Say what? II

I bought this business card album, but wondered what 'Name Laid Book' actually meant.

Multiracial Brunei?

On National Day, I had lunch with some of my Bruneian Chinese (not to be confused with Chinese from China, you know what I mean!) friends. The day being the National Day, our conversation naturally turned to what National Day meant to us.

One of my friends actually brought up quite an interesting fact. The fact that he noticed most, if not all, National Day banners that got erected around Bandar Seri Begawan did not bear any non-Malay face. We had the day's Borneo Bulletin and it contained National Day congratulatory messages. We went through every page and realised that my friend was right. As we drove around Bandar and we observed the same with the National Day banners.

Was it just a coincidence or was it a deliberate thing? Are non-Malay not considered Bruneians? Is Brunei really a multi-racial country as claimed by many travel guides and publications?

How rude!

Today, for badminton I was partnering 'Haziq', who is now my regular doubles partner since Jester left for UK. It was a quiet day at LLRC; we were the first to arrive and proceeded to warm up. A while later, two teachers, whom I could classify as 'ok' players, came along and asked if they could play us, so we thought it would be ok.

As we were playing, I thought it was quite disrespectful and rude that our opponents were chatting away while playing, with the occasional laughs here and there. There were some moments when one of them would be watching the other games in play. The behaviour totally killed my mood to play. Ok, so we were beatable, but hey, please show some respect. If you thought that we were that easy to beat, you should have played with someone else.

I played with a few much better players than these two guys, but I never had anyone that disrespectful. They would play and work hard for every point.

Just thought I wanted to let it out of the system. D**kheads!

Fun Donuts - Review

After a few aborted attempts to try donuts from Fun Donuts, we finally managed to get hold of some over the weekend.

Queue was still seen at the outlet. When we arrived, there were about 15 people in the queue, so we thought it would not be too long before we could finally reach the donuts. We told ourselves that if we didnt reach the front in 20 minutes, we would quit the queue. Twenty minutes later, we were not quite at the front; there were about 5 people in front of us. So we thought 5 people would not take too long. How wrong we were, as all the donuts were gone at that particular moment. Another 10 minutes passed and the queue was barely moving. The 15-people queue actually translated to a 40-minute wait. But the lure of the donuts actually kept us in the line.

When we got the front line, there was a further wait as donuts would come trickling one type at a time. I would think at this moment, you would not have much choice of donuts. If you want a particularly highly-demanded variety, you would have to wait longer. Since it was our first time there and we did not have any particular favourite, we got the ones readily available. We got the classic, berry plunge, apple something, banana split, vanillla and something that I forgot varieties.

So the verdict? Well, we thought the donuts were soft, supple and quite tasty. The fillings were generous. For some reason, the donuts did not feel too filling. We all liked the donuts, but we would wait until the time when we do not have to queue to get them.

So compared to Kripsy Kreme? Well, I do not know; I am not really a big fan of donuts, so I cannot fairly say which one is better. But Fun Donuts donuts are currently the best in Brunei.

Fire Prevention and Safety Tips

Following the tragic incident where 7 people were killed in a house fire in Kuala Belait, I would like to share the following 2 websites. These websites teach us on fire prevention and things to do if we are unfortunate enough to be caught in a fire.

1. US Fire Administration Home Fire Prevention
2. Fire Kills: A British Campaign on Fire Prevention

After reading these two websites, I believe the level of awareness among Bruneians in regards to home fire safety is alarmingly low. Very few houses have fire detection system, such as smoke alarms. Very few houses are also equipped with fire fighting equipment.

There was a time at work when I was dealing with LPG sale and I became aware of the safety tips when using LPG bottles. I have seen many houses where the LPG bottles were stored indoors with no ventilation and some houses used un-approved gas regulators and hoses. For more info on LPG bottles safety, click here.

One of the most common causes of house fire is electrical wiring faults. Click here to learn more.

Remember, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Somehow a somber post....

I spoke to Cookiedough for the first time since her dad died recently. It was nice to speak to her; I was not sure at first if she wanted to talk, but she was ok with it. It was really heartwarming to know that she was coping well.

We talked about how difficult it was to cope with the loss of loved ones. And how more difficult it was when you were not there when they died. My mum passed away in Nov 2006 when I was on the flight from Sydney to Singapore after attending a course; and Cookiedough was in the United Sates when her dad passed away in Brunei early last week. However, it was harder for her as she could not fly back for the funeral, whereas I flew back home as soon as I was told of my mum's passing.

This reminded me of an entry that I posted on another blog. I thought I might re-post it here.

