Psycho-maniac Streaker on the Prowl

Saturday, 23rd August was perhaps my busiest day. Visits to three police stations were made. First, the Berjaya Park Police Beat; second the Section 15 Police Station; and third, the Section 11 Police Station.

All these visits were made in relation to our lodgement of a police report over an incident involving two consecutive nights that scared our domestic helper.
It all started last Thursday night when the maid was awakened by a stranger at 4.00 am. Showing a sign not to make any noise, the maid chased him away and ran to the family hall instead. She thought that would be her last encounter with the stranger but she was wrong. The next night, this time at a much earlier time, at 12.30 pm to be exact, the same stranger broke a glass panel and tried to reach her who was sleeping on the bed placed right next to the window.

This time, instead of just asking her to keep quite, the stranger was bolder as he was completely naked. With one hand reaching out to her, the other hand was holding the penis in arousal.

This time, the maid didn't just run away but she screamed for help. I was upstairs watching a Kopratasa's performance over Prima and upon hearing her scream, dashed down and yell to the intruder. He ran and within minutes, group of security guards and concern neighbours were at the backlane to render assistance.

The intruder was no where to be detected but I strongly believe he must be somewhere near. Hopefully by lodging the report the security guards and the police could intensify their patrolling to detect any suspicious man and eventually capture the psycho-maniac person.
So here's the broken window .......
and the shattered glass panel.

To my neighbours, please be on the alert and light up the back lane. (Actually, our back lane was brightly litted, making it easier for the person to ran away!)

Jasni AJ

The Swing Story

So where will the votes be swinging to this 26th August 2008? Can the act of swearing in the name of Allah by Saiful and Najib able to swing voters over to BN? Will voters be swinging to BN just because the petrol price suddenly got reduced by 15 sen? Will there be 31 BN Members of Parliaments be swinging over to Pakatan Rakyat come 16th September 2008?

We will only be getting the answers to these boiling questions as early as a couple of days from now while the rest on 16th September.

But despite all that uncertainties, the JF Bunch has for certain got a new Swing! Made of Chengai wood, this new swing of ours is basically "home-made", not by me, but by Zali, a friend of ours. Produced out of hobby, this carpentry lover has produced all sorts of furniture for both indoor and outdoor applications.

So amazed with his skills, we just asked one day on whether he would produced a swing for us. And as you have guessed, he gladly took up the assignment and got it installed at the patio last weekend.
And now, and for the last few days, it is the swing where most of us spent time at, all other furniture are somehow went out of favour instantly!

I know I tried to sell my neighbour's house before (without success), but I wonder whether I can at least sell swings. Let me know. If any of you are interested in getting a new, nice and solid swing, send me an e-mail. I'll contact you and would give the details of the passionate carpenter.

Let's Swing.

Jasni AJ

A Birthday Reception, Friday's style

We seldom have birthday parties. But we always have birthday receptions for all the members of the Bunch. A birthday cake is a must, be it being celebrated at home or at other venues.

One of our favourite venue to hold a birthday reception is at Friday's. At the last birthday reception for my eldest two years ago, I was so impressed with the atmosphere created by the staff of Friday's in making the occasion to be a fun and memorable occasion.

So this time around, we returned to Friday's for the birthday reception of my youngest who just turned 6 last weekend.

True to my expectation, the birthday reception this time around was equally fantastic and fun.A group of Friday's staff perked up the day with their lively and charged up rendition of the traditional "Happy Birthday" tune plus another original acapella song.

It is a tradition at Friday's for the birthday boy (or girl) to give a speech using a gimmick microphone, usually a bottle or in the youngest' case, a pepper bottle.

He didn't actually utter a word, probably a little embarrassed, but the Friday's staff was so good in saving the moment by rendering a speech by reading the child's mind through "telepathy". He was so good, so genuinely good.

So the next time you want to hold a birthday reception among family members, do give Friday's a try. Kids have their meal for free. All the more reason to have it there, don't you think so?

Jasni AJ

Homecoming to the "Last Fortress"

The new UiTM
I am proud to be a product of UiTM. I graduated from two programmes of the institution, a Diploma in Public Administration and a Bachelor of Corporate Administration (Hons)(Company Secretary). The Diploma collected in the early eighties while the Bachelor secured just about eight years ago.

Though it has been quite a while since leaving the campus, my ties with the institution never fades as I am still very much involved in the various programmes held at the institution in various capacities, the last as a guest speaker at the faculty's graduation night.

UiTM is special to me. That was the place where I first learned to be truly independent at a very young age of barely 17, i.e. right after SPM. First time detached from the parents, it was at UiTM where we developed our true personality, ability and potential, very much on our own.

