns up to dive, one of the participant has already given up, looking wobbly he said he couldn't relax underwater and keep panicking. Too bad for him, he was in the water like less than 2 minutes...? Nevertheless, it was somehow a good thing for me as I can now used his equipment instead of mine (with the not functioning inflator).

Once in the water, very gently and convincing enough our instructor manage to get us to dive underwater.. this is the real thing. Very slowly we swam.

I bet most of us must be trying hard to enjoy the marine life while at the same time forcing ourselves to get comfortable doing diving. At least that's how I felt. Several times my body keeps turning either to the right or left side which is tickling funny. To be frank, fishes are not main concern here at this time, you are either focus on your breathing or busy kicking and adjusting your float. I was fool to smile several times and water goes into my goggle all the times, fortunately manage to apply the technique I've just learn to get the water out and at least I looks confident to the instructor. Every communication underwater is hand language. My favorite is the 'everything is ok' sign - giving 'o' using the thumb and index finger. We exchange the signs like every 3 minutes underwater :).

I think that the site have just reasonable amount of corals and marine life to be used for a test diving program. It wasn't extraordinary but I am pretty satisfied with what I've discovered and experienced. Quite a lot of colorful fishes, varieties or corals although not as colorful as seen on tv. We did saw a sea snake as well but we missed the turtles.

The actual diving took about 25-30 minutes. I wish to explore longer but I guess it was a bit late as we stated late (another good reason to blame those who were late haha). We climb into the boat and it was already 3.00++pm. No wonder I feel strangely weak and starving. Later on I understand that Alexius also 'failed' for the real diving. He had terrible dizziness and end up vomiting. I think it was because of his eyes...

Sorry Alex, your macho appearance did not help much this time. Yeah, that's him on the right picture, with Mr. Bean's pose.

We land on the jetty and was given 1 hour to clean and refresh our self also for lunch. Under the State Sabah Park Management Sapi island has but one canteen, one sundry shop and two shower facilities (one outdoor and one indoor). Several of us choose to clean our self outdoor. It's a good feeling to take shower with generous fresh water while enjoying nice view and literally being watched by others. Our precious moment was spoiled within seconds by the stench from the nearby staff quarters drains.. &@#$!!!

On the canteen runs by a local, me and Alex ordered mee maggie with egg while two of our companion ordered plain fried rice. While enjoying the overpriced lunch we noticed several full grown monitor lizards lingering around the area. I went close and took several monitor's pose, wanted to stay longer but again the stench from another drain kicks me away.. what the..

About 4.30 pm we left the area. Reach KK 20 minutes later. Myself and Alex decided to hit a nearby restaurant which serves the famous Bak Ku Teh. We ordered for two and God.. it was perfect! We were happy to settle a set of carlsberg for each before our spouse arrived to fetch us.

Hmm.. overall, as a novice diver I would give the whole experience 7 out 10. It would have been 8 over 10 if not because of the delays. One the other hand I give A++ for our instructor Mr. Robert Hastie who has been very professional and amazingly tender. I can understand why my partner is pouring praises for him. At the end I realised that I have meet him before and even played badminton with him 9 years ago, hehehe that's just great!

Ok, test diving aka discovery diving is done. Now looking forward for the real diving license program.. in Mabul or Sipadan of course :)

p/s: more picture will be uploaded soon*

Thank you Thank you Thank you - to luluq (the organiser), the company - Navi (is it?), the staff- I remember Dixon, Mr. Yap (the handsome owner), Robert, and the rest ..sorry forgot your name :(, all the participants, the natures - fishes, snakes and corals, ermm also to my wife who gave my 'permit' and of course to God the almighty. Cheers!

Now what?!..

2009-04-20T11:49:00.003+08:00

Hiya folks (ladies and gentlemen :))

what now ya.. last time (couple months back) my cam broke down. Since then my updates getting pretty slow.. abes pamacam mo updates.. nda dpt sya gambar gambar bah.. tinguu seja..zzz

then about weeks back, my one and only beloved laptop broke down - to the core! 1st was devastating virus attack, reformatted, then suddenly krekk krekk krekk krekk... tuutttttttt the Hard Disk was dead!

I bring to the IT shops but none willing/able to fix or nor even to recover the data...

Worst of it ~ I haven't backup my documents; photos, videos, songs, everythinggg in my laptop for the last 2 years!! .... unbelievable!

so.. now what?!.. life goes on lorr :P

I got plenty of sharing to makes actually, my garden, sports, outdoors, party, etc.. etc.. many happening of good and very interesting things! Well, apa bulih buat lah kan ^.^

For the time being, I'll be facebooking every now and then.

Cheers!

Australia, Yes Man & 7 Pounds, you don't wanna miss it!

2009-02-25T07:38:00.010+08:00

I like to share some movies I've watched recently. I've watched plenty movies actually but I will only share movies which I think worth to watch.

Although I am a movie fan and I watched 6-10 movies in a week and sometime I watched 4 movies in row, there are just so many films and movies out there which 'a total out' for me.
Not my taste lah orang bilang :P.

Alright the movies I wanted to share here is not really the latest (everybody is writing about that), however if you haven't watched these, then it is highly recommended. Here goes:

1st - Australia

This movie features the era in 1940s when Australia was on the verge of joining WWII.
It was a time where cowboys still rules the land and business.

The movie is about life and struggles of a sudden widow who wishes to fulfill her late husband's dream. The story involves a close and strong bond between the widow and her 'new unprecedented hope' and her loyal employees which is mostly aborigine of Australia. Together they fought hard for the success of the running business which was consistently being bullied and jeopardize by their competitor. In many event resulted dishonest acts,
very unfortunate event and couple of murders.

In the struggles it also features the strong sentiment between the aborigines and the whites, the discrimination, unwanted assimilation and lots of misfortunes. The whole story was presented in a style of narrated story by one of the creamy character in the movie - a little boy of
mix blood of white and black (aborigine). The little fella has a very interesting unique character. Something you find only from aborigine anywhere in the world, and his smile is angelic.

The main storyline of unending bad plots and the impossible endurance which was at the end came to a happy ending in a very surprising and extraordinary circumstances and
almost magical, builds up the sense to a greater height every minutes.
You wouldn't want to pause :), I won't .

I think the movie is a success because it manage to instill strong message about love, passion, peace and humanity. Almost drop a tears at near end.

The movie was co-starred by Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.
I give it 5 out of 5!

2nd - Yes Man

Yes Man is a light comedy.
The storyline was a bout a 'poor' life of a man (not materially poor but poor in social life, demotivated, negative, over concerns and etc.) although he has a job
and friends and best friend but his life was 'empty' due to his resentment towards many things in life and around him. In real life I have ever encounter some people similar,
so it's kinda real ^.^

However the man's poor life was experiencing a great positive changes after he become a 'Yes Man'. Yes man is a yes man, yes to everything, yes to any question popped out in his mine, yes to every request, yes to all. He fall into belief that when he acted yes to everything,
positive mantra is coming towards him. I almost believed it too ^.^

In his new life, he was happy and also is actually a confused man.
Being a yes man means he can't choose but just do, that was his understanding, which is in conflict with many. Chances are he's being manipulated by others and worst his new lover felt that their love was not genuine. He was a poor man, then a happy man but confused,
but at last he becomes rich in life.

This movie leads me to many questions - what would had happen if I have acted yes to many circumstance and event in my life before.

Quite interesting to ponder, but I never regretted my life anyway.

I give this movie 4.5 out of 5.

Movie starred by Jim Carrey, so expect to LOL! :P

3rd - 7 Pounds

Ohh man.., this movies is 10 times better than that Pursuit of Happiness.!
Literally..

A little slow in the beginning and I really can't see what's coming, but from middle towards the end it started to make sense. The movie features a good man (living above the average) who are giving a lots I mean LOTS of love to others who are in need, including strangers. At the end he gave his biggest possession to a stranger whom he dearly love.

He was actually a different person but there was a very unfortunate event which has been haunting his mind badly. Unable to bear it further, he made a strong decision which bring priceless happiness to others and at the same time a great sadness to some.

The movie instills deep sense of appreciation to life.
Life is so fragile and many waste in a mere negligence.

More details will definitely a bad spoiler. I highly encouraged to watch it, and prepare some tissues with you :)

Starred by Will Smith.

*******

Go watch it pple. Cheers!

Tag and tag and tag :)

2009-02-18T11:34:00.004+08:00

Aahhh haaaa... now I can breath a bit.. :P
yups, it was breathless these few weeks,
many things to accomplish, to do, to watch, etc etc.
many things happen and there are series of things happen ^.^

Gladly, many done, many in progress, and I think
many more will come :P
Anyway, life goes on! rite? :)

I have made a post ready - it's another of my kampung recipe,
but let's keep it for next. I must entertain this tags from friends 1st :)

erm.. I will put up 3 tag in one post.. ok :P

Tag 1. Was tagged by DaOne aka DO (hik hik hik :P thks bro)

Rules/
Write :- 1. Your name/ identification name / username etc.
2. Write anything using either your left/ right hands
3. Most favorite alphabets.
4. Less favorite alphabets.
5. "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
6. Tag 6 more persons

Results :

******

Tag 2. Was tagged by my friend Got Gipan!!! :) (thks Mel)

Rules:
It's harder than it looks! Copy to your own note, erase my answers, enter yours and tag 10 people. Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real. Nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name for the boy or girl name question.

1. What is your name: Val (that's my real nick name, gosh..the rest will be very difficult!! -.-")
2. A four letter word: Viva!
3. A boy's name: Vincent!
4. A girl's name: Velerie!
5. An occupation: lols... erhmm Vampire?? :P
6. A colour: Violet
7. Something you wear: zzzz... erhhmm Very simple?? :P
8. A food: Vegetables :P
9. Something found in the bathroom: erkk.. erhmm Virus?? well I hope not.. -.-"
10. A place: Venice
11. A reason for being late: Very bad traffic jam! hahaha
12. Something you shout: Very dangerous!! :P
13. A movie title: ...... Val the great! (hahah in my dream :P)
14. Something you drink: arghh... Veer (I don't care :p)
15. A musical group: ...... Val and the girl (as opposed to Ella and the boys :P - in my dream haha)
16. A street name: Ve will think about it in future :P
17. A type of car: Volkswagen!! :D (or is it a brand ?? hahaha)
18. A song title: Very lonely Mr. Lonely(much much lonelier then the famous evergreen Mr. Lonely - in my dream hahaha)
19. A verb:Vote :)

walaohh that was ... funny!! :P

Tag 3. Was tagged by Beck (thks Beck :)
Rules:-
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules in you blog.
3. Write 6 random things about yourself.
4. Tag 6 people to your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

My Answers:
1. I am a perfectionist and I'm trying to reduce that now..

2. I can’t stop my rapid thinking ^.^
3. I have done many silly things in my life; and I have learn my hard lesson

4. I think that there will be technology to produce longer human life in near future
5. I can’t compare between good and bad politician in Malaysia anymore..
6. I choose to be what I am, although many wishes to be me and do somthing else.

*****

whuah whuah whuahhh

That's it guys.. I have to break the tag here hehe la la la la...

