Wow.. i think i enjoy doing something other than soccer.
Its cooking!



I've been learning to cook some dishes from my mom recently, notably my favourite dish.. AYAM MASAK MERAH! or what u called it red-sauced chicken.
With great appetite comes with great responsibility TO COOK.
And so.. if in any case i'll be away from home, i think i should not be too worry in getting homesick or missing my mom's cook.

I found this video from my random search and i think i should post it. It is one of the ways i can help to advertise my family's business. hahaha!
This was when the recent Hari Raya was nearing(including my A's!) and.. if im not wrong, i skipped school to help them out! Hmm.. Im not sure if i should call myself hardworking.



And i found another video taken 2 years ago during the tournament at Fico Sports hub. Here.. are some of my contributions to the team. chey!

A trip to Tanjong Pinang & Pulau Penyengat

Well, im back from a short family vacation since yesterday. We went to Tanjong Pinang/Pulau Penyengat for 2days on Thurs and Fri. I was particularly excited to go solo buying and shopping my own things there because i think i doesn't do that before! Usually, my mom would buy and let me wear whatever she has for me. hahaha! Talking about a guy who didnt have his own fashion sense and depend on poeple around him to get him one. Well, i can gurantee, im going to have my own choice of fashion from today onwards. Im not going to spend much but at least it won't leave me scratching my head on nothing decent to wear for a concert, outing, or even date(nay!).

To start with, we went there by ferry. A 2 hours journey which is not particularly exciting because i had a slight tinge of seasick.



Upon reaching, we checked in into a resort..



..and proceed on to have our dinner at "Depot" Ayam Penyet. Just look at them.. everyone is either seasick or sleepy while waiting for the food to arrive, except my dad. Haha.







I think it was better than the Spore's version because of the genuine kampung ayam taste with more special side dishes.

Later, we went back to our hotel and played pool against one another. I played 2 games only, both against my bro, and unsurprisingly.. i won. Haha. And the rest of the night, I taught mom, my auntie and lil bro on how to play.



The next morning, after breakfast at the hotel lobby, we went to the beach and posed for more pictures. Here.. we took with Mahadi Syor, a comedian in Suria. He was also there having his holiday!



We checked out of the resort and headed towards the jetty to go to Pulau Penyengat.





Not really a speedboat but its still made me wet cos nak act hero sitting outside the shelter.



Here it is.. Pulau Penyengat!



We had a bike ride around the whole island and it was freakin nice man cos the guy who rode for me and bro was speeding! Gerek beb but dangelous!



The island has unique and vast historical background. There's the old ruler's palace and royal tombs, among them the grave of the respected Sultan Haji. He was also the creater and author of the first Malay Language grammar book, and that is among the legacies left by the Riau sultanate. I wish i have thanked him for the beautiful literature of Malay language.

The pic below are some of the other kings who ruled the island. I was actually searching if there is any 'Raja Khairul' but too bad lah don't have.



The old Istana now turned into muzeum. I like the authentic designs of the whole architecture. It reminds me about those times when i tried to tackle this sweet kampung girl. haha! like real..



The well of never-ending supply of freshwater. It was said this well is only 3m deep and the water is special. Im not sure how special it was so i tried...



and it was really really pure and cooling. And i end up taking wudhu' too and it is one of the best i had.



We posed on the Sultan's throne and i felt like Datuk Penghulu sitting there with that pose.



And seriously this one.. i was disappointed to see people selling those turtle eggs! Well, i guessed they did it for a living, but i was hoping they won't sell it excessively. And nice one.. my dad bought 20 eggs. Turtles.. i tried my best to warn them about your near-extinction. At least i save your kind by not eating those eggs.



Soon after this, my handphone went flat i didnt take our pictures having dinner at some seafood restaurant and the shoppings. It was 2 days worth spent and i learnt alot of of the historical backgrounds of my own race, language and culture. You know.. the locals there at Pulau Penyengat doesn't speak bahasa Indonesia but perfect Malay! I seriously believe they can easily excel doing our Malay exam papers.

Alright man, im off!

Review

I've just realized that i've been using this blogskin for some time now; almost 3 years now to be exact. I wonder why im so loyal to this, maybe because i REALLY think it is nice. nvm.




Other than that, i've been quite hardworking in reading books. I just done with Khaled Hosseini's novel, The Kite Runner. This is one inspiring book which motivates me to read more. If you want to know the outlook of what life is all about and the struggles in meeting basic neccessities of the Afghanis people, the betrayal, guilt, redemption, hope, friendship. love, the cruelty of the Talibans and the misconception of Islam.. Do read this. It has opened my eyes and realized how cruel life can be and the importance of treasuring every moment with our the loved ones. I can tell you one thing.. im so glad and THANK GOD that im born in Singapore. I think i will just be Taliban there to have a decent life. You know.. the Hazaras there were treated like servants, animals. Before this, I doesn't realize the great importance of racial harmony and world peace. I know the situation there was bad but i didnt realize it was THAT BAD.