New friends were bonded and most of them are still intact in contact. I had a beautiful time there, it was an life adventure that I would never easily forget.

Being so special, I was naturally excited when I got an e-mail from the faculty (which was followed by a phone call by none other than the Dean herself who happens to be my former classmate) inviting me over to join in the fun of a homecoming event specially organised for the alumni of the institution.

One of the Banner and Billboard placed and erected around the campus
So off I went, bringing along my eldest with me, to the Homecoming event last weekend. Instead of being welcomed by banner like "Welcome back dear Alumni", we were rudely greeted by giant billboards and banners like the one here, reminding the world that the land that you have just step in is the last fortress of the Malays, the Malay sanctuary under siege, etc etc. (Actually, there were banners on the Homecoming event hanging at the lamp posts, but the black bannners were more prominent.)

I was actually very embarrassed with all those billboards and banners as I don't see the rationale of putting them up in the first place. Just what is the point barking to tell the whole world that "institutional racism" is your official ideology. A "university" that would only admit students from just a particular race and no other. What ideology do you call that if it is not simply "institutional racism"?

I am so sorry for the VC for turning himself from a respectable academician into a politician who seems to be unperturbed manipulating the young minds to make noises out of practically nothing. Out of a mere suggestion that could not even be implemented if the policy makers currently in power insist on maintaining such policy.

Fun and merry making
Well, I don't wish to be a politician myself, so I don't think it is wise for me to write more on the issue. Let's just talk about the Homecoming event itself.

The Homecoming event is actually a three day event where former students can just report back to the colleges to rekindle their nostalgic memories of their Alma mater.

At the faculty level, most faculties concentrated on just the last day with various programmes lined up. At the Administrative Sciences and Policy Studies Faculty, the Sunday starts with an aerobic session, telematches, various competitions, alumni talk, multimedia presentation, lucky draws and most importantly "luncheon".

It was fun indeed to be there.

Serious talk

But it was not just fun, we had serious session too. Mostly for the benefit of the current students, experiences of the various alumni were shared. Four of us spoke, 2 by alumni who chose to be serve UiTM as its lecturers, 1 by another alumnus now serving in the government sector (diplomatic service actually) and 1 (yours truly) being an alumnus who chose to be a practicing Company Secretary(nothing to shout about actually!).

All of us had the same basic education but we are certainly not the same now as we had chose the various different routes in getting at where we are now.

My assessment of the Homecoming event? Well, I just hope there would be more of it in the coming years and I just hope that more alumni members would pop up to make the event more meaningful, more wholesome and more nostalgic.

Thank you UiTM. Looking forward to be there again soon.

Jasni AJ

The Verdict is Out! 2 out of 3 are just like me!

Stumbled into yet another interesting free software that at long last confirms who your children really look like, their mom or dad. Try it out by clicking onto the link in the attachments.

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Descendants

My eldest looks more like his Mom.

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family history - Genealogy searches

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The daughter looks more like me.

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Ancestors - Family tree software

="http://www.myheritage.com/page/lost-relatives">Lost relatives

And so does my youngest!

What about your children? Try it out.

Jasni AJ

Forever waiting!

Work in progress
It has been more than a month now since we had that freak accident. And since then, the car has been and still is in the workshop for repairs.

Initially thought that it will just be about three weeks to get the car back, taking into consideration of the usual processes of insurance claims etc etc,it has now gone far beyond my expectation.

Not satisfied with the slow pace of things, I tried to find out what is dragging the matter and believe it or not, it's all due to huge discrepancy between the workshop's estimates and the adjuster's report. To the workshop, they need RM25,000 to repair the "small" dent along with the replacement of several other parts. To the adjuster, most of the proposed parts replacements can just be repaired. So in the end, the Insurance is only offering RM10,000 for the repairs to be done and up till the time I'm writing this entry, the offer is still pending acceptance.

So the waiting game is still on. I wonder when I'll be getting back the car. One thing for sure, I've lost the NCD and come end August I would have to renew its insurance again with the full undiscounted premium.

I really now look forward for the RM 650 government subsidy as I would really need the money!

Jasni AJ

A wedding and a Fruit Feast

A fortnight ago, along with a group of friends from my former office, I went for an excursion to Melaka for a wedding and a fruit feast.

A wedding of a former colleague who is now based in Ireland and a fruit feast hosted by another former colleague of mine.

The trip to Melaka, in a chartered coach, reminds me of a similar excursion to Pangkor several years ago with more or less the same group of people. Though most of us are much older now, the fun and joy of travelling together are still very much intact.

If previously, most of us were bachelors, now we have teenage kids as our children. And the things we talk about are things that we never talked before. We talk about raising children, children's education as well as retirement plans!

