neomick.com » Lifestyle and Xpression

Adapting “Clean Culture”

Mr. SKS — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:30:15 +0000

As the country (Malaysia) is growing and expanding exponentially either economically or politically, however, its people does not reflect nor react accordingly. Any one of Malaysians who has been to its small island neighbouring country would agree if I say the neighbour is cleaner than Malaysia. You may respond by telling me that the neighbouris much more smaller (in size) compared to Malaysia and that it is easily managed and monitored. However, when you dig deeper, you would see that the root of its success lies within the civic mind of its people. They have what I would call a “Clean Culture” which Malaysia is struggling to adapt.

Off course a “Clean Culture” does not come overnight. It needs such good oneself discipline to practice everyday. This will later became a habit and hence be at one naturally. But human is complex biologically and emotionally complicated. We can evolve and adapt to changes around us but we require some time. I do not think heavy smokers can quit smoking in one day, can they? Maybe that’s why the neighbour’s government imposes strict law to ensure its people does not littering, smoking, and even chew gums in public places. Too strict actually..! But it works. Maybe it is true that the neighbour is easily managed and monitored. Otherwise how else could they fine people who chew gums?

For Malaysia to do the same as its neighbour, I do not think that it will be easy. Not saying that it is impossible, it just ain’t easy. We can impose several laws or guidelines for the people to follow, but what if they don’t? Do we have enough enforcers (for the whole states) to make sure that we exercise them? And how much would it cost? The answer is I DON’T THINK SO. So what can we do other than conduct massive awareness campaign? We already witnessed the failure of several campaign programs: The Famous Amos Smell of Unflush Public Toilets, The Beautiful Art of Phone Booth Vandalism, and even Landscaping Public Beaches with Garbages. I do not think that the government can do anything to overcome this problem until the people can finally uses their sound mind. Let us treat the environment or any other public places as our home. We wouldn’t want to live in a mess, stinking and uncomfortable “habitat”. It is time to show that Malaysia Boleh! My Malaysia, My Home.

As the country (Malaysia) is growing and expanding exponentially either economically or politically, however, its people does not reflect nor react accordingly. Any one of Malaysians who has been to its small island neighbouring country would agree if I say the neighbour is cleaner than Malaysia. You may respond by telling me that the neighbour is much more smaller (in size) compared to Malaysia and that it is easily managed and monitored. However, when you dig deeper, you would see that the root of its success lies within the civic mind of its people. They have what I would call a “Clean Culture” which Malaysia is struggling to adapt.

Off course a “Clean Culture” does not come overnight. It needs such good oneself discipline to be practiced everyday. This will later became a habit and hence be at one naturally. But human is complex biologically and emotionally complicated. We can evolve and adapt to changes around us but we require some time. I do not think heavy smokers can quit smoking in just one day, can they? Maybe that’s why the neighbour’s government imposes strict law to ensure its people does not littering, smoking, and even chew gums in public places. Too strict actually..! But it works. Maybe it is true that the neighbour is easily managed and monitored. Otherwise how else could they fine people who chew gums?

For Malaysia to do the same as its neighbour, I do not think that it will be easy. Not saying that it is impossible, it just ain’t easy. We can impose several laws or guidelines for the people to follow, but what if they don’t? Do we have enough enforcers (for the whole states) to make sure that we exercise them? And how much would it cost? The answer is I DON’T THINK SO. So what can we do other than conducting massive awareness campaigns? We already witnessed the failure of several campaign programs: The Famous Amos Smell of Unflush Public Toilets, The Beautiful Art of Phone Booth Vandalism, and even Landscaping Public Beaches with Garbages. I do not think that the government can do anything to overcome this problem until the people can finally uses their sound mind. Let us treat the environment or any other public places as our home. We wouldn’t want to live in a mess, stinking and uncomfortable “habitat”. It is time to show that Malaysia Boleh! My Malaysia, My Home.

