Friday, November 20, 2009

alas.

congratulation ashraf rafael azhar
on his first batch of iownus to taiwan
and his sipi second engangement to surikalia marthias

and

tahniah kepada saya juga
kerana t.i.d.a.k yang berjaya

Big Day
owarimashta.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

remembering

inaccountably

i missed seri puteri.out of the blue.the air,the stairs, the timidness,classes,practice,the people,the comrad.

oh yes.i misses them.dearly.

Monday, November 9, 2009

My Cure and Medicine

Seperti biasanya, jarang-jarang aku mengemaskini ini mukasurat dikala hujung minggu. Dua sebab untuk itu. 1. malas. 2. broadbang ibuku suda hilang.

Pun begitu, aku pasnya cek post-post terdahulu. 1 sebab untuk itu. Pastinya ada yang menambahbaik ruangan komen (suprisingly i look forward to that everyday). Juga, 1 sebab untuk itu. Ia pastinya sangat menghiburkan. Sungguh. Terus memberi sebab untuk aku kesini setiap pagi, tengah hari dan kadang-kadang kala malam bulan mengambang.

P/s: Kadang-kadang aku ketanyaan gmana rasanya punya banyak yang ngikut blognya kerana aku punya dalam bilangan jari saja. Suka barangkali. heh. Sibuk juga yang pasti. Lelah ah.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

the damnest thing

i have no patience for technology.

my phone passed out and recovered itself yesterday. the second time it did. how it died? i was trying to feed it with a few text pages i googled. too much of reading perhaps, it died on me so well and reboot itself. so all it left me yesterday was whatever was saved in the 2G outlet and a scrap of plastic casing with numbered pads.

how i despise csl yesterday. the only thing i didnt do was drown it. which i wouldve regret if i did. the messages, the vip list, best bud, james and monalisa are gone good. GONE.

i swear im gonna sell this phone cheap if it ever dies on me again. damn i will. thousand times i will.

to whoever reads this, gimme a call watever. i need to rebuild my communication network.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Character of the Happy Warrior

Who is the happy warrior?
Who is he, whom evey man in arms should wish to be?
It is the generous spirit, who when brought among the task of real life
hath wrought, upon the plan that pleased his childish thought
Whose high endeavours are inward light
that make the path before him always bright
Who, with a natural instinct to discern
what knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn
abides by this resolves, and stop not there

But makes his moral being his prime care
Who, doomed to go in company with pain
and fear, and bloodshed, miserable train
Turns his necessity to glorious gain
in face of these doth exercise a power
which is our human-nature's highest dower
controls them and subdues, transmutes, bereaves
of their bad influence,and their good receives
By objects, which might force the soul to abate
her feeling, rendered more compassionate

is placable because occasions rise
So often that demand such sacrifice
more skilful in self-knowledge, even more pure
As temptedd more, more able to endure
as more exposed to suffering and distress
Thence, also more alive to tenderness
this he whose law is a reason
who depends upon that law as on the best of friends
Whence, in a state where men are tempted stil
to evil for a guard against worse ill

and what in quality or act is best
Doth seldom on a right foundation rest
he fixes good on good alone, and owes
to virtue every triumph that he knows
Who, if he rise to station of command
rises by open means, and there will stand
on honourable terms, or else retire
and in himself possess his own desire
who comprehends his trust, and to the same
Keep faithful with a singleness of aim

and therefore does not stoop nor lie in wait
For wealth, or honors, or for worldly state
Whom they must follow, on whose head must fall
Like showers of manna, if they come at all
Whose powers shed round him in the common strife
or mild concerns of ordinary life
a constant influence, a peculiar grace
but who, if he be called upon to face
some awful moment to which heaven has joined
Great issues, good or bad for human-kind

is happy as a lover, and attired
with sudden brightness like a man inspired
and through the heat of conflict keeps the law
In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw
or if an unexpected call succeed
Come when it will, is equal to the need
He who, though thus endued as with a sense
an faculty for storm and turbulence
is yet a soul whose master bias leans
To home-felt pleasures and to gentle scenes

Sweet images
which, wheresoever he be
are at his heartand such fidelity
It is his darling passion to approve
more brave for this, that he hath much to love
Tis, finally, the Man who, lifted high
conspicous object in a Nation's eye
or left unthought- of in obscurity
Who, with a toward or untoward lot,
Prosperous or adverse, to his wish or not
plays, in the many games of life, that one

Where what he most doth value must be won
whom neither shape of anger can dismay
nor thought of tender happiness betray
Who, not content that former worth stand fast
looks forward, persevering to the last
from well to better, daily self-surpast
Who whether praise of him must walk the earth
for ever, and to noble deeds give birth
or he must go to dust without his fame
and leave a dead unprofitable name

Finds comfort in himself and in his cause
and, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws
his breath in confidence of Heaven's applause
This is the happy warrior, this is
He whom every man in arms should wish to be.

