THE DARKEST HOUR IS JUST BEFORE THE DAWN

patiently waiting for the food to arrive

delicious prawn noodles

lemon grass iced-tea

Officially, I can go back to my normal life now. Today, everybody was happy as we all had successfully completed our seasonal duties. It was not an easy job, but it was somewhat fun especially when I had the chance to some familiar faces once in a blue moon.

As usual, we went for lunch before we went our separate ways. So this time we chose D'Idaman Cafe, a restaurant which is actually the one managed by the hotel where I had been staying for the last few weeks. Most of us ordered the cafe's specialty which was called Mi Udang Kuala (prawn noodles) and Teh Serai (tea with lemon grass). Surprisingly, the noodles were good and the tea was refreshing, something new to my taste buds. My comment: highly recommended, something worth trying. By the way, if you follow my blog, most of the events written here are related to eating activities. No wonder people are complaining that I am getting fat. Help!

That's it about my new discovery of the quaint town of Parit Raja, Batu Pahat. I wonder when the next time will be.

MEETING MY SENIOR FROM COLLEGE

with Mr. Kamaruzali in front of M-Suite Hotel

I had the opportunity to meet one of the seniors from college when he was here attending a seminar. When I first registered in Fourth College in UPM back in 1997, Mr. Kamaruzali's room was just one floor under mine. So his room was one of the favourite places for me to hang out when there was nothing much to do. And his roommate was the late Mr. Rahiman Hassan Basri. Other than chit-chatting or sharing snacks, instant noodles or drinks, one of the favourite things that I remember we used to do was listening to this one radio programme which was aired late on Sunday night. In that programme, people would write in telling their real lives experience, mostly about falling in and out of love, and then it would be followed by songs which were related to the theme of the story being read. Life was much simpler during those days, we could just depend on transistor radios.

It is always a pleasure to see old friends, either from school or university. The reasons could be how life was much more fun back then and how we have missed the good old days...

Thanks Mr. Kamaruzali, for the time as well as the treat. Hope to see you again some other time.

THE FIRST POTLUCK FOR 2010

with Mr. Punithan, our counsellor

So the potluck for this year was done real early, during the first week of school. Actually Puan Jainah wanted to prepare tea for the teachers in the staff room and then a few teachers contributed some delicacies as well. This time we had fried banana, green beans porridge, talam sagu, bakar jagung and popia. Looking forward to many more potlucks to come in the year of 2010.

MOVIE REVIEW 8 - THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKUEL

Zainal and the Chipmunks

As soon as I had completed with this one particular task, I quickly made my way to meet my beloved little friends, the chipmunks. I regard this as a reward for my success in finishing my work just before the deadline.

What else can you expect when you put together cartoon characters with real human beings? Hilarious! If you are stressed with your work, or with your studies; or if you are feeling down, or you are dumped by someone and think that this is the end of the world, go and watch this movie. What more, other than Alvin, Simon and Theodore, you will meet the female version of chipmunks (called chipettes) named Britney, Jeanette and Eleanor. They have good songs too, of course sung in chipmunk voices. Now I cannot get the sound of Beyonce's "Single Ladies" out of my head.

EX-STUDENTS VISITING SCHOOL

Two ex-students came visiting the school - they must have missed school life after all these years. I will definitely not forget Anas Malik Omar, even after his long stay in Scotland and as forShahima, she has not changed a bit, and they were both from the SPM 2003 batch. Too bad, they came at the wrong time so there was no chance to get them to eat the canteen food again

As for the other ex-students, if you think you want to have a look around at the school you have left behind for many years, you are most welcome for a visit without a guide, though. If you come in the afternoon, you can just say you come to see me but you might have to fill in a form, if the security guard insists. Thanks to Anas and Shima for dropping by.

ADVERTISEMENT - If you think you are interested to buy imported European cars at reasonable prices, you can contact Anas. [hint: This is not a paid advertisement but the commission can be collected later]

WELCOMING A NEW BATCH OF STUDENTS

an international singing sensation in the making

meet the fans session

The new session for 2010 started on Monday, 4th January. We welcomed both the new and old students back to school. The first day of school went well and not many parents turned up for late registration for form one and Remove which was actually a relief. The number of students is never decreasing, there are approximately about 1250 students in the afternoon. The more the merrier. Let's just pray that I can live a happy life in school with that many students around.

[NOTE: Thanks to Pn. Rafidah Abd. Samat for emailing me the photographs]

CELEBRATING NEW YEAR

with Mr. Nasir and Mr. Hisham

with Mr. Zahidi and Mr. Masrizal

I celebrated New Year but not like other people, no fireworks or people doing countdown. I had to finish my work in school for the event the next morning. My heartfelt gratitude to my friends who were willing to lend their hands and burn the midnight oil to make sure everything was completed at the eleventh hour. We even managed to go to a nearby McD for a light snack at about 12:30 a.m. Pray that I can wake up in three hours time from now.