4-hour memories

Last week I was blessed with a brief but memorable encounter with my good friend, Mr.Rynn. We used to work at the same company and have been good friends since then. While he is a very outgoing and enjoyable person, I respect his character the most.

Figure 1: Handsome guy.

My first job was a very challenging job, where I work 12 hours and only have 4 rest days per month. Since then I have moved to a normal 5-day job, but my friend is still there and going strong. He is a very patient and humble guy. Those are his strong characters.

Figure 2: An excellent bowl.

When I arrived around 9am in the morning, we had a simple Sarawakian mee for breakfast. We exchanged quite a long conversation, especially regarding his recent travel to Ho Chi Minh city at Vietnam which he recommended me to go if I have the chance.

Figure 3: Two to strike.

Rynn, is a very frugal person and always keeps a healthy lifestyle. He also gave me tips on how to be healthy and I believe for someone with an unhealthy lifestyle it is quite tough to change it. I will try my best to shift from unhealthy food to healthier alternatives.

Figure 4: Lost to Rynn by one point.

After breakfast, we went for a bowl, Rynn got some free tickets and we have just enough time to play a game. I never played bowling before and today I decided to try it out. Picking the right bowl and the correct stance to bowl is quite tough. A few bowl of mine went straight into the gutter.

Figure 5: Typical japanese conveyor style servings.

One of Rynn's specialties is that he organizes events very well, especially travel events. His friends are very lucky as from the tickets, guides, places to go until the hotels is researched and organized by himself. So, they only have to apply for leave, pay and attend. I'm signing up for next year's travel if he organizes.

Figure 6: Attentively choosing wisely.

We share a lot of similar way for thinking and ideas. He is a very smart person and a graduate from a reputable university. About an hour left, we decide to get lunch and we chose this healthy looking steam-boat based restaurant where you can eat all you want for an hour.

Figure 7: Eating a lot of greens won't make you too full.

The tips to not getting full is to not consume too much, rice, flour or fried items. So, I take as much vegetables, mushrooms and fish as I could. I have discovered that I have problems with my liver due to high intake of carbohydrate. I reduce my intake ever since and take liver tonic.

Figure 8: Sushi King.

I can't resist eating the sushi though, but I limit it due to its starchy carbohydrate nature. It is important to learn to eat wasabi with sushi if you can stand the heat. The taste of wasabi is like an explosion of heat in your mouth. Not recommended to chew until wasabi fully dilute in the mouth.

Figure 9: Chicken and tom-yam sides.

I had memorable times during the short four hours with my friend and I hope to meet up again. I am supposed to meet up with a few Indonesian friends but they aren't able to make it due to the security tightening at the township.

Childhood triumphs

I treasure my childhood days, the days when you don't think much about responsibility but more towards having fun almost all of the time. These are the times that shapes you into the person you are and develops your true passions and paths in life. 

Figure 1: My gadget friendly childhood friend.

I am gifted to live my childhood days in a small island where the communities are packed in the village+housing area. Since most of the parents of the families staying close by are colleagues at work, automatically my childhood friends consists of housing+school friends.

Figure 2: One of the influences in my photography.

There are some of those friends which I are still close to me and every-time I hang out with them, we reminiscence all those crazy and stupid things that we have done. We would rave about our bravery, our achievements during the debate and even the stupidest things we do.

Figure 3: Why isn't your table made of marble.

There was one story, which to me, is very funny. It happened when my friend, a group of them went out to the jungle just at the back of our housing. And one of this naughty and stupid friend told that if they were to encounter bees, just drop down and pretend you're dead.

Figure 4: The fighter and warrior.

We'll there's bees, and of five of my friends, two stupid kids drop down dead. And while there at it, the other friend who drop down complained, why are these bees still stinging me. The three smarter friends ran away laughing at their calamity.

Figure 5: The one with a long sighted 10K above ambition.

Even after we changed schools and transferred away from this small island, have a career of our own, we always come back to meet up. Now that we're all grown up, these interesting and funny stories are what we have left of our memories. We still hang out at our regular hanging out place which is just in front of my friend's house.

Figure 6: A hot lecture on health.

There are too much memories that I have inside that slips away and I forgot all about it, but each and one of my childhood friends personalities are different and unique. One may be tough and aggressive, one is filled with ideas and logic, while another might just observe and grab the next best opportunities. 

Figure 7: At our regular place and time.

We've grown up, getting married and even having children, but our memory stays with us and that is what makes our lives unique and original. What makes us strong will definitely make our future generation stronger.

Cousin

Figure 1: At Bundusan beach.

This is my cousin, he's from my mother's side of the family. Since small we've had our adventures together, from fire building, playing with fire crackers, making a canon till getting beaten up by granny for playing fire at home. There are lots of precious memories together.

Figure 2: My cousin's a tall slim guy.

We grew up in different places and environment, I was raised in an island town, while he was raised from the village. Every time, when it was school holidays, I was so eager to go back to my mother's place of birth just to hang out and go around the village with him.

Figure 3: Just got into photography.

He's one year younger than me, and we've fought before, about a girl, well, that was when we've had that crush thing, but we've always get closer once more and forgive each other. Whenever I think about it, that was seriously embarrassing. Still it happened.

Figure 4: Landscape photography.

Now, well, we still hang out occasionally whenever I have the time to go back to the village. We'll go out for drinks, hangout at our favorite aunt's place and sometimes when he's free he'll bring me out to one of those awesome places to take pictures.