A caring hand that is needed

2009-02-03T08:19:00.010+08:00

Few months back, in the news reported a family in KK
whom have been able to keep their maid working for them
diligently for more than 25 years!!!

That's a big WOW! O.O

I wonder how did they do it?? -.-@

********

It's not easy to keep a maid.

It's not that easy to find a maid and it's difficult
to find a good maid.

But it's very difficult to retain a good maid.

My maid has been coming and going for various known
and unknown reason. Fingers can be pointed to anyone,
but the end point is my family is in need of extra hand
to manage things in the house especially our child.

Now (recently) we got our 6th maid and I'm determine to keep
this one with my best care as employer ^.^

The BIG question is; how to be a good employer effectively?

How to be able to keep a maid servicing your family at best,
in a win-win situation.

Now, that's hard.

How did you do it people?

******

Wifey send me this article and I think it's a valuable sharing.
It's a bit long though and in Malay/Indonesian language.

TIPS Menggaji Pembantu Rumah Indonesia
03 Feb 2009

Merapatkan jurang budaya di antara dua benua dan persehaman antara dua darjat adalah suatu tugas yang amat sukar. Namun toleransi dan persefahaman mampu meredakan tegangan. Tips-tips di bawah mungkin boleh membantu anda bagi memahami pembantu dan mengurangkan jurang persefahaman terutama dalam tempoh penyesuaian di tahun pertama.

1) Benarkan pembantu menghubungi keluarga di Indonesia apabila tiba memulakan kerja dirumah majikan. Kod panggilan murah Celcom 1310062xxxxxx Maxis 1320062xxxx. Digi 0062... Biasanya hp bermula dengan 8xxx . jika nombor yang diberikan bermula 08xx, abaikan 0. Contoh : 081375869008 ditukar kepada 132006281375869008 . Kod Indonesia ialah 0062 jika menggunakan Ring-Ring Card.

2) Pastikan makanan ruji (nasi) yang mencukupi untuk pembantu. Majikan selalu mengharapkan pembantu membuat seperti rumah sendiri. Sebaliknya pembantu biasanya segan untuk makan apa lagi dengan kehadiran majikan. Bertanyalah sekiranya pembantu belum makan dan suruhlah mereka makan dan rehat walaupun kadang-kadang mereka segan.

3) Pastikan rehat dan tidur yang mencukupi untuk pembantu. Pembantu biasanya segan untuk berehat dengan kehadiran majikan.Waktu bekerja yang lazim 5.30 am hingga 10.00 pm. Rehat sewajarnya dalam tempoh itu.

4) Cuti sehari seminggu seperti peraturan imigresen boleh diganti dengan bayaran ganjaran sewajarnya oleh majikan seperti pemberian bonus pada akhir tahun atau cuti bergaji penuh pada akhir tahun. (misalnya pembantu balik bercuti awal sebulan daripada tamat kontrak).

5) Majikan sebaiknya jangan membawa masalah dan tekanan ditempat kerja ke rumah sehingga bertindak kasar dengan pembantu kerana masalah di tempat kerja.

6) Pembantu adalah manusia biasa yang bersosial. Jangan menyisihkan pembantu dan anggap mereka sebahagian keluarga yang harmoni. Jika membeli jajan, jangan hanya dibeli untuk kita sekeluarga sahaja. Beri mereka makan apa yang kita makan. Jangan sampai kita kenyang mereka lapar, kita gembira mereka bersedih, kita makan mereka lihat sahaja.

7) Jangan mudah menengking dan meninggikan suara jika pembantu membuat kesalahan. Pembantu mungkin sensitif tetapi memendam rasa. Mereka manusia biasa yang ada perasaan dan perlu dihormati sebagai pekerja. Ajari dan teguri secara berhemah.

8) Selalu bertanya keperluan asas mereka seperti perubatan, ubat dan berus gigi, sabun, tuala wanita dan lain-lain. Mereka mungkin segan untuk memberitahu majikan. Jangan sampai sehingga mereka mencuri guna barang majikan. Perbelanjaan keperluan asas, perubatan dan urusan permit mereka adalah tanggunggan majikan.

9) Pastikan pembantu tidak terlalu bebas. Pantau pergaulan sesama mereka mungkin mereka selalu bercakap perkara buruk tentang majikan dan membanding-banding. Tidak digalakkan pembantu memiliki handphone kecuali dirasakan sangat perlu. Awasi penggunaan dan bil telefon rumah anda.

10) Awasi pembantu sekiranya terdapat pekerja Indonesia yang berhampiran biasanya pekerja kontrak. Pembantu boleh cepat terpengaruh dengan pujukan lelaki. Jangan mudah percaya jika pembantu mungkin menyatakan mereka adalah saudara terdekat.

11) Awasi jika ada sindiket yang mendekati pembantu menawarkan pendapatan yang lumayan, memujuk pembantu melarikan diri.

12) Keinginan untuk bersosial dan seks adalah naluri biasa manusia, namun pantau agar ianya berada di landasan yang dibenarkan. Jangan sampai tindakan mereka melampaui batas seperti bergaul atau berkhalwat .

13) Jangan terlalu percaya kepada pernyataan pembantu rumah. Pembantu mungkin tidak bercakap benar demi menyembunyikan kesilapan dan kelemahan kerana mungkin takut kepada majikan.

14) Jangan menimbulkan kesangsian yang sembarangan kepada pembantu kerana ia akan menimbulkan ketidakselesaan untuk pembantu bertugas seterusnya. Sediakan bukti yang kukuh jika terdapat kes-kes kehilangan barang atau kes-kes lain.

15) Simpan passport dan buku bank pembantu ditempat yang selamat jangan sampai diambil oleh mereka. Passport jatuh ke tangan pembantu adalah peluang untuk berlakunya kes lari.

16) Majikan perlu membuka akaun bank, disarankan nama bersama majikan dan salah satu untuk transaksi. Tunjukkan resit kemasukan duit pada setiap bulan.

17) Jika pembantu menyatakan keinginan untuk pulang ke Indonesia kerana sebab-sebab yang dinyatakan, awasi, mungkin dia mempunyai masalah lain dengan majikan dan tidak akan kembali lagi.

18) Jika perlu pegang gaji pembantu sekitar 3 bulan gaji untuk mengelakkan kes-kes lari. Kadang-kadang pembantu memerlukan pinjaman daripada majikan untuk dihantar ke Indonesia, bersederhanalah dalam menghulurkan pinjaman tersebut.

19) Kebanyakan pembantu adalah daripada golongan miskin dan perantau mencari rezeki yang halal. Berlebih kuranglah dalam urusan kewangan dengan mereka, jangan terlalu berkira, semoga kita dimurahkan rezeki oleh Allah.

20) Pembantu anda adalah manusia yang unik sifat-sifat dan kebolehan masing-masing. Elakkan membanding-bandingkankan dengan pembantu sebelumnya atau pembantu orang lain yang lebih baik. Jangan terlalu memikirkan sikap buruk pembantu sebaliknya hargai sikap baik mereka dan manafaat yang kita perolehi. Terlalu memikirkan dan memperhatikan kelemahan tanpa memperbetulkannya hanya akan menambahkan masalah rumahtangga.

21) Pembantu biasanya adalah golongan yang kurang berpendidikan dan taraf sosio ekonominya rendah. Majikan harus faham keupayaan pembantu dan janganlah mengharapkan sesuatu yang melebihi kemampuan pembantu. Tatacara bekerja disetiap rumah juga adalah berbeza.Ajari pembantu dengan jelas dan sabar. Kadang-kadang pembantu perlu diajar berulang-ulang tentang sesuatu perkara.

22) Jangan memberi kepercayaan 100% kepada pembantu tentang perkara yang kritikal seperti keselamatan. Contohnya anda perlu sekali-sekala memantau adakah pintu atau pagar telah dikunci sebelum pergi tidur, penjagaan barangan elektrik dan aspek-aspek keselamatan lain.

23) Setengah pembantu kurang memahami bahasa Melayu terutama daripada Jawa. Kadang-kadang mereka kurang memahami arahan majikan dan istilah bahasa Malaysia tetapi takut untuk bertanya. Semasa komunikasi bagi mengelakkan salah faham.

24) Ajari pembantu tentang budaya kita Malaysia dan fahami perbezaan budaya mereka. Pegangan agama mereka kadang-kadang lebih longgar. Tunjukkan cara berpakaian yang sopan dan beli pakaian yang sesuai untuk mereka jika perlu. Awasi jika ada pengamalan tahyul dan syirik atau merokok.

25) Awasi tahap kebersihan dan ajari langkah keselamatan terutama dalam penggunaan barangan elektrik jika perlu. Setengah rumah pembantu di Indonesia tidak berelektrik. Awasi pintu kereta yang selalunya tidak bertutup rapat.

26) Jangan mendera secara fizikal,emosi atau mencabul, ia boleh memudaratkan majikan sekiranya laporan dibuat kepada konsulat atau polis.Penggunaan bahasa kesat dan ugutan oleh majikan adalah contoh penderaan emosi yang sering berlaku.

27) Jangan terlalu memandang rendah kepada mereka kerana kita memerlukan khidmat mereka. Anggap mereka sebagai pembantu dan bukan orang suruhan. Jangan menghina atau memperli bangsa mereka dihadapan mereka kerana ini akan menimbulkan kebencian mereka kepada kita.

28) Jangan meninggalkan kotoran peribadi seperti tuala wanita yang sudah dipakai untuk diuruskan pembantu. Pembantu mungkin merasakan kehinaan.

29) Jika boleh ajak pembantu makan bersama kita. Ini boleh mengeratkan perhubungan dan mempastikan beliau tidak memasukkan ramuan tambahan berupa ubat pengasih atau ubat penunduk dalam makanan. Kepercayaan tahyul amat berleluasa di setengah kawasan di Indonesia.

30) Layan pembantu dengan baik seperti mana kita mahu majikan kita berlaku baik kepada kita. Keseronakan mereka bekerja dan berkhidmat dengan kita harus dipupuk supaya majikan dan pembantu sentiasa mempunyai hubungan yang baik ,balasannya kita akan rasa anak-anak dan hartabenda kita sentiasa selamat .

31) Pembantu mungkin terasa tersinggung dengan kata-kata kesat anak-anak kita walaupun masih kecil. Pembantu mungkin tidak berani menegur anak-anak sebaliknya memendam rasa. Tegur anak-anak jika perlu. Pembantu juga mempunyai hak perlindungan daripada majikan sepertimana anak-anak berhak mendapat perlindungan.

32) Barang berharga seperti barang kemas harus disimpan dengan baik bagi mengelakkan kes kecurian. Jika pembantu hendak pulang sebaiknya periksa beg pembantu dan barang simpanan kita sebagai langkah keselamatan jika dirasakan perlu. Jangan terlalu percaya walaupun pada zahirnya pembantu nampak baik dan alim. Jangan pula terlalu mencurigai sehingga menimbulkan rasa tidak selesa bagi pembantu.

33) Anda tidak perlu menguji kejujuran pembantu, kebanyakan mereka adalah tidak jujur. Bayangkan mereka adalah daripada golongan bawahan dan anda perlu mengakui banyak kelemahan mereka.