Anyway, thanks to Fazliah for recommending me this book. Im looking forward more now to your future recommendations. :)

On top of that, i've borrowed this book called Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra. It was my choice and not from Faz's recommendation so... i hope it will turn out good.

Oh ya, the Kite Runner movie is coming out soon!

I've just found out( i bet you all doesn't know it too) that Kaka means Uncle in Afghanis language, Farsi if im not wrong. I will encourage my nephews to call me Kaka Khairul from now onwards. Haha.

And and.. you know what? The role of Soraya, one of the characters in the book, was acted out by this Iranian-born Atossa Leoni. Wooot!

I was doing some editing to my photos and i stumbled upon those pictures i took back in kampung. And i realized i have some of it which i wanted to share with u guys.

You know.. i've tried to do those jumping shots, and i think im bad at it.

Let's see:

ok.. maybe everyone is not ready. Just look at me. The excitement and the semangatnye untuk melompat.

Maybe that's not so bad. Let's see the next one:

That is what happen if you're too old among those in the shoot.

Aaahh.. This is one is classic. I can't believe my younger cousins and bro can emo too!

Let make a short story out of this:

One day, I tried to ride somebody's bike without permission.

And since my mom doesn't allow me to ride bike, she was angry and kicked me out of the house.

For several days, i was left outside wondering what should i do.

Luckily my brother asked me work with him, and now we ended up selling petrol and tyres by the roadside..

haha. can lah. im bored that's why.

A Start To 2008

Hey guys..

Well, im back with lots of stories in store!

First and foremost, im a teacher now! well, relief of course. i ended up late the first day when the person called me at 7.10, askin me to report to school at 8! To add more misery, i ended up at the wrong place. i went to admiralty pri instead of the sec sch which i supposed to report at! Baaad start.

Teaching was ok. I taught 4NT, 2NA and 1NT that day. Particularly lost where shld i go during recess so i sat with my 4NT class in the canteen. Anyway, I had to replace an english teacher who was on an urgent leave so yes... i was asked to teach english and english lit! Not my strongest of subjects as you know me, but still.. its not THAT bad.

Im not going to elaborate on what i'd taught them or how i'd taught them, bcos im afraid my students will read this! All i can say is.. its kind of weird being a teacher because i was a student myself just last year. Entering a class and introducing myself as 'Mr Khai' and by saying 'Good Morning Class', it feels so different. I sensed the great responsibilites, the demand of the job and the need to know when to be fun and and when to be serious. I feel so grown up now. (haha. yes khai u've just grown up by 5 sec after typing this.) The feeling of going into the staff room, getting to my desk, having lunch at the teacher's lounge and chats with my colleagues, it is a whole new thing for me.

Some excerpts from my students:

"Cher, can i go toilet?"
"Cher, can u help me edit my compo?"
"Cher, u got friendster anot?"

last but not least, bonus question:

"Cher, u married already ah?"

haha! well, im not. do i look like one?



I really need some serious cutting to my hair. Its so long and i may end up in detention man.
Anyway, i'll be a physics teacher soon. This reminds me of something.

Teacher: What is the unit of power.
Students: Watt!
Teacher: What is the unit of power.
Students: Watt!
Teacher: Im not asking you all a question. im saying.. Watt is unit of power.

haha. typical Mr Tan back in CCKSS.

Besides that, i went for the RSAF Compass Test. It was a long 5 hours tiring, mentally draining test. I had both good and bad experience throughout the whole procedure.

The bad news is.. the jetfigther stimulator test, i think i didn't do that well because my plane, which was supposed to go through smoothly through the loops, didnt go as planned and it was moving sideways uncontrollably due to the high sensitivity of the joystick. (not mentioning my bad handling too)

The good news is.. i scored full marks for 2 tests. the mental sum(thank god i took math in school) and concentration test(alhamdullilah i was gifted with a very focused mind). The multi-tasking test; consist of right hand handling the joystick(up and down only), listening to errors in mental sum( and by pressing the trigger whenever there's errors), left hand doing the typing of the instruction given AND the legs to move left or right. quite demanding but gladly, i scored 5/8.

hopefully, if i do passed this test, i'll be called for the interview soon. do pray for me ok?

A fusion of piano and Steinberger guitar of the song "Love Story". Cool!

