Is it safe to swim now?

I know, I know.. many have wondered if I will ever write again. Truth is I myself do not know. Any way, I find myself tagged by people... Hmm don't know much about this tagging stuff.. but since they are asking all sorts of questions I thought I would answer them, but through several entries. So here goes...

6 weird things...


First weird thing...

I love Magic the Gathering Card Game, but I don't like playing it.. confused?

What I like about MTGTCG is building the decks. I get a thrill out of constructing decks... why? Well;

a) I love strategy and a well made deck is a well made strategy about to unfold.

b) I love using the resources at hand and making the best of it. In MTG, we may not have the best cards (our collection is limited) But with our imagination we can create a powerful deck with cards that are not necessarily the best cards in the collection

c) I love watching other people play and learning from their decks. The many faceted nature of the game lends itself very well to all kinds of people and the way they play often reflects their nature.

Any way, some of my favourite cards in my collection (pictures courtesy of Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro - hope they don't mind me plugging their product)



Akroma Angel of Fury - A 6/6 angel, very powerful. I currently have two.



Numot the Devastator - loved the name we named a cat after him



Benalish Commander - A useful chap that gets stronger with every soldier... now if I can only start cranking our soldier tokens... hmmmm.



And Shivan Wumpus... a personal favourite. ;)

When I first started playing (yeah I used to play) MTG a long long time ago, we only used crude direct assault tactics. Nowadays there all sorts of combos and what not that the mind boggles at the endless possibilities. Some combos are so good that it gives virtually infinite health/life to the controller.

To fully appreciate the game one must actually play it, or create the decks.. There is a subtle difference between a pro player and a master deck builder. Sometimes they are one and the same, but that is a rare combo.

Testing the waters

It has been so long since I last posted that it seems like learning how to swim again...

Any way, this is a short post just to test the waters so to speak. I will post more later.

Wasalam

Living Life In The Slow Lane

This week at work things were a little more interesting. So much so I am tired out after work. A vessel in the plant ruptured, spewing out gas. The tear was about a meter long. So we spent most of work time trying to sort it out.

Lately I have also started to slow things down a little, enjoying life a lot more. For example, at night me and the missus will go out and have a nice meal sampling the various cuisines on offer. Sometimes I would also be eating by the beach enjoying a freshly fried fish dipped in flour while sipping on a coconut drink (okay I made that up! I usually have coffee black KAW).

So I would like to share a few spots in around the area should anyone happen to pass by. If I manage to get the pictures of the places I will repost this again.

Breakfast to Dinner

Usually nasi lemak, nasi dagang, nasi minyak. Currently I have 4 places I normally go to. 3 in Dungun and one in Paka. There is also the market where we have breakfast most Fridays. I really want roti telur though.

I have put some of those places on the map of Dungun below.

We also have dinner at Lotfi’s tomyam place called Ria Tomyam and Batu 48.

Map of Dungun

In Paka and Kerteh we of course have

a) Awie Tiram Bakar – seafood

b) Kelab Desa Rantau Petronas – all kinds of food

c) JR’s – Chinese food

d) Sawasdee – Siamese food

e) Gerai sotong goreng near Meraga Beris – Obvious really

In Kemaman we have

a) Bukit Kuang – Seafood

b) Hai Peng Kopi – Err Coffee

Of course there are more places we have been, but it has been some time that I need to go again to resample the food to see if they are nice.

Market

Today me and KKL went to the market and had Sup Tulang for breakfast. It was fantastic! Something different from what we are used to. Basically they plonk down a plate of white rice with cucumber, a fat slice of fried egg, ikan kering and sambal belacan, together with a bowl of steaming sup tulang. After the meal we went and bought some of our groceries.

To commemorate Muhaimin’s 29^th birthday, we made Nasi Tomato Special and Daging Gulai Special ala BCT (That’s Bukit Chatak for those who do not know what BCT is)

Gulai Daging Special

Nasi Tomato Special

The Sweet and Sour Prawn we made last week for my birthday

So to Min… Happy Beddey Man.. the food was really nice!

Regards

Another Festive Week

Okay.. so I find myself in a holding cell, most of my equipment stripped from me. Suddenly an old guy and a group of guards appear at my cell door, telling me to step away from the door as they enter the cell.

Once in the cell the old man goes to a section of the wall and lo and behold! A secret passage. Once he and his guards are safely down the passage I silently followed.. thus began my adventure in Tamriel. Along the way I picked up a fire sword, managed to crawl out of the dungeons and barely made it across the the opposite shore alive.

Yeaps. I installed Oblivion on my laptop, and this time I am going through the game slowly.

Last week has been an exceptionally tiring and long week for me.

To begin with, it was the first full week of work after the festive season. Thursday looked a million miles when looking from Sunday! Any way, I managed to get most of my work done despite my room now being occupied by five people. During the week, We received three people from KL who are seconded to the plant for the next two years. With them is also my friend from a different project who needs to use my pc for his work.

So The weekend could not have come any sooner!

On Friday me and KKL went to the market to buy some meat but unluckily (or luckily) the market was packed so we had to go find our meat somewhere else. We ended up at a stall by the side of the road where we got a kilo of fresh meat and a kilo of lamb! Yay!

So that day I cooked lamb stew... unfortunately again, the stomach is faster than the trigger fingers so there are no pictures of the stew. (Picture taken from the Net)

On Saturday I cooked 'Sup Tulang' Mexican style, complete with tomatoes, chilli peppers and all sorts of "Mexican" spices. The soup was divine, but once again no pictures.

