Broga Revisited - Malaysia Day Trip

 "Inilah barisan kitaaa....yang ikhlas mendaki... ". Haha so much of a patriotic entry soundtrack. Whatever. The Broga plan which supposed to sound like:

 "We will wake up at 4.30am and prepare our fried mee hoon and sandwiches, depart from home around 5.15am and expected to reach by 5.45am. To reach the 1st peak around 6.30am and still can enjoy the post-sunrise beauty while it is still a tad dark. Then we will enjoy our breakfast on the 1st peak while scanning for eye-candy that might possibly passing by."

Turned out to be like:

We woke up at 6am (so looong sunrise *waving with white handkerchief*). Rushed ourselves to bath n dress accordingly. We didnt even have time to prepare our so-called sandwiches, let alone to cook fried mee hoon. *LOL. Departed from home at around 6.20pm, arrived at 6.50pm, its already bright we dun even need the headlamp anymore. As we started to climb up, there were few who already going down from Broga but that did not demotivate the four of us who happily chat all the way up.

The climb up doesnt take long, around 30 minutes as we dun have to queue since by this time, most of the visitor already reached the 1st peak. We had a few pit stops just to take picture and took a fresh breathe. Approaching the 1st peak (where the climb can be quite mentally challenged for a few with acrophobia, one of us insisted not to continue as the slope seems too steep for him to handle. After several attempts to persuade him to continue to the top resulted in failure, the rest of us decided to leave him there and continue to the top. There were a lot of people going up and down at the slope, via 4 routes for both going up and down. The routes are not dedicated exclusively for either way so it can be very crowded at peak time that sometimes we need to move aside to give way to the others who come from the opposite way. If the day before was raining, the slope can be quite slippery and hikers need to be extra careful.

I continued hiking to the highest peak of Broga leaving the other two behind. There were a lot of people having fun and enjoying their moment on Broga that day. Upon reacing the highest peak, I had to wait for about 15 minutes before i can climb on the 'only' way up to the top as there was a group of school children accompanied by their teachers are occupying the way. I didnt spend much time on top. I asked one girl to take my picture with the 'Welcome to Bukit Broga 400m' signboard and straight away went down to catch back with my frens as I left our breakfast with them. 

 

I did took a few photograph and after reunited with the other two, we did a few jump shots plus a few controversial shots as well. The plan to have breakfast on Broga have to be cancelled as my acrophobic frens earlier texted us that he's goin back to the car. So we quickly go down not wanting him to have a long wait for us downhill. Unluckily for one of my friends, he fell and sprained his ankle (while scanning on a few random guys walking by! serves u right hahaha... ). But with that, we had to move down very slowly to accomodate him. After 30 minutes, we arrived at the car just to be greeted by a small wild flower wraith hand-made by my acrophobic friend. 

It was a quick trip but all of us are very satisfied as we did improve our time going up and we surely took a lot of nice pics too. Surely we'll come again and again to the Fascinating Broga :)

Being responsive is to readily reacting or replying to people or events or stimuli. To be responsive is good when it is practiced and implemented in TIMELY and CORRECT manner. If it is incorrectly addressed, it might produce bad consequences based on the 'lousiness' of the feedback given. If it does addressed correctly but not timely, it might be just a waste of effort that change nothing  in the end.

However, at times, being responsive is just not enough. When this happens, to be initiative comes in handy. To be initiative is to act or strategize in advance in expecting something or to improve a situation. It also can be said as an effort shown by one party in approaching another in any kind of relationship (towards each other - as in approaching someone for a relationship or against each other - as in to be the 1st to strike in a fight/war).

In a relationship that involves two parties, both responsiveness and initiative are needed in communication but to be applied interchangeably depending on the situation. If one party just sit idle and only being responsive when triggered, that doesnt really sounds like a good relationship, it is more like a human-computer interaction where the computer do things only when triggered by human using it. Both parties need to be initiative and at the same time responsive to each other to create a very effective and harmony communication medium.

And here i am talking about these responsive and initiative craps... What am I thinking? Well, sorry peeps, u guys surely see me 'meroyan' a lot these days. LOL.

Meet My New Riki

Last Thursday my frens (Fakry and Jalil) and I went to a downtown bazaar located in front the Mines (they feel bored cuz their TV broke down so they're goin out - its highly unlikely to see them going out for leisure at night.. :P). Mines downtown, is just another downtown but with quite a few eye-candies (*wink wink*) , an Outdoor Gear Shop (like!) and surprisingly a few booth selling pets.

