Speechlessness

Is this somehow what I should regard as "rezeki anak"? Is there even such a word in English?

I don't know if I can even think of such a thing, let alone do it.

Well, here goes...

Got Tag?

It is about time somebody tagged me. Even though it's only my sister.

1. Apakah benda yang paling penting dalam hidup kamu? (I will assume these are material things)

In order of appearance,

• a Quran and a copy of the translation
  
• a camera (ex), Minolta X-700
• a Mini (ex), SYCLONE,
  
• a collection of Mini magazines
• a desktop PC at office
• a collection of Konsumer newspaper
  
• a desktop PC at home
• a car, Proton Wira, I call it Warrior
  
• a pair of Pro-Mark drum sticks
• a car, Mini Clubman called STELLAR
  
• an RC car, Rover Mini
• a camera, Nikon 4600
• a camera, Panasonic FZ5
• a camera, Nikon D40 called Nik
• a tiny student size guitar
  
• a house we bought in Dengkil
  
• an ultramobile netbook, yet unnamed.
  

2. Apakah benda terakhir yang kamu beli dengan wang sendiri? (anything goes)

• papprika rice (a seemingly steep RM6)


3. Di manakah tempat impian perkahwinan kamu?

• the masjid

4. Berapa lama anda rasa hubungan kamu berkekalan?

• I hope it lasts forever

5. Adakah anda dilamun cinta?

• still do

6. Di manakah restoran terakhir kamu makan malam?

• Restoran Raene's

7. Namakan buku terakhir yang kamu beli?

• Two children's books for Muzaffar, Adab Dan Doa, and Sayang Muslim
  

8. Apakah nama penuh kamu?

• Muaz Che Kamarrudin

9. Kamu lebih senang dengan mak atau ayah?

• always my Mum

10. Namakan seseorang yang kamu ingin jumpa untuk pertama kalinya dalam hidup anda?

• Bruce Lee

11. Sebutkan 8 nama sahabat yang paling rapat dengan kamu?

In order of appearance

• Mohd Azammi M
  
• Kamarudin I
• Ahmad Nizam MA
• Mohd Shukri Z
  
• Mashuri M
• Arman HAM
  
• Intan SH
• Bastian AM
  


12. Adakah kamu mencuci pakaian anda sendiri?

• under necessity (for purification, as an example)
  

13. Tempat yang paling seronok kamu mahu pegi?

• England (the wealth of Mini spare parts available!)
  

14. Pelukan atau ciuman?

• I am so into both

15. Butirkan 5 perkara tentang orang yang tag kamu.

• the only girl
• tiny-ish
• jual jual jual jual
  
• garfield hello garfield
  
• kepakkkk
  

16. 8 perkara yang amat saya gilai.

Too many of them, had to choose what I can recall

• Hudud
• Jihad
• Gold Dinar
  
• Camera
• Mini
  
• My kids
• My gadgets
• this particular thing husband and wife do together (!)

17. 8 perkataan yang sering di ucapkan.

• Ya Allahu Ta'ala!
• As Salaamu Alaikum!
  
• Power Man Five Thousand!
• Huiyoooo!
• Elo!
  
• Opapa Omeme
• Wee Hee!
• Yaiyo!
  

18. 8 buah buku yang paling terbaru dibaca.

I seldom read book, thus the inclusion of webpages

• Quran
• Solat-Solat Sunat
• Nikkor Lenses Brochure
• Nikon D3 Brochure
• Unexplained Mysteries
  
• Why Things Are, Why Things Aren't
• Ken Rockwell (web)
  
• Thom Hogan (web)
  

19. 8 lagu yang saya boleh dengar berulang kali.

• Def Leppard - Don't Shoot Shotgun
• Bryan Adams - Thought I Died And Gone To Heaven
• Mister Big - Never Say Never
• Journey - Hopelessly In Love
• Journey - Stone In Love
  
• Lynch Mob - Sweet Sister Mercy
• Hall and Oates - One On One
• Peter Cetera and Amy Grant - The Next Time I Fall (In Love)
  

20. 8 perkara yang saya pelajari tahun lalu

• About Diet and Exercise
• About Budget
• About Government Transition
• About PTD Exam Studies
• About Mini Fixing
• About PBX
• About ICX
• About Gold
  

21. Mari men'tag' 8 orang lain.

In alphabetical order, I hereby TAGGED these people..

• Aisyah D
• Azrul Irwan AR
• Azuhuri Mustakim MR
• Engku Iskandar EZ
• Mazlyda AR
• Salman AW
• Siti Haliza J
  
• Suhaida S

Nice And Slow

I do slow drives nowadays.

Like, very slow.

Like, 50. In an 80 zone.

Like, 60. In a 90 zone.

Like, constantly.

Not to worry too much though. I concentrate on the left lane, and even do it way before rush hour.

Like, around Subuh time.

You see, I was inspired by a series of fuel efficiency contests. First by the Isuzu D-Max. Then the Nissan Grand Livina. The latest was the new Proton Saga.

Thus I am only emulating what the contestants did.

I don't dare to dream of achieving such figures like the Livina or the D-Max's outrageous results of more than 50km per liter of fuel.

I am optimistic of only doing at least half that, though. Especially using STELLAR.

And while doing it using the Proton Warrior, I only hoped everybody are sleeping soundly the whole duration I cruised slowly, to avoid complains and the iconic "Are we there yet?!" questions.

If ever I get 25km per liter for both cars, I'll be happy to drive everyday.

New Gear

I have long imagined owning a true portable machine, ever since I saw the tiny Toshiba Libretto way back in 1996.

I imagined using such a gadget as a true road-warrior, for usage such as web use on the go, while thinking I might do a bit of photo selection from my seemingly endless collection. Movies, music or games will also come in handy once in a while, for me or the family. Nothing heavy really.

I was made aware of such a genre of ultraportable notebook back in late 2007 or early 2008, with the InkMedia. Then OLPC, UMPC, EEE PC came out. The EEE PC was particularly successful, covering both world with attractive package and low price, albeit a bit restricted initially.

The genre then basically was altered to the simple term Netbook.

After contemplating for a while (read: a year), I finally settled on a Netbook after all.

It is one Acer Aspire One, in blankish white. The lucky shop is East Computech near the Air Kelantan site I work at.

I chose it primarily because Acer accepted Easy Payment Plan with zero percent interest for 12 months. The rest are primarily the storage, the easy OS itself.

Using it till the last drop of the battery, I was particularly amazed by the elongated duration I saw. 6 to 7 hours to be exact. And I did use it but still do feel too conscious about exhausting the battery anyway. Only thing about the battery is, it protrudes out a bit.

I actually expected it to be much lighter, but I guess such a thing will not be available just yet. A kilo still seems many.

Halcyon Days

The Minolta X-700 was my first SLR.

I do miss using it. It's feel. The solid built. The smallish package. The aura.

And I miss the old photography days too.

I guess it's almost time to revert back, or something.

Me going to get a cheap enough film camera.

Here's my short list, a Minolta X-700 or the XD, or maybe a Nikon FM or F3.



The Minolta X-700