On Sunday Ikelah and DITH paid us a visit. I had a half day at the office and went home to help KKL in preparing the house. For lunch (at 3 pm) we had Laksa Assam and Keropok Lekor. Later we agreed to meet up in Kerteh for our dinner. We had crab, squids, oysters, a stingray and drinks.

The Feast

Ikelah in action

It was a very fulfilling dinner. My good buddy Jamil also joined us that night. He was on the way to KT for a four day course. So before he left we made sure he had an excellent dinner.

Oh Crab!

Hmm so which one will I choose first?

Pari Bakar

On Monday my plant tripped. Man! So today it has been a busy day getting things organised. At least this week will be interesting....

Regards....

Dear all,

It has been ages since I last set pen to paper here (figuratively speaking). It has been a busy month, with the Eid festivities, going to Kuantan and starting work again.

Luckily today I have some extra time to put in a short one.

I have been struggling to think about what to write, especially as I read other people's blog that are so much more interesting than mine. Mynn with his shooting practices, Ikelah and DITH with their dinner intrigue. I wonder what I can talk about that can add to our discussions and give some meaning.

Any way, I have given up trying to think of meaningful topics to talk about so I am just going to shoot from the hips.

First is on the US mid term elections. I really wish Bush gets handed a defeat. However, the Republicans are spending billions in their campaigning so we will see today how it goes.

Secondly I feel there are not many worthwhile movies this year compared to before. Maybe the creative juices have gone out of hollywood, remaking old classics instead with the hope that the new younger audiences are fooled into buying recycled goods. How many remakes like Texas Chainsaw Massacre can one take? Apparently a lot as I think they are on number three now.

I have this craving for beef stew.. so hopefully we will get the proper ingredients to cook one soon.

At the moment I am excited about how to plan the kitchen at the Kuantan house. If there are any good kitchen designers in Kuantan please shout up. We really want to use you. We are also getting excited about when we can start furnishing the house. Hmm what styles would be great?


What games are cool now? I have a sudden desire to spend some time building armies and crushing the enemy hehe..

Regards

Kubang....

Break… It has been so long since my last real break that I have forgotten how it feels to be on holiday. Considering that the plant had problems way back in May, it has been four months since I have taken a break.

Alas this blog is suffering from lack of writing and inattention. Sitting back and relaxing I realised how much my mind has been preoccupied about thinking about the problems in the plant as well as the potential solution. So when I sat down in front of the screen to update my entries my mind drew a blank.

So I grabbed the first idea that comes to mind.

My TV show list:

a) Eureka

b) Heroes

c) Studio 60

d) CSI

e) How I met your mother

Items cooked at home during Ramadhan:

a) Nasi Lemak

b) Bubur Lambuk

c) Ikan Assam Pedas

d) Udang Goreng Special

Later on will try bubur Arab and Persian rice. KKL is an excellent cook. Me, I need guidance and some special secret recipe.

Last night had a wonderful dinner with P5, Jimmy, KKL and myself. We had two kilos worth of crab, fish, sting ray, oysters, calamari and tomyam. It was really delicious and satisfying. We spent about 3 hours at the shop.

Looking forward to Raya when we can savour more delicious seafood. I hear from P5 that there is a good restaurant in Kuantan near Tg. Lumpur mosque. Will definitely scope it out when we get there.

I have one more week of solid work left before the long holidays. We are planning to cook for the Raya festivities. I for one am looking forward to the barbeque and the Persian rice. Bubur lambuk can also be made where needed as we can easily find the required ingredients at the market.

Of course it will be a slow drive down to Kuantan and I plan to buy stuff along the way such as lemang, kopitiam and keropok.

Yummy.

Contemplating Ramadhan

Words can't describe how happy I feel this year that Ramadhan has arrived. Previous years have been a bitter sweet affair, especially since my wife was away. It is always sad breaking fast away from family. Sweet that I also got to hang with my good friends and break fast with them. Most notably the first day was with P5 and Jimmy, both from the Nikon DSLR club.

I remember our simple fair, we bought milk, kurma from the office and some condiments. Dinner was later.

This year, the first four days I will be either breaking fast with friends or alone, no biggie there. Then off to Kuantan to break fast with my inlaws. Then on Monday it will be with my wife. Yes, she is finally coming home.

I pray and hope that this Ramadhan will be a Ramadhan for me to contemplate and improve myself, especially now that I finally will take up my responsibility as a husband. We have been away from each other for so long and have grown in our own right. That uniqueness in our relationship I do so wish to cherish and at the same time start to create beautiful memories together. There is so much that needs to be caught up on, though knowing me I will most likely find it most difficult to express how I feel verbally. Like Jason Mraz (tq MDah) I find solace in words in writing.


I also pray that Allah gives me the strength to change for the better and become a better person. If there is any time in our lives that we have a chance to change, Ramadhan is the best chance. During this time we are free from the whispers of Syaitan who will be locked up during the entire month. Our motivations will be our own, our sins will be our own, our darkness will be our own. So if we need to cleanse and purify ourselves, this is the time. As Picard says in First Contact, "The line must be drawn heeyah (here)!"

Luckily for me I have my wife to help me through this journey, my sisters, my father, my family and my friends.

So dear friends, please pray for us in our never ending journey to seek His blessings.

W'salam