Insya-Allah, this 20 March, I’ll be meeting a number of my old coursemates, more specifically the boys. It has been almost 12 years since the last time I’ve seen some of them, which was on our graduation day, 3 August 1996. Then we went our separate ways. I was sent to teach in Sabah with Puyu, whom to my surprise, stayed within the education. Most if not the rest, got themselves in other jobs in other sectors.

With regret I have to say that the planned mini reunion for the TESL3 boys was a complete and total disaster. Everything was in place and I was really looking forward for the reunion. I didn’t know for sure how many will turn up. A few had text messaged me that they won’t be able to turn up but most kept silent. I actually didn’t mind if there was going to be only 2 or 3 of us. At least I’ll be able to see them.

I thought of driving down to KL but later changed my mind since it would be pointless to be driving alone as well as very exhausting to me. So I purchased an Air Asia ticket online. Got myself an flight from Kota Bharu to LCCT at 8.55 am. Based on my last experience of flying to KL with Air Asia before, I’ll be landing in LCCT around 10 am. I then need to take the coach from LCCT to KL Sentral which will take an hour’s journey. From KL Sentral, I’ll hop on the KTM Komuter service to Subang Parade’s station where I’ll meet my brother. He had agreed to drive me to IOI Mall from there.

All was well as I boarded my flight in KB. Landed around 9.55 am in LCCT. Managed to hop on the 10.30 coach to KL Sentral and got there exactly an hour later. Got onto the Komuter to Subang Jaya at 11.45 am. All this while I had only two persons calling me about the gathering. I was getting a bit apprehensive. Where are the rest? I got another message from another friend that his car broke down.

It was around that time that I got a message from a friend that was already at the venue. He said he had to leave because his son who he had brought along was throwing a tantrum and also he had another appointment later on. I was just minutes away from where we were supposed to meet. 45 minutes top. That was a real blow to me. I was fuming. I was disappointed.

The moment I stepped off the Komuter at Subang Parade’s station, I made up my mind. Since this friend of mine had to leave, I guess it would be pointless for me to go there at all. So I text messaged the rest of the boys, saying that I had an accident on my way to the airport, missed my flight, was on the waiting list and finally made up my mind that it wasn’t worth the wait. I apologised to every one of them and told them that it was all my fault.

I spent the rest of the day with my brother (who had called his office to ask for the rest of the day off), stayed at his apartment that night and flew back home the next day.

Is that the end? No.

I heard that this friend of mine were furious with me for botching up the reunion. He also had the gall of telling those asking about the reunion on the TESL3 egroup to get “the pictures” from me. Thank a lot, dear friend.

If you expect me to bad mouth about this fellow, sorry to disappoint. I’m just telling you how it is from my perspective. It’s up to you to decide whether I’m at fault. If you don’t, thanks. If you do, also thanks. Always remember, there’s alway two sides of a coin.

“A slam dunk (or simply a dunk) is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air and manually powers the ball downward through the basket with one or both of his hands.”

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/slamdunk

Just finished watching Slam Dunk (the anime) on Animax. You can read more about the anime and manga on Wikipedia. I just love this anime. It actually reminds me to the days when I played basketball. Yes, I did play basketball at one time. I’m not very good at it but not that bad either . Started playing when I was in Form 4. Wasn’t representing any school’s house or even the school’s team (already on the school’s rugby and handball team actually). It was purely for fun, a shot or two for the exercises. Wasn’t impressing any girls either.

When I entered PPP (Pusat Pendidikan Persediaan) for the American Degree Program, I started playing basketball more seriously. Most of my roommates at that time either play basketball or tennis, so it was basketball. Still, it was for fun and exercise. My skills are not enough to make it into the ADP’s team. When I left ADP to join TESL matriculation program, I found that a few of us, namely Mat Berg, Ayish, Achai, Azli and myself had the skills for the game and we started playing, once or twice a week. It wasn’t until the TESL 4 gang arrive on the scene that we became a real team. I truly couldn’t remember the names of the those juniors who made up the team but a team we were. (Those who knows, please tell me so that I can put their names here)

We started playing matches and I mostly stayed on the bench, coming in later in the third or fourth quarter. As I said, my skills wasn’t good enough to be in the starting line-up but enough to be in the team. It was most likely because I’m a senior that I was included in the team instead. I can’t remember how many games we played but I do remember I didn’t score any points in any of the earlier games.

Not until this one game. Man, I wish I can tell you more about the team we’re against but honestly, I could not. All I can remember about that game is the score I made. My only point scored in a real game. It was as if we had planned it out in advance. Everyone was in their expected place, doing all the right moves when the ball came into my hands as I was standing inside the D but still outside the free throw area and a bit to the right. There’s no opponent in front of me so I took the shot. It felt like any other shot I made during practice and watching go right into the basket, it felt like time stood still. It was the most unforgettable moment.