The First Test

Im excited but nervous on the same time.
I'd received a letter from RSAF for an Aptitude Selection System(Compass) Test on the 14th of Jan.
This is going to be my first major test towards my dream.
Im not sure if this is going to be my big break, but whatever the outcome is, it happens for a reason.
Im feeling optimistic.
Every dream has its own challenges and obstacles, and in this case, i knew it won't be any less then a rough journey.
No doubt, many aspiring young men like me wish everything is planned out for them ideally, according to their preferences.
The chances of being a pilot is like hoping to get into top 10 in the batch, out of thousands.
Yes, the chances are slim, but remained focus towards my aim is the utmost importance.
Im not giving this up without a fight.
Im sure, like any other people who share this same dream, will give their best shot.
Im no different.



Second plan? Let's not think about it first.

Goodbye 2007, Hello 2008

2007 has came to an end. 4 days ago to be exact. haha. And a new year has already begun.

To think about what i've done in 2007, i should say it is one of my hardest and tiring year i've ever had, but of cos i do have some of the memorable things that i'll never forget.

Basically 2007 was the year of my A levels. I would admit it is one of the most challenging period in my life to deal with. Since the day i've accomplished the O's, i thought i would never go and push myself like this again. I was considering to go to poly. But being Khairul Ruzaini here, he is always trying to score against the odds and do something different. It is a positive thing to do, but sometimes our effort doesn't match with the things that we want. So being me again, there's alot of instances whereby i didn't put enough effort to do what im supposed to do during my 2 years stint in PJC. Only during the 2nd phase of the challenge that i've finally set aside a whole lot of time revising with different types of people. It helped so far and im glad it did.

Other than that, 2007 was also something for me to remember of because i've achieved my target that i've set since primary school. I've always wanted to win the overall individual champion during sports day. Since my pri sch days, i always play as the second fiddle. Being 2nd has been part of my life. It can be frustrating though but that has been a motivational factor for me to push on. I remained hopeful throughout these years and thank god it pays off in 2007. I've won gold in 100m, 200m and 4x100m and not to forget a record-timing of 10.96s for 100m. The record was not something that i've aimed for but i'll take the credit anyway. hehe. Luck do play a part too. To realize that it was my last sport's day, im happy that i've rounded off my sport's day years in a memorable fashion. Alhamdullilah.

2007 has also been memorable because i've learnt about life skills with more in-depth which are of real-importance such as self-independent, discipline and resilience. Independent meaning i myself has to be responsible for my own learning and not being pushed on by teachers like what i've used to back in sec sch days and not to forget, the work i had at Bookfest. Discipline because i've learn to plan out my to-do and not-to-do activities better and resilience for being cool and strong enough to overcome barriers even when the chips are down.

Hopefully, with 2008 draw to a new beginning, everything will be just fine and there's some things to be remember of. More work, A level results and of cos, the Army Days. Let's start!

Updates!

Hello everyone!

Sorry for being too carried away with my activities during this hols. Although i have a whole lot of time to blog, i chose to prioritize other things first. haha.

Firstly, i had my first ever job at Suntec Convention Centre during the Bookfest 2007 event. Being inexperienced in this working world, i had applied the job thru Kelly Services, which is totally unneccessary. So that means 20% of my pay gone to them. hai.. nvm. Other than that, it was a beneficial experience as a Popular staff. For ur info, it was only a 2 weeks stint. The first 3days was quite tiring cos we need to arrange the products and do the stocking. Since the opening of the event, my job was such a breeze.. really! We were supposed to stand around and wait to ans any customer's queries. I was in charge of the multimedia department and since many companies such as Samsung, Philips, Brothers, Creative etc came down to set up their own booth to sell their products, the customers can go directly to the respective promoters to inquire. Thus we were just stoning one corner, watching free movies from their latest LCD screens. haha! nice.

Of cos there were some irritating customers who will come up to us and complain about the prices. Another type is the bitchy ones. haha. and surprisingly, im not referring to aunties or ladies, but a small boy! hahaha. I wont elaborate it any further cos it will be a very long story.

Anw, I made alot of friends, and unsurprisingly, they are mostly younger than me cos they are waiting for their O's results. I feel so old, man. However, it did help abit cos many thought i was 16 cos i didnt look like 18. haha! nice one.

Experience-wise, i did almost every job available during the event, except for cashier. I did the stocking, packing and unpacking, arranging, pushing cartons, answering queries, assistant cashier(the one who will pack the customer's products) and collecting pellets. So in other words, im an effective worker! ehem2.