34) Majikan tidak digalakkan memberi pelepasan cuti pembantu dan bermalam ditempat lain. Rancang cuti bersama pembantu atau tinggalkan pembantu dirumah saudara terdekat jika perlu. Pergaulan pembantu yang luas biasanya mengundang masalah.

35) Pemberian hadiah adalah kaedah terbaik dalam memupuk kemesraan dan kasih-sayang antara seorang majikan dan pembantu.Lakukan yang anda fikirkan terbaik kerana pembantu adalah asset anda. Pemurahlah dengan orang yang sebenarnya banyak membantu kehidupan kita kerana mereka penjaga pada anak kita masa kita bekerja. Layani mereka sebagai seorang yang banyak berjasa kepada kita sekeluarga.

36) Elakkan pergaduhan dan pertengkaran yang berlanjutan dengan pembantu kerana ianya mengaibkan. Mereka kadang-kadang nekad untuk melarikan diri apabila terasa tersisih/tidak dihargai oleh majikan. Sebagai majikan gunalah kebijaksanaan dalam menyelesaikan sebarang masalah.

37) Majikan harus tegas dalam hal yang perlu tetapi mesti menjadi majikan yang penyayang dan berhati mulia bagi menimbulkan seseronakkan bagi pembantu bekerja dalam tempoh kontrak kerana ia suatu jangkamasa yang agak lama.

38) Bayaran perubatan di hospital kerajaan untuk pekerja asing adalah tinggi. Untuk kes kematian bayaran menghantar jenazah disekitar RM6000 atau lebih. Mengambil insurans akan mengurangkan beban majikan. Bayaran insurans Takaful Nasional adalah RM60 setahun.

39) Pembantu adalah manusia biasa yang mempunyai kelebihan dan kelemahan masing-masing. Amat sukar untuk mencari pembantu yang sempurna. Pembantu muda mungkin senang mengikut arahan tetapi mungkin cepat terpengaruh dengan lelaki. Pembantu tua mungkin kurang terpengaruh dengan lelaki tetapi kadang-kadang sukar untuk memahami arahan.

40) Tidak perlu memarahi pembantu dalam soal yang kecil atau remeh walaupun besar pada pandangan kita. Tegur dengan berhikmah contohnya jika pembantu menggunakan telefon atau barangan tanpa kebenaran kita. Ada kemungkinan pembantu melarikan diri kerana merasa bersalah atau kesalahannya akan diketahui.

41) Jangan memandang ringan soal hak pembantu kerana mungkin pada pandangan pembantu adalah suatu yang besar. Contohnya masalah gaji tidak dibayar dengan penuh atau dipotong tanpa hak, barangan dirampas dan sebagainya, kerana dikhuatiri pembantu akan berdendam dan mengambil tindakan yang diluar dugaan.

42) Dapatkan penilaian pembantu terhadap kita dengan mendapatkan maklumbalas orang yang dekat dengan beliau contohnya pembantu rumah saudara kita. Jika pembantu mengatakan majikan kejam, mungkin kerana beliau merasa tertekan kerana selalu dimarahi. Jika mengatakan majikan pelit (kedekut) mungkin majikan terlalu berkira dengan pembantu. Jika mengatakan majikan tidak bagi cukup makan bermakna majikan tidak pernah menjaga hal ehwal makan minum mereka atau mereka merasa sukar untuk mendapat masa yang sesuai untuk makan.

43) Berusahalah mendidik pembantu terutama tentang agama. Pembantu agak daif dalam hal ini. Paling tidak bersama-samalah bersembahyang dengan ahli keluarga, kecuali berlainan agama.

44) Tunjukkan kasih saying dan perihatin anda kepada pembantu seperti mereka sebahagian daripada keluarga kita. Ambil berat tentang kesihatan dan kebajikan mereka.

45) Ingatlah segala pemberian,layanan,tuturkata dan perbuatan baik kita terhadap pembantu takkan sia-sia dan pastinya akan mendapat ganjaran yang sawajarnya di akhirat nanti. Sebaliknya juga.

Pembantu adalah asset anda. Uruskan mereka dengan baik dan kita memperolehi pelbagai manafaat daripadanya. Sekiranya kita tidak menguruskan dengan baik tidak mustahil kita akan kehilangannya.

Berikut adalah kemungkinan faktor-faktor pembantu rumah melarikan diri:

Faktor Majikan
1) Selalu dimarahi tanpa berhikmah oleh majikan atau penghuni rumah yang lain seperti ibu bapa dan mertua.

2) Pembantu selalu ditengking dan diarah dengan suara yang tinggi.

3) Keadaan kerja yang memenatkan dan majikan tidak pernah bertanya dan mengambil hirau keadaan tersebut.

4) Keadaan persekitaran kerja yang tertekan atau kehidupan seumpama tahanan di rumah.

5) Pembantu merasakan majikan tidak memberikan cukup makanan ruji untuk mereka melakukan kerja. Majikan tidak pernah menjemput pembantu makan dan tidak pernah mengambil berat tentangnya. Biasanya akibat pembantu merasakan kekok untuk makan lebih lagi dengan kehadiran majikan.

6) Tidak tahan dengan kerenah anak-anak atau ahli rumah yang selalu menghina pembantu.

7) Majikan kurang berkomunikasi dengan pembantu menyebabkan pembantu merasa tersisih, terkongkong atau kesunyian.

8) Keadaan kerja yang terlalu terkongkong dan kadang-kadang tidak ada peluang langsung untuk bersosial.

9) Pembantu didera secara fizikal

Faktor Pembantu
1) Dipengaruhi oleh pembantu jiran-jiran.
2) Pengaruh kenalan lelaki atau perempuan
3) Ditawarkan gaji dan kerja yang lumayan oleh kenalan atau sindiket.
4) Mengikut suami atau teman lelaki
5) Pengaruh dari keluarga di Indonesia.
6) Pembantu merasa tidak selamat akibat diancam atau khuatir tidak dibayar gaji.
7) Pembantu risau akan hilang kebolehan bercakap akibat terlalu jarang berkomunikasi.
8) Memang berniat untuk lari. Biasanya akan lari dalam tempoh beberapa hari dari ketibaan.
9) Pembantu menemui barang-barang berharga yang nilainya melebihi gaji mereka jika berkerja sehingga tamat kontrak.
10) Pembantu melakukan kesilapan besar dan takut berhadapan dengan majikan, contohnya merosakkan barang berharga.
11) Pembantu menemui passport merupakan peluang untuk membebaskan diri.

Cerita Sedih
>>>>Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 14:32:13 +0700
>>>>To: (Recipient list suppressed)
>>>>From: Lenny Halim

Sepasang suami isteri - seperti pasangan lain di kota-kota besar - meninggalkan anak-anak diasuh pembantu rumah semasa keluar bekerja. Anak tunggal pasangan ini, perempuan berusia tiga setengah tahun. Bersendirian di rumah dia kerap dibiarkan pembantunya yang sibuk bekerja bermain diluar, tetapi pintu pagar tetap dikunci. Bermainlah dia sama ada berayun-ayun di atas buaian yang dibeli bapanya,ataupun memetik bunga raya, bunga kertas dan lain-lain di halaman rumahnya.

Suatu hari dia melihat sebatang paku karat. Dia pun mencoret semen tempat mobil ayahnya diparkirkan tetapi kerana lantainya terbuat dari marmer, coretan tidak kelihatan. Dicobanya pada mobil baru ayahnya.Ya... kerana mobil itu bewarna gelap, oretannya tampak jelas. Apa lagi kanak-kanak ini pun membuat coretan sesuai dengan kreativitasnya.

Hari itu bapak dan ibunya bermotor ke tempat kerja kerana macet ada perayaan Thaipusam. Setelah penuh coretan yang sebelah kanan dia beralih ke sebelah kiri mobil. Dibuatnya gambar ibu dan ayahnya, gambarnya sendiri, lukisan ayam, kucing dan lain sebagainya mengikut imaginasinya. Kejadian itu berlangsung tanpa disadari si pembantu rumah.

Pulang petang itu, terkejut pasangan itu melihat kereta yang baru setahun dibeli dengan bayaran angsuran. Si bapak yang belum lagi masuk ke rumah ini pun terus menjerit, "Kerjaan siapa ini?"
Pembantu rumah yang tersentak dengan jeritan itu berlari keluar.
Dia juga beristighfar. Mukanya merah padam ketakutan lebih2 melihat wajah bengis tuannya.

Sekali lagi diajukan pertanyaan keras kepadanya, dia terus mengatakan 'Tak tahu... !" "kamu dirumah sepanjang hari, apa saja yang kau lakukan?" hardik si isteri lagi. Si anak yang mendengar suara ayahnya, tiba-tiba berlari keluar dari kamarnya. Dengan penuh manja dia berkata "Ita yang membuat itu abahhh.. cantik kan!" katanya sambil memeluk abahnya ingin bermanja seperti biasa.

Si ayah yang hilang kesabaran mengambil sebatang ranting kecil dari pohon bunga raya di depannya, terus dipukulkannya berkali2 ke telapak tangan anaknya. Si anak yang tak mengerti apa-apa terlolong-lolong kesakitan sekaligus ketakutan. Puas memukul telapak tangan, si ayah memukul pula belakang tangan anaknya. Si ibu cuma mendiamkan saja, seolah merestui dan merasa puas dengan hukuman yang dikenakan. Pembantu rumah terbengong, tidak tahu hrs berbuat apa?.

Si bapak cukup rakus memukul-mukul tangan kanan dan kemudian tangan kiri anaknya.Setelah si bapak masuk ke rumah dituruti si ibu, pembantu rumah Menggendong anak kecil itu, membawanya ke kamar.

Dilihatnya telapak tangan dan belakang tangan si anak kecil luka2 dan berdarah. Pembantu rumah memandikan anak kecil itu. Sambil menyiram air sambil dia ikut menangis. Anak kecil itu juga terjerit-jerit menahan kepedihan saat luka2nya itu terkena air. Si pembantu rumah kemudian menidurkan anak kecil itu.

Si bapak sengaja membiarkan anak itu tidur bersama pembantu rumah. Keesokkan harinya, kedua-dua belah tangan si anak bengkak.Pembantu rumah mengadu. "Oleskan obat saja!" jawab tuannya, bapak si anak.Pulang dari kerja, dia tidak memperhatikan anak kecil itu yang Menghabiskan waktu di kamar pembantu. Si bapak konon mau mengajar anaknya. Tiga hari berlalu, si ayah tidak pernah menjenguk anaknya sementara si ibu juga begitu tetapi setiap hari bertanya kepada pembantu rumah. "Ita demam... " jawap pembantunya ringkas. "Kasih minum panadol ," jawab si ibu. Sebelum si ibu masuk kamar tidur dia menjenguk kamar pembantunya. Saat dilihat anaknya Ita dalam pelukan pembantu rumah, dia menutup lagi pintu kamar pembantunya.

