The Other

A friend that I met months back, asked about my wife. I said she is in Malaysia taking care of my kids and many others. I told him that she's a doctor. The friend that I met, then commented that doctors are not really up to date with the IT , gadgets and stuffs. Though I was reluctant to agree in general, I said, yes, my wife is not really into those IT stuffs. Well, she goes online in search for medical journals, occasionally she checks on my blog and others, but she doesn't trust online banking, she doesn't own a credit card and she doesn't give a damn about iPod, Blackberry, etc. She has been loyal to her Nokia hand phone, the basic model, until the day the phone failed her after years of service. She has bought a new Nokia now. I'm not sure what model, but it's definitely an upgrade from her old one since she can now send me photos. So now, though being miles apart, I am happy to see my kids blew the seven candles that signify the seven years of me being a father on the recent Father's Day, I can close up on Hadiff's medal on his Sport's Day and keep track of the growth of Aimi's front tooth which she had lost months back. My wife has also given me visual update on the renovation work of our house. Perhaps, she is not updating herself with the IT, up to the pace like some of us, but she's getting there when there's a need. It's just a matter of choice, definitely not an issue of capability. After all, an apple remains merely a fruit to at least half of the people on earth or even more.

Now that I have mentioned 'apple', I was having one for breakfast. I was thinking, if life in a year is like the red juicy apple, I have had the better half now and I'm looking at the other remaining half, which is turning brown so quickly. It's just a thought that crosses my mind, 'eat your apple quick or else it'll be badly brown, aged and wasted'. From now to year end, it's like a race against time to get things done and more things done. In between the bites of the half apple, I wish I will remember how sweet it is from the skin all the way to the core.

And by the way, I have booked my ticket home in the August. Indeed, I am busy pushing and being pushed at work during this high chocolate season, crunching my ab at the gym to shape out the 6-pack, running to get the engine started for the next marathon (how I wish I could be there running in the recent SC KL Marathon), yet I never miss counting the days to get home. Exactly, 32 days to go....

Lost

I was lost in the real world for a while and had difficulty to find my way back to the blog sphere. Thankfully, I'm not dead and gone. Indeed, I have friends who held the torch high. They have guided and encouraged me to come back into this virtual space. So here I am. During the stint of my disappearance, I have been busy with a couple of things.....

The Home Search
My tenancy contract is expiring this June. It's the time of the year to check various sites in the net in search for a spot to live in from hundreds of options available. It makes no sense for me to continue renting in my current apartment when there are better and cheaper options available in abundance now. It's kind of nomadic when I really come to think about it. There is no permanence and no sense of belonging. I found myself checking out from one apartment to another, to see if I can fit in. One day I found this nice place in Dubai Marina, affordable (since the rental rate has gone down now and my accommodation allowance has been increased by 40%) but relatively pricey and deadly tempting. It's got a view to die for, from the balcony on the 9th floor. It was really a boastful view of the chic Marina Walk with the nicely moored yachts and the tamed green waterways which narrowly open to the Arabian Sea. A yearly rent for this apartment is equivalent to the full ownership of a single storey terrace house in Malaysia. Luckily, I'm 36, old enough to resist the temptations that are so rife in Dubai.

The view from an apartment that I almost signed an annual deal

My search has been quite extensive that my final decision has gone beyond my expectation. I have linked up with this desperate banker who offers me to own an apartment. It's a mutuality business deal given the current situation in Dubai where supply is exceeding the demand, people are losing their jobs and leaving Dubai and properties values have touched the bottom. The bank need buyers and cash. I need an affordable home. After a tedious scrutiny of my financial statements, my application has been approved. So now I can skip the annual home search and I have a place I own. I'm buying at almost the lowest price. If the property value bounces back and the rental rates goes high again in years to come, I am unaffected. The unit that I own is an apartment, not as breathtaking as the one in Dubai Marina, but it has a peaceful view from the balcony on the fourth floor. Looking down there is a courtyard, a square garden and close to a small swimming pool. I will have my hands dirty cleaning the apartment and probably I will be doing wall painting too. There will be furnishing work to be done next. By the way, the apartment is numbered 408. I really hope it's not going to be a freaky lost chamber in a wild and out-of-track time as shown in the movie 1408.

The view from the apartment that I finally signed an ownership deal

The bedroom window which I plan to fix a built-in settee for the daylight reading

The empty living room of my new apartment.