Oh ya! not forgetting.. guessed what is the record i've seen a customer spent at a single payment? S$6,800 man! freakin crazy. i tell u what he bought.. hundreds of PSP games! Business i guess. But still.. it is crazy.

me and segaff. Getting ready for work!

Fuhh! centre of attention.

My Multimedia Department Colleagues. (Me and Fadhilah are the eldest here.. mcm abang2 lah aku. haha)

The Multimedia guys with 2 Philips promoters at the right.

Last but not least, Taufik was there too! Wasted his fans are not enough to bring the house down.

Since the end of this work stint, i've been quite hardworking going for fitness trainings. haha. More and more soccer and swimming. Gym not yet lah dey. Really soon. i've been going for swimming 3 days in a row now. Technique-wise, im so much better now. Fitness-wise.. erm.. still can be improved. haha. I felt i was in my top form after such a long time in soccer last tuesday. I think i played significantly better in futsal compared to street soccer. Field match will be the best though. Therefore i conclude sumthin: The bigger the playing area, the better i play. More friendly matches please!

Anw, i wonder how my friends are doing in NS right now for those who are enlisted in dec. Im sure they are having a whole lot of fun there. haha. but seriously.. NS will be fun if u look at the positive side. Live Firing, BMT-ing, learning the arts of war and strategic defence and attack. Everything seems so exciting with the whole new experience. But one thing for sure.. i can't wait to see those who i can't imagine being botak, botak for once. haha.

N0t to forget, A level results is nearing. If im nt wrong, it will be released in the early of feb. Im excited but nervous in the same time. I've a fair share of good and bad dreams about it and im nt sure which one to believe in. Please let this be good.

GradNite 'O7 at Swisshotel, The Stamford

OK, just let the photos do the talking... (with some captions)
Warning: This entry is flooded with pictures.


Welcome to PJC's Gradnite at Swissotel, The Stamford.


Classmates: Yiling(left) and Cheryl(centre)


From left: Me, amy, fazliah, syazwan and shahrul


The self-confessed Brad Pitt(erm!), Clement Ong, runner-up for prom king.



with christabel..


diyanah, ex Head-Prefect during my pri sch days.

with Silu, my classmate imported from China.

Faiz, who never fails to share his sarcastic and intellectual jokes.

Andre, PJC's rugby captain who played a significant role for our Nobel soccer team to win the inter-house soccer comp last yr.

Fazliah, whose husband is a celebrity soccer player back in Argentina. haha.

Sponge, my hockey mate.

Didnt know him well, but i took picture with him anyway since i'll remember as the guy who sat beside me during our A-levels. haha.

baranee, just take note.. do remember to tell ur dad that i wanna become an SIA pilot too one day.

Bryan, PJC's basketballer and my chemistry classmate.

Oliver, the joker from basketball too.

Habib, my classmate back during MI days and now, still as close as ever in PJC.

Matthew, hockey mate.

Ziqi, hockey mate too and not to forget, also a teammate in Da Gama's clan during OBS.

Eva, knew her thru dikir barat last yr.

Cheryl, the ever-so-squeeky girl in class.

Alex, chemistry classmate and michael jackson for the nite.

Teo Sian, basketballer and another Da Gama's teammate back in OBS.

Shah, the Xabi Alonso's wannabe and ex-PJC hockey captain.

Faizah, the bubbly lil girl i've known this year during chemistry class.

Wafa, MI schoolmate and Indian Idol. haha.

Syed Segaff, one of my close fren, PJC's MCS President and an imitation product from Dubai. muahaha!

Ahmad Amirul, PJC's hockey asst captain and a freakin hardworkin guy.

Hui Qi, the first-ever girl who beats me in badminton. NOOOO!

Shahrul, a friend of mine who can be a very good uztaz and imam one day.

Amelia, another freakin hardworkin individual who made me study harder. haha.

Cik Ahmad Redzuan, the lanky tall guy with his formal way of talking. Saya2 awak2. hahaha.

Syazwan, one of my closest frens in PJC. Kind and helpful soul and his biggest assets: His goatee and his not-so-menjadi jokes. hahaha!

Bing Rong, we are known because of our Kaka-Gerrard partnership. *erm2!*

Li Nan, PJC's and national rugger.

Sebastian, also known as Arjen Robben of PJC.

Zuraidah, 'daughter' of mine in PPP who became successful and selected to act in Kids Central. Just look at her 'dad'.. no wonder.. haha.

Khairul Anuar, one of my closest friend in PJC. He is the Ruben of PJC and also a math genius.

Gerald, the one who complimented me that nite by sayin.. "woah, im taking a picture with the most profilic soccer player in PJC." haha. im so honoured!