Masuk hari keempat, pembantu rumah memberitahukan tuannya bahwa suhu badan Ita terlalu panas. "Sore nanti kita bawa ke klinik. Pukul 5.00 siap" kata majikannya itu. Sampai saatnya si anak yang sudah lemah dibawa ke klinik. Doktor mengarahkan ia dirujuk ke hospital kerana keadaannya serius. Setelah seminggu di rawat inap doktor memanggil bapak dan ibu anak itu.
"Tidak ada pilihan.." katanya yang mengusulkan agar kedua tangan anak itu dipotong kerana gangren yang terjadi sudah terlalu parah. "Ia sudah bernanah, demi menyelamatkan nyawanya kedua tangannya perlu dipotong dari siku ke bawah" kata doktor.

Si bapak dan ibu bagaikan terkena halilintar mendengar kata-kata itu. Terasa dunia berhenti berputar, tapi apa yang dapat dikatakan. Si ibu meraung merangkul si anak. Dengan berat hati dan lelehan air mata isterinya, si bapak terketar-ketar manandatangani surat persetujuan pembedahan. Keluar dari bilik pembedahan, selepas obat bius yang suntikkan habis, si anak menangis kesakitan. Dia juga heran2 melihat kedua tangannya berbalut kasa putih. Ditatapnya muka ayah dan ibunya. Kemudian ke wajah pembantu rumah. Dia mengerutkan dahi melihat mereka semua menangis. Dalam siksaan menahan sakit, si anak bersuara dalam linangan air mata. "Abah.. Mama... Ita tidak akan melakukannya lagi. Ita tak mau ayah pukul. Ita tak mau jahat. Ita sayang abah.. sayang mama." katanya berulang kali membuatkan si ibu gagal menahan rasa sedihnya.

"Ita juga sayang Kak Narti.." katanya memandang wajah pembantu rumah, sekaligus membuatkan gadis dari Surabaya itu meraung histeris. "Abah.. kembalikan tangan Ita. Untuk apa ambil.. Ita janji tidak akan mengulanginya lagi! Bagaimana caranya Ita mau makan nanti? Bagaimana Ita mau bermain nanti? Ita janji tidak akan mencoret2 mobil lagi," katanya berulang-ulang. Serasa copot jantung si ibu mendengar kata-kata anaknya. Meraung2 dia sekuat hati namun takdir yang sudah terjadi, tiada manusia dapat menahannya.

*"jika tidak dapat apa yang kita suka...belajarlah untuk menyukai apa yang kita dapat.." *SoMeTiMeS GoOd PeOpLe Do EvIl ThiNgs….

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

Gong Xi Fa Chai!!!

2009-01-24T09:26:00.002+08:00

~I'm going back kampung ppl.

Wishing everyone in the world - no matter
what ever & where ever...

Gong Xi Fa Chai!!!! :)

~Frm DA and family

Quality time

2009-01-18T21:52:00.007+08:00

/wink /wink

Ahh.. I long to share more of my photo,
but things got a little busy lately :P

So I love to kick off my sharing today with this few selected photo.

Any idea where this photo taken? I'm sure you do :)
It's from the top of a little hill in Kipungit
(the hill besides Kepayan ridge / tanjung aru).

I use to scale this hill to sweat away...
and many times I get more then just burning my fat.
Enjoying sunset bath from the hill is one of the best
way to revitalize my self.

Witnessing how many planes takes off and landed
can be quite interesting.. especially when you have your
mp3 player with you :)

The picture's quality is a bit of disappointment -.-".
But you have to live with that when DSLR
is still hanging in your dream.

Not just the breathtaking view, the natures around
can be an interesting subject if you are keen to observe.

Photo was taken with old T5 cybershot model.
(too bad my only cybershot is now R.I.P sob.. sob.. sob..)

So it was weekend.

One of a thing that I have set to as a must do everyday in my life
is to spend quality time with my family.
I have set it in my outlook and synchronize with my smart phone.

Everyday at certain time my hp will remind me about it.
Well, there are times I just have to press 'dismiss' it
when I really occupied. But as long as it's in my to-do-list, there are
pretty goodchance I will do it :)

How did you spend your quality times with your loves one?

Eating together at home is one thing I really really love to do!

This is my little family.
We were enjoying our Saturday breakfast together.
A very simple breakfast I prepared - fried noodle
with 2 large size hot dog and lots of sliced tomatoes,

and we eat it with plain rice :).
Consider that my kampung style!

I won't lie to you, hot steam rice mixed with fried noodle is really good.
I love the combined texture. And if you notice, we've got
a freshly made sambal tuhau - that simply made the breakfast
5 times delicious! :D

But kids.. even how good the food are,
biscuits and crackers is still winning their innocent heart -.-"

Before anything.. the tuhau was almost cleared ^.^
(err wifey, me still snapping here.. and that's our last tuhau ok please...)

Breakfast with family at home.. and having Hain Jasli karaoke
song accompanying.. that's quality time :).

It's weekend, so karaoke right after breakfast?? :p

and enjoying every bit of moment watching your kids activity,
that's quality time :)

I finished my dish last..
(darling, do we still have beer in the freeze?.... please :P).
Too bad no more beer -.-"

Later I play with some dirts and in my little garden (this is my new passion :)).
Together with my 3 yrs old Danisa, we have successfully plant
few bitter gourd (which will be harvested very soon now :)),
some hot chillies, ginger, tomatoes, lemon grass, lime, papaya
and 'Kundur'? @ tonsomon wangi.

Gardening realy hooked me :)
it almost as good as watching my baby grows everyday,
except when the time comes I will harvest and cook
my veggies :P

I haven't share about my new pet rite?
I'm sharing my family's love with lots of worms, yeah worrmmss.
They help me to deal with my kitchen's left over.. and they are very effective ^.^

Best towww piara cacingggg :)

Will be sharing more about my 'garden project' in near future.

Wish you had a great weekend too and.......

Happy Monday!!!! peoples :D

Ikan masin Tenggiri Special!

2009-01-09T13:47:00.004+08:00

Very busy this new year .-.-"

Siapa tia pernah makan ikan masin?

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Siapa suka masak ikan masin??

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Siapa suka makan ikan masin??

*******

Buahahahahaha!
tudu bangat.. (taapun)

Siapa yang minat tu.. cubalah resipi sya di sini kio :)

Eng. Translation -.-":

Who had never eat salted fish??

Who loves to cook salted fish??

Who loves to eat salted fish dish??

Buahahahahahaha!
taapun
(... not sure what in English -.-")

If you are interested, do try my recipe here :)

What would you do?

2009-01-02T13:53:00.004+08:00

If you are endowed with all God's power,
what would you change in your life now?

*******

Somewhere in the evening of the 1st day of 2009, after crawling
from my bed to the bath room again and again
in a great agonising bad bad hang over,
I suddenly found peace.

I think He asnwered me.
I think He was annoyed with my ohh God... ohh God.... Ohh God....

The pain did not really gone away, but I heard a voice in my heart.

It says
"If I endowed you with all my power,
would you change anything in your life now?"

I thought for a moment,
maybe I would use the power to take away my pain,
to go back to yesterday and change things,
maybe I should change this and that...
this and that... and this and that.

After a long thought,
without hesitation I replied
"I wouldn't change a thing".

I don't think there is any necessity
to change anything in my life at the moment.

It's not perfect, it's far from half of my dream,
I'm struggling, I made many mistakes and etc..
but I feel blessed and that's matter most,
and I'm responsible for my life.

That simple realisation
has made this year extra special to me
Thank you Lord for that wisdom.

What about you my friend, would you change anything in your life?

Till it happend in your heart, it isn't Christmas.

2008-12-24T08:12:00.006+08:00

Lyrics | Disney - Christmas lyrics

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

Wishing the world and everyone,
a very Merry Christmas!

May God blesses you more.
Ammmmmmmeeeennn!

From: The Dusun Aroma family - Val, Clare, Caca and Memel
/muacks /muacks* :)

Tuhau - Hot appetizer from the rainforest of Borneo!

2008-12-17T11:31:00.006+08:00

(Originally posted on my new blog)

Is this mouth-watering enuff for you?

dammm, it is for me :) !!

I'm sharing my tuhau with everyone!

If you love food, I think you should check it out :)

123-tastebug!

Heyyy yehieeyeh.. aramaitie!

Something mouth-watering is coming soon :)

2008-12-15T17:11:00.006+08:00

*********

la la la la la la....

Heyyyyyy.. yehieyeh.. Aramaitie....!!

alalalala haus ooooo

la la la la la la la....

COMING SOON!

COMING SOON!

COMING SOON!

Stay tune... :)

la la la la la la....

*********

Lets relax and unwind

2008-12-14T10:00:00.007+08:00

I'm having a back pain today, I look at my small garden the grass are getting their way.. but I'm just tired lah. So I just want to relax and unwind... these photos helped me :)

I love tennis!

Latest BBQ accessories ^.^ must have!

Proof of global warning -.-"

how to make angry pple smile :)

Hun, lemme explain! (not my case ahh haha)

O.O are u sure??!!

Not my sex life -.-"

How was your cereal this morning? ^.^

Tattoo of the year o.0

It's going to be real HURT!! >.<

Privacy pls...-.-"

Bad spelling but it works! :)

This is how to say 'sorry' effectively! :)

This is how 'sad' is look like :(

Great ideas! ^.^

A very SEXY PUSSY!!! :P

& the last one:

erm.. not in my case ahh -.-"

ngeh! ngeh! ngeh!

Happy Sunday pples :)

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Time stand still in your photo. The Dusun Aroma continues...

2008-12-11T08:12:00.006+08:00

Here goes! a continuation from my previous post here, here and here :).
These photos are taken using old Yashica SLR.

Somehow, it feels strangely good when looking on old photos
regardless of the photo quality and composition.

It is definitely true that through time people and things changes.
My sense of appreciation enrich every time I browse old memories.

These are my nephews and nieces
(and this is just a fraction of them, I got at least 50 of them!
Gosh.. hardly can remember all of their names :))

~

~Mary Anne~
A go getter girl, until today

~Chrystal..?~
I hope I'm right ^.^ hardly can remember all her siblings too

~Darlene~
Use to be generous with her beautiful smile...

~Aaron~
'Abang' to all of them

~Yvonnie~
yes, he still pose like this nowadays.. but much more handsome :)

and he loves posing for the camera.

~Rose~
Lovely girl,
sadly she lost her voice due to a terrible accidents while she was a kid.
God bless you Rose.

~Goldie~
simply lovable!

From left -> rigth
Aaron, Joe, Rose, Goldie, Mary Ann, Darlene and Inai
Except for the old lady (my aunt0, the resat are my nephews and nieces.

Last but not least, mum and her friend (Julita)
Having a glass of 'tinogoi' (light rice wine) during a rest after harvesting ground peanut.

...with that, I can go to work now...
Good day people! :)

~

What a waste!

2008-12-09T08:04:00.005+08:00

(*&*^&*^&^%^$*!!!)(!*@#!)(&@!(^!&*%@%^!#^@!(*@&!(*@!__!(_@&@#*^#*

/Sigh -.-

/extremely frustrated

streamyx di rumah langsung nda jalan bah.. waaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!
what is the use of paying every month to them uhhh..??
sia - sia masa ujung minggu sya, nasip ada tu lalang diblakang rumah
tempat sya melepas tension ^.^

/tension! kecewa...

