hartlepool adventure

received some updates on the boys that are now in Hartlepool doing their training stint.Seems to be well taken care of by the club,thanks Russ and Chris Turner for accomodating them. They were housed in an apartment owned by the football club,the weather a bit cold was informed but then how many Sarawakians or even Malaysians has this kind of opportunity?

A decent Malaysian and othr stories ......

Has been a hectic few days not only with the workload but attending few of those social functions.has the opportunity to attend the dinner do with raja Nazrin delivering a keynote speech on integrity and the role of the Rajahs vis a vis the government and the rakyat.Even though delivered in a monotonous but deliberate and assured tone i was impressed with the substance of his speech. Relating back to the times of the Melaka sultanate and the words of wisdom imparted by the bendahara to the sultan.i am of one who believes in the mantra that HISTORY is always the best judge of one's contributions. Leaders of today are mere holders of trust for future generations. Say no more cos am no politician maybe in future postings of the blog !!Last nite attended the SCCI dinner ie Sarawak Chamber Commerce dinner ,Nik and Daniel band was on show as well, love his baritone voice ,this Daniel Shukri(incidentally my second cousin) quite enjoyable the duck dish was delicious i always be like a man possessed if ever i come across a duck dish during any dinners cos at home duck and lamb are taboos my wife hates them. Read the borneo post as usual interested to read anything related to sarawak football, while happy to see that FAS seems to be making the right moves with R alberts being taken in as coach, am not amused with the statement regarding Sarawak FC by the presnt spokesman of FAS(no names mentioned please). Those who read my earlier posts in this blog regarding Sarawak FC will certainly understand that it is not meant to be a separate entity starting from scratch but a joint collaboration of "separate' management of senior team by state government,FAS and private sector. Now they are coming up with another proposal (read...separate entity) seems same formula like what i propose but with some different flavour,less i talk the better it is. will only reserve judgement when season is at its mid way only then we can see true leadership and capacity to manage as the team will certainly suffer its share of losses and ups and downs.

thanks to a dog!!!

Was in Kl yesterday attending our OSFAM exco meeting being the president. As usual sneek out to buy 2 books, "The world is curved" a tour d'force of trying to explain the intricacies of the present global financial systems and understanding posible reasons for the financial debacle due to the sub prime loans problems. Learn such mouthful word as "securitisation"(being the major blame for the debacle) has just finished reading 2 chapters and have also learned that the author in late 80's was interviewed by the smartest man in the world(according to Lyndon Johnson) Mr Lee Kuan Yew and he dared to stand up to that Singaporean icon. The other book i bought is on the history of manchester United. More interesting hmm and wow if i were to read what the author relate Mannchester United would not be in existent if not because of a dog named Major. You see at that time Man U original name was Newton Heath owned by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway company social club.Funds were at its lowest ebb and if no monies were sought Club has to close down ,man. So the captain of the day a guy named Holt decided to go for a charity drive with his dog,Major. It was a disaster fund raising campaign(reminiscent of theSarawak team ) and to add misery he lost his dog. To cut the story short a certain rich magnate Davies was also looking for a dog for his daughter and through a series of fortunate events they both met at same moment when trying to claim the missing dog.A deal was struck!!! Holt will part with his dog if Davies help out his bereaved team Newton Heath(man U). Thus start a new beginning of the club under the ownership and leadership of Mr davies which include moving to a new place in the Trafford(read Old Trafford) area. I am just on the 2nd chapter as well.No bets needed which book i will finish first!!! So to all man u fans give a yam seng and salute to MaJOR THE DOG!!!

Movies..movies

i confessed to some obsessions to the point of being passionate....football,coffee,movies and books.
Football everyone knows my famous or infamous forays with the sarawak team last season,well only a man of such idiosyncrocies as what i had will do all that but no regrets. Movies i want to write a bit more,just finished watching the movie "across the universe" a string of beatles songs wow great the scouser (liverpudlian) accent of Jude the main character is great to hear,the songs i can relate to and i found myself humming away to some of the tunes to my daughter's sabrina disconcertation. My all time favourite movie? it has still be "doctor Zhivago" a poignant love story tale with the russian revolution as its background,Omar Sharif as dashing as he can ever be.Hmm let me try to list down my all time 10 favourite movies;
1.0 Dr zhivago,2.0 East is east( a funny story of a mixed muslim pakistani family living in salford manchester) 3.0 Terminator(believe it or not but i think this is a real cult movie for me) 4.0 Layercake( a Daniel Craig (aka james bond) gangster thriller with a great twist in the tale) 5.0 Grease( a reminder of those late 70s era when John Travolta is the man) 6.0 Om shakti Om( ha,a hindustani with sharukh khan in his real element) 7.0 gladiator( Russel Crowe epic with a human touch) 8.0 serependity( Kate Beckinsale love story movie ) 9.0 P Ramlee Ali Baba bujang lapok(the apek song routine was hilarious) 10.0 Pirates of the carribean(my fav actor johnny depp at his best) ..well watching movies is a great stress reliever what's more with a nice cuppa coffee as your companion. Pity that i ve yet to watch a recent malay movie that catches my eye but man laksa is not that bad.

