4th Birthday In The Jungle

-
As much as I'd like to complain about not being able to celebrate the new year or my BIRTHDAY with the people I love for the fourth consecutive year, I realise that I have a lot to be thankful for.
Perhaps I have reached the 'acceptance' stage of grief. I have certainly seen myself go through all of the stages since 3 years ago when I first saw the vision of the fall of my school & started my struggle against it.
Perhaps it's time I started looking at the things I have & giving thanks for them? I do have a lot to be thankful for & I will list them down here in no order of importance.

I am thankful for...

  • A good God who loves to give me surprises.
  • A wonderful family. A great dad who sets an excellent example for me. A mom who cares for me & makes sure that I have everything I need. Brothers & sisters whom I can be proud of & are willing to spend time with me.
  • The best friends in the world. The industrious Nesa in Penang: always a great sounding board & partner in crime. The bulldozing Shin in Kuching: setting a great example of determination & will overcoming all obstacles. The humble Lung in Kuching: showing me what a family man should be like. Bros: Guna, Chee Chee, Shawn, Syahir, Mien, Nas, Najib, Hilmi, Hadi, Star, Azhar, Hafiz, Sara, Nicky, Ning, Wei Chien, Shiok, Asrul, Ah Yang, Hansen, Rapik, Kenneth, Yazi. Chicks: Sarah, Agnes, JY, CY, Cat, Jamie, Nancy, Siti, Willie, Mau, Aimi, Fiffy, Fa, Nisa.
  • Great colleagues to work with. Project X: Flo, Lya, Tim, Zak, Ijai, Pjoe, Din, HS. Teachers: Wes, Lau, ZF, Nije, Min, Myris, Tang, Patrick, Orben, Ifeane, Sunita, Andrin, Balat, Richard. Staff: Kat, Victor, Junai, Norwasti, Ilau, Nisi, Dangkan, David (groundsman), Anding, Joe, Galleh, the kitchen ladies.
  • Great invaluable mentors: Dad, Clement, Markus, Arthur, Sariee, Evelyn, Thanga, Kay, Jon.
  • Students who are so easy to manage & malleable.
  • A career which fuels my soul.
  • A boss who allows me to do whatever I want to do.
  • Involvement in important panels within the ministry.
  • An informal leadership/influence within my industry.
  • Making a difference in a neglected community.
  • A healthy body. Good genes. Good looks.
  • Making more than I can spend. Having all my material needs met.
  • The ability to play football & futsal. Both of which I love to bits.
  • A bike & the ability to enjoy it.
  • Big dreams & the drive to realise them.
  • Finally, 154 people who wished me happy birthday! (You know who you are!)

Give this a go!
Listing down things to be thankful for is intensely therapeutic & humbling. Let's balance our chase of material dreams with a little dash of thankfulness.

Finally,

Popular posts from this blog

What To Do When Your Unifi Service Suddenly Drops

-
Image
After finally putting my kid to sleep, I was about to settle into the couch with my wife & stream a movie, when my Unifi fiber optic internet connection suddenly dropped. When it didn't come back after 1 hour, I realized that I had to do something. Considering that I pay my bills promptly every month, it must be a technical issue. Here's what I did to fix the problem. It look me less than 20 minutes. 1. First, I checked my modem (the white machine). I checked the lights on the modem. When the modem is functioning properly, lights will be on for POWER, PON, LAN1 & TEL1. If the red light for LOS lights up, call 100 to resolve the issue. Also, I made sure that all the wire connections were tight. 2. Next, I checked my router (the black machine). Again, I checked the lights. When the router is functioning properly, lights will be on for POWER, GLOBE, WIFI, LAN1. My POWER light was blinking, so that means that there was no internet connection. Again, I made sure th...
Open Full Post »

Understanding The New SPM (2021) English 1119 Paper Format

-
Image
This outline & those of other SPM language papers were made publicly available on the Lembaga Peperiksaan Malaysia (LPM) website . I'm sure you've seen the above being circulated on the internet. But, what does it mean? How does this paper compare to the current SPM paper for English? Do we have to change our testing practices in Form 4? At this moment, information is sparse despite great public interest. As the head of the English panel at my school, my Form 4 colleagues will come to me for what to do & parents will ask me what this is about. Until we have very specific instructions from the ministry, this is what I will be telling my colleagues & parents based on the limited amount of information available to me from my intimate experience with the current SPM paper & second-hand information about the PT3 English paper. Let me know if I got anything wrong or if you have more detailed information.
Open Full Post »

How To Fix Logitech Options Not Loading

-
Image
I use a Logitech K380 bluetooth keyboard at home & love it to bits. Very quiet & the tactile response is just perfect. Also, it's super small so easy to put away when I need to pile exam papers on my desk. Still, there's one small problem though... It is a compact keyboard so the multimedia buttons double as function keys. I use the function keys A LOT & it's really cumbersome for me to have to hold the "fn" button every time I want to use them. I.e., try pressing alt+fn+f4 with one hand. Thankfully, with the Logitech Options software, I can default to the function keys. A few months ago, I was chagrined to learn that my keyboard had spontaneously returned to factory settings. "No problem", I thought. "I'll just change the settings in Logitech Options." Only to find that the app wouldn't load on my Windows 10 machine, resulting in the blank window you see screen-captured above. "Let me try reinstalling." Uni...
Open Full Post »

Exotic Fruit: Buah Isu

-
Image
I've been teaching in the Iban motherland for more than 1 year now & I have tasted many exotic fruits exclusively available only within these quiet secluded timber forests. Now, don't you smirk at me! You perverted baskets I call friends are thinking about a different 'fruit'! There are no innuendos here. The exotic fruits that I'm talking about are REAL fruits. First, let me introduce you to the cousin of the king of fruits... Buah Isu Buah Isu resembles it's cousin, the Durian , but I was told that it is NOT in the Durian family. The spikes are longer & they are sharper. They are also very much smaller than the Durians. It's about the size of a man's palm. It has a pleasantly sweet fragrance which is not pungent like the Durian's. Because of it's size, it is easily opened with a cleaver. After opening my first Isu, I couldn't help but bounce off the walls in gay laughter. It was all too amusing to me! I though...
Open Full Post »

Tip SPM Dari Pelajar-Pelajar Cemerlang Straight A+

-
Image
This morning, I attended Kapten Talk 2.0: Student Edition. After feeding my baby & tucking him in for his late morning nap, I finally had time to look at my messages. Lo' & behold, a friend sent me a poster about a webinar by straight-A+ students. Interesting! I sheepishly looked at the date, what? TODAY! Heart racing, I quickly glanced at the time, 11 PG. Oh, petang. Wait a minute, MANA ADA 11 PETANG? PAGI LA BODO! My eyes darted to the upper right corner of the screen. 10.45AM! I quickly forwarded the poster + some ulasan to ALL my students' groups as well as to my school staff's chatgroup on WhatsApp. Feeling bad that I gave them so little notice, I knew I had to attend, take notes & share those notes with my students. Since I'm doing that, I might as well share it with everyone. The notes are written in my broken BM to include my lowest-performing students. "How much you achieve is how much you prepare" - Luqman Nawar, 9A+
Open Full Post »