The Class of May 2009 – BBQ II

These are the BBQ photos taken from Sheren Wong’s camera for you to enjoy:

They still wanted me to give a small talk... Never had enough, meh?

Given the honour to cut the cake 🙂

Benedict, in black, being the first one to arrive at the school during the event. He was there when I practiced the song for Sheren...

Caroline in pink, of BT with Jan Shim & his spouce & Rudy The Snake Man

You won't see Linus doing this stunt in the court... With him, Mr. & Mrs. Patrick Ling and the 'sexy too tall for me' Jessica. Hehehe...

Jellen with her loving hubby

Dennis of Class November 2007 (a proud law-abiding responsible citizen now) with his lovely Indonesian wife, Julinda, my duet partner

Vanessa Ho, the student who gave birth to a lovely girl on the EXAM day... She will be joining me for the Class of November 2009. Lets wish her luck & not to deliver again during that time... (Ok, Melvin...?) Hehehe...

The only muslim student I had during Class of May 2009, Ramli Abdullah with his loving wife & son..

From left: Tom, Adrian, Eveeeee... & Simon

Patrick Ling, Slyvester & malas mahu kenalkan sudah... Hehehe...

What were they clapping for, I'm not too sure...

Mr. Yap, my great helper in class, guiding his daughter on karaoke session

Next are not so good photos taken by my son with my camera. That day, I was too busy practising the song, Because I got High… Hehehe… Do enjoy…

Really love that song now... Hehehe...

Patrick & Ben helping me preparing the BBQ pits. Thank you guys...

Jessica & Jodie preparing the food. Thank you...

Mr. Vincent Goh the Monitor showing-off his super natural power of playing with fire and not get burnt to the awesome of Benedict. Patrick was okay, because he knew it was just a camera trick... Hehehe...

The two guys I hate to stand in-between... Urghhhh...!!!

Of Merimbun, Human Rights & Change of Phone No…

The main 'theme' of our shot that day...

The Lake Merimbun trip between myself, Jan Shim, Gavin & Husini was an enjoyable one. That was my very first photographic session with a PRO, you know who. All three of them were Canon hard cores, unlike myself, a don’t really care what camera brand you are using, as I am only a hobbyist. I have also two smaller Canon cameras used by my lovely wife, and another Sony 9.1 mega pixels Cyber Shot camera which I always brought along my Nikon D90 and only use it whenever I feel my Nikon couldn’t perform. The fact is, I am a newbie in the photographic world and still in the learning process of getting use to my Nikon’s ‘mode’ of selections.

We reached Merimbun around 5 pm, just enough time to make us sweat looking for a subject to shoot. I tell you Husini is the most creative of us all. At one time, the way he shoot was just like a sniper aiming at Ahmadinejad.

While waiting for the sunset, I told them to take my picure/s, starting with my ‘extra’ special tool in my bag:

jeng jeng jeng....

It is not a scissor for circumsition… It was  bought solely for this purpose:

my 8121962 B' Mobile sim card...

And then…

The Best Safety lies In Fear...

Then…

When angry, count four; when very angry, swear...; When very very angry, cut your sim card...

I have a dozen of B' Mobile sim card now...

And the end results:

on your mark.... GET SET...

GOne with the wind...!!! HAHAHA...!!!

The truth is, I love that number. I bought it from it’s previous owner for $400.00. 8121962 simply means 8th. December, 1962, the day when the PRB’s Revolution broke out. Having close relation with Azahari, and at the same time having a father ‘detained’ for 14 years until his death made growing up was never easy for me. But, no matter what other people may think about the ‘1962’ tragedy, I am truly proud of what they did. They were the true warrior of  Negara Brunei Darussalam, the unsong heroes. And no detention centre will be able to change my views about it, ever…

So, I am changing my hand phone number now. To my beloved past, present and future students, please do e-mail me to get my new no. Playing a cat and mouse game, I will be changing my hp number every month now (hopefully I have extra $30.00 for that purpose every month).