My twins birthday today

Twins Nur Sabrina and Faizul turns 14 today,gosh how time flies,i can clearly remember the day they were born at Chin specialist clinic in Miri.It was a caesarian birth with Sabrina keep reminding his brother now that she"s the eldest(even by only 2 minutes).I typically missed the actual delivery event because while awaiting for their birth me and my late father decided to have roti canai...anyway it was a real joyous moment for me and their grandparents and elder siblings.When we moved back to Kuching they were just one year old so they had no real memeories of life in Miri.Have i spoilt them? The wife keeps saying yes i am!!!! Both now in their respective schoolbands,a bit lazy on their books but well still ok i sppose ,fully obsessed with their pc and video games(nothing new for kids these days).Sabrina is a reading buff with her collection of Stephanie Myers books.Faizul??Boys are boys that's all i can say.The twins being not identical are indeed unique and i thank God for such a blessing and i can live with their idiosyncracies possibly as long as they dont disturb my saturnight night football on astro,ha!!!! Sabrina shares my obsession wit movies(besides books) and i teased her the other night when i caught her watching my "mama mia" movie ,so ABBA indeed is still cool.Faizul has this funny obsession with the Chinese 3 kingdoms tv series and anything related to that. What gift shall i give them for their birthday? this year we re not celebrating the occassion with a party at our home as usual possibly will bring them out for a dinne tomrow night. Well happy birthday my twins and i love you both with all my heart(that doesnt mean it is an open cheque policy though!!!)

Durians

the weekend was spoiled by my indulgence in durians,i should have known better,being a diabetic it must be a no go for any sweeet cravings particularly the kings of fruits. Down under the weather you immersed yourself in just reading the tabloids,watch silly movies( national lampoon homo erectus and the rocker) and saw a game of 2 halves between Everton and Man Utd.This is the time of the year when aspiring Datins were all hoping that their other half will get that much sought title because the little detail of the title does not matter dato,datuk or datu what matters how the spouses will be deferred to ,still DATIN!! ha just joking am proud my good friend Wee Yiaw Hin the Shell MD got a Dato. Have time though to chit chat with my daughter Diyana in KL she's doing A levels there hoping and aspiring to be a chemical engineer(wonder whose footsteps she's following),now a time of university interviews and offers. She has to go for a Cambridge U interview and as she moaned,"real difficult dad " well what you expect? My only advice is just enjoy that experience whether you are to be successful or not in entering that prestigious university.Back to durians...man i envy those that has no taboos to indulge in this king of fruits , i must learn to live my life as a diabetic,though not serious yet i must control all those cravings!!! i still cant figure it out whether you should treat durians as any other fruits ie as dessert platter or as the main meal itself.

OSFAM anual dinner

the weekend was spent in kl for our association OSFAM offshore structures fabricators Malaysia held our get together dinner at PJ Hilton. It is an "exclusive" club so to speak for members comprise only of gang of 7 MMHE,Sime Darby Engnrng,Ramunia,Oilfab, Kencana , Boustead penang shpyrd and Brooke dockyard eng. Incidentally i was the president so bit nervous need to give a welcoming speech in front of gathering of around 60 tables of attendees..hmm ada jua berpantun raya and ada orang negur saya hmmmyang when i said,..datuk/datuk blah blah saya ingin bertutur dalam bahasa Inggeris.......the word bertutur is not a bahasa malaysia word tapi kelakar sarawak,betul ke? anyway the nite itself was fun the MC was none other than Mahathir Lokman and our guests artistes Nail raja Lawak and the evergreen Ramli Sarip..wow man Ramli Sarip really captivate the crowd i found myself with all others happily singing the chorus with him all the way. Ramli you are the man!!! OSFAM members is quite a significant entity within the scheme of things for we collectively employ around 11,000 employees ,and sarawak based brooke is the only one from the other side of the south china sea, so quite a proud moment for me (hope in a modest way) to be the president .thanks to the organising committee for such a wonderful nite!!! envy ramli sarip though as we all talked about our young student days and he still can keep his long hair while we all have to defer to theprotocol of growing old ie no long hair please!!!