Swine Flu Screen Check

Mr. SKS — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:41:43 +0000

Since virus Influenza A/H1N1 (Swine flu) is said to be detected in Sarawak, major enforcement are being carried out. When I first arrived in Bintulu this evening, medical staff on ground are already on standby to screen-check every passenger that disembarked from the plane.

We were handed a piece of form by the medical staff right after the immigration check point. The form is used to collect personnel travel history for the last 7 days. We then submitted the form and were checked by digital thermometer for any fever symptom. Alhamdulillah… the results were found to be negative.

Fever or above normal body temperature is the first symptom that can be detected (in any cases) if there is anything infected your body system. It is a normal body reflex towards any “bendasing” (lupa pulak perkataan ni in English) that enters your body involuntarily.

Slept in GSC

Mr. SKS — Mon, 04 May 2009 03:33:33 +0000

I’ve been wanting and waiting to watch this movie way before I was offshored. I’d never thought that I could be here in Kuala Lumpur at this time around. The schedule is pack and it seems continuous all the way to January 2010. And now that I’m back, it’s like a dream come true. I was excited and anxious at the same time. It has been almost sixty days of me without cinema. I didn’t think I could survive that at first but suprisingly, I can!

Last week, me and CK went to Berjaya Times Square to watch WOLVERINE right after we had our dinner at Wendy’s. The opening of the movie was great. It showed how Logan first gets his claws and what he had been using it on. However, somewhere in the middle of the movie, I felt asleep for like 10-15 mins. D*mn! I kinda missed the part where he got his metal claws. This is way beyond weird. I never slept in the middle of a movie eventhough it was a boring film like TWILIGHT. Sixty days without cinema has made me from cinema-goers to cinema-dozer. Hopefully it wouldn’t happen again. Right CK?

Snippets

CK — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:11:36 +0000

It has been a ‘while’ since we last updated this blog…as usual, Mr. SKS is busy with work, and i’m busy with my thesis and my sister’s wedding. now, after the wedding, i finally can breathe and have some space for myself. i’m not promising anything, but i’ll try to dedicate more time to this blog as i promised Mr. SKS that i would manage and update this blog when he’s not on shore..

so, here are some updates on what’s happening in my life for the past few months (i guess)…

currently, my thesis is progressing well (i hope). i’m in the writting stage..i have lots and lots and lots of datelines..that makes me ’super’ busy…
for the last 2-3 months, i was busy preparing for my sister’s wedding (6&7 March)…and alhamdulillah..everything went well (i’ll try my best to make an entry on the reception, but meanwhile check MiZLeO’s blog out- http://kata-ku-kata.blogspot.com/2009/03/weddingweddingwedding.html). congratulations ina..u know i’ll miss you..
to add to my ‘busy’ness, angah (my labmate) also got married on the same day (i’m the one who’s responsible for the hantaran stuff..) anyway, congratulations angah and sam(Axim, their bestfriend has the details…hehe…).
my nephew, umair hakimi is now 1 year old (i’ll put up some of his pics in my next entry..) and he’s driving me crazy and crazier each day…
and finally, the most surprising news of the decade..i DRIVE!!!hehe..yes..you are not dreaming or imagining things..i actually drive…i drove to shah alam for the past 3 days..and of course, thanks to my unofficial driving teacher-MiZLeO ( she actually made an entry for me), cos she’s willing to take the risks of having heart attacks during the rides…hahaha…

that’s it for now…i’m looking forward to make the next next next entries…i hope i manage to do so…

Expanding Touch’nGo Card Usage

Mr. SKS — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 16:59:08 +0000

Touch’nGo card can be the next best thing apart from Debit Visa/Mastercard here in Malaysia where it offers a rechargeable contactless stored value smart card that can be used to transfer electronic payments. It was launched in March 1997 and serves as a convenient card for transport payment system (i.e. LRT, bus, tolls, and parking). Eversince it has been in the market for the last 11 years (quiet a long time), but the services offer by this card remains the same – still prioritize on transport payment system. I personally think that Touch’nGo card can widen or expand their usage or application to others such as at convenience stores (7-Eleven, Carrefour Xpress, etc), supermarkets (Giant, Tesco, etc), fast-food restaurants (McD, KFC, BK, etc), on-street parking meters, taxi, vending machines, public phones, and other point-of-sale that requires small change. Just imagine how convenience it would be to live life on a fast-lane. No hassle for small change, less time waiting in line, no need to carry sums of cash, and other minor obstacles.