Joining the Club

My running has caused me to loose a lot of essential muscles. It freaks me out thinking that my mother, my mother-in-law, my grandma, my aunties and all, would nag me the next time they meet me. They would say repeatedly either " kau tak makan ke apa? " or " kau sakit ke? ". So I join this fitness club. They have assigned me a personal trainer to look into my needs, make a plan and assist me in the execution. My trainer is called Ren. He has trained many marathoners in Dubai. In our first session, Ren asked me, "So what do you want to achieve?". Really, I like this question as I am a dreamer and it has led me to endless happy dreams. But I only remembered telling Ren, "I want to clock in below 4 hours 30 minutes in my next marathon. In doing so, I want to maintain my ideal weight. I want overall good muscle tone with good flexibility. Mind you, I am 36 now. And I want that six packs too on my ab". Ren said, "Well, considered done". After that happy scoping session, life has been really tough for me. I am working out with Ren 3 times a week and he has really worked me out. It's regimental and dreadful. There are days when I wake up and can't have my limbs straightened. But it makes me feel good. No pain, no gain.

Back to the Desert
Amer, an extreme sport enthusiast and my other office mates had organized a marvellous desert trip for our team building and bonding last weekend. This has been my second outing in the desert. The desert setting was somewhat different from what I remembered in my first trip. We were there after series of rain that hit Dubai lately. The sand was moist and hard as our 4x4 traversed through it. It was not as barren as before. The rain has brought about patches of vegetation in the desert landscape. We had fun. The weirdest thing we did was taking turn to drive on the 4x4 blind-folded, while others gave direction. But kids, don't try it on your own.

The lost people in the desert and the green patches that grow after the frequent rain

The sightless lady boss driving in the desert - she's a natural cool driver

Coco Cola tastes better in the desert

Back Home
I have booked my ticket home on the 24th April to spend time with my daughter on her birthday. She is a Taurean, a really hard type to figure out. I am pondering on ways to reach her core in the nick of time. Another tough task that I'm also strategizing at the back of my mind. Lately my wife has informed that my daughter has displayed an early sign of unpleasant negativity, which worries me. In order to leave the chocolate factory for 11 days, I found myself soaked in my work trying to get things done well in advance.


So there you have them. My excuses for not blogging for the past 2 weeks.

More Assorted Feelings In December

Happy. I'm still obsessed with the sight of the sky in Dubai in the broad daylight. The sky is blue, as always but the white clouds make the difference. The presence of the cotton-like clouds floating in the sky on these bright sunny days reminds me of Malaysia, Truly Asia and makes me feel closer to home. I'm happier knowing I'll have visitors from home in a couple of days. The vast and scarce quarter along the Emirates Road compliments the vast sky above with its visiting clouds.

Delightful. My colleague George is blessed with his second child, named Faith. My other colleague Norton is blessed with an early delivery of his baby girl. The newborn is supposed to be delivered next month, but due to some complications, they had opted for an operation. The last time we talked, Norton was so delightful that everything went well. When I asked him for the name of his newborn, he said, "You know what... we have not decided". These are the delightful deliveries that add joy to the people around me.

Disturbed. At about the same time, my wife called. When she calls, I know something isn't right. She was in JB to attend the funeral of her grandfather. The man has been the subject of my blog in October. He had lived for over 100 years. We had visited him in the last raya, which was the last raya for us with him. My children have lost their only great-grandfather. They had gone to Johor with their mother, representing their father to pay the last tribute to the centenarian. Al-Fatihah. I was disturbed.

Excited. We had our last batch of chocolate for the year produced today. Then we'll have a plant shutdown for engineering and maintenance work until year end. In a way to mark our last production day for 2008, we had a BBQ lunch at the parking lot. It was exciting to unwind our year long work stress by enjoying the good food with the good mood in a good weather. I'm also excited thinking that now that I have my driving license, I'll next have my car parked in this parking lot. It is indeed excited to think about the new year and the new challenges.

Proud. We had also our proud moment to celebrate the Lost Time Accident (LTA) free days for our factory which has reached 2 years. We had a huge cake in our office to mark this milestone. It's Dubai mentality that if it's not the greatest or the biggest, then don't bother doing it. So we did it with the biggest cake ever cut in our factory. It's a vanilla cake with assorted tropical fruits toppings, 3x1 meters in size and about 30kg. The cake cutting started very proper but that was only for the first few minutes. Soon after the scene became like slaughtering a bull and chopping it into pieces for Qurban.