/meditating

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This is for you streamyx.....zzzzzzzz

photo source: laughparty.com

bukan sya nda pernah komplen...... huh!

/sigh

(mintaa mahap kepada para pembacha
kalu tersingghung dengan kentensionan sya ^.^)

PhotoSnippets: Kiulu River

2008-12-05T11:04:00.003+08:00

*******

It's Friday again! and many will be doing 'thank God it's Friday' with big smiley face.

Well, it is certainly no wrong to thank God because it's Friday, but the fact is most people thank God because it's Friday because it is Friday the last day of the weekdays and Saturday and Sunday is a weekend and it's a no working day.

So, many thank God it's Friday because the next day is not a working day, and not because they really want to thank God it's just another day.

lets continue the 'Thank God it's Friday', yes! and lets thank Him too for every other day we have because no one is guaranteed tomorrow.

Wishing everyone another blessed weekend.
Moga panjang umur.. jumpa lagi minggu depan bah! hati-hati di jalanraya ya :)

p/s: for those joining RGP at D-junction, see you there guys! cheers.

******
Guideline Notes:
Perhaps one of the most beautiful unpolluted river in Sabah, is the Kiulu river. It is located about 60 KM (approx. 50-60 minutes drive) from Kota Kinabalu. Named Kiulu river accord to the small Kiulu Town where it runs by.

Already well known to white water enthusiast where the river classified as I - II grade river for white water rafting experience. It is most suitable for beginners or for those who prefer to enjoy the scenery more rather than having an adrenalin pumping rafting activity such as in Padas river, Tenom.

However, kiulu river is not advisable for rafting during heavy rain due to high risk of sudden flood and existence of many trappy rock formations.

As for me, it is more on the authentic valley village view and the refreshing river that attract me most to visit this place. Well, the people are welcoming and friendly too.

You may notice the hanging bridge crossing the river with some villagers on it. That in fact, is the only available access facility to the village.

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Feel free to comments. Constructive comments are highly welcome!

Cari 10 perbezaan!

2008-12-05T10:42:00.005+08:00

Bah ini cubaan sya mencari 10 perbezaan dari gambar si Sumpitan!

nda tau lah butul kah enda... melolot mata sia mencari kekeke

perbezaan yang kesepuluh adalah dari segi contrast gambar. Gambar kedua nampak lebih terang berbanding gambar satu kekee butul kah pit??? hahaha

bah cubaan aja ini, kalau nda mengena sumpit sia omm nanti sia kasi tutud ni gambar kekekee .. nda bah.

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Duhh Tagged!! ^.^

2008-12-03T08:27:00.005+08:00

What is the rules of being tagged? bulih escape kah?

iieee tapi mcm ok juga bah kan... antam sejalah hehe. Since my frenza tagged me, here goes nothing...... ^.^

The Instruction:

1. Take a recent picture of yourself or take a picture of yourself right NOW! - (so, I just snapped my self using my 1.2 mp hp camera -.-")

2. Don't change ur clothes - Ok
3. Post that picture with No editing - Ok!!! grrrrr
4. Post these instruction with your picture - Ok, naaaaa
5. Tag 10 people to do this.. - I'm new in blogg so.. bingung ni mencari ieieiee

well,.. guess which one is me?? ^.^

Buahhahahahahahahahahaha.....

******

and..the next 10 people I choose are... jeng jeng jeng!
(most of them are my newfriend in blog community, so kalau dorang nda layan tag sia.. apa bulih buat lah kan .. :P)

1. Budak Hutan
2. Si Greg
3. Amy ^.^
4. MarkieKadusVille :P
5. The paymos PapaJoneh :)
6. my darling "."
7. Sumpitannnn
8. Mr. Bosing
9. Welzan Saimon
10. last but not least si BoBBy From Tambunan!

ok people, bila sinang-sinang mempost dan mentaga lah kamurang ahh ...:)

Bah, ngam lai tu!

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Worry my ass!?

2008-12-01T08:48:00.015+08:00

Have you been worrying a lot lately??

Morning worry, afternoon worry, evening worry, night worry, tomorrow worry again.. huh!!

*********

Most of us worry too much on 'what others might think' on what we do, what we wear, what we watch and etc.. etc..

I personally think the word 'worry' on what others think should be change to 'care' on what others might think.

'Care on what others might think' means we are aware of the responsible and accountability, means we are matured when taking the choice. While 'worry' give a so-bad picture about what might happen, it does not reflect maturity but carries negative aroma.

The cousin of 'worry' is 'afraid', and afraid of what might and what will, is endemic in the society today.
.

Pampered in the comfort zone for too long, the society are unwilling to take risk to jump to the other side. It is strangely difficult to sit in front row when we are used to sit at the back or middle row (the comfort zone) - in church, meetings, forums etc.

People are afraid of critics and comments as well as afraid of giving out comments and critics. We usually hear the 'no comment' or even worse the 'silent protest' from the audience. It's somehow uncomfortable to voice out, so they stay quite.

Behold!

*****

People are afraid of how they look. They read the 'beauty magazine' to get tips on how to look beautiful and end up feeling ugly. The magazine tells them that blonde hair is a yes and white or black hair is a no. Aren't we all beautiful in our own ways?.

China's most respected Teacher, Confucius quotes "Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it" how true..

The UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS nominated that this person is the ugliest person on earth...

But, that is only from his/her view. To some, that might be different (and we are not sure if there's a photoshop work in the photo, right?) - no offense to worldrec.info btw.

Even if you looks damm beautiful to others, some will just say they had enough of you.

except for the one in red, talk about how many of those two being dumb ^.^
********

The fact is what ever we do, there will always be some who will disagree or hate it.

We do the right thing - people still complaint
We do the wrong thing - people also complaint.

Conclusion??

Be a matured good citizen - lets just do the right thing and leave the complaint alone.

Even God is full of love and still many disagree with God.

I like to end this sharing with a twisted story of
'The Pastor's Ass'

************
The pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won. The pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again, and it won again.

The local paper read: PASTOR'S ASS OUT FRONT.

The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the pastor not to enter the donkey in another race.

The next day, the local paper headline read: BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR'S ASS.

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the pastor to get rid of the donkey. The pastor decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent.

The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day: NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN.

The bishop fainted.

He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for $10.

The next day the paper read: NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10.

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey and lead it to the plains where it could run wild.

The next day the headlines read: NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE.

The bishop was buried the next day.

*********

Being concerned about public opinion can bring you much grief and
misery even shorten your life!

So friends, be yourself and enjoy life!

Stop worrying about everyone else's ass and you'll be a lot happier and live longer! Have a good happy Monday!

Yeah! Thanks God it's Monday!

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Feel free to comments. Constructive comments are highly welcome!

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Can't take my eyes off you

2008-11-28T13:21:00.004+08:00

Can't take my eyes off you

*****

*****(read it with the music in your heart! :D)*****

You're just too good to be true.
Can't take my eyes off you.
You'd be like Heaven to touch.
I wanna hold you so much.
At long last love has arrived
And I thank God I'm alive.
You're just too good to be true.
Can't take my eyes off you.

Pardon the way that I stare.
There's nothing else to compare.
The sight of you leaves me weak.
There are no words left to speak,
But if you feel like I feel,
Please let me know that it's real.
You're just too good to be true.
Can't take my eyes off you.

I love you, baby,
And if it's quite alright,
I need you, baby,
To warm a lonely night.
I love you, baby.
Trust in me when I say:
Oh, pretty baby,
Don't bring me down, I pray.
Oh, pretty baby, now that I found you, stay
And let me love you, baby.
Let me love you.

You're just too good to be true.
Can't take my eyes off you.
You'd be like Heaven to touch.
I wanna hold you so much.
At long last love has arrived
And I thank God I'm alive.
You're just too good to be true.
Can't take my eyes off you.

~ Can't Take My Eye Off you by Frankie Valli 1967

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Guideline Note:

If you are travelling from Kota Kinabalu to the south-east interior part of Sabah, you will 1st come across a beautiful valley of Tambunan district (about 1.5 hours from Kota Kinabalu). And the 1st village to welcome you will be Kg. Sunsuron(soon.soo.ron) which is noticeable from uphill highway 10-15 minutes away from the village.

Note that before reaching Sunsuron you will find a row of local market (on the left-side), which is among a favourite stop-to-buy area. At the market, villagers are selling all kind of local produce from varieties of fresh veggies, fruits, preserved food (bosou, tuhau and bambangan), handy crafts and etc.

Just like other villages in Tambunan, most of the villagers are paddy farmers. The rolling greens of fields on the valley is actually the rice fields which is about 3-4 months old. Harvesting probably on early to middle December.

From Tambunan, the highway will leads you to Keningau, Tenom, Nabawan and Pensiangan, and all of them are beautiful places to discover!

P/S: If your are keen, I'll tell you a secret.. one of the best way to discover Tambunan...
is by giving me a call :D

~HaPpY WEeKeNd!~

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Feel free to comments. Constructive comments are highly welcome!

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Can't make love without Internet??

2008-11-25T08:40:00.007+08:00

Last nite I can't sleep, well actually I have Insomnia since I started to think rapidly at night. But last nite was terrible.. because I CAN'T connect to the internet!!!

I don't know, maybe it's my modem or my line problem. I ever complaint about it to Telekom (as it frequently happened) but whatever they do and they say (if any).... it always come back to square one. zzzzz

This is really de-motivating disheartening.

..ohh they also told me that my area 'mimang tidak bagus punya tempat, slalu ada masalah line..' ^.^

At first I don't buy it, but been facing the issues again and again for almost 2 years now, I began to believe it O.O '..yah, tempat sya mimang tidak bagus line tu..' -.-

Anybody else living in Taman Kepayan Phase 2 or adjacent? Do you have the same issues? difficulty or unable to connect to the internet or even if connected the line keeps on dropping every 2-3 minutes (very unstable).. /sigh

/flash back..

zzzz now without internet, life is like.. uhh incomplete. Walhal dulu-dulu teda internet tapi ok juga kan? but, dulu lain sekarang lain bah.. ermm betul juga kan.. ^.^

I believe many of us are now pretty dependent to the internet. Beside the main surfing, downloading and communicating now socialising via internet, we are also paying electric bills-loan-c.card due-etc via the net.

We can also shop (and it's quite special when you shop online - you'll receive things in a box, it has the element of surprise :)), we can also transfer money, pay road tax, find potential lovers or part time lovers or no love but suka-suka seja *.0, and etc etc..

For many the internet is literally part of life and it feels terrible not to be able to get connected when you really want it, agree?

I know pretty numbers of people who doesn't have internet facility in their home but they are so up-to-date with their 'net life'. Most of them are the youngsters and small numbers of adult. They are what I term as 'Cyber bugs'.

Just like the normal natural bug, these evolved cyber bugs will also search for the 'flowers and fruits' and when they come around they bring many aromas.. some of them have acceptable smells and others with pretty weird smells.. few are totally unacceptable!! they make other cyber bugs fly away... (I have had a cybercafe, so I know what its like "-.-)

They have similarity with us (home/office internet user), their life is incomplete without going to the cybercafe at least once a day. I mean.. Really! they are like 'high on internet-drug'.