The truth is, I love Brunei being an autocratic monarchy. Hell with democracy. We stay (seems to be) united in this type of government. I love my Sultan. So does everybody. AND because of that, our security departments doesn’t have to be too doubtful to the subjects thus feeling it is a must to monitor our very movements. Don’t turn Brunei into a police state and instill fear among the people. We are all behind our beloved Sultan to see Brunei progress to it’s fullest potential. We have great thinkers among us. The time has come for a change. Maybe for a start our parliament should allocate some seats for an organized opposition to make sure there is indeed a check and balance in our system, all for the the betterment of our nation.

The Pro

The Sniper

it's not The Pro; it's not The Sniper; Its The Pangsai Man...

Cashew nut tree at the Vase Cemetry island

Husini explaining how cashew nut are produced...

The 1st. time I came across a cashew nut tree with plentiful fruits on it...

BBQ, anyone?

can't join them taking these shots - tiny flying insects - (no micro lens in my bag, uwaaaa...!!!)

The Master

My SMOKING Nikon...

Yes, Why I did It…?

I was half-way doing my full intensive course for Class of May 2009 (Brunei Citizenship’s applicants) when a student fondly called Jan told me about someone writing about me in a blog. He couldn’t say whether the writer was a boy or a girl and the worst part was Jan has forgotten the blog address. Walla…!!!

A mentee turned mentor

It was only a couple of days later Jan could confirm to me the blog he was talking about. It was from my ever sweet student, Lin Ji – And this is what she wrote:

Appreciate. Seri Siap Siaga.

If there is something I have forgotten, it’s how I lucky I am. I have to thank Cikgu Mansor for this. I salute you Cikgu. I really do.

I know I was very angry when I find out that I have a red kad pintar when I should be given a yellow one. It’s rightfully mine but things just didn’t go the way I want them to. Who shall I blame this to? No one. Right now, I am glad that I was put into this situation, a situation where I have to work hard to get the yellow identity card. Because, right now – at this very moment, I know I am a REAL citizen. A citizen that knows Kebawah Duli’s name, a citizen that knows what the country requires, a citizen that knows the history of the country, a citizen that is ready to take up any challenge to make the country proud. I know I have the seed of patriotism in me but it was only recently that Cikgu was able to let that very seed grow.

From my point of view, the class I attended did not aim to just help us get through the Malay test. The Malay test is just for us to prove that we know Malay language. Trust me. What the class actually focused on was to teach us to be a better person. Sikap berhijrah adalah mustahak dan harus dipupuk oleh setiap rakyat jati negara kita supaya kita dapat bersama-sama membangunkan prestasi negara kita ke tahap yang lebih tinggi. Kita tidak akan hanya bergantung kepada usaha-usaha orang asing atau subsidi kerajaan. I can seriously tell you now that Cikgu Mansor is one of the loudest, nastiest, nicest, kindest, most loving teacher I have ever known. And it’s him that showed me the better side of things.

When I first entered the class, I barely knew their names. I only managed to find out the names of the people who sat next to me. I did not manage to talk to whoever that sat behind me. I did not know how to start a conversation. And surprisingly, today – the thought of being apart from them just hurts! We have become a huge family. We have nicknamed some – we have grown into this bond that I do not want it to break. Time really just flew by! The class has ended! =( We have many bosses around who attended this class as well, and a couple of students like myself. We clicked so nicely! We joked. We had fun. I do not think I could find another class in the world that is as great as the one i just had. Where can you find a class where bosses and students are made to clean the toilet? Students okaylah but bosses? seriously? They could easily just click their fingers and have their men to come wash the toilet for them. But see, this is the thing, they didn’t. We were united!

At SPA after the Exam

We helped each other so much in these two weeks. We looked at each other for the whole two weeks (apart from one sunday), from 9am (or earlier) to 10pm (or much later). We had lunch together. We had dinner together. We sang together. We prayed together and for each other.

Oh, I seriously will miss them. When I do get my yellow Identity Card, I know that I will not only feel proud but thankful. I will think of you. I will remember all these memories.

I was dumbfounded. I really don’t know what to say.

Thank you Jan for highlighting me to this. Thank you to you too Lin Ji for being appreciative.

And Jan was the one responsible to make me start blogging in wordpress – to become a serious writer.

Thank you both of you. That is why I did it…