I never adopted any pet before and I dun really have any intention to do so even though I do love animals like cats and dogs (cuz i find them cute). As we were passing by a pet booth, there is 1 container that attracted my attention. It was fulled of sea shell so I had a peek and it turns out to be hermit crab! (i dunno hermit can be made pet, i thought they are just ignored by the seashore or worse case, be collected to be eaten.. hahaha). I saw the 'kakak' managing the booth is holding 1 hermit on her palm and rubbing its leg. Wow, that's real cool! At first, I was afraid to hold it on my hand as its still a crab and it does has pincher. The lady said it wont pinch and encourage me to hold it, and so i did! When I hold the shell to lift it up onto my hand, the hermit hide inside the shell, but once I put it on my palm, it did come out and its not shy at all, mebe a bit cautious. (well of course, imagine urself on a giant's hand, i guess u will be running away or at least hide urself too rite?).

Then we went back and i cant keep my mind out of the cuteness of a hermit crab (honestly i wud prefer a dog in term of cuteness - which is prohibited - but this hermit crab is inviting enough for me to even consider myself to adopt a pet). So on Saturday nite, Jalil and I went back to the downtown. This time, I got myself one hermit crab (i cant believe i already have the name before i even bought it! *faint*). This time, I only bought him a small mobile pet container without anything else.

On Sunday, Jalil and I went to Jalan Pasar to buy the pebbles and driftwood for its crabitat (crabbers call the place they put the hermit 'crabitat'). I bought a 2-feet sized aquarium as the container. So I officially got myself a pet now. I hope that i can take care of him very well and have been doing a lot of research towards that. I need to get water container for him (1 fresh water and 1 salted water), a few more drift wood (as hermits love to climb on them), sand or coral sand (for them to bury themselves in).

Oh btw, my hermit's name is Riki. So far I only give him green apple, but from what i've read, hermit can eat various stuff such as banana, papaya, peanut butter, bread, sponge cake (wahh really this thing can eat cake?) , chicken breast ('steamed' one, not fried one). There's even pet shops that sell pellet specially made for hermit crab. So I cant wait to go and shop new stuffs for Riki and try to feed Riki with other kind of food. :D Here is Riki's pic.

From what I've read as well, hermit is a social creature and lives in a large group, so since Riki's currently living alone, I plan to buy another one to be his friend (actually I dont really know whether Riki is a male or otherwise :P). What shud I name the future friend of Riki eh? Hehehe.

Btw, to keep a hermit crab. You will need the following items.

1. 2ft glass tank (can also use plastic tank) with covered tank lid
2. Beach sand / crushed coral sand
3. 1 feeding dish (can use sea shells)
4. 2 small bowl (1 for freshwater & 1 for saltwater) - can use sea shells as well
5. Red Sea brand sea salt.
6. Some sea shells of various sizes
(preferably same size or slightly larger than what the hermit crab is currently using)
7. Driftwood (for hermit crab to climb or hide)
8. Aquarium lighting
9. Aquarium fan with on/off switch. (optional)
10. Thermometer, humidity reader (optional)

My Current MP3 Playlist

Currently I have an obsession on a few songs that I kept playing them at work, in the car and everywhere possible. The melody and lyrics are good and suits my current mood. You might wanna try to listen to these songs too ^_^

1. Ungu - Penghujung Cintaku
2. Tompi - Tak Pernah Setengah Hati
3. ST12 - Saat Terakhir
4. ST12 - Jangan Pernah Berubah
5. Fina AF9 - Menangis Lagi
6. Geisha - Cinta dan Benci
7. Katharine McPhee - Terrified
8. Alif Satar - Lelaki Seperti Aku
9. Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera - Move Like Jagger
10. Afgan - Panah Asmara
11. Padi - Tempat Terakhir
12. Ungu - Dirimu Satu
13. Seventeen - Hal Terakhir
14. Wali - Doaku Untukmu Sayang
15. Judika - Bukan Dia Tapi Aku

Song 3, 4, 7, I heard it from someone i like (well of course not just because of that, the songs are nice too :P ). Song 9 mebe under the influence of The Voice series where I tend to love Maroon 5 and Christina songs lately. The rest I downloaded from the internet based on current hit song in the music chart. There are a lot more but this is the top 15 i like most. But this is not in order of my liking, just to list out. If I am to suggest, I would recommend 8 and 10 for a bit fast and catchy tracks, 12 and 14 for 'jiwang2' (romance) mode, 5 and 6 for 'lara2' (heartbroken) mode perhaps. :)

'Make Iftar Modest' - Els Huybrechts

I guess it is not too late to come out with puasa spending log for Iftar and Sahur. So in this post I will list my 1st 10 days of spending during puasa. Hopefully i will not overspent this year thus keeping the fasting purpose of 'bersederhana' intact. Here are my list of spending. :)