" ..... Was on the flight from Sydney to Singapore when my mum died. I was met on arrival by an RBA ground staff in Singapore and was asked to catch the next flight back to Brunei (I was initially supposed to go back the next day). She initially refused to tell me why I had to fly but I told her that I would not fly unless she told me why I had to fly home right away. Many thanks to various friends who helped arrange my flight back home that evening.

I went through denial, anger and sadness all in one go. I was bawling my eyes out in the middle of the airport terminal and I did not care what other passengers might think. The 2 hours flight back to Brunei felt longer.

Tho I was not by her side when she died and only managed to talk to her once while I was in Sydney, I felt fortunate that I was able to get back for her funeral. Many friends and colleagues came to offer their condolences and I thank you all for that.

It is almost 40 days since she died (which is the customary mourning period in Brunei). I still think of her and her memories. I regret of not spending more time than I had. Looking back, I wished I could do more for her. I just realised that I never had a picture taken with her alone. Now I promise myself I'd do those things with Dad.

Finally, Mum, I miss you..... Rest in peace.... Dan moga rohmu dicucuri rahmat.... Al-Fatihah...."

Mega Hit 3: Links

I have been trying to store the whole album onto a virtual storage but it somehow did not work. I had to resort to upload song by song onto the virtual storage. So, at last here they are:

1. Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice
http://www.mediafire.com/?lhfxgt301yg

2. Rush Rush - Paula Abdul
http://www.mediafire.com/?3twjyqgqzxn

3. Joyride - Roxette
http://www.mediafire.com/?y0yzzri2vme

4. More Than Words Can Say - Alias
http://www.mediafire.com/?vy2shwrgfm2

5. The One And Only - Chesney Hawkes
http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=5128796213fa56ba81b9e808fcf1bb24

6. Let Me Change Your Mind Tonight - Johnny Hates Jazz
http://www.mediafire.com/?9zmkec2dsxj

7. Sadness Part 1 - Enigma
http://www.mediafire.com/?t3dzyiytrfw

8. You're In Love - Wilson Phillips
http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=8eb68b18db10518cdb9f3e563f81a80b

9. Unbelievable - EMF
http://www.mediafire.com/?yzde5zkwetd

10. Nothing But The Radio On - Dave Koz
http://www.mediafire.com/?ex4fjuygbgm

11. This House - Tracie Spencer
http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=71ac59af791605432f435708fd203021

12. I've Been Waiting For You - Guys Next Door
http://www.mediafire.com/?0eincmmemx5

I'll delete the files by the end of the month. Enjoy them.

38.5deg C

That was my body temperature this morning. I feel sick. I feel as if there's a big piece of rock in my throat. Since last night, I have taken more than 8 pieces of Strepsils and more than 3000mg of Vitamin C.

I may have caught the flu bug. I may have worked too much lately. One of my staff told me to take things easy and slow down my pace a little. He said too that they needed to get used to my pace. May be I should slow down a bit and take a breather. Yeah, may be I will.

DoNuts.....

A new donut place was recently opened at the Yayasan complex in Bandar. Owned by the owners of Fun Bread, the donut place is said to be selling 4000 donuts per day. So intrigued we were that we decided to go and try them for ourselves. Enough to say we still have not tasted them as the queue at that time was long! More than 30 people were q-ing at the shop and it is reported that the queues can still be seen till today!

So are they really that good? Something to rival Krispy Kreme? If you have gone there and managed to grab a piece or two, please give us your thoughts on the donuts. Thanks!

Found it!

I finally found it. The same good friend who lends me Mega Hit Volumes 1 and 2 sprung a surprise when he passed me Mega Hit Volume 3! It definitely brings back sweet memory when I was in Form 2, with thick-framed spectacles, big hair with songkok and moustache! How time has changed things!!



Anyway, here are the songs in Mega Hit Volume 3:
1. Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice
2. Rush Rush - Paula Abdul
3. Joyride - Roxette
4. More Than Words Can Say - Alias
5. The One And Only - Chesney Hawkes
6. Let Me Change Your Mind Tonight - Johnny Hates Jazz
7. Sadness Part 1 - Enigma
8. You're In Love - Wilson Phillips
9. Unbelievable - EMF
10. Nothing But The Radio On - Dave Koz
11. This House - Tracie Spencer
12. I've Been Waiting For You - Guys Next Door

I used to think that Sadness Part 1 by Enigma quite a scary song and I skipped this song a lot.

You're In Love was my favourite song in this album; I like it so much that I went on to buy Wilson Phillips' album that contained this song.

I'm going to rip the songs from the three volumes of Mega Hit and store them in a virtual storage. If you'd like the link to the storage, drop me a message.