Well I mean most of the youngsters cyber user and not ALL cyber user. Fact is thousands of people interneting from cybercafe for various reason but they are not like the 'cyber bug' as I claimed.

I too patronize the cyber sometime when I have no other choice to go online. However, I try to avoid doing business from cyber as mush as possible. There is this insecure feeling when using public PC, even in the office.

A friend of mine recently send me an alert about using public or office PC. He claims that there are devices that were planted in those PC which will records everything you do and type on the particular PC. He send me this photo as one of those device. You tell me, is this TRUE?? I thought it was just an adapter for mouse or keyboard?

Besides I think there are endless spying/recording software out there that can be abused to collect personal information from internet users. The I.T technology is so vast and the probability of what it will be in future is infinity. One way or another there will be some tech-geeks producing another super uber bot, spyware, hackerware, invisible crawlers, viruses etc etc.

Thus, I think nobody is really internet safe.

But I'm a small time lecturer. Ain't got any particulars interesting enuff for others to desperately to know.... rite? Well, I have a pretty wife.. but that just about it lah.. so I think I should be fine.

erm.. do you think my Boss is desperate to know what I'm doing with my PC in the office? especially when I starred unanimously blinkless to the screen with my half-smiled :P

He might have plant something to check his staff right.. then he'd probably be reading this too "-.-

Alright then, I better go back to work now! :P

Ohh, sorry about the title.. its...... I don't know what to do with it *.*

bah, Peace!

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Feel free to comments. Constructive comments are highly welcome!

Unborn baby grabs surgeon!

2008-11-24T17:25:00.002+08:00

*extracted from my email* Thanks to the person who send it to me.

A picture began circulating in November. It should be 'The Picture of the Year,' or perhaps, 'Picture of the Decade.' It won't be. In fact,unless you obtained a copy of the US paper which published it, you probably would never have seen it. The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samue l Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner.

The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb. Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta . She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville , he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.

During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As Dr.Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision n and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. DrBruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, 'Hand of Hope.' The text explaining the picture begins, 'The tiny hand of 21-week- old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life.'

Little Samuel's mother said they 'wept for days' when they saw the picture. She said, 'The photo reminds us pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness, it's about a little person.'Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful.

Now see the actual picture, and it is awesome...incredible.... The world needs to see this one!

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/mau nangis baca........

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Feel free to comments. Constructive comments are highly welcome!

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Snippets: 100 Blogs That Will Make You Smarter

2008-11-23T22:13:00.005+08:00

For those who believe that
'the biggest room in the world, is the room for improvement'.
Some reading from these sites will be helpful, hopefully.

http://www.onlineuniversities.com

(no, it's not an affiliates link :))

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2008-11-21T22:31:00.006+08:00

***WisHiNg A HaPpY wEeKeNd! tO aLl***
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Have a safe journey to everyone.

There's no need to speed, but every scenery to enjoy.

If you must, take your time to rest.

After all,
not just a destiny count but much more the journey to it.

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Feel free to comments. Constructive comments are highly welcome!

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PhotoSnippets: Picture of fish pond and paddy fields in Kg. Moloson, Tambunan.

2008-11-20T16:54:00.005+08:00

*********

Peaceful dawn.

********************
Farmer's Memories

Memories of yesterday
keeps calling me...

the smell of soil and dirt
fresh breezes of rice fields
neighbours and friends
working day by day

field wets and dried
rolling greens and gold
planting and harvesting
the season pass and begin

on the land of God
doves fly above
crickets shovels for life
fishes cherish the farmers

when the children cry
the elders smile
when all work done
we cherish with everyone

life was simple
life was great
life is short
memories are forever

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2008-11-19T08:09:00.005+08:00

An excerpt from my email box.. I thought it should be shared to everyone (I'm not sure if the information is 100% reliable.. but just be cautious - nobody want to be the 1st melamine due death in Malaysia, don't you.. :))

* nah i did not don any editing from the mail, except the font's size (which was annoyingly BIG), the rest is just as it was.. very Sabahan

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

Daily Express hari ini ada kasi tau pasal roti dan biskut yang dibuat oleh kilang biskut Khong Guan dan kilang biskut Khian Guan dibuat dengan menggunakan serbuk pengembang atau biasa kitaurang panggil raising powder (ammonium bicarbonate) yang diimport dari Negara China mengandungi bahan Melamine talampau tinggi.

Oleh itu, jangan mambali biskut dibuat oleh kilang Khong Guan Johor, antaupun dari kilang Khong Guan Likas, dan kilang Khian Guan dari Penang. Begitu juga, sabalum mambali ammonium bicarbonate di supermarket, lihat-lihat dulu label. Kalau bahan itu dari China, inda payah mambali.

12 jenama biskut yang diarah ditarik balik oleh Kerajaan Malaysia:

a) biskut soda g) cocoa puff

b) lemon puff h) sandwich orange

c) lemon pof i) family crackers

d) butter cream j) star-shaped biscuit

e) baby fish k) rolled biscuit

f) healthy cracker l) mini puff

Yang mampunyai anak-anak yang suka mambali-bali di supermarket, kasi ingat jangan talampau GODOOT! Nanti talampau makan Melamine bibir jadi kembang penuh dengan batu karang baru tau!

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Jaga!!! bah, minum dulu..

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Did you like my post? Constructive comments are welcomed!

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Drunken Watermelon??!!

2008-11-18T08:39:00.010+08:00

Hack your watermelon! yeah, menambah kesedapan pada sadur, tapayas, nenas dan buah-buahan sebagainya.. I love this one! tapi kami test taruh tu 'sasad' kedalam nenas yang masih fresh (belum kena petik), selepas 2-3 hari baru test.. nyaman.... bulih panas telinga ooo :D (for the non-alcoholic drinkers, try to put somthing else *.-)
<
Hack a Watermelon! - Funny home videos are a click away

Maybe for this Christmas I'm gonna make watermelon perasa Lihing, wine, vodka, and tequilla hehehe mcm ngam oo kalau ada panggang-panggang lagi kan.

bah, if you want to watch more videos like this, you can download Metacafe software. You can be a Producer too, and if your videos are really that good, you might be able to make a good money from it! :D
(no, this is not affiliate link)

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Did you like my posts? Constructive comments are welcome!
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Obama's family moving to USA from Kenya - Latest News!!

2008-11-17T23:30:00.007+08:00

I just got an email with this Subject: Obama's family moving to USA from Kenya - Latest News. As a fan of Obama I immediately open it and walaaaaa..................
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jeng punya kawan :P

bah, guys don't take it seriously arr

I'm newbie on blog world

2008-11-17T11:58:00.014+08:00

Into the 3rd weeks of 'blogging worlds'.. I find my new activity quite interesting!! learning many things on technical, related I.T skills, gaining varieties of knowledge and information and especially seeing few cents dropped into my google acc (paypal acc. is still '0' :D), although at the moment it's damn too low to mention :P

Anyhow, I juts want to share some things and resources I bumped into while searching for clues and help from the net on blogging world.. (can anyone vouch that 'blogging world' is the right term to use? :O)

All these infos are in 'newbies' level, so I hope you guys understand :D.

Alrite, lets begin with.

No. 1 : http://bloggertricks.com/
This site provides a simple step-by-step instruction with screen shot on some interesting basics such as:
How to add adsense ads inside Blogger blog posts or between blog posts.
adding clickable pictures on blogger sidebars,blog posts,etc.
how to add a PAYPAL DONATE button to your blogger(blogsot) blog.
how to add Different Meta tags to Different Blogger Posts
how to apply new templates
how to disable right click in blogger(blogspot) or any webpag
how to add "Email Subscription Form" to your blog(blogger,blogspot)
FREE WAYS TO DOUBLE YOUR BLOG TRAFFIC IN LESS THAN A WEEK
and many more..

No. 2 : http://mltan100.blogspot.com and http://www.blogspottutorial.com
For those who love smiley, these site provides steps on how to add emoticon on blogger's blog either using html or tab. I prefer the traditional ':P' - to me it's more 'original' :D

No 3. http://tips-for-new-bloggers.blogspot.com <---highly recommended! By far, I found this site as the one with MOST INFORMATION for blogger's newbie. Similar to bloggertricks.com, this site also provide a details easy to follow step-by-step process.

Among the interesting articles are:
how to add Favicon icon to Blogger URL
how to add Music to Blogspot blog
And lots more i.e SEO tools, best recommended widgets, editing templates, adsense optimize, faster webpage timeload and etc. I highly recommend this site for newbies reference.

And if you ever wonder what is the BEST BLOGS for blogging in the universe, you may like to check on this site . The ranking was pretty outdated by now (maybe), but I believe those guys are still there and kicking! even better. I visits all the site listed to get more ideas and motivation to cont. blogging. BTW, you can also find out on the top blogs on SEO, web design and Celebrities! from the same site.

From one of the top blogs, I found a very good and useful ebook especially for newbies. This ebook will tell you the different from 'wannabe internet gurus' and the 'real-life example of Internet Guru', its worth readings with lots of tips and it's tottally FREE (unlike the many free report then advised to buy this and that-- familiar? :P) Sign-up and get it in your box.

And ohh! This is the reason why I started to blog now :D. Some ideas from the person might be 'different' with others opinion, but he is also making a great income form blogging.

local reference? Yes ,I got at least one.. If you are Sabahan, this site is a must read and subscribed. Gaman is among my great friends and he is a very successful Internet marketers. Very polite and kind, handsome, rich and (if not mistaken) still single too :P - sorry bro. I'll remove this if it offend.

My conclusion:
It's true that just by googling for 'blogs tips' in google will bring enormous results. Literally one can learn almost everything needed to know on blogging from Internet research alone.

However, there's also a danger of having vast Internet communities. The advantages of internet communities is also it's own disadvantages - that is it's soooooo HUGE!. Getting endless source of information might be good but there's a price to pay for over-information.

I find my self a bit over information most of the time earlier (now I'm in-control of the information flowing to me :D). Too much of information will make newbies paralyse or sluggish. I don't want to end up reading and reading and reading but no action at all ^.^

Hence, I think participating in 3-4 communities such as forums and blog community and getting the most out of it, is much more effective. That's my friend's advice and I'm doing that now... trying to find the right 'clicks' where I should belongs to.

well anyway, I certainly hope that the little suggestions above will be helpful to newbies like me.. I would also really appreciate suggestion and recommendation from seniors. I'm learning bah.

Cheers! for Monday!!!

Decent Financial Planning / Management

2008-11-13T08:18:00.003+08:00

Hurmm..... looking at the title above, I think most of my friend would be thinking "is he up to this??" ..and perhaps you might wonder as well.

Well, okay.. if you would ask me about it, I would say... yes! Yes, if you are still not having any successful Financial Planning yet or if you are still wandering every month 'where did all my money go ahh?' or if you still within the communities bracket who likes to utter 'biasalah, ujung bulan kan... mana ada usin...' and definitely YES if you are not up to my peers.

^.^ well, I'm not that good to be really fully satisfied with, but I believe at least I'm above the average..