In the trip, there were some of us who brought their children along. The fun is now is with the kids, as now almost all of us are known as either uncles or aunties, if not papas and mamas.

So to welcome another former colleague into our world of family land, we decided to make a trip to Melaka to wish him well and as a gesture of strong bond of acquaintance.

And I'm sure the bridegroom must be so glad seeing his friends taking the trouble to travel more than 200 km just to see him wed.

Melaka's wedding reception is of a class of its own. Though the food was catered, the spirit of "Gotong-royong" is still very much alive with aunties in uniform serving as waitress and guys preparing additional dishes in big big "kualis". We were served with "dodols" too, something I had never had at any other weddings that I've attended before.

Entertained with nostalgic songs, I just can't help but admiring the Deejay in charge as he was very different than any other deejays I've seen before. This deejay not only spin songs, he sings too. And he sings beautifully too, very much like a professional singer.

There was not one song that he delivered poorly, all were delivered superbly. From the Malay favourites of the 70s, 80s, 90s and the 2000s to English and Hindi. All the songs were sung by heart, a perfect candidate to participate in the local game show "Jangan Lupa Lirik".

Unfortunately, as our time was limited and the itinerary was pre-arranged, we could not spend much time at the wedding reception. Almost immediately after the arrival of the bride and bridegroom and while they were still on the dias for the bersanding ceremony, we had to leave for the next itinerary of the day, a visit to a fruit orchard. So we left without having the chance to even say a "Hi" or a "Bye" to the bride and bridegroom.

Photo courtesy of Marjit
At the fruit orchard, the uncles and aunties were transformed into kids again. Everyone were overjoyed to see the so many trees bearing so many fruits. There were rambutans, mangosteens, "jambus" everywhere. And all we need to do was just pluck and eat - absolutely free of charge!

Looking at the surrounding and its atmosphere, I guess most of us just can't help but appreciate the good country life, a life that either we had left or never had. I for one, never had a real "kampung", as my "kampung" was another city by the name of Georgetown, the Heritage City of the Straits.

So there were no rambutans, mangosteens or "jambus" to pick, and if we need to eat any of those, we had to buy them from the market! Just like a couple of days ago, getting Mangosteens from MaxValu with half of them could not be eaten as they were already bad!

So there goes the good memory of a short excursion to Melaka, a special thanks to all my friends who shared the experience together and especially to the host of the fruit feast - thank you very much, your rambutans and the side dishes really tasted good. Even your coffee tasted nice, I had cups of it, ummm, yummy yummy.

As for Apen, the bridegroom, who is now back in Ireland with the new bride, "Selamat Pengantin Baru" - thank you for remembering us and letting us celebrate your joyous occasion.

Jasni AJ

A Birthday to Remember (hopefully)

It is not our routine to make visits to the stadiums for whatever occasions. My last visit to the stadium was about three or four years ago when I brought Junior to an almost empty National Stadium to watch a Pestabola Merdeka football match between Malaysia and Myanmar.

Myanmar was luckier than Malaysia as they managed to have more spectators cheering them on, most of whom were Myanmarese nationals residing in the country (along with several other nationals staying here in huge numbers e.g. Indonesians, Nepalese, Bangladeshis and Vietnamese). So I guess, whenever the stadiums needs spectators, the organisers could just arrange for matches involving these countries to be held as the locals have been shunning the stadiums for quite some time now.

But it was different earlier this week. We were at the ecstatic stadium for two consecutive evenings. First on Monday evening and next on Tuesday evening. On Monday it was quarter filled but on Tuesday it was three quarter filled. The crowd was large enough to form rounds of Mexican waves and Mexican waves we did for round and rounds during the half time break.

Yes, we were at the Shah Alam Stadium for the Chelsea's friendly match with Malaysia, the last leg of their Asian Tour 2008. The match was on Tuesday evening but on Monday, there was this training session where fans (with passes) were allowed to get into the stadium to watch the team train.

Junior has been a Chelsea fan ever since he started to love football. He has his room decorated with posters of Chelsea's stars and he had even bought an original Chelsea jersey using his own savings.

So when the news that Chelsea would be coming to Malaysia broke out, I guessed he must have silently wished that his parents would get him a ticket to see his much admired stars in action in front of his own eyes.

Incidentally, two days prior to the match was his 14th birthday. So what greater birthday present could there be if not a ticket to the Chelsea vs Malaysia match! So a ticket he got to get, and I, having the privilege of being his papa, got to go with him as well.
To junior, Happy Birthday. I surely hope that you have enjoyed yourself. I love you son.

Jasni AJ