Day	Iftar (RM)	Sahur (RM)	Menu
1	10	5	Iftar: Nasi Beriyani, Sahur: Maggi Goreng
2	3.5	3	Iftar: Nasi Kerabu, Sahur: Mee Goreng
3	6	0	Iftar: Nasi Campur, Sahur: Koko Krunch
4	0	0	Iftar: Roti Telur, Sahur: Koko Krunch
5	8	5	Iftar: Nasi Beriyani, Sahur: Maggi Goreng
6	6	3	Iftar: Nasi Campur + kuih, Sahur: Laksa
7	11	0	Iftar: Nasi Goreng Tomyam, Sahur: Milo
8	14	0	Iftar: BK Blackpepper
9	4	0	Iftar: Nasi Dagang
10	5	0	Iftar: Roti John + Kuih

Total: 83.50 (for ten days) with average of RM8.35 for both sahur and iftar which is so-so considering the fact that I skipped sahur (due to overslept) for the past 4 days. I shud do better.

Reading an article from the online news, it is such a shame to me that a non-Muslim woman who fast during Ramadhan take a huge action to educate people with her 'Make Iftar Modest' campaign. So, we need to rethink before we buy, plan earlier so that we can grab only what we want to eat instead of ending up buying almost everything.

P/S: However, tonite i will have iftar with my frens at Flaming Steamboat Sunway, ironic isnt it? Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Tonite's an exception cuz a good ol' friend of mine is in town so he wants to have our iftar there. So after tonite, I hope i can be more modest in spending for Iftar. Well, better late than never rite? :)

How to get urself warmer? (not hotter)

Do you remember the days in the office where the air-condition is running at 10 degree Celcius, you forget to bring your lynx-fur coat or so-called poncho to keep urself warm, and to make it worse and more unlucky, it was raining the whole day. One might call it Glacier day and another would name it Monsoon, whatever it is called it feel so cold that snowy Paris doesnt even look tempting anymore. Like it or not, no any air-conditioned office dweller can ever escape from the shivering effect.

As an experienced, I have discovered/learned a few tricks in order to cheat these days:

1. Hid your palms under your thigh, it will keep it warm and u will feel less cold since as human, we have a lot of cold receptor on our palms (but this will keep your hand occupied, so do this when u r using your hand the least such as, reading thru documentation, journal, or blog - well mebe just for the later :D).

2. If u r using computer, u might notice, when it operates, it emits heat. So why waste? Go green! recycle! Hahaha. (For laptop users, u might wanna know that the part where contains the most heat is at the bottom of your laptop, so you might wanna carefully lift it up and put in on your palm. Also try the fan part where it ventilates the heat out, handy rite?).

3. Do you know that the hand dryer inside the washroom is not invented to only dry your wet hand. It also can be used to heat yourself during such wintry disaster in the office (although the effect doesnt last long, it can save parts of your body from getting frost-bitten).

4. High speed typing can keep your fingers warmer. When you move your finger, it will generate heat from you body keeping it warm (so do sumthing that can make u type at fast speed such as chatting - LOL).

5. Do you know the area which is warmer in your office surrounding? The staircase area. Spend a few minutes there and u'll be guaranteed a warmer atmosphere. In addition, you can try to climb up and down flight of stairs to self-generate heat. Its also a good practice to burn out your calorie intake.

6. Go to the pantry where warm water is dispensed. Pour some inside your mug and voila! it become a portable palm-heater (be careful not to accidentally drink the content during Ramadhan).

Happy trying :)

Waiting Challenge - K.O.

A Malay phrase - "penantian itu satu penyiksaan" or a quote saying "waiting is painful" is proven right when i decided to wait on sumthing i know i cant patiently take. The decision to proceed with that challenge, which is done merely with the intention to play hard to get, backfired somehow.

I cant believe that I would fall that easy, given that i have pride and confidence in my determination and mental strength recently. I've:

- finished a 10km run (despite lacking any kind of training or exercise)
- conquered a mountain (despite never hiking any real mountain before)
- finished a 12.3km run (despite having to run on my own - since my best friend cannot make it that day - not really on my own as i have 1 company but i did finish the run without him by my side)
- managed to secure my fasting day (despite eaten very little for the previous 'buka puasa' and not having anything for 'sahur')

haha... and the list goes on. Yeah it sounds ridiculous but the point is i can be very determined to do something and will try my best to nail it. But for this challenge, i feel weak, i dun have the strength to go on, i'm tortured like mad. Not mentioning i developed an automatic reaction that makes me check my phone every 15 minutes, check my FB every possible hour. I even became more alert and sensitive towards Nokia ringing and sms tones. This must be a very tough one.

Result:
K.O. after 1-day of challenge.