One thing for sure is that I'm not an expert in this field and not even close! but hey, do you really have to be an accountant to be able to handle your money properly? or do we have to master major in economics to be able to understand that the world is truly facing the greatest financial and economical crisis ever and no country will be able to fly above it as if it was Christmas or just Halloween ~ yada! yada!

Naaa.. I'm not an expert! so if you stumbled here accidentally while looking for the best expert advices and super tips and best-secrets regarding finance, well sorry friend, I'm not the man, you may leave and peace alrite.

On the other hand if you belong to some categories I mentioned earlier in my 1st para, then I love to invite you to continue reading, and as well as if you are my friends or want to be my friends or you have a 'feel' ^.^ while reading my title, then by all means please continue reading. I'm not promising anything yada yada rah rah here, but suffice for me to say that "I think I have a nice simple Financial Planning formula' that if I have a friend in need I would definitely share about it.

Alright, here goes.. if you really want to go ahead on this, please relax and have a coffee or snack or anything to relax you, because this one is pretty long and plain narrative :D.

Basically everyone or most people love to spend their money wisely (I say most as I know few persons who doesn't give a damm about where their money goes). For the majority who want to spend their money wisely and if you are one of them, most probably you would have at least a basic formula / method that you use when managing your money. I'm talking about things like a simple book keeping or a any similar financial documentation format (normally using Excel) you use to produce your budget and keep track on all your pennies. If you don't even have this, you are in BIG trouble! you should trust me on that.

Seriously, if you really haven't got any sort of financial practices, I suggest you to go grab one of the best selling book in Malaysia by Azizi - Millionaires are from different planet. He will make your butt uneasy on your soft sofa or cozy office furnitures. His book was my 1st and only mentor on financial planning and I found it when I was around 26/27 yrs old, pretty late actually (yeah, nobody advice me anything about finance before).

However, knowing the basic such as Income vs Outcome, debit - credit, expenses, saving, loan, etc.. and arranging those in a nice excel spreadsheet monthly won't help much. That is just basic, and basic is just that - a basic. I tot my financial will be okay once I applied those but I was wrong, month to month to year I still suffer some medium size 'financial turmoil' in my own small world.

Until ONE FINE DAY, I accidentally discovered my old book while doing some house cleaning (a book which I bought long time ago but never read about), wonders do work in life bah. Very seldom I will do house cleaning but I did it that day and I found a 'diamond'. I read it through and walllaaa! I was smiling to my self :D, it was like Hallelujah! feel as if 'I was born again - in financial spirit', if I can put it that way. It was touching actually as I felt strong confidence to be able to manage my income INTELLIGENTLY and I was right.

So what did the book says to me?

Among others the book says:

* that in order to be rich, I got to B R E A K the law. The Parkinson's Law which says "expenses will always meet income" in a more simple term, the more is our income the more is our expenses. Have any of you guys experience that?? got a little pay rise or some extra income and soon the expense raise immediately (as if it was on race) and end up with just able to-meet-month-end scenario.

* that even if all the wealth in the world are divided to all the people in the world, in no time all the wealth will be back to its original place, that is in the hand of the rich people. Because the rich people knows what to do with their money and the poor don't. As the famous hush goes 'rich will get richer, and the poor will get poorer'. Pernah dengar gini? it's very seldom we hear people complaint/blame to themselves but it's always the mistakes of others.

* that to be rich is NEVER dependent on the bank balance but always about being rich as a person. The secret to be a millionaire is to be a millionaire as a person, not by bank balance. Ever heard a person with lots of money but live miserably? just google it. Happen to most lottery or jackpot winner who end-up worst then before they won anything. (I got one living example - my own friend. He won almost 700K from 4d tickets and after just three months, his situation worsen, believe me.. I mean it really worst. It's pain in the #@* to look at).

*and the book says lots more good stuffs... but I think you want to know the most important of all and that's what I want to share too. It is the formula, and the formula is simply...

10-30-30-30

(if you are well inform about this then it's good, I hope you don't mind to put up a comment yah)

What's the explanation about this? very easy and well justified.

- 10 is 10% of your income must be used to help the needy. Some people call this tithing. The point is you must give back, give it back to the people. Some might consider a weekly donation (e.g donating in church on every Sunday) is good enough, but actually it's not. To give back means to really give the 10% to the one who really in need. It could be anybody, but best to start with the families then friends, communities and etc.

One VERY IMPORTANT condition here is that you must give it away freely, not as a loan or as a borrowing. If you are done that and later someone bump you for help, if you can't help just refuse it politely. If someone ask you for lending - NEVER, Never ever lend your 10%, just give it away.

- 30 is 30% of you income must be sufficient to cover all your monthly life expenses. Ini yang buat orang slalu terngaga besarrrr hohoho! nvm just relax... This includes your F&B, utilities, loan, what-so-ever but ALL your monthly expenses. When I 1st saw this I almost had a heart attack, there's no #@%*ing way for me to do that.. but actually there is a way, just read on.

- The next 30 is another 30% of your income must be used for SAVING and INVESTMENT. Repeated - SAVING and INVESTMENT ONLY! save in few ways at least, you name it ASB, Fixed D., Current Account, what ever ways but save it. And according to your preference, some portion of it must be used on investment and the best recommended investment by the book is to invest on your own self. Improvised your self, go for training, courses, read books, etc. you will invest in properties and etc once you reach the 'level', so invest in your self. If you are not sure what to invest, put the money in saving 1st. Invest it only when you are sure.

- The last 30 is the remaining 30% of your income and this is what I like the most and it is very important.. The last 30% must be used for nothing else but for your LEISURE! yeah, for FUN and ADVENTURE, that is for your enjoyment (of course for you and family if you have one). And it must be a quality leisure activity, a quality enjoyment which you really want to do and will be among your best experience.

It is in such portion because 'we must plan and act for the future while in the same time we must also enjoy our life today as much as we have invest and save for the future'. There's no use of saving all your money and die rich but never manage to use the richness to appreciate life. We must enjoy today for heaven knows if we still have tomorrow or not. It's all about balance. The point is to design a lifestyle that YOU LOVE TODAY and would LOVE TO HAVE in the future.

Now, what if your monthly expense exceed 30% of your income?? mine was actually overshoot more than 50%.. uhhh /pains! /pains!

Never mind if it exceeds. The formula 10:30:30:30 is actually the ideal situation. That is the target. However you must start to apply the formula immediately. Start with what ever is left. Say if your income balance after portioning for all your expenses, is only RM 10 left +.+ just divided the balance RM 10 to 10% for the needy, 50% for saving and investment and 50% for leisure i.e RM 1 : RM 4.5 : RM 4.5.

Vital is, the amount for saving and investment must equivalent with your fun and adventure at all time. What you save and invest for the future must equally spend to your enjoyment TODAY. For Today is a what we have and tomorrow is guaranteed to no one.

This what the book call as 'Fine-Tuning the Formula'. Adjust your financial to meet the formula until at the end hopefully you will reach the ideal 10:30:30:30. Adjustment you financial could also be a cost cutting of monthly expenses and getting more monthly income form extra work and other sources.

So that's it ladies and gentlemen! I have applied this formula and it works well 'so far' and it makes me smile and it makes me feel better.

One last tips though, if you want to incorporate your spouse income into the plan, make sure to have a good discussion with your partner. Both party must well understand and agreed. There must be a harmony in the family in applying it, after all that is what financial planing is meant for.

Now you know it and next big challenge is to really put it into practice. Formula is again just a formula. 100 books is just 100 books rite. To obtain the results, action must be in motion.

Okay, tell me what do you think about this. Would you give it a try? or if not, perhaps you have a better suggestion? would you please share your thoughts with me. I would really love to hear others say on this.

Thank you.

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Did you gained 'anything' from my sharing?

"Learn mistakes form others, we can't live long enuff to do it all by ourselves"

2008-11-10T15:44:00.001+08:00

Such a strong and essential tips especially to those whose life had just 'begun'. Many people says that - man's life begins at 30.. some says 40.. some says 50. so I think as soon as the person reach maturity as a person (attitude & thinking) not by age - he/she should be handling his/her life with extra careful - after all life is so fragile - we can't be 'too careful'. To make sure we can handle our things and life much much better - we need to learn more lesson from everyday life.

Few months back I went to the cemetery in my kampung to pay a short visits to my father's grave - then I went around to see some other new graves I noticed. There were numbers of names on the grave that shocks me - they were my friends whom I still feel their presences and I can still picture their smiles and jokes, but they are actually 'no longer existed' . Then I recalled most of them (if not all) died of accidents and health problems (cancers). My father passed away due to cancer too - colon cancer. Life is so fragile - I learned lessons from their life story.

What attracted me to blog about this title isn't really because of that went-to-the-grave experience, but it was somehow related in a bigger picture. Actually I want to make a topic that everyone can share their 'mistakes' so that everyone can learn and get improvised generally.

If the word 'mistakes' sounds too bad or the experience is just too embarrassing to be shared - try to just produce the 'lesson learned' or the 'tips' so that others (or at least myself) would gain the benefit. I think people will appreciates that a lot. After all that's what the wise says;

"learn mistakes form others, we can't live long enuff to do it all by ourselves".

and furthemore;

"Lessons are repeated until it's learned"

I just hope that any sharing here are originals - it is easy to find nice "I've learned this and that's... copy pasted from the net.." (that is welcome too but please re-word it :P), but original stories / tips would be most welcome.

I'll kick off sharing (all sharing from comments will be incorporated in this post bearing your tag. & will be updated regularly)

Lesson 1 (By DA)
(Happened to me a while ago) When you planed to re-finance your car or to buy your spouse car (ini biasa orang laki-bini buat untuk dapatkan extra cash). Do it 1 month or few weeks before expiry dates of the car's road-tax. This is true specially when dealing with family car where the main point is just to get some cash n not to really sell away the car. By this you will be able to save from paying extra cash for the insurance purposes, because a new car owners MUST buy a new different insurance. Jadi jangan kena double payment for insurance. In my case I have just renew my road-tax last months and this week I plan to re-finance my car - akhirnya I have to pay a new insurance coverage again (walhal baru last month sia renew road-tax and insurance - bengong). So avoid it.

Some extra consideration - if that car has some 'bruises' and 'scars' here and there, just sent your car to 'accident' and then send for touch-up or fix anything broken/not functioning, UNDER insurance coverage (mcmana mo buat tu pandai-pandailah :P). You are actually optimizing your insurance. Because once change ownership, the car will have a new insurance and you will have to pay the premium without any discount. So when you plan to re-finance a car, make sure you really re-NEW the car :D.
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Lesson 2 (By DA - added on 7 Nov 08)
I remember my only digital camera................ which is now R.I.P :(
It happen after I sent it to the Service Center for minor fix, but instead of repairing it 'they make it a major blow!' It was my only Sony Cybershot. I send to Sony service center in Damai, they sent it to K.L, and when it back to Sabah, it's dead!. I query and complaint - they sent it back to K.L, and later K.L told me to pay RM 600 to fix it.. zzzzzzz they blow it (and they don't want to admit it) and now I have to pay for it.. waaa =/

Since I can't afford it (sebab kalau RM 600, bagus lagi beli baru..), they don't want to fix it! At the end I lost the cam. Wherever I go now, I only have my eyes to capture the images... sob sob sob.. /sigh

Becareful when sending your things (especially electronics) for fix, make sure you show to the counter 'what really working and what not'. Sometimes they might end screw-up and don't want to admit it. Better still bring along a witness and let him/her sign any documents as well. Kalau mau lagi bagus, kamu bergambar-gambar lagilah sana dalam tu center for more proof :P.