Figure 5: I am Nikon, he's using Canon gear.

I am so fortunate to have him as my cousin. He's the best. 

Best I ever had

A favorite old song just came up in my player tracks when I am in flight back home. A song which sparks a lot of memories. Some of the best memories I ever had even though long gone but it just brings back those memories to life.

Used to sing this song a long time ago to someone who matters, will sing this song one day again, to those who matters now. As this song reminds me of a lot of mixed memories that I've had through-out my short but precious life. I'll cherish every single one of them, happy or sad, even as my mind gets forgetful as time passes-by.

Picking up the pieces

Life has a way to give us an awkward feeling when there's something close in life which used to be there all the time but one day, God just took the breathe away and life feels empty without. It is awkward for me, even though I am not too sad, but the feeling of being empty resides in me.

This feeling is hard to take away, imagine me, just got left by someone I had a relationship with for years but suddenly out of the blue knowing that she doesn't loves me anymore, that emptiness only last for so long as it hurts. 

But the feeling of someone who's been in your life since small, someone who has lifted you up as a baby, taught lessons with the cane, scolded you like it's raining hell and at least played even a small role in shaping you into an individual. That is me. I felt so empty.

Despite the busy-ness in life, I can't help but to write myself out to express this emptiness. I just had my leave and spent time with that person, even though its for short, but since I've had so many memories and paved it solidly with that person. 

Even when he's gone, I have no regrets not saying this and that, but I felt empty instead.

He taught me that in life, no matter what I have achieve, I must be proud of myself, no matter how small or insignificant it is. What I learned is that my pride precedes me, and I must learn to lower myself and be humble. Appreciate everything that I've worked hard for and strive to be the best in life.

Thank you Grandpa, for being in my life, I am sorry I couldn't see you for the last time as I am overseas for training. I missed you and I hope we meet again, life is short but if it is filled with the best, even though it's for a small amount of time, I won't regret breathing my last.

Figure 1: Last picture I took of my proud grandpa.

Photos..

Figure 1: The Jimmies.

Looking at my old photos, I can't help but realize that, there are a lots of photo which I haven't actually seen, such as the photo in Figure 1. This photo is taken using big jimmy's aka Fernandez camera and I took all his photos but it has been almost a year since I have taken the time to actually see it.

The photo consists of big jimmy on the left hand side, me in the middle and original jimmy aka Wenddel my cousin. This photo was taken during a trip to Kudat and it is indeed a memorable trip filled with fun and laughter. 

Back to the photos, ever since photos are made into digital form, the possibilities and the number of photos are endless till the limitation of your camera's battery or memory card. So most of these photos ended up either in your hard drive or stowed away in a full memory card. 

I barely remembered when is the last time I actually went to a photo shop to actually print out my pictures to make an album. I wish I would do that as photos in my laptop will eventually be a forgotten memory or if there's some lurking evil virus, then the memory will be lost.

Early next year, I'm thinking of obtaining a digital SLR, Canon made, either an entry level or semi-pro, which ever I can afford at the time. So I was browsing through the photos and wondering, my photos will not be abandoned and I will take the best photos according to my know how in photography.

That is a solemn promise I made to myself, for memories are important for me..

Dear Child..

Figure 1: My little cousin, Jonathan and baby Jovenson.

A child is a stage in life which everyone has been through, some never passed that stage, maybe died under certain circumstances. Still I managed to survive that certain point of life, thanks to God. I still remember some of remnants of memories in my mind as a child.

I used to be a very naughty and ignorant one, who always doesn't listen to my parents. I remember my mum used to force me to brush my teeth, which I never liked as a child. My mum get fed up and eventually I was happy I didn't get to brush anymore. But eventually, my teeth got bad, and I cried the whole way to the dentist, and got my teeth pulled out.

I learn a great deal of things the hard way as a child, my mum say, don't touch the kettle, but i just ignored it and touch, which ends up with me crying of course as it was a great deal of pain to me. I also remembered playing with a stapler, which is fun to staple on tables, paper, rubber and I got bored and wonder how does it feels stapling my thumb. I did it without much thinking and you know what happens next.

Being a child, in my family means a lot as I am the first child, but when my sister is around I always remember being always jealous and wanting to take all the things she has. Well, being a child is not really innocent, as I keep doing a lot of annoying things which always gets me into trouble. As the eldest child, anything goes wrong, I'll have the cane instead of my sister, well that's life.

As a child, there is a lot of things to explore, as everything in this world is new, especially if I received something really cool, like a new toy, but the fun will only last the most like a week, as I would have either destroyed the toy by burning it, crushing it, or simply just throw it away.

Memories of me as a child is really vague, but I really dream a lot and I used to see things as a child, ghosts, or dark shadows and sometimes even bright fairy lights. Sometimes I dreamed of ghosts choking me up or eating me from the feet first. Nightmares occurs often, I told my parents about it but they always said that I'm full of silly imaginations.

Figure 2: Jonathan wonders "Is my picture taken?".

Now that I'm not a child anymore, though there are some people who stays a "child" until they are adults without even realizing it. Still in everyone of us, there should a partial child in the heart. A child always seeks to learn, easily forgive and forget, always wants to be close to parents and need all the love and attention. It is normal to be seeing cartoons at an adult age and still laugh with your child or child cousins, nieces or nephews.

So life is short, be happy and enjoy every second as it is your last, some may not even have that chance to live this long. Be blessed dear child.