Income Tax -- E-Filing

DONE!!!

Wow... I am amazed at myself... I did it!!

No more last minute. I did my E-Filing yesterday.

Thanks to the Income Tax people stationed at Bangsar Village who helped me out.

Guys, if you still have not done it, go to Bangsar Village (the old BV, not the new one... The guys are stationed on the top floor near MPH Bookstore). The Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri people were so nice to me.

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Had dinner with Jef last night at Pizza Hut Kelana jaya.

Jef, thanks for sharing the story about your Dad's predicament -- it has inspired me.

Hey, you'll make a great shrink... Moqq, there's competition here...

BTW Moqq, read your tribute to Daddy. Sayu and touching...

Cheers.

I ENJOYED 27 DRESSES (The Movie lah... I'm not a drag queen)

Roul, thank you for dragging me to see 27 Dresses instead of sulking at my work station.

It's a brilliant movie. And to all of you out there, if you like romantic comedy, make time to see 27 Dresses.



It's directed by Anne Fletcher and written by Aline Brosh McKenna, starring Katherine Heigl and James Marsden.

After watching the film you would just want to fall in love and it's OK if falling in love is like a roller-coaster ride.

It's about Jane Nichols played by Katherine Heigl, who has been a bridesmaid for 27 weddings.



One night when she is attending two weddings almost simultaneously, she is trampled by a crowd trying to catch the bride's bouquet. A man helps her up and introduces himself as Kevin Doyle, played by James Marsden, a journalist (now... I can identify with the character).

And the rest? hahahah -- my lips are sealed... unless you tickle me.... no..no...no





Go see...lah... If you don't have a date, take me lor... I'm a sucker for romantic comedies... I wanna see again... since no one wants to take me out for movies mah... sob...sob...

The Roller-Coaster Ride

I'm writing this blog with Rossa's Aku Bukan Untukmu blasting from my laptop.

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My alarm clock (which was actually Jef's SMS) woke me up at 7:00 this morning.

Yes, 7 am on a Sunday.

I guess Jef subtly wanted to remind me of my appointment with my 'shrink' at 9:00 am or may be it was just a normal morning reflex or may be ...

Suhaimi, can you for once not question good intentions? For once!

Ok ok...I believe in good faith.

My 'shrink' is my good friend.

No, make that -- a very good friend.

No, a confidant.

And that shrink cum confidant is none other than Moqq.

Moqq is not just a natural 'shrink' but he would know when I am down and will text me '... need a therapy session?'.

And I will reply "yes please... See you at Plaza Damas."


Moqq The Shrink



This morning's therapy, like the previous ones, was rather long... about 2 hours over roti telur and nescafe.

We talked about lots of things from national politics to obsession, fragile humans and fragile rugby players.

And there were other topics too but it would be just too politically incorrect to post them on this blog unless I want paparazzi camping at location X for a slice of the action.

One thing for sure, talking about things with a trusted person will definite help a bit or sometimes a lot, in getting the load off the chest / shoulders / mind.

Thanks Moqq.

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On Friday night the ASTRO AWANI family had a party at Palate-Palette near Istana Hotel to celebrate a 'successful' coverage of the recent general election.

It was one of the best party ever.

The committee did a great job in organizing it. And to you, Dino, you were great as the Emcee.

My group did a 'spoof' on the local political scene -- a-ahhh, not revealing the details. Don't want to go to Kamunting. We beat Rozy's team and Zaiful's guitar-solo.

And I went to the party as a 'scarecrow' (the cutest one you will ever find).

Samson and The Scarecrow

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On Saturday night, I had a great time with Jef. We went for supper at Concorde.

It was like an ASTRO family get together.

AC Mizal was there, so was Adlin Aman Ramli and Emilia Rosnaida.

And the best part was I sang with the resident band. The song, "Kopi Dangdut". Meletop! And Jef gave me a look that says "..dah giler gamaknya orang tua kedaung nih..."


Jef (file pic)

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And today, there was a very 'disturbing' report that I read in The Star.

It says... "Bloggers censoring government feedback to their sites".

No... please don't repeat Zam's mistakes!!!



Quoting Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, the report stated that the Government was not given a chance to explain certain issues to the people. Replies sent to certain blogs were removed by the bloggers.

Wait a minute...

Whatever happened to Lateral Thinking?