But offcourse, it needs a better network of retailers. It would be great to have a card (cash debited offcourse!) that is interest-free and no annual fees. My only concern would be in term of security. Unlike Debit Visa/Mastercard like most banks offers (i.e. Ambank-NexG, Affinbank, etc) they are protected by bank’s security system. Meaning that if you lost your card, you can report a stolen card with just one call and immediately the card will be invalid. Hence, whoever found it will not have the access to the card.

However, Touch’nGo card is not design for security reason. . It is designed to give its users a fast, accurate, and zero-hassle payment. Just “tap-and-go” kind a payment. Plus, it is debitted. So you don’t have to worry about debt at the end of the month.

OHBULAN! – Malaysian Entertainment News and Gossip

Mr. SKS — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:15:09 +0000

Unlike the name OhBulan! (Moon), this site was created especially in delivering on Entertainment News and Gossip of Malaysian Stars and celebrities. For those who wishes to know what’s going on with Malaysian Stars, I think this site is the most decent and honest news on the net.

However, the content provided is only in Bahasa Malaysia. For those who do not understand Bahasa Malaysia, I would recommend that you download a translation tool to translate the webpage in English. (And that could be tiresome!)

Me and Liquid Nitrogen

CK — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:20:27 +0000

One of the objectives of my thesis project is to prepare porous material. In order to determine whether my material is porous or not, I’ve to check its porosity, surface area, etc. using an instrument called BET. The thing about BET that I don’t really like is I have to use liquid nitrogen. Pouring the liquid nitrogen from the vacuum tank to the dewar is one h*** of a thing to do. It’s freakin’ scary. The sound when it boils and the vapour that comes out from the tank…those things really scared Angah (my labmate) and I especially the first time we got to do it on our own…

For those who haven’t heard of this thing, liquid nitrogen is pure nitrogen, in a liquid state. It is produced industrially in large quantities by fractional distillation of liquid air (don’t bother to understand this…hehe…). At atmospheric pressure, liquid nitrogen boils at 77 K (-196 °C/-321 °F), and freezes at 63 K (210 °C/346 °F). It is a cryogenic fluid which can cause rapid frostbite on contact with living tissue. In other words, you’ll freeze your hand if you touch it. Just imagine if you accidently pour it on your feet. Argghh…that fact really freaks me out…

Liquid nitrogen is actually not that dangerous if you handle it in a proper way and wear those PPE (personal protective equipment) like safety boots, glove, goggle, etc (like I did…hehe…). You’ll get use to it if you have to use it everyday (tp saya still takut gak).

Some people might laugh if they read about this (yelah.. betapa penakut nye saya…) because there are people that is find with it (blh buat main lagi…). Like this one article I found on the net, they use liquid nitrogen to make ice-cream. Interesting huh?? (actually benda ni dah lama, saya je baru tau..huhu…). The ingredients and methods are just the same like making the normal ice-cream but the freezing part is different. Instead of putting it inside the freezer, liquid nitrogen is used to freeze the ice-cream. It took only 10 minutes to freeze the ice-cream. Cepatkan?

Check this web out: http://www.polsci.wvu.edu/Henry/Icecream/Icecream.html.