I guess we didn’t make the first round since instead of basketball, we played handball. And we were good in handball that we each got a gold medal to prove it. It’s in my treasure chest somewhere (still have a few boxes unopened from the last time we moved). But the memory of that one shot is the one I’ll treasure for the rest of my life. No matter that we lose the game or not that night. Didn’t matter whether we played again or not later that year. That one shot was all I needed to remind me of the entire basketball playing era.

Here is the opening video of Slam Dunk the anime. Enjoy.

Hei, don’t get any wrong idea about me and the missus. We’re just fine and still in love. The above is just a title of a television series that I’m into. To those who has Astro, it’s on Channel 733 or Discovery Home & Health. The channel is part of the Metro package. To those that don’t, sorry.

Well, Til Debt Do Us Part is a series that deals with married couples who are on the brink of bankrupt and separation due to excessive and often time uncontrolled spending, incuring huge consumer debt. The hostess of the show, Gail Vaz-Oxlade is a no-nonsense guru of finance. She lays down the rules and tells the couple straight in their face where and why they have failed in managing their money. She usually lays down a 3 steps plan to help the couple dig their way out of the debt pit.

Her first step would have the couple live strictly on cash for the next month. She also puts the cash money in clearly labeled jars, namely Food, Transportion, Clothings, Gift and Others. Everytime they take out cash from the jars, they have to write what they use the money for in a Budget Binder. Any receipt must be out into the respective jar. She also set some challenges for the couple so that they can work out their marital problems that is burdened by their monetary problem. If they succeed in facing her challenges, she’ll reward them with $5000 to help them in paying off their debt.

Why am I loving this show? Gail’s rules has actually helped me in managing our household expenses. By having a budget binder and keeping all the receipts helps me in keeping track to where our money goes. I also learned the benefits of buying some household necessities in bulk. For example, my youngest son is currently on Dutch Lady 123, and one 1kg pack should last 3 or 4 weeks, so instead of buying 1 or 2 packs, we simply buy 6 or 12 packs at a time. This is also true with his Drypers. This actually helps in cutting down the number of trips to the shop we would have made otherwise, or the money we would have spent on the spur of the moment buying.

If you have the chance, do watch the show and you’ll learn how to appreciate and manage your money.

Till later, bye.

I haven’t had time to come and update my blog as often as I like to ever since school is open. Been terribly busy with work. Poor excuse but it’s the truth.

I’ll be back later in the week for more updates. That’s a promise.

Thanks.

I received a phone call yesterday from someone from Kota Bharu. He asked whether I know anyone by the name of Ahmad Shahril Haji Husin. I don’t know anyone by that name so I told him as such. He explained that he had received a letter in which there was a piece of paper with a photograph of the supposed Ahmad Shahril as being a person who had failed to pay up his debt. It also had his IC number and a list of people who are allegedly related to him. My name was in that list, complete with my handphone number and I was described as the brother to this Ahmad Shahril. Oh my! The caller told me he called me up because one of the listed name is his own brother though he and his brother also didn’t know this Ahmad Shahril. Well, I thanked him for letting me know about the letter and not to worry about it. I thought that was the end of it.

Later that day, at 6 pm, a cousin of mine called. He told me that he had received 8 (yes, eight letters) in his mailbox. All contained the same thing. A piece of paper with the picture and name of Ahmad Shahril Haji Husin and the list of ‘relatives’. I immediately went to his house to have a look at the papers. I looked at the picture an sure enough, it wasn’t somebody I know. As I read through, I noticed that 3 of the alleged relatives are actually related to each other, including myself. There is the name and cellphone number of my brother-in-law and also the nickname and phone number of my cousin. It dawned to me right then that the person who called me earlier about this was in fact the older brother of my cousin, whose name was in the list.

You can look at the letter by clicking the image below. I’ve blurred out some information.

Now, the questions are, who is this Ahmad Shahril and more importantly, who had sent these letters? Why were our names listed in the letter? There are a number of odd things in the letter. I was named as Ahmad Shahril’s brother but our dad’s name is totally different and I don’t have any half-brother. My cousin’s nickname was given instead of his real name (and this is only known by family members). The contact number of my brother-in-law given in the letter was an old number. We (I, my bro-in-law and my cousin) don’t know any of the other 3 names mentioned in the letter.

Are we a victim of an Ah Long’s scam? Should I make a police report in case anything happen in the future?

Addendum:

My dad had received 10 copies of the same letter. It seemed that whoever who had sent these letters had use this particular method, he first writes down the name of the recipient followed by the actual address of the recipient, and then for the next 10 letters, he uses the same recipient but only changes the number of the house.