This 'playing victim' tactic is the worst ever perception management strategy (if you can call it 'strategy').

The only solution to the problem could be either one or even all of the following but when I did a search on Google, the following possible solutions tak digunakan langsung (as at 3 pm, Sunday, March 30, 2008). Kalaulah ada:

1. http://www.khalednordin.blogspot.com/
2. Khaled nordin on Facebook
3. Khaled Nordin on Friendster.

kan bagus....?

Lets be real. It is not about replying to other blogs!

It is about producing creative blogs with all the 'pop-culture' attractions!!!

Interestingly however, there was a 'Mukhriz Mahathir' on Facebook.. COOL!!!!

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It is all a balance-sheet view of my life. We pick what we want to see and remember.
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“Run your fingers through my soul. For once, just once, feel exactly what I feel, believe what I believe, perceive as I perceive, look, experience, examine, and for once; just once, understand.”

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Amalgam Kisah Pasca Libur

SATU

Some people are good in expressing themselves.

Some so-so, and some... well, need tons and tons of coaching.

But we must not just look on the surface or what is in front of us.

Instead we must dig deeper to understand the feelings beneath the sometime 'expressionless' facade.

And when a 'relatively expressionless' person did a 'Raikkonen' to make sure that I will not have to wait long for a dinner meeting/date, I think that said it all. It is all about caring, understanding and being responsible.

And the lesson is, 'seek and you will find your answer'. But seek intelligently...

DUA

I went shopping for cufflinks with Zai two days ago. Zai, being one of Malaysia's top image consultant did all the work for me.



'Zai, you think this one will look nice on my blue shirt? Will it go with my pink shirt too?'

'Ya...semua cantik'

'I want another one lah Zai..'

'That one looks nice... The one with the rugby ball design. Jef will surely like... Bagilah prezen...'

'Interesting..'

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(2 days later).

'Jef, you like the cufflink?'

'Suka..'

'Suka jer?'

'Suka...Suka sangat'



TIGA

Went home to Sungai Ramal, rindu kat Mak & Ayah.

Ayah took me to the construction site to see the progress of my new house.

Ayah was so excited when explaining to me the house that he designed specifically for me.

He introduced me to all the construction workers, the contractor and almost everyone there.

His body language screamed 'Hello world... this is my son and I am so proud of him...'

And I did another drama Hindustan.

When people were not watching I ran to the car and tears came out of my eyes.

Why? Because Ayah never stopped doing things to make me happy. How can I ever return the love...



And suddenly Mak said...

"Abih tu, bilo ghumah bosa dah siap, copek-copeklah kawin nanti cucu omak bulih main kojar-kojar dalam ghumah bosa tu ha..."

And I gave her the 'entahlah' look and smiled.

ME & MY FAVOURITE SINGER

I'm a diehard fan of Dayang Nurfaizah!!!

THE PHUKET TRIP -- MY BEST EVER

I consider myself a story teller (my card says executive producer/anchor/journalist....).

But this time around, this particular trip to Phuket is just so special to me that I have decided to keep the details just to myself. I will share with you some of the 'sanitized photographs'. And the photographs will tell the story.

The ones in the other 'drive' will just be for me to consume (read: incriminating evidence... hahaha)

It was a beautiful trip. Perfect...

JM -- Thank you.

PHUKET, HERE I COME

I deserve this break

See you all after the 25th...

Tamparan Kejora ketika merenda kasih

Catch up day

Sunday is "Catch up" day... yes, trying to catch up on/with sleep, work, gossips and friends.

And my success rate? I fail all the time as I would surrender to id, ego and libido to lead.

Anyway, so far it has been a relatively eventful Sunday for me.

Had breakfast at my favourite Sunday Brekkie place, Restoran Bestari, with Zai.

Jef was still sleeping, akibat download movie fom the net the whole night till morning.

Later bumped into my famous 'brother' Azhar Sulaiman who has an office there at Plaza Damas and briefly shared some brotherly info -- both of us were in a hurry. Always in a hurry -- don't know why....



Later, I met with someone who is very special to me. When we were studying in the US, we were like adix-beradix. We took care of one another. Bila I pokai and money from dad tak sampai lagi, she would feed me -- yes, we shared lots and lots of things and secrets too. Today, the meeting with her was really different. As soon as I saw her, we hugged and I kissed her on the cheek. I hope she will have the will to fight on. She now has cancer....