Ucapan Selamat Hari Raya

CK — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:31:12 +0000

On behalf of myself and the webmaster, i would like to wish you all Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir dan Batin. Hope you’ll have a bless, barakah and enjoyable raya…

Majlis Berbuka Puasa di Rumah Epein

CK — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:56:28 +0000

As usual, during Ramadhan me and my former housemates (Fieda, Kinah, Jaja, Epein and Awe) will have a ‘break fast get-together’. It’s some sort of an annual event for us as we hardly see each other during the rest of the year. Last year we had it at

Penang Village, Alamanda and the year before at Asiari, SACC Mall.

During the discussion on where should we have it this year, Epein (the newly and happiliy wed) suggest that we do it at her house at Bukit Jalil. We all agreed to the idea and the rest of us started discussing what would we bring on that particular day.

When the day finally arrived (which was on Saturday, 13 Sept), I decided to make ‘Cara Berlauk’ to bring to Epein’s house. As I was getting ready to go to the shop to buy things to cook, I received a call from Jaja. I kinda know what she was going to say; but I let her say whatever she wanted to say. As I expected, she wanted me to make my famous and fabulous layered bread (or roti pizza, or whatever people might call it). I said I’ll think about it but I know I could never let her down as she (and of course my other former housemates) always being nice and accommodating to me all this while (thank you buragas, love you all!!!)

To cut the long story short, we (Kinah, my sister and I) arrived at Epein’s place at around 6.30 pm with the dish that I’ve prepared and Kinah with one big watermelon (which turned out to be yellow, love it!!). Our arrival followed by Fieda, Jaja and Bob and later that evening Alin (Epein’s friend) and her family. Fieda and Jaja both brought roasted chicken, but of course from two different places…Opps, Jaja also brought her famous and so called ‘makanan ruji’ during her open house – ‘pudding jagung bersama cocktail’ (I don’t know how to put it, betul ke nama tu Jaja?).

Epein prepared nasi lemak for us with ‘few’ lauk; tempe goreng, ayam goreng, rendang sotong (which was super hot but at the same time super sedap) and sambal ikan bilis.

We all enjoyed the buka puasa very much. We chatted, gossiped and stayed at Epein’s until about 11 pm. We would have stayed longer if we didn’t think about the long journey home (huhu…). Thank you guys for the great night!!!

The one regret that I have and couldn’t help scolding myself until today is that we didn’t take any (not a single) picture during that night (arggghhh…!!!) but to avoid making this entry a lame one, I’ve uploaded a few pictures from our ‘break fast get-together’ at SACC Mall and Alamanda (kasik glamer sikit buragas..hehe..).

Asiari-Ramadhan 2006

Alamanda-Ramadhan 2007

Normally, I would spend my Saturday night in front of that rectangular thingy (TV..hehe..) and I would try not to miss any of my favourite shows but this get-together is worth more than hundreds of my Saturday nights. We enjoyed ourselves very much and of course thanks to Epein and Ali (her husband) for being such warm, cordial, generous and hospitable hosts (jangan lupe open house ye..hehe..).

So that’s it for this entry. Hope you also had a great ‘break fast get-together’ with your friends. Selamat berbuka…hehe…

Happy MERDEKA, Ramadhan Al-Karim, and Salam Lebaran

Mr. SKS — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:58:19 +0000

This year would be the least interesting year in my life as I would not be able to celebrate Malaysia’s 51st Merdaka day. Not just that, I would also not be able to fill my fasting moments in Ramadhan and celebrate Eid Mubarak with my loved ones as I was instructed to be offshored about 300 km away from the east coast of Malaysia. Huhu! (T_T)

Instead of feeling joyful and forgiveful during Eid, I would be feeling lonely, troublesome and full with workload on an open sea.

How the song “Dendang Perantau” by P. Ramlee would affect me still unimaginable until the actual time comes. Now that I’ve known that I would not be able to celebrate these occasions this year (hopefully just this year) I would like to wish SELAMAT HARI RAYA dan MAAF ZAHIR BATIN especially to my parents.