Not-Mine
Poems in Two Volumes
------------

To my best buds
Efi Aqis
and my loyal listener
Ashraf Rafael Azhar
and everyone dear at heart

This is to life
and the possibilities it hath
To the journey past and to come
To remind us of what we are and not
what we can and not
be

Audacious

Whos afraid of the big bad wolf. The big bad wolf.

Whos afraid of the big bad wolf. The big bad wolf

Not I.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Burgenomics, they say.

The world’s most expensive and cheapest McDonald’s

Monday Starters - By Soo Ewe Jin


AS if Iceland does not have enough problems, McDonald’s has just announced the closure of its three restaurants there and said it has no plans to return.

Apparently, most of the ingredients used by McDonald’s in this crisis-hit country are imported from Germany and the franchise holder would have to raise prices by at least 20% to produce an acceptable profit.

The story was important enough to make it to the front page of the Financial Times on Oct 27.

According to the report, for McDonald’s to stay profitable in Iceland, the Big Mac there would have to be priced above US$5.75, which is what it costs in Switzerland, home to the most expensive Big Mac, according to the Big Mac index.

The Big Mac index is published by The Economist as an informal way of measuring the purchasing power parity (PPP) between two currencies and provides a test of the extent to which market exchange rates result in goods costing the same in different countries.

You can get a good exposition of how this index works, including its limitations, by referring to Tan Sri Dr Lin See Yan’s column on July 25 entitled “Burgernomics and the ringgit”.

Since this column is not into heavy economic stuff, I was more interested to find out where the most expensive and cheapest Big Macs are to be found.

As of February this year, the most expensive burgers were in Norway (US$5.79), Switzerland (US$5.60), Denmark (US$5.07), Sweden (US$4.58) and Eurozone (US$4.38).

Now, here’s the interesting part. According to the same index, Malaysia (US$1.70) actually ranks No 1 among the five most affordable Big Macs, ahead of Hong Kong (US$1.71), China (US$1.83), Thailand (US$1.86) and Sri Lanka (US$1.95).

To be frank, I am not a real fan of fast food but when I am overseas and am at a loss as to what to eat, it is quite comforting to be able to step into a McDonald’s, KFC or Pizza Hut outlet, and order familiar items.

We also have to understand why some of our overseas friends do not like to be too adventurous with our wide array of Malaysian hawker fare, especially when they are on a short trip. There’s nothing worse than having to repeatedly run to the toilet because their stomachs are not accustomed to our delicious, spicy stuff.

Still on the same subject, I am trying to figure out why the fast-food joints are increasing the number of their 24-hour outlets.

In my neighbourhood, they compete with the Syeds and other 24-hour teh tarik outlets, and for the life of me, I cannot imagine anyone preferring a snack plate of original recipe chicken over a piping hot bowl of sup kambing in the hours after midnight, or a Big Mac over the Ramly burger sold at the roadside stall.

But they have obviously done their research, and I suppose my preferences are fast being overtaken by more global taste buds. That may well impact on the Burgernomics figures eventually, since prices are determined to a large extent by supply and demand.

I like to think that I’m doing my bit to keep Malaysia in the top ranking for most affordable Big Macs – by sticking to my teh tarik and roti canai during EPL matches.

·Deputy executive editor Soo Ewe Jin continues to wonder why Iceland is greener than Greenland while Greenland is more covered in snow than Iceland.

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Malaysia's Big Mac's one of the cheapest. I didnt know this. Cheap...How much cheap is cheap and how expensive is expensive? To count again, the cost and the calories, id rather stick to sup kambing and teh tarik. well, might as well not for the calories, but the costs of a Malaysian upbringing.