Frankness and Openness

Despite what was written in Harakah and Hannah Yeoh's Blog, to a certain extent we have a remarkable high degree of openness and frankness on AWANI's Analisis Pilihan Raya.

We are sensitive to the 'needs and wants' of the audience out there, and we tailor our discussion to fulfill the 'needs and wants' within the given parameters (which is being pushed day after day). Nothing is static.

We are changing, faster that even we expected.

If it was 4 years ago, we'll be in some dungeon somewhere in Wonderland.

To the two writers, anger will only backfire. You have so much hate in you.

Cheers.

Stuck in my head... Help!!!

Help!!! The song "Merenda Kasih" by Kahitna is stuck in my head... Help!!

It goes like this...

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Saat bintang datang
Tampak jelas di awan
Ingin ku menggapai kejora

Kan kupeluk sungguh
Menghapus duka di diri

Tiada lelah ku menanti dan tunggu
Harapan yang dulu kau janjikan

Namun sampai kapan
Ku harus selalu begini

Kasih......

Bila cinta memang harus memilih
Katakanlah pasti kepadaku
Dia atau daku kasih
Dapatkan cintamu
Takkan kuingkari kenyataan yang ada

Dan bila kita memang harus berpisah
Oh kekasihku....
Biarkan daku dengan cintaku
Dengan jalanku
Kan kuukir manis kenangan kasih kita

Ooo..Namun kapan kasih kudapat merenda cinta ini...

Happiness is ...

Happiness is when you are surrounded by loved ones...

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

Thank you for making our Analisis Pilihan Raya an 'eye opener'.

To all those nice people who gave us feedback, thank you for pushing us to be better.

PRU 12 and Unconditional Love

The 12th General Election


Waiting for my turn to vote for DUN Bangi & Parliament Serdang at Sekolah Rendah Agama Sungai Ramal.
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It is 11 am right now, March 9, 2008 -- the morning after the General Election. I really need my sleep after 48 hours of synthesizing information and anchoring the 'Live Election Updates'. But I just can't sleep -- adrenalin still flowing.

For the first time, Barisan Nasional failed to get a 2/3 majority in Parliament and BN failed to form the state goverment in Kedah,Kelantan, Penang, Selangor and Perak.

Lots of soul searching is needed and many heads will roll too... All for the good of the party if it wants to stay relevant in a totally different era.

As a responsible citizen, I went to vote very early in the morning with Ayah, Mak, Dakbang and Dokmen.

After that, I went straight to Astro AWANI to anchor the Election Special.

I set a record for myself anchoring non-stop for 12 hours!!

As a new set up, I feel that Astro AWANI did tremendously well. We received a tsunami of SMS telling us that we have done a great job -- mostly from fellow journalists and also our competitors -- the terrestrial TV boys. That is actually 'vitamin' for me to do even better in the future.

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Unconditional Love

Before going to the voting station, Ayah & Mak told me something that I will never forget for the rest of my life and I just cried.

I have not been back to Sungai Ramal for about a month, busy preparing for the General Election coverage.

When I got home I saw a huge construction on the plot of land next to the family house.

I asked mom, what's that?

"Ami, itu projek ayah..."


Mak & I in the kitchen early in the morning

"Projek Ayah?"

"Ya Ami, when Ayah & Mak are no longer around, all of you will have to look after one another. And you must stick together and always be around for each other. The house under construction on the right is yours, Ami. The one on the left is for Dak Bang and Dokmen gets the one in the middle. And the other one is for Adik"

"But Ayah, this is a major major project.... berapa?"

Ayah didn't really say it, but it definitely is more than RM1,000,000.


The site


Part of the 'new' house


Ayah explaining the details



The project


Ayah looking from the balcony of the 'new' house


I just cried.

If there is a perfect definition of unconditional love, may be this is it.

"Ami, mak sayang Ami... Ayah sayang Ami..."

And I just died... I am not exactly the perfect son. I take more than I give and always very selfish. It's always me, me and me...

And I looked up for the definition of unconditional love on Google...

It is:

The kind of love that expects nothing back, places no limits, and does not set any ideals or conditions on what it should be. When you love in this way you do it without expectation of reciprocity and with no preconceived notions of how or if they will express love back to you.

Mak & Ayah, I love you so very much. My love for you is unconditional too.

Your son,

Ami