Haiya I seriously need a digi cam now....

* This post is also posted here.

Gained any insight from my sharing?

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Help to reduce my burden to get my camera fix, photography is my passion and I'm dying without it...

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My Film review : Lust and Caution N-17 rating!

2008-11-10T14:43:00.000+08:00

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DRAMA/THRILLER
United States/China, 2007
Running Length: 2:37
MPAA Classification: NC-17 (Explicit sex, nudity, violence)

Cast: Tang Wei, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Joan Chen, Wang Lee-Hom
Director: Ang Lee
Screenplay: James Schamus, Wang Hui-Ling, based on the story by Eileen Chang
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Last night (8th Nov 08) I watched Lust and Caution after successfully downloading it for 3 days non-stop. The film is banned in many countries including China and Malaysia hence downloading it via torrent is the only possible way (btw, I use bitChe and bit torrent for my movie/film download).

I downloaded the film after reading the review about it. Some give 3 stars some reach 4.5 stars ^.^

I consider my self as a big movie/film fan. In fact my dream initially was to become a movie producer (but apakan daya, keluarga nda merestui.. ). I can watch 6 movies in a row simultaneously-no-rest, but of course must be a good movie lah, and I'm open to all genre. Genre is not important to me. I value the storyline and how well the actor and actresses play their roles. However, I truly love movies and films that can give a strong impact to its audiences, where not only the message crossed to them but the exact feeling and the total different 'world' portrayed in the movie are felt and creates temporarily to long lasting behavioral changes to the audiences. I'm talking about movies like The Godfather, Exorcist I & II, The train, Schindler's List, It's a Beautiful Life, Antara Dua Darjat and etc., just to name a few. I'm a collector of controversial movies too, got plenty of that must-have collection ^.^

Anyway, lets back to Lust and Caution. I think the story line was very dramatic and intense. After watching it, I was very satisfied with the quality and equally very disturbed and (little) depressed as it ends. The Director, Ang Lee have proven again his ability to plant the desired impact to the audience effectively. I am equally stunned with the daring actor, lead by Hong Kong heart throb Tony Leung and the impressive lead actress a new comer named Tang Wei. Tony Leung is of course an experienced actor but I didn't quite expect that Tony will be that 'explicit in details'. It was their gruesome+acrobatically+long intense love making scene that makes China and many countries.. decided to banned the movie (beside the assassination plot in the story line).

I think the intense explicit scene was necessary to provide significant weight of the 'sacrifices' endured by the lead actress. How bad it is to allow someone that you really hate-to-the-extreme, to 'enjoy' your body as his likes, and pretend that you really want it too. If she play as a hooker roles it will be totally difference and much easily to be accepted. But, we are looking at a decent girl who have easily and honestly sacrificed her 'womanhood' physically and mentally - again and again and again (I actually thought that she really 'sacrificed it' in her real life for this debut movie :P).

What really 'moved my heart' was that - after all the sacrifices she delivered, at the end she is the one who failed the whole assassination plot on the very last second. (I was thinking.. this is it, and suddenly..... auch!). It puts you in a 'stress painful disappointment but to no choice' situation.

Later, I got a little carried away by it and had a difficult sleep.. and that's my hint for a very good movie/film. For that I would recommend it to all (just remember it's a N-17 rating, so certainly not for youngsters and children and might not suit those 'traditional conservative' minds too :P.

Ok, that's my personal review on the film. Actually I feel a bit funny too, prior to this I watched Tropic Thunder and Bangkok Dangerous (after a strong recommendation from my friends), to me it was okay lah.. sorry folk but I was quite disappointed with TT and BD :P.

Till then guys. Cheers!!

********************************************************
"Thanks for viewing!
Please feel free to support The-Dusun-Aroma.
Donate thru www.paypal.com to allvey@yahoo.com
or visits the advertisement of your interest. Trimas :D

The Dusun Aroma - Kids!!!

2008-11-06T13:12:00.000+08:00

:D
Kids and 'kid's times' is one of the precious things in life - but often taken for granted. I remember when I was a little kid, I always want to grow up fast. I'm curios about the 'things that the elders do' and I want to do it. But now I'm 32 (tua butul kah nie? inda juga bah kan .. :) wish I can be kids again, especially when I browse through my nieces and nephews pictures. It looks so awesome! no problems and everything is fun including crying :D. So for these 'round' and perhaps for the next few rounds, I like to dedicate it to all the kids, parents with kids and those who miss those days.

Btw, I'm in no means to portray that getting older is not a nice things. We are growing and we should be enjoying that (especially to ladies :P) - but least not forget to make full use of our kids' time. For those with kids, have a quality time with them, the moment will come too soon that kids are no longer kids, no matter what.

Alrite, lets roll!

1. On the foreground from left to right - Nun, Bibie, meimei and lady. All the kids now are in their 20s.

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2. Among my favorite! it was taken during a family picnic at Tikolod, Tambunan. From left - right Ciddy, Bonnie, Roy, Meimei, Lady and Rudy who was looking to his left water-shooting someone else. Family picnic was always our weekend agenda.

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3. Hehehe they will be mad at me if they find this. It was Christmas in 1996 or 1997, and as a new varieties to the yearly celebration - family organize a little competition. The girls compete for beauty Queen and the boys compete for Ratu Pondan - what else :P.
From right to left Junior (the winner), Roy, Bonnie and N'Rule. All of them are now in their diploma and degree studies. Mother is seen on the far left, can't help but laughing. Oh boys..

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4. Another interesting shots of children with some elders :D. Another family trip to Tikolod Tambunan. Tikolod then was our favourite spot for picnic as the river's formation is more safer and most of the time it is clear. However, in this pic. the water looks brackish - perhaps it rains heavily a day before. From left - right Liza with Ciddy, Aaron, (2 boys cannot be identified - blocked), Bedah (lady with black-whit stripe shirt), Dear (kids with black shirt), Roy, (another un-identified boy and girl, Rose (girl on red shirt), Aymon, Marryane or Bibie (not sure :P), and **** (I don't know remember her name :P), and last one Darlene or Nora (they look similar *.*). On the background most probably my bro. Idus with daughter tubing.

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5. Last photo for this post. Lots of smiley faces of the kids with styles. They don't do all those funky moves now even if you beg them. From left - right Nun was looking at Rudy (shouting), Bonnie while giving 'peace', Dear (blue shirt) smiling handsomely, N'rule with innocent smile, Junior (red shirt), Roy also giving 'peace' sign, Meimei looking seriously, Bibie smiling and giving another peace and last one Lady (in red).

That's all for now.
Cheers folks!

********************************************************
"Thanks for viewing!
Please feel free to support The-Dusun-Aroma.
Donate thru www.paypal.com to allvey@yahoo.com
or visits the advertisement of your interest. Trimas :D

The Dusun Aroma II

2008-11-03T11:20:00.000+08:00

Here are some more photos form my old albums. All this photos are taken before digital camera age.

All Photos are copyrighted. Feel free to contact me if you want to use/reproduce any or part of the photos. Thank you.

1. This photo was taken during 'Kaamatan' Festival which means Harvest Festivals. Kaamatan is one of the grandest and oldest cultural and traditional celebration in Sabah (Malaysian Borneo).
In this photo was a simple Kaamatan at church level. Notice well the traditional costume worn by some in this photos. My wife is actually one of them.

The grandest of Kaamatan is the State level which is celebrated on 30 - 31st of May yearly. During the celebration 150-200K peoples stormed at Hongkod Koisaan in Penampang to witness and participate many events, competition, contest, food fiesta, singing and dancing etc. The main event will be the Beauty Queen contest. More history and information on Kaamatan can be found in the net.

2. 2nd photo is another shot of my mother harvesting the ground peanut. While ground peanut takes longer time to reap, the Dusun's usually will plant along different fast growing veggies and fruits such as cucumber, tomatoes, etc. and maize - as seen in the photos. The produce form the ground peanut trial planting was not bounty, hence the field was used to cultivate the normal paddy on the following years.

3. A very old photo (and comes in a very small size about 2 x 2 inch). I collected this photo from old family album. This is a photo of a wedding celebration (however, this is few days after the real wedding night celebrations. This is what the people use to term it as Second Round :P)
In the fore ground you can see at least 1 jar with bamboo straw and a person is sipping it. That is the famous local rice wine brewed by the Dusun. It is called Tapai. Notice as well the bamboo floor/wall. What a joyous day.

4. This is a picture of myself plucking and preparing the paddy seedlings before transferring it to the muddy paddy field. At the background is my sister in-law Emma. This process is carried out during early in the morning to avoid higher mortality rate of the seedlings.

5. Last but not least for this post. Authentic local barbecue of whole pig. This I must say was among the best barbecue I ever tested. It was for my farewell celebration before I took off to continue my study in UPM Selangor. Kids on the background are my nieces and nephews. I remember well the barbecue took about 5 hours to get done and the results was fantastic!. Soft juicy, no single hair or hair's root left on the skin. All fall off after a very long slow barbecuing process. Yummmy!!!!

That's all for now. Cheers!

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"Thanks for viewing!
Please feel free to support The-Dusun-Aroma.
Donate thru www.paypal.com to allvey@yahoo.com
or visits the advertisement of your interest. Trimas :D

The Dusun Aroma

2008-10-31T08:44:00.000+08:00

I like to put up some photos that resembles a fraction of the Dusun - my race, my people.

For those who have no Idea what is Dusun all about, you may read more info about it here.

So here goes my photos.

( ALL PHOTOS ARE COPYRIGHTED. Please contact me in advance if you want to have any or part of the photos. Thank you.)

1. A photo of my mother and her friends and grandchild. They were harvesting ground peanut ~ a trial planting to replace the normally paddy fields. Mother was the one with sirung on the far left.

2. My sister and her child. They were at my Aunt (Innai) to help her with some farming. She grows Nanas (sweet pineapple).

3. Mangasok activity. The 1st step in Paddy planting. Basically a process of growing paddy seedlings before planting it in the actual paddy field. From the pictures , you can understand the simple process.

4. The original traditional house of the Dusun. All made of wood and bamboos. No nails, just rattans to tie each parts. I took this picture when I was 18 years old (1st time holding a camera). Now the house has been replace by modernisation. I miss this house a lot. The green in the foreground is actually the grown paddy seedlings.

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Till then. Cheers!
*************************************************************************************

"Thanks for viewing!
Please feel free to support The-Dusun-Aroma.
Donate thru www.paypal.com to allvey@yahoo.com
or visits the advertisement of your interest. Trimas :D

+.+

2008-10-30T14:36:00.000+08:00

***just in case you stumbled upon here accidently... WELCOME! :P

and do comeback someday ~ I'